Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Just Pretending to Play Along While Bleeding Them Dry?
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Jinmu sharply scanned the room without anyone noticing.
A rectangular space.
There was only one door leading out.
The cups were filled to the brim with liquor that seemed laced with something.
The courtesan's leg, which he casually touched, was firm to an excessive degree.
And then there were the two problematic musicians.
The fingers plucking the pipa's strings.
Judging by the shape of the calluses embedded on the inside of his hand, he was either a musician who had handled strings for quite some time or someone skilled with hidden weapons.
Faint bruise marks were visible on the fingertips of the man holding the flute.
It could be from covering the flute's holes, but those were typically the traces left on people who handled cheap poison.
If Jinmu's guess was correct, then Geumjeoksan was trying to kill him right now.
Why?
Did Jin Hye perhaps think he was a threat to becoming a great disciple?
Then, was Jin Hye the one pulling the strings from behind?
"Taoist Priest, please have a big drink."
While Jinmu was lost in thought, the courtesan sitting beside him cooed nasally as she picked up an appetizing morsel with her chopsticks.
"How amusing."
"Pardon?"
"Whatever the case, I can just grab Geumjeoksan and beat the truth out of him."
"......"
Jinmu's lips parted as he looked at the courtesan, revealing his gleaming white fangs.
"Telling a Wudang Taoist Priest to drink? If you're not thirsty, eat it yourself."
"Pardon? How could a girl like me......"
The courtesan put on a flustered expression.
Of course she would. That's exactly how it should be.
Jinmu's smile deepened.
"Eat it."
Cheongsang's face hardened at the low, chilling tone in Jinmu's voice.
One sharp kid.
"Wow! This is really delicious!"
And one oblivious pig stuffing his face with meat and blurting out admiration.
And then.
"I told you to eat it? Should I shove it down your throat myself? Might as well check what they've done to the liquor."
The courtesan paled at Jinmu's words, while the musicians' eyes sharpened menacingly.
"Cheongsang!"
Paak!
The courtesan who had been sitting next to him dodged Cheongsang's outstretched hand and scrambled back against the wall to escape.
Pukeok!
"Kuhk!"
Cheongu, who had been sitting beside her, took a punch to the face and toppled backward.
What a complete liability.
Jinmu grabbed the fleeing courtesan.
The musician holding the pipa had already slipped a handful of large needles onto his ten fingers from his bosom.
"Die!"
Shuuuk!
Poison needles scattered through the air.
At the same time, Jinmu hurled the courtesan he had grabbed, and Cheongsang swiftly retreated while clutching Cheongu's collar.
And then.
Peopeok!
"Kek!"
The courtesan, turned into a human shield midair, let out a short scream as needles embedded all over her body before she crashed to the floor.
"Y-You cruel bastard!"
The pipa musician's eyes bulged, as if he had never even imagined a Taoist priest would use a woman as a shield.
"Cruel? You're the ones trying to kill me."
Jinmu sneered mockingly at him with a cold smile.
Two musicians and three courtesans left.
And one more waiting outside the door.
"Tsk tsk, is this the best you prepared?"
"......"
Stepping over the courtesan who had become a porcupine from the needles, Jinmu's words made the flute musician's face twist into a demonic scowl.
"How did you know, you bastard?"
"How? It was so sloppy I don't even feel like listing them out."
"......"
"Looks like Geumjeoksan lured us here to kill us. Isn't this ambush a bit too half-assed for assassins?"
"You bastard......"
"One question. Did Ipallyong put you up to this too?"
"We don't sell out our clients."
"Clients? You're still playing coy even after getting completely exposed and botching the ambush."
At Jinmu's taunt, the flute musician's eyes gleamed fiercely as he drew a vial from his bosom.
The pipa musician gripped his needles again.
"Just in case you didn't know."
Jinmu said ominously, standing on the table and looking down at the musicians.
"If you use that...... you'll die."
"Hmph! Die yourself!"
The moment the vial was about to spray and the needles left the musician's hand.
Kwaduk! Pukeok!
In a single step, Jinmu closed the distance. His foot buried deep into the gut of the pipa musician.
His hand clutched the wrist of the one holding the vial.
"I told you not to, and you still do it anyway."
Udukok!
"Kuaak!"
As the musician screamed with his wrist snapped, Jinmu seized his jaw.
"I said you'd die, right?"
"......!"
He snatched the vial from the musician's hand.
And then.
Ppeok!
Jinmu shoved the vial into his mouth and smashed it with his fist.
"Kaaaak!"
The vial shattered inside his mouth, poison flooding down his throat. The musician clutched his neck and collapsed in agony, having swallowed the entire dose thanks to Jinmu.
"Y-You venomous fiend!"
Seeing his comrade turning black from the poison and dying, the pipa musician and courtesans glared at Jinmu with venomous eyes and attacked.
"How dare you!"
Cheongsang, who had retreated, swiftly drew his sword.
Infused with Wudang's energy, he swung it.
Flowing Cloud Sword Art.
The technique, which held the subtleties of fluidity and vitality, unfolded from Cheongsang's hand in a concise and resolute manner.
Having learned the true meaning(?) of guidance through Jinmu, there was not a hint of hesitation in Cheongsang's movements.
"Aak!"
A horizontal slash severed one courtesan's neck, blood spurting forth.
A diagonal pull bisected the needle-wielding musician from shoulder to hip.
And as the follow-up strike flew toward the remaining courtesan.
Cheeeeng!
A punch from a diminutive man who burst in from outside the door upon hearing the commotion struck the flat of the blade.
Forcing Cheongsang back, he took in the room's situation, and his pupils trembled faintly.
"Too bad. If I'd come in just a bit sooner, I might have saved one more."
The man's brows furrowed deeply at Jinmu's tone of genuine regret.
"You bastards......"
A ferocious killing intent erupted from the diminutive man's body, sharp enough to whip up wind and scar the nearby walls and floor.
"Ho? Not bad."
"How dare you......"
Unable to contain his rage, he clenched his fist, and the two surviving courtesans moved to flank him in support.
"But you know."
Jinmu eyed them coolly.
"Your ambush failed the moment we didn't drink the laced liquor."
"Shut up! I'll kill you all!"
The courtesans shrieked furiously.
"Hmm."
Jinmu regarded them calmly.
The diminutive man's skill seemed considerable, but compared to him, it was laughable.
If they had drunk the liquor, the outcome might have differed, but to Jinmu in perfect condition, it was nothing.
In other words, far too inferior to fight directly.
"Cheongu."
"Yes?"
Cheongu responded hastily to Jinmu's call.
"Bare hands."
"......"
"Fight."
"M-Me?"
Such a faithless guy.
"Yeah, you'll win."
You'll win, win, win...
Jinmu's incantation-like whisper echoed in Cheongu's ear, instantly igniting his battle spirit.
Cheongu clenched his fists with a face full of fighting spirit.
"Cheongsang. Take the two courtesans."
"Yes, Uncle Master!"
As Jinmu casually stepped aside, the diminutive man launched himself forward with a thunderous roar.
Hwooung!
His fist, laden with fierce energy, twisted through the air, generating powerful gusts as it bore down on Jinmu.
"Hahp!"
To avoid Jinmu's retreating form, Cheongu kicked off the wall and leaped, his thick fist blocking the man's path.
Cheeng!
The two fists clashed in midair.
Cheongu, the youngest of the Jade Generation Disciples.
He might be obsessed with meat, oblivious, and even dumb.
But the Seven Stars Fist from his hands was one of Wudang's longstanding fist arts passed down through generations.
Moreover, refined by Jinmu to match Cheongu's build in steps and stances, its sharpness and destructive power had improved dramatically.
Cheeng! Chejeeng! Cheeng!
As expected, Cheongu's strikes, bolstered by confidence, yielded to no one.
The diminutive man was an exceptional fist fighter, parrying every one of Cheongu's blows.
'Kuhk!'
But with each clash, he felt a bone-shattering impact.
He had trained his fists diligently every day, but Cheongu's plump, cushy knuckles were wrapped in dense internal energy.
Of course, it was hard to say which was superior—external or internal arts.
But Cheongu was a Second Generation Disciple of Wudang, while the man was a back-alley thug.
There was no contest to begin with, and above all, Cheongu's fists were fast. Incredibly so, defying his rotund frame.
'Damn, to be pushed back this much.'
As the man racked his brains for a way to counter Cheongu with a twisted expression.
"Aak!"
A courtesan's scream erupted from the side.
"Hwaryeon!"
In the man's eyes, the courtesan named Hwaryeon had Cheongsang's sword buried deep in her chest.
"Kurk......"
Following Hwaryeon, the last courtesan met her end.
And then.
Ppeok!
In the momentary distraction, Cheongu's fist drove deep into the diminutive man's side from the flank.
"Kueuk!"
His breath caught as his body floated into the air.
Cheeng!
Cheongu's straight punch thrust forward amid a harsh stomping step.
Seven Stars Fist's Soaring Dragon Emerges.
Though not yet at the level to emit force from his soles, it was more than enough to send the diminutive man crashing into the opposite wall along with debris.
"Uwhek!"
Struck squarely in the chest, the man tumbled out the door, vomiting black blood.
Jeobuk, jeobuk.
Cheongu stepped out through the broken door to finish him off.
"Cheongu!"
Jinmu's sharp shout made him halt.
Shuaak!
A razor-sharp sword intent barely grazed past Cheongu's toes.
Pagagak!
Just an inch from his foot.
The wooden floor was gouged viciously.
And then.
"Hol hol, what a pity. To notice that."
A toothless old man's laughter echoed from the end of the corridor.
If he had taken one more step, Cheongu's plump body would have been bisected by the sword qi.
It was the old man who had greeted them when they first entered the inn.
He had seemed like just some unremarkable old proprietor running a roadside tavern.
"Cheongu, fall back."
Jinmu stepped out, blocking Cheongu's front as he faced the old man, tension etched on his face.
"Uncle Master, let me handle this."
Jinmu shook his head to stop Cheongsang from advancing.
'Who is he?'
Strong.
Completely unexpected.
No mere lowlife taking a commission from Geumjeoksan, the minor merchant lord of Danganggu.
The energy aimed at Cheongu.
At the very least, an expert capable of projecting qi.
The realms of those who wield sword qi are divided into three.
The first is manifest qi, where energy is externally displayed using a medium.
Most sword qi users lingered there.
Those who broke through reached the projected qi realm, able to shoot their energy wherever intended—the level Jinmu had attained.
A vast gap from manifest qi experts. With proficiency and application, the difference was at least double.
Those at projected qi were typically elders of major sects or just below that rank.
That exceptional.
Jinmu had once reached far higher, but for now, he hadn't even touched intent qi.
"Didn't even notice him. Impressive."
His taunts unchanged, Jinmu didn't relax his guard one bit.
He couldn't.
The old man simply stood with hands behind his back, yet he exuded an oppressive pressure that made Jinmu's skin prickle fiercely.
That level meant he had definitely awakened at least intent qi.
In the worst case, perhaps even 'gang' qi.