Chapter 85: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Serial Murder Case: #5 No Chinaman Must Figure In The Story. (4)

Chapter 85: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Serial Murder Case: #5 No Chinaman Must Figure In The Story. (4)

Seol Ganom looked just as gaunt and hollow-cheeked now as he did a week ago, all skin and bones.

Yet why did he somehow seem prettier?

Qing's powers of observation were exactly what you'd expect from someone of her background.

She was confident she wouldn't notice if someone was secretly living in her house for at least a week, even if furniture moved and food gradually disappeared.

But if even I can tell, there must be some dramatic change, right?

What is it? Why does he look prettier?

Did his nostrils get narrower?

His head shape seems a bit more slender too.

Qing scrutinized Seol Ganom's face closely.

Finally, she spotted the decisive difference.

Right, the eyes!

Originally, Seol Ganom had long, narrow eyes with tiny pupils like grains of millet, looking every bit the squinting villainous mastermind in the shadows.

But now those eyes... Like, what the... I mean, like...

What man has eyes like that, for fuck's sake.

Qing thought with utter disgust.

Those eyelashes, what the hell...

Of course, Qing didn't just think this to herself.

After all, she was not one to hold back.

"Did you glue on fake eyelashes?"

Seol Ganom replied calmly.

"It is a side effect."

"Sure, the Blissful Maiden Art is a Fairy Art, but is it that potent?"

After all, hadn’t the Sutra itself state that the Blissful Maiden Art had been created by a Fairy?

But still, was that really how the Appearance Stat would turn out when increased?

Even if Qing had chosen male as her gender, her Appearance Stat would have remained the same.

In that case, if Appearance increased, she would have become handsome, not pretty.

Seol Ganom resolved Qing's doubts.

"It's because I originally cultivated the Supreme Yin Jade Maiden Divine Art."

"The Supreme Yin Jade Maiden Divine Art?"

As stated multiple times before, when Qing didn't know something, the whole world could see her ignorance at a glance. As such, Seol Ganom explained.

"It's a nasty Demonic Art that turns you into a woman. I tried to replace it with the Ice Sura Demonic Art. I did not realize your Blissful Maiden Art was an orthodox Daoist teaching. I thought the Bliss Palace was just a den full of lustful harlots."

The Blissful Maiden Art was a Divine Art that suppressed the Demonic and converted them into pure True Qi.

It was also a martial art that followed the Daoist principle of the Golden Mean.

As the Blissful Maiden Art suppressed and embraced the Ice Sura Demonic Art, purifying it, the original Supreme Yin Jade Maiden Divine Art that had been replaced was revived.Th.ê most uptod/ate novels a/re published on n(0)velbj)n(.)c/o/m

Jade Maiden meant a woman as pure as jade, implying purity both inside and out.

Supreme Yin referred to the purest and greatest cold Qi, Orthodox Yin.

The cultivation of a righteous and pure beauty.

This was the very definition of walking the Orthodox Path.

In other words, it was a selective symbiotic target for the Blissful Maiden Art.

"Uh, so what does that mean exactly?"

"It means the Ice Sura Demonic Art I had gone through great difficulty to learn has scattered, and the achievements of the Supreme Yin Divine Art I had abandoned have returned. No, in fact, they have even surpassed what they were before."

Right. That's how it's supposed to be...

I'm the abnormal one, I guess. Just me. Alone.

Qing suppressed a sudden surge of emotion.

What had occurred to Seol Ganom was the natural characteristic of Inner Qi for these primitive, uncivilized natives of ancient China.

Compatible True Qi is absorbed into the highest one, while the rest that can't be absorbed dissipates.

Only Cultivation Techniques of the same level could coexist symbiotically without rejecting each other.

If not that, there were a few mysterious Cultivation Techniques like the Blissful Maiden Art that remained separate.

One couldn't just learn anything they wanted like Qing did.

Incompatible True Qi fighting separately and circulating through meridians regardless of the owner's will?

In the Central Plains, this phenomenon was called Qi Deviation.

The reason Qing was fine was due to her Character Settings.

Because it was a character's body.

Not a person.

I’m not a person.

From the start, Qing's elimination of evil people had little to do with world peace or righteousness.

The reasons Qing started eliminating evil people were:

First, to gather Practice Points and become a Master to survive.

Second, for financial abundance.

Third, because it was fun.

During the roughly ten days she went berserk, fun had briefly become the top priority, but survival was still above that.

The reason she immediately cowered and became submissive to people with suspiciously high Evil Karma like Un Yeonyoung was ultimately a desperate struggle to survive.

She had never played the role of an executioner going around looking for bad guys to kill, and she had no intention of doing so in the future.

Though Qing didn't clearly realize it yet, a new, imperfect category of ‘friend’ had wedged itself into her current classification of how someone was either ‘human’ or ‘an evil person’.

Qing spoke to her friend.

"Ah, right. So, I was meaning to say. I've had some realizations lately."

Seol Ganom brightened up.

He thought she was finally showing the clear, refreshing gaze befitting a Female Expert of the Orthodox Faction.

It seemed he thought she was going to stop her meaningless killing spree.

"Oho. That is welcome news. Then, now-"

Our hearts, our minds seem to have connected!

Qing happily continued Seol Ganom's words.

"I need to choose who to kill more carefully. I've been killing way too indiscriminately up till now, right?"

"...?"

Seol Ganom doubted his ears.

Did he hear that wrong?

Regardless of what he thought, Qing continued.

"So, could you make me a list of bastards crucial to the Demonic Cult? So that when the situation arises later, I can poke holes in their group."

This was the biggest point of reflection for Qing after regaining her senses.

It's good and all to search for escape techniques.

But fundamentally, ensuring survival at the moment of escape was the top priority.

“Um. I am sorry to change my mind, but could I get that Secret Manual back now? If you die stupidly, the manual will fall into the Demonic Cult's hands. I do not want to get mixed up in that."

"Hey now, haven't you heard about 'no takesies-backsies’? Are you really a man if you don’t keep your word?"

"Even when I could not be considered a complete man, I poured water on myself every night because I wanted to live. How much more so do you think my survival instinct would be now?"

Indeed, Seol Ganom, there's nothing I can say to refute that.

So Qing got straight to the point.

"So actually, in about a month? Or so..."

Qing spilled everything she had learned.

About the Alleged Supreme and the Heavenly Demon Tomb.

She planned to pretend to cooperate obediently, then smash the Heavenly Demon Spirit and escape, so she needed to take out important figures in advance to prepare for that moment.

Qing readily admitted her shortcomings.

That was why she was so shameless in seeking advice from her friend who had such a brilliant intellect.

Seol Ganom, who usually didn't hesitate to use derogatory terms for the Demonic Cult, nodded at Qing's plan.

"Indeed. You are quite cunning when it comes to those kinds of things, I see. Even if you escape now, those Demonic Cult bastards won't give up on you since you are the key. But you are not strong enough to face them head-on, so you want to inflict as much critical damage as possible before running away. Is that right?"

"Exactly."

"Hmm. Let’s see."

Seol Ganom stroked his chin.

"The best method would be to make allies for yourself."

"Like you, Seol Ganom?"

Seol Ganom's eyebrows moved up and down once each.

"Well, you are free to think what you want."

"What? Aren't we friends? Are you abandoning your friend? You don’t want to be friends anymore?"

"Friends cannot always be on the same side. Not betraying trust is the virtue of true friendship. Blindly taking sides regardless of the circumstance just makes us bad friends who hold each other back."

It was a fair point, so she couldn’t say much to retort.

As such, Qing just frowned.

"Agh shit. You've got me there. Fine, explain then. So what do you mean by making allies?"

"Well, you are young and beautiful with big tits, so you could seduce a few Demonic Adepts and..."

"Rejected."

Qing shot down the idea /genesisforsaken