At the top of the stairs stood a massive, imposing door that led to the surface.
It was the exact opposite of what Qing had expected—a hidden passage, a camouflaged secret exit. This was none of that. There it was, out in the open.
The door was tightly barred from the outside, but Qing pushed it open like it was nothing and finally stepped out into the world above.
The mont she broke into the surface, the lukewarm June air wrapped around her. It felt like a grand, cinematic escape.
And at that mont, Qing thought to herself:
Yeah. It really is cooler underground.
Of course, Qing didn’t feel any particular sense of triumph. She’d been snatched in the middle of the night, half-asleep, then dozed off after breakfast and lunch, and now here she was in the late afternoon. Nothing to get excited about.
But for Moyong Juhee—who hadn’t seen sunlight in so long, who had given up hope of ever seeing it again, her heart slowly crumbling in despair—it ant everything.
The mont that hot early-sumr air swept around her, Moyong Juhee let out a muffled, hitching sob.
Qing gave a wry smile and looked around. The space between the back of a building and the outer wall—just wide enough for three people shoulder to shoulder. A backyard? No, not quite. What do you even call a place like this?
She glanced back and realized the disguise was even more perfect than she’d thought.
Nobody would willingly crawl between a wall and a building like this. And even if soone did, they’d see the downward stairs and the makeshift wooden door and think, Oh, just a storage basent, and move on.
According to what the Blood Sect warrior had confessed about the habits of the Second Blood Venom Squad, they usually stayed above ground unless on duty.
Which ant this place had to be one of the Blood Sect’s operational bases.
Of course, the best way to confirm would be to get a good look at soone’s face.
Qing untied the silk cloth around her waist and gently lowered Moyong Juhee to the ground.
“Would you mind waiting here for a little while? I need to clean up the estate first.”
“You’re leaving —”
“I’m not.”
“Please... take with you. Don’t leave alone.”
Moyong Juhee clung to Qing’s arm, pleading.
“I would never leave you behind. I promise. Just for a mont, okay?”
“No! I don’t want that! Don’t leave . Please? Please? Xin Qing—you can’t—you can’t do this to . It’s your fault. So... yeah, you have to take responsibility.”
Qing gently cupped Moyong Juhee’s cheeks in both hands and looked her in the eyes.
“Miss Moyong. Look at . I would never, ever abandon you. Okay?”
“Then... then take with you.”
“I’m only going in to check if there are still any Blood Sect bastards left. If they are, you might get hurt again.”
“It’s fine. If it hurts, then it hurts. That’s all.”
She was whining like a child now, and Qing felt stuck.
Wasn’t this the part where they usually agreed?
Maybe movies had lied to her after all.
Qing was about to sigh, but she held it in when she saw Moyong Juhee’s eyes—desperate, locked on hers, pleading with everything she had.
Fine. She’d try soothing her. Three tis, tops.
“Miss Moyong. What are you so afraid of? It’ll be quick—just about one quarter of an hour. Are you scared sothing will happen in that ti?”
“But... being alone... when I was alone before, I scread and scread, but no one ca to help...”
Moyong Juhee’s words ca spilling out, disjointed and trembling.
Apparently, she’d foolishly tried to go ho by herself, only to be ambushed by one of the Blood Sect’s madn hiding outside the city.
They ripped out her toenails so she couldn’t run, hung her by a noose just high enough that only her toes touched the ground. If she put pressure on her feet, the pain would be excruciating. But if she didn’t, the rope would tighten around her neck and choke her. So she’d thrash in pain, then suffocate, then go back to her toes, only to feel the pain again...
“They said if I swallowed the parasite, they’d let down. I—I was going to say yes, I was going to do it, but it hurt so much I couldn’t even talk. Why didn’t anyone help ? Why were they laughing? I thought I was dying.”
She said the Blood Sect bastards had watched her squirm and gasp like that until dawn, laughing their heads off like it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.
“That’s why... I can’t be alone again. If I’m alone, they’ll catch again. And then it’ll happen all over again. I can’t. I can’t.”
Tears stread down Moyong Juhee’s cheeks.
“I’m pathetic, right? So stupid bitch, getting herself kidnapped just for walking around alone. A stupid bitch who chased away her own guards because she was afraid of being watched. I know, I know it was stupid, but I was too scared. I’m useless. I’m trash—both as a woman and a martial artist.”
“No. You’re not pathetic. You’re not stupid. You didn’t do anything wrong. Going ho shouldn’t be a cri, right? This is all those Blood Sect bastards’ fault. You didn’t do anything to deserve that.”
“Really? You an it?”
“Yes. I an it. You believe , don’t you?”
“I do. I believe you.”
“Besides, you’re one of the Five Beauties of Murim, aren’t you? You’ve got such a beautiful face, and you’re a proper lady. And as a martial artist, you got your revenge, didn’t you? So don’t say stuff like that.”
“...Thank you. Thank you so much...”
“Miss Moyong. Could you be brave just a little longer? Just a little. I’ll be back after a hundred-count. Got it?”
“A little bit. You’ll co back at a hundred?”
“Of course. Just wait here, okay? Damn. Just hearing what you went through makes my blood boil. I’ll find those bastards and tie them up myself. Let’s get revenge together.”
“Yes... okay. I understand.”
And with that, Qing pulled her into a tight hug.
“You’re so strong and brave. Really. You’re amazing, Miss Moyong. You believe , right?”
“...Yes.”
“If the painful mories start creeping back, think about how we paid those bastards back. That revenge was sweet, wasn’t it? I’ll be right back.”
And with that, Qing soared off into the sky, walking on air.
Moyong Juhee stayed where she was, clutching her knees, counting aloud. For the first ti in a long while, her eyes were focused.
Then a question crept into her mind.
“Revenge...? Wait...”
Her gaze unfocused again. She began to tremble.
****
Unfortunately, only two mbers of the Second Blood Venom Squad were present at this Blood Sect base.
Qing had promised to spare only one of them. Faced with a truth duel, they both spilled their guts to try and save themselves. In the end, Qing—having morized every location used by the sect—was declared the winner.
The loser of the duel was Qing’s to deal with. The winner belonged to Moyong Juhee.
“U-um, I... I’m fine. You can handle it however you want, Miss Xin—”
“Don’t worry about that. When soone wrongs you, the only way to clear that weight from your chest is to give it back to them tenfold. So. Just do what I do, okay?”
“Y-yes, okay...”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have much ti, so let’s keep it simple. Hmm... maybe just skin them and hang them up.”
Thus, two corpses, skinned and dangling, were left behind.
Afterward, Qing washed herself off in the bathhouse of the abandoned estate.
But the mont Moyong Juhee saw the water, she shrieked in a panicked, high-pitched scream, slamd her head down, and trembled uncontrollably.
So Qing had to coax her, wash her, coax her again, and even when she tried to pour a little water over her head to shampoo it, Moyong Juhee flailed her limbs wildly, refused to close her eyes, scread about the pain—
aning Qing had to coax her yet again, wash her again, and ended up drenched in sweat by the end of it.
After finally getting Moyong Juhee dressed in so clothes she found in the estate, she at last looked sowhat like a human being again.
They had to get back to Wucheon Pavilion.
There was no way Qing could show up at the Murim Alliance looking like so blood-soaked monster.
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. You can stop now.”
“But... the bruises... They’re all black and swollen... How could I—”
“No wonder it kept throbbing.”
“If you want, you can rip out my fingernails or anything else...”
“No, seriously, it’s fine. I an, it even got split in half, but it’s just a little bruised. Give it a few days and it’ll heal right up, so don’t bla yourself too much. You couldn’t help it because you were hurting so badly. It’s not your fault, Miss Moyong.”
“...Okay.”
And so, after coaxing and comforting Moyong Juhee—who kept sobbing and begging her to hurt her instead—
Qing finally managed to make it back to Wucheon Pavilion.
As soon as they arrived, they heard the loud clack-clack of wooden swords colliding in the backyard.
None of Qing’s friends seed worried.
Because it wasn’t unusual for Qing to disappear for days at a ti for Cheon Yuhak’s training.
If they didn’t see her for a day, they just assud she was off getting so “special tutoring from the Grandmother” (since it couldn’t be called a regular class).
Clicking her tongue at how carefree they were, Qing brought Moyong Juhee upstairs to one of the guest rooms and laid her down.
“Miss Xin... don’t leave... okay...?”
Moyong Juhee clung to Qing’s hand as she lay there, mumbling.
But between the terror, exhaustion, and the rare comfort she finally found, she quickly drifted off into sleep.
Qing asked Sibi to summon Tang Nanah.
The mont Tang Nanah arrived and saw Moyong Juhee, her eyes practically shot out fire.
“What the hell—Isn’t that Sword Blossom? Why the hell is she here? You—You’re dragging girls ho again?! Seriously? You couldn’t stand her before, and now look at you—holding her hand like you’re so goddamn prince charming? Amazing. Really. Hats off to you.”
“That’s not it. Nanah, listen—Miss Moyong’s been poisoned.”
“Yeah, sure. Poisoned. You always have so excuse when you call over. What is it this ti? What poison?”
“It’s... Blood Core Gu.”
“...Huh?”
Tang Nanah, who’d been puffing steam through her nose with her hands on her hips, blinked slowly.
“Did you just say Blood Core Gu?”
“Yeah. Blood Core Gu.”
“Is that a joke?”
“Have I ever joked about sothing like this?”
Finally, Tang Nanah’s expression hardened.
“For real? That’s... That’s the Blood Sect’s Gu poison.”
“Yeah, I know. Removing it’s gonna be almost impossible.
So I’m planning to erase the Queen Gu instead. But to do that, we’ll have to knock her out completely. Can I ask you to help ? We can’t exactly make this public.”
Qing didn’t know what kind of freakish insects could even send psychic signals, but apparently, Queen Gu parasites could command the lesser Gu to commit suicide.
If that happened, the poison inside the lesser Gu would flood into the host’s body, killing them too.
Worse, the Queen Gu had a “chain-suicide signal”—a monstrous trick where one Gu would pass the command to another, repeating and amplifying it across the widest possible range, ending in mass death.
It was why mbers of the Blood Core Squad had their lives tethered to the squad leaders and deputy leaders—and why they were scattered, two or three at a ti, across different bases as living signal repeaters.
So the plan was to knock Moyong Juhee completely unconscious, Gu parasite and all.
Even if the Queen Gu sent the suicide signal, the parasite would be too deep in sleep to notice and would just keep snoozing.
Of course, this wasn’t so brilliant idea Qing ca up with herself.
One of the Blood Core Squad mbers had tipped her off.
At that, Tang Nanah let out a long sigh.
“You’re tangled up with the Blood Sect? Then maybe you should just ask the elders of the Murim Alliance for help—”
“If we do that, way too many people are going to get into trouble.
I’d rather keep this quiet.
If it’s just and my master, it’ll be enough.”
Moyong Juhee had insisted over and over that she never once committed any disgraceful acts, that she never gave ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ in no matter what.
But once word spread that she’d been captured by the Blood Sect, how many people would actually believe her?
Sure, Qing had heard firsthand from a Blood Core Squad leader and deputy about what really went on behind closed doors—
But to the world? Rumors spread faster than the truth.
And even the wandering knights who tried to live clean, upright lives would see their nas dragged through the mud, all because of a little bad dicine.
That wasn’t right.
“Actually... it’s not just Miss Moyong. There are a few more who got infected with Gu.
Could you put them all under for about three days?”
“So you’re saying... not just the person, but the parasite too?
That’s not too hard.
But damn, Qing—you know this stuff in crazy detail.
I’m impressed.”
“When I put my mind to sothing, this is nothing.”
“Seriously...”
Tang Nanah slapped Qing’s forearm lightly.
“You’ll tell what’s really going on later, right?
I’ll go prep the dicine.
You get the people ready and explain everything to them first.”
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