Master Villainess the Invincible!

Chapter 9

Bangshik Yang returned to the cave after the sun was setting the next day.

I told her she can’t eat, but I’m sure she feels hungry nonetheless.

In one of his hands was a small rice ball. About a day and a half had gone by–half the time they could spare.

I hope she made some progress. If things look bad, should we consider returning to our clan? The lady won’t need any time to heal, now that she’s eaten the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng...

Yet relations with the Qinzhou Yan Clan might get strained if they didn’t show up after sending word that they were coming to visit.

None of the options were appetizing.

He sighed, and moved to take a step inside.

“Is that for me?”

He could hear a familiar, taunting voice next to him.

“My lady!” Bangshik Yang nearly jumped out of his skin.

In response, Haewon caught the rice ball that was thrown into the air with ease.

“This isn’t much, but I could still eat.”

After that brief moment of coyness, she started to eat the rice ball.

Despite her attitude, she was devouring the food with such gusto that Bangshik Yang couldn’t help but offer her the water skin in his pocket.

“Some water. You might choke if you eat so quickly.”

“Very well.”

After a respite, she continued eating.

It was hard to see her as the high-born daughter of a great clan, now that she was too busy eating to notice the specks of rice on her own face. Her rosy cheeks and small forehead still showed that she was a child.

We should return. I’ve made the young lady take on a task too difficult.

A certain realization hit him right as he was making a decision.

Wait, I couldn’t detect the lady’s presence just now.

For a split second, he hadn’t noticed Haewon right next to him.

Bangshik Yang stared at Haewon.

Could it be…?

He couldn’t detect the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng energy that was flowing from her like water anymore.

“My Lady, please excuse me.”

Bangshik Yang quickly took Haewon’s pulse, shocked by the discovery.

The energy is gone!

When Bangshik Yang looked up, Haewon grinned in triumph.

“What, do you want me to show it to you?”

In a second, the energy started to flow freely from the energy point he was holding.

And it wasn’t just the energy that belonged to the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng. It was something thicker and denser, a form of inner chi.

“My lady, where did you get the, no, how could you hide all of this... just how...?!”

Was it possible for the lady to have controlled all of that energy, equal to 120 years of training, and then converted it into her own inner chi in just... a day and a half?

“Oh, that? When I tensed my head, solar plexus, and feet, the energy kept stopping somewhere. So I just decided to force it through.”

“You... forced it all through?”

“The flow kept getting blocked, so I just forced it all to flow.”

Haewon pointed at different points on her body.

“Are you saying that you opened up all twelve pressure points in your body?”

“Twelve pressure points?” Haewon’s face was the reflection of ignorance.

Bangshik Yang was, once again, left in shocked disbelief.

The world was full of warriors who were unable to open even the single pressure point that gathers all of the chi flow in the body located at the top of the head.

To be able to open the twelve pressure points–the different pathways which conduct the body’s blood and chi flow–meant being able to control the whole of their chi.

However, taking control of all twelve of them required decades of dedicated training.

It was unreasonable to expect warriors who must train in their chosen school of martial arts to dedicate that much time to their internal mastery.

As a result, most warriors preferred to focus on the four core pressure points on the top of the head, solar plexus, bottom of the foot, and the lower abdomen for efficiency’s sake.

And despite all of these difficulties, the young lady who hated training more than anything had managed to accomplish that feat?

Bangshik Yang was reminded of a moment while he was training Haejoon Tang.

Controlled breathing is fundamental to one’s control over their chi flow, so Haejoon Tang had had to learn to do so from Bangshik Yang.

“Damn it all, how long do I need to keep doing this?”

“Please sit, young master. Straighten your back and take deep breaths. Try focusing on the points I—”

Unlike how he’d taught Haewon, he’d practically force-fed the lessons into Haejoon Tang’s head until they stuck.

In fact, he was practically atop Haejoon to direct his every move.

However, Haejoon struggled to circulate the energy flow of his body, let alone open up the four main pressure points of the body.

“Just bring me an elixir! I can’t keep doing this!”

“You mustn’t rely on such methods. Even if you drink an elixir, the only way to truly make that power yours is to master this technique.”

“Enough! Mother!”

He ran straight to Bi Murong’s arms.

Moojin Tang shielded Bangshik Yang from expulsion, greatly valuing his martial prowess.

It had still limited his climb in status to the captain of the clan head’s guard squad.

If it wasn’t for that, he would have no doubt risen as a prominent member of the clan’s elite dark force.

Officer Chen was disappointed in this series of events and even said it would have been better to let the boy have his way, but Bangshik Yang had no regrets.

The reason he was reminded of that moment was because of the stark contrast between the two.

The contrast of what the clan’s infamous young lady and what the prominent heir of the clan achieved.

Bangshik Yang looked at Haewon Tang.

Despite the dirt and dust covering her, somehow her face looked like it was brighter and clearer than ever before.

Is the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng truly that powerful, or is it all due to the young lady’s talents?

“Would you care to see this too?” Haewon continued teasing Bangshik Yang, clearly amused by his surprised expression.

She snapped her fingers to produce a small amount of chi, causing it to shoot out.

There was a small gust of wind, and small rocks fell from the wall that had been struck.

And now she is capable of bringing that chi outwards!

It took every fiber of Bangshik Yang’s being to hide his astonishment.

He didn’t want to show the reaction that the lady was clearly expecting.

He was honestly shocked by all this, but he still couldn’t behave so predictably as an important team captain in the Sichuan Tang Clan.

“I think you shouldn’t use that until you can further hone your skills, my lady.”

“Don’t act like this is nothing. I saw your eyes grow wide.”

“Hmph. I am capable of what you just showed me.”

Bangshik Yang flicked his fingers with a proud face, as if he was making a point.

Something much more impressive than Haewon’s small gust of wind flew by.

A fissure started to form on the cave wall and there was a sharp crack of breaking rock.

Oh no.

Both their faces went stiff.

Two more cracks rang out.

“My Lady!”

They both jumped out of the cave with Bangshik Yang’s shout.

A bloom of dirt and dust flew out of the collapsing cave, but the flow of the waterfall hid what was happening behind its veil.

Unlike the first time, when Haewon had been shamefully carried by Bangshik Yang into the cave, she landed safely with no assistance.

“M-My Lady?”

The other members of the escort who were waiting for Bangshik Yang raised their heads in confusion.

They had been on standby at the lady’s sudden wish to rest somewhere with a good view, and suddenly their lady was dropping down from the sky.

Her fluttering robe and hair gave her the visage of a celestial.

Haewon Tang’s beauty was known far and wide, but all the members of the Sichuan Tang Clan knew that her beauty was far overshadowed by her character.

Yet even they couldn’t help but gaze at her, completely captivated.

If beauty was considered a physical strength, she would have claimed the world as her own.

Their momentary illusions of their lady were swiftly shattered when she kicked Bangshik Yang’s shin as soon as he landed next to her.

“You fool! You could have buried the both of us with that stunt!”

“You were the one who taunted me, My Lady! I didn’t know that was going to happen!”

“Why, you–!”

Haewon continued to shoot out small concentrations of chi at him, and he dodged each of them in turn.

The two of them failed to pay any notice to the remaining members of the escort with faces of disbelief, completely distracted by the fact that they had almost died.

“Th-the lady is shooting energy bombs!”

“That would explain how she was able to jump down from...!”

Meijie, who was observing from behind, was just as shocked.

Haewon Tang was capable of martial arts? Since when? I must let the mistress know!