Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 35 - What We Can Do
Chapter 35 – What We Can Do
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Ju-seong, who had been running for a while, stopped before a stream.
He wet his lips with his tongue and muttered quietly.
“He erased his scent, damn it.”
Helian Qiu asked with a flustered face from atop his horse.
“He erased his scent? Really? Then how are we supposed to chase him now?”
‘He shows some young master tendencies.’
The man called Helian Qiu had powerful martial arts and seemed to have considerable martial world knowledge, but he appeared somewhat weak when it came to unexpected situations or unforeseen variables.
Those who had walked a smooth road through life were usually like that.
Ju-seong, instead of answering, dropped prone again and pressed his ear to the ground.
‘The man is probably nearby. I hope he is within the detection range of the Celestial Hearing…’
Shortly after, Ju-seong lifted his ear from the ground and spoke.
“Let us head east-southeast. He seems to be in that direction. It looks like he is setting up a hiding place and trying to rest. Since he has erased his scent and concealed his body temperature, he must think he has shaken off the pursuit.”
“Young Brother, your ears are that good too?”
When Helian Qiu asked with a puzzled face, Ju-seong nodded calmly.
“Most people would find it hard to shake off my pursuit.”
“My… I do not know who you are, but I would like to take you to the Martial Alliance.”
“I am currently on a martial world journey… I shall think about it later.”
Ju-seong was an open-minded person. Why should he not be able to join the Martial Alliance? It was a considerable force right in the heart of the Central Plains.
It would be a decent backing for setting his ambitions.
Ju-seong and the martial artists began advancing slowly, suppressing their presence. At this point, even the Martial Alliance warriors dismounted and muffled their footsteps.
Ju-seong climbed the mountainside for a while, then stopped at one spot. He tilted his head and said.
“It is around here… Clearly just ahead, but I see nothing. What is going on? Some ghost trick.”
“Just ahead, you are sure?”
“I am sure. About ten-odd zhang ahead, I hear a heartbeat and breathing…”
Helian Qiu listened to Ju-seong, thought for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a gourd bottle and a fire pouch from his waist.
“It is a formation.”
A formation uses principles like yin and yang, the five elements, and the eight trigrams, which are the basic laws that compose the world, to create certain effects.
One who has reached mastery can deploy a formation using only natural objects.
But usually, one uses “talismanic objects” made by a Taoist who has long studied the arts.
Talismanic objects are items imbued with occult power.
Talismans, stakes, animal blood or bones, turtle shells, rice grains inscribed with spells, ash, salt, and the like are examples.
Usually, formations deployed using only talismanic objects without studying the underlying principles have simple countermeasures.
“Hraaah!”
“Oh.”
Helian Qiu threw the porcelain bottle forward and drew his sword, slashing out sword energy to shatter it.
Then with flowing hand movements, he opened the fire pouch’s lid, placed the flame inside on his fingertip, extracted it, spun it once in the air, and flicked it forward.
Ju-seong exclaimed in admiration at the sight while muttering inwardly.
‘It looks cool, but does he really have to do all that?’
Would the fire blaze bigger if started with elegant technique?
Anyway, the flame caught on the oil, and in an instant, flames flared up.
When the fire spread to a certain degree, the empty air before them momentarily distorted, and suddenly the color and arrangement of the scenery shifted subtly.
What had seemed just a rock’s shadow was, upon second look, unmistakably a cave entrance. It was strange why he had not seen it before.
‘So this is the application of formations.’
Subtly twisting human perception was quite a wondrous technique.
The cave entrance was revealed.
But no one could rashly approach. An unknown force was emanating from within.
It was a yin wind, like the cold, smelly, rough first breath exhaled by Pangu after being trapped in ice for eons and awakening; such a sinister wind was flowing out.
Hands naturally began to sweat, and eyelids twitched.
Ju-seong felt the force prickling his entire body and forcibly twisted up one corner of his lips.
“Quite the atmosphere. Someone might think it is the lair of a great demon king. But he is just a pervert.”
Ju-seong slightly pushed aside the Stillness-Bright Incantation and radiated killing intent. His martial arts might be weaker than that sexual predator, but his inherent killing intent was born with him.
It was enough to split the oppressive force emanating from the cave.
As Ju-seong led the way, neutralizing the oppressive force, the martial artists behind him finally composed themselves and advanced toward the cave entrance.
The inside of the cave was shrouded in darkness. Fighting in there would be considerably inconvenient.
However, their concern became meaningless in an instant.
-Tap.
A pale hand with long black nails extended from the cave and gripped the entrance.
Blue veins stood out on the hand.
Then, a face was revealed from the darkness.
“Huk!”
Helian Qiu involuntarily gasped.
The pale face floating in the darkness was terrifying enough to intimidate the spirit just by its appearance.
Blue capillaries covered the entire face, and the jet-black pupils had expanded so much that, like a beast’s eyes, the whites were invisible.
Black jade-like eyeballs gleamed.
Contrary to the young face, most of his hair had fallen out, and what remained dangled like moss on a turtle’s shell.
It was a face where old age and youth coexisted.
“Demon face…”
Someone muttered in a horrified voice.
Indeed, his face was that of a demon. The demon opened its mouth.
“What have I done that you persecute me so?”
A voice that constricted the heart rang out across the scene.
Helian Qiu felt cold sweat break out on his forehead but stepped forward, as he should uphold the dignity of the Martial Alliance heroes.
“Flower-Snapping Laughing Killer, Byeok Sa-un! A monstrous evildoer who raped and murdered more than fifty women in Henan, Huguang, Guizhou, and Yunnan! The Third Pursuit Squad of the Martial Alliance has arrived to punish you! Meekly receive the blade!”
Ju-seong smacked his lips and muttered inwardly.
‘That is not very persuasive.’
It did not seem like the sexual predator would stretch out his neck and wait after hearing such words.
“Why are you all so eager to torment me? Being born a man, I lusted after women a bit! Is that wrong!”
The disgusting voice spouted sophistry. Surely this man did not even know what he was saying.
The man jerked his head violently, then fixed his eyes straight on the martial artists before him and spoke.
“Damn, not a single woman among them. I guess I will just kill them all.”
Ju-seong folded his arms and nodded.
‘Well, he really is the genuine article of a sexual predator.’
Though deeply steeped in qi deviation, even in this urgent moment, he first looks for women.
Helian Qiu called out in a low voice.
“Martial Alliance Third Pursuit Squad, form defensive formation.”
The Martial Alliance warriors moved in unison, forming a semicircle surrounding the sexual predator. Though they held different weapons like axes, sabers, and swords, the formation had a credible presence.
Usually, forming a battle array in the martial world was only possible for those who had trained in the same cultivation method and the same martial arts. But the Martial Alliance seemed to have some secret that overcame that limitation.
“No matter how you vermin use your petty tricks!”
The Flower-Snapping Laughing Killer howled and charged forward. Nails brimming with poison slashed through the air.
-CRASH!
Claw energy flew through the air. The Martial Alliance warriors hastily raised their weapons to block, but the formation inevitably shook for a moment.
When the formation shook, the sexual predator immediately extended both palms and shot them toward Helian Qiu.
Helian Qiu was also a peak-level martial artist. He drew his sword, its blade ringing, and slashed to cut through the palm force.
“Pursuit Squad! Advance!”
At his short command, the semicircle formed by the squad members instantly tightened, pressing the sexual predator.
“No matter how many push together, you cannot overcome the gap in level!”
The sexual predator roared and dove toward one side of the formation. The warrior standing there crossed the iron clubs in his hands, but the sexual predator struck the crossed point with his palm heart without hesitation.
-CRAAASH…!
An energy wave burst out, and the warrior who took the direct hit let go of his iron clubs and tumbled backward.
His blood vessels were all contaminated by sinister and turbid energy, and he was convulsing with eyes rolled back.
At least because the formation had the help of multiple warriors absorbing the shock together, he was in that state.
If he had taken that attack alone, he would have become a meat patty, his form unrecognizable.
“You are sturdy.”
The sexual predator grinned grotesquely. Through his parted lips, the gums and tongue inside were all blackened and dead.
Helian Qiu clenched his teeth and shouted.
“Pursuit Squad, Chain!”
At his command, the energy of the formation changed from constricting to locking down firmly. A form that would not press the one inside but would not let him escape outside either.
The energy that had been used to press the enemy was now used to reinforce each other, adding solidity.
Then the Five Poisons Valley martial artists added their support from behind.
Yeo Hong-pa and his subordinates drew something long from their sleeves and shot them toward the sexual predator.
-Hiss! Shh!
It was getting dark, so Ju-seong could only make them out by squinting.
‘Snakes… Scorpions… Centipedes.’
They were serpents, scorpions, and centipedes.
Not only the ones being shot, but creatures that slithered out of their robes and flowed stealthily across the ground.
‘They make those things obey commands?’
Cold-blooded creatures could form almost no bond with humans. That was impossible unless they were spirit creatures.
But the Five Poisons Valley seemed to use a peculiar cultivation method to at least make them attack the target their master directed killing intent at.
Ju-seong, being somewhat of an expert on killing intent, could vaguely perceive the peculiarity of the killing intent the Five Poisons Valley martial artists sent out.
It was a thread of killing intent.
They drew out the intent to harm as a thread, connected it to a single target, and trained the venomous creatures to follow that thread.
Creatures like serpents and scorpions were so sensitive to this killing intent that such training was possible.
-THWOOM!
The sexual predator exploded energy from his palms, bursting the bodies of the charging venomous creatures.
But while his attention was on the venomous creatures, the Martial Alliance warriors changed their formation again.
“Kill!”
A change that temporarily disregarded encirclement or suppression, purely for thrusting weapons to kill the target.
“Heeeheehee! Cute little things!”
With a bizarre laugh, the sexual predator drew out ten claws of energy from both hands.
Murky dark green miasmic smoke rose thickly, and they traced arcs through the night sky.
Ju-seong watched the battle, then looked at Red Beggar.
They could not join the formation, and attacking from range was not easy either.
Ju-seong did have ranged attack options.
But unlike the Five Poisons Valley martial artists, he could not designate a target for attack. Without having coordinated with the Martial Alliance formation, if he threw needles arbitrarily, he might accidentally perform unwanted acupuncture on allies’ backs.
The beggar was glaring at the sexual predator with bloodshot eyes. His hands gripping the bamboo staff were veiny, and his shoulders trembled.
He must want to rush in and tear the man apart, but there was no place for him in this fight.
Ju-seong approached Red Beggar and smacked the back of his head to bring him to his senses.
“Ow!”
“What are you staring at? Have you fallen in love? Come with me. We have to do what we can do.”
After saying that, Ju-seong took Red Beggar and entered the cave.