Chapter 100
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: My Luck is Insane
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“Argh, why won’t you tell me! Why not?!”
“What do you need to know another sect’s name for?”
“I wanna join toooo!”
I wonder if I was this much of a pain in the ass to the chair bastards when I was little, you boundless Buddha.
She’s hanging off my uninjured left arm like a monkey on a tree branch, refusing to let go.
Deeply reflecting on my past, I dragged the damn brat along while yelling at her.
“Your family loaded or what?”
The Mount Hua Sect’s Core Disciple entrance exam is in six years. She’ll be thirteen then, so she’s out of the six-to-ten age range!
The Outer Disciple entrance exam is in seven years. She’ll be fourteen then, so out of the six-to-thirteen range!
That leaves only Secular Disciple for her to join Mount Hua, and those require hefty donations. Obviously. It’s Mount Hua of the Nine Great Sects—what do you expect for pocket change?
A kid who raves about how delicious cheap roadside pork chunks taste isn’t gonna cough up donations regularly to stick around Mount Hua.
She should just join one of the branch families instead.
At my harsh words that you can’t even join without money, the kid’s eyes wavered. She looked up at me with pitiful eyes and opened her mouth.
“Your sect takes money…? Did you have to pay too, sis?”
Cold sweat beaded on my forehead.
I’d just turned Mount Hua into some shady sect that rips off its disciples’ nose-picking money.
Uiseong was already clutching his stomach laughing beside me. Quit laughing and help me cover for it!
The mountain path ended up ahead, revealing Bunseohyeon. Our destination was finally in sight.
“The kid’s that curious—why not just tell her?”
“Yeah. How’s it make sense to part without knowing what sect our benefactors are from?”
“This hero here and that little one with some real skill for her age—there’s no way your names aren’t known….”
The group piled on, making my predicament with the kid even worse.
I whistled a tune, pretending not to hear, and we reached the village entrance safely. Time for everyone to go their separate ways.
“Sis…. You really won’t tell me…?”
The kid, bawling her eyes out and clinging to me because she didn’t want to say goodbye, looked up with teary eyes and sniffed her runny nose.
Even her mom trying to pry her off me didn’t faze her stubbornness. Sure, I could shake her off easily despite my injury, but I didn’t really want to, so I just patted her head.
My troubled face met Uiseong’s grinning one. He jerked his chin. Reading the signal, I sighed deeply and spoke.
“Mount Hua.”
I stamped it in like a seal, repeating it to the blinking kid.
“Mount Hua Sect.”
The reaction I expected didn’t come from the kid—it came from the adults behind her.
“M-M-Mount Hua Sect? No way, you said you were from some no-name minor sect….”
“Th-then these folks too…?”
“Guess I’m late on introductions. Uiseong of Mount Hua, haha.”
“Gasp, Plum Blossoms Full Sword Uiseong?”
Some get cool nicknames like Plum Blossoms Full Sword or Misty Shadow Sword, but me? Mount Hua Mad Sword? Those Jongnam bastards are gonna pay.
While the adults nearly flipped out, the kid stayed totally calm. She tilted her head and asked,
“Mount Hua? Where’s that?”
Yeah, a seven-year-old with no interest in the martial world might not know.
“The world’s greatest sword sect in Shaanxi Province—and the place you can’t join.”
“Wow, sis, you’re from the world’s greatest! But why can’t I join?”
“‘Cause your luck sucks that bad. Should’ve been born a year later.”
Uiseong piped up that I should say something nice to the kid instead of being so blunt.
I bent down to meet her eyes at her level.
“Hey, kiddo.”
She nodded vigorously, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve at my call.
“There’s a ton of Mount Hua branch families, right? If you can’t make the main sect, work hard at one of those.”
Her eyes welled up again, and I chuckled, patting her head.
“Well, if you’re some genius who surpasses me, you might make it to the main sect. It’s not impossible.”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely go!”
“Oh dear, what’s a kid saying….”
Her flustered mom scooped her up in a hurry and bowed to me. I returned a light salute.
Nestled in her mom’s arms, the kid waved her hand big.
“Bye, sis!”
“If fate allows, maybe we’ll meet again.”
I waved casually with a indifferent reply and turned away. Meet again, my ass—she doesn’t even know my name.
I ran over to Uiseong, who was waiting with his hands behind his back, and asked,
“Martial Uncle, why’d we hide that we’re from Mount Hua Sect?”
“Nothing spreads faster than rumors. Especially when you’re short-staffed like that.”
“True. If word got out there were Mount Hua disciples around, people would’ve flocked for sure. Oh, so staying at that rundown cheap inn was…?”
“Yeah, we just needed the right number of people. Not arrogant, not the type to demand pay, the kind you don’t mind watching your back for.”
He scolded me for gripping my sword in my right hand and snatched it away. Damn, habit.
“So, where to now?”
“Clinic first for that shoulder… then back to Mount Hua.”
“I’m hungry—can’t we eat first?”
“Treatment first, you rascal. You’re lucky the metal poison didn’t give you a fever on the way here. You planning to wander like this forever?”
I pouted at the hand smacking my head painfully. Hitting an injured person, really?
“Ow, I’m hungry….”
“Alright, deal, kiddo. I’ll buy you mooncakes if we hit the clinic first. Sound good?”
“Mooncakes plus candy shop too.”
“You brat—aren’t you gonna eat after treatment?”
“You think I’m some weakling who’d skip a full meal over two snacks, Martial Uncle?”
“Oh man, what a brag, you piglet.”
“Ah, growth spurt, growth spurt.”
Our steps toward the market felt light.
* * *
Less than a month into our short excursion, Uiseong and I returned to Sanggung. My worries were for nothing—plenty of money left, so we splurged on luxury eats all the way back.
My sword-pierced shoulder healed cleanly on the trip home. Uiseong clicked his tongue at my insane recovery, so I guess mine’s not slow.
“Core Disciple reporting back from a brief murim trip to Sanggung.”
I saluted and bowed. Uihyeon chuckled softly.
“Ease up on the formalities a bit more. You can still be casual.”
“Really? Then… I’m home, Master!”
Uihyeon smiled warmly at my bright greeting, then met my eyes steadily.
“So, what’d you learn on this murim trip?”
“The sword’s heavier than I thought.”
Always in my corner, his kind eyes urged me on as I continued.
“I realized the swords I swung before were light because they lacked justice. A sword without a righteous heart is just a tool for harming people—nothing more, nothing less.”
I still don’t know why cutting people feels so natural, why there’s no aversion, why seeing someone die right in front of me doesn’t faze me.
But if I understand the weight of the sword I hold, the meaning behind the one I swing—won’t those doubts eventually mean nothing?
“And this disciple learned hard on this trip that wielding a sword bearing others’ lives takes more resolve than I imagined.”
“Finding the answer yourself—well done.”
I dove into Uihyeon’s open arms. He stroked my head, murmuring in a voice mixed with pride and reluctance.
“You’ve really grown up now….”
“Still tons left to learn.”
He patted my back a couple times, then shooed me off to my quarters to rest off the travel fatigue since he had stuff to discuss with Uiseong.
No fatigue from such a comfy luxury trip, so I headed straight to the training grounds. My martial brothers spotted me and came rushing over.
Those gleaming eyes were like predators who’d found prey.
“Ugh, no fair! You lead real combat spars then ditch us big seniors?!”
“Yeah! Do you know how much we rolled trying to temper the killing intent in our swords?!”
“You toss us into that pit of evil and go gallivanting around the murim!”
“You come back from your solo fun trip with zero souvenirs? We’ll really resent you, Junior.”
I snorted at the beasts gnawing and clinging to me like I was dinner.
You lot just rolled around in a comfy training ground. I rolled in a real battlefield with blood spraying everywhere. Of course I brought souvenirs.
“Huh? Who said I had fun? I took a sword to the shoulder.”
I pulled back my uniform to show the pretty big scar. Everyone’s jaws dropped. Side and now shoulder—two lifelong scars.
“This was a hair off from hitting a nerve and paralyzing my arm forever. My luck is insane.”
“You’re calling something that serious a ‘jackpot’? Really?”
Biyeon thwacked my back hard. Stung like hell.
“How the heck did you get hurt like this?”
I shrugged at Biyeon’s question.
“In the process of realizing the sword’s heavier than I thought?”
“Good thing.”
Bihwan beside her smiled in clear relief. Facing that smile made me feel oddly like I’d been the only one clueless about the sword’s weight.