The Pirate's Qualification
The qualifications of a pirate—creeeak—splash splash. This was the Yangtze River.
“Agh… goddamn it!”
And the man cursing aboard the boat was Otter. Of course, that wasn’t his real name. His parents had given him something proper, like Wang-something. But the senior river bandits called him Otter, so he had no choice. Sometimes the seniors were scarier than parental intentions—that was just how life worked.
“Hey, Otter! Why so pissed off?”
“I told you not to call me that!”
“Keep your voice down. The big brothers might hear.”
“Ugh…”
The group he belonged to was the Fifth Den of the Janggang Suro Sip-palchae—the Eighteen River Gangs of the Yangtze. The old saying went, “The Yangtze brings the gangs rolling in.” With eighteen separate bandit groups crammed onto a single river, the Yangtze’s status was clear. Still, it was a proud name: the Eighteen River Gangs. For a former neighborhood thug, simply getting in was already an elite path. People might sneer that they were just bandits with fancy titles, but they were wrong. Precisely because they were bandits, they needed grand names. If they’d called themselves “The Eighteen Yangtze Bastards” or “Big Brother Gang of the River,” even the local kids would’ve laughed at them.
—Bark!
“Otter! Sea Otter! Where the hell did you two go?”
“H-here, sir!”
“Coming right away!”
Even the imperial army had its share of hazing; a bandit crew was far worse. The juniors were basically living sandbags—hit whether they did well or poorly. Otter’s earlier outburst of rage was no coincidence.
“Hehe, you called for us?”
Of course, he couldn’t say what he really felt. That would earn him far worse than extra drills.
—Smack!
“You useless bastards. We’re boarding that passenger ferry passing by. Start rowing, now!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
The Ming Empire’s law ruled the land, so how could these men openly rob a ferry in broad daylight? Unlike mountain bandits, river pirates had limited range. Their secret was simple: “Don’t overstep.” Think of it like a Middle Eastern dictatorship on Yeonhwa’s old Earth. If the court crushed them outright, even crazier groups would sprout like weeds, so as long as the bandits stayed within bounds, the authorities looked the other way. There was also the added benefit that the river gangs kept the waterways clear. Of course, powerless commoners still got hurt in the process… but this was medieval China. People were cheaper than dogs in the Central Plains, so a few broken civilians meant nothing.
Thus, an ordinary-looking ferry like this one—
—grit
‘My mood’s already shit, so this is perfect.’
—became both pocket money and stress relief for the river bandits.
—creeeak
—thud
“Hey, you! Stop right there!”
Their only misfortune was that a certain woman happened to be aboard.
———
—thud
—step step
“Oh my, welcome aboard, honored heroes.”
The river bandits swaggered onto the deck. The captain bowed obsequiously, as if this were routine. It was all staged—like a fixed wrestling match. The first rule of ferry safety: keep a bribe ready for the occasional raid. If passengers got hurt, that wasn’t the captain’s problem. “If you’re upset, take a pricier boat with guards,” was the shipowners’ stance.
“Here’s a token of our respect for you, heroes.”
“Ahem!”
—rustle rustle
The one-eyed leader swaggered as he pocketed the offering. Normally they would’ve harassed a few passengers before leaving, but today was different.
—whoosh
—thud
“Any of you seen this man?”
They were on a paid job. The portrait they held showed the refined face of a handsome man.
—shake shake
The passengers shook their heads, genuinely confused. Yet their eyes inevitably drifted toward one corner of the deck—where a man and woman sat, faces hidden beneath a salgap and myeon-sa.
Instinct said: anyone hiding their face must be suspicious. And this time, instinct was right.
—step step
“You two. Show your faces.”
The bandits approached with menacing glares, but the targets were lost in thought.
—squeeze
‘The Empress would go this far…’
The Empress herself hadn’t given the order, but her subordinates had clearly learned from her example.
‘The Analects say: “When you see profit, think of righteousness.”’
For the Empress of the Ming to use bandits for personal gain—Ryun’s heart sank.
Meanwhile, Yeonhwa’s thoughts were lighter. ‘Ryun’s stepmom’s a real piece of work.’ She’d seen plenty of rich wives hiring thugs in dramas back on Earth. What truly enraged her was something else.
—crack
‘These bastards…’
The sheer ease of their extortion. Crime was profitable precisely because it carried risk—South American cartels killing each other, or getting raided by police and thrown in prison. Yet these river bandits simply boarded a ferry and collected tribute. Watching them, Yeonhwa felt her blood boil. A neighborhood punk was always more irritating than some distant cartel boss.
Of course, the river bandit life wasn’t actually easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it, like Somali pirates. But to Yeonhwa—already unstable and now furious—it didn’t matter.
—thud
“Hey! You listening?!”
The bandits had no idea the veiled woman before them was a peak-level expert, nor that she was seething. So they kept barking orders.
“Take off that veil first.”
They only needed Ryun’s salgap removed; there was no reason to touch Yeonhwa’s myeon-sa. The man they wanted was male, and Yeonhwa was obviously female. Hiding behind a full-face veil usually meant the wearer was ugly. Forcing such a person to reveal their face was a deliberate humiliation.
‘Kuhuhu.’
The bandits weren’t ignorant of this. They were simply taking out their earlier beating on her. Shaming an ugly woman was entertainment to them.
—grab
—swish
A rough hand tore the veil away. What appeared was—
“Huh…?”
“Gasp!”
The famous novels of the Ming—Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods—described celestial maidens with cloud-like hair, peerless beauty, and a heavenly fragrance. Yeonhwa possessed all of those traits.
“A celestial maiden…”
“A goddess has descended from the heavens!”
Everyone on the ferry instinctively thought of a celestial maiden. Even Ryun, who had seen her face before, gaped anew. First-time viewers stood no chance.
“…”
—flinch
But the bandits couldn’t simply admire her like the others. Because—
“You.”
“Want to die?”
Killing intent blazed in the celestial maiden’s eyes.
———
“Mom! The celestial maiden looks angry!”
“Sh-shush!”
Even a child aboard could tell: Yeonhwa was furious. She was angry about the effortless extortion, yet to onlookers she appeared as a righteous immortal enraged by injustice.
“Hey.”
—grab
Yeonhwa seized the one-eyed leader’s arm.
“Why do you still have two arms?”
“W-what?!”
The question made no sense in context, but Yeonhwa’s furious mind followed its own logic.
—roar
“If you’re a pirate, shouldn’t you have left one arm in the new era or something? How can you call yourself a pirate without any romance?!”
“What the—?! And I’m not even a pirate, I’m a river bandit—”
—squeeze
“I’m cutting one off. You don’t mind, right?”
Yeonhwa raised her hand while gripping his arm tightly.
‘What strength…!’
Her hand looked pale and delicate, yet the one-eyed man couldn’t move his arm at all. It was as if it had been locked in a steel vise.
—gulp
At this point, even the most beautiful woman became terrifying.
“H-hit her!”
“Big brother?!”
“I said hit her! Can’t you hear me?!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
From the outside it looked ridiculous, but refusing a senior’s order was impossible.
—squeeze
“Hup!”
—whoosh
Several rusty blades swung toward Yeonhwa. Typical bandit weapons—rusted and crude—but still lethal. The rust only made the wounds worse.
“Celestial maiden! Watch out!”
“Yeonhwa! Be careful!”
The passengers cried out in alarm, but Yeonhwa merely flicked her fingers. She brought thumb and middle finger together and snapped them lightly—like flicking someone’s forehead.
—bang
Her delicate fingers met the blade. The sword—
—kikik
“Gasp?!”
“Th-the sword bent!”
The blade warped without even scratching her nails. To the ignorant it might seem like divine power, but those with knowledge knew better.
“That’s sword qi!”
“Then… that woman is a Jeoljeong-level expert?”
Sword qi—more precisely, finger qi in this case. Infusing internal energy into the body or weapons to increase lethality was the hallmark of the Jeoljeong realm. Depending on the medium, it became sword qi, fist qi, and so on.
—drip
‘This is insane! A Jeoljeong expert?!’
The passengers were awestruck, but the river bandits were facing death. Jeoljeong was already far beyond the common “third-rate, second-rate, first-rate” rankings. That was why it was called the peak. Above it lay Chojeoljeong and higher realms, but ordinary people might never see such beings even once in their lives. To civilians, a Jeoljeong expert was essentially the ceiling.
—tremble tremble
They had humiliated such a master by tearing off her veil… The one-eyed leader could already guess what came next. Begging for his life immediately would be the worst move.
“W-wait! There seems to be a misunderstanding!”
“We are proud members of the Janggang Suro Sip-palchae! We never commit unjust acts—”
A bandit begging for mercy was pointless. The only hope was to borrow the gang’s reputation. But—
“Don’t know, don’t care.”
Some people could be reasoned with. Others couldn’t. Unfortunately for the bandits, Yeonhwa belonged to the latter group.
—grin
“I’ll just cut it off first, okay?”
A faint white haze began to ripple around Yeonhwa’s hand. Then—
—swish
—slice
With a casual swing, the one-eyed leader’s right arm came off cleanly.
“Aaaaaargh!”
—thrash thrash
The physical and mental shock of losing an arm was immense. The leader rolled across the deck, screaming like a little girl.
“My arm! My arm!!!”
“Don’t cry. You’re a man, aren’t you?”
—freeze
‘Oh no!’
Yeonhwa, who had offered the awkward consolation, suddenly realized her mistake and stiffened.
“I messed up. I meant to cut off the left arm…”
She had cut off what she considered her own left side.
“What do I do now…”
—step
—scratch
Yeonhwa walked up to the one-eyed leader with an awkward smile.
“Um… I cut the wrong one by mistake… Can I cut it again?”
“Aaaargh! You crazy bitch! The Janggang Suro Sip-palchae will never forget this!!!”
With his arm gone, rational thought was impossible. The leader simply spewed curses.
—grin
“So you’re not against it, right?”
He hadn’t said he was against it, so he wasn’t. Simple, effective logic.
“H-huh? No! Don’t come closer! I hate it! No, I really hate it!!!”