Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 110 - Surrender
Chapter 110 – Surrender
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Three days later.
After exchanging farewells with Zhuge Xian, Ju-seong set off toward the east once more.
Ju-seong kept adjusting his collar and checking that the hem of his robe didn’t drag on the ground.
“Ah, damn it. I’ve never worn clothes like this. What kind of robe costs this much?”
Zhuge Xian had gifted him a high-end silk robe as a token of friendship.
It was the same green as his original robe, but with a subtle blue tint that made it extraordinarily refined.
Following behind, Chun-mong watched Ju-seong’s back and spoke.
“…Thank you, Brother.”
“How many times does that make it? Enough already.”
Ju-seong’s reply was indifferent. He reached out to trail his fingers through the tall grass, and the sensation tickled his skin.
Sometimes one had to take off the Heavenly Silkworm gauntlets and feel the raw texture of the world.
Having the sensation of a weapon equipped become the norm of daily life would be troublesome, wouldn’t it?
From Wuhan onward, Chun-mong had been persistently thanking Ju-seong, annoying him all the while.
This was because what Ju-seong had wrung out of Zhuge Xian was a gift for Chun-mong.
[Very well. I’ll allow just the ‘sword form’ portion of the Western swordsmanship to be viewed. But on the conditions that you never use it directly… only adapt it… and that you don’t leak any parry techniques.]
Even while being jerked around because of his debt to Ju-seong, Zhuge Xian remained thorough.
He even drafted a written pledge, insisting Ju-seong press his inked thumbnail onto it for a fingerprint.
So soft was the paper that even the ridge patterns of his finger were imprinted.
This, he said, was one of the methods the Zhuge Family used to verify a person’s identity.
[Now that your thumbprint is on a Zhuge Family pledge, there is no going back. Now, let me show you.]
Shafeng Jian Jue… Sand Wind Sword Formula.
A formless-surpassing-form sword art inspired by the sand and wind of the Western Regions.
The Sand Wind Sword Formula used unique starting stances and transitional movements between forms to create ‘sword forms.’
Through these postures, one projected an aura that overpowered an opponent’s mind and body.
Of course, understanding the surrounding environment and flow of qi was also required for it to work properly.
Without looking back, Ju-seong said.
“Last time I watched you use a sword, your swordsmanship was very static.”
“That’s right. Our Namgung swordsmanship originated from the old imperial army… the movements themselves are heavy. Since it was originally meant to be swung from horseback, the footwork isn’t flashy either.”
“Right. If you’re not going to move anyway, you might as well look intimidating while standing still… that’s why I got this for you.”
Ju-seong paused, then smacked his lips before continuing.
“But why does the technique have to be so difficult? You have to ride your aura on the flow of qi, and also send your scent on the wind, consider the sun’s position, account for the terrain, whether there’s fog or sand…”
On top of that, there were minute specifications about the angle of each joint and which muscles to tense with how much force.
From Ju-seong’s perspective, this was not a skill designed for a human to learn.
Chun-mong smiled wryly.
“It’s certainly a peerless technique, but there’s a reason sword-form arts have largely died out in jianghu.”
Of course, ‘sword form’ simply meant a sword stance, so the term itself still existed. But the lineage that used sword form itself as a technique had been severed.
“Because it’s too hard… Still, I’ll master it. It fits my swordsmanship like a glove.”
“Good. Makes the effort of wringing it out of him worthwhile. By the way… what will you do with the Taoist swordsmanship Master Li Bai left behind?”
The only intact gain Ju-seong had obtained was the Taoist swordsmanship Li Bai had practiced.
“Why, you want this too?”
“Oh no, I’m fine. In the first place, Taoist swordsmanship wouldn’t suit my family’s style.”
“Well, I received it… What to do with it. If I could at least extract the martial principles, that would be good.”
“Is that easy?”
“No, it’s hard. From reading it, it seems like a quick-sword style… I’ll find a use for it someday. At worst, for trade. Any swordsman would covet it.”
“You’ve gained quite a lot. Also, that Wudang Taoist gave you something nice too.”
At Chun-mong’s words, Ju-seong hesitated briefly before answering.
“…Ah, that?”
It had happened just before parting ways with the Wudang party.
Song-un suddenly approached and said.
[This time, we were able to enter the dream and leave without incident.]
[Yes… thanks to you, wasn’t it? Because you have the ‘Void Spirit Constitution,’ Master Li Bai’s lingering thought mistook you for his friend.]
Song-un shook his head.
[It was partly because I have the Void Spirit Constitution, but also because of ‘that thing’ in your head. Master Li Bai’s lingering thought mistook it for a ghost. A Void Spirit Constitution and a ghost with baleful energy… both present… that’s why the thought was fooled.]
In other words, the immense killing intent lodged in Ju-seong’s head possessed a malevolence comparable to a ghost’s.
[Hmm.]
[Anyway… take this. It’s a breathing technique with the effect of expelling baleful energy lodged in the upper dantian through the Baihui point.]
Taoist Song-un had torn a portion from the immortal arts text and handed it to Ju-seong.
[Wait… Isn’t this your share?]
Song-un’s lips curled into a slippery smile as he answered.
[The old fogeys of our sect refuse to touch ‘that sort’ of training. I’ve already read and memorized it all, but… if I bring it to the sect, the elders will rip it to shreds.]
[That sort? What is it?]
[You know, that thing.]
Chun-mong snickered and asked Ju-seong.
“Brother, you’ve got no use for that, do you?”
“You little… Want a smack? Do you want nothing but porridge from now on?”
“My apologies.”
Ju-seong sighed quietly and scratched the back of his head.
What Song-un had given him was none other than bedroom arts.
A cultivation method for attaining the Way through the pleasures between man and woman… an utterly absurd practice.
“If one seeks achievement, one should go through painful and arduous processes… how does one gain achievement through pleasure? Does that even make sense?”
“The world does have some strange corners.”
The absurd thing was that this was truly one of the traditional Taoist cultivation methods.
Ancient Taoist texts on immortal arts treated bedroom arts with great importance.
Of course, in the present day, respectable temples like Wudang quietly ignored and dismissed them.
“Anyway, the weather’s nice and the fields are green. It’s been a while since I headed east in the Central Plains… feels refreshing. I feel like salt’s already crusting on my robes.”
“Isn’t it nerve-wracking, though? The Martial Alliance… the very heart of jianghu.”
“What’s there to be nervous about? Every place under heaven where people live is more or less the same.”
Ju-seong made the carefree remark as he ambled forward.
“Let’s go!”
Chun-mong chased after him.
Through the overgrown grass, the two left a straight trail.
* * *
A late evening, with dusk settling.
A dilapidated pavilion stood alone by a quiet riverside. A pavilion growing old alongside drooping reeds, duckweed, and moss.
The moon hung round and bright… yet the man seated inside the pavilion seemed in no mood to gaze at it.
His overwhelming presence seemed to fill the pavilion, yet somehow he radiated a deep melancholy.
Just then, footsteps climbing the pavilion stairs accompanied a voice echoing across the riverside.
“Martial Alliance Leader. Wine tastes better shared with a companion… why did you not wait for me?”
“Because you and I are not companions, Head Eunuch.”
“That may be true, but it’s somewhat hurtful. How many times have we met like this in secret?”
The thin voice of an old eunuch slithered. The man called ‘Martial Alliance Leader’ cut him off, sounding displeased.
“What is your business? If you summoned me here, you must have something to say.”
“Yes. I do have business.”
The Head Eunuch of the Eastern Depot nodded, smiling.
“Until now, all our secret meetings have only been to receive reports and issue routine orders to maintain the peace of the martial world.”
“…Routine orders, you say. ‘Turn a blind eye while an entire sect is exterminated.’ ‘Even if a demonic man runs rampant, observe for two weeks before pursuing.’ Are those routine?”
The Head Eunuch quietly picked up an empty wine cup and countered.
“It is the Emperor’s will. Eliminate sects with the potential to turn subversive, and let demonic men rampage briefly so the fury of the jianghu has somewhere to go… In the matter of governing all under heaven, there is no place for human notions of right and wrong.”
Kkadak.
The Head Eunuch tilted his empty cup.
“All this talk has made me thirsty.”
The Martial Alliance Leader’s brow creased fiercely as he snatched the wine jar and poured into the eunuch’s cup.
He glared murderously as he poured until the cup overflowed, droplets splattering the table.
“My, I didn’t know the Martial Alliance Leader held me in such esteem. Overflowing wine is, after all, a symbol of overflowing affection.”
“Just state your business briefly. I’m busy.”
“If anyone is busy, it’s the Eastern Depot, patrolling the shadows of the Central Plains. I am the one who made time, Martial Alliance Leader.”
The Head Eunuch needled the Martial Alliance Leader to the end in this silent battle of wills before producing a sealed edict bound with golden thread from his robes.
His pale, spidery hands danced as he unsealed it.
“Normally one should kneel when receiving an imperial edict… but I won’t demand that. You are a great elder of the martial world.”
The Head Eunuch placed the letter on the table and slid it forward, leaning in.
Watching the Martial Alliance Leader with narrowed eyes, the Head Eunuch spoke.
“The time has come to initiate this generation’s Orthodox-Demonic War, Martial Alliance Leader. Open the festival of blood.”
At the Head Eunuch’s words, the Martial Alliance Leader’s left eye twitched violently.
* * *
Ju-seong was happily shoveling some unidentifiable fish porridge into his mouth.
He’d picked a random roadside inn, yet the taste was decent.
“My, from Sichuan to Huguang, and now to Southern Zhili. My palate’s been treated like royalty.”
“That’s right. We’ve only passed through affluent places.”
“If we’re talking granaries, this place is the best of all.”
“They say all the wealth of the realm comes from Jianghuai.”
Jianghuai referred to the region between the Huai River and the Yangtze… two of the four great rivers of the Central Plains… which included the Anhui region they’d just entered.
Wedged between two great rivers, this was one locale where starvation was impossible.
“With the Martial Alliance planted smack in such prime land, raking in profits… I suppose the imperial court does acknowledge the martial world’s power?”
At Ju-seong’s question, Chun-mong shook his head.
“Even if wealth springs from here, it’s still under the court’s direct jurisdiction. A rich man’s servant may eat his fill and pat his belly, but that doesn’t make the servant the master.”
Just as Chun-mong finished speaking, a warrior at a nearby table craned his neck and interjected.
“The young brother’s got quite the sharp tongue. So you’re saying the Martial Alliance is no better than a servant? Then the sects doing business in Southern Zhili must be beneath even servants?”
“Mm…”
Chun-mong blamed his loud voice. Now that they’d entered Anhui, he should have been more careful. As he was about to apologize, Ju-seong snorted.
Ju-seong tilted his head, then pointed at the man with his chopsticks.
“Why are you eavesdropping on other people’s table talk?”
“Well, the ears I’ve got hear what they hear… what am I supposed to do?”
The warrior answered in a snide tone and rose to his feet.
Ju-seong narrowed his eyes and then projected a touch of killing intent.
“Sit.”
The moment he tried to use his killing intent, his skull throbbed as if it were being forcibly pried apart… it wouldn’t come out smoothly.
‘Damn… Master Li Bai’s sword energy is really lodged in my upper dantian. Good thing or bad?’
At any rate, the warrior who had taken the killing intent head-on went pale and sat down meekly.
“You know how to sit up straight with good posture. A man with the makings of a gentleman.”
Even as Ju-seong mocked him, the warrior had already had his spirit crushed and couldn’t open his mouth.
Instead, warriors at the surrounding tables sprang up in anger.
The biggest of them… the one who had first stood… started chewing out one of his companions.
“We may be a branch line, but we carry the Hwangbo name… and you can’t even meet his eyes? Aren’t you ashamed?!”
“…”
-Kwang!
His massive hand brutally slapped the slumped man across the face.
Chun-mong propped his chin and murmured.
“That must’ve hurt.”
Ju-seong sensed his meal was about to be interrupted and tipped the fish-porridge bowl straight into his mouth.
Meanwhile, the big man stomped over.
“Some random rabble crawled in… you here for the Ascending Dragon Assembly too? You look like some pampered young master from a backwater country family… Think you can handle it?”
Ju-seong’s fine clothing led the man to mistake him for an out-of-touch son of a local magnate.
-Tak.
Ju-seong slowly set down the empty bowl and asked.
“Ah, what a superb flavor… The Hwangbo Family, you said? The Three Great Families?”
The big man curled his lip into a crooked grin and nodded.
“Hwangbo Ok. I’m just a branch line, but the name is more than enough to pulverize a country bumpkin like you.”
Ju-seong nodded slowly, then pointed at Hwangbo Ok with his chopsticks and spoke quietly.
“…Surrender, Hwangbo Ok.”
At his disastrous quip, Chun-mong rubbed his forehead and sighed.
“Brother…”