Try Living Well Without Me

The supreme master of the martial world.

A name that no one can easily confirm, nor can anyone definitively say who it is.

Some say the great master of Shaolin martial arts, a divine monk, is the current supreme master of the martial world, while others say that the true king of the martial world is the ruthless killer whose identity remains hidden, causing terror throughout the entire martial world.

There are also people who believe that the Blood Demon, considered to be a step above the Five Great Peaks, is the real supreme master of the martial world. And others say the Sword Sage, who subjugated and beheaded that Blood Demon, is the true master.

Strangely confined to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, but still regarded by some as the living embodiment of Heavenly Demon Arts and Primordial Skill, the Heavenly Demon is also considered by some to be the supreme master of the martial world.

Thus, opinions vary greatly when it comes to discussing the “greatest” in the martial world.

However, if the scope is narrowed down to “women,” and further limited to “Central Plains,” then there is consensus among people.

“They have gathered to meet the upcoming Seven Flowers.”

Jade Flower (玉花).

The previous generation’s Patriarch of Kunlun passed away during the Great Cleansing War, making her the head of the sect at a young age. However, her martial skills surpass even those of the previous Patriarch.

Whereas the divine monk’s “compassionate justice” and the Sword Sage’s “righteousness prioritizing chivalry” contrasts with her “absolute justice.” She was a legendary hero who established numerous tales during the Great Cleansing War.

Though she bears the honorary title “Seven Flowers,” usually given to younger talents due to their age, people often talk that if she desired, she could rank among the top of the Twelve Patriarchs.

Just as records state she killed more Blood Cult members than even the Sword Sage during the war while in a frenzy of vengeance.

Moreover, since the divine monk has gone into seclusion and the Sword Sage is missing, some see her as the de facto leader of the current martial world.

Though Jade Flower herself has retreated to the summit of Kunlun Mountain, saying she’s tired of the martial world.

“The Wudang Sect… one of the few places that hasn’t fallen.”

Her snow-white skin and equally white hair danced with every step she took.

Thud.

At each step Jade Flower took, the eyes of the Wudang Sect disciples waiting to welcome one of the Seven Flowers turned to her.

Their gazes held deep respect and reverence.

Regardless, Jade Flower continued her noble steps, steadily ascending the snow-covered stairs of the Wudang Sect.

Strangely, there were no footprints left where she had walked.

Thud, thud…

Ascending the iconic “Three Thousand Three Hundred Thirty” steps of the Wudang Sect, Jade Flower gradually immersed herself in nostalgia.

The biting snowflakes brushing against her cheeks only intensified her reminiscing.

“Here too, I fought alongside Cheolbin.”

About seven years ago?

Jade Flower had established “legends” here alongside Sword Sage and Heavenly Lord.

The Blood Cult set fire to Mount Wudang, and their followers ascended amidst the flames and wind.

Poisonous mist spread everywhere.

With the Wudang Sect disciples all poisoned by the Blood Cult’s toxic fog, unable to even lift a finger.

Here, at the Three Thousand Three Hundred Thirty Steps, Jade Flower, along with Sword Sage and Heavenly Lord who avoided the poison through their cultivation, blocked three thousand Blood Cult members all by themselves.

Back then, every one of these thousands of steps had been dyed red.

“Hmm…”

Seeing the steps now, covered neatly in snow, Jade Flower felt a hint of pride.

The pride of having upheld “justice.”

It was a feeling she hadn’t felt in years.

“So what?”

Lost in thought, she had almost reached the top.

Jade Flower’s expression had once again hardened.

“Nine out of ten in the righteous martial world are trash.”

Good memories resurfaced after a long time… But unwelcome memories followed, hardening Jade Flower’s expression in an instant.

As a result, the Wudang Sect Taoist priests welcoming her felt tense even though they had done nothing to provoke her.

“Jade Flower! Welcome to the main mountain!”

An old man in the center of the Taoist group called out to Jade Flower.

He was Heavenly Lord, the current Patriarch of the Wudang Sect, and among the Twelve Patriarchs, he was considered to have reached one of the highest states of integrity. He was known as the Great Teacher Supreme by all righteous martial artists.

At the sight of his long white beard reaching his toes, Jade Flower, who had been frowning, slightly relaxed.

Because she knew he was one of the few genuinely good individuals in this decaying martial world.

And it genuinely delighted her to see him again.

“It’s been a while, Master Heavenly Lord, have you been well?”

“Ho ho, too kind with this overly generous title for an old man merely cooped up in the mountains.”

“Still as ever.”

“Come come, let’s go in! The other Seven Flowers will arrive shortly!”

With the Heavenly Lord’s warm welcome, Jade Flower felt a faint sense of relief – not everything was rotten in the martial world – and she entered the annex guided by the Wudang Taoists.

Fitting for the esteemed sect Wudang, the annex was modest but not messy.

Alone in the annex, Jade Flower said:

“At least Wudang remains unchanged, thank heavens. And Master Heavenly Lord is still the same.”

Though she heard the other Six Flowers would arrive soon, she had no real interest in them.

Instead, unsettling thoughts continued to surface, following the reverie she had been lost in earlier.

“Without Wudang and Shaolin, the righteous martial world would have been called the depraved martial world long ago.”

Unlike before, these were decidedly unwelcome memories.

“Mostly, those mangy old dogs of the alliance were the worst… Ah, why contemplate such things?”

She tried to push away the memories, but to no avail.

Instead, unpleasant memories flooded back one after another.

What came to mind most vividly were the appearances of the elders from the alliance after the end of the Great Cleansing War.

Their revolting images.

It was a banquet called to secretly celebrate the end of the war.

The alliance elders had seemed off-putting even in normal circumstances, but with the war over, I gleefully followed without suspicion, filled with excitement.

What I witnessed there will haunt me forever.

The captured Blood Cult members were bound, and in front of them, the alliance elders committed unspeakable acts against their families or lovers.

Despite the captives begging for mercy with tears of blood flowing down their cheeks, the elders justified their vile deeds, calling it divine retribution.

Their faces wore cruel, deceitful smiles unworthy of righteous practitioners.

“Outwardly mourning the deaths during the war, these alliance elders secretly hosted a banquet of debauchery.”

Gritting her teeth violently, a remnant of her undissipated anger leaked through.

Years had passed, yet Jade Flower had not been able to recover from the shock.

Even after executing every elder present that day without exception, she remained haunted.

“Hmph, why do such pointless thoughts keep surfacing…”

As much as she tried not to think about it, people’s minds can’t be controlled so easily.

While she tried to stop, once the thoughts started, they continued on in endless succession.

“As it turned out, it was mostly all of them.”

After that day, she began investigating the righteous sects instead of focusing solely on hunting Blood Cult members.

Her findings revealed that elders of the Nine Great Sects colluded with the Blood Cult, spies of the alliance turned out to be double agents, the Five Great Noble Families regularly extorted money from the populace in league with officials, and so on.

The martial world was far more corrupt than she had imagined.

What she had tirelessly protected turned out to be a group of complete hypocrites.

Looking around, the only truly pure sects remaining were Shaolin and Wudang.

While it wasn’t entirely rotten, most powerful martial artists were just as corrupt as Blood Cult members.

How different were they from the lowest of the low among the dark martial world?

Among these discoveries, learning that the Sword Lord of the Habok Pong Family committed unspeakable acts against countless young boys and girls behind a facade of virtue, and that the Poison Lord of the Chugchun Tang Family secretly raised young orphans to be killing machines similar to the Devil Sect, pushed her into a state of irreversible madness.

“They all need to be slaughtered.”

Jade Flower’s conclusion, born from an overwhelming sense of betrayal and based on her own sense of justice, was simple: exterminate them all.

Kill the wicked.

Hypocrites of the righteous sects are wicked.

Kill the hypocrites of the righteous sects.

It doesn’t matter if they’re highly respected immortals or demon lords of the Blood Cult – kill them all indiscriminately.

Though the logic was simple, the conclusion was one most martial artists would not dare to reach.

However, even she couldn’t kill all the wicked individuals spread throughout the world alone.

Other’s opinions mattered little to her. Even if the entire world called her mad, it mattered not. True justice, absolute justice, would not be swayed by public opinion.

Wicked individuals must die – it doesn’t matter if they are widely respected individuals or even the emperor himself.

Still, the problem was “ability.”

She had the resolve to kill them all, but Jade Flower lacked the power necessary to eliminate the widespread hypocrisy infecting the martial world.

When killing Blood Cult members, she had the support of individuals like Sword Sage and Monk Supreme.

To eliminate the hypocrisy of the righteous sects, however, she had no such support.

Even if she could find someone who shared her ideals, the Twelve Patriarchs were not immune to hypocrisy. There were likely very few individuals among them with the ability to enact proper punishment.

Therefore, Jade Flower went to Namgung Family.

Monk Supreme was too lenient – if she were to be truthful, he would likely try to convert them with compassion, offering repentance even to Blood Cult members who hadn’t committed the most heinous crimes.

On the other hand, Sword Sage was thorough. At least when it came to eliminating evildoers, they were of the same mind.

Perhaps he would join her in her quest to hunt down and kill the hypocrites of the righteous sects.

With this in mind, she went to Namgung Family.

“Isn’t the Family Lord truly brazen?”

“Exactly, how can someone wear a human mask and act like that?”

“Honestly, the title Family Lord feels wasted now. I can’t even think about what he’s done to the children…”

When she overheard these maids’ conversation, it caused her great confusion.

“Cheolbin too? I never would have imagined…”

Most piercing to her heart was the mention of demonic arts.

“How can someone practice demonic arts? Isn’t that just like being part of the Blood Cult?”

“Remember when someone came down from the Tian Mountains? Originally, we wondered how the Family Lord managed to turn him back, but it seems he was just one of his minions.”

“You know the saying ‘ten fathoms deep waters may be known, but not one fathom deep human hearts’? Eventually, everything comes to light.”

The conversation with the Heavenly Demon.

This conversation had been a mystery to Jade Flower from the beginning.

How exactly did the meeting with the Heavenly Demon go that resulted in him retreating back to the Hundred Thousand Demon Mountains?

When she asked Sword Sage directly, he evaded her questions, saying it was something he couldn’t reveal.

However, it turns out this meeting was the condition for Namgung Cheolbin’s practice of demonic arts?

Even though he had always stood at the forefront to promote righteousness and uphold justice, it was difficult to believe he was a hypocrite. However, it was also hard to jump to conclusions so easily, so she immediately confronted Sword Sage in his study.

What she saw there shocked her.

“Cheolbin. I trusted him completely and never had any doubts.”

The dark circles under his eyes – a clear telltale sign of practicing demonic arts.

Not subtle at all, they were glaring indicators that he practiced demonic arts.

The sense of betrayal she felt then was greater than the sum of all the betrayals she had ever experienced.

At the same time, she felt helpless.

Most hypocrites, no matter how skilled, could still be killed by her – even among the Twelve Patriarchs.

However, Sword Sage… he was someone who transcended her capabilities entirely.

She knew his strength better than anyone.

“I need to get stronger, quickly.”

That’s why she retreated into seclusion.

At the summit of Kunlun Mountain, seeking enlightenment.

Even when Namgung Cheolbin visited once during this period, she descended briefly.

Ironically, their meeting only reinforced her resolve to grow stronger.

“Ah… O, Jade Flower Lady?”

The sound of a cautious inquiry came from outside the annex while she was quietly meditating.

“I am listening.”

“The rooms are all full, but would it be alright if you shared a space with others?”

“Yes, that is acceptable.”

“Thank you! Thank you very much! Sword Flower miss, please come this way! There’s space here!”

The door opened, and a black-haired, golden-eyed girl entered the annex.

Judging from the servant’s earlier words, this girl was likely “Sword Flower,” the recent sensation in the martial world.

“Hmm, not bad.”

Thud.

“Is someone else coming?”

As if responding to Jade Flower’s curiosity, a man wearing a white mask followed the girl into the annex.

“Excuse me.”

“……?”

His voice was as rough as if it were grinding iron.

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