Chapter : 37
My Chance Is a Status Window (37)
I trailed after the bastard, stepping lightly on Bul-lae-bu-geo.
I kept enough distance not to get noticed.
‘What? Where are you going?’
I followed the Red-Eyed Scholar.
The Red-Eyed Scholar followed the lady.
And the lady’s destination was our shared destination.
Despite the late hour, they were heading deeper and deeper into a deserted place.
After a good while of quick steps, the girl arrived at a riverside water mill.
There, a young man was waiting for her.
“Ah! My lady! I’ve been waiting for you!”
“Young master!”
It was a secret nighttime meeting between young lovers.
But… their budding romance was not destined to bloom.
“Kyaaa!”
“Who are you?!”
The Red-Eyed Scholar burst in like lightning and pressed a 麻穴 (numbing pressure point) on the young man.
Thud.
“Ughhh…!!”
“Heh heh… Stay still, whelp. Move and you’ll end up crippled.”
The man collapsed, paralyzed from the neck down.
He fluttered his eyes and mouthed words, unable to scream—he immediately recognized the intruder’s face.
That face was infamous.
One you couldn’t forget after a single look.
It was obvious he had tailed the girl—third daughter of Hengnan Escort Agency—all the way here.
The young nobleman’s eyes rolled wildly.
He was desperately regretting coming here.
He’d just wanted to satisfy his lust and now he was about to lose his life.
“Your name was Li Xiaomei, wasn’t it?”
“…Yes.”
The Red-Eyed Scholar stepped closer.
Xiaomei’s slim shoulders trembled.
“You knew I had my eye on you, didn’t you?”
“I-I didn’t know…”
“You didn’t know? After the looks I sent you?”
“Yes…”
“Then learn tonight. I want to taste you. Kahahaha!”
So blunt and vulgar that Xiaomei’s face drained of color.
‘Pfft… this guy’s insane.’
I watched through a crack in the wall, barely holding back laughter.
There’s a first for everything.
Never thought I’d see someone flirt like this.
Well… calling it flirting is generous.
He was just mocking her before raping her.
“If you don’t cooperate, I’ll turn him into a cripple.”
“Uuugggh!!”
He pointed at the fallen young man.
Xiaomei’s face twisted in despair.
The man’s eyes bulged in terror.
“W-what do you want me to do?”
“Come here.”
He crooked a finger.
Unwilling step by unwilling step, she approached.
Grab!
He yanked her into his arms.
“Snff, sniff sniff…”
He buried his face in her hair like some kind of rat.
“Ahh… this smell. You’ve been spreading this scent around the escort agency to tempt me, haven’t you?”
“I-I never—kyaa!”
He seized her hair mid-sentence.
“Didn’t you? Walking around the courtyard wafting this scent even though you knew I was there? If that’s not seduction, what is?”
“I’m sorry… I was wrong…”
He released her hair only to grab her head with both hands.
“Words aren’t enough.”
“W-what?”
“Show me properly.”
He shoved her head downward, toward his lower body.
Xiaomei understood exactly what he wanted.
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
‘Now!’
His attention was completely on her—my chance.
Using Bul-lae-bu-geo, I slipped silently into the water mill.
“I won’t!”
Xiaomei’s cry rang out.
Her survival instinct was overridden by revulsion.
She shot up and tried to bolt for the exit.
“You bitch!”
But no ordinary person escapes a martial artist’s grasp.
He seized her hair again with lightning speed.
Smack! Smack!
“Kyaaaa!!”
Two vicious slaps.
Her cheeks swelled instantly.
“You filthy whore! You only listen when I hit you, huh?”
Even without channeling inner force, a martial artist’s slap is brutal.
Her fight drained away—she really thought she’d die.
‘Almost there.’
While they struggled, I closed to the center of the mill.
Then—eye contact.
The paralyzed noble and I locked eyes.
He lay there like a helpless parasite, only his pupils moving.
I pressed a finger to my lips.
Don’t you dare make a sound.
He bobbed his head infinitesimally.
Good boy.
“Alright, Xiaomei… let’s begin. Heh heh…”
He stripped eagerly.
Five steps between us.
His filthy backside right in front of me.
Should I get closer?
Or strike now?
He was well within range—but my sword-qi control still wasn’t perfect.
A bad shot, and I’d only alert him.
‘A little closer.’
Normally, he’d sense me and counterattack.
But his mind was dancing on the moon.
One more step.
Bul-lae-bu-geo hid me in the night.
“Heh heh… where should I start… top? bottom? Heh—this is exciting!”
His breath grew ragged with lust.
Now—just one zhang away.
Perfect killing distance.
I raised my sword—
—and my eyes met Xiaomei’s.
She stared behind him.
He sensed it.
Too late.
Secret Shadow Sword—Thousand Hidden Glimmers.
My blade slid forward like flowing light.
Thud—CHUK!
A heavy impact through flesh and bone.
“Guh—!”
He twisted, too slow.
The sword pierced his heart clean through.
Blood erupted like a fountain, splashing every wall.
“Grrkhk…”
And that was it.
No last words.
The Red-Eyed Scholar died swiftly—and pathetically, for a martial artist.
He twitched on the floor like a fish in a market.
What was his level?
At least second-rate, maybe even first-rate like me.
‘Complacency and ambush—deadly.’
First strike wins.
Just like that brawl with Hyuksung in Zhejiang.
Always guard your back.
‘Anyway… that should be him, right? Status window?’
[Objective: Become a killer of Black Killing Gate and complete 10 missions]
[Time Limit: 1113 days, 17 hours]
[Reward: Millennial Ganoderma, White Tiger Golden Pill]
[Failure Penalty: None]
Huh?
Why is it still at 10 missions?
Don’t tell me… this wasn’t him?
Did I kill the wrong guy?!
He looks exactly like the Red-Eyed Scholar!
“Excuse me…”
“Huuh… huuuh…”
Li Xiaomei sobbed, drenched in blood.
She knelt frozen exactly where she’d been assaulted, unable to move.
“Miss? Miss Li Xiaomei?”
I approached carefully.
She wasn’t the only one having a rough night.
“Hic… y-yes…”
Thank god, she responded.
Just don’t think too hard about what happened, okay?
Call it stepping in shit.
“This guy is the Red-Eyed Scholar, right?”
“Hic… yes…”
So it is him!
Personally confirmed by the escort agency’s daughter!
So why isn’t it counting?!
Insane!
“Th-thank you… for saving me…”
“Ah—yeah, sure.”
The thanks pricked my conscience.
Maybe I should’ve saved her sooner.
But I’d needed him distracted.
And honestly—she did come here voluntarily for a secret rendezvous.
“U-um… honorable hero… who are you?”
“Me? Oh, uh. Just think whatever works for you.”
Lucky timing, that’s all.
“Thank you… but could you please also help the young master…?”
The nobleman twitched in the corner.
He’d held still during my signal, but now shook like a leaf.
“He was struck by the Red-Eyed Scholar’s numbing arts…”
“Right.”
I dissolved the paralysis with pressure-point technique—something I’d learned at White Tiger Hall.
“Hahhh! Thank you, hero!”
“Mm.”
Hero, my ass.
I waved him off.
The real concern—why wasn’t the mission completed?
Maybe there’s a delay?
I checked again.
Still unchanged.
ARGH!
Why?!
Unless…
He’s not fully dead?
I inspected the corpse.
Nope. Cold, stiff, heart stopped.
He wasn’t some immortal freak.
Then a thought hit me.
‘The condition says: complete missions.
Meaning Black Killing Gate must verify the kill.’
Possible.
Even if I kill him, they need a body to confirm.
And we’re in a secluded mill.
How would they know?
I can’t contact them.
Black Killing Gate communicates top-down only—no way up.
‘Then I just need to make sure they can’t miss it.’
Schling.
Sword drawn.
“Huh?! Hero, what are you—?!”
They panicked—not knowing if I’d turn on them.
“Making rat-head candied skewers.”
“Wh—?”
slick—
I cut off the Red-Eyed Scholar’s head cleanly.
Blood trickled out.
Hmm. Should’ve been bloodless—still need practice.
Kick, kick.
I rolled the severed head upright.
Set it in place.
Stab.
I skewered the head onto my sword like a grotesque candied apple.
“Gah!”
“Uuugh…”
Horrifying, yes.
I don’t want to do this.
But circumstances, you know?
“Well then, take care.”
I left the mill.
Destination—the lavish brothel in Xiangyin where he’d been partying days ago.
I’d mount his head on their ornate rooftop corner.
Let everyone see.
And the Black Killing Gate would surely hear of it.
If the mission still doesn’t complete…
sigh… I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.
