Chapter 335: The Showdown Between Man and Ximen Qing (3)

Ajandeok had been asked to capture Ximen Qing alive.

And not just by anyone—but by the Chief Patriarch himself, who normally barked nothing but “That scammer bastard!” all day long and ordered him to use his conman brain to cook up something. Yet even that Chief Patriarch had sincerely begged this time.

So Ajandeok figured, if he could make the bastard owe him a favor here, wouldn’t life be easier for all the Green Forest lives going forward? And thus, he wrung out every possible scheme he could.

But humans are creatures who think only within the bounds of what they know—on the basis of what they believe to be obvious.

No matter how absolute a master one might be, no one could last forever in this brutal jungle.

This was a primeval forest so humid that mist lingered over it for most of the year.

It was early November now, and the nights were cold. With moisture in the air, maintaining body heat became difficult, making the climate feel even colder and harsher.

So during the day, they'd keep sending expendable foot soldiers to keep her constantly on the move, and at night, they’d block every pathway to stop her from escaping.

If they just left her like that long enough, the days would grow colder.

Exhausted from fatigue, starvation, and cold, she’d either collapse on her own or be forced to risk her life to try and break through the encirclement.

And when that moment came—when she was at her limits—the Green Forest elites, held in reserve all this time, would all rush in to subdue her and deliver her to the Chief Patriarch.

Or rather, the Chief Patriarch himself would probably be the first to charge in, so they wouldn’t even need to bother delivering her.

This strategy had been devised with consultation from the Green Forest’s Virtuous Man in terms of cultivation realm, and from Dou Sam, the Grand Master of Liangshan Stronghold, in terms of rank.

The question posed was: “How long can an absolute master survive in such a harsh forest?”

“Do absolute masters stay perfectly fine even when freezing winds blow, eating poisonous mushrooms and getting stung by venomous insects, only to burn away the toxins with their inner qi?”

Dou Sam, sitting at the threshold of the Fire Realm, answered confidently:

“No way. Maybe they can last a few days, but after ten days, their stamina and inner energy will be seriously depleted.”

Even he answered based on his personal experience at the early stages of the Absolute Mastery level.

And so came the first-day debrief:

As far as first-day results go—not bad.

Ximen Qing would’ve already grown quite exhausted, setting traps through the night.

Points for improvement:

Find out which bastard gave the daytime squads permission to hand out food rations.

Punish the bastard who aided the enemy’s supply line.

Unfortunately, the bastard aiding the enemy’s supply line was standing right next to him.

But there was no way to punish the Grand Master of Liangshan Stronghold, so instead, he could only try to talk him down gently, saying they had to stop Ximen Qing from looting food and shouldn’t be giving any away.

“What? You're saying we’re sending men into that savage forest without even letting them pack a meal?”

“Seventeen didn’t come back, didn’t they? If she caught just ten of them, that’d be thirty rice balls right there. A woman could ration that out for a whole month. Might spoil before that, sure, but it’s thanks to that we’ve had to extend this operation by a full ten days.”

“...Hrm.”

At that, Dou Sam realized his mistake.

Embarrassed, he could only change the subject.

“Hrm hrm... For early November, the nights are awfully cold this year. She’s probably shivering out there right now. Even with those rice balls, I doubt she’ll last long.”

****

“Ahh, so warm. You guys are unexpectedly useful, huh?”

Inside a shallow cave among jagged rocks, Qing giggled, buried deep in animal fur with a hunting dog tucked under each arm.

“But man... whew... that smell. Is it you guys, or is it you, bear-brute?”

Grrf... The bear supporting Qing’s back gave an aggrieved huff.

She’d stayed up all night yesterday. She really needed to get some sleep tonight.

And as a seasoned wilderness camper, Qing quickly assessed the forest's condition.

Even on the leaf piles, dew was gathering. That meant the ground below was soaking wet—press down and water would squish out.

No way she was sleeping on that. Too damp.

So she’d set out before sunset to find a proper sleeping spot.

The place was littered with bizarre rock formations.

Such rock faces were likely to have sunken spots, and dry stone underneath.

That’s when she stumbled across a surprisingly nice cave—but just as she was about to step in, four dogs—whom she had renamed White, Yellow, Black, and Eyebrows (formerly Zhao Zilong)—stood in her way, growling and baring their teeth into the cave.

White was white. Yellow was yellow. Black was black. As for the gray one, she didn’t know what to call it.

But it had a pale, round spot over its eye that looked like an eyebrow—so she called it Eyebrows.

Curious, she tried to step in, but the dogs whined and tugged at her pants.

What, you lowly mutts dare to hold a human back? Fine, you don’t want to bite? I’ll go in myself—

And so she dragged her leg inside.

What she found was a bear, just entering hibernation.

Even animals get pissed when woken up, that’s just common beast-sense.

The bear, still sluggish from sleep, swung a strike powerful enough to crush a bull’s skull straight at Qing.

So Qing beat the shit out of it in return.

A master’s punches really hurt.

It was the first pain the bear had ever truly felt.

A bear’s thick hide, fatty insulation, and springy muscle could usually absorb even falling rocks.

But a qi-packed fist, striking with the essence of unified body techniques, hurt so bad that even a bear had to cry out in agony.

Bears are clever creatures, too.

It instinctively realized that fighting back would get it killed.

So it reined in its temper, sat quietly, and watched Qing’s every move.

Then, as Qing nudged it, it meekly lay down on the ground.

Satisfied she meant no further harm, she climbed on top and made herself comfortable.

To a bear, having a damned wolf lie on its back would be an unbearable humiliation—if they were of the same species.

But this was a human. And a terrifying one at that. So the bear endured.

And Qing? She was thrilled.

The bear was fattened up for hibernation, so it was plushier than most beds.

She had no blankets, but the dogs lay over her, sharing their warmth and their adorably chaotic heartbeat thumps.

Only problem: the smell.

“Ugh. I’m too tired to care today. But tomorrow, I’m finding a river and giving all of you a wash. You guys smell like... dogs...” Snore.

Having stayed up the entire previous night, Qing fell into a near-comatose sleep.

Thus begins...

Qing’s Forest Diary.

Day One.

Ate rice balls. Roamed around setting traps.

Found some netting among the spoils and used it to lay an enhanced trap.

But those damned bandits brought another dog.

Trying to abandon dogs, are they? Unforgivable. Death penalty.

Day Four.

Now I’ve got eight dogs.

Running out of rice balls. Might have to catch some wild animals for meat.

Still, with eight of them snuggling up, it’s toasty at night.

Day Six.

Today’s dog count: eleven.

I wandered around laying traps looking for something tasty.

Now the bandits have just stopped showing up—they only send dogs.

I keep hearing wailing, and every time I check, someone’s been skewered.

Maybe I overdid the traps? No fun anymore.

Day Seven.

Caught a wild boar.

The piglet was so cute, I gave it a little pat—and its mother came charging.

I underestimated it. It really hurt.

Boar charges are worse than Bear-brute’s.

In a fit of rage, I flicked its forehead without thinking—and who knew boar skulls were so soft?

I wanted to roast it, but too much effort. The dogs went wild instead.

Boar meat tastes bad anyway—not worth building a fire.

Day Eight.

Today’s dog count: thirteen.

And for some reason, a pack of wolves I passed started wagging tails and following me.

Now I’ve got eight wolves.

They say dogs and wolves are the same species, right? That makes twenty-one.

An utter doghouse. Literally.

Day Eleven.

Qing’s patience finally exploded.

This can’t go on!

It’s been over ten days since I had fire food!

I’m no ascetic monk (I am, actually)!

How the hell is a person supposed to survive on vegetarian crap?!

The rice balls are spoiled. I could eat them, but I’m so sick of them I can’t anymore.

Honestly, not bathing for days starts to feel fine after a point.

And with all these animal roommates, it’s gotten so warm I actually start sweating.

Bear-brute, unhappy about the growing houseguests, finally gave up and went into full hibernation.

So no, I’m not uncomfortable.

But this food situation? Unforgivable.

So Qing stormed through the forest, caught a deer and two pheasants, threw the deer to the dogs and wolves, and declared she was building a fire.

Wet forest or not, fire wasn’t impossible—just annoying.

The trick was finding dry wood for kindling. She had to split logs and dig out the dry core inside.

She shaved them down into fine, thread-thin curls with her Azure Glazed Sword, piled it all up, struck her flint, blew on it—

Oh! Fire!

Feeding the flame with damp wood meant it took forever to catch, but eventually it burned.

From there, even wet logs would keep burning.

Only downside: massive smoke.

Oh well. Let’s call it smoked meat. Whatever tree this is.

As Qing roasted her pheasant on her Moonlight Sword (#10), the oily smoke pierced the leaf canopy and spiraled into the sky.

****

Ajandeok, Green Forest’s strategist, saw the smoke.

“Aha! Finally! The time has come!”

“You mean we can finally go catch Ximen Qing?”

“She lit a fire! She must’ve been freezing and starving—she couldn’t endure any longer!”

She wasn’t cold. Or starving.

The food was just gross.

“Think about it. She stopped showing herself. That means she grew too weak, relying solely on traps.”

Wrong again.

She just got lazy.

Trying all those traps had gotten too fun.

The bandits kept following the dogs and getting themselves killed—so there wasn’t even anything to play with if she went out.

“And even though she needed warmth, she didn’t light a fire until now. That means she was desperately trying to hide her location. But now, heat outweighs stealth!”

If Qing had heard this, she would’ve said,

“What kind of dumbass runs a con with logic like this?”

But Ajandeok was operating purely off conventional wisdom.

Who would’ve guessed a twenty-year-old girl had reached the Unburning Cold level and could just curl up and sleep through the chill?

Even if someone told them Qing was sleeping cozily as the alpha bitch of a wolf pack, no one would believe such absurdity.

He had no way of knowing she had become so poison-immune that she could eat dirt and suffer no harm—

even if she couldn’t digest it.

“She’s clearly weakened now. If we want to catch her alive, we’ll have to go easy with our strikes.”

“Tch. You worry too much. That little bitch is just at the beginning of Absolute Mastery. Even if she’s not weakened, she’s no threat. Just make sure you don’t get overexcited and kill her.”

Grinding his teeth, the Green Forest Chief Patriarch let out a growl that sounded almost like sobbing laughter.

Finally... Wonga, Wonchu, this father will offer your enemy the grandest funeral rites you’ve ever seen.

And so, the full force of the Green Forest mobilized and surged into the Wonga mountain jungle.

****

A filthy beggar girl was roasting pheasant.

Her wet clothes were so soaked in animal fur and grime that you couldn’t even tell what color they were originally.

Her body was a mess, so surely her face was too—but with her face veil on, no one could say for sure.

Still, a beauty is a beauty, no matter how filthy.

Even if she took off the veil, her beauty would remain unmarred.

So Qing hummed cheerfully, spinning her pheasant on the Moonlight Sword (#10), roasting it evenly.

She’d already eaten one.

After licking it clean, she figured: screw saving it—might as well cook the second one while the fire’s still going.

Around her, complete canine chaos reigned.

Some gnawed bones, others play-battled and rolled in the dirt.

Then suddenly—

All the dogs pricked their ears up at once.

They leapt to their feet, bared their teeth, and stood on all fours.