Master Villainess the Invincible!

Chapter 10

“Hmph.”

Haewon Tang left, clearly unwilling to give the group any of the answers they were looking for. She headed in the direction of the forest, out of the valley they were in.

“Everyone, shut it, quickly gather the luggage, and move out.”

Bangshik Yang issued orders as if he wasn’t just seen acting like a fool.

“Wait, Captain. What in the world is going on? Since when was our lady capable of doing any martial arts?”

“Various things happened. Just focus on escorting the lady to the Qinzhou Yan Clan for now and keep your mouths and ears shut. But I will tell you one thing: be prepared.”

“For what?”

Bangshik Yang continued while looking straight at Meijie, who had approached them to listen to each and every word.

“We may serve a new clan heir.”

Meijie unconsciously stumbled backwards.

* * *

“My Lady, with your permission, I would like to teach you some basic forms.”

On our route to the The Qinzhou Yan Clan, Bangshik Yang came to me. Unlike his usual jovial self, his smile had vanished and been replaced with a stiff expression.

“And the reason being?” I asked.

He stopped for a moment before continuing, “The inner chi in your body right now is in perfect condition for training in martial arts. In a way, it’s like a pure white sheet.”

It seemed like he was trying his best to explain things on my level.

“To be honest, you’ll be able to make quick progress no matter what school you practice in right now. But I, for one...”

“Would prefer to have the foundation of my martial abilities to be my family’s own,” I said, finishing what he was trying to tell me. “And since we’re on our way to the Qinzhou Yan Clan, it’ll be some time until we return to our own clan, which means there’s a risk of me being more influenced by the Yan Clan.”

He nodded.

It was something I’d been thinking about as well. The body ruined by Bi Murong had recovered thanks to the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng, and it was completely optimized for Bangshik Yang’s lessons.

I might as well, since I’m in a world in the martial arts genre.

I needed strength to avoid the horrendous ending awaiting Haewon Tang. I couldn’t expect to face all of the strong warriors in this world armed with only my looks, terrible character, and schemes.

Martial prowess was strength in this world. And I knew the best way to obtain that power effectively.

“Very well.”

I nodded my head.

Bangshik Yang’s face brightened up at my response.

* * *

“It’ll be about another month until we reach the Qinzhou Yan Clan. We could reduce that travel time if we taught you the light stride technique now that you have the inner chi, but since you have made up your mind to have the clan’s techniques as a foundation, it would be better for us to effectively use the time as we have.”

“I understand, sir.”

Bangshik Yang paused.

“My Lady, did you just call me sir?”

“Did you take me for a low-life who doesn’t show respect to a teacher, sir?” I answered with another question, like it was obvious.

His eyes widened briefly at my words.

I feel like he’s… moved or something but, moved by what? Is it because Haewon Tang is acting like a respectable adult?

I noticed his eyes swimming in tears for a moment.

It was something obvious to me, but seeing his reaction made me feel that much more awkward.

“I don’t have any intentions of disrespecting someone who is willing to teach me.”

I know what kind of disrespectful, impudent person Haewon Tang was, but this is a whole other matter. I needed to make this right regardless of her infamy.

Yet Bangshik Yang shook his head.

“You must speak to me as you normally do. You are the first born daughter of the Sichuan

Tang Clan and in line to be the heir. I may have to serve you as clan head, so it is improper for you to show me too much respect.”

The heir? I knew that he cared about the future of the clan, but I may end up as its heir? One that would use him as a subordinate?

Setting aside Bangshik Yang’s intentions, I looked for Meijie. If she had heard this, she would have gone ballistic, so where was she?

Lo and behold, I noticed her pink skirt below the carriage that had stopped for our quick lesson.

Damn, I’m sure she heard that.

“I couldn’t be the heir while Haejoon is still there. You’re worrying too much.”

Bangshik Yang must have also noticed me looking at the hem of a pink skirt.

His gaze turned cold for a moment before continuing.

“I see. I must have said something impertinent due to how happy I was to teach you. You’re right, why should I be concerned when young master Haejoon is still with us?”

We didn’t mention the fact that despite being treated like the next heir, Haejoon still wasn’t being called by the title of “Young Clan Head” or “Young Lord.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“But my lady, you must still talk to me in a familiar way. It’s bad enough that you’re accepting this old man as a teacher. When you talk to me differently, my entire body cringes,” he joked again with his voice steeped in mirth.

It seemed like he really meant it about how I addressed him, because he really did seem to hate it when I used a more respectful tone with him.

Already tired by the preamble before the lesson even started, I offered a condition.

“Very well. I will revert to how I usually talk to you once we complete our lessons, master.”

“Please don’t call me ‘master’ either. What I taught you were only the basic forms of the Sichuan Tang Clan, not a path to being heir.”

Not even Haejoon was taught the secret techniques of the clan. Bi Murong would often beg Mujin Tang to quickly move through the lessons.

However, Mujin Tang continued to maintain his silence despite the pressure from his wife and other elders. It was proof that he hadn’t yet accepted Haejoon Tang as a true and worthy heir.

“What about Master Yang then?”

“If you insist. Just please don’t consider me rude in the future.”

“Neither you nor I are unfamiliar with that particular feeling. You’ve always been...”

“Always been what?”

When I glared at him, Bangshik Yang burst out in laughter. It was like he knew this was going to happen.

That day I officially started my training with Bangshik Yang. Of course, seeing as we had to keep moving to the Qinzhou Yan Clan, it was unlike normal training done in one location.

“The Sichuan Tang Clan specializes in poison and hidden weaponry. Typically we coat our weapons with poison and attack the enemy, but they don’t just stand still. They will do anything to resist. Do you understand?”

Bangshik Yang was also far from a normal teacher.

After showing his poisoned weapon, he feigned death.

I grimaced at the needlessly realistic pantomime.

“You’re quite skilled at that.”

It felt like I’d seen a useless, but still impressive, skill of my master.

“So it is imperative that we have an equally specialized body and martial art to wield our weapons. We must be able to take down enemies at a distance without them even noticing.”

Bangshik Yang looked around the thick shrubbery and mountainous terrain happily.

“Thankfully, we have the perfect training environment.”

He taught me the flowing flight step, which allowed for silent movement, and the Heavenly Tree Step technique, which allowed me to move between trees freely.

I also learned the Tang clan special technique, the Unseen Tang Flight, but most of the training boiled down to moving while using hidden weapons.

It was important to make sure each movement was precise and practiced, and that it had the power and accuracy to take down the target and only the target.

This is fun.

Moving my body until it was covered in sweat felt nicer than I thought.

Perhaps thanks to the Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng, moving as he directed wasn’t too difficult.

“Impossible. How could she learn this quickly...?!”

The escorts who once observed my training from afar in half-disbelief soon were tripping over themselves to help with my training.

“I can’t just stand idly by and do nothing for weeks like this. I will help too!”

The kind of “help” they were talking about was...

“Start when I raise the flag. Do you see the blue flag on top of the mountain?”

I nodded my head.

“I will ride my horse to that point and you will use only the Heavenly Tree Step technique to get there, my lady. You cannot use any other kind of step techniques and you must not touch the ground.”

That was nothing to me at that point. When I nodded silently, Bangshik Yang grinned like he was telling me that the fun wasn’t over.

“Hukchun here will start fifty paces behind you, and if he manages to catch up to you, it will be your loss, my lady.”

It turned out Bangshik Yang was one of those teachers that had numerous ways to put your back up against the wall.

“Damn it all, she won again... Very well. This time Hukchun will be ten paces behind you, while Soryung and Joochun will be holding wooden planks around the midpoint. You must aim and hit those planks with your hidden weapons on the way.”

Of course, I wasn’t the kind of pupil that only listened to what she was told either.