Chapter 175
Chapter 175
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: Mad Dog
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dawn breaks.
Wi Seong-cheon slowly opened his eyes. Being alone, he couldn't divide night watch duties, so he'd snatched short naps.
But his body didn't feel heavy. It was thanks to the Dragon Jade reinforcing his innate true qi.
'I can hold out easily for four days.'
He had realized early on that the Dragon Jade strengthened his innate true qi and had experimented accordingly.
As long as he circulated his qi for morning cultivation, he could go four days and nights without sleep, and meals weren't a big concern either.
Still, eating was better than not, so he'd brought rice-grain pills.
Wi Seong-cheon popped a rice-grain pill into his mouth, letting it dissolve as he surveyed his surroundings. No presences could be felt nearby.
Throughout the early dawn, Wi Seong-cheon had quietly and diligently roamed the forest. He was searching for the other halves of his paired stones.
Luck had held so far. None of the other halves of the paired stones he possessed had fallen into competitors' hands, allowing him to secure four complete pairs.
In the process of scouring the woods, he'd even uncovered an extra bloodstone hidden beneath a rock.
'Four pairs. The Extreme Blood Treasure should be securely mine, but who knows...'
The treasure hunt had a three-day limit. One more day remained.
With four pairs, he could comfortably claim the Extreme Blood Treasure and a Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, but more currency was always better.
He swallowed the mostly dissolved rice-grain pill down his throat. His thoughts had cleared as well.
'I've picked my target.'
Whether the seeds he'd sown yesterday would bloom in this treasure hunt was uncertain. From what he'd glimpsed, Sanggwan Hu seemed extremely prideful. No need to approach him unnecessarily.
The guy would handle himself, and what Wi Seong-cheon wanted was for Sanggwan Hu to "handle himself" by crushing Yang Jeon.
If possible, he'd like to snipe the moment and reap the fisherman's benefits, but that was just a wish. Greed beyond one's means ruined people.
'Sanggwan Hu would require real resolve to fight alone.'
To be brutally honest, he didn't think he'd lose. He'd felt it exchanging blows yesterday.
Black Dragon Sanggwan Hu. An impressive master, but Wi Seong-cheon hadn't sensed defeat against him.
In the Yi Cheon Emperor's Martial Assembly against Jin-u and Woo Ha-yeon... he'd felt the shadow of defeat. But not against Sanggwan Hu.
Wi Seong-cheon had grown that strong.
'I probably wouldn't lose, but it'd be a hard-fought win. No need to gamble prematurely.'
If he had nothing in hand and the situation was desperate, he'd risk it, but with four pairs already? No need.
'Yang Jeon's with Hwangbo Seong-u and Woo Hee-ra. Same with Woo Ha-yeon senior and Ha Ji-eun.'
Jegal Yi-hyeon, whom he hadn't encountered yet, was likely moving in a group too. Honestly, Wi Seong-cheon had no desire to face Jegal Yi-hyeon.
Lack of ill will toward him was one reason, but
'There's Dang Seona senior.'
Namgoong Jiu was a mild concern, Paeng Yeon-hwa a major one. Toward Dang Seona, he felt outright wariness. Poisons weren't to be touched unless absolutely necessary.
By process of elimination, only one remained.
Mad Dog Gu Jeok-sa.
The one who'd severed Jade Qilin's arm, the opponent Wi Seong-cheon had briefly clashed with alongside Sanggwan Hu—and one he was confident he could subdue in twenty breaths.
'He's traveling alone.'
Initially, he'd allied with Sanggwan Hu to attack Wi Seong-cheon, but once Ha Ji-eun, Woo Ha-yeon, and Yang Jeon intervened, he'd instantly switched sides, teaming with Yang Jeon to press Sanggwan Hu.
No way Gu Jeok-sa was traveling with Sanggwan Hu now.
'He's at odds with Yang Jeon too.'
A marriage of convenience; once unnecessary, the hands parted.
But who knew. Overnight, Gu Jeok-sa's heart might have changed, and he could be with his allies Yuk Jin-il, Dang Heeran, or Yeong Jin.
That required caution, but outside Gu Jeok-sa, there were no other viable targets.
The forest was broader and denser than expected, with few entrants relative to its size.
Even deliberately hunting someone down wasn't easy.
Wi Seong-cheon recalled Gu Jeok-sa's qi from yesterday.
His sharply erected qi sense wove through the dense qi flows blanketing the entire forest, distinguishing them.
Not an easy task.
Wi Seong-cheon sat, focusing his mind. He'd trained sensory distinction in the training cave and grasped vast flows at sea. Now augmented by the Dragon Jade.
If anyone knew what Wi Seong-cheon was doing, they'd call it impossible.
Qi existed everywhere. That was natural qi. A martial artist's inner power accumulated it in the dantian via breathing and heart methods.
To perceive that vast qi as grand flows, distinguish solely by sense, and pinpoint a specific qi? By someone barely past his twenties, a late-stage talent?
'Over there.'
Wi Seong-cheon opened his closed eyes.
The faint eyes hovering unnoticed above his head dispersed and vanished.
'It doesn't feel perfectly clear yet, but with training, it'll sharpen.'
Too much for now, though.
Wi Seong-cheon moved in the pinpointed direction.
As he'd thought, Gu Jeok-sa was alone. He had no intention of traveling with his allied students Yuk Jin-il, Dang Heeran, or Yeong Jin.
An alliance of necessity. Gu Jeok-sa only needed their hands when challenging the Black Heaven Palace lord.
'Can't split the spoils.'
That was Gu Jeok-sa's true intent.
Ideally, he'd have left the Yi Cheon Academy students in the city altogether, but he couldn't force that. It just added more "competitors."
Gu Jeok-sa never saw the three students allied with him as partners. In this forest treasure hunt, everyone but him was a rival.
That thought reignited yesterday's fury toward Yang Jeon.
Yang Jeon traveled amiably with Yi Cheon Academy's brute Hwangbo Seong-u and Silver Willow Woo Hee-ra.
Even after sustaining minor internal injuries from Sanggwan Hu's attack, he'd chosen the righteous faction nobodies' support over his sworn brother's touch.
"Rotten bastard."
He understood his sworn younger brother's feelings, but it was still absurd.
Hadn't they set who was elder and younger when they first became sworn brothers? Why complain now?
Did he seriously want to sort hierarchies? Or was it the conflict between Mad Sword Sect and Iron-Blood Sect?
If it was inter-sect strife, Gu Jeok-sa was even more disappointed in Yang Jeon.
He didn't even know why his father, the Mad Sword Sect leader, was picking fights with Iron-Blood Sect now.
Sect matters were for sect leaders; why sour brotherhood over it?
Times like these called for tightening brotherly bonds to smooth sect disputes, no?
Especially since they'd both soon be sect leaders.
'That punk. Does he expect me to bow first? The little brother daring to?'
Resentment toward his sworn brother snowballed the more he dwelled on it.
Gu Jeok-sa swallowed his boiling rage. But his face hardened, fury rippling visibly.
'If I could just beat someone to death, it'd vent some steam. Damn forest has no easy prey worth killing...'
Yi Cheon Academy students couldn't be killed. Just not killed.
Relatively easy Jade Qilin had left the forest, and the other Black Tyrants? No thanks yet.
But Yi Cheon students? Plenty left ripe for toying with.
Namgoong Jiu or Paeng Yeon-hwa from Jegal Yi-hyeon's group. Woo Hee-ra from Yang Jeon's.
And.
"Hah!"
Wi Seong-cheon.
Seemed luck favored him today. Gu Jeok-sa let out a hollow laugh, eyeing ahead.
A large rock a short distance away. Wi Seong-cheon sat leisurely atop it, staring blankly at Gu Jeok-sa.
"Lucky me."
"What's that out of nowhere?"
"Thing is, I was just thinking about you."
Gu Jeok-sa twitched his cheek in a grin.
"Feeling shitty and irritated, wanted to thrash anyone."
"You thought of me there. Want to thrash me, huh. What'll you do? Should I let you hit me till your mood improves?"
Wi Seong-cheon's eyes curved into half-moons with a smile. He hadn't even stood yet.
Gu Jeok-sa didn't find Wi Seong-cheon's leisure displeasing. Quite the opposite—it thrilled him.
That nonchalance meant this encounter was no accident.
"Not surprised, so you were hunting me?"
"Yeah."
Had found him ages ago.
"Good for both of us, then."
Gu Jeok-sa grinned in satisfaction.
Wi Seong-cheon seeking him out meant yesterday's seeds had sprouted beautifully.
During yesterday's pincer on Sanggwan Hu and Wi Seong-cheon, Gu Jeok-sa had hidden much of his power.
No desire to expose himself fully from an advantageous pincer position.
'Hide three-tenths of your strength. A martial proverb.'
Experience gap over a backwater Cheonhwa Sect bumpkin.
Gu Jeok-sa knew Wi Seong-cheon underestimated him.
That carelessness would make this a breeze. Not even a fight.
Gu Jeok-sa concealed a sinister smile.
'Just toying with him.'
Arrogant brat. Oblivious to how much he'd been spared, daring to hunt the Black Tyrant's Mad Dog? Laughing at him like that.
"Hey, Little Dragon."
"What."
Gu Jeok-sa called; Wi Seong-cheon answered.
In that instant, Gu Jeok-sa's hand flashed out. The hidden weapon gripped in it shot forth.
It reached as Wi Seong-cheon replied, his head snapping back.
"Hat!"
Gu Jeok-sa kicked off the ground.
The first strike's hidden weapon bore paralyzing poison. Timed perfectly for the reply—direct hit.
Charging Gu Jeok-sa drew the dagger at his waist. Wi Seong-cheon's body swayed backward.
Gu Jeok-sa mercilessly slashed down at Wi Seong-cheon's shoulder well.
Wi Seong-cheon's backward-tilting body halted rigid—the moment Gu Jeok-sa struck.
Hands braced on the rock, he lifted his hips. His body whipped around.
Legs flung wide hooked Gu Jeok-sa's neck and waist.
Thud!
Tangled bodies rolled atop the rock. Wi Seong-cheon spat out the saliva clenched between his teeth.
Gu Jeok-sa, neck and waist trapped in Wi Seong-cheon's legs, bulged his eyes wide.
"Your moniker Mad Dog, right?"
Wi Seong-cheon worked his lips. It barely touched, but he'd gathered the poison-tipped saliva without swallowing.
Grabbing Gu Jeok-sa's trapped forearm, Wi Seong-cheon twisted.
"I know dogfights too."
Ptoo.
Trace poison-laced spit shot into Gu Jeok-sa's glaring eye.
Gu Jeok-sa flinched in horror, squeezing his eyes shut.
Splat!
Sticky saliva streamed down, blocked by the eyelid. Then light exploded.
Wi Seong-cheon's palm strike smacked Gu Jeok-sa's eyelid.
"Urk!"
Simultaneously, a clear crack sounded. Wi Seong-cheon dislocating Gu Jeok-sa's arm with his legs.
Gu Jeok-sa thrashed his dagger wildly, forcibly yanking his arm free from the leg hold.
"You dog bastard!"
"Who's calling who a dog, you ambush hidden weapon tosser."
Staggering back, Gu Jeok-sa clutched his buzzing eye.
Right eye wouldn't open. Trace paralyzing poison numbed the eyelid.
Plus a palm strike, so it swelled rapidly.
"Still faster than yesterday, though. As expected, you hid three-tenths."
Wi Seong-cheon still sat on the rock. Gu Jeok-sa growled, relocating his popped joint.
Wi Seong-cheon burst into giggles watching.
"As I thought. Felt too easy popping loose. You let it happen on purpose?"
"I know your specialty...!"
"Knowing's worthless without countering right. If it were me, I'd delay repopping even if possible. Better to strike an opening."
Only now did Wi Seong-cheon rise from the rock.
"Thanks to you, next time I won't stop at popping. I'll pop and twist. Like wringing a rag."
"Insolent punk...!"
Gu Jeok-sa slashed open the swollen eyelid with his dagger.
Blood gushed, but his eye opened, vision clearing.
"I'll kill you!"
"Can't really kill, though."
Wi Seong-cheon's taunt flushed Gu Jeok-sa's face crimson.
Ferocious protective qi enveloped Gu Jeok-sa, but Wi Seong-cheon's smile didn't fade.
His assessment of Gu Jeok-sa shifted slightly, though.
'Ten breaths to pummel him flat.'
Twenty was overly generous for capturing him.