Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 82

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 82: I Was Once a Madman of Chu (4)

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The Sangwol Old Road.

Sang referred to the Xiang River, Hunan's lifeblood, and by extension, Hunan itself.

Wol referred to the old kingdom of Nanyue, meaning Guangdong.

Along this ancient road connecting Hunan and Guangdong, travelers passed through several small villages and towns.

As they walked and stopped along the way, Won Huiseung naturally grew close to Yeon Sowol and Jin Geol.

The three mostly talked about martial arts or discussed which elixir pills they would buy and take when they reached Hengyang. They crossed the Sangwol Old Road in high spirits, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

At last, the long mountain road came to an end, and a great city appeared before them. It was Chenzhou, in Hunan.

Chenzhou lay at the edge of the Nanling Mountains, embracing the Chen River as it wound like a dragon through endless gorges.

A short distance downriver, sheer cliffs rose everywhere. The current crashed against them, filling the air with thick mist and leaving the area damp and cool year-round. It gave one the strange feeling of having reached the edge of the world.

Since officials from the capital had long been exiled there, the endless gorges could also feel like an inescapable maze.

Won Huiseung was beside himself with excitement the moment they reached Chenzhou.

"I've traveled through Hunan a few times, but I've never come this far south. I'd heard rumors that an imugi lived in the Chen River, and now I'm finally here. Wow! It's even better than I expected! These deep gorges! This thick fog! I can feel it. It wouldn't be strange if a dragon lived here, let alone an imugi!"

Won Huiseung was obsessed with dragons.

In twenty-first-century terms, he was a dragon fanatic.

People who knew him sometimes called him the Dragon-Seeking Wanderer because he wandered the world seeking nothing but dragons.

Yeon Sowol watched him curiously before asking, "Huiseung, I've been wondering about this for a while. Have you ever actually seen a dragon? Or found any evidence of one?"

Until then, Yeon Sowol had thought dragons were nothing more than imaginary creatures.

But seeing how sincere Won Huiseung was about them made him wonder.

'Could they really exist? Dragons? In this world of Jianghu?'

It was not impossible. Ghosts existed, as did demonic practitioners. Why couldn't dragons exist too?

"No. I've never seen one."

"Then what evidence do you have?"

"Nothing in particular."

"......"

Yeon Sowol asked, "Then why? Why do you keep looking for dragons?"

"Because dragons exist!"

"......How do you know that? You said there was no evidence."

"There's no proof they don't exist either."

"......"

Yeon Sowol wanted to tell him, "That's an argument from ignorance!"

But he had been a student with excellent social skills even in the twenty-first century. He would not do something so cruel.

He simply looked away.

Jin Geol stood where his gaze landed.

He, too, had grown increasingly excited since arriving in Chenzhou.

"I heard this area produces a lot of silver. That means their silverworking techniques must be excellent too!"

Yeon Sowol asked, "Are you planning to make something out of silver?"

"Yep! I'll gather all the silver pieces, broken silver, and scraps, then turn them into silver yuanbao! I'll rework the existing silver yuanbao too."

Yeon Sowol tilted his head.

"Don't silver pieces and broken silver each have their own uses?"

Even the smallest silver yuanbao weighed one tael.

In twenty-first-century terms, that was a large sum, worth about a million won.

For small everyday transactions, people used silver pieces or finely broken silver instead.

Basically, loose change.

But Jin Geol wanted to gather it all and make silver yuanbao? Why?

The more Yeon Sowol thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

"And why rework the silver yuanbao? They're already finished."

Jin Geol frowned.

"What are you talking about, Sowol?"

Clicking his tongue and wagging a finger, he pulled out his silver. There were rough silver pieces, pieces of broken silver, and misshapen silver yuanbao that looked as if they had been stamped out carelessly.

"What?"

"They aren't pretty. Look at this. Is this supposed to be silver? It looks like someone just kneaded it into shape. It's ugly, so it has to be remade."

"......You still need loose change, though."

"Ah! Right! I can remake the loose change too. I can shape it into pretty, round little silver cakes. Good idea, Sowol!"

Having heard that much, Yeon Sowol could not help asking the most important question.

"......What about the labor cost? Melting it down and remaking it costs money too."

"Hmm. There's quite a lot of silver, so I'll probably have to spend about one tael of silver on labor. Don't worry. I'll pay for it myself! I'll make your silver nice and shiny too, just like new."

To repeat, one tael of silver was nearly equivalent to a million won in twenty-first-century money.

What Jin Geol was planning was like spending a million won to exchange tens of millions of won for crisp new bills.

All because new bills looked pretty!

Yeon Sowol asked in disbelief, "Why would you do that?"

"Hm?"

Jin Geol looked as though he could not understand the question.

"Isn't it obvious? Money should be shiny! You can't carry dented silver around like some beggar."

It was not obvious.

As far as Yeon Sowol could remember, everyone in the marketplace carried tarnished, dented silver.

And...

His gaze fell on Jin Geol's clothes, which looked as though they had been patched a hundred times, along with the dented headpiece he always wore.

"You're fine with wearing rags, though?"

At Sowol's question, Jin Geol puffed out his chest proudly.

"What's inside matters. Obsessing over appearances is what petty people do. I don't spend money on such wasteful things."

"You're all insane."

Yeon Sowol finally failed to hold back his true feelings.

* * *

In the end, they went to a silver workshop.

They left behind a great deal of silver. The artisan, now set to receive a generous labor fee, beamed from ear to ear.

Once they had finished their business, they naturally headed to Chenzhou's largest pleasure house.

"You need to visit pleasure houses to find chances to make a name for yourself," Jin Geol said.

"A pleasure house is where the freshest information gathers. You have to visit one whenever you come to a new region," Won Huiseung added.

Yeon Sowol had no excuse to object.

Creak!

Following the attendant's guidance, they opened the door and entered. Yeon Sowol froze.

'What is this...?'

There was one courtesan in the room.

There were over a dozen guests.

The courtesan sat in the seat of honor while the guests sat around her on both sides.

They all turned sharply toward Yeon Sowol's group.

"Who're you? Never seen you before."

A man who looked like a good-for-nothing, seated closest to the courtesan, spoke in a swaggering tone. He looked like the local tyrant of the place, and his attitude was unbearably arrogant.

"Oh?"

"Hm..."

Seeing Jin Geol and Won Huiseung looking interested, Yeon Sowol hurriedly grabbed their collars to stop them.

"We're travelers passing through. We stopped by on our way to Yuezhou."

"Is that so? Your names?"

"Oh?"

"Hm..."

Yeon Sowol tugged at Jin Geol and Won Huiseung's collars again as he replied, "I have no name worth announcing. Just call me Yeon."

"Fine. Sit over there and enjoy yourselves, but don't cause trouble. Mind your manners. Understand?"

"Oh?"

"Hmm."

Yeon Sowol pulled at their collars one more time and sat down.

Everything fascinated him.

'One courtesan and this many guests?'

It was very different from the pleasure houses he had imagined. He did not know whether this place was unusual or whether pleasure houses throughout the Central Plains worked this way.

Either way, it felt more like a gathering where everyone sat around the courtesan and chatted among themselves.

Even if she tried hard to attend to everyone, with more than ten people in the room, it took time for each person's turn to come around. The guests had no choice but to talk among themselves.

The courtesan was human too, so she gave more attention to people who spent more money or visited often.

Like that good-for-nothing sitting beside her and acting like a king.

From the look of it, he had learned martial arts too. He was at a fairly solid second-rate level.

The courtesan mostly conversed with him.

Everyone else chatted on their own, occasionally tossing money to the courtesan and asking for a song or dance.

Yeon Sowol felt a strange sense of familiarity.

'Livestreaming...?'

The atmosphere really was like that.

A group of people who were not particularly close sat together, giggling over pointless stories. Still, he got to hear plenty of news related to Chenzhou.

Yeon Sowol tried to adapt to the atmosphere.

Awkwardly. Slowly. But steadily.

An hour passed.

"......"

"Oh my, Brother Jin! You're so entertaining. Why don't you just live in Chenzhou?"

"Ah, should I? I'll consider it if you do well on this next song too! I saw how skillfully you sang earlier, but this one will be difficult."

"Eek! Another silver ingot?"

"......"

Before he knew it, Jin Geol had completely taken over the room.

The secret to his popularity was the silver ingots that kept appearing without pause.

Perhaps he intended to spend every last piece left after visiting the workshop, because Jin Geol kept requesting songs and dances and ordering expensive food and liquor.

Yeon Sowol poked Jin Geol in the side and scolded him in a low voice.

"Hey. Hey. We need to buy elixir pills in Hengyang. Keep this up, and we won't even have money left for elixir pills."

Jin Geol answered, "You can take elixir pills anytime, but you won't get another chance to hear this song. That young lady's singing is incredible!"

"Isn't that backward...?"

"Don't worry. Don't worry. If you run out of money, more will come."

"No..."

Yeon Sowol was dumbfounded.

'He's insane. He's a fucking lunatic.'

This was the moment he truly understood how Jin Geol had spent the one tael of gold Seo Myeongeum had given him.

Shaking his head, Yeon Sowol spoke with the people beside him. He learned quite a few things about Hunan's local customs, so the time proved surprisingly useful.

Then a sharp voice burst from the good-for-nothing next to the courtesan.

"Ah... I've let this go on long enough, but who the hell are you? Bandits?"

Turning around, Yeon Sowol saw the man scowling as he glared at Jin Geol, Yeon Sowol, and Won Huiseung.

"Where did a bunch of beggar-looking bastards get so much silver that they can throw their weight around?"

The situation was obvious.

Jin Geol had taken control of the room, pushing him aside, and he was thoroughly displeased.

He had second-rate martial arts, some money, and the status of a local tyrant. Until now, he must have had nothing to fear in this pleasure house.

But this time, he had picked the wrong people.

'Oh dear. Jin Geol and Huiseung won't stay quiet again.'

Just as Yeon Sowol was feeling sorry for him...

"Hm?"

For some strange reason, Yeon Sowol felt their gazes settle on him, because both Jin Geol and Won Huiseung had turned to look his way.

'Me? Why me?'

Yeon Sowol was flustered. Jin Geol had caused this situation, so why were they looking at him? At the very moment he tried to make sense of it...

"Wait a minute. Aren't you guys those Nanyue country bumpkins? The way you act is so provincial. You look exactly like Nanyue bastards."

Long ago, the Guangdong region had been home to the kingdom of Nanyue, a land of non-Han peoples.

In other words, Nanyue was a derogatory name for Guangdong.

Clang!

Yeon Sowol's cup flew through the air.

Seeing that, Jin Geol and Won Huiseung nodded faintly, though they clicked their tongues.

"Ah, Sowol's temper. The moment he gets angry, the cups start flying."

"Tsk. I thought we might get through today without a fight."

Then someone recognized Yeon Sowol as he beat the good-for-nothing. The person cried out in shock.

"Wait. That handsome face! Those martial arts! And... are you truly from Guangdong?"

When Jin Geol calmly nodded, the room erupted into murmurs.

"Guangdong's Featherless Arrow! Yeon Sowol!"

"Good heavens. The rumors were true!"

Yeon Sowol's fist stopped mid-swing.

"I-I was wrong! I was wrong! I didn't know you were Featherless Arrow! I've committed a crime worthy of death! Never again, never again will I look down on Guangdong!"

The good-for-nothing begged desperately, his face badly swollen.

Yeon Sowol looked up at the ceiling with a hollow expression.

* * *

"......So my epithet became Featherless Arrow. Because I keep throwing things."

"Hm. It does suit you rather well."

"People looked at me like I was insane."

"Hm. You are one of the most insane people I know. I could tell when you stood up to the Governor-General of Liangguang, but I didn't know you were so quick to throw punches too."

Yeon Sowol stopped walking and glared at Jin Geol.

"Isn't the insane one Jin Geol, who blew the money for elixir pills at a pleasure house?"

"Ha ha, young hero. That's called windflow. How can you be from the Windflow School and not know that?"

"No. The Windflow School uses wind and willow. That windflow uses wind and flow..."

"At least I don't beat people up like that."

"!!! Who taught you to say that...?"

Rumble!

Was it about to rain?

Lightning flashed across the sky. Thick fog blanketed this place, where the Chen River curled through the gorges.

Thinking rain was on the way, fishermen in straw raincoats and bamboo hats floated small boats on the river and fished.

After leaving the pleasure house, the three had collected their newly refined silver ingots and made their way deep along the Chen River, where only fishermen could be seen.

There was only one reason.

Won Huiseung.

"Thunderclouds! Thunderclouds!"

"So?"

"Rain and lightning are the workings of dragons! A dragon sleeping in the Chen River must have awakened. If we fish on a day like this, we can catch a dragon!"

Won Huiseung borrowed Yeon Sowol's and Jin Geol's freshly made silver yuanbao.

"Why do you need silver yuanbao?"

"Dragons like precious things! If the silver yuanbao are crafted this beautifully, the dragon will definitely take an interest!"

Won Huiseung tied a silver yuanbao to a fishing line and threw it into the Chen River.

"No..."

Yeon Sowol was extremely flustered, but he watched for the moment. It was not as though the silver yuanbao would disappear.

Whoosh!

After some time passed, a torrential downpour began.

Thunder and lightning raged through the sky.

"Hey. Aren't we going back?"

"It's just beginning! It's raining! Lightning's striking! The dragon is close!"

Yeon Sowol was starting to feel as though he were trapped in some bizarre dream.

'Why? Why am I outside fishing while rain is pouring and lightning is striking? Using silver yuanbao as bait. Getting soaked because I don't even have rain gear. Why am I doing this?'

'Who am I, and what am I doing here?'

Won Huiseung was completely absorbed in fishing, while Jin Geol sipped from a liquor bottle in the pouring rain and rambled on.

"Oh, this is fun. Will a dragon really appear? What do you think, Sowol?"

"......"

Yeon Sowol was genuinely beginning to wonder.

'Could it really be my fault...?'

All the fighting wherever he went.

Making friends like these.

Perhaps...

'Have I become a strange martial artist too...?'

He kept associating with strange people and getting dragged into strange events. Perhaps that was because he himself had become similarly strange?

Once or twice might be coincidence or a mistake. But if strange things kept happening over and over again, then...

'Since when did I...'

Just as Yeon Sowol's worries deepened further...

"It's coming! It's coming! I can feel it! A dragon! It's a dragon! Finally, a dragon!"

Won Huiseung shouted.

"Silver! If I use more silver as bait!"

He pulled a newly made, pale silver yuanbao from his pocket.

And threw it.

Into the Chen River.

It was not even his money!

"Hey, you lunatic!"

Yeon Sowol could not help shouting.

He threw it? That expensive silver yuanbao? When it was not even his?

One. Two.

Silver yuanbao flew into the Chen River before Yeon Sowol could stop him.

Then, just as Won Huiseung took out a third silver yuanbao and raised it...

Flash!

The entire world turned white.

Boom!

A blue pillar struck the spot where Won Huiseung stood. The ground shook, and flames burst forth.

"Aaargh!"

"Ugh!"

Both Yeon Sowol and Jin Geol fell to the ground in shock.

"Lightning!"

"L-Lightning?"

Despite the pouring rain, the hair on both their heads stood on end.

The two hurried to Won Huiseung.

"Huiseung! Are you alive?"

"Hey! Hey!"

Jin Geol checked his pulse while Yeon Sowol slapped his cheeks.

"Ugh..."

Fortunately, perhaps because he had the body of a first-rate expert, Won Huiseung opened his eyes not long after.

"Ah... It came right up close... I touched it..."

Yeon Sowol's head began to ache as he watched Won Huiseung lament.

Then Jin Geol...

"Oh! Ooh!"

Letting out strange cries of admiration, he pulled lightning-melted, misshapen silver ingots from Won Huiseung's hands and pockets.

"Ooh!"

He turned to Yeon Sowol, holding up the warped, scorched silver ingots.

"Sowol, we're rich now!"

"Huh?"

"These are silver ingots struck by lightning! Rich people love things like this. If we sell them, we'll get at least three silver ingots' worth for each one, right? The ones with pretty lightning patterns might even fetch gold! See? What did I tell you? If you run out of money, huh?"

Won Huiseung writhed on the ground, muttering about dragons...

Jin Geol danced around, muttering about money.

At this point, Yeon Sowol became strangely calm.

"Hm! That's good, then!"

He abruptly turned his back.

"Sowol! Where are you going? Sowol!"

"Ugh... Let's go together."

Ignoring the two as they hurried after him, Yeon Sowol thought with a small sense of relief.

'Right. They're the insane ones, not me.'

No matter how he thought about it, there was no way he belonged in the same category as them. That was Yeon Sowol's conclusion.

The connections of Jianghu were simply strange, and they had tied him to these odd people so they ended up traveling together.

'Jianghu is full of lunatics. It isn't easy to live with a sound mind here. I need to be careful.'