Chapter 89
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Normalization Before Farming (2)
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Just before Nangong Baek unleashed his final desperate pattern.
A clear sense of incongruity had flickered in his eyes.
Instead of the deep, sky-holding wall eyes unique to the Nangong Family, for an instant, it felt like a sinister gray haze had settled in, as if someone else had taken possession of him.
"Hmm..."
Was it just my imagination? The moment I started to approach Nangong Baek's fallen corpse.
In that split second.
As soon as an unidentified roar erupted from within Nangong Baek's body, his entire form melted away like it had been doused in volcanic ash.
"Ugh, shit."
I frowned at the gruesome sight.
Fortunately, Nangong Baek's clothes still held their shape. I carefully picked up the hem and dusted it off.
Not exactly corpse looting.
If I could snag even a scrap of clue tied to the Azure Heaven Society, I might finally figure out what the hell these assholes were up to, always gunning for me.
But.
"...Nothing here."
I'd half-expected as much.
Nangong Baek wasn't carrying a smartphone.
From the start, back at the sparring arena when I'd grabbed his hand by force, no ID had popped up over his head.
How damn primitive do you have to be?
Tang Mok had been the same, and every Azure Heaven Society goon I'd run into so far kept this weird distance from smartphones.
Any reason to shun cutting-edge modern tech?
Hmm...
After a 0.66-second Sihyeon-marathon.
My brilliant brain arrived at the obvious truth.
"Boomers."
You know the type.
"Excel fashion? Don't use it. Convenience always amps up the risks."
Spouting that nonsense while bucking the tide of progress, locked in their own little bubble.
That was the vibe.
But I couldn't just write them off.
There's that old cliché: "Let this old ginger show you some spice!" So in the martial world, boomer fossils were definitely worth watching out for.
Plus.
Even a first-rate late-stage scrub like poison-pro Tang Mok, or a super-peak master like Nangong Baek—they'd count as solid mid-tier players in the martial world, past late-stage.
If they were burning through guys like that as cannon fodder, their final boss had to be Profound Realm at minimum.
"Tch."
From what I remembered.
In the original story, folks who hit Profound Realm were the 3rd-year old fart master, the Heavenly Demon, and Luri—who'd gone full dark terra evolution tech—though I'd never faced her head-on.
Sucks I never cleared the Demon Cult route.
If I had, I'd know the rough lineup for these Azure Heaven Society clowns right off the bat.
Whatever.
No point stewing over it now.
Not quite samadhi true fire, but I circulated Blazing Shadow Heart Formula qi and torched even Nangong Baek's clothes to ash.
"Wolfie!"
I summoned Wolfie, whom I'd stashed away safely before tangling with Nangong Baek.
"Kyau!"
She'd been waiting patiently off in the distance.
She came bounding over, leaped up, sniffed all over me, ears twitching as she checked my skin for wounds, tongue flicking out—it was so cute I couldn't help but grin.
"I'm good, I'm good. Time to hit the road."
"Kyauu!"
Wolfie took a deep breath and puuuk—grew in a puff.
"A bit smaller, smaller, yeah, more, more—perfect."
Ever since last time, when riding Wolfie nearly split my groin open from the thrill.
I'd crafted her a custom saddle from the stretchiest, softest material available.
She shook herself once at the unfamiliar feel.
"Kyauu, kyau!"
"Gah, ack."
But soon enough, she beamed happily, slathering my face with licks until it was a total drool bath.
"Let's see..."
Heading straight for the Sichuan Tang Family meant Chengdu.
But with tons of time before mission clear, no need to rush. First, swing by Yunnan for some farming.
I plotted a route through Chongqing, Guiyang, then Yunnan—skirting Sichuan.
Starting route guidance.
I fired up Zhongwon Navigation on my smartphone and punched in the waypoints and destination.
Not even close to modern satellite maps—looked more like a Daedongyeojido relic.
Didn't account for disaster-lost roads or new toll paths from the Toll Road Party.
Still, minimap feature made it pure civilization.
I tabled questions about route-tracking sans satellites or GPS.
That shit gave me a headache.
"Alright. Let's roll!"
"Kyau!"
Mountain path or not.
The moment Wolfie bolted, the scenery whipped by in a blur.
All that good feeding and care paying off?
Eyeballing it, her speed clocked around 80 to 100 km/h.
And killer autonomous driving—she dodged obstacles like a pro.
"Man, this is the life."
Savoring the plush, bumpy ride, I checked my backlog of messages.
Present~~
Miss sis? Look at pic (✿◡‿◡)
Good luck on graduation exam~~!
May Seoldu-nim prosper as well~
Uh
Eh
Huh...?
Yeah...! (*/ω＼*)
Wanna see
Miss you
[Photo]
[Gift]
Where'd you pick up these bad habits
Hmph
I replied to the sunny crybaby's cheerfulness.
And nipped that nosy kid's peeping habit in the bud.
Good thing I'd installed the mod.
Loving it.
As wolf rider, drifting with the wind and clouds till the sun dipped low.
I rolled into Dazhou, Sichuan.
North to my starting Xi'an.
East to coronavirus ground zero.
West to Tang Family's Chengdu.
South to Chongqing—a total traffic hotspot!
Sun setting, but streets buzzed with life.
Which meant.
"Aigoo, young hero. No rooms left."
"Our inn bans animals..."
"Leave your contact—we'll Murim Talk when a spot opens!"
"Hehe, young hero, care for a meal first?"
Tough finding a vacancy downtown.
Grudgingly scouting the boonies.
"Hmm."
Facilities looked decent enough.
But this inn had an eerie lack of presences.
Suits me fine.
"Welcome! Our inn uses the Kiosk for orders—feel free to punch it in!"
Ten Thousand Gold Hall's masterpiece. Central Plains commerce revolution.
Major points for kiosk tech.
Central Plainers oddly loved phonetic Western Region loanwords.
기오수구 breakdown:
기 Machine,
오 Meet,
수 Receive,
구 Aid.
Meet machine, take order, provide aid.
Clever name fit. Poking the kiosk made it crystal why business sucked.
Nearly double the price of rivals!
Brazen pricing—how do they survive? Not my problem.
Money's no object to this carefree stud. That's me.
So I coolly ordered Set A—
Thin noodles, dongpo pork, bamboo leaf liquor set. All good.
But.
"Hmm..."
First red flag.
Moonlit Divine Eyes confirmed sparse crowd before entry; sure enough, only one table occupied amid dozens.
Both first-rate realm.
Strip away Moonlit Divine Eyes, just observe.
They had presence-suppressing arts—not even third-rate thug vibes, totally average looks.
Eh.
Lotsa folks play power-hiding games.
Fine.
"Food up! Dig in!"
Errand boy. Roughly first-rate.
Kitchen chef behind the curtain? Also first-rate-ish.
Dongpo pork's subtle acid-powder spice kick.
Bamboo leaf liquor's fierce aroma hiding that sharp three-step poison tang.
"Gotta yank this off the franchise list..."
Sighing, chopsticks down.
Then—a dagger, tip dripping obvious umami poison, hurtled my way.
Rage boiled over.
Daring to assassin my historic first trip, jianghu kickoff?
And like true gutless chink bastards, poison first, fight later?
Past-life memory flashed.
If those pricks hadn't poisoned Han Jiwoo—at peak realm—in that inn...!
"Revenge for Pika Ping──!!!"
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gung──!
"Cough."
"Urk."
The lion's roar from the Supreme Under Heaven's bald pate floored the two first-rate scrub assassins.
"Kyaoooo──!"
"Aaak!"
Wolfie, puffed to large-dog size, chomped off Assassin A's arm for meal-crashing.
My swung sword simultaneously lopped Assassin B's head as he staggered for a sneak attack.
"How'd you spot us......!"
Errand-boy disguise panicked, bolting.
Pity—first-rate scrub speed couldn't match my lightness skill.
Right before neck-snap.
"Why waste payroll on errand boys with a kiosk?"
"What're you... guh."
I whispered truth to the scumbag who'd demeaned the role.
Then fluidly swung my waist-sheathed sword.
Ching──!
Blocked chef's flung kitchen knife—that hack who botched dongpo pork and poison-topped it.
"Gack, gack──"
I charged, throttled his neck.
Forced jaws apart, snagged suicide poison pellet from gums, jammed acid-soaked dongpo pork down his gullet.
Unlike my refreshed gums.
Chef's face went deathly pale.
"Mess with food, you know the Food and Drug Admin comes knocking?"
You've won a fun chat session with me!