WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 177: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (1)
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Rewinding time a little.
Around the time Yeon Sowol had just arrived at Wudang Mountain, near the end of autumn, Yi Yubaek received a letter from Yuezhou.
Its courier was a late first-rate master.
The courier had long limbs and moved with loose yet nimble grace. The courier’s eyes were cold as blades, and vigor streamed from their leopard-like frame.
By any measure, the courier was no weaker than Yi Yubaek himself.
Even among late first-rate martial artists, he was a master extremely close to the peak realm.
Yet the courier carefully drew a silk-wrapped letter from their robes, bowed, and presented it with both hands.
Even the movements of his fingers were exceedingly respectful.
“Alliance Leader of the Guangdong Martial Alliance. It is an honor to meet you. This is a letter from Former Alliance Leader Yeon Sowol, the founding Alliance Leader of the Hunan White-Robed Alliance.”
Yi Yubaek’s lips slowly parted.
The Hunan White-Robed Alliance?
Its founding Alliance Leader?
Yeon Sowol?
“...What?”
You.
What in the world have you been doing?
* * *
Even during the day, the season was chilly.
Yi Yubaek sat with the window wide open. His breath scattered white in the cold air, and beads of moisture clung to the wine bottle.
With one hand, Yi Yubaek leisurely filled his cup. With the other, he unfolded and read Yeon Sowol’s letter.
- - - -
<Memorial to My Adoptive Father>
Father.
It is Sowol.
Today, I am leaving Yuezhou.
A great many things happened here.
To put it briefly,
I met a friend who understood me deeply.
I lost that friend.
And I completed my revenge.
In the midst of it all, I clashed with Yang Hoeam, the provincial governor of Yuezhou, as I told you before.
Fortunately, I cut off Yang Hoeam’s head.
...
- - - -
Yi Yubaek flinched.
His body shuddered as he raised the cup to his lips. He nearly spilled the wine.
“W-what?”
Cut off his head?
Whose?
You killed whom?
...The provincial governor of Yuezhou?
Yi Yubaek hastily set down his cup and gripped the letter with both hands.
[Yang Hoeam had intended to fulfill his wish by offering the young boys and girls of Wuling Island as sacrifices.]
[The martial official discovered as a jiangshi, whom I mentioned before, and the water raiders who had run rampant on Dongting Lake were all backed by Yang Hoeam, who had colluded with the Demonic Path.]
Creak.
Veins bulged from the back of Yi Yubaek’s hand as he clenched the letter.
A local official charged with caring for the people had been preparing a sinister grand ritual that would offer hundreds of pure boys and girls?
“What a bastard... A coward who shifts the blame for their failures onto others. They were even pettier than Hang Inwoo.”
Yi Yubaek panted with anger, then closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, as though trying to calm himself.
“Whew... Anyway, Sowol already cut off Yang Hoeam’s head, so there’s no need for me to get worked up. You did well, cutting that head off.”
Only when he thought of Yeon Sowol did a smile return to Yi Yubaek’s face.
He leisurely reached for his cup again.
He already knew the conclusion, that Yang Hoeam had been beheaded. All that remained was to enjoy the details.
‘A drink is essential for a moment like this.’
Yi Yubaek lifted his cup to his lips and adjusted the letter in his other hand.
[...At that moment, a Flood Dragon burst out, shattering Dongting Lake. Its flaming eyes burned like suns beyond the mist...]
“Pffft!”
Yi Yubaek sprayed out the wine in his mouth.
“W-what? What?”
He practically threw down his cup, then pounced on the letter with both hands again.
His eyes raced down the page.
The crashing lightning.
The martial artists who had evaporated in an instant.
The wish-granting pearl.
The confrontation with the Flood Dragon.
The handwriting was calm, yet the torrent of events never stopped crashing forward.
Yi Yubaek’s eyes darted swiftly over the letter.
The Hunan officials, having learned the full truth, had submitted a memorial detailing Yeon Sowol’s achievements.
Since Yeon Sowol was going to Wudang, he said it would likely be fine to receive the court’s response at Wudang Mountain.
The Hunan White-Robed Alliance had been established, and somehow Yeon Sowol had been named its founding Alliance Leader, though he was only lending it his name.
“...”
Yi Yubaek clutched the letter in both hands, reading the same passages over and over.
Then he turned it over repeatedly, checking whether there were any words left unread.
After a long while, he finally let the letter droop and forced out a single word.
“Sowol.”
What in the world have you been doing...?
* * *
But the letter was only the beginning.
One day, wagons piled high with gold, silver, and all manner of valuables arrived.
The quantity was so enormous that even the wealth Governor-General Seo Myeongeum had previously provided seemed meager by comparison.
Yet what drew more attention than the wagons were the people who came with them.
Every one of them was a formidable master ranging from second-rate to first-rate.
There were even two peak-realm masters among them.
When Yi Yubaek faced the one who appeared to hold the highest status, the shock nearly stole his breath.
Was that man not a human being, but a dragon or tiger?
He had not even raised his true qi, yet the air seemed to ripple with every step he took.
His blazing vigor seemed to run straight up his back, pierce the crown of his head, and spear into the heavens. It made Yi Yubaek want to lower his head of his own accord.
Even Noh Huideok, who had emerged from closed-door seclusion as the Martial Alliance’s sole peak-realm master, stiffened beside Yi Yubaek.
⌜Alliance Leader... He appears to be a master near the very end of the peak realm. He is not someone I would dare face.⌟
As Noh Huideok’s voice transmission echoed by his ear, Jin Hyeogo, that master near the end of the peak realm, strode forward and cupped his fists to Yi Yubaek.
“I am Jin Hyeogo, Alliance Leader of the Hunan White-Robed Alliance. It is a true pleasure to meet the adoptive father of our founding Alliance Leader.”
The back of Yi Yubaek’s neck grew damp.
But he showed no sign of it and calmly returned the salute.
Yi Yubaek had spoken his mind even before Chu Seongho, the transcendent peak-realm Commander-in-Chief of Liangguang. That nerve had not gone anywhere.
“It is a pleasure. I am Yi Yubaek, Alliance Leader of the Guangdong Martial Alliance. I did not expect the Alliance Leader of the White-Robed Alliance to come here in person.”
He merely spoke with greater courtesy.
Yi Yubaek was thirty-nine, while Jin Hyeogo was fifty-six.
They met as equals, alliance leader to alliance leader, but there was nearly a twenty-year gap between their ages. Yi Yubaek was showing respect accordingly.
“Ah. Forgive my sudden visit. But how could I contain my curiosity? I simply had to know who had raised a hero like Former Alliance Leader Yeon Sowol.”
Jin Hyeogo’s gaze swept over Yi Yubaek.
Yi Yubaek was, after all, only late first-rate.
Yet before Jin Hyeogo, who stood near the limit of the peak realm, he showed not the slightest trace of intimidation.
A long curve formed at Jin Hyeogo’s lips as he recognized it.
“The more I look, the more I think I did well to come.”
“Is that so?”
“Without question.”
Yi Yubaek smiled in return, pleased.
“Then let us have a drink first. The wine will taste especially good today.”
“Ha! I wondered who Former Alliance Leader Yeon learned to enjoy wine from... Excellent! I have never tasted Guangdong wine before, and my mouth is already watering.”
The two men walked along in warm spirits.
Then, as though a thought had just occurred to him, Yi Yubaek asked,
“By the way, what are all those valuables loaded on the wagons?”
“Ah. They are Former Alliance Leader Yeon’s spoils.”
“Sowol’s?”
“That is right. He wiped out the water raiders who had prospered on Dongting Lake. How could there not be a great deal of spoils?”
“...Even so, Sowol could not have done it alone. It should have been divided among those involved.”
“It was divided. The White-Robed League members each took only the amount they had set for themselves, then brought the rest here without touching so much as a hair of it.”
Jin Hyeogo chuckled heartily, while Yi Yubaek stared blankly at the wagons again.
Yi Yubaek knew.
No matter how noble the cause, martial artists who risked their lives naturally wished to receive rewards in proportion to that risk.
That was only natural.
Even if one was the organizer of a great undertaking, once the spoils had been divided, the amount left for that person was inevitably limited. The more one earned, the more the martial artists who had worked alongside them would demand as their share.
There were also countless cases where people did not even ask, simply taking it all for themselves.
But what was this...?
Jin Hyeogo noticed his thoughts and gave a bitter smile.
“Is it because there are too many spoils?”
“Ah. Yes...”
“That is how greatly our members cherish the founding Alliance Leader. No one told them to do it, yet they reduced their own shares rather than inflating them. And they guarded the founding Alliance Leader’s property so thoroughly that even I could not go near the wagons.”
Yi Yubaek stared blankly at the wagons again.
He studied the people of the Hunan White-Robed Alliance who had come with them.
Every one of them was disciplined.
Their bearing was exceedingly respectful.
Yet even then, their eyes shone with curiosity as they looked at the Guangdong Martial Alliance and Yi Yubaek.
For some reason, Yi Yubaek’s chest felt hot and ticklish.
“Are you surprised?”
At Jin Hyeogo’s quiet question, Yi Yubaek gave no direct answer.
Instead, he turned away, stepped ahead a little faster, and raised his voice toward the Martial Alliance members.
“What are you all doing? Bring the heroes of the Hunan White-Robed Alliance inside! To start, bring thirty jars of Jade Crown Red and fry fifty Chilled Tea-Leaf Chickens!”
Then he turned back to Jin Hyeogo, his face reddened.
“Please, come inside. Today is a feast. We will begin with Jade Crown Red. It is a red fruit wine, perfect for drinking as the sun begins to set like this.”
Yi Yubaek’s voice was already brimming with excitement.
Excitement was contagious.
Jin Hyeogo grinned, showing white teeth through his beard.
“Heh heh. Excellent! It seems our Former Alliance Leader Yeon learned to enjoy wine, but not yet this bold and open spirit.”
“When he returns home, I shall teach him that first. This way. Starting with Jade Crown Red, let us drink every fine wine Guangdong has to offer!”
“Khh. Splendid! Then in exchange for the drinks, shall I tell you all about Former Alliance Leader Yeon’s exploits?”
Yi Yubaek hastily turned and raised his voice again.
“What are you all doing? Bring every fine wine and every cheap liquor in Guangdong! Bring it all, no matter the kind!”
“Hahahahaha!”
Jin Hyeogo threw back his head and laughed until his throat was fully exposed.
It was a carefree, hearty laugh, one he had rarely shown in Hunan.
And then,
before dawn the next day, the Guangdong Martial Alliance and the Hunan White-Robed Alliance forged a brotherhood.
They had become a blood alliance.
At a glance, it might have seemed like a lighthearted decision made in the heat of the moment.
In truth, the opposite was the case.
Their warm mood was merely an excuse. The reality was serious and urgent.
“Our Martial Alliance will stand against evil. We will make those who trample the people with wicked hearts eat steel, then drink cheerfully over them.”
Yi Yubaek spoke.
“Our White-Robed Alliance will stand against demons. We will take up our spears and keep watch day and night, so that beings not human do not dare invade the human world.”
Jin Hyeogo answered.
Guangdong and Hunan.
They came from different regions, yet their purposes were joined.
Above all, they shared Yeon Sowol as a common bond.
The two alliances joining hands had been inevitable from the start.
“The Martial Alliance and the White-Robed Alliance reject the heterodox and demonic paths.”
Yi Yubaek and Jin Hyeogo recited it in one voice, then shared their cups.
* * *
At the same time.
A man wrote in pitch-black darkness.
Small slips densely covered in tiny writing lay scattered before him, as though he were compiling reports from every direction.
The man organized them into a single letter.
[Shinheung County, Guangdong. Remains presumed to belong to Killing Demon, the Fourth Elder, and Shaolin’s Beopyeon have been found.]
[Near Naryong County at the southern end of Heavenly Road Mountain, Guangdong. A corpse presumed to belong to the Master of the Dark Shadow Pavilion has been found.]
Though there was not a single lantern and the darkness was absolute, he dipped a white-haired brush into black ink and wrote lightly, as though he could see perfectly well.
[The Greater Rejuvenation Pill believed to have been carried by Beopyeon and the <Cotton Palm Art> believed to have been carried by the Master of the Dark Shadow Pavilion have not been found.]
[Killer unknown. No force in Guangdong is capable of harming the Fourth Elder and the Master of the Dark Shadow Pavilion.]
[Circumstantial evidence has been found that the Sword Immortal, Sword Emperor, and Divine Beggar stayed around Shinheung County, but this is not certain.]
The brush that had moved without pause suddenly stopped.
As though deep in thought, the man immersed its tip in ink and remained silent.
Then he drew it out and wrote the final sentence in one flowing sweep.
[It must be confirmed whether the <Cotton Palm Art> has been returned to Wudang Mountain. If it has, question the person who returned it. Ask who harmed the Fourth Elder and the Master of the Dark Shadow Pavilion.]
Tap.
In the darkness,
the man set down his brush.
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