WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 28: In the Jianghu, One Cannot Control One's Fate (17)
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“Let’s wait for everyone here.”
On the road leading to the Jipseong River, Yi Yubaek stopped and hung a lantern from a long pole.
Yeon Sowol tilted his head.
“Is someone else joining us?”
Yi Yubaek glanced at him, fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said something else.
“Sowol. Today’s the day I’m being tested. Is this how scholars headed to the civil examinations feel? Honestly, I’m so nervous I could die. What should I do?”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t ask me that.”
With his hands clasped behind his back, Yi Yubaek looked up at the half-moon in the sky.
“You know I mean to take Heavenly Road Mountain, don’t you?”
“...Yes. Mo Cheong told me.”
“And you know I’ve been trying to gather the martial artists of Guangdong for that purpose?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what tonight’s boating trip is really about.”
Faint sounds drifted from the direction of the Jipseong River.
They could have been music, or people shouting. A hazy glow from distant lights made that side of the darkness seem pale and bright.
“It’s quite a spectacle, so I sent invitations to watch it together. Even to the renowned figures of Guangdong’s Jianghu whom I hadn’t dared contact until now.”
“Ah.”
“Tonight, they’ll be watching me. They’ll decide whether our goals align, whether I’m someone worth undertaking this with. If I can win their hearts, they’ll become an army of a thousand for the Heavenly Road Mountain Expedition.”
Yi Yubaek smiled gently at Yeon Sowol.
“I have to do well. You told me about the boating trip in time, and that gave me this opportunity.”
Yeon Sowol got goosebumps.
‘So that’s what this was?’
Choran’s bright smile came to mind.
‘So that’s why she called the news of the boating trip a gift for Father...’
The moment Yi Yubaek heard the news, he had thought of gathering people in Shinheung County.
Yeon Sowol had wondered why he had been so busy. It had all been for tonight’s boating trip.
‘Did Miss Choran see this far ahead?’
Such deep calculations.
Compared with her foresight, his own understanding seemed painfully shallow. He had failed to notice anything at all.
Yeon Sowol caught the scent of something like cold winter air between them.
“So you all need to do well tonight, too. Jianghu people usually think they can judge a person by their children and disciples. I think so as well.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Good.”
Yi Yubaek went quiet for a moment, then muttered,
“I wonder if they’ll really come...”
He gazed up at the lantern hanging from the pole.
A faint anxiety that Yeon Sowol had never seen before showed in his eyes.
“How many people said they would come?”
“Well... I’d ask for nothing more than a hundred. Not all of them will lend their strength to the Heavenly Road Mountain Expedition, but even if only a quarter of them do...”
‘He must have sent invitations to an incredible number of people.’
No wonder he had been busy. Yeon Sowol kept his mouth shut.
Yi Yubaek’s thoughts seemed complicated, and Yeon Sowol felt it would be better not to keep talking to him.
Then, as they stood in silence,
a sudden clamor rose in the distance.
Yeon Sowol glanced at Yi Yubaek.
A broad smile spread across his face, and only then did Yeon Sowol smile as well.
They were coming.
One lantern after another appeared from across the road. Figures lit by the lanterns approached through the darkness in pale flashes.
There were monks. Daoists. Beggars, women, drunkards, neat scholars, people who looked like nouveau riche types, arrogant people, timid people...
There was not a single thing they all had in common.
Some swayed as they laughed.
Some walked apart from the rest, as if they wanted no part of the group, hurrying their steps.
Others followed leisurely behind, their eyes gleaming.
They gathered without pause, and before long, more than three hundred people crowded together.
Three hundred people.
Suppressing the emotion rising in his chest, Yi Yubaek greeted each one.
Some eagerly embraced him. Some offered appropriate courtesies. Others only gave him distant greetings.
Yet Yeon Sowol could not take his eyes off one person among them.
‘That person is...!’
A middle-aged man appeared with white powder painted across his face, bright red rouge on his lips, a skirt so long it dragged along the ground, and a flowing silk stole draped around his shoulders.
Yi Yubaek greeted him with a clasped-fist salute.
“It is an honor to meet you for the first time, Great Hero Chu Jinhyeok. I’m truly glad you came. Your presence is a great help.”
‘!!!’
A bolt of lightning went through Yeon Sowol’s mind.
That was right. It was really him.
Chu Jinhyeok.
Chu Jinhyeok, the Woman-Dressing Official.
“I told you I’d come. And what do you mean, Great Hero? Great heroes are people like Big Brother. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
He strode forward with a hearty laugh and pulled Yi Yubaek into a firm embrace.
“I’ve wanted to meet you ever since I heard Big Brother wiped out the Heat Cauldron Sect. And now here we are.”
Big Brother was an affectionate form of address that women used for men close to them.
Yeon Sowol fell into confusion.
‘He acts like a rough-and-ready big brother, but he calls Father Big Brother and speaks to him with honorifics, then suddenly talks down to him like he’s the younger one...’
It was confusing.
Yeon Sowol could not tell whether Chu Jinhyeok thought of himself as a woman, simply liked dressing that way, or was just an attention seeker.
Then Yeon Sowol realized something.
‘Let’s not try to understand him. Let’s not try to guess.’
Otherwise, he might wind up getting beaten for it.
‘Just take him as he is.’
He would see the person in front of him exactly as he appeared. Nothing more. He needed to stay alert.
“Hmm...”
The Woman-Dressing Official, Chu Jinhyeok, studied Mo Cheong and Yeon Sowol closely.
Then he asked bluntly,
“Aren’t they a little young to bring somewhere like this? I heard your third disciple is pretty capable, at least... but I think I heard the other one started learning martial arts late.”
“Great Hero Already Gone When Seen brought along an even younger disciple.”
“Well, Uncle Already Gone When Seen is Guangdong’s finest when it comes to lightness art.”
“Then tonight, we can show everyone that the Windflow School’s lightness art is Guangdong’s finest as well.”
“Oh. Confident, are we?”
The Woman-Dressing Official grinned, gave Yi Yubaek a light embrace, and passed by.
The atmosphere was lively.
People who had not seen each other in a long time laughed as they greeted one another and introduced their companions.
Then, as if they had agreed beforehand, everyone fell quiet.
Yi Yubaek stepped forward.
“I am deeply moved to see so many of you answer the invitation of someone as lacking as myself. I’m embarrassed to step forward before such renowned people, but as a representative of Shinheung County, I would like to lead the way.”
“Well said!”
“...”
“Yes. Please lead us.”
Some cheered, some remained silent, and some answered politely.
Yi Yubaek turned around.
Then he whispered in a chilling voice,
“Sowol, follow closely. If we slip up, we might get hit by spears and arrows and end up full of holes.”
“...Yes.”
Yeon Sowol’s gaze wavered.
Spears? Arrows? Full of holes?
‘We weren’t just going to sneak in, watch, and leave? Why? Why would we...?’
Every time he thought he had gotten used to it, the common sense of the Jianghu raced far ahead of his own.
But he still did not understand the Jianghu.
Flap!
Yi Yubaek’s robe billowed as he stepped forward and shouted.
His voice carried far toward the Jipseong River, toward the government troops guarding it and the officers commanding them.
“I am Yi Yubaek of Shinheung County! My interest in the Jianghu is particularly strong tonight, so I thought I might enjoy a boating trip on the Jipseong River!”
Rumble!
His voice, strengthened by internal power, shook the night.
Their clothes and cheeks tingled.
At once, a commotion broke out near the Jipseong River.
“Oh.”
“Not bad?”
“That’s rather good.”
“Didn’t I tell you he was a decent fellow?”
Yeon Sowol’s head spun with thoughts of, ‘Is this really right? Do we really have to declare war first?’
Yet many of the gathered Jianghu people seemed impressed.
Yi Yubaek grinned, glanced back once, and kicked off the ground.
“Let’s go!”
Whatever happened,
‘Stay sharp. This is the Jianghu.’
Yeon Sowol steeled himself.
Huuuuu...
White vapor escaped his mouth as he summoned true qi.
His body had already grown light through Windborne Drift. As true qi rose throughout his body along the writhing Eight Extraordinary Vessels, he kicked off the ground using the principles of Willow Leaf Steps.
Whoosh!
Like a pointed blade of grass shooting forward, his body stretched ahead.
“Oh?”
“Not bad.”
“The young disciples are pretty capable, too.”
“Isn’t that just the minimum?”
At least, they had made a good first impression.
* * *
Every soldier in Shinheung County had gathered along the Jipseong River.
“Stop them! Stop them!”
“You lunatics! Do you have any idea where you are?”
“Stop them! If they break through, it’s over!”
“Where did this many martial artists even come from...?”
“Ahahahahaha!”
The Jianghu people led by Yi Yubaek charged straight through the road blocked by the government troops.
Flutter!
They were all martial artists of considerable standing in Guangdong. Ordinary soldiers were no match for them.
When spears thrust toward them, they stepped on the shafts and leaped over them. When arrows flew, they knocked them away with a sweep of their sleeves.
Military officers came forward with spears and blades drawn, but the number of martial artists gathered here overwhelmed them.
In the end, Yang Ikseon, Shinheung County’s eighth-rank Commandant, made his decision.
“We’re outnumbered! Let those we can’t stop go! Target the young and weak ones instead! Capture at least a few, then identify the ringleaders later and make an example of them! Catch them! You may kill them if you have to!”
The next instant,
Whoosh!
Arrows poured down.
At Yeon Sowol and Mo Cheong, and at other Jianghu people around their age.
Among the arrows fired by the soldiers were arrows shot by military officers.
“Ah.”
Yeon Sowol had never seen anything like this.
The energy of the entire area shook.
The world was covered in killing intent.
There was no safe place.
But his qi sense could read it.
There was no safe place, but there was an order to the killing intent.
There was a path through the rain of arrows.
Flutter!
He unleashed Windborne Drift with all his strength, the technique having reached fifth-stage mastery during his fight with the Resentful Dog.
By tempering and stabilizing different parts of his body, adjusting their weight, he could suddenly flip his body or sharply change direction without losing balance.
Tap! Tap!
With Willow Leaf Steps added to the mix, Yeon Sowol’s body swayed like a willow leaf scattered in the wind.
Whoosh!
The arrows fired by the military officers were especially fast and sharp as they relentlessly pursued Yeon Sowol, but they could not strike a leaf that kept changing direction with the wind.
“Hey! You! Yeon Sowol...!”
Jang Wisan, the ninth-rank county inspector among the officers shooting arrows, recognized Yeon Sowol and shouted.
Yeon Sowol hurriedly ducked his head and kicked off the ground with all his strength.
Thump!
He leaped over the soldiers blocking his path in a single bound.
Landing lightly, he ran.
That was how he broke through the government troops.
No one had been caught.
“Ahahahaha! Not bad!”
“Who was that? He looks young, but that qi sense...?”
“Wow. Well done.”
“That was impressive.”
The Jianghu people running beside him praised Yeon Sowol.
“Not bad at all.”
Mo Cheong, who had crossed the formation even faster than Yeon Sowol, grinned and slapped him on the back.
‘This is...’
At that moment, Yeon Sowol felt a strange rush of excitement.
And this situation felt oddly familiar.
Surely.
Surely...
Even though he had never done it himself, he had seen it plenty of times in the news or online...
‘Ah.’
He realized it.
‘A biker gang...?’
Watching the Jianghu people toy with the government troops, giggling as they ran ahead, Yeon Sowol briefly had that thought.
‘No. No, that’s wrong. What an irreverent thought!’
He quickly shook his head.
After all,
“Come on! Let’s launch the boats!”
the person leading that biker-gang mob from the very front was his stepfather.
* * *
Boats Yi Yubaek had prepared beforehand were hidden along the Jipseong River.
As though they had done this countless times before, the martial artists naturally found the camouflaged boats, lifted them together, and carried them to the river.
Splash!
Within moments, dozens of large and small boats floated on the Jipseong River.
The government troops were in an uproar.
“You truly are insane! Do you have any idea where you are?”
A voice crackling with power rang out.
A military officer who clearly seemed of higher rank than Shinheung County’s eighth-rank Commandant trembled with rage, his beard quivering.
Splash!
Government boats surged forward.
In an instant, they surrounded the boats carrying the martial artists.
“I knew Jianghu people were lawless, but I never knew you were this mad. Today, you’ll stain the Jipseong River with blood!”
Yeon Sowol looked around.
Government troops were everywhere.
More than ten archers stood on every boat, drawing their bowstrings.
‘This is...’
Yeon Sowol swallowed dryly.
They were on the river now.
He could not evade arrows like he had before.
What was more, there were quite a few military officers among them.
Since this was the Governor-General of Liangguang’s procession, it seemed elite soldiers and officers had gathered here.
‘We can’t win this.’
What if the archers fired volleys while the officers threw spears and shot arrows between them?
And there was nowhere to hide on the water.
‘What was Father thinking...?’
He was surely planning something.
Still, this was too much...
Tension tightened around Yeon Sowol’s chest.
“Lie flat and submit to the ropes now! If you do, we’ll at least spare your wretched lives!”
A man who appeared to be an officer from an elite unit snarled fiercely.
Then,
“Ah! Shut up already! You’re so loud!”
Flutter!
A clear shout rang out, and a long skirt and flowing stole fluttered through the air.
Thump!
The person who landed on the foremost boat was the Woman-Dressing Official, Chu Jinhyeok.
“You are...?”
The military officer who recognized him waved his hand in alarm.
“Lower your bows! Lower them!”
The archers, who had their bowstrings pulled taut, lowered their bows in confusion.
“No! Lord Chu! What brings you to a place like this?”
“What do you think? Can’t you see I’m out for a boating trip?”
“Then please come over here! What is the eldest son of the Marquis of Eternal Renown doing with Jianghu scoundrels? Cross over at once! The Governor-General will welcome you gladly.”
“What nonsense. I don’t socialize with officials. You dismissed me from office, and now you want to hang out together?”
“Well...”
“And do the people here look like scoundrels to you? They don’t to me.”
Flutter!
Chu Jinhyeok let his robes billow.
“Here we have Yi Yubaek, the Windflow Sword, who slew the Heat Cauldron Sect and countless other evils. While you swaggered around and enjoyed your power, he fought for the people without a single official post. He is a true loyal subject. And is that all?”
Chu Jinhyeok pointed out the renowned figures of Guangdong’s Jianghu, one by one.
“That gentleman is Elder Hwang Gilsu, the Hundred-Needle Physician who healed His Highness the Prince when he caught a fever here several years ago.”
“That is Elder Song of Bulsan.”
“And look there. Manor Lord Guk of Danzhou is here as well.”
Each time he spoke, the military officer’s face seemed to age another year.
By the end, he sounded as though he were begging.
“No, why are you all doing this? Do you not know that the Governor-General of Liangguang has come here today? You are all sensible people. If you act like this...”
Chu Jinhyeok picked at his ear.
“What did we do? Did we block the road? Did we cause trouble? We only said we wanted to take a little boating trip. Why are you picking a fight?”
“You did cause trouble!”
“Did we?”
The military officer was truly at a loss.
The martial artists gathered here were so skilled that he could not disperse them without bloodshed, yet looking at who they were, he could not afford bloodshed.
Even putting aside those of high birth like Chu Jinhyeok, that remained true.
They were all renowned figures who had earned the people’s respect in Guangdong.
If he harmed them carelessly, public sentiment would be thrown into turmoil, and even the Governor-General of Liangguang would find it difficult to contain.
As he stood there, unable to do this or that, completely flustered,
“Shhhhh!”
A tremendous voice suddenly thundered from beyond the government troops’ encirclement, from among the huge, ornate boats shining brightly with lights.
It contained such immense internal power that the waves trembled and the mountains rumbled.
“Be silent!”
The voice cried out.
“Martial Excellence Earl!”
A hereditary title granted to a military officer whose martial achievements had left their mark upon the world, the third of the five noble ranks, and earned through service on the scale of founding a nation.
“Dragon Soaring General!”
Second-rank general. A commander swift as a flying dragon.
“Grand Guardian of the Crown Prince!”
Protector of the imperial heir.
“Deputy Director of the Left Army Inspectorate!”
Authorized to oversee the Left Army among the Five Armies.
Granted authority to take part in military strategy for the entire nation.
“Co-Defender of Liangguang!”
The second-in-command charged with guarding Liangguang, Guangdong and Guangxi.
“Commander-in-Chief!”
Since the Governor-General was a civil official, the field commander of Guangdong and Guangxi who moved the armies in practice under his orders.
“General Chu Seongho!”
In short, a high-ranking man whose status was surpassed by perhaps only one or two people even if one searched all of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Flutter!
A massive black flag was raised.
The golden character for Commander shone clearly beneath the moonlight.
Whoosh...
Suddenly, the wind stopped.
The world fell silent.
The rippling water settled like a mirror.
The whole world listened.
Step.
Far away, a single giant of a man stepped onto the prow.
No.
He rose high above it.
‘That is... a person?’
Yeon Sowol’s qi sense grasped every change that was taking place from beginning to end.
That made it even harder to believe.
‘The qi in this entire area... has frozen?’
According to what Eun-yeong had taught him, when a person’s mind reached out into the world, the qi filling it stirred in response.
Until now, Yeon Sowol had used that to read where his opponents aimed and what they had overlooked.
But now,
‘I can’t read anything...’
Every trace of energy had frozen in place, without even a hair’s breadth of movement.
“...”
Even Chu Jinhyeok, who had been so forceful moments ago, closed his mouth.
Everyone understood instinctively.
One person possessed the ability to kill every martial artist here.
He had the standing to do it.
And he even had the justification.
He opened his mouth.
“Speak. Why are the people causing a disturbance?”
At that, every Jianghu person turned to Yi Yubaek.
He was not the strongest person here.
But he was the one who had invited them all.
The one who had to represent them.
Trust.
Curiosity.
Doubt.
Worry.
The cool eyes of observers.
Amid all those gazes, Yi Yubaek drifted forward.
Chu Jinhyeok stepped aside, and Yi Yubaek climbed onto the prow.
Confident, but not arrogant.
Respectful, but not servile.
“I am Yi Yubaek of Shinheung County in Guangdong.”
At last,
his test began.
Footnotes:
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