Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Sichuan Tour (2)
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'Hmm. Cute.'
Seeing characters I'd only known from the game with my own two eyes was truly... an indescribable thrill.
To be honest, I'd been worried. Having been more immersed in the virtual world than real life before possessing this body, I figured I'd be disappointed if a 2D beauty appeared in the flesh. It felt like taking the red pill, in a way.
But no.
A pretty girl is pretty no matter the circumstances.
Even covered by that thin veil of muslin, she couldn't fool my eyes.
"Anyway, does this resolve that episode?"
I set down the cart and gathered my thoughts.
The world I was dropped into was a game.
And games have set stories.
Usually, there's a main storyline—the central thread—with various side events fleshed out around it to form the overall flow. In this world, the main story was the Demonic Cult's invasion.
The Demonic Cult's invasion.
In this terrifying tale, countless figures face dire crises and ordeals at the hands of the Demonic Cult. The player saves them one by one, building bonds and fame along the way.
But right now, there's no player to solve those problems. Because I have zero intention of running around on foot myself. I'm no hero material.
Still, I can't just ignore people dying because I hate fighting. So my chosen method was to distribute the items I'd hoarded in my inventory—now transformed into a magical pouch.
Items.
By my standards, they were just a bit too good to scrap for enhancements, but player items fundamentally outclassed NPC gear on a qualitative level.
For example, the game hands out the Wind and Thunder Divine Sword (Legendary) as a newbie welcome gift. This is the sword once wielded by the Wind and Thunder True Man, the supreme martial artist of his era.
A treasured artifact that would shake the entire martial world upon its mere appearance.
Yet to players, it's just a no-level-restriction starter weapon to ditch early on. Past level 50, far better items abound, turning it into worthless trash no one uses.
But since this is no longer just a game, all the duplicates had merged into singles. No level restrictions, of course, and no magnifying glass for detailed views.
Thus, the items I currently held were heavenly treasures that would drive any martial artist mad with desire.
Just imagining it sends shivers down my spine.
Posing as a shabby martial arts merchant like just now, or a lost old man... I could stage those fateful encounters from novels exactly to my taste.
Handing them over plainly would work just fine, but these little role-plays are my one source of fun in this dull martial world without smartphones or computers—especially since I'm avoiding the fights. I can't give them up.
That was a long ramble, but anyway—the plan worked. I'd successfully delivered the Diamond Buddha's Divine Armor to Dang Ha-eun.
I didn't know the exact timing. But soon, she'd catch a whiff of a rare poison herb and wander into the woods, only to suffer a Demonic Cult ambush. A stab to the gut from a blade meant to kill. Without a passing player in the game, she'd have died right there.
'However, if that surprise attack fails, Dang Ha-eun won't lose.'
The combat prowess of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes is no joke.
Even as late-blooming prodigies—rising stars—they're talents renowned across the land, proof enough of their skill.
Purely in terms of power and achievements, they're on par with ranks just below the Demonic Cult's Thirteen Division Leaders.
Since this was a targeted ambush on Dang Ha-eun, they wouldn't have sent total weaklings.
But they wouldn't station a Division Leader indefinitely for a low-odds lure with poison herbs either. In the game, no Division Leader even showed up here.
The conditions were clear.
The moment the surprise fails, so does the ambush.
As long as she wore what I gave her, that surprise could never succeed.
"You're still wearing it?"
"...It was free. And it's not weird or anything."
Dang Ha-eun mumbled in response to Wang Hwi's words. A single strand of prayer beads hung around her slender white neck, looking oddly out of place.
"Even channeling your inner energy produces no reaction. It seems like just an ordinary set of beads..."
Wang Hwi tilted her head in puzzlement, but got no reply. Was there some reason I didn't know? Or had she fallen for that unseen man's charm? What kind of uncle fetish was this?
Various guesses swirled in her mind, but in the end, the beads remained around her neck. In the room after Wang Hwi left, Dang Ha-eun toyed with the beads.
At the time, the noisy atmosphere had swept it under the rug, but thinking back, it was a bit strange. No, very strange.
'I didn't notice.'
A person lying right in front of her? Me?
Even buried under piles of cargo, as a direct descendant of the Tang Clan, she was a master at detecting faint breaths, body heat, leaking killing intent, and presences.
Yet until he rose, she'd truly believed no one was there. "I let my guard down" wasn't an excuse.
A member of a clan that wielded hidden weapons could never fully relax.
Wang Hwi, unfamiliar with martial arts, glossed over the awkwardness, but to Dang Ha-eun, that fleeting encounter grew into an inexplicable riddle the more she pondered it.
Her heart wasn't at ease carrying the beads left by such a man just because they "seemed ordinary."
Especially since those words kept sticking in her memory.
'...If we meet again, I can give it back then. Take care of your health.'
At first, she'd interpreted it as him implying some misfortune preventing a reunion, but as time passed, that loneliness felt more like concern for her well-being.
And the sudden health advice...
"Ugh. So frustrating."
It was embarrassing to confide in anyone, leaving her tossing and turning, chest tight and head throbbing. Letting out a long sigh, Dang Ha-eun shot to her feet and headed outside. She needed a walk.
Moonlight stretched languidly down the mountainside, filtering through conifer needles to cast belated shadows in the evening.
The crisp autumn air brought a faint blush to her cheeks.
As Dang Ha-eun strolled lightly up the mountain like a butterfly, hands clasped behind her back, she suddenly whipped her head around, closed her eyes, and sniffed. A sweet yet pungent scent. Like honey sprinkled with pepper...
"Sugar Fire Herb?"
A rare poison herb consumable only by poison arts practitioners, worth five silver taels at least.
Of course, for her clan, such herbs were trivial to obtain. They could even farm them if they wanted. But foraging them yourself versus buying was worlds apart—three times sweeter and tastier, by rough estimate.
"Half for me, half to show off to Hwi!"
Her mood lifting bubbly, Dang Ha-eun followed the scent. The moment she spotted the Sugar Fire Herb blooming in a clearing...
Boom!
Whiiiir!
Red smoke erupted from the herb's roots like an explosion, and dozens of hidden weapons pierced through, hurtling toward Dang Ha-eun.
Perfect coordination, as if they'd been waiting. The projectiles sealed every evasion route with flawless footwork coverage. Realizing this instantly, Dang Ha-eun twisted desperately, but had to admit the truth. She couldn't dodge them all perfectly.
Arm, leg, neck, shoulder, abdomen... She had to yield one.
Dang Ha-eun decided. The abdomen. Her inner energy and breathing would falter, but better than a limb.
But then.
Booom—
It spread outward.
Like a temple bell tolling, a low, deep resonance halted every projectile mid-flight, sending them raining down. Like autumn leaves in winter wind.
The force was so immense it dispersed the surrounding smoke in an instant, scattering it everywhere. Around the revealed Dang Ha-eun shimmered a golden barrier, unfurled like the aurora.
For that moment, both Dang Ha-eun and her attackers could only blink in stunned comprehension.
No protective energy field could span that wide, and a sword veil would mean this girl ranked among the world's top swordmasters... Absurd, even for a genius.
"...The wench has obtained a divine relic."
The first to recover was a towering brute with a massive greatsword slung over his shoulder. His gaze fixed on Dang Ha-eun's neck.
Black prayer beads, each etched densely with golden incantations, emanating mystical light.
That outrageous feat was undoubtedly their power. But even a relic couldn't sustain such phenomena repeatedly.
"I'll praise your preparedness, but you've burned your spare life. Now, let's see you die for real."
"You're... I've heard of you. Red hair, that build. The Demonic Cult's Blood King Division Leader, right?"
Dang Ha-eun's eyes quivered. Feigning surprise, he bared yellowed teeth.
"Ho. You recognize this one? Pity. One more day, and I wouldn't have been here. Fate demands you, and who can defy its grasp?"
Exactly one day. He'd planned to return to headquarters after waiting just that long.
Who knew planting a single poison herb would pay off so swiftly?
Shing. A chilling blade sound rang out, overlaid with crimson sword qi. High-caliber stuff at a glance. Dang Ha-eun's fingertips began to tremble faintly.
'It's not that I can't fight at all...'
But winning odds were slim.
Not an issue of inner energy or attainment.
The problem was real combat experience. And his minions prepping hidden weapons.
Best move: flee.
But how?
Break the encirclement while fending off all the Division Leader's strikes?
As Dang Ha-eun's dilemma deepened, the Division Leader's form blurred with a whoosh, closing the distance instantly.
"Overthinking slows your feet. Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes or whatever, you're still green."
"...!"
'Right now, he read my exhale—'
Wrong.
Facing a superior, she'd shown too many openings. This sword strike was unavoidable.
Grinding her teeth, Dang Ha-eun pressed a hand to her dantian. Poisonous fury gleamed in her upturned eyes.
Inner energy laced with venom. Shatter the dantian, and a lifetime of poison arts would break free, racing through meridians to engulf her body.
She wouldn't let a Demonic Cult villain set foot on Sichuan soil.
If death was certain, she'd melt the Division Leader with her blood and flesh.
For this was the Tang Clan's Formless Finger Poison.
"If there's an afterlife, come seek revenge."
The moonlit blade descended, and as resolute Dang Ha-eun pressed her dantian...
Booom—
That soothing toll echoed through the woods once more. Sword qi crumbled to dust, and the malice-filled body flew back like repelled by the Buddha's palm.
An admiring gasp slipped from Dang Ha-eun's lips.
"...Wow. Wow."
The sacred gold that denied all slaughter.
This time, everyone held their breath anew.
No one dared speak.