Even though I was driven to make plan of 'Luo Ming' fail by any means, something was wrong...

To put things in perspective, the results of her ruse is way too beneficial for the Kang Family in general.

No, was there anyone who benefited here...?

Although my heart felt fury at her for betraying 'Kang Hyuk', there was a lot of inconsistencies in this. If the Martial King succeeded in taking Luo Fei's virginity, he'd have recovered his full power.

By then, the Luo Clan would have a really angry Martial King against them. There were no benefits.

Even Kang Family wouldn't gain anything here...

Now that I think about it more deeply. The way Luo Ming acted didn't seem to match her demeanour.

She looked like she'd been putting up an act...

I needed to meet her. Only then would the truth be revealed. Therefore, I checked my new 'Abilities'.

Every Martial Spirit gave the user a unique power specific to them. Some useless; others powerful.

I closed my eyes momentarily...

My Black Horned Grass Snake was still there. It gave me the ability I named 'Deceitful Tongue'.

Some might think that it was as simple as making others believe my lies, but that wasn't the case.

Deceitful Tongue was more of an activation type ability. It weakened the opponent's mental strength momentarily, allowing me to more inconspicuously weave bigger lies into the interaction while talking.

Someone like the River Parting Martial King would be unaffected by this. He was always on edge.

If his mental strength suddenly dropped, that sensitive bastard would instantly notice my ability.

By then, talking anymore would be useless.

The personality and mental state of the target of this ability also mattered. If used on a berserker or someone enraged, it would only serve to make them even less willing to talk things out.

That's why I was always careful with this ability...

Regardless, Deceitful Tongue wasn't exactly useful to find Luo Ming right now. So I delved deeper...

The River Parting Martial King was born with the lineage Martial Spirit of the Kang Family. It was a strong ability. However, there was one strong disadvantage that made it useless right now.

His ability, 'Dragon Unification', required one to first summon their Martial Spirit before fusing with it.

As he inherited a Water Dragon, its power boosted the 'Flowing River' Sword Art he mastered. 

Not that this was useful after being crippled...

Without Internal Qi to manifest his Martial Spirit, it was a useless ability that couldn't show its power.

The last ability for me, the new Kang Hyuk, who now possessed three Martial Spirit, was the one that was passed onto me by that girl who'd saved me. This power seemed strongest out of the three.

I could feel that it was something different from an activation type or support type commonly seen...

What she'd given me was simply... 'Life Control'.

By life, meaning Internal Qi and Life Force. This power was something many Masters desired.

I tried to use this ability myself...

{Welcome. The user may input commands.}

What?! How can you talk?!

{The user is advised to stop speaking nonsense.}

I'm not talking nonsense! You're an ability, right?

{Affirmative.}

Then how can you talk??!

{By talking.}

...Touché. You're smarter than you look.

{The user is talking nonsense. Please input a command. The ability, 'Life Control', is waiting.}

Fine, fine...! Can you find a girl for me?

{Does the user wish to find a specific female?}

You could say that...

{Command accepted. Tracing the 'Qi Signature' of Luo Ming from memory. Coordinates locked.}

After that, it seemed like my mind instantly knew where she was. I took a few turns and got to an inconspicuous Inn no Young Miss of a prominent clan would ever go. This place was so shady...

I sneaked into the place using the skills every pervert must train. 'The Art of Silent Peeking'!

Tiptoeing into the establishment, my body jumped onto the roof and came down before the window of a certain room. My presence was undetectable. It was then I'd started to overhear a conversation:

"But I loved you...!"

"Isn't that your fault? You shouldn't have fallen for someone else when you had a fiancé! Kekekeke~"

There was the chuckles of a scummy individual in the background of Luo Ming's mournful whimpers.

{Does the user wish to use 'Qi Detection'?}

Sure, if you're offering to do it for me.

{Acceptance confirmed.}

It looked like 'Life Control' noticed something I didn't. When the ability was used, it seemed as if the world changed. Somehow, I could see the meridians and Qi Veins of those inside the room.

Luo Ming had a strong Fire Qi that was standard of the Luo Clan. They had 'Fire Phoenixes', after all. 

The only thing strange was... the other man inside.

He had an extremely potent Demonic Qi. It was pitch black and was disgusting as the worst filth.

"Hello hello hello, what's all this then?" I jumped into the room through the window with haste.

The man looked like he was about to kill her...

"Kang Hyuk...?!" My former fiancé was surprised at my entrance, but so was the other man here.

"Hehehe~ So you already had a 'taste' before coming here? It looks like a war is going to start~" I squinted at the man's words. Not because of what he said, but... due to his face being so outstanding.

How dare evil look so good?!

"Stop, evildoer. As a proud hero of peace and fertility, I shall not let injustice pass me by!" My body theatrically got into a stance before Luo Ming. It was clear who the bad guy was here.

"Hehehe, are you sure want to protect her? Even though she both poisoned and cheated on you?"

"Weren't you the one who coerced her?"

"Does that change her sin? For the sake of mere honour, she sacrificed her entire family." The man didn't seem to be the least bit worried about facing a Martial King, almost as if he was one himself.

Not only that, but I kinda agreed with him. My head turned to glance at her face, which was full of tears. A part of me wanted to forgive her, but another part of me knew that doing so was wrong.

If the person here was the River Parting Martial King, and not me, then a war would've broke out.

Many innocents would be killed in the crossfire.

But at the very least, I couldn't see her as merely a depraved woman who mercilessly poisoned the man she'd eventually marry. She was more of a misguided woman. One who fell for his trap.

"I'm gonna put that to the side. For now, I only see a Demonic Practitioner cruising for a bruising." My response widened their eyes. Perhaps it was hard for them to believe that I could answer so quickly.

Not only that, but my answer was fully rational.

"You know... We even shared a deep and passionate kiss. Don't you feel ashamed as a man?" The handsome bastard moved his fingers across his lips, mocking my manhood openly.

As someone who, well... had a very open perspective on love and romance, I didn't really feel anything. However, Luo Ming's face immediately reddened. Her eyes containing deep heartbreak.

I sighed... It seems she had really been tricked by this psycho. This didn't drop my opinion of her.

In fact, it made me aware that she had some self-control. I mean, even 'I' would fall for that face, despite being a man. That psycho looked so innocent and handsome when he wasn't talking.

Rather than immediately getting angry and fighting him, my 'Love Seeker' tendencies kicked in.

Making sure to keep an appropriate amount of guard towards the guy, I moved in closer to her.

She was immediately scared by my footsteps.

I could tell from their faces that they believed I was getting closer to strangle her. That I was angered...

Of course, 'Kang Hyuk' would definitely react like that. He had an extremely simple view of romance.

The River Parting Martial King believed tradition and honour. To him, Luo Ming's actions were shameful. Regardless of anything, a woman should know her place and not stain the family name.

The intelligent woman too understood that. Which was why she seemed so accepting of her fate.

To her, this was the natural karma towards her.

Seeing her so accepting of death reminded me of how I acted earlier. It's just different circumstances.

However, this wasn't 'fair game' to me at all...

Seeing her look at the floor and offer her neck as an apology, my hand came closer to her head.

She closed her eyes, only to feel perplexed...

My hand patted her head. The look on my face wasn't murderous, but that of forgiveness.

I decided to forgive her... Even if that wasn't my place to do so. Even if doing so was preposterous.

"Ming'er, please lift your head." As if waiting for to me request her, she immediately looked at my face.

"I-I'm sorry... I've dishonoured the family."

"Perhaps... but do you still have feelings for this man?" As soon as I asked, she quickly denied it:

"My eyes were blind...! I deserve death." She seemed to be in a state of absolute despair.

It was only now did I realise my words were driving her off the edge. She still saw me as 'Kang Hyuk'.

And that 'Kang Hyuk' would never forgive her...

She took out a knife from her clothes and immediately tried stabbing her own throat. It was now that I could tell that even a little thing like a kiss could drive this woman to take her own life.

This was really difficult... She was a pure traditional woman that was a perfect match for 'Kang Hyuk'.

Both of them were just so extremely reckless!

"Please let me atone with my death!" The strong suicidal feelings she had overcame her reason.

The handsome psycho behind me seemed amused by this spectacle. It looked like all was HIS plan.

Regardless of my or her own feelings, the death of Luo Ming in my hands would further incite war.

I needed to do something about this fast...!

Even though my heart was reluctant to use 'that' power on a woman, I had no other choice.

Her strength was beyond me right now as someone who still had her Qi, the blade sank into her neck.

"Ming'er..." Even without my meridians, a strand of Qi still infused into my voice as I called her name intimately. Upon hearing my call out, the strength in her arms weakened along with her mental strength.

It was truly horrid of me, but her decrease in mental strength sapped her of the belief that death could help her atone. I could see from her face that she was resigned. Cursing herself to die horribly.

Since she was already at her lowest point, it took longer for her to recover from my 'Deceitful Tongue'. I used that opportunity to pry the blade out of her hand one finger at a time, all until she finally let go of the dangerous knife weakly.

The psychotic bastard behind me watched everything in interest. Wondering what'll happen.

He probably thought a war would happen anyway after what he believed happened to Luo Fei.

This was my opportunity!

I continued to talk to the girl who'd lost her voice calmly, not showing any indication of blaming her:

"...I'm sorry." My words puzzled the both of them.

After all, none of them thought there was anything for me to apologise for. 'I' had been cheated on.

Therefore, it only sounded like lip service...

"Please... Don't try to comfort me. I don't deserve it." She laughed, my words were a joke to her.

My apology came off worse than I'd expected...

"I'm being sincere to you." I chose to double down rather than take back my words like a coward.

"What do you have to apologise for? I was-"

"Ming'er..." I used both my hands to block the left and right side of her vision, making her focus only on me. Then spoke: "...I'm sorry for never being there for you. Especially when your father was ill."

I had a lot of criticism for how 'Kang Hyuk' treated her. After all, this girl was the serious and traditional type. Normally, she'd be able to swallow her opinions and get married to form an alliance.

From the memories I saw, the River Parting Martial King was directly involved with her betrayal.

Because of his callousness, he never showed her even a hint of affection. She was only a tool to him.

That was likely what gave that psycho the opportunity... He took advantage of her loneliness.

"...I'm the one who asked too much of you, and made a irreversible mistake." She still couldn't accept she wasn't at fault. Her eyes were dark and lifeless. Like she was only a living corpse.

This time, I didn't reject her words:

"You're right."

"..." Her eyes gazed down while kneeling.

"Even though I sympathise with your plight. You not only sacrificed your sister, but had also almost started a way between the Kang Family and Feng Clan. Do you know how many would've died...?" 

Her shoulders trembled, and it was almost as if I could hear her heart shattering upon hearing this.

However, these words had to be said. There was no escaping from her sins. They were too heavy...

She was ready to hear me say I'd execute her for being an 'evildoer', or at least offer to punish her.

That's why I did exactly as she'd expected.

Her mentality was too devastated to believe anything positive. So I went with that instead.

And so, I spoke:

"That's why... I shall punish you myself, and you will apologise to your sister. Do you accept these conditions?" She nodded her head. However, the latter half of what I said made an idea dawn on her.

"B-by apologising... You mean..."

"I had changed my mind, and decided not to touch her." Life suddenly appeared in her empty eyes.

Hope... That's what I'd given her.

"You're such a dumb bastard." The psycho behind me broke apart our little emotional scene together.

He also noticed something from what I said and continued: "So you haven't regained your power?"

There was an evil smile on his face. I could tell that he was cooking up something real bad in his head.

Ignoring him, I still focused on my former fiancé.

The psychotic demon seemed even more at ease as we hugged each other; mockingly saying:

"So you're still going to take a tainted woman like her. As a 'former' Martial King, don't you have any shame?" He still drove a wedge between us. The evil man took great joy in Luo Ming's suffering.

I could see that the light of hope in her eyes was flickering like a candlelight and about to go out.

It was time for even more drastic measures!

"You aren't 'tainted' at all." I moved my face closer to her own. My movement not too fast nor slow.

My eyes were looking deeply at her face. Every one of her subtle changes couldn't escape my vision.

Even though I didn't give any warning, she still closed my eyes and accepted my kiss peacefully.

As someone who'd trained at the Orchid Pavilion to get my techniques just right, I didn't stick my tongue in like a barbarian in this really delicate moment. Instead, giving her a kiss like a lover.

I nibbled on the bottom of her sexy lips, giving her a quick yet passionate kiss sucked her soul away.

Hmmm... She 'tasted' quite nice~

The moment I moved my head to take a look at her face, the darkness from earlier was no longer there. Right now, she was just a traditional woman who felt entranced upon experiencing my skill.

Woohoo~! Score one for the great Love Seeker!

"You're actions are pointless." The psycho once again interrupted our touching moment together.

Why was this cock-blocker not getting out?!

Booo! You're not welcome here! Nobody like a spoilt sport... This cute girl WILL be my wife!

She's mine! I'll kill all who disagree!

"Even if you didn't harm any of them. Isn't there still a scandal standing right in front of you?" The man spoke while unsheathing a sword. It was only now did I realise the identity of this psycho.

The shape of his sword was a big indicator for his identity as the 'Child Murdering Sword Demon'.

He was an evil man who cultivated a technique that grew more powerful by soaking his red, spiky sword in the blood of children. Some even say that personally devouring their flesh was a hobby of his.

"Stand back!" I too drew my sword, standing using the unique stance of the Flowing River Sword Art.

"Wretched evildoer, what are you planning?"

"Hehehe~ Haven't you become quite the theatric loser after losing your Internal Qi? What's with calling me an 'evildoer', huh? No matter. I'm going to have fun taking her virginity in front of you. Then I'll eat 'our' children! Hehe~ I wonder how they'll taste~" He licked his blade. Alarm bells started going off in my head as I called my ability inwardly.

{Error. Attack Abilities 'Life Control' can only be used after several seconds of physical touch.}

Meaning all I have to do is get close?

{Affirmative.}

A smile formed on my face. After all, merely several seconds of physical touch was an easy request.

I knew what this Sword Demon was thinking. He believed I'd use the 'Flowing River Sword Art' on him. That misconception was my opportunity. A fire lit in my heart when Luo Ming curled up in fear.

A man doesn't lose honourably. Especially in front of a woman! A man should win by hook or crook!

There was only one skill 'Kang Hyuk' trained that I used, and that was the Art of Sword Throwing!

The blade in my hand was immediately thrown with all my strength, giving him no choice but to block.

I telegraphed my next movement by bending my legs. There was only one thing a 'King' would do.

Lunge via a jump or a charge. There was only a limited amount of options a gentleman could pick.

Good thing I was no nice gentleman~!

Using my mastery of the 'Sliding Dogeza', my body slid across the floor in the blindspot I'd made...

[Castration Art- Sliding Left Ball Crusher!]

The moment I reached close enough. My hand became a snake-like plier that clamped strongly on his junk. With the grace of swordsman who'd reached the 'Sword and Man as One', I squeezed.

*Crush!* "Aaaaargh!" The screams of a man who lost his manhood came out, scaring the people of the Inn awake. Ahh... How pitiful. The way tears came dripping out of his eyes was really pathetic.

"Well, at least you still have the other... Right?"

"Bastard, die!" He lost all form of reason before slashing towards me with impeccable Sword Arts.

"NO!!" Luo Ming screamed in fright, unable to stop what was happening. She stood up to fight, but...

*Swish* *Swish* *Swush*

With my doubled mental strength and physical capabilities, I dodged without making any effort.

"H-how?! This shouldn't be possible!" Even if I was a Martial King, there was a world of difference between us. With his Demonic Qi, slicing me into smithereens should've been a piece of cake.

A smile curved on my face, speaking:

"What's the matter with you, my friend~? You look like your balance is off... One-sided, even~" These words slowly made the Sword Demon realise what was wrong. He couldn't stabilise his lower body.

It wasn't his fault. The pain and 'missing jewel' made him unable to stand straight, so how could he even hope to utilise his Sword Arts? Even someone lacking in Qi like myself was now his match. There was an incredulous look on his face.

"T-this isn't right! You shameless bastard! How could you use such a move?! Don't you have pride as a Martial King?!" He started to panic while swinging his sword, creating a large opening.

"That's hilarious." I decided finish him off.

[Castration Art- Threefold Family Jewel Breaker!]

It was a technique I'd been training my entire life with diligence. Suddenly, my foot vanished for a moment. When it came back, it was as if all three of my strikes hit the poor psycho all at once.

The first strike caused him to scream in agony once again. The second strike caused him to drop his Demon Blade. Lastly, the third strike 'broke' his lower. The sound of bone shattering was heard.

"A-aaah...!" He no longer had the strength to scream. Merely hunched over on his knees...

"You baby-eating, womanising, depraved  piece of shit... You don't deserve to be a man." I spoke in disgust. With my 'Life Detection' on, the energy he'd stolen from those children was clear to see.

This man deserved what was coming to him.

Now, should I give him to the Murim? There's a lot of parents who'd love to watch him be executed.

But I changed my mind after hearing him talk: 

"My balls...! My manhood! Y-you dare... You dare castrate me?! You dare turn me into a woman?!"

"You're not a man just because you have balls, and you're not a woman just because you lost them." I spat on his face. What a disgusting statement. It seems like giving him to authorities was wrong.

The man finally quietened down when he saw me put my hand on his forehead with killing intent...

[Proceeding to activate the 'Life Lock'] 

"W-wait...! Spare me, great Master!" The psycho begged for his life, but my heart was unmoved.

"You want me to spare your wretched life?"

"Yes... Please, have mercy on me!" My frown became deeper. There was hatred in my eyes.

This was the first time I felt this way...

"I'm sure the children you killed begged the same way. Did you ever show anyone else mercy?" From the words I spoke, he knew that there was no other options for him. He tried fighting against his pain...

I could feel him trying to get up, but it was too late.

{Life Force has been hacked. Please give a new command. Do you wish to steal his Life Energy?}

No. I'd rather not have his sickening cultivation go into my body. Disperse everything within him.

{Command received.}

As soon as 'Life Control' stopped speaking, it was as if the man became a sieve instead of a vessel.

"W-what?! STOP!!!" He brushed my hand away and tried escaping, but I kept him within my ability's range while chasing. The Demonic Qi possessed by the Sword Demon started to disperse.

He ran through the corridors and onto the streets before the Inn, causing everyone to look at the scene. They watched as he tripped over, looking haggard while desperately trying stay alive.

"Ah! It's a Demonic Practitioner!" Even the ordinary folk could now sense his sickeningly evil energy.

He screamed while holding his waist, wailing as everything started to disperse into the air.

I only watched as his deep ocean of Internal Qi dried up, causing his body to rapidly age.

Mixed into the Demonic Qi was Life Force, which now seemed less spiritual than I initially thought.

His body started turning to ashes as if burning in his own flames of evil power. When everything was finished, there was nothing left. Only the clothes on the ground were evidence to his existence.

The Sword Demon was gone...

I didn't know how to feel. This was the first time I'd taken a life, and yet why didn't I care at all...?

Mom, Dad... Have I become 'evil' too?

Why did I feel such indifference while watching another die? I... didn't used to to be this way.

"Hyuk, are you feeling okay?" Luo Ming called out to me. I could tell that she was misunderstanding.

"It's fine... You were trying to protect me." Her words made me feel even more inwardly ashamed.

No, I had forgotten about trying to protect her.

In that last moment, there was a rush of adrenaline in my mind from being able to slay an 'evildoer'.

It felt... so nice.

The reason my face became pale like this isn't out of guilt. It's from rejecting that feeling of ecstasy.

Swallowing heavily, we both went back into the Inn after the Sword Demon vanished from reality.

I decided to move on....