Chapter 153: Ihwa Fairy and Man Inhwa (1)

I thought I understood now why Ihwa Fairy had kidnapped the young masters of the great clans.

It was her plan to absorb their Qi and make it her own.

She must have judged that if she only absorbed enough Qi to not kill them and let them go afterward, the clans would consider it fortunate that their young masters were spared, and they would not pursue the issue any further.

As long as their Dantian and innate Qi were not damaged, they could always cultivate again and recover their strength.

Furthermore, even if the clans brought up this matter, in the end, the secret dual cultivation technique would have to be revealed.

And once it became known that Ihwa Fairy had defiled all these young masters, it would be difficult for them to marry. Ihwa Fairy had even considered that psychological leverage.

After using Dragon Sky Step, I climbed up to the beam and observed the situation inside the room. As expected, the young masters were lying on the beds just like the daughters of the great clans had been.

And there was Ihwa Fairy circulating her Qi, with clear signs that she had already engaged in dual cultivation with three of them.

Seomun Yuwon, Shangguan Joyoung, and Danmok Gyeol had already fallen victim to Ihwa Fairy’s secret dual cultivation method.

After a while, Ihwa Fairy opened her eyes and muttered.

“Shall I now taste the Qi of the two finest ones?”

From her words, I realized she had deliberately left behind the two with the strongest cultivation—Pang Giyok and Namgung Soomyung—for later absorption.

“I don’t know which one to take first.”

Ihwa Fairy licked her lips as she stared at the two handsome young men with lust-filled eyes.

Then she moved toward Namgung Soomyung.

“You will be first.”

Namgung Soomyung was already drugged and visibly aroused. Ihwa Fairy lowered herself on top of him as if to mount him.

At the exact moment her hips settled down, I fired a large needle. I had waited for this moment of carelessness when greed had blinded her judgment as she tried to claim Namgung Soomyung.

Ping!

One large needle shot toward the pressure point at the nape of Man Inhwa, Ihwa Fairy’s true identity.

“Hmph!”

Surprisingly, she blocked the needle with her palm.

Thud!

The needle pierced through her palm but stopped there.

With an annoyed expression, Ihwa Fairy turned around and growled sharply.

The sound was like that of a cat about to mate being interrupted and hissing in frustration.

“Who dares?”

She looked at me standing on the floor with an expression of surprise.

Slowly, she pulled the needle out of her palm.

Even as she did so, she didn’t flinch, showing a terrifying level of endurance.

She licked the blood from her palm and cast a lascivious glance at me.

“A big fish has walked right into my net.”

She scanned me with eyes full of lust.

“If you knew that throwing hidden weapons was my specialty, you wouldn’t have tried to attack me with such a thing. You’ve made a mistake.”

I nodded at her words.

Then I pulled out another needle from my waistband and said,

“Then let’s see if you can block this one too!”

This time, I flicked it out with my Dragon Scale Finger.

Piiiing!

It was so fast that the sound of it being fired came a moment later.

Seeing the needle fly toward her, Ihwa Fairy’s expression turned pale as she waved her fluttering sleeve to block it.

She had learned martial arts specializing in hidden weapons, so her defenses against them were naturally formidable.

Her sleeves were made of special fabric that could block hidden weapons. But that calculation had been mistaken.

The needle fired with Dragon Scale Finger pierced right through her sleeve.

Thunk!

The needle struck dead center in her chest, and her body began to show signs of paralysis.

‘Such a hidden weapon exists…’

It wasn’t surprising that she was shocked. The needle hadn’t just pierced her sleeve, it had gone through her body protection Qi as well and embedded itself in her chest.

She had never seen a hidden weapon capable of piercing both barriers.

However, thanks to her sleeve and body protection Qi reducing the needle’s force, she wasn’t completely paralyzed. She could still move her feet.

But I had no intention of letting her go that easily.

Without mercy, I fired two more needles in succession with Dragon Scale Finger.

Unable to move much further, she was struck again and her body completely froze.

“What kind of technique is this? How can a needle pierce Strong Silk Fabric and even my body protection Qi?”

I approached Ihwa Fairy and spoke.

“Before that, wake the young masters.”

“Why should I?”

“Because if you don’t, you’ll die.”

Ihwa Fairy gave a faint smile.

“Do you really have the guts for that? If I die, you won’t be walking out of here alive either.”

Ihwa Fairy knew that most of the later generation of the Demonic Path were incapable of making rational choices in such situations.

It was typical of those from the Orthodox Sects to require a justification to take a life, and no one embodied that trait more than the younger generation of the prestigious clans.

No matter how skilled they were, to Ihwa Fairy, toying with these naive members of the Orthodox Sects was no different from squashing bugs.

“Who’s to say we’ll die just because you do? We can leave this place even without you.”

“Hmph! You must not have realized yet, brat, because you haven’t experienced this palace’s formation. Without me, you’ll never leave here alive. But if you cooperate, I won’t just let you live—I’ll grant you what you wish for as well.”

I let out a dry laugh.

“Seems like you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not here to negotiate with you. I’m here to threaten you. You’d better think carefully about what happens if you ignore me. Listen carefully. I’ll only say this once. Wake them.”

Ihwa Fairy seemed to think I was showing some backbone and considered softening her approach.

“Fine, in that case…”

The moment she spoke, I drew my sword.

Swaek!

Clang!

I swung my blade, cutting something down.

I was so fast that Ihwa Fairy didn’t even realize what I had cut.

“Hmph! Trying to scare me like that won’t—”

Thud!

When she heard something drop to the floor, she looked down and saw her right ear lying there.

I casually approached and applied acupressure to the area around her ear to stop the bleeding.

“Y-You brute…”

I responded as I heard her curse.

“I’ll say it again, Lady Man. Wake them.”

Ihwa Fairy hadn’t expected me to actually cut off her ear. Flustered and enraged, her face flushed red.

Yet, she didn’t dare say another word, unsure of what I might do next.

“Your answer’s too slow.”

Swaek!

Once again, I drew my sword.

“Gah!”

Her body was paralyzed, and she couldn’t even move her hands. She couldn’t check what had become of her left ear.

But she could feel it—feel it sliding down her cheek, dropping onto her shoulder, and rolling onto the floor.

She saw it with her own eyes.

Ihwa Fairy looked like she might faint from rage.

I pressed the acupoints on her left ear as well, stopping the blood from flowing entirely.

“It would be too unsightly if you bled all over. You’ve already lost your ears, after all.”

I walked toward the bronze mirror sitting in the corner of the room.

“Aren’t you curious about how you look right now? What does someone with no ears look like? I know, but you don’t.”

“I’ll tear you apart and eat you alive!”

Ihwa Fairy gritted her teeth as she spoke venomously while glaring at me with hatred as I brought the mirror closer.

Truthfully, even though she was my enemy, I didn’t want to be so cruel to a woman. But if I didn’t, I couldn’t save my companions. I had no choice but to harden my heart.

‘So this is what they mean when they say a true man must know when to be ruthless.’

There comes a moment when you have to become ruthless to achieve your goal. I believed that moment had come for me.

If I had been a youth like these others, I would never have been able to push Man Inhwa this far.

But I had lived over fifty years. I had the guts to do what needed to be done.

Life experience didn’t just make one wise—it made one’s heart tougher as well.

Ihwa Fairy trembled as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, seeing herself without ears.

She had always prided herself on her beauty, but now, seeing her mutilated appearance, she was consumed by despair and venomous hatred toward me.

I stood to her right and spoke indifferently.

“Don’t you want to know why I moved to this spot?”

At last, her voice quivered.

She couldn’t predict what this brute might do next, and fear began to overwhelm her.

“I can’t slice your nose if I’m standing in front of you. But if I stand on your right like this, I can reach it just fine. Go on, imagine it. Your face with no ears and no nose.”

As she pictured her earless, noseless face, she felt like she might really pass out.

“Lady Man? Wake them.”

Man Inhwa bit her lip hard.

Seeing that, I placed my hand on my sword again.

Sensing that, Ihwa Fairy hurriedly spoke.

“Fine, I’ll wake them.”

“A second later and that proud nose of yours would be on the floor, Lady Man.”

Looking at me making such threats without flinching, she thought I was worse than the Demonic Path itself.

“You wicked bastard…”

“Wicked? Which is worse—me, threatening you to save them, or you, who drained their Qi with that despicable dual cultivation method? Shouldn’t you take responsibility for what you’ve done, Lady Man?”

Goosebumps ran down her back every time I addressed her so casually as “Lady Man”. It was terrifying how unaffected I seemed after cutting off both her ears.

‘This guy isn’t normal. He’s not just some kid their age… What kind of life must he have lived to do this without even blinking?’

I pulled out three large needles and embedded them near her Dantian.

“Guh! What… What are you doing?”

“I’m sealing your Qi for a moment.”

Then I pulled out the needles from her pressure points, allowing her to move again.

“Don’t try anything stupid. Or I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.”

Ihwa Fairy was terrified of those words.

She was certain I was the kind of man who could do far worse than cut off her nose.

With shaking hands, she pulled a small porcelain vial from her clothing and sprinkled a fine white powder under the noses of the young masters.

Their bodies stirred.

Realizing they were naked, the young masters quickly grabbed the nearby clothes and hurriedly dressed themselves.

Thankfully, their clothes had not been moved far and were within easy reach.

“You wicked bitch!”

Seomun Yuwon, realizing that only a fraction of his Qi remained, immediately understood what had happened to him.

He glanced down at the traces left on his lower body and instantly grasped the situation.

Shangguan Joyoung and Danmok Gyeol’s faces turned red with rage as they raised their hands, prepared to strike Ihwa Fairy down on the spot.

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