Darkness had fallen over the streets. The cold night air was silent.
Although Hangzhou was a city of entertainnt, as dawn approached, it still quieted down.
It was similar to how places like Hongdae or Gangnam in Korea beco quiet around 4 AM.
‘People can’t make noise forever. The inn staff need to sleep too.’
During the Tiger Hour (3-5 AM), Jin Cheon-hee woke up early and began circulating his qi.
Despite overeating the day before, his stomach felt fine.
‘It’s good to be young.’
Perhaps due to the delicious food, he was already feeling hungry again.
‘Should I have stead egg whites for breakfast?’
It’s similar to Korean stead eggs.
The difference is that it uses egg whites and tofu, stead thoroughly.
It’s delicious with soy sauce on top, and also tasty with chili oil.
‘And then I’ll demolish so more dongpo pork.’
His mouth watered.
In three days, no, now just two days, he’d have to say goodbye to this place’s dongpo pork.
It was a truly regrettable thing.
Gradually clearing his mind of distractions, he regulated his breathing.
The pure five elents qi slowly circulated through Jin Cheon-hee’s danjeon.
It was the usual heavenly circulation.
After completing one cycle, he slowly expanded his qi sense.
Unlike in the mountains, in the city, he could sense the qi of many people.
Amidst the complexity, the not-yet-awakened vitality of the city was caught in Jin Cheon-hee’s qi sense.
‘This is training too.’
Fights don’t only happen in the mountains. Perhaps cities like this are where the most fights occur.
Where there are many people, there are many grudges and favors.
That’s when he heard a pitiful voice.
“Brother! No! Please!”
“Ah! Aaagh!”
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes snapped open.
It was the sound of soone being beaten. And it was a child’s voice.
If Jin Cheon-hee hadn’t expanded his qi sense, he wouldn’t have heard such a faint sound.
Jin Cheon-hee let out a small sigh.
“Right. This is the martial world. Even Earth has lawless zones, so this place wouldn’t be any different.”
As Jin Cheon-hee got up, the yellow dog also rose.
Sniff!
It seed to have noticed its master’s movent.
Jin Cheon-hee wrapped the magical item given by Yoo Ho around his wrist and said to the yellow dog:
“I’m going out, but why don’t you just rest?”
Woof! – Master. I’ll follow.
I knew it would say that. It’s a dog after all.
Jin Cheon-hee scratched the yellow dog’s head vigorously.
“Run away if it gets dangerous. Got it?”
Whine! – Yes.
This seed understandable even without Yoo Ho’s magical item.
Jin Cheon-hee opened the window and lightly stepped outside.
Jumping from the top of a four-story pavilion could be called a fall. But Jin Cheon-hee’s figure landed quietly as if he had just glided down.
It was thanks to using his Heaven’s Foresight.
The Heaven’s Foresight of the Zhuge family was famous enough that even the proud Namgoong family would lower their heads to it.
Jin Cheon-hee moved his steps, walking across the rooftops towards the source of the sound.
Even as he stepped on the sowhat old tiles, not even the faintest sound could be heard.
What was strange was that his movents were so unpredictable that it was difficult to guess where he was heading.
‘It was close to the inn…’
Looking down at the spider web-like alleys, Jin Cheon-hee moved cautiously.
Before long, he saw the source of the sound.
Seven muscular n appeared. Four of them had drawn swords and were holding them to the necks of four children, boys and girls, while the remaining two were beating a boy.
The largest one sat on a worn chair, puffing on tobacco and giggling as he watched the boy being beaten.
‘Wow, textbook villains.’
The kind of extras who would fall to the protagonist’s fists without even putting up a fight.
The problem was that Jin Cheon-hee couldn’t intervene imdiately because the lives of the children held hostage were in danger.
Since they seed to have at least so rudintary internal energy, he had to approach carefully.
“Hehehe. Hey, Sama Hyeon! If you had just joined earlier, this wouldn’t have happened. Who told you to act so tough with your asly martial arts?”
The boy being beaten by the two n forced himself to stand up.
The boy spat out blood and said:
“Kekeke… Have all the brothels in Hangzhou died out lately? I guess there are guys who want to fool around with kids like these? Are you holding a morial service in a dog house? Your family tree must be quite sothing~”
The boy instead mocked the man. It was a strange laugh that sounded like tal being scratched by fingernails.
The man’s face crumpled.
“Is it because you haven’t been beaten enough? You still have so energy left. Fine… I was going to let you off easy out of respect for the late Master Seok.”
Whack!
As the man kicked, the boy’s body flew and rolled like trash.
There wasn’t a single part of his body that wasn’t injured.
“Child, that’s how everyone grows up. You think I didn’t go through the sa? When the higher-ups order it, people like us have to follow. You’re still suffering like this because you don’t understand that.”
Thud, thud, thud!
It was a terrible sight to see grown n beating a single child.
“Don’t hit his face. A rich old man really wants this kid’s face.”
At those words, the n beat every part of the boy except his face.
“Let’s not waste words. Make your choice. Will you join now, or die here? I saw you received so silver yesterday, didn’t you?”
Jin Cheon-hee sighed at those words.
‘Being a villain, I guess he figured out the silver I gave too.’
It was a strange thing.
The pain must have been considerable, but the boy laughed more and more maniacally as he was beaten.
It almost looked like a ritual of giving up on life.
“Haha, living alone among dogs is killing . Hahaha, kids, how about it? Want to die together~? Rather than seeing such filthy sights and rolling in this muck… that… might be better.”
Black blood flowed from the boy’s mouth.
“B-brother…”
“Big brother…!”
The children no longer tried to stop the boy.
A filthy gutter. They were sewer rats.
They had learned to beg while performing in troupes under Master Seok who had taken them in, but nothing had changed.
Children were very useful.
After Master Seok passed away from old age, there was nothing left to protect the children.
“Huh? Look at this bastard. He still has the energy to talk like that? You’re tough. Well then, no choice. Boys, slo… uh… uuaaargh!”
The thug leader scread and fell forward.
It was the yellow dog.
The yellow dog had silently approached and bitten the man’s crotch.
Woof! – Master’s order. Do! Blood! Fight!
The yellow dog was a testicle destroyer descended upon the martial world.
The mont the thugs all turned to look at the dog, Jin Cheon-hee used that signal to drop down among them.
He grabbed the wrists of two n at once and bent them backwards.
“Aaaaargh!”
Crack!
Perhaps his strength control was a bit clumsy.
What would have normally ended in a simple dislocation this ti resulted in white bone protruding due to the pressure twisting the muscles.
It was an open dislocation.
But he had no intention of going easy on thugs who threatened children with swords to force them into brothels.
“Who the hell are you!”
“What good would it do you to know!”
Whack!
Jin Cheon-hee kicked the knee of one of the remaining n with all his might.
He felt the sensation of the kneecap shattering.
He grabbed the clothes of the last one, throwing him off balance, and struck his Adam’s apple.
As the children held hostage were freed, the boy, Sama Hyeon, got up.
He lunged at the adult who had been beating him.
Sama Hyeon’s eyes shone coldly under the moon.
The boy’s hand covered his enemy’s face.
Rip-
The facial skin was torn off.
“Aaaaargh!”
Everyone was shocked at the bizarre act of peeling off facial skin rather than attacking the facial bones.
Sama Hyeon said:
“It’s the brother who gave us silver. There really was a person in this muck after all~”
Trendous grip strength. Plus the strange attack thod of tearing off the opponent’s facial skin.
Seeing this, Jin Cheon-hee realized:
‘You were… the Hao Sect Leader?’
With no more hostages, Sama Hyeon defeated the two adults with a lighter heart.
A series of quite cruel hand techniques followed.
***
The fight was over.
Sama Hyeon exhaled heavily, then straightened his back.
The boy’s hands were drenched in blood.
The boy casually shook off the blood with a face grinning like he was acting.
There was no trembling sensation or even a slight feeling of guilt.
He would have had the sa expression if he had just wrung a chicken’s neck.
Tearing off the enemy’s facial skin.
The thod was terribly cruel. But if Sama Hyeon had shown rcy in his actions, thinking it was cruel, what would have happened to the children?
‘Many things are mixed in the martial world.’
Jin Cheon-hee had seen righteous sect mbers dressed in white.
Their white silk glead like snow in the sunlight.
Conversely, he had also seen demon cult mbers dressed in black. They called themselves the “Dark” and carried out their doctrine under the orders of their cult leader.
He had also seen the evil Hao Sect.
He had pondered much while treating Mu-hwa and Mu-wol.
And here.
In the muck sowhere that was neither righteous sect, evil sect, nor demon cult, there was a boy.
The future Hao Sect Leader, Sama Hyeon.
Still just a boy in his early teens.
“Are you alright?”
At Jin Cheon-hee’s words, Sama Hyeon replied:
“It’s nothing. Brother~ We’ve been making good money lately, so those Iron Head Sect bastards tried to get in on it. Since our kids are pretty and I’m quite good-looking too, they wanted us to do so prostitution on the side~ Kill two birds with one stone. Dig a canal and catch a crayfish~”
It was a terrible story. Yet Sama Hyeon spoke of it with a smile, as if it were a common occurrence.
After comforting each of the crying children one by one, he said to Jin Cheon-hee:
“Brother, I’m grateful enough for that silver coin to kowtow three tis, and thank you for saving our kids too. But getting involved with folks like us won’t do you any good~”
With those final words, Sama Hyeon waved his hand.
“Judging by your manner, you seem like so precious son from a famous sect, so I’d feel bad if you got caught up in rumors because of us. Please give us lots of silver next ti too~ Kids, say your thanks.”
At Sama Hyeon’s gesture, the children made fist-and-palm salutes.
“Thank you, great hero!”
“We’re truly grateful.”
“Thank you for saving us.”
“…”
“Ah, that one’s mute so he can’t speak~ Please understand his salute. Well then, we’ll be going!”
Jin Cheon-hee was troubled by Sama Hyeon’s attitude.
It was because he recalled a line from the novel. It was the dialogue when Yeo Ha-ryoon encountered the Hao Sect Leader, Sama Hyeon, in Hangzhou.
– Oh? Even the demon cult has justice? How fascinating. If your god is so great, why is the world in this state~?
– The world is he~ll, and humans are maggots, aren’t they? By being born, we receive punishnt without reason, and in a place where only death is salvation, I find it curious to discuss the existence of god.
– Hey, Heavenly Demon. Can that god of yours bring back my dead loved ones?
– They were in so~ much pain that I had to kill them with my own hands. So tell . Can you revive the child who died in that hell?
– You ca~n’t? Well, I guess that’s true too. Haha. I suppose god is too far away for his voice to reach. So I’ll send you there. You can deliver the ssage in the afterlife.
– You’re the Heavenly Demon, and you’re the person your god loves the most, right? If you ask nicely, he’ll listen
The Hao Sect Leader was a strange man.
He enjoyed slaughter, and he also enjoyed the pain that ca from the act of slaughter.
He was intelligent and powerful. But his bizarrely twisted madness made people shudder.
No one could tell if his face was his real face, and no one could be sure if his voice was real either.
He liked to cause bloodbaths.
He seed to live just to set the world on fire and dance in the flas.
Reviews
All reviews (0)