Chapter 33: The front of the Yangtze's waves goes blah blah blah

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside, and the door burst open.

Standing in the doorway was a face Qing knew all too well.

It was none other than bastard who had tricked her with feigned sympathy and locked her up in this forsaken place!

Qing was on high alert.

She had been naive to trust his friendly facade, and was stuck here for 5 days!

Ignoring Qing's inner turmoil, the stoic face of Jang 'Wavebreaker' Han spoke.

"Lady Eon, I apologize, but I need your help."

"So, it's come to this. Did I not explicitly warn you?"

"I'm so ashamed. If the offer I made earlier still stands..."

"Lead the way."

Qing's eyes lit up.

"He's taking that crazy bitch away," she thought.

This was her golden ticket out of this hellhole.

'Get the fuck out, both of you. I'm off to find my freedom.'

But the deranged, antisocial, super-assassin psycho wasn't that easy to shake off.

"And Miss Ximen, would you accompany us as well?"

"Wait, why me? I'll just stay here. You two have fun. I'll be the guard dog or whatever."

"Then, we can't go? Expert Jang, is that alright?"

"If Lady Eon insists, what can I do? But why?"

"Well, personal reasons?"

Eon Yeon-yeong grabbed Qing's arm and linked it with hers.

Qing's expression soured.

And so, with one arm held hostage, Qing was dragged onto the deck.

And, oh my fucking god!

The deck was a goddamn bloodbath.

Severed arms and legs were scattered everywhere.

Various internal organs were also on display, having been unceremoniously ripped out and arranged in a grotesque exhibition.

"They had a fun little party without me," Qing thought, her blood boiling.

"Those sneaky bastards. I can rip off limbs too, you know. I want to show off my skills!"

Qing gritted her teeth.

"Oh my. Miss Ximen, are you angry? To think that you, who have learned such vicious martial arts, are unexpectedly a righteous heroine? Oh my..."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

Eon Yeon-yeong had made a grave misunderstanding, but Qing was already disgusted, so her response was simply, "What the fuck are you talking about?".

Suddenly, Qing's waist bent awkwardly as her arm was pulled. The crazy woman's whisper pierced her ear.

"By the way, how did you know I was a bad person? That was a secret, you know?"

"Who cares?"

"How cruel..."

Eon Yeon-yeong trailed off, sounding hurt.

Qing would have bet her entire fortune, plus her arms and legs, that this villain wasn't even the slightest bit upset.

Qing's steps stopped in the middle of the deck.

People were standing in a circle around something, their faces serious. When Jang Han appeared, they stepped aside to make room for him.

And in the center, there was a young man tied up tightly.

He was so thoroughly bound that only his head was sticking out of the thick ropes.

The young man was desperately trying to say something, but with a thick gag in his mouth, all that came out were muffled groans.

"It's Throat Jiangshi."

"Is there any hope for treatment?"

"More than half of his body has already been damaged. Even if we break his core to release the pressure, his remaining lifespan will be less than twenty years."

"Is there really no other way?"

Instead of answering, Eon Yeon-yeong looked at Bok Haeun.

Bok Haeun replied with a pained expression.

"...If that's what the Un family's successor says, then that's it. Do you need anything?"

"Fortunately, I have most of it. My luggage, two fresh hens, a bunch of eggs... and could you prepare an esophagus?"

Eon Yeon-yeong clung to the bundle of ropes.

She placed her index and middle fingers on the young man's forehead and chanted Daoist[^"Domun" (도문) refers to a sacred incantation or chant imbued with spiritual or mystical power. These incantations are often used to invoke divine blessings, ward off evil spirits, or enhance one's spiritual energy.] incantations.

Surprisingly, she looked like a convincing shaman.

Seizing the opportunity, Qing asked Bok Haeun,

"Who the hell is that woman?"

"Didn't you hear? She's the Young Mistress of the Jin Prefecture’s Un Clan."

“I heard that, but so what? What kind of family is that to produce something like that? She's a completely insane.”  

“Miss, I'm telling you this because you're like a daughter to me. No matter if you're from a prestigious family, if you call the Murim Alliance's Grand Inspector that... well, it's not our place to say. If I had known it would come to this...”

Bok Haeun had a complicated expression.

"What the hell? You sacrificed someone to a crazy murderer," Qing thought.

Ignoring his hesitation, she pressed, "So, what is it?"

"The Jin-ju Un clan..."

The Jin Prefecture’s Un Clan were the best Daoists funeral overseers in Murim.  

Morticians Daoists are those who prepared the dead for burial and prayed for their souls of the dead.

Monks and Taoists do similar things, but there was one Daoist art that only funeral overseers could perform.

It was a strange Daoist art that could manipulate a corpse's Qi and make it move on its own.

These self-moving corpses were called Jiangshi.

"What, Jiangshi?"

"So you know about Jiangshi."

"You know, like this, hopping around."

Qing stretched out her arms and imitated a Jiangshi.

Bok Haeun clicked his tongue.

"Tsk tsk. That's exactly the kind of thing only kids believe."

“Then just think of me as a little kid, whatever. So what? What's all this about? And what's a Grand Inspector? The Murim Alliance? Is that woman in the Murim Alliance?”  

'If it's the Murim Alliance, it's a gathering of righteous sects. Why would someone like her be there?'

Qing glanced at Eon Yeon-yeong, who was writing a talisman with chicken blood.

"That bitch has racked up even more evil karma."

"Did I misunderstand something? Are jiangshi the problem? Because they play with dead people? No, but there are limits, right? And she admitted to being a bad bitch herself."

While Qing was unsure, Bok Haeun began to explain. The old man was unexpectedly talkative.

Bok Haeun would have felt wronged if he knew what she was thinking.

Since he initially thought Qing was a runaway girl from a prestigious, righteous sect, he was just telling her the truth, which she would have found out anyway.

"It was about ten days ago..."

The Murim Alliance's Grand Inspector visited the Yangtze River Waterway.  

And the first thing they said was that several Blood Jiangshi had been discovered in a nearby hidden cave.

The number of lives sacrificed to create a single Blood Jiangshi was a hundred.

The Murim Alliance assumed they were people who had gone missing from the East Sea and concluded that they had been moved along the waterway to Dongting Lake. [^Qing drifted off from the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake back in chapter 31]

And there was only one group in the Yangtze River that could carry out such a heinous smuggling operation.  

It was the Yangtze River Waterway itself.  

However, the Murim Alliance believed that Bok Haeun would never do such a thing, given his personality.

And that was indeed the case.  

So they decided there must be another conspiracy and sent the Grand Enforcer to inform them and investigate the truth.

"That's different from what you said. You locked me in solitary confinement."

"Well, there was no other way."

Pa Bon-mu closed his mouth.

This was an internal matter of the Waterway.

The Yangtze Waterway Transport Company had changed.

It had moved away from being a group of bandits on boats and was now like a proper sect with a legitimate business.

Tolls?

Even the Murim sects collected protection fees in their own territories.

The small tolls collected by the heroes protecting the Yangtze were nothing compared to them

However, not everyone was satisfied with this change.

First, there was the Green Forest Bandits.

As the Green Forest and the Waterway had long been considered rivals, so they weren't pleased with the Waterway's evolutionSo the bandits kept running their mouths.

So those bandit bastards kept running their mouths.

"Shameless bastards who don't know their place. Don't you dare call yourselves heroes, you government dogs begging for scraps. If it were me, I'd rather chop off my balls and become a nun than side with the government," and so on.

From Bok Haeun's perspective, it didn't matter what the bandits said.

The problem was that some of the Waterway's own members agreed with them.

The so-called traditionalists, led by the former pirates.

The human trash who couldn't forget the taste of plunder, rape, and cannibalism. And the aspiring trash who joined the Waterway hoping for that added their support.

And since these guys had recently been clearly plotting something, Bok Ha-un felt faint as soon as he heard the word "Blood Jiangshi."

The traditionalists weren't just plotting any ordinary scheme.

If things went wrong, the entire Waterway could be swept away and destroyed.

This matter had to be dealt with without outside help!

It was time to show them, "This is what happened, but fortunately, we stopped it."

That was the reason for 'protecting' the Murim Alliance's Grand Inspector.

The Waterway's leader, Bok Haeun, looked at his son and thought,

'But perhaps I should have accepted the help of the Murim Alliance, even if it meant their interference later. If I had, then my son...'

It was then.

"Whew..."

Eon Yeon-yeong wiped away her sweat and exhaled deeply.

"How did it go? Is my son..."

"Fortunately, it went well. He'll regain consciousness soon."

Bok Haeun let out a deep breath.

It was better to have a shortened lifespan than to die.

"Did you say about twenty years?"

"With proper care, he'll live a little longer than that."

Bok Ha-un thought that was enough.

He'll just have to arrange a marriage for him quickly.

Bok Haeun sincerely cupped his hands in a bow.

"The Bok family thanks you."

"Don't mention it. It was nothing."

"No, you saved my son's life. There's no greater benefactor in the world."

"Really, it was nothing..."

Eon Yeon-yeong replied with a strange smile.

It was definitely an unsettling smile.

But Bok Haeun was in a desperate situation.

It was like a burning ember on his foot.

An ember that would spread to his whole body if he didn't shake it off.

His urgent heart shook off his thoughts.

For now, his son was alive.

But the situation was dire.

The Regional Enforcer's arm had been severed, and the culprit was Bok Heum-cheok, the son of the Waterway's leader.

Moreover, he had shouted that the attack was Bok Haeun's order. None of the government officials who had escaped with the Regional Enforcer had missed those words.

'What am I supposed to do...'

Just then, Bok Heum-cheok woke up.

"Ugh... My head..."

Bok Heum-cheok, who had been clutching his head, suddenly shuddered.

With a startled expression, he looked around and shouted urgently to his father.

"Father! It's a disaster, a disaster! In the main house, in the main house, those bastards, those damned monsters are swarming! The Waterway's men!"

Qing was staring blankly at the scene.

It seemed like a serious situation.

People started running around, saying they had to turn the ship around and go save the main house.

Qing stood alone in the midst of the commotion.

Then she suddenly came to her senses.

"This isn't the time to be sightseeing. I have to run before that woman latches onto me again."

"Oh my, where are you going?"

A chill ran down her spine.

Eon Yeon-yeong was suddenly beside her.

"Fucking hell, that bitch."

Qing scowled, genuinely disgusted.

Ignoring Qing's expression, Eon Yeon-yeong pushed her head close to her ear.

A gentle voice whispered,

"It will begin soon. But you just have to stay comfortable. I'll protect you. Because Miss Ximen is too weak and insignificant."

Qing frowned.

It wasn't because her pride was hurt by the super-skilled master saying she was weak.

Compared to that monster, it was true that she was weak.

It was just that an unwelcome mission window had popped up again.

"Fucking hell. Seriously, fucking hell."