Chapter 339: The Showdown Between Man and Ximen Qing (7)

As she stepped into the bathhouse, a wave of hot steam surged over Qing, wrapping around her body and soaking into her chest through her nose like a warm mist. She could feel her whole torso grow damp and relaxed from the inside out.

Yes. This. This is it.

“What the—who’s there?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just soak that filthy body of yours. Oh, by the way—do you have any Hyangjo? If not, Byeokgam or Hwijip works. Wait—you don’t use Ban, do you? That stuff doesn’t clean for shit. But even that’s fine. Hand it over if you’ve got it.”

Hyangjo was the highest-grade beauty soap in the Central Plains. Byeokgam was a bit cheaper but still far too pricey for any commoner to dream of affording. Hwijip was the juice from the fruit of the silgori tree, and Ban was just rice rinse water.

She was speaking as if she’d left them on deposit.

“What the fuck? Who the hell do you think you are, talking like that?”

“Shouldn’t you be watching your mouth? Who the fuck are you to start barking in banmal? Just some bandit whore’s daughter acting like she’s royalty?”

The woman gasped and shut her mouth.

That was the thing about demonic sect types.

The moment someone came at them harder, they’d hesitate—Wait, is this someone important?

And so the woman’s mind spun.

Who is this? Who dares call me a bandit whore’s daughter?

A senior in the Unorthodox Alliance? Could she be one of their elite?

But even if she was, the words had crossed a line. Calling the daughter of the Head of Nokrim just a “bandit whore” was basically reducing the leader of Nokrim to a common thug.

“Ahem... And where exactly might you be from—?”

“Didn’t I ask you a question? Got any Hyangjo?”

Qing caught the flicker of hesitation and pressed the attack.

And sure enough, the response came back in a squirming mumble.

“Uh, I—it’s over there... on the platform...”

“Ooh. You really do have some? Damn, bandits have money to burn. This big-ass block of Hyangjo? You must’ve shelled out a good amount of gold for this.”

Bathhouses with full facilities usually had a familiar layout.

Three stone tubs—one heated to a scalding boil, one at room temperature, and the middle one adjusted to just the right warmth by mixing the two.

Naturally, one had to wash before entering the bath.

Qing grabbed the Byeokgam and took a seat by the hot tub. She scooped out a big ladleful of steaming water.

A little too hot?

Didn’t matter.

Qing had Ice Technique.

It wasn’t strong in combat, but when it came to cooling down heat, there was nothing better.

She splashed the warm water over herself, soaking every inch with a blissful gasp.

Ahhh, fuck yeah. This. This is what life’s about.

The woman was dumbfounded.

Who the hell is this woman? Marching in like it’s hers, using my water, my bath, my Hyangjo to wash herself?

But then again—wasn’t Cheonjae, ranked twenty-ninth in Yangsanband, on guard duty outside?

If she weren’t someone important, there’s no way she’d have been let in without even asking.

Plus, her casual tone, the way she ignored her entirely... Was she really someone that high up?

Awkward to talk to, but even more awkward to flee—it would feel like she was admitting defeat.

While she hesitated in silence, the bathhouse intruder finally stopped her intense scrubbing and slipped into the tub on the opposite side.

And then—the woman saw her face.

So breathtakingly beautiful that she couldn’t believe such a woman existed in the world. Even as a fellow woman, she was stunned speechless and stared in a daze.

Qing didn’t give a single shit.

She tilted her head.

“What the hell? This water’s lukewarm as hell. What kind of ‘hot’ bath is this? It’s just warm piss.”

Then she opened the valve to the hot tub.

As the water temperature quickly rose to proper scalding, Qing shut the valve again and leaned back with a satisfied sigh, letting out some strange, guttural moan.

“Excuse me—”

“What now?”

“Um... I... Who are you?”

“If you ask me who I am, then I am Ximen Qing.”

“Ximen Qing?!”

The woman shot up with a shriek.

They weren’t close. In fact, she’d been glad to hear she was dead.

But still—she was her brothers’ mortal enemy!

And just like that, Qing’s vision was flooded with a blur of bare skin.

“Oof. Jungle wilderness.”

“You—how did you get here—? You came to kill me, didn’t you?! Kang! Escort Kang!”

As the woman turned to call for help, Qing grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back.

“Kyaaak!! L-let—lghh—”

And here came a surprising fact!

When your mouth is full of water, you can’t scream.

Sure, sound came out, but it didn’t transmit properly. Maybe it was due to the medium.

But scientific analysis had no place here. That was for soulless STEM freaks who couldn’t read a room and always had to butt in with logic.

Qing, full of liberal arts sensitivity, simply marveled at this beautiful discovery—a new truth of the natural world, the ecology of the human body.

With the woman’s face pressed deep into the bathwater, Qing didn’t even have to use much force.

Her strength had long since surpassed human limits. She could dunk a bear, never mind some dainty girl.

The woman started splashing excitedly, kicking the water in every direction.

Forced submersion—wasn’t that a universal childhood game, all around the world?

The woman seemed to be reconnecting with her inner child. Too excited, even.

Thrashing wildly, kicking up water like crazy.

Well, if she’s enjoying it this much, I’m happy.

Qing counted to thirty in her head and pulled the woman back up.

Her head burst out of the water with no help needed, like a geyser.

Then came the hrrrghh—a sound like someone downing a whole bowl of spicy soup.

Wow. That had soul. Do you eat gukbap often?

No radish kimchi broth today, but allow me to offer a special Qing-infused soup instead. Let’s call it... Beauty Stew, maybe?

Once wouldn’t be enough.

Back in she went.

Splish, splash. Bath time fun.

One, two, three... thirty.

Qing pulled her up again.

Guhhh—gurrghh—desperate gasps for breath.

Qing looked at her own hand, then at the top of the woman’s head.

Three hundred eighty-three points.

Through the truth serum moment known as “Spill Everything You Know,” Qing had learned a few things.

Among them, something about the Head’s daughter’s... peculiar taste.

Judging by the evil deeds radiating off her—this must be that infamous cannibal bitch.

Cannibalism wasn’t unheard of among bandits.

If you grew up with it, you probably didn’t think it was weird anymore.

But to prefer it fresh—to enjoy freshly caught human flesh like rare beef?

That kind of freak was rare even among bandits.

Some bandits didn’t mind. She was pretty, the Head’s daughter—worth the occasional effort to catch a fresh one for her.

Others, though, shuddered at the thought. No matter how pretty, that’s just fucked up.

Even her closest escort—Cheonam, the late Cheonam—who’d been picked for the job specifically because he was too ugly to tempt her, couldn’t hide his revulsion. He’d called her a monstrous freak who butchered and ate people.

Now Qing felt a bit bad for the Head.

Turns out the young master she’d killed was this cannibal’s brother.

With all the kids turning out like this, you had to wonder what kind of education that household had.

How the hell do your first, second, and third kids end up a rapist murderer, a rapist murderer, and a flesh-eating butcher?

That’s karma, isn’t it?

So, more waterboarding—er, no, more water play. Two dips weren’t enough to build real rapport.

And Koreans always do things in threes, don’t they?

Back in.

Wow. I’m being so generous today.

Let’s toss in another for free.

Back in.

Oh my goodness—bonus on a bonus!

One plus one!

Back in.

THE BOSS HAS LOST HER DAMN MIND!

WOW! Cheaper than used shoes, and it comes with submersion!

Sure, the shoes might be from that Western brand named after the god of wisdom or some Golden Goose-level luxury, but if that’s how we’re measuring things, then my dunking is a luxury item too—high-end.

Wheels? No—submersion.

We may sell submersions, but we do not sell conscience.

Because my conscience is too rare and expensive to waste on suckers like you.

DUNK!

Technically speaking, partial submersion isn’t even a real thing. It’s just a little dip, that’s all. You’re cleaner now, so really, what’s the problem?

What’s that? You’re not buying? Just browsing? Just... b-browsing!?

Customer, this really puts me in a tough spot here. Man, my fists are crying—I swear, if I could legally beat your ass, I would. Fuck!

SUBMERSION!

Wow, I really went all out with the generosity today.

If I keep giving like this, what’s left for me?

Absolutely nothing. I’m ruined.

Store closing. Final sale. Clearing out inventory.

DUNK. DUNK. DUNK.

Finally, at the end of this long game—after rediscovering the joys of childhood water play—the woman, exhausted beyond belief, slumped against the bath edge, body limp.

“Spare me—hrrghk.”

She’d swallowed too much water, and now her insides were sending out a formal protest in the form of a burp.

“Did you seriously just burp in front of me? What, your parents never taught you manners—oh wait, right, you’re a bandit’s brat. I get it, but that doesn’t mean I forgive you. Water creates etiquette!”

“Hiiiek—!”

Still unable to stand straight, the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} woman flailed around and ended up dunking herself again, then crawled out by clinging to the bath wall like a drowning rat.

She had been barely conscious even inside the tub.

Outside, with no buoyancy to help her, there was no way she could move well. She flopped onto the stone floor with a wet slap and began dragging herself desperately across it.

“You have until the count of ten to come back. Otherwise, it’s ten more dunkings. One, two, three...”

“Hiiik!”

She jerked upright in a panic and managed two frantic steps before—wham! She fell flat and rolled hard across the stone.

It looked painful as hell.

But pain aside, running away? Seriously?

A dangerous gleam flickered in Qing’s eyes.

Here I am, trying to enjoy a nice, hot bath, and this bitch is pissing me off.

Was gonna play a little more before killing her—but now she’s making me get out of the bath, goddammit.

Still, if she let her go, the girl would probably get away.

Not that she had anywhere useful to go—but if she ran around screaming and managed to help even one of the leftover scraps escape, that’d be a waste.

Qing heaved her heavy ass out of the tub, stepped out, and seized the woman by the hair.

“Ack! Please! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“You should’ve been sorry before becoming a fucking monster. When you were slicing people apart for fun, just to satisfy your freak tongue, did you spare even one life?”

“I won’t do it again! Khhhk, I swear I won’t—!”

Qing shook her head firmly.

“Everyone regrets it after they’re fucked. That’s not remorse. That’s just regret. If you wanted to change, you should’ve repented before shit hit the fan. But hey, cheer up. If you really try hard, maybe I’ll let you live.”

****

In the past, Qing had once sought the advice of a brilliant strategist—smart enough to represent an entire province.

And with that brilliant mind, the man had gladly helped her. Qing had learned a great deal in the process.

Among the lessons from the greatest mind in Shengji Prefecture:

If you want to throw an organization into chaos—burn it down.

Fire’s the best.

The target was Nokrim’s First Stronghold, located on the rocky ridge between Tianzi Peak and its neighboring summit.

Plus, from halfway up Tianzi Mountain, the fog got so thick you could barely see three jang ahead.

So even if flames rose up, no one below would notice.

Thus, the news that your house burned beautifully didn’t arrive until two days later.

That night, they all pulled back and slept deeply.

No one patrolled the jungle at night—it was pitch dark, and even if someone had been out there, they’d be blind as bats in the misty wilderness of the original household grounds.

They had their late dinner, lit fires inside the barracks, and drifted off warm and cozy.

As far as strategy went, they figured: Let her sleep out in the wet, cold forest. She’ll lose stamina over time. The longer this drags out, the better for us.

So the next day came.

If it weren’t for the logistics crew who’d returned to the main compound from the warehouses after delivering supplies to the assassin team, no one would’ve known about the fire.

And General Wang Cheolgwan had just come back from a failed field operation when the news reached him.

Nokrim’s First Stronghold. Nearly reduced to ash.

“Say that again. SAY IT AGAIN!”

“W-we believe someone set it on fire...”

“And Rani? What happened to Rani?!”

Mountain Thunder Ajandeok glanced nervously at the Head.

“T-that is... unfortunately...”

Ajandeok had been stationed at camp when the bad news reached him, and he’d immediately pushed the reserve troops to begin a full sweep of the main stronghold.

But there wasn’t much to sweep.

Everything had burned beautifully.

The First Stronghold was Nokrim’s main headquarters.

It had been built with solid fire safety measures. The structures were laid out so that one building couldn’t easily ignite the next.

Which meant: someone had gone around, setting each and every building on fire one by one.

In other words: it was arson.

And the only structure left untouched... was the bathhouse.

Where the young lady had been hanging.

Upside down.

Only her head submerged in the water.

A killing method so brutal it was sickening.

She must have bent herself over, trying desperately to breathe until the very end.

How many times had she screamed for help?

How long had she held on, caught between the fear of death and the torment of her burning lungs?

Ajandeok spared them the gory details.

“WHO—WHO DID THIS?! WAS IT HER?! WAS IT HER AGAIN?! TELL ME IT WASN’T! TELL ME IT WASN’T XIMEN QING!!”

The Head screamed like a madman.

Losing both sons was already enough—but now his most beloved daughter, too? To the same enemy?

He thought he would go insane.

Thankfully, Ajandeok granted him one small mercy.

“T-the perpetrator... left a message.”

The Head’s eyes gleamed with murderous fury.

Ajandeok’s knees nearly buckled. He swallowed hard and forced his lips to move.

“I am Eonyeon-yeong... of the Blood Church, under Jiangshi King.”