Winds Over the Canal (1)
The flames that had merely clung to the surface soon began to grow, feeding on the oils of the man's body.
Yet even as time passed and the fire blazed fiercer, the corpse remained utterly still.
The tension on the deck had evaporated, replaced by mocking glances aimed at Seo Baek.
And sure enough, Dohwa Gwang cackled.
"Kid, you acted like you knew all about revenants, but it was all for nothing, huh?"
"Is it?"
"Can't drop the bravado, eh? Haha!"
The helmsman barked orders to his underlings.
"Put out the fire and toss it overboard."
"Yes, sir."
Two underlings smothered the flames with a cloth, then grabbed the corpse's hands and feet from either side.
That was when it happened. The corpse's eyes snapped open, its head whipping around to sink its teeth into one underling's hand.
Crunch.
With its jaws locked on the flesh, the revenant yanked its head back, tearing away a chunk of meat that fell in bloody shreds.
"Aaaagh!"
The corpse was a revenant after all.
"Dare to burn me... dare you bastards... I need blood... blood..."
The revenant lunged at the other underling, who was reaching for its foot. But the man didn't retreat; he drew his curved dao from his belt and slashed down.
"Die!"
Thwack. The blade cleaved into the revenant's shoulder, lodging deep.
His courage was admirable, but his ignorance of revenants cost him his life. Even with its shoulder blade severed, the revenant didn't stop—it barreled forward and tore into the man's neck.
Crunch-crunch.
"Aaaaagh..."
As the revenant ripped out a massive bite, blood sprayed from the man's throat like a fountain, splattering across the deck.
Whoosh.
"You have to sever a revenant's head!"
Seo Baek shouted, reaching back to grip his sword hilt.
But with over a hundred martial artists and underlings crowding the deck, there was no room to swing.
A blind slash would sever living limbs instead.
Seo Baek's greatsword was peerless against revenant hordes in open spaces. But with one hiding among the throng, it was useless.
Worse, this revenant had been a martial artist in life.
Its ingrained lightness skill activated instinctively, dodging the underlings' daos with ease.
Tasting blood only sharpened its madness into cold focus. It swept out twin palms, driving the underlings back.
"What a spread... enough to break the table legs."
As Seo Baek pondered his options, Song Hyeon clapped his shoulder and stepped forward.
"Leave it to me."
But in that instant, a figure burst through the clustered underlings like the wind, charging the revenant.
Mid-leap, the figure flipped his palm and snatched a nearby underling's dao.
The underling blinked in stupefaction as his weapon vanished—the snatch was so fluid it looked like he'd handed it over willingly.
"Fresh... meat side dish."
The revenant spotted him and thrust out its twin palms.
Whoosh-whoosh.
The palms wove unpredictably, one targeting the chest, the other the flank. Dodge one, and the other would maim.
In a flash, the figure's leg extended like a three-section staff, slipping between the palms to kick the revenant's gut.
Thud.
"Gurk..."
The revenant's waist folded like a book, hurling it over the deck's edge.
The figure seized a dangling rope, vaulting into the air. He slashed the revenant's neck at water level before it hit the waves.
Splash. Gurgle!
Plop.
The severed head and body finally sank.
With a flick, he tautened the rope, using the rebound to soar back aboard, landing lightly as a feather.
Tap.
The martial artists' eyes gleamed at the display: a kicking technique that felled the revenant, a clean decapitating slash, and a lightness skill returning via rope rebound.
They swallowed hard.
—A master!
But their shock redoubled at the figure's identity.
It was the pale-faced scholar who had barely boarded at departure, gasping for breath.
—That scholar took down a revenant in one go?
—He was hiding his skills.
—Never trust even a three-year-old in the jianghu...
Ignoring the stares, the scholar strode casually to the underling and returned the dao.
"Thanks for the loan."
"..."
The underling numbly accepted it, startled.
It had been stolen, but the scholar's politeness left him speechless. If anything, he owed gratitude for slaying the revenant.
As silence blanketed the deck, the scholar glanced around.
"Did I do something wrong?"
The helmsman recovered.
"No. The Canal Gang is grateful. As thanks, we can offer—"
The scholar waved it off.
"No need. In a world overrun by revenants, it's just what anyone should do."
He turned left and right, offering cupped-fist salute.
"If that's all, I'll retire to my cabin."
As he walked off briskly, the martial artists unconsciously parted for him.
Suddenly, he paused, turning back.
"Oh! The underlings bitten by the revenant are infected, unfortunately..."
Slice. He traced his thumb across his throat.
No one missed the meaning.
Everyone knew revenant bites spread infection.
The two bitten were doomed—dispatch them.
The helmsman nodded curtly; underlings dragged their comrades away with grim eyes.
Screams followed soon after, leaving the deck in icy hush.
"The Canal Gang imposes no rules, but with a revenant aboard, we'll make one exception: after the Hour of the Dog, do not leave your cabins."
Hour of the Dog: dusk, when the sun sets.
Stay inside once darkness falls.
The martial artists dispersed as if nothing had happened.
Seo Baek's group returned to Wang Yi Sam's cabin.
"A revenant on the barge? Chills down my spine."
Wang Yi Sam sighed in relief.
"At least it's dead, and the fuss is over. Lucky."
But Seo Baek shook his head.
"It's not over."
"What? They killed the bitten underlings... handled it somehow, right?"
"No. What about the corpse?"
"The corpse? You think it'll revive from the water? The current's weaker than the Three Gorges, but it can't swim back aboard."
"Not that. If that body was a revenant, who severed its head and pierced the Blood Thread Worm?"
"Then..."
"A revenant was hiding among the original passengers."
"...!"
Wang Yi Sam finally grasped it, aghast.
"What now?"
"You asking because you don't know?"
Seo Baek replied in his usual impassive tone.
"Hunt it down, behead it, and burn it."
"Nah, probably not. Maybe bitten before boarding?"
"It's been a week since boarding. Staying fine that long then turning? Doesn't add up."
"Ugh..."
Wang Yi Sam groaned, convinced.
Song Hyeon chimed in.
"That corpse had no neck scar when it first boarded."
"Really? Slashed after?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"I never forget what I see once."
"..."
Wang Yi Sam was stunned speechless.
Seo Baek and Song Hyeon.
These two eerie master-disciple-like figures.
Wang Yi Sam had seen countless eccentrics in the Central Plains martial world.
But Song Hyeon sent chills beyond the odd—he was unsettling.
That guy's dangerous. Stick with him, and I won't die of old age.
His instincts screamed it.
"Why not tell the helmsman about the revenant aboard?"
"He won't believe it."
"Why?"
"Sailors don't trust hearsay—they need to see it."
Wang Yi Sam nodded.
True not just for sailors, but martial artists too. The Central Plains was vast; people believed only their own eyes.
"Plus, he said no leaving cabins after the Hour of the Dog."
"Right."
"He thinks that's enough. No one leaves, no corpses appear, no new revenants."
"Makes sense."
Wang Yi Sam agreed again.
Anyone caught sneaking out by underlings would be exposed as the revenant.
"Or the helmsman plans to hush it until Luoyang."
That rang truer.
The Canal Gang were martial artists too.
They didn't care if others died.
With talk done, Song Hyeon headed to his cabin.
"Sleep well."
"It's midday sun—sleep now?"
"You won't sleep tonight. Rest while you can."
After he left, Wang Yi Sam blinked at Seo Baek.
"Tonight? What?"
"We hunt the revenant."
"At night? Helmsman said stay put."
"Revenants prowl at night. That's our chance."
"...!"
Wang Yi Sam's heart sank.
"We don't even know who—wander blindly? Junior, please, no risky stuff."
The reply shocked him more.
"I have a suspect."
"What? Why not say?"
"Told you. Helmsman won't believe."
"..."
"Revenants roam nights. We kill it quietly, no one knows."
"..."
Wang Yi Sam despaired.
We die quietly too!
He seriously pondered distancing from Song Hyeon—and even his dear junior Seo Baek.
Night fell over the canal at last.
The Canal Gang helmsman had warned sternly: no leaving cabins after the Hour of the Dog.
But Seo Baek's group thought differently. They planned to ignore it and hunt the suspected scholar-revenant.
Yet another defied the order.
A cabin door creaked open stealthily in the corridor; a martial artist peeked out.
Fucking Canal Gang idiots. Stay in at night? Who listens?
Glancing both ways and seeing none, he slipped out.
With just a hundred underlings, how do they watch this huge barge?
The martial artist with heavy pinkish eye makeup.
Dohwa Gwang himself.