Chapter 61
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: The Mad Dogs of Shanxi
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Early dawn, just as the first light began to break.
A single pigeon flew between the sheer cliffs.
Swerving widely to avoid the winds whipping against the cliff face, the pigeon soon landed on the branch of a large cypress tree.
A small bell tied to the end of the branch jingled.
A moment later.
The door of a nearby thatched hut opened, and Neung So-mil stepped out.
After rewarding the pigeon with some feed, Neung So-mil opened the message tube tied to its leg and examined the contents, tilting his head in confusion.
The letter was from So Jeok-san, the master of the Righteous Hall.
Sa Mu-sim had arranged a meeting for them to get acquainted once before, but they hadn't exchanged any messages since.
Their interactions were limited to exchanging greetings whenever he went down to the village.
“Hmm?”
Neung So-mil's expression grew serious as he read the message, and he hurriedly began to move. But before he could take more than a few steps, a voice stopped him.
“Where are you going?”
It was Beom Gye-wi.
Neung So-mil turned his head toward the voice and jumped in surprise.
Beom Gye-wi was hanging upside down from the edge of the hut's eaves.
It wasn't the first time he'd seen such a sight, but he couldn't help being startled every time.
The sight of him, suspended in a handstand with a piercing glint in his eyes, was utterly bizarre.
“An urgent message arrived from the Righteous Hall. It seems there’s trouble in the village.”
“Trouble?”
“They say the owner of the apothecary, a regular who is on good terms with the Valley Lord, has disappeared.”
Beom Gye-wi's expression hardened.
“Who did it?”
Beom Gye-wi seemed to have already assumed it was a kidnapping.
But it was too soon to jump to conclusions.
“I’m heading to the village now to find out the details.”
With that, Neung So-mil headed straight for the village.
As he entered the outskirts of the village, a man approached him with a look of relief.
It was So Jeok-san.
“What happened?”
At Neung So-mil’s question, So Jeok-san wore a troubled expression.
“I was on patrol when I noticed something was off. By the time I checked, he was already gone. Everything was normal during the last patrol at the Hour of the Ox, so it must have happened within the two hours since then.”
“Anything out of the ordinary?”
“There was a report of people secretly infiltrating the village during the night. About thirty of them, they said.”
Neung So-mil sensed that something was seriously wrong.
“Did anyone see where they went?”
“According to the one who reported it, they vanished so quickly that he wondered if he had seen a phantom.”
“Hmm…”
Organizing his thoughts, Neung So-mil headed straight for the apothecary.
Securing clues was the first priority.
Arriving at the shop, Neung So-mil surveyed the interior and frowned.
Surprisingly, there were no signs of a break-in or struggle. Then, he noticed a few faint footprints on the wooden floor.
He rubbed the dirt from one of the footprints between his fingers.
It felt slightly damp.
They clearly belonged to intruders who had arrived after the morning dew had settled.
Stepping out of the shop, Neung So-mil scanned the surroundings, and a glint appeared in his eyes.
He caught sight of several slight depressions in the dirt. Not just one, but a series of them in a line.
Turning his head to gauge the distance from the apothecary, Neung So-mil groaned inwardly.
‘Ten people. They are masters of superior martial arts!’
Against experts of that caliber, an ordinary person with no martial arts training wouldn't have even been able to resist.
It made sense that there were no signs of a struggle.
The problem was that their opponents' martial skills were anything but ordinary.
Covering over ten zhang in a single leap meant they were considerable masters.
One person's skill, in particular, stood out.
Among the footprints where they had landed, one was exceptionally faint.
It was proof that his movement technique was far superior to the others'.
“Is there a place nearby where ten to thirty people could hide without leaving a trace?”
After a moment of thought, So Jeok-san nodded.
“I have a place in mind.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned temple outside the village. If that many people were moving around inside the village, they would have been spotted long ago. That place is almost always deserted, so it would be easy to hide there.”
As expected of a local, he knew the surrounding geography inside and out.
“Thank you. I’ll take it from here.”
“Then I’ll search the village with my men.”
“No, don’t do that.”
“Sir?”
“You might make the mistake of beating the grass and startling the snake.”
He said that, but Neung So-mil’s true thoughts were different.
The intruders’ skills were so formidable that even he lacked the confidence to face them. If the Righteous Hall got involved and suffered harm, he would be too ashamed to face Sa Mu-sim when he returned.
‘What should I do? Should I go get my seniors now?’
As he was contemplating this, a telepathic message entered his mind.
—Follow them.
Realizing it was Beom Gye-wi’s voice, Neung So-mil glanced around.
Just then, another message came.
—Don’t show it. Act natural. There are guys watching you from a distance. I’ll follow behind, so move naturally.
At those words, his lingering anxiety vanished in an instant.
Beom Gye-wi was usually terrifying, but at this moment, he couldn't have felt more reassuring.
He felt as if he could climb the one hundred and eight steps to the main gate of the Shaolin Temple without hesitation.
Neung So-mil asked So Jeok-san for the location of the abandoned temple.
Then he immediately used his movement technique and dashed north.
* * *
Following Neung So-mil from a distance, Beom Gye-wi identified the black-clothed men who were tailing Neung So-mil while concealing their presence.
There were only two of them, but they were quite skilled.
‘Where did these bastards crawl out from?’
He had initially followed out of simple curiosity, but as the situation unfolded, he couldn't help but become intrigued.
Moreover, they were moving in a highly organized manner.
As time passed, the number of people tracking Neung So-mil gradually increased. By the time they reached the abandoned temple, there were eight trackers.
They had surrounded him from all eight directions, sealing off any potential escape routes in advance.
Their movements suggested they had prepared for someone heading to this location.
‘Good thing I followed.’
Sa Mu-sim could have easily escaped even if the situation turned against him, but for Neung So-mil, these opponents were still too much to handle.
Beom Gye-wi stealthily trailed behind them.
* * *
Meanwhile, Neung So-mil passed through the half-collapsed One-Pillar Gate and entered the temple grounds.
And soon, he spotted a person.
It was a man clad entirely in black, his face hidden by a mask.
A flicker of disappointment appeared in the black-clothed man’s eyes, visible above his mask.
“I was hoping for a big catch, but we’ve reeled in a minnow.”
As soon as he finished speaking, another person stepped out from behind the black-clothed man.
At the same time, the others who had been blocking the eight directions revealed themselves, closing the distance to Neung So-mil as if to surround him.
Neung So-mil looked around and tilted his head.
“A temple without monks is bound to be full of rats, I see.”
At Neung So-mil's words, a thick killing intent erupted from the eyes of the man who seemed to be the leader.
“Insolent fool… Do you still not grasp the situation?”
Faced with the threat dripping with thick killing intent, Neung So-mil pinched his nose and wrinkled his brow.
“Are you speaking out of your ass? Why does it stink so bad?”
“...!”
“You don't look like some nameless riffraff. Shall we introduce ourselves? I am Neung So-mil, the man who once led a group called the Sinsobang, though it’s now disbanded. And who might you be? Or are you really just a rat?”
Suddenly, not revealing his identity would be tantamount to admitting he was a rat.
“Ah! Is that not something to say to masked men? Then again… you’re petty enough to kidnap an ordinary person with no martial arts training, so you must be ashamed.”
“Shut up!”
Finally, one of the black-clothed men, boiling with rage, roared.
A hefty blade, shimmering with a cold killing intent, was now in his hand. As Neung So-mil identified the shape of the blade, a glint appeared in his eyes.
“A Gold-Ringed Greatsaber?”
Three gold rings were strung through holes drilled into the spine of the blade.
The sound of the rings clashing was said to distract opponents, earning it the name ‘Death-Sound Blade’.
And it was the signature weapon of the Jangrak Faction, which once reigned as the hegemon of Shanxi.
“You’re the Mad Dogs of Shanxi!”
When Neung So-mil recognized them, the leader slowly removed his mask.
Seeing Ak Yeong-ho's face, Neung So-mil's heart sank.
He was so stunned that he momentarily forgot Beom Gye-wi was with him.
He never imagined he would encounter the very people responsible for the Shanxi Bloodbath twenty years ago. Though they had been keeping a low profile recently, they still held absolute influence in Shanxi.
They were the only saber faction in the Unorthodox Faction comparable to the Orthodox Faction’s Peng Family of Hebei.
Seeing Neung So-mil speechless with shock, the black-clothed men sneered openly.
‘I need to find out where the rest of them are.’
There were only ten men in the temple. To find out where the others were, Neung So-mil spoke, his eyes filled with feigned intimidation.
“So this is where the man Neung So-mil lays down his life of many sorrows.”
“Where did all that bravado from a moment ago go?”
At Ak Yeong-ho’s mockery, Neung So-mil shook his head with a gloomy expression.
“They say you should look where you lie before you stretch your legs, do they not? Had I not known, it would be one thing, but now that I know, how could a lowly person like myself dare to harbor wicked thoughts before the great heroes of Shanxi?”
Seeing Neung So-mil’s resigned attitude, the corner of Ak Yeong-ho’s mouth lifted slightly.
“What is your relationship with the Ice Jade Fairy?”
Neung So-mil slumped to the ground and answered.
“I have entrusted my life to her. In exchange, I handle all the menial chores.”
“Is the boy named Dan Ak-seon also staying with her in that place called the Divine Demon Valley?”
For a brief moment, a cold glint flashed in Neung So-mil’s eyes, but it vanished so quickly that no one noticed.
‘So they already knew.’
In that case, there was no need to hide it.
“That is correct. The young physician is treating her illness.”
“Illness?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details, but she was receiving treatment from the young physician every day.”
At those words, Ak Yeong-ho’s face brightened.
He judged that things might be easier than he thought.
“Does that physician have the Sacred Hand Divine Pills?”
“Of course. I’ve even seen him use them several times myself!”
At that, Ak Yeong-ho couldn't hide his excitement. Seizing the opportunity, Neung So-mil spoke.
“If you use the apothecary owner, you can easily lure out the young physician.”
“He didn’t seem to know much.”
“Have you perhaps already killed him?”
Ak Yeong-ho gestured with his eyes, and one of the black-clothed men dragged the apothecary owner out from the back. Seeing the owner’s limp form, Neung So-mil couldn't help but frown.
He had been brutally tortured and was barely clinging to life.
“I told him to reveal where the young physician lived, but he insisted he didn’t know. To think he really didn’t know…”
Ak Yeong-ho gave a bitter smile and said to Neung So-mil.
“Lead us to this place he mentioned, the Divine Demon Valley.”
Neung So-mil struggled to control his expression as he replied.
“But the Ice Jade Fairy is there. With just this many men…”
“Why do you think this is everyone?”
“What?”
“There is another party that has already moved out to find the Divine Demon Valley. We will join them and take care of the Ice Jade Fairy.”
When Neung So-mil didn’t answer, Ak Yeong-ho tried to persuade him.
“Cooperate, and I’ll spare your life.”
Neung So-mil’s face lit up.
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“You wouldn’t be a bastard who goes back on his word, would you?”
“What?”
“Think about it. That’s impossible, isn’t it?”
As if he had never been scared, Neung So-mil’s expression changed. He had already heard what he wanted.
“It wouldn’t do for an event like this to get out, so of course you’d try to kill me to silence me. Killing witnesses and pulling up the roots is essential for this kind of work. Isn’t that right?”
“You, you bastard…!”
“Just as expected from a bunch of Shanxi country bumpkins. You can’t even lie properly.”