Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 106 - The Hunter's Son
Chapter 106 – The Hunter’s Son
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Moist Slashing Practice.
No matter how many times he repeated it, the alias refused to sit comfortably on the tongue. It was bizarre and unimpressive.
‘Truly an eccentric.’
Song-un narrowed his eyes as he observed the blunt blade-wielder before him.
Gaunt frame, with arms that dangled strangely long.
In the martial world, those with long limbs generally held the advantage.
Since the imperial court forbade weapons beyond a certain length, the weapons used by martial artists were all around the same size.
‘The shorter the weapon, the more arm length determines the attack range.’
Moreover, this man was apparently as strong as his arms were long… the weapon he wielded was a truly terrifying great saber.
The handle alone looked about two chi long, and the blade at least seven chi.
It already exceeded the imperial weapon regulations, but traditionally bladed weapons other than spears were given some leniency.
-Ssrrrng.
The great saber, strapped to his back due to its length, slid free.
The pure-white blade emerging resembled a great serpent revealing its form.
“I hope you’ll make a good training partner.”
Moist Slashing Practice murmured gloomily.
“Training partner… Do you call cutting people training?”
A bitter smile tugged at Moist Slashing Practice’s lips.
“If one aspires, nothing is impossible. I’ve already forsaken the path of humanity.”
“What is it you aspire to?”
Moist Slashing Practice’s pupils deepened for a moment, recalling some scene from long ago.
But soon light returned to his eyes, and the veins on his hands gripping the saber handle bulged.
“Here I come.”
“Ha, a courteous villain indeed.”
While Song-un let out a hollow laugh, Moist Slashing Practice cut off his breath and lunged in.
“Taah… !”
With a short, solid kihap, a horizontal slash swept forward, powered by his entire hip.
-Hwung.
Song-un threw his torso backward and dodged.
Keeping his feet planted, he bent everything above the knees backward to evade the attack… the Iron Bridge technique.
But Moist Slashing Practice’s assault did not end there.
Like a fish mid-leap twisting its whole body, he rotated his hips back leftward after carrying them rightward with the swing.
-Shwaaang…!
The blade that had swept from left to right came back again from right to left.
‘This is fighting skill that could fell a hundred men alone on a battlefield!’
Song-un quickly exploited the gap between the first and second slash to retreat.
Wudang’s Profound Heaven Step deployed from his feet.
Profound Heaven Step meant the stride of the Lord of the Profound Heaven.
The northern deity revered in Taoism… the Wudang Sect itself had done much to popularize his worship.
In truth, the Profound Heaven Step had a different original name: Flowing Cloud Step.
During the Song dynasty, when the Wudang Sect spread the faith of the Lord of the Profound Heaven, they renamed it partly for promotional purposes.
Song-un’s Profound Heaven Step was as gentle as flowing clouds, befitting its original name.
Moist Slashing Practice watched Song-un slip away, shimmering like a heat haze, and raised an eyebrow.
“Will you only dodge?”
Song-un shrugged and countered.
“What do I care if others dodge… I’d rather not clash my sword against that ferocious thing.”
“Is that so?”
Moist Slashing Practice smiled strangely, then suddenly raised the great saber into a Taishan Crushing Summit stance.
With his lanky height plus the length of the blade, the intimidation was immense.
-Skkk… !
A chilling cutting sound rang out. A long blade energy slid cleanly free and carved toward the ground.
At its destination was Song-un, standing guard over his junior brothers.
“Hm.”
Song-un narrowed his brow and slid forward, intercepting the blade energy hurtling toward his junior brother.
He had already dropped his sword, extending both palms forward.
‘Foolish.’
Moist Slashing Practice narrowed his eyes and muttered inwardly.
The saber technique he honed was an endless series of attempts to reach ‘that person.’
He swung, chasing after that sharpness, that speed, the artistry of its flowing grace.
Every person he cut made him realize he was getting closer to the strike he pursued… and after that, he had no choice but to cut people for training.
That was the caliber of his saber.
Not something flimsy enough to be blocked barehanded.
And yet…
“Four taels of force uproot a thousand catties, and softness subdues hardness.”
A palm tracing a gentle curve met the blade energy that stood vertical and straight.
Song-un clicked his tongue softly.
“Murder demon walking a single solitary path… your rigidity is truly pitiful.”
Before anyone knew, the blade energy had dissipated, leaving only heat-haze traces shimmering in the air.
“As expected of Wudang.”
Even with his blade energy so easily extinguished, not a flicker of distortion marred Moist Slashing Practice’s expression.
He simply delivered another stroke.
A merciless horizontal slash swept toward Song-un once more.
Stamping into a solid stance, he used his rear foot to push off the ground as he scraped every ounce of hip power into the blade.
Then the great saber spun like a maple seed.
-Takang…!
Song-un felt his coronet split in two as he lowered his stance and drove in.
Wudang’s Red Lotus Palm.
Originally, this was a basic technique taught to young disciples so they could embody the principles of Wudang martial arts.
Currently, only two people in the entire Wudang Sect had stubbornly mastered this palm technique to perfection.
Song-un and his master.
Given that his master was a martial artist whose name ranked near the top of the Ten Supreme Masters, the Red Lotus Palm was certainly no trivial art.
-Tok.
Song-un’s hand-back brushed Moist Slashing Practice’s forearm as if in jest.
-Bududeuk!
But the silky, seamless chain of moves that followed produced a bone-chilling sound of flesh tearing.
No matter how much one talked of softness and subtlety, at its core it was still martial arts. Martial arts harmed people.
And Wudang’s martial arts were a zenith of the world.
Which meant they were supremely effective at breaking people.
“Kuh-hurrr…!”
A pained groan tore from the blunt blade-wielder’s lips.
Like a trickle of water carving an unceasing path through barren ground.
When Song-un’s fingers wormed in, his hand-back followed, and when the hand-back peeled away defenses, his palm struck vital points.
Wudang’s palm technique exploited even the smallest opening.
Water, after all, seeps through even the tiniest hole.
-Kwajik!
Moist Slashing Practice crumpled, his right arm reduced to rags, left shoulder sunken, and four ribs shattered.
Song-un watched the blood-coughing man and murmured quietly.
“You’ve killed countless people.”
A faint glow leaked from his brow.
He was clearly seeing something others could not.
“…I shouldn’t have come down from the mountain.”
Muttering, Song-un’s palm slowly descended to cover Moist Slashing Practice’s vision.
* * *
“Stop right there, you bastard!”
“Hahaha! I refuse. I lack confidence in close combat, you see.”
Ju-seong and Forget-Sorrow Arrow circled round and round atop the gourd-shaped valley.
Forget-Sorrow Arrow’s lightness skill exceeded Ju-seong’s, so if he chose to flee outright, he could escape indefinitely.
The only reason he hadn’t left yet was probably that he needed to wait for the battle below to conclude.
“Stop now and I’ll kill you painlessly! Really! I’ll stake everything and swear!”
“Not interested!”
Forget-Sorrow Arrow fired off three consecutive arrows as he spoke.
The heavy steel arrows, laden with internal energy and velocity, packed tremendous force.
‘That’d punch clean through any ordinary armor.’
Of course, Ju-seong’s fist energy-wrapped gauntlets deflected them with ease.
Seeing that brute force wasn’t working, Ju-seong stopped in place.
When he stopped, Forget-Sorrow Arrow on the opposite side also halted.
“Taking a breather? I’m not particularly tired myself.”
Contrary to his words, Forget-Sorrow Arrow was also gasping.
True, Forget-Sorrow Arrow’s straight-line speed was faster.
But what about changing direction mid-run?
They were circling in an arc, which meant constant directional changes.
Ju-seong had trained in the high-level White Phoenix Nine Heavens Movement Technique.
Since movement technique concerns how one controls the body, a superior movement art also excelled at turning.
Forget-Sorrow Arrow, on the other hand, excelled at lightness skill rather than movement technique.
A man more focused on running itself than on maneuvering.
After all, he’d refined his lightness skill for escaping pursuers.
Flat-out fleeing didn’t require much turning ability.
Thus, Forget-Sorrow Arrow was as tired as Ju-seong.
But since Ju-seong deliberately huffed louder, Forget-Sorrow Arrow failed to notice in time.
“Hu, huu-uk… Bastard, give it a rest. You’re not a pony, are you? You’re Forget-Sorrow Arrow!”
Grumbling, Ju-seong suddenly launched himself from the ground, leaping clear across the valley.
Normally, Ju-seong couldn’t cover this distance in a single bound.
“My, you used a trick, cunning fellow.”
He had wedged a steel throwing dagger into a crevice across the way, and was pulling himself through the air by the Heavenly Silkworm thread attached to it.
Ju-seong’s body soared nearly ten zhang.
Yet by the time he landed, Forget-Sorrow Arrow had already sprinted away.
Satisfied at having drained more of the man’s stamina, Ju-seong kept running.
Round and round…
As he circled endlessly while deflecting arrows with his grafting technique…
‘I feel as if I’m gaining insight into Taiji.’
If Ju-seong was yang, then the fleeing Forget-Sorrow Arrow was yin.
Ju-seong was hot-headed; Forget-Sorrow Arrow seemed comparatively calm… an apt comparison.
Yin and yang.
‘Cold energy is dull and slow; hot energy is lively and swift.’
Though Forget-Sorrow Arrow ran faster in a straight line, his direction changes consumed more stamina and internal energy than Ju-seong’s.
His speed was thus dropping, while Ju-seong’s remained relatively stable.
He would definitely catch the man if he wanted to. The thought made him suddenly elated.
Another arrow flew in, but Ju-seong was now on the cusp of Taiji enlightenment worthy of a Wudang disciple.
-Kakang!
He extended both palms, pressed his wrists together, and spun… the shape of a lotus blossom unfolding.
The true Red Lotus Palm revealed its resplendent form.
An arrow ensnared in the dazzling palm shadow.
Following the lotus’s rotation, it spun once in a full circle before losing momentum and falling away.
Ju-seong blurted out, drunk on the joy welling up inside.
“Wahaha! Halt, you insolent fiend! Tonight, this Flower Lord shall send you to paradise!”
By creating blooming lotuses with his hands, he had become a “flower lord,” while his intent to kill made “paradise” a fitting destination for his foe.
Of course, those below hearing his shout found it absurd.
Chun-mong, sending a warrior flying with his heavy sword, called out.
“Ignore him! That person is not entirely sane!”
* * *
‘Damn it, damn it!’
Forget-Sorrow Arrow began to feel like prey.
He didn’t want to admit it, but his heart pounded and cold sweat oozed out.
The voice that had tormented him for so long rang in his ears. The voice that always fell silent whenever he drew his bow.
The voice that made him draw his bow to forget his sorrows.
[Where have you hidden yourself again? You cute little thing… did you think this father couldn’t find you? This father is a hunter, you know.]
The straw mat was lifted, and yellowed eyes rolled as they looked down at him.
[So the squirrel I’ve been chasing was hiding here?]
[Running from your father… where did you learn such a habit?! I must punish you. Bring the bowstring!]
The long scars across his body throbbed.
“Hehehe…”
Forget-Sorrow Arrow’s eyes veined red as he ran, and a sinister laugh leaked out.
“Son, you cannot escape from me… Look… you defied filial duty and killed your father, and now I cling to you as a ghost, don’t I!”
“Shut up, shut up!”
Forget-Sorrow Arrow raved like a madman as he ran. He stopped turning and burst straight ahead.
“Huh, what’s wrong with him?”
Ju-seong, who had been steadily closing the gap, watched Forget-Sorrow Arrow bolt away and muttered in bewilderment.
But soon, when he saw Forget-Sorrow Arrow stop and turn to face him, he curled his lips slightly.
“So you really are a lunatic. You want to tangle properly now?”
Just as on the ship on the Yangtze, Forget-Sorrow Arrow’s eyes flattened grotesquely, and veins bulged.
His pupils blazed, fixed squarely on Ju-seong.
“I am the hunter. You are the prey. I will hunt you. I’ll skin you and sell the hide. Roast and eat the flesh. That I shall do.”
Just as his father had done to innocent passersby. Just as his father had done to his innocent mother.
And just as Forget-Sorrow Arrow himself had done to his guilty father…
The monster’s son, born a monster through fate and raised one… stood with bloodshot eyes, bow aimed.
He truly had no other choice.