Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 29 - Release the Chickens

Chapter 29 – Release the Chickens

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Ju-seong felt a throbbing sensation in the back of his head. Just then, Red Beggar suddenly accelerated and shouted.

“Hey, you bastard!!!”

Like when they first met, his voice without a drop of internal energy seemed to make the entire abandoned manor ring.

He stepped forward and grabbed the arrogant beggar by the collar.

Already displeased with the state of this neat beggar den, he had enough.

“Hey you bastard, I am also a branch head somewhere else, and I came all the way from Henan Province to see your branch head, what are you going to do about it? A beggar being this arrogant is a first for me too. What a joke, you bastard, you rootless punk.”

‘What is the root of a beggar…’

Ju-seong standing behind fell into contemplation listening to Red Beggar’s words.

The arrogant beggar seemed completely cowed by Red Beggar’s force.

He was a branch head from another region, and not a guest to take lightly.

He showed displeasure but still stood up and brushed off his rear.

“Follow me.”

Having said that, he suddenly vented by kicking the slow-witted beggar and knocking him over.

“Damn it, stop grinning. I hate looking at you. Go sit in a corner today.”

“Ow, ouch.”

The beaten simple beggar groaned and fell over. But the other beggars around either pretended not to see or openly mocked the sight.

Ju-seong watched the spectacle while licking his upper lip with his tongue. They were quite unsightly. Already his goodwill toward the Qingling County Beggars’ Sect was being carved away in chunks.

They were guided to the innermost part of the abandoned manor. Ju-seong observed the beggars’ faces as they went.

Some wore relatively neat clothes, while others were dressed like true beggars.

Some were beaten, others did the beating.

Through the wide-open doors of the hall due to the hot weather, inside a man in clean clothes was stacking iron coins on a table and recording something like a financial ledger.

“The beggars here seem to earn well?”

When Ju-seong asked the arrogant beggar guide, he snorted.

“So beggars are supposed to just panhandle and beg all their lives?”

“Then what do they do to earn money?”

“Ah, that is none of your concern.”

Ju-seong was now holding back for the second time. When Ju-seong stared intently at the back of the arrogant beggar’s head, the man suddenly hunched his shoulders and trembled.

“Ah, wh-what is it?!”

“Hm? What is the matter?”

“No, just now…”

“What?”

Ju-seong shrugged both shoulders and played innocent. It was not intentional, but it seemed he had unconsciously harbored hostility and killing intent had leaked out.

The arrogant beggar struggled to calm the goosebumps that had risen all over his body. His legs were trembling so much he could barely walk properly.

Red Beggar chuckled quietly at the sight, though he was newly surprised by the killing intent Ju-seong had revealed for an instant.

Having fought together twice, he had occasionally sensed it, but indeed this man’s killing intent was no ordinary thing.

‘His killing intent is unusually thick. Is it a characteristic of the martial arts he trained…?’

Ju-seong’s internal energy, while somewhat rough, felt majestic and pure in nature. But the martial arts he used, the Three Yang Fist, seemed specialized for real combat and seemed to have many killing moves.

Of course, this was because Ju-seong’s own killing intent acted to instinctively twist his forms.

Not knowing Ju-seong’s constitutional background, Red Beggar could only speculate that way.

The branch head’s quarters were located at the very back of the abandoned manor. Even before approaching, sounds of a man and woman enjoying intimate pleasures pierced his ears.

The arrogant beggar looked back and smirked.

“My, it seems the branch head has important business. Shall you just go back today? Come now, if you were a guest too, would you not be annoyed to have your relief interrupted?”

“Ah, you arrogant bastard.”

Ju-seong chuckled and tilted his head at an angle to glare at the beggar. The arrogant beggar glared back at Ju-seong.

“Ah, the branch head is busy, what do you want me to do about it? Huh? Can you not hear? He is having a good time. Why are you cursing at me?”

Ju-seong wore a chilling smile as he replied.

“A good time? Only he is enjoying it, you sleazy bastard, you boot-licking flatterer who licks the branch head’s rear.”

Ju-seong was a man who had thoroughly trained both the Celestial Hearing and Celestial Nose. Though his level might not rival that of the ancient monk Xuanzang, his senses were markedly keener than other martial artists of the same level.

He heard suppressed moans and smelled the stench of breath thick with fear, along with sounds suggesting sadistic pleasure.

Ju-seong instinctively realized this branch head was an utter wretch. He took a deep breath and shouted with internal energy.

“Chapter head! Come out and see me! A beggar should be diligently panhandling in broad daylight, but you are here doing foul things to a woman, what kind of situation is this!”

No sooner had he finished than the hall door banged open and a one-eyed man emerged. Despite being a beggar, he was neatly dressed with a fierce countenance.

When a person passes forty years of indeterminate age, the way they have lived remains on their face. One who has established their will and lived righteously, even if originally ugly, develops a certain air.

One who has lived like this one-eyed man, even if originally plain-faced, becomes unpleasant to look at.

The man glared at Ju-seong with his remaining eye and spoke.

“Foul things, you say. You barge in uninvited and speak out of turn. Hey, So-hong, did I do foul things to you?”

Behind him, a young woman covering her body quietly shook her head.

Ju-seong quickly scanned her. She was thin-bodied but had fine, delicate features that men might covet.

Given her thin body, she seemed to normally not eat well, yet her body smelled of perfume sachets and her hair was sleek as if just washed.

It appeared she was a beggar woman whom this man had forced to bathe so she would sleep with him.

‘A gap of about twenty years I would guess, filthy bastard.’

Of course, it was only circumstantial evidence.

If he were an orthodox sect person, he would not be able to properly confront this one-eyed man who was after all the branch head of a region. There was no physical evidence.

But Ju-seong was not the kind of person to care about such things. He quietly squatted down and set aside the two chickens he had been carrying under his arms.

“There, fly free.”

The chickens shook their heads as they pleased and bustled away.

The one-eyed man looked down at Ju-seong as if he were crazy.

‘Why is he releasing chickens in someone else’s yard and carrying on? And telling chickens to fly?’

Ju-seong paid no heed to his gaze, stood back up, and spoke.

“I noticed quite a few boys without limbs.”

The one-eyed man shot back.

“Is it strange for there to be cripples among beggars?”

That was true. Those with physical difficulties had trouble making a living and often fell into becoming beggars.

But why were those missing one of their four limbs gathered so uniformly?

Ju-seong twisted his lips.

He raised a finger to point precisely at the one-eyed man and said.

“You cut them off, you bastard. Huh? Where do you get off pretending you did not, you piece of shit!”

His anger rose as he spoke, so by the end he was outright screaming.

No sooner had he finished than the one-eyed man drew the club at his waist and charged. It seemed he could no longer tolerate Ju-seong’s cursing.

Chapter heads had something called a Dog-Beating Staff, which served as a punishment tool for disciplining beggars.

Red Beggar used a long bamboo staff, while this one-eyed man used a sturdy boxwood club.

-Whoooosh!

Perhaps he had bought spiritual medicines with money earned as branch head and consumed them, for the internal energy in the club was considerable.

But he was clearly no great master, so Red Beggar did not even intervene and just stood with arms crossed watching.

He was now more furious than Ju-seong.

‘So this is the reality…’

Of the Beggars’ Sect. Self-governing bodies scattered disorderly by region. The hereditary branch head position was frankly just like being the chief of a martial sect.

Because there was power, some did not hesitate to commit heinous deeds.

The Beggars’ Sect, which should be a haven for the powerless and cast-out, was a demon here sucking the blood of the weak.

“Damn it…”

Red Beggar ground his teeth. Just then, the branch head’s underlings were barging in with various weapons.

Red Beggar untied the gourd at his waist and gulped down liquor. Fiery alcohol energy spread through his limbs. Due to the cultivation method he trained, the alcohol energy entering his body temporarily amplified his internal energy.

Of course, there was no need to amplify internal energy just to deal with these dregs.

Right now, he simply needed the liquor.

The subordinates surrounded him with weapons, each grumbling.

Red Beggar stood nonchalantly drinking liquor, surrounded by subordinates who held clubs, broken swords, and butcher knives… all with bloodstains caked on their weapons. Gripping his own Dog-Beating Staff firmly, he stepped forward to deliver judgment as a branch head.

Ju-seong and the one-eyed man’s fight was heating up.

The one-eyed branch head was called One-Eyed Wolf in this area.

Because he harbored wolfish vicious methods and sinister schemes.

Yet his martial arts themselves were rather flashy and violent. Being middle-aged, he had achieved some level and reached first-rate, and murky yang energy could be felt from his club.

Already over twenty exchanges had passed, but this was because Ju-seong wanted to observe his opponent’s martial arts.

Being new to the martial world, when he met an opponent inferior in skill, he wanted to prolong the fight as much as possible and take in their techniques and forms.

-Swoooosh!

Ju-seong stared straight at the club grazing right past his nose, then immediately stepped in close and grabbed One-Eyed Wolf’s wrist.

“Where do you think you are going!”

One-Eyed Wolf kicked with internal energy, but Ju-seong calmly raised his shin to block and applied a grappling technique with both hands.

He had seen enough, and aside from powerful sweeping strikes, nothing particularly impressive.

The sounds of rustling and tearing fabric burst forth, followed by the sound of human flesh being rent.

“Gaaaaah…!”

One-Eyed Wolf rolled back his remaining eye and screamed in agony. His forearm bones were shattered, and his elbow was bent the wrong way.

Ju-seong most favored palm techniques and grappling among the Three Yang Fist.

He liked palm techniques for the exhilaration of pouring internal energy through the palm, and grappling was appealing because it let him ruthlessly subdue opponents with less effort.

Grappling in particular suited Ju-seong, who did not have much internal energy.

Ju-seong kicked with his heel to shatter One-Eyed Wolf’s knee, then threw a palm strike to smash his left shoulder too.

“Aaaaugh! You bastard, why are you doing this to me, huh? To someone who was minding their own business, why…”

Ju-seong, finding the man’s voice grating, threw a punch to smash out all his front teeth.

“Making noise and disturbing the neighborhood.”

One-Eyed Wolf glared at Ju-seong with resentful, furious eyes.

‘He was just screaming his head off too.’

When Ju-seong looked behind him with the situation settled, Red Beggar had already subdued all the Qingling County Beggars’ Sect subordinates.

“Oh, um.”

Ju-seong stroked his chin, slightly surprised as he narrowed one eye.

It was because all their heads were smashed in, and they were dead.

Red Beggar stood with his bamboo staff planted upright, looking down at their corpses with sunken eyes.

Come to think of it, Ju-seong himself had to refrain from killing due to his constitution, but Red Beggar did not. Since these men who had committed all manner of evil following One-Eyed Wolf, there was no reason to spare them.

Ju-seong looked down at the fallen One-Eyed Wolf before him, then grabbed him by the hair and began dragging him across the manor grounds.

“Where are you taking me?”

“What? I cannot understand you with no front teeth.”

“Where are you…”

“Ah, where am I taking you?”

Ju-seong’s lips curled up chillingly. He answered briefly.

“To ask.”