Chapter 244
Chapter 244
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Chapter 60: To Fujian Province (4)
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Unlike buying silver jewelry, acquiring a sword was no easy task.
"I'm sorry. We don't have any weapons among our goods..."
Unlike finding intricately crafted ornaments, there were scarcely any places that sold weapons at all.
After nine failures, they finally found a place that had something resembling a sword.
"What do you think? It's a rare item we acquired recently."
What is this?
The problem was that it was a gaudy decorative sword gleaming in gold.
In the end, they left the tenth shop empty-handed as well.
As they headed toward another shop, the voice of the one-armed old man stopped them in their tracks.
"I told you, didn't I? Finding a sword in Fujian Province wouldn't be easy."
"Why is that?"
Fujian Province was a famously renowned sword-producing region.
The artisans' skills were exceptional as well. In his previous life, before battling the Heaven-Extinguishing Society, it was the last place the righteous experts visited to have swords forged.
- Even if I die, I'll die with a sword made of deep sea salt iron in my arms.
Swords made from the exceedingly rare deep sea salt iron were so precious that even those facing death coveted them.
"I've heard deep sea salt iron is only found in Fujian Province. And judging by the silverwork on those ornaments, the artisans' skills aren't lacking either."
"You know of deep sea salt iron? Impressive insight. Not many do."
The old man muttered and pointed toward the mountain peak with his remaining arm.
"It's all because of the Twin Dragon Sect."
There, on a mountain ridge shaped like a jade throne, the golden tiles of the Twin Dragon Sect's grand hall gleamed imposingly.
"Not only the deep sea salt iron occasionally harvested from the ocean depths, but all rare irons from foreign lands are monopolized by the Twin Dragon Sect."
"All of them?"
"Yes. Moreover, the blacksmiths who forge weapons are disappearing one by one."
A chill hung in the old man's voice, like the desolate wind blowing through the blacksmiths' alley.
"With their lives on the line, who would forge swords? Even if they did, if the Twin Dragon Sect notices, they're dragged away. They have no choice but to give up."
"...I see."
"It's been years since the forges in the smithy district went cold. The heat to even melt iron is gone, and now even the ashes have cooled."
The old man's voice cracked like charred wood stripped of warmth.
"Now do you understand why swords are hard to come by?"
"...To some extent."
But on the other hand, a question arose.
"Saying swords are hard to obtain implies there's a separate way to get one?"
"Not entirely impossible. Do you see that man?"
The old man pointed to a warrior in green robes kicking an elderly woman at a roadside stall against the alley wall.
"He's a warrior of the Green Net Sect."
"He has a sword."
Sure enough, he carried a sword engraved with twin dragons on his back.
When he drew it and sliced through the small stall, the blade's sharpness was evident.
"The Brutal Death Marshal is a suspicious man, but just as cunning. He occasionally rewards those who prove their loyalty with swords to enlist them."
The old man pointed with his callus-hardened finger.
"That one he has is called a Thousand Sword."
"Thousand Sword?"
"One of the swords bestowed by the Twin Dragon Sect upon the utterly loyal. They say only a thousand are ever made and given out."
"Made by the blacksmiths captured by the Twin Dragon Sect, I presume."
"Tsk tsk. Spot on."
"Are there other swords besides the Thousand Sword?"
The old man nodded.
"Next are the Hundred Swords. They surpass famed blades and rank as treasured swords. Their wielders are usually peak One-Dragon level experts. Over a hundred elite warriors, you could say."
"Hmm."
"The last are the Ten Swords."
"Ten Swords."
"Divine blades of which only ten exist. Their owners are all transcendent masters who dominate this Fujian Province."
"Thousand Swords, then Hundred Swords, and Ten Swords? Quite tempting."
Chu Un-hwi smirked, and the one-armed old man flinched, waving his hand frantically.
"Absolutely do not fight the sword owners. Thousand Swords are one thing, but never touch Hundred or Ten Sword wielders."
"Why not?"
"The Hundred and Ten Swords are like badges bestowed by the Iron Chain Union. Fighting them means challenging the Twin Dragon Sect's authority. You'd make enemies of everyone in Fujian Province."
"So the swords serve as a kind of status symbol?"
"Exactly."
With that, the old man repeatedly emphasized.
"Absolutely. Absolutely do not fight the sword owners. It's a path to death for all."
"I'll try."
Chu Un-hwi shrugged.
Upon returning from their outing, Miogwang brought good news.
"Master. The branch leader found that man."
"Dan-ya did? Quick work."
No matter how skilled Dan-ya was at stealth, tracking someone down with just a few clues wasn't easy.
He must've been fired up at the news of a new youngest sibling.
In his previous life too, he'd been over the moon at getting a maknae.
Recalling that, Chu Un-hwi adjusted his bamboo hat slightly and said,
"Lead the way. It's been a while; I want to see his face."
Dan-ya was in a small warehouse in the Green Net Sect's territory of Fujian Province.
Several men lay collapsed around, bleeding, and a familiar energy emanated from beyond.
"It got a bit noisy, so I put them to sleep."
"Good work."
Entering inside, fluttering bandages greeted them in the dim interior, swaying excitedly.
"Huh? Little bro. Open your eyes a bit."
Dan-ya addressed a man bound in ropes, slumped limply.
His disheveled hair hung down, swaying creakily back and forth with the breeze, utterly motionless.
At his corpse-like appearance, Dan-ya spun around with swirling eyes.
"M-Master. The maknae's weird."
"Weird?"
"He's not breathing. This isn't right; he was definitely alive."
Panicking at the thought of his hard-earned maknae vanishing, Dan-ya was in turmoil.
"Is that so?"
Chu Un-hwi approached without much reaction, eyeing the man dangling lifelessly in the air.
Creak. Creak.
His rope-bound limbs were pallid without blood, and his suspended body held neither warmth nor breath.
His vacant, open pupils gave the impression of a hung corpse.
Dan-ya's panic was understandable.
"What do we do? What do we do? I finally got a maknae, and now he's gone."
Chu Un-hwi turned from the pacing Dan-ya back to the man and spoke.
"Get up."
"......"
But as expected, the corpse didn't respond.
"Hah."
Scoffing, Chu Un-hwi opened his mouth again.
"Quite the adept Corpse Feigning Technique. Enough to fool even assassins."
"Huh? Really? Corpse Feigning Technique?"
Dan-ya blinked in surprise, his red eyes widening comically like a rabbit's.
"......"
Speaking to the still unresponsive corpse,
"Let's see how long you can keep it up."
At those words, Chu Un-hwi's hand sliced through the air.
Whoosh!
As his infusement palm cut the space, the previously silent corpse flipped through the air like lightning.
Cutting the ropes mid-flip, he twisted to evade the hand while spinning to the opposite side.
Slash!
His long hair fluttered from the excessively swift draw.
Bam!
No sooner had he landed than his form shot forward like thunder, launching an attack.
"Oh-."
"Huh? Huh?"
Dan-ya, flustered by the suddenly revived maknae, tried to step forward, but
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
As a few bandage strands fluttered, silver threads crisscrossed wildly, scattering immense sword ki.
"Huh? He cut the bandages?"
Before the startled Dan-ya could launch more bandages, Chu Un-hwi moved.
"Still the same, huh."
Thud!
Charging right up to his face, the man's eyes flashed with panic amid his tousled hair.
It's been a while. This corpse-like guy showing a human expression.
Thud!
A thunderous palm strike to the shoulder made him stagger, yet he drew silver threads again.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Over a hundred sword strikes poured from his sleeves, razor-sharp, but Chu Un-hwi dodged effortlessly and examined the man's palm.
Needles? Using such crude things to execute swordsmanship so well.
Just as expected.
Musing, Chu Un-hwi stomped heavily.
Rumble rumble rumble.
The energy wave spreading from his foot made the corpse-like man waver.
His increasingly panicked eyes filled with shock.
"If you're already surprised, this'll be disappointing."
Boom!
A palm to the chest sent him flying with a roar, crashing into the wall.
"Cough!"
Half-demolishing the wall as he tumbled down, he still spread his palm to shoot needles—a vicious technique.
Swish.
But a mere flick of the sleeve turned dozens of needles to powder.
"Ah..."
The man's mouth finally opened for the first time.
It felt like he'd given up, having feigned death to exploit an opening in vain.
"Your act doesn't work, so drop the look."
Snikt!
Even then, preparing a counter, a needle tip glinted beneath his sleeve.
Still got that poison and tenacity.
Thinking so, Chu Un-hwi replied.
"Puppet Master Yacheol."
"...Who are you?"
Smiling at the wary man,
"Yacheol. Do you want revenge?"
"...!"
"Follow me. I promise a vengeance more satisfying than you can imagine."
For the first time, heat kindled in Yacheol's emotionless eyes.
The Fujian branch of the Mist Gate erupted in chaos at the sudden news.
"H-He killed a Thousand Sword wielder?"
It turned out one of the men killed in the warehouse raid was a Thousand Sword owner.
"See! It's that outsider!"
"That 'Dark Lord' stirred this up—what do we do now?"
"If the Twin Dragon Sect finds out, they'll come after us for sure!"
As fear-filled shouts rang out, the one-armed old man pinched his brow.
I told him not to fight sword owners.
To think it would lead to bloodshed like this.
This won't do. We need to take control of the situation first.
With that thought, the one-armed old man spoke.
"Instead of panicking, shouldn't we think of countermeasures?"
But the members' eyes burned with anger.
"Why act alone without a word?"
"It's an insult to those of us who've guarded the branch."
As things spiraled out of control, Cold Flame Sword joined in.
"He's from the head branch. Shouldn't we help clean this up?"
Even at their words, the branch members couldn't shake their gloom.
"With a Thousand Sword wielder dead, the Death Gate will move immediately."
"What countermeasures can we even take?"
Seeing their fear from the start, the one-armed old man closed his eyes.
Since when did our sect become filled only with cowards?
Cold Flame Sword interjected from the side.
"At least it's just a Thousand Sword wielder. If it were a Hundred Sword, the One-Dragons would've moved."
"...True, if a Hundred Sword died too..."
"We could scrape together the branch's strength to handle a Thousand Sword death, but a Hundred Sword would be dangerous indeed."
As they babbled incoherently, trembling like mice startled by water—or death itself—the dejected branch leader spoke.
"First, we need to meet the Dark Lord."
But before they could even compose themselves, another cry rang out.
"Branch Leader! The Dark Lord has clashed with a Hundred Sword wielder!"
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All eyes began to waver in panic.