Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Young Hero, Are You Alright? (1)
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"Young hero."
"What's wrong?"
"Snow's piled up nice and thick."
"I see."
Mong-a and I blankly gazed up at the Kunlun Mountains.
Naturally, more snow piled up on the higher peaks. It was cold, after all.
It was early winter now, so the snow had built up considerably. Climbing looked like it wouldn't be easy.
"We should head back."
"Wouldn't it be fine if we geared up properly first?"
Mong-a seemed stubborn about it, but after the local merchants talked her out of it, even she gave up.
All we'd wanted were some sturdy coats and ropes, but the merchants had sniffed out our intent to climb Kunlun like ghosts.
Turned out plenty of martial artists had gotten cocky and ended up as permanent guests up there.
'How the hell do the Kunlun Sect folks even live in a place like that...?'
The Kunlun range stretched far and wide, so the sect's home was somewhere else entirely from where we were.
"Cheonmu is in the mountain of immortals...?"
The clue was frustratingly vague. Were we really supposed to scour the entire mountain based on that alone...?
Apparently, even the Wudang folks hadn't searched that deeply.
"Enter through Li and exit through Qian, and there you can unravel the secrets of the Nine Palaces to obtain Cheonmu..."
In the Eight Trigrams, Li symbolized fire, and Qian the heavens.
Li also pointed south, Qian northwest.
"So how exactly did you plan to find it?"
"If you can enter through Li and exit through Qian, wouldn't that mean a terrain open to the south and northwest?"
Fair enough. You'd need openings to get in and out.
But the problem was nailing the directions without knowing the mountain well or having satellite imagery...
In my opinion, it'd take months at best, years at worst, to find it.
"Better to turn back. Even if that's the right spot, it'd be too hard to locate."
"Is that so...?"
Mong-a surely knew that too. But giving up wasn't easy.
"W-well then, how about we just climb to the foothills? At least take a peek... Wouldn't that work?"
"Well, just looking around..."
Having come this far, turning back empty-handed felt like a waste. I agreed to at least scout the lay of the land.
Not that one glance would reveal much, but it might ease the regret.
So we bundled up tight and started up Kunlun Mountain.
Early winter on Kunlun was brutally cold, but with internal energy bolstering us, the heavy coats kept us comfortable enough.
Paying silent respect to the Kunlun Sect disciples who wintered here, we climbed to a spot where the mountain's contours came into clear view and stopped.
"No wonder they say immortals live here."
Like in Chinese myths, Kunlun was notoriously treacherous—a mountain only immortals could inhabit.
Even after surveying the terrain, no clever ideas emerged. I watched Mong-a take her fill of the view, about to suggest heading down.
"Hm?"
But she spotted the uninvited guests first, already pulling out her wooden beads for the finger flick technique.
Five in black garb. Their outfits resembled the ones we'd chased off before. Black was black, after all—hard to tell precisely.
I raised my hands to meet them, but with faint hope, I called out.
"What business do you have here?"
The black-clad men silently drew their swords, pointing them at me.
All five gripped blades, and their presence felt sharper than last time, when I'd intervened.
"You after the Cheonmu Manual, by any chance?"
Shiiiik—
They split into two groups and charged. Two on me, three on Mong-a.
One of the apparent first-rate pair struck nimbly at my vital points.
The other held back, sword ready to counter rather than commit fully.
I gave up matching the snake-like blade and unleashed palm force first.
The overwhelming pressure slowed his strike, but the second blade shared the load, restoring its fluidity.
It felt like a single attack, yet that serpentine vibe grated. When my qi-infused finger clashed with the tip, I realized why.
The sword really moved like a snake. It used my finger like a perch, slithering up my arm to wound me.
Just before my arm shredded, I blasted finger seal palm force with my other hand.
The recoiling snake sword coiled again to strike, backed seamlessly by his partner.
Their teamwork was solid; I lacked confidence breaking it without taking hits.
Mong-a had more breathing room. No clue where those wooden beads came from, but her qi-charged finger flicks kept them at bay.
Even with a peak expert among them, without closing distance, their numbers meant little.
They'd planned to pin me down and nab Mong-a first. Bad miscalculation.
If they'd gone all-out on me, maybe. But this? Winnable.
Ominous sword qi spread like mist, blurring the air.
I channeled qi into my hand blades, slicing through the net-like weave on both sides.
The shabby web collapsed, exposing a gap the other rushed to fill.
But I'd anticipated it. I shifted my assault to the defender, firing finger winds in rapid bursts.
Perfectly timed, the finger winds pierced his reflexive sword barrier with a silk-ripping sound.
"You bastard!"
The masked attacker finally spoke. No reason to go easy, though.
Two sword qi strands grazed past my forehead, aimed at my head.
Recoil from my backward palm force had flattened me forward. The snowy ground let me slide.
"Kuhk!"
I grabbed the yanked attacker's collar and smashed him down, then stepped on him to lunge at the defender.
"Senior brother!"
Senior brother? Partners in crime, huh?
No time to think. My body flowed into a familiar motion, hand blade cracking his collarbone.
"Ugh...!"
The breaking sensation traveled up my arm; his sword hand went limp.
You're mine now.
Too early to celebrate. Sensing the attacker rising behind, I rolled forward.
A lethal whoosh cut the air, then I snatched the defender's sword and hurled it.
Klang!
My untrained throw got batted away easily, but his pained groan cheered me up.
"Y-you bastard! And you call yourself righteous sect?"
Whatever. You gang up first, then cry when I use meat shields?
I seized the defender's nape and belt, charging the attacker like a human ram.
"S-senior brother!"
His desperate plea hit home.
He dodged a few times with footwork, but couldn't evade the flailing body shield.
I tossed the defender aside and pursued.
"What a despicable bastard…! Kuhk!"
He failed to catch, my snuck-in qi weighing down his arm heavily.
Only then did I smash both their occiputs, knocking them out. Now...
"You wench!"
Damn. Slipped up.
One of the three pressing Mong-a, a first-rater, stabbed at my back unnoticed.
Klang!
Mong-a's finger flick saved me. Me, at least.
Her momentary opening from the shot let a peak expert's four sword qi strands graze her shoulder.
My carelessness got her hurt.
"Ha, how do you like... Aak!"
The betrayer who'd cracked my skull to wound her.
I unleashed finger winds, palm force, and fist winds relentlessly. Overpowered, he roasted golden under my scorching palm strike.
Probably dead.
"Fuck."
My first kill came out of nowhere. As a martial artist, it'd happen eventually, but against this scum?
The frantic situation left no room to taste the filth of murder.
With her shoulder wound sapping her finger flicks' power, the peak expert hammered her.
I flashed forward, engaging the remaining first-rater.
A cut above his fainted partner, with refined swordplay, but alone? No match.
His illusory strikes, per some phantom technique, shredded under my brute palm qi.
"Such barbarism...!"
Barbaric is you.
My qi-packed fist thundered into the first-rater's jaw; simultaneously, Mong-a's finger flick nailed the peak expert's solar plexus, dropping him.
"Damn..."
The first-rater's brain must've been mush from the qi jolt. Another kill.
Glancing at my fist, bloodstained. My stomach churned.
"Young hero... Are you alright...?"
Meanwhile, Mong-a—blood seeping faintly through her thick coat from the shoulder wound—gazed at me worriedly.
Remote spot. Easy to kill anyone here anytime.
They'd probably tracked her into the mountains somehow, aiming to kill or capture for info.
Self-inflicted. Just scum who came to kill and got killed.
'Still...'
This unprepared killing would haunt my dreams tonight.