Wanderer of the Martial World - Chapter 24

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

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◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 24

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Contrary to my worries, time passed without incident.

During that time, Baek So-ok and I spent most of our time training.

On the evening of the day we left Yueyang, Baek So-ok made a request.

"Senior Jang. I want to cultivate my inner-energy method. Could you stand guard for me?"

At first, I wondered what made her trust me enough to ask something like that.

Qi Accumulation merely involved building internal energy, so there was little chance of a major problem no matter what happened.

Energy circulation was different.

It involved moving qi to open or widen blood acupoints. If one suffered a strong shock, their acupoints could burst, or their qi could flow along a route unsuited to the circulation method.

Qi deviation.

It could put someone in the terrifying situation I had only heard about in rumors.

"All right."

Even so, I did not refuse.

After all, I was not the one doing it.

That did not mean I planned to try anything with her.

I was not enough of a piece of trash to hurt a perfectly healthy companion for no reason.

"Fuu..."

Baek So-ok cultivated her inner-energy method with long, drawn-out breaths.

After breathing that way for quite some time, her breathing changed and became more relaxed.

She had moved beyond Qi Accumulation and begun energy circulation.

I had doubted it, so seeing her actually do it surprised me a little.

Of course, she might not actually have been circulating her energy.

All I could see was that her breathing had changed.

"Fuu..."

After some time, her training ended.

"Thank you!"

I gave a slight nod in response to her thanks.

"I was about to train as well. Could I ask you to stand guard?"

"Yes! Of course! But I'll step outside for a moment first."

She hurried out of the room.

I had a rough idea of what she needed to take care of.

She had trained without moving for nearly two hours, so she probably needed to relieve herself.

After a while, she returned to the cabin with a relieved expression, and I began cultivating my inner-energy method.

More precisely, I sat still while pretending to train.

I could not trust her.

Even Qi Accumulation was dangerous in a situation like this.

If I focused on building internal energy, I would be vulnerable to a surprise attack.

I might not suffer qi deviation, but I could still die.

Holding out was not as difficult as I had expected.

Rather, it gave me time to reorganize everything I had trained in so far.

The training and real battles since obtaining the Flowing Current Heaven-Severing Saber Method passed through my mind.

Especially the battle with Changbu.

Now that I thought about it, that battle was the first thing that made me wonder how I had managed it.

Even though I had been the one to do it, my vision and calculations at the time had gone beyond common sense.

By my standards, what I had seen and calculated was more impressive than swinging my saber or using footwork.

So I trained with mental imagery while recalling that time.

All while keeping track of Baek So-ok's presence and pretending to cultivate my inner-energy method.

Of course, we did not only train.

Sometimes we went up on deck to enjoy the sun, and one day, we drank together.

Thanks to that, Baek So-ok and I grew close faster than I expected.

I had not opened my heart to her completely, but I had at least come to think of her as a companion.

That day was one I had expected to pass normally as well.

"Water bandits!"

A shout rang through the cabins.

In the middle of mental imagery training, I immediately unfolded my crossed legs and stood.

"Senior! They say there are water bandits!"

Water bandits were exactly what they sounded like. Bandits who lived on the water.

In a world with yokai, they lived apart from civilization and robbed others.

Naturally, they were not righteous thieves who robbed rich bastards and spread the money among the common folk, nor were they kind bandits who collected tolls.

They were simply lunatics.

After thinking for a moment, Baek So-ok and I headed slowly toward the deck.

I had once heard from an experienced wandering martial artist that water bandits did not only attack by boarding a ship and fighting.

Sinking it was the problem.

Water bandits did not often sink ships because the ship itself had value. Still, when things turned difficult, they would sometimes bore holes through the hull and sink the vessel.

That was why it might be better to go outside.

If we stayed in the cabin for no reason, we could be dragged down with the sinking ship.

It was night, and torches flickered all across the deck that should have been dark.

Baek So-ok and I did not go onto the deck.

We only waited on the stairs leading up to it.

It was a position where we could see outside while also responding immediately if something happened.

Then a group passed by us.

A chilling sensation ran through me, and goosebumps rose all over my body.

Their presence differed from that of the Azure Balance Gate's Sect Leader and the old man at the black market. It was stickier and more revolting.

Yet they clearly carried the presence of Peak Realm masters as they passed beside me.

The bald giant I had seen before went first, licking his lips. A woman and a young man followed behind him.

Then a handsome middle-aged man and people who appeared to be their subordinates passed by.

I did not even breathe, nor did I turn my gaze.

If I caught their attention for no reason before a battle, my head could be cut off at once.

Thud! Thud!

As they took their places on deck, grappling hooks caught on the railings.

"Kiyahaha!"

Water bandits appeared with strange shrieks.

They looked quite unlike ordinary humans.

There were some who looked normal, but more than half had strange appearances.

The skin on their faces looked as if it had melted away.

No. It was not only their faces.

Their exposed bodies were covered in scars that looked like melted candle wax.

Demon practitioners.

More precisely, they looked like demon practitioners who had not learned a demonic art.

Because they lacked a demonic art that could use yokai aura, their skin had melted after being eroded by it.

They were men who had swallowed Yodan whole to build internal energy, then suffered the side effects directly because they lacked demonic arts.

I had heard that most mountain bandits and water bandits were like that, though not all of them.

Ordinary martial arts were already difficult enough to obtain, and demonic arts were even harder.

Demonic arts were the exclusive domain of the Demonic Cult.

Even so, bandits ate Yodan.

Because they did not know the method of ritual refinement.

Those who knew martial arts could raise their realms through it, but I had heard the side effects were no small matter.

That was why there were almost no Peak Realm masters among mountain bandits or water bandits.

They went mad or died before reaching that point.

Even those who learned martial arts other than demonic arts suffered like that. Those who swallowed Yodan without knowing martial arts at all would naturally suffer even worse side effects.

I had even heard that swallowing Yodan did not create internal energy in those who knew no martial arts.

It merely made them stronger.

Naturally, that could be an advantage, but looking at them, I was not sure it truly was.

Once again, I felt grateful to the old man who had given me the Qi Accumulation Method.

After training with it until now, yokai aura had never invaded me.

"Heh heh heh. Unit Leader, may I handle these bastards?"

The bald giant spoke as he looked at the middle-aged man.

"Hmph! I'll take this side, so you go to the rear!"

The woman's vicious tone was directed at the bald giant.

"You bitch, I've let you off, and now you've finally lost your mind."

Thick killing intent flowed from the giant's body.

"You're the one who's lost it."

A dangerous air flowed between them.

"Enough."

At the middle-aged man's word, that air vanished.

That alone made his control over them clear.

"Muoe. Go to the rear."

"Understood!"

At the middle-aged man's order, the bald giant who had been confronting the woman immediately gave a fist-and-palm salute and bowed his head.

Boom!

He used his lightness technique and leaped over to the rear.

Two martial artists who seemed to be his subordinates followed him.

"Ho ho! Thank you, Unit Leader."

The woman spoke in a coy tone, but the middle-aged man did not answer.

Still, as though already used to it, she smiled brightly, turned around, and looked toward the water bandits.

Nearby sailors clutched their weapons and trembled at the water bandits' might.

Sailors might be rough when dealing with ordinary people, but before true lunatics, they were no different from common folk.

"Kihihit! Meat! Meat!"

Especially when faced with lunatics who drooled while looking at people like that.

Energy flowed from the woman's body.

Dark energy, black as night.

It was the imposing presence of a Peak Realm master who could project qi outside their body.

The problem was that her qi was black.

As goosebumps raced across my body, a memory surfaced.

'Did you know? A demon practitioner's qi is black.'

Information I had heard while drinking with Yi Pyeong.

Black qi that seemed to swallow light, and people who looked normal on the outside.

I slowly backed down the stairs.

I gave Baek So-ok, who looked puzzled, a hand signal for her to follow.

Crack! Thud-thud-thud!

"Argh!"

Something poured down along with screams.

At the same time, black thorny tentacles swept through the air within my sight as I nearly reached the bottom of the stairs.

'Fuck.'

A curse from my previous life rose in my mind without my realizing it.

A bead of cold sweat ran down my cheek.

Demon practitioners.

And most likely the Demonic Cult.

A massive group of lunatics capable of fighting the entire martial world on their own.

That had to be who they were.

Then one obvious conclusion formed.

They would not want anyone to know they had come to the Central Plains.

And to ensure that, they would kill everyone aboard this ship.

Of course, they might leave a minimum number of sailors alive to operate the ship, but I would not be among them.

Baek So-ok's expression grew serious as well.

It was probably not only because of my expression.

The black tentacles that were clearly not normal martial arts, and the people's horrific screams.

Though she had little experience and might not know about black qi, she must have sensed that the situation was not normal.

"We need to get off the ship."

I lowered my voice as much as possible and spoke into her ear.

Informal speech slipped out without my realizing it.

Perhaps because she also sensed the danger, she nodded.

It did not matter whether we were in the middle of the Yangtze River or not.

If we stayed here, we would die.

"Argh!"

A terrible scream rang out, and shredded chunks of flesh fell into the cabin corridor from the rear exit where the bald giant had gone.

The people in the other cabins did not come out.

They surely knew water bandits had come, yet they stayed inside.

It was the nature of common people, wanting to avoid the immediate danger no matter what might await them afterward.

Without worrying about them, we entered our cabin.

I knew nothing about the ship's layout.

If I had paid more attention, I might have walked around and investigated it, but I had not thought that far ahead.

I quickly pulled out only the bundle containing my martial arts manuals and spiritual medicine from among the messy clothes, strapped it to my back, and looked at the gap in the small cabin window.

Going out through there would put us along the side of the ship.

If we jumped straight into the river, we should be able to survive.

Of course, the window itself was too small for a person to get through, so I had to widen it.

I drew my straight saber, circulated my internal energy, and cut along the side of the window.

Slice!

A line cut through the wooden wall.

I cut above it again, then below it.

The sound was not loud.

My body, driven by internal energy, cut through it before the wood could break apart.

Clunk.

I pulled out the cut section of wall and threw it onto the bed.

Then I sent Baek So-ok up first.