Chapter 133. Restoration (1)

On the way out of the inn, I said to Nam Geon.

“Nam Geon. If you turn north from here and go straight, you’ll arrive at Lu’an, where the Danmok Clan is located.”

“Th-then are we going to the Danmok Clan now, Hyung-ah?”

I shook my head at his question.

“It’s still too early if you want to take revenge on Danmok Hwan yourself. If you want me to do it for you, it’s fine to go now.”

While Nam Geon was lost in thought for a moment, Choyeon asked unemotionally.

“Should I kill the man named Danmok Hwan?”

Nam Geon, startled, answered.

“I-it’s okay! I-I’ll do it!”

Thus, instead of turning north, we continued to move east.

In a village located at the entrance to Zhejiang, an Underworld gang had made its nest.

They were common Underworld bastards, causing trouble in the marketplace and stealing the merchants’ wealth.

After subduing them, on the way to their stronghold, I said to Choyeon.

“Remember this. All Underworld bastards must be killed.”

The Tang Clan bastard frowned.

“Is that a good idea?”

“Are you suggesting we should go easy on the Underworld bastards?”

At my question, the Tang Clan bastard sighed.

“That’s not it. Didn’t you say you’d teach them how to live like human beings? But you’re teaching them how to kill people, aren’t you?”

It was a rather valid point, uncharacteristic of the Tang Clan bastard.

I nodded and said to Choyeon.

“Choyeon.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

“As I said before, I don’t know how to live like a human being. Instead, I will teach you something else.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

“The trash mixed among people. Those who are not human. I will teach you how to distinguish such beings.”

“Understood, Senior Brother.”

An unemotional face. I couldn’t tell if she understood and was answering.

It didn’t matter.

Just like when I was teaching Nam Geon, if I repeated it, she would eventually understand.

“Cleaning up trash doesn’t mean you’re living like a human. However, it is helping others to live like human beings. Do you know why?”

“I do not know.”

“If you stay close to trash, the smell of trash will inevitably stick to you. Then there is a risk of becoming the same kind of trash. It’s because by getting rid of that smell, you can prevent others from turning into trash as well.”

“Understood.”

“Yes. That’s enough for now. You can learn how to live like a human from Teacher Sama later.”

“Understood.”

After I deal with Red Moon Falling Flowers, when I am certain that this girl will not harm Brother Sama.

Then I intended to return Choyeon to Teacher Sama, or to be precise, to her younger sister’s side.

But until then, I intended to teach her in my own way.

“So for today, let’s start by cleaning up that trash.”

“Understood.”

Simultaneously with her answer, Choyeon used a stealthy footwork and lunged towards the Underworld gang’s manor.

I had no intention of leaving it all to Choyeon, so we also immediately launched ourselves toward that place.

The battle was one-sided.

There were no masters who posed a threat.

Choyeon also pierced the vital points of a few thugs with an unemotional face.

As expected, she seemed to have no aversion to killing.

“Hmm.”

She showed the makings of an excellent cleaner, if only she could learn how to distinguish between humans and trash.

And the next afternoon, while strolling through the marketplace after arriving in the next village, we witnessed two men arguing.

From what I could overhear, a minor dispute had broken out over the price of an item, whether it was expensive or not.

It wasn’t a particularly important matter, so I was about to just pass by.

At that moment, Choyeon turned her head and asked me.

“Should I kill them?”

The Tang Clan bastard shot me a look.

It was an expression that said, ‘Now what are you going to do?’

It seemed I had to teach her how to distinguish between humans and trash as best as I could.

After all, there was a fine line between a human butcher and a trash cleaner.

***

Since we had entered Zhejiang, we looked into our target, Sura Blood Blade.

It was not difficult to obtain information.

“According to rumors, he is said to be in a place called Shaoxing.”

It wasn’t that we had sought out and asked a member of the Beggar’s Gang. We had simply asked the waiter at an inn.

Junior Sister Baek Hyang said, as if it were amazing.

“That person called Sura Blood Blade must be quite notorious, isn’t he?”

“Didn’t the Confucian Manor’s lord say so too? That he’s a pretty famous unorthodox master in the Zhejiang area. Though he’s not known throughout the Central Plains.”

“Then who are the masters who are widely known throughout the Central Plains, Senior Brother?”

It was a difficult question.

In my past life, I had only seriously entered the Jianghu twenty years later.

I didn’t know many of the famous masters of this era.

I listed the ones that came to mind.

“First, the head of the Jang Clan, known as the First Sword of Sichuan, is probably quite famous. And the leader of the Nine Dragons Fortress, who is a bandit on Nine Dragons Mountain south of Zhejiang, is also a quite famous piece of trash.”

He wasn’t at the level of the future Green Forest Fighting King to be called one of the Seven Evils, but he was one of the top masters among bandits.

And under that Nine Dragons Fortress Leader, the future Green Forest Fighting King should be growing up right now.

“On the other hand, there are probably many unorthodox masters who are not famous, like the Unwol Sect Leader or the Black Heaven Sect Leader.”

“B-bad guys m-must be punished!”

Nam Geon shouted so and diligently stuffed food into his mouth. Choyeon just had an unemotional expression.

“Junior Sister. It’s okay to eat comfortably.”

Only then did Choyeon start to eat.

Junior Sister Baek Hyang, who was watching the scene with a pleased expression, turned her head again and asked me.

“Are there no other masters besides the villains?”

There was a name that came to mind first at that question.

“There are those called the Three Venerables.”

Before the era of the Seven Evils arrived, the absolute rulers of this era.

Even when I was training in a third-rate martial art at a rural gang, I would often hear rumors about them.

“First, the one called the Buddha Venerable is a high monk of Shaolin. But the rumors about the Buddha Venerable are only from long ago. Because he is secluded on Mount Song.”

“He seems to be a person similar to the Mount Heng Sect Leader.”

In a way, it could be seen as a more serious case than the Mount Heng Sect Leader.

The Buddha Venerable was a high monk of a higher generation than the current Shaolin sect leader.

So it was even more difficult to meet the Buddha Venerable. Unless one invaded Shaolin and caused a ruckus.

The reason the Buddha Venerable, who was secluded on Mount Song, became famous was also because of this.

Because there was someone who invaded Shaolin and caused a ruckus.

“The second is an old man called the Fighting Venerable. The Fighting Venerable, as his nickname suggests, is an old man crazy about fighting.”

“If he’s crazy about fighting, it seems he would cause a ruckus every day.”

“That’s half right.”

As if responding to my words, the Tang Clan bastard also opened his mouth.

“He does cause a ruckus, but he is not someone who causes a ruckus just anywhere, Miss Baek.”

“Then does he pick and choose his opponents to cause a ruckus with?”

I nodded.

“According to rumors, he only picks fights with those who look strong.”

“……W-what a peculiar person. Usually, people pick fights when they look weaker than them, don’t they?”

“That’s why people usually classify the Fighting Venerable as being between the righteous and the unorthodox.”

If he had only bullied the weak, everyone would have classified him as Underworld or unorthodox.

He was a mad old man who, regardless of whether the opponent was from the righteous or unorthodox path, would seek them out and have a life-and-death battle if they looked strong.

“When it comes to the Fighting Venerable, isn’t the most famous anecdote the life-and-death battle with the Buddha Venerable?”

At the Tang Clan bastard’s words, Junior Sister Baek Hyang blinked.

“Didn’t you say the Buddha Venerable only stays on Mount Song?”

“That’s right. In the first place, the Buddha Venerable became known because of that Fighting Venerable. It is said that the Fighting Venerable visited the Shaolin Temple and caused a mess, saying he wanted to experience the 108 Arhat Formation of Shaolin firsthand.”

“The anecdote of the Buddha Venerable personally stepping forward to face the Fighting Venerable alone to protect the young arhats is quite famous.”

“I think I know what kind of person the Fighting Venerable is.”

“It must be familiar from Miss Baek’s perspective. That reckless charging without regard for anything is just like this one over here, isn’t it?”

The Tang Clan bastard pointed at me and said.

“It’s different.”

To me, whether the opponent was strong or weak was not important.

What was important was whether they were trash or not.

On the other hand, the Fighting Venerable didn’t care even if the opponent was trash, as long as they were weak.

It could be said to be a rather disagreeable course of action.

But for some reason, my junior sister asked with an awkward smile.

“If he is someone who causes such a ruckus so often, why have I never heard of him?”

“Because he is an old man obsessed with martial arts. It is said that after appearing in the Murim and sweeping through it once, he goes into seclusion somewhere and trains in martial arts for several years.”

“The last news we heard was at least five years ago, so if he is still alive, I think we will hear rumors again soon.”

“He’s probably still alive.”

When I was training, cooped up in a rural gang, I remember hearing a rumor that the Fighting Venerable had appeared at one point.

My memory of exactly when and what he did where was hazy.

And that rumor at that time was the last rumor about the Fighting Venerable.

No. Not just the Fighting Venerable, but the rumors about all Three Venerables had ceased since then.

All Three Venerables were of an age where it wouldn’t be strange if they ascended to heaven at any time.

Twenty years later, when the era of the Seven Evils arrived, not a single one of them remained.

“Then who is the last one?”

“The Sword Venerable.”

“I have heard that he is also called the Greatest Sword Under Heaven.”

“Is he also a person who secludes himself like the two before him?”

I nodded, and the Tang Clan bastard thought for a moment before answering.

“Umm……. It’s ambiguous. Still, you might run into him if you go to the northern regions.”

“Why the northern regions of all places?”

“It is known that the Sword Venerable’s swordsmanship was honed and polished while fighting the northern barbarians. But I don’t know if he is still in the northern regions now.”

It wasn’t a particularly important detail.

Even if not right away, all news of them would cease in a few years anyway.

It was such a time.

A time when the names of the three old men who had been at the top of the Jianghu for decades were slowly being erased.

Conversely, it was also a period of warring heroes where the absolute ruler had disappeared.

And the Seven Evils bastards who grew up in this period were scheduled to mark the end of the chaos in the future.

If the future had proceeded as it was originally supposed to.

But Hyeok Ilso was dead, and the Lust Demon had disappeared.

Choyeon, too, might be the Killing Demon.

After dealing with Sura Blood Blade, I planned to leave to deal with the future Green Forest Fighting King.

Soon, it seemed I would be able to deal with four of the seven.

As I thought of the Green Forest Fighting King and the Fighting Venerable at the same time, such a story came to mind.

The rumor that the Green Forest Fighting King admired the Fighting Venerable and called himself the Fighting King.

The old gossips would add such words.

– If he had called himself the Fighting King before the Fighting Venerable went into seclusion, the Fighting Venerable would have probably smashed the Green Forest Fighting King’s head.

It was truly a regrettable story.

If that mad old man had smashed the Green Forest Fighting King’s head, the future would not have been so bleak.

As I thought that, I lightly clicked my tongue.

“Tsk.”

The Fighting Venerable.

Though he was an old man I had never met, he was a mad old man I really didn’t like.

***

After several days of crossing Zhejiang, we arrived at a city called Shaoxing.

We asked the commoners living there for the location of Sura Blood Blade’s manor.

“What? W-why are you looking for that place?”

Was it because he resided here?

The commoners would tremble at the mere mention of the alias Sura Blood Blade.

It reached a point where I wondered what kind of dog-like acts he had been committing here.

After much coaxing and soothing of the commoners, we were finally able to find the location of the manor where he resided.

But, absurdly, he was said not to be there.

“H-he left this place yesterday and went somewhere else.”

“Do you know where he went?”

The marketplace merchant shook his head at my question.

We decided to head to his manor to wait for him there.

Should I say it was fortunate?

“Who are you bastards!!”

When we arrived at the manor, a few street thugs were still there.

They seemed to be Sura Blood Blade’s subordinates.

“Should I kill them?”

I shook my head at Junior Sister Choyeon’s now-familiar question.

“There are things to ask, so for now, subdue them alive.”

“Do you mean to clean up after torturing them?”

“Yes.”

Junior Sister Choyeon nodded as if she understood.

It seemed she was growing, little by little.

A battle with the trash ensued.

There was one peak master mixed in, and the rest were all first-rate.

A year ago, we would have struggled greatly, but not now.

After subduing them all in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, we asked them about Sura Blood Blade’s whereabouts.

“O-our master went to Shengzhou.”

“What business did he have in Shengzhou?”

“He said he was going to the forge!”

“Th-that’s right! He said he had obtained some useful iron from the b-black market and was going to have a new blade forged.”

They were truly loyal fellows.

Calling him master, master, while spilling all the information.

“A forge.”

Something came to mind when I heard the word forge.

I drew the Restoring Name Sword that I had sheathed.

The blade was damaged here and there, and there were fine cracks all over the sword’s surface.

After fighting several masters a few notches above me, it was a wonder it had held up this long.

In a way, I had survived so far thanks to this Restoring Name Sword.

“Two birds with one stone, I guess.”

It seemed like a good idea to hunt down Sura Blood Blade and have the Restoring Name Sword repaired at that forge.

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