Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Sand Death Land is More Frightening at Night
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The Sand Death Land is more frightening at night.
At the hour when Jeok Yeomcheon and the Sand Wind Spirit Demon Squad members were bedding down for sleep, others elsewhere were preparing their own rest as well. It was Ak Muyoo's group.
The spot where the group rested was not in the sand but inside a ger. Ak Muyoo was the one who had pitched the ger.
The ger that had been loaded on the camel was a simple type, making setup and breakdown much easier.
"Let me take a look at that wound."
Ak Muyoo said as he approached Gun Cheokjeon. Gun Cheokjeon stripped off his clothes and revealed his injury.
Ak Muyoo examined the wound.
"How is it?"
Gun Cheokjeon asked.
"I'm not a physician."
"How long can you hold out?"
"Circulate your qi."
He said while helping him redress.
"My home is the North Forest Great Heaven Clan."
"You can tell me that right before you die."
"You're not going to give me any hopeful words?"
"I've learned to be cold in the face of death."
"Cold bastard."
"Family?"
"I have a wife."
"No children?"
"I have a ten-year-old daughter."
"Ten?"
"My wife was pregnant when I came to the battlefield."
"Even if it was ten years ago, isn't she a bit old to be getting pregnant?"
"My wife is twenty years younger than me, kid."
"Nice skills."
"I do what I can."
"Is she your first wife, or...?"
"I lost my first wife and remarried."
"No kids from the first wife?"
"None."
"Then if you die here, the North Forest Great Heaven Clan head will change, right?"
"That's how it would be."
"You'd want your daughter to become the head?"
"I couldn't even be a proper father, so leaving her that much would be the least I could do."
"If you die, who becomes the head?"
"There's a cousin who was excommunicated from the clan."
"Second wife, daughter, excommunicated cousin. Quite the picture you're painting. Were they the ones who put you in this state...?"
"Just as you suspect. The ones who did this to us weren't the Blood Wolf Clan—it was Central Plains martial artists hiding among them."
"Do you know who they were?"
"No."
"Then your wife and daughter are as good as done for."
"Take care of Na Yun Bong and my daughter."
"Take care of them?"
"If I'm gone, they'll definitely be chased out. You're the only one who can save them."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"You're the guy who survived ten years in the windlands without any martial arts. And you've done all sorts of jobs, you said. With that kind of resourcefulness, feeding two people should be nothing, right?"
"This old man's slyly trying to foist his wife and daughter on me. Dream on."
"Take it."
Gun Cheokjeon pulled off a ring from his finger and held it out.
"At this rate, I'll become a ring collector."
Ak Muyoo already had the ring from Cha Sawoong on his finger.
"This is the North Forest Ring, the North Forest Great Heaven Clan's seal of the head."
"With this alone, you become the head?"
"You need this and to master the North Forest Great Heaven Divine Art."
"Does your wife know the North Forest Great Heaven Divine Art?"
"No."
"Recite it."
"......"
"Including the North Forest Great Heaven Divine Art, recite all the martial arts you know."
"Got it."
Gun Cheokjeon recited all the martial arts he knew.
"What I just recited is the North Forest Great Heaven Divine Art. Starting from the beginning again..."
"That's enough. Skip it."
"Skip it?"
"Yeah."
"You memorized all that?"
"Yeah."
"......"
"I hate myself for it too. And it's depressing."
"......"
"My master says my body is a perfect martial bone. My head's incredible too. But..."
"But what?"
"The most important thing—my dantian is missing."
"What a truly tragic reality."
"Yeah. I'd need to weep for three days and nights. Anyway, recite it."
Gun Cheokjeon recited the martial arts formulas again.
The second martial art he recited was a sword technique called Three Absolutes Demon Dissolution. Next came a movement art called Sea Wind Flying Shadow Body.
"If I end up going to Peking and stopping by the North Forest Great Heaven Clan, I'll definitely pass it on to your wife."
"If you take responsibility for my daughter and wife, you won't need to pass on anything."
"You're hilarious."
Ak Muyoo moved to Ak Gun-eok.
"Take this."
Ak Gun-eok offered his spear.
"Nice."
Ak Muyoo eyed the spear.
From the spear tip to the shaft behind it, it was a complete dragon. The spearhead protruded like a tongue from the dragon's mouth.
"It's an Ink Dragon."
Ak Gun-eok said.
"Just deliver this?"
"Sell it if you want."
"Everyone in the world knows this belongs to the Shandong Ak Clan, don't they?"
"Probably."
"If you try to sell this, they'll say I killed you. So, this it is."
Ak Muyoo drew his hand across his throat.
"How are you gonna kill me without martial arts, punk?"
"There are so many ways to kill without martial arts, kid."
"Keuk!"
Ak Gun-eok chuckled.
"I'll pass it on when I have time too. Take off your clothes."
Ak Gun-eok stripped and showed his wounds. His injuries were on his chest and abdomen. The rotten flesh had been cut away, medicated, and stitched, but it hadn't healed properly—pressing lightly made pus ooze out.
"Need to clean it up again."
Ak Muyoo reached into his bosom for his tools.
"No need."
Ak Gun-eok grabbed Ak Muyoo's hand.
"Why?"
"You know it won't help even if you try."
"I'm not a physician."
"I know."
"......"
Ak Muyoo looked at Ak Gun-eok.
"It's not something even a poison healer can fix."
"......What message should I pass on?"
"Just say I was happy."
Ak Gun-eok said.
"That's all."
"I gained a saber art in the desert."
"I'll pass that on too."
"The saber art is for you."
"I..."
"It's Blood Rain Shattering Heaven Earth Hell Blade."
"Cool name."
"It's not just the name that's cool."
Ak Gun-eok recited the formula.
"Got it."
Ak Muyoo nodded.
Next, he went to Ara. Ara's complexion looked better than the two men's.
He first checked the wound on her chest.
While Gun Cheokjeon and Ak Gun-eok were rotting, Ara was improving. They said the best medicine was youth, and it seemed true.
Her arm had healed quite a bit too.
The problem areas were below her dantian and her hip.
Riding the camel violently without full healing had left those spots in worse shape than the others.
He treated the hip wound first.
The arrow had penetrated about an inch to the left of her anus.
"The stitches burst, so I need to re-stitch it."
"Won't it burst again?"
"Still gotta stitch it. And pad the camel saddle with something soft. That should help."
"I'll do that."
Ak Muyoo first washed the wound area with water, dried it, then took out a needle and stitched it.
After the hip, he looked below her dantian. The stitches had burst there too, but it was in better shape than the hip.
"You're gonna have to take responsibility for me. What're you gonna do?"
While he was threading the needle, Ara spoke.
"Huh?"
Ak Muyoo looked at Ara in surprise.
"Why?"
"I thought you were the type who didn't do jokes."
"Not a joke."
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-six."
"You're young too..."
"How old are you?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Even husbands don't see their wives' anuses, you know? But you've seen mine. So take responsibility."
"In cases like this, shouldn't you be so embarrassed you don't know where to put yourself?"
Ak Muyoo said while focusing on the wound.
The injured area was right above her genitals, impossible not to see. Yet Ara was nonchalant.
"Try living three years disguised as a woman among nothing but women."
"No shame at all?"
"Right. Anyway, will you take responsibility or not?"
"Do I look like I'm well-off?"
"Didn't you say there's nothing you haven't done?"
"My first job was begging, so yeah, something like that."
"You begged?"
"Yeah. At three."
"......"
"So when I strike down enemies, I think of my father's face."
"You had it rough growing up too."
"Not rough enough to pity me."
"Anyway, I think men just need strong survival skills."
"My opinion doesn't matter?"
"Just do what this big sister tells you."
"......No message for home?"
"Message?"
"Yeah. You give me your sword too, right?"
Her face hardened.
"......Circulate your qi."
Ak Muyoo pulled up her pants and stood.
"It's fine, right?"
Ara asked.
"What do you expect from a poison healer?"
"I'll circulate my qi."
Ara quickly sat cross-legged and began circulating her qi. While the three circulated their qi, Ak Muyoo exited the ger.
"Where are you going?"
Luha, who followed him out, asked.
"Right now, the only one I trust among us is you, ma'am. You go in and circulate your qi too."
"......Got it."
Luha nodded and went inside.
Ak Muyoo immediately turned back the way they had come, running. Even as he ran, he unleashed Mad Thousand Blood Steps.
After two hours of nonstop running, he stopped atop a sand dune.
"They're there."
He looked downward. Thanks to the bright moon, everything was illuminated.
Below the dune, hundreds slept with pi-feng cloths over their faces.
"The Sand Death Land folks don't know it's scarier at night."
Pak!
His right hand grabbed a handful of sand.
He spread his fingers slightly to shake off the sand, revealing what he had grasped. It was a venomous scorpion native to the desert.
"The master here is the scorpion. This Blood Scorpion."
Ak Muyoo put the blood-red scorpion into his mouth.
Wachak!
The sound of the scorpion's shell crunching came out.
"Heuk!"
Geo Bu Chi awoke in horror.
Something was crawling over the pi-feng cloth covering his face. He swore it wasn't a lizard.
Ssak! Sak! Ssak! Ssak! Ssak!
Faint sounds came relentlessly from around him.
'No way...'
Goosebumps rose all over his body.
He quickly checked his arms. He let out a sigh of relief. Both arms were safely inside the hollow.
Soon, the thing crawling on his face moved away. Geo Bu Chi stayed still for a while. Once the insect presence fully vanished, he bolted upright.
"My god."
Geo Bu Chi's eyes widened.
The sand floor had turned blood-red. What dyed the ground red was none other than scorpions—the Blood Scorpions, the most venomous kind.
"Heuk!"
"Euk!"
"Ugh!"
"Don't move!"
Geo Bu Chi bellowed.
But his shout made the squad members jump up. Members rose here and there, startling the scorpions into stinging.
"Agh!"
"Ugh!"
"T-This is Blood Scorpion!"
The cry of "Blood Scorpion" was fatal. Even those half-asleep bolted up.
"Blood Scorpions."
Those who rose shook their bodies and ran about.
"Aaak!"
"Euaak!"
Those stung by Blood Scorpions screamed and flailed wildly. Some fled into the sand quagmire. The chaos snowballed. In an instant, over a hundred sank into the sand quagmire.
"Stop!"
Jeok Yeomcheon bellowed with internal energy.
The terrified, rampaging men froze in place.
"Keuk!"
"Kek!"
"Ugh!"
Though they avoided the swamp, dozens collapsed on the spot. Victims of Blood Scorpion stings.
"I'll kill you..."
Jeok Yeomcheon trembled with rage.
They had only stayed one night in the Sand Death Land, yet two hundred had died.
"I'll kill you, Luha—!"
Jeok Yeomcheon roared in fury.
"Geo Bu Chi, bring the squad members and come."
"The clan head..."
"I'll go first."
"How will you go?"
"Plains are disorienting, but sand dunes aren't quagmire. Use Void Treading to leap dune to dune like stepping stones."
"Understood. We'll follow."
Geo Bu Chi bowed his head.
"I'm going."
Jeok Yeomcheon immediately launched into the air.