Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 154 - Eight
Chapter 154 – Eight
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Chapter 154 – Eight
For a moment, Ju-seong doubted his ears.
‘Who makes such a proposal to someone they just met?’
She wasn’t in her right mind. Then again, to claim a seat among the absolute experts in this harsh Jiangnan jianghu, an ordinary mind wouldn’t have been enough.
Become her son, she said. Was that really something to propose to just anyone?
Ju-seong sensed it would take a long way before he could properly converse with this old woman.
“Why no answer, child? Do you not want to be entered into the register as the Blood Flower Crone’s foster son?”
She was even demanding an immediate answer. For the first time, Ju-seong felt outmatched in the madness department.
“Hmm, Sect Master.”
“Is it that as a righteous hero following the orthodox path, you don’t want to enter under an evil path leader like me?”
“Please calm yourself and hear me out.”
The Blood Flower Crone fixed her eyes on Ju-seong silently, as if to say, go ahead.
‘Is this just her personality?’
She was an utterly eccentric old woman. Ju-seong paused to choose his words, then spoke.
“The Green Forest of Guangxi is in dire peril.”
The Blood Flower Crone tilted her head and answered indifferently.
“How delightful news. Did you come to deliver good tidings?”
“It’s not good news at all… those attacking them are none other than the Cradle of the Demonic Path’ scoundrels. They’ve hidden greater capacity than you might imagine. If Guangxi Province falls into their hands, Guizhou will soon follow…”
“Mad Dragon.”
The old woman’s voice cut off Ju-seong’s words.
“Do you think I’m unaware of Guangxi’s situation? The world says our Crimson Spider Sect knows nothing of outside news, but that only applies to the sect’s disciples.”
In short, she herself was more informed of outside news than one might think.
She waved her hand dismissively and said.
“If there’s a great current, one need only ride it. If they have sufficient capability to unify Jiangnan and drive out the orthodox path, I’ll join hands with them. Why shouldn’t I?”
Ju-seong realized the old woman before him held an entirely different set of values from his own.
She thought only of herself and her sect. Everything else was irrelevant. What did it matter if demonic rule came?
Even if they were fiends who’d abandoned humanity, and countless people suffered under their hands, as long as the Crimson Spider Sect wasn’t sacrificed in the chaos, that was all that mattered.
The Crimson Spider Sect had power, and the Blood Flower Crone and her sons and daughters were a formidable force.
If the Cradle of the Demonic Path began to dominate jianghu, there was no reason they couldn’t cooperate with them.
“Mad Dragon. Do you understand now? The world calls us evil path, but we truly belong to no faction.”
“…”
Ju-seong and Won-gong stood speechless and dazed. A mysterious smile appeared on the old woman’s face.
“Listen well, child of Shaoming standing there as well. Why does a martial artist break human limits and transform? It is to attain ultimate freedom.”
Ju-seong felt cold sweat beading on his back before he knew it. Was this the insidious whisper of a demon, or the teachings of a sage who’d grasped the truth of the world?
-Jingle, jingle…
Now he noticed red threads hung between the pillars of the hall, with bells strung on them.
The Blood Flower Crone’s presence made the threads quiver, ringing the bells. Piercingly through that chaotic bell sound, the old woman’s voice echoed eerily.
“Being bound by factions of ‘orthodox’ or ‘evil,’ trying to emulate the musty writings of long-dead bones called Confucius or Mencius, wearing down one’s palms bowing before Buddha statues… such are the acts of lowly commoners.”
Won-gong too had gone pale to his scalp under the old woman’s presence.
“Mad Dragon, if you come under my wing and form a bond of parent and child, apart from this mother you must serve, you’ll enjoy ultimate freedom, bound to no one else.”
‘Nonsense.’
Ju-seong forced out his voice with effort.
“Sect Master, I already have a master I serve as a father. I cannot rashly form parent-child bonds.”
“Is that so?”
As the Blood Flower Crone’s face hardened frighteningly, Ju-seong spun his sluggish brain and spoke again.
“That… but my master happens to be similar in age to you, Sect Master, and his martial arts are nearly as powerful. Instead, why don’t you and he form a marriage bond?”
“…”
Ju-seong felt goosebumps rise in an instant.
‘What nonsense did I just spout?’
The Blood Flower Crone’s overwhelming presence also subsided at some point. Faced with this unprecedented nonsense, even the Blood Flower Crone had momentarily gone blank.
The old woman barely recovered her composure and asked.
“Are you telling me to get married again at this age?”
Ju-seong, figuring he might as well bull through at this point, nodded.
“It’s the perfect age for love.”
The Blood Flower Crone let out a small sigh.
‘Indeed, those renowned for talent in jianghu don’t think like normal people. The Sichuan Mad Dragon, they called him…’
She half-considered just killing him, but he was someone who had done her daughter Heuk-wol a great favor. The grace of saving a life was not something to be taken lightly.
“Child, enough of the headache-inducing talk. Leave now. I’ll send you off generously as thanks for saving my daughter’s life.”
The order to leave had been issued, but Ju-seong had no intention of leaving empty-handed.
“Sect Master, I may be able to help your friend.”
“What?”
“I am the martial brother of Seo-baek, Sichuan’s foremost physician, and I learned medicine under Master Weiji Baek, the Death-Playing Demonic Physician.”
“Death-Playing Demonic Physician… A name I heard when I was deep in training long ago.”
She had first appeared in jianghu about twenty years ago, but the Death-Playing Demonic Physician’s rampage in Yunnan Province was some thirty to forty years ago.
What she had been doing then he didn’t know, but from how she spoke, she must have been hidden away somewhere just training.
“To think that man is your master. And the renowned Physician Seo-baek is also his disciple… quite a coincidence.”
The Blood Flower Crone’s gaze drifted somewhere near the ceiling, becoming wistful as if reminiscing on a distant past.
“When I heard of the Death-Playing Demonic Physician’s fame, I thought: shouldn’t my revenge also be like that?”
Her gaze returned to normal, and the old woman asked in a much more relaxed voice.
“Child, did you say you would help my friend? But my friend is merely old and has reached the end of her natural lifespan. The problem is her children.”
“Then I’ll treat those children. If it’s a disease that any human has ever had since the heavens opened, I’ll know the cure.”
A mysterious smile appeared at the Blood Flower Crone’s lips.
“Let’s do this. If you cure my friend’s children, I’ll send support to Guangxi as you wish. But if you fail, you become my child without complaint.”
Ju-seong answered boldly.
“Let’s do that.”
Perhaps pleased by his decisive answer, the Blood Flower Crone rose from her seat with a satisfied expression.
“Follow me.”
* * *
The Maling River Canyon consisted mostly of sheer cliffs. The Crimson Spider Sect’s living area was in sections with gentler slopes, but most wasn’t like that.
After walking about two li, the cliff’s incline again became precipitously steep, revealing a magnificent view.
-Shaaaa…
Falling waterfalls. Pervasive spray. Vegetation desperately rooted on the cold slopes, dropping leaves and stems.
The old woman walked with quick steps along a plank path following the cliff, and two sturdy men followed her.
‘What weapon does she use?’
The thin silk clothes clearly revealed the old woman’s withered and diminutive physique.
They said her skill with eight chain sickles was peerless, but in Ju-seong’s judgment, there was no way to hide eight sickles… let alone one… in those clothes.
Guizhou was hot despite its high altitude. People’s clothing was generally thin.
‘Where on earth are the chain sickles?’
As if sensing Ju-seong’s gaze, the Blood Flower Crone spoke.
“Child, what are you curious about? It’s rude to stare so openly at a woman’s back.”
“Ah… I heard you use chain sickles, but I don’t see any.”
The Blood Flower Crone chuckled and said.
“It’s been ten years since I last held a chain sickle.”
“Then what do you use as a weapon?”
“This entire canyon.”
A cryptic answer came. Ju-seong cocked his head and looked around.
Only red threads hung here and there, indicating this was Crimson Spider Sect territory… he saw no traces of any formation.
‘Is there some other meaning?’
Ju-seong was muttering to himself when the magnificent scenery that suddenly loomed before him left him momentarily speechless.
An enormous curtain of water cascaded down from high above.
The scale was different from the small waterfalls throughout the canyon.
And a stone bridge piercing directly through that waterfall’s center. Made of a familiar mineral… none other than bluestone.
True to its fame for hardness, it stood uneroded despite receiving that torrential flow all day long.
“…Inside there?”
The Blood Flower Crone nodded silently and raised her hand.
The waterfall parted, creating a path for her to enter. The art of prehensile control over water in the void.
The moment the old woman stepped through and entered behind the waterfall, the parted waters reunited.
Ju-seong looked at Won-gong incredulously and said.
“So we just get drenched going through?”
“Apparently?”
“Is that so?”
Ju-seong suddenly grabbed Won-gong’s clothes and yanked him forward, shoving him into the waterfall first.
“Gah! Benefactor! What’s the meaning of this!”
Won-gong wasn’t purely gentle-natured either, so he grabbed and pulled Ju-seong in. In the end, both took the waterfall’s fierce torrent directly on their heads. It was so cold it snapped them to attention. “Brr!” Ju-seong shook his head like a dog after a bath, shaking off the water. “Why on earth do you keep playing pranks at random times?” “It wasn’t a prank,” Ju-seong replied. “There might have been something dangerous, so the one with the stronger body should have gone first.”
The bickering pair suddenly fell silent, stunned by the scenery inside the waterfall.
“Wow…”
“Namo Amitabha…”
Yellow sunlight filtered through holes in the ceiling above. But that yellow light soon lost its color.
The cave walls were completely covered with breathtaking indigo crystals.
The well-traveled Won-gong spoke first.
“Could this be… azurite?”
Azurite from Guizhou was a precious mineral. Though too soft to be commonly used as a gemstone, it was typically used as top-grade dye.
Such a treasure densely covered the walls of the enormous cave, and not only that, it formed exquisite crystals that endlessly reflected light. The sunlight that had roamed the earth lost its color the moment it fell through some unknown hole and set foot in this mystical underground palace, transforming into indigo sparkle.
The Blood Flower Crone casually gestured.
“Stop gawking like country bumpkins and follow me.”
Stalactites, stalagmites, and stone pillars lined up like columns of a magnificent corridor. They carefully followed the old woman’s form, which seemed to grow ever larger in their eyes.
After walking about a quarter of an hour, they reached a dim, spacious cavern.
When the Blood Flower Crone snapped her fingers, a single torch affixed to the wall blazed to life.
“My friend doesn’t like bright places, so bear with the darkness.”
A form with its body curled up was visible. The old woman turned to them and said.
“Now, child. Let me introduce you to my friend.”
The Blood Flower Crone’s voice echoed eerily through the cavern. That dark form. It was far too large to be human, and moreover, it was covered in fur, and its legs were…
Won-gong murmured blankly.
“Namo Amitabha… Eight legs?”
And from the center of that pitch-black form, eight red glows… the same number as its legs… simultaneously rose.