Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: A Lesson in the Jianghu
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“Hehehe. I was wondering who’d been scouring Mount Buljeong for days… a member of the Namgung clan, eh?”
As Wang Jeong stared at the Golden Needle Sword, the masked man puffed out his chest and declared loudly,
“That’s right. I am Namgung Un.”
Namgung Un.
He was the youngest son of the Namgung clan's patriarch, a notorious scoundrel in the Anhui region.
He was said to be lost to wine and women, holing up in high-class brothels almost daily. Rumors were so rampant that people whispered he would squander the fortune of the Namgung clan, a family whose wealth was said to be the greatest south of the river.
So why had Namgung Un, treated as a lost cause even within his own clan, suddenly appeared on Mount Buljeong?
“You're Namgung Un?”
A sneer played on Wang Jeong's lips, and he nodded as if in sudden understanding.
“Looks like you finally got kicked out for your degenerate ways. Hehehe.”
As if the remark had hit its mark, the masked man, Namgung Un, saw his expression shift.
Wang Jeong was right. Having failed to mend his ways even after coming of age, his father, the clan patriarch, had lost his patience and thrown him out with a furious command.
—Don't even think of returning until you have earned a proper name for yourself in the Jianghu!
In truth, contrary to his reputation, Namgung Un's martial skill was quite remarkable.
His natural talent for the sword was precisely why he had grown lazy, a fact his father knew well, which was why he had finally forced him out into the world of martial arts.
“If you were kicked out, you should be begging at your front gate to be let back in. Why come to the treacherous Jianghu?”
At Wang Jeong's taunt, Namgung Un squared his shoulders and offered a cold smile.
“I came to deal with vicious scum like you.”
“How amusing.”
Scoundrel or not, Namgung Un was a direct descendant of the illustrious Namgung clan.
Yet, facing him, Wang Jeong was far from intimidated. In fact, he only sneered.
“Deal with me? Hehehe.”
“Hmph. Don't get so smug just because you managed to poison me.”
With a casual motion, Namgung Un produced an orange pill from his robes and swallowed it.
“Energy-scattering poisons are the most common in the martial world, so there are just as many antidotes.”
*Shing.*
Drawing the Golden Needle Sword once more, Namgung Un spoke in a cold voice.
“Now, I will take your head and uphold justice in the martial world.”
“Hahahaha!”
But Wang Jeong, who had been listening quietly, suddenly burst into roaring laughter.
“This is truly hilarious! Hahaha!”
“What's so funny?”
Wang Jeong cut his laughter short and looked at Namgung Un.
“Greenhorns with no experience in the Jianghu often make the same mistake. They think matters in the martial world can be solved with skill alone.”
“Greenhorn? I...”
“You don't seem to know that an antidote takes about a quarter-hour to take effect. Am I wrong?”
Unless one circulates their internal energy to spread the pill's effects immediately, the antidote won't work for at least a quarter-hour.
But Namgung Un, having never taken an antidote before, was oblivious to this fact.
“Besides, if you had any real experience in the Jianghu, you wouldn't have fallen for a simple trap like that. Chasing a retreating enemy is when you're most vulnerable.”
In truth, setting traps in the ground is child's play.
But Wang Jeong understood the triumphant psychology of young masters chasing a foe and had crafted a deceptively simple pit trap.
This trap wasn't meant for a seasoned veteran of the Jianghu, but specifically for inexperienced young masters like him.
“It changes nothing.”
Biting his lip, Namgung Un drew his Golden Needle Sword.
“Once I kill you, this will all be over.”
To stop Wang Jeong's taunts, Namgung Un unleashed his swordsmanship.
Wang Jeong easily dodged the sword forms and gave a sinister smile.
“A battle between masters is decided by the strength of one's internal energy and the fortitude of one's spirit. But you, you've lost both.”
“Don't be absurd!”
“If you had any sense, you would have retreated to fight another day. But you drew your sword, driven by your thirst for glory.”
His words were true.
Namgung Un had already lost twenty percent of his internal energy to the poison. Worse, he was falling for Wang Jeong's masterful psychological warfare, his momentum faltering.
*Whoosh!*
At last, Wang Jeong began to execute his saber techniques. As if he had been waiting, Namgung Un poured his internal energy into his sword.
The Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword Style was a technique meant to overwhelm opponents with relentless speed and unpredictable variations.
But as he executed his sword forms, Namgung Un's expression grew grim.
Wang Jeong's broadsword moved like a fish slipping through a net, fluidly countering every move of the Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword Style.
‘I... I can't beat him?’
As he swung his sword, Namgung Un's face twisted in frustration.
In terms of pure martial skill, his swordsmanship was superior to Wang Jeong's saber techniques.
But this was Wang Jeong's home ground.
Moreover, Namgung Un had never faced a Jianghu veteran skilled in psychological warfare, and he was poor at adapting to the unexpected.
Wang Jeong, on the other hand, had fought countless life-or-death battles and had no qualms about killing.
This disparity was why he was completely unable to gain an advantage over Wang Jeong; in fact, he was being thoroughly overpowered.
—Matters of the Jianghu are not solved by martial skill alone.
It was a saying repeated by countless masters in the martial world.
And there was a very good reason that saying had been passed down through the generations.
*Swish!*
With a sharp hiss, blood spurted from Namgung Un's forearm.
Wang Jeong's broadsword had sliced not just through skin but deep into the muscle.
“Hmph.”
As Namgung Un swiftly switched his sword to his left hand, Wang Jeong chuckled.
“So the Namgung clan teaches left-handed swordplay, do they?”
“Shut up!”
Enraged, Namgung Un gathered all his internal energy. A brilliant radiance erupted from the Golden Needle Sword in his grasp.
Flying Swallow Amidst the Clouds. He intended to unleash the deadliest killing blow of the Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword Style in a single, decisive move.
“Fire!”
Just then, Wang Jeong roared.
The twenty or so men he thought had fled suddenly reappeared, firing a volley of powerful crossbow bolts.
*Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip!*
Just as he was about to unleash his full power, an external interference struck. It was akin to having his legs swept out from under him just as he was about to leap.
To execute the Flying Swallow Amidst the Clouds, one had to expel all the turbid energy from their body and draw forth new power.
But the sudden outside interference disrupted the rhythm and flow of his technique.
“Kuh.”
Namgung Un bit his lip, letting out a low groan.
The abrupt halt of his technique caused his energy to stagnate, blocking the flow of his qi and blood. He suffered a significant internal injury as a result.
“Y-You bastard...”
As Namgung Un clutched his constricted chest and gritted his teeth, Wang Jeong seized the opportunity and struck his paralysis point.
*Thump.*
Namgung Un collapsed, his acupoint sealed. Wang Jeong nodded in satisfaction.
“Hehehe. This is what happens when a greenhorn tries to pick a fight.”
He had inflicted an internal injury on a master of the Namgung clan—a scoundrel, yes, but a master nonetheless—without so much as lifting a finger.
Wang Jeong couldn't help but feel triumphant.
“A shame, but I'll have to dispose of you quietly.”
Killing a blood relative of the Namgung clan would bring him great fame, but it would also mean being hunted by them for the rest of his life.
He had no choice but to dispose of the masked man without a trace.
“Ugh!”
Namgung Un tried to shout, but with his paralysis and mute points sealed, only a hoarse sound escaped his throat.
“In your next life, try to know your place.”
Looking down at the immobilized Namgung Un, Wang Jeong's eyes flashed with killing intent as he raised his broadsword high.
“Farewell. I'll give your corpse a proper cremation!”
“Ugh, ugh!”
Just as Wang Jeong's broadsword was about to slice into Namgung Un's neck,
*Whoosh!*
A throwing knife shot down from the sky with a piercing whistle.
“Hmph! A mere trinket!”
Wang Jeong scoffed at the approaching dagger and swung his broadsword to bat it away, but just as he did,
*Whoooosh!*
The dagger's speed suddenly doubled, becoming a blur too fast to see.
“What was that?”
Stunned by the dagger's sudden disappearance, Wang Jeong instinctively leaped back.
*Thwack!*
A throwing knife was embedded in the very spot where he had just been standing.
“This...”
Wang Jeong's eyes wavered as he stared at the knife quivering in the dirt.
If he hadn't instinctively sensed the danger and moved back? That knife would be embedded not in the ground, but in his skull.
“Who's there!”
In response to Wang Jeong's shout, a low voice echoed from above as a figure descended from the cliff.
It was Bu Eun-seol.
“Not bad for a bandit chief.”
Bu Eun-seol looked down at Wang Jeong and nodded.
“Inflicting an internal injury on a swordsman from the Namgung clan with nothing but words.”
Wang Jeong stared at Bu Eun-seol, his eyes filled with wariness.
He was a master with a wealth of experience in the Jianghu. From Bu Eun-seol's words, he deduced that the man had been hiding on the cliff, concealing his presence all this time.
‘To appear so confidently... he must be a superior master.’
Wang Jeong was already calculating, trying to gauge Bu Eun-seol's level of skill.
Looking down at him, Bu Eun-seol smirked.
“No need to strain yourself. This day next year will be the anniversary of your death, anyway.”
These were the same words Dang Gon had once jested to the vice leader of the Blood Poison Valley.
Bu Eun-seol had taken a liking to Dang Gon's remark back then and decided to use it himself.
“Hmm.”
Wang Jeong swallowed hard but did not panic.
In his time ruling over the Mount Buljeong area, he had faced countless masters. Some of them, from the orthodox sects, were even stronger than him.
He had survived all this time because he knew their weaknesses—the predictable habits of so-called righteous masters.
“Very well. I surrender.”
Unable to find an opening in Bu Eun-seol's stance, Wang Jeong immediately threw his broadsword down before him.
“The Martial Alliance, the authorities, it doesn't matter. I'll go quietly.”
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. But it was a ruse.
*Fwip!*
As he raised his hands, a shower of poison-coated needles shot out from under his arms, straight at Bu Eun-seol.
The range was too short, and the gesture of surrender made the attack completely unpredictable.
“Hmph.”
But Bu Eun-seol, as if anticipating the ambush, was already behind Wang Jeong.
“How predictable.”
*Bam!*
Bu Eun-seol's fist slammed into Wang Jeong's back, sending him crashing to the ground.
It was the first form of the Seven Demonic Fists: First Appearance of the Fist Demon.
“Gah!”
As Wang Jeong tried to push himself up, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
‘What kind of fist is so heavy?’
Fear flickered in Wang Jeong's eyes as he staggered to his feet.
It had seemed like a light punch, yet he felt an agonizing pain, as if his spine were shattering.
His fist technique was superb, and it was clear he was a master possessing profound internal energy.
“Alright, alright. I won't try any more tricks.”
Wang Jeong raised both arms, his face a mask of genuine surrender.
But his eyes remained sharp, and a faint, confident smile played on his lips.
‘To escape this place... I have no choice but to pass through there.’
Every path out of the canyon was riddled with traps.
No matter how strong Bu Eun-seol was, Wang Jeong was confident he could at least shake him off and escape. But then...
*Boom! Craaash!*
A series of explosions echoed from the canyon's exit, and soon after, a small figure dropped from the sky.
“It's all taken care of, Young Master.”
The figure was Heuk-pyo.
Following Bu Eun-seol's orders, he had destroyed all the traps Wang Jeong had set near the canyon and had now returned.
“For traps set in the mountains, they were quite impressive. There were not only hidden weapon mechanisms but also a Bewildering Retreat Formation set up for escape.”
Wang Jeong's jaw dropped.
How had that ordinary-looking boy found and dismantled the traps and formations he had so painstakingly set?
“Aaargh!”
Standing there in a daze, Wang Jeong let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Bu Eun-seol had closed the distance in an instant and seized him by the shoulder.
“Give scum like you the slightest opening, and this is what you do.”
*Click. Clack.*
He then pulled out dozens of hidden needle tubes from around Wang Jeong's shoulders and tossed them aside.
“You're a walking arsenal of hidden weapons.”
“I understand! I won't resist anymore! Spare me!”
As Wang Jeong cried out in terror, Bu Eun-seol just chuckled.
“Take off your Killing Star Shoes before you start begging.”
*Crunch!*
Bu Eun-seol stomped on Wang Jeong's foot, crushing it. A blade coated in deadly poison sprang out from the shoe.
“Y-you...”
Realization finally dawned on Wang Jeong, and he gritted his teeth.
“You're no righteous martial artist.”
Meeting Bu Eun-seol's cold gaze, he began to tremble.
“Where in the world are you from? The Green Forest? Are you doing this because I refused to join the Green Forest Alliance?”
His words were cut short.
A searing heat suddenly erupted from the Gate of Life acupoint on his back, and a moment later, he felt an agony as if his very blood was boiling.
“Gack!”
Spitting another mouthful of blood, Wang Jeong's eyes flew wide.
He suddenly felt a suffocating pain, as if his very airways were being crushed.
“Could it be... that one punch from before...”
Before he could finish, the whites of Wang Jeong's eyes turned bloodshot, and he collapsed.
The potent fist energy that had pierced his Gate of Life acupoint had traveled down his Governing Vessel, wreaking havoc.