WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Satori
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈
Chapter 52
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Jang Hwan's urgent words.
And screams coming from far away.
“What kind of yokai is it?”
“An Aotu! It was an Aotu!”
An Aotu, a Goe-grade yokai.
It resembled a wild ox.
The government authorities and the Martial Alliance had widely distributed the Classic of Mountains and Seas, so even people in a village like this knew the names and characteristics of yokai fairly well.
“Where is the Blue Martial Gate's Sect Leader?”
“He's fighting the yokai right now!”
A strange disappointment passed through me.
If I had found and dealt with the Aotu first, I could have kept the Yodan.
In truth, protecting Imgye Village was Sin Gye-gwang's duty, so it was only right that he deal with the yokai himself.
Still, disappointment was disappointment.
“But... um... he seems to be in danger!”
“In danger?”
At Jang Hwan's words, I thought of Sin Gye-gwang.
His plump body. His hands, which showed only traces of calluses.
Not all first-rate martial artists were alike.
One needed training and experience to become a proper first-rate martial artist.
He might have been fine before the Aotu appeared.
Goe beasts came after Yo beasts, but Goe beasts themselves were not particularly common yokai.
They were even rarer in a place like this, where yokai scarcely appeared at all.
As a first-rate martial artist, he could have handled Yo beasts easily enough, but Goe beasts were different.
They might have been too much for a first-rate martial artist who had not properly built up his skills.
“You need to hurry over there...”
I looked at Jang Hwan's anxious face.
His eyes were filled with fear, and sweat covered his face.
It seemed Sin Gye-gwang had failed to deal with the Goe beast properly, so Jang Hwan had rushed over to call me.
If Sin Gye-gwang fell and I did not step in, Imgye Village would be destroyed.
That was why martial artists received such treatment.
Ordinary people could not survive without them.
“Let's go.”
“Yes! This way!”
I followed Jang Hwan as he ran off in urgency.
The greed growing in my heart grinned brightly.
“Argh!”
Sin Gye-gwang was being chased by the wild ox-like yokai, the Aotu.
His sword was nowhere to be seen, and he was desperately throwing himself aside to avoid the Aotu's attacks.
He did not seem seriously injured, but his torn clothes were stained with a little blood.
Whoosh!
Thorn-like hairs wrapped around the Aotu's neck like a straw rain cape.
Several of them shot toward Sin Gye-gwang.
“Save me!”
Sin Gye-gwang twisted his body as much as he could and barely evaded them.
Words familiar to me spilled from his lips.
Then, upon seeing me, he quickly ran in my direction.
I slowly drew my straight saber and stepped forward.
The thirty-tael straight saber I had bought in Huangzhou was still intact, remaining my dependable companion.
First-rate martial artists could infuse qi into their swords to make them hard and sharp, and my martial arts were founded upon deflecting attacks away.
“Gasp!”
Sin Gye-gwang, almost out of breath, brushed past me. The Aotu that had been pursuing him spotted me.
Roooar!
It let out an enraged cry.
It must have already eaten someone. Fresh red blood covered its muzzle, and scraps of human flesh clung to its sharp teeth.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The thorn-like hairs from the Aotu's mane flew toward me.
They were quite fast, even within the slowed time of a first-rate martial artist.
Swish!
But an attack that simply flew straight at me posed no threat whatsoever.
As I deflected them, they flew elsewhere without even grazing my body.
Roo?
The Aotu made a startled sound.
Roooar!
Its surprise soon turned to anger, and it charged at me.
The straight horn on its head targeted me, as did the thorn-like mane hairs.
Then several more hairs flew at me.
Swish.
After deflecting them, the Aotu was already quite close.
I pretended to shift slightly left, then quickly used my footwork to move right.
I held my straight saber sideways and let it slide down one of the Aotu's horns.
Then I powerfully slashed diagonally downward.
Slice!
Its neck was so thick that I could not cut all the way through.
Still, judging by the sensation, I had cut through more than half of it.
Roo?
The Aotu ran past me, then came to a stop.
Splurt! Thud!
Blood spouted like a fountain from its split neck, and it collapsed.
The earth shook beneath the impact of its massive body.
I had grown stronger.
The past six months of training had not been in vain.
Though I was first-rate, Goe beasts were supposed to be my equal in strength.
This was not a yokai that should have been so easy to handle.
Yet I had killed it with absurd ease.
I slowly approached the Aotu and cut open its chest with my straight saber.
I had come immediately after finishing my inner-energy method training, so I had no choice but to do it without a dagger.
The qi-infused straight saber smoothly cut through hide and muscle. I reached inside and pulled out the Yodan.
A new Goe-grade Yodan.
Only six had remained, so the regret I had felt vanished in an instant.
I tucked it into my clothes, blood and all, then looked toward the people.
Sin Gye-gwang stared blankly at me, as though stunned.
“Waaaaah!”
Then the villagers cheered.
It had been a long time since I had cut flesh. My heart stirred, drawing up a dark satisfaction, but I forced it down.
Aotu meat was considered top-quality.
Other than the meat of Ma beasts and above, which was generally very difficult to obtain, it was famous for being the most delicious among Yo beast and Goe beast meat.
Perhaps it was because it looked like a wild ox, and thus resembled cattle.
Sizzle.
The Blue Martial Gate's reception room.
Chunks of Aotu meat, cut into easy-to-eat pieces, roasted directly over a brazier.
Of course, I had eaten yokai meat before.
Only Yo beast meat, though.
And what I had felt then was the taste of meat from the modern world.
Basically, the meat of livestock here differed greatly from modern meat.
Modern livestock had been selectively bred and raised hygienically, so even plain grilled meat had almost no unpleasant smell.
But the meat here was different.
It carried such a heavy gamy odor that I would have spat it out immediately in my previous life.
That was why they masked the smell with strongly scented spices and seasonings.
I gave half the meat to Sin Gye-gwang.
The reason was simple.
It meant he should overlook my keeping the Yodan.
In principle, Yodans belonged to martial sects.
That was why wandering martial artists could not freely sell Yodans they obtained themselves and could only sell them to martial sects.
If anyone failed to do so, the sects made them pay with their lives.
It was the same even for a martial sect in a village like this.
They usually had someone backing them, so if he put his mind to it, he could make things difficult for me.
Of course, if that happened, I would kill him first.
“Ooh!”
Sin Gye-gwang watched the roasting Aotu meat with an ecstatic expression.
The proper aroma of meat, which I had not smelled in a long time, put me in a good mood as well.
Soon, the woman grilling the meat brought out pieces one at a time and placed them on my plate and Sin Gye-gwang's.
I picked up the meat with chopsticks and immediately put it in my mouth.
“Oooooh!”
Sin Gye-gwang let out an admiring cry.
Inwardly, I admired it just as much.
It melted. Then it disappeared.
The finest meat, so expensive that even in the modern world I had barely eaten it.
Even the scent of beef was not unpleasant. This truly was Goe beast meat.
After the hectic meal ended, Sin Gye-gwang took out a rather luxurious bottle.
“It is Golden Seed Liquor! I've been saving it for a day like this!”
A baijiu made by blending five grains.
It was not the cheap baijiu I usually drank, but a premium baijiu crafted by a master.
“Here! Have a drink!”
I accepted the cup he poured and looked at him.
The scrapes he had gotten from rolling around on the ground caught my eye.
After we drank, he hesitantly opened his mouth.
“Could it be... that you are... um... not far from the Peak Realm?”
A familiar misunderstanding.
“I don't know.”
I simply told the truth.
In fact, I did not know either.
When I would be able to reach the Peak Realm.
Breaking through to the Peak Realm was dangerous.
If one mishandled the Ren and Du vessels, one could become crippled at once. One needed sufficient internal energy and broad blood acupoints capable of carrying that energy.
The problem was that I had no sense of how much internal energy I needed to open my Ren and Du vessels.
Martial sects that had Peak Realm masters surely knew.
But naturally, such sects would not kindly tell me that information.
A single chance.
That was why I had to be careful.
At times, I felt myself growing impatient, but I was doing my best to suppress it.
Right. There was plenty of time.
I would absorb all the Yodans I had left, then attempt it.
Perhaps I would be able to do it then.
The martial artists of great sects who reached the Peak Realm at a young age.
No matter how much support they received, could they have received as many Yodans as I had absorbed, and would absorb in the future?
Yo-grade Yodans were usually made into wound medicine or internal-injury medicine, while Goe-grade Yodans were made into spiritual medicine. Even so, I had more than two hundred Yo-grade Yodans.
Right. I would do that.
I wiped away as much of my impatience as I could.
“Does the Severing Sword Gate have anyone at the Peak Realm?”
“Hmm?”
Sin Gye-gwang thought for a moment at the sudden question.
“I don't know. Father was at the Peak Realm, but my older brother was first-rate when he inherited the position of Sect Leader. I heard that he reached the Peak Realm afterward, but... honestly, I don't believe it. My older brother had no talent for martial arts. He only took the position of Sect Leader through underhanded methods. He announced that he had reached the Peak Realm, then immediately stopped showing himself as though he had gone into seclusion. Honestly, I think it is a lie.”
Another condition for surpassing first-rate and reaching the Peak Realm.
Talent.
It was said that without talent, no matter how much spiritual medicine one consumed to build internal energy, one could not reach it.
Of course, that might not be true if one had an enormous amount of spiritual medicine.
Did I have talent?
I did not know.
But I believed I did.
I tipped back my cup and asked about the news outside.
“I heard those Demonic Cult bastards entered the Central Plains. Have they reached the Martial Alliance?”
“Hmm? No. Given the distance, it will take a long time.”
The distance from Xinjiang to the Martial Alliance.
It was almost like crossing the entire continent.
Naturally, it could not help taking that long.
“What about Haomun?”
“Those bastards seem to still be hiding. There is no news at all.”
Haomun was hiding, and the Demonic Cult was coming to the Martial Alliance.
In truth, there was hardly anything else happening in the Central Plains.
The rest was all very minor.
And the current peace felt to me like the calm before a storm.
“Um... There is something I want to ask as well.”
“Go ahead.”
We had met steadily over the past six months and had built some degree of friendship.
A simple question was understandable.
“How... does one become stronger?”
Sin Gye-gwang asked while lowering his eyes and staring only at his cup.
It was an unexpected question.
Did he have a desire to grow stronger?
“Train.”
“Training...”
He drew out the word and sank into thought.
There was no need to think about it. To become stronger, one had to train.
But that was also why it was difficult.
Just as, in my previous life, everyone knew that eating well and exercising regularly led to a healthier life than doing neither, yet more people failed to do so.
“...I see.”
The drinking party ended like that.
And time continued to pass.
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