Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Second-Rate Warrior Hocheonan -2
A pleasant voice worthy of being called jade-like rang out behind me.
But to me right now, it was a voice cold enough to send chills down my spine.
Who is it? Since when have they been following me?
This wasn’t someone merely around first-rate level.
To suppress one’s presence so perfectly without leaving even the slightest sense of incongruity and get behind me this cleanly, they had to be at least Peak Realm.
If this person wanted me dead, I’d already have died several times over.
Slowly, I turned around.
The first thing that caught my eye was a sharply defined face.
A beauty without question, yet the aggressively slanted eyebrows and piercing gaze completely ruined the good impression.
Wrapped around her long slender neck was unmistakably red sable fur.
The famous Mount Cang Sect known throughout all Central Plains Murim.
The descendants of the mythical figure Hou Yi, who shot down nine of the ten suns.
Mount Cang Sect was the Daoist order that served those descendants.
Legend claimed the hunter Hou Yi once raised red sable ferrets to hunt rabbits.
Within Mount Cang Sect, the ten most outstanding rising talents of the current generation were collectively called the [Ten Arrows of Hou Yi], and each earned the right to wear red sable fur.
Regardless of its origins, it symbolized elite experts worthy of representing Mount Cang—those who hadn’t yet built fame through deeds in Murim, but whose reputations were guaranteed through the sect’s name itself.
That was the meaning carried by the title Ten Arrows of Hou Yi.
Like Shaolin’s Eighteen Arhats or Mount Hua’s Plum Blossom Sword Squad, even if the individual names weren’t famous, the fur proclaimed:
“These are the signature experts of our sect. Do not treat them lightly.”
Of course, I knew exactly who this woman was.
There probably wasn’t a single wandering warrior in Sichuan who didn’t know her.
Still, I had no choice but to pretend ignorance and ask.
Though realistically impossible, it was a desperate attempt to escape reality and pray she wasn’t the person I feared she was.
“I am merely an insignificant martial artist staying at the Wanderers’ Inn. May I ask the honorable name of this heroic lady from the great Mount Cang Sect?”
“Yeo Ilye.”
Hongjuk Gunhyeop Yeo Ilye.
Among Sichuan wanderers, she was infamous as the Wanderer Crusher.
A woman famous for smashing the limbs and pulverizing any wandering warrior she encountered.
At least, being part of the righteous sects, she apparently stopped short of actually killing wanderers—I’d never heard rumors of her taking lives.
But I’d heard endless stories about wandering warriors who ended up crippled and retired after falling into her hands.
Even her title, Hongjuk Gunhyeop, practically existed because of wanderers.
In Sichuan Province, wandering warriors were considered absolute evil, and simply hunting them down was enough to earn one the title of hero.
Her brutal methods of crushing wanderers deserved the character for blood, but since righteous sect members couldn’t openly use such a title, they instead used the character Hong, meaning crimson, in reference to the red sable fur she wore.
Since she relentlessly crushed wandering warriors wherever she found them, she was compared to bamboo—upright and unbending like a gentleman.
Thus, Hongjuk Gunhyeop.
She was a universally acknowledged killer of wanderers.
Which meant today might very well become Ho Cheonan’s death anniversary.
“Scurrying around like a rat. You must’ve committed another vile deed.”
“Haha, I think there’s some misunderstanding. I merely completed a small errand at Gwangyang Sect today.”
“What ridiculous lies. I personally met with the Gwangyang Sect Master today.”
“I swear upon the heavens that I speak the truth.”
“No. You were never at Gwangyang Sect today.”
A sneer spread across Yeo Ilye’s face.
The moment I saw that smile, I understood everything.
Those Gwangyang bastards had secretly joined hands with Mount Cang Sect.
Yeo Ilye had likely been dispatched as an envoy for negotiations with Gwangyang Sect, heard the commotion today, and decided to wrap things up while enjoying herself a little by hunting me down.
“What heinous crime did you commit to flee so desperately while weaving such pathetic lies?”
“Great Hero!”
“There’s no point listening further. It would only dirty my ears. Evil cannot be allowed to remain, so today I shall open the path of slaughter. Yuanshi Tianzun.”
This woman clearly carried deep hatred toward wanderers.
Otherwise, there was no way she’d obsessively hunt them down without regard for consequences.
Still, despite everything, she’d remained part of the righteous sects and only crippled wanderers instead of killing them.
But today, now that she had proper justification, she apparently intended to cross the line.
That sword-wielding psychopath looked positively delighted at the thought of hacking me to pieces.
I wanted to drag all those idiots who claimed “beautiful women look pretty no matter what they do” in front of her face.
Neither Yeo Ilye nor I had drawn our swords yet.
But her killing intent toward me was unwavering.
Which meant it was time to activate the emergency escape plan.
This body named Ho Cheonan took survival very seriously—to the point I regularly mapped escape routes ahead of time.
Of course, it was impossible to predict every threat I might encounter.
Still, I prepared for as much as I could.
Since I worked in Sichuan, eventually running into Yeo Ilye by chance was almost inevitable, so I’d long considered countermeasures against her.
The problem was that escaping someone at Yeo Ilye’s level meant accepting extreme levels of danger.
As someone merely second-rate, every solution available to me felt more like insanity than an actual answer.
Whoooosh!
While I hesitated over whether to execute the emergency escape plan, a gust of internal energy swept through the alley.
Yeo Ilye had begun circulating her qi in earnest, and the resulting pressure kicked up dust into the air.
Seeing her fluttering robes and the triumphant eyes of a murderous psychopath erased my hesitation completely.
Right. This wasn’t the time to worry about the future.
I needed to survive right now.
I immediately opened my mouth.
“Yeo Ilye. I’ve heard about your usual conduct. I don’t know what resentment lies within your heart, but martial artists must control their inner selves.”
“How laughable. A mere third-rate wanderer dares—”
“Is that really so?”
I drew my sword and took a stance.
I squeezed out every scrap of internal energy I possessed and released it beneath my feet.
Compared to Yeo Ilye, it was nothing, but even so a small cloud of dust rose from the ground.
Yeo Ilye’s expression stiffened as her hand moved to her sword.
“You…! Don’t tell me!”
Flying Dragon Twelve Swords.
A transcendent martial art impossible to execute unless one had reached at least Peak Realm.
Anyone in Sichuan with even moderate skill recognized the opening stance of the Flying Dragon Twelve Swords.
Because the original wandering warrior who used this sword art was none other than the progenitor of Sichuan wanderers and the starting point of today’s twisted Sichuan Murim.
This body named Ho Cheonan had invested over ten years into Murim Cheonha.
A man who once proudly claimed to know everything about the game.
Naturally—
I had absolutely no idea how to use Flying Dragon Twelve Swords.
But Murim Cheonha, despite being a ten-year-old game, still possessed graphics and motion quality impressive enough to hold up today.
I didn’t know the martial art itself, but copying an opening stance was possible.
Yeo Ilye lowered her body warily.
Seeing her immediately assume the stance of the Fourth Death Sword Style, I judged that my bluff had worked.
This wasn’t because Yeo Ilye was stupid enough to fall for a stance copied from a game screen.
Back when Murim Cheonha was merely a game, it usually took less than a year for a fresh new character to reach the threshold of first-rate.
The real Ho Cheonan reached the limits of second-rate after slightly over one year.
So what had I done during the remaining years?
I invested entirely into the content outside of [Martial Arts].
[Skills].
Within the martial arts genre, martial arts themselves couldn’t be properly used without the corresponding realm supporting them.
There were endless scenes where characters lacked sufficient internal energy to use higher martial arts, or lacked understanding to execute them.
But in martial arts stories, were divine physicians, master craftsmen, and wealthy magnates always martial arts experts?
Some works portrayed them that way.
Others didn’t.
Magnates ignorant of martial arts got attacked by martial artists.
Divine physicians got kidnapped by mysterious assailants.
Master craftsmen forged weapons only to be murdered by the people they made them for.
That was the standard trope.
And yet ironically, even when protagonists learned medicine, gambling techniques, or even bedchamber arts, they somehow still used those skills to grow stronger.
[Skills] were systems capable of affecting real combat without depending on martial arts realm.
Did anyone really think I’d spent the past eight years wasting away just because I couldn’t advance beyond second-rate?
Of course not.
I spent incredibly productive time at gambling dens.
[[Gambling Skill: Hand Technique] is active.]
[Your actions become more natural.]
[[Gambling Skill: Iron Face] is active.]
[Your opponent cannot read your emotions.]
I was merely a second-rate warrior.
But gambling skills specialized in deceiving opponents supported my every movement.
They distorted Yeo Ilye’s perception and confused her mind.
The gambling skills I’d mastered by pouring every silver coin earned from wandering warrior work into gambling houses transformed a simple copied stance from a monitor into movements convincing enough to fool even a Peak Realm expert.
Right now, Yeo Ilye probably saw me as some mysterious wandering master capable of wielding Flying Dragon Twelve Swords.
“You bastard. What relationship do you have with Nangya Sword?”
I maintained silence while holding my stance.
Sometimes silence conveyed more than words ever could.
I unleashed every psychological trick I’d learned from years at gambling tables.
People with violent tempers and bloodlust like hers hated silence and quickly felt pressured by it.
More simply put—
Madmen usually lacked patience.
After waiting a while for my answer, she apparently reached her limit and finally drew her sword.
Thick killing intent accompanied it.
“Fine! Let’s see if you can keep that mouth shut after tasting the Fourth Death Sword Style!”
I tightened my grip on my sword and lowered my posture slightly.
Yeo Ilye immediately began condensing internal energy.
And at that exact moment—
I relaxed my stance slightly and turned my head.
A movement as though I’d suddenly spotted someone impossible to encounter in this back alley.
From Yeo Ilye’s perspective, it must’ve looked like I’d discovered a completely unexpected figure.
Yeo Ilye instinctively tried sensing the presence behind her.
And at that precise instant—
“Jade Dragon Divine Hero?”
At my words, Yeo Ilye instantly whipped around.
Jade Dragon Divine Hero Hyeok Girin.
Leader of the Ten Arrows of Hou Yi.
An individual of absolute righteousness.
The natural enemy of Yeo Ilye.
A true hero who would cause unimaginable chaos if he discovered her radiating killing intent toward a wanderer while secretly conspiring with Gwangyang Sect.
A living moral textbook.
This was my only chance.
Even now, hesitation filled my heart.
Who knew what this psychotic lunatic might do later because of this?
But at this point, there was no turning back.
I’d already baited her with bluffs and deception.
If I didn’t commit fully now, I’d truly die.
“The sun and moon in the heavens wax and wane once they reach fullness. Human emotions are the same. Even the fire of the heart that seems eternal can extinguish in a single moment. This is called reversal at the extreme. Yet is decline truly decline, and prosperity truly prosperity? Iron must first be heated to take shape, yet only becomes complete after cooling.”
Her body froze.
A sign she was entering a state of enlightenment trance.
No matter the circumstances surrounding her, Yeo Ilye had no choice but to focus entirely on this moment because her [Enlightenment] had begun.
This was a path determined by heaven itself.
The one and only road prepared exclusively for Yeo Ilye to surpass her limits.
It was only natural she would forget everything else and devote herself completely to it.
“What is needed is not merely heat. Prosperity flows into decline to complete the cycle. Thus what is truly needed… is coldness.”
Annoyingly enough, this wanderer-hunting fanatic had a limit realm of Transcendent Peak.
Weaklings capped at first-rate only had Enlightenment phrases one line long, but those with transcendent potential got entire philosophical speeches.
“Reversal at the Extreme, Tempered Through Fire and Cold.”
“Ahh…!!”
If this were the game, lightning would’ve exploded from the heavens while logs appeared like this:
[Unity with Heaven and Earth through observing the Heavenly Path!]
[You have stepped upon the single road prepared by heaven to surpass your limits!]
Yeo Ilye froze completely, eyes half-open while still gripping her sword.
Some people might see this frozen Yeo Ilye as the perfect chance to attack and kill her.
After all, her eyes were barely open, she held no stance, and her consciousness had sunk inward.
Anyone attacking now thinking they could finish her instantly would—
Die instantly instead.
In typical martial arts settings, enlightenment often acted like a kind of buff.
During enlightenment, martial arts surged dramatically, and characters entered a state where their bodies automatically executed techniques.
Likewise, in Murim Cheonha, characters entering Enlightenment State experienced massive combat boosts and automatically responded to outside threats.
It was probably both a standard martial arts trope and a game mechanic preventing players from exploiting enlightenment.
After all, if enlightenment left characters defenseless, it could be abused like a status ailment.
And imagine how absurd it would feel if a companion who naturally attained enlightenment simply died standing still because of it.
So all I could do now was feel satisfied that Yeo Ilye wouldn’t move for some time while she digested her enlightenment.
Quietly slipping out of the alley, I immediately sprinted toward the Wanderers’ Inn.
For now, I’d escaped Yeo Ilye’s grasp by granting her enlightenment.
But I had no idea what kind of reaction she’d have once she awakened from it.
And to survive against someone like her—
There were mountains of things I needed to do.