Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 158 - Banana
Chapter 158 – Banana
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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 158 – Banana
Since people began gathering into groups and eventually establishing nations, war has never ceased.
War could be described as a blood-soaked garment woven from battle after battle.
Then what is battle typically like? Armies clashing with armies is the norm.
But the battles of martial artists are different. Those who’ve transcended human limits naturally fight differently from ordinary people.
Martial artists, being far fewer in number, have an extremely scattered and chaotic dynamic when competing for territory.
After all, what can you do if a master with excellent lightness arts flashes east and west, wreaking havoc everywhere?
Or if a single absolute expert roams freely, destroying strongholds?
Thus, martial artists’ battles resemble xiangqi.
The existence of masters is as crucial as the major pieces on the board.
Furthermore, given the absolute scarcity of martial artists, even the foot soldiers can’t be wastefully expended, just like the five pawns on the xiangqi board.
Right now, Guangxi Province was a giant xiangqi board.
In this group, the strongest was undoubtedly Ju-seong. The hook-wielder Eight-Hook Ghost, the blind swordsman Yang So-an, and Heuk-wol were masters in his league, but…
‘Through the Ascending Dragon Assembly, I’ve made tremendous progress. Now I can confidently claim to be at the absolute peak of the peak realm.’
Through countless battles, he’d finally reached certainty that he’d attained the very end of the peak realm.
So in this fight, the General of the red side… that is, the leader… was Ju-seong, and the black side’s General was the unknown disciple of some demonic master.
‘Whose disciple will it be? Another disciple of Taowu? Or Hundun?’
He couldn’t know yet.
* * *
The march proceeded rapidly, and by the seventh day, they had penetrated deep into Guangxi Province.
Here, Ju-seong divided the force into three. Before he knew it, he had naturally become the leader of the group.
The Blood Flower Crone’s children all seemed uninterested in the vanguard position. This was probably deliberate personnel selection by the Blood Flower Crone, who understood her children’s dispositions.
‘Which means she trusts me that much.’
It meant she’d entrusted command to Ju-seong, so the Blood Flower Crone must have seen him favorably.
“Elder Brother Eight-Hook Ghost, I’ll give you the largest force. However, since you’re the most formidable in the Crimson Spider Sect aside from your seniority, I won’t attach other top masters.”
First, the largest group led by Eight-Hook Ghost. Ju-seong assigned him two hundred Guizhou martial artists.
Included among them were three peak-realm martial artists from Guizhou’s mid-sized sects.
Of course, being only peak in realm, they couldn’t be expected to be tremendous combat power. In recent decades, Guizhou had been excessively peaceful under the Crimson Spider Sect’s rule.
They were people who’d trained since childhood and naturally reached peak realm by adulthood. That alone made them exceptional talents in Guizhou, but that was all.
‘This battle will toughen them up.’
He disliked seeing supposed peak masters hesitating and shrinking back.
So he deliberately funneled those who seemed particularly lacking in confidence into Eight-Hook Ghost’s group.
The reason was this.
“Elder Brother Eight-Hook Ghost, please lead the martial artists and patrol the outskirts of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, reclaiming the Green Forest mountains that have been occupied by the enemy.”
What they’d be facing wasn’t the demonic core’s strongest.
Cleanup of the periphery.
At first glance, it seemed trivial, but nothing could succeed without it.
Especially since martial artists were fleet-footed, survivors would slip this way and that, so they needed the maximum headcount for thorough work.
Having observed during the march, Eight-Hook Ghost had sharp eyes and ears, and obsessively vigilant about his surroundings, almost as if afflicted.
Eight-Hook Ghost seemed to have anticipated this role, readily nodding.
“Next, Brother Yang So-an, please gather those skilled in concealment and serve as scouts.”
Yang So-an, as a blind swordsman, was extraordinarily sensitive to sound. From what Ju-seong had confirmed along the way, the man maintained formidable hearing that fell just slightly short of when Ju-seong deployed Celestial Hearing.
Perhaps because of this, he was also sensitive to the sounds he made himself, moving cautiously with minimal presence.
Yang So-an grinned and said.
“Cutting throats of anyone who gets in our way at night is also our job, I assume.”
Ju-seong nodded.
“A hidden dagger in darkness, a torch lighting the way forward. You’ll be both.”
“A blind man holding a torch… how amusing indeed.”
Ju-seong turned his head and spoke.
“Lady Heuk-wol, please similarly watch our rear, gather those with swift feet, and serve as liaison between our groups.”
Heuk-wol was light and swift of body. Additionally, the dense vegetation of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains posed some challenges for deploying her specialty, the chain sickle.
This applied to Eight-Hook Ghost as well, but he was a man whose hook-handling skills had reached the divine.
He’d even mastered the technique of using tree trunks as pivots to send hooks flying in all directions, so there was no concern.
But Heuk-wol had learned the sword at Emei Sect and only took up the chain sickle after joining the Crimson Spider Sect, so she wasn’t yet at Eight-Hook Ghost’s level.
So Ju-seong assigned her the liaison role.
“Don’t think of it as just being a messenger. Watching the rear of each group and defending against potential ambushes is also your role, Lady.”
Heuk-wol nodded silently. Without Mok Yeo-woon beside her, she’d returned to her taciturn ways, once again the shadow-like woman.
“Now… next is Monk Won-gong and Lady Pyo-eum. You two will be with me.”
Won-gong asked.
“What’s our role?”
“You need to ask?”
Ju-seong smirked and made the gesture of slicing his own throat.
“Strike force.”
Martial artists’ battles resembled xiangqi, but there was one crucial difference.
Xiangqi’s General cannot leave the palace, but a martial artist leader can rush straight across the board to take the enemy’s head.
Ju-seong called out spiritedly.
“Let’s go!”
“Where to?”
But where to? Among them, no one was familiar with Guangxi’s geography.
“There’s always a way. Let’s first shake down the nearest local chieftain.”
Ju-seong had no intention of wasting time. He meant to beat up the local lords who’d received appointments from His Imperial Majesty and extract maps from them.
Won-gong pressed his palm to his forehead at Ju-seong’s boundless aggression.
“Ah… Namo Amitabha.”
* * *
Ju-seong hadn’t devised this scheme thoughtlessly.
Before him now knelt a devious-looking local lord.
“Ugh…! Do you think you’ll get away with this! I’m a local official who received my appointment from His Majesty to govern this land!”
Ju-seong swaggered like a gang boss, hunched over and growled.
“Yeah? Then run to the magistrate and report me. You’ve seen my face, haven’t you? Huh? But wait, this is the magistrate’s office? You’re the local official?”
Strictly speaking, it was more like a tribal chief’s residence than a magistrate’s office. Local lords in Guangxi were local power brokers, clan heads, or tribal chiefs. In any case, it served the function of a magistrate’s office, so it counted.
“What kind of reasoning is that!”
The lord protested, but Ju-seong wasn’t someone who could be reasoned with.
“Right now, scoundrels are stirring up all of Guangxi, and the common people are groaning under their tyranny!”
“What can I do! We were already bowing our heads under Green Forest rule! We’re powerless… how are we supposed to solve anything!”
“Then you should run north and plead to the Huguang Provincial Inspector for help!”
Ju-seong grabbed another banana from the table and struck the lord over the head.
“You’re sitting here… stuffing yourself… with these… tasty fruits!?”
-Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!
The banana burst, splattering pale flesh everywhere.
“Ahhhhng…”
The lord finally broke down in tears. Ju-seong coldly grabbed another banana to eat and spoke: “An official like you is worse than none. If you won’t care for the people, why sit in that position? I’ll do your job for you, so hand over the local map.” Maps were military secrets, not to be given out carelessly, but few people had the resolve to withstand Ju-seong’s refined pestering. This local lord was no exception.
“Here it is…! Please just leave my village!”
“From now on, we’ll patrol Guangxi and clear out the scoundrels occupying mountains and exploiting the people. In return, you’ll provide supply support. Bananas must be included in the supplies.”
“Wha… !?”
The lord rose indignantly, but meeting Ju-seong’s icy gaze, he immediately bowed his head again.
“In a place beyond the Emperor’s gaze, you’re practically a little king. You may not know Yao and Shun’s achievements in this remote land, nor recite classics by Confucius or Mencius, but surely you understand the virtue of a leader!”
Ju-seong’s thunderous roar struck the lord’s crown.
“Yet you were negligent in that… no small crime. And you still have the face to raise your head and argue?”
In the end, the lord, face flushed, had no choice but to hand over the map. It was a result achieved through persuasion rather than force, after all.
“Isn’t that right, Monk?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Unlike Won-gong, who shook his head, the Blood Flower Crone’s children applauded.
Eight-Hook Ghost stroked his beard and said.
“Junior Brother handles things so decisively. The way you lectured the lord about a gentleman’s virtue was like a judge from the underworld.”
Yang So-an also chuckled and chimed in.
“Our Crimson Spider Sect tends to be rather gentle when dealing with local lords, but watching you, young hero, without caring about consequences, is quite entertaining.”
Originally, Guangxi’s local lords held little power. Their years of bowing to the Green Forest had been long.
Since they were such people, even when the demonic forces pushed out the Green Forest and took over, they couldn’t mount any real response.
“But I don’t intend to let that slide. Let’s find more maps. I’ll complete a full map of Guangxi Province while we’re at it.”
* * *
Before long, the geography of the northwestern sector of Guangxi Province was entirely in Ju-seong’s group’s hands.
“To reach the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, we need to head straight south from here. Let’s see… Guangxi’s roads are so treacherous that carts can’t pass, so we’ll need to use the waterways.”
They planned to follow the Pearl River south, dock at Nanning, then slightly change direction westward to take the land route toward the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
That would be far more efficient than crossing the vast Guangxi Province entirely by land.
But with all manner of rogues running rampant in Guangxi, the waterways couldn’t be smooth either.
While paying substantial fees to hire merchant ships for southward travel, they encountered an untimely attack from river pirates.
-Dong, dong, dong.
The sound of drums and chaotic shouting.
No fewer than eight large ships, their hulls painted entirely red, blocked the Pearl River.
From beyond the crimson-painted gunwales, a man wielding twin halberds appeared.
His appearance truly resembled Dian Wei, the legendary Three Kingdoms general who’d guarded Cao Cao with twin iron halberds.
“Who dares travel freely through the waters guarded by this Iron-Blood Little Evil… !”
Iron-Blood Little Evil. Since Dian Wei’s nickname was E Lai, this alias meant “little Dian Wei with iron blood.” A rather childish and archaic alias… and those weapons gripped in both hands. Ju-seong had a feeling he knew what this fellow was about. He fished out a silver butterfly from under his sleeve and called out: “Battle stations!”