Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 117 - Pure Entertainment

Chapter 117 – Pure Entertainment

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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Ju-seong was next.

From the start of the qualification test, he’d already built a considerable reputation among participants, so no one dared to attack him.

Except the Jiangnan Coalition warriors. There were six or seven from Jiangnan alone.

Among them, five appeared to be Jiangnan Coalition members following Cho Yu-gyeong.

They all launched a coordinated assault.

A crooked smile hooked Ju-seong’s lips.

“Now this is the wild.”

Why were participants from ordinary sects, not the Seven Sects and Three Families, sorted through a team battle?

Just a time issue? No.

The Seven Sects and Three Families were those who had been ‘properly taught.’

Their martial arts had tradition and had been refined over generations. Outstanding masters, sufficient funding. Rising stars cultivated on that foundation…

Spectators wanted to see the depth and splendor of Central Plains martial arts from them. Not vulgar mud fights.

But for the lower tier of martial artists?

When spectators watched them, they wanted to see a wildness absent in refined young masters.

After all, those who stepped onto the dueling stage bearing the bloody stench of jianghu on their shoulders were mostly from run-of-the-mill small and mid-sized sects.

They might lack famous martial arts, but they knew how to bloody their blades and employ cunning schemes.

As Ju-seong expected, cheers erupted even at the dirty gang-attack.

“Haha! The Jiangnan folks really gritted their teeth this time!”

“Hey! I’m from Zhejiang! Let’s get at least ten Jiangnan folks into the main competition this Assembly!”

“Ten? I bet five taels that fifteen make it!”

Cheers from Jiangnan locals, expectant roars from gamblers.

For Ju-seong, it somehow felt like being back on stage in his old performer days.

“Heh…”

Ju-seong grinned at the sunlight glinting off the rushing blades.

Then his arms moved.

-Toong!

His right palm struck the sword thrusting straight at him.

The blade snapped off and flew left, embedding itself in the elbow of a young blade-wielder who’d been about to swing.

“Kkaaak…!”

“Ouch, that must hurt.”

Ju-seong slipped into the now-bladeless swordsman’s space. Was he about to use a palm technique? Or a punch?

-Kwang!

Defying the swordsman’s expectations, Ju-seong rammed him with his shoulder and broke through the encirclement.

The swordsman coughed blood and tumbled four or five times before being eliminated for going out of bounds.

Two of the Jiangnan Coalition down without even putting up a fight. Three remained.

A man with a fishing rod, a woman oddly wielding a large saber, and one more swordsman.

-Swiiit…!

Realizing they’d be at a disadvantage standing still, the man with the fishing rod flicked his wrist, sending the line flying.

At the end of the line was no ordinary hook, but a crescent-moon blade resembling a fishhook. One graze and flesh would split open.

‘That weapon screams demonic sect…’

Inwardly complaining about the Martial Alliance’s lax security, Ju-seong grabbed a warrior standing behind him.

“Uh, wha… ?”

He looked young, perhaps barely twenty.

That fellow was in the middle of his own duel.

He hadn’t expected to be caught in the crossfire of Ju-seong versus the Jiangnan Coalition.

Ju-seong’s voice brimmed with glee.

“It’s only a real team battle when we’re all tangled together!”

Ju-seong hurled the warrior in his grip straight at the fishing line. The dignified martial artist… looking like a young master from Hubei or Henan… exploded in frustration.

“What kind of shameless… urk!”

He shouted, but choked on a gasp at the terrifying blade rushing at him and swung his sword.

Fortunately he had some skill; the fishhook blade was deflected and flew through the air.

Meanwhile, Ju-seong pushed back the saber woman and shattered the swordsman’s wrist.

The female blade-wielder handled a saber large enough to trouble most men, half-supporting the blade on her shoulder and arm as she swung with her hips.

There was a curious principle in her movement… it looked as though she was dancing with her weapon.

Ju-seong rudely cut into their dance, leaping into the air and slamming her blade down with a kick.

-Teoong!

Adding the Thousand-Catty Drop to his instep strike, the saber woman grimaced and dropped to one knee.

To help her, the swordsman deployed a technique containing the sublime art of phantom.

But for Ju-seong, who had experienced the uncanny phantom sword of Ruler of the Vajra Pavilion, this was not enough.

-Kkadeudeut!

Every feint and true strike was seen through. The sword blade, caught in his black gauntlets, shattered miserably.

In the meantime, the saber woman managed to stand and tried to attack again.

“Not a chance. Time to go home, young lady.”

-Peolleok.

Ju-seong’s robe hem swirled as it unfurled.

Before anyone realized, he’d deployed his movement technique and claimed a position on the saber woman’s right flank.

-Tuwoong…!

Ju-seong’s left palm struck the blade face as if pushing it aside; the saber woman was shoved standing all the way to the stage’s edge, eliminated by ring-out.

Her feet traced two long lines on the floor before dropping off the Blue Stage.

It seemed the earlier downward strike had drained the strength from her legs.

Ju-seong broke apart the swordsman’s feeble palm technique with Control-Grasp technique, then knocked him out with a brush of his hand-back to the chin.

The young man Ju-seong had forcibly enlisted into battle and the Jiangnan Coalition’s angler were, surprisingly, engaged in a fierce exchange.

Ju-seong swept his gaze around the spectator stands with a mischievous grin, then charged with a sharp “Tat!”

“Ah, watch… !”

Forgetting the unwritten rule not to interfere in duels, one spectator cried out before covering their mouth.

Ju-seong arrived behind the young swordsman.

“Excuse me once more.”

“You…! You… !”

Ju-seong pushed him forward by the back.

Forced into an unwanted advance, the young man desperately swung his sword to fend off the incoming fishhook blade.

But there was no way to defend properly while being pushed.

Eventually, the fishing line whipped around his sword and ripped it away.

“Ugh, aaargh!”

As the warrior screamed, Ju-seong, hidden behind him, flung something silver.

-Tok!

A long needle traced a streak of light, severing the fishing line. Ju-seong continued to push the warrior forward and shouted.

“Come on! Together we fear nothing!”

“Please, just stop!”

The young warrior’s feet were practically off the ground. A merciless hand shoving his back.

The angler gritted his teeth and disassembled the fishing rod. Out sprang a slinky white blade with a flexible edge.

Apparently his trump card for the main competition.

But…

-Tok!

Another long needle Ju-seong threw embedded itself in the man’s right big toenail, momentarily locking up the right side of his body.

In that sliver of time, Ju-seong’s hand thrust through the young warrior’s armpit and sent out red palm energy.

-Peoong!

The angler dropped his blade, flailing as all his fingers broke.

“Go!”

Ju-seong put force into pushing the young man’s back.

The dignified young man finally lost his composure… curses spilled from his mouth.

“You dog… !”

-Peoeok!

Colliding with the angler, he pushed him off the Blue Stage.

And thanks to a perfect distribution of force, the young man himself didn’t fall… he teetered at the very edge.

Ju-seong swiftly approached, grabbed his collar, and grinned.

“Want me to save you?”

“You…! Youuu!”

“Should I quit?”

“Rrrrgh!”

“Still won’t talk, huh?”

This was orthodoxy’s pride. Ju-seong decided to advance this man… who seemed destined to become a fine pillar of the orthodox sects… into the main competition.

He yanked the man’s collar and asked.

“Where are you from?”

The man sat down with a shell-shocked expression and answered.

“…Henan, you asshole. Henan…”

“Haha, a Henan hero. Take care.”

Ju-seong slapped him on the shoulder, then dove into the remaining warriors.

Yang Jeong-ha, eldest son of the minor orthodox sect Yang Family of Henan, watched Ju-seong rampage like a fox in a henhouse while pondering what the hell he’d done to earn the title of ‘hero.’

“Hahaha! You there!”

Ju-seong laughed wildly and shoved out the weakest warriors one by one, awarding them ring-out defeats.

His reasoning was that the strong should rise… it was only fair… but to the spectators who didn’t know his intent, it was utterly bizarre.

“From using random people as shields earlier… his mind isn’t all there, is it?”

“Haha! Who cares! It’s been a while since we got an amusing fellow!”

“How do you think the Jiangnan folks feel? Their stomachs must be churning. Hahaha.”

When five remained, the gong clanged as always to signal the end of the match.

Ju-seong spread his arms wide and grinned.

The green silk robe unfurled magnificently, making him look like a peacock from Tianzhu.

“Haha! A different spectacle from that guy before!”

“Hey you, what’s your name!”

Ju-seong shouted with internal energy, making the entire arena ring.

“I’m Ju-seong from Sichuan! Every match I’m in will be guaranteed fun, so please look forward to it, fellow jianghu friends!”

“Waaaah…!”

Cheers from the spectators poured down on Ju-seong’s shoulders like rain.

From the waiting room, Cho Yu-gyeong, who had been observing Ju-seong, felt a wall.

It wasn’t a wall of skill. The ability Ju-seong had shown in this team battle was within his own reach.

The wall he felt was something else.

“Wait… it’s actually fun…?”

Pure entertainment.

That madman’s match was fun. Full of surprises. Worthy of fervor. Watching fights was already entertaining, but when this guy did it, it was doubly so.

Cho Yu-gyeong cracked his neck side to side and prepared for his next match.

Leaving an impression like those two before him was impossible. But he had his own ideas.

* * *

A short while later.

Ju-seong watched the ongoing match from the waiting room and clicked his tongue.

“What a crappy way to fight.”

Red Beggar nodded in agreement.

“That Cho guy is definitely demonic sect.”

That Cho fellow, along with the Jiangnan Coalition, executed a brutally flawless coordinated assault. It was hard to believe they’d only trained together a few days… so meticulous was their teamwork.

The Jiangnan Coalition warriors all fought with a strangely low stance, ferociously and aggressively swinging their weapons.

They resembled a wolf pack tearing at prey… there was an eerie uniformity about them.

“Did he teach them his sect’s combined attack technique?”

If so, he’d freely shared his sect’s martial techniques with outsiders.

He either held enough standing within his sect to do so, or perhaps he’d already cut ties with them.

“We need to find out what the South Sea Wanderers’ Society Association actually does.”

“I’ve sent out my boys to dig deeper. Told them to glean info from peddlers and escorts traveling around Jiangnan.”

“Tell them to ask acrobatic troupes too. Troupes are surprisingly well-versed in jianghu news.”

“Hmm, come to think of it, elder brother was from a troupe too. Got it.”

While they chatted, the Jiangnan Coalition pushed out everyone from other provinces.

Six remained, including Cho Yu-gyeong.

He raised his sword and pointed at one of the Coalition warriors.

“You are the weakest. Step down. Even if you advance to the main competition, you’ll be crushed in the first round.”

“What… hey, Young Master Cho! What kind of ridiculous… ”

As the warrior tried to protest, the other Coalition participants all attacked him, injured him, and threw him off the stage.

Cho Yu-gyeong stood tall, sweeping the arena with a piercing gaze. His upturned eyes looked especially fierce. His eyes seemed to say:

Do you object to our methods? If so, come out and fight. We’ll flay your flesh and bleed you dry.

Around him, the Coalition warriors crouched low, gripping their weapons.

“Like a wolf pack’s alpha.”

Not just Ju-seong… the entire audience had the same thought.

Cho Yu-gyeong slowly surveyed the silent spectator stands and spoke in a low voice.

“I am Cho Yu-gyeong, from Hainan Island of Guangdong.”

In that instant, the spectators instinctively knew what to call him.

A perilously dangerous wolf from Hainan.

It was the moment the name of the Sword Wolf of Hainan was etched into the minds of the jianghu folk.