The Heaven-Slaying Sword - Chapter 7

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈

Chapter 7: Chapter Two - First Foray into the Jianghu, and the Demoness (1)

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In broad daylight, Mok Ri-won stood before the porch of the thatched cottage. He clasped one fist in his palm and extended his hands before him.

The clasped-fist salute.

It was the form of greeting used to show respect in the martial world.

“I’ll be going now.”

Ri-won wore gray martial robes, with a bundle strapped to his back.

An old iron sword hung at his waist, while Tales of Martial Heroes, the book that had accompanied him throughout his long childhood, was carefully tucked into his robes.

Mok Seon-o sat on the porch, smiling with satisfaction as he replied.

“So, you’re setting out into the martial world.”

How could he fail to recognize his disciple’s achievements?

Mok Seon-o could tell from Ri-won’s presence alone that he had reached the Peak Realm. He said nothing more.

Proud beyond words that the boy before him could no longer be called a child, he asked only this.

“Ri-won.”

“Yes!”

“The martial world will be harsh. At times, it will be heartless. At times, wicked. And at times, downright vicious. Can you overcome those hardships?”

He was asking about Ri-won’s resolve.

Ri-won smiled confidently.

“I’ll overcome it all through chivalry.”

“An excellent answer.”

Mok Seon-o nodded.

Beside him stood Ma Il-seok, his arms crossed and white hair now covering half his head.

“You certainly talk a good game.”

Eleven years had passed, but Ma Il-seok was still as brusque as ever.

That did not mean his heart was the same.

After living together for so long, how could there not be affection between them?

Seeing Ri-won so full of confidence made Ma Il-seok’s chest tighten. He took a token from his robes and tossed it to him.

“What’s this?”

“If you ever need help, show that to the beggars in a city. Ah, the ones wearing a belt like this around their waists.”

Ma Il-seok tapped the belt around his waist.

“If it’s nothing too difficult, they’ll help you.”

He had stepped down as the leader of the Beggars’ Sect and gone into seclusion, but that did not mean the name Beggar King had lost its influence in the martial world of the Central Plains.

Simply possessing his token would make Mok Ri-won a guest of the Beggars’ Sect.

Ri-won looked at Ma Il-seok with deep emotion.

“Thank you!”

“Thank my ass.”

Ma Il-seok snorted.

Then, despite his expression, he began pouring out worried advice.

“You’ve probably heard this enough to grow calluses on your ears, but listen once more.”

“Yes!”

“The martial world will not like you.”

Ri-won’s heart lurched.

A bitter smile spread across his face.

“…I know.”

“Yes. You are the Heavenly Slaughter Star, and you possess the Extreme Demon Physique. It would be fortunate if you could safely hide those facts, but there will surely be people who are reminded of Brother Mok when they see your martial arts.”

“And some may realize who I am from these martial arts as well.”

“Don’t interrupt me.”

Ma Il-seok’s face crumpled.

Ri-won burst out laughing.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Impudent brat.”

Mok Seon-o smiled at their bickering.

Then he looked at Ri-won.

“Go.”

It would be a lie to say he felt no regret.

Still, it would not be a master’s duty to hold back a disciple finally setting out on his own path.

Suppressing the regret welling up inside him, he urged Ri-won onward.

Ri-won’s heart swelled as he looked at his master.

He took in the house one last time, fixing it firmly in his eyes.

A valley deep in a forested mountain.

A low thatched cottage nestled within it.

And two masters who were like family.

Now, he would leave this place and enter a world that would no longer be kind to him.

Excitement and worry rose together in his chest. Slowly, Ri-won knelt and began to bow.

The Nine-Bow Rite.

After completing the ceremony with the utmost respect for his masters, Ri-won rose and said,

“I’ll definitely return after making a name for myself in the martial world!”

Then he turned away.

He did not look back as he set off.

He knew it would only make the parting harder.

* * *

After about three days descending the mountain, Mok Ri-won let out a cry at the sight of the great city ahead. He had spent the whole journey strolling along with his bundle on his back.

“A city at last!”

He had nearly thought he was lost.

For days, all he had seen were mountain valleys. The place he had sought out after mistaking it for a settlement had turned out to be ruins. Of course he had begun to worry.

At least he had not gotten lost in the mountains during his first venture into the martial world and starved to death. Thinking that, Ri-won entered the city.

“Whoa...!”

His fists clenched tightly.

His eyes shone with wonder.

‘Can there really be this many people?!’

People to the left, people to the right.

There were even people of every age and gender.

For Ri-won, who had seen no one in his life besides Mok Seon-o and Ma Il-seok, it came as a fresh shock.

Then...

Growl.

Ri-won’s cheeks reddened at the sound rumbling from his stomach.

He glanced around.

Fortunately, nobody seemed to have heard it.

“Ahem!”

After clearing his throat in embarrassment, Ri-won started walking again.

‘I should eat first.’

His destination was an inn.

He had already decided what to order.

‘Thin noodles and Bamboo Leaf Green!’

Not a single master in Tales of Martial Heroes had failed to eat them. They were truly the food of wandering heroes.

On his first foray into the martial world, Mok Ri-won eagerly began searching for an inn.

* * *

Along the main road of Suyang County in Jiangxi Province, a strange, dazed mood hung over a small inn called Sohwa Inn.

There was only one reason.

The appearance of the young man in the corner, “drinking” his thin noodles, had created that atmosphere.

His gray martial robes and the bundle propped against the wall were shabby.

The sword at his waist was old enough to look as though it had been rolling around a marketplace.

Yet he still seemed to glow.

Skin far too pale for a man.

A high nose bridge, a slim jawline, and long eyelashes.

He had the looks of a noble young master, entirely at odds with his clothes.

That was why the inn’s atmosphere had grown so strange.

People had begun to wonder whether he might be the scion of a prestigious clan traveling incognito.

A thug seated across from Ri-won whispered as he looked him over.

“Doesn’t that guy look exactly like some pretty-boy?”

“Yeah, that... what was it? Could he be that Jade Dragon or Strange Dragon from the Zhuge Clan?”

“The Zhuge Clan? Come on, brother. Why would one of that family’s scions be in a place like this?”

“Don’t you know? Rumors of that fellow being an eccentric have spread all over the martial world.”

The thugs continued talking.

Behind them, an inn servant stood with his mouth hanging open as he stared at Ri-won. Elsewhere, several women stole dreamy glances at him.

That was what remarkable looks did.

Even standing still, they drew attention. No matter what their owner did, people tended to view it favorably.

The words of the women watching Ri-won now had to be understood in that light.

“How can he eat so boldly...?”

They were wrong.

He was wolfing it down.

“Bamboo Leaf Green is running down his chin. Even his clumsiness is rather...”

He was not clumsy. He was spilling it on purpose.

That was because Tales of Martial Heroes had described Bamboo Leaf Green running down a hero’s chin.

“He must be a young master from some clan traveling incognito.”

Ridiculous.

Mok Ri-won was a mountain bumpkin born and raised in the wilderness.

He was, quite literally, a complete innocent who knew nothing of the world.

The misunderstanding only deepened, but no one was there to clear it up.

Ri-won, drunk on romantic ideals, simply shut out the world and beamed.

‘Delicious!’

What a thrill!

‘This is the taste of a wandering hero!’

It was the taste of two heroic fantasies layered together.

The noodles were pleasantly soft, while the cool, sharp taste of Bamboo Leaf Green burned down his throat wonderfully.

It was a worldly taste wholly unlike the wild greens he had eaten in the mountains, and Ri-won felt as though he might cry.

‘This is wonderful...!’

As Ri-won grinned brightly at the thought that he could travel the martial world forever if it was like this, cries of admiration burst out from all around the inn.

Only then did he notice his surroundings.

‘Hm?’

When he quickly turned his head, everyone startled and buried their faces in their tables.

The noise died down at once as well.

Ri-won tilted his head at the strange reactions when he heard a sigh.

“Phew...”

His gaze drifted toward its source.

An elderly man sat there, with a middle-aged man in front of him wearing an utterly miserable expression.

Ri-won became curious about them.

There was no special reason. They simply looked like people who needed help.

Internal energy rose from Ri-won’s dantian and gathered around his ears.

It was a minor technique that heightened one’s hearing.

He had learned it from the Beggar King.

“Gyeonghwa Pavilion is driving me to my death.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. How can those bastards be so cold-blooded? Why are they so determined to monopolize all the trade...?”

‘Gyeonghwa Pavilion?’

Ri-won furrowed his brow and focused on those words.

‘From the name, it sounds like a tavern or a pleasure house...’

As Ri-won sank into thought, the miserable middle-aged man slammed the table.

Bang!

“This is all because of that bewitching woman!”

“H-Hey!”

“Did I say anything wrong? You think so too, don’t you? Ever since that bewitching woman entered Gyeonghwa Pavilion, the whole district has changed! The money the black path took as protection fees has doubled, and unfamiliar martial artists have started appearing everywhere! At this rate, all our heads are bound to roll too!”

The agitated middle-aged man’s voice filled the inn.

Yet something seemed strange.

Someone so worked up would normally have been stopped by somebody, but not a single person in the inn paid him any attention.

No, there was a more accurate way to put it.

‘...They’re avoiding his gaze.’

Everyone in the inn was avoiding him.

Ri-won’s eyes lit up at the odd situation.

‘It’s time for a chivalrous deed!’

In this grave atmosphere, the immature mountain bumpkin Mok Ri-won could only think of that.

* * *

There were naturally things one had to consider when gathering information.

Things like secrecy and caution.

Mok Ri-won knew nothing about any of that.

He simply believed that if he asked a passerby a question, they would answer.

That was all there was to it.

...Should that be considered fortunate?

Even so, Ri-won’s attempt succeeded.

It was all thanks to a face too handsome for someone like him.

“Thank you, miss! I won’t forget this kindness.”

“N-No, it’s nothing!”

The women before Ri-won had turned bright red. As Ri-won held his clasped-fist salute, they fled as though running away.

Without the slightest suspicion, he straightened and continued thinking.

‘A bewitching woman!’

This was what the young women had told him.

One day, a woman had suddenly arrived in Suyang County.

The woman possessed a bewitching beauty, and her actions had been as follows.

‘She visited the owner of Honghwa Pavilion and played an instrument, and he became completely captivated by the performance and treasured the bewitching woman...’

Ri-won narrowed his eyes.

‘Suspicious.’

Perhaps she had simply played well, but Ri-won first recalled something Ma Il-seok had warned him about.

“All manner of wicked sorcery runs rampant in the martial world. Among the worst is an art called the Soul-Seizing Art.”

“The Soul-Seizing Art?”

“Yes. It clouds a person’s reason and turns them into a puppet.”

What the bewitching woman had used might have been the Soul-Seizing Art.

The black path had also become more active after she appeared. Perhaps she was a scout sent by a black-path organization to swallow up Suyang County.

‘They definitely called her a bewitching woman.’

Mok Ri-won, whose mind was not accustomed to much thinking, wracked his brain.

The Soul-Seizing Art.

An art that captured people’s hearts and turned them into puppets.

Even if it was not that, it might be some other martial art capable of capturing hearts.

And Ri-won knew of something like that.

‘Seduction arts...!’

Ri-won’s face turned red.

Unlike when he had been seven, Ri-won now had some knowledge in that area. He also knew the details of the fight he had once heard about between Ma Il-seok and the Azure-Blood Seductress.

In other words, he now knew how seduction arts bewitched people.

“Good heavens!”

Ri-won spun around and looked toward Gyeonghwa Pavilion, whose location he had just learned.

‘Seduction arts!’

The instant he thought of those words, Ri-won became convinced that the bewitching woman’s technique was not sorcery, but a seduction art.

Of course, he had no reason for thinking so.

Tap!

‘This is dangerous!’

Ri-won ran toward Gyeonghwa Pavilion.

Seduction arts were truly dangerous martial arts. Common people could not be allowed to fall victim to them.

If ordinary people did, their qi might be sucked dry and they could die.

‘It should be me instead!’