I Am This Murim’s Crazy Bitch
Chapter 205: Let Us Have A Martial Arts Match (3)

If you decide to steal something, carrying it out is what qualifies you as the Divine Thief.

But how can one steal someone else’s disciple?

Of course, it’s physically possible to steal them.

There’s a method of kidnapping them and locking them up in a cave with a straight vertical cliff in some remote mountain valley so they can’t escape, and saying “Heheh, you can’t leave until you learn everything.”

However, first of all, the target would have to be easy enough to kidnap, but he had already seen her reach the pinnacle of Qinggong, so there was no way to prevent her from escaping.

Secondly, if it were a man, doing that would eventually make him open his heart and be enchanted by the two words “Divine Thief”, but if he did that to a woman, wouldn’t he become a Murim criminal as a sex thief rather than the Divine Thief?

He might somehow be able to pass on martial arts, but the long-standing lineage of the Divine Thief would just end there.

Therefore, what needs to be stolen is not the disciple’s body, but the disciple’s heart.

So he needs to steal the heart of the still young child and make her serve two masters.

Even the previous Divine Thief is now pretending to have no past and putting on airs as an elder of a famous Murim faction that everyone knows by name.

Being the Divine Thief is not a full-time job, but a side job!

So the Divine Thief recalled his own master.

What did his master say when he lured him in?

“Child, perhaps the world’s greatest…”

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

“Ahem, listen to everything…”

“I know! You’re going to pass on martial arts, right!”

Given the Divine Thief’s background, he had followed the Daoist carrying a sword as soon as he mentioned martial arts.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t helpful at all.

Hmm…

Then, how should I lure her in?

The Divine Thief blinked his eyes.

May 15th.

Ten days before the start of the Murim Conference, the preliminaries for the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts Competition began first.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Qing.

Because those whose skills had already been verified as outstanding talents started directly from the main competition without preliminaries.

The preliminaries were nothing more than a place where disciples of small and medium-sized factions or young unknowns who hadn’t made a name for themselves yet competed for a few spots in the main competition.

Participants from the Nine Sects One Union and Ten Great Clans automatically start from the main competition, and others whom the Murim Alliance judged didn’t need preliminary screening.

In fact, it was purely based on connections.

But there was no need to lament “Ah, the way the Murim Alliance operates is truly filthy” because of this.

Rather, it was better this way even from the perspective of the preliminary participants.

How frustrating and sad would it be if you went up on the martial arts stage full of ambition to make a name for yourself, only to find a Shaolin disciple standing on the opposite side?

Anyway, just making it to the main competition would earn you a decent title, so it’s better to face unknown peers of similar level rather than rising stars who have learned formidable divine arts.

And these privileged ones who were already confirmed for the main competition were also satisfied, as they could prevent the misfortune of losing to an unknown as soon as it starts by spying on the martial arts of people to watch out for in advance.

Just like now.

“They say he uses an unusual Earth-Lying Fist.”

“Earth-Lying Fist, you mean the one where they lie on the ground? Zhuge?”

At Qing’s official request for commentary, Zhuge Ihyeon excitedly provided commentary.

“Ah, Sister! To explain the Earth-Lying Fist, I first need to talk about the basic nature of martial arts…”

The basic characteristic of martial arts is that the destructive power that explodes at the end of the weapon starts from footwork and the center of gravity moving from the soles of the feet.

That’s why martial arts are basically performed standing up. It could also be called standing style.

So a martial artist’s way of dealing with falling was either to get up immediately, or to roll to create distance and then get up.

In contrast, martial arts classified as Earth-Lying Fist were premised on lying on the ground.

It was so-called lying style martial arts.

Martial arts were created to deal with people, and as a result, there were almost no movements in any martial art for attacking an opponent lying on the ground.

Moreover, since the center of gravity of Earth-Lying Fist martial arts is stuck to the ground aiming below the opponent’s waist, it’s not easy to deal with.

“Then isn’t it a very powerful technique? Master didn’t teach me anything like that? She just said to be careful of guys who fight lying down.”

“Hmm. First of all, there are very few who learn it. It doesn’t look very good outwardly. You know how important face is in Jianghu. In a world where people mock you for rolling on the ground a few times, calling you a donkey. That’s why Earth-Lying Fist is also called Dog Fist.”

It’s the same character for dog as in “dog-beating stick”.

Dog Fist means martial arts that only dogs use.

“Hmph. What’s face when it’s about life and death. Everyone says that but they roll around just fine. Ah, what are the odds here now, 4.7 to 1 for Hero Ma? Then give me one silver for Hero Ma.”

As a betting ticket seller was passing by, Qing smoothly completed her purchase.

Betting tickets were gambling on wins and losses, where you could buy them with money and if you guessed correctly, you could receive payouts according to the odds.

In the primitive ancient Central Plains where there were no laws regulating gambling and lotteries yet, merchant groups would bid to set up official gambling stalls before such competitions.

Qing received the betting ticket and said:

“If it’s 4.7 to 1, it seems they’re considering the odds of winning to be very low? Is Earth-Lying Fist really threatening?”

Peng Daesan snorted.

“I said it was threatening, not powerful. But are you betting on such low odds?”

“Originally, reverse odds are the right odds, right? Isn’t a match either win or lose, fifty-fifty? If it’s a fifty-fifty fight and you win, you get over three silver, and if you lose, you lose one silver. Isn’t it a loss for people who don’t bet?”

“…? How is that fifty-fifty-“

“Oh, it’s starting.”

Peng Daesan tried to refute, but he missed his chance as the match started with a loud ding-dong-dong sound.

Hero Ma who uses Earth-Lying Fist vs Hero Cheng, disciple of the Huachun Sect that exists somewhere in the Central Plains.

Hero Ma’s Earth-Lying Fist wasn’t as unsightly as expected.

He mainly used footwork that was uncommon in martial arts, flying through the air and landing with his feet together in a grand manner.

It was an excellent flying kick.

When Hero Cheng staggered after being kicked properly in the chest, Hero Ma landed on the ground in a falling technique and spun his lower body like a windmill, getting up with his two arms and continuing to kick.

Ooh, breakdancing. Does he know how to party?

Qing swallowed an exclamation in her homeland’s language after a long time.

“Hmm. It’s unexpectedly cool, isn’t it?”

“Is that so?”

“It looks cool to me… Oh, ooh.”

Qing watched Hero Ma’s performance, no, Earth-Lying Fist with shining eyes.

It looked quite cool to her modern sensibilities, as there were similar dance moves in her homeland and ground techniques in martial arts, so it wasn’t unfamiliar.

“That’s because you haven’t seen it properly displayed.”

“Why, this much isn’t bad- hmm.”

Suddenly, Hero Ma’s movements changed drastically.

A posture with both feet and legs spread wide touching the ground, but with his belly almost touching the ground.

His limbs flailed strangely, and the speed made it even more bizarre.

He scuttled across the ground almost like crawling, then flipped over to take a spider-like posture aiming for Hero Cheng’s shins and back of knees, or rolled like a swallow to kick, hook, and strike, using his arms and legs with almost no distinction.

Honestly, it’s a bit ugly.

“…Hmm. It’s a bit like that.”

“I told you so.”

Peng Daesan made a hissing sound with an “I told you so” attitude.

Many in the audience were already bursting into laughter or sneering.

Especially the scene where he moved quickly by pushing with his two legs with his back stuck to the ground while swinging his arms.

It was a highlight that made you wonder if you’d ever see it again in your life.

And finally, the match was decided.

Hero Cheng, defeated by the ugly martial art, left without even raising his head, shedding tears.

Hero Ma, who won but was thoroughly ridiculed, could hardly be called a victor.

Thus, the true winner was Ximen Qing, who turned one silver tael into four taels and seventy copper coins.

The final winner gave her impressions:

“But I’m not confident I could win if I fought him. In a real fight, I’d kill him in one hit.”

Stuck to the ground like that, one Heavenly Demon Army Descent could burst his internal organs.

But in a sparring match where you have to subdue without harming the opponent, there’s really no way.

“It looks complicated at first glance, but in the end, isn’t he aiming for limited areas? He tries to sweep the feet or push the back of the knees to knock down, so if you keep that in mind, it shouldn’t be an opponent you’re not confident against.”

“That’s right, Sister. Many of the strange-looking movements are just to distract attention, so if you judge the real and fake until the end, it’s not a difficult opponent for someone of Sister’s level.”

At this, Qing scratched her cheek.

“Well. I’m a bit weak in that area.”

“What do you mean weak?”

“Aish, do I have to explain everything? I can’t see at all when someone digs under me, you know?”

At this, Peng Daesan and Zhuge Ihyeon’s gazes converged on one spot, then quickly pretended to look at distant mountains that weren’t even there with embarrassed expressions.

Qing had a much wider blind spot below her than others.

“Still, it’s good we saw it in advance. If I had faced it without knowing, I would have lost helplessly. It was worth coming to watch. Are there any other matches we should watch?”

“There are a few martial artists who use strange weapons. Chairs, abacuses, iron brushes. It would be good to see them once.”

“Chairs? Sitting chairs?”

“Yes. Those chairs.”

“I can’t really imagine it.”

The use of chairs Qing imagined was at most swinging them grandly in a folding style not yet invented in the Central Plains.

“Sister, even if they’re strange weapons, it’s not much. They’re just tricky because we’re not used to them, if they were truly powerful, wouldn’t they have become mainstream long ago?”

“That’s true. There’s a reason everyone uses swords.”

There wasn’t any other reason martial artists mainly used swords, and apart from long weapons like spears and halberds that couldn’t develop due to government interference, other unusual weapons were just unusual.

So after returning to the Wucheon Pavilion and spending the rest of the time focusing on sparring, just as they were about to go to bed after a fulfilling day.

Only then did Qing realize a crucial fact.

The Bokshinjeok had been stolen!

Instead of the Bokshinjeok, there was an unfamiliar lacquered wooden flute stuck in her waist, and when she pulled out the protruding end, a letter written on thin cloth was revealed.

-I’ll keep the Bokshinjeok for now.

I’ll be waiting at the Yeohui Pavilion at the hour of You, can you come alone?

However, I have no ill intentions, so if you’re really worried, you can tell someone else your destination and purpose.

“Hmm. I only saw this now…”

The hour of You is around 6 PM.

And now it was the end of the Hai hour, 11 PM, just before going to bed.

It was because Qing had no use for the Bokshinjeok, so she just kept it tucked in her side like a decoration and paid no attention to it.

When she tried to put it down before sleeping, she found this strange flute in her hand instead of the Bokshinjeok.

What should I do? Should I go even now?

But it was already late at night.

He said he had no ill intentions, so maybe he’ll contact me again to meet in another way?

“Miss Ximen? What’s wrong?”

Gong Sonyeye, who had been sparring with her from evening until now, called out to Qing.

Anyway, it’s out of my hands now, so what’s the use of fretting and worrying?

He’ll contact me again, right?

Qing, who tried hard to shake off her worries, joked as if nothing was wrong.

“It’s nothing. Ah, I focused so much on training today that I’m already getting sleepy. Let’s sleep.”

For reference, the Divine Thief kept waiting.

Wondering if she might come at night to avoid others’ eyes, all night long until dawn.