Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 72 - Why Make a Good Kid Cry
Chapter 72 – Why Make a Good Kid Cry
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The man known as Uncle Gongsun in the back alleys, Min Chun-gi, had no particular connection to General Gongsun Zan of the late Han dynasty.
It was just a name he devised when he needed a new identity while fleeing after drawing the ire of his family.
Among double-character surnames, it wasn’t from a great house, and when looking for a surname many people used, this was all he could think of.
Gongsun Chun-gi sounded a bit strange, so he went around introducing himself as Gongsun Chun. Somehow this got distorted into Gongsun Sam-chun (Uncle Gongsun)…
In any case, that’s how the affairs of the world often flow haphazardly.
And the same went for the scene unfolding before Min Chun-gi now.
A man who clearly wasn’t from this back alley was greeting him with a bright smile that didn’t suit the surroundings at all, calling him General Gongsun.
His subordinate Dong-sam was already cowering on the other side, observing the situation.
He was someone from whom loyalty couldn’t be expected in the first place, so Min Chun-gi didn’t even pay him any mind.
Min Chun-gi glared at the strange man and asked.
“…Who are you? Who are you to meddle with Dae-woong and Cheong-gwi…”
“Your customers and underlings are beaten to a pulp lying around, and you’re more concerned about the crickets?”
“Ha… What rotten luck bringing all this on me.”
Min Chun-gi twitched one eye corner spasmodically and drew a Judge’s Brush from his waist. No questions asked… he intended to beat the man to death first and think later.
“What an elegant weapon.”
Ju-seong sneered while looking at the Judge’s Brush in Uncle Gongsun’s hand.
The Judge’s Brush was an iron awl shaped like a brush, primarily used to subdue opponents by striking pressure points and vital points.
Uncle Gongsun seemed to have properly learned some sword techniques, as he assumed a rather solid guard stance.
Ju-seong was leisurely approaching to get a feel for his opponent when he noticed the man fiddling with something at the handle of the Judge’s Brush.
-Click, BOOM!
Ju-seong instantly widened his eyes and quickly moved his hand, drawing up internal energy.
-CRASH!
A crimson palm force expanded in size as it swept across Ju-seong’s front, and all sorts of fragments that had been pouring toward him were swept away with it.
When the smoke cleared, Uncle Gongsun was nowhere to be seen; only the Judge’s Brush lay abandoned on the floor.
The Judge’s Brush had by then split into several pieces, with smoke wafting from it.
“Gunpowder…”
It was a disposable hidden weapon made by packing gunpowder inside the Judge’s Brush and pressing various metal fragments on top.
The plausible guard stance creating the impression that he would fight properly, while striking at the vulnerability… his skill was truly an art.
‘That looks useful.’
Ju-seong kicked at the damaged Judge’s Brush and thought. If you scaled this up to the size of a person’s body, it would be truly remarkable.
“Anyway, where did this guy run off to?”
Ju-seong tried to track Uncle Gongsun’s scent, but it was difficult since his repulsive smell permeated every direction.
It was only natural since this was where the man normally lived.
However, there was ultimately no need to search.
-CRASH!
Because the basement ceiling broke through and Uncle Gongsun came dropping down.
Ju-seong waved his arm to disperse the dust and raised one eyebrow.
“Hey, this is…”
-SWISH!
A blade came rushing through, parting the dust cloud.
It wasn’t just an ordinary slash… its range covered roughly a quarter of the basement.
“What the hell…!”
Ju-seong hurriedly used the footwork of the White Phoenix Nine Heavens Movement Technique to retreat.
Ju-seong regained his senses and looked Uncle Gongsun up and down.
He was dressed like a general on the battlefield.
A lamellar armor covered his entire body, and he held a massive crescent moon blade. He must have detonated the Judge’s Brush to buy time, then quickly gone upstairs to equip his martial gear.
Both the crescent moon blade and the lamellar armor were clearly no ordinary items.
Ju-seong spoke, dumbfounded.
“You know that’s illegal, right?”
“That’s why every witness has to die.”
The court didn’t permit civilians to wield polearms over six chi long.
Of course, whips and such were exempt, and those shaped like spears were strictly regulated.
In that sense, that crescent moon blade was an item that would be confiscated immediately if caught by the authorities, and the owner would be arrested too.
It was truly a weapon that armored cavalry on the battlefield would wield.
-WHOOOOM…!
Witnessing its power firsthand, Ju-seong could understand why the authorities forbade it.
Despite clearly being a lower-level opponent, it was difficult to close the distance and subdue him.
Perhaps properly trained in military martial arts, he wielded the massive crescent moon blade freely.
Surprisingly, this man was at the same peak level as Ju-seong. Of course, it seemed like an unstable cultivation forced up through consuming elixirs.
He also seemed to have difficulty extracting and releasing sword energy from the crescent moon blade.
Even so, they were evenly matched.
It was startling that mere equipment could bridge such a gap in cultivation.
-CLANG!
Ju-seong struck the blade of the crescent moon blade with his palm technique, but it didn’t break, perhaps because it wasn’t made of ordinary metal, nor was it knocked away.
The flexible pole shaft bent and absorbed all the impact.
But the crescent moon blade was a heavy weapon.
No matter how nimbly one handled it with military martial arts, blocking all of an expert’s movements was a difficult task.
Applying grasping hand techniques to deflect the crescent moon blade, Ju-seong charged in like lightning.
“Gurgh!”
An elbow strike to the solar plexus sent Uncle Gongsun flying backward with a suppressed groan.
However, the impact wasn’t as great as expected, as he spun in midair.
And then he dragged the back blade of the crescent moon blade along the floor, braking his flying body.
-SKREEE!
“Ha, you’re wearing good armor too. Did you steal the treasures of some military family?”
Uncle Gongsun was the type who preferred silence during combat, unlike dark path men.
On the contrary, if a stranger saw them, Ju-seong might look like the mischievous dark path minion, while Uncle Gongsun might look like a martial artist from a prestigious family.
-SWOOSH…!
The crescent moon blade swept horizontally in a wide arc.
Spotting a large movement for the first time in a while, Ju-seong immediately attempted to close in.
The crescent moon blade had swept in a semicircle, with the blade now behind Uncle Gongsun’s back.
But the moment Ju-seong saw Uncle Gongsun’s lower hand subtly move, he threw himself sideways.
-BOOM!
Again, a hidden weapon using gunpowder.
The lower part of the crescent moon blade’s shaft had been used as a muzzle, once again spewing metal fragments.
‘I thought the shaft was too thick.’
Hidden inside the wooden shell was an iron rod. And inside that rod, gunpowder and fragments had been hidden.
He was using military martial arts and gunpowder in tandem.
Could he really be someone like a disowned son of a military family?
His skill at lighting fuses with a fire stick while moving his hands subtly was hard for even Ju-seong’s eyes to follow.
It wasn’t simply fast hand movements… the technique was almost a martial art in itself.
But judging from Uncle Gongsun’s dismayed expression, his tricks seemed exhausted.
Ju-seong, having dodged the metal fragments.
Before his thrown body even touched the ground, he pushed off the floor with his palm to change direction.
-CRASH…!
Then he increased his body’s weight using the Thousand-Pound Weight technique. He rammed into Uncle Gongsun like a massive meteor weight.
“Ack!”
Uncle Gongsun coughed up blood, and Ju-seong began his combo attack in the gap while his breathing was disrupted.
For Ju-seong, who had learned fist and leg techniques, a one-hit kill against a high-level opponent of similar rank was difficult.
Naturally, he had become practiced at chaining techniques combining grasping hands, fist techniques, and palm techniques.
-Whirl.
The pole shaft of the crescent moon blade was stiff at the bottom due to the iron core, but flexible at the top.
The flexible pole shaft and Ju-seong’s arm became entangled.
He hooked his middle finger like a claw and firmly wrapped around the pole shaft to lock it.
-CRACK!
Uncle Gongsun’s face reddened as he drew up internal energy, but he couldn’t break Ju-seong’s single finger.
The bones and tendons strengthened through Samadhi Body Refinement training, and the powerful internal energy of the Flame Crow Six-Stage Art, made it impossible.
“You bastard!”
Uncle Gongsun spat vulgar curses while moving his remaining hand frantically.
Tiny sparks danced in the air.
-BOOM!
It was another use of explosives.
This time, the center of the man’s chest plate had burst open.
A thick iron plate designed to protect the wearer while sending all fragments toward the opponent was built in.
But the one who actually took damage was Uncle Gongsun.
“…”
Ju-seong had extended his empty left hand in front of Uncle Gongsun’s chest.
The pitch-black hand guards on his hand.
They had blocked all the fragments.
Rather, fragments that had deflected off the curve of Ju-seong’s palm had torn up Uncle Gongsun here and there.
“Keh… Urgh.”
Ju-seong immediately knocked out the staggering Uncle Gongsun, then took measures to stop the bleeding.
He intended to begin interrogation as soon as the man woke up.
“Damn. That seriously hurt…”
Ju-seong grumbled while removing his hand guards. His left hand was completely covered in red bruises.
It was fortunate that Ju-seong’s skin and muscles had become extraordinarily sturdy.
Under normal circumstances, even with hand guards made of Heavenly Silkworm Silk, his hand bones would have been shattered to pieces.
Ju-seong grumbled as he applied ointment to his hands, wondering how a back-alley gang boss could use gunpowder managed by the military so freely. “As if others can’t use it because they don’t want to?”
Originally, why was gunpowder called huoyao, meaning fire medicine?
Alchemists attempting to make an elixir of immortality had invented gunpowder by accident while trying various combinations.
Naturally, Ju-seong, who had inherited the oldest lineage of alchemy in the Central Plains, also knew how to make gunpowder.
“Hmm… Why is a back-alley gang boss so strong? Dong-sam, do you know anything?”
Dong-sam had already propped a table up like a wall and was hiding behind it.
He poked his head out from behind the table and answered.
“I don’t know his personal history well, but anyway, that bastard is a real piece of work.”
“You’re a piece of work too, you punk.”
“I’m a piece of work too, but this guy is really different. You could say he’s a famous son of a bitch in Chengdu’s back alleys… He looks proper, right? But it’s all just a facade. Why would a guy with martial skills like that hole up in a place like this to begin with?”
“Hmm… That’s true.”
“Just assume he does every kind of human trafficking business you can imagine.”
“Quite the General.”
“Ugh.”
“You didn’t participate?”
“I’m from the North Gate slum, and I became a gangster to stop the debtors there from selling their kids.”
Ju-seong tilted his head with interest as he looked at Dong-sam. At the look in his eyes, Dong-sam hesitated before adding.
“But honestly, since the money I collected and turned over was probably used for human trafficking, I’m not exactly proud of myself either.”
“That alone puts you in the top ten percent down here. Morality score: seven points.”
“Why did you dock three points?”
“Because you’re still a gangster, you punk.”
Ju-seong sat on a chair that was more or less intact and chatted with Dong-sam to pass the time.
He was clearly a gangster, but strangely enough, they got along well.
“Huh? That bastard woke up. Uncle Gongsun, if you’re awake, say something. Why are you eavesdropping so creepily? You’re about to get beat up by Sir Ju-seong here.”
“Wow…”
Ju-seong considered loyalty to evil people worthless. But aside from that, he thought this bastard was a real bat of a specimen.
Uncle Gongsun glared at Dong-sam with a look that could kill him. But when it came to staring contests, Dong-sam was practically at the peak level.
“What are you looking at? You want Sir Ju-seong here to pluck your eyeballs out with ink?”
Ju-seong now realized: looking at this Dong-sam fellow, he saw an overlap with his past self.
Memories of tagging along beside the Divine Physician, acting as his wingman, came to mind, and a quiet laugh escaped.
Ju-seong pulled a needle from his waist and approached Uncle Gongsun, who had regained consciousness.
“Now, General Gongsun. Let’s have an intimate conversation. I’m actually not very personable, so people don’t like to tell me personal things. But…”
The tip of the needle reflected the lamp light and gleamed white.
“This long needle here, Master Jang, is so sociable despite not being able to say a word that… People even tell him how much they have in their underwear pocket. Isn’t that amazing? Come, say hello, Master Jang. This is General Gongsun.”
A heated conversation between General Gongsun and Master Jang began.