Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 76 - No, Don't Laugh
Chapter 76 – No, Don’t Laugh
===================
Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
“Squad leader, sir… I need to use the bathroom.”
“…”
The guard standing watch at the inner courtyard rear gate bowed his head under the squad leader’s fierce glare.
“Go.”
The guard nodded repeatedly and disappeared, wiping cold sweat as he went. The squad leader watching him go quietly shook his head.
“Can’t even overcome a bit of indigestion and leaves his post…”
Had the man at least been so gassy he was constantly breaking wind, that might have been excusable. Otherwise, he would have assumed he was shirking duty and refused to let him go.
The squad leader was at first-rate level himself, so he was able to alleviate the indigestion that had invaded his belly through skilled breathing circulation.
It was then.
-Swish…
A streak of light sliced through the night air.
The squad leader’s eyes widened as he drew his sword, simultaneously deflecting the needle flying toward him.
In that brief instant, sword resonance sang as bright energy wrapped around the blade.
But a second needle followed right after the first and lodged in the guard’s neck.
This was the moment Ju-seong’s hidden weapon technique, Mother-and-Child Dart, shined.
Ju-seong, hiding in the shadows, reviewed his technique.
‘Come to think of it, the leading needle is the child and the following needle is the mother. Isn’t the mother the one who follows up on what the child couldn’t manage…? I wouldn’t know, having grown up without one.’
Since he had loaded the needle with Purple Golden centipede poison, even though it hadn’t hit a paralysis point, the guard stood stiffly frozen.
Without the poison, this wasn’t an opponent he could have subdued so swiftly.
“What kind of pleasure house guard is a first-rate master? Is this crazy?”
Ju-seong muttered while examining the paralyzed guard standing there.
A first-rate level was enough to be considered a middle-ranked member in any sect. In prominent orthodox sects, that meant at least second-generation disciple status, usually first-generation.
So a first-rate master was a level that commanded reasonable respect in the martial world… it made no sense for such a person to be guarding a pleasure house.
Wasn’t “first-rate” a term reserved for the very best in any given field?
‘So this must indeed be the Sichuan Province headquarters.’
Ju-seong muttered inwardly, thinking that if he had tried to break through head-on without using poison, it would have been quite difficult.
Vajra Pavilion was so massive it was hesitant to call it merely a pleasure house.
Just the fact that it was divided into inner and outer courtyards was telling.
Actually, the outer courtyard was more splendid, with a six-story pavilion standing against the backdrop of the Jin River.
The inner courtyard, by contrast, was mostly secluded and quiet annexes.
Some were for receiving important guests, while others were probably quarters for Vajra Pavilion’s refined and beautiful courtesans.
Perhaps martial artists of first-rate or above also resided here, so caution was warranted.
Ju-seong briefly waited in ambush, then quickly subdued the returning guards from the privy with thrown needles as well.
“Gack!”
“Gurgh!”
Two men made strange cries and stiffened on the spot. Silver veins stood out vividly on their necks, spreading like spider webs.
Poison accumulated through the Toxin Accumulation Incantation was originally consumable. But poison ingested from spirit creatures’ poison sacs regenerated over time even after use.
That was the case with the Purple Golden centipede’s poison and the Heavenly Silkworm Moth’s poison.
What Ju-seong mainly used was the Purple Golden centipede’s paralysis poison. Combined with the paralysis effect, it also dealt tremendous pain, so it served excellently as punishment.
Already, three of the guards had rolled their eyes back and were foaming at the mouth.
Probably from the pain alone, their tendons were snapping and their muscles were contracting, making it unlikely they’d ever use martial arts again.
“It’s a bit awkward to say this in front of people writhing in agony, but… You smell too much of evil, so I figure you deserve at least this much. I’m uncomfortable playing judge like this. Ah. I’ll be borrowing Squad Leader’s clothes here. The night wind is cold… Please bear with it.”
Ju-seong took the first-rate martial artist squad leader’s clothes and penetrated into the inner courtyard.
From the beautifully dressed courtesans occasionally passing by who said nothing upon seeing him, it appeared that guards in this uniform frequented the inner courtyard.
The courtesans, knowing themselves to be premium merchandise, were careful and meticulous in every step they took.
In short, it was similar to a craftsman handling fragile porcelain… except in this case, they treated themselves like porcelain.
Watching them, Ju-seong felt somewhat melancholy. After all, people weren’t porcelain.
He remembered the head madam from the Full Moon Tower when he first met the Divine Physician.
The memory of beating that madam until she cried tears of blood was still vivid.
Yet the women here seemed to treat themselves like objects with no sign of dissatisfaction.
This too was their own choice, so Ju-seong had no justification to beat anyone up.
“That’s that, and I need to do what needs to be done.”
Ju-seong crouched in a secluded spot and tried to listen to sounds transmitted through the ground.
Following the incantation of the Celestial Hearing, internal energy circulated and stimulated his upper dantian as his hearing expanded.
Numerous footsteps were in disarray. The inner courtyard was quiet and serene, but in reality, quite a number of people must have been stationed here.
The most quiet or the most noisy place would be the core of the inner courtyard.
Either the security was so tight around where high-ranking individuals resided that it was silent, or many people would be coming and going to report and receive instructions.
Meanwhile, Ju-seong realized there was also space beneath the ground level.
‘Some kind of shelter, perhaps.’
Once the empty space registered in his senses, Ju-seong probed it further. The exact shape was vague, but he could tell it was fairly large.
Quite a number of presences were felt there too, but beyond that, the situation was unclear.
“Is the headquarters chief down there?”
Ju-seong murmured quietly.
While doing so, he glanced toward the outer courtyard… the planned commotion hadn’t occurred yet.
‘That pathetic bastard didn’t get caught, did he?’
Ju-seong had brought Dong-sam along for this task. Why he brought that fellow, even Ju-seong himself wasn’t quite sure.
A feeling that if he gave him a job, he’d do it well; a feeling that working with him might bring good luck…
You could say he’d brought him along as a good luck charm.
But now, in hindsight, he wondered why he’d brought someone who wasn’t even a martial artist along.
It was then.
“What are you doing right now?”
A soft voice struck Ju-seong’s ear. He flinched, startled that he hadn’t noticed a mere commoner courtesan approaching.
It was because his entire focus had been concentrated on sounds from far across the ground.
The Celestial Hearing was a miraculous technique bordering on supernatural powers, but the one using it was merely human. There were limits to how much information the human upper dantian… that is, the brain… could process.
When Ju-seong looked up to see who had spoken, she was a true beauty capable of toppling kingdoms.
A beautiful woman in beautiful silk stood there primly, looking down at him.
Ju-seong had been crawling on all fours, head buried like a street beggar.
‘I need to stay calm.’
An ordinary person might have been instantly enchanted by such beauty, but fortunately, Ju-seong had been considerably trained by Lady Wol-hyang’s looks.
He cleared his throat and stood up, quickly devising an excuse.
“I was looking for earthworms. My elderly mother is ill, and the physician said brewed earthworm tonic would help her improve.”
“…Couldn’t you just buy them at an apothecary?”
“I’m trying to save money.”
“So you were catching earthworms during work hours?”
“My apologies. But my shift hasn’t started yet, so I was doing something else for a bit.”
The courtesan stared at Ju-seong, then smiled crookedly and asked.
“Do you even know what my name is?”
“…Actually, I don’t know. I’m only interested in my wages.”
“Did you know? The guards who live in the inner courtyard absolutely never speak politely to courtesans.”
“…”
Ju-seong stared at the courtesan for a moment, then straightened up and composed himself.
“Sorry, but you’ll need to sleep for a bit.”
At his words, the courtesan wrapped her arms around herself flirtatiously.
“My… Are you saying you’ll lay hands on a delicate woman?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
When Ju-seong extended a hand wreathed in crimson internal energy, completely unbothered by her seduction tactics, the courtesan urgently stopped him.
“Wait, wait, just a moment. Hear me out before you decide, won’t you? …Nameless hero.”
“Hero? Where do you see a hero? I’m a proper Vajra Pavilion guard here.”
At Ju-seong’s question, the courtesan’s face briefly twisted.
“…If you’ve secretly infiltrated this den of scum, then to me, you’re a hero regardless.”
Ju-seong stopped his attempt to knock the courtesan unconscious by pressing her sleep point, and asked.
“A den of scum, you say… May I ask why you describe it so?”
The courtesan hesitated, looking at Ju-seong, then slowly began to speak.
“Young courtesans who haven’t yet spent their first night keep disappearing. It didn’t happen when I was young, but ever since the current Pavilion Master arrived seven years ago…”
“Haven’t yet spent their first night…”
Ju-seong stroked his chin in thought.
“Are they being sold to the wealthy for some perverted practices?”
“This is something I wouldn’t know… But when the current Pavilion Master arrived, I had already spent my first night, so I wasn’t taken. But the new young courtesans who come in disappear before I can even get attached to them…”
“Do you have any idea where they’re going?”
The courtesan lowered her voice and answered.
“…The basement. I remember quite a bit of construction was done when the current Pavilion Master arrived. After that, the inner courtyard’s atmosphere became as bleak as it is now… The guards were completely replaced too, and the new guards treat us like we’re not even human.”
Ju-seong nodded and looked the courtesan up and down. Come to think of it, guards were people too… it made no sense they wouldn’t be warm toward beautiful courtesans like her.
‘That’s as natural a phenomenon as yin and yang attracting each other, and a man’s instinct.’
Probably the guards who worked there before the current Pavilion Master treated this courtesan the same way.
The fact that they were acting cold toward courtesans and looking at them like cattle despite being men meant they had undergone training harsh enough to suppress their basic instincts.
‘The power of the Ten Thousand Ears Gang must be far greater than I thought.’
They were commonly seen as just a collection of small fry who dealt in information.
They were included among the Twelve Demonic Paths only because of their numbers, information network, and secrecy; the common assessment was that their actual military force didn’t measure up.
But the more he dug, the more Ju-seong felt that the Ten Thousand Ears Gang was hiding depths beyond what was publicly known.
“Alright. Then please tell me the location of this basement.”
“If I tell you, could you take me out of here?”
Ju-seong narrowed his eyes and stared at the courtesan.
Everything this woman had said so far might all be lies, and the entire conversation might have been a honey trap.
‘Everything this woman says seems like the truth, though…’
Her heartbeat and breathing were stable. But could he rule out that there were people who could maintain even heartbeats and breathing while lying?
Moving around with a woman of unknown secrets in tow wouldn’t be wise.
“Moving together is impossible. As for taking you out, I might make a promise then die trying to keep it, so that’s difficult too.”
“Oh…”
The courtesan sighed softly and was about to show her disappointment when Ju-seong continued.
“If what you suspect is true and terrible things are being committed here, and if I’m lucky enough not to die here…”
He looked straight at the woman and spoke.
“You wouldn’t need me to take you out anyway. You’ll be free. I’ll stake everything on killing every last one of them.”
The woman, catching a glimpse of flames flickering in Ju-seong’s eyes, averted her gaze as if burned.
‘What kind of eyes…’
When people speak of passion in one’s eyes, they usually mean emotional agitation.
But what rippled beyond this man’s pupils was the wildfire of nature.
Flames that simply ran wild, turning the palaces of princes and dense jungles alike to ash…
Ju-seong tilted his head curiously at the courtesan suddenly showing fear, then asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Curious, righteous people like you tend to die young. I thought I might remember your name at least.”
Though it could be taken as a harsh curse depending on how one heard it, the courtesan replied indifferently.
“What righteousness does a worn-out courtesan have… It’s Seol-ran.”
“Mm, good. Lady Seol-ran… Please explain to the person coming over there.”
“Huh? Who’s coming…”
Just as she spoke in confusion, a guard suddenly appeared and snapped at Seol-ran.
“Du Jeong-pal. You have a customer waiting. What are you doing loitering around here?”
Seol-ran narrowed her eyes and said.
“I asked you not to call me by that name…”
“Pfft!”
Suddenly, laughter burst out. Both Seol-ran and the guard looked toward the source… Ju-seong was in the middle of slapping his own cheek.
“My apologies.”
The guard narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Ju-seong.
“What are you?”
Seol-ran also narrowed her eyes and pressed.
“You laughed just now.”
Ju-seong put on a grave expression and answered.
“I didn’t laugh. And sir, if I might introduce myself…”
Ju-seong moved as if to place a hand on his own chest for an introduction, then abruptly struck out with a short, cutting palm strike.
-SMACK!
A faint impact sound came from the guard’s forearm reflexively raised to block.
Then Ju-seong’s combo pummeled the body of the man whose arm muscles had ruptured in both arms.
-Thp-thp-thp-thp-thp-thp…
Actually, there was no need to hit him this many times, but Ju-seong needed time to control the laughter threatening to escape.
Laughing at someone’s name was rude after all.
After finishing the beating, Ju-seong also shattered the man’s dantian with a final palm strike, then pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead and bantered.
“That was close to disaster! Thanks to the lady diverting attention, I could subdue him well.”
The lady watched this in silence, then asked again.
“You laughed just now.”
“Goodness… You must have seen things. You must be under a lot of stress.”
“What’s your name?”
“It’s Ju-seong.”
“Master Ju, then.”
“I don’t have a family name… Anyway, soon everything will be in chaos, and things will turn absolutely insane, completely crazy. When that happens, run straight to the outer courtyard and find a rat-faced fellow. He’ll guide you.”
“How would I recognize a rat-faced fellow…”
“You’ll know when you see him. Anyway… Let’s meet again later, Lady Jeong-pal. If possible.”
Ju-seong left his arbitrary message and flew off toward the direction the woman had indicated.
The woman fiddled with her sleeve cuff and watched the direction Ju-seong had disappeared, then murmured quietly.
“He laughed.”
Meanwhile, hiding in the darkness, Ju-seong was pinching his thigh hard, then decided that wasn’t enough and slapped his own cheek again.
‘No, don’t laugh, you crazy bastard.’
He finally calmed down and raised a cupped-fist salute toward the direction he’d come from.
‘I only laughed inside, but anyway, sorry for laughing, Lady Jeong-pal…’
Walking into the darkness, Ju-seong felt his mood lighten thanks to the woman named Jeong-pal.
Perhaps that meant equally terrible things awaited him in that basement.
Ju-seong steeled his heart.