Chapter 332: Grace Is Easy to Forget, but Grudges Are Hard to Let Go (8)

A defining trait of someone ratting others out is that—even if they’re about to die—they’ll insist none of it was their fault.

So if someone starts tattling with “I was a little in the wrong too...” then objectively, it means they’ve fucked up to a scale worthy of being declared a public menace in the Murim.

“Ximen Qing? But wasn’t there a decree from Geumsan—”

“Yes! That bitch just suddenly drew her sword and—!”

Do Usam frowned.

First, the lowlife bastard had interrupted him, which was annoying.

And second, the content of that interruption was deeply unsettling.

“Ximen Qing, huh. What kind of grudge drives someone to storm right into our front yard? Fine. How many were there? What was their strength? Any elites?”

“She was alone! She came by herself!”

“Alone? Alone?! Are you telling me an entire Nokrim battle unit got completely fucked up by one green little girl?”

Do Usam’s brow twitched.

Sure, the unit had been a glorified escort squad, more for giving the young master a chance to rack up merit than for actual combat.

Still, we’re talking about one damn girl.

Sure, there’d been belated reports of her reaching Peak Mastery, but even so—someone freshly at the threshold of Peak Mastery?

Even if she could use Sword Aura, how long, how well, how skillfully could she possibly wield it?

Do Usam remembered when he himself had first reached Peak Mastery, twenty-something years ago.

He nearly killed himself more than once trying to force out Sword Aura with weak, immature inner force.

That’s the truth of early Peak Mastery—fragile as hell. Like a kid playing with a new toy: reckless, unskilled, easily burnt out.

“Hmph. So she does know how to fight.”

“Commander?”

“Just look at how cruel her strikes were. What sort of righteous lady hero from the orthodox sects takes joy in cutting people down? She did it deliberately—to sow fear. And judging by the results, it worked. Half of them ran, and the other half froze in terror, watching and hesitating.”

He was half right, half wrong.

It was true that Qing had intentionally been more brutal to instill fear.

But she also was a killer.

It wasn’t just joy—it was pleasure.

If the ancient and uncivilized Central Plains had a word like “thrill-killer,” it would’ve fit her to a tee.

Do Usam turned to his men.

“Burn this into your skulls. Cruelty is one hell of a weapon. She may be at Peak Mastery, but she’s just a fledgling. She’s a girl barely twenty—how many battles could she possibly have fought?

If you’d all just kept your nerve and charged together, if not a single one of you had backed down—

Well, we’d still have the same number of corpses, sure, but she’d be the one hanging naked in chains before the Chief.”

“Yes, Commander!”

“But isn’t this odd? I could’ve sworn the order passed down was clear: kill any bastard who tried to run. Absolutely no retreat. Hunt her down no matter what.”

“I-I didn’t run—I—”

“Fear answers fear. Kill this little shit in the most horrific way you can and hang what’s left up over there. Post a big-ass sign with his name and crime on it. The other mountain gangs are going to show up soon—let them all get a nice, clear look at what happens to deserters.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Wait. No. Hold on.”

Do Usam grinned.

A bloody, bone-deep grin that looked a hell of a lot like the kind Qing wore—

A grin thick with anticipation and menace.

“I’ll do it myself. It’s been a while since I’ve seen something this exciting.”

****

If you head east from the summit of Tianmen Mountain’s Yuknak Peak, you come to a place called Yuanjia Ravine—a vast expanse of primeval forest.

It’s the exact iconic image most associate with Zhangjiajie: hundreds of towering stone columns and irregular cliffs rising above the sea of dense forest.

But set foot on the forest floor, and that scenery vanishes.

The place is somewhere between a jungle and a forest—thick trees packed so densely that they form a solid canopy overhead.

You can’t see the sky at all.

Even at the brightest point of the day in mid-summer, sunlight barely makes it through. It’s dim and shadowed all the time.

By the time Qing finished descending the steep slope, the November sun had already set.

And if it’s like that during the day—

Then at night?

What the hell. I seriously can’t see anything in front of me.

She wondered for a moment if maybe she had her eyes closed. She shut them tighter just to check—

And honestly, it was easier to “see” that way.

At least with her eyes closed, she could catch faint flickers of internal light, traces behind her eyelids.

With her eyes open, it was pure black. Nothing. Not a single shape, not a sliver of light.

Zhangjiajie was humid year-round.

After sunset, the cooling ground released a heavy fog that blanketed the forest.

Even Qing, whose eyes had surpassed human limits—who could focus light like a lens—couldn’t see a damn thing when there was nothing for the light to reflect off of.

Still, despite seeing absolutely nothing, she moved forward smoothly, steadily, without once bumping into anything.

All thanks to the Awakened Core Technique.

Mist—unlike wind—flowed with a clarity that could be felt.

Her spatial awareness expanded to twice its usual range, and with it, she could avoid trees, pits, and cliffs, gliding along as if out for a nighttime stroll.

Qing knew full well that her body had long since surpassed the limits of human beings.

That included her vision.

And if she couldn’t see anything...

Then what hope did those bandits have?

If she just used the cover of night and slipped out, that’d be the end of it.

The thought made her feel rather pleased with herself.

Nice. I knew I was amazing.

Not a single flaw to be found.

Even though it had been pure dumb luck, she swaggered smugly.

All she had to do now was head south and get out—

South, south...

Wait. Which way is south?

Of course, Qing wasn’t completely ignorant.

She’d lived in a world without pocket maps long enough to pick up some basic directional skills.

Usually, just glancing at the sky would be enough.

But, uh. I can’t see the sky.

Fine. Then observe the trees.

Trees tend to stretch their branches toward the south, so the denser side usually points that way.

Except... I can’t see the trees either.

Not that it would’ve helped even if she could.

Qing didn’t know it, but in primeval forests like this one, tree branches don’t stretch south.

They stretch upward. Always upward.

Competing with one another to climb higher, they grow straight up regardless of direction.

Okay, what about tree stumps?

Can’t see any.

Moss on rocks?

Too wet. The whole damn place is just moss.

“Shit. I’m lost...”

Qing finally admitted it. She was stranded.

Still, that didn’t mean she was scared.

It just meant she couldn’t orient herself right now.

Once the sun came up, she’d find her bearings. Easy.

So the smartest plan here would be to use her super-optimized-for-homelessness body to get a full night’s rest—recharge her strength—and head out in the morning.

But once again, her reckless impulsiveness tripped her up.

You think I’m gonna lie around sleeping while those Nokrim bastards are out there hunting me down like rabid dogs?

Besides, it’s not like she couldn’t walk.

Sure, she couldn’t tell direction, but her legs worked just fine.

Maybe she’d just walk straight and make it out of the woods before sunrise. If not, no big deal.

Best case: I escape by dawn. Huge win.

Worst case: sun comes up, I get my bearings then, and head out. Still fine.

So if staying put does nothing and moving might help... isn’t standing still the real waste of time?

It’s not like the forest is infinite.

If she just walked straight, how far could it really be? She’d probably get out before morning.

...If she could walk straight, that is.

What Qing didn’t account for was that humans cannot walk in a straight line through a forest.

And if she failed to get out—

It wasn’t “no harm, no foul.”

It meant she’d just walked deeper in.

There’s a reason people are told, when lost in the mountains, don’t move.

Stay still. Signal for help.

But Qing?

She’d just begun her full-fledged jungle exploration.

It was a waste of energy, pointless to the core—

But then again, isn’t that what most so-called “exploration” usually is?

****

During the fight, Qing had gotten something—presumably from her own side—smashed across her back with a loud clang, covering her in a sticky liquid.

Thankfully, there was no need to be disturbed.

It was just a kind of oil with a scent imperceptible to humans—fragrant oil, that’s all.

Unfortunately for Qing, Nokrim happened to breed a whole pack of dogs trained specifically to track that oil.

Several of them picked up her scent and followed it, fanning out across the southern cliffs of Yuknak Peak.

Unable to descend the steep earthen ridges, they circled around to the far eastern edge, barking viciously as they tracked her trail.

Do Usam was speechless.

So she’d done all that slaughter, and instead of fleeing, she’d calmly taken her time to enjoy one of the Six Pleasures of Yuknak Peak—those scenic cliffs—and then disappeared into the Yuanjia Ravine jungle?

“What a clever girl. And bold, too. If it weren’t for the tracking oil, we would’ve let her slip through right under our noses.”

She must have heard the signal flares going up from all directions.

Which meant she’d realized that no matter where she fled, she’d run into enemies.

So she’d flipped the script.

She’d buried herself in that dense forest cover of Yuanjia Ravine, waiting for them to rush out along the main road in pursuit.

Since she had to wait anyway, she figured she might as well enjoy the view.

And this... this is the kind of courage a girl of just twenty is supposed to have?

Do Usam was sincerely impressed.

The hands that had carried out such a beautiful massacre, paired with that (possibly nonexistent) strategic mind and her absurd fearlessness—

If she weren’t an enemy who needed to die, he might’ve asked her to bear his child.

Of course, after killing two of the Chief’s sons, there was no way she could be allowed to live.

In any case, because of that, the combat units from the surrounding mountain strongholds—after witnessing the deserter’s gruesome fate—promptly returned to their own camps.

The sun was about to set.

And Nokrim’s men knew just how lethal the mountains became at night.

With everyone having scrambled to respond, they weren’t in any shape to charge into Yuanjia Ravine just yet.

The real hunt would begin tomorrow.

But there was something else more pressing.

They had to report this to the Supreme Chief.

And if they sent a subordinate... well, knowing the Chief’s temper, there was no guarantee the messenger would come back alive.

But even the Supreme Chief couldn’t kill the commander of the Yangsanbak Corps.

So Do Usam would have to report it himself.

Which is why his footsteps were heavy as he approached the Chief’s Hall in Nokrim’s main stronghold.

And, of course—

The moment he finished his report, the Supreme Chief raised his hand.

If you dodge, you get hit worse.

Do Usam stiffened his neck in preparation—

“No... no. It’s not your fault, Usam. Kh...!”

In a shocking turn of events, the Supreme Chief held back his blow!

Do Usam’s eyes went wide.

Sure, the Chief suppressing his temper was astonishing on its own—

But what shocked him even more—

The Chief... was crying blood.

“Brother.”

“That bitch. That bitch has to die and be offered as a blood sacrifice. No—she has to be eaten alive. I’ll rip her apart bit by bit, starting with her fingers and toes.

When she begs for death, I’ll drown her in a piss barrel. Hey. Brother. What do you think?

Will she drown? Or panic and gulp it down until her belly bursts?

Will she die from drowning, or from piss poisoning first?

Aren’t you curious? Don’t you want to know?”

This was the grudge of a father who had lost two sons.

His eyes were ruptured with blood vessels, streaming crimson tears as words steeped in venom poured from his mouth.

“No. No, wait—something more miserable. What could be more pathetic?

Ah, right. She’s a woman.

So in the daytime, we’ll pull her out of the piss barrel and leave her out.

What do you think, huh?

You think those filthy bandit fucks will still try to fuck her, even soaked in piss, if she’s pretty enough?

Don’t you wonder?”

“Brother.”

“Yes, I know. I know. Trying to capture her alive will cost us a lot of lives.

But Usam... let me ask you—please, I’m begging you. Please.”

Do Usam looked down at the Supreme Chief’s trembling hands—

At the tears, thick with blood, dripping from his chin.

So what else could he say?

“...I’ll carry out your orders.”

It was during this exact time that Qing, clueless, was still wandering through the primeval forest.

Thus began the night before the final battle.