Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 141

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 141: The Rear Waves of the Yangtze Push the Front Waves (15)

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Before they knew it, the sun had set.

The lakeshore was pitch-black. Thick fog blanketed the area, hiding even the moon and stars.

‘...What does he plan to do?’

‘...Where are we going?’

The martial artists following Yeon Sowol felt a quiet fear.

He had declared that he would subjugate the water raiders within three days.

The thrill of that moment had long since faded. Now, it was dark. Even masters of Faint Fragrance Unfading, who could see night as clearly as day, had no answer to a night so thick with fog.

They could only follow the sound of fluttering robes through the darkness as they walked along the barely visible shore of Dongting Lake.

Glance.

Their eyes kept drifting beyond the night fog, toward the faint glimpses of Yeon Sowol’s robes.

‘...He must have a plan.’

‘Hero Yeon isn’t someone who makes empty claims.’

‘But what are we doing? Where are we even going? Does he know where the water raiders are?’

‘Are we just going to walk there? Don’t we need boats to catch water raiders?’

They reassured themselves, then glanced over again.

Just as the unseen anxiety began to rise in their throats,

Fwoooosh!

Bright flames blazed up, burning away the night and fog along with the acrid smell of charcoal.

Voices. The sound of something being pulled. Water splashing.

All at once, Dongting Lake grew noisy.

“Huh?”

“What...?”

Dozens of large and small vessels emerged over the night waves, tearing through the pale darkness. Every one of them was sleek and built for speed.

“Hero Yeon! Over here!”

The people waving from the boats were Yuezhou merchants.

The merchant guilds that had supported the martial arts tournament had all gathered to form a fleet.

“You came right on time.”

Yeon Sowol cupped his fist, and the merchant guild leaders representing Yuezhou waved their hands and shouted from the boats.

“Of course we did! How could we dare be late? This is a promise to you!”

“We have ten large ships and twenty small ones!”

“They’re all manned by seasoned sailors. We also brought people who know how to use bows. There are a hundred of them in total!”

Creak! Creak!

The smaller boats approached the shore and began taking people aboard.

Yeon Sowol boarded one of them, then transferred to a larger vessel. Near the sails, archers with tense expressions checked their bowstrings.

At last, Yeon Sowol came face-to-face with the merchant guild leaders of Yuezhou and Hunan. Meeting their eyes, he cupped his fist.

“This could earn you the provincial governor of Yuezhou’s displeasure. Thank you for helping me regardless.”

The guild leaders looked at one another and smiled bitterly.

The eldest among them replied on their behalf.

“Yes, we are worried. But we are merchants. Merchants invest in the side with greater potential.”

“You mean you see greater potential in me than in the army...?”

The elderly merchant guild leader met Yeon Sowol’s gaze, his wrinkled eyes clear.

“Yes. We believe what we see with our own eyes.”

He looked over the torches burning red through the night fog.

“To be frank, Provincial Governor Yang Hoeam has failed to keep the water raiders under control. We know that better than anyone. We have suffered from them, directly and indirectly, for a long time.”

Would someone who had failed all this time suddenly be different now?

“That is why we choose you, Hero Yeon. Thirty large and small fast boats, seasoned sailors, and one hundred archers. We are investing them in you. Please see this through.”

Something boiled hotly in Yeon Sowol’s stomach.

‘I...’

It was a crazy world.

Bandits kidnapped people in the mountains.

Water raiders killed people on the water.

And despite all that, the officials did nothing but bark orders as though they had accomplished something.

Still,

Yeon Sowol could feel it.

His fate, the fate that allowed him not to accept a world like this.

The reason he had taken up a sword.

Feeling the weight of that moment, he spoke.

“The man who commands the Dongting Lake water raiders is Yi Geuk, the Dragon King Stronghold Leader, correct? One of the twelve chieftains of the Yangtze River Waterway Stronghold.”

“...Yes.”

Were they frightened by that name? The merchant guild leaders swallowed hard as Yeon Sowol continued.

“Before the sun rises, I will cut off his head.”

“What?”

Gaseopmyeong approached Yeon Sowol. With trembling hands, he pulled a sheet of paper from his robes.

It was a map of Dongting Lake, created by gathering countless bits of information with the help of every acquaintance he could call upon. Water stockades, the water raiders’ bases, were densely marked across it.

Still, it could not possibly show every water stockade. Dongting Lake was as vast as the sea, and the water raiders had established hideouts in every direction.

That was why a single ink line crossed the map.

It passed through only the larger water stockades, zigzagging across the lake. At its end stood a large water stockade where Yi Geuk, the Dragon King Stronghold Leader, was believed to be staying.

“Follow this route. As quickly as possible. We will not stop to rest.”

There was only one reason water raiders were troublesome.

They were all in league with one another. The moment they learned an attack they could not handle was coming, every last one of them scattered and hid, even those stationed at other water stockades.

So they would strike without giving them a chance to hide and wipe them all out.

This was a fight they could not win unless they ended it quickly.

* * *

Aboard the ship, Yeon Sowol and his friends planned their strategy.

Though calling it a strategy was generous. In truth, they only settled on a rough outline.

The White-Robed League was simply a gathering of people who had been moved by Yeon Sowol and rushed to follow him.

Each was a capable master, but no one could expect disciplined coordination from them.

“First, let’s distinguish allies from enemies by sound. What if we make a sharp hissing sound with our mouths, like this? Sssht!”

They first decided how to tell friend from foe amid the darkness and fog.

Then they continued discussing how to fight.

“We have fewer people than the water raiders. An ambush would be best.”

Jin Geol objected.

“Starting with an ambush is fine. But we’ll be discovered midway through. Plenty of people here have never trained to conceal their presence. What will we do then? If we scatter, we could be picked off one by one.”

The water raiders would gather, and some would try to alert the others. White-Robed League members trying to quietly eliminate enemies while spread through the fog could lose their bearings and become trapped among them.

Yeon Sowol lightly bit his lip.

“Honestly, it would help if someone could push into the center and draw their attention...”

“Cause a commotion by charging deep into the pirates’ ranks? Make them gather there?”

“Right. While they hold them off, the rest of the White-Robed League and I circle in from the outside and sweep up the pirates.”

Yeon Sowol thought of games he had loved playing in middle school.

The tank stepped up front and drew all the aggro while everyone else dealt damage around the edges. That was the foundation of team play.

It was simple, too.

As long as the tank held out, dealing free damage from the sidelines was easy.

Could there be a better way to sweep up every last water raider?

But,

“Who would do that? It means charging in and getting beaten up. It would be hard enough to find people willing to do it, and even if we did, there’s no guarantee they could handle the role properly...”

“Hmm...”

At that moment, a man gave a light tap as he stepped forward.

“I’ll do it.”

Yeon Sowol reflexively turned toward him.

It was Won Huiseung.

“Alone?”

Won Huiseung nodded.

“Having several people who can’t work together would only get in the way.”

That was true, but Yeon Sowol’s brows furrowed with concern.

“Can you handle it alone?”

“I can.”

“No. This isn’t something you can do through determination alone. You may have to withstand dozens of enemies at once.”

Won Huiseung suddenly stared at Yeon Sowol.

“Sowol. What is the name of the sword art I learned? Zhongnan’s ultimate technique.”

“Huh?”

Why was he asking that now?

Yeon Sowol tilted his head, but answered anyway.

“The Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“Exactly.”

Won Huiseung gripped his sword hilt tightly and gave a bright smile.

“Under Heaven.”

For a moment, Yeon Sowol was dumbfounded. Then he glanced at Jin Geol.

‘Should I stop him?’

Jin Geol slowly shook his head in answer.

⌜He has staked his sect’s ultimate technique on it. We can’t stop him.⌟

Yeon Sowol swallowed and nodded toward Won Huiseung.

* * *

Dongting Lake was as vast as the sea and connected to the Yangtze, so it held an enormous number of water stockades.

Yet all of them ultimately pledged loyalty to Yi Geuk, the Dragon King Stronghold Leader. Viewed as a whole, they formed one massive organization.

Altogether, the water raiders under his command numbered close to a thousand.

It was impressive that so many men moved in an organized fashion under Yi Geuk’s command.

Every one of them was a martial artist trained in martial arts, so it was only fitting that they formed one pillar of the Yangtze River Waterway Stronghold, whose name resounded throughout the land.

That was why the Dongting Lake water raiders were proud.

The water raiders guarding the water stockade nearest Yuezhou felt the same way. They found the martial artists who had recently gained fame laughable.

“So they say some brat named Yeon Sowol has become famous in Yuezhou lately?”

Water raiders standing guard lazily in the night fog snickered at one another.

“That bastard is only twenty years of age, right?”

“Exactly. Those landlubbers. What’s all this nonsense about Hunan’s Three Greats when they’re talking about some green kid?”

“Ah, if that bastard ran into me, I could make him piss himself right away.”

One of the chatting water raiders jumped about, widening the distance between himself and the others.

“Just watch. If that brat called Yeon Sowol or whatever shows up here, I’ll chop off his legs first. Then he’ll fall over and bawl his eyes out while begging for mercy.”

The boisterous water raider drew his sword and swung it at the imaginary Yeon Sowol.

Slice!

A chilling sound of flesh being cut rang out through the night fog.

“Huh?”

He had clearly slashed empty air. Why had there been a sound?

When he jerked his head up, he saw his fellow water raiders collapsing without their heads.

“Uh...?”

What was happening?

Before he could understand,

Slice!

A blade swung from the fog and sent his head flying.

White-robed members of the White-Robed League passed by his side.

Splash. Splash.

Behind them, more White-Robed League members who had just swum across the lake emerged from the water, heat haze billowing from their bodies.

Yeon Sowol was the last to step ashore.

He spread his qi sense as far as he could and surveyed the water stockade.

As promised, Won Huiseung headed straight for its center.

Most of the White-Robed League followed him for a short distance before scattering left and right.

“Then I...”

Yeon Sowol chose a different direction.

From the start, he headed toward the outer edge of the water stockade.

His goal was to let no one escape.

Yeon Sowol intended to carve inward from the outside.

Soon, the sounds of air splitting and bodies falling came from all over the water stockade.

“Aaaah! We’re under attack!”

The first scream rang out.

“What? What’s happening?”

Water raiders awakened from sleep hurriedly grabbed their weapons and assembled.

“Aaah!”

But weren’t the screams far too close?

“Damn it! When did they get this far in?”

“Who the hell are they...?”

The assembled water raiders blindly rushed toward the disturbance unfolding right before them.

At the fog-covered shore, the clash of blades fell like a shower of rain. Sparks occasionally burst through the darkness, flashing brightly before fading away.

“What the hell is that bastard?”

“It’s only one man! Push him back!”

One battlefield was especially loud. The intruder who had pushed deep into the center of the water stockade would not go down easily, endlessly grating on their nerves.

“Get that bastard first!”

As though it were only natural, the first-rate masters among the water raiders rushed toward that spot.

Then one of them suddenly sensed something strange.

“What?”

He looked around.

There was no presence anywhere.

His companions had been with him only moments ago, sleeping in the nearby tents.

“Where did everyone go?”

He and his companions were all first-rate masters.

They were chieftain-class water raiders, the highest-ranking men in this water stockade.

Yet even when he extended his qi sense, he could detect nothing.

‘What is this?’

Goosebumps rose over his skin.

He had only run a few steps. A few steps ago, he had been laughing with his companions about stripping the madman who had invaded and spanking him bare-bottomed.

So where had they gone?

Had they been defeated by the enemy?

Was that possible?

They were first-rate masters.

Without a sound. Without a trace.

That made no sense...

“Hey! Where did everyone...!”

The night fog suddenly swirled.

Whoosh!

The water raider realized it without warning.

Something was moving beyond the fog.

He thought he caught a glimpse of white robes.