The Reincarnated Hunter Sweeps Up All Fortunes - Chapter 8

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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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Episode 8
Episode 8
Heavenly Silkworm Silk is thread drawn from the cocoon of a wild silkworm that has become a spirit creature.
Just thread, though—what’s the big deal?
‘Wrong.’
It resists being torn or cut by ordinary force, doesn’t burn easily in flame, and even possesses waterproofing capabilities.
Beyond that, it has useful properties like negating some attacks channeled through Internal Energy—a must-have for any martial artist who values their skin.
But there’s a catch.
Spirit-touched wild silkworms are so rare they’re absurdly valuable.
‘Enough to make even high-grade silk seem cheap.’
I couldn’t fathom why an upper garment woven from such precious Heavenly Silkworm Silk was gathering dust in some squalid cloth shop.
‘Ahhh! So sweet, so incredibly sweet. My teeth are going to rot.’
For Im Gang, sucking on this honeyed windfall was pure bliss.
Well… even if it looks worn and threadbare, the performance should hold up fine.
Though the durability does give me pause.
[Worn Upper Garment Woven from Heavenly Silkworm Silk]
⌞
Defense: 10 (-90)
Durability: 22 / 100
Special Properties: Waterproof, Dust-Resistant, Partial Negation of Internal Energy Attacks, Irreparable
…For ten copper coins, it was an absolute steal.
Defense at minus-ninety, leaving only ten—how is that anything but a disaster?
It’s like taking a hammer to the skull.
Yeah.
Clothing woven from plain linen or silk has a defense rating of one.
A defense rating of ten is absolutely respectable.
And on top of that, it has Bronze Body Technique built in?
‘Cheap blade work from third-rate ronin—I’ll tank it easy.’
With winter bearing down, I picked up an outer coat and a few extra layers, burning through another fifty copper coins.
Ugh… my head…
The moment my pockets emptied, my mood plummeted into something dark.
My ancient ancestor Homo erectus managed just fine without clothes.
Humanity hadn’t evolved—it had devolved.
* * *
On the way back, I stopped by a street food stall.
I’d burned through an obscene amount of calories escaping that downward spiral.
The stall was my usual haunt—the noodle shop where I grabbed most of my meals.
Anything else would be a luxury.
After three days of spending, what kind of third-rate ronin would dare splurge?
There happened to be one empty seat.
‘Oh, perfect! This spot’s mine!’
I hurried over and was about to place my order when—
“Fancy running into you here.”
A familiar voice, dripping with mockery, came from behind along with a presence I couldn’t miss.
A voice I knew.
A chill ran down my spine like ice water.
I ran a quick Qi Sensing sweep.
‘Tch… these dirty bastards.’
Three of them. No—four.
Im Gang gritted his teeth and turned slowly around.
…This was bad.
These were the same thugs I’d put holes in with my hidden blade last time.
Except for one.
That one I’d never seen before.
New faces showed up in Hangzhou every day, so there was nothing strange about that.
But still…
‘He’s looking at me like he’s itching for a fight.’
I could taste the urge to draw steel.
When a fresh recruit from the Ronin society smiles at his target like that, it’s a challenge.
In other words, this bastard was looking for trouble.
But he holds back.
There aren’t enough of them.
“Ahem. ……I just remembered an appointment.”
“You too?”
“Pay—pay before you go……!”
The ordinary folk sitting on either side jumped up in alarm and fled.
Only the noodle shop owner wept.
I’m sorry……
Im Gang apologized inwardly and rose with a crooked grin.
“Splitting hairs?”
“We’re just making a living, aren’t we? You know how it goes—Sheath the Blade Without Resentment, No Questions After the Deed, One Settling, One Clearing.”
“……What does that mean?”
“Once the job’s done, we clear our personal feelings too.”
He answered the ronin’s stupid question.
All these ignorant bastards.
They can’t understand anything unless you spell it out for them.
“Anyway. Everyone sit down. You must be hungry—I’ll buy the next round. Noodles with meat and coriander? Or extra herbs? Just say the word.”
“This punk thinks he’s funny……!”
“Ha. You know how it is with the Ronin society—we do what we do to eat. Let’s not air our dirty laundry outside, yeah? Tensions are high in Hangzhou these days anyway.”
Im Gang laughed smoothly through the ronin’s curses, keeping his ease.
Getting riled and trading insults here would mark him as an amateur.
So would this fool who dragged commission business into the open streets.
Amateurs don’t live long in the martial world.
In the Ronin society, where betrayal lurks around every corner, they die even faster.
You had to watch out for those who hide blades in their laughter more than for those who strut about flaunting raw strength.
Just as people who smile through anything always rose to the top.
‘Is that what they call the Hidden Blade in Laughter?’
One thing he was certain of: if it came to fighting, he wouldn’t lose.
The Heavenly Silkworm Silk upper garment and Bronze Body Technique, plus just over seven years of Internal Energy, and with Great Force Palm Strike, grip strength that surpassed a male gorilla.
He didn’t know the real skill of the one who kept splitting hairs.
But the rest of them he could tear apart with barely a scratch.
Think about it.
Surviving alone in the Ronin society at barely eighteen—was that easy?
‘If I didn’t have my past life’s memories, I’d have been dead long ago. No question about it.’
All hail the past life.
Im Gang found himself praising his past life once more.
And he set about soothing the men before him.
“Tell you what. I get it, I get it. I’ll add meat and plenty of herbs. Owner, make it for all of us. And cover what those folks who ran out owed too—no more tears now.”
“Thank you so much, sir! I’ll make it delicious for you.”
“Come on now. Sit. Owner’s going to cry at this rate. Want some liquor? Soju? Let’s toss back a shot like real men and settle this, yeah?”
He grabbed their hands and pulled them over, and the bastards shuffled along before sitting down.
The one splitting hairs was still at it.
He wanted to cave the idiot’s skull in right then.
“Sirs…… I mean, esteemed sirs, could you look kindly on this rude young fellow……”
Crack.
Im Gang’s head bowed humbly as he spoke with a smile.
He’d been struck on the back of the skull.
For now, he bore it.
Yes.
Just for now.
* * *
Im Gang wiped the blood from his blade.
With cloth? Never.
Ronin clean their blades on the enemy’s clothes.
“Ugh, u-urgh. You bastard……!”
“Haa…… Sire. I told you to keep things civil, didn’t I? How much better would it be if you had? I wouldn’t hold a grudge against you, and you wouldn’t be squirming like a bug on my blade right now.”
Im Gang poked the dying bastard’s cheek as blood dripped from his fingers.
The bastard gurgled something unintelligible.
Only the wet sound of air escaping from a punctured lung.
Honestly.
I don’t understand why people pick fights when they’re barely scraping by day to day.
Do they have that little to do?
Or is it a medieval martial arts world lacking dopamine?
‘That’s not wrong at all……!’
Even before his rebirth and orphaning, Im Gang had thought this place was genuinely tedious.
There’s nothing to do here.
Drugs or gambling, watching martial exhibitions—that’s all there is.
Tossing arrows into jars or cricket fights are honestly worn out.
Maybe children enjoy them, but for adults it’s all dead air.
“……So that’s why these men have such rotten character?”
If you think about it—dopamine-starved brains accumulate stress until personalities shatter.
Okay, understood.
Seems I was short on compassion after all.
Did my mind grow cruder as my body grew smaller?
The Im Gang of my past life, called a professional in understanding, exists no longer……!
“What…… the hell are you talking about…….”
“Woof.”
Thud.
Im Gang finished the man with his blade and understood.
“Ah. The blade’s dirty again.”
I’d just cleaned it—should’ve left it alone.
He wiped it down roughly and searched the man’s clothes.
Thirteen coins—enough for a meal, at least.
He didn’t take the man’s weapon.
There wasn’t anything to take!
Wondering why an amateur would carry nothing, he realized they’d been stripped clean.
That’s why he was furious.
The culprit could only be the Yeom Wang Chae.
It’s just speculation, but a ronin without weapons is impossible unless it’s them.
“Come to think of it, there was a rumor that Yeom Wang Chae was going to make one last big score and disappear.”
Great. Stepped right in it.
Im Gang scratched his head and muttered.
He disliked loan sharks, but his master had warned him never to get tangled up with Yeom Wang Chae and not to accept food or drink from them.
They collected debts from the dead—how expensive could a meal or a drink be?
It’s a mercy the Black Blade Leader is dead.
If he weren’t, he’d be raging about collecting the blood debt.
“Damn. I’ll need to lie low for a while…….”
There was no need to hide for long.
When Yeom Wang Chae makes one last big score and vanishes, it means something dangerous is coming their way.
Well…… it’s predictable enough.
They probably touched someone they shouldn’t have.
It happens surprisingly often in Hangzhou.
A Heterodox sect martial artist gets into a scuffle with another guest at a pleasure house and beats them—then it turns out they’re the child of a high-ranking official.
The next day, the Heterodox sect martial artist’s corpse turns up, naturally.
For much the same reasons, Im Gang decided to disappear for a few days himself.
He had enough money.
His master had also shown him a place to flee to in case of urgent need.
The next morning, before dawn.
He quickly purchased dry rations to last several days.
Only those with the longest shelf life.
Right.
The very foundation of orthodox martial arts—Bigu Pills and dry rations.
After that, he headed to the place his master had shown him.
* * *
Ding!
[You have entered the dungeon ‘Cheonli Shintu’s Third-Class Secret Grotto’.]
Damn it, Master!
Starting today, he was upgrading from a limited-time master to a permanent one.
* * *
The reason Im Gang had entered the dungeon of Cheonli Shintu’s Third-Class Secret Grotto was so absurd it drew sighs.
Since it was autumn and a bit chilly, I’d ventured deep into a corner to sleep when my hand brushed against something and the floor suddenly gave way with a clang—down I tumbled.
“No way.”
They built Cheonli Shintu’s Third-Class Secret Grotto in such a ramshackle place?
The location my master had told me about was beneath a bridge spanning the canal waterway.
More precisely, a secluded corner under that bridge—it had been carved deep like a cavern and hidden behind overgrown brush, making it nearly impossible to find.
At first, I’d thought he was rather petty, keeping such a place to himself alone.
But then I was forcibly entered into the dungeon, and my thinking changed.
“Wait, why is the Secret Grotto being treated as a dungeon?”
No clue.
My past life is my past life.
My present life is my present life.
All I could guess was that the system operated differently now.
But holing up in here for days without doing anything? That’s going to drive me mad.
“Map, Trap Detection.”
Ding!
[You have discovered an ‘arrow’ trap.]
[You have gained experience points and grown.]
[Your proficiency with certain skills has increased.]
Oh…… this is perfect.
This is a brand new dungeon.

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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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