Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 115 - Blade King
Chapter 115 – Blade King
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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At the center of the island where the Martial Alliance was situated stood a jutting hill.
The Alliance had hollowed out the top of this hill to create a massive pit, with a dueling stage at its center.
The walls of the pit were densely packed with spectator seating.
This structure allowed every spectator to watch the duels in the center without difficulty.
The Ascending Dragon Assembly team battle would be held in this very Grand Dueling Arena.
All main-competition matches after the team battle would also take place here.
“To see the famous Grand Dueling Arena with my own eyes.”
Ju-seong murmured as he walked through the dawn streets, bustling with people.
“I know, right? It’s famous for having its floor paved entirely with blue jade stone. That’s why they call it the ‘Blue Stage.'”
Blue jade stone was an extremely hard mineral said to come from beyond Kunlun Mountain. It wasn’t invincible against a master’s full-force strike, but it was sturdy enough to withstand ordinary blows. For such an expensive mineral to cover an entire dueling stage… one could easily imagine the Martial Alliance’s wealth.
Soon, the bridge leading to the Alliance came into view.
The plaque reading ‘Martial Alliance of All Under Heaven’ greeted them as always.
Alliance warriors guarded the bridge, inspecting everyone seeking entry.
One warrior firmly waved his hand and turned away a man who appeared to be a spectator.
“At this hour, only internal Alliance personnel or Ascending Dragon Assembly participants may enter. If you’ve come to watch the matches, please return after noon.”
Ju-seong and Red Beggar produced the tokens they’d already received and showed them to the warriors.
“Chun-mong, you too… show yours.”
Red Beggar turned and urged Chun-mong.
But Chun-mong wore an awkward smile and took a step back.
“Um, brothers. I’ll just cheer from the sidelines.”
Confusion simultaneously appeared on Red Beggar’s and Ju-seong’s faces.
“…Huh?”
“What? Did you fail the test?”
Chun-mong shook his head.
“I didn’t even take it.”
Ju-seong furrowed his brow and strode closer.
“Why not?”
“…Haha, I suppose my skills are a bit lacking.”
“Ridiculous. I know your abilities. What’s the problem?”
Chun-mong gave a bitter smile and answered.
“Someone told me I shouldn’t reveal myself to the world yet.”
“Who?”
“Someone I met and visited recently said so. Anyway, I’ll cheer from behind, so please go on in, brothers.”
“Who did you visit? Why did they say that?”
“…They’re someone who worries too much. They’ve lived with bad memories. You can tell just from them sticking me in the Beggars’ Sect. But the debt I owe is great, so I don’t want to cause them concern.”
“…Alright. If that’s how you feel.”
Chun-mong stepped back further and raised a cupped-fist salute, bowing his head.
“Brothers, good luck.”
Red Beggar kept looking back at Chun-mong standing there alone, then sighed.
“What’s up with that guy… He doesn’t tell us anything.”
“He’s not ready to open his heart yet… what can we do? Being sworn brothers doesn’t give me the right to pry into all his secrets.”
“I’m saying this out of frustration. Whatever it is, couldn’t we work through it together?”
“Working through it together, huh.”
“Sworn brothers are still brothers. Isn’t that what brothers do?”
Ju-seong stared at Red Beggar as he spouted sappy lines. Red Beggar sheepishly avoided his gaze.
Unable to suppress the nausea rising from his gut, Ju-seong spat out a curse.
“Shut up, moron.”
“Why the hell are you cussing?”
The two men, playfully nudging each other, disappeared among the pavilions.
* * *
The Martial Alliance Leader Bureau.
“Martial Alliance Leader, the team battle is about to begin. You must appear before the spectators.”
A scholar-looking man stood at the office door, raising his voice.
A weary reply came from inside.
“Can’t I just show my face at the main competition? Honestly, why is the strategist pestering the Martial Alliance Leader so much?”
“Martial Alliance Leader… Influential figures from across the Central Plains gather during the team battle specifically to scout talent from humble backgrounds… you know this.”
“Do those people really respect me? They’re probably badmouthing me as a jianghu hoodlum…”
“You still need to make an appearance.”
-Kwang!
A massive hand flung open the office door and emerged.
What followed was a giant whose very sight was jaw-dropping.
He stood well over seven chi, with a towering frame and arms that dangled almost to his knees.
His gray-faded beard was so bushy it hung down to his waist, and beneath his deep-set brow, fatigue lingered.
If such a man walked the streets in shabby clothes, constables would probably chase him with ropes just for his looks.
Fortunately, he wore a regal black martial robe beneath a pristine white silk outer robe.
The giant pressed his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose as he spoke. He had barely gotten two shichen of sleep over the past four days, substituting rest with circulation meditation whenever exhaustion hit.
There was a rumor that martial artists could replace sleep with circulation meditation, but that was nonsense.
The giant sighed and said:
“Bandits rose again in Shaanxi, and Alliance warriors were killed. Zhongnan claims it’s outside their jurisdiction and washes their hands; Mount Hua Sect is too busy patting their fat bellies to go out to the northern wastelands and subjugate them… And that’s not all. In Gansu, as always, some fools ate something foul and lost their minds… a couple of demonic men are rampaging.”
“Those are the matters I briefed you on, handled by the strategist bureau with directives. Why did you personally…”
“I sent letters scolding Mount Hua and Zhongnan, received the subjugation reports, and tried to trace where all these mushrooming demonic men are coming from…”
“If you tell the strategist bureau, we’ll handle all of that.”
The giant closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and spoke.
“…More than anything, people died. The Shaanxi branch chief… that fellow only married late in life a short while ago.”
“We will do our best to care for the families of those who perished in action.”
“And yet, the Alliance Leader himself has to go simper before wealthy patrons… what a pitiful thing.”
“Simper? Who would the sole person besides the imperial bloodline permitted to use the title ‘King’ bow to? Isn’t that just self-pity?”
“Cheeky fellow.”
The Martial Alliance Leader lightly cuffed Chief Strategist Zhuge Myeong-jun on the shoulder as he passed.
Zhuge Myeong-jun stroked his beard and followed the Martial Alliance Leader at a dignified pace.
“Let’s go together, Martial Alliance Leader! By the way, must you carry that blade? It’s not exactly a small thing…”
“What kind of martial artist puts down his blade when going out?”
“Honestly… so stubborn.”
* * *
Participants in the Ascending Dragon Assembly team battle were split among several training grounds to await the opening ceremony.
Each training ground had the bracket posted on the wall.
“Hmm…”
“Hmm, hmm.”
“See anyone you know?”
“Not really… I don’t have every Central Plains warrior’s name memorized.”
Ju-seong and Red Beggar stared at the bracket with complicated expressions.
“…Cho Yu-gyeong, that guy, isn’t in our bracket.”
“With ten brackets, that’s probably normal.”
“Why did I assume we’d definitely fight in the team battle?”
“First meeting too memorable. Felt like we were destined for fateful enmity, didn’t it?”
“You’re right. Anyway, fifteen per team, and five survivors move on… So fifty total. Combined with the Seven Sects and Three Families, how many in the main competition?”
“Fifty from the team battle to the main competition… The Seven Sects and Three Families probably send at least five each. That’d be around a hundred.”
“Whoa, a hundred? Insane. Rounding up for easy math, maybe a hundred twenty-eight contenders?”
“…Elder Brother, you can’t just add twenty-eight people for convenience.”
“It’s a lot anyway.”
“True. No wonder the Ascending Dragon Assembly runs for three months. After the team battle ends, most of the crowd leaves and only comes back around the quarterfinals.”
“Right, that’s when the real strong ones fight.”
Soon, the participants were guided by warriors to a waiting room inside the Grand Dueling Arena.
It was an underground chamber beneath the spectator stands, with a window through which they could see the stage and podium.
After waiting about half a shichen, spectators began filling the seats.
“Wow… so many people. My chest is thumping.”
As Red Beggar said, the circular Grand Dueling Arena was packed with thousands of people, their movements and chatter making the floor vibrate.
Yet even this clamor subsided like magic after about half a ke.
“Elder Brother, I suddenly broke out in goosebumps. Is this just nerves?”
“Me too.”
Looking around, Ju-seong noticed that the stronger or more sensitive warriors all wore uneasy expressions.
Some were rubbing goosebumped skin and glancing about nervously.
Ju-seong peered through the small window at the outside and murmured quietly.
“…I see why.”
“What’s going on?”
Instead of answering, Ju-seong beckoned for Red Beggar to come look.
“…Look.”
Atop the podium built of blue jade stone.
The apex of all martial artists stood there.
“It’s the Martial Alliance Leader.”
Red Beggar muttered in a daze.
“Blade King, Yelu Cho…”
Martial Alliance Leader Yelu Cho had no fewer than three aliases.
The alias from his early jianghu days, derived from his homeland: Northern Wind Blade Wanderer.
The alias he gained once his body had fully matured: Giant Tower.
And finally, the alias the imperial court permitted when he assumed the position of Martial Alliance Leader: Blade King.
The Martial Alliance Leader stood at the podium, sweeping his gaze over the thousands of spectators.
‘Does that not feel burdensome?’
Ju-seong imagined thousands of pairs of eyes staring at him. Wouldn’t that be mortifying?
Surely, among all those eyes, some would find flaws or faults in him.
Yet Yelu Cho appeared utterly composed, at least on the surface.
No… more than composed; he seemed almost transcendent.
“…Fellow jianghu travelers who have come from across the Central Plains. And to all those who, though not sullied by the turbulent jianghu, have graced us with their presence to witness the spirit and martial prowess of the young… I offer my gratitude.”
Applause broke out, timid and hesitant.
The Martial Alliance Leader was speaking with utmost courtesy, yet the audience was already overwhelmed by him.
The naturally emanating presence, and the deep, rumbling voice like a predator’s growl… both were more than enough to captivate the crowd.
“The Ascending Dragon Assembly, which spans one hundred days starting today, is a venerable event inherited from the days of the old Orthodox Alliance. It is also a stage of proof we offer to the rising stars who form the wave behind the Yangtze.”
The Martial Alliance Leader slowly stepped to the edge of the podium and raised his voice.
Though he drew no internal energy, the deep resonance of his voice made the arena rumble.
It was on a different level from Red Beggar’s booming shouts.
“Those who seek victory through unfair means, those who seek to harm their opponents with malice, those who resort to trickery… anyone who defiles this sacred event in any way…”
-Teok.
The Martial Alliance Leader paused and gripped the hilt of the blade strapped to his back.
The Martial Alliance Leader himself stood seven chi tall.
For a giant like him to carry a blade on his back, how long must that blade be?
-Ssrrrrrreung…
The sound of the blade sliding free seemed endless. The pure-white blade emerging was absurdly long, like a great serpent.
“Is that the famous…”
Half a span wide, with a blade length of eight chi.
The blade was snow-white, its tip bluntly squared off.
Curved… yet not quite… the edge traced an enigmatic line.
The ultimate tool. Its purpose was clear.
Beheading.
The character was engraved clearly on the blade, incised deep and gleaming.
The Martial Alliance Leader spoke in a low voice.
“…I will judge you with this blade myself.”
With the threat of the pinnacle blade master, the Ascending Dragon Assembly raised its curtain.