The Heaven-Slaying Sword - Chapter 26

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈

Chapter 26: Chapter Four - Anhui (7)

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About half an hour passed.

Before Jegal San stood the woman, now ready to leave.

“First, I’ll get you out of the estate and take you to your brother. Do you have anywhere to go? Distant relatives, perhaps...?”

“No. My brother and I were abandoned by the roadside as children.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

The woman gave a small smile.

“It’s all right. I’m taking a few valuables with me. I can sell them and establish myself somewhere else. As you said, no one here would welcome me if I stayed anyway.”

There was a smile on her face, but sorrow lay beneath it.

Jegal San considered her words for a moment, then asked another question.

“Come to think of it, what was that toad talking about when he mentioned the family seal?”

“A toad... Pfft!”

The woman burst out laughing.

Her shoulders trembled as she tried to contain herself. Once she caught her breath, she continued.

“It is exactly what it sounds like, the family seal. It is the stamp required to approve all business conducted by Zhang Family Estate.”

“And it’s gone missing?”

“Yes. As you heard, the Elder suspects me.”

“Then I suppose you don’t have it.”

The woman gave a bitter smile and shook her head.

“He was an irresponsible man. If he was going to die so young, he could have at least settled his affairs before he went.”

She was speaking of the deceased Family Head.

Jegal San hummed.

“It seems the two of you were not particularly close.”

“Was there ever any question of being close? It was a marriage born of mutual need.”

“Need?”

“The Family Head did not want in-laws who could threaten his position. I needed money to feed my starving brother. You could say our interests aligned.”

“What an unromantic story.”

“Romance does not put food on the table.”

Jegal San snickered.

“I can’t deny that.”

As he spoke, a thought suddenly came to him.

‘She is like her.’

He had wondered why he had dreamed of his mother during his nap. Perhaps it was because this woman resembled her in several ways.

Her boldness despite her appearance, and the circumstances she had endured.

Even her willingness to give herself up for her child.

There was something about the woman that made him feel nostalgic.

“Then, I leave it to you.”

“Leave it to me.”

Jegal San extended his Qi Sense.

‘The guard positions are unchanged.’

The sun had fully set.

The guards would likely change shifts soon.

Jegal San rolled the jade stones in his pocket.

‘Seventeen left. I should have conserved them better.’

It would be close.

The jade stones were essential materials for a simple formation array. How he used them would determine whether their escape succeeded.

“Great Hero?”

“Wait a moment.”

Jegal San closed his eyes.

‘Let’s see...’

With his Qi Sense spread wide, he held his breath and sensed someone approaching.

‘The next shift, most likely.’

The incoming guards joined the current watch.

They exchanged a few words, then the original guards left their posts.

“Now is the time.”

The moment the guards changed shifts was their best chance to escape.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes... Eek!”

Jegal San hoisted the woman onto his back.

She flailed in surprise before settling against him.

“Hold on tight.”

He threw the jade stones he had been rolling in his palm out the window.

Whoosh!

Four in total. The jade stones flew in different directions and released strange Qi Waves.

‘Fifteen minutes.’

He had arranged the formation to amplify its power to disorient perception, so it would not last long.

Jegal San drew a deep breath and unleashed the Inner Energy from his dantian.

Then...

Tap.

He vaulted over the windowsill.

* * *

No matter how ordinary it might be, it was still a wealthy family’s estate.

And Jegal San was carrying a helpless woman on his back.

Unlike when he had infiltrated the estate, he could not afford to take things easy now.

The formation had just worn off.

Having already passed the inner residence and reached the estate’s outer edge, Jegal San drew a sharp breath and quickened his pace.

‘Please let them notice something is wrong too late.’

Even as he ran with that hope in his heart, things rarely went so easily.

Clang!

-The mistress has disappeared!

-Find her! Find her at once!

A bell rang.

The shout that followed carried Inner Power, making the woman flinch.

“They found us too quickly...”

“Yes. Their guard was tighter than I expected.”

He had thought the guard captain, who had just entered the first-rate realm, was merely an ordinary watchman. It seemed the man had skills beyond martial arts as well.

“What do we do now?”

“What else? Run faster.”

Jegal San forced a smile.

Then he shifted his steps in a strange pattern.

‘I don’t want to waste strength here, but...’

He could not invite danger merely to conserve Inner Power.

As Jegal San swept his feet across the ground, the space around them seemed to blur and warp with his movements.

A footwork technique, the Heavenly Mystery Veiled Step.

It was one of the secret martial arts passed down only to the direct line of the Jegal Noble Clan’s Family Head.

The woman’s eyes widened.

‘This is...’

It was a mystical sensation.

Every place he stepped seemed to become another space.

It was as though rippling water surrounded both him and her.

Tap.

Urgency crept into Jegal San’s stride.

He had begun using his martial arts in earnest, and his heart had grown anxious.

‘This footwork only works because it is night.’

Footwork was different from a formation.

No matter how refined a Noble Clan’s martial arts might be, they could not fundamentally distort perception.

If he relaxed, they could be discovered and surrounded at any moment. While he still had Inner Power left, he needed to move faster.

‘I should have focused more on inner cultivation.’

He resented his own insufficient Inner Energy.

Even the smile Jegal San always wore vanished as he began to run faster still.

Then, he faced a crisis.

* * *

Click.

At the estate’s outermost perimeter, dozens of people drew their swords.

At their center stood the toadlike Elder with his hands behind his back, chuckling.

“I knew this would happen, you bitch.”

Jegal San frowned.

‘Damn it.’

They were surrounded.

It was clearly a blunder.

No, it was not even something he could call a blunder.

Their luck had simply been terrible.

Of all things, the guards from the previous watch had not yet left the route they were taking.

“Now, where is the family seal?”

The Elder stepped forward.

Greed was plain on his face.

He looked like a child just before getting his hands on gold and silver treasures.

The woman suppressed her dismay and glared fiercely at him.

“...Have I not told you that I do not know?”

“Then why are you running away? No, there is no need to ask! Did those damned merchant guild bastards not promise to guarantee your safety in exchange for the family seal? How much? What did they offer you?!”

“I truly do not know...!”

“Silence!”

The Elder’s face twisted hideously.

“You still lie! You still dare lie to me! I know exactly what schemes you’re plotting!”

The woman clenched her fists.

Seeing the Elder openly spew such rage, she felt wronged before she felt angry.

“I am only leaving. I have no reason to remain here any longer, so I am trying to disappear quietly. Why must you stop even that? What have I done so wrong...?”

“You are lowborn!”

Jolt.

The woman’s body shifted.

No, it was Jegal San’s body that jolted as he carried her.

“That is what base blood is like! Vermin who do not know gratitude! Parasites who do nothing but consume food! Worthless fools who cannot see an inch ahead of themselves! Is it not obvious what things like you are thinking?!”

It was absurd.

The Elder’s reasoning could only be described as...

No, it was too emotional to even be called reasoning.

Only then did the woman understand.

He did not truly believe she had the family seal.

He simply wanted to believe it.

With the family seal gone, Zhang Family Estate was in turmoil, threatening his own position. He needed someone to blame.

She did not even know what else to say.

It was all so empty and absurd that her eyes began to sting.

‘Over something so trivial...’

She was furious that she had to flee because of an old man’s petty anxiety.

“You have a filthy way of speaking.”

Jegal San suddenly spoke.

The woman drew in a startled breath and looked at him.

The smile he had worn until now was gone. Bloodshot eyes glared at the Elder.

“Have you gone senile in your old age? How can the words coming from your mouth be so ugly?”

“Who the hell are you?!”

The Elder stamped his foot.

He glared at Jegal San for suddenly hurling abuse, then pointed at him as if he had realized something.

“The merchant guild! You are one of that merchant guild’s lackeys! No wonder... Yes, if you are with them, it makes sense that you could break through the guards and infiltrate the inner residence!”

The Elder laughed loudly.

“Fine. I will deal with you slowly. I will throw you into the deepest part of the estate and make you beg for the chance to confess the truth!”

“Well, I think your head will fly first. I doubt I can give you a clean cut, so let me apologize in advance. Your face is so wrinkled that no matter how prettily I slice it, it will not look right.”

“You bastard...!”

The Elder’s body trembled.

Jegal San glared at him and pretended to be at ease.

Inside, though, anxiety was consuming him.

There were too many enemies, and he had spent too much Inner Energy using his footwork to get here.

If he had been alone, he could have broken through at a single point and escaped. But a pregnant woman clung to his back.

‘My clan...’

If he revealed his background, he could get out of this situation.

Yet that would not save the woman, and relying on the glory of his Noble Clan was something Jegal San hated more than death.

He was trapped.

Jegal San laughed hollowly.

“I am sorry. It seems I gave you false hope for nothing.”

“...No. Looking at that old man, I would not have been safe even if I had stayed inside. At least I resisted, so that is something.”

“The child...”

“I have to give birth somehow. If they learn I am carrying the Family Head’s child, they will not harm me immediately. What happens after that, I do not know.”

“That is a relief.”

After their brief exchange, the Elder shouted.

“Attack! Cut off that bastard’s legs and bring me that lowborn wretch!”

At the same time, the martial artists charged.

Jegal San was on the verge of having some part of his body cut off.

Then something unexpected happened.

Thwack!

It was a heavy impact.

At the dull sound, as though someone had struck with a blunt weapon, both the martial artists and Jegal San stopped moving.

It was only a brief moment, but to someone, it was long enough to yawn through.

Thwack!

Several impacts rang out in quick succession.

The martial artists guarding the wall all collapsed, and a man appeared there.

Jegal San stared in that direction and muttered blankly.

“Brother Mok...”

It was Mok Ri-won.

His entire body was concealed beneath a black mask and some sort of ragged covering, but Jegal San recognized him from his exposed eyes alone. Even with only his eyes visible, Mok Ri-won’s beauty shone through.

Mok Ri-won strolled toward Jegal San.

Though he moved very slowly, no one present could stop him.

The Qi Waves pouring from him were that heavy and majestic.

“How...?”

Jegal San asked.

Mok Ri-won looked directly at him with the eyes visible above his mask and smiled sweetly.

“You said you were performing a chivalrous deed. I could not miss out on something like that.”

Jegal San could only laugh at the answer, delivered as if Mok Ri-won were doing something perfectly ordinary.

“Really...”

Could a person this strange truly exist?

As that thought crossed his mind, Mok Ri-won pointed at the Elder and asked.

“Are they evil scum?”