Chapter 5

Friend

Jade Qilin Peng Daesan. The most handsome man under heaven, Peng Daesan.

Peng Daesan hated that title.

He was truly sick and tired of it.

It was a title given to him for no other reason than his looks, simply because he had been born with a handsome face.

Any bastard who could receive such a nickname and smile proudly about it had no right to call himself a martial artist.

Peng Daesan was twenty-two years old.

At the mere age of twenty-two, Peng Daesan had reached the middle stage of the Peak realm. He was truly a martial talent bestowed by the heavens, and among the rising generation, his achievement stood at the very top.

And yet, what?

Jade Qilin?

The most handsome man under heaven?

Could there be any greater humiliation in the world?

Just look at that so-called genius of the Namgung clan.

Namgung Shin-jae had barely managed to reach the early stage of the Peak Realm, yet he was given the grand title of Little Sword King.

It meant he was considered the next Sword King.

To make matters worse, he was only a year older than Pang Dae-san!

He gets to be called the Young Sword King, while I’m stuck as the Jade Qilin?

Thus, Peng Daesan’s personality grew somewhat twisted.

However, because he was diligent by nature, he did not go completely astray.

Instead, he simply abandoned the very notion of manners, particularly when dealing with women.

In truth, it was hard to say this was entirely Peng Daesan’s fault.

After all, in the present age of Murim, he was the most sought-after bachelor there was.

First of all, he was handsome. On top of that, he had a pleasant voice.

He was also the eldest son of one of the Five Great Noble Clans of the Central Plains.

Moreover, the Peng Family was known as the only one among the Five Great Noble Clans that did not arrange political marriages.

Of course, this tradition had only survived because the Peng Family took great pleasure in looking down on the other noble clans as “petty, shameless, foolish, narrow-minded miser families who treated marriage like a business deal.”

To the Peng Family, such petty and insignificant matters had no place in marriage.

Only true love mattered!

Unlike you fools, apparently.

That was the sort of thing they would say.

On top of all that, Peng Daesan was already a powerful martial artist.

And in the future, he was bound to become even stronger.

In other words, he had everything: looks, status, wealth, and talent.

Because of that, Peng Daesan drew the attention of every woman around him at all times, from the moment he woke until the moment he slept.

Occasionally, even while he was asleep.

And among those women, the ones who merely watched him from afar were actually among the more tolerable ones.

Every path Peng Daesan walked was littered with all sorts of things.

From embroidered scraps of cloth, to scented pouches, cotton handkerchiefs, short daggers, and even indecent undergarments.

Thus, Peng Daesan never lowered his head.

He simply looked straight ahead and walked forward with his back upright.

More aggressive women even tried to bump their chests against him, throwing themselves bodily in his direction.

The very idea of trying to “accidentally” collide with a Peak Realm master was a flaw in judgment. And believing that he would catch them before they hit the ground if they fell? That was nothing but absurd self-importance.

Peng Daesan could never decide whether to laugh or scoff at the sight of women hurling themselves straight to the floor.

In any case, Daesan had suffered extreme misfortune with women since childhood.

He was, in the truest sense, a woman magnet taken to its absolute extreme.

As a result, Peng Daesan grew increasingly rude whenever he dealt with women.

He discarded all courtesy.

In short, his attitude meant: I’m not interested, so get lost.

To be honest, A-Qing’s approach was not particularly shocking to Peng Daesan.

After all, he had already experienced every kind of bizarre incident imaginable, all under the pretense of “unique dating strategies.”

As a result, he had even developed a rough classification system.

Were he to categorize A-Qing’s method, it would fall somewhere between the “Bold Woman” strategy and the “Funny Woman” strategy.

Successful examples of the “Funny Woman” approach were exceedingly rare, so in that sense, A-Qing’s attempt was somewhat worthy of praise.

After all, he had laughed for the first time in quite a while.

He certainly had not expected Asura.

Who would have thought she would make such a blasphemous joke?

Then came the “rough woman” strategy.

The problem was that the degree was a little…

Though, the level of it was a bit… unexpected. The content was so vulgar it sounded like something a back-alley thug would say.

And then he was struck in the mouth.

What under the heavens was this supposed to be?

Was this some brainless romance story where he was meant to think, You’re the first woman who has ever hit me?

Naturally, Peng Daesan was genuinely furious.

His already deep voice sank even lower with anger.

“I have dealt with all kinds of insane bitches, but…”

A faint killing intent threaded through his voice.

In response to that killing intent, A-Qing’s Heavenly Slaughter awakened.

A-Qing believed that the sight of blood relieved her stress, and that relieving stress was her way of protecting a heart wounded by the affairs of Murim.

In truth, however, once she was triggered, she became a genuine lunatic, swayed by the killing intent of Heavenly Slaughter.

It was a passive urge for massacre.

Originally, those intoxicated by the killing intent of the Heavenly Slaughtering Star were destined to find pleasure in massacre and bloodbaths.

“Why you so mad? ‘Oive dalt wibb arr koinds wof cravy vitches, vut… , you think you’re something just ’cause you drop your voice? Hehe.”

“Stop mimicking me.”

“‘Sthop mimithking me.’ Why, whatcha gonna do? Gonna hit me?”

When it came to provoking people, there were few races in this world that could keep up with modern Koreans.

Paeng Dae-san’s body shook. Burning rage consumed him.

“I will tolerate no further insults.”

“No furdur insult, hey!”

Clang!

The sharp ring of sword and dao clashing echoed out.

“You attacked first, got it? This is self-defense, got it? You really wanna do this, huh? Right, why waste time talking when we’ve got perfectly good swords?”

“I will not kill you. However, I will most certainly cut out that insolent tongue of yours.”

“You think you can? Come on, then. Try it. Cut it. Ehhhh—”

A-Qing stuck out her tongue.

Her strangely red tongue flicked in and out in a teasing, mischievous manner.

“Ehh-ehh-ehh—”

But she kept it out for a little too long.

Really, she had no sense of when to stop.

What kind of madwoman was this?

At this point, Peng Daesan was the one who began to feel defeated.

He had drawn his sword in a burst of rage, but seeing A-Qing make an even bigger spectacle of herself and plunge the situation into further chaos somehow made him feel ashamed.

Still, he could not simply lose to her like this.

His pride as a Mid-Stage Peak Realm expert would never allow it.

Therefore, he needed to show her at least a glimpse of the power befitting his realm…

But just as he steeled his resolve—

Sword Qi erupted from A-Qing’s blade.

 

The white, fluttering threads of energy coiled around it with vivid clarity.

Sword Threads.

It was a realm of technique and mastery only displayed by those who had reached the Late Stage of the Peak Realm.

Peng Daesan stared hard at A-Qing’s face.

Her tongue was still darting about shamelessly, and the sight only made Peng Daesan feel even more embarrassed.

But as he looked at A-Qing’s youthful face, one that seemed barely past girlhood, another thought crossed his mind.

If one surpassed the wall beyond the Transcendent Realm, they would reach the Creation Realm.

That level was also known as the Unrestrained Realm.

Upon reaching it, the body would regain its youth once, as though time itself had been reversed. This phenomenon was called Body Reconstruction.

And a martial artist who had undergone Body Reconstruction was, in truth, a monster of the human world wearing human skin.

A fight could only exist between beings of the same kind.

Humans and monsters could not fight each other.

What happened between them could not be called a fight.

It would be nothing more than a one-sided slaughter.

“Uh… may I ask which faction’s elder you are?”

“What the hell? You’re stopping there? Geez, you’re the type to stop halfway through taking a shit.”

How could such words and behavior possibly belong to a woman?

However, if he considered her a grandmaster who had achieved Body Reconstruction, then somehow, it all began to make sense.

Come to think of it, didn’t his grandmother speak like that too?

“Allow me to greet you again. I am Peng Daesan of the Peng Clan.”

“I’m A-Qing.”

All at once, the situation had reversed.

Even the honorifics had flipped.

A-Qing smiled with satisfaction and thought to herself.

This bastard got scared out of his wits, huh.

As expected, in Murim, strength was law.

***

Peng Daesan’s misunderstanding did not even last half an hour.

That was because every time A-Qing opened her mouth, ignorance practically poured out of her.

Strictly speaking, ignorance itself was not the problem.

The real issue was her complete lack of basic common sense.

However, to anyone unaware of her circumstances, the two were practically the same.

In fact, Peng Daesan himself no longer understood why he had misunderstood her, what exactly he had misunderstood, or how the misunderstanding had even started.

And so, the misunderstanding was resolved with surprising ease.

Then Peng Daesan found himself facing an entirely new crisis.

So this crazy woman is actually a greater master than me?

“If it is not too rude to ask, may I know your age, Young Lady?”

“Me? I’m…”

A-Qing hesitated for a moment.

It felt a bit awkward to say she was in her mid-thirties.

To begin with, even if she did say it, no one would believe her.

After all, for her to insist on such an age, there needed to be at least one person willing to pretend they accepted it.

At the same time, however, it also felt absurd to treat someone no different from a baby as her elder.

A baby.

From the perspective of A-Qing’s true self, a young man in his early twenties was still a baby who had not even gone to the military.

To modern Koreans, this was an utterly universal and self-evident truth.

Besides, what did he have to brag about besides being born into comfort? He was weaker than her, wasn’t he?

“You first, Young Master Peng.”

“I am twenty-two this year.”

“I’m twenty-five.”

“……Truly? Is that so?”

Peng Daesan’s doubtful gaze pierced into her.

“It’s because I look young for my age.”

Lies also accumulated Evil Karma.

Claiming to be in her mid-thirties was, in a certain sense, not entirely false. So if she wanted to force that point, she could probably do it with a shameless face.

Though, of course, no one would believe her anyway.

But what if she had to give the age of this body?

That was not worth gaining Evil Karma over.

Thus, A-Qing answered honestly.

“……Actually, I don’t know either. I think I’m around seventeen, but I’m not sure whether I simply matured early or if I really am a twenty-five-year-old who looks younger than her age.”

“How could you possibly not know your own ag— I mean.”

Peng Daesan nearly asked without thinking, but then suddenly raised a hand and stopped himself.

A-Qing.

It meant a child dressed in blue.

It was also the title of a peerless master from the Spring and Autumn Period.

The Moonlight Maiden.

Was it not said that the Moonlight Maiden always wore blue robes?

According to historical records, she appeared from nowhere when the State of Yue was in crisis and taught them the Moonlight Sword Art.
However, the sword art was so profound and intricate that no one could truly master it.

All they could do was compile a sword manual based on the visible forms they had managed to observe. And yet, even that alone became a terrifying Divine Art.

Armed with that Divine Art, the State of Yue attacked and destroyed the State of Wu.

In the end, the figure known as A-Qing was an idol among the female martial artists of Jianghu.

She was also an object of admiration for women who dreamed of entering Jianghu.

And now, standing before him, was a woman who had taken such a clichéd name for herself.

On top of that, she did not even know her own age.

If that was the case…

Peng Daesan began misunderstanding things on his own all over again. Could she be a wandering orphan with no background to speak of?

But this new misunderstanding was not as easy to clear up as the previous one.

After all, one could not simply ask someone whether they had no father or mother.

Perhaps she had been sincere when she said something as absurd as Asura.

A woman who had grown up entirely alone might naturally struggle to answer questions about her lineage, founder, or ancestors.

A surname was not merely the first part of one’s name.

It was the pride of one’s roots and bloodline.

Apparently, she had grown up without knowing any of that.

And that uncultured, vulgar conduct!

That ignorance, almost like that of a complete fool!

“It is nothing. That was my mistake. I apologize.”

“What the hell? Why do I suddenly feel offended…?”

A-Qing tilted her head.

For some unknown reason, she felt awful.

What’s going on? Am I about to have another status window seizure?

“Whatever. Forget it. Anyway, since we seem to be around the same age, let’s just be friends.”

“Peers, is it…”

Peng Daesan had never once heard someone his own age refer to him as a peer.

Her choice of words was a little… strange, wasn’t it?

Whatever thoughts he had, A-Qing had calculations of her own.

It was obvious at a glance that he was some wealthy clan’s precious young master.

Becoming friends with him seemed like the perfect way to mooch off him.

If she treated him like a younger brother, she would not be able to leech from him properly.

But she could not bring herself to call a baby “Elder Brother” either.
“Got it? Then we’re friends now, okay? Understood, San?”

Peng Daesan was taken aback.

Men and women were supposed to observe proper boundaries, yet she had casually called him San?

“Uh, Young Lady? Even if we are friends, how can you call me San?”

“If I say San, then you say Qing! Like this. San?”

“But still, for a man and woman to address each other so intimately…”

“Hey, why would there be men and women between friends?”

“Isn’t that usually said the other way around?”

When he asked that, A-Qing answered with perfect confidence.

“Fine. Let’s say friendship doesn’t exist between men and women. Then isn’t overcoming that exactly what true friendship is?”

“Mm?”

That almost sounded reasonable.

“Got it? San? San? San? San?”

She was an extremely persistent and noisy woman.

It was clear she would keep chattering until he gave her the response she wanted.

Thus, Peng Daesan reluctantly gave in.

“……Qing.”

“Your voice is too quiet! Again! San?”

“…Qing.”

“I can’t hear you. San?”

“Qing.”

“San?”

“QING! Qing! I understand, so please stop pestering me! Please!”

At last, Peng Daesan shouted it aloud.

A-Qing grinned in satisfaction.

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