Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Saving a Person
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Five warriors surrounded and guarded a single scholar as if escorting him.
The masked assailants were locked in fierce combat with those five protectors.
Since the fight had only just begun, only one of the scholar's guards lay fallen on the ground.
'Good thing I came right after hearing the noise.'
The martial world had its own ways.
Masks didn't always mean villains, and being attacked didn't always mean innocence.
The opposite could just as easily be true—that was the nature of the jianghu.
Yet the five guards protecting the scholar were all wounded, while not a single scratch marred the masked fighters.
'Those masked ones are the superior martial artists.'
There were nine masked fighters in total, facing off against just five opponents.
Even so, they were overwhelming the scholar's guards.
Given time, those guards would all be slain without exception.
I dismounted, sent my horse off to a safe distance, and crept closer bit by bit.
In a dense forest like this, hiding my presence with the Phantom Spirit Concealment Technique meant few experts could detect me.
I drew nearer still to assess the situation.
I immediately sensed the masked fighters' auras—they were all first-rate masters.
First-rate experts had a distinctive feel to them.
It was like the prickly aura of a thornbush, sharp enough to sting on contact.
The higher the realm, the more refined it became, losing its overt menace.
The warriors protecting the scholar, however, lacked any such first-rate aura.
No wonder they were getting one-sidedly crushed.
"How dare you try to kill an imperial official!"
The scholar bellowed.
Even facing imminent death, his spirit was remarkable.
One masked fighter replied.
Usually, the one who could speak in a situation like this was the leader.
"You'd have lived if you were just some ordinary official. Blame yourself for being more than that."
"Do you not know that slaying me is treason?!"
"Hahaha!"
The leader burst into mocking laughter.
"I've killed three or four censors like you already, and nothing's come of it."
"You bastard! So you're saying you killed all the censors dispatched here?"
"That's right, I did. And yet you bring these third-rate scrubs as escorts? I don't know whether to call it foolish or just admit the bureaucracy has no real experts."
I'd heard the rumors before.
Censors had short lifespans.
Local magistrates and officials with corruption to hide would assassinate them—that's where the saying came from.
This seemed to be one such case.
Ambush a censor on a remote forest path, kill him, then pin it on bandits. Simple.
With censors vanishing so often en route to this region, they'd assigned more escorts, but since none were even first-rate, it hadn't helped.
Now that I'd sized up the situation, it was clear who the villains were.
No need to watch any longer.
One of my inner pellets shot from my fingertip.
Ping!
Thwack!
A masked man's occiput was pierced clean through, and the others immediately went on alert, scanning their surroundings.
"Who's there?!"
Crack!
The sound of shattering bone rang out again.
At my will, the inner pellet struck from empty air.
"Dodge!"
Splurch!
Dodging wouldn't save them from my inner pellet.
Few could evade something faster than lightning.
Peeeng!
Each time it whistled through the air, a skull burst open.
Whoosh!
This time, it dove toward the leader.
Thud!
He tried to move in advance, but it pierced his chest instead of his head.
"Kuhuk!"
His lungs punctured, he vomited blood repeatedly.
"What esteemed senior are you?!"
I stepped out from behind a tree less than three zhang away, and the three surviving masked men flinched, trembling.
Someone using hidden weapons had closed to this range without a hint of presence—they knew they faced an unbeatable master.
"May we presume to ask your honorable name and title?"
I couldn't help but scoff.
"What a joke. You lot charge in to kill a censor, yet grovel before a stranger."
The leader's behavior was laughable, but it gave away his origins.
'These guys are jianghu folk.'
And from the techniques they used against the censor's escorts, it was absurd.
'Why would Demonic Cultists attack a censor?'
I had no intention of letting even one escape.
Not because they were Demonic Cultists, but because if any survived, the censor and I would become their next targets.
Demonic Cultists never forgot a grudge.
"If we retreat now, will you spare us? I've heard orthodox warriors don't touch those who surrender or can't fight."
I laughed in disbelief.
"Where do you get off bargaining? And anyway, I'm not orthodox, so I can't let you go."
"Then... are you from the unorthodox sects?"
Clutching at hope, he asked quickly.
"No, I'm a scholar."
"What nonsense is that? Who'd believe you're a scholar?"
"More importantly, why target a censor? And as Demonic Cultists, no less."
"We're not Demonic Cultists."
"Funny. Using the Demonic Cult's Soul-Reaving Ghostly Sword Technique."
"......"
He fell silent, eyes flashing surprise that I recognized it.
"Tell me why Demonic Cultists want a censor dead, and I'll spare you."
"I can't say."
"Figured. Die, then."
At my words, the three masked men bolted in different directions.
I simply gestured into the air.
Thud thud thud!
They didn't get far before their heads exploded, killing them.
I briefly wondered if my methods were too cruel, then shook my head.
I saw the Demonic Cult and Blood Cult as pests devouring the world.
I'd never thought humans like them deserved to coexist with the rest of us.
Countless reports I'd read detailed how many innocents they'd slaughtered or maimed through their atrocities.
Even back in my powerless days with the Inspection Unit, those reports filled me with uncontainable rage.
That's when I realized it.
Remove one evil, and ten goods will grow in its place.
The meaning of those words: "Uproot one evil, foster ten virtues."
They became my creed.
I willingly uprooted one evil to safeguard ten virtues.
Eliminate ten evils, protect a hundred virtues—that gave it meaning.
"Th-thank you, young hero."
Lost in thought, I was addressed by the censor.
He appeared to be a man in his thirties.
"Without you, young hero, I'd have fallen to those Demonic Cult devils and died screaming. Such audacious scum, ambushing a censor..."
I searched the masked men's pockets.
With the masks and all, there'd be nothing to identify them.
"As expected, nothing."
The less-wounded escorts checked the rest, but their bodies yielded no items either.
"If these were Demonic Cultists, this won't end here. They'll track any traces, no matter what."
"Where were you headed to inspect, Censor?"
"Poyang County."
Poyang was the largest, most commercially developed county around Lake Poyang.
"But this is deep forest with no roads—why take this path?"
"Several censors bound for Poyang have gone missing. I sensed the danger, so I've been traveling hidden forest paths instead of official roads."
I looked over the censor and his escorts, sighing inwardly.
Their wounds weren't minor.
The censor himself was still shaking, legs unsteady after brushing death so closely.
"First, we need to treat those wounds. Some look like they need stitching."
The censor nodded.
"That said, we don't know the area well... There must be a village nearby with a physician."
I thought for a moment, then spoke.
"All nearby villages are abandoned ruins without physicians. I'm originally a scholar with the Murim Alliance, currently residing at the Hyuncheon Sect for certain reasons."
"Oh, a Murim Alliance scholar. And Hyuncheon Sect...?"
The censor wouldn't have come without studying Jiangxi's situation.
"The unorthodox sect led by its paramount lord."
"Hmm. How does a scholar like you end up there?"
"Circumstances. For now, you should get treated at Hyuncheon Sect and recover. You can't carry out your duties like this, with your escorts injured."
The censor nodded.
"I know it's unorthodox territory—will people like us be welcome?"
"It's fine. Unorthodox sects follow jianghu code, unlike demonic paths."
"Then we'll impose on you."
The escorts' injuries weren't so severe they couldn't move, so we did basic first aid on the urgent wounds and headed for Hyuncheon Sect.
Entering Yeongbin Pavilion, I saw it bustling with people, likely due to the sixtieth birthday celebration.
I met the steward and explained everything.
He promptly sent the escorts to the Hyuncheon Sect's infirmary, reported the matter to Mok Yeonhyeon, and returned.
"Scholar Cheon is to handle this himself. The censor may stay here. And have the main sect retrieve the Demonic Cultist corpses from the forest."
The censor stepped forward.
"My thanks. Also, one of my escorts was killed. Please retrieve him as well."
"Of course."
His efficient handling impressed me—the steward was capable.
"Why are there so many people at Hyuncheon Sect?"
Noting the throngs of unorthodox warriors inside and out, the censor asked.
"The sect leader's sixtieth birthday is soon, with a martial tournament to follow. That's why the warriors are gathering."
"A tournament at a birthday celebration? Martial artists' minds are a mystery."
The censor turned to me.
"Come to think of it, I never asked your name, benefactor. I am Myeong Woojong."
"I'm Cheon Taesan, a Murim Alliance scholar."
"Scholar Cheon. You've saved my life and my escorts'. I'll report your merits to the Censorate."
"No need. Any merit belongs to you, Censor Myeong."
Amazed at my deflecting the credit, Myeong Woojong sighed.
"The world needs more censors like Scholar Cheon."
"What do you mean?"
"Lately, no officials want the censor post. It's like chaotic times. With so many dispatched censors vanishing, everyone avoids it. Six or seven out of ten go missing."
"That bad?"
"Seems like they're colluding with jianghu folk to eliminate censors. Without you, Scholar Cheon, I'd have been quietly buried in the wilderness and written off as missing."
"If jianghu types are involved, escorts need to be strong—at least first-rate masters for safety."
"Where would the bureaucracy find such experts? First-rates all head to the palace. These six escorts were hard-won by the Censorate. Normally it's two per censor, but with Jiangxi losses, they upped it to six. First-rate escorts? Wishful thinking."
If I'd passed the exams and entered service, I'd likely have become a censor myself.
New exam-passers without backing got the grueling Censorate posts.
And among those, the perilous censor role.
I might be buried anonymously in some wilds by now.
"Scholar Cheon."
Myeong Woojong called me in a serious tone.