Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 100 - Ah, the Wudang Sect
Chapter 100 – Ah, the Wudang Sect
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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-Li Bai. Also known as Li Taibai.
Known to the world by the epithet Recluse of the Blue Lotus, he was a rare literary figure who earned the title of Poet Immortal-
“…as was commonly believed, but in his youth he was a notorious swordsman of ill repute in the jianghu. Those knowledgeable in martial history know this, though most people don’t.”
The young man murmured quietly as his hand carefully turned the page.
It wasn’t some rare ancient text, just a compilation of reports his subordinates had submitted.
Yet he handled even written words on paper with the utmost care. It was his nature.
-He made a name for himself in Gansu and beyond the frontier with bizarre Persian swordsmanship, and brutally defeated even renowned masters of the Central Plains. With his exceptional sword skills, he killed many.
He drank heavily and had a quick temper. When disputes arose or he received challenge letters, blood was often spilled. He killed many people.
Having accumulated many grudges at such a young age, his martial prowess was so formidable that by twenty, he had earned the title of Number One Beyond the Frontier.
He was captured by a strange man called Dongyan-zi on Mount Min, south of Gansu, and was half-forced into seclusion to cultivate his character and pursue the Way.
Records from this period are entirely absent due to his seclusion. Who the strange man Dongyan-zi was remains unknown.
It is rather curious that one who secluded himself in the west of the Central Plains, in the land of Gansu, would use the epithet “Dongyan-zi” [Eastern Cliff Master].
At twenty-eight, he married the granddaughter of an influential family near Yunmeng Marsh… present-day Lake Dongting.
From then on, he never wielded a sword again, making a name for himself solely through poetry-
“How can one person wield both brush and blade like spirits? Sometimes such creatures are born into this world.”
The young man whipped his head back, resting it against the chair backrest, and asked the woman standing behind him.
“Isn’t that right, Yeon?”
“Don’t you yourself excel in both martial arts and strategy, Young Master?”
The woman in the garb of a guard answered in a heavy voice, flattering him skillfully.
Though it might be called flattery, it was hard to dismiss outright. What the guard said was true.
The young man returned his head to its original position and shook it side to side.
“Even if I wring this brain of mine, how could I compare to Master Kongming’s divine wisdom? And even if I swing my sword until my palms split, could I last even one exchange against Xiang Yu of old?”
“…Young Master. Why bring up Xiang Yu? Your opponents are those who call themselves Sword Dragon or Sword Peak, aren’t they?”
“That’s true. I went too far. The ordinary genius must know his place.”
“Hmm.”
“You thought I was insufferable just now, didn’t you?”
“You read my mind… what sorcery did you use?”
“Tsk, tsk. How dare you wag your tongue so impudently at the eldest son of the Zhuge Family.”
“This servant has erred greatly. Please execute me.”
“Die one day after I do.”
The guard shook her head, and the young man giggled as he turned the page.
“Anyway… that Li Taibai, you see. He married into an influential family near Lake Dongting and made a vow.”
“What did he vow?”
“Ah, I’m done being a ruffian swinging swords around! I’ll wash my hands of the jianghu… though I must have a cartful of people still bearing grudges against me. Well, anyway, I’m retired, so that’s that. I’ll live elegantly, playing with my brush. After all, I’m not just good with a sword… I write poetry well too.”
“A man who met the woman he loved, shed his troubled past, and turned his back on the jianghu… One could put it that way, I suppose.”
“At any rate… yet he feared his martial lineage would die out, so he hid something at Lake Dongting and diligently made treasure maps to scatter across the jianghu. Quite a pathetic fellow, isn’t he?”
“He was one of the greatest literary figures of all time… please show some respect.”
“I’m jealous and can’t speak kindly. I’m twenty-eight right now, Yeon. This man had already pacified the frontier martial world, looked back on his life and repented, and even met a lovely woman and started a family by my age. What have I done?”
“Why won’t you just get married?”
“I prefer men.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Actually, I like you.”
“…That’s not funny either.”
“I wasn’t joking. Anyway, those venerable Taoist masters of Wudang Mountain are also searching for this mysterious treasure. If it’s the martial arts of the man who, as a youth alone, was Number One Beyond the Frontier, of course they’d want it.”
It was a martial art blending Central Plains and Western techniques, the same martial art that turned a mere twenty-year-old into Number One Beyond the Frontier.
Though the Central Plains now stood as the pinnacle and origin of martial arts, during the Tang Dynasty, the frontier lands had been quite formidable.
If it were forgotten martial arts from that era, studying them alone could qualitatively advance a faction’s collective martial arts.
And if the martial art proved exceptional… suitable for modern jianghu use… they could simply have a promising talent learn and practice it directly.
“Or perhaps an ancient pill of miraculous power… Strange talismans from the Western Regions… whatever. Doesn’t matter. The point is?”
The guard, Murong Yeon, took up the conversation.
“We must find it before the Wudang Taoists do.”
“Correct. Fortunately, Wuhan’s intelligence and manpower are firmly in Zhuge hands, so we should have the advantage in a race.”
He was the Zhuge Family’s heir.
He had finished memorizing the Four Books and Three Classics by age seven, passed the provincial exam at fifteen, and reached the peak of martial arts at twenty.
The young genius called Little Divine Mathematician… Zhuge Xian… glanced out the window with his handsome eyes.
Across a vast plain stretching to the horizon, workers wandered here and there, searching for something.
This had once been Yunmeng Marsh, the site of the Central Plains’ largest lake.
The Zhuge Family was already tracing the ancient one’s footprints, scouring the dried lakebed of Yunmeng Marsh.
‘Our family rose through formations and strategy. Even our martial arts are heavily characterized by formational principles.’
Divine Scholars of Zhuge, or Zhuge the Divine Mathematicians, as they were called. Even their swordsmanship was a blueprint built from meticulous measurement and calculation.
‘As a result, if your talent suffices, a certain level of power is guaranteed. But the pure spirit of pursuing martial arts for its own sake is lacking, so for a long time we haven’t produced a supreme master.’
In a sense, thinking too much was the problem.
That was precisely why Li Bai’s martial arts were all the more needed.
What kind of man had he been in life?
Li Bai’s close friend, Du Fu, who was equally famous as a poet, would polish his verses many times before completing a poem.
Li Bai, on the other hand, wrote in a single stroke as his heart dictated… and it matched Du Fu’s work in brilliance.
‘In martial terms, that would be the realm of Formless Surpassing Form.’
The state where having no set technique surpasses those who do.
Where swinging a sword freely, unbound by form, itself becomes a killing move.
If it was a martial art that could guide one to the realm of Formless Surpassing Form…
‘It would be more essential to the Zhuge Family than anything else.’
Finding this would be an achievement of historic proportions.
‘If I succeed this time, I definitely…’
Zhuge Xian’s eyes glinted quietly.
* * *
Chun-mong’s heart was pounding over the treasure map, but Ju-seong hadn’t forgotten his original purpose.
“Chun-mong, about this treasure map. If we brought it to the Zhuge Family, it’d fetch a pretty penny, right?”
“What? Brother, this map could lead us to Li Taibai’s martial arts! And that’s not all… some ancient martial treasures are said to actually touch upon immortal arts!”
“So what? We need to get to Southern Zhili as fast as possible to see Red Beggar. We’re going to the tournament at the Martial Alliance, not treasure hunting.”
“Well then, we could come back and search for it later, couldn’t we?”
Ju-seong shook his head.
“Are you deaf? The assassin said Wudang and Zhuge are both searching for this treasure. If the tournament ends and we return to find the treasure already found?”
Ju-seong held up the treasure map with a blasé expression and said.
“Then this wooden slip becomes worthless kindling… nothing more, nothing less. We should sell it while it’s expensive.”
Ju-seong rolled up the wooden slip, stuffed it into his clothes, and tapped his chest.
“People like us need to be careful about this sort of thing.”
“…What do you mean?”
“A jianghu person ought to think about getting a little stronger day by day. Chasing treasure and fortune only to get stabbed by someone hunting the same thing… that’s how you die.”
“Hmm…”
“Wudang and Zhuge are deploying their power and wealth to conduct searches… what do we expect to accomplish by jumping in the middle?”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Luckily, the Zhuge Family is a great house with its base in Wuhan, so we shouldn’t fail to get a fair price. Let’s settle it quickly and move on.”
The next day, Ju-seong and Chun-mong arrived in Wuhan at once.
Much of Wuhan consisted of lakes and rivers, with agricultural land spreading out widely as a result.
But now, the workers bending over across the plain weren’t farmers.
“They’re pounding stakes and doing something with ropes.”
Workers were driving stakes here and there and winding ropes around them to pull taut.
It looked like they were dividing up plots of land or taking measurements.
Scribes in scholars’ clothing flanked by servants were scattered about, busily writing something down.
“This area should be farmland normally…”
Chun-mong stroked his chin, looking puzzled.
Ju-seong approached a worker sitting nearby on a break and asked.
“Excuse me, good sir, what’s all this about? Why are you pounding stakes into this fine land instead of farming it? You’ll damage the earth’s vital energy.”
Especially to farmers, the land was a sacred entity that yielded food.
Driving stakes willy-nilly into it was an unlucky act that could get you beaten to death in the countryside.
“The young mathematician of the Zhuge Family examined everything and said it’s feng shui(-certified fine), so he gave the orders. All the farmers around here have been mobilized for this work.”
The worker bowed and scraped, apparently taking Ju-seong for a well-born young master because of his silk clothes.
“Ah, so all of them were originally farmers?”
The worker nodded.
“We’ve been told to skip this year’s planting to give the land a rest. Instead, they’re conducting surveys to find an old inheritance the Zhuge ancestors left buried here.”
“A Zhuge family inheritance…”
Ju-seong tilted his head and smirked.
They’d devised a plausible cover story to avoid drawing attention from factions outside Huguang Province.
Having the local farmers skip a whole year of planting… the sum of money poured in must be enormous.
It meant the Zhuge Family was investing heavily in finding Li Bai’s legacy.
“Ah, I feel myself becoming more valuable.”
Ju-seong clutched his chest contentedly and cracked a joke.
Chun-mong looked at him with faint exasperation, then glanced ahead and said.
“But I don’t think we can go straight there to sell it.”
“Hm? Why?”
“Look over there. The command camp looks to be there, but there are some martial artists at the entrance.”
In the middle of the plain was a gently raised hill, atop which sat a thatched cottage.
Surrounding it were a dozen or so tents arranged in a strange formation… clearly the Zhuge Family’s encampment.
Normally, a thatched cottage has a roof of straw or thatch.
But this roof was so neatly woven and trimmed that it looked as presentable as any tiled house.
It exuded a scholar’s spirit, but there was also a hint of strange obsession.
At the foot of the hill stood martial artists in Taoist attire.
“My, my… Those folks look impressive.”
“I know, right. You can feel the discipline radiating from their clothes. That’s what real wealth looks like, they say.”
They wore black Taoist robes with a lustrous sheen, and their hair was bound up with small silver coronets. The scabbards at their waists were stark white, catching the eye.
At a glance, they were clearly no ordinary commoners. From attire to bearing, they radiated class.
Ju-seong finally realized their identity when he saw their backs.
“Taiji Diagram markings. Then they must be…”
“Ah, the Wudang Sect!”
Ju-seong clutched his chest again.
“Brother, pull yourself together.”
Chun-mong poked Ju-seong’s side, but his ears could no longer hear such a trivial fellow’s words.
That phrase that made the hearts of jianghu men sing. “Shaolin revered in the North, Wudang honored in the South.”
Immortal Zhang Sanfeng, who stood against the combined assault of a hundred Yuan Dynasty masters, had laid its foundation. For centuries thereafter, countless masters had bloomed in Wudang, upholding the martial world’s orthodoxy.
The Taoist priests who guarded the southern heart of the Central Plains’ martial world were right there.
“Brother… You do remember what we came here for, don’t?”
Of course, from Ju-seong’s perspective… here to sell the treasure map to the Zhuge Family… being spotted by Wudang right now would do him no good.
They surely wanted the treasure map too.
Ju-seong coughed and turned to Chun-mong.
“Normally, we’d wait for those Wudang heroes to leave before visiting the Zhuge camp, right?”
“Obviously. Why state the obvious, Brother? Your eyes have been looking strange.”
“Listen. I just had a good idea.”
“…”
Chun-mong’s expression turned skeptical. Ju-seong immediately flared up.
“What, you think I’m just trying to chat up those Wudang people I’ve always admired? You think that’s what this is? What do you take me for?”
“…”
“So… The Zhuge Family and the Wudang Sect. Both want this treasure map… right? Let’s pit the two against each other to drive up the price.”
“…Is that really a good idea?”
In Chun-mong’s view, pulling such tricks on two factions standing at jianghu’s pinnacle was unwise.
Better to worry about getting caught between them and crushed.
Ju-seong grinned and shook his head.
“Normally it wouldn’t be a good idea. But I have ‘this.'”
Chun-mong’s eyes widened at the silver something thrust before his face.