Chapter 106: Abyss Valley (5)
This is a memory from a long time ago.
He was sometimes a Jianghu martial artist, sometimes a soldier, sometimes an assassin, and always an orphan.
‘Hold your breath.’
‘Do not turn your back to the wind.’
‘Bury the shadow within the shadow.’
‘When hiding, hide in a place that is easily visible.’
Chui recalled the past when he received assassin training.
After parting with Oh Ja-woon at the entrance of the Tianshan Mountains, Chui, having nowhere else to go, returned to the military camp, but he was not very welcomed there either.
Having eventually been discharged due to a certain incident, Chui heard the news of Oh Ja-woon’s death belatedly.
As soon as Chui heard that rumor, he immediately visited the Mount Hua Sect.
However, with immature Spear Ghost Calling and clumsy spearmanship, he could not avenge Oh Ja-woon.
Chui visited Zhejiang.
Staring at the river water where Oh Ja-woon’s corpse had been discarded, Chui vowed.
That he would kill every single Taoist of the Mount Hua Sect.
Afterward, Chui entered the Assassin Sect.
The beginning was accidental and humble.
While setting out on a secret mission, Chui encountered an assassin and killed him.
Coincidentally, the one Chui killed was an assassin of the Abyss Valley.
The one who had been about to be promoted from an apprentice to a Yellow Yaksha became Chui’s spear ghost after that night and handed over all information he knew about the Abyss Valley to Chui.
Chui used that information to find a branch of the Abyss Valley.
The assassins, who always went around wearing masks, did not suspect Chui’s identity.
Afterward, Chui killed a few more apprentice assassins of the Abyss Valley and, based on the information acquired from them, completely integrated into the Abyss Valley.
Around the time when the red plum blossoms blooming on Xushan in Zhejiang blossomed and withered several times.
Chui, who had started as an apprentice assassin of the Abyss Valley, had risen to the rank of Red Yaksha in the Abyss Valley before he knew it.
Chui perfectly mastered the methods of using awls, caltrops, hammers, poisons, silk threads, and deformed spears instead of ordinary spears.
Having gathered information in his own way while killing numerous corrupt officials and martial artists in Shaanxi Province in the meantime, Chui also came to know the entire story of Oh Ja-woon’s death.
Soon, the time came.
Chui cast away his red Yaksha mask.
And holding a single spear, he left the Abyss Valley and visited the Mount Hua Sect.
It was from that time. That Chui’s moniker became Spear Ghost.
* * *
“…….”
Chui was staring quietly at the Blue Yakshas entering the cave.
The assassins of the Abyss Valley distinguish their ranks by the color of their masks.
Apprentices wear plain white masks, after which the ranks increase in the order of Yellow Yaksha, Blue Yaksha, Red Yaksha, and Black Yaksha.
At the time Chui belonged to the Abyss Valley, the status of the Abyss Valley had shrunk greatly.
The reason the Abyss Valley, which had once driven all of the Jianghu Wulin to terror, decayed in such a manner was none other than because of Hong Gong.
Hong Gong had joined hands with the Abyss Valley back when he caused the blood catastrophe, and the seeds of discord left behind by Hong Gong at that time continued to cause wind and waves in the Wulin.
In other words, even after Hong Gong died and vanished at the border, he controlled the Abyss Valley to cause various large and small blood incidents in the Wulin.
…Meanwhile.
While Chui was lost in various thoughts, Namgung Yul and Gyeon Sul were exchanging various conversations.
“Are the Blue Yakshas that returned to the cave just now also Jiangshi?”
“Who knows. Whether they are assassins, Jiangshi, or both. No, why are the assassins of the Abyss Valley all like that?”
“Hearing Young Hero Chui’s words, the Abyss Valley seemed like an ordinary assassin organization. The assassins we met were just peculiar.”
“Can you call guys who would slice the neck of King Yama if given money ordinary?”
“In any case, they are humans, aren’t they? Not Jiangshi.”
“True. By now, anyone who isn’t a Jiangshi looks ordinary.”
“They must be plotting something inside the Abyss Valley. Trying to turn assassins into Jiangshi… is it the Valley Master’s idea?”
“Who knows that either. Maybe one of the executives went crazy and is plotting a plan independently?”
Right at that moment.
…Rustle!
A small sound resounded from behind.
It was something that had reached only Chui’s ears.
Swish—
Chui’s spear extended like a venomous snake, aiming for the rear.
Before anyone knew it, three Blue Yakshas who had approached were thrusting awls behind Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul.
Thump, thump, thump!
Chui’s spear was half a step faster than their awls.
The sharp spear blade drew a blood-colored arc in the air, and three corpses, their Adam’s apples sliced just under an inch, collapsed onto the snow.
They were humans, not Jiangshi.
Chui spoke briefly.
“Take off their clothes and masks, and put them on.”
At those words, Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul reached out without a word and began to strip the corpses of their clothes.
Because they had guessed, at least roughly, what Chui was trying to do.
* * *
Inside the cave, Xu Se-chi’s voice trembled faintly.
“I…”
He spoke in a tone full of fear, yet with clear pronunciation.
“Cannot help you.”
The prisoners, including Gongson Ho, wore puzzled expressions.
Since it was such unexpected words, they did not even feel angry.
They were merely curious.
“What? Why? Why can’t you help us? Is it hard? You just have to say there is no problem with the casting process of the iron stakes. And there actually won’t be any problem. Otherwise, is it because you think my plan has no realism?”
Gongson Ho continued speaking as if frustrated.
“This time is real! It is truly certain! No matter how high that fellow Chui’s martial arts are, that doesn’t matter! I tell you, I saw it clearly? That the ground on top of that mountain peak is extremely unstable. If just a few people go up there and stomp their feet, it’s an immediate avalanche! It will probably sweep away the entire mountainside! If caught in that, no matter who that fellow Chui is, he is headed to the other world!”
Then other prisoners who followed Gongson Ho also spoke up.
“I saw it too. It was indeed precarious there.”
“An avalanche occurred yesterday as well, didn’t it?”
“I’ll absolutely do it! If it’s to kill that bastard Chui, I can do anything!”
“That hateful bastard Gyeon Sul gets me even more pissed off.”
“Was she called Namgung Yul? It’s a bit of a waste to bury that bitch in the snow. It would be nice if we could keep her alive and play with her… Hehehe—”
But Xu Se-chi shook his head once more.
“I won’t do it.”
“So. Why.”
Gongson Ho growled at Xu Se-chi.
Even while breaking out in cold sweat, Xu Se-chi said everything he had to say.
“Because Th-Thousand-Head Chui is my benefactor…”
“What? Benefactor? Ha, this bastard is at it again.”
Gongson Ho laughed as if dumbfounded.
The surrounding prisoners were the same.
“Hey—Goat-mustache. Your slave mentality is thoroughly etched into your bones. What kind of favor is it to sell grilled crabs or pig hind legs for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver? You are brainwashed right now!”
“I am not brainwashed.”
But Xu Se-chi’s expression was serious.
“I thought a lot while pulling the cart all the way here.”
“What?”
“Every time the common people gathered around me, threw stones, and spat at me as I pulled the cart, I reflected on myself.”
“What is this bastard talking about right now?”
“I realized that each and every number in the accounting books I embezzled was actually a drop of blood and tears of innocent people.”
Xu Se-chi continued to speak to the very end even while trembling.
“I thought I had no choice because I had to feed my family… but those family members were, after all, existences that would leave once a cold wind blew. Now, with neither money nor family, what is left here is only a shabby middle-aged body. Perhaps it is an existence worse than a stray dog or a scabby horse.”
Gongson Ho and the prisoners looked at each other’s faces as if they could not make heads or tails of it.
Xu Se-chi drove it home.
“So while pulling the cart, I continuously repented. I would gladly endure as long as I could repay even one ten-thousandth of the damage I caused to others in this way.”
Something like a solemn resolve was felt in his voice.
“Thousand-Head Chui is the benefactor who helped me to have such thoughts, to change, and to make amends. I cannot betray such a person.”
Xu Se-chi was someone who had joined the mountain fortress back when Giant Butcher Gong Je-hwan won fame as a righteous bandit.
Whether the righteousness of his youth had revived in its own way, his eyes were shining with an unseasonal intelligence.
But.
“What has this bastard been saying since earlier?”
Gongson Ho and the rest of the prisoners did not sympathize with Xu Se-chi’s words in the slightest.
…Thud!
A fist flew into Xu Se-chi’s face.
As soon as Gongson Ho’s punching began, the other prisoners also trampled Xu Se-chi.
“So, to summarize, aren’t you saying you’re going to stick to that bastard Chui!”
“Kill him! That spy lackey bastard! He was a pain in the ass from the very beginning!”
“Let’s throw him into the molten iron! We’ll just turn him into an iron stake!”
The rough hands of the prisoners grabbed Xu Se-chi.
Xu Se-chi, whose entire body had become covered in blood and bruises, was led away in a ruined state by the hands of the prisoners.
Right at the moment he was about to be cast over the bubbling molten iron.
“Heh!? H-he’s coming! That fellow Chui is coming!”
The sentry who had been keeping guard ahead ran back in a hurry.
The prisoners who had been trying to throw Xu Se-chi into the molten iron suddenly snapped out of it.
“P-put him down for now! If we kill him, we’ll be suspected immediately!”
Gongson Ho grabbed and pulled Xu Se-chi’s beard.
And holding a sharp piece of iron, he poked him in the back.
“Watch your words. If you blow our cover, you know what happens, right?”
“…….”
Xu Se-chi merely trembled, giving no reply.
At that point, Chui, dressed in Blue Yaksha attire, entered the abandoned mine.
“Th-Thousand-Head…”
The moment Xu Se-chi called Chui and tried to say something, the gazes of all the prisoners shifted toward Xu Se-chi.
At that moment, Chui spoke first.
“The work is finished.”
Soon, Chui asked Xu Se-chi.
“How many stakes did you make?”
At that, Gongson Ho, who was beside him, quickly replied.
“A thousand, exactly on target.”
“Indeed. Carry them and come outside. Once you do just that, your mission is entirely finished.”
Hearing Chui’s words, the prisoners’ expressions brightened.
Because there had been a promise that their crimes would no longer be questioned once the mission ended.
However, in spite of that, Gongson Ho’s eyes were emitting venom.
“We just have to do as prepared. We will leave after taking a splendid revenge at the end.”
The prisoners followed Gongson Ho.
Soon, the prisoners began to carry the iron stakes.
Meanwhile, Xu Se-chi called Chui in a trembling voice.
“Th-Thousand-Head Chui…”
However, Chui did not listen to Xu Se-chi’s words.
He merely.
“You.”
He merely left a short word while pointing a finger at Xu Se-chi.
“Are excluded from today’s work. And go up onto the opposite peak right this instant.”
“……?”
While the other prisoners carried the iron stakes outside, Xu Se-chi merely stood quietly with a puzzled expression.
Passing by such a Xu Se-chi, Chui spoke briefly.
“Only then will you have even a slight chance of living.”
Concluding with those words, Chui went outside, following the procession of the iron stakes the prisoners were carrying.
And left alone, Xu Se-chi intuitively felt.
…That this was the lifeline Chui had dropped only for him.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost