WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

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◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 14

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After setting a day to teach Gu Deok martial arts, I returned home and practiced the saber technique.

The forms of the saber technique had many similarities to the martial art I had been developing.

They still felt a little awkward, but since their foundations were the same, I could perform them even with only the illustrations and explanations to go by.

Hoo...

I had heard that secret manuals were normally written as obscurely as riddles.

That was why they were called secret manuals, after all.

But the Flowing Current Heaven-Severing Saber Method and the Flowing Current Heaven-Severing Formula were written simply enough for me to understand.

Seoryeong had possessed martial arts manuals like these.

I wondered why she had not learned martial arts herself, and why Gyeong had needed to attend a martial academy, but I could no longer ask.

There was something I could guess, though.

There had clearly been no trace of Seoryeong having learned martial arts.

Having shared a bed with her, I knew that better than anyone.

And she had lived alone with her seven-year-old son.

An untrained woman and a young child.

They said that a treasure one could not handle would bring disaster upon the household. Perhaps she had hidden them so thoroughly to avoid such a disaster.

In a world where one had to pour silver taels into a martial academy for years just to learn a basic inner-energy method, a proper martial arts manual was worth a fortune.

That was why she had concealed them so carefully.

The thought of Seoryeong suddenly sent my mood plummeting.

I swung my saber fiercely.

Whoosh!

Though I had not opened many blood acupoints yet, it made a fairly sharp sound.

After finishing my training and roughly wiping myself down, I sat on the wooden porch and watched the sunset.

I needed to grow stronger.

Not simply because of Seoryeong.

In a reality where those without strength could only be pushed around, I had to become stronger to protect myself and those precious to me.

I calmly sorted through my thoughts.

What I needed to grow stronger was training.

And that required time.

No matter how great one's talent was, it took time to train one's body and open blood acupoints.

The other thing was Yodans.

There was a reason it was difficult to become first-rate with only a basic inner-energy method or the Qi Accumulation Method of the Flowing Current Heaven-Severing Formula.

My internal energy was absolutely lacking.

Of course, I could just gorge myself on spirit pills, but anyone with that much wealth and influence would not have been learning a mere basic inner-energy method to begin with.

What I had felt while circulating my energy this time was that the flow of internal energy changed according to its quantity.

The amount of energy was important for guiding that circulation.

Just as a thin stream could not properly carve out a path, the same was true for internal energy.

Of course, if a path had already been opened, even a thread of internal energy could be circulated through it. But since I had to open the paths known as blood acupoints as I went, I needed a certain amount of internal energy.

That was why what I ultimately needed was Yodans.

With Yodans, I could absorb them through the Qi Accumulation Method and dramatically increase my internal energy.

But every Yodan was claimed by martial sects.

I had heard that they handed some over to the government authorities, but that was meaningless to me.

That left only one option, going into the wilderness alone to hunt.

Hunting...

I could survive in the wild.

If I avoided yokai as much as possible, it would be dangerous, but I could survive.

The problem was that hunting and surviving were entirely different matters.

Yokai were not beasts.

Their appearance often resembled beasts, and they often acted like them too, but that did not mean I could think of them as mere animals.

They were creatures skilled at killing humans.

That meant hunting them inevitably carried considerable danger.

I already knew that many wandering martial artists had died while hunting like that.

But since I desperately needed Yodans, going hunting was not something I could choose not to do.

Though before that, I needed to try something else first.

“Hey! Jeong-un!”

As I sat lost in thought, someone called to me from in front of my home.

“Brother Yi?”

Yi Pyeong stood outside, waving.

“I have nothing to offer you.”

“It’s fine. Between us, what does it matter?”

Yi Pyeong waved a hand as he spoke.

I nodded, and we sat facing each other on the wooden porch.

I had not invited him inside because there was a chance he might see the secret manual.

I had hidden it, but I could not ignore even the slightest possibility.

“Did you hear the news?”

“Pardon?”

I asked at the sudden question.

“Young Master Gwak. Ahem, Gwak Ha-jun is going to the Martial Alliance this time.”

“...I hadn’t heard.”

Only then did I properly realize that several days had already passed since my return.

It seemed many things had happened while I recovered.

“Well, that’s how it turned out. He’s going there to report on the new yokai that appeared, and apparently he’ll be staying there for quite a while.”

Could that be his punishment?

“Ah! You don’t know this either. By the time Great Hero Gwak Un-seok got there, those yokai had already disappeared.”

“Is that so?”

At his words, I recalled the chilling sound of bells.

“So he was absolutely furious... Ah, never mind.”

As if something was pent up inside him, Yi Pyeong nearly burst into anger before forcing himself to hold it back.

The Yi Pyeong I saw now felt a little unfamiliar compared to the carefree man I had known before.

“Ahem... Anyway, I decided to go along with the kids.”

“To the Martial Alliance?”

“Yeah. Thinking about it, I’ve traveled to many places while living as a wandering martial artist, but I’ve never been to the Martial Alliance. It’ll be a chance to broaden my horizons.”

“Mm... I see.”

I did not know what he would do at the Martial Alliance, but it was ultimately his choice.

“Ah, Gwak Ha-yeon is going too.”

Gwak Ha-yeon was Gwak Ha-jun’s half-sister.

I remembered Gwak Ha-jun saying that she, a lay disciple of Mount Heng Sect, was his precious younger sister.

“So... Gwak Ha-jun told me to ask you too. Um... Didn’t he ask you for something as well?”

“Ah... yes.”

He had asked me to devise an escape route out of the county.

Now that I had a proper martial arts manual, I no longer needed that request, so I had not thought about it.

Honestly, I had forgotten it while being consumed by my separation from Seoryeong and martial arts.

“He wants to change that into an escort job at the Martial Alliance... What do you think?”

“I can’t.”

I answered firmly.

I had never been there myself, but the Martial Alliance was a place where countless masters gathered.

I suspected that yokai aura leaked outside whenever I performed Qi Accumulation with a Yodan. If I went to the Martial Alliance, my entire plan would fall apart.

Peak Realm masters could sense yokai aura, so a place with enough Peak Realm masters to trip over was, in a sense, a deathtrap for me.

And where would I even find Yodans there?

Since I knew nothing of the surrounding area, hunting would undoubtedly become much more difficult.

Even setting aside the Alliance Leader, who was in the Transcendent Realm, the Martial Alliance was a place I had to avoid at all costs.

For a moment, I wondered whether I might meet someone from the Namgung Clan and ask about Seoryeong’s whereabouts, but I soon gave up on the thought.

Even if I learned where she was in my current state, there was nothing I could do.

I was too weak right now.

“...Is that so? Tch.”

Yi Pyeong scratched his head, looking disappointed.

“Yes.”

I did not apologize either.

Just as I respected his choice, I only hoped that he would respect mine.

That was only natural, even if he was my benefactor.

“I heard they’ll even give spirit pills to the people accompanying them this time.”

Yi Pyeong subtly brought up the benefit as though he still found it regrettable, but I shook my head slightly.

“It’s all right.”

Perhaps realizing he could no longer persuade me after my firm refusal, Yi Pyeong eventually left.

After he left, I sat there for a long time before changing into black martial attire and heading outside.

I went to the tavern where I had drunk with Yi Pyeong’s group before taking the previous job.

When I opened the door and entered, the noisy clamor made my ears ring slightly.

I had come here to find Jo Man-sik.

I remembered him saying that he was a regular at this tavern.

I looked around and went up to the second floor, where I spotted Jo Man-sik drinking in a corner.

“Brother Jo.”

“Huh? Isn’t it Young Hero Hwang?”

Young Hero.

The title was unfamiliar to me, since I rarely heard it.

Considering the age of this body, Young Hero was appropriate, but people who were terrified of me usually called me Great Hero, while those close to me simply called me by name.

“Yes. It’s been a while.”

“Hahaha. What do you mean, it’s been a while? We saw each other a few days ago, so it hasn’t been that long. Come, have a drink. It’s on me.”

I sat across from him and asked how he had been.

The fact that he did not ask about my bruised face was likely his own form of courtesy.

“How have I been...? Same as always. Haha. What would be different?”

After we spoke of completely unimportant things for a while, Jo Man-sik opened his mouth.

“Did you hear about Brother Yi and the others?”

“I heard they’re going to the Martial Alliance.”

“That’s right. Ha. I met Yu Sam before, and he was thrilled because he’d already learned martial arts, and they said he would receive spirit pills if he accompanied them to the Martial Alliance.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. I’m a little jealous, but it’s already passed. What can I do?”

Jo Man-sik’s expression as he said that did not look jealous at all.

He did his best to remain expressionless, but the slight twitch of his lips and the mocking look in his eyes showed that he did not envy them.

That was why I had sought out Jo Man-sik.

The expression I had seen at the drinking party before we left on the mission, especially when the subject of Yodan ritual refinement came up.

I had seen that expression a few times in my previous life.

It was the particular expression that carried the sense of superiority of someone who believed they alone knew information others did not.

From that, I had guessed that Jo Man-sik knew a place where ritual refinement could be performed.

He might be able to perform ritual refinement himself, in which case I would simply be wasting my time. But if he could not, I thought I might be able to acquire Yodans there. That was why I was here.

As I exchanged useless small talk with him, I thought.

Should I ask?

But I soon dismissed the thought.

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Already?”

“I was just passing by and thought I’d stop in for a drink. I’ll buy next time.”

“Do that.”

I bid Jo Man-sik farewell and went outside.

Then I hid somewhere with a view of the entrance and watched it.

I could have asked him directly.

I even had a rough idea of where the place he knew might be.

But there was a reason I did not.

Who would reveal such an important secret to someone they were not even close to?

Especially when it was information that could cost them their life if handled wrongly.

Besides, this world was not that soft to begin with.

If I had asked him, there was a high chance he would deny it to the end, or try to use me through that information.

I had decided to tail him for three days.

If he did nothing suspicious in those three days... I would have to grab him and beat it out of him.

For someone who preferred to kill people cleanly, torture was quite unfamiliar. Still, if I truly intended to do it, it was not something I could not do.

Even if it meant harming someone for my own benefit, I had already killed countless people, so I did not feel much guilt.

Perhaps I felt that way because this was no small matter. It could change my life.

I had changed.

At times like this, I thought of who I had been in my previous life.

An ordinary person who had lived a fairly decent and diligent life.

People were creatures of adaptation, so I sometimes found it strange how well I had adapted to the world of the martial arts. But the current me was still me.

There was no need to deny it. I only had to accept it as it was.

Still, it was important to keep my boundaries.

This was a world where it was easy to become a madman if one let their guard down.

Like the thugs who had targeted Seoryeong to rape her, or murderers who killed people simply for pleasure.

As long as I did not become like that, it would be enough.

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