WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Asakusa

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◈ A Wandering Warrior's Survival Guide ◈

Chapter 13: What It Means to Live as a Wanderer (5)

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Cheon Hwi let out a long sigh.

One by one, the wandering warriors looked at him and asked,

“Young Hero... who are you?”

Rather than answer, Cheon Hwi merely swept his gaze over the survivors. Not everyone had made it, but compared to the hellscape at the start, many had survived. He was satisfied.

They continued gathering the bodies. Someone who seemed to recognize the dead spoke up. Cheon Hwi already knew from Gyu Pae's introduction that they were black-path scum from the Blood Serpent Gang.

“They're Blood Serpent Gang bastards.”

“You know them?”

“That's Gyu Pae, deputy leader of the Blood Serpent Gang, known as the Soul-Chasing Saber. Quite notorious around these parts.”

A veteran B-rank wanderer examining the bodies swallowed hard. To think Cheon Hwi had cut down such an opponent so easily.

The wanderers' gazes gathered on Cheon Hwi again.

Their eyes seemed to ask, Who is your master? Which sect are you from?

Feeling oddly as though he needed to explain himself, Cheon Hwi avoided their gazes.

“Thank you, Great Hero. You saved us.”

“Thank you, Great Hero!”

A B-rank wanderer who had recognized Cheon Hwi as no ordinary person approached and clasped their hands in salute.

“Have you come out on a chivalric outing, Great Hero?”

A chivalric outing was when a renowned sect sent disciples into the martial world to test them or give them practical combat experience. At times, they were even instructed to hide their sect affiliation.

In other words, they thought Cheon Hwi was a disciple of a famous sect who had concealed his identity to take the wandering warrior examination.

“...I'm just a wanderer.”

“A wanderer? You just cut off the head of a late second-rate expert and call yourself a wanderer? Then what are we, scarecrows by the roadside?”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Whatever the reason, the tension eased somewhat now that they could truly feel that they had survived such a massive ambush.

“Now, now, don't ask! Can't you see he's embarrassed?”

“No... I'm only grateful and sorry, that's all!”

“Grateful and sorry, my foot! You just want to get on his good side and learn some sublime martial art from him, don't you?”

One C-rank wanderer, who had pointed at Cheon Hwi and mocked him in the Wandering Warrior Hall courtyard yesterday, had gone so weak in the knees that they slumped to the ground.

'That's the guy I laughed at yesterday, before the wandering warrior exam.'

Back then, they had merely snorted and walked on. They now felt immensely fortunate that they had not picked a fight.

Cheon Hwi himself remained indifferent despite receiving the wanderers' reverent stares.

He could have strutted about, but instead he simply searched Gyu Pae's clothes with an uncertain expression.

All he took was one heavy leather pouch.

“Count the dead. Cover any bodies we can't take with us in reeds, at least. We can't leave them here as food for animals.”

The B-rank wanderer let out a hollow laugh. Cheon Hwi was more mature than the adults still struggling to settle their shock at having survived.

* * *

Yi Mu-gwang was burning with worry as he waited.

The sun blazed red over the western ridge. It would set soon. More than half a day had already passed.

The main party had safely reached the meeting place by the official road and was resting while organizing its luggage.

Not a single ant had latched onto their journey. Unlike the decoy cart, they were escorting the real medicinal supplies and valuables.

Iron Mountain Saber Heo Gyeom set a massive saber on the ground and clicked his tongue.

“The sun is setting. At this point, those special detachment fools are probably all crow food. Death and survival are commonplace in war, but still. Tsk, tsk.”

There was little emotion in Heo Gyeom's voice. If anything, Heo Gyeom sounded as though they wanted to stop waiting and leave.

Heo Gyeom asked the merchant company representative,

“Did you intend to throw the special detachment out as bait from the beginning?”

It was not an unreasonable thought.

They had hired escorts, which meant they must have caught wind of an attack.

Paradoxically, the best way to avoid an ambush was not to prepare for it, but to let it happen. While the enemy was satisfied that their plan had succeeded, the real main party could be sent along a safe route. Depending on the circumstances, that could be the surest response.

The merchant company representative only shrugged as if to say they knew nothing.

“Tsk. Don't play dumb.”

Heo Gyeom spoke as though he had already realized that the special detachment had been tossed out as a lump of meat for vermin to swarm over.

The apothecary representative also seemed to think that, after waiting this long, it was over, and nodded.

“The appointed time has passed. We'll cross Baeksu Bridge on our own.”

They had hardly waited at all. By the time they had walked nearly half a day and reached the Baeksu Bridge area, it was already evening. They had not even waited as long as it took to let the horses rest and drink water.

Yi Mu-gwang was convinced the special detachment had been sent out as a disposable hand.

Normally, he would have accepted that this was simply how the lowest reaches of the martial world worked. He would have taken out some liquor, mourned the dead, and turned away.

But Yi Mu-gwang's insides felt as though he had swallowed a brazier.

He spat out the splinter of toothpick wood he had been chewing to swallow his anxiety.

“Damn it...”

'That little brat isn't even my formal disciple. Why am I so worked up?'

Perhaps he had grown attached to someone who learned everything he taught.

Just as the party began preparing to move and cross Baeksu Bridge, cartwheels rumbled from beyond the reed field, followed by the jingle of ox bells.

The wandering warriors of the main party adjusted their bamboo hats and turned toward the sound as one.

A group emerged with the sunset behind them.

Anyone could see that it was the special detachment.

“Oh, they're back,” Heo Gyeom said without much concern.

Then the watchers' eyes widened. Heo Gyeom was among them.

'There was a fight.'

Calling it merely a fight was not enough. The signs of battle were too clear.

At the very front of the group walked Cheon Hwi, drenched in blood from head to toe.

With the red evening glow covering him as well, Cheon Hwi looked all the more eerie.

The attitude of the wandering warriors following behind was equally unusual.

The battle-hardened B-rank wanderers looked as though they were Cheon Hwi's escorts.

A few wandering warriors welcomed them back despite the obvious signs of battle, yet could not hide their confusion.

“That greenhorn is walking at the front?”

Everyone was following Cheon Hwi. Not one person tried to pass him.

It looked as though blood-soaked Cheon Hwi were the leader of the special detachment.

When Yi Mu-gwang had last seen him, Cheon Hwi had been treated like an unwanted leftover among the special detachment.

No one had wanted to speak with him. They had treated him as though he should just trail along at the rear.

'How did that guy get a B-rank badge?'

They had openly treated him that way.

Even C-rank wanderers had quietly looked down on Cheon Hwi.

“Oh, look at that,” Heo Gyeom said.

With his arms folded, Heo Gyeom silently looked Cheon Hwi up and down.

“He seems like a completely different man after tasting blood.”

Heo Gyeom's gaze slid toward Yi Mu-gwang, as if asking what had happened.

Yi Mu-gwang merely shrugged. It was the best answer he could give. He did not know either.

The mission had been delayed by several hours, but it was completed without much difficulty.

Cheon Hwi, who had executed Gyu Pae, deputy leader of the Blood Serpent Gang, was even given a special reward.

“Take it. This is an elixir called a Small Shell Pill. It will help increase your internal energy.”

It was impossible to know whether the apothecary had simply thrown them out as bait, intending to pay cheaply for their lives while safely transporting its true cargo. In any case, word that the apothecary was moving valuable medicinal supplies seemed to have reached the Blood Serpent Gang, causing this mess.

* * *

Yi Mu-gwang stared at Cheon Hwi.

After washing away the blood, Cheon Hwi looked even younger.

That boy, who had yet to shed his childish air, had killed Gyu Pae?

'That makes no sense.'

Gyu Pae.

There was a reason for the title Soul-Chasing Saber. Even if Yi Mu-gwang fought Gyu Pae directly, he could not confidently predict victory. Honestly, he would certainly be pushed back roughly seven times out of ten.

Yet Cheon Hwi did not have even a single stab wound.

And Cheon Hwi had cut down such an opponent without suffering a serious injury.

Was that even possible?

“Draw your sword.”

Cheon Hwi stopped shaking out his wet hair and looked up.

“Yes?”

“Let's check.”

“Check what? W-wait, you mean draw a real sword?”

“That's right. To see whether a ghost has possessed you or me.”

Yi Mu-gwang removed the leather wrapping from his pudao.

Cheon Hwi hesitated briefly, then drew his sword.

Shing.

A few nearby wandering warriors glanced over.

Rumors that Cheon Hwi had killed Gyu Pae were already snowballing among them. With Cheon Hwi and Yi Mu-gwang standing face-to-face, they could not help but watch.

“I can't believe you truly killed Gyu Pae. If it's true, you should be able to block at least my opening move.”

“And if I can't?”

“If you can't? Then you die.”

“Pardon?”

After saying it, Yi Mu-gwang wondered if he had gone too far and shrugged.

It was as if he assumed that if Cheon Hwi had killed Gyu Pae, he would naturally block it no matter what. Yi Mu-gwang was hopeless.

“Here I come.”

The moment he finished speaking, Yi Mu-gwang's pudao moved.

Bang!

Cheon Hwi reflexively raised his sword.

No, the instant he thought he had blocked it, his body was forced backward. His soles scraped a long line through the dirt, and a tingling pain rose through his wrist.

'Heavy.'

Cheon Hwi's eyes widened.

It was different from Gyu Pae's nine-ring saber. Gyu Pae's saber came with stormlike pressure that bewildered its opponent, but Yi Mu-gwang's pudao clung like taffy.

Even after it was pushed away or blocked, it would cling back on, occupy the space, and come flying in again.

The slow and fast trajectories were hard to follow with the eyes. It almost seemed to carry the force of sticky mud.

If Cheon Hwi tried to evade, the blade followed. If he blocked, it pressed in.

The second strike came.

Cheon Hwi hurriedly unleashed a swift-sword form to block it.

Clang!

It was a flimsy defense mixed with the subtleties of the swift sword. He had blocked it, but the defense was closer to improvisation. In a real fight, the blade would have pressed in and cut him down.

Naturally, Yi Mu-gwang did not injure Cheon Hwi and retreated.

“Hmm.”

Yi Mu-gwang's eyebrow twitched.

The swift sword Cheon Hwi used now had strayed far beyond what Yi Mu-gwang had taught him. It had gone beyond the Three Powers Swift Sword Art as well.

Still, its practical effectiveness was not bad.

'It seems he absorbed the forms within the sword art and developed them into sword techniques.'

It was tremendous talent.

Especially considering that Cheon Hwi had only grasped the principles of the swift sword a few days ago.

Martial artists were normally tempered more by a single real battle than a hundred sparring matches, but even accounting for that, Cheon Hwi's swift sword had reached an impressive level.

To check once more, Yi Mu-gwang extended his blade like lightning.

Startled, Cheon Hwi thrust out his sword, but the oddly curved spine of the pudao tapped the flat of Cheon Hwi's blade.

It was a trivial movement.

Yet Cheon Hwi's sword tip was driven into the ground.

“Huh?”

The next moment, Yi Mu-gwang's foot swept past Cheon Hwi's knee.

Thud!

Cheon Hwi landed on his backside.

The nearby wandering warriors held their breath.

Cheon Hwi blankly looked down at his own hand.

Yi Mu-gwang rested the pudao on his shoulder and clicked his tongue.

“Strange.”

“Is it because I'm weak?”

“No. You've grown stronger. Definitely stronger. But... tsk.”

Yi Mu-gwang looked genuinely unable to understand.

“You are still weaker than me.”

Cheon Hwi said nothing.

“Your feet are slow, your wrist is light, and don't even get me started on your internal energy. If we fought head-on, I would put you down ten times out of ten.”

“Then how did I kill Gyu Pae?”

“That's why it's strange.”

Yi Mu-gwang's gaze sharpened.

“The sword you have now is not a sword that can defeat Gyu Pae. Yet your eyes... do not look like they are lying. More importantly, the others say they saw it too.”

Even after being pushed back by the first strike, Cheon Hwi's eyes had followed the second strike's trajectory to the end. Even as he fell, his eyes had checked the position of his feet.

“Cheon Hwi.”

“Yes.”

“How many exchanges did you have with Gyu Pae?”

Cheon Hwi thought for a moment.

If he counted only the exchanges from a single life, there had not been many. He knew he could not win a prolonged battle, so he had focused only on swiftly thrusting at the weaknesses that appeared between Gyu Pae's linked moves to finish the fight.

But if he included all the times he had died, he could not count them.

“By luck, in one... swish... thwack...”

“One swish, thwack? What kind of damned swish-thwack answer is that, you brat? Does that make any sense?”

Yi Mu-gwang snickered.

“Honestly. A martial genius who takes out the Blood Serpent Gang's deputy leader with a swish and a thwack? If the elders of the Nine Sects and One Gang heard that, they'd wake up in shock and faint.”

Cheon Hwi did not answer.

Yi Mu-gwang sighed as though that was simply how it was. Perhaps Gyu Pae's reputation was merely greater than his actual skill, since notoriety tended to spread far and wide.

“Fine. I'll believe you. But don't get the wrong idea. You're still weak. It looks like it's time for you to learn how to handle internal energy in greater detail. Learn slowly, and I'll eat the Small Shell Pill the apothecary gave you.”

“You can't!”

“Heh heh.”

Laughing, Yi Mu-gwang entered the boisterous inn.

The inn had been noisy when Yi Mu-gwang entered, but when Cheon Hwi appeared behind him, it went quiet as a grave before becoming noisy again.

Cheon Hwi did not dislike that feeling.

Yi Mu-gwang adjusted his bamboo hat and climbed the stairs. Casting a sidelong glance at Cheon Hwi following behind, he thought that Cheon Hwi was finally beginning to look like someone who lived as a wanderer.

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