Chapter 297: Plunder
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 297: Plunder
Thud—
Ak Muhong collapsed to the floor, a cold corpse.
In that instant, a dead silence fell over the deck.
“Our... our chief...”
“A Transcendent master... in a single blow?”
“No way...”
“...He's a monster.”
“Run!!”
Having lost their chief, the river pirates scattered in a panic, trying to flee back to their own ships.
But Kang Hyun-woo wasn't about to just stand by and watch.
“You boarded without permission, and now you think you can leave as you please?”
Crackle!
Sparks flew in all directions, tracing arcs of lightning.
Kang Hyun-woo's figure vanished, and one by one, the pirates' heads began to fly.
“Kuaargh?!”
“H-Help me!!”
“Aaargh!!”
“J-Jump into the river!!”
Amidst the gruesome scene of blood and slaughter, the sailors huddled together, trembling.
It didn't take long for dozens of pirates to become cold corpses, staining the waters of the Danganggu gorge red.
The few lucky survivors were bound in ropes and lay sprawled on the deck.
“Y-Young Master!”
Mak Yangho, who had been watching the scene unfold, rushed over to Kang Hyun-woo.
With a look like he was about to burst into tears, he bowed repeatedly.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”
Even as he bowed to Kang Hyun-woo, a man young enough to be his son, Mak Yangho felt not a shred of shame.
He knew better than anyone the fate of those captured by the pirates.
Unlike the women, who were sold off as sex slaves or courtesans, most men were forced into hard labor in harsh conditions until they died.
Considering that grim future, Kang Hyun-woo was nothing less than his greatest benefactor.
“To think you cut down the notoriously vicious Gust Spear, Ak Muhong, in a single strike! It was truly the second coming of a God of War!”
Regardless, Kang Hyun-woo let Mak Yangho's flattery go in one ear and out the other.
If it had been a beautiful woman, perhaps, but he couldn't care less about the gratitude of a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard.
Kang Hyun-woo approached Ak Muhong's body lying on the floor.
'Perfect for absorption.'
But there were too many eyes on him right now.
After a moment's thought, Kang Hyun-woo called Mak Yangho over again.
“Young Master? Is there something you need?”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor...?”
“You will remain silent about what happened today.”
“...Pardon?”
“Simply put, the pirate attack never happened. And naturally, you must not speak of me dealing with them.”
He was already drawing the ire of the Heavenly Demonic Cult and the Evil Alliance. If the name 'Shadowless Sword' became widely known, his actions would be severely restricted.
With Seo Yuhyeon, there were too many witnesses, so he couldn't help it, but this time was different.
After a short silence, Mak Yangho nodded with a serious expression.
“...You must have your reasons. I'll take responsibility for silencing the crew.”
At first, I'd considered threatening him, but seeing his expression, it didn't seem necessary.
“And I'll be taking the remaining pirates.”
“The pirates...? If you're planning to finish them off, you don't have to dirty your own hands...”
“I'll use them as guides.”
“Guides?”
“I heard they've been aggressively plundering merchant ships lately. Their stronghold must be filled with a considerable amount of treasure.”
“Ah...!”
It wasn't that I was short on cash, but as they say, the more money, the better.
“Then, will you be leaving now?”
“I need to raid their stronghold before nightfall.”
As I pointed to the sun climbing toward its zenith, Mak Yangho let out a short sigh.
“Huu... To send my benefactor off without any reward... this truly weighs on my heart.”
“If you really feel that way, you can give me that.”
I pointed to the box filled with silver.
In that instant, Mak Yangho's eyes widened in shock.
“...Are you serious?”
“Weren't you going to offer it as a toll anyway?”
“B-But...”
Mak Yangho's lips trembled several times as if he were conflicted.
Finally, he bowed obsequiously.
“...Would half be acceptable?”
“Didn't you just say that no amount of silver could be too much for the hero of the river?”
“...”
With my pockets now considerably heavier, I happily sank the other ships one by one, leaving only the main vessel Ak Muhong had arrived on.
“I-If we really guide you to the stronghold, will you spare our lives?”
“Have you ever seen a martial artist of the Orthodox Faction lie?”
“...”
“If you'd rather become fish food here, I won't stop you.”
“I've been a river pirate for eight years! I'll guide you by the shortest route!”
“Good.”
The surviving pirates gladly promised their cooperation.
Of course, there were a few who couldn't let go of their pirate ways and resisted, but after I let them go for a swim to cool their heads, they became much more docile.
It seems they quite enjoyed swimming while tied up in ropes.
“Thank you, Young Master!”
“We will never speak of this!”
“Please, take care!!”
Leaving the sailors and their farewells behind, I crossed over to the pirate ship with Cheon Yeo-hwa.
Swoosh—
The ship cut through the water, quickly moving away from the merchant vessel.
“The wind feels nice.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa murmured in a languid voice, nestled in my arms. A look of satisfaction spread across her lips as she sipped her wine and took in the scenery.
The low-lying mist between the gorges certainly created a scenic atmosphere.
Though it was just as perilous.
“Why don't you have a drink as well? It's a bit lonely drinking by myself.”
“In a little bit.”
Stroking Cheon Yeo-hwa's hair, I got up and entered the cabin.
Ak Muhong's corpse was there.
Vwooom—
The Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword slid out of its sheath, radiating a gloomy aura as it made its presence known.
It was like a beast licking its lips before a meal.
“...Now you come out on your own without being called. Hurry up and eat so you can go back in.”
Kiiing!
At my permission, the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword—no, Tam—cried out with joy and spewed forth a crimson-black demonic energy.
The demonic energy opened its maw like a living creature and swallowed Ak Muhong whole.
Munch, munch. Slurp, slurp. Ptooey. Thud.
Just like the bandit's corpse from before, Ak Muhong was reduced to a dried-up mummy. The energy absorbed from him seeped into me.
As expected of a river pirate, his energy was rather impure, but since he was a Transcendent master, the sheer amount of internal energy was substantial.
Moreover, thanks to Tam's new ability, a portion of the 'memories' Ak Muhong possessed in life began to flow into me.
—This is... an elixir?
—Finally, finally! I've reached the realm of a Transcendent master!!
—Kwahahaha! Becoming an executive of the Eighteen Water Forts of the Yangtze River is no longer just a dream!
—The Hwawol Merchant Guild is heading upstream? Good! After this last raid, we're leaving the Danganggu gorge!
—Why the hell is a rejuvenated old monster in a place like this?!!
The memories I glimpsed through Tam's ability were only a small fraction of the whole.
But even that was enough to gain some meaningful information. The information about the elixir he'd obtained during a raid particularly piqued my interest.
Ak Muhong had been collecting tolls from a merchant guild passing through the Danganggu gorge, as usual.
But on that particular day, the guild's resistance was unusually fierce, and in the end, he was forced to kill not only the merchants but all of their escorts as well.
Afterward, while plundering the merchant ship, he found a wooden box containing a red pill.
“An elixir that can elevate a Transcendent master to a Transcendent master...”
It wasn't impossible.
After all, I myself had reached the Transcendent realm by consuming the Prajna Divine Pill and Bireciel's essence.
But it would require a top-grade elixir on the level of a Millennium Snow Ginseng or a Millennium Fleeceflower Root.
An ordinary merchant guild, not even an escort agency, was transporting such an elixir?
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
Twitch!
At that moment, something crawled out of Ak Muhong's mummified corpse.
I hastily caught it with my magic power.
“This is...”
—Kigigik!!
It was a small bug.
Bound by my magic, the bug thrashed and writhed.
“I've never seen a bug like this before... What is it?”
It had a bizarre appearance, as if it were half centipede and half spider.
No matter how I looked at it, it was no ordinary bug. In fact, it gave off an unsettling feeling.
I took the bug and went up on deck.
“Yeo-hwa, take a look at this.”
“Hm? What is i—”
Clang.
Cheon Yeo-hwa dropped the wine bottle she was holding.
Her face was frozen stiff as she stared at the bug I held.
“...A Blood Insect?”
After staring at the bug for a while, Cheon Yeo-hwa bit her lip hard.
Then, with a heavy sigh, she stomped on it, crushing it under her foot.
Splat.
A foul stench assaulted my nostrils.
Even though the bug was dead, Cheon Yeo-hwa's expression remained grave.
After a long moment of thought, she spoke cautiously.
“...Hyun-woo, have you ever heard of Gu?”
I shook my head.
“Gu is a type of sorcery, divided into a Mother Gu and a Child Gu. A human implanted with a Child Gu becomes a slave to the Mother Gu, unable to defy any command. What's more, there is no way to remove it. Even if you kill the master of the Mother Gu, the person with the Child Gu will simply die on the spot.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa added that due to its vicious and cruel nature, it was designated as one of the three great taboos of the Central Plains, and the Imperial Family treated the creation of Gu as an act of high treason.
“Such a convenient bug exists?”
“The process of creating one is just as difficult. Even our cult has failed time and again.”
“...Didn't you say it's treated as treason?”
“Huhu, what of it? The Imperial Family already considers our cult a subversive force and has sent armies after us several times. Things have been quiet lately, but who knows what will happen when the emperor changes. To the Imperial Family, our cult is like a 'dragon's reverse scale'.”
“A reverse scale?”
“There is such a thing. I promise I will tell you when you are ready to handle it.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa smiled as she usually did.
“Anyway, to get back to the point, the Blood Insect is a type of Gu created by a certain faction.”
“Created?”
Didn't she say even the Heavenly Demonic Cult failed?
“Their name is the Blood Yin Cult. They were the culprits who plunged the entire Central Plains into war hundreds of years ago.”
The Blood Yin Cult.
The moment I heard the name, an unknown sense of dread washed over me.
“I heard they were completely wiped out... Did you say the Blood Insect came from the pirate's corpse?”
“Yeah. Ah, now that I think about it, there was something strange in the memories I absorbed with Tam.”
“Memories?”
I explained to Cheon Yeo-hwa about the red pill I saw in Ak Muhong's memories.
Her expression grew even more serious.
“...That was likely a Blood Explosion Pill.”
“A Blood Explosion Pill?”
“It's a pill created by the Blood Yin Cult that draws out a person's latent potential. It allows them to raise their realm in a short period, but the price is death not long after. That man, Ak Muhong, would have died in two or three months at most.”
“That's vicious.”
“I've heard that to create a single Blood Explosion Pill, the blood and flesh of dozens of women and children are required.”
At that, I furrowed my brow in open disgust.
A wave of revulsion washed over me.
Sensing my distress, Cheon Yeo-hwa caressed my cheek and gave me a bright smile.
“The story was a bit heavy, but it's not something you need to worry about. Even if the Blood Yin Cult rises again, that's a problem for the Imperial Family and the Murim world to solve together.”
“...”
At Cheon Yeo-hwa's reassurance, I nodded silently.
I had noticed the clouds of war gathering over the Central Plains, but as she said, it wasn't my problem.
Even if it did involve me, what I had to do remained the same.
'I just need to keep getting stronger.'
Having organized my thoughts, I asked Cheon Yeo-hwa to stand guard and went into the cabin, sitting down in the lotus position.
Crackle—
Vajra Qi, Crimson Cloud Thunder Qi, and Asura Demonic Energy. I forcibly collided the three energies gathered in my dantian.
My meridians were shredded each time, but the effect was unparalleled.
Of course, I didn't neglect my training in the Blood Flame Asura Demonic Art either.
True to its name, the Blood Flame Asura Demonic Art, which produced explosive power by burning one's own blood, required one to be half-dead to reach the 4th star.
Drip, drip, drip—
It wasn't sweat that trickled down, but blood.
As a side effect of the demonic art, the blood in my veins began to boil, and with it came waves of indescribable pain.
The secret manual stated that most martial artists would pass out during this process.
Needless to say, passing out in the middle of circulating one's qi meant certain death.
Of course, there was a way to lessen the pain.
One could coat their blood vessels with demonic energy. However, doing so would cause their demonic nature to rise rapidly, turning them into a mindless Demonic Human, their very marrow corrupted before they could even master the art.
Ma Paeseon probably endured the full brunt of the pain as he trained.
I intended to do the same.
I wanted to writhe in agony, but I suppressed the urge with the unique mental fortitude of a high-ranking mage.
Amidst the circulation of my qi, I recited the oral formulas of the Blood Flame Asura Demonic Art.
Increasing the upper limit of my demonic energy—that was the goal of this training session.
Mastering the Blood Flame Asura Demonic Art was just a bonus.
Vwooom—
I endured the heat that felt like it would cook me from the inside out and continued circulating my qi.
How much time had passed?
Covered in blood, I opened my eyes.
“...What kind of training method is this brutish?”
I took out some Holy Water from my inventory and drank it down. My tattered body began to heal rapidly.
Once my body had recovered enough, I channeled my Asura Demonic Energy. A crimson-black energy enveloped my body, granting me an explosive vitality.
Crrrack!!
My grip strength more than doubled.
This was the Asura Descent that the Asura Demon Lord, Ma Paeseon, had used. In this state, it was like having a protective aura constantly active.
“The 5th star of the Blood Flame Asura Demonic Art, huh.”
To jump from the 3rd star straight to the 5th just by circulating my qi, I could truly feel how overpowered my Primordial Body was.
I took out some fresh water to wash myself off, then stepped outside the cabin.
Creek.
As the door opened, my eyes met Cheon Yeo-hwa's.
“It seems you've made some progress.”
“Thanks to you.”
I stretched lightly and looked around. The pirate ship was entering a hidden cave nestled between the gorges.
Inside the cave, sporadically lit by torches, the Jinsu Fort's stronghold came into view.