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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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Rumble, rumble.
Several vagrants were on the oxcart headed to Chengdu, Sichuan. Each of them, carrying their own stories, had reeds in their mouths, swords at their waists, and were spending their time looking at the air or throwing stones at the ground. I was sitting in the corner with my head leaning against the side of the oxcart, looking up at the sky.
“Where are you coming from?”
Unlike their dejected appearance and closed-off impressions, they were surprisingly sociable. The long-haired man with a reed in his mouth used a friendly tone and was holding a small rice cake in his hand.
“I’m coming from Shaanxi Province.”
He was waving the rice cake around, as if offering it to me. I took the rice cake, glanced at him, and then answered. The man let out a sound of admiration when he heard the words Shaanxi Province.
“You’ve come quite far. You seem like you’ve learned martial arts, may I ask which sect you belong to?”
I thought about mentioning the Hongryun Sect, but then shook my head. There was no need to reveal my hand to a man whose identity I didn’t even know. The Hongryun Sect was a dirty sect. It wouldn’t even be strange if there was some unknown grudge against them.
“I learned martial arts from a reclusive master, so I don’t belong to any sect.”
“Hmm, that happens sometimes. Here, have some. It’s delicious.
I was about to eat the rice cake, but then he made another gesture to offer it, so I stopped. His urging me to eat was suspicious. The long-haired man grinned and gave a strange look when he saw my gaze on him.
The others were lost in their own thoughts and weren’t paying attention to our conflict.
“Huuhuhuhu….”
The bastard laughed. I was still holding the rice cake without eating it, and I moved my hand to the ax at my waist. After laughing like a ghost for a while, the man spat out the reed from his mouth, and said,
“…You noticed?”
I shook my head. I didn’t know who this bastard was.
“I don’t even know who you are. What’s this about? I was just passing by, headed to Sichuan.”
I really wasn’t interested in who he was or why he was acting like this. The man was unfazed by my protest. He swept his bangs aside, closed his eyes as if he was intoxicated, and shook his head.
Along with his action, the others who had been sitting there also got up as if on cue, grabbing their weapons. The long-haired man said with a greasy expression,
“I’m the leader of the sixtieth stronghold in the Seventy-Two Strongholds of the Green…”
Thwack!
He had barely managed to react to my sudden swing. The sword was half-drawn from the scabbard, and the hand holding onto the scabbard was trembling. And then my ax split his head in half, blood dripping down.
The unknown man, who was the leader of the sixtieth stronghold, went to the afterlife.
“Hiyaaa!”
One of them, who had been frozen in shock, swung a club at me. It was an attack aimed at the back of my head, but when I lowered my head, it simply sliced through the air and hit the corpse of the leader of the sixtieth stronghold.
The leader’s body lost balance and tumbled from the oxcart, which was moving at a slow pace.
“Oh my god! Leader!”
Thwack!
The man, who was more concerned with the leader’s body than the fact that his attack had missed, had his head split in half just like the leader. Another one charged at me, a dagger aimed at my side. He was aiming for my left hand, since it wasn’t holding onto the ax, but I extended my hand, grabbed his shoulder and using the Seizing Hand, I twisted his whole arm around.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaack!”
The bastard screamed and collapsed, and then my ax repeatedly landed on the top of his head.
“Kyaaaack…!”
A cry for help followed the sounds of chopping meat.
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“Pl, please save me…”
The oxcart had stopped. The area around the oxcart was covered with blood, and bits of human flesh were stuck to my ax. I casually flicked them away with my finger, took out a water bottle from a dead Green Forest bandit and roughly washed my ax.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes…!”
The oxcart driver was bowing and trembling. After confirming that there was no one around, I kicked the bodies and threw them off the cart. They were the bodies of bandits anyway, so no one would care.
I put my ax away and said,
“Is public order always this bad in Sichuan?”
It had been an area with a good impression because of Sichuan cuisine, but my mood had soured since the Green Forest bandits had shown up even before I had entered the city. The driver bowed even deeper and shouted after hearing my question, his face scrunched up,
“I-I deserve to die!”
“Why isn’t this bastard answering my question? I asked if there were many people like you nearby, bastard.”
I asked politely again, and the driver finally answered properly.
“N-no! There are only us here, and w-we only came here recently! The l-leader! The leader said we should play big if we’re going to do it, so he said we should pretend to be oxcart drivers near Chengdu and then rob some people!”
“And you happened to come across me. Is that it?”
“Ah, y-yes….”
“Take me to Chengdu. I won’t kill you.”
“Ah, y-yes! I understand!”
The oxcart began to move again. I thought that I was truly unlucky from the start. I thought I had found a good deal, a cheap oxcart, but who knew that it belonged to Green Forest bandits? They would have probably been killed by a master if they had waited another day, it was a strange fate, indeed.
I reexamined the rice cake that he had given me and then tossed it towards the road.
A swallow that had been flying in the sky swooped down and began to eat, and after a few pecks, it opened its mouth wide and foamed as it fell down.
“Damn it.”
As expected, the martial world was a scary place. I frowned and glanced at the city that was visible in the distance of the horizon.
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Chengdu.
It was an area that I was familiar with since I had read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but the appearance of the place was a bit different from what I had imagined.
The fortress walls were high, and the buildings that had been painted red seemed to symbolize the people’s desire for good fortune. Shops with extravagant lights and hawkers, and bustling inns could be seen past the main gate.
Guards were lined up in front of the gates, their eyes wary of martial artists. They glared suspiciously at anyone with a weapon, and archers with bows were standing by on the walls.
When it was our turn, I pointed at the driver with my feet, who was trembling while holding onto the reins, and said,
“Thank you for the hard work. Take this bastard, he’s a Green Forest bandit.
“Wh, what?”
The driver looked at me with a puzzled expression and the guards also looked at me with bewildered faces. I pulled out my plate that confirmed that I was the leader of the Hongryun Sect and said,
“I’m Do-cheol, the leader of the Hongryun Sect in Shaanxi Province. If you were to go down the road, then you’ll find several bodies. This driver had been planning to rob people together with those guys. I happened to come across them, so I killed all of those with weapons, and brought this bastard here since I needed someone to drive the cart. So, do whatever you want with him, roast him or boil him.
“Ah, aaah…. Yes.”
The guards nodded after seeing the plate I had shown them and then looked at the driver. The driver’s eyes were brimming with tears, and he shouted,
“L-leader, sir! Th-that’s not what you said! You said you’d spare me!”
“Why are you trying to reason with me? Go beg the judge.
“Oh my god! Oooooh!”
The driver was dragged away, making a scene. I jumped off the cart and the guards dragged the blood-stained cart to the side.
“Welcome! Our inn is the best in all of Sichuan!”
“If you stay at our inn! You’ll be able to watch the dancers from Potala Palace dance!”
There were hawkers everywhere. Unlike the cool weather, the whole city was packed with people as if it was caught in the middle of a heat wave. Every passerby was either a merchant or a traveler, and even if they were martial artists, they were often carrying various things in their hands.
It wasn’t hard to walk around because the streets were wide, but because the city was very large, I didn’t know where I was going. Since there were no signs or tour guide booklets, it was faster for me to just ask a person.
I asked a merchant who was selling skewers while buying one,
“Hey. Where’s the Yang Family Tai Chi Sect located?”
The merchant placed meat skewers on his grill and answered politely,
“Ah, you’re asking about the Yang Family Tai Chi Sect? If you go down the main street here, make a big turn, and then keep going, you’ll find it. They have a big sign, so it’s easy to find. Are you going there to learn martial arts?”
I nodded.
“That’s right. I think it’s good to look at various martial arts and broaden my horizons. But how’s the atmosphere there? Have you heard anything about the strict training and the disciplines of the sect?”
The merchant shook his head after hearing my question and said,
“The Yang Family Tai Chi Sect is not that picky with the people they take in. There are elders who train for their health, and young disciples learning from them as well. I heard that the young woman who teaches the elders is kind and beautiful. If you’re interested, it’s not a bad idea to go and see her.
“Oh.”
Oh.
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oh.
Thanks Vine!