Chapter 195 – Right Here

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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’s mind was busy working even as he walked toward the Maling River gorge. Once his calculations were in order, he would surely profit from this matter.

‘No wait… it’s not my profit… I’m just doing good for jianghu.’

Ju-seong scratched his head for no particular reason.

Currently, the Crimson Spider Sect martial artists were split in two during an internal war.

If Ju-seong intervened and resolved the conflict, the remaining Crimson Spider members would surely be indebted to him.

‘I should divide the Guizhou martial artists in half and deploy them to Yunnan and Guangxi respectively.’

Ju-seong was already inwardly murmuring as if he’d already taken over Guizhou Province, when he suddenly realized he was having absurd thoughts and chuckled.

“Why are you suddenly laughing, Young Hero?”

Yi Pyo-eum asked curiously.

“Just laughing at how arrogant one becomes when one gains power.”

No wonder all those powerful figures and heroes on earth fell from their own arrogance.

The path to the Maling River gorge was treacherous. Everywhere were sects in standoffs, and at major chokepoints, keen-eyed martial artists were invariably positioned.

“The civil war itself is limited to within the Crimson Spider Sect, but other sects in Guizhou can’t help being affected. Depending on who takes the throne, the fates of the sects aligned with each power will be decided.”

“Hmm…”

Ju-seong felt somewhat deflated.

Still, weren’t some of these people comrades who had fought side by side all the way to Guangxi just months ago?

When he voiced this thought, Yi Pyo-eum sighed and nodded.

“Actually, it’s because of the joint expedition to Guangxi just months ago that there hasn’t been any real bloodshed yet.”

“Ah, so that wasn’t useless… it’s thanks to that that things are even manageable.”

Yi Pyo-eum nodded.

“Some sects have become in-laws after people got together during the expedition, and others became closer than childhood friends after fighting together on the battlefield.”

“Mm, battlefields really do have that effect.”

Ju-seong was a martial artist, not a soldier. But he had heard plenty about battlefields.

“Comrades-in-arms, is it.”

Ju-seong murmured with a peculiar sentiment. In the distance before his eyes, martial artists from two factions were confronting each other.

Ju-seong enhanced his Heavenly Eye to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Conveniently, the leaders of the two factions were people whose faces Ju-seong knew.

One was the pure-hearted young man, Young Master Chu Dae-san of the Chu House.

The other was a swordsman from a place called Blue Pine Manor, Hwang Bang-tong.

‘Looking at the situation, it seems like a problem that shouldn’t require fighting…’

As two sects positioned close to the Maling River gorge, they must have been keenly watching each other’s movements.

Reacting sensitively to minor actions was probably common.

“…Young Master Chu, this is rather embarrassing.”

“Same here, Uncle Hwang. Really… I was just taking a look around because my family told me to do some scouting.”

“Even if your intentions are innocent, Young Master Chu, we can’t know if your subordinates feel the same. Honestly, Young Master Chu has outstanding strength but is a bit slow on the uptake, isn’t he?”

At Hwang Bang-tong’s frank words, the Chu House martial artists flared up.

“Hey, Hwang boy! Your speech is excessively disrespectful to the precious eldest son of a noble house!”

“Apologize immediately!”

Chu Dae-san waved his hands.

“Now, there’s no need to get worked up…”

“Young Master Chu! The patriarch can’t trust you because you’re always so wishy-washy like this!”

“That’s right! That Hwang fellow was rude, and that’s a fact!”

The Blue Pine Manor side wasn’t sitting still either.

“What? To the Vice Chief, you call him ‘Hwang boy’? Have you lot swallowed your manners whole?!”

“Sir! Isn’t even Mount Hua’s sword formation afraid of the Chief’s stern blade?!”

“Cut off that bastard’s foot immediately!”

Gradually the fight was heating up, and both sides drew their weapons.

Though each leader’s individual martial prowess was prominent enough to be counted among the Guizhou expedition, they were both terribly clumsy at handling their subordinates.

Eventually, one Chu House martial artist outright kicked and knocked down a Blue Pine Manor martial artist who had been arguing.

The Blue Pine Manor martial artist rolled more than he’d actually been hit, deliberately making it look worse.

“Aigo! That Chu House hunting dog just killed someone!”

“You! Aren’t you afraid of the Chief’s stern sword?!”

“Cut off that bastard’s foot!”

The fight was escalating, and both sides had drawn their weapons.

The two men whose individual prowess was excellent but who were utterly incompetent at controlling subordinates were turning pale…

“Why do I keep meeting rude bastards since returning to Guizhou?”

A chilling voice flowed from somewhere.

-FLUTTER…

A green robe fluttered once, and a strong grip seized the back of the heads of the two martial artists who had been at the forefront of the argument.

“Reconciliation kiss.”

Ju-seong promptly smashed the two martial artists from Blue Pine Manor and Chu House into each other headfirst.

-BBEO-EO-EOK!

Controlling his strength just enough not to crack their skulls, they both collapsed with nosebleeds.

Then Ju-seong approached the Chu House martial artist who had kicked the Blue Pine member earlier.

“You should’ve just argued with words… why kick someone?”

“Wh-who…?”

“An enforcer of justice.”

With that bizarre introduction came a shameless flying kick… utterly devoid of dignity.

-KWANG!

The only problem was that it was a flying kick from a master who had achieved Three Flowers Gathering.

“KUHUH, HEUUUK!”

The Chu House martial artist groaned, clutching his chest with at least four broken ribs.

Despite openly causing chaos, the Chu House martial artists didn’t dare step forward to discipline Ju-seong.

‘…A flying kick?’

‘That’s something thugs do. But why couldn’t we see it?’

‘It wasn’t even a proper technique. Yet no one tracked it.’

They had realized Ju-seong was no ordinary master.

Just then, Chu Dae-san and Hwang Bang-tong welcomed Ju-seong warmly.

“…Captain!”

“Young Hero Ju-seong. It’s been a while.”

Toward them, Ju-seong raised his fist with a gentle smile.

“You lot are the problem too, you incompetent bastards.”

“Ca-Captain?”

“Look here, Captain. I’m approaching forty…”

“Shut it, you incompetent leaders.”

Ju-seong gave both men a beating, then lined up the martial artists from each faction side by side.

He walked before them like a military drill sergeant and slapped each one across the face in turn.

-CHAK!

“You dog bastards.”

-CHEOK!

“When the bosses say not to fight, you should stay quiet… why bark? Hm?”

-CHA-AK!

“Do you know that if you’d drawn blood here today, all of Guizhou could’ve become a bloodbath?”

It was only a matter of time before the fighting inside the Maling gorge spread outward. There were limits to sealing conflicts.

So this was when discipline needed to be enforced. That way, the medium and small sects of Guizhou wouldn’t get swept up.

-CHA-AK!

“Oh my. Falling over. Back to position.”

Above all, Ju-seong found these bastards who had disrespected hierarchy quite galling.

Chu Dae-san and Hwang Bang-tong were both a bit naive but diligent martial artists with solid fundamentals.

Though lacking in cunning, they had virtue enough to deserve their subordinates’ respect.

Ju-seong decided he needed to teach these subordinates a lesson.

Ju-seong approached one martial artist who was particularly swagger-faced and displeased.

“Your eyes look really shitty. What, getting slapped by a young punk makes your righteous spirit boil inside? Makes you want to shout to the wide world?”

“…No sir.”

“No? You look like you want to say ‘who are you to lecture me, kid.'”

“…”

Ju-seong wordlessly drew Sword Aura from his hand, then struck a boulder standing beside him.

-…TU-WOONG!

Guizhou’s rocks were rather soft to begin with.

The huge boulder shattered to pieces, and grayish-white powder scattered over the shrubs.

“…!”

The martial artists’ eyes widened on both sides. Having properly joined jianghu, they might never have witnessed Sword Aura, but they certainly knew what it was.

“Sword Aura…”

One martial artist murmured with his mouth hanging open.

Ju-seong crossed his arms and looked down at the martial artists haughtily. It wasn’t that he wanted to show off his strength.

He leaped up onto an intact boulder and spoke.

“Now… A message from the Mad Dragon of Sichuan, Ju-seong, who led the Guangxi expedition.”

He grinned broadly and continued.

“Pass this on to all those hotheads in Guizhou’s martial world who are all heated up like maidens and bachelors in their prime.”

Ju-seong lowered his voice to a growl.

“Don’t act rashly, and stay crouched in your homes looking at your children’s faces one more time.”

He released just a hint of killing intent to spread thinly as he added.

“Do you think those pathetic bastards holed up in the Maling gorge fighting each other care about you?”

“…”

It was a valid point, so there was no objection. Neither Silver Thread Lady nor Gongsun Su had shown any interest in the situation outside the Crimson Spider Sect.

Ju-seong narrowed his eyes and warned.

“But I’m very interested in you lot. Go ahead and try to fight. I’ll dash over instantly and break the wrists of everyone who fought.”

At the murderous warning, the martial artists on both sides trembled.

“If this message doesn’t get delivered properly. I ask around while passing by, and someone says ‘We didn’t hear about it’… what happens then?”

Ju-seong slowly looked over the Blue Pine and Chu House martial artists.

His gaze was like a viper’s. Just now he’d been exuding a heroic air, and now he felt like a sly, vicious villain.

“I’ve memorized all your faces. I’m a man who holds grudges for a very long time. From today on, focus day and night on spreading the word. So that no one in Guizhou fights.”

After that declaration, Ju-seong called out to Chu Dae-san and Hwang Bang-tong.

“You two, take care of yourselves.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Mm, you too, Captain…”

The two responded awkwardly, and Chu Dae-san suddenly asked as if it just occurred to him.

“But Young Hero, what do you intend to do?”

“Me?”

Ju-seong chuckled.

“I’m going to give those two idiots a beating.”

* * *

Ju-seong stood at the uppermost reach of the Maling River, taking in the panorama of the gorge split like a great wound in the earth.

“It’s a headwater but there are no sentries.”

When Ju-seong murmured, Yi Pyo-eum sighed in reply.

“Right. Honestly… both sister and Gongsun Su are so focused on fighting that…”

All personnel had been deployed at the border of their territories, leaving this vital position unguarded.

Ju-seong clicked his tongue quietly in lament.

“Tsk, such careless folks.”

“Indeed.”

Yi Pyo-eum nodded along, thinking about the possibility of a surprise attack via the upstream. But that wasn’t what Ju-seong meant.

“What if someone poured poison into the upstream headwaters? How would they handle that?”

“…Mm, pardon? Even if poison were poured in, the Maling gorge is so long and the volume so great that it would all be diluted. Even potent toxins.”

At Yi Pyo-eum’s explanation, Ju-seong furrowed his brow and scolded sternly.

“Tut!”

“…?”

“What if someone possessing all five of the greatest poisons in the world comes along… someone who has moreover cultivated poison arts so that he generates those poisons endlessly and can use them without limit?!”

“…Where would such a person exist, Young Hero? That’s absurd.”

At Yi Pyo-eum’s words, Ju-seong tilted his head, then raised both arms to show himself.

“Right here?”

“…Excuse me?”

Yi Pyo-eum doubted her own ears.