Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 182 - The Tracker
Chapter 182 – The Tracker
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Ju-seong left the courtyard house and climbed to a high ridge.
The place where he had meditated and cultivated every dawn.
How could he forget? Here he had witnessed the harmony of creation and all things between heaven and earth with admiration, and shared pleasant conversation with Wol-hyang who would come at dawn.
Ju-seong had found red earth exposed beneath the rock where he used to sit cross-legged.
Above it, someone’s footprints were firmly pressed as if tamping down the soil… his master’s footprints.
“…”
Ju-seong brushed over those footprints once, then dug deep into the soil with his fingertips.
What was buried beneath was a wooden box. It looked familiar.
Ju-seong opened the box and examined the scentless pill inside.
It was a Three Talents Five Elements Pill.
This pill was completed with three spiritual medicines and five poison cores. What remained here, with only the three medicines added, was an incomplete product… hence its lack of fragrance.
Ju-seong stored it in his breast, then closed his eyes briefly before slamming his head into the rock.
-CRACK!
Stone powder fell in a shower, and cracks spread across the rock like a spider’s web.
Ju-seong slammed his forehead into the rock again and again to steady his heart.
The rock was already cracked like a worn rag, and blood streamed down Ju-seong’s forehead.
“…Get a grip.”
Ju-seong muttered to himself, then threw his head back and inhaled deeply.
“Hssssss.”
Using Heavenly Nose, trails took shape. The scent was two days old. In other words, the incident had happened two days ago.
His master had lain in that spot like a corpse for two days, maintaining a thread of life as he waited for his disciple to return.
Ju-seong clenched his fists and drew the scent as deep into his nasal cavity as possible.
Lady Wol-hyang’s scent, and the smell of blood and steel.
“And I smell horses. They traveled on horseback.”
Then there was not a moment to lose. A martial artist could sometimes be faster than a horse, but for stable, sustained travel, horses were superior.
Moreover, they might be changing horses as they traveled.
“Think I’ll let you escape?”
Ju-seong gritted his teeth with icy eyes. He wanted to chase the one who had harmed his master, but his master’s instructions had been stern and absolute.
These were his final wishes… how could he not follow them?
The repeated head-smashing was precisely to calm his heart for this reason.
Ju-seong suppressed his festering, rotting feelings and kicked off the ground, leaping up.
-TAT-TAT.
A beast-like figure stamped on tree branches as he raced down the mountain.
* * *
Ju-seong followed the scent trail northwest. His master had instructed him not to be consumed by killing intent until the end, but…
“Huu, huu…”
Ju-seong was already running in a half-maddened state. Dried bloodstains crossed his face, and his breathing was regular but extremely rough.
Red light streamed from his eyes, as if trailing tails along his running trajectory.
It was impossible to suppress his killing intent.
‘I’ll catch them and tear them all apart.’
His fury at his master’s killer was misdirected toward his current prey.
Rational judgment was difficult.
Even his running form was like a beast’s.
This was because he was using a different movement technique than his usual qinggong.
It was the Ten-Thousand-Li Roving Hound.
This was originally Red Beggar’s martial art, not Ju-seong’s. A movement technique performed on all fours… its appearance was so unsightly that Ju-seong normally wouldn’t even think of imitating it.
But its running power far exceeded ordinary qinggong.
Though he had never specifically learned Ten-Thousand-Li Roving Hound from Red Beggar, Ju-seong already knew its principles and mechanics.
Ju-seong ran like a wolf chasing prey.
It was literally a beast’s pursuit. He didn’t take human roads, and if untrodden rough terrain was a shortcut, he crossed it without hesitation.
-CRACK!
A wild boar roaming the mountains had its neck snapped by a figure that suddenly leaped out.
Ju-seong drew the Crimson Iron Flying Knife and severed the beast’s head, then greedily gulped down the spurting blood.
No matter how exceptional Ju-seong was, he couldn’t use qinggong without eating or drinking.
At least he was proficient enough in the principles of dynamic cultivation to do something like circulating energy while running, but…
A person cannot live on spiritual energy alone. Ju-seong took raw game and plants along his path to save time.
If he spotted medicinal herbs or bamboo shoots, he pulled them up and ate them raw. Large animals had their throats cut on the spot for the freshest blood.
“Krrgh…”
There was no human here anymore.
Beast had caught beast, that was all. Inner energy dwelled in all living things, and arterial blood flowing through the veins was that energy’s carrier.
Ju-seong felt vitality surge through his body.
Of course, the boar’s inner energy wasn’t stored in Ju-seong’s body to enrich his spirit.
Because it was a different species’ energy. Even between humans, taking another’s energy had side effects… how much more so with animals?
But it had the effect of temporarily boosting vitality.
Ju-seong wiped his mouth casually.
The Cradle of the Demonic Path bastards must have deeply researched this principle to discover how to completely take another’s energy.
In Ju-seong’s mind flashed the image of his master’s withered body.
“I’ll kill them all… !”
Ju-seong roared and buried his muzzle in the boar’s neck, sucking out every drop of blood.
Then, feeling the vitality coursing through his limbs, he moved on.
* * *
There was a two-day gap between the kidnappers and Ju-seong.
Ju-seong traveled by qinggong, while they rode horses.
From what he could tell, they were force-marching while changing horses. Ju-seong couldn’t easily outpace them in speed, but…
‘They camp and rest.’
Ju-seong moved day and night like a madman, crossing hills and mountain passes like a wild animal.
Ju-seong did sleep, but could it be called sleep?
Running on all fours, then like a shot tiger collapsing in some remote thicket for an hour or two, lying like the dead, then getting up and running again.
If they were force-marching, what should his pursuit be called?
The gap slowly, but steadily, narrowed.
Qinghai.
That name was synonymous with “the distant Western Regions” to Central Plains people.
Not a completely unfamiliar world, but unless you were a merchant, a place you’d never visit in your lifetime.
Nomadic peoples who lived lives on a different track from the Central Plains were there.
Stars and moon rose and set without signposts over the plains.
A place said to be nothing but horizon in every direction for ten thousand li.
He’d heard that mountains rose like saw teeth to the west with bizarre rock formations, but the southeastern area bordering Sichuan was a blue-green grassland.
There, Ju-seong caught up with them.
Ju-seong quietly concealed himself in the darkness and observed their movements.
He saw a large carriage. It was the kind a VIP would use… surely Wol-hyang was inside.
Pressing his cheek to the ground and using Celestial Hearing, he could hear their conversation clearly from half a li away.
An unfamiliar accent. Probably the Xinjiang dialect.
“Why are you urging such haste, Left Envoy?”
“The Sect Master wishes to embrace that woman as soon as possible, so how can a devotee disobey his command?”
Ju-seong narrowed his brow slightly.
‘Left Envoy of Light?’
One of the highest positions in the White Lotus Cult, ranked directly below the Sect Master.
But the voice seemed too young for such a person.
‘Was he recently appointed?’
Listening further, he understood the reason.
“After the previous Left Envoy perished in a mutual destruction with the Right Envoy, the faction that served the Mysterious Woman has been showing signs of unrest. If the Sect Master secures this woman now, and goes further to embrace her, it would be immensely helpful for the Cult’s stability.”
The Mysterious Woman was a holy woman worshipped by the White Lotus Cult.
Originally, the White Lotus Cult worshipped a strange goddess called the Unborn Venerable Mother.
The leader of the White Lotus Cult, the Sect Master, was this Unborn Venerable Mother’s proxy.
But at the same time, doctrinal issues arose since receiving the Unborn Venerable Mother’s will should be done by another woman.
Thus the Mysterious Woman received and conveyed the Unborn Venerable Mother’s oracles, while the Sect Master carried out her will.
The Mysterious Woman was the mouth; the Sect Master was the hands.
Naturally, their authority was evenly matched, so generation after generation the White Lotus Cult had inevitably split into two factions.
From what he gathered, the Left Envoy was traditionally of the Sect Master’s faction, while the Right Envoy belonged to the Mysterious Woman’s faction.
‘So the Sect Master’s faction is currently dominant. But why does the Sect Master want Lady Wol-hyang?’
If another man coveted his woman, he should rightfully be furious, but Ju-seong was calm.
A beast, when approaching prey, must be cautious and silent like a gentle breeze, yet violent as a thunderstorm when pouncing.
In any case, the previous Left Envoy died along with the previous Right Envoy. From what his master had told him, Wol-hyang was the Right Envoy’s daughter.
That her father had passed was unfortunate, but the fact that the current Left Envoy was a greenhorn was good news.
Judging by the voice, he seemed to be barely past twenty at most.
Ju-seong lowered his stance and slowly crawled on all fours.
The carriage’s shadow stretched long in the campfire light, and Ju-seong used that shadow as cover to advance.
Closer, ever closer.
There were a total of five martial artists.
The Left Envoy, and men who appeared to be his subordinates.
He couldn’t immediately determine who was at the peak level and who wasn’t, but there were definitely at least two peak-level experts among them.
‘I’ll take out one to start.’
Ju-seong killed his presence. As if he didn’t exist in this world at all, silent as the swaying grasses.
“I’ll step away to relieve myself.”
A short-bearded man said this as he dusted off his pants and stood.
The Left Envoy was about to tell him to take a companion, but thinking that nothing could happen in this wide-open grassland, he nodded indifferently.
The man walked quickly behind the carriage, apparently quite urgent.
Unfortunately, his bladder didn’t match his hurried mood… his stream was rather poor.
“Ugh, damn.”
The flow wasn’t satisfying, but he seemed content enough as he shook himself off…
When something cold suddenly brushed past his neck.
No, was it something hot?
Hey, come help me out here.
He wanted to say that, but words wouldn’t come out no matter what, which was frustrating.
‘What kind of ghostly trickery is this?’
That was his last thought.
Ju-seong’s sharp eyes gleamed in the darkness as he gently caught the collapsing martial artist’s body with his left hand.
In his right hand, a long needle emitting an eerie glow shone in the night.
Ju-seong was now combining multiple poisons for use.
Wood poison and water poison combined had remarkably potent effects.
The moment he inserted the needle precisely into the back of the neck, water poison ravaged the nerves and senses. The victim couldn’t properly feel pain or death.
Meanwhile, wood poison rapidly grew tumors that blocked the airway, preventing calls for help or breathing.
“…”
Ju-seong slowly counted time.
Since the man who went to relieve himself wasn’t returning, someone would come looking.
They seemed to be cautious types with jianghu experience, so it would take less than half a quarter-hour.
Ju-seong crouched again.
No sounds came from the campfire, but soon they would be exchanging glances among themselves.
And the Left Envoy would silently gesture with his chin, commanding someone.
To find out what happened to the one who wasn’t returning.
-STEP, STEP.
One of the silhouettes by the campfire stood. The lengthening shadow held a long saber in one hand.
Ju-seong pressed his body against the carriage wall and crouched.
He was poised to spring at any moment.
-STEP, STEP.
The footsteps slowly decelerated as the man approached, maintaining a proper guard stance. These were indeed no easy opponents.
But he couldn’t have anticipated this.
The man rounded the carriage’s corner.
Eyes adjusted to the campfire’s brightness couldn’t immediately spot Ju-seong hidden in the carriage’s darkest shadow.
If he had been just a bit more experienced, just a bit more cautious…
He would have closed his eyes briefly before rounding the corner to adjust to the darkness.
But the man didn’t know. How vicious a thing lurked in the darkness.
The last thing the man saw was something that seemed to grow from the darkness itself, lunging toward him.
‘A viper?’
The viper struck swiftly, biting hard into his neck and tearing.
The man belatedly realized it wasn’t a viper at all, but a human.
And that this human had bitten out his throat.
And that he had precisely torn out his artery.
Bloody flowers bloomed in the night sky.
Ju-seong turned his gaze toward the Left Envoy, whose eyes had widened as he watched.
The beast that had pursued them for seven days and nights bared blood-stained white teeth in a chilling smile.