Wanderer of the Martial World - Chapter 35

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 35

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I quickly bent down and lay flat.

There was a clearing not far below the ridge.

“Aaargh!”

Screams rang out.

Every one of them came from Namgung Clan martial artists or wandering martial artists.

A group was massacring them in the clearing.

That was right.

It was a massacre.

The Namgung Clan’s first-rate martial artists were being pierced through by black, thorny tentacles extending from a woman’s arm, or torn apart by a bald, powerfully built man. The wandering martial artists were being killed in all manner of ways by their subordinates.

I knew them.

They were the Demonic Cult members I had seen aboard the merchant ship I took to Hefei.

The demon practitioner Namgung Clan had been pursuing could not have been these people. I had no idea why they had appeared here.

There was no way to find out, and there was no need to know in this situation.

All I could do was hold my breath and remain flat on the ground.

I had become first-rate.

Yet I felt powerless again.

No matter how first-rate I was, before a Peak Realm martial artist, I was less than an ant.

And there were not only the two Peak Realm demon practitioners happily massacring the martial artists, but two more Peak Realm demon practitioners standing behind them.

Most of the clearing was soon dealt with.

The ground, which must have been brown before, had turned red with blood.

Then, a figure leaped in from outside and landed in the clearing.

Her clothes were torn in several places, and her hair was disheveled, yet her bewitching beauty could not be concealed.

The woman from the portrait.

“Unit Leader, I greet you!”

The woman immediately prostrated herself before a handsome middle-aged man.

“You caused trouble.”

The middle-aged man spoke in a low, thick voice.

Perhaps frightened by his rebuke, the woman’s body trembled even from this distance.

“I apologize. But... they looked so delicious that I could not resist the temptation.”

“Even if the target was Namgung’s young clan head, failing to remain devoted to your mission after accepting it is still a crime. If the information you uncovered is not worth it, you will answer for that crime.”

“Yes! I...”

“Wait, Unit Leader.”

The bald giant cut her off.

As he chewed on the heart of a Namgung martial artist, he addressed the man called Unit Leader.

“Smack, smack. What should we do with the little rats over there?”

“Handle them yourselves.”

I immediately grabbed So-ok’s hand and ran backward.

The bald giant had pointed in our direction.

Boom!

We had not gone far before we stopped.

Right in front of us, amid the thick dust kicked up by his landing, the bald giant grinned at us.

I knew this bastard.

I had first seen him at an inn in Yueyang, then again aboard the ship.

His former fat had vanished, leaving behind a body of pure muscle without changing his size.

Was that a demonic art too?

“Oh? Hahahaha! You two!”

The bald giant pointed at So-ok and me as he laughed.

He recognized us as well.

“So you were the ones who escaped back then! That’s why the heart of the bastard who let you get away ended up in my mouth.”

He proudly bragged about killing his own subordinate as if it were nothing.

Shing.

I drew my straight saber.

My opponent was Peak Realm.

What could I do?

No, could I even survive?

My thoughts were in turmoil, but I focused as hard as I could.

There was no helping it.

The world had never gone the way I wanted.

Even if this became the last place my feet ever touched, there was nothing I could do about it.

Still, I could not die without doing anything.

Even if I was less than an ant, I could at least leave a small wound before I died.

“Oh?”

Perhaps sensing my will to resist, the bald giant narrowed his eyes and released a vicious killing intent.

Then both his arms turned black.

The black internal energy unique to demon practitioners.

Was that fist qi?

I stared straight at him and circulated my internal energy.

The internal energy whirled at its limit, no, beyond its limit, making my blood acupoints feel as though they would tear apart.

He rushed at me.

Boom!

The sound followed afterward.

Even though my heightened perception made time seem slower, his fist came too fast for me to properly grasp.

A thought flashed through my mind.

The closer the angle at which I deflected an opponent’s attack was to perpendicular, the wider the deflection would be, but I would take the impact head-on.

Conversely, the closer it was to a straight line, the narrower the deflection angle became, but the impact dissipated.

The next important thing was how fast I retreated when the attack connected.

At first, I had to move at the same speed as the opponent’s attack. Then I had to slow down at once and prepare my own strike.

Everything I had always known and practiced was reorganized in my mind within that instant.

Sliiide.

The first perfect deflection I had ever performed.

His fist slid along my straight saber.

Then I used the simplest footwork I knew best.

Flowing Current Heaven-Severing Saber Method, First Form: Flowing Water Line.

His arm brushed past me, and my straight saber immediately drew a line through the empty air.

Slash!

As expected of Peak Realm.

The straight saber aimed at his neck only cut across his shoulder.

His killing intent surged, and I felt his fist approach my flank.

It was too fast to evade or properly block.

All I could do was bring the saber’s hilt toward it.

Boom!

A powerful impact crashed into my body.

My head rang.

No.

The entire world rang.

As I flew through the air, I saw a streak of lightning pass beside me and lost consciousness.

Was I alive?

That was my first thought when I woke.

Or was I dead?

Had I returned to the modern world? Or had I gone to another world?

Having already experienced one crossing between dimensions, a faint hope and fear consumed me.

I forced open my unwilling eyes little by little.

My unfocused vision gradually cleared, revealing an old wooden ceiling.

It was a ceiling built in a familiar style.

Only then did I smell the strong scent of medicine.

I was not dead.

Relief crossed my mind, leaving a trace of regret behind.

“Brother!”

A familiar voice called out to me.

I opened my dry mouth and managed one word.

“...Water.”

“Ah!”

So-ok hurriedly brought water, supported my head, and slowly poured it into my mouth.

Life gradually returned to my mouth, which had been dry as a desert.

“...So-ok.”

“Yes, Brother. You’re all right now.”

Her eyes began to fill with tears.

“How long was I out?”

“Three days.”

Several tears fell from her eyes.

“What happened?”

“Well...”

So-ok’s story went as follows.

At the moment I was struck and sent flying, a Namgung martial artist appeared and stabbed the bald giant through the neck with a lightning-wreathed sword, killing him.

So the lightning I had seen as I lost consciousness had not been an illusion.

“And I brought you back. I put you in the carriage at the foot of the mountain.”

One question remained after hearing her.

“What about Ju Daegang?”

“That bastard...”

A curse came out immediately.

Apparently, Ju Daegang had run away the moment I faced the bald giant.

I did not know how he had managed to flee in that fleeting instant, but I could not help feeling resentful.

Still, if I had been in his place, I might have run as well.

No. I certainly would have.

Even so, weren’t double standards simply part of human nature?

My mood soured, and a dark thought came to mind.

Should I kill him?

I knew where he lived, so that would not be difficult.

There was no need to show such a sight to his family. I could follow him and kill him somewhere secluded.

Yet at the same time, I wondered whether there was any need to go that far.

We were not soldiers.

Nor did we belong to any organization.

We were merely wandering martial artists.

We called ourselves a band and worked as companions, but there was no obligation or coercion involved.

Of course, depending on the depth of the relationship, people often became true comrades.

Like Yi Pyeong, who had tried to avenge Jang Wi.

But Ju Daegang and I were never that close.

There was no reason to expect loyalty strong enough to stake one’s life on.

“My ties with Ju Daegang are severed.”

“Understood!”

Still, there was no way I could continue working with him. Even if we were only companions in name, he had abandoned a companion.

So-ok’s indignant expression softened a little.

“I’ll bring you some rice gruel first.”

After she left the room, I stared silently at the ceiling.

I suddenly remembered the perfect deflection I had performed at the end.

The thoughts that had come to me when his fist approached.

Was that enlightenment?

Of course, enlightenment alone could not have deflected his fist.

The gap between Peak Realm and first-rate was not that narrow.

That was why the effectiveness of the Flowing Current Heaven-Severing Saber Method, as well as the Flowing Current Heaven-Severing Formula, was so great.

What in the world was this martial art?

Curiosity rose within me, but there was no way to find out.

Other than finding Seoryeong.

“Brother, try eating this.”

The savory scent of rice gruel filled the room.

With So-ok’s help, I raised my upper body, leaned against the wall, and swallowed the gruel she fed me.

I watched So-ok feed me.

Thank you.

A ray of warm light entered my selfish heart.

“Once you’re feeling better, let’s go collect the commission payment. And we need to buy you a new straight saber, so I think we can sell my sword and use the money to buy one.”

Her expression was so cute that I chuckled.

The straight saber I had bought only recently was no longer in my possession.

When I had blocked his fist, I had felt the hilt break. Even if someone had brought it back, it probably would not have remained intact.

“There’s no need for that.”

“But...”

“It’s truly fine.”

Weapons were consumables anyway.

We were supposed to receive fifty nyang in silver as the commission payment. I could spend around thirty nyang on a straight saber and use the rest for living expenses while I recovered.

Later that day, I left the apothecary and returned home.

My body was better than I had expected.

I had no strength because I had gone three days without food, but perhaps because I had taken the internal-injury medicine I already possessed and another dose So-ok had bought, my qi and blood were fine, and my stomach felt fairly comfortable.

After recuperating for a few days, I would probably be able to resume training.

On the way home with So-ok, I saw Ju Daegang’s house.

As I tried to pass without giving it a glance, the door opened and someone appeared.

The person who stepped outside while straightening his clothes was Im Chun-su.

The Yang Family Manor martial artist Ju Daegang had claimed to be close with.

And his disheveled clothes and hair.

“You left this behind.”

Then a woman’s voice came from inside as the door opened slightly.

Im Chun-su turned, received the item, and quickly tucked it into his clothes.

At a glance, it was a man’s undergarment.

Honestly, I had already roughly understood the moment he appeared.

Back when Seoryeong and I were intimate, I had looked exactly like that when I stepped out of the house.