Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 206 - Departure (2)

Chapter 206 – Departure (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The sacrifice was full-scale. I had always known that rites like this were especially well developed in places close to the sea. Even so, I too had never performed a sacrifice to the sea in my previous life, so everything before me was new.

To the sound of a xiao flute, a shaman appeared with chicken feathers stuck into both temples.

“The Supreme One says: Imperial Heaven gave birth to me, Imperial Earth supports me, the sun and moon aid me, the stars reflect me, and all immortals raise me…”

Beside the shaman stood even a ritual adept who beat a drum and chanted the Scripture of Great Unity for the Protection of the Body.

“What in the world is that supposed to mean?”

“He’s asking to be protected from evil spirits and the like.”

The martial artists, who knew absolutely nothing about shamanistic matters, whispered among themselves. Among them, one martial artist who seemed at least somewhat familiar with such ceremonies answered their questions.

“Khat.”

Though they had been whispering in very quiet voices, the shaman seemed to hear them. He turned the fan painted with the sun and moon toward the direction from which the sound had come.

“How dare lowly humans chatter in a place where a god is being summoned?”

Even martial artists who looked down upon the world itself could only shut their mouths before that force and pressure.

After silencing the gathering, the shaman continued the ritual.

Together with the ritual adept, who beat the drum while chanting the Scripture of Great Unity for the Protection of the Body with closed eyes, the shaman began to dance.

At first the sacrifice had begun quietly with only the xiao flute, but gradually more and more instruments layered into it.

The ritual adept’s drum, bianzhong bells, and long brass horns all overlapped until the sound became deafening.

Long poles had been driven in densely around the altar, but only the outermost ones were burning. Then something remarkable happened. As the rite advanced, the fire began one by one to transfer inward toward the other poles.

“Huh…”

Some looked as though they believed it was some numinous flame catching of its own accord. But most likely a transparent string had been tied to the ends of the poles, and embers were being sent along it.

Once even the poles directly before the altar had caught fire, the sacrifice rose toward its climax. The shaman’s dance grew more violent, and the ritual adept’s chanting grew louder as well.

“We beg the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea. We beg, we beg. We offer the blood and flesh of beasts, so please do not harm these weak humans without flesh.”

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea. Was there really such a god? If one interpreted the words directly, it meant a giant frog of the Eastern Sea. I had never heard of it. Then again, I was not a native of this region, so naturally it was not strange for me not to know. It was obvious enough that the gods worshipped varied from region to region.

“Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, Great Toad of the Eastern Sea.”

Even the people of the Maritime Trade Office who had been mobilized for the sacrifice bowed their heads and raised both hands upward while chanting the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea.

The shaman abruptly ceased dancing and picked up two broad blades laid out on the ground.

Below the altar, animals had been tied alive to the posts. Was he really about to kill them?

“Aaaagh.”

With a shriek, the shaman began slashing the bound animals. Blood sprayed out. Nor did the shaman stop there. He tore the wounds wider, scooped up fistfuls of blood, and began smearing it over his own body.

“Kweeeek.”

Better to kill them outright, I thought. Why wound them first and make them scream like that?

With the animals’ screams mingling with the shaman’s shrill cries, the sacrifice became like a scene from hell itself. The men reciting the scriptures were shouting so loudly it sounded as though they might cough up blood.

After leaving wounds upon all the animals’ bodies, the shaman returned to the beginning and drove the knife into the neck of the squealing pig. “One goes here.”

The shaman’s exacting hand, which completely destroyed the cervical spine, was enough that one could believe him a professional butcher.

“Two.”

Next came the ox. The shaman stabbed the ox tied in place through the neck, killed it, and then cut down the remaining animals all in a single stroke each.

Once all the animals’ lives had ended, laborers dressed in white came out. The shaman splashed blood over them as well, staining their clothes thick with gore.

The laborers hoisted the dead animals onto their shoulders and climbed up the high altar. One by one, the carcasses of the dead animals were piled atop the altar.

Once all the carcasses had been set in place, the laborers were driven down from the altar as though chased away. As soon as they stepped outside the ritual grounds, officials waiting there lashed them with coarse salt.

When all the laborers had come down, the shaman climbed onto the altar. He struck flint to start a fire. The straw surrounding the altar and the carcasses of the animals immediately began to burn.

With the crackling sound of meat roasting, acrid smoke rose into the sky.

We stared blankly at the smoke. The shaman danced even more violently. The combined music rose to its utmost peak. Perhaps they had soaked the straw in oil beforehand, because the fire devoured the animals quickly.

Once the animals had all burned, the shaman stopped dancing. Slowly, the shaman descended from the altar. The instruments too gradually lowered their sound before finally falling silent.

“You have worked hard.”

The ritual adept who had been reciting the scripture ran over and handed a gourd to the shaman. Opening the stopper, the shaman gulped down some unknown liquid that might have been water or liquor.

The sacrifice seemed to have ended like that. It had taken somewhere between half a shichen and a full shichen.

I read the room, wondering if it was finally over. But unexpectedly, the shaman walked over to me.

“You must be the leader of the group going out to sea this time, yes?”

The shaman looked to be at most thirty, yet he did not hesitate to speak down to me. But somehow that condescension did not feel strange at all.

I glanced around. Well, since I had indeed been standing at the very front, it was only natural he would see it that way.

“Yes.”

“The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea is greedy. I did all I could to remonstrate with him, but it will not be easy.”

“…I see.”

What sort of fantasy talk was this? I was a little dumbfounded, but I had no wish to offend the beliefs of the local people, so I answered suitably. But the shaman saw through that at once.

“You have never seen the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea.”

“I have not.”

“The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea exists. He is a divine beast who protects the Empire from the outer enemies of the Eastern Sea. Show him proper courtesy.”

“I understand.”

The shaman spoke in earnest.

Such gravity lay behind his words that even I, who had no belief whatsoever in spirits or strange powers, found myself overawed enough to nod.

And so the sacrifice passed like a storm. It was not just I who was left dazed. The other martial artists were the same.

“The sacrifice is over, so let’s get aboard.”

Baek Yu-gyeom, the Northern Suppression Commissioner, approached us with a smile while we were still dazed by the heat of the ritual.

That was right. Dazed or not, there were still things we had to do. “Everyone, prepare to board.”

At my shout, tension began returning to the faces of those who had stood there stunned.

It was time to advance into the unknown space called the sea.

* * *

After boarding, matters proceeded with perfect speed. Because I had already prepared everything.

From the helmsmen to the technicians, every one of them was top-grade talent. That was because I had come here a month in advance and personally negotiated their schedules and their fees.

The chains binding the great ship to the harbor posts were released, and the vessel began moving forward.

All the martial artists came up onto the deck and stared blankly as the ship parted from the earth.

I too watched the sight in silence, when Cheong-hwa slowly approached.

“So we’re really leaving.”

“We are.”

“Where is the Northern Suppression Commissioner?”

“Probably in his cabin having a drink. The Northern Suppression Commissioner fears the sea rather more than he lets on. I suspect he will remain inside the cabin whenever possible.”

“That’s fortunate at least.”

Cheong-hwa glanced in the direction of the cabins as though relieved.

“But what will you do? As long as the Northern Suppression Commissioner is here, don’t we need to at least pretend to be conducting trade?”

“It’s fine. I’ve already prepared everything.”

“Prepared what?”

“In the Zhoushan Archipelago, a ship this large can’t really move around anyway. There are too many islands and reefs, so it’s too dangerous. Once we reach the most spacious point available, we’ll drop anchor and stop the ship, then break apart into smaller boats. The Northern Suppression Commissioner can’t follow all of those.”

I continued.

“And on top of that, for each of the many islands in the Zhoushan Archipelago, I already prepared goods to exchange for the cargo aboard the ship. Since we have to at least put on the appearance of a trading expedition.”

“I see.”

Cheong-hwa nodded in admiration. Well, I had indeed prepared things thoroughly. Even with a full month of time, it had definitely been tight to make all these arrangements.

Of course, all of this was only possible because the connections of my secular-discipline classmates reached into many different industries. It was thanks to their help that I could push all of these tasks through simultaneously.

I took advantage of Baek Yu-gyeom’s absence to gather everyone together and explain the operational plan. Since a small boat could hold around ten people, it meant that we could move using five boats.

“You really did prepare well. It must have cost no small amount of money.”

Namgung Ik said that. I merely answered with a small smile.

It really had cost a great deal. Even so, I considered it a price worth paying in order to witness the fractures in the martial world with my own eyes and to obtain Longyuan.

Watching a ship cut its way through the sea was more addictive than I would have expected. Before long, we passed Zhoushan Island, the largest and most important island among the major islands of the Zhoushan Archipelago.

Now we had properly entered the Zhoushan Archipelago. We slowly began preparing to break apart and move in separate groups.

With no knowing when the Northern Suppression Commissioner might come up to the deck, even the slightest waste of time when forming teams was unacceptable.

We assigned eight or nine people to each boat.

The reason it did not divide neatly into five boats of nine was simple. Three people, me and the other two from Wudang, had been left out. The reason was straightforward. Since the Zhoushan Archipelago was full of nameless reefs and islands, there had to be a command group that would study the sea charts and ensure that each search route did not overlap. And the Wudang Sect, namely us, was handling that command group.

At first I had wanted to go out searching for Longyuan myself, but Su Je-heon argued that if I had prepared all this, then I would naturally also understand the geography of the Zhoushan Archipelago best, and that since there was still the Northern Suppression Commissioner on the main ship, it would be better for me to remain aboard. It was not a claim without merit, so in the end I accepted it.

“That worked out well. In any case, it had already been decided that whichever side won the Gathering of Dragons and Phoenixes would be the side to take Longyuan.”

“That’s true.”

Cheong-hwa looked relieved merely because I would not be directly participating in the search. Myeong-yeop looked slightly itchy to join, but with Cheong-hwa reacting this way, he had nothing he could say.

“Then let’s move at once according to the teams we’ve made.”

I said it quietly.

The Zhoushan Archipelago was wrapped in heavy fog, but no one here was the sort of man who could not see because of fog.

The small boats were quietly lowered onto the sea. People began boarding according to the teams they had formed.

Even here the division into sides became obvious. The Martial Alliance, the Mount Hua Sect, and the Zhuge Clan immediately clustered together as one. There were exactly nine of them, enough to take one whole boat by themselves. The remaining four boats ended up naturally mixed together.

“Go and come back safely.”

“We will.”

I gave a personal farewell to Peng Chae-hyang, since we were at least on speaking terms. In any case, the experts of the Hebei Peng Clan were with her, so I was not too worried.

“We’ll return.”

“Right.”

I exchanged farewells with Namgung Ik and Namgung Hwi of the Namgung Clan as well, people I had now come to know.

At a time when everyone was busy cramming even one more master into their boat, the Namgung Clan and the Hebei Peng Clan were the only two groups that had placed younger-generation experts aboard.

Thinking about it, that itself was almost a declaration that the Namgung Clan and the Hebei Peng Clan were not particularly interested in Longyuan. The Namgung Clan already possessed another of the Eighteen Famous Swords, Azure Radiance, and the Hebei Peng Clan primarily used sabers rather than swords, so naturally they had little use for it.

And so the five search boats that would look for Longyuan advanced into the Zhoushan Archipelago.

It was the true beginning of the search for Longyuan.

* * *

Su Je-heon shaded his brow with one hand and looked around. In a place like the archipelago, dense with fog, the boats that had set out vanished in no time.

“You can’t see them either?”

“No.”

At Zhuge Gyeom’s answer, Su Je-heon nodded.

“Everyone, draw your swords.”

At Su Je-heon’s command, all of them drew their blades. Everyone aboard the ship laid their swords upon the deck with tense expressions. One Martial Alliance elder opened a pouch. Inside it were piles of ash.

Without a word, the elder began rubbing the ash over the swords. Soon the ash clung to the blades, turning them dark.

“When a blade catches the light, it can be seen from surprisingly far away.”

Su Je-heon turned his sword about and tested it in the sunlight. When no light reflected, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Turn west.”

Su Je-heon spoke to the oarsmen. Originally, the eastern side of the Zhoushan Archipelago had been the area assigned to them.