Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Fool (3)
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“I’ve done enough for him.”
Clink.
The woman, tossing back the harsh liquor, mumbled with half-lidded eyes.
“That bastard… I did everything for the good-for-nothing who knocked me up and ran. I raised him all by myself until he was almost twenty.”
“…”
At her words, Ouyang Jue inwardly nodded.
A man of the Central Plains should show courage by twelve, and at fifteen, he is old enough to enter the battlefield.
Let alone twenty?
At that age, he could well be a commander leading a thousand soldiers.
He had actually seen such men, so he could sympathize with her words.
But this story was different.
Ouyang Jue opened his mouth, speaking the raw truth.
“He is not like ordinary people. Not at all.”
Watching the woman burst into tears, Ouyang Jue maintained an indifferent expression.
A conversation, by its nature, subtly aligns with the other person's mood.
If they laugh, you become cheerful.
If they grieve, you become somber.
If they vent their anger at someone, you get angry with them.
Ouyang Jue hoped the woman would find her answer through him.
Either to coolly find her own path, or to embrace the man.
‘The beggar said she was not far away…’
The woman, too, knew in her heart that she couldn't just abandon the man.
That's why she hadn't left Shaanxi, instead lingering nearby, having only cut off contact.
That only leads to a lukewarm result.
Just like himself when he had descended from Mount Hua.
Ouyang Jue gave a bitter smile.
“I did not seek you out to punish you. I just wish to see some sort of resolution.”
“Either way?”
“Yes.”
At his words, the woman stopped crying and stared intently at Ouyang Jue.
Then, a silly, drunken smile spread across her face.
“You are a kind person. To involve yourself in another's affairs like this.”
“…Kind?”
Repeating the woman's words, Ouyang Jue let out a chuckle.
He was merely trying to clear away a lingering feeling that bothered him. How could that be called kind?
“I don’t think that’s quite right.”
“I've decided.”
Ouyang Jue let out a sound of surprise at her sudden declaration.
“Already?”
“Yes. The answer was already there.”
The woman spoke with determination, her face flushed from the alcohol.
“Because I am that child's mother.”
“…”
After a moment's thought, Ouyang Jue replied curtly.
“I will help you.”
If he could empty the Shaanxi branch's safe a little before the Mount Hua Sect arrived, there would be enough for the two of them to live on.
Around the time Ouyang Jue was conversing with the woman,
Creeeak.
the man, accustomed to calling himself a fool, opened the door and stepped out into the street.
* * *
Stepping out into the street without the middle-aged man's permission, the man was pierced by a torrent of emotions.
“Look, he's here again.”
“Business was fine until you showed up!”
Disgust, displeasure, pity, irritation.
These feelings took root in the man's heart, slowly festering and turning black.
“You good-for-nothing freeloader!”
When the nearest street vendor threw a wooden skewer at him, the man yelped and twisted his body to dodge.
But he couldn't avoid it.
This place was not the dream he had imagined.
There were no parents here, no warm food to fill his belly.
The thought made him sad all over again.
“Waaaah!”
As the lanky man burst into tears, the more respectable merchants clicked their tongues, while most hurled insults.
A few even tried to shove him away directly.
“Tsk, there he goes again.”
The guards patrolling the market knew of this. But they never intervened.
If they did, they would only have to listen to the merchants' complaints, and the man offered them no reward for their troubles.
Occasionally, the middle-aged man who raised cattle on the outskirts of Chang'an would come and bow his head, but that only went so far.
‘He could just give me some meat, and I'd look the other way.’
The guard swallowed, recalling the beef the middle-aged man had once given him.
He then passed through the market and headed elsewhere.
And so, the only person who might have protected the man had left the market.
“Hey, you son of a bitch!”
Thwack!
Despite the merchant's kick, the man stood up resolutely.
Even though his skin was scraped raw and bleeding from the sand, the man did not cry.
The inn with the somehow familiar scent was not far.
“Please let me through! I am a fool!”
“What's this guy babbling about?”
Seeing the man practically inviting a beating, a look of suspicion crossed the face of Wol Gong-myeong, a warrior of the Black Dragon Gang.
‘He's not running away…?’
Normally, he wouldn't have set foot in a market like this in the first place.
He would get beaten twice as much here as in the alleys.
No matter how simple-minded he was, his body would have learned to fear violence.
Moreover, Wol Gong-myeong, a native of Chang'an, knew this fact all too well.
At a time when all the members of the Black Dragon Gang were busy tracking Ouyang Jue's whereabouts.
A flicker of anticipation crossed Wol Gong-myeong's face.
‘Maybe I should look into this a bit more.’
Wol Gong-myeong immediately used his movement technique to block the path between the man and the merchant.
“Step aside.”
“Who the hell are you?!”
“Or you can die.”
Sensing the killing intent, the merchant stepped back. Seeing the words 'Black Dragon Gang' embroidered on Wol Gong-myeong's collar, he fell to his knees.
“I apologize for my rudeness, Great Warrior!”
Wol Gong-myeong's lips twisted in displeasure.
“Then you shouldn't have been rude in the first place.”
Swish!
Wol Gong-myeong immediately swung his sword and lopped off the merchant's head.
In an instant, blood sprayed into the air.
Though splattered with blood, the man trembled but did not flinch.
Instead, his resolve seemed to harden, as if there was something he had to do before he died.
“Please… let me through.”
The merchants trembled in terror at the man's words.
It seemed as though the fool's head would be sent flying at any moment.
But Wol Gong-myeong simply crossed his arms and smiled.
“To think that you, a simpleton, are the bravest one here. How absurd. Go on, go wherever you want.”
“Th-thank you.”
Stutterer, moron, fool.
Having heard these words countless times, the man clenched his lips. He'd heard them enough to know what they meant.
‘I am a fool.’
The man knew he was lacking compared to others.
That was why he had to speak to the mother who had left him.
To thank her.
And to make a difficult request.
To ask her not to leave.
The man's tear-filled gaze fell to the ground.
It seemed the strap of his straw shoe had come undone while he was being beaten.
“Ah, no.”
The man hurriedly bent down and began to tie the strap of his shoe.
At the awkward and frustrating sight, Wol Gong-myeong revealed his savage nature without restraint.
“I told you to go! Did I not clear a path for you?!”
“I can't. I-I'm a fool, so I'll get hurt without my straw shoes.”
Wol Gong-myeong’s eyes flashed with anger.
“Then shall I tie it for you?!”
“I can't do that either.”
“...?”
The man recited the answer he had been taught.
“My mother told me not to let strangers touch my straw shoes.”
Grrrk!
Wol Gong-myeong somehow restrained the urge to kill him on the spot and asked.
“Why?”
“Sh-she said they might cut the straps or put oil on the soles to make me get hurt. I'm a fool, so I have to listen to my mother.”
“Are you trying to mock me?!”
A hair-trigger situation.
Despite being in a situation where one wrong word could get his head chopped off, the man followed the words of the only family who had ever stayed by his side.
“I am a fool. Please don't bully me!”
“You damn… worthless piece of trash!”
As Wol Gong-myeong raised his sword high, the man looked up with sad eyes at the inn thirty paces away.
There's a familiar scent there.
The person whose scent alone is enough to bring tears to my eyes is there.
‘I'm sorry, Mom.’
The man closed his eyes for the last time.
Screech!
In that instant, Ouyang Jue pushed his chair back and shot to his feet.
An indescribable sense of unease had enveloped his entire body.
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
Seeing the woman's slightly flustered expression, Ouyang Jue scratched the back of his head and was about to sit down again.
“No, it's nothing…”
But just then, a telepathic message from the beggar forced Ouyang Jue to change his words.
“I wish it were nothing.”
Ouyang Jue gripped Severing Manifestation and dashed outside.
Soon, the beggar's telepathic message came again.
-No matter how angry you are, you must not stray from the greater cause!
“The greater cause?”
Ouyang Jue felt the market street and the smell of blood drawing nearer.
“Is what I am about to do not the very definition of the greater cause the Orthodox Faction espouses?”
-…
Plink, plink.
A sudden shower began to fall from the heavy clouds.
A single raindrop struck Ouyang Jue's cheek and trickled down.
* * *
Meanwhile, sensing the warrior's presence drawing closer, Wol Gong-myeong smirked vilely.
“This damn beggar, only useful when he's about to die!”
Of course, he didn't think it was Ouyang Jue himself.
Someone related to the Mount Hua Sect, or perhaps a Daoist.
Either way, he could only think them foolish.
‘This is fifty zhang from the Shaanxi branch. If I can just hold on for a bit, reinforcements will arrive.’
As long as the fight wasn't decided in a single clash, Wol Gong-myeong had a way to alert the Shaanxi branch of the danger.
He just needed to confirm who it was, or at least which faction the warrior belonged to.
As the warrior's figure grew clearer, Wol Gong-myeong's smile widened.
Just then, a stone flew out of nowhere and struck the back of Wol Gong-myeong's knee.
“Kuaargh!”
“How dare you say 'beggar' this and 'beggar' that in front of a Hall Master of the Beggars' Sect?”
Clack, clack.
The beggar, Cheol Pung-gae, rolled the stones in his hand, revealing the three knots on his sash.
“One disrespectful bastard is more than enough! Punks like you are especially irritating, it drives me mad!”
“Kuh, this matter…!”
“This matter, what?”
Cheol Pung-gae shrugged and took a step back.
In a flash, Ouyang Jue's figure had closed the distance and was right in front of Wol Gong-myeong.
‘Damn it!’
Belatedly, Wol Gong-myeong tried to unleash the Black Dragon Sword Arts to strike first, but it was already too late.
Swish!
“Kuaaaargh!”
In unspeakable agony, Wol Gong-myeong opened his mouth wide.
It was to scream and alert any members of the Black Dragon Gang who might be nearby.
However.
“That mouth.”
Ouyang Jue did not miss the opening.
Knowing what Wol Gong-myeong was aiming for, the tip of his sword became even sharper.
He cut out his tongue.
As Severing Manifestation danced through Wol Gong-myeong's mouth in an instant,
Pshuuu!
blood poured from his entire mouth, mangled by the sharp energy of Severing Manifestation.
Despite this, Ouyang Jue's eyes were utterly cold.
The marks of a beating on the man's body.
‘One wouldn't bother punching an opponent they could kill with a single slash.’
Even if they did, they wouldn't have held back, so it wouldn't have ended with just this.
Having made his judgment, Ouyang Jue immediately looked at Cheol Pung-gae and made a request.
“Find out everyone who has ever harmed this man.”
“And then what?”
Ouyang Jue glanced over the merchants.
“Reward the good and punish the wicked.”
Cheol Pung-gae nodded.
“I'll do it.”
“Ah, one more thing.”
“...?”
Ouyang Jue looked back and forth between Wol Gong-myeong and the man.
“I trust you understand.”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Recalling the incident with Du Jeol-gwang, Cheol Pung-gae nodded readily.
“Beggars live by their wits, you know.”
Having received his confirmation, Ouyang Jue turned his gaze toward the distant Black Dragon Gang's Shaanxi branch.
A lone warrior cut through the rain, heading for the darkest place in Chang'an.