WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
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◈ A Wandering Warrior's Survival Guide ◈
Chapter 34: I Became a Rising Star Obsessed Over by Prestigious Clans (2)
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Han So-gyeom's room. Han So-gyeom and Cheon Hwi were speaking in private.
“You turned down the position of external-surname disciple.”
“News travels fast.”
Han So-gyeom merely snorted at Cheon Hwi's indifferent response.
“Did you even know what you were refusing?”
“Yes. I suppose I wasn't hungry enough.”
“Were you that eager to join the Guarding Martial Authority?”
“What? No. I have no intention of tying myself down anywhere.”
As though taking it for a joke, Han So-gyeom snorted and shrugged.
“You so thoroughly ground the Murong Clan's pride into the dirt that hardly anyone in Shenyang City doesn't know by now. Everyone clicks their tongues and says you're out of your mind.”
“Maybe I am out of my mind.”
“This isn't the time for false modesty. I admire the nerve it takes to choose the rough fields over a prestigious clan's glittering shackles.”
For a moment, Han So-gyeom looked at him as though he could not make heads or tails of him.
Han So-gyeom lifted the teapot from the desk and poured tea into a cup. The sound of pouring tea filled the room. He pushed the cup toward Cheon Hwi.
He met Cheon Hwi's eyes with a gaze that seemed to see through everything.
Han So-gyeom narrowed his eyes. The room's once-peaceful air grew slightly heavier for an instant before quickly easing again.
“Did you ever climb a dangerous mountain, fall from a cliff, and happen to spend a night in a cave where you read strange verses clutched by a skeleton?”
“I've never even stood near a cliff.”
“Strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can clearly sense demonic qi in your middle dantian.”
He came right out with it. Cheon Hwi recalled what Han So-gyeom had said when they first met. Had he not carried himself as though he might cut him down at any moment?
“Demonic qi?”
“Have you ever practiced a demonic art?”
“Never.”
“So that is the case.”
Han So-gyeom stroked his chin.
“One reason I infiltrated the scouting unit myself was because I suspected you might be a spy sent by the Demon Cult. But that doesn't seem to be the case. There are no traces of you having practiced a demonic art.”
“You know I've barely learned any proper martial arts at all. I just patch together scraps.”
Han So-gyeom gave a short laugh, as though that was true enough.
“Yes. I can tell just by looking into your eyes that you are not a follower of the Demonic Path. Relax. I know you cannot even open your middle dantian yet. For now, I assume it is simply a matter of your disposition and constitution.”
“So the conclusion is that demonic qi is accumulating in my middle dantian.”
“That is right.”
Cheon Hwi could not say he had no idea why.
Were inner energy and memories accumulated through the Well-Returning Moving Art the only things that built up as he died, died, and died again?
Fear of death, rage, pain, regret, irritation, and killing intent would inevitably cling to his body as well. Since they had nowhere to be released, perhaps it was only natural that they would steadily pile up inside him.
‘Was it accumulating in my middle dantian in the form of demonic qi?’
He had not noticed it in the slightest. Perhaps that was because he could not even sense his middle dantian yet. He still had a long way to go.
“A constitution that accumulates demonic qi in the middle dantian while living... I've seen turbid qi accumulate, but there may not be another person like you in all the Central Plains.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Do you think it is?”
Han So-gyeom clicked his tongue and continued, as though looking at someone pitiful.
“People commonly distinguish second-rate from the beginning of first-rate by whether one has opened the middle dantian. Around the time one reaches first-rate, one begins to vaguely sense it. But demonic qi is building up in your middle dantian, so you will face a greater wall than others when you reach that level. Unless you practice a demonic art, it is obstructive energy that is not even as useful as turbid qi.”
“Then I can just practice a demonic art.”
“You say insane nonsense so casually.”
Cheon Hwi seriously thought that, if the opportunity arose, there was no reason he could not learn one.
If qi deviation became a problem, he could die and die again while trying it. If it did not work, he could give up then.
Han So-gyeom seemed about to explain Cheon Hwi's enigmatic words, which made it hard to tell whether he was joking or serious. Then, with an expression that said he had decided against it, he got to the point.
“Anyway, thanks to you throwing the Murong Clan's pride into the dirt, one thing has become certain.”
“What is it?”
“You are likely to die before you even get the chance to face that first-rate wall caused by the demonic qi in your middle dantian.”
“How can you talk so casually about someone dying?”
“It is almost certain that you will be included in the Vanguard Unit. Which means that if you go as you are now, you have no chance of returning alive.”
“Looks like I've firmly gotten into the Murong Clan's bad books.”
“That is what happens when you act without knowing your place. You are taking talk of your own death rather casually too.”
The conversation continued between one man unfazed by talk of someone else dying and another who was barely affected by talk of his own death.
Han So-gyeom was inwardly surprised by Cheon Hwi's reaction again. Even upon hearing that death lay ahead of him, Cheon Hwi showed neither surprise nor fear.
Die? Then I die, I suppose.
That was the feeling Cheon Hwi gave him.
“I cannot help you directly, but I have arranged for two Guarding Martial Authority agents to infiltrate as reinforcements from other martial clans, and asked them to watch your back.”
That was unexpected.
“Why would you do that much for me?”
“You will learn in time. The demonic qi in your middle dantian may be a talent the Central Plains needs right now. The conclusion is simple. Guarding Martial Authority agents will risk their lives to save you.”
‘...I don't need that.’
Cheon Hwi felt heavily burdened as he listened to what came next.
“If you survive, consider taking on a job for us.”
“What sort of job is it?”
“I cannot tell you now.”
“At least give me a hint.”
“It concerns the Demon Cult. When the time comes, I will explain everything.”
Cheon Hwi merely shrugged. It already seemed he had no choice, and there was no reason to refuse someone who said he would protect him for now.
.
.
.
A few days later.
A summons reached the annex where the Outer Hall warriors stayed on the morning of the subjugation.
The operation had been kept so secure that there had been no word even through the day before the mission, then the summons came without warning that morning.
They said that while the ledgers were being traced, scouting units had gone out and returned another couple of times. As soon as the Black Path bastards' location was identified, the subjugation force was assembled at once.
The main force of the subjugation force gathered at Shenyang City's north gate. There were well over a hundred people.
Among the Murong Clan martial artists and the Guarding Martial Authority agents, the Murong Clan's warriors in particular directed cold killing intent at Cheon Hwi.
“Put that arrogant wanderer at the very front of the Vanguard Unit.”
“If we throw him in as a shield for the Black Path bastards' blades, the little bastard will crawl back on his own feet and beg to be saved.”
Sharp words flew over Cheon Hwi's head. Then, in an instant, the atmosphere changed completely. The people chatting naturally snapped their mouths shut.
The Murong Clan's head was stepping onto the platform before the assembled subjugation force.
The Murong Clan's head, Murong Hyeoncheon.
The instant Cheon Hwi saw him, he instinctively felt fear.
Fear, despite the man not being an enemy. It was a sensation he had never felt from any master until now.
‘Fear?’
What did a martial artist's fear stem from? There could be many answers, but at its root was death.
Fear of death.
It was the greatest fear instinctively felt by every martial artist and every human being alike. Yet paradoxically, that fear was the very thing Cheon Hwi had begun shedding first, and had already shed to a considerable extent.
That was why, despite having no backing whatsoever, he could refuse the Murong Clan's offer. He had lost his sense of fear.
Yet Cheon Hwi was clearly afraid now.
Murong Hyeoncheon had merely stepped onto the platform and swept his gaze over the subjugation force.
If they fought, no, if they became enemies, Cheon Hwi would certainly die before he could even fight.
Had his repeated deaths sharpened his sense for death? He did not know, but cold sweat beaded down his back.
He felt that with a single gesture from that man, his bones and flesh would be crushed before he could draw his sword, scattering as bloody pulp.
It was Cheon Hwi's first time facing a transcendent master.
At the very front of the formation stood around twenty White Night Unit agents and Deputy Commander Han So-gyeom to the right. To the left stood around thirty Murong Clan martial artists.
Behind them stood what appeared to be well over fifty Outer Hall warriors of the Murong Clan, along with martial artists from large and small nearby sects that shared their purpose.
Before them, the Murong Clan's head spoke.
“Today.”
Whooosh...
The reeds and grass around them all bent away from the clan head.
His voice was quiet, but imbued with inner energy, it reached the very end of the formation with perfect clarity.
An immense wave of force swept across the entire subjugation force.
Cheon Hwi had to continually brace himself just to remain standing still.
“I am proud that, in the name of Murong, we have come to subjugate the Black Path scoundrels who dared to defile Liaodong, commit heinous acts, and earn the Martial World's wrath.”
The Murong Clan members straightened their backs and looked up at their clan head.
“You are martial artists. None of you took up the sword to flee from death.”
Murong Hyeoncheon swept his gaze over the people.
“We have raised our swords to distinguish those who deserve death from those who deserve protection. Prove for yourselves that you are people of the Martial World!”
Murong Hyeoncheon drew his sword.
At the same time, the heavens trembled.
Rumble...
The moment his sword was drawn and raised, a pillar of light split down through the dark clouds.
A sword that reached the heavens with a single draw.
It was the sword of a transcendent master.
“Go!”
“At your command!”
The visiting martial artists gave cupped-fist salutes, while the Murong Clan martial artists all dropped to one knee.
“We accept the Clan Head's command!”
At the same time, drums sounded, announcing their advance and raising the subjugation force's morale.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The subjugation force began to move.
Walking at the very front as part of the Vanguard Unit, Cheon Hwi reconsidered, wondering if the martial art names of those said to move stars were not mere empty boasting.
‘A super first-rate expert.’
Could he reach that level someday?
It seemed impossibly far away.
As the clan head had said, Cheon Hwi had not raised his sword to flee from death. He had raised it to distinguish those who deserved death from those who needed protecting.
His steps led toward death, but he did not hesitate.
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