Chapter 151: On The Way To Kaifeng (5)

Look at this little brat being so cheeky.

But as they say, age is power, and the coquettishness of a seven-year-old girl was just adorable.

In fact, it’s human nature that if it’s not your own child, it’s enough if they’re cute and pretty right now.

That’s why other people’s dogs and cats are cute.

Or it’s like how grandparents unconditionally dote on their grandchildren.

The scolding, education, and behavior correction that might be disliked are the parents’ job; they just need to adore them.

Jegal Hyang grabbed Qing’s fingers and pulled.

Her tiny fist could barely hold two fingers and was full.

The child’s unique warm body temperature was transmitted to Qing, whose hands were cold due to the side effects of Demonic Arts.

Qing pretended to be dragged along and spoke.

“Hey. But what if it’s not a lie? I may not look it, but I’m a great elder at the level of a Sect Leader of the Nine Sects, you know? The crime of daring to deceive an adult is very serious.”

“Ah. Really?”

“Really.”

“Th-Then if Unni is right, you can specially marry our Orabeoni...”

“Huh? Are Murim practitioners supposed to bet on other people’s positions? Your Orabeoni should find his own marriage partner.”

“Oh. Then what?”

Qing smiled wickedly.

“Hyang, was it? If I’m right, then Hyang will marry me, okay? How about as my second concubine?”

It was a mischievous joke that only an uncle would make.

Gulp. The child swallowed hard.

“But between women...”

“What, you can’t do it? Then I should go back.”

“Eek, you’re just bluffing to make me give up now, right? The 36th stratagem, retreat to advance! Hmph, do you think I’m a little kid who doesn’t know military tactics?” r

Jegal Hyang puffed and led Qing.

Somehow, despite the winding and similar-looking scenery, she managed not to get lost and led the way skillfully, finally reaching a wide garden with a well-decorated lake.

And on one side, iron balls piled up by type caught the eye.

They were iron balls with handles for easy lifting.

“Here. This is a 100-catty iron ball. Now, let’s see if you can lift it with one hand as you said... Oh, you’re lifting it...”

“Ah. So this is 100 catty? It’s quite heavy, huh?”

100 catty was already more than double the official world record (53kg) by Qing’s hometown standards.

“But is this based on fruit or meat?”

In Qing’s hometown, they still used a primitive and stupid unit system where the catty weight varied by item.

The Chinese people of the same era adjusted the catty weight to match the times (600⇒500, unified for all items), so this was one aspect where the Korean people should emulate their proactive and progressive future-oriented attitude.

Of course, this is the primitive ancient uncivilized Central Plains, so it’s before the adjustment of catty weights.

“...?”

“At this rate, I could probably lift 200 catty too. Which one is the 200-catty one?”

Jegal Hyang looked around and said,

“Th-There’s no 200-catty one. Only 250 catty...”

It was clearly a lying face to anyone who saw it.

Qing chuckled and said.

After lifting 100 catty, she felt like she could lift 250 too.

“Which one is the 250-catty one?”

“Th-That one...”

Qing grasped the 250-catty iron ball with one hand.

It was manageable just to hold and stand, but when she tried to lift it above her head, her hand trembled and it wasn’t easy at all.

Even for a body that had transcended human limits, it was creaking and straining.

Still, somehow she managed to fully bend her elbow and push with her shoulder strength to lift it high into the sky.

It was a miracle performed without even using momentum.

It was truly a heroic posture that would dominate an era!

At this, Jegal Hyang’s mouth opened stupidly, and conversely, her eyes sparkled brightly.

At that moment, Qing felt a sound resonating from inside her body, going “tok tok”.

Startled, Qing immediately dropped the iron ball behind her, on the opposite side of Jegal Hyang.

THUD!

When the 250-catty iron ball hit the ground, not only was the sound loud, but the vibration of the ground caused large waves in the pond.

“...? Does Unni age backwards?”

It was a cute disaster brought about by innocence.

“Didn’t you just almost say something dangerous?”

“Ah. I’m sorryyy.”

“Alright. I’ll let it slide because you’re cute.”

“But then, if Unni uses her Inner Qi too, aren’t you an incredibly powerful Master?”

“Didn’t I already say? This body is a master. A body on the verge of the Transcendent Realm, a veteran of a hundred battles who has defeated countless Transcendent Realm Masters with the combination of Inner and Outer Arts. Ah, I’m not a veteran, huh? A young veteran, hmm, young veteran doesn’t sound right. Then a great... hmm, I want to eat some intestines...”

Qing activated her specialty of ‘thinking everything that comes out of her mouth is valid speech’.

At this, Jegal Hyang burst into clear laughter.

“Oh, then, can’t Hyang be the principal wife instead of a concubine?”

“Tut-tut. Don’t you know the saying that fortune has no back of the head? It’s too late to reach out after it’s passed.”

“Hmph...”

“Later, when you grow up and become very pretty, maybe when you become one of the Five Great Beauties like the Thunder Flower or the Scheming Flower or the Vile Flower, then I’ll accept you.”

“...Isn’t it usually the Wisdom Flower or the Virtuous Flower or the Intelligent Flower?”

“What, can’t I attach good names too? The really ugly-looking one next to me is the Poison Flower, you know?”

“Ah, right! But then, what about Unni? I’ve never heard of the Herculean Flower or the Xiang Ji Flower...”

As the two chatted like this and disappeared, a huge shadow fell over the empty space.

A shadow fell over the iron ball in an ambiguous state, neither firmly embedded in the ground nor completely free.

It was because some senseless human had left without cleaning up after use.

Perhaps because of this, there were huge hands carefully grasping the handles with both hands.

“Hup.”

With a breath-catching sound, a modestly dug hole in the ground was revealed.

The ground had not fully thawed as spring had just arrived, so this was about right for a 250-catty iron ball falling.

The iron ball was lifted with difficulty and quietly placed back in its original position.

*

When she returned to the guest room and showed her arm, Tang Nanah scolded her, saying she had really done a number on herself.

She asked what on earth Qing had done in the middle of the night to properly damage her ligaments like this.

But listening to Tang Nanah’s explanation, the ligaments had stretched so much that the gripping parts were already loose and lost elasticity, and some had ruptured, so she should avoid using her shoulder altogether and not even think about lifting her arm for a while.

Only then did Qing regret her attitude towards Jegal Hyang the night before.

It was truly a foolish act.

“But why is it only like this on top? The lower part is fine?”

“Is that strange?”

“Of course, the upper arm with more muscle is naturally stronger and more stable, isn’t it? The muscles in the forearm are just for bending and rotating the wrist, so they’re inherently weaker.”

Of course, it was thanks to the White Hand Demonic Arts.

The White Hand Demonic Arts protected the area below the elbow like a vajra body, so even in the pathetic show of strength in the middle of the night, it had faithfully protected its stupid owner.

“Let’s apply some acupuncture first. It would be good if we had ice. Since this is the Jegal Clan, they must have ice, right?”

“It’s okay. I can use Ice Arts.”

“Huh? Ice Arts? How?”

“Well... I just can?”

“That’s great. Can you freeze this a bit? Not too much.”

Tang Nanah handed Qing a towel soaked with water.

As she drew up her True Qi as if cooling Longjing tea, frost immediately began to form and freeze.

“Ah. That’s enough. That should do.”

Tang Nanah rubbed the towel to loosen it up, then wrapped it with another towel and tied it to Qing’s shoulder.

“Tell me when the towel gets mushy. We’ll need to untie it, freeze it again, and retie it.”

“Can’t we just freeze it like this?”

“With ice touching bare skin? That would cause frostbite.”

“Oh, that’s a proper physician’s answer. You’re cool at times like this. But didn’t you say you’d apply acupuncture? Can you do that with it wrapped like this?”

“Ah. Right.”

Tang Nanah quickly unwrapped the towel.

Qing’s eyes narrowed.

The “cool” comment should probably be retracted.