Chapter 4: A Day in the Life of a Second-Year Murim Warrior
A-Qing had been feeling incredibly happy lately.
Why? Because she had money. Lots of it.
That bastard called Chugui or whatever had a remarkable storage pouch.
As the rightful winner, A-Qing took possession of it.
For the first time in her Murim life, she possessed more wealth than just a few coins.
She even delivered the villain’s head to the authorities, receiving a hefty bounty for it. The higher the evil deeds, the bigger the reward.
She’d exaggerate a little, saying the pouch was so heavy it made her lean to one side, making it hard to walk straight.
With such riches, A-Qing indulged in the finest delicacies of the martial world.
She even bid farewell to her old, loyal Moonlight Sword (No. 5) and welcomed a new, young, and beautiful Moonlight Sword (No. 6).
Until now, she had only ever picked up discarded swords from others. This was the first time she actually purchased a brand-new weapon.
A sword untouched by anyone else—her very own.
Her heart swelled with affection.
“I’ll take good care of you.”
Her previous Moonlight Sword (no. 5) had rotted from the inside due to poor maintenance.
The blacksmith had laughed, saying it wasn’t even worth scrap metal, and told her to take it back.
So, she just tossed it away by the roadside.
She also bought sturdy and affordable new clothes.
And that’s when A-Qing had an epiphany:
“With enough money, even this godforsaken Murim world can be fun!”
She was even able to tolerate looking at her status window. Her mood, uplifted by delicious food, remained unfazed by the annoying pop-ups.
But A-Qing had a spending problem.
And so, it took no time at all for her to go completely broke.
Ah, those were good days.
The only thing left was her Moonlight Sword (No. 6).
A swordsman’s true lover—their sword.
She had spent half a gold ingot on this beauty.
“Moonlight Sword, let’s stay together forever, okay?”
This was why people splurged.
At least, even if you went broke, the things you bought stayed with you.
“Your order is ready.”
Thud. The inn’s errand boy carelessly placed the dishes down.
Three dumplings. One bowl of soup.
Buying three dumplings got you a free bowl of soup.
A wisdom earned in her second year of Murim life.
Unlike modern expectations, dumplings in the martial world were nothing but plain dough—no filling, just bread.
They were the cheapest food available, usually costing one copper coin each, or two in expensive inns.
Meat-filled dumplings had a separate name and cost a whopping fifteen to twenty copper coins.
Another piece of second-year Murim wisdom:
If the dumplings are too dry, soak them in soup.
If you’re choking, drink the soup.
Staring at her suddenly pitiful meal, A-Qing glanced down at her beloved sword, Moonlight Sword (No. 6).
“I wonder how much I’d get if I sold you?”
It was practically brand-new. Barely used.
But alas, the wisdom of a mere two-year Murim veteran wasn’t enough to understand sword depreciation rates. So, she decided to hold onto it for now.
Still… she really needed to make money.
What should she do?
A-Qing summoned her martial arts training window.
She despised this thing, but she had to check her unused training points.
Training points allowed her to instantly learn techniques and could serve as a trump card in emergencies.
Her Sword Art of the Moon Maiden (True Form), Moon Maiden’s Heart Scripture (True Form), and her movement technique, Moon Maiden’s Floating Steps (True Form), had all reached 12 Stars.
Twelve Stars was the peak mastery of any technique.
When people said they had "perfected" a martial art, it meant they had trained it to 12 Stars.
Aside from those, she had plenty of random techniques in her list, ones she had casually skimmed through in the Martial Library.
All of them had white borders, the lowest rank in the Murim Survival Guide’s classification system.
According to the ranking system in the Murim Life and Death Manual, techniques were ranked in this order:
White (lowest) → Blue → Red → Gold → Purple (highest).
Since the game developers never gave them proper names, players just referred to them by color.
For reference, her Sword Art of the Moon Maiden (True Form) was a purple-rank technique.
It was said to be one of the most overpowered martial arts.
But since she hadn’t learned any other high-level techniques, she had no way of knowing how it compared.
And now… it was time to add another purple-rank martial art to her collection.
After a year of suffering, she had finally accumulated 500 Virtuous Karma Points.
A year filled with endless humiliation.
But these Karma Points were about to be put to great use.
The Karma Reward System.
Whenever Karma Points reached a certain threshold, she could exchange them for any martial art of her choosing.
The requirement for the first reward? 500 points.
For reference, Evil Points were useless.
Sure, committing crimes stacked up Evil Points, but you usually gained plenty of training points along the way.
The Virtue Path, however, required her to only kill truly evil people, making it hard to accumulate training points. But in exchange, she could get a purple-rank technique of her choice.
A-Qing didn’t hesitate.
She had already made her decision.
The Heavenly Demon Art was tempting, but after some research, she realized the title "Heavenly Demon" had become a joke in recent years.
These days, "Heavenly Demon" ran restaurants, bakeries, businesses, and even baseball teams.
Even in traditional wuxia stories, a "Heavenly Demon" was usually just the protagonist’s third concubine at best.
So, despite its flashy name, the Heavenly Demon Art probably wasn’t all that special.
A-Qing immediately claimed her Karma Reward.
Suddenly, knowledge flooded her mind.
The mantra of the Buddha’s Palm.
"Is this for real?"
"Who the hell learns martial arts like this?!"
Was this world actually just a game?
Then… what did that make her?
"No, stop! Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!"
An overwhelming wave of irritation washed over her.
She needed to shake it off.
It was time for some theatrics.
"Who am I?"
"I am… the wielder of Buddha’s Palm!"
"Stephen Chow, step aside! K-Buddha’s Palm is here!"
"Buddha’s Palm, wrapped in kimchi, a must-try experience!"
"A martial art so legendary, Trump would be amazed, and Xi Jinping would seethe with jealousy!
"This martial art is mine now."
"The Buddha’s Palm, beautifully illustrated in ancient scrolls!"
"Dear citizens of the Middle Kingdom, for complaints, please consult the Cultural Revolution!."
Thanks to sheer absurdity, A-Qing managed to avoid feeling even worse. However, she no longer had the courage to check her status window. She didn’t have the courage to look at people either. Right now, she absolutely couldn’t see the numbers above people's heads.
A-Qing squeezed her eyes shut and bowed her head. She chewed her steamed bun thoroughly. Even though she chewed and chewed, for some reason, it still felt like it was getting stuck in her throat, burning slightly as it went down.
She forcibly shifted her focus. With her eyes closed, the voices around her entered her ears. Having mastered an inner cultivation technique to a high realm, A-Qing’s physical abilities were practically superhuman. Just by focusing, she could hear every conversation in the inn.
One voice, in particular, caught her attention.
“Hey, I heard the escort leader is heading to Yongseong.”
“Oh! Might I ask for your esteemed name, young hero?”
“Peng Daesan.”
“The Jade Qilin! My goodness, aren’t you the heir of the Peng Clan? This is truly an honor! If you’re going to Yongseong, does that mean you’re heading all the way to Mount Hua?”
“The escort leader doesn’t need to know more than that.”
“Aha! Of course, of course. What an honor it is to serve a great hero like yourself! Oh my, please, have a seat. Hey, innkeeper! Bring a feast fit to break this table!”
The conversation was a mix of arrogance and sudden, exaggerated bootlicking.
A-Qing’s gloomy mood vanished in an instant.
So just by traveling with a master, you get treated like royalty?
No way! Unbelievable!
A whole new world had opened up before her.
A-Qing had spent most of her time wandering, seeking out wicked people she could kill when she ran out of money. The only knowledge she had of Murim came from the pitiful life of a penniless wanderer and a few scenes from Stephen Chow movies.
Naturally, A-Qing had no idea who the Peng Clan of Hebei was.
The heir of one of the Five Great Noble Houses? Someone ranked higher than most royal princes since the incident where the Supreme Martial Emperor flipped the imperial palace upside down?
Even though Kunpeng Escort Agency was a mid-sized business operating across two provinces, it was nothing compared to the weight the Peng name carried.
Since A-Qing was clueless about all this, she just thought, ‘Wow, they treat all strong people this well.’
And because she had an unnecessary amount of impulsiveness, Qing shot up from her seat.
“Excuse me! I heard the escort leader is heading to Yongseong?”
She addressed the escort leader with the confidence of a master.
“Uh… um. And you are, miss…?”
The Chief Escort looked less than pleased.
This was an important moment. He was trying to network with a VIP—one of those golden connections that made or broke careers.
In Chinese, they called it guanxi.
And now, some random stranger was barging in. Of course, his expression soured.
“My name is A-Qing.”
“A-Qing?”
The response came from the side.
That rude guy from earlier—the heir of the Peng Clan, Peng Daesan—who spoke in a deep, refined voice.
He’d been turned away from her until now.
So, it was only when he spoke that A-Qing finally got a good look at his face.
…What the hell. Why is this bastard disgustingly handsome?
The title ‘Jade Qilin’ was a tradition passed down through generations. It was given to the most promising young master who also happened to be ridiculously good-looking.
And this generation’s Jade Qilin, Peng Daesan, was praised as possessing the greatest beauty in all of Murim’s history.
He was so stunning that people even called him “The Most Handsome Man Under Heaven.”
But A-Qing was, at her core, a man..
So, she wasn’t fazed by another man’s beauty.
She merely gawked.
Just, ‘Wow. Holy crap. This guy is crazy good-looking. I’m jealous.’
It was like seeing CGI in real life.
‘Man, if I looked even half as good as him, my life would be set.’
That was about the extent of her reaction. Truly, a modest response.
Meanwhile, women who laid eyes upon the Jade Qilin’s radiant features unprepared would either faint on the spot or lose consciousness entirely.
“A-Qing. Do you happen to use the Sword Art of the Moon Maiden?”
“Wow, you know about the Sword Art of the Moon Maiden? Could you be—”
“Hah. This is quite something.”
Peng Daesan cut her off with a smirk.
What’s his deal? Is he showing off just because he’s good-looking?
A-Qing frowned in irritation.
“A-Qing… is that your real name?”
“Yeah? What about it?”
“I’ve never heard of that surname before. Then tell me, what was your ancestor’s esteemed name?”
“Uh, well… you see…”
How the hell was she supposed to know?
But saying “I dunno” would be way too suspicious.
To be fair, A-Qing usually traveled alone. The only people she had ever spent time with were fellow penniless wanderers.
Birds of a feather flock together.
So she had zero experience with how fancy people talked.
‘Rich folks actually ask about ancestors?’ she thought in bewilderment.
She racked her brain. What noble-sounding surname did she know?
“…Why aren’t you answering?”
“I was about to!”
“So, who was your ancestor?”
“Uhh… Asura?”
Did that make sense?
It slipped out in the heat of the moment, but maybe it wasn’t the worst answer?
‘The 17th descendant of Asura, A-Qing.’ It had a nice ring to it.
“Hah… Haha… Pfft! Ahahaha!”
Peng Daesan suddenly burst into laughter.
…Okay, so apparently not.
“Interesting. This is refreshing. I’ll give you 27 points.”
“What?”
“Your face is average, so 0 points. Your body is passable, but you’re too tall, so that’s a deduction. Your chest is too big, making you look vulgar—another deduction. That leaves you with 7 points. But you made me laugh, so I’ll add a special bonus of 20 points. Total: 27.”
What the hell? Did he just sexually harass me with a straight face?
Well, at least now I know that Murim’s high society is absolute garbage.
Of course, his words didn’t hurt A-Qing in the slightest.
But his overflowing arrogance was unforgivable.
“Hey. Just because you’ve got a mouth doesn’t mean you can let any kind of crap spill out. Is that a mouth or an asshole? Because all I’m hearing is shit. I got 27 points? Fine, then I’ll give you a perfect score and stamp a ‘Great Job’ right onto your face!”
“Hmm. Sounds like you want to hit me.”
Peng Daesan smirked, making no effort to hide his amusement.
“Go ahead. Try it. If you can.”
What he didn’t know was one crucial fact.
Since entering Murim, A-Qing rarely held back.
She existed in a limbo between reality and an incomprehensible game, a being filled with existential uncertainty.
She didn’t have the patience to tolerate nonsense.
So she clenched her fist.
And she slammed a “Great Job!” stamp right onto Peng Daesan’s smug face.
The escort leader went deathly pale at the sight.
