“Really, you hid it in a dreadful place.”
Peng Yuwol followed behind Chu Sogwang’s lead, shaken by his extreme preparations. Walking so far from the escort bureau was one thing, but he’d even set up a complex array formation.
Had he not guided her, she would surely have died lost within the formation’s traps.
“What sort of formation is this?”
“I will explain once we are married. Ahem.”
Chu Sogwang gave the sleeve at Peng Yuwol’s wrist a light tug—an attempt to grasp her hand—yet she flowed aside like water, evading him.
“Let us hurry to the warehouse.”
“Ahem. Very well.”
On the way, Chu Sogwang made several forward passes, each time rebuffed as Peng Yuwol slipped away. Were it not for the formation’s constraints, he wouldn’t have managed even to brush her sleeve.
Crunch, crunch.
They at last arrived before the warehouse, a fortress-like iron structure needing no upkeep, standing firm in the forest’s heart.
“Here…?”
“I will tell you more once you become the mistress of the escort bureau. This warehouse holds the escort bureau’s important items.”
Opening the door, Chu Sogwang revealed a musty smell but almost no sign of human presence.
Not a trace of intrusion. Peng Yuwol, worried her gamble had failed, stepped inside.
“Where is the Heavenly Replenishment Pill?”
“…There, in the wooden box reinforced with iron plates.”
He pointed to a wooden chest cluttered among odds and ends, its lid secured by multiple locks.
“It is the genuine Heavenly Replenishment Pill.”
Chu Sogwang spoke truthfully. Peng Yuwol felt a pang of doubt about the gold‐leaf pill she’d tucked in her bosom.
‘If it really is the true pill, this level of security is essential.’
Could the man claiming to be the Divine Physician’s disciple be a fraud? Passing off an ordinary pill as the real thing, selling his master’s name for some vile scheme?
If this is genuine, if his words are false, must I truly marry Chu Sogwang?
Amid the turmoil, Peng Yuwol steeled herself and began unlocking the padlocks one by one.
Click, click.
The iron locks yielded, and she raised the lid of the chest, swallowing hard against the swirl of emotions in her chest.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
“……”
Anger flared first—anger at being deceived by a mere escort bureau lord, at insulting the Peng Clan.
And then relief.
Everyone knew her marriage hinged on the pill and vast wealth. Now that the threat to her clan head’s life had proven empty, all blame would fall on Chu Sogwang.
And her faith in justice was renewed.
Justice still lived. In this unjust plight, by chance a disciple of the Divine Physician arrived in this village, by chance the pill appeared, and by chance she uncovered and claimed it.
‘Stay strong, Yewol!’
Peng Yuwol breathed deeply and clenched her fists. Now her duty was to enact justice.
“Chu Sogwang, you—”
Thwack!
Something struck Peng Yuwol’s nape. Caught off-guard by the brutal attack, she staggered and collapsed.
“Uh…?”
“Hah, hah, hah.”
Chu Sogwang, drenched in cold sweat, produced an unknown device from the shattered chest. Like shackles destined for a criminal, Peng Yuwol summoned her inner strength to steady her mind.
“Thi-this…”
But her cultivation was insufficient. As a minor lady of the escort bureau, her value lay more in her lineage than in martial prowess.
She could not muster her qi to regain composure. That she did not black out from the blow was itself a miracle.
“You…how dared…?”
Yet no matter what, the gulf between their abilities was vast. How could an ordinary man strike her without warning?
“Heh heh, heh heh—ah hah hah!”
Through her blurred vision, Peng Yuwol saw Chu Sogwang’s qi crackle with red malice.
“Demonic arts!”
“Ha ha! Didn’t know, did you? Didn’t know? Hee hee!”
He laughed wildly as he pressed her acupoints. Peng Yuwol’s qi was instantly sealed; she could do nothing but gasp.
“You should have kept still…”
He hoisted her body off the ground. Though humiliating to be seized thus, it seemed he had no intention of stopping there.
“What do you intend to do?”
“Don’t you know? This is how righteous ladies are handled. Don’t you know of the passions between man and woman?”
His eyes brimmed with lewd intent.
“If you conceive a child, you won’t dare move an inch. Hee hee.”
‘Shall I intervene?’
I watched Chu Sogwang’s crime from outside the warehouse. His use of demonic arts was not surprising, but the crudeness of his method shocked me.
‘Surely he could have used refined techniques: blocking meridians, suppressing qi, even poison. No consideration for the woman’s dignity—a true degenerate.’
He struck her with a wooden chest—reckless beyond reason.
‘Or perhaps Peng Yuwol is not so fragile. No, he must have calculated everything. A frightening man.’
His and Peng Yuwol’s cultivation were similar, so the one on whom he gambled the most must be the most meticulous.
‘By the way…’
I observed his preparations keenly. A wooden frame sized for a supine body. He forced Peng Yuwol onto it, chained her neck and wrists.
“Heh heh heh, blindfolded, your other senses sharpen. Hah.”
He tied a blindfold across her eyes. Deprived of sight, Peng Yuwol thrashed and kicked, but he bound her legs with thin cords.
“Heh heh heh, so smooth. Truly a noble lady.”
Her thighs and calves were lashed together; her feet bound so that her knees formed a 八 shape when viewed head-on.
Her pants had slipped, exposing her undergarments. Peng Yuwol bit her lip, cheeks burning with shame.
“Heh heh heh, not over yet.”
He bound her abdomen to the frame with more cords. Perfectly restrained, she could not struggle free.
Rattle, rattle.
He swiftly released her acupoints. The moment her qi returned, she thrashed to escape, but to no avail.
“Ha ha ha! These shackles are forged from ten-thousand-year steel. Do you think they’re easy to break?”
“St-stop! Stahp…please…!”
“Ha ha ha! Polite? You know what’s coming! Then quietly endure it!”
He forced her jaw open, grabbed a glass vial from the wall, and twisted off the cap.
“Guh!? No!”
He poured a crimson liquid into her mouth. Peng Yuwol tried to resist, but under his force, she swallowed it all.
“Wha…did you…hic!?”
“What else but an aphrodisiac.”
He moved before her bound legs and gripped her knees.
"Heh heh, let’s see what’s inside…?"
He frowned as her knees remained shut. Straining every muscle, Peng Yuwol prevented him from seeing what lay between her legs.
“A-ahh!”
He tugged her knees apart. As they opened slightly, his awe flashed—then she snapped them shut again.
“N-no one does as they please! You fiend!”
“Oh? Then let’s see how long you hold out.”
He grabbed another vial and poured the aphrodisiac between her thighs.
“Ugh!!”
“If you don’t spread your legs, it will run down and seep…wherever. Underwear won’t stop it; the liquid will reach the most sensitive parts.”
To open her legs would only play into his hands. Peng Yuwol chose to resist.
“I-would rather die than open…my legs!”
“Hah hah! Let’s see how long that lasts! Phew, it’s hot in here.”
He wiped sweat from his brow and threw off his damp clothes, revealing a physique ill-suited to a warrior.
“I’ll smoke and be back.”
As he stepped out for a smoke, Peng Yuwol thrashed against her bonds.
“Ah… sob… ah…”
Her body grew unbearably hot.
Thud.
“Where do you damn fools think you’re smoking in a forest? Want to start a wildfire?”
I struck an acupoint. Chu Sogwang, holding a cigarette, froze in place. From behind, I jabbed a dagger into his lower back.
“You remember me?”
He nodded. I pressed the same acupoint he’d used on Peng Yuwol; he was helplessly immobilized.
I could feel his mind racing behind the cold sweat. Slashing the dagger wildly, I spoke.
“Imagine the gossip when word spreads that a minor escort lord mastered demonic arts. Right? Even more so when he drugs a lady with aphrodisiac to rape her.”
“Th-that’s….”
“Oh, you understand. Peng Yuwol must be formidable. A strong woman defying her husband—must be taught a lesson.”
He nodded vigorously. I snatched the cigarette from his grasp and snapped it out on the ground.
“Eek!”
Seeing his cigarette extinguished, he flinched.
The best way to demonstrate overwhelming mastery is by showcasing a famed void technique—like Phantom Void Smother or Heaven-severing Hand. That’s most effective.
“I-I’ve given you what you want, Young Hero!”
Indeed, at the sight of the extinguished cigarette, his qi collapsed. The demonic energy in his dantian deflated like a spent ember. He realized he could not challenge me.
“What I want? No, one thing remains.”
“W-What is it?!!”
“Peng Yuwol.”
Thud.
I drove the dagger into the base of his spine. Severely stabbed while sealed, he spat a gush of blood forward.
“Wh-why…?”
“I will claim Peng Yuwol’s maidenhood. And the Heavenly Replenishment Pill, too.”
“You son of….”
Thud.
I pushed the dagger deeper, suffusing it with my qi. Then I struck his nape with a second blade.
“A top-tier assassin stabs twice: once to kill, once to confirm.”
Though he was dead, he wouldn’t hear it.
I withdrew both daggers and stepped back. The qi infused in his spine stifled his blood flow; I distanced myself and dissipated that qi.
Fwoosh—!!
A fountain of blood erupted. From his neck and back, geysers of red shot skyward. I retrieved a cigarette from the pack he’d dropped and lit it.
“Sss—hah.”
Chu Sogwang was dead. Instincts aflame, a flood of questions surged through me.
Why did he use demonic arts? Was the escort bureau tied to the Demonic Sect? Was Peng Yuwol truly to marry him? If the pill rightfully belonged to the Peng Clan, was the escort bureau irrelevant? Did no one suspect he could wield demonic arts?
“Bah, enough. A smoke clears my mind.”
The cigarette intended to banish thoughts only stirred more. I tapped the ash off, then turned his body with my foot.
“…Indeed, Chu Sogwang.”
A knuckle’s breadth!
To spend a lifetime with such a man would be misery. I studied his face as I moved my qi.
“I will grant you a taste of the heavens for a moment. You wished to be acknowledged by Peng Yuwol as her husband. I will grant that wish. Only recently have I learned this technique. Heh heh.”
Crack, crack.
Bone twisted as my qi reshaped him. With thickening hands, I sculpted his features.
Body Remodeling Disguise.
“You are now Chu Daegwang.”
I copied all but one aspect of his body into myself.