Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 176 - Negotiation
Chapter 176 – Negotiation
===================
Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
The creature screamed in agony and thrashed about. Ju-seong quickly moved aside.
-CRASH!
The white head slammed its skull against where he’d just been standing with mindless force.
Ju-seong perceived that the creature was in extreme pain. The principle of Water Overcomes Fire applied here.
The white head held pure fire poison, making it vulnerable to the Human-Faced Spider’s water poison.
Even a jack-of-all-trades creature still had weaknesses.
With the white head in a frenzy, the black head was also in a bind. The two heads were tangled together by the Heavenly Silkworm Thread.
“KYAAAH!”
The black head let out what sounded like a protest, but the white head wouldn’t listen.
It seemed the two heads acted independently.
Seeing an opportunity, Ju-seong continued circling around the white head and shooting needles.
“KEEEE!”
The white head was terrified of Ju-seong’s needles, twisting its head this way and that until it finally just closed its eyes. The eyelids closed vertically… a peculiar structure.
Weren’t snakes supposed to have no eyelids? Indeed, a spirit creature was a spirit creature.
‘Even so, it’s still just a beast. It doesn’t know that closing its eyes blocks its vision.’
Ju-seong muttered internally as he pulled out an iron ball from his sleeve.
-THWACK!
Ju-seong’s flicking technique had reached quite an accomplished level. His original background in throwing hidden weapons probably helped him approach mastery.
When Ju-seong flicked his thumb, the Myriad-Year Cold Iron ball embedded precisely onto the creature’s closed eyelid.
If its eyes had been open, it could have reacted. But with eyes closed, it had no choice but to take the hit.
Balls made of Myriad-Year Cold Iron transmitted impact through the closed eyelid.
“KYAAAAAAH!”
More than just blinding one eye… the impact must have shaken its entire head.
‘It’ll be seeing stars.’
Combined with tremendous pain, vertigo was added, and the white head went even more berserk than before.
Then it happened.
‘Wait, what are you… ‘
-SHAAAAAAAH!
The black head, apparently fed up, breathed out cold energy and froze the white head.
White frost covered the white head so thickly it became like a white cotton ball.
Densely grown frost and icicles completely sealed the white head.
The white head either lost consciousness or died outright, its neck going limp and drooping.
“KEEEE.”
“Mm. Black Head, sir, let’s calm down first.”
He’d politely called it Black Head since it was the black head, but perhaps it didn’t like the title.
-WHOOOSH…!
White cold energy… no, cold so pale it was bluish… was fired at Ju-seong.
‘This is clearly no ordinary Yin-Yang Serpent.’
What kind of place had it made its home? None other than the residence of the Green Forest King who had dominated Guangxi’s martial world for centuries.
Moreover, it was the site of an ancient Yue Kingdom stronghold.
And even before that, an ancient temple.
If all those historical figures had settled here, it meant this land was somehow special.
‘No wonder the heavenly energy felt so rich.’
The flow of heavenly energy was free and irregular; places with consistently rich energy were hard to find.
Perhaps only the great mountains recognized as sacred peaks in the Central Plains qualified.
But this place had apparently been consistently rich in heavenly energy.
A spirit creature that had lived here breathing that energy for centuries would naturally be stronger than ordinary Yin-Yang Serpents.
‘But now it has a weakness.’
The black head hung limply, getting in the way. And the tail strikes had also weakened.
Indeed, the two heads had each controlled half the body.
With one general commanding the right flank killed, the unit couldn’t move properly.
The pale blue cold breath just needed to be dodged.
Ju-seong’s footwork tapped out lively directions using the White Phoenix Nine Heavens steps.
-TAP, TAP, TAT-TAT-TAP!
Two steps to close the gap briskly, then he mounted the creature’s massive body.
Using the rhythm from when he’d leaped between masts on the Yangtze, he instantly climbed to the bridge of the black head’s nose.
The creature twisted its head desperately trying to shake him off, but Ju-seong clung on with ghostly balance, refusing to fall.
Then…
-CRASH!
Ju-seong slammed his fist straight down by his feet, striking the creature precisely between its eyes. The black head staggered.
-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
He modified the Scattering Flying Fluff Palm technique, hammering a dozen palm strikes into a single point.
-HISS-HISS-HISS…!
The creature convulsively flicked its tongue, then… BLURGH… vomited a mass of pale blue energy.
Ju-seong was startled and leaped away using qinggong.
Terrifying cold grazed beneath his feet.
-TAT-TAT.
When Ju-seong landed, the floor was already a field of white frost, and atop it lay the black head, vomiting blood.
Ju-seong rushed over and precisely drove a palm strike into the creature’s eye.
-CRACK!
The vitreous body popped up, and piercing through the thin bone behind it, the grayish-white tissue came into his grasp.
After finishing off the black head, Ju-seong approached the white head.
-Hisss…
Having already been hit by Ju-seong’s poison techniques and then its twin brother’s attack, it was completely unconscious.
“…You seem to have killed quite a few people.”
Ju-seong spoke.
Human bones marked with the creature’s fang marks were plentiful at the bottom of the lake. Some corpses appeared to have been eaten quite recently.
This Green Forest King supposedly fed it cattle, but perhaps the previous king had used it to dispose of prisoners.
And even before that, perhaps it was worshipped as a deity with human sacrifices.
In any case, this creature knew the taste of human flesh.
“…But that’s not why I’m killing you.”
Ju-seong gazed at the creature with somewhat bitter eyes.
“Born a predator, using weaker creatures as food to fill a hungry belly… who could condemn that?”
This was nature’s law.
Just as birds ate insects, the creature had made humans its food.
Calling it a fierce beast and killing it for that would be the height of hypocrisy.
Ju-seong crouched down, looking directly into its remaining eye as he spoke.
“I need your inner core and poison core. The core will treat a man suffering from blocked meridian syndrome, and the poison core will treat a woman close to me.”
Just as it had eaten humans out of necessity, so too did Ju-seong. What excuses were needed here?
“And I’ll eat you to keep growing stronger.”
Ju-seong spoke beast to beast, using the oldest primitive language.
-Hisss…
The white head seemed to understand, letting out one final threatening sound before opening its jaws wide to bare its fearsome fangs at Ju-seong again.
But its venom glands had been neutralized and dried up by the Human-Faced Spider’s poison, and most of its fangs were broken.
Ju-seong struck hard to knock aside its jaw.
Then he raised his foot to head height…
-CRASH!
…and slammed his heel down onto the still-dazed creature’s head with all his might.
There was no mercy.
Ju-seong let out a soft sigh, then pulled out his Crimson Iron Flying Knife to cut open the belly where scales were relatively soft.
From the white head came a poison core radiating dangerous energy, and from the black head came an inner core emitting pale blue cold energy.
Ju-seong placed both cores into the wooden box he’d brought, exhaled softly, then pressed the creature’s scales.
‘Even in death, that hardness remains. Sorry, but I’ll be taking the scales too.’
* * *
While Ju-seong’s merciless butchering was underway…
The Green Forest King and Won-gong were sharing drinks in a relatively intact pavilion. More precisely, only the Green Forest King was drinking; Won-gong was absentmindedly picking at side dishes with a sour expression.
“Hmm, you eat meat but don’t drink?”
Won-gong coughed awkwardly, set down a piece of jerky, and replied.
“Shaolin monks are martial artists, not ordinary monks, so we cannot completely abstain from meat. But grain wine clouds the mind and erodes the will… as a Buddhist, I must absolutely avoid it.”
“Going your whole life not knowing this pleasure. Well, if you choose to undertake such asceticism yourself, I can’t criticize.”
“Namu Amitabha Buddha.”
The Green Forest King downed the cloudy rice wine in his bowl, wiped his mouth, and spoke.
“Let me say this first: I have no intention of cooperating with the Martial Alliance to advance into Guangdong. Just managing internal affairs is keeping me too busy.”
The Green Forest King hadn’t even reclaimed the rest of Guangxi yet.
Won-gong nodded calmly and replied.
“I had no intention of making such an unreasonable request.”
“Oh?”
“Normally I should negotiate after corresponding with the Martial Alliance headquarters, but circumstances don’t allow that. I’ll have to share my independent opinion.”
The Green Forest King stroked his beard with interest. This young monk was more impressive than he’d seemed.
When he’d whined about honoring the dead, he’d seemed like a naive young fool who didn’t understand the ways of the world.
But now he was independently representing the Martial Alliance’s name to discuss future directions with a titan like the Green Forest King.
His boldness and courage were quite impressive.
The calm, settled look in his eyes also showed the mark of one who knew exactly what he was doing.
“Let’s hear it, then.”
“Your Majesty should send riders or carrier pigeons throughout the Central Plains to summon all Green Forest followers to Guangxi.”
“Hmm.”
The Green Forest King raised an eyebrow and made a contemplative sound.
Summoning the Central Plains’ Green Forest followers meant temporarily abandoning the vast distribution network the Green Forest controlled.
The Green Forest was an unusual organization that was strong when scattered.
Its spread and presence everywhere meant that other sects couldn’t easily move against them.
If they all gathered in one place?
How would he control all those fiery heroes gathering from everywhere? Who would give them work? Who would supply the food and luxuries they consumed like horses?
“You needn’t worry about such things. The fighting will be endless.”
Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and other regions had probably already half-fallen to the demonic path’s sphere of influence.
If so, fighting against the demonic path pushing in from there was inevitable.
“They’ve already tasted a little of how terrible demonic rule is.”
The Battle Maniacs and their minions who currently controlled much of Guangxi.
Having experienced their tyranny, the local gentry would side with the Green Forest followers and support them.
“The Martial Alliance, for its part, doesn’t have the leeway to snatch up the territory the Green Forest vacates.”
The distribution networks and strategic points the Green Forest had controlled.
The Green Forest King seemed worried about losing those strongholds, but…
“The Martial Alliance is the least at ease of all.”
The winds of war were circling the Martial Alliance just as much, so the Green Forest King’s concerns were unfounded.
The Green Forest King narrowed his eyes and asked.
“So the Martial Alliance plans to blow their nose without using their hands? To sacrifice our Green Forest to stop the demonic path from spreading further west.”
“Rather than that, it’s for a common goal.”
“What guarantee is there that the old crone in Guizhou won’t stab us in the back while our Green Forest followers are worn down fighting the demonic path?”
Won-gong smiled calmly and replied.
“It was the Crimson Spider Sect and the Guizhou martial artists following their commands who rescued the man ranked first in the Green Forest.”
“…”
The Green Forest King was momentarily silenced by the crushing embarrassment. Now that he mentioned it, that was true. Who was currently inside the stronghold, feeding and caring for the people on the brink of death?
Almost all of them were Guizhou martial artists.
They were even guarding the approaches to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains from outside, supplying provisions.
To doubt such people…
‘Of course, that’s a ruler’s virtue.’
He shouldn’t wag his tail like a dog just because he owed a favor.
‘But saying it out loud is another matter.’
The Green Forest King scratched his side and spoke.
“…I’ll send a personal letter and gifts to the old crone expressing my thanks.”
Won-gong smiled serenely and continued.
“Furthermore, this battle won’t be a total loss for Your Majesty. If anything, it could be a gain.”
“Hm?”
The Green Forest King raised an eyebrow with a questioning look.