—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Heh heh…”
“Ha ha…”
What’s wrong with everyone?
William glanced around at his companions who were looking at him with strange expressions, then put a dumpling in his mouth.
Hmm, delicious.
“Uncle, it seems like you cause a big incident every time you go out somewhere…”
I can’t deny that.
“That’s just how life is. Incidents won’t leave me alone.”
“Ho ho, Sir William. Fortunately, this incident didn’t escalate too much.”
…That’s true.
After Master Zhang died, we coordinated our stories, using the relationship of between the two disciples as a cover for the cause of Master Zhang’s death, and I just quietly took the secret manual.
The guards also coordinated their stories, realizing they had failed to protect their master. Unless they were incredibly stupid, they wouldn’t reveal the truth.
The rest was just a matter of making sure the powerful people who heard about what happened believe thier story.
“Sir William. Still, if something like this happens again, please ask us for help.”
“The incidents I encounter are all quite serious. Wouldn’t it be better if I just handle them on my own?”
“How could we stand by while our benefactor faces such hardships?”
I appreciate it, but it’s a bit…
To be honest, the incident this time was also quite shady.
There was no guarantee such incidents wouldn’t happen again in the future.
“That’s right. So Uncle, please tell us when something happens. This time too, you just glossed over what was happening so we didn’t even know what the situation was!”
“Alright, alright. Now eat your food.”
She needs to stop leaning forward. It’s going to get on her chest.
William deliberately averted his gaze, chewed and swallowed a dumpling.
It was about time to prepare to leave Chibi and head to Wuhan.
Wuhan, huh, the city where the Wulin Alliance was located. It was said to be the most prosperous city in Hubei.
Anyway, he had heard it was a place with developed commerce due to the presence of the Wulin Alliance. The martial artists working for the Wulin Alliance were very good customers for merchants.
If nothing else, he had heard that the proportion of troublemakers was lower since the Wulin Alliance was nearby.
It was impossible not to get caught by the Wulin Alliance if one caused trouble near it. So he remembered hearing from Hye-ryeong that it was a relatively well-secured place compared to others.
Though she hadn’t witnessed its security firsthand.
…It seemed like there were a lot of troublemakers causing incidents in the original work though.
He would have to put that aside for now.
What was important now wasn’t worrying about what might happen in the future, but how to handle the Shadowless Divine Thief’s secret manual.
He had opened and read it, but he couldn’t understand it at all, so he couldn’t learn it. It might be better to sell it for a high price, but selling it could also cause various problems.
…Would it be better to just hand it over to the Haenam Sword Sect and receive help in return?
It would be good to strengthen his relationship with the Haenam Sword Sect, and he could learn a qinggong technique suitable for him. Wouldn’t that be beneficial for both sides?
Since the Shadowless Divine Thief’s qinggong was said to be exceptional, it wouldn’t be a bad trade for the Haenam Sword Sect either.
Though it wasn’t something to discuss in a crowded place.
“Uncle, what are you thinking about so deeply?”
“…Just wondering what kind of events will unfold in the future.”
“I feel like I’ll gain 10 years of experience in 1 year if I stay by your side, Uncle…”
That’s not necessarily wrong, which makes it somewhat sad. William sighed and drank the lukewarm tea.
Alcohol is good, but tea isn’t bad either.
He didn’t really know the proper way to drink tea and was just drinking it like coffee, but since tea drinking etiquette was considered important here, maybe he should learn it from Hye-ryeong later.
Despite her lively personality, she drank tea quite elegantly.
“Ho ho, Hye-ryeong, isn’t that a good thing? A martial artist’s life is like that of a fisherman’s, where one has to be used to braving storms every day to catch fish.”
“That’s right. How could a martial artist’s life be peaceful?”
That’s not wrong.
As many people say, those who live by the sword are more likely to die by the sword.
In the end, as long as a martial artist is active in the martial arts world, it’s inevitable for the martial artist to face numerous crises.
If one doesn’t like it, the only option is to bury oneself in some remote mountains.
Or join a Taoist sect or Shaolin and never leave the mountain gates for one’s entire life.
“I have something to discuss… but there are too many eyes here, so I’ll talk about it with you later.”
William patted his chest a couple of times and focused back on the meal.
They would have to survive on travel rations or dried meat for a while.
It was better to eat while they could.
“Uncle, should I order more for you?”
William shook his head.
“That’s enough.”
Though he tended to eat a lot, he didn’t eat that much.
William put down his chopsticks and said.
“Let’s start preparing to depart.”
“Understood, Sir William.”
It was time to head to Wuhan.
Since the Wulin Alliance was the final destination of this journey. When they reached the Wulin Alliance… things would be different from how they are now. William felt anticipation as he recalled the description of the Wulin Alliance from the original work.
———————-
“The road to a big city is so wide and clean!”
“…I think it’s because people wouldn’t be able to pass through it at all otherwise.”
William had thought Korea had a lot of mountains, but this place took it a step further with mountains as rugged as Seoraksan everywhere. It was fortunate that the land was vast; if it had been as small as the Korean peninsula, it might have been uninhabitable.
It would easily take a full day to cross just one mountain without using qinggong.
He wanted to learn qinggong quickly.
Though he would have to wait until they reached the Wulin Alliance to learn it.
“Uncle, here’s the firewood!”
“Alright. Put it there.”
Hye-ryeong put down the branches she had gathered from around them next to the fire.
Naturally, her chest, which had been resting on top of the branches, lost its support and swayed as it returned to its original shape.
“Uncle?”
“…Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
…Well, how many men could actually take their eyes off of that chest?
William sighed and picked up a few branches from the pile Hye-ryeong had put down and tossed them into the fire.
“By the way, Uncle. Are you going to join the Wulin Alliance?”
“I’ll see how it goes.”
“Huh…”
No matter how she looked at him, he wouldn’t change his answer to her previous question.
If he just joined recklessly, it would be difficult to get assigned to a good position.
To begin with, It might be better to have a certain level of skill in martial arts and move around as a guest, rather than being affiliated with the Martial Arts Alliance. It wasn’t a good choice to be associated with the Alliance.
He had been in the military before his transmigration, and had spent another year and a half in a military-like environment after transmigrating. He didn’t want to enter another place similar to the military.
It would be better for him to move freely, secretly disrupt the demon cult’s plans, and focus on raising his realm while looking for opportunities.
Sword Master; for now, he should aim to reach that realm.
With this body’s talent and the use of spiritual medicines, he should be able to shorten the time as much as possible.
Even if he was talented, he wasn’t at the same level in talent as the protagonist, so he needed to shorten the time somehow.
That meant he needed to gain enlightenment.
What did the commander say before?
He seemed to remember him saying that, enlightenment was about finding a path no one else had walked before. That’s why he said it was meaningless to try to explain his personal experience with enlightenment to anyone else.
What kind of enlightenment did he need to gain?
He hoped it would be the kind easy to achieve.
“Uncle?”
“Ah, sorry. What were we talking about?”
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
“I was thinking about enlightenment.”
“Oh. It is indeed necessary to breakthrough to the next realm… But are you already thinking about enlightenment at this stage?”
Hye-ryeong looked at William with surprised eyes. It wasn’t strange for her to look at him like that.
Even those hailed as experts often couldn’t surpass the peak realm, so it was indeed surprising that he was already thinking about the enlightenment needed to move from the peak realm to the grand master realm.
Elder Baek, who was leading them, was also at the peak realm.
It meant that even the experts of famous orthodox sects found it extremely difficult to reach the grand master realm.
Of course, the Haenam Sword Sect was much weaker compared to the Nine Great Sects, or rather the other Eight Great Sects… but still, the wall separating the peak realm and the grand master realm was difficult to overcome even with a lifetime of training for martial artists.
Unless one was an expert from a large sect who could receive help from his seniors, reaching the grand master realm by oneself was nearly impossible.
“I’m just thinking about it in advance.”
“Wow… I wonder if there will come a time when I’ll be worrying about enlightenment too?”
“I’m sure there will be.”
In the original work, she had entered the grand master realm at a young age, so she would probably be worrying about it in a few years.
“But before that, I need to become a peak expert first…”
Hye-ryeong suddenly drew her sword and, holding the blade upright, closed her eyes. A few seconds passed. A blue mist enveloped the blade. It was a precarious mist that looked like it could disperse at any moment.
William watched this and then spoke.
“The energy enveloping her blade looks like sea mist.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
Hye-ryeong withdrew her sword energy, sheathed her sword, and sat down next to William, staring at the flames.
“I wonder when the seniors will return…”
“Who knows.”
It’s about time they should be back, so they’ll probably return soon.
William looked down at Hye-ryeong. Her face, looking weary from walking all day, glimmered in the firelight. William spoke to Hye-ryeong, who was blinking her eyes:
“If you’re sleepy, get some rest. I’ll wake you up later.”
“I’ll borrow your shoulder for a bit….”
Hye-ryeong leaned her body against William’s arm, resting her head on it. The smell of the sea invaded William’s nose. It was a strangely addictive scent.
William inhaled that scent and looked up at the sky.
The sky, as the sunset faded, was dyed a beautiful scarlet colour.
As he gazed absentmindedly at the sky, William muttered unconsciously:
“I hope no incidents occur on our way there.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I am curious about what kind of incident will he encounter now that he said that.
Dude, instant side-quest alert!🍿