Chapter 4

Friend

A Qing had been truly happy until recently.

Because she had money.

If life feels dull, one must first consider their finances; the typical trait of someone who says traveling abroad is fun while domestic travel is boring is that they are always stingy with money in their own country.

The purse of that man called Ugly Devil, or whatever his name was, had been enormous. Since ancient times, looting has been the rightful privilege of the victor.

This was the first time in A Qing’s life in the Murim that she had accumulated wealth beyond gold coins.

She had also taken the villain’s head to the government office.

Naturally, the greater one’s Evil Karma, the larger the bounty on their head.

To exaggerate a little, the money pouch had grown so heavy that her body leaned to one side, making it difficult to walk straight.

And so, A Qing enjoyed the delicacies of the Jianghu to her heart’s content.

She said goodbye to her old Moonlight Sword No. 5, which had been like a lover to her, and welcomed the young, lovely, brand-new Moonlight Sword No. 6.

It was the first time she had ever bought a sword with her own money. Until now, she had only ever used swords others had thrown away.

A blade no one else had touched.

A blade that truly belonged to her.

She felt a fresh surge of affection for it.

I’ll take good care of you.

Her previous Moonlight Sword No. 5 had been so neglected that it had rusted from the inside out.

When even the blacksmith refused to pay scrap value for it, she casually threw it by the roadside.

Then she bought herself a set of sturdy, affordable new clothes.

And there, A-Qing came to a profound realization.

If you have a lot of money, even this damned murim world can be enjoyable!

Thanks to that, she could even brush off the status window. Her spirits, lifted by her food-filled adventures, did not waver even when the status window tried to kick her down.

A-Qing’s spending habits were simple.

People who could not picture their future did not save money. It was a habit commonly seen among the young in every country of her original world.

And since A-Qing possessed that very same trait, she went broke in the blink of an eye.

Ah.

Ah. Those good old days.

All that remained was the Moonlight Sword, number six.

A swordsman’s lover, the sword.

A luxury purchase that had cost her half a gold coin.

Let’s stay together for life, Moonlight Sword. Okay?

This was exactly why people splurged.

Even when poverty was breathing down their necks, the things they had splurged on at least remained by their side.

“Your order is ready.”

Thud.

The server set the food down with neither care nor sincerity.

Three dumplings.

One bowl of soup.

If you bought at least three dumplings, you received a free bowl of soup. This was one of the bits of wisdom she had gained from two years of living in Murim.

Contrary to modern common sense, dumplings in Murim were the most basic kind of food, made from dough with no filling whatsoever. Usually priced at one coin, or two coins at more expensive inns, they were the cheapest meal in Jianghu.

Dumplings with meat inside were called meat dumplings, and they cost an outrageous fifteen to twenty coins.

That, too, was wisdom she had gained from two years in Murim.

When the dumplings were too dry, soaking them in the soup helped.

When her throat felt parched, drinking the soup helped.

Looking down at her suddenly humble meal, A-Qing glanced at her beloved sword, Moonlight Sword No. 6.

I wonder… how much could I get if I sold this?

It’s practically new… I haven’t even used it that many times.

But one must not forget.

This was only the wisdom of someone who had lived in Murim for two years.

She did not truly understand how swords depreciated, or how second-hand sword prices worked, so she decided to keep it for now.

Still, seriously.

I really need to make money.

What should I do?

A-Qing opened the Martial Arts tab through her Status Window.

Seeing it always made her feel like crap, but she still needed to check how many Free Practice Points she had saved up.

Free Practice Points were points that allowed her to master martial arts instantly, and in a crisis, they could become a literal lifeline.

The Sword Art of the Moonlight Maiden (True Form), the Moonlight Maiden Cultivation Technique (True Form), and the Moonlight Maiden Footwork (True Form), which was the Qinggong technique she possessed, had all reached Twelve Stars.

Twelve Stars represented the highest level of achievement within a martial art.

Normally, when people said someone had reached the Grand Star, it meant they had mastered that martial art to its peak.

Of course, for A-Qing, who learned martial arts through the Status Window, the meaning was completely different from the Grand Star spoken of in Murim.

To her, the Twelve Stars that formed the Grand Star simply meant that every move had been engraved into her memory, and that she had received additional Ability Points and Special Skills from each martial art.

Other than those, the rest of the martial arts listed were things she had picked up by casually touching manuals in bookstores.

All of them were White Border martial arts.

In Murim Chronicles: A Tale of Life and Death, martial arts were divided by border color. The lowest was White Border, followed by Blue, Red, Gold, and finally Purple Border at the very top.

Since the developer had not particularly named the grades, players usually just called them White Martial Arts, Blue Martial Arts, and so on.

For reference, the True Form of the Sword Art of the Moonlight Maiden was a Purple Martial Art.

It was supposedly one of the most broken cheat codes in the game, but A-Qing could not say for sure, since she had never learned any other martial arts properly.

After all, to make a comparison, one needed something to compare it against.

And now, it was finally time to add another Purple Martial Art.

After a year of hard work, A-Qing had managed to gather more than five hundred points of Righteous Karma.

It had truly been a long and humiliating period.

Righteous Karma was extremely useful.

Why?

Because of Righteous Rewards.

It was an in-game system that allowed her to choose and master a desired martial art once her Righteous Karma reached a certain threshold.

The first exchange became available at five hundred points of Righteous Karma.

Evil Karma, by contrast, was completely useless.

It was accumulated by committing Evil Deeds, and such acts usually granted plenty of Practice Points along the way.

Pursuing Righteous Karma meant choosing to kill only the wicked. It was a structure where gathering Practice Points became difficult, but in return, Righteous Karma could be exchanged for the martial arts one wanted.

A Qing did not hesitate.

Because she had already had a goal from the beginning.

At first, she had been tempted by the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, but after looking it up while downloading the game, she found out that the Heavenly Demon was treated like a gag character, which quickly lost her interest.

These days, the Heavenly Demon ran restaurants, bakeries, even conglomerates.

Oh, and played baseball too.

Even in traditional martial arts novels, the Heavenly Demon was often nothing more than the main character’s third concubine. So while the name Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon sounded impressive, it was probably nothing special.

A-Qing immediately claimed her Righteous Reward.

In that instant, phrases, principles, forms, and the images of techniques surged into her mind, invading her brain and overturning everything inside as they pleased.

Against her will, foolish noises escaped her mouth.

“Urgh…… Eugh, uek……”

It was a horrible and filthy experience beyond description, impossible to properly describe in words. The closest comparison would be someone shoving a hand into her brain and kneading it around.

And afterward, there was always a severe aftereffect.

Does this make any sense?

Who learns martial arts like this?

What if this place is actually a game world?

Am I truly moving according to my own judgment and my own sense of right and wrong?

What if someone beyond the sky is watching me through a transparent screen, typing on a keyboard and shaking a mouse?

Then what am I…?

No.

Stop.

No bad thoughts.

A-Qing forcefully changed the direction of her thinking.

At times like this, she had to talk nonsense.

She desperately searched through the memories that proved she had once been a modern person, a living being.

Who am I?

The owner of Bud.dha’s.Pa.lm.

Move aside, Stephen Chow.

The K-Buddha’s Palm is coming.

Try some Buddha’s Palm wrapped in Kimchi.

The K-Buddha’s Palm that shocked Trump and made Xi Jinping jealous. That martial art now belongs to me.

After all, Buddha’s Palm is drawn from Soo Bahk Do….

Got a problem with that, Chinese people?

Then go ask the Red Army over there about the Cultural Revolution.

Oh, nothing happened, you say?

Perhaps thanks to that desperate stream of nonsense, she managed to avoid feeling even filthier than she already did.

However, she no longer had the courage to look at the Status Window.

Nor did she have the courage to look at people.

This was not the time to stare at the numbers floating above people’s heads.

A-Qing squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head.

She chewed her dumplings carefully.

Yet despite that, her throat somehow felt hot, as though something were lodged halfway down.

She forced her attention elsewhere.

Once she closed her eyes, the conversations around her became clearer.

Since A-Qing had reached the Grand Star in an Inner Qi Cultivation Technique, her physical abilities were close to superhuman. With just a little focus, she could hear every conversation taking place inside the inn.

Among them, one particular voice caught her attention.

“Hey, you. Escort Leader. I hear you’re headed to Yongseong.”

“Ah! Might I have the honor of knowing the Young Hero’s
name?”

“Peng Daesan.”

“The Jade Qilin! Good heavens, are you not the eldest son of the Peng Family? What an honor! If you are going to Yongseong, does that mean you are continuing on to Mount Hua?”

“That is more than the Escort Leader needs to know.”

“Aha! Of course, of course. It is an honor to serve you, Great Expert! Please, sit here. Hey, server! Bring out enough food to break this table!”

The conversation was made up of an unbearably arrogant tone and a voice that had instantly turned flattering.

A-Qing’s gloomy mood vanished on the spot.

So a Master can be treated like that just by joining an escort convoy!

Oh my gosh, unbelievable!

It was an entirely new world.

Until now, whenever A-Qing ran out of money, she had simply wandered around looking for villains to kill.

Her knowledge of martial arts novels was limited to the miserable life of a destitute wanderer, gained from rolling around in the dirt for a little over a year, plus a few scenes from Stephen Chow movies.

So naturally, A-Qing knew nothing about the Peng Clan of Hebei.

The eldest son of one of the Five Noble Clans under Heaven possessed a status higher than most royal princes, especially after the Esteemed Senior, the Greatest Martial Emperor, had turned the Imperial Palace upside down.

The Kunpeng Escort Agency was not a small merchant group, handling distribution across two provinces, but it could not compare to the reputation of the Hebei Paeng Family.

Since A Qing did not know any of this, she simply thought that all experts were treated well like that.

And A-Qing, who was unnecessarily excellent at acting on impulse, suddenly stood up.

“Excuse me. Escort Leader, I heard you say you were heading to Yongseong. Is that correct?”

A-Qing addressed the Escort Leader.

Her attitude carried the confidence of a Master.

“Uh, um. Young Lady, you are…”

What kind of moment was this?

It was a moment to host someone of great importance, a diamond among golden connections.

Of course his face would darken when someone suddenly interrupted such a precious occasion.

“My name is A-Qing.”

“A-Qing?”

The response came from the side.

It was the majestic, ultra-low voice of that rude bastard from earlier, Peng Daesan.

The son of the Peng Family had a voice so deep it could make most women melt, but it had no effect on A-Qing.

Peng Daesan was seated with his back to her, so she had to turn her head to see his face.

Woah! How can someone be that handsome?

The title Jade Qilin was a tradition passed down through generations, a special nickname granted to the most handsome among promising young prodigies.

And Peng Daesan, the Jade Qilin of this generation, was said to possess the finest looks in the entire long history of the Central Plains. Considering that his unofficial title was the Most Handsome Man Under the Heavens, what more needed to be said?

But A-Qing was only imitating a woman. At her core, she was essentially a man.

Naturally, she was not bewitched by another man’s appearance.

She was simply shocked.

Woah! What is with that face? He’s ridiculously handsome! I’m jealous!

What the hell is going on? Why is there something so unreal right in front of me?

Is that really a man’s face that exists in this world?

If every man from past, present, and future were lined up and ranked by appearance, he would surely take first place, even if that span of time stretched into eternity.

That was the extent of A-Qing’s astonishment as someone who was a man at heart.

In truth, women who saw the Jade Qilin’s dazzling face without warning usually fainted or collapsed on the spot.

As A-Qing stared blankly in admiration of his beauty, Peng Daesan spoke in a blunt tone.

“A-Qing. Do you, by any chance, also use the Sword Art of the Moonlight Maiden?”

“Wow. You know about the Sword Art of the Moonlight Maiden, huh! Could it be—”

“Hah. Well. This is a little fresh.”

Peng Daesan cut A-Qing off with a snort.

What the fuck? What’s with this rude bastard’s attitude?

Is he acting all high and mighty just because he’s a little handsome?

A-Qing frowned, visibly irritated.

“You say A-Qing is your real name?”

“Yeah. And?”

“I have never heard of that surname before. Then who founded your clan?”

“Uh, um. Well, about that…”

How should I know?

But saying I don’t know might sound too suspicious.

In truth, A-Qing had mostly wandered alone.

The only companions she had ever known were fellow poor wanderers.

Birds of a feather flock together, after all.

So she knew nothing about the greeting customs of upper-class people dressed in silk clothes.

She simply assumed that rich bastards even asked about one’s ancestors as part of a greeting.

A-Qing racked her brain.

Who was someone famous with the surname “A” that she could use?

“Why can’t you answer?”

“I was just about to, okay?”

“Then who is your founder?”

“Uh… Asura?”

Was that right?

It had slipped out on instinct, but Asura did not feel quite right.

A-Qing, the seventeenth descendant of Asura.

Hm. Maybe it was fine.

“Keuk, kekek, kehAHAHAHA…!”

But then, Peng Daesan suddenly burst into laughter.

Apparently, it was not fine after all.

“Good. Very refreshing. You get 27 points.”

“For what?”

“Your face is plain, so zero points. Your figure is decent, but you’re too tall, so points deducted. Your chest is too large, making you look indecent, so more points deducted. That leaves you with seven points. But you made me laugh, so I’ll add twenty bonus points, bringing the total to twenty-seven.”

What the hell?

How could he commit sexual harassment with such confidence?

It was so outrageous that even A-Qing could tell this was definitely not some refined custom of Murim’s upper class.

Other women might have fled in shame and misery, but A-Qing’s feelings were not wounded at all.

Instead, she was furious.

This rude piece of trash could not be forgiven.

“Hey, you. Do you think your mouth has a hole in it so you can shit nonsense out of it? Is that a mouth or an asshole? You’re just spewing crap, aren’t you? I get 27 points? Fine, then I’ll give you a hundred. Want me to stamp a big fat ‘Well Done’ on your face too?”

“I do not know what you are saying, but it sounds as though you want to hit me.”

Peng Daesan did not bother hiding his mocking smile.

“Very well. Hit me, then. Go on.”

But there was one thing Peng Daesan did not know.

Ever since beginning her journey through Murim, A-Qing had rarely held herself back.

She was full of existential anxiety, unable to tell whether this was a game or reality.

In other words, she did not have the mental room or patience to suppress her impulses.

And once someone provoked her into violence, A-Qing never hesitated.

She clenched her fist and drove it straight into Paeng Daesan’s smooth cheek.

The Escort Leader’s face went deathly pale at the sight.

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