Chapter 72
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Red Scorpion Gang
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The next morning at dawn, the Azure Heaven Dragon Guards under Wi Jonggi set off on their return journey toward Qinghai. But there was no cart carrying the coffin woven from black sandalwood in their procession.
Then, as the sun began to set, a shabby cart draped in coverings slowly emerged through a small side gate of Podalrab Palace.
It was pulled by two unremarkable donkeys, driven by a single coachman in plain clothes with a hood pulled over his head.
No one paid any attention to the cloth-covered cart rolling eastward into the sunset.
At that moment, the evening breeze from the western region lifted the hood, revealing the coachman’s face.
It was a woman’s face, with snake-like eyes. It was unmistakably Ananta.
* * *
A little girl of about seven or eight was crying on a bustling main street.
But none of the passing pedestrians showed any interest in her.
“Why are you crying like this?”
A short while later, an old man walking down the street stopped in front of her and bent down to ask.
“Sniff. Home... sniff. Scary people came... and... Mommy... Waaah!”
The sobbing girl barely managed to explain before the old man’s attention and kindness overwhelmed her, and she burst into loud wails.
“Come on, let’s go take a look. This grandpa will give those bastards a beating they won’t forget.”
This was the bustling district of Dunhuang, the gateway to the Western Regions. The old man was the legendary master of the Kunlun Sect, the Kunlun Sword Immortal Yuk Munin.
Yet nowhere on his body as he held the girl’s hand and walked could one see any metal weapons.
He carried only a single backpack woven from rattan.
The girl’s home was in a residential neighborhood just a step off the main thoroughfare.
And even from afar, it was clear what was happening.
About a dozen burly men, all uniformly dressed in red robes, were causing a ruckus in front of a house.
“You’re the ones who broke the agreement, aren’t you? Now we’re just handling things our way, so don’t hold it against us too much.”
The apparent leader among them, with a longsword strapped to his back, was bellowing while household goods lay scattered messily in front of him.
This was no home of the poor, and the furnishings weren’t shabby either.
Come to think of it, the clothes on the girl who had been crying in the street weren’t ragged at all.
At that moment, a woman who appeared to be the child’s mother was dragged out from inside the gate by two men, her attire disheveled.
Following her, a man who seemed to be the father came out shouting loudly.
“You bastards! Aren’t you afraid of heaven’s wrath? Even in this lawless hellhole, how can you act so outrageously...”
“Ke ke... This fool still hasn’t come to his senses. Boys, looks like he needs more of the stick.”
The leader watching from outside shouted that, and three or four men in red robes immediately surrounded the father, pummeling him with fists and kicks.
The man, already bloodied in the face with disheveled hair, collapsed to the ground and began taking a savage beating.
“You couldn’t prepare the promised money, so aren’t we taking your woman instead? Don’t take it too hard. They say a woman is like clothing, so aren’t we just giving you a chance to toss out the old rags and don something new? You should be bowing in thanks. Ke ke...”
As the leader spouted such nonsense, baring yellowed teeth, the men kicked even harder to match his mood.
The man’s screams grew all the more pitiful in response.
But the two men dragging the woman who seemed to be the girl’s mother were heading straight toward where the girl and old man stood.
Frightened, the girl didn’t even acknowledge her mother and hid behind the old man.
The mother spotted the girl too but not only didn’t acknowledge her—she subtly shook her head.
She feared the thugs might drag off her daughter as well.
The old man watched as thick tears poured from the approaching mother’s eyes.
Then he turned his head and gazed silently at the tears streaming from the girl hiding behind him, shaking his head.
“How on earth did the world go this mad...”
Muttering that, the old man stepped forward to block their path.
“Hey, old geezer. Take the kid and scram. You’ll get hurt!!”
One of the red-robed burly men bared his teeth and growled.
The old man said calmly, as if admonishing them.
“Where are you taking that young mother? Let go of her hands.”
“Are you crazy, old man...? What are you to this bitch?”
“What, you two been screwing or something...? Ke ke...”
“Get lost while we’re asking nicely. They say old folks have a hard time if they break something.”
The thugs immediately hurled vulgar insults at the old man.
The old man merely sighed and shook his head.
“You must have mothers too... How can you be this heartless?”
At his words, one of them rolled his eyes and spewed even filthier abuse.
“You fucking old prick. You know my mom? I don’t! No idea where she dumped me after spreading her legs somewhere.”
With that, he charged and swung a fist at the old man.
Mindful of the child behind him, the old man didn’t dodge and took the punch square to the face.
But in the next instant, the attacker’s body flew backward about a zhang.
He began screaming as if he were about to die.
“Argh! My hand...!”
Blood was spurting like a fountain from below the man’s right wrist.
“You beasts worse than animals. I can’t forgive you at all. But for your mothers’ sake, I’ll spare your lives.”
Against lowlifes who didn’t even know what protective aura was, the old man couldn’t bring himself to use lethal force.
The other man holding the woman saw this, released her hand, and drew a dagger from his bosom.
“Fuck. What the hell is this.”
Feeling something off, he didn’t charge but backed away.
But the old man extended one hand—not toward the thug, but to the woman.
Her falling body was suddenly supported in midair and pulled straight toward the old man.
Seeing this, the burly man began trembling all over.
He couldn’t tell if the old man’s feat was the legendary Void Grasping Technique he’d only heard of.
But having already seen his comrade writhing on the ground, he knew full well this old man was an untouchable master.
The burly man turned and bolted toward his group.
The woman who now stood beside the old man collapsed to her knees before she could steady herself and first embraced her daughter.
The old man glanced down at them briefly, then strode purposefully toward the house gate where the red-robed burly men had gathered.
The ones kicking the fallen man noticed and turned toward the old man.
“You’ve got some guts, old man. Daring to interfere in the Red Scorpion Gang’s affairs.”
The leader with the longsword on his back stepped forward first.
Indeed, their red robes bore embroidered black scorpions on the sleeves.
“Red Scorpion Gang... Never heard of it. Since when did scum like you... Anyway, hey, are you all right?”
Muttering to himself, the old man went straight to the fallen man and helped him up.
“Huff... Th-thank you. But please be careful, old sir. Those bastards are extremely vicious. Urk...”
The man, having taken severe blows to the chest that likely cracked his ribs, couldn’t even breathe properly.
After a few words, he lay back down on the ground, exhausted.
Leaving the man be, the old man rose and fixed his gaze on the Red Scorpion Gang members.
“If I tell you to back off now, you’ll just come harass these people again... What should I do with you all?”
The old man, Kunlun Sword Immortal Yuk Munin, cut a sorry figure.
Short, barely over five cheok tall, with a gaunt frame draped in tattered Taoist robes—he looked like any common wandering old priest in the martial world.
Yet his wrinkled face glowed like a red jujube, and his voice boomed powerfully.
Who could guess from his appearance that this old man was among the upper ranks of the thirty-three experts who dominated the world—one of the Five Immortals?
The Red Scorpion Gang thugs were no different.
“Hmph. Just some wandering taoist who’s learned a few tricks swinging his limbs. But can those hands of yours block this blade?”
With that, the leader drew his longsword from his back.
Just then, the burly man who had been dragging the girl’s mother—and had just returned—approached and whispered in his ear.
“Ku ha ha... What? Protective aura and Void Grasping?? Hey, you idiot. Do you even know what realm that is? It’s a level that might barely be possible after at least thirty years of inner power cultivation.”
Disregarding his subordinate’s whisper, the man burst into loud laughter to save face.
“B-but I clearly saw it with my own eyes...”
The subordinate lowered his voice to explain what he’d witnessed, but the man shouted even louder.
“Enough with the nonsense. Do you know how many people in this vast martial world have reached that realm? Barely fifty, if that. For you to encounter one would be harder than finding a single needle in the endless desert.”
At that, the burly subordinate retreated into the group.
This blustering leader was Ha Jong, the Blood Hand Swordsman, outer hall master of the Red Scorpion Gang that had recently been terrorizing Dunhuang.
Ha Jong then issued a solemn command to his men stationed around in a grave tone.
“Hey, grab that old man and snap two or three of his bones. That’ll serve as a proper example of what happens when you meddle in Red Scorpion Gang business.”
At his order, over a dozen Red Scorpion Gang members drew their weapons in unison.
Most were vicious tools like hand axes, iron flails, and clubs rather than proper swords like longswords or sabers.
A sign that none had properly trained in martial arts.
Watching them, the old man let out a deep sigh, ignored the minions, and called out to Ha Jong.
“Hey, you. Come over here. These lot can’t even throw a decent punch or kick.”
“You’re underestimating my boys too much. Ke ke... But old man, if I step in personally, I’ll lop off a hand or foot or two. That all right with you?”
In that instant, the old man’s form soared over the minions, flying straight toward Ha Jong.