Chapter 164 - An Unexpected Encounter - 1
Cheongun's decision not to head toward Mount Baekdu in his search for the Grand Heroes' Epic but to go south instead had no particular reason behind it.
Even for martial artists, the journey from Hubei province to Mount Baekdu was an exceedingly long distance. Simply going back and forth would require a year's worth of time.
Since Cheongun had been granted permission to roam the jianghu under the pretext of searching for the Grand Heroes' Epic, he had to ponder the fastest route to his destination.
"Let's take a boat down the Yangtze River and head east."
If he went south from Mount Wudang, he would reach the Yangtze River, which flows into the Yellow Sea.
Once he took a boat to the Yellow Sea, he could shorten the time to Mount Baekdu significantly by either traveling by land along the coastline or finding a boat in the direction of Liaodong province.
Furthermore, Cheongun had an additional reason for wanting to go south.
'I want to try one last time to find the author of the Grand Heroes' Epic.'
The Grand Heroes' Epic was discovered in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province. Although the previous searches with Wudang's disciples had failed, there was a chance of finding the author if fate allowed it.
Cheongun was on his way to Wuhan, intending to search for the last known whereabouts of the Grand Heroes' Epic, and if that led nowhere, to board a boat docked at the Yangtze River.
"Master Daoist! Thank you!"
"No matter how much we asked the officials, they didn't deal with the bandits; yet you go through all this trouble for the likes of us. We're truly grateful!"
"You defeated the notorious Green Bamboo Twin Bandits! Do you know how much money they've been extorting in the shops recently? Master Daoist, we're truly thankful!"
Of course, even as Cheongun was moving for his assigned task, he did not forget his intended course of aiding others.
Cheongun's feet were headed toward Wuhan; but whenever he saw the tears of the common people, he did not turn away and knew when to pause briefly.
"Master Daoist! Master Daoist! My father has gone over that mountain for his business and hasn't returned!"
"He left with a caravan that passed by this village not long ago, but he has gone missing in those mountains."
Danggeo Ho had set a trap in advance to catch Dang Hwarin. The knight-errant had climbed the mountain to pursue the unintended victims caught in that trap.
"My name is Cheongun."
Cheongun's journey to find the author of the Grand Heroes' Epic and his actions to become a knight-errant had inevitably created destiny.
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"Mu, the Wudang sect?"
"How did a top disciple of the Wudang sect end up here?"
In Hubei province, no martial artist could act freely before the name of the great Wudang sect. The name of the Wudang sect was a heavy burden to those in black attire.
"Who dares to commit such a ghastly act in the front yard of the great Wudang sect!"
Cheongun, looking at corpses still warm, spoke with a voice filled with rage. The black-clad men near the knight-errant's fury instinctively took a step back.
"Hero! We are the righteous warriors of the Sichuan Tang family! We're under the cruel attack of the evil Cult!"
One of the company's warriors informed their unexpected ally of the situation.
"The minions of the evil Cult?!"
The people of the Sichuan Tang family and the suspicious black-clad men. Although Cheongun did not fully grasp the situation, he was certain about who needed help.
"I don't see any other sorcerer Daoists around."
The black-clad men, upon not seeing any other Wudang Daoists who might appear, let out a small sigh of relief and assessed the situation looking at Cheongun.
A blue-haired, delicate face. A Daoist just past his youth who seemed naïve about the ways of the world. He must have come here by chance during his travels.
"To walk right into death's path. Looks like we have one more corpse to handle today!"
The Wudang might be feared, but a mere fledgling Daoist from the Wudang sect was nothing to be afraid of. One of the black-clad men swung his sword at Cheongun before the Daoist could draw his blade.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Cheongun, seeing the oncoming sword, let out a cry as if he couldn't believe it. Certainly, the black-clad man's sword was fast. However, he had dealt with swords faster than that countless times. In an instant, Cheongun's blade was drawn.
"Ugh!"
The knight-errant's blade parried the thrust and within a fraction of a second, sliced through the adversary's throat.
"You cur!"
"Agh!"
As one black-clad man fell in an instant, the others nearby charged at him. Their swords were as fast as the first. But their fate was the same.
Late Victory over Haste (後發制人).
Use slowness to conquer swiftness. Cheongun tapped into the subtleties of Wudang swordsmanship, calmly observing their sword paths before decisively overpowering them.
"Charge from both sides!"
"He's just an inexperienced Daoist! If we attack at the same time, he won't be able to cope!"
They were right. Wudang's swordsmanship was fundamentally a defensive style. Conceding the first move could still be advantageous. But Cheongun was just past being a fledgling.
No matter how proficient a Daoist is in the intricate essence of Wudang, there is a limit to what they can handle.
He wouldn't be able to deal with swords coming from all directions. The black-clad men closed in to simultaneously attack Cheongun.
'The Eight Trigrams initiate first.'
But the one who moved first was Cheongun, abandoning a defensive stance, darting forward rapidly.
"Argh!"
"Urk!"
An inexperienced Daoist should take a defensive position. A slight complacency shattered the incomplete encirclement in an instant.
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"Do you think you can handle it?"
Not a moth drawn to a flame, but something else. The strongest of the pursuers among the black-clad men tossed aside the corpse of a warrior they had just slain and said,
"Aren't you ashamed of cowardly taking the lives of those already wounded? I'll join you, come here."
"Presumptuous. Yes. I would have gone there without you having to ask."
The black-clad man approached Cheongun with confident strides as though entering his own house.
Employing the subtleties of Wudang martial arts, he abandoned the advantageous defensive strategy and advanced offensively. Had he reached such a level of mastery within the Wudang arts that neither attack nor defense mattered?
It seemed similar to the Taiji swordsmanship, yet it was a different technique. The inexperienced Daoist uttered an unknown martial art. Was it a trick? Whatever it was, had it worked, it would have been worthy of caution.
The black-clad man looked around. The stalemate that had been precariously maintained was now slightly tilting due to the arrival of an unexpected figure.
It would have been better if they had more forces. However, their troops were divided while chasing down others.
Additionally, the vigor and number of the pursuers had diminished following continuous chasing and battles. If they dragged this out, they might let their targets slip away.
'End it quickly.'
One must take some risks for the greater strategy. The black-clad man, unconcerned with his draining life force, ignited the demonic energy within him.
'Such tremendous energy.'
Cheongun looked at the black-clad man, around whom dark energy swirled. A malevolent aura chilled his skin.
'Run away.'
Was it the capability of demonic energy or an instinctive fear of an unknown force? Cheongun felt the urge to step back in the face of the demonic energy he was experiencing for the first time.
They are strangers. They are not my sworn brothers nor disciples. Apart from being from the same righteous faction, there is no connection.
It was like hearing hallucinations, not his own voice yet sounding like his.
'You can run.'
The opponent had at least decades more cultivation than him. He could still run away now. A foe he couldn't match. He could face him another time. All he had to do was flee and come up with excuses.
But Cheongun did not do that.
'It's the same situation as in Unhyeon.'
The last scene of volume one of the Grand Heroes' Epic. The carriage and the woman inside under attack by mysterious assailants. Would Unhyeon have run away from that situation?
He had read the book hundreds of times. Not knowing the content of the second volume didn't mean he couldn't anticipate that scene.
'I decided to become a knight-errant.'
To stand against injustice and protect the weak. He came into the world to be a knight-errant worthy of the Wudang sect's name.
If he turned his head once, he'd keep turning it away. Cheongun gripped his sword to strengthen his resolve.
"Are you enduring? How amusing."
The black-clad man laughed toward Cheongun.
On a whim, Cheongun moved his internal energy to his head, and the clear Taoist qigong dispelled the murky demonic energy within. Was it the function of demonic energy?
His mind cleared. A mere moment is enough to be engulfed in deception.
Cheongun raised his sword to not turn away from injustice.
The black-clad man was the first to move.
Cheongun tried to use the principle of Softness Overcoming Hardness (柔能制剛), applying gentleness to overpower the fierce sword.
"Ugh!"
Cheongun grimaced as the sword broke through his softness.
The softness of Wudang was not lacking, but Cheongun's was insufficient. The ferocity was enough to shatter softness.
"Is this the best you can do?"
Cheongun clenched his teeth at the black-clad man's mockery. He barely managed to deflect the continuous onslaught.
This way, he will lose. He was forced to step back continuously, unable to parry the fierce attacks.
He should be utilizing Softness Overcoming Hardness (柔能制剛), but the truth was Hardness Can Shatter Softness (剛能斷柔). Strength can certainly sever softness, and while the sword of Wudang sufficed, his own was lacking.
'With my current level, it is insufficient. Then...'
His acceptance and decision were swift.
Cheongun stepped forward half a step quicker. Though just half a step, it was within the dominion of the black-clad man. A space only those with the courage to risk their necks for justice could enter.
"You try trifling tricks! In the face of the evil path, such things are futile!"
But courage wasn't recklessness. Half a step quicker in attack. That was successful in disrupting the strong point of the black-clad man.
Insufficient. His own level was not enough. He was too lacking to harness the softness of Wudang.
Should he give up? Cheongun pondered.
No. If that's the case, he would simply use another sword technique. The martial arts he had desperately learned over the past six months now began to unfold from Cheongun's fingertips.
'The Eight Trigrams change (一變).'
On Cheongun's sword that was parrying the black-clad man's strikes, a fierce energy gathered.
"Switching to hard swordplay now? Ridiculous!"
Hard swordplay met with hard swordplay. It was clear to see whose power was stronger. The weaker side would break mercilessly. The black-clad man infused more demonic energy into his sword.
'The Eight Trigrams change (一變) and never stop.'
"What is this?"
From soft swordplay to hard, then back from hard to soft. The fierce energy gathered on the blade stumbled in the face of softness.
"You dare to perform tricks!"
The black-clad man, flustered, poured even more demonic energy into his sword and swung it directly at Cheongun. A once-in-a-lifetime chance. If he hesitated now, the chance would slip away and the advantage would return to the black-clad man.
'Stand unshaken like Mount Tai, with the mind as clear as a bright mirror and still water, observing the opponent.'
As Cheongun stood unfazed and slightly twisted his body, the excessively forceful sword merely grazed his robe.
The errant path of the black-clad man's sword. A clear vulnerability.
'The Eight Trigrams change (一變), and one change leads to a thousand (千變), although it has not yet reached ten thousand (萬變).'
"What the heck are you pulling..."
The black-clad man hurried to recover his sword but...
'This should be enough to perfect Wudang's swordsmanship when I venture out into the world.'
Before that, the essence of swordsmanship created by the Eight Great Masters of Pengcheng wrought by Cheongun's fingertips penetrated the black-clad man's chest.
"Ugh!"
Strength and weakness. Contests may require a lot of time. But as deciding to act justly doesn't need much time, a moment is all it takes to distinguish life from death.
"Kekeke! This isn't the Wudang Sword! Could you not be from the Wudang Sect?!"
Clutching his chest, the black-clad man slowly retreated. The hole pierced through his chest. Though maintaining his life with internal energy, it was clear survival was unlikely.
"This, too, is Wudang's sword."
"Wudang has unleashed a tremendous monster into the world... To not participate until the end of the grand ambition. How regrettable...."
The black-clad man couldn't finish his sentence and eventually collapsed.
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The reversal of the situation was instantaneous.
The Daoist named Cheongun and the company's warriors drove off the black-clad men pressing their momentum, and no more appeared to join the pursuit.
Had they thwarted the first wave? With the unexpected arrival of reinforcements, not many were dead, and it seemed that Hwarin was unharmed as well.
"Can you stand?"
The delicate-faced Daoist who introduced himself as Cheongun approached me and extended his hand.
"...."
Without responding to his question, I just blankly stared at the Daoist for a moment. A knight-errant offering help just when needed.
It's as surprising as encountering the mythical creature known as a girlfriend in real life. Wow. So this world adheres to the rules of martial arts novels after all. Slightly moved.
"Are you alright?"
"Ah?! Yes, I'm fine. I can stand up. Ah!"
I tried to put strength into my legs to stand, but I staggered once again.
"Let me assist you."
I stood up with
the support of Cheongun.
"Do you have something to say to me?"
Why does he keep looking at me? Surely he's not... of that inclination? Does he have something to say? Cheongun looked at me for a while and then asked an out-of-the-blue question.
"May I ask, are you perhaps Korean?"