I'm The Lowest-Ranking Daughter Of A Martial Arts Villain (2 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 7

Despite Na Rin’s well-meaning intentions, the children of Bongrim Village thought otherwise.

‘What sin did I commit in my past life…?’

‘Today it hurts unusually deep, right down to my bones!’

‘I’ll just pretend to be dead. Maybe she’ll leave me alone then.’

“Get up.”

The child from Bongrimcheon, lying prone like a dead frog, twitched violently.

No, don’t lose focus. They won’t beat a dead person, right?

“If you don’t get up, it’ll hurt even more.”

“…….”

“Hmm. Gotcha.”

A low, menacing whisper reached the ears of the child feigning death.

“The more it hurts, the more you grow stronger.”

“I—I’m awake! I’m already up!”

“Yaaah! Who’s this?”

“Kraaah!”

Na Rin’s tightly clenched fist struck the acupoint of the half-risen child with a solid *thud*.

It felt as if the sensation pierced through his entire body.

The boy sank slowly to the ground, feeling his trousers grow damp.

‘Phew. Finally over.’

Na Rin wiped the sweat from her brow with satisfaction and smiled brightly.

As long as the children didn’t slack off in their training, their softened meridians would allow them to cultivate inner energy several times faster than others.

Wow. Honestly, this is practically a rare opportunity.

Where else could one find a master like me, doing this personally for them?

If they had any conscience, they’d be truly grateful.

Na Rin silently patted herself on the back.

“What is all this commotion!”

It was sheer coincidence that Goddess Ilwol happened to witness the scene at that exact moment.

Upon seeing Goddess Ilwol, Ma Jung, Bi Cha, and Dae Heung reflexively lined up and simultaneously bowed with clasped fists.

“We pay our respects to Goddess Ilwol!”

Goddess Ilwol.

She was the gatekeeper of the entrance to the Shiwandaeshan mountains—just as mortals could not escape the light of the sun and moon, no one entering or leaving the Demon Sect could evade her watchful eyes.

“Enough with greetings. Answer me this: How dare you act so recklessly right here at Ilwol Gate—the very entrance to Shiwandaeshan! Depending on the circumstances, I may forbid you from entering the mountain entirely!”

The guides were utterly perplexed about how to explain the situation to Goddess Ilwol.

If they told the truth, they’d have to say, ‘Well, Goddess, it’s not that the kids were fighting.

It’s just that Na Rin, the youngest among us, was giving everyone little fist massages that hurt so badly they’d rather pass out—but they’re incredibly effective!

Why didn’t we stop her? Because… well… she’s terrifying!’

Even to them, that sounded absurd.

[Please, Bi Cha. In a situation like this, we’re counting on you.] [Bi Cha! Do something, please!] [Throwing this all on me? You cowards.]

Bi Cha shot a glare at Ma Jung and Dae Heung for dumping the whole mess on him, but he also knew he was the only one who could defuse the situation.

“I shall report to the Goddess.”

He wished he could load his words with inner energy to make them more convincing.

“Might the Goddess be aware of a teaching known as Confucianism in the Central Plains?”

Confucianism? Out of nowhere?

Ma Jung and Dae Heung couldn’t even begin to guess where Bi Cha was taking this.

Goddess Ilwol was equally baffled.

“…? Of course I’m familiar with the teachings of the Hundred Schools of Thought.”

“Then does the Goddess know that in the Central Plains, juniors sometimes give massages to their elders as an expression of gratitude and encouragement?”

Goddess Ilwol paused briefly to consider before replying.

“I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t surprise me. It aligns with the virtue of respecting elders.”

“Exactly, Goddess.”

Seizing the opening, Bi Cha swiftly escalated his logic.

“What these children were doing is precisely that. Their youngest sibling, soon to part ways with them, gave her elder brothers and sisters massages to express her gratitude for their care and to encourage them going forward—following the Confucian virtue of respecting elders.”

It was utterly preposterous.

“Preposterous!”

Goddess Ilwol thought the same.

“The Central Plains may be vast, but since when has beating someone become a form of etiquette?”

“That’s precisely the problem!”

Bi Cha eagerly continued in an excited tone, as though wholeheartedly agreeing with her.

“That’s just how people from the Central Plains are—they love exaggeration! They say things like ‘so delicious you’d let another person die without noticing,’ or ‘clothes are wings.’ But can anyone really die while eating and not notice? Can clothes truly let you fly? And what’s this nonsense about massages feeling better the more they hurt? Isn’t that strange, Goddess?”

“Huh?”

“I said, isn’t that strange!”

“Y-yes, very strange indeed.”

“Exactly!”

Goddess Ilwol pondered Bi Cha’s words for a moment.

Right. It was true that Confucianism existed in the Central Plains.

Even she knew that much.

It made sense that a junior would massage an elder as an act of filial respect.

And it wasn’t unfamiliar to hear that Central Plain folk loved exaggeration.

‘Could I have misunderstood?’

Her tone softened noticeably as she asked,

“So you’re saying the children aren’t actually in that much pain—they’re just pretending?”

“We can’t say that outright—not with ears listening. However…”

Bi Cha cleared his throat and lowered his voice to a whisper.

“These collapsed children have all been assigned to the Sword King Hall. Only the youngest will become an ordinary disciple.”

“Is that truly the case?”

A flicker of interest appeared in Goddess Ilwol’s eyes upon hearing this.

It was highly unusual for a guide to send a newly arrived child directly to the Sword King Hall.

It meant the child’s martial talent was so obvious that no other path needed consideration.

‘Such prodigies wouldn’t let themselves be beaten senselessly by their youngest sibling destined to be a mere ordinary disciple.’

A gentle smile finally graced Goddess Ilwol’s face.

“I must have misunderstood. Having spent my whole life within the sect, my worldly knowledge is limited.”

“Not at all, Goddess. We should have waited for the children to finish their Central Plains-style greetings before entering Ilwol Gate, but our eagerness to return to the sect as quickly as possible led us to make a mistake.”

“After such a long journey, that’s understandable. I apologize for keeping weary travelers at the gate for so long. Please, enter quickly.”

“Thank you, Goddess.”

As they bowed with clasped fists, the guides simultaneously sighed in relief.

[Thanks, Bi Cha.] [You saved our lives.] [You bastards. Buy me a drink later.]

Na Rin was just as impressed by Bi Cha’s eloquence.

‘Wow. His charisma must be at least 200.’

What made Bi Cha’s skill remarkable wasn’t merely that he’d convinced Goddess Ilwol.

It was that although the whole story was clearly fabricated, not a single statement he made was technically false—so much so that even if Goddess Ilwol later uncovered the truth and questioned him, he could plausibly deny everything.

‘Back in Hangzhou, my own charisma used to be pretty high too.’

Na Rin clicked her tongue regretfully.

The stats displayed in the status window weren’t simply cumulative.

Repeatedly practicing a specific action could unlock new abilities, but stats that remained unused for long periods would gradually diminish and eventually vanish entirely.

Thus, during her time as Blood Plum Blossom, Na Rin had gained significant boosts in martial prowess but suffered notable losses in other areas.

Charisma and eloquence, for example, had taken a critical hit.

‘I didn’t need words to persuade anyone because I was strong enough—so I let those skills fade.’

Na Rin muttered this to herself, but it wasn’t entirely accurate.

After all, Grand Master Cheong Heo of Wudang was a master at inciting crowds—truly peerless—and Sect Master Hyeon Woon of Mount Hua was so skilled at manipulating Na Rin’s master, Grand Master Hyeon Baek, that it seemed almost supernatural.

Come to think of it, perhaps she was the only absolute expert who always let fists speak before words…

‘No, that can’t be right. There was someone even more brutish at the Hebei Peng Clan!’

Just as Na Rin was straining to recall someone dumber and simpler than herself,

“Na Rin.”

Ma Jung, carrying collapsed children in his arms, on his back, and two more under each arm, called out to her.

“Sorry, but could you wait here while I take these kids to the Sword King Hall? We’d normally split the duty, but…”

He gestured awkwardly toward the utterly drained children.

“They need to be carried.”

Half of the children—ten out of twenty—had collapsed after Na Rin’s massage, unable to even walk.

Ma Jung carried four, Dae Heung another four, and the smaller-framed Bi Cha managed two.

“Can you manage on your own?”

“…Yes.”

Rarely obedient, Na Rin answered meekly.

‘Should’ve expected this, I guess.’

Ten out of twenty ending up like this was an unintended side effect on her part.

‘Why did they have to resist! Don’t they know how skilled I am at the Reviving Pulse technique?’

Having revived comrades on the battlefield from near-death multiple times using that very technique, Na Rin was confident in her abilities.

If someone still had breath—or even if they’d stopped breathing less than fifteen minutes ago—she was certain she could force their qi to circulate and drag them back to life.

Her one miscalculation had perhaps been… well, that dying people don’t resist?

“Oh no, I’m dying! Oh my head, my back, my legs…!”

“You think you’re dying? I’m already dead.”

“Me too.”

“Glad to see you again in the afterlife, you bastards.”

Na Rin watched the retreating backs of the Bongrim Village children with a worried frown.

‘If they keep staggering like that, the Sword King Hall kids might look down on them.’

No.

She shook her head.

Overwhelming others from the start isn’t always the best approach.

It might even be satisfying to let them mock you initially as some vagrant, then later astonish them with your talent and pay them back with a good beating…

‘Huh? Where have I heard that before?’

In her past life, it was Na Rin herself who’d been scorned as a vagrant.

And when it was revealed she was a genius among geniuses, it was her fellow disciples from Bongrim Village who got thoroughly thrashed.

“Karma, huh.”

Na Rin shook her head, marveling at life’s ironic twists.

Senior brothers—be grateful to me.

Because I beat you in my past life, you’re now on the receiving end again. Do you even realize?

‘No matter how I look at it, I’m just too kind.’

It was a statement no one—past or present—except Na Rin herself would ever agree with.

[This is the timeline separator]

‘The Sword King Hall must be pretty far away.’

Na Rin squatted at Ilwol Gate, where there was nowhere proper to sit, waiting for the guides to return.

Slurp!

She was sucking on a candied fruit skewer given to her by Goddess Ilwol.

She didn’t particularly crave sweets, but after the war began, snacks like this had become rare—so she couldn’t afford to waste this precious opportunity.

“Is Il Wol not here?”

Startled by the sudden unfamiliar voice, Na Rin turned her head while still squatting.

Standing where the voice came from was a long-haired, fair youth in loose clothing that revealed his chest, leaning on a crutch.

‘Geez! I didn’t sense him at all.’

Had she really let her guard down that much?

Even though she now inhabited a child’s body, her spiritual awareness shouldn’t have diminished this drastically.

“Don’t you know him?”

Maintaining her guard, Na Rin slowly rose to her feet and replied,

“Nope, don’t know ‘im.”

Slurp!

Watching Na Rin shamelessly suck on the candied fruit, the man tilted his head in mild exasperation.

“How awkward. I can’t very well cross Ilwol Gate without permission while carrying this.”

Zzzzt.

Only upon hearing the dragging sound against the ground did Na Rin notice something—or rather, someone—hanging from the man’s fingertips.

‘A corpse.’