WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈
Chapter 74: Chapter Nine - Mission, Espionage (5)
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It was a sudden development.
The boy who had burst out while they were deeply immersed in acting as vicious scoundrels and causing trouble, the words he forced out in that wretched state, and Mok Ri-won’s expression shattering at the sight of the fallen boy.
Dang Hwa-seo assessed the situation quickly.
Then she acted even faster.
“Hyeon!”
Dang Hwa-seo seized Mok Ri-won, her voice rising to a shriek.
Feigning utter shock, she brushed the filth from his black robe.
“How could something so filthy get on you?! This will not do! We are leaving at once! Throw away these filthy clothes and have new ones made, something far more expensive!”
Whip!
Dang Hwa-seo turned her head.
The corners of her human-skin mask’s eyes rose sharply as her face twisted into that of a vicious demon.
“Wang Sam! Drag that damned brat over here! I will return at once and make that thing answer for this!”
Jegal San, posing as Wang Sam, immediately understood Dang Hwa-seo’s intention and shook like a leaf.
Nodding frantically, he picked up the boy.
“Let’s go!”
Dang Hwa-seo linked arms with Mok Ri-won and strode through the crowd.
Her pace was fast. Though the other unit members were confused, they quietly followed behind her.
The people watching pitied the boy, yet none stepped forward to block their path.
The three half-siblings.
No hero among the common folk dared challenge the monsters whose infamy had swept across all of Shaanxi Province.
All they could do was pray for the boy’s safety.
* * *
Upon returning to the estate, the Dragon Phoenix Unit threw off their human-skin masks and outer robes before rushing into the inner residence.
Jegal San spread out bedding and laid the boy upon it, then tore off the filthy clothes clinging to his body.
The sight that greeted them filled the room with horror.
“This...!”
“There is not a single uninjured part of his body. His condition is severe.”
Il-un spoke grimly.
Just as he said, the boy’s entire body was covered in bruises, leaving it difficult to find even a patch of unblemished skin.
That was not all. Fractures were visible in several places, and his unsteady breathing made him seem close to death.
The marks of violence were far too horrific to be on the body of a boy who looked no older than ten.
Dang Hwa-seo rolled up her sleeves and checked his pulse.
“Jegal San! Bring the Golden Wound Medicine! Venerable Il-un, assist me. Young Hero Mok, bring clean water with the Sword Dragon! White Phoenix, guard the estate’s perimeter!”
At her rapid commands, the unit members scattered.
Dang Hwa-seo took out the needle kit she always carried with her.
The Sichuan Tang Clan was famed for poisons and hidden weapons.
Raised as its successor, Dang Hwa-seo was also skilled in medicine.
Ssssss.
Dark green ripples shimmered at her fingertips.
It was anesthetic poison.
Dang Hwa-seo coated a needle with the poison and inserted it near the boy’s chest. His breathing gradually calmed.
“First, we will clean his body and drain the blood and pus. Then I will stitch the wounds and set the fractures.”
“Understood!”
Soon after, Mok Ri-won and Namgung Jin-cheon returned with a basin brimming with water and handed it to Dang Hwa-seo.
After carefully washing the boy’s body, Dang Hwa-seo began treatment.
* * *
After nearly four long hours of treatment, the boy’s care was finally complete.
Only then did Dang Hwa-seo relax enough to catch her breath. Mok Ri-won, who had watched with a tense expression, asked,
“H-how is he?!”
“It went well. His external injuries are severe, so he will need to rest and recuperate for a while, but I do not believe he will be left with any lifelong ailments.”
“T-thank goodness...!”
Mok Ri-won’s shoulders sagged as he let out a breath of relief.
Then he turned his gaze toward the boy.
Splints and cloth bandages covered the boy’s body. His breathing had stabilized, yet his brow remained furrowed even in sleep, as though he was still suffering.
“...Who could he be?”
Hye-un, who had appeared at some point, spoke with her arms crossed.
The mood among the unit members darkened.
“They were signs of abuse.”
“This was beyond abuse. It looked like someone wanted to kill him.”
“No.”
Namgung Jin-cheon cut Jegal San off.
He looked down at the boy expressionlessly and spoke with certainty.
“His condition looks serious, but there are no fatal injuries. Whoever did this focused carefully on external wounds alone. This state was intentional.”
Mok Ri-won flinched.
His gaze shot toward Dang Hwa-seo.
“Miss, what does that mean?”
“...The Sword Dragon is right. I only became certain while treating him, but these wounds were deliberately inflicted.”
The unit members’ expressions turned strange at Dang Hwa-seo’s words.
What she was implying was too obvious.
Jegal San asked,
“...Are you saying he was deliberately injured to approach us?”
Dang Hwa-seo slowly nodded.
Her gaze remained fixed on the boy.
Namgung Jin-cheon continued.
“He may be an underling of the Demonic practitioners hiding here. We should bind him and interrogate him as soon as he wakes.”
It was a drastic suggestion.
Still, they could not simply dismiss it.
Why would they? The Dragon Phoenix Unit had pretended to be vicious scoundrels in the first place to draw the attention of the Demonic practitioners in hiding and lure them out.
“...If that is the case.”
Everyone focused on Dang Hwa-seo.
Her furrowed brow showed that she did not like the situation, but she continued anyway.
“If this child truly came after us, there is one possibility we must consider.”
“What is it?”
“The Demonic practitioners may already know our identities.”
Mok Ri-won drew a sharp breath.
Dang Hwa-seo continued.
“Would they not have heard rumors about us? If they had, they would not use a child’s plight to bait us. Yet the child’s actions make no sense if he is unrelated to them. Especially the way he pushed through that crowded street to come to us in the middle of it.”
Thinking back on it, there were more suspicious details than they could count.
How he had made it to that street in such a broken state, and why he had sought help from them of all people.
If he truly wanted to ask anyone for help in that crowd, surely he would have approached the first person he saw.
“...Let us at least take the minimum precautions, as the Sword Dragon said. If he is not an underling of the Demonic practitioners, we can hear his circumstances and help him. If he is, we must extract information.”
The other unit members nodded.
They seemed to agree with her.
Everyone except Mok Ri-won.
“...Miss, that seems too cruel. Look at how badly this child is hurt. He has no means of escape, so should we not let him rest for now? He is a commoner with not a shred of inner energy.”
Mok Ri-won found the unit members unfamiliar.
They spoke of binding and interrogating a child so badly wounded simply because he might be an underling of the Demonic practitioners. It made him feel estranged from them.
“Young Hero Mok, this concerns Demonic practitioners. It is a mission. We cannot act on personal feelings.”
“If this child is not an underling of the Demonic practitioners, he will surely be terrified. The marks of abuse are obvious. If he is treated harshly here as well, how deep a wound will that leave? That would be cruel!”
“Ink Dragon, stop acting like a child.”
Namgung Jin-cheon spoke.
His jade-blue eyes held an emotion that almost looked like anger.
“Think rationally. If this brat really is an underling of the Demonic practitioners, he may have a way to contact them.”
“The child had nothing on him!”
“It could be inside his body. If not, he may have planted a contact somewhere before meeting us.”
Namgung Jin-cheon’s words made sense.
Mok Ri-won knew that, so he could not refute them at once.
Namgung Jin-cheon snorted at him.
“I will not criticize you for pursuing heroic ideals. But learn to exercise sound judgment.”
Mok Ri-won looked around.
The other unit members also agreed with Namgung Jin-cheon.
‘Why...?’
Why was no one taking his side?
Did they truly believe it was right to treat a child who had never learned a single martial art harshly over the mere possibility that he was an underling of the Demonic practitioners?
Mok Ri-won could not understand them.
No, his mind understood, but once again, his heart could not.
The truth was that the unit members’ words made perfect sense.
If there was a chance the boy was an underling of the Demonic practitioners, the right course was to set aside needless risks and use a sure method.
‘But...’
Just because something was reasonable did not mean it was in accordance with Chivalric righteousness.
Mok Ri-won could not treat a commoner coldly when they said they needed help.
“Then...”
As Mok Ri-won saw it, this situation was wrong.
“...I will remain by his side. I will watch him. So please do not speak of binding or interrogating him.”
Mok Ri-won placed a hand over his chest.
His face was full of earnestness.
Namgung Jin-cheon spoke again.
“Some underlings of the Demonic practitioners deliberately do not learn martial arts. They do so to infiltrate society. That does not mean they are not Demonic practitioners. Children raised by the Demonic Cult are sent into the world after undergoing horrific mental conditioning. Surely you learned that at the Martial Alliance.”
“There is also a chance that he is not one. Even if this child approached us because of the Demonic practitioners, he may simply be under threat.”
“Are you going to rely on such hopeful speculation?”
“Believing in that possibility is what makes one a chivalrous hero. As I understand it, so long as there is even the slightest chance this child is a commoner, intimidating him is something that must never happen.”
Mok Ri-won’s voice was resolute.
His eyes did not waver in the slightest.
After locking gazes with Namgung Jin-cheon, Mok Ri-won looked to Dang Hwa-seo.
“Miss, I am sorry. I want to watch over the child.”
Dang Hwa-seo quietly looked into his eyes.
Something came to mind.
It was not deliberate. This situation simply resembled an event they had experienced before too closely.
‘...This is exactly how it was in the Valley of Meager Blood.’
She remembered arguing over a young girl in the Valley of Meager Blood while traveling from Jiangxi to Anhui.
That day, Dang Hwa-seo had said the girl might be someone’s trap, while Mok Ri-won had insisted there was a chance she was not.
And Mok Ri-won had been right.
- A chivalrous hero is one who braves such threats, and one who grows stronger in order to do so. Is that not why we honed our martial arts?
As she recalled those words, Dang Hwa-seo’s heart wavered.
‘Am I...?’
Was she making the same mistake now?
Was she ignoring the Righteous Path because she was so focused on succeeding in the mission?
That thought crossed her mind.
If she prioritized coercive measures for the sake of her goal, how would that differ from the Black Path?
The moment that thought reached her, a hollow laugh escaped Dang Hwa-seo.
“...I cannot take responsibility for Young Hero Mok’s actions.”
“I will take full responsibility.”
“If this child is an underling of the Demonic practitioners, something dangerous may happen.”
“I will gladly bear it.”
A bitter smile touched Dang Hwa-seo’s lips.
Still, the conversation was gradually leaning toward permission.
The other unit members felt it as well.
“Poison Phoenix, are you truly considering allowing Ink Dragon to do as he wishes?”
Namgung Jin-cheon’s presence became even more threatening.
Mok Ri-won spoke.
“Please trust me.”
“There is no reason to.”
Mok Ri-won and Namgung Jin-cheon’s gazes collided again.
Namgung Jin-cheon gritted his teeth.
“This is unnecessary. It is inefficient. Why insist on taking the harder road?”
He truly disliked this situation.
To accept danger simply in the hope that the boy was not an underling of the Demonic practitioners. What could be more foolish?
If they bound and interrogated the boy first, could they not uncover his identity without taking any risk at all?
As Namgung Jin-cheon glared at Mok Ri-won with those thoughts in mind, Mok Ri-won answered.
“Even knowing hardship lies ahead.”
He spoke of the one thing he knew.
“It is because a chivalrous hero chooses the most difficult path.”
Footnotes:
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