The Path to Wudang (1)
“What the…”
“Do you happen to know this man?”
I set the man I had casually slung over my shoulder down in front of the village chief and asked. The chief’s face twisted in shock. He stared at the corpse for a long moment before turning to me.
“Mu-sam… Where did you find Mu-sam?”
“He was crossing the mountain in a state of Qi Deviation.”
“So he finally caused an accident after all…”
A heavy sigh filled the quiet room.
As expected, they knew each other. Without any ties, there was no way he would have come to a remote mountain village like this. He had hidden himself so thoroughly that I’d even had to pretend to be lost just to “find” him.
“He appears to have been a young man who once lived in this village.”
“He was a bastard who committed a vile crime and ran away years ago.”
The village chief gazed down at the body of Gwak Mu-sam with a bitter expression.
“What do you mean by vile crime…?”
“He killed his own father and fled. A wretched creature.”
“While we were fighting, he kept saying he had to return to his hometown…”
“So he still had some shred of guilt left. Now that I think about it, it didn’t seem like he killed with intent. His mother died the same way—pushed during a scuffle and cracking her head on the corner of a cabinet… Tsk, tsk. Friend, would you help me bury the boy?”
“If his mother is still alive…”
“It’s better you don’t know.”
“Understood.”
I hoisted Gwak Mu-sam’s corpse onto my shoulder again and followed the village chief out of the house.
“Mixing in Aura Armor burns through my aura at a frightening rate.”
“Do you really need to mix it in?”
“Simply using Arrow Sprint Steps isn’t stable enough on its own.”
“Hmm—”
Hye-ryeong watched my training with clear boredom, chin propped on her hand, legs swinging idly as she stared at me.
I had given her permission, but it seemed my training wasn’t particularly entertaining. Well, there wasn’t much point in watching someone else train. This was the most basic of basics—nothing worth trying to steal.
I glanced at the chaotic footprints scattered across the dirt floor and reset my stance.
It was a posture I had repeated so many times it had gone beyond familiar and straight into tedious. From preparation to charge now took less than a second. The real difficulty lay in stopping precisely at the intended spot.
The margin of error was still too wide. If I used it poorly in actual combat, it would become a one-way ticket straight out of this life.
That was why I had no choice but to pour everything into footwork training. I needed to shrink the error margin as much as possible and perfect a movement technique that could pressure opponents even without Aura Armor. Only then would it prove useful against the strong enemies waiting ahead.
“Uncle, I’m going to start preparing dinner now!”
“Go ahead.”
I watched Hye-ryeong’s back disappear beyond the bushes, then reset my stance once more. Though calling it a “stance” was generous—it was really just stepping my left leg back.
With the surroundings now silent, I closed my eyes and summoned an imaginary opponent.
…Tsk.
Why did the captain always come to mind at moments like this?
When I opened my eyes, the captain of my imagination stood before me, sword raised in an ox guard, patiently waiting for me to make my move.
The armor etched with a cross pattern—now faint even in memory—and the face buried beneath a bushy beard. It was the captain I remembered, worn by the passage of time.
I had never once broken through that defense.
Would the day ever come when I could pierce it?
That rock-solid guard that had held back hundreds of enemies alone?
…Focus. Focus.
There was no time to wallow in sentiment.
My true enemy was watching me from a height greater than these towering mountains. I had to march toward that summit even a little faster.
“…Captain. Here I come.”
My body sprang forward. In an instant I closed the distance, rushing toward the imagined captain. The point where I had to stop was four paces in front of his body.
Twenty paces.
Fifteen paces.
Ten paces.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven…
Six.
Five.
Four!
The instant I reached the target distance, I slammed my foot into the ground. The force was strong enough to evoke the image of a shockwave. The moment I halted, I swung the sword in my hand.
As always, my sword was stopped cold by the captain’s blade.
…Yes, the captain would have said exactly that.
The scolding felt so vividly real that a small chuckle escaped me. If he were still alive, I would probably still be getting my head smacked during training.
Even that memory was already nearly a year old.
…Enough with the depressing reminiscence. Focus on training.
I continued practicing Arrow Sprint Steps.
Until Hye-ryeong called for me.
“We finally reached a city! A real city!”
“Don’t get too excited.”
“But we’ve been camping for four whole days! I want to wash properly!”
“Didn’t you wash in the river?”
I thought she had gone to wash at the river every time. Hye-ryeong clicked her tongue as though I didn’t understand a thing.
“Cold water and hot water are completely different, you know?”
“That’s true.”
Washing with hot water was indeed far better than cold—especially in this chilly weather. Once we secured an inn, I decided I would take a proper bath myself.
“First, let’s find an inn… and ask if there’s a Wuxia Alliance branch in this area.”
“The Wuxia Alliance branch?”
“I want to see if there are any suitable demonic heads worth capturing around here.”
“Won’t that be dangerous?”
Hye-ryeong looked up at me with clear worry. Demonic heads weren’t ordinary martial artists. They employed every underhanded trick imaginable, so yes, it was dangerous.
Poison was the bare minimum. They were the type to take hostages and threaten their opponents without hesitation.
I recalled the repulsive demonic heads from the original story and let out a small laugh.
“Don’t worry too much. No matter how wildly those demonic heads rampage, they’re still dancing in the palm of my hand.”
No matter what schemes they employed, could it really be worse than the battlefield? That was a place where you had to use enemy corpses as human shields just to survive.
Since I only planned to target those who clearly weren’t stronger than me in the original work, the risk shouldn’t be that high.
It was a little cowardly, but there was no need to stake my life on it.
I had survived this long. Why would I throw away such a precious life?
If someone’s realm was truly higher than mine, they would be a master—at that level they’d be a sect leader of a major faction. I couldn’t touch them anyway. There were limits to what one individual could do… though thinking of the captain made that statement feel somewhat hollow.
I scratched my head, remembering the time the captain had destroyed a castle gate with a single slash long ago.
“Uncle?”
“Ah, sorry. Let’s go.”
We immediately began searching for an inn. Fortunately the city wasn’t very large, so we found one after about half a shichen.
“Server! Bring us some simple food!”
“Right away!”
“And a bottle of hwaju as well!”
“Thank you.”
Mok-gyeong’s face flushed slightly as she gave a polite bow. Her androgynous features made the expression feel strangely ambiguous.
Of course I wasn’t homosexual, but it still gave me a peculiar feeling.
“Young Master Mok-gyeong really loves alcohol. I don’t like the taste myself…”
“It tastes good when paired with delicious food. You just have a child’s palate.”
“I do not!”
“Says the girl who couldn’t take her eyes off the tanghulu stall earlier.”
Just how obsessed with sweets was she? At my words, Hye-ryeong averted her gaze and laughed awkwardly.
“Hehe… but sweets really are delicious…”
“Your teeth will rot.”
“I brush them diligently with salt every single day, so it’s fine!”
“Sure, sure.”
“…Is tanghulu really that delicious?”
I turned to look at Mok-gyeong, surprised by the sudden question. She met my eyes with a genuinely curious expression.
“You’ve never tried it?”
“No. I ate some sweets as a child, but after growing up I’ve hardly had any… I’ve never even tasted tanghulu.”
“…I’ll buy you one later. Try it.”
This kid really had a tragic life if she hadn’t even properly tried tanghulu.
I swallowed the lump in my throat thinking about Mok-gyeong’s unfortunate fate.
“Here is the food you ordered!”
While we chatted, the server began placing dish after dish on the table. Somyeon noodles, dumplings, five-spice braised pork—perfectly ordinary fare. I picked up my chopsticks.
“Let’s eat.”
“Yes!”
“…Thank you for the meal, Silver Lord.”
I quietly lifted a strand of noodles, tasted them, then sipped the broth with a spoon. The chicken-rich stock filled my mouth, and a refreshing warmth spread through my exhausted body.
Nothing beats hot soup when you’re tired.
As I savored the broth, annoying noises began drifting from the corner of the inn.
“…Is a fight breaking out?”
“I just wanted to eat in peace—”
Hye-ryeong grumbled and set her chopsticks down.
“Pick those chopsticks back up and eat. If something happens, we can deal with it then.”
With that, I popped a dumpling into my mouth.
Hmm. These dumplings were quite dense—probably packed with more meat. While I enjoyed the flavor and listened to the commotion, a scream suddenly tore through the air.
“Uwaaaak!”
And then the metallic stench of blood that instantly killed any appetite swallowed the entire inn.
“Looks like this inn’s been cursed by demons.”
Why did incidents always seem to explode whenever I stepped into an inn?
I set my chopsticks down and rose from my seat.