Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 88

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#088

“Yes, it’s not your fault—it’s all us foolish masters. How could we not have thought that these symptoms were side effects of the Martial Arts? We just kept thinking we were unlucky. I should have realized it when Do Pyeong-su suddenly became dim-witted. Ah! Do Pyeong-su!”
“What about Do Pyeong-su?”
“If it’s him, he could break this ice. He’s got strength even if he’s not bright.”
“No matter how strong, retrieving the ice crystal from inside the lake is impossible.”
“Want to make a wager?”
“I can’t bring myself to trample on a fallen sister’s back.”
“If I win, you teach me your tea-making secret. If you win, I’ll teach you how to make the fermented grain wine.”
After days of drowning herself in drink, Eun Bi-yeon was starting to develop a taste for it.
“You can’t say things like ‘I’m too despondent to tell you secrets.’ That’s nonsense.”
“Write down the tea-making method carefully. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“To find Do Pyeong-su. He’s probably at Ma-o-ryang’s place.”
“Ma-o-ryang?”
“That sort of fellow exists.”
“And why should I come along?”
“Better to go with me than to sit cooped up in this mountain valley pouring drinks. Don’t you think?”
Thus, Eun Bi-yeon’s first outing in forty years was decided.

***

It was a ramshackle hut nestled in the mountains. Even with detailed directions, Do Pyeong-su had to wander the vicinity for two hours before finding it.
Inside the hut were a woman who appeared to be in her thirties and a boy who looked to be around eight.
The beautiful woman looked as exhausted as if her beauty were being devoured away.
Though she had opened the door readily enough, the woman kept her hand on the sword hilt at her back and positioned the child behind her.
“Please show me proof that you’ve come from the Mantong Association.”
Do Pyeong-su’s expression turned bewildered.
“I didn’t get anything like that from that dung-fly.”
Only then did relief bloom across the woman’s face.
“I see. He did say you’d call the Guild Master that.”
Having been recognized in this peculiar manner, Do Pyeong-su spotted a carrying frame tucked in the corner of the hut.
“Is that by any chance what the person who completed the previous commission used?”
“Do you know them? To be honest, I’d hoped those two would come.”
“Those two or me—it’s all the same. Don’t worry.”
“Just a moment. Let me gather my things…….”
“Your things? Only the boy and I will be going.”
“That won’t do! I can’t send the young master alone!”
“My commission is for one child. Nothing more.”
The woman could never keep pace with Do Pyeong-su’s speed. He had no taste for the long journey ahead, and certainly no desire to drag dead weight along.
“I must go with the young master no matter what.”
The woman showed firm resolve, but Do Pyeong-su’s stubbornness ran far deeper.
“Then the two of you go. I’ll drop out.”
“But you’ve already accepted the commission!”
“Right. For the boy alone. You were never part of it.”
“But…….”
“No time. On my way here, I saw the Mudang Faction has spread themselves everywhere. If we don’t hurry, they’ll reach here.”
Do Pyeong-su’s resolute manner drained away even the will to draw the blade of persuasion.
The woman sighed helplessly and unfolded a map across the table.
“Then at least tell me the route you’ll take.”
Do Pyeong-su drew a straight line from their current location to Gansu Province’s southern mountain range.
“This is how we’re going.”
“I need more detailed directions.”
“There will be far more places without roads than with them.”
“But there will be mountains, rivers, and gorges—how do you intend to handle those?”
“Over the mountains, across the rivers with the Water-Walking Technique, and leap over the gorges. That’s how. Obvious things to ask about.”
Yeon Geum-hong and Seo Seok-san had come the same way initially, so they had no choice but to trust Do Pyeong-su’s account.
“You’re not thinking of wasting time here and getting caught by those Mudang Faction dogs, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then we leave at once. Come on, kid—get in.”
The child, who appeared to be eight or nine years old, had delicate features and a face that looked almost girlish.
‘Cute little thing. Our elder was about that age when he met us.’
Seeing the child always brought Geom U-bin to mind.
“It’s not ‘kid’—it’s Kang Ji-an. Kang Ji-an.”
“I don’t care what your name is. You just sit there in the frame and keep quiet.”
“It’s Kang Ji-an, I said. Kang Ji-an.”
“Whether you’re Kang Ji-an or not, I don’t care! Now get in!”
“It’s not ‘not’ Ji-an, it’s Kang Ji-an…”
Do Pyeong-su hoisted Kang Ji-an up onto the carrying frame and tied her down firmly so she wouldn’t fall.
“Kids are nothing but trouble. Except for our elder.”
The woman spoke to Do Pyeong-su as he shouldered the frame.
“Don’t run too fast, please. The young master’s stomach is upset—he might vomit.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
The road from Shaanxi Province to Gaghap County in Gansu Province was long—even for Do Pyeong-su.
With so much rough terrain, the journey to Ma-o-ryang’s house after reaching Gansu would take at least two weeks no matter how quickly they traveled.
It would be faster than the time Ma-o-ryang needed to steal the thousand-year ginseng and thousand-year lingzhi, but it was better to arrive early and wait just in case.
“Hold on tight.”
With that warning, Do Pyeong-su kicked off the ground.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
Kang Ji-an’s scream of her soul being torn away was inevitable. Yeon Geum-hong had at least deployed her Lightness Skill out of consideration for the child, but Do Pyeong-su had no such grace.
He cared only that Kang Ji-an didn’t fall, and ran at the maximum speed he could muster.
“Bleehhh!”
Kang Ji-an finally vomited, but not a drop touched Do Pyeong-su’s back—his speed was far too great.
As Do Pyeong-su crested a mountain, he felt a presence. On the narrow path through the hills stood a line of Mudang Faction priests with drawn swords, waiting for him.
“Stop right the—”
Before the word could be finished, Do Pyeong-su was already gone over their heads. There was no time to finish speaking, much less to swing a blade.
Startled, they gave chase, but caught only the briefest glimpse of Do Pyeong-su’s gray robes disappearing into the forest.
After running for about two hours, Kang Ji-an could bear it no longer and grabbed Do Pyeong-su’s hair. The wind was battering her face so hard that she couldn’t breathe, let alone speak.
Do Pyeong-su had no choice but to slow down.
“Are you…going to…bring me there as a corpse?”
“Can’t even handle this much? You’re pathetic.”
“It’s not that I’m weak—you’re just too fast! Bleehhh!”
Now only bitter bile came up. Kang Ji-an was in such a bad state that Do Pyeong-su was forced to rest for nearly an hour.
And that day, the Mudang Faction lay in wait on the road ahead once more. What could barely be called a path in the mountains, yet it was strange nonetheless.
Being stopped twice while running through these wilds at such a breakneck pace was certainly not normal.
Of course, this time the Mudang Faction priests achieved nothing either. Having learned from the first encounter, they swung their swords without warning, but couldn’t even cut Do Pyeong-su’s robes as he leaped over their heads.
Since he’d begun studying martial arts, this was perhaps the first time Do Pyeong-su had left his attackers alive.
Like any man, Do Pyeong-su grew weary. But the decision to make camp came purely because of Kang Ji-an.
If they kept running, he feared he really would have to carry her corpse the rest of the way.
‘Geum-hong and Seok-san made it look easy.’
Exhausted, Kang Ji-an collapsed into sleep the moment her head touched the ground, despite the discomfort of her rough bedding.
‘This is going to take longer than I thought.’
Do Pyeong-su lay down to rest as well. But a strange disturbance in the air kept his sleep at bay.
‘Again? How did they find me here?’
The mountains were so deep and ancient that human footsteps had perhaps never touched them. Yet the Mudang Faction seemed to know exactly where Do Pyeong-su was, gathering like ghosts.
He considered simply killing them all and sleeping in peace, but the reason Do Pyeong-su held back from slaughter was always the same: Geom U-bin.
‘I don’t know what reason they have, but I can’t kill these Mudang Faction dogs.’
Do Pyeong-su lifted the sleeping Kang Ji-an onto the carrying frame. She jolted awake in alarm.
“Why…why are you—”
“Mudang Faction. Hold on tight.”
“Can I scream?”
“Do whatever you want.”
Kang Ji-an screamed at the top of her lungs. The Mudang Faction had woven what they thought was an intricate net, but it was laughably flimsy against Do Pyeong-su.
If they’d known he wielded the Shadowless Ghost Blade, their encirclement would have been different. They probably wouldn’t have fought at all.
Most of the Mudang Faction members didn’t even see Do Pyeong-su pass; only those of sect-master rank or higher caught sight of him and cried out.
The hidden weapons fired by one of them didn’t even graze his shadow.
Do Pyeong-su realized with a start that the hidden weapon just fired at him belonged to Seonwu Gyeong of the Sichuan Dang Sect.
To the Bloodwind Four Lions, it was child’s play—but this arsenal of hidden weapons that made even first-rate masters of Murim tremble was Seonwu Gyeong.
‘Who is this boy, that the Mudang Faction would deploy Seonwu Gyeong just to capture him?’
A flicker of curiosity stirred in him. There was little he couldn’t uncover if he tried.
But knowing wouldn’t change anything, so it was easier on the conscience to remain ignorant.
Right now, the only thing that mattered to Do Pyeong-su was erasing the side effects plaguing Geom U-bin. Every scrap of his focus had to be devoted to that alone.

***

The hunter’s voice was low as he spoke to Wang So-bang.
“I’m telling you this because it’s you—don’t get greedy. For the last three years, no one who’s climbed past Neooul Rock has come back alive.”
Another hunter drinking beside them chimed in.
“There’s one—that woman with flowers in her hair, surname Bae.”
“Oh! That Bae woman who still doesn’t know the difference between her backside and her elbows?”
To hunters and herb-gatherers, Cheonun Mountain was a forbidden land beyond all comparison to Cheonseok Mountain.
“Catch yourself a blood bear from Cheonseok Mountain and change your fortune. But don’t even think about hunting the blood tiger.”
That was when Wang So-bang spoke.
“The blood bear is already caught.”
“What?”
Wang So-bang pointed at Seo Seok-san, who was sipping tea in silence.
“This man broke its neck with a single strike.”
It had taken two blows, but there was no reason to disappoint them with the truth.
“A blood bear in one strike?”
“That’s what I’m telling you. So don’t worry about the blood tiger.”
“The blood tiger is far stronger than the blood bear.”
Whether from the belief that a tiger was mightier than a bear, everyone seemed to think so.
“Then two strikes should do for the blood tiger, shouldn’t it?”
At the sudden question, Seo Seok-san merely nodded.
“If he laid low a blood bear with one blow, he might be able to catch a blood tiger. But still, it’s best not to venture up Cheonun Mountain.”
“Why?”
“I mentioned that Bae woman with flowers in her hair before. Now she doesn’t even know her own mind.”
“What’s wrong with Bae?”
“She’s possessed by a ghost.”
Wang So-bang let out a laugh of disbelief.
“Ghosts? Where are they in this world? After hunting for twenty years, you still believe in such things?”
If one believed ghosts existed, one could never bring oneself to hunt at all.
“They really do exist. That Bae woman at least came back alive. Of everyone who climbed past Neooul Rock, she’s the only one. Cheonseok Mountain is at least not a complete wipeout.”
Cheonseok Mountain did see some hunters return alive—unless they went up with the specific intent of capturing the blood bear.
“You’re saying everyone who went up there died? Everyone except that Bae woman with flowers in her hair?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Some of them were even people with real standing in Murim, but it didn’t matter. That Bae woman with flowers in her hair just keeps saying ‘Ghost, ghost.’ That’s all that comes out of her mouth.”
The more he heard, the more it seemed ghosts truly existed. Of course, Seo Seok-san could only sigh.
“Just tell me where the blood tiger roams. Ghost or goblin, I’ll handle it myself.”
“Ah, I worry your precious life might fly away. Besides, So-bang here is my childhood friend too. Never mind others—So-bang, don’t you go there. Have I ever lied to you?”
The hunter believed with absolute certainty that a ghost lived on Cheonun Mountain.
For a hunter, Jang Yi-man, Wang So-bang’s childhood friend, was unusually free of exaggeration.
This was why Wang So-bang felt a creeping dread. No matter how fierce a blood tiger was, it was still a beast of flesh and blood—there were ways to face it.
But a ghost was something even a master of Murim—even a grandfather of masters—could do nothing against.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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