Precious Daughter of the Greatest Martial Arts Villain

Chapter 9

It was noisy around me.

As I fell in and out of consciousness, my whole body felt like it was going to burst, but I couldn’t even moan.

“Damn it! How could anyone think to hit this little body?!”

“Sh-she’s covered in bruises!”

I felt cold. Someone must have taken off my blood-stained clothes and seen the colorful bruises all over my body.

I wanted to cover myself out of shame, but I couldn’t seem to lift a finger.

“Pull yourself together! Now is not the time! Take a look at Miss Lihwa!”

“Y-you’re right.”

A large hand grasped my wrist.

“It can’t be! No! Her qi is heading into an uncontrollable twisted state.”

“What are you saying? Have you lost your mind? She hasn’t learned martial arts, so when could she have developed internal qi?”

“How would I know?! All I know is that Miss Lihwa has internal power! Argh, if you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself!”

“Let me hold her wrist... What?! How could this be?! When did she cultivate so much qi?!”

These unfamiliar voices woke me up. I didn’t have any internal qi though. I hadn’t even learned martial arts, so how could I have gotten internal qi? These dumb old men...

“Quiet.” When Cheon Ma spoke, the frantic voices fell silent. “The bruises...”

He stopped talking. I felt a warm hand gently stroking my skin. I felt a throbbing pain. He must be touching one of my bruises.

“How old are these bruises?”

“There’s no consistency. Some are old and fading, while some are fresh and new. I can see that she has been exposed to ice qi for a long time, so it definitely wasn’t just one or two days.”

“Ah! Was that why Miss Lihwa was acting strange? Because she had been affected by ice qi?”

“Yeah, that’s right! Now it all makes sense! We didn’t even realize... Damn it!”

I heard Cheon Ma speak again. “Explain what has happened to her.”

“Well... she started sunbathing the year before last. She would sit quietly and bask in the blazing sun, and she wore winter clothing during the hot summer as well. We had her checked out because we thought something might be wrong with her health, but we were told there was nothing wrong, so we never expected something like this was going on.”

“Who checked on her?”

“The Vice Sect Leader did.”

“Send for Ryeon... and...”

Soon, the air grew heavy enough to send shivers down my spine.

“Cut off the rest of Bing Eunseol’s limbs.”

Upon hearing those words, I lost consciousness again.

* * *

“You sent for me, master?”

Cheon Ma quietly looked down at Ak Wuryeon, who was bowing before him.

As soon as Ak Wuryeon had finished his isolation training, he had come to find Cheon Ma.

“Miss Lihwa is in danger.”

Cheon Ma hadn’t even asked him what he meant by that.

He’d immediately teleported to find the child.

Her palace had changed significantly. The once cheerful and lively atmosphere was gone and replaced by a somber and secretive aura.

The servants had all changed as well. The faces that he had seen in Bing Eunseol’s palace were now guarding the girl’s room.

Cheon Ma raised a finger to his lips.

“Shh...”

As soon as the servants saw Cheon Ma, they collapsed at his feet in terror. Bing Eunseol’s screams from inside the room echoed out in the hallway.

“You stupid brat! You still can’t talk properly?! If I had known how stupid you’d turn out to be, I wouldn’t have had you!”

“Dun hit hur! Dun hit hur! I hae you! I hae you! I hae you!”

“M-miss! My lady, there’s something wrong with Miss Lihwa! P-please! Please send for a physician!”

When he heard the nanny’s voice crying out, his heart dropped. He almost lost his composure and got swallowed up by demonic qi.

When he came to his senses, he found himself holding the neck of a dead servant. Cheon Ma tossed her body into the room to make way.

The room was a mess. Bing Eunseol, who always took care with her appearance, looked like a mad woman, and the child was lying on the floor, bleeding profusely.

In that moment, it took everything he had to not lose his composure.

If he lost control, he would get swallowed up by his demonic qi, which would put the child in danger as well.

If he had arrived just a little bit later, she would have died. The person who had warned him about all of this was Ak Wuryeon.

How did he know? No, when had he first learned about this?

Cheon Ma spoke quietly. “I know that you have pure internal qi, something that cannot be obtained through demonic qi.”

Ak Wuryeon looked up.

From the moment he was born, he’d had pure internal qi. At first, he didn’t even know what it was. He had just thought it was a power that made his body light and fast… until the Demonic Sect had kidnapped him and he’d begun to train in earnest.

When he’d realized his internal qi was the opposite of demonic qi and could become the Demonic Sect’s weakness, he very carefully began to hone his power, but to his surprise, Cheon Ma had already known about it.

What was even more surprising to Ak Wuryeon was that he knew and hadn’t killed him for it.

Cheon Ma continued talking. “Save her.”

The child needed pure internal power, not his wicked and corrupt power. Trying to heal her with internal power that was honed with demonic qi would only be harmful to her.

“Save her, and I will forgive you for all prior transgressions.”

He was saying that he wouldn’t punish him for hiding that he had pure internal power or for concealing the child abuse he had known about as long as he saved her.

Conversely, it also meant that if he failed, he’d have to take responsibility.

Truthfully, Ak Wuryeon didn’t care if Cheon Ma revealed his secret. He had prepared for that.

However...

“Dun fwee bah. Um fine. Issarit.”

Throughout his isolation training, he couldn’t concentrate. He kept on remembering how prettily she’d smiled at him even though she knew he wasn’t going to help her.

Instead of crying about how much it hurt, she even foolishly reassured him that she was fine. She lingered in his thoughts.

He felt disgusted with himself for turning his back on her, thinking he was the only one trapped in hell.

Should he go out and tell Cheon Ma the truth? No, he didn’t want to be involved with her anymore.

He’d wasted time warring with himself on what he should do. He regretted that.

Ak Wuryeon closed his eyes and then opened them.

“Her blood flow must be cleared. Please allow me to use a healing mineral elixir.”

It was a legendary elixir that would allow its recipient to reach a state of metamorphosis with just one drop.

With her internal power in a twisted state, if she was given this elixir, it was possible her blood flow would be cleared and she might even reach the metamorphosis state.

As long as she was provided with help to absorb the energy effectively, the child would become the youngest prodigy in the history of martial arts, although her having a high internal power didn’t necessarily mean she’d also obtain high martial arts skill.

The problem was that the healing mineral elixir was considered a treasure of the Demonic Sect, so only the Sect Leader was allowed to have it.

Cheon Ma didn’t need it since his powers had already transcended, but Ak Wuryeon absolutely needed it.

If he had just stayed quiet, it would have become his naturally, but now he had to use it on the girl.

For the first time, Cheon Ma softened his tone.

“I’ll allow it.”

Ak Wuryeon bowed deeply. “Thank you.”

From here on out, I’m no longer indebted to you, Cheon Lihwa.

* * *

It was so cold that my body trembled. I wanted to pull the covers over my body, but I couldn’t seem to move.

A warm hand cupped my icy cheek. Its touch felt like salvation. I rubbed my hand against that palm.

I felt it flinch and then it pulled away from me.

No!

I desperately grabbed onto the hand. I felt like I was going to freeze to death without it.

I held on tight to the fingers and forced my heavy eyelids open.

Everything appeared blurry and out of focus. I blinked several times, but my vision still hadn’t cleared.

Cold tears streamed down my face. I shivered violently when someone covered my eyes.

“Sleep.”

It was Cheon Ma’s voice. I burst into tears.

“Baba... Baba... ichold... (Papa, Papa, it’s cold.)”

My teeth were chattering, making it even harder to talk. Cheon Ma’s voice, heavy with concern, replied, “Hang in there. Ryeon is getting ready to help you. Once you wake up, you will no longer feel pain.”

What was he preparing?

It didn’t matter. Cheon Ma wasn’t a liar, so I knew if I went to sleep, I’d wake up without feeling any pain.

“Baba, I-iskawd... Pweez holmihan tili fasleep... (Papa, I’m scared... Please hold my hand until I fall asleep...)” I pleaded, tugging on his pinky finger.

“No.”

All too easily, he pulled away.

“Baba...”

Tears started welling up again. Why wouldn’t he at least hold my hand?

“I-im sawee. D-dun hae mee. (I’m sorry. Don’t hate me.)”

I said while crying pitifully. Cheon Ma wiped away my tears.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t because I hate you. My hand... is too dirty to hold yours.”