"I will compensate you handsomely. So, won't you accompany the investigation team to Jinhung Village?"
Jo Jawon's request complicated my thoughts, but the answer came quickly.
Taking Cheon Yeohwa to a place swarming with righteous sect bastards was like crossing a crumbling stepping stone bridge with one foot.
No matter how much they offered, it was right to refuse.
"That might be difficult…"
"I will."
"Yeohwa?"
It was none other than Cheon Yeohwa who cut me off.
-…I'll explain later, but can you follow my lead for now?
I nodded at the telepathic message in my head. I didn't understand it right now, but I could trust what Cheon Yeohwa said.
"Oh, thank you. Departure is in three days, so I hope you rest comfortably until then. If you need anything, tell the servant and they will grant anything."
With those words, the conversation with the sect leader ended. We returned to the assigned room.
"Hyunwoo."
Tap, tap. Cheon Yeohwa sat on the bed and patted the space beside her. I had a lot to say, but I didn't think Cheon Yeohwa would have accepted Jo Jawon's offer without any thought, so I sat on the bed without saying anything.
As soon as I sat down, Cheon Yeohwa hugged me tightly. She buried her face in my chest and sniffed.
"Sniff… ah… yes, this smell…"
"…"
Don't tell me, she didn't have any other thoughts, and just answered vaguely because she wanted to smell me as soon as possible?
For a moment, I had such doubts, but the last belief that Cheon Yeohwa wouldn't do that remained.
"Yeohwa, why did you accept the White Blossom Sect Leader's request? What if something happens when we go to a place where Mount Hua, Jongnam, and even Shaolin are gathering?"
"You don't have to worry about that. Originally, when you reach the pinnacle, you can suppress the demonic energy flowing on the outside. It will be fine as long as you don't use martial arts in front of them."
At some point, Cheon Yeohwa climbed onto my lap, buried her face in my neck, and rubbed her body against me like a large retriever.
I wondered what she was doing, but she was so cute that I just left her alone.
"Besides, dozens of silver coins are by no means a small amount of money. Of course, it's woefully insufficient to hire two pinnacle experts, but haven't we already profited enough from just the 'Black Blood Demon Sword'?"
As Cheon Yeohwa said, the 'Black Blood Demon Sword' was not just a lump of gold to me. For some reason, I was not affected by the demonic nature of the demon sword. And Cheon Yeohwa knew that fact.
It was like getting a millennium-class artifact, so I received enough compensation to grant Jo Jawon's request.
"Above all, if righteous sect bastards are gathered, even if the pursuers find me, they won't be able to move easily, and I thought we had to take some risks to earn travel expenses for the future journey. It was my fault that I didn't ask for your understanding in advance."
Cheon Yeohwa's voice grew smaller and smaller. I could feel her trembling because she was afraid I would get angry. As I gently hugged her, Cheon Yeohwa relaxed her body and leaned on me.
From the beginning, I had no reason to be angry. A place where the most powerful person in the world, known as the Diamond Monk, spent his final years? Honestly, I wanted to go.
***
With three days left until departure for Jinhung Village, I decided to dedicate myself to training.
"Hoo, hoo…!"
6 AM, not long after dawn, but I was diligently moving my body in the training hall.
The training was simple. I trained my body to create a body suitable for learning martial arts, and repeated meditation to make up for the disharmony between the circle and the body.
Meditation was easy, but physical training was difficult enough to make me vomit. As I moved my body as Cheon Yeohwa told me, I was sweating like rain in an instant.
Still, it was fun to train because the concentration of mana was higher than on Earth.
For reference, Cheon Yeohwa was still sleeping in her room because I tormented her too much last night.
"…Shall I try using it?"
I took out the Black Blood Demon Sword from my inventory. The jet-black blade was so beautiful that it stole your eyes just by looking at it.
The sword hilt was gripped as softly as if it were being sucked into my hand. It definitely felt like a masterpiece.
As Cheon Yeohwa said, the Black Blood Demon Sword did not emit ominous demonic energy. I don't know why, but Cheon Yeohwa said that I instinctively controlled the demonic energy.
I wondered if that was possible, but since Cheon Yeohwa, an expert on demonic energy, said so, I just shrugged it off.
Anyway, with this level, it seemed okay to use it in front of righteous sect bastards.
However, the problem was that if I injected quite a bit of magical energy, the demon sword would emit demonic energy again.
'This is demonic energy…'
The black haze that bloomed above the sword blade gave a strong feeling of foreboding just by looking at it. Moreover, the consumption of magical energy was also considerable.
Fortunately, I didn't feel dizzy or dirty. It was proof that the demonic nature of the demon sword was not harmful to me.
'Usually, I should use the demon sword, and when I have to go all out, I should switch to Millennium.'
I grabbed the demon sword and slowly moved my body.
Horizontal slash, vertical slash, thrust. It was a repetition of these three. As the master said, I focused on keeping the posture from being disturbed, but kept the speed slow.
At the same time, I opened my whole body and accepted the mana of nature. It was an unusual act that I usually didn't do.
[Mana Sensitivity increased by +1000%]
A huge amount of mana began to be absorbed into my body.
If I converted all of this mana into magical energy, my body would surely explode in a few seconds.
Like putting air into a balloon until it bursts, so I just left it alone. I absorbed it into my body, but did not convert it into magical energy.
The process of converting mana into magical energy is generally to move from the skin to the circle along the magical energy circuit. But what if you intentionally don't convert mana into magical energy?
Mana naturally stays in the magical energy circuit and then flows out of the body again, and in the process, the magical energy circuit becomes stronger and wider in exchange for exceeding its capacity.
Crack, crack-
This was one of the methods Iris taught me to grow the magical energy circuit.
Of course, it was originally training that mages of 5 circles or higher did through meditation. It wasn't training that could be done while moving the body vigorously like now. What made all of this possible was the app's mana sensitivity buff.
Of course, the pain of having my insides turned upside down followed, but I thought of it as part of the training, so it was bearable.
I continued training for a long time, completing 1,000 horizontal slashes, vertical slashes, and thrusts each, and lowered my sword. Faint steam rose from my whole body.
"…How long are you going to peek at me?"
I spoke with magical energy in my voice.
"Hehe…"
Only then did the owner of the gaze I had been feeling reveal himself from behind the pillar. She was a woman with a clean white martial arts uniform and long hair neatly tied up.
I couldn't help but be surprised when I saw the woman's face. Because she was the second beauty I'd met in this world. Of course, the first was Cheon Yeohwa. I had never seen a pretty woman even on the complicated streets of Xi'an.
Her awkwardly smiling appearance was pretty enough to be an A-class idol. However, because she was wearing a martial arts uniform with a wide form, her body was not properly visible.
I immediately suppressed my magical energy and sheathed the demon sword.
"I'm sorry!"
The woman immediately bowed and apologized. According to Cheon Yeohwa, secretly watching someone else's training was a serious crime.
According to the laws of the Jianghu, it would not be strange at all if I engaged in a life-and-death duel with that woman in this place.
But I didn't. Instead, I approached her with a friendly smile.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, I am Jo Yeonhee, the second disciple of the White Blossom Sect."
"Jo Yeonhee?"
"…Yes, embarrassingly, my father is the White Blossom Sect Leader."
Only then could I understand why a woman with that level of appearance was wearing a martial arts uniform in the barbaric Central Plains.
If she were from an ordinary family, she would not have been able to learn martial arts, let alone marry a rich man, but because she was the daughter of the White Blossom Sect Leader, she was able to learn martial arts at that appearance and age.
"I apologize again formally. I secretly watched the guest's training out of my measly curiosity. If you tell me what you want, I will compensate you somehow."
Jo Yeonhee bowed again and apologized. It was a sincere apology.
'Is she a D cup? No, she might be a G cup at that size…'
Honestly, I wasn't interested in apologies at all. Rather, the cleavage that was clearly visible because she was bowing caught my attention. I couldn't see her nipples because of her underwear.
"It's okay. It wasn't even anything that could be called training."
If the other person was a sweaty man, I would have immediately requested a life-and-death duel, but if it was a beauty like Jo Yeonhee, I could be generous.
"Ah, um, excuse me…"
"Yes? What's wrong?"
"…It's nothing."
Since a while ago, Jo Yeonhee's face had been as red as if it would explode at any moment. I wondered why she was like that, but I seemed to know the reason from the way she kept glancing at me.
Jo Yeonhee's gaze was mainly focused on my upper body and face. For reference, I'm shirtless right now.
'A martial arts family's daughter is embarrassed because she saw a man's naked body?'
Well, when I thought about it carefully, it wasn't that strange. If it were a beauty's naked body, I was confident that I would never get tired of seeing it, no matter how many times I saw it for more than 10 years.
Moreover, as I awakened my magical energy, my face had become quite decent, and my body was getting better as I trained my body. It was enough to attract a woman's attention.
"Do you have something to say?"
"Yes, yes?!"
"I've been seeing you glancing at me since a while ago."
As I approached with a smile on my lips, Jo Yeonhee was startled and took a step back. Of course, my stride was wider, so the distance quickly narrowed.
Normally, it wouldn't have been like this because of the sweat smell, but today was different.
[Third Step Toward Becoming an Alpha Male]
[Rank: Epic]
[Body fluids become sweet]
[Body fluids have slight aphrodisiac properties]
[Body fluids emit pheromones that captivate the opposite sex]
I don't know if pheromones can be smelled with the sense of smell, but it's a smell that even Cheon Yeohwa is captivated by.
"Ah…?!"
Jo Yeonhee, who seemed to be much lower in level than Cheon Yeohwa at first glance, would have a hard time enduring it.
Jo Yeonhee's eyes became slightly dazed by the pheromones that were emanating from a distance where she could reach out and touch me. The effect was much better than I expected. It was a skill worth its Epic rank.
"Miss Jo."
Thanks to the 'Blessing of Infertility', there was no need to worry about pregnancy, and the other side was showing interest in me first. If this wasn't a consensual situation, what would it be?
"S-Sir, if you do this…"
Unlike saying it wasn't allowed, Jo Yeonhee didn't push me away even though the distance was close enough to touch her breath, and was busy glancing at my body with trembling eyes.
I smiled at her appearance, grabbed Jo Yeonhee's arm and pulled her.
"Kyaa?!"
Jo Yeonhee, who was instantly in my arms, struggled to get out of me, but that didn't last long.
"…Hoo, haa… haa…♡"
I could see a faint heat in the eyes of Jo Yeonhee, who was sniffing with her nose buried in my chest.
About 5 minutes passed like that.
"Haa, haa…♡"
Jo Yeonhee, who was soaked in pheromones, was half out of her mind. Her martial arts uniform was completely wet. However, I couldn't tell if it was my sweat or her sweat.
I carefully took Jo Yeonhee away from my chest.
"…Wow."
"Y-You can't look…"
Jo Yeonhee's face was all mushy, as if she had been caressed for almost 30 minutes.
Even in the midst of that, Jo Yeonhee, who was still embarrassed, kept turning her head and avoiding my gaze, so I grabbed her chin and kissed her.
"Woop…!"
Jo Yeonhee's eyes widened at the sudden kiss. Taking advantage of her embarrassment, I inserted my tongue.
"Haup?! Oop, hooop…"
I met her stiff tongue. For reference, this was not rape. If she really hated it, she would have bitten it off as soon as the tongue went in.
Instead of pushing me away, Jo Yeonhee moved her tongue little by little and responded to me. Of course, it was awkward enough to show that it was her first kiss.
"Hoop, chuup… chwoop…"
Jo Yeonhee closed her eyes tightly and drank my saliva like a baby bird receiving food from its mother bird.
I grabbed the buttocks of Jo Yeonhee, who was absorbed in kissing. As expected, it was huge and plump. It was clear that she was working hard on self-care as a martial artist.
Jo Yeonhee struggled again at the hand that was caressing her buttocks, but that didn't mean I would stop.
I continued kissing while touching her buttocks with both hands. I thought it was okay at this point, so I spread her buttocks and gently stroked her pussy with my finger.
"Hick?!! N-No…!!"
As soon as I touched her pussy, Jo Yeonhee broke away from me with all her might and ran away.
I couldn't help but stick out my tongue at the sight of her crossing the wall instead of leaving through the front gate because she was running away so urgently.
'Was I too hasty?'
Well, since it's a world with strong chastity, I thought that could be the case.
Of course, I could have caught her if I wanted to. If I had been a little more forceful, Jo Yeonhee would not have refused.
But considering her pussy, which was so wet that I could feel it even through her martial arts uniform, Jo Yeonhee would surely come to me on her own accord soon.
The possibility that Jo Yeonhee would tell Jo Jawon about this?
In my opinion, that would not happen. Although it had only been 10 minutes since we met, I knew that Jo Yeonhee was not the type to tell her dad about this.
Moreover, Jo Yeonhee had a past record of secretly watching the valuable guest's training. If she had any sense, she wouldn't be able to tell anyone about this.
"…Still, it's a pity."
It was a shame that I couldn't touch her breasts.
"Hoo? May I ask what is so regrettable?"
"…"