Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: The King of the Rivers
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At Neung Un-bi's command, the Xixia Stronghold slowly moved and reached the shore.
Soon, as the group packed their belongings and got off the boat, Ung Pyo also began preparing to catch fish.
“Are you trying to go too?”
“Pardon?”
“You can’t. A guy who tried to run once, wouldn’t he try a second time?”
“…”
“Send your men.”
“Y-yes.”
Seeing Ung Pyo’s lips jut out a mile, it seemed he had indeed been plotting his escape.
With a look of clear disappointment, Ung Pyo sent his subordinates, and Neung Un-bi asked him.
“By the way, if we send a message now, when will the Grand Chief arrive?”
“Well. If he’s nearby, it won’t take long… but it could take up to three or four days.”
“Hmm, that long?”
“His footsteps reach every corner of the Yellow River.”
“?. Can’t be helped. Relay that the Third Young Master of the Demonic Cult has come to the Xixia Stronghold and wishes to meet the Grand Chief.”
“Yes.”
Neung Un-bi carefully read the message Ung Pyo had written.
Who knew what this guy would write or how he would write it?
After sending the message, Neung Un-bi looked at the river, smacking his lips with dissatisfaction.
Now that the message was sent… there was nothing to do.
He couldn’t exactly trade jokes with the river bandits.
“…Ah!”
Neung Un-bi looked at Wang Cheon as a thought suddenly struck him.
“Wang Cheon.”
“Yes?”
“Keep a close eye on this one so he can’t escape.”
“Where are you going?”
Worried he might cause some trouble again, Wang Cheon stared at him disapprovingly, but Neung Un-bi just grinned.
“Training.”
“Tra…ining?”
“There’s nothing else to do while we wait.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“Just keep a good watch. If the Grand Chief arrives, let me know immediately.”
As Neung Un-bi took off his windbreaker and upper garment, revealing his bare skin, Wang Cheon tilted his head.
*What is he planning to do?*
But the place Neung Un-bi, who said he was going to train, headed for was none other than the river.
*I acknowledge his diving ability, but he hasn't learned any water-based arts, so why the water?*
“Hoh? Is that it?”
“…Pardon?”
As if she had read Neung Un-bi’s mind, Hyang-i smiled with a peculiar expression. Wang Cheon whipped his head around to look at her.
*What does she mean by ‘that’?*
Hyang-i spoke to Wang Cheon, who was looking at her with eyes full of confusion.
“Hmm, you wouldn’t understand even if I told you. Go find some of the alcohol the river bandits drink. And grill some meat from the food storage.”
“…”
At her dismissive words, Wang Cheon’s face crumpled.
*So what if she’s a master…*
“Not going?”
*I’m already on my way.*
But contrary to his thoughts, Wang Cheon’s body was faithful to his instincts.
Was she just any ordinary master?
She was the Maid.
The maid of maids whom even the master couldn’t handle, the *Maid*.
*…I will definitely become stronger than her. On the honor of the Snow Mountain Manor.*
As Wang Cheon stomped his feet firmly on the ground on his way to the food storage, Hyang-i watched Neung Un-bi enter the water.
*A good decision. Even though I didn’t give him any clues, he’s starting to realize it on his own now.*
*He is now trying to train his sense of touch, following sight and hearing.*
*The sense of touch isn’t just felt with the hands and feet.*
*The skin covering the body. One must be able to feel everything around them with its entirety.*
*To feel the flow of air, to read the flow of ki.*
*When that happens, one can sense their surroundings even with their eyes closed and ears blocked. As that range expands, a third eye opens, allowing one to see their surroundings even in pitch-black darkness.*
*But, is it easy to feel the flow of air from the very beginning?*
*Thus, Neung Un-bi’s choice was commendable.*
*Water, not air. Because its weight is different, it can be felt more easily.*
*And once he gets used to it, feeling the flow of air will become much easier.*
Suddenly, she recalled the words of her grandmother, Hwa-yeong.
-Dam Un-cheon possessed the gift of realizing things on his own, without anyone teaching him. That is the very talent that guided him to the path of the absolute.
-Under the heavens, he is likely the only one with such a talent.
“There’s another person like that right here, Grandmother.”
Hyang-i chuckled, her eyes narrowing slightly.
*Neung Un-bi will probably reach the Realm of Ki soon.*
*Once he transcends his sense of touch, following sight and hearing.*
*In truth, there’s no need to transcend taste and smell as well. Those two senses are to supplement the Realm of Ki, not essential elements.*
*If he transcends the three senses of sight, hearing, and touch, he will be able to perfectly control the space around him.*
*Then he will reach it.*
*The world visible only to humans who have realized the Realm of Ki.*
*Also, when that happens, some of the questions Hyang-i has had until now will be answered.*
*Why he tries so hard to learn the things she called miscellaneous arts…*
*I must find out.*
*Because he must become the Cult Leader.*
*If only for the two favors he promised me.*
“The problem is that because he grew so fast, his foundation isn’t solid, is it?”
Hyang-i murmured softly as she watched Neung Un-bi, submerged up to the top of his head in the river.
*In truth, it’s impossible to know if it will be a gain or a loss. Because he is walking a path similar to, yet different from, my own.*
*Entering a state of contemplation without anyone teaching him was one thing, and so was the state of selflessness that only those permitted by the heavens experience.*
“Damn, this just complicates things.”
*Of course, it didn’t matter. She just had to bring him back in one piece and hand him over to the Cult Leader.*
*Well, it wouldn’t hurt to help him become the Cult Leader a little…*
*Since he’s more familiar than the other four disciples.*
*And… even if things go wrong and I have to kill him, the only ones who would cry for him are the Snow Mountain Manor and a few of its warriors.*
A blue light flickered in Hyang-i’s eyes and then vanished.
***
At the border of Shaanxi and Henan, in a small reed field at the eastern edge of the Sanmenxia waterway.
*Rustle, rustle.*
A man walked, parting the reeds that rose to a person’s shoulder height.
The man’s footsteps grew lighter, and his hands, parting the reeds to the left and right, became more and more cautious.
Soon, the reed field ended, revealing the riverbank.
The man’s eyes fell upon an old man wearing a shabby, wide-brimmed hat, his fishing rod cast into the river.
The man stopped his steps at a distance, waiting for the old man to speak first.
*He must have already sensed my presence. But his intense focus must be due to the taut fishing line.*
Soon, the battle between the one trying to catch and the one trying to flee began.
*Vwoom!*
As their forces clashed and the bamboo fishing rod bent so much it seemed about to break, the old man shot up and strained with all his might.
But the one on the line seemed formidable, starting to struggle and even creating a whirlpool on the water’s surface.
“So it’s you!”
Suddenly, a thrill laced the old man’s voice.
The thick scales occasionally breaking the surface as it thrashed and struggled—he knew this one. No, this was the one he had longed for for years.
How long had he wandered, searching for places where it might appear?
He had encountered it several times before, but failed to catch it each time.
The Yellow Dragon Fish, whose home was the river, he had been targeting for a long time but had yet to catch.
It was unlikely that a mere fish could be a dragon, but the old man had given it that name.
That’s why even the fishermen of the Yellow River called it that.
But no one caught it.
Even if it was caught in a net, they would release it.
Because its name was the Yellow Dragon Fish, were they afraid of incurring the dragon’s wrath?
No.
What the fishermen feared was the wrath of the old man who had marked the Yellow Dragon Fish as his own target.
Mak Cheong-ju. That was the old man’s name, a figure who boasted that all rivers under heaven were his domain and reigned over all the river bandits.
The Dragon King exists in legends, but he reigned in reality as a calamity. For anyone who made a living on the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, no one could go against his will.
When such a man declared, “The Yellow Dragon Fish is mine!”, who would dare to object?
Meanwhile, he was roaming all over the Yellow River, determined to catch it, and this reed field was his current fishing spot.
Permitted only to him.
*Zzzzing!*
The tip of the fishing rod trembled, and the heavily bent rod looked dangerously close to breaking, but Mak Cheong-ju was already fully prepared.
In the last fight, the line snapped, and in the one before that, the rod broke.
But while there were setbacks, there would be no failure.
Hadn’t he made the line several times thicker and switched to a tougher rod?
“You rascal! This time, I’ll definitely catch you!”
With a triumphant smile, Mak Cheong-ju pulled the fishing rod with all his might.
Just as Mak Cheong-ju’s battle of coaxing and pulling continued for a long while…
*Ping!*
“…Hah!”
Mak Cheong-ju and the Yellow Dragon Fish.
In their battle, the first to be defeated was the fishing line. Even though he had switched to a thicker line, it had futilely, vainly failed to withstand the prolonged tension and snapped.
As Mak Cheong-ju regretfully watched the hookless line flutter in the air, he saw the Yellow Dragon Fish leap out of the water and flee like an arrow.
“That damn thing… is it mocking me?”
It was a shame, but what could he do?
It seemed his fisherman’s luck was out today.
“Haa… Cheon-hyu, what is it?”
As Mak Cheong-ju stared blankly at the now-calm water’s surface and asked, the man, Cheon-hyu, finally approached.
“That’s a shame. If only the line hadn’t snapped, you almost had it.”
“Almost had it is right. It seems to catch that thing, I’ll have to find some Heavenly Silkworm Thread from somewhere.”
Cheon-hyu smiled faintly at his grumbling.
Heavenly Silkworm Thread. The thread spun by Heavenly Silkworms, said to live in high mountains inaccessible to humans, imbued with special spiritual energy, was truly a treasure worth a thousand gold pieces.
To think of using something that, when woven into clothes, was stronger than armor, and when used as a weapon, was sharper than a precious sword, as a fishing line—that was just like Mak Cheong-ju.
Who would say otherwise?
He was an absolute master, ranked among the top three in the Unorthodox Faction…
“Why do you make things so difficult when you could just catch it with your internal energy?”
“Nonsense, that would be meaningless. If I use my internal energy, I’d be catching it as a warrior, not as a fisherman, right? I’m the head of the Yellow River, how could I use tricks? Just you watch. I will definitely catch that thing in a head-on battle.”
Cheon-hyu shook his head at the sight of him burning with passion, truly like a fisherman.
*Then again, what other event of this magnitude could there be in his tedious life?*
Visiting his close friend, the King of the Green Forest, for a drinking party was something you could only do for a day or two.
“Anyway, what is it? I told you not to disturb me while I’m fishing.”
“About that…”
Cheon-hyu carefully held out a note. It was a message used for communication between the river strongholds.
*But a message wouldn’t come to me unless it was something special, would it?*
*Also, if he approached knowing I was fishing, it must not be an ordinary matter.*
As Mak Cheong-ju unfolded the message with a puzzled look, he saw it was filled with tiny, dense writing.
“Hoh? The Third Young Master of the Demonic Cult came to the Xixia Stronghold to meet me?”
“That is correct.”
Mak Cheong-ju tilted his head.
*Even if he’s the Third Young Master of the Demonic Cult, the Xixia Stronghold wouldn’t have politely guided them unless they were crazy…*
“Which means they took it by force… Why does he want to meet me?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“Hmm…”
Cheon-hyu shook his head as he packed the fishing net and rod.
“Neung Un-bi…”
Suddenly, a rumor he heard a while ago came to mind.
The defeat of the King of the Green Forest.
At first, he thought it was ridiculous.
*That King of the Green Forest, what kind of man was he…*
The letter he sent, just in case, came back filled with nothing but praise for Neung Un-bi.
*He must have heard the rumors too, yet he praised him?*
That was no different from admitting defeat.
So, he too had grown curious about this Neung Un-bi fellow.
But for that guy to come looking for him first?
A smile formed on Mak Cheong-ju’s lips as he faced a new event in his tedious daily life.
“Kukuk, good. Since he went to the trouble of coming, I suppose I’ll meet him.”