Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 171 - Flying Dragon Divine Brush
Chapter 171 – Flying Dragon Divine Brush
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Among the mutual generation and overcoming of the Five Elements, there is one principle of overcoming that even an illiterate fool would know.
That is Water Overcomes Fire.
Water readily defeats fire. So what Ju-seong was about to attempt now was the principle of Using Poison to Control Poison that he’d used in Yunnan to manage the Heavenly Silkworm Moth’s poison.
Use one poison to drive out another.
Ju-seong had obtained the Human-Faced Spider’s poison core from the Crimson Spider Sect, and it was the purest form of water poison in all jianghu.
“Now then… I can’t share true qi with you, elder. Instead, I’ll inject one more poison.”
The moment Ju-seong finished speaking, the unconscious Green Forest King’s eyes flew open and his hand shot out like lightning to grip Ju-seong’s throat.
Normally, Ju-seong had a vicious habit of tormenting opponents with his babbling mouth, but someone who threw punches first without listening was a terrible matchup for him.
Having met his match, Ju-seong hastily clarified.
“Keh, keurgh… Using Poison to Control Poison!”
Only then did the grip loosen, and the Green Forest King rolled his eyes back and fell unconscious again.
“Phew, this man’s glare is fierce…”
Well, what else would you expect from someone counted among the Ten Greats Under Heaven?
Of course, that presence and imposing aura couldn’t compare to the Ten Greats Ju-seong had met so far.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve met quite a few.’
Blade King Yelu Cho, Sword Saint of the Western Frontier Immortal Hyeon-su, Guizhou’s Blood Flower Crone, and even Emei Sect’s Master Jeong-hwa who had already passed away.
Compared to them, the Green Forest King was a step below, but he was much younger, so he’d only grow stronger.
‘This man needs to live so I can strut around in the next generation of jianghu.’
The waist supporting the current era of jianghu… that was exactly this age group of supreme masters. Many such figures had to survive and drive out the demonic path from the Central Plains, so Ju-seong’s next generation could be comfortable.
‘I’ll do my best to save him.’
For the first time in a while, Ju-seong pulled out his needles with the purpose of saving someone’s life. Light glinted off the sharp tips.
* * *
Yi Pyo-eum was a daughter who had fully inherited the Blood Flower Crone’s powerful internal cultivation method.
In truth, having lost one limb, she had few other options. She could only push her qi techniques to their limits, raising them to a level where she no longer needed weapons.
-CRASH!
Crimson palm force charged forward like a savage beast, lunging at the enemy.
But these enemies were each elite fighters too. Those remaining at Nine Dragons Stronghold instead of guarding the outskirts of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains each appeared to be at least first-rate.
Three swords united to cancel out her palm force.
“We are called the Three Ghosts of Nan-yue, one-legged lady. Let’s get tangled up.”
The reserved swordsman in the middle offered a greeting.
“My, setting aside that one missing leg, you’re quite a beauty.”
The second one lewdly ran his tongue over his lips as he added.
“…I’m curious what sound you make when you scream.”
The third, who looked the most dangerous with his whites showing beneath his irises, raised his sword in guard.
They were the Three Ghosts of Nan-yue.
Nan-yue was the old name for the Guangxi and Guangdong regions. Yi Pyo-eum had heard of this trio who roamed the area making their names.
Neither talent nor effort nor martial arts were exceptional… all three were stuck at first-rate level and couldn’t advance further… but she’d heard their combined assault was quite fearsome.
Rumor had it they’d gained a fortunate encounter and learned the sword formation of the ancient famous sect, Hengshan Sect.
Without Mount Heng’s cultivation method and sword techniques, it would be half-baked, but she’d heard that these three worked well together enough to overwhelm even peak-level masters.
Of course, what they didn’t know was that their behavior was so filthy they’d been renamed the Three Dogs of Nan-yue behind their backs.
-Hummm, hummm.
As the sword formation unfolded, the three swords began to resonate with each other, emitting ominous sounds.
The formation was from a prestigious sect, but the cultivation method and sword techniques they’d learned were shallow evil path martial arts… the dissonance created discordant noise.
-Clang!
The first swordsman took one long stride and slashed vertically downward. The moment Pyo-eum deflected it with her cane, the brothers on either side thrust their swords.
The obliquely tilted blade surfaces threatened her, as if they could slash down or up from anywhere.
Yi Pyo-eum leaped gracefully on her single leg like a crane, trying to evade the two swords, but…
-Whoosh.
The first swordsman’s sword, having killed its momentum… or rather, hidden within the formation’s momentum… silently thrust toward her.
While airborne, she hurriedly tucked her leg to dodge the brothers’ horizontal slashes while precisely striking the first swordsman’s blade tip with her index finger.
These were qi techniques. Internal energy-focused martial arts were called qi techniques. Inevitably, finger techniques and palm techniques were the best methods for releasing qi.
-SCREECH…!
The first swordsman’s blade rippled like water, and blood burst from his grip as he desperately tried to control the vibrations.
“Grk! The lady possesses many profound techniques.”
Of course she did… she’d taken a peak-level master’s strike head-on. But the formation wasn’t broken. The three, as if angered, increased their speed and began targeting Yi Pyo-eum.
“Brothers, let’s teach this lady how street thugs fight!”
They vulgarly aimed their sword strikes at places a woman would find shameful.
-Clang! THWANG!
But wasn’t Yi Pyo-eum not some noble lady of a prestigious family, but a top officer of Jiangnan’s evil path?
She’d seen such tactics dozens of times, and frankly knew that such tricks were stupid against anyone but the naive.
‘Idiots.’
Yi Pyo-eum muttered internally as she spun once.
With her single leg as axis, her twin palms whirled, releasing a concentric crimson wave of force that violently shook the formation.
The most shaken was the first swordsman, who’d been consistently half a half-beat slow. His torn grip made it so.
Yi Pyo-eum’s eyes turned cold as she surged forward without hesitation.
Her single leg, trained all the harder because it was alone, allowed faster explosive charges than most martial artists with two.
-SWOOSH!
A sound like air being torn rang out, and impossibly, Yi Pyo-eum appeared before the first swordsman.
“This bitch!”
The first swordsman abandoned his refined pretense, spat curses, and swept his sword diagonally, but…
-CLANG! THWACK!
She released palm force with her right hand to knock aside his blade while driving a finger strike with her left hand directly through his heart.
-CRUNCH!
Hooking his heart on her index finger, she crushed his ribs and yanked it out.
The first swordsman’s heart dangled from her fingertip.
The second and third brothers went pale at the sight.
Yi Pyo-eum hurled the heart straight at the third. Awkwardly, it still held some internal energy, making it problematic to simply ignore.
The third hurriedly sliced through the blood-red lump of flesh and turned his head, only to see the second brother with his eyes bulging out, having taken a powerful palm strike to the forehead.
“You goddamn bitch!”
Despite the spirited cursing, he immediately turned and fled.
And in his vision…
“…A circle?”
He saw a pitch-black circle.
-WHOOSH, THWACK.
The third brother’s head exploded into fragments, bone and flesh scattering. The one who’d thrown the meteor hammer was none other than Black Pig.
Black Pig lumbered over with a foolish grin.
“Finished over there! Killed everyone without white cloth!”
The Guizhou martial artists were wearing white cloth wrapped around their shoulders for friend-or-foe identification.
Especially because Black Pig being simple-minded meant there was a high risk of him attacking allies.
Black Pig was already covered in blood, yet wore an incongruously innocent smile. Well, how many memories did he have of going wild as he pleased? Moreover, right now he was killing Battle Maniacs for revenge.
“Killed two Battle Maniacs! Both were ones who looked down on me! The ones who spat on me and pushed me into the latrine! Black Pig feels great right now!”
Yi Pyo-eum was dumbfounded by Black Pig’s monstrous strength. In the first place, ordinary meteor hammers weren’t that ridiculously massive.
To not just throw it, but throw it at a speed that a first-rate martial artist couldn’t even react to… that required heaven-born divine strength.
“One-leg woman, you okay?”
Yi Pyo-eum sighed and nodded.
“I’m fine, half-wit.”
“Half-wit makes Black Pig feel bad.”
“One-leg makes me feel bad too.”
As they were exchanging a few words, they turned their heads at the screams erupting from nearby.
-SCHLOCK-SCHLOCK-SCHLOCK!
“GYAAAAH!”
Along with bizarre sounds of flesh being pierced, a man in incongruously elegant attire was rampaging like a madman.
He wore a scholar’s robe in dark blue, the soft silk sheen quite impressive.
His hair was gathered neatly into a cap, giving him a rather refined appearance… an anomaly ill-suited to this battlefield in Guangxi.
-SCHLOCK-SCHLOCK-SCHLOCK!
The bizarre sound came from the weapon he was continuously thrusting.
It was a Judge’s Brush.
Often, martial artists who peculiarly followed Confucian teachings tended to use this weapon.
It resembled a writing brush, but was actually a solid iron spike. Some used it for pressure point techniques; others wielded it as a dagger or knife.
This man held two Judge’s Brushes in both hands, wielding them like a demon as he reduced people to mush.
-SCHLOCK-SCHLOCK-SCHLOCK!
The bizarre sound was him repeatedly plunging the twin brushes into his opponent’s body and pulling them out madly.
Blood naturally gushed out from those spots, and amid the thick scent of blood, the wicked scholar cruelly smiled.
“Hahaha! To cross the river and burn the boats, no takebacks in a card game! Having set foot in, how can you think to pull your foot out?!”
‘Crossing the river and burning the boats’ was an ancient proverb. In contrast, ‘no takebacks in a card game’ was merely gamblers’ slang… using them together was utterly mismatched.
In other words, this man was a fake scholar. He recited some phrases and spoke politely, but his learning was no different from any ignorant dark path thug.
‘What an absurd fellow.’
Yi Pyo-eum scoffed.
It was a truly ridiculous display, but upon seeing him, Black Pig immediately stiffened.
“Flying Dragon Divine Brush!”
Befitting someone who used Judge’s Brushes, even his alias was Flying Dragon Divine Brush.
“Who is he?”
“That one is almost the strongest among the Battle Maniacs! Pressure points? He’s really good at that!”
“Pressure point techniques?”
“Yes! Body-wide! Stab-stab-stab, and you go completely stiff!”
“Hmm…”
Yi Pyo-eum narrowed her eyes studying him before speaking.
“Let’s take him on together. Monk Won-gong should be finishing soon, so we need to reduce casualties until he joins us.”
The two of them taking him on seemed difficult, but she couldn’t leave more Guizhou martial artists dying.
Even if the Crimson Spider Sect controlled Guizhou, trust relationships mattered. If she brought other people’s disciples, sons, and fathers and got them all killed, everyone would bear grudges against the Crimson Spider Sect.
The Guizhou martial artists were not disposable. That was perhaps the biggest difference from those demonic practitioners.
Those vagrant dark path thugs were all treated as expendable. Used to buy time, used to exhaust energy, then discarded.
“Him… !”
Yi Pyo-eum released palm force first, and Black Pig charged forward with earth-shaking steps.
“Ho ho, Black Pig, is it? How impertinent, attacking your elder brother like this?”
Flying Dragon Divine Brush showed no surprise as he deflected the meteor hammer flying at him.
-CLANG!
Rather, the meteor hammer that collided with his brush bore a long scratch.
“You still can’t purely channel internal energy into your weapon, still relying only on the weapon’s weight and hardness. Dull insect.”
He’d already cancelled out Yi Pyo-eum’s palm force without even looking.
“Urrgh, I’ll kill you! You’re the one who tattooed the back of my head!”
Flying Dragon Divine Brush was the very one who’d inscribed a tattoo on Black Pig’s head and given him the alias ‘Black Pig.’
“Hahaha! Why are you angry? Didn’t you so want an alias? I gave you one and you throw a fit?”
“Shut up!”
-WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH.
Black Pig spun the hammer at terrifying speed until only five or six images were visible, then flicked his wrist and launched the meteor hammer.
-BANG!
A piercing sound filled the air, then it shot forward in a straight line.
Yi Pyo-eum seized that opening to fire four finger winds toward the spots Flying Dragon Divine Brush would dodge to.
-THWACK!
One finger wind struck the hastily dodging Flying Dragon Divine Brush’s shoulder.
But because he’d quickly twisted his body, only a shallow wound remained.
-CRASH!
The meteor hammer smashed apart three hapless vagrant thugs standing behind Flying Dragon Divine Brush before returning.
“…Tch.”
Only after brushing off his shoulder did Flying Dragon Divine Brush turn to look at Yi Pyo-eum.
Taking in her single-legged form, his eyes gleamed as he smiled.
“Oh my. It’s been a long time.”
“…I don’t recall meeting you.”
“Hahahaha!”
Flying Dragon Divine Brush laughed long, then his face went rigid as he lunged at Yi Pyo-eum.
Yi Pyo-eum quickly retreated, but energy extending five inches from the brush’s tip grazed her forehead.
Naturally, the red headscarf she wore split in two and fell to the ground.
Flying Dragon Divine Brush eyed the characters carved on her forehead and sneered.
“Unmistakably my own soaring and spirited brushwork, yet you pretend not to know? Ah, you’re not pretending…”
Flying Dragon Divine Brush stared directly at the pale Yi Pyo-eum who glared back at him and mocked.
“Did you deliberately forget?”