Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 111

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Chapter 111: When Young, I Knew Not Sorrow's Taste (16)

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The next day.

Moyong Ha went out early in the morning.

Since they now had to investigate the government office, she intended to map out the guards' movements and identify the approach routes in advance.

That left Yeon Sowol, Won Huiseung, So Hye, and Ha Jeop at the inn.

They had not seen Jin Geol in quite some time. He was still searching for the fourth clue in the <Yuezhou Guide to Avoiding Danger>.

As they ate breakfast together on the inn's first floor and drank tea, So Hye furrowed her brow.

"This is quite a difficult problem. We have to turn the martial arts tournament into a complete uproar..."

Won Huiseung looked puzzled.

"What's difficult about it? Yuezhou is full of Jianghu people gathered from all under heaven. If they hold a martial arts tournament among themselves, won't it naturally become noisy? Wouldn't it be harder to keep it from becoming noisy?"

"I see it differently."

So Hye spoke softly.

"Young Hero Huiseung, you've been active in the Jianghu for several years now, so you've probably seen a few martial arts tournaments. You must have participated in some while you were at Zhongnan's main mountain as well."

"I have."

"Was the atmosphere at those tournaments heated? Did you participate passionately too?"

"Of course. Martial arts tournaments are naturally heated affairs."

"But what if there were no prizes? Or even if there were prizes, what if they were worthless?"

"Prizes...? No, that wouldn't do. The winner of a martial arts tournament should naturally receive a substantial reward, something like a martial arts secret manual or a spiritual elixir... Ah."

Won Huiseung finally understood what So Hye was getting at.

"I see. We have no prizes to offer."

"Yes."

"Gold alone won't be enough...?"

"Miss Moyong is with us, so we could put up quite a large sum of gold as a prize. Still, that alone would be weak. Martial artists are..."

For a martial arts tournament to become heated, they needed to draw in more skilled martial artists and make them compete fiercely.

But gold held relatively little value for martial artists. Having plenty of it was nice, but they would not risk their lives for it.

Nothing was as enticing to martial artists as martial arts and spiritual elixirs.

With top-grade martial arts and spiritual elixirs, one could turn martial artists into beasts...

Yet Yeon Sowol's group had no such things.

That was the point So Hye was making.

"The plan of holding a martial arts tournament with the gifts we received from our seniors is ingenious in itself. In that case, the seniors of the Jianghu will have to participate in the tournament for the sake of face."

"But they won't show much enthusiasm."

"Yes. They won't need to be serious about it. They'll only go through the motions while preserving each other's dignity."

"Hmm..."

Yeon Sowol, who had been listening, let out a low groan.

After hearing So Hye's words, he could easily picture what would happen.

'Brother Jang's sword was sharp indeed.'

'Brother Gwan's blade was formidable as well.'

'Ha ha. I learned much thanks to you.'

'I learned even more. Ha ha.'

The two martial artists would laugh, wrap up their bout without deciding a victor, and the spectators would applaud with pleased smiles.

Was that not fun?

No, it was fun.

Where else could one watch martial artists beyond human limits show off their skills in one place?

It would have been an incredible spectacle even in the twenty-first century. In a world starved of stimulation, it could only be tremendous entertainment.

'But it isn't enough...'

Yeon Sowol bit his lip.

What he had promised Moyong Ha was a literal, enormous commotion. No, chaos. Wasn't the goal to cause enough trouble that Yuezhou's security would be paralyzed, leaving even the government office's defenses empty?

Compared to that goal, the martial arts tournament he was imagining was far too civilized.

"The real problem is that it's fundamentally impossible for us to change the situation. Many Jianghu people live and die by their pride. Making them clash while disregarding their pride and preparing to become enemies? That's beyond our means. So I think we should begin with the martial arts tournament, but cause the real uproar through something else."

"Something else? Like what?"

At Won Huiseung's question, So Hye stuck out the tip of her tongue.

"How would I know? We have to think of it now."

"What if we spread a rumor that a dragon appeared in Dongting Lake?"

"...Young Hero Won, you're the only one who'd care about something like that."

"Don't lie."

"...No. Hah. Forget it. Ah, should we wait for Young Hero Jin to bring something back? If that Guide to Avoiding Danger entry about chili pork really involves human flesh, we might be able to cause an uproar with that..."

"It would cause some commotion, but wouldn't it only be around the scale of the White-Robed League's chivalrous venture last time? It might even be smaller than that."

"Hmm... This isn't easy."

Won Huiseung and So Hye exchanged suggestions, but no clear alternative emerged.

Perhaps frustrated, So Hye let out a deep sigh and turned to Ha Jeop.

"Young Hero Ha. Don't you have any good ideas?"

"Uh. Uhh... Ah, I'm still th-thinking."

"Anything at all. Just say whatever comes to mind."

"Uh, uh... S-sorry. I'll th-think of something quickly..."

Ha Jeop was no help at all.

Won Huiseung lightly nudged Yeon Sowol.

"Sowol. Haven't you thought of anything?"

"Hmm. Wait a moment. I feel like something is about to come to me..."

Yeon Sowol raised a hand, lowered his eyes, and sank into thought.

'Jianghu people stake their lives on their pride... To make competition hotter in that kind of situation... In the twenty-first century...'

"Oh."

"It looks like you've thought of something?"

Won Huiseung and So Hye watched Yeon Sowol expectantly, his eyes shining as he sank into deep thought.

Yeon Sowol had, in fact, thought of a possible method.

But he only had the broad outline. The exact approach had not yet come to him, leaving everything vague.

'Pride... Competition... Make it hotter... People gathered from all under heaven...'

The thought hovered just beyond his grasp.

Something was almost coming to him.

'What sort of Jianghu people are in Yuezhou...? If I look into it more specifically...'

Yeon Sowol concentrated harder, and sensing that unusual atmosphere, Won Huiseung and So Hye fell silent for a moment.

The conversation had just stopped when...

Clack!

The inn door opened, and Jin Geol entered. He wore a dented cap and a white scholar's robe with black trim that had been patched over and over again.

So Hye brightened when she saw him.

"Young Hero Jin, did you find something?"

She hoped it might be their breakthrough.

But Jin Geol only let out a long sigh.

"It's over. Completely over. It was all a waste of effort."

He sat at the table and gulped down tea as he spoke.

"I really went to every inn in Yuezhou, you know? I didn't skip a single one. I found every single place, drank there, and waited. But there was nothing. Not one place asked, 'Would you like fresh chili pork served on a plate marked with a dot?' Not a single one. Maybe it was just a baseless rumor..."

Jin Geol grimaced as though he were sick of it.

"I've just become a man who went around every inn getting drunk. Meanwhile, you've all become heroes with this White-Robed League business and all that."

Thud.

He rummaged through his wide sleeve and tossed a booklet onto the table.

"All I got was this booklet, which I won in a drinking bet."

So Hye sighed.

"It is an interesting book, but I don't think it will help with the current situation."

"Situation? What situation?"

With a small sigh, So Hye explained their current circumstances to Jin Geol.

"Jiangshi...? The Yuezhou provincial governor...?"

Jin Geol's eyes widened at the situation he had known nothing about.

At that moment, Yeon Sowol's gaze somehow fixed on the booklet Jin Geol had brought.

"Register of Jianghu Figures...? Could it be...?"

He slowly reached out and opened the book.

A certain anticipation gleamed in his eyes.

------

<First. Stopless Sword Na Seok>

He was called the Stopless Sword because his sword never stopped.

Na Seok was born into a humble martial academy in Shaanxi.

His father was a second-rate martial artist, skilled enough only to manage a small martial academy in a rural village.

Yet the aspirations of Na Seok, the Stopless Sword, were lofty.

"I will develop my family's inherited martial arts and establish us as a martial family renowned under heaven."

When Na Seok's father passed away, Na Seok was twenty years old. He left the family in his younger sibling's care and entered the Jianghu.

Whenever he heard that a certain family possessed famous swordsmanship, he would visit them and work for three years without pay in exchange for learning a portion of their sword art.

Whenever he heard that a certain sect possessed a famous inner cultivation method, he would work there for five years without pay and learn a portion of that method.

One year to learn a lightness skill. Another year to learn footwork. As he traveled the Jianghu in that way, he eventually passed thirty years of age and reached the first-rate realm.

He was now skilled enough to receive a measure of respect even in a city, not just a rural village.

But he did not stop.

For thirty years, he wandered the Jianghu, investing as little as one year and as much as five years in exchange for a single piece of instruction.

At last, at the age of fifty, he achieved great mastery and reached the peak realm.

Yet even now, seven years later, he had not stopped. He said he would develop his martial arts until death and leave superior inherited martial arts to his younger sibling and their child.

"For one line of instruction, I will give you a year of my life."

A master who had reached the peak realm was willing to offer even his life in exchange for instruction. Some laughed at him as a fool, while others praised his diligence, and countless sects competed to seek him out.

------

...

'Na Seok, the Stopless Sword... He's incredible. Admirable.'

But that was all.

He still could not find the thing that would strike his mind like lightning.

Yeon Sowol flipped through the register.

Then his gaze suddenly stopped at one passage.

------

<Eighth. Bubulbu, Wi Sihon>

Bubulbu was short for Floating Sword, Not Floating.

Wi Sihon was a genius from Hubei.

At the mere age of twenty-four, he reached the peak realm. It was an achievement built solely through his own talent, without the backing of a great sect.

But from then on, he lived immersed in gambling.

Someone asked him.

"Why do you waste your days gambling instead of cultivating more diligently with such talent?"

He replied.

"Gambling is difficult because it doesn't go the way I want, while the sword is easy because it does. Difficult things are more fun than easy ones."

Because he always squandered everything through gambling, he eventually began putting up his sword as a gambling stake whenever he lacked silver ingots.

"If you defeat me, I'll swing my blade once however you tell me to. But I will not kill innocent people."

Thus, he earned the epithet Floating Sword.

Someone who fought for others as payment after losing a wager.

It was a mockery, calling his sword endlessly light like a drifting blade of grass.

But the sects who mocked him and even other peak realm masters all met their end beneath his blade. His sword was light, yet not light.

Thus, people called him Bubulbu.

------

"Ah!"

Yeon Sowol's eyes lit up.

"I found a way."

"Really?"

Everyone's eyes turned toward Yeon Sowol.

"Yes. Aren't countless people from all under heaven gathered in Yuezhou? Not only martial artists, but ordinary people and gossipmongers as well."

"That's right."

"So we provoke the pride of masters representing each region. Then even if we only put up a large sum of gold, we can make the atmosphere heated."

At those words, everyone's expressions became strange.

They seemed slightly disappointed.

"Pride? Well... It's a good method, but will that alone make things heated enough?"

"Sowol, perhaps people of our younger generation would get worked up over a contest of pride, but I don't think the Jianghu's seniors would become so excited over it."

"Hmm. I agree with Huiseung. Even if pride makes things overheated, won't that still be lacking? What we need is excitement intense enough to paralyze Yuezhou."

Questions poured forth.

Yeon Sowol opened his fan and spoke.

"I don't know. I think it will work."

"Come on. That won't be enough."

"That alone will be difficult."

Jin Geol snickered, and Won Huiseung firmly shook his head.

Yeon Sowol casually dropped one sentence.

"Ah, but tell me. Do you know the Stopless Sword and Bubulbu?"

Won Huiseung and Jin Geol were the ones who reacted.

"Great Hero Stopless Sword? Of course I know him. In all of Shaanxi, there isn't anyone who doesn't know him. He's someone I deeply admire."

That was Won Huiseung, who came from Shaanxi.

"Bubulbu! Hubei's genius! He reached the peak realm in his mid-twenties with nothing more than an unremarkable inherited martial art. Even among Wudang's rising young talents, quite a few have lost to him. He must be in his mid-thirties now. He'll be much stronger than before."

That was Jin Geol, who came from Hubei.

Yeon Sowol nodded and spoke to them.

"Both are famous peak realm masters... Still, if the two fought, Bubulbu would obviously win, right? They probably both began learning martial arts at ten, but Bubulbu reached the peak realm in just fifteen years and spent another ten years there. Stopless Sword only barely reached the peak realm after forty years, and he has only spent seven years there."

The moment he finished, Won Huiseung's face twisted fiercely.

"Sowol! What kind of absurd nonsense is that? Do you think the realization of the peak realm can be measured by nothing more than years? It's even more absurd coming from someone who should know better! Great Hero Stopless Sword would naturally win. You must consider how deep the insight he forged over forty years must be!"

Jin Geol cut in.

"No, what Huiseung says is generally true, but Senior Bubulbu is beyond the norm. He reached the peak realm in fifteen years and even defeated Wudang's rising young talents. Isn't it strange to say his realization would be shallow? How many peak realm masters has Senior Bubulbu cut down while traveling around gambling...? Senior Stopless Sword is incredible, but it would be hard for him against Senior Bubulbu."

Won Huiseung sharply turned toward Jin Geol.

"I never thought I'd hear such rubbish in my life. The deeper martial arts become, the more important fundamentals and one's state of mind are. I acknowledge that Senior Bubulbu is remarkable, but didn't he spend ten years obsessed with gambling? How could he defeat Senior Stopless Sword, who has steadily cultivated both his martial arts and his mind?"

"Uh, but plenty of people like that have already lost to Senior Bubulbu."

"How can you compare Great Hero Stopless Sword to them?"

"Are you looking down on Senior Ten-Thousand-Day Sword of Henan now?"

"You can't compare them like that, Jin Geol. I'm beginning to doubt your eye for martial arts. Come to think of it, you said you had never properly learned martial arts."

"You bastard...?"

Jin Geol sprang to his feet.

Won Huiseung stood as well.

Flap!

Their robes billowed as though they were drawing up true qi.

At last, Yeon Sowol stepped between them.

"See?"

Tap. Tap.

He pressed the shoulders of the excited pair, making them sit back down.

"It works. Look how worked up they got."

At those words...

"Huh?"