Chapter 981: Tears, Drop by Drop (2)

“I, Wang Daeyang, will speak on behalf of the will of the Greenwood Bandits’ heroes! We seek to avenge the enemy who killed the Greenwood Bandits’ father—and our eldest brother!”

The way he kept hammering on “vengeance for the father” was... honestly a little irritating to leave alone.

It made Qing want to muddy the mood, make it into a joke. So she suddenly muttered—loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Father and eldest brother? Then isn’t that a problem? So who was the mother? That family register sounds kind of interesting.”

PFFT—bursts of laughter popped up everywhere.

Wang Daeyang, still grinding his teeth and glaring at Qing, pretended not to hear and continued.

“...For him, I will willingly sell my body! I—and all the Greenwood brothers—will follow our benefactor and devote ourselves as dogs and horses for the rest of our lives!”

Astonishingly, the “sell the body” in Sell the body to bury the father wasn’t just Wang Daeyang.

He could use all the remaining Greenwood Bandits like animals—like dogs and horses.

In other words: he would hand over the Greenwood Bandits as a whole.

It was a “heroic” resolve of the Greenwood Bandits—to avenge their father, and further, to avenge their Stockade Lord.

At this unbelievable news, the crowd released a synchronized chorus of awe—“Huh...” “Ha...” “Oooh...” “Ho...”

And Qing?

Damn it—what is this? He just wasted my time.

If he wanted to butt in, he should’ve done it properly. Who told him to dump some random—utterly useless—news on top of everything without even getting permission?

Qing’s reaction was as lukewarm as it could possibly be.

Why?

Because the crowd’s own attitude was already like that.

Sure, the “miraculous resolve” itself—the Stockade Lord died and they didn’t immediately start killing each other in a brawl to inherit the Mountain King throne; they actually united and said they’d take revenge—was unbelievable.

But after that, they started trading looks and checking each other’s expressions like, What do you think?—and it turned out everyone had the same awkward, unimpressed face.

It was surprising, but... so what?

First of all, the Greenwood Bandits weren’t exactly a trustworthy organization.

Let’s say someone avenged them and ended up enslaving the Greenwood remnants.

Would those bastards really, literally, devote themselves as dogs and horses until they died, for a thousand years?

Those bandit bastards?

And does the Greenwood Bandits organization even have that kind of value?

Anyone competent enough to live on their own would’ve already fled. If you gather up the remaining chaff who can’t survive without banditry, what are you supposed to do with that trash?

On top of that, wasn’t it said the Greenwood Bandits got completely stripped by the Heavenly Flower Sword alone?

So even if someone somehow killed the Heavenly Flower Sword and rebuilt the Greenwood Bandits, who would respect—or fear—the Greenwood Bandits’ authority and meekly hand over travel tolls?

Meaning: even if you “reopen” the Greenwood Bandits, it didn’t look like business would go well.

Not only would you not get tolls—righteous-orthodox bastards burning with resentment would immediately come swarming in like a pack of dogs. And do you even have a way to stop that?

It was a business with no profitability and filthy levels of risk.

So the crowd had been impressed at first, but the more they thought about it—really, the more they thought—the more it felt... pretty damn bad.

Even so, Wang Daeyang stared at Qing with eyes burning hot, utterly confident.

Like he was saying, Well? What do you think?

Qing could have mocked him all she wanted.

Wow, the Greenwood Bandits! I really want them! So if I kneel at the memorial tablet of your father—whatever-his-name-was—and repent, does that clear his grievance? Then am I your master?

She could’ve skewered him with sarcasm.

But she decided not to.

Because it looked like that was exactly what he wanted.

“Wow. What an astonishing filial heart. Truly moving. Well then—if you’ve said everything you came to say, I’ll be going in now.”

Qing dipped her head in a small bow.

Wang Daeyang clearly panicked and shouted.

“W-wait!”

“Why?”

“Well, that’s...”

“That’s?”

“So, I mean...”

“I mean?”

“No, it’s...”

“It’s?”

The crowd’s heads snapped back and forth—Qing in front, Wang Daeyang behind—WHIP, WHIP.

“If you have something to say, just say it. I’ll count down for you. Five, four, three, two—”

“W-wait! Paejon! It’s Paejon! Paejon!”

Wang Daeyang yelled in desperation.

In an instant, a deep silence fell over the crowd.

That was the weight carried by a single sobriquet, tossed out without warning.

Paejon Bu Anpyeong.

The number one under heaven—within the dark world. The number one of the Evil Path. The Grand Leader of the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition.

Then, a strangely cold gaze turned toward Wang Daeyang.

After all, most of the people present were Evil Path—or wanderers very close to Evil Path. To them, Paejon, who had reached the Absolute Realm through third-rate martial arts, was a myth—an idol.

Who the hell are you to toss out Paejon’s name, you little bastard? No manners at all. People said you didn’t even have parents—are you dying to advertise what you are?

Even the Evil Path Alliance patrol officer who had just saved Wang Daeyang’s life was staring at the young man with narrowed, slanted eyes.

Wang Daeyang’s face went pale.

“That—that’s not what I mean! This is—so, for my father’s, for our Greenwood’s revenge—uh—ah—Sell the body to bury the father? Ahem—yes—Sell the body to bury the father is something Paejon guarantees! That’s what it is!”

He announced something genuinely shocking in the limpest, most deflated way imaginable.

Because the original plan had clearly been: when the Heavenly Flower Sword sneered something like “some weak bandits” or “how can anyone trust a vile bandit’s promise?”—he’d deliver a stylish comeback.

But Qing’s reaction was so indifferent, and she looked like she was actually leaving, so he had to blurt it out in a rush—and it ended up looking pathetic.

So the Evil Path Alliance patrol officer beside him slid a step forward and raised his voice to help.

“Ahem. This is true! Paejon was sincerely moved by Young Master Wang’s filial devotion and promised personal! sponsorship!”

The patrol officer put bizarre emphasis on the word personal.

Qing’s eyes narrowed.

So they were trying to claim: This is Paejon’s personal sponsorship; it’s separate from the Evil Path Alliance.

But with someone like Paejon, what “personal” sponsorship even exists?

A personal action from someone who is the head of a sect—or has comparable influence—can never be purely personal.

Wasn’t Qing herself the same?

Ximen Surin accepted Qing as a disciple, and that wasn’t an event of the Priestess Order—it was Ximen Surin accepting Qing as a disciple personally.

So strictly speaking, Qing wasn’t a disciple of the Priestess Order, and you couldn’t even find her name in the Priestess Order registry—meaning her name wasn’t on the Priestess Order disciple roll.

But no one in the world thought Qing wasn’t of the Priestess Order.

Even inside the Priestess Order, Qing was treated as the youngest elder.

So the reason they were insisting on “personal” was simple.

It was “personal” in name only—just for appearances.

Because the moment Paejon stepped in, Wang Daeyang’s Sell the body to bury the father became a completely different story.

If Paejon guaranteed it, that meant he guaranteed what came after revenge succeeded as well—meaning Wang Daeyang and the Greenwood Bandits could not break their promise to follow their master for life.

And that wasn’t all.

It was also an expression of intent to actively support the future rebuilding of the Greenwood Bandits.

Of course, the actual owner of the Greenwood Bandits would become Paejon—but even so, it meant Wang Daeyang could ride on Paejon’s backing and comfortably play Grand Stockade Lord.

And the Greenwood Bandits’ toll business would become “effective” again, too.

Because Paejon behind them meant the Evil Path Alliance behind them—so any merchants or escort caravans passing through would automatically bow and scrape and hand over money.

It was a huge profit—something you couldn’t claim was worth less than a thousand gold.

In other words, it was effectively a bounty posting the Evil Path Alliance was placing on Qing.

So the crowd’s gaze on Qing grew strange—like people licking their lips regretfully at a gold bar they could never have.

Qing swallowed a sigh hard.

Back then, she should’ve forced herself and searched the bandit den—slaughtered every last bandit bastard who was still alive.

Yeah. This was her fault.

Her fault for failing to kill bastards who should’ve died.

But seeing Wang Daeyang staring straight at her now, looking smug—

Irritation surged up inside Qing.

Wasn’t his whole attitude screaming it?

My backing is Paejon—what are you going to do? You going to disrespect Paejon? You not afraid of Paejon? Touch me and Paejon won’t let it go.

It was filthy. Petty. Cheap.

Truly the methods of bandit bastards—bandit bastards—bandit bastards.

As if borrowing someone else’s prestige wasn’t shameless enough—how could he do it with that face? A grown man acting like that—are you even a man? Just cut it off. Cut it off.

For reference, a few years ago in Sichuan, Qing had openly stated that Ximen Surin was her backing and used that prestige to pressure an opponent.

But Qing was currently missing the necessary equipment—so she couldn’t be condemned for acting “unmanly”...

Anyway.

Qing’s insides boiled.

She wanted to smash that bastard right here. How dare some bandit bastard bastard bastard stroll into someone else’s front yard and swagger around?

At the same time, the center of her eyes—her pupils, that black center—suddenly flickered with an ominous color that didn’t exist in this world.

And when killing intent rose, Qing’s intelligence always spiked sharply, too.

A thought surfaced.

Why am I holding back?

Can’t I just crush him?

Sure, Paejon was his sponsor—but if Qing killed that guy right now, Paejon wouldn’t get swept up in some emotional storm and declare revenge like—

Heavenly Flower Sword! How dare you kill my precious blood-sponsored one! I will never forgive you, my beloved blood-sponsored one!!

He wouldn’t do that.

He might get angry about being disrespected, or having his face damaged, sure—but he wouldn’t hate her.

And killing this bastard wouldn’t dramatically change the situation anyway.

Paejon clearly wanted to bring the Greenwood Bandits under his command. Wang Daeyang and the bandits already offered to sell themselves, so even if Wang Daeyang vanished, the “contract” of Sell the body to bury the father wouldn’t be withdrawn.

Either way, Qing was going to get treated like some treasure-dwarf prize.

If it’s the same whether I kill him or not, isn’t it far more profitable to stop holding back and just kill him?

It was a conclusion worthy of the Thousand-Kill Ancient Star.

Maybe it was also because some ominous celestial body, hidden behind a sky red as a burning sunset, was flickering and cackling maliciously.

A rational person would send them away for now and seek a political solution with Paejon.

For example: publicly apologize to the Greenwood Bandits and pay compensation.

But hold back from killing?

Let that bastard live?

Qing’s calm, weighty voice rang out.

“Before, when I passed Tianzi Mountain, a man who claimed to be the Grand Stockade Lord’s son called himself a Greenwood hero and demanded a travel toll from me. I believe he said he was... yes, the Grand Stockade Lord’s second son.”

The crowd pricked up their ears.

They were curious what she was going to say.

Even martial artists were Central Plains people at the root—weren’t they a species that couldn’t resist a story?

“He said this mountain was Greenwood territory, and they managed the road for those who passed through, so it was only right that passersby pay the price. To my ears, it wasn’t an argument that violated reason—so I was willing to pay.”

The crowd listened even harder.

“But then he mocked me with obscene words and demanded to sleep with me—and despite my refusal, he couldn’t restrain his lust and attempted rape.”

“L-lies! My brother would never do that!”

Wang Daeyang shrieked.

But astonishingly, no one here agreed with him.

Because that was exactly what Greenwood bastards would say—especially when faced with a beauty like the Heavenly Flower Sword. If anything, it would’ve been stranger if they didn’t.

In truth, even Wang Daeyang didn’t sound like he believed his own words. But he also couldn’t exactly chime in with, As expected of my brother! Consistently lecherous, as always!

“Only then did I realize that ‘Greenwood heroes’ was nothing but wordplay—an attempt to package their ugly banditry. I wished to teach him a lesson by cutting off the tongue that must have wounded countless women with vulgar taunts—and cutting off the thing below it as well.”

A shallow groan—“Ugh...”—brushed past the crowd.

“Then something both astonishing and pathetic happened. When I drew my sword and revealed who I was, he became utterly terrified and fled at once—only to trip on a stone, smash his head into a rock, and break his neck.”

“He did not die, but his fate was to live lying down for the rest of his life. I thought, ‘This is punishment bestowed by heaven,’ and I showed mercy by allowing his men to recover him despite his injuries.”

“Lies! That’s a lie!”

“However—what was the result of mercy granted with tolerance? Perhaps even such a pathetic thing is still someone’s child, because the enraged Grand Stockade Lord and his underlings came rushing in.”

“They were many, and I was alone. I will admit the process was not fair and upright. Thus I stand here, and the bandit gang was buried at Tianzi Mountain.”

Ah...

A disappointed sigh leaked out—because the most entertaining part, the fighting, had been skipped.

“But I ask you: where, exactly, is my fault? The evil bandit who attempted rape broke his own neck and became crippled before I even laid a hand on him—and even then, I spared him out of mercy.”

“Was that my fault?”

No—

The reason Qing’s words cut off was because the mood wasn’t one where the crowd could openly side with her. A few clueless people almost responded, then swallowed it under the weight of other eyes.

While Wang Daeyang screamed that she wasn’t alone in this and how could she say that—

Qing opened her mouth again.

“And I will speak of Wang Cheolgun as well. He was not a martial artist of the Transformation Realm—he was a demonic-energy warped man who had fallen into madness.”

“Perhaps from grief over losing his son, he sank completely into demonic nature and rampaged without distinguishing enemy from ally—so in truth, most of the Greenwood Bandits died to Wang Cheolgun’s own killing move.”

“Then why should I be the Greenwood Bandits’ enemy? The one who slaughtered the Greenwood brothers and collapsed the den was Wang Cheolgun himself.”

The crowd nodded without realizing it.

No matter how strong the Heavenly Flower Sword was, Tianzi Mountain was the Greenwood Bandits’ main stronghold. It wasn’t a scale a lone Harmonization martial artist could crush by herself.

But if Wang Cheolgun had lost his reason and fallen fully into demonic nature?

“Furthermore, Wang Cheolgun ruined his own child. That child became a heinous rapist-demon—this is the father’s lack of virtue.”

“That child failed to recognize whom he was reaching for with his claws—this is the father’s failure to teach even the most basic cultivation of a martial artist.”

“And he raised him into a coward who couldn’t even think of facing his opponent and only fled—how is that not the father abandoning his responsibility?”

Qing extended her sword and pointed it at Wang Daeyang.

Then, before the countless crowd as witnesses, she declared—

“If you had such an evil father, you should know shame. The life you have left—living while accumulating merit for your father as he burns in hell—that is true filial piety.”

“But you have no shame, so you cannot be called human. The failure that father created—the worm that knows no principle—still remains.”

“For the peace of the world, I will execute the beast wearing human skin.”

I will kill you.