Chapter 48
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The Khan's Banner
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Three days later.
Sa Mu-sim entered the vast, sprawling grasslands.
He had taken a wide detour toward the Jade Gate Pass to avoid conflict with the imperial soldiers guarding the Great Wall.
A desolate landscape and a dry, dusty wind.
The feeling was familiar, as he had been here several times in the past.
Sa Mu-sim used his lightness technique and began to cross the grasslands.
How long had he been running?
Suddenly, a strange feeling washed over him.
Sa Mu-sim stopped and looked around, his eyes glinting with a peculiar light.
Far in the distance, at the edge of the horizon, he spotted a group of horsemen riding toward him.
‘Is this also the effect of the Azure Lapis?’
He was astonished to have detected their presence from such a great distance.
It would have been impossible before.
Sa Mu-sim took a flag from his robes and waved it.
It was somewhat faded and old, but the emblem of a falcon with its wings spread as if in flight was still clear.
“...?”
A look of confusion appeared on Sa Mu-sim’s face.
The riders, who should have naturally slowed as they approached, were instead spurring their horses on, increasing their speed.
When the distance between them was about fifty paces.
“Heh.”
Sa Mu-sim let out a laugh, inwardly finding the situation absurd.
The blatant hostility radiating from them was palpable!
He finally noticed the riders' red collars.
‘The Blood Cloud Sands!’
The sands of death that bring blood in their wake.
As luck would have it, he had encountered the infamous band of mounted bandits as soon as he entered the grasslands.
They were known as Martial Ghosts, each one said to be a match for the elite commanders of the Embroidered Guard.
They were notorious for their ruthlessness, plundering and killing not only people from the Central Plains but even their own kind.
They were even compared to the Flying Locusts, a swarm that sweeps through the grasslands leaving not a single blade of grass behind.
Moreover, their numbers were said to be in the hundreds.
But the riders before him numbered only about ten.
It seemed they were an advance party on a scouting mission.
Suddenly, a bitter memory of a past entanglement with them surfaced.
‘Back then… I was so reckless.’
Fifteen years ago.
Recalling his first encounter with the Blood Cloud Sands, Sa Mu-sim gave a wry smile.
No matter how infamous the Blood Cloud Sands were beyond the borders, at the time, he had been confident he could face them.
He had thought that no matter how skilled they were with spears and horsemanship, it would mean nothing to a martial arts master like himself.
That was why he had charged at them without hesitation.
But it didn’t take long for him to realize how foolish a decision that had been.
Normally, one tends to think of a horse as a simple means of transportation.
Sa Mu-sim had believed so as well.
But he was wrong.
A horse was a weapon.
The combined weight of the horse and rider, coupled with the speed of a galloping horse, possessed a terrifying power on its own.
He learned that day that a single cavalryman was more frightening than facing a decent martial arts master.
In particular, the moment they thrust their spears was impossible for him to track.
He simply couldn’t follow the trajectory of the spears, which seemed to strike down from atop the horses.
His experience was sorely lacking, and their attacks were just as difficult to predict.
The power of a horse and rider in perfect unison possessed a destructive force beyond imagination.
Furthermore, they specialized in group combat, moving like a well-organized military unit.
Faced with their swift pursuit on horseback and their relentless attrition tactics using superior numbers, even a renowned master like him was helpless.
In the end, Sa Mu-sim had been forced to turn his back and flee.
Shame washed over him at the fact that he had to run from an enemy, but it was better than being left as a corpse in the arid wasteland.
Besides, he hadn't been alone at the time.
He had to survive, if only for the young lives that depended on him.
It was a stroke of immense luck that he found a crumbling old fortress nearby.
Fallen walls were scattered everywhere, which he could use to obstruct the horses' movements.
Inside, Sa Mu-sim held his ground, waiting for them to tire themselves out and retreat.
Several days passed like that.
Or rather, it felt like they had.
They attacked so relentlessly that he couldn't even tell when the sun rose or set.
In the end, Sa Mu-sim endured.
And he was able to complete his purpose for coming to the grasslands.
He had safely returned the children, who had been captured and sold into slavery during the northern conquest, to their tribe.
The flag he now held was a symbol of that connection.
The great chieftain who led the Northern Yuan at the time, the Khan.
It was the flag that symbolized Dayan Khan.
‘But things are different now.’
Sa Mu-sim steeled his resolve and stared ahead.
At that moment, a single rider broke away from the approaching group, charging forward alone.
*Swish.*
The spear blade, swung like a thunderbolt as the rider passed by at a dangerously close distance, flew toward Sa Mu-sim's neck.
Instead of parrying, Sa Mu-sim followed it with his eyes until the very end.
Unlike in the past, the opponent's movements and the spear's trajectory were crystal clear to him.
Having overcome his qi deviation and with his internal energy greatly enhanced, his senses had also sharpened.
Thanks to that, he was able to dodge the blade at the critical moment by simply taking half a step back and slightly twisting his torso.
“Chaawas!”
Missing his target, the rider spat a curse and turned his horse around.
Sa Mu-sim, however, understood the curse and curled his lips into a slight smile.
‘The real damn situation is about to begin.’
Ignoring the raucous laughter of the Blood Cloud Sands in the distance, Sa Mu-sim began to run toward the approaching rider.
“...!”
The opponent seemed momentarily stunned by Sa Mu-sim’s unexpected response, but soon his eyes turned vicious, and he swung his spear again.
*Scraaaape!*
The spearhead scraped along the ground, kicking up bright blue sparks as it pursued Sa Mu-sim.
Sa Mu-sim didn't dodge, instead extending a hand to meet it.
It was a strike with all his might, infused with his full power.
*BOOM!*
An explosive sound erupted, despite it being a clash between a spear and a bare hand.
At the same time, a fierce shockwave swept through the area.
The impact traveled heavily from his hand and wrist up to his shoulder, but Sa Mu-sim immediately threw himself into the thick cloud of dust before him.
He saw the horse, fallen and struggling on the ground, and the man whimpering beneath it, his leg trapped.
The man’s eyes met Sa Mu-sim’s, and he hastily tried to draw a dagger.
But Sa Mu-sim was a little faster.
*CRACK!*
Carrying his momentum, Sa Mu-sim’s knee slammed into the man’s chin.
The blow knocked him unconscious, and he went limp.
‘So this is why they all talk about the Azure Lapis.’
At that moment, Sa Mu-sim truly understood why martial artists desperately sought after elixirs with fire in their eyes.
The Azure Lapis wasn't called the elixir of the ages for nothing.
The starkly different outcome compared to the past, when he had struggled so much, was proof enough.
‘In this vast, wide martial world, how many people could truly experience the effects of an elixir like the Azure Lapis?’
Even masters like Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi had said it was their first time seeing it, which said it all.
Gratitude for Dan Ak-seon once again filled his heart.
But at that moment.
‘Well, look at this.’
Noticing the strange atmosphere around him, Sa Mu-sim looked at the unconscious Blood Cloud Sands warrior pinned under the horse with an intrigued gaze.
Now that he had caught him, he saw the man was just a youth, barely an adult.
But the truly peculiar thing was something else.
The Blood Cloud Sands, who would normally charge without a second glance at a hostage, were circling the area in a panic.
‘He seems to be quite valuable as a hostage.’
He could tell just by the pale looks on their faces.
At that moment.
*Thump-thump-thump-thump.*
The sound of horse hooves shaking the very earth reached his ears.
Turning his head toward the sound, he saw a pale cloud of dust in the distance, from which at least two hundred horsemen were charging.
Seeing this, the Blood Cloud Sands gritted their teeth and turned their horses.
They spurred their horses on and vanished from sight in an instant.
Sa Mu-sim once again raised the flag high and waved it at the approaching riders.
Fortunately, they did not treat him as an enemy.
Instead, they were greatly surprised, murmured amongst themselves, and then brought over two ownerless horses.
Sa Mu-sim mounted one, and the unconscious Blood Cloud Sands youth was loaded onto the other.
Then, guided by them, he arrived at a certain place.
It was a collection of mobile tent houses, which they called ‘gers’.
But the scale of it was immense.
As Sa Mu-sim dismounted, a young man with a magnificent build who had been waiting at the entrance suddenly embraced him.
Sa Mu-sim was struck by the greatness of time.
The scrawny, grimy child from back then had grown into this fine man, now leading his own people.
“Who is that man?”
Sa Mu-sim smiled at the young man’s question and answered in their language.
“A gift.”
* * *
Exactly one week later, Sa Mu-sim returned to the Divine Demon Valley.
Entering the valley under the bright moon, Sa Mu-sim found Dan Ak-seon waiting for him.
“You’re back?”
Dan Ak-seon’s smile, brighter than the moon in the sky, welcomed him. Sa Mu-sim smiled back and bowed his head.
“Were you waiting for me?”
“I was just taking a walk.”
Then, Dan Ak-seon walked right up to him and began to check his pulse.
Sa Mu-sim gave an awkward laugh at Dan Ak-seon's behavior.
“I am perfectly fine, so you need not worry.”
“Still, just in case.”
Finding nothing wrong, Dan Ak-seon finally looked relieved and said.
“I’ll curb my greed.”
“Pardon?”
“While you were away, Chief Steward, I did a lot of thinking. Our finances have become strained because I bought elixirs without thinking, haven’t they?”
Dan Ak-seon apologized with a guilty expression.
“I know they were necessary for treatment, but it’s true that I was too greedy. I’ll restrain myself from now on.”
Sa Mu-sim smiled humbly and shook his head.
“Not at all. I actually feel a sense of purpose in being able to do something for you, Valley Lord. So please, don't worry about it.”
“Still, please don’t overexert yourself.”
“So that’s what you really wanted to say?”
Sa Mu-sim’s heart warmed at Dan Ak-seon’s sincere concern.
That alone made all his hard work worthwhile.
“Then, please get some rest.”
“Yes, you too.”
After bidding farewell, Sa Mu-sim turned around once Dan Ak-seon had completely disappeared inside the building.
At that moment, a sudden chill ran down his spine.
He turned his gaze to find Beom Gye-wi standing nearby, glaring at him.
Sa Mu-sim relaxed his guard and bowed his head.
“Have you been well?”
“No, not at all.”
“Pardon?”
Beom Gye-wi huffed, looking aggrieved.
“Because you disappeared, everything from cleaning and laundry to even feeding the pigeons fell to me.”
“Haha, my. You’ve worked hard.”
“Haha? My?”
Beom Gye-wi asked with a look of disbelief.
“What’s with that enlightened monk tone?”
“Did I sound like that? My apologies if it felt irreverent. But how did you end up with all the chores? It would have been much easier if the three of you had split the work.”
Beom Gye-wi’s face fell.
“I lost at drawing lots.”
Just then, Cho Ak-ryang appeared from somewhere and spoke with a smile.
“He dug his own grave. He was the one who suggested we dump all the work on one person.”
Ignoring the pouting Beom Gye-wi, Cho Ak-ryang walked toward Sa Mu-sim.
“Did your trip go well?”
“Fortunately, I was able to handle it without any issues.”
Nodding, Sa Mu-sim took out several flags and a letter from his robes.
“These are the emblems symbolizing the most influential tribes beyond the borders, and a personal letter guaranteeing my identity.”
“So those two serve as a pass?”
“The flag with the Khan’s emblem is sufficient, but the letter is a precaution for any unforeseen circumstances.”
A look of admiration crossed Cho Ak-ryang’s face.
“I must say, that’s impressive. I knew you were well-connected, but I never imagined you had ties with the tribes beyond the borders.”
Sa Mu-sim smiled sheepishly.
“A child I saved long ago now leads his own tribe. I heard he is very close with the successor of Dayan Khan, who was the Khan of the Northern Yuan. He said they recently became ‘anda’.”
“Anda?”
“In their language, it means sworn brothers.”
At that moment, Beom Gye-wi cut in.
“But don’t you need people to form a trading company?”
“As a matter of fact, I have some people in mind. I was planning to ask you for a favor regarding that matter, senior.”
“Me?”
Beom Gye-wi tilted his head, but then exclaimed in understanding at Sa Mu-sim’s next words.
“Ah! Right, there’s them.”
Beom Gye-wi grinned and nodded.
“Use them as you wish. If they give you any trouble, just let me know.”
“Haha, I doubt that will happen.”
Anyone who had experienced Beom Gye-wi would know better than to defy him; very few could.
“Then, all three of you, please rest. I will take my leave as well.”
“Alright, get some rest. Huh? But why three?”
Beom Gye-wi asked, then looked behind him in surprise.
Only then did he notice Han Seol-hwa, standing there silently.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“...”
Sa Mu-sim smiled quietly, enjoying the lively atmosphere he hadn't felt in a while.
Though they didn't show it openly, their own way of welcoming him back warmed his heart.
After living as a wanderer for so long, he finally had a place to return to.