Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#004

Ja-gang-cheon followed their words.

Because he couldn’t make a proper judgment.

“Pull him up!”

He stayed still as they tied his body with rope.

‘I can untie this anytime.’

He remained calm because he didn’t feel threatened.

“Pull him up!”

Ja-gang-cheon’s body was connected to the large boat’s rope and lifted upward.

As he crossed over the railing, he could finally see the scene on the boat.

Those with weapons and those without.

The distinction was clearly visible.

Those with weapons were confident and relaxed, but those without cowered and watched nervously.

Among them was the young boy who had sent him a warning.

The young boy holding a small bucket with chains on his feet looked at Ja-gang-cheon with displeasure, then quickly turned his gaze away.

‘That man must be the captain.’

The one giving orders was a man in his late forties with unusually tall height and burly muscles.

He had the characteristic bronze skin of a sailor and fierce eyes, with rough and cruel nature showing in his expression.

“Who are you? Why were you drifting alone at sea?”

“I came out on a boat from an uninhabited island.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. My parents were shipwrecked.”

The captain felt strange.

‘Why is he so confident?’

The young boy answered with a voice that showed no trembling despite being captured.

“A few days of starvation will drain his strength.”

The captain spoke to the bald man who had pulled up the young boy.

“Lock him in the lower cargo hold and don’t give him a drop of water.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The bald man roughly pushed Ja-gang-cheon’s shoulder and led him below deck.

There were stairs leading down to the lower deck filled with fishy smell, and in the space mixed with various foul odors, people in despair were crouched with their bodies leaning against the wall.

‘They’re tied up.’

Looking closer, they weren’t leaning but were tied to posts, which made it look that way.

Unable to go to the bathroom, they had relieved themselves where they sat, their bodies covered in filth.

‘I heard prisons are like this.’

The cargo hold below the boat was being operated like a prison.

Thud.

The bald man roughly pushed Ja-gang-cheon from behind. Then he tied both arms behind his back just like the others and connected this to a post.

“Hey. Don’t you understand the situation? Are you too scared to think?”

Slap. Slap.

The bald man mockingly hit the cheeks of Ja-gang-cheon who was sitting with his back against the wall.

When there was still no reaction, he struck quite hard for the third time.

Smack!

“This bastard…”

Ja-gang-cheon’s expression still showed no fear as he stared at him. The bald man, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu from those eyes, gritted his teeth and said.

“I’ll be back soon. Your eyes will look at me differently then.”

Then he shouted to the side.

“Cheon-gu! Don’t give this bastard anything. If you’re caught giving him anything, I’ll throw you to the sharks!”

After the threatening bald man left the cargo hold, someone stood in front of Ja-gang-cheon.

“I warned you they were pirates.”

It was the young boy who had sent the warning from the railing.

“Why are you angry?”

“Those bastards got what they wanted.

At those words, Ja-gang-cheon laughed.

“Are you crazy?”

“No. I’m not crazy.”

“But you’re laughing?”

“I wanted to meet you. I was wondering how to find you, so this is fortunate.”

Ja-gang-cheon extended his hand. The young boy called Cheon-gu was startled.

“H-how did you free that hand?”

“Oh. This?”

When Ja-gang-cheon extended both hands forward, the broken chains fell to the floor.

“More importantly, I have something to ask. Why did you help me?”

Cheon-gu was confused by the current situation but didn’t hide his true feelings.

“Just because I’m in hell doesn’t mean I need to drag others into hell too.”

“You’re like our father.”

“What?”

“A warm person. Oh! That doesn’t mean our mother is cold.”

Cheon-gu thought, ‘He really is crazy.’

The problem was that the crazy kid had enough strength to break chains. Moreover, he asked with an innocent face.

“Who’s the strongest among the pirates?”

“Why are you asking that? Don’t tell me you’re going to fight?”

“If I can win by fighting, I’ll fight. If not, I’ll have to think of another way.”

Cheon-gu looked at the chains fallen on the floor once more.

They looked like wooden vines that had been twisted and torn apart.

Neither he nor any of the pirates seemed to have such strength.

“The captain is the strongest. That’s why the other crew members can’t challenge the captain.”

“Huh? That uncle with the bristly beard from earlier? That uncle is the strongest?”

When Cheon-gu nodded, Ja-gang-cheon tilted his head.

“He didn’t look that strong. Then what about the bald uncle who slapped my cheek earlier?”

“That bastard isn’t particularly strong. But he’s the most cruel. He kills people for fun…”

Cheon-gu’s body trembled. Bad memories came flooding back.

Then, Ja-gang-cheon slightly lifted Cheon-gu’s clothes.

There was a torn wound on his side that hadn’t been properly treated, leaving an ugly scar.

“So the captain uncle is the strongest?”

“Are you really going to fight?”

“Meeting you made me certain. I think those people deserve to die.”

Ja-gang-cheon spoke of murder with an innocent tone and expression.

“You’re not really crazy, are you?”

“No.”

“Then be careful. The Ghost Fleet guys don’t go easy on you just because you’re young.”

Ghost Fleet.

It means drifting the sea like ghosts.

Even after hearing that name, Ja-gang-cheon only smiled.

At the same time.

Boxes and items wrapped in leaves were lined up on the deck.

“What is all this?”

Quite a lot of items had come out of the crude boat that was practically half-destroyed.

“Oh? Captain! It’s promissory notes!”

The captain’s expression brightened at the mention of promissory notes.

The luxurious box painted with jade was sealed tightly with hardened clay. As if that wasn’t enough, bundles of paper meticulously wrapped in leaves emerged from inside.

“How much is all this worth?”

The smallest denomination started at one hundred nyang, with some worth as much as ten thousand nyang.

“I thought I’d just picked up a coin on the road, but a treasure trove has rolled my way.”

But then a strange thought occurred to him.

“If these are promissory notes, what about the other items?”

It was the moment when the value of what he’d considered mere worthless cargo began to rise.

“Come to think of it, the boxes are quite luxurious too.”

“But Captain, isn’t this the Evil Sect’s symbol?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

One of the men recognized the pattern on the box, but only earned mockery from the others.

“Are you saying this is the Evil Sect’s treasure or something?”

The captain snorted coldly and opened the box.

Inside were ten books, packaged as meticulously as the promissory notes they’d seen earlier.

‘This feels ominous somehow.’

When he peeled away one leaf from the top, a single clearly visible character appeared.

-Blood Net True Scripture.

So shocked that he stumbled backward and fell on his rear, the captain dropped the book.

As a martial art symbolizing Cheonma, it was a name that anyone who lived by the sword couldn’t fail to recognize.

“What is this…?”

Just then, the First Mate who had opened another box shouted.

“C-Captain! Look at this.”

He unwrapped a long object wrapped in leaves. What was revealed was a sword, and the engraved patterns and feel of the blade were extraordinary.

Most of all, the inscription clearly written on the handle caught their eyes.

-Moon Fang Sword.

“Isn’t this the Lord of the Namgung Clan’s sword?”

Things had taken a strange turn.

The Blood Net True Scripture and the Moon Fang Sword.

These weren’t names that pirates who roamed the sea plundering merchant ships could handle.

The captain soon regained his composure.

“They must be fakes.”

If they were expertly crafted fakes, it would make sense.

“Are they people who sell fakes to the martial world? If so, the promissory notes would make sense too.”

But his instincts sounded a warning.

“That face and expression weren’t those of a swindler.”

“Then what do we do?”

“G-go get that bastard! Right now!”

He planned to ask the man directly. But there was no need.

“You’ve already opened them?”

The man who should have been tied up in the cargo hold had come up to the deck.

Thud!

Moreover, he easily threw an adult larger than himself.

It was the subordinate who had been standing guard in front of the cargo hold.

The subordinate who loved fishy smells and was perfect for cargo duty already had his neck twisted backward.

In fact, Ja-gang-cheon had been seriously contemplating just moments before.

-There must always be a just reason for unleashing killing techniques. Indiscriminate slaughter will eventually come back to haunt you.

-You must never leave future troubles behind. Martial artists never forget grudges and favors. Especially grudges have a way of coming back to face you.

His father and mother had said different things.

If possible, he wanted to act in a way that satisfied both of their words.

‘This should be the just reason father spoke of, right?’

Making that judgment, he broke the neck of the guard. Even so, an unpleasant feeling remained at his fingertips.

“Killing people doesn’t feel very good.”

Ja-gang-cheon wiped his hands on his clothes and checked the opened boxes.

“They said even one of these would bring a bloodstorm to the martial world.”

“You, what kind of person are you?”

The captain shouted in panic, but Ja-gang-cheon didn’t answer. Instead, he moved his body.

Crack!

Ja-gang-cheon’s foot aimed for the captain’s knee.

The movement was so fast that he could only recognize reality after his knee was completely shattered.

“I’ll give you an answer later.”

“Argh! What are you doing! Kill this bastard!”

At the captain’s command, the crew rushed at him all at once.

‘They’re slow.’

Even surrounded on all sides, Ja-gang-cheon felt no threat.

Since there was no reason to enjoy this situation, he immediately counterattacked.

Crack!

Thud!

One person fell with each attack.

Some died, others collapsed with parts of their bodies broken.

It was when he had dealt with ten men in an instant.

“Behind you!”

At the sharp shout, the man who had been crouching low to approach Ja-gang-cheon from behind was startled.

It was the Bald Man who had slapped him in the cargo hold.

‘I knew.’

Ja-gang-cheon didn’t bother to mention that fact and grabbed the arm of the Bald Man approaching from behind.

When the hand holding the axe was caught in midair, the Bald Man aimed for Ja-gang-cheon’s stomach with his other hand.

He held a rusty iron spike with a sharpened tip.

Thud!

Ja-gang-cheon didn’t bother to block the iron spike. Instead, he struck the chest with his fist before it could reach him.

The Bald Man with his ribcage collapsed flew for a while, then lay on the ground with his chest heaving two or three times. Then he moved no more.

“Why did you come out? I told you to stay in the cargo hold.”

Ja-gang-cheon gestured for Cheon-gu, whom he had warned earlier, to go back inside.

“Behind! Behind! Focus!”

Ja-gang-cheon dodged the sword aimed at the back of his head as if he had seen it, then struck the back of the head of the one who passed by, having lost his balance.

The pirate collapsed with his head cracked, and after that, the fight became focused as Cheon-gu had said.

It took only a moment for all the pirates to fall. The difference was that overwhelming.

“Could you check the numbers? See if there are any left.”

Cheon-gu, who had been standing dazed, hurried over.

“But why did you spare those guys?”

“Because we need people to move the boat.”

“There are people from the Merchant Guild.”

“Merchant Guild?”

“The people captured here are originally Merchant Guild members who operated trading ships. They met these guys at sea and had their ship stolen and were imprisoned.”

More important than their story was that they could operate the ship.

“Then these people aren’t necessary?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“Got it. Then I’ll take care of them.”

Ja-gang-cheon first approached the captain.

“Wait!”

“Why?”

“That, that bastard—can I kill him?”

Cheon-gu trembled as he looked at the Captain.

“The Vice Guild Master was my benefactor. He took me in when I was an orphan and gave me work at the Merchant Guild, but that guy killed him. He deliberately left him breathing and threw him into the sea. To make him die more painfully.”

“Why would he do such a thing?”

“For fun, he said.”

Hearing this, Ja-gang-cheon picked up one of the swords scattered on the ground and held it out to Cheon-gu.

“Can you do it? I just did it for the first time myself, and honestly, it’s not a pleasant experience.”

Cheon-gu wondered ‘First time?’ but didn’t bother to show it.

“Thank you.”

Sword in hand, Cheon-gu steeled his eyes and charged at the Captain.

His grip on the sword was clumsy, but his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Thunk!

Cheon-gu finally drove the blade into the Captain’s neck.

The sword tip caught on bone and didn’t penetrate completely, but it was enough to take his life.

“Guh…”

The Captain, breathing laboriously, glared at Cheon-gu with resentful eyes. Meeting that gaze, Cheon-gu looked at his own blood-stained hands, swallowed dryly, and stepped back.

Despite his resolve, taking a life was not an easy thing to do.

Thud.

As Cheon-gu stepped back, he bumped into something and spun around in alarm.

“It’s okay.”

Ja-gang-cheon patted Cheon-gu’s shoulder and confirmed the Captain’s death.

“He threw the Vice Guild Master into the sea while still alive?”

Ja-gang-cheon asked, looking at the crew members who were still breathing.

“Then we should return the favor.”

Ja-gang-cheon threw the entire Pirate Crew into the sea, making no distinction between the living and the dead.

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