Chapter 13
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Black Moon (1)
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It felt like I'd just had lunch, but evening had already come.
"Let's go catch some fish."
"Fish again? Bro, I really can't stomach any more fish."
Gwang-u grumbled but trailed obediently after me.
"We need to earn some silver if we want to buy meat."
"We could catch fish and sell them, right?"
"That's why I'm bringing you along. Watch and see how I catch them."
At the riverbank, I perched on a large boulder and simply gazed down into the water.
"Bro. What're you doing?"
Gwang-u settled beside me, peering at the river just like I was.
"Waiting for a fish to swim by."
"And when one does?"
I gave no reply, eyes fixed on the water.
After a long while, a hefty fish glided right beneath the rock.
Swoooosh...
The moment I extended my hand, the fish leisurely cruising through the depths was yanked straight into my grasp.
Gasp!
Gwang-u jolted in shock and toppled backward, landing hard on his rear.
"How... how'd you do that, bro?!"
"Remote Object Attraction. Long range is still beyond me, but this close? No problem."
"Bro! Teach me! Teach me too!"
Gwang-u looked positively itching to learn Remote Object Attraction.
But it wasn't something you could just teach anyone and expect them to pick it up.
"Once you push past Furnace Fire Pure Azure and reach Three Flowers Gather at the Apex, it'll come naturally."
"Fur... Three Flowers... What's that supposed to mean?"
"Master explained it plenty of times before."
The martial arts of the One Immortal Sect and those taught by the Great Heavenly Demon shared the same roots but diverged sharply in their techniques.
The One Immortal Sect's arts emphasized utility over killing, while the Great Heavenly Demon's leaned hard into slaughter over practicality.
Any rivers-and-lakes wanderer chasing dominance would naturally find the Great Heavenly Demon's arts far more alluring.
"Dunno. Don't remember."
Tsk tsk...
This guy had a heaven-sent gift for anything physical, but when it came to gaining insight? Utterly hopeless.
"It's the realms of martial mastery. Anyway, catching the fish is easy enough—the waiting's what drags on forever."
I skewered the catch on a stick and handed it to Gwang-u before heading back home.
"Three Flowers... Does that mean white and black flowers blooming over your head or something?"
Gwang-u asked as he followed, fish in hand.
"White and black flowers?"
"Yeah. I swear I saw something hazy above your head, bro. Half pure white, half shadowy black."
Half white, half black?
Normally, it should manifest as a single hazy flower of pale light.
'Ah... damn it all. What the hell did the Great Heavenly Demon do to my body?'
Brimming with dread, I arrived home and slumped on the veranda, heaving deep sighs for a good while.
I should've grown numb to it by now, but talk like that always left me fretting that my body really might get hijacked someday. Nothing felt within reach.
'Huh? What now?'
Sensing the same presence from lunchtime, I called out to Gwang-u.
"Gwang-u! We've got company again!"
This late in the evening, the only visitors were those ruffians from lunch.
Gwang-u stepped out ladle in hand and peered over the fence.
"Not those lunch guys, bro."
"Same scum either way."
Coming back after a thrashing like that? Definitely not your run-of-the-mill local thugs.
Time to give them a welcome they'd never forget. One that kept them away for good.
Mu Tae strode through the front gate and froze at the sight of two young men standing before the brightly lit house.
'Never laid eyes on a guy that tall and built.'
Mu Tae approached the massively burly youth and the tall—but comparatively slighter—young man beside him.
"Greetings from Huanin County's own hero to you two honored guests."
Clasping his hands and bowing deeply with utmost courtesy, Mu Tae was no ordinary street punk.
'What the hell are they playing at?'
I met the gaze of the man with the long scar slashing across his face, then dipped my head.
"What brings Huanin County's heroes to our humble home?"
Hahaha...
"My little brothers were rude to you gentlemen, so as their big brother, I couldn't just sit by. I apologize for the intrusion."
His politeness dragged softer words from my own mouth.
"Is that right? No tea to offer, but we've got liquor. Come on in."
"Much obliged."
Once inside, I gestured to a chair for our guest.
"Have a seat."
"Introductions first, if I may. Name's Mu Tae. Folks around the village call me Black Bear."
The man calling himself Mu Tae spoke up first.
"I'm just a no-account fellow from the Go clan. And this here's my younger brother."
I glossed over my own name and introduced Gwang-u instead.
"Gwang-u's the name. People see me and call me Rabbit."
In the thick tension, Gwang-u declared his name and nickname with brazen confidence.
'You absolute moron...'
Embarrassment burned so hot I could've crawled into any rat hole.
But Mu Tae seemed thrown off, missing the jab in "Rabbit" entirely.
"Ah... I see. Pleased to meet you."
Gwang-u and I took our seats almost in unison.
Gwang-u stood at my back; three of Mu Tae's underlings guarded his.
The moment they sat, Mu Tae and his men's demeanor shifted in an instant.
A chill hung in the air as he extended a hand backward.
One of the men behind handed over a hand axe with care. Mu Tae snatched it and laid it flat on the table.
"You two look like backwater brawlers who've swung a few fists. What line of work you in?"
Not just the vibe—his tone had flipped too.
Mu Tae's lip curled up, sending that ugly scar writhing across his face.
Circumstance threw me for a loop at first.
But only for a heartbeat.
"Spot on. Straight out of the sticks."
Mu Tae, who'd figured flashing the axe would rattle me, looked downright rattled himself.
Tsk...
He smacked his lips, a vicious grin splitting his face.
In the same breath, the axe leaped into his grip, and his underlings whipped out short swords from their robes.
But quicker still was Gwang-u's move from right behind me.
Thwack! Thud thud! Crash... clang!
Fists to the face sent Mu Tae and his men tumbling out the door in a heap of shattered wood.
"Big bro!"
"Bro!"
The lookouts outside rushed in panic to prop Mu Tae up.
Too late—his eyes had rolled back white.
"Get 'em!"
They swarmed inside like a pack of wild dogs, brandishing axes, clubs, and sickles.
Thud! Thwack! ...!
Gwang-u unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks on the intruders.
Gurk! Urk! Aghhh...!
The front-runners flew backward off his fists, tangling into a rolling mess with their comrades shoving from behind.
Those scrambling up in the yard met only Gwang-u's relentless strikes.
Thud! Thwack! ...!
Ughhh... ugh...
Groans leaked from the black thugs sprawled across the courtyard.
Gwang-u and I peered down at them through the splintered doorframe as we dug into dinner.
Half an hour since they dropped, and not one had staggered back up.
Meal done, I stepped out and planted myself on the stairs.
"Mu Tae, right?"
No response.
"Guess you weren't hit hard enough."
Answer came sharp this time.
"Ye... yes, sir."
Voice sounded off, though.
"Show me your face."
Mu Tae, splayed on the dirt, barely hauled himself to his knees.
Cheeks ballooned like dough; dark crimson blood still trickled from his mouth.
"Open up."
Forcing his jaws apart revealed a bloody wreck inside.
Worse still: not a single tooth left in those puffed-up cheeks.
Gwang-u must've swung for the fences.
No pity stirred in me for the man.
"Why'd you come to my house?"
Mu Tae mumbled evasively.
"Well... summers, we'd splash around for days on end... crashing here."
Ah.
Suddenly it clicked why they'd coveted this place.
"My brother and I scraped by hunting in the boonies. Now we're down in the village, trying to blend in and live quiet. But you lot keep sticking your noses in. So, what's the play?"
"Mercy... spare us."
Mu Tae slammed his forehead to the ground, begging.
Sending them off alive sat wrong with me.
What if they rallied more for revenge?
Killing them spelled bigger headaches.
"Cross my sight again, and you die. One whisper about us two in the village, and I'll track every last one of you down and end you."
"Never... swear we won't breathe a word about you two. Heavens as my witness."
Never trusted a heaven-swearer to hold water.
Still, I let them crawl away.
"Get the hell off my property. Now."
"Thank you. Truly, thank you."
Mu Tae dragged his battered crew to their feet and slunk off.
Not a single face or body among them left intact.
Si Ju-pyeong, who'd hauled Ma Bok-gye's corpse to the Yangyang Ma Clan, threw himself prostrate before the clan head, pleading forgiveness.
"I had no idea the Seok Family head, Seok Yang-ho, was such a monster of a master."
Yangyang Ma Clan's head, Ma Baek-su, stared down at his slain brother Ma Bok-gye's body and wailed in grief.
Waaaaaahhh...
"Brother!"
He clutched the coffin, sobbing uncontrollably, bloody tears streaming from his eyes.
To Ma Baek-su, Ma Bok-gye was kin by blood and a retainer of unswerving loyalty.
That's why he'd dispatched the man—near an extension of himself—to aid the closely allied Huanin Si Family.
Yet home he came as a cold stiff in a wooden box.
Waaaaaahhh...
After his bout of raw lamentation, Ma Baek-su composed himself like a true clan head.
He wiped his tears, settled into his seat, and gazed down at the kneeling Si Family head.
"Any path to vengeance?"
Sweat poured in fat drops from Si Ju-pyeong's groveling face.
One wrong syllable here, and his head was off.
"I throw myself on your boundless mercy, my lord. But if you're asking for a plan, allow me this: To strike the Seok Family, we'll need outside muscle. With the Zhuge Family of Yangyang keeping watch, the other houses can't move freely. Best course? A modest sum of silver to an assassin gate."
His words rang true, hitting home.
The Yangyang Ma Clan had sent Ma Bok-gye solo precisely to dodge Zhuge scrutiny.
A big crew in motion? The Zhuge Family wouldn't sit idle. Hence, one elite master to Huanin County.
"Which gate?"
"Black Moon Gate—they say no slip-ups. Perfect fit."
"The price?"
"Five thousand silver taels."
No small burden even for the Yangyang Ma Clan.
Ma Baek-su nodded all the same, greenlighting Si Ju-pyeong's scheme.
"Bring me Seok Yang-ho's head."