Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 161 - Evil Man, Evil Fruit
Chapter 161 – Evil Man, Evil Fruit
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor.
The blade-wielder bearing this grandiose alias had apparently razed an entire village at the entrance of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and was stationed there.
Naturally, the nearby local lord was in no position to even think about protesting. Ju-seong had no inclination to specifically punish him, as this wasn’t even northern Guangxi… it was near the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. There was no way to seek outside help from the southern part of the province, so holding the local lord accountable would be rather harsh.
Just before entering Nanning, the Guizhou martial artists moored their boats along the riverbank and marched in unison toward the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
Being a march of martial artists, it was swift, and they reached the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains in less than eight days.
Ju-seong gazed at the village situated atop a distant hillock.
When he activated Celestial Eye, every detail of the scene was etched upon his retinas.
On terraced rice paddies that descended in steps, farmers with sullen expressions were plowing fields with their plowshares.
Most of the village was damaged and collapsed, with scoundrels sprawled about as they pleased among the ruins.
Some were sleeping soundly, while others were violating innocent women.
And above that tiny kingdom of evil, a single flag fluttered as if making a proclamation.
Heaven-Slashing.
Ju-seong sighed and said, “Battle Maniacs really do have strong narcissism.” As if he were some Warring States period feudal lord, the man had made his own flag and planted it there. A person with normal thinking would reflect on themselves, understand their station, and act accordingly; in short, this fellow was undoubtedly someone who didn’t know his place.
No need to look further. Their numbers and quality of martial artists were overwhelmingly superior. Those bastards would never dream that they’d arrived here.
Ju-seong stuffed his sleeves and pockets full of pebbles he’d picked up nearby, then turned back and shouted.
“Charge like a thunderbolt! Attack… !”
The moment Ju-seong shouted, the Guizhou martial artists burst forward with battle cries.
No matter how oppressed they’d lived under the Blood Flower Crone, martial artists were still martial artists.
Those who possessed power were equally restless about not being able to use it.
Atop the hillock, belated alarm bells rang frantically from the village, and the riffraff stirred, snatching up weapons and preparing for a siege.
Hastily erected palisades surrounded the village. Ju-seong smiled crookedly and shouted.
“Eight-Hook Ghost formation!”
At his cry, Eight-Hook Ghost responded and shot forward at arrow-like speed.
Ju-seong covered him, hurling stone throws at the arrows raining down to target Eight-Hook Ghost.
-Thwack! Thwack! Thud-thud-thunk!
With his ghostly hidden weapon skills and Finger Flicking Technique, the arrow shafts were miserably snapped and futilely blocked mid-air.
Ju-seong swiftly drew two black iron spheres from his sleeve and fired them.
With sharp whistling sounds, two iron balls tore through the air.
The overwhelming destructive power created by the mass of Black Myriad Year Iron and the internal energy densely packed from the Flame Crow Six Stage Art.
-Boom!
The upper portion of the palisade exploded outward, and four or five martial artists guarding it were sent flying at once. Burning wooden shards scattered in all directions.
Ju-seong had designated the point. Eight-Hook Ghost immediately lodged two hooks into the gap in their defenses.
“Hup!”
A short inhalation, then a leap while pulling the chains connected to his hooks.
Arrows targeted him, but Ju-seong’s cover didn’t falter.
Just pebbles picked up from the ground were being exchanged for the strategic resource that was arrows.
And then, a single catastrophe whirled within the palisade.
-Schlick!
Hooks that extended in smooth arcs in all directions embedded themselves in the bodies of the martial artists.
“Cha-ha!”
Eight-Hook Ghost used his thick leg muscles to spin his entire body powerfully. The martial artists impaled on his hooks screamed horrifically as they burst with blood.
Having dispatched eight martial artists at once, Eight-Hook Ghost used his hooks as if they were extensions of his limbs.
-Crack-crack-crack!
He embedded three hooks into the palisade beyond, then pulled hard, moving faster than even footwork could achieve.
Then, after swiftly skewering the martial artists guarding the palisade entrance, he simply palm-struck the latch upward and threw it open.
“The gate is open… !”
Ju-seong bellowed and grabbed Won-gong’s waist, hurling him forcefully.
Already accustomed to this treatment, Won-gong curled his body into a ball and flew toward the opened gate.
-Crash!
The gate was thrown wide open, and the greatest talent raised by the Central Plains’ largest and strongest sect appeared on the unsuitable battlefield.
“……!”
In an instant, a tremendous sound burst from his vocal cords, so massive it seemed to devour all surrounding noise. This was Shaolin’s Lion’s Roar.
This was no mere imitation of crude jianghu folk putting internal energy into their shouts.
The solemn, exorcising cry of ancient Buddhists who once purified primordial lands filled with demons and evil spirits echoed across the battlefield.
Over a dozen people collapsed at once, bleeding from noses and ears. Won-gong moved, and Ju-seong, Heuk-wol, Yi Pyo-eum, and Yang So-an rushed out on either side of him.
The blind swordsman flashed his pure white prosthetic eyes while demonstrating strange swordsmanship.
Martial artists typically turn their gaze toward enemies they need to deal with, but for him, sight was a nonexistent sense.
With terrifying hearing, he perceived the entire space, and the blade in his hand danced as if it had a will of its own, slicing in all directions.
Being blind, he didn’t rashly deploy footwork to move around; instead, he carefully took step after step, methodically cutting down the enemies that charged him.
Yi Pyo-eum lived up to her alias of Red Crane Fairy, her red garments whirling as she unleashed fierce palm force.
For those who primarily trained in internal energy arts, palm techniques drew out maximum efficiency.
Because the center of the palm was directly connected to the lower dantian, it was the area that could most fiercely discharge internal energy.
Each time her vermillion palm force detonated, martial artists with caved-in chests rolled their eyes back and collapsed.
“It’s about time he showed up.”
Ju-seong was muttering when…
-Schwick!
Three heads of martial artists facing the bandits suddenly floated into the air.
Ju-seong didn’t bother to assess anything… he immediately exploded internal energy into his Yongquan acupoint and charged that direction.
A blade-wielder holding two short straight swords in each hand.
Blades barely the length of a human arm.
Because the weapons were short, he specialized in swift slashes.
Contrary to his grandiose alias of Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor, he was the type of martial artist who playfully manipulated two short blades while raining down light cuts.
‘If they think an alias sounds cool, they just use it without thinking?’
Ju-seong flicked an iron ball with his Finger Flicking Technique, deflecting the blade’s trajectory just before another neck was about to fly off.
Just one move.
Accurately deflecting a blade with a hidden weapon made it crystal clear who held the upper hand.
Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor glanced toward Ju-seong, then unhesitatingly turned and fled. Ju-seong drew a blank breath in disbelief.
‘What the hell is this guy doing?’
No matter how expendable the underlings here were, to be this unhestitingly cowardly.
He was quite the trash.
“Halt there… !”
Ju-seong pushed the White Phoenix Nine Palace Movement Art to its limits, skimming across the ground like a swallow above water.
Just before Ju-seong struck a fierce palm blow to the man’s back, having realized escape was impossible, the man spun around and swung both blades at once.
-Shwaa-ak!
A ferocious whistling sound like a snake’s threatening hiss grazed his ears. Like a pair of venomous fangs, two streaks of blade energy traced gray-white trajectories as they rushed toward Ju-seong.
Ju-seong drew his Black Iron Claws and swung them fiercely like a beast.
Ten streaks of claw energy shredded the blade energy. No sooner had the energies neutralized in mid-air than Ju-seong flicked his sleeves.
-Shwish!
Three long needles fired from close range.
-Ting-ting-ting!
The blade-wielder hastily manipulated the blade in his left hand and knocked away all the long needles.
Then with the blade in his right hand, he struck the ground hard and launched himself backward.
A flexible fighting style that didn’t merely use footwork but employed the weapon in hand as a means of movement.
Kicking off with his feet while striking the ground with his blade… his retreating speed doubled.
But Ju-seong was no less flexible in his thinking.
With lightning-quick reaction, Ju-seong whipped out Heavenly Silkworm Thread to snag the man’s right blade as it struck the ground.
-Whoosh!
The straight blade’s edge was ensnared by the Heavenly Silkworm Thread. The man tried shaking his wrist once, but recognizing it was a treasure not easily cut, he abandoned the blade without hesitation.
‘These bastards give up their weapons too easily.’
That’s what Ju-seong was thinking as he charged in.
-Crackle…
The sound of something burning. Ju-seong felt all the hair on his body stand on end and dodged.
-Boom!
A strangely shaped cast-iron tube protruded from the man’s sleeve. That bamboo-stalk-like thing had gray-white smoke billowing from its tip.
‘It’s been a while since I met someone using explosives.’
Ju-seong felt a strange nostalgia as he rose. In Sichuan, he’d met a man named Gongsun-chan who used similar weapons.
Thanks to that experience, he’d detected the ambush.
‘Moreover, the smell was barely noticeable.’
The blood scent covering the man was so strong that he couldn’t detect the acrid smell of gunpowder in time. He’d barely dodged thanks to the smell and sound of the fuse burning.
The iron shrapnel fired by gunpowder was comparable in power to a master’s hidden weapons launched with Finger Flicking Technique.
At close range, that is… at distance, a master’s Finger Flicking Technique held overwhelming superiority.
‘If I’d been hit, I’d have had to accept significant damage.’
He’d thought these were fellows who took martial arts seriously, but he hadn’t expected them to be hiding such tricks.
However, using such a last resort meant the man was already cornered.
Having fired the cannon hidden in his sleeve, the man’s right arm was raised high.
The exposed armpit. The armpit was a fatal weak point for both martial artists and common folk alike.
The man apparently realized this and raised his left blade to block, but…
‘Not enough, you bastard.’
Heavenly Silkworm Thread that had flown through the smoke ensnared the man’s blade and pulled it down, while the Black Iron Claws raked fiercely across his armpit.
The man let out a horrible scream and stumbled back five steps, but…
-Drip drip drip…
As if declaring the battle’s outcome, massive amounts of blood were pouring down his sleeves.
“Wh-who are you, and where did you come from?”
Only then did Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor speak. These were the first words they’d exchanged.
Ju-seong brazenly answered.
“Me? I’m from Sichuan.”
“I wasn’t asking… ”
Ju-seong cut off his words and stepped forward with a long stride.
Then the man threw a desperate final strike… releasing the blade from his left hand, he unleashed a palm strike packed with massive internal energy.
But this was fully anticipated. Ju-seong deflected the explosive force with an Crimson Lotus Palm technique, spun his body once, swung his elbow, and struck the man’s temple.
-Thwack!
The man’s pupils went slack, and he immediately crumbled. Ju-seong sealed the fallen man’s acupoints to stop the bleeding, then turned to survey the battlefield.
A smile spread across his face.
“Every single one of them is outstanding.”
Not a single weakling among the Guizhou martial artists who’d come on this expedition.
The Blood Flower Crone’s children were naturally displaying exceptional martial prowess, but he hadn’t expected the martial artists from Guizhou’s mid-sized sects to fight so excellently.
Even the clear-headed young man he’d noticed just before the expedition was now cutting down enemies with a serious expression, wielding his sword in the midst of battle.
The fight ended in less than half a quarter-hour.
The thugs who’d occupied the fairly large village were mostly killed or captured, and a few who fled scattered in all directions… but none headed toward the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
Naturally so… they were rabble gathered with promises of plunder and pleasure. There was no reason to crawl into the treacherous Hundred Thousand Great Mountains to report defeat.
This time too, there were no prisoners. The captured martial artists were publicly beheaded after extracting maximum information, and the common folk hurled stones at the displayed heads.
Only one remained… the martial artist who’d called himself Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor, a ridiculous self-proclaimed alias.
A somewhat different ordeal awaited him.
A large shadow fell over his bowed head. Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor raised his head, saw the shadow’s owner, and brightened.
“Black Pig! You half-wit bastard, what are you doing here! Perfect timing. Hurry up and untie your big brother’s bonds.”
Black Pig said nothing, but Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor continued regardless.
“Damn it, my blood vessels are sealed so my internal energy won’t move… There’s no way a moron like you can undo acupoint sealing. Hey, you bastard! Why aren’t you untying me already?!”
Black Pig crouched before him and extended his hand. His fingertips were mangled beyond recognition, his nails all grown out in grotesquely twisted shapes. Like a savage beast’s claws.
These were the marks from when Heaven-Slashing Blade Emperor had vented his frustrations by torturing Black Pig, pulling out his nails multiple times.
Black Pig growled quietly.
“Ju-seong gave permission. Making Big Brother obedient is Black Pig’s job.”
The moment had come for the evil man who’d sown seeds of malice to harvest his fruit.