WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Asakusa

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ A Wandering Warrior's Survival Guide ◈

Chapter 28: Even If They Call Me Heretical (3)

──────

He was volunteering for the scouting unit without a moment's hesitation.

“Even if I tell you there's a high chance you'll die?”

Cheon Hwi was not frightened by those words. He was not so young that he could not understand what death was. Han So-gyeom could tell that much. His swordsmanship made it clear that he was not some reckless child who failed to recognize danger.

Yet Cheon Hwi's answer remained just as straightforward.

“Is there any work without the risk of death when you live with a sword in your hand?”

That was true enough.

Han So-gyeom let out a small laugh. He found himself rather liking Cheon Hwi now. The youth seemed more promising than the new recruits who had looked like a useless rabble.

“Wait before the north gate tomorrow, before sunrise.”

* * *

Before the dust on the training ground had even settled, news spread quickly. In the Murong Clan's Inner Hall, people were more careful than usual after hearing of Murong Jun's defeat.

Even if Murong Jun was from a collateral branch, a martial artist of the clan had lost to an outsider from the unorthodox faction. It was the sort of time when people watched even a single cough.

Still, one person could speak loudly.

It was the Outer Hall Chief Steward, who oversaw the annex where the Guarding Martial Authority's martial artists stayed.

“Is it true you arranged that test for Cheon Hwi?”

“Who knows?”

Han So-gyeom answered as though it were nothing, but the general manager seemed to have already guessed.

“No one but Cheon Hwi passed.”

“No one else seemed worth using.”

“His talent, enough to defeat Murong Jun, is certainly surprising. For unorthodox riffraff who only picked up third-rate martial arts, that is.”

It was the Murong Clan's usual way of speaking freely when the person in question was absent. The dismissive words about Cheon Hwi strangely grated on Han So-gyeom.

“He could have defeated an even stronger swordsman.”

“Even Lady Rin?”

“Well... I am not sure about Young Lady Rin of the direct line.”

“Not sure?”

Han So-gyeom, deputy leader of the Guarding Martial Authority's White Night Unit, leaned casually against the window and gave a slight shrug instead of answering. It was an ambiguous gesture, neither agreement nor denial.

From the general manager's perspective, that too could only have been unpleasant.

Who was Murong Rin? She was the Murong Clan's quiet pride and source of confidence.

Known as the Golden Jade Flower among the Five Flowers of the Martial World, she was one of the five greatest beauties in the Martial World.

Furthermore, she possessed one of the greatest martial talents among the Murong Clan's direct line. One faction within the clan even openly called her the young clan head and supported her as such.

Han So-gyeom merely rose and spoke as he left.

“Select three Outer Hall warriors and send them to the north gate tomorrow morning.”

At Han So-gyeom's dry order, the general manager's eyes widened.

“Even for a scouting unit, you mean to send only four people, Cheon Hwi included? Black Pheasant Valley, the Black Path Alliance's stronghold, is a death trap layered with killing formations.”

“No. One person will come from the Guarding Martial Authority. We will need a guide to lead us through the rough mountain terrain.”

The adjutant, having read Han So-gyeom's look from afar, followed behind him and asked cautiously.

“Deputy Leader, surely you do not intend to go yourself? You must lead the vanguard of the main subjugation force. Going in first with the scouting unit and exhausting yourself... If the White Night Unit Commander learns of this, it will be difficult to avoid reprimand.”

“The commander will understand.”

The deputy leader of the Guarding Martial Authority was going to infiltrate while posing as a mere guide?

It was an irrational decision that the normally cold-headed Han So-gyeom would never make.

Han So-gyeom waved away his adjutant's objection. An intrigued curve touched his lips as he raised his teacup.

‘That murky, bizarre energy. I need to get to the bottom of that guy myself.’

Among the equipment he had brought, Han So-gyeom found a human skin mask.

It was not some cheap item that would be exposed the moment someone looked closely. It had been made at great cost to fit tightly against the skin and settle naturally into place.

It was the sort of thing only a deputy leader of the Guarding Martial Authority could possess, receiving every kind of support necessary to achieve its goals, without distinction between orthodox and unorthodox means.

* * *

Cheon Hwi sensed from the very start that this mission would not be easy.

“We will move quickly to Black Pheasant Valley, our destination. We will have to run for an entire day.”

‘...What?’

When he heard they would move quickly, he thought they might ride horses. But they were going to run?

The three Outer Hall warriors and the martial artist from the Guarding Martial Authority began running as though it were only natural, using their lightness skills.

For Cheon Hwi, who had not learned any proper lightness skill, it was torment.

Some raced across the ground with quick steps, while others surged forward in long strides, bounding as though they were skimming the earth.

Cheon Hwi, however, had no choice but to run using pure physical strength.

‘I've still got a long way to go.’

The shoddy imitation of Serpent-Shadow Step he had half learned could not serve as a proper lightness skill. At least when they ran along a path, he could keep up even if he fell behind.

During a rest stop, Han So-gyeom approached Cheon Hwi. The human skin mask and the acupoint he had pressed on his throat had altered his voice slightly.

“Have you not learned a lightness skill?”

Taking it as a rebuke from the squad leader, Cheon Hwi nodded cautiously, sweat pouring down him like rain.

The other martial artists were also catching their breath after using their lightness skills for four hours, but the leader's breathing was not disturbed in the slightest.

“Yet you still managed to follow us.”

Han So-gyeom clicked his tongue inwardly. Perhaps he had taken an interest in someone who had less to him than expected.

“I will teach you the basic principle of all lightness skills. At their root, they use inner energy and qi to lighten the bones and body. Unless you have learned some unusual movement technique.”

“Lighten my bones and body? Is that even possible?”

“Inner energy lets you lift what you normally could not lift, and cut or break what you normally could not cut or break. Why should the reverse be impossible?”

“...”

“Movement arts, footwork, and lightness skills differ in their principles, but they are bound to overlap to some extent.”

Come to think of it, that was true. This was the Martial World. If that was the fundamental principle...

Cheon Hwi thought as he steadily drank water from a bamboo tube.

Han So-gyeom watched the deeply engrossed Cheon Hwi with curiosity.

‘The forms he displayed during his spar with Murong Jun were martial arts I had never seen anywhere.’

If Cheon Hwi had created them clumsily on his own, the connection between each form still had a clear logic. There was a beauty in their restraint that could not be dismissed as mere random blocking. There was only one conclusion to draw from that information.

‘He has the makings of a grandmaster.’

The realm of a grandmaster. The realm where one created martial arts suited to oneself.

‘If those martial arts really were not taught by anyone, but created by him alone...’

With no more than that hint, he would surely be able to trace the flow of his footwork back into a movement technique, then turn a movement technique suited to him into a lightness skill.

Han So-gyeom looked at Cheon Hwi's face, shrugged, then turned to the three resting Outer Hall warriors.

“We are leaving.”

Cheon Hwi had only just begun to catch his breath, but he bit his lip at the announcement.

‘I have to do it.’

Otherwise, he would collapse from exhaustion before he could even draw his sword.

That was the feeling Cheon Hwi had.

And, surprisingly, about an hour later, Cheon Hwi's speed began to increase beyond comparison with before. It was awkward to call it a proper lightness skill, but the fact that he was keeping pace alone greatly surprised the other Outer Hall warriors.

‘...!’

The three Outer Hall warriors, who had naturally not paid Cheon Hwi any attention, suddenly widened their eyes.

He had clearly been unable to use a lightness skill. Yet in such a short time, he had awakened one on the spot.

‘...What is he?’

Watching him, Han So-gyeom realized something. Just as he could not see the limits of the demonic energy writhing in Cheon Hwi's middle dantian, perhaps he could not see the limits of Cheon Hwi's talent either.

Even after crossing the mountains and entering a densely wooded valley where sunlight could not penetrate, Cheon Hwi did not fall behind.

“Slow down.”

Rustle.

There was a village not far from Black Pheasant Valley. With around twenty households, it could be called fairly large.

What was unusual was that, despite it being evening, no smoke rose from cooking fires, nor could one sense any sign of people living there.

Their purpose was to begin with those eerie, unsettling homes and gradually search farther inward.

It seemed that people had lived there only a few days ago.

There was too much trace of life for it to be a ruin.

Cheon Hwi's senses sharpened.

There was something that only his instincts, shaped by dying several times, could detect. As that unsettling feeling rose within him...

While he slowly searched around a well, killing intent suddenly surged from behind him. Cheon Hwi hurriedly turned by reflex, but...

Thuck!

“Urk...”

Hot blood burst from Cheon Hwi's mouth. From the tip of the dagger piercing his chest, black-blue lethal poison raced madly through his veins and spread through his entire body.

As Cheon Hwi turned, he saw the Murong Clan Outer Hall warrior who had been walking behind him as though watching his back.

‘Betrayal...?’

His vision turned red, and Cheon Hwi's body collapsed heavily onto the muddy ground.

“You insane bastards!”

Han So-gyeom's startled shout reached him through his fading vision.

Then came a flashing gleam.

The hidden martial prowess of the Guarding Martial Authority's deputy leader was overwhelming.

A beautiful line split the moonlight veiled by clouds. In an instant, the heads of the two Outer Hall warriors who had attempted the ambush flew through the air.

Han So-gyeom stood holding his bloodied sword, breathing harshly. His face was twisted with anger and irritation.

“Has the rot begun spreading from near the clan?”

Cursing, Han So-gyeom tore off the human skin mask covering his face.

The face of an ordinary middle-aged man peeled away, revealing his original face with its cold, sharp impression.

Ignoring the dead Outer Hall warriors, Han So-gyeom looked down at Cheon Hwi.

“Tch. He died so pointlessly. I thought he had potential...”

Perhaps he truly regretted it. Han So-gyeom roughly raked his hair as he tried to suppress his anger and irritation.

At the final moment, as his vision went dark, Cheon Hwi's blood-spitting lips twisted into a smile.

‘He's smiling as he dies...?’

That smile sent a shiver down Han So-gyeom's spine.

Through his darkening vision, Cheon Hwi thought about how much stronger he could become this time. And beyond that, what he might gain through Han So-gyeom.

The blood flowing back up his throat was hot, acrid, and painful, but amid those sensations, Cheon Hwi could somehow taste a strange sweetness.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried