Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Inhuman
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Nighttime back alley.
Cheonwi walked.
It was pitch dark.
Tormented by turbid dreams, Cheonwi sought solace in the embrace of darkness.
He preferred night over day. Always had.
Sunlight was too harsh.
Even in the overflowing yang of summer days, just stepping outside was a torment.
Despite practicing martial arts, he avoided the sun as much as possible.
His face was pale, his skin translucent. Up close, you could even see his veins.
His lips were red. They stood out more against his white skin. You’d believe it if someone said he wore rouge.
His eyelashes were long, his eyes elegantly shaped.
His pupils held a deep glow like moonlight. His nose was high-bridged, his face small. He had an aristocratic look.
The hour was late night.
Starlight welcomed him. The deep blue sky somehow felt empty. The stars seemed like an unbiased crowd. They made him feel like nothing mattered.
The deserted night streets felt all the cozier for it.
Breaking the silence, distant night birds and grasshoppers at his feet chirped greetings. It wasn’t utter stillness, so he didn’t feel lonely.
He wandered aimlessly, turning onto a narrow path.
The walls grew lower. The city outskirts had many abandoned houses. No people on the streets or in the homes.
“This is everything?”
“That’s right.”
“It’s not enough.”
From the depths of darkness, in a gloomy manor ruin no one would visit, voices echoed. Cheonwi approached slowly. His footsteps made not even the slightest sound.
“I’ve brought the numbers for the standing forces and the patrol routes for the mobile units. The gang leader’s usual paths are here, and the distribution of key warriors is like this.”
“What about the Tongcheon Technique manual?”
“You didn’t mention that.”
“That’s the most important part.”
“More than anything, how am I supposed to steal that?”
“Figure out a way.”
“It was impossible from the start!”
“If it’s impossible, then nothing to be done.”
Srrrng.
The cold friction of metal rang out.
The sound of a sword drawn from its scabbard.
Reaching visual range, Cheonwi spotted two men. One, in black scholar’s robes, drew a short decorative sword like an ornament. The other was burly but hadn’t drawn his blade yet. He hadn’t grasped the situation. Backing away in panic, he gripped his bracer with his left hand and the hilt with his right.
“Why draw your sword?”
“Why do you think?”
“No law in the world allows this.”
“A traitor talking about laws.”
“Who’s the traitor!”
“Who else is here besides you?”
“You lot threatened me...!”
“If your loyalty was that strong, you should’ve endured. A threat’s no big deal.”
“My powerless family was taken hostage—how could I hold out!”
“Your family was released long ago.”
“What?”
Only then did he realize.
Chaang!
The man drew his sword. A thick chopping blade.
“You planned to kill me from the start!”
“If you’d just done the job right, this wouldn’t have been necessary. Don’t take it so hard. At least your family’s safe. You’re just dying in their place.”
Moonlight shattered off the tip of the short sword.
The blade was short and thin, but sharp enough.
No more words were needed.
The chopping blade swung first.
Whooosh!
The wind-cutting sound was fierce.
The black-robed scholar lightly thrust his short sword.
Clang!
The much heavier chopping blade bounced off in one strike. His front was exposed.
Pshht!
The chopping blade wielder recoiled in shock. He hadn’t fully dodged. Blood sprayed from his chest.
“Too shallow?”
The scholar’s voice was relaxed.
The chopping blade man’s face twisted.
He was from a major sect. At least in this Shanxi land, he’d never been ignored. He gritted his teeth, assumed a stance. Stomped hard and swung the chopping blade again.
Cclang!
The heavy chopping blade was blocked by the light short sword.
Even trying to overpower it, the short sword held firm without budging.
A difference in internal energy.
The chopping blade man sensed defeat, and instinct became reality in an instant.
Chiiiing!
The scholar twisted his wrist. Blades glanced off each other. Sparks flew with a sharp metallic screech between blade and sword. The chopping blade man, exerting force, staggered for a moment.
The scholar’s movements were swift and precise. He didn’t miss the opening from the crumbling stance.
Slash!
The short sword sliced through the biceps.
“Urk!”
The chopping blade was heavy. Not something to wield with injured muscles. Yanking it back, the tip wobbled wildly.
Puk!
That was the end.
The pointed short sword plunged below the chopping blade man’s throat.
Psshht!
The scholar withdrew his sword swiftly, stepping back to avoid the spray.
“Urk, grrrk.”
The hollow between collarbones was pierced clean through.
Blood gushed from the hole. Fresh blood poured viciously from his mouth too.
“Must hurt. I aimed for a painless death.”
The chopping blade man couldn’t respond. His throat was already filled with blood. Breath blocked, his face turned blue in seconds.
Thud!
His sturdy build made even the fall heavy.
The scholar didn’t linger on the corpse.
He looked up, addressing the darkness.
“Enjoy the show?”
He’d been spotted.
The scholar kicked off the ground.
His movement art was agile. He vanished from sight in an instant.
Cheonwi hurriedly leaped into the moonlit clearing.
The scholar was already behind him.
The short sword pierced the air.
Whish!
Dangerous.
Not just footwork— the sword tip was fast too.
Cheonwi twisted his body.
Sgk!
The sword tip grazed his shoulder. Blood sprayed. Bone-grinding sound. Sharp pain hit late.
Shiiik!
The scholar didn’t stop.
The whoosh grew thinner.
A thrust.
Cheonwi retreated desperately.
Aiming for the same spot.
Like with the chopping blade man, the tip went for below the Adam’s apple.
Pht!
Barely dodged. But not fully. A red line appeared on Cheonwi’s nape. Blood flowed immediately.
“You dodge well.”
The scholar’s tone hovered between praise and mockery.
He charged again.
Shhaaa!
The scholar’s short sword was ferocious.
Cheonwi couldn’t counter. Staggering back, each step precarious.
Slash!
Clothes tore again, flesh split. Deep this time. Red blood vivid even in the dark night.
Shiiik! Sgak!
Helpless.
The martial arts gap was too clear.
The scholar was faster and stronger than Cheonwi.
Cheonwi couldn’t resist. He only barely avoided lethal wounds while retreating. Piercing and slashing injuries kept accumulating.
Drip drip!
It didn’t take long for his whole body to be bloodied.
He’d avoided vital strikes, but too many wounds. Over ten sword cuts. No time to retreat and staunch bleeding. Hemorrhage alone was deadly. Collapsing now wouldn’t be strange.
Ting! Shyiiik!
Yet Cheonwi dodged well.
The short sword blade whistled past his head.
Movements unchanged from start to now. Legs wounded too, but no slowdown.
Shshk! Pararak.
Again.
He’d locked onto a vital line, yet it slipped away.
Finally, the scholar sensed it.
Something off.
Taking that many sword wounds and enduring this long wasn’t normal.
“Then.”
The scholar’s speed increased.
An opponent who should’ve died ages ago, yet protected throat and heart while bleeding out.
He closed in fiercely, maxing internal energy.
Ways to kill aren’t just decapitation or heart stab. Plenty more.
Bodies nearly touched.
This time, no reaction.
Zero distance, targeting mid-to-low guards. Sword tip dug into Cheonwi’s abdomen.
Puk!
It sank deep. Pierced right flank muscle, tore organs and vessels. Clear handfeel. Confirmed the pale face twisting.
Fatal wound.
The scholar was certain.
But Cheonwi thought differently. He spoke.
“I’ve seen it all. Fast, but not refined.”
“What?”
Tuk.
Cheonwi’s left hand brushed the scholar’s elbow.
Just a light touch.
The scholar’s arm twisted at an odd angle. Fingers splayed, dropping the hilt.
“Huh!?”
The scholar had let his guard down, panicked.
Closing to this range was a mistake.
Cheonwi was slower, unarmed. Keeping distance with footwork and sword intervals, this chance might never have come.
Pak!
Cheonwi’s right foot swept the scholar’s left ankle. Scholar staggered, tilting toward ground. A strike ignoring internal energy gap, physical prowess—everything.
Kung!
Knees buckled, he fell.
Minor strikes, yet scholar couldn’t budge.
Allowing such attacks made no sense. With that blood loss, punctured side, torn guts, it should be Cheonwi unable to move—not the scholar.
“How... the weakness...?”
“I told you, I saw it.”
Paralysis wouldn’t last.
Scholar had been careless, but Cheonwi wasn’t.
He grabbed the short sword hilt and yanked it out swiftly.
Shlaaash.
Blood spurted.
Deep penetration. Hit the kidney clinging to the back. Several major vessels ruptured.
Entire lower back numb.
Felt blood pouring from the sword-extracted hole.
For a normal human, heart stops in half a watch. Even one watch is long. Half that, and he’d be delirious.
For normal humans.
That’s the point.
“Im... impossible...!”
Scholar even stuttered.
Impossible in many ways.
Moving fine with those wounds.
Seeing the weakness despite being outmatched.
Standing alert after losing that much blood.
Whatever the scholar thought, Cheonwi ignored it.
Approached and slammed down the short sword.
Puk.
Into the scholar’s throat.
Same spot he’d stabbed the chopping blade man.
“Grrrk.”
Until death, the scholar’s eyes held only shock. Blood soaked the ground. Cheonwi grimaced, pinching his nose with his sleeve.
He crouched before the fading scholar.
Like someone doing a hated task, furrowing his brow intensely, he rummaged the scholar’s chest. Fingers caught the letter from the chopping blade man.
Cheonwi snatched the letter and stood quickly.
Blood stench filled the air.
His own blood was fine. The other two were the problem.
Cheonwi retreated without delay.
Time was short. Didn’t want to stay.
Luckily, some guys waiting nearby. Leave body disposal to them.
Cheonwi’s pace quickened.
Despite the blood loss, he seemed unfazed.
Moonlit shadow blended into darkness.
The night welcomingly swallowed him.
Cheonwi vanished like that.