Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 180 - Great Misfortune
Chapter 180 – Great Misfortune
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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What Ju-seong had wanted was magnificent armor like that of ancient generals, but Bai Li was a craftsman who prioritized practicality.
Looking at the Heavenly Silkworm gauntlets, Crimson Iron flying knives, and iron balls she’d made him… not a single decoration could be found.
At least the Soul-Chasing Phantom Butterfly had an elegant shape, but even that was functional wings added for performance.
“Things meant for actual use should be simple… the simpler the better.”
Ju-seong agreed with this.
“…Still, this design seems too plain.”
“I made it to be worn under clothes anyway.”
“Hmm.”
“This creature’s scales are truly marvelous.”
The Yin-Yang Serpent had white and black heads attached to one body.
The torso was half white scales and half black scales mixed together.
Ju-seong had assumed the two types of scales were simply different colors, but that wasn’t the case.
“The black scales contain cold energy, making them heavy with strong recoil.”
Bai Li said, tapping the black side of the vest. Each tap of her fingernail produced a faint metallic ring.
“On the other hand, the white scales contain yang energy, so they’re flexible and absorb impact.”
When she flipped the vest and tapped the white side, it made a THUNK, THUNK sound instead.
“So I used white scales for the inner lining and black scales for the outer layer to make this vest. The scales are woven together with the dragon sinews you brought.”
“It’s not a dragon, just a big snake.”
“That IS a dragon. Now go brag that you had armor made from dragon scales.”
She’d set aside a few scales. To boast to her future customers that she’d worked with such rare materials. Smithing was her pride.
“I was thinking full-body armor, but you gave me two vests.”
“Give one to your master.”
Bai Li smiled.
“Mm, you care for my master when I don’t even think of it.”
“He’s practically your father, isn’t he? I need to make a good impression early.”
“Hm?”
“What?”
Ju-seong tilted his head in bewilderment. Why did this woman need to make a good impression on his master?
Maybe she planned to visit someday and ask for some elixir.
His master did have a weakness for people who approached him with warm smiles… it might actually work.
‘Maybe he’d give her a century-old dried fleeceflower or something.’
Ju-seong muttered inwardly as he tried on the vest.
“Oh, it’s light.”
Ju-seong exclaimed, and Bai Li nodded.
“That’s what makes it a treasure. Only royalty or high military officials would have armor made from such materials.”
-CLINK.
Ju-seong picked up the second scale vest.
This one was slightly larger, as Bai Li had adjusted the sizing based on descriptions of the Divine Physician’s build.
“Ha, seriously… Did my master save jianghu in a past life? To have a disciple like me and enjoy such luxury.”
Bai Li laughed, covering her mouth at Ju-seong’s prattle.
“Our tribe will always be around here, so visit often. You can come with your master too.”
“Mm, it’s not too far, so I’ll bring him for introductions sometime.”
Ju-seong readily agreed. The ingredients to treat Mo Wol-hyang’s condition had all been completed within his own body.
Now his master could leave the courtyard house and venture outside.
Of course, whether that stolid man would willingly go traveling was another matter.
‘Mm. About a day and a half’s worth of qinggong travel. I’ll rough it on the road tonight.’
Ju-seong calculated the distance, then hopped in place a couple of times. The feeling of the ground gripping his feet felt fresh.
“Alright, let’s go.”
The sky over Shu was unusually clear today.
“Hahahaha!”
Thinking of the familiar faces he’d see, his chest swelled with excitement.
Ju-seong unfurled his qinggong, racing through the grassland like a reckless bird.
* * *
Weiji Baek was hauling salted meat, spices, rice, and fish from the village at the foot of the mountain, carrying them on an A-frame up the mountain path.
His pace was leisurely and calm, as if on a taoist ramble.
Since that fortune-teller had visited, he’d taken to walking home the long way around the mountain whenever he went out.
“Nice scenery.”
Gazing at the distant horizon where a thin cart-path stretched, he watched to see if a familiar figure might appear.
He’d stand staring absently at the sky, listen to birdsong, or watch insects climb trees.
“Like a senile old man.”
Weiji Baek shook his head. His heart was restless, and for seventy years of life, was his equanimity really only this much?
It was Great Misfortune.
Ever since hearing those two characters, his chest had been so heavy that he often wandered these mountain paths.
He always stopped at the spot where his disciple had done his morning cultivation and mental training.
A bit removed from the courtyard house, with a clear view stretching far into the distance.
The boy could have cultivated inside, but he’d always climbed out here to do his practice.
“Now that I think about it, that brat does have a sense for atmosphere.”
He seemed to relentlessly push himself without any leisure, yet he managed to examine everything worth seeing along life’s path.
Beautiful scenery, human warmth, stylish clothes.
Perhaps his understanding of such things kept him from being consumed by that terrible killing intent.
He examined the ground beneath the rock where his disciple had always sat. Red earth was exposed… there were signs of being dug up and refilled.
The Divine Physician tamped down the area with his foot, then headed back down the mountain path to return to the courtyard house.
“Wol-hyang, I’m back.”
The Divine Physician quietly announced his return. No answer came.
“Asleep?”
He tilted his head.
Lately, as her condition had greatly improved, she was awake more often. When he returned home, she usually poked her face out the door to greet him.
Then the Divine Physician felt a chill down his spine and quickly activated Heavenly Nose.
‘Unfamiliar scent.’
He frowned. He could smell blood and steel. Swordsmen had come and gone.
He dropped the A-frame and moved.
-CRASH!
He threw open the door to Wol-hyang’s quarters… no one there, just scattered furniture and bedding.
“Damn it!”
His face twisted like a demon’s as he turned his head. The scent trail still formed a traceable path. Could someone who’d mastered Heavenly Nose not follow even this?
Just as he was about to launch into qinggong, an elderly voice struck the back of his head.
“Homeowner, ignoring a guest without even offering water before leaving?”
Weiji Baek turned to find a short old man standing in the courtyard at some point.
He’d sensed neither his presence nor his scent until now.
His appearance was unremarkable. It was rather close to unimpressive, actually.
Goatee beard with white hair showing his age, dressed in a refined scholar’s robes.
Yet this man who emanated no aura at all, who looked even weaker than a commoner, had fooled Weiji Baek’s senses.
“…Who are you?”
“Just happened upon a quaint little courtyard house midway up the mountain, so I took the liberty. Homeowner, instead of hurrying off, why not share a cup of tea?”
At the sneering tone, Weiji Baek’s eyebrows shot up instantly. A red glow flared in his pupils.
His hair seemed to stand on end with towering rage, and an aura befitting the alias ‘Death-Playing Demonic Physician’ spread to fill the courtyard.
Weiji Baek snarled like a tiger.
“If you don’t want to be torn apart and pickled, tell me truly where that child was taken.”
The old man stroked his beard and smiled.
“Beautiful flowers make everyone want to pluck them. To be blunt, the White Lotus Cult’s people from Tianshan took her.”
The people of Tianshan. In other words, White Lotus devotees had kidnapped Mo Wol-hyang.
“So you’re a dog of the White Lotus Cult.”
The old man laughed hollowly.
“You ask if I’m their hunting dog?”
Murmuring quietly, the old man took one great stride forward.
As he did, the aura that had filled the space… Weiji Baek’s aura… was swallowed up and vanished by a mouthful.
‘What is this…?’
How could such a thing be? When aura met aura and one was pushed back or shattered… that was normal.
But one step from someone emanating no aura at all, and a martial artist who’d achieved Three Flowers Gathering saw his aura fade?
“Those ridiculous religious followers are my hunting dogs and slaves.”
The old man continued slowly.
“Child, why can’t you lift a finger? Isn’t the enemy you’ve searched for your whole life right here before you?”
Who was he to call Weiji Baek, in his seventies, a child?
And the enemy he’d searched for his whole life?
‘Ah.’
Only then did Weiji Baek realize this old man’s identity. The fog in his mind cleared, and he saw the truth.
‘This is my Great Misfortune.’
Weiji Baek steadied his wavering pupils and spoke.
“…So you’re one of those senile old fools called the Four Fiends or whatever.”
“You see correctly.”
Nodding casually, the old man looked Weiji Baek up and down.
That gaze made Weiji Baek feel as if his skin was being flayed open, exposing his organs, bones, and all three dantians.
“My, my. Awkwardly too weak for me to kill personally, yet too strong to throw to my unripe young wolf.”
The old man tilted his head as if troubled, then suddenly vanished, reappearing behind Weiji Baek.
“I’ll have to tenderize you a bit before I leave.”
Before he could even see him move, he’d relocated. As Weiji Baek twisted around to throw a palm strike…
-SQUELCH.
A low sound of piercing flesh, and Weiji Baek realized the old man’s fingers had sunk deep into his left shoulder.
-SLIP!
When the old man withdrew his fingers, they revealed nails sharpened like a demon’s claws.
A jet of blood spurted high. In that split second, Weiji Baek realized the old man had disrupted all the meridian flow in his left half.
“Grrgh…!”
“Will this be enough? Forgive me. The disciple I’m raising is quite incompetent.”
Murmuring thus, he casually raised his palm and generated shadowy energy.
Weiji Baek quickly raised his arm to block with a forearm guard. His arm bones rang with a CLANG, vibrating all the way to his shoulder.
-BOOM…!
“Oh?”
The old man stepped closer with interest and struck another palm.
Weiji Baek gritted his teeth and used Crimson Lotus Palm forms to deflect the old man’s force.
“Not bad. A step below the so-called Ten Greats Under Heaven, though.”
Murmuring, the old man suddenly extended his palm.
‘What… ?’
Weiji Baek expected a burst of palm force, but felt no energy.
-WHOOSH!
Suddenly a strange pulling force acted on him, dragging his body.
‘A suction technique? No. My entire internal energy is being pulled.’
Not a mere technique for sticking to ceilings.
A bizarre sensation of his meridian flow twisting, his dantian’s energy being drawn toward that old man’s palm.
‘Absorption…?’
Losing balance and breaking defense, taking a hit was inevitable.
-THWACK!
A fist was buried in his side. This one landed cleanly.
“COUGH!”
Bright red blood dripped down his white beard.
“Well then.”
The old man gave a mocking little nod and kicked open the courtyard gate. A sharp sound pierced the air.
-WHEEEEE… !
He’d put fingers in his mouth and whistled high. As if calling a dog.
A man’s figure shot up from somewhere below.
The old man gestured toward Weiji Baek with his chin and said.
“Eat.”
Eyes like a hunting dog stared at Weiji Baek.
Meanwhile, the old man was already using qinggong to depart, his scholar’s long robes billowing as he vanished somewhere.
As if this next part wasn’t worth watching.
“Great Misfortune, Great Misfortune…”
Weiji Baek murmured the words several times before smiling slightly.
“Bad fortunes always do come true.”
Though he still had so much left to do, it felt like the Yellow Springs were right before his eyes.
Yet Weiji Baek was rather cheerful.
He wiped the blood from his lips and smirked.
“Senile old man, acting so superior. My disciple-raising is better than yours.”
No matter how he looked at it, that dog-like bastard was a hundred times worse than his own disciple.