Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 169 - Who Might You Be
Chapter 169 – Who Might You Be
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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 169 – Who Might You Be
Wandering dark path thugs poured out. Among them would be mixed Night Guests from Sarma and Battle Maniacs. The energy signatures were too jumbled to distinguish through sensing alone.
‘I need to take the lead first.’
If Won-gong stood out, the powerful enemies would naturally converge on him. If he didn’t draw attention, the enemy would massacre the Guizhou martial artists faster.
‘Namo Amitabha… Today, unavoidably, I must break the precept against killing. What am I to do?’
Until now, Won-gong had held back as much as possible. But in this situation, there was no leisure to carefully spare enemy lives.
If he did, more Guizhou martial artists would perish.
‘So as a Buddhist, having plunged into this crimson dust-filled jianghu, does it mean my cultivation will inevitably be stained?’
Just as he was thinking this, Won-gong suddenly recalled the back of a certain man.
A man who disliked killing, yet when it had to be done, stepped forward before anyone else to bloody his hands. If he were to ask that man, he’d answer thus.
‘Should the bad guys die, or should you let the good guys die? Monk, stop talking nonsense and just fight.’
He’d been taught that there was no distinction in the weight of human lives.
But that unlearned fellow knew nothing of scriptures recited in scholarly chambers or temple sutras. To him, the world was clear-cut and certain.
‘Why should I treat those who treat people as slabs of meat as people?’
Another figure arose in Won-gong’s mind. His master. The diminutive old man who’d never received a dharma name, wandering Shaolin Temple’s grounds as a novice with a broom.
[Won-gong, go forth. What must you do out there, you ask? You must go out and fall into affliction.]
[Sometimes, it’s fine to even abandon Buddhist devotion. Try following the human ethics that Confucianism speaks of.]
Won-gong closed his eyes gently, then shot out brilliant golden Buddha-light from both eyes.
Instead of unleashing a Lion’s Roar as he usually did, he simply became a single streak of golden light. He flew like an arrow loosed from a bow. And…
-CRASH…!
Dust rose, and several of the enemy fell away like blades of grass.
The dust settled. Like a war god, the golden figure drew all attention with its formidable presence.
“Ha!”
A short battle cry, and he thrust forward with the heel of his palm. A first-rate martial artist’s chest caved in grotesquely as he dropped dead on the spot.
“Ha!”
Another battle cry, and five martial artists ten paces away were struck by invisible fist blows and knocked back hard.
The golden figure flew toward the broken formation.
-Thoom…!
A sound like striking a bell on Mount Song.
Had Buddha’s palm descended to the mortal world? In an instant, ten figures flew through the air with twisted limbs.
-Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…
With nine faint footsteps, the ultimate Shaolin footwork, Nine Lotus Steps, was deployed.
Nine separate figures bloomed across the battlefield, forming a single formation. The enemy who unknowingly stepped inside was ground up by ruthless kicks, palm strikes, and fist blows.
That’s when it happened.
-Ka-ka-kak!
From within the enemy ranks, an incredibly sharp strike shot toward Won-gong.
-Shwit!
Won-gong scattered the Nine Lotus Steps and twisted away to dodge. An energy so focused on piercing that no sword could have made it.
“They were twin short spears.”
To be precise, they were twin short spears. A man wielding two half-zhang-long spears stood there.
“Bald monk gone mad! This Absolute Spear King will be your opponent!”
“Urk!”
Won-gong felt goosebumps for a moment. How could a person’s alias be so childish?
But childish alias aside, the skill was real. The spear thrusts aimed relentlessly at his body’s center line were each awkward and powerful.
That wasn’t all.
-Shwish…!
A dagger slipped toward Won-gong’s flank like wind.
In that split second, Won-gong realized dodging both spear and dagger simultaneously was impossible… he activated Vajra Indestructible Divine Art.
-Thoom-thoom!
With heavy metallic sounds, both weapons were deflected, and when Won-gong unleashed a burst of force, both men retreated together.
“I’m here too, greenhorn Shaolin monk. The name’s Po Sa-ja.”
Po Sa-ja.
The name meant ‘a man who crawls through ponds or swamps’… judging by its peculiarity, he was a Night Guest.
From the twin short daggers, Won-gong might have guessed him a Battle Maniac, but one was noticeably shorter, and he held the short one in a reverse grip.
The Battle Maniacs he’d encountered so far wielded two identical weapons.
Battle Maniac and Night Guest. The shadowy attendants serving the Demonic Venerables charged at Won-gong.
Won-gong quietly chanted his sutra.
“Namo Amitabha… Pretend Benefactor Ju-seong has become two.”
Two irritating faces flickered in his mind. Won-gong’s fists blazed with golden fire.
* * *
Little Hundun felt excruciating pain engulf his right face and shoulder.
“Gaaahh…!”
Even as he screamed, he fiercely thrust his left palm forward, unleashing a yin-laden palm strike.
Soul-Severing Sand.
Poison sand that severs the soul. Ju-seong had first encountered this substance in an inn in Chongqing.
A Night Guest using the alias Laying in Wait While Feigning Corpses had thrown this sand as an attack.
Ju-seong had found the formula for Soul-Severing Sand in the man’s belongings and used the Crimson Blaze Herb he’d won as a reward at the Dragon Gate Assembly to complete the Soul-Severing Sand.
When infused with internal energy and scattered, the sand sparkled brilliantly gold.
Internal energy amplified the toxins inside the sand, giving it extreme destructive power for a short time.
If it got in your eyes, you’d go blind; if it touched your skin, the flesh would melt with horrible pain.
Weapons would corrode and break; internal energy would crumble.
‘But someone as powerful as him can surely neutralize it.’
That’s why Ju-seong had used the Heavenly Silkworm Thread trap, targeting the moment when the youth slashed to cut the threads and threw the Soul-Severing Sand.
‘If you don’t know about it in advance, you can’t help but get hit.’
Ju-seong was practically a venomous creature himself. He had not one, but many hidden weapons. He was a lethal venomous creature.
Even a great tiger could step wrongly in the grass and die wasting away from a viper’s bite.
Ju-seong was exactly that kind of viper. Soul-Severing Sand was something even top-tier masters couldn’t emerge unscathed from.
-Hissss…
White smoke rose from Little Hundun’s face. Narrowing his eyes to look, Ju-seong saw his right face had practically melted off.
Yet the youth stood upright, using yin energy drawn from his right hand to freeze his right face.
“…Now I feel somewhat alive.”
“You really are insane. Doesn’t it hurt?”
Little Hundun’s right face was now coated with frost as if covered in rime. He’d frozen his face entirely so he couldn’t even feel pain.
Though he’d treated it hastily, nothing could be done about his right eye having melted away.
Still, Little Hundun gripped his sword stance with fierce determination in his expression.
“A one-eyed man… you won’t run again, will you?”
“I’ll run again.”
Having said that, Ju-seong tried to flee without looking back. He’d figured he could just smash through the storehouse wall and escape, but…
-CRASH!
The wall Ju-seong was heading toward exploded inward, and two massive iron fists aimed at his torso.
-Thwack! Thwack!
Ju-seong deflected the punches with his forearms, then turned his head.
He saw Little Hundun charging with a half-melted face twisted into a half-smile.
He turned again to see a pugilist wearing cold-iron gauntlets on both hands.
Ju-seong made a quick decision.
‘This one’s easier.’
Ju-seong hurled the remaining third of his Soul-Severing Sand at Little Hundun.
The youth wouldn’t fall for it again, but it bought time.
He drove toward the pugilist with maximum output in that split-second.
“Bastard, I am the Invincible Fist King… !”
The man was babbling some childish alias and introducing himself, but Ju-seong didn’t need to know.
-Tat-tat-tat-tat-tak…
Light strikes of Hidden Waterfall Palm rained down on the pugilist’s body. The pugilist was puzzled at the unexpectedly light force.
-Thwa-thwa-thwa-thwa-thwack!
A delayed explosion… the true power of Hidden Waterfall Palm erupted, and in that moment Ju-seong viciously closed in, driving his fingertips into the man’s guard.
He jabbed a needle held between his fingers into the gauntlet’s seam.
-Thwack!
With barely any hip movement, he extended a leg and swept the man’s shin.
Then, as the Human-Faced Spider’s venom from the needle took effect and the man lost his balance from the kick…
-CRASH!
The finishing blow landed on the exposed right ribcage.
So deep was the damage that the broken ribs’ ends seemed about to puncture through skin and clothes.
“Glurrgh!”
Bright red blood burst from the man’s mouth, then poured in a stream.
It was an instant death.
Ju-seong slid his hand under the man’s armpit and hurled the corpse at Little Hundun chasing from behind.
The brilliant flash of deadly energy… and the pugilist’s corpse was bisected.
‘Damn, didn’t buy enough time to run.’
If he’d thrown the Soul-Severing Sand and immediately fled, he could have escaped while the youth neutralized the poison sand.
But Ju-seong had used that precious time to take down this nameless pugilist.
“Damn it!”
Ju-seong exploded energy into his Yongquan acupoint and rolled hard to the side.
-Swish-swish!
It was the light sound of rustling grass. But the power was anything but light.
The ground split open, revealing the moist soil beneath its surface layer.
Ju-seong rose and desperately shouted.
“From now on, fight without using Sword Edge!”
There was no way that would work.
Little Hundun’s face twisted hideously as he charged in.
“Fuck off, you bastard!”
Ju-seong lowered his stance and studied Little Hundun. The man was strong. Incomparably stronger than Ju-seong. But his right face had melted.
Target the pain in the weak spot? No… the man had frozen his face entirely. The pain itself would be gone.
Then he had to exploit the blind spot from the melted right eye.
When Ju-seong circled to the right, the youth turned with him like a ghost, keeping his sword tip pointed at Ju-seong in guard.
Naturally. The man wasn’t stupid.
One long stride forward, a light sweeping slash.
-Shwick! Swoosh!
He dodged a horizontal slash by retreating… it was a feint that transformed mid-swing into an upward cut. From the sword tip, Sword Edge suddenly sprouted.
A master of Sword Edge wielded sword energy far sharper and more refined than one who couldn’t.
Not a counterfeit carrying the blade’s sharpness, but the sharpness of an actual blade being launched.
Ju-seong raised his gauntlets to block with Crimson Lotus Palm technique.
-Crack-crack-crack, BOOM!
The distinctive red palm force of Crimson Lotus Palm burst outward; an irresistible shock ran through Ju-seong’s meridians.
Ju-seong took internal injury instantly, face going pale as he staggered back five steps.
Something surged up his throat.
“Pffhah!”
Ju-seong infused his blood with poison and spat it at Little Hundun.
Saliva, blood, and poison together became the most disgraceful technique in jianghu as it flew through the air.
“What the hell… ”
Little Hundun, now with a far coarser mouth than before, slashed down.
Somehow, his Sword Edge exploded in the air, erasing the blood and poison.
They became black and red mist that drifted and slowly settled.
That moment when vision was obscured was Ju-seong’s chance.
Ju-seong decided to take the incoming sword energy again… as painlessly as possible.
-Thwat!
Ju-seong stepped as if to slip into the man’s left side. It was a refined footwork, but an ultra-peak-level master couldn’t fail to catch such movement.
Ju-seong twisted his body to the extreme, feeling a spine-chilling sensation.
-Screee!
With a shrill sound, Sword Edge tore through Ju-seong’s right shoulder as it passed.
The sharp friction was the sound of the man’s Sword Edge grinding against Ju-seong’s bone.
Little Hundun tilted his head.
Was his skin iron plate and his bones diamond? That the man’s Sword Edge had merely cut flesh rather than severing the arm… ?
At that moment…
-Shwish…
At the quiet whistling, Little Hundun reflexively swung his sword, and a silver butterfly was flicked away by his blade. Indeed, being Black Myriad Year Iron, it wasn’t cut by his slash.
And the thin needle hidden behind the butterfly…
-Tok!
… embedded itself in Little Hundun’s shoulder.
“Pathetic tricks… !”
Little Hundun roared and released a bizarre burst of force.
-FSHHH…!
In an instant, the surroundings went blindingly white… Ju-seong realized everything within several zhang was frosted over.
Struck dead-on by that powerful force burst, whatever poison Ju-seong had coated on the needle evaporated into a single wisp of red smoke.
To make matters worse, having taken that bizarre force attack head-on, Ju-seong felt his joints creak and his dantian grow deathly cold and frozen.
-Thump, thump.
Little Hundun tread upon the snowscape he’d created, slowly approaching.
“Time to die, insolent wretch.”
But Ju-seong’s gaze was not on his enemy but past him.
A chilling presence seized the surroundings in an instant.
“Hm? Who might you be?”
Following Ju-seong’s gaze, Little Hundun turned his head.
“…”
His expression went terrifyingly rigid.
“…The Green Forest King.”
Little Hundun spat through clenched teeth.