Chronicles of the Silver Dragon, Episode 19
A first journey is always fraught with tension and excitement.
Yet there are always those who would dampen that tension and excitement.
Je-hwa and Sawollin were no exception to such malicious groups.
They were called a malicious bunch, but did they pose even a speck of a threat? Hardly.
“Halt!”
“…….”
Je-hwa and Sawollin tilted their heads as they looked at the crowd blocking their path.
“If you wish to pass, you must pay the toll!”
Je-hwa furrowed his brows fiercely as he glared at them.
“What are they?”
“Who knows, bandits maybe?”
“Why are bandits showing up?”
“They want us to pay up.”
Sawollin said listlessly as she looked at the bandits.
“Who do they think they are, telling us to hand over money? We should just go beat them up!”
At that, Je-hwa swung his arms and advanced toward the bandits.
“You bastards! Daring to look down on us…… gurk!”
The bandit leader who had been roaring at the two of them suddenly groaned as Je-hwa’s fist slammed into his face.
“B-boss!”
Seeing that, the five bandits wore bewildered expressions.
“You’re dead!”
“Wh-what…… gwaeeeeek!”
As Je-hwa wildly swung his fists at the panicked bandits as well, Sawollin burst into laughter.
“…….”
The Demon Spirit Squad members watching the situation from afar were at a loss for words.
“My, he beats people so savagely?”
When the vice-captain of the 3rd Demon Spirit Squad spoke with a dumbfounded expression, the captain of the 3rd Demon Spirit Squad opened his mouth with a blank face.
“That man is a demon. How can he beat people like that?”
“He’s ruthless.”
At his words, the vice-captain let out a deep sigh.
“That aside, the young lady laughing at that is frightening too.”
“Indeed.”
“Do they even need us to escort them?”
“Probably not.”
The captain and vice-captain exchanged such grievances and lamented their lot.
***
Walking like that and using lightness skill as well, about a month passed before they arrived at the border between Shingang and Qinghai Province.
“There’s a famous sect in Qinghai Province—the Kunlun Sect.”
“The Kunlun Sect?”
Je-hwa, who had been eating at an inn in the village, tilted his head at Sawollin’s words.
“It’s one of the famous orthodox sects.”
The Kunlun Sect. A Taoist sect situated on Kunlun Mountain in western Qinghai, it was a faction with deep roots and a long history, to the point that it could be called the origin of Taoist martial arts in the Central Plains. In the past, it had been a sect that could be called the highest peak, but now it was suppressed by newly risen sects and could not exert the same influence as before. Even so, as one of the Nine Great Sects and One Alliance of the orthodox faction, there was no sect that could look down on the Kunlun Sect.
And it could be said that the Kunlun Sect had the worst relationship with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. When the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had been eyeing the Central Plains martial world, the sect that became the first target was the Kunlun Sect, and due to those attacks, the Kunlun Sect’s influence gradually began to wane, until now it had relinquished its position as the highest peak of the orthodox martial world to the Wudang Sect and the Shaolin Sect.
To the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Kunlun Sect was the closest and possessed the strongest influence, so whenever they attacked the Central Plains martial world, it always became the primary target. Because of this, even now the Kunlun Sect would grind their teeth at the mere mention of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
But to Je-hwa, it didn’t matter what kind of sect the Kunlun Sect was or what its relationship with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was like. Thus, Je-hwa simply looked at Sawollin, who had suddenly brought up the Kunlun Sect, with a puzzled expression.
“What does that Kunlun Sect place have to do with me?”
And when he asked as he put food in his mouth, Sawollin spoke with a deep sigh.
“It seems there are Blood Cult executives among the current leaders of the Kunlun Sect.”
“…….”
For a moment, Je-hwa, who had been putting food in his mouth, froze at her words.
“The Blood Cult?”
By now, whenever the word Blood Cult came up, Je-hwa’s eyes would turn ferocious. Je-hwa’s goal was the destruction of the Blood Cult—that is, the reason he had emerged into the Central Plains martial world was to take revenge on the Blood Cult, for they had shattered his peace.
Je-hwa spoke with a smile brimming with malice.
“Let’s go to Kunlun right now.”
Je-hwa and Sawollin arrived at a village at the foot of the Kunlun Sect.
“I’m bored.”
To such a Je-hwa, Sawollin spoke.
“Why don’t you look around the village?”
At that, Je-hwa trudged out of the inn.
But……
“It’s no fun.”
Nothing interesting could possibly happen in such a small, peaceful, and quiet village.
Just as Je-hwa was feeling bored, the village became a bit rowdy.
It was because of his unusual hair and eyes.
Those whose hair faintly shimmered silver were virtually unheard of in the Central Plains martial world. Among those who possessed yin internal energy, silver-tinged hair or silver eyes sometimes appeared upon reaching the extreme limits, but even that was exceedingly rare. Thus, Je-hwa was quite the striking figure.
Regardless of whether the villagers were muttering, Je-hwa simply mumbled about being bored and walked around the village.
But then, Je-hwa tilted his head as someone came running at him.
Thud!
And that someone collided with him. It was a girl about his age, and Je-hwa, after silently looking at the girl, mercilessly bashed her over the head with his fist.
Smack!
“Ugwak!”
The girl let out a strange noise and collapsed on the spot from the enormous impact to her head.
Without a care for whether the girl had collapsed, Je-hwa took his money pouch from her hand and tucked it back into his robes.
Then he bashed the girl’s head once more.
Smack!
“Aack!”
This time, apparently in quite a bit of pain, the girl grabbed her head and began rolling on the ground.
After watching that, Je-hwa turned around without hesitation and walked away.
“Hey!”
Then, a shrill voice came from behind……
Je-hwa glanced back to see the girl standing there, huffing as she clutched her head.
“You!”
“…….”
Seeing the girl pointing her finger at him boldly, Je-hwa’s face turned vicious.
How dare she pickpocket him and then point her finger at him so brazenly?
Without hesitation, Je-hwa punished the girl.
Chomp!
“…….”
“…….”
In that instant, the girl who had been pointing at Je-hwa was left speechless and silent. Je-hwa had bitten her finger.
Cold sweat ran down her head.
It hurt. It hurt like hell…… She had never dreamed that he would suddenly chomp down like that.
Je-hwa put more strength into his bite.
Crunch!
“Kyaack!”
In the end, a sharp scream burst from her mouth.
“You punk! Let go! Let go!”
She screamed at the top of her lungs, but if he let go just because of that, he wouldn’t be Je-hwa.
So she swung her fist to deliver a knuckle flick to Je-hwa’s head.
Swish!
But her fist merely cut through empty air.
“Eugh……”
Je-hwa instantly let go of her finger and dodged the fist.
The girl, whose face crumpled as though she were about to cry from having her finger bitten, glared at Je-hwa as if she wanted to kill him.
She seemed to be in a lot of pain. Well, if she didn’t hurt after being bitten like that, it wouldn’t be normal—it would be strange.
Je-hwa snorted lightly at her gaze.
“Grr! You!”
Fuming at Je-hwa’s reaction, she pointed her finger at him again and shouted, but then flinched and withdrew her finger.
He might bite again! No, if she kept her finger out, he would bite again!
Thinking it a certainty, she flinched for a moment before glaring at Je-hwa again.
“How dare you bite me?”
Je-hwa spoke to the girl who was glaring at him with all her might and grinding her teeth.
“You’re the one who pickpocketed me and pointed your finger first.”
“Seriously, do you want to get beaten up? You weren’t even robbed in the end! And you hit me! Isn’t that enough!”
The girl flared up at Je-hwa’s words as expected. Je-hwa looked at such a girl and raised his fist.
“A beating is the best medicine for a loudmouth.”
And he strode toward her as he spoke, but the girl scoffed.
“Hmph! As if you could hit—”
Whoosh!
“Hieek!”
But the girl shrieked and flung her body aside at Je-hwa’s fist that suddenly appeared before her eyes.
“Huh?”
Je-hwa’s eyes went wide at the sight, and he looked at his own hand.
“Strange.”
At the moment he thought he had definitely struck, she had moved out of range.
“What was that? An illusion?”
Je-hwa tilted his head as he looked at his fist and said,
“It must have been an illusion. Anyway, I’m going to beat you up.”
Je-hwa dismissed his missed fist as an illusion and burned with fighting spirit to hit the girl again.
Who gets fired up over something like that?
Meanwhile, the girl, unaware of that fact, calmed her startled heart and looked at Je-hwa.
‘What the hell kind of fist is that fast!’
She had almost been struck by that scrawny fist in an instant. She had thought such a skinny fist couldn’t hold any power, but seeing its speed, it was no joke at all.
‘Is he an expert……’
She had seen no one in the martial world besides her master, who was holed up in a remote corner of the mountains.
‘Don’t tell me he’s stronger than Master.’
The moment she thought that, Je-hwa moved once more.
Swish!
“……!”
‘Fast!’
She was bewildered by the tremendous speed, but speed alone could never catch her.
Srrrrk—
In that instant, the girl naturally stepped with her footwork to evade the fist that flew right before her eyes, then immediately launched a counterattack at Je-hwa.