The day was long... Rather than visiting the Luo Clan openly, I took Lu Xia out for investigation.

Our goals were to first pin down the number of people involved in kidnapping maids, then the victims of abuse themselves. Other times, saving them would be the hardest part... but now:

{Would you like to purify target's Internal Qi?}

With Life Control at my disposal, I could easily change the Demonic into Orthodox Practitioners.

I also used 'Life Detection' to pin down and put a mark on those who were involved in these crimes.

Those who had siphoned power from those maids by using them as cauldrons (sex slaves) had a Demonic Qi signature on their lower half. The only thing left was to gather the flies to one location.

That's why I had to find the leader of the whole faction first. Which was why I needed some help.

"...I heard there's a 'fun place' in this city you can't find anywhere else." I whispered to one particularly ugly bastard while groping on Lu Xia's ass. What I was going for is looking like a wealthy hooligan.

In the brothel I'd found this particular Lou Clan Elder, who was hiding his identity, the old man made a disgusting smile before nodding. It looked like 'customers' were something they liked.

Using my social skills, I was able to infiltrate pretty deeply until I found the 'shop' they sold women.

"Why not take a pick? We have many types of women you'd prefer." Looking at the girls huddled together protectively of each other, I pretended to be a customer who was browsing through goods.

"Which is your most expensive?" When I said those words, a fire was lit in the ugly old fart's eyes.

"By that, you mean..." 

"What I just said: The most expensive one. I might be able to find more 'customers' if you can find me one of the highest quality." With these words, the man quickly went and contacted the 'store owner'.

Seeing that I was a walking pile of money, he licked his lips greedily as his eyes became a bit clouded.

I knew this look well...

Before he could try to lead me in the wrong direction to try taking my money, I grabbed onto his shoulder in front of his guards. Then released great killing intent using my domineering attitude.

For once, I used my 'Deceitful Tongue' ability in a different way than usual. It added on top of my oppressive demeanour to suppress my opponents even further. Making me look really intimidating.

"I wouldn't recommend what you're thinking of. It isn't my first time doing shady business." The latter half of my statement was so sincere that the old fart shivered. He stopped to lead the way properly.

In my past life, I wasn't so averse to doing shady business where women sold themselves. Though I did believe there is a difference between 'selling yourself' and 'being sold' by someone else.

The former was a transaction, while the latter was human trafficking. Taking freedom for granted.

But getting back to my point, I was actually rather surprised Deceitful Tongue actually worked on them. It looked like I underestimated her strength I could use it when powered by a Martial King's Qi.

Since I only had one arm and looked different from the usual 'Kang Hyuk' in both my mannerisms on top of personality, no one suspected me. I made my way through the dirtiest parts of Azuremist City 

"Hey, girl~ Why don't you leave him and have some fun with me?" A random bastard grabbed my maid's arm, leading me to instantly cut his hand off... My sheer brutality and lack of hesitation caused the people around me to stay away.

That thug rolled on the ground, with no one helping him up. This was probably a common occurrence. 

It didn't take long for me brought to a very special looking place deep into the darkest pits of the marketplace. There was a bunch of houses stacked together in this area, making it harder to navigate.

Each house seemed deliberately close to each other to make it hard for people to see the shady deals going down here. It looked like the reason they could do business in daylight was due to this.

When the old fart lead me into a certain estate, I was surprised the the lack of women on display.

Inside this room was only one man. He was someone I could recognise. The Vice Head who worked under the Luo Clan's Chief Head. This was the first time I'd seen his evidence of corruption.

Even with my 'Life Detection', I couldn't find any indication that he'd been using any cauldrons.

It looked like only his body was clean...

"I've been told you wanted to see our most expensive product." Rather than making small talk suspiciously, I decided to mark him in my mind and hasten the conversation to get to the point:

"I'd rather get my business here done first."

"Of course, it's just rare to find a good customer like you these days. Let me show you our most prized cauldron. We were planning to sell her off to the Imperial Family of the Tian Empire as a concubine, but she hasn't been submissive lately."

"That's fine. I only care about quality." Waving the man's reply off, I pretended to show some interest.

Really, the only thing that was coming into my mind now was getting some time alone with this Vice Head once the 'transaction' was done. That way I could get the 'flies' to gather in one location.

He seemed to be weaker than me. After all, it's not like Martial Kings were cabbages on the streets.

Even Demon Kings didn't show themselves much.

The two of them lead to a certain place. There were secret guards protecting them from the shadows. What caught my attention was that there seemed to be an ominous Qi where they took me. 

In a heavily guarded room, they opened the door to show an individual that secretly made me furious.

It wasn't her identity that fuelled my anger, but what had been done to her. Life Detection showed that this woman was beyond saving, especially when it came to deformities in her Martial Spirit.

My eyes scanned the woman in the small room...

Both her eyes and mouth were covered, and she seemed as silent as a statue rather than a person.

Her hands were bound behind her as she knelt on the ground. The rest of her body being naked.

There were no erotic clothes covering her like the women from earlier. Her body was on display...

"...Isn't she a member of the Luo Clan?" Lu Xia asked in shock, but I stopped her from speaking.

Since she couldn't control her emotions after seeing this, I used my 'Life Lock' to stop her.

With the strong connection we had, the power of my suggestion allowed her to keep her calm again.

"Your servant has a good eye. She actually IS a member of our Clan. My niece to be specific. It's only unfortunate that our Clan's legacy wasn't really that strong in her." The Vice Head said in pity.

"Then how is she worth my time?" I asked while grabbing his shoulder with an angered expression.

Since my rage was real, the man didn't see through my act. The old fart beside him and the secret guards responded to my threatening actions, but the leader himself seemed unfazed by my act.

Perhaps it was because he could see that I wasn't serious about hurting him. My hand didn't actually grab his shoulder strongly despite having the necessary strength, so she just ignored it.

Perhaps he saw me as a hot-blooded individual who was backed by a powerful Family Clan.

This worked to my advantage.

I started executing Life Lock on him as he explained about the 'item' he was introducing.

"She's actually a virgin, which is high quality in terms of cauldrons. We had been researching different ways to stimulate the Fire Phoenix bloodline in our Clan's women, and finally came to a breakthrough." He said with a proud expression.

Then started to explain what he meant.

Apparently, this girl had no parents to rely on, so he was able to silently kidnap her without anyone noticing. Once he did so, he'd subjected her to a myriad of Demonic Techniques using alchemy.

I'd heard the Luo Clan had great Alchemists, but I didn't expect they were researching 'Human Pills'.

There was a tattoo just above the girl's crotch that seemed to be created using their 'breakthrough'.

They'd used many Demonic Attribute herbs and medicines to turn her Martial Spirit into something worse than a Succubus. The Fire Phoenix within her was gradually melted away into a pill inside her.

"So... what's her greatest use?"

"The first person who takes her virginity will be able to devour her Martial Spirit to upgrade their own. The only problem is that she keeps on trying to kill herself whenever her meridians are opened."

"I'll buy her anyway."

"That's the spirit!" The man patted my back as I let go of his shoulder. I'd already used my Life Lock.

"I want to 'devour' her now. Depending on the quality, we can do further business, but I'd like the ears in the walls to not interfere." The two of them were surprised by the sheer straightforwardness I had. That old fart even seemed amazed at me.

Both of them admired my 'bold attitude'.

"Do you require a room?" The Vice Head finally smiled as he offered, but I shook my head.

"Here should be enough." 

"We'll make sure no one can disturb." I nodded my head and paid them upfront using my own money.

I took a great portion of my personal wealth to but this pitiful woman, and there was one thing I was sure of after doing so: Yep, I'm gonna kill em'. This was going beyond defiling the freedom of others.

The first thing I did after the door closed was take the binding off her with just a swing of my sword.

...It looked like I was too late.

Her mind was no longer there anymore. Perhaps being bound like this with no one to talk to finally got to her. It seemed like there was no way to bring her back to her sanity after she lost her mind.

The two Bastards outside probably didn't even notice her condition. They only focused on her lower half. Lu Xia was also standing silently in the room as I tried using my Life Lock to help her.

"Are you going to kill her now?" My once silent maid asked while I carried the poor girl in my arms.

"What makes you think that?"

"Just look at her eyes... Killing her now would be a mercy." These words made my heart freeze over.

"...You're wrong." I glared at her. Doing such a thing wasn't something a 'Love Seeker' could do.

"Pardon...?"

"I agree that she's in a state where she might never wake up from. The despair had caught up to her."

"Then why?"

"It's not my decision to take her life. That's something she has to decide for herself. Since she's managed to survive for this long, then it's only natural that I'll help her. Care for her until she regains her capacity to think." 

I spoke, but Lu Xia didn't agree:

"She might hate you and despair even more after regaining her sanity. Are you okay with letting her suffer like this?" She spoke to me harshly, but only because she cared enough about my future.

I didn't respond to her inquiry though. It was hard to explain why I was dead-set on keeping her alive.

I'm no hero of justice, I'm a seeker of love.

My heart didn't feel fury at them for causing injustice, but because they violated the ways of love. To me, there was no way I could arbitrarily decide the fate of someone like a hero would.

To me, so long as I women existed, I would seek her out and seduce her. That was my will.

That's why... I chose to renew the girl's willpower.

Right now, the girl was in a vegetative state after her mind was broken. It was a tough situation.

No amount of pleasantries would be able to bring her back from insanity. Even if I managed to do so, her mind would be fragmented to the point she wouldn't be able to live a normal life anymore.

As someone who had destroyed businesses like this before, I'd already known her tragedy...

'Virgins' in this dark business were trained using toys rather than the actual thing, so she probably had her mind and body violated by the men around her. Her 'real self' was fearful of men now...

The only way to bring her back was to reality was to first stimulate that fear. So I put my face in front of her own. Her eyes dilated for a fraction of a second, and that's when I used Life Lock on her.

{The target's Martial Spirit is impairing mental capabilities. Solutions shall be introduced.}

 What can you do?

{Would you like to extract the 'Spirit Embryo'?}

No, let her keep it.

{Would you like to reawaken the Spirit Embryo?}

What would that do?

{The target will awaken a demonic Martial Spirit.}

That's what I want to avoid. Can you purify it?

{Purification is possible, but demonic attribute has sunk too deeply into her Life Force. Doing so will result in the death of the target. This is due to her now possessing an embryonic Demon Physique.}

That's bad... Is there no way to purify her?

{The user can exchange Life Force with the target to take away the demonically tainted Life Force, but this is not recommended. There are a myriad of side-effects depending on the execution of this.}

Explain them.

{If you choose to take in her demonically tainted Life Force, your body and mind will be infused with a similar taint to what she's experiencing now. If you choose to supplement her lost Life Force rather than exchanging it, your lifespan shall drop from 124 years to 70 years in the process. An extra amount would be required to supplement others.}

That much?

{Affirmative. After extracting the target's demonically tainted Life Force, a large amount of your own Life Force will be moulded and fed to her in order to erase any chances of mental pollution.}

So my Life Force will become oil to her fire?

{Affirmative.}

But what about her Martial Spirit?

{Unknown deformities shall happen in the target's Martial Spirit regardless once reawakened.}

Is there no way to fix that?

{The target can only rely on herself. Any further interference may cause the Martial Spirit damage.}

Fine, then do that for me.

{Are you sure you want to supplement her Life Force while extracting tainted life energy?}

That's right. Get it done immediately.

{Error. Life Control cannot comprehend command.}

Are you failing me now...?

{Life Control requests the user to think further.}

Why would I need to do something like that?

{Life Control desires the user to stay healthy.}

Aw~ Aren't you a cute little ability of mine~! I'm moved you actually care about me this much.

{Life Control cannot understand your intent.}

I just want to save this girl. There's no other reason for me want to bring her mind back to reality.

Plus, you should already know by now that Demonic Qi is never useful compared to Elemental Qi. Although Demonic Practitioners become stronger faster, they are unable to keep themselves sane when they dive too deep into this power.

{...Life Control desires user to value his life more.}

Don't worry. I'll try making sure this doesn't happen again. So can you do a favour for me? Pleeease~!

{Command confirmed. Starting procedure to supplement Life Force and awaken Spirit Embryo.}

Suddenly, I felt like the Demonic Qi was being both extracted and purified from the woman I'd been holding in my arms. I could sense some hairs on my head turning grey from losing a lot of Life Force.

Looks like I'm losing time to romance girls...

Better try hard in my seductions!

Although her spirit was taking its time to fully awaken, the girl herself started blinking her eyes.

When her gaze finally became clear, she clung onto me tightly. It was an odd action to me.

"Hah... Hah..." She started breathing heavily.

"Ummm... Are you feeling alright?" I asked the girl in worry, who seemed not in the right state of mind.

"Y-you... f-feel c-c-close t-to m-me." Her teeth were clattering together like she was feeling cold.

Which was probably because she actually was. The only thing I could prepare on hand was my large coat. I'm glad I dressed up with a bunch of layers today. Giving her one article of clothing was fine.

"That's probably your imagination. Now, I'm gonna hand you to someone trustworthy for now. So-"

"Y-you... p-please d-don't l-leave me. P-please don't a-abandon m-m-me. S-save me, please. I-I b-beg y-you... P-please!" She grabbed onto me tighter, which made it hard for me to peel her off.

I could only sigh and leave fighting to Lu Xia, so I gave her Sea Splitter and held her with one arm.

There was no part of me that fell into the illusion that she actually felt something for me. The sudden affection she felt likely had to do with the Life Force I'd given her. It was a bit like imprinting.

She probably saw me as a parental figure in her life on a unconscious level. Since there was no one else here for her heart to reply on, she likely just attached to me since my presence meant safety.

"...What did you do?"

"I'm pretty sure you shouldn't intrude on my privacy." I didn't give Lu Xia a straight answer.

It wasn't something I could casually explain...

When we walked out of the little room, the Vice Head was surprised I'd taken her out as well.

Probably because she was supposed to die in there. He likely wanted her identity to be a secret.

"I'm gonna take her to my place. So... how about we discuss some future plans?" His face had brightened up when I mentioned doing more business with him. He ignored the girl covered in a large coat that was being held to my chest.

The woman too rested in my arms without making a move. It looked like she was falling asleep.

"So... who else are you planning to bring?" The old fart left the room, but the secret guards stayed behind the wall. It looked like asking him to dismiss them was going to be an overboard request.

Not that any of them mattered anymore.

Life Control, are you able to implement my 'Deceitful Tongue' ability on him remotely?

{That action can be done.}

Drop his mental strength to its lowest point.

{Command accepted.}

And just like that, the Vice Head of the Luo Clan stopped talking. I then leaned forward to whisper into his ears. His expression seemed blank as my words were etched pretty deeply into his mind.

When his mental facilities recovered, he still seemed half-dazed while leading me out again.

Me and Lu Xia vanished from the streets and returned home as soon as business was done.

Tonight, blood will definitely be shed...