Chapter 15 (3)
Chapter 15 (3)
Wuchang, a large city in Hubei.
A large city always gathers countless people, and with their different values and purposes, they inevitably clash and cause problems.
Furthermore, ever since the Shaolin Temple's Muscle Tendon Change Classic was released via the Shadowless Divine Thief's treasure map two years ago, a situation arose where even factions of the same righteous or evil alignment could not trust one another.
Because of this, as countless sects fought for various reasons, the importance of Ronin was greatly highlighted.
No matter how much it is the Murim, in the end, numbers have a significant influence on a fight.
Even a 1st-rate warrior can expose their back to the blade of a 3rd-rate warrior in the midst of a chaotic battle, and whether one is a master or a novice, the reaction when a sword is stuck in the body is the same.
On top of that, as the number of people seeking the path of a Ronin increases due to the collapse of the sects they once belonged to, if we look at it separately from the overall situation of the Murim, one could say it is the golden age of Ronin.
It goes without saying, but no matter how much it is the golden age of Ronin, a Ronin is still a Ronin.
They have to do rough work, must not refuse dirty work depending on the situation, and because they easily accumulate grudges, it is easy to be retaliated against in the name of revenge.
That is why women almost never enter this line of work.
Because even if a female martial artist lacks skill, her mere presence can liven up the atmosphere of a sect.
In the first place, except for the special case of the Sura Blood Palace, even in massive sects with hundreds or thousands of members, the number of female martial artists is at most a few dozen, so the probability of a female Ronin appearing is close to impossible.
That is why the Ronin who were looking for requests at the Ronin Association could not help but have their eyes go wide.
"Just now... what did you say?"
"What did that woman just say?"
"Is something wrong with my ears?"
Not only the man with the menacing impression in charge of reception at the Ronin Association, who had seen all sorts of human types, but the Ronin around were also buzzing with bewilderment.
"If I have learned martial arts, there shouldn't be any problem with becoming a Ronin, so is there a problem?"
If she learned martial arts, there is no problem.
There is no problem, but...
"Haa, look here. You seem tempted by the bounty of 'that wanted criminal', but it would be better to think it over before deciding."
"Yes?"
The receptionist thought that she had learned a bit of martial arts and was registering as a Ronin to catch the 'wanted criminal' who was spreading rapidly not just in Wuchang, but throughout Hubei.
There is no law saying a woman cannot be a Ronin.
The problem is that she is beautiful.
Unlike typical women who wear wide-cut fabrics that emphasize femininity and seduce the opposite sex with fluttering clothes, she was wearing a short skirt with deep slits that was easy to move in, a top with high exposure that left her shoulders and back bare, and chainmail underneath.
Although she had scabbards for twin swords on both sides of her waist, her appearance, revealing so much bare skin like a woman from 'that' line of work who pleases men, was clearly bound to stir up the lust of the rough Ronin.
If she were at least ugly, one could endure it, but because she was a beauty with a soft atmosphere and a sense of warmth, the ripple effect was even greater.
However, the woman tilted her head, wondering what 'wanted criminal' meant.
At that moment, before the receptionist could even finish speaking, a Ronin who could not suppress his boiling desire approached.
"Heh heh, looks like you need money, but I can keep you fed without you having to do Ronin work."
"Excuse me."
At that moment, the woman smiled softly at him.
"You smell too bad, so could you please step back at least 3 zhang? My nose feels like it's going numb."
"Ha, this bitch still doesn't know how to read the room. Do you know who I am? I am the Ruthless Sword, Huseon!"
The Ruthless Sword, Huseon, was a Black Tablet Ronin who was qualified to move up to the Gold Tablet at any moment, and he was famous for his cruel personality and skill, showing no hesitation in swinging his sword even against those he was close to.
"I will show you paradise, you bitch...!"
That was why, the moment Huseon moved his hand to touch her buttocks, the woman, having noticed his intention, struck Huseon's wrist hard.
Slap!
"Ugh!?"
Not stopping there, she stepped on Huseon's toes with the tip of her foot, then struck his torso with a palm strike, pushing him toward the entrance.
"Could you please not touch me carelessly? This is your only warning."
"Ughhh! You bitch!"
Feeling ashamed that he had been humiliated by a mere wench in front of so many Ronin, more so than the pain, he, whose pain was numbed, drew his sword and rushed at her.
"Hey! Fighting is prohibited inside the Ronin Association!"
"Fuck! I don't care about that!"
Huseon was filled with the thought of cutting off one of the wench's limbs right now, gang-raping her to his heart's content, and then feeding her to the beasts.
In an instant,
Shing-
The woman quickly drew the sword at her waist.
Clang!
As soon as Huseon realized she had drawn her sword, he saw his own blade being cut and his face turned pale.
'A... a master...!'
Not only did she draw at high speed, but to cut his sword from a distance, she must have reached the realm where she could freely use and emit sword energy.
Especially if she could control the power to the point of cutting only the blade.
"Hey, aren't you done registering yet?"
Bang-
At that moment, a man whose muscles were compressed and developed into a practical form appeared inside the Ronin Association.
"Ah, Sanggong."
Seeing his appearance, the woman's face wore the most joyful and beautiful smile in this world.
"Hey."
The man approached Huseon, who had frozen in a stance with his sword drawn toward the woman.
"Who are you to be pointing a sword at my woman?"
"Ah, no... that is..."
"Ah, I roughly know the situation, so save the excuses. It's a bit much to kill someone here. Consider yourself lucky."
Thwack!
As the young man quickly and lightly struck Huseon's face with his fist, Huseon's face was crushed by the impact and he was slammed into one of the walls.
The receptionist, seeing the two men and women who had easily subdued Huseon—who could receive a Gold Tablet soon—in a single blow, seemed to think it wasn't a problem for the likes of him to worry about, and had to give the Wood Tablet recognizing the woman as a Ronin with a businesslike attitude.
"Now that I'm a Ronin, we have to earn money, right? But if two people go together and one is only a Wood Tablet, what should we do from the employer's perspective..."
Hye-un, who had been filled with excitement that she could finally act as a Murim person again since getting close to Wuchang, chattered endlessly while hugging one of my arms.
Hye-un's face, flushed with excitement, had a magical power that turned other women into squids.
On top of that, thanks to her appearance and the revealing clothes I had her wear to my taste, it was harder to find guys on the street who weren't glancing at her.
Now I know why rich guys drag pretty women around.
It was a sense of superiority that I am a badass guy who has women like this.
If I ever return to the modern era, I want to say this to such guys.
But do you drag women around with the power of money?
I drag women around with my dick, lol.
Anyway, other women didn't look at her favorably, but Hye-un's face was directed only at me.
Yeah, what does it matter what those ugly losers are babbling about?
"If we show our skills, everyone will acknowledge us. And since it's a Wood Tablet, if we say we'll do it a bit cheaper, everyone will be scrambling to hire us, right?"
Clearing my distracting thoughts, I answered her first.
For reference, if you ask where Hye-un and I are going right now, I would answer that we are checking the inside of Wuchang without a specific destination.
I had been to Wuchang before, but at that time, I couldn't even walk the streets of Wuchang because I had joined the Vermilion Bird Group heading to the herb village because of Hong Seol-rin.
Since I thought about earning money by doing Ronin work in Wuchang, I naturally had to know the geography of Wuchang.
But originally, I have a hobby similar to walking around leisurely and looking at the scenery when I arrive in a city or village I don't know if I have the time.
Because the scenery I don't know always feels fresh.
At first, I thought it might be better to rob the treasure warehouse of the fourth fortuitous encounter, the Shadowless Divine Thief, and travel comfortably.
Because it is common knowledge among common knowledge that you can travel comfortably anywhere if you have a lot of money.
"Hehe, just thinking about fighting together with the person I love is exciting."
However, Hye-un was not hung up on money.
She was a person with the mindset that if there's no money, we can just earn it together, and since this part was exactly the same as me, making this woman my female seems like the best decision no matter how I think about it.
"That aside, the atmosphere is very excited. Could something be going on?"
"Who knows?"
Certainly, as Hye-un said, the atmosphere was generally excited.
But rather than finding that out, checking the geography of Wuchang roughly comes first.
Having checked the geography of Wuchang like that, I looked at the sun and felt that there was still a lot of time left until evening.
"Hmm, there's still quite a bit of time left."
"Then let's go to the Ronin Association and check what kind of requests there are. We didn't even look at the request board because we said we had to know the geography first."
"Shall we?"
I accepted Hye-un's suggestion.
If it were just me, I would have just said it was annoying and found a place to stay somewhere, but Hye-un, whose body was itching, clearly had the look of wanting to fight even a little sooner.
She had suppressed her desire to become the Sword Empress for 20 years, so she must be this impatient as a backlash.
On top of that, since she had trained in the mountains for two months and honed her body's senses to her prime and beyond, she also wanted to check if her power worked in the current Murim.
As Hye-un and I headed to the Ronin Association, the Ronin who knew us and those who didn't were divided into factions.
There's no reason to pay attention to small fry one by one.
I checked the requests on the board with Hye-un.
"Sanggong, how about this one?"
Hye-un pointed to a request, and I could tell why the Ronin were excited.
The content of the request was to exterminate the Lust Demon with the alias Blood Wind Lust Demon.
For reference, the reason for the alias Blood Wind Lust Demon was that he would invade ordinary people or weak sects and, in the process of performing Chae-eum Bo-yang on women, would always massacre those who resisted, and his face was drawn along with that reason.
This guy is an idiot.
He might have the intention of destroying evidence and blocking the cycle of revenge in advance, but to do that, he shouldn't have made the job so grand.
Mid-50s, I don't know the name of his unique martial arts, but he is good at using palm techniques.
The place where he was last spotted is a forest located north of this Wuchang.
The reward is 20 taels of gold, 30 taels if caught alive, and the amount is to be divided by the number of people who caught him.
The reason the reward is high is because he violated a precious young lady from a noble family who came from Beijing.
The caution is that the Lust Demon's estimated level is Peak.
20 taels of gold, 30 taels if captured alive.
To explain how great an amount this is, even just 1 tael of gold is an amount that an ordinary commoner of this era could never touch even if they worked until they died.
For reference, speaking of the Lust Demon, these guys really have no respect for beauties.
Lust Demons all perform Chae-eum Bo-yang, and they say that if you do this, the woman dries up and dies like a mummy?
Naturally, since Lust Demons have eyes, if they're going to do it, they'll do it with a beauty!
In other words, these guys are the worst pieces of trash who reduce the number of beauties!
Even if it wasn't for the bounty issue, this guy has to die by my hand!
For reference, Chae-eum Bo-yang has the weakness that the efficiency of internal energy is not good because it scrapes together various kinds of energy, but the fact that they do Chae-eum Bo-yang is also an expression of their will to ignore efficiency and push through with sheer volume.
That aside...
"Uh... I'm asking just in case, but is this by any chance mocking or teasing me?"
How did the request she picked happen to be this one?
Damn it, is this what it means to have a guilty conscience?
"Yes? Pfft!"
Hye-un, who understood the meaning of my words, burst into laughter.
She didn't cackle without decorum, but seeing her desperately covering her mouth and trembling made me want to tell her to just laugh out loud.
Having barely suppressed her laughter, Hye-un grabbed my arm and made my upper body be pulled to one side.
Smooch-
She let me feel the soft touch of her lips on my cheek, and she was smiling like a mother as if I were cute.
"You're so cute. You know you did something wrong yourself, right?"
"I didn't."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure. Looking at the date, it was posted yesterday, but since the amount is high, Ronin from other cities will flock here, so let's move quickly."
"Wait, I don't know what kind of misunderstanding you have,"
"I know exactly what you want to say~"
Oh, man.
I'm not originally this kind of character.
If it were a game, I would never have made such a mistake, but since it's reality, I made a dark history that makes me want to kick my blanket without realizing it because I had a guilty conscience.
"I'm telling you in advance! I just asked once just in case!"
"Yes, yes~ Let's go quickly~!"
I just asked just in case!
That's all! That's all!
"Haa! Haa!"
Deep in the forest, the Blood Wind Lust Demon, Gwak Hyo-ji, had minor wounds here and there, and while sweating and gasping for breath, he went deeper into the forest.
"Hoo! Damn it! Dammit! Haa!"
Gwak Hyo-ji, who made the mistake of violating a woman who was perfect for his taste near a large city like Wuchang, should have reflected on his mistake of not being able to suppress his desire, but,
"Those damn bastards! How dare they interfere with my business!"
The perfect woman who happened to fit his taste was the daughter of a precious family from Beijing.
Naturally, there were strong escorts to match.
Gwak Hyo-ji, who always attacked only the weak and repeated finishing the job and running away before others knew, aiming for safety.
However, the perfect ideal type made him take the risk.
He somehow defeated the escorts and violated the woman from Beijing, but before he could perform the absorption, more escorts who heard the commotion popped out, and he had to flee.
Until now, while attacking only powerless commoners and weak sects, he had minimized acts that would increase his bounty, but this time the opponent was bad.
His bounty jumped to 20 taels of gold, and the Blood Wind Lust Demon, Gwak Hyo-ji, who was not worth the effort to catch until then, had to be chased as prey for countless Ronin.
Among them, there were even professional bounty hunters who used combined techniques and countless equipment to catch masters.
Unlike typical Murim people, professional bounty hunters were those who used everything to subdue masters with skills superior to their own.
Rustle-
"Who is it!"
When Gwak Hyo-ji heard something moving in the grass, he kicked a nearby stone hard and attacked the place where the sound came from.
As the stone crossed the grass, the sound of something moving hurriedly began to move away in a direction far from Gwak Hyo-ji.
Judging by how agile and small it was to be seen as a person, it seemed to be a night beast.
"Damn it...! That I should be in such a state...!"
"Seems like you've had quite a hard time."
"!!"
He hears someone's voice from behind him.
And very close, too.
"Wh... wh... who are you...?"
Since he was caught from behind, Gwak Hyo-ji's voice became polite.
At the same time, black figures appeared around him.
"You can no longer live comfortably anywhere in the Murim. Except for one place."
"You guys are... by any chance...?"
"That 'by any chance' is correct. We are the Jamyung 8th Squad from the Demonic Cult."
On the chest area of the clothes they wore, they had a pattern drawn with a black circle and flames expressed in silver.
It is the black sun, the symbol of the Demonic Cult.
It is used when the Demonic Cult makes an official move.
"The Heavenly Demon Cult has decided to accept you. The rest is your choice."
"If I refuse... what happens to me?"
It's a stupid question, but the Demonic Cult member smiled at the question.
"We will just leave you behind. Without any harm."
And Gwak Hyo-ji would be hunted by Ronin, and in the end, his head would be cut off or he would rot in prison with his testicles pulled out.
Gwak Hyo-ji, who predicted this future of his own, realized that his path to survival was set.
"I will go to the Demonic Cult."
"A good decision."
"Instead."
Gwak Hyo-ji glared in the direction where the Ronin chasing him were with eyes boiling with hatred and a desire for revenge.
"Lend me your power so I can kill the bastards who chased me. And I also want to check how strong you guys are. I trust that the world-famous Demonic Cult wouldn't refuse because they are afraid of those Ronin bastards."
"Heh heh heh. You've got guts. You're lucky. It just so happens that our guys are about due to taste blood."
The Jamyung Squad of the Demonic Cult, which recruits Murim outlaws who can no longer go to either the righteous or evil factions.
It's not that the entire Jamyung Squad came, but the 8th squad among them came, but since they are in charge of operating in the Central Plains Murim and recruiting Murim outlaws, the Jamyung Squad, which has to endure countless dangers, are people that even warriors of prestigious righteous sects cannot easily let their guard down against.
In other words, unless information about them is suddenly released, it meant that the life and death of the Ronin were decided here.
The request to catch the Lust Demon changed into a situation where they had to survive and escape from the enemy, but the Ronin, who did not know such circumstances, were tracking Gwak Hyo-ji's trail.
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