Chapter 17: Staff Ghost (5)
Thwack!
With a dull roar, Chui’s spear embedded itself in the cliff.
The spearhead penetrated Staff Ghost’s head, pierced the hard rock, and went in deep.
The battered corpse became pinned to the edge of the cliff.
Whooooosh…
A dreary wind blew, pushing and swaying Staff Ghost’s corpse side to side.
And beneath it.
“Phew—”
Chui let out a long-held sigh.
A silk thread hung from the spear shaft that was driven through Staff Ghost’s head.
Holding the silk thread, which had turned crimson from the flowing blood, Chui slowly climbed up the cliff.
‘…My condition is not very good.’
Chui checked his body.
His head was split open, and his internal organs were in shambles.
It felt as if all his ribs were broken and both of his legs were shattered.
The only reason he could move like this was thanks to the life force he barely managed to wring out of numerous spear ghosts.
Creeeak—
The silk thread tightly wrapped around his palm dug into his flesh and caught on the bone.
Chui gritted his teeth, wrapped the thread around his hand, and crawled up the cliff.
…Thud!
Chui sprawled out on the edge of the cliff.
Pitter-patter. It began to rain.
The raindrops, which were gradually growing thicker, washed down Staff Ghost’s corpse pinned to the cliff.
Chui also felt the blood soaking his body slowly draining away.
Before long, Chui’s pupils returned to black.
“…”
Chui raised his body.
His organs burst and his bones were broken, but he did not die.
As long as he did not die, he could eventually recover.
For that was the mysterious demonic art, Spear Ghost Calling.
‘Hong Gong. That man did not let go of hope until the very end, either.’
Chui pictured the face of the Blood Demon, who had taught him, in his mind.
The reason why he, who had been driven all the way to a distant battlefield, could dream of revenge even with a hemiplegic body was all thanks to the mysterious recovery ability of Spear Ghost Calling.
Swoooooosh…
The rain poured down like crazy.
A yellow-clay-colored waterfall also formed at the edge of the cliff.
The moment Chui barely managed to raise his upper body.
Kaboom!
A bolt of lightning fell from the sky.
Coincidentally, it fell onto the black spear embedded in the cliff, which turned Staff Ghost’s corpse into a charred mummy.
…Rumble!
The cliff crumbled down.
Chui crawled on all fours over the muddy ground to get away from the edge of the cliff.
Just then.
Woo-woooo…
Something was moving below the crumbled cliff.
Staff Ghost.
A formidable foe that could never have been defeated with ordinary moves and conventional stages.
It revealed its presence before Chui once again.
Drenched in crimson all over his body, he stood on the mud with terrifying eyes, glaring at Chui.
However, Chui was not particularly surprised by Staff Ghost’s resurrection.
“Staff Ghost, Gu Gang-ryong.”
Chui reached out his hand.
At that, Staff Ghost flinched.
Peak expert.
An extremely powerful martial artist who could easily claim to be the overlord of a region.
Staff Ghost, who once looked down on the entire martial world alone, roaming freely across the entire Heterodox path.
“Staff Ghost, Gu Gang-ryong.”
Receiving Chui’s call, he trembled.
Step—
Staff Ghost crawled up from the cliff and took a step onto the ground.
Step—
A step completely stained with blood.
Step—
It was drawing closer and closer toward Chui.
Eventually.
“Staff Ghost, Gu Gang-ryong.”
Chui called the name three times in total.
Sssssssss…
The wraith of Staff Ghost, which had approached right in front of Chui, turned into the form of red mist and was absorbed through Chui’s entire body.
“Hoo—”
Chui let out a long breath.
A spear ghost of the peak expert level had attached itself to Chui.
It would take quite some time in the future to tame this fellow.
‘It is like obtaining a good spiritual medicine.’
Chui nodded.
Now, the material to progress from ‘Bowed Pavilion’ to ‘Towering Vessel’ was prepared.
‘First, let’s recover the body. I can pierce the Conception and Governing Vessels after that.’
Chui crawled on all fours to escape the mud flat.
Beneath the pine forest, a place thickly covered with dry pine needles.
The pine needles growing above here were so dense that even the rain could hardly penetrate.
Chui cleared away the dry pine needles, dug into the dark red soil underneath, and curled up like a toad.
[Hehe—serves you right!]
[Die! Please die!]
[Die buried alive like this!]
[Buried alive! Buried alive! Buried alive! Buried alive!]
[Don’topenyoureyesdon’topenyoureyesdon’topenyoureyesdon’topenyoureyes…]
The ghosts within his mental world wailed.
They performed a ritual, waiting for Chui’s death.
…But they would never get what they wanted.
Because their minds that hated Chui were, on the contrary, like a restorative medicine that healed his body.
* * *
How much time had passed?
Thwack!
Breaking through the dried earth and pine needles, a hand emerged.
Chui was crawling up from under the ground like a frog waking from hibernation.
“I survived again.”
A voice that sounded as if he had become accustomed to it now.
Chui quietly stood up and headed to the battlefield of last night.
The sky, indistinguishable between twilight and dawn, was ripe red and golden.
The rain had stopped, and heaven and earth were steeped in silence.
Neither the water mist, nor the single-rope bridge, nor anything else remained.
As if such things had never existed, the cliff was clean.
However, one witness remained to testify that two men had fought risking their lives last night.
The black staff.
It was one zhang long.
A crude and rough weapon with a six-sided shaft.
It was the cherished weapon that Staff Ghost, Gu Gang-ryong, had used until the end.
Chui pulled out the one embedded in the edge of the cliff.
…Shwip!
The cold energy unique to cold weapons was transmitted to his hand.
It was much heavier and harder than the black spear he had used before.
Its surface was also extremely rough and scratchy due to numerous small scars.
Chui himself, who had been hit by it dozens or hundreds of times, knew the power of this fearsome staff best.
“I don’t really like staves. I will need a spearhead.”
Chui muttered as he looked at the blunt end of the staff.
Staff Ghost, Gu Gang-ryong, had said that this staff was made of black iron.
He had also said that its original form was a spear, but the spearhead had broken off, turning it into a staff.
If this staff had fully retained the shape it had when it was first made, Chui might not have been a match for Staff Ghost.
The same was true for Staff Ghost himself, who was once a wanderer who freely walked the martial world alone, but ended up degenerating into a dog of the Heterodox Alliance in the end.
“…It shouldn’t lack its teeth.”
The same went for people, and the same went for spears.
Chui muttered as he caressed the end of the staff.
For the first time since his regression, he had fought a life-or-death battle.
It was an opportunity to tightly spur himself, who had unconsciously slackened after returning to the past.
Eventually, Chui left the cliffside carrying the staff.
Because the single-rope bridge was cut, the way back was long.
On the road opposite the cliffside returning to Gulai County, Chui was able to retrieve the money bag left behind by Staff Ghost.
Perhaps Staff Ghost had intended to retrieve it immediately after putting it down for a moment, as he had done nothing to the money bag.
The bag was filled with rainwater, dirt, and fallen leaves, but because of the weight of the gold ingots inside, nothing was particularly lost.
Chui poured out all the muddy water and mud from the leather bag, sorted out only the gold ingots, and slung them over his shoulder.
And just as Staff Ghost had done, he hung the money bag on the end of the staff and turned his steps.
He did not sing.
* * *
By the time he arrived in Gulai County, the night was deep.
It began to rain again.
The rain was so heavy that he could feel pain from being hit by the falling raindrops.
Squish— squish— squish—
Chui was walking along the roadside barefoot.
Perhaps because it was a night with such heavy rain, there was not a single person passing by.
Just as Chui was about to exit the alley and head toward the main road where the Tiger Pit Sect was located.
Riiip—
The money bag hanging from the end of the staff could not withstand the weight of the gold ingots and ripped.
Clink— clank— roll, roll, roll…
The gold ingots scattered across the road.
Just as Chui was about to pick them up.
Creak—
Suddenly, a back door in the alley opened.
“Hey! Which bastard is scattering shit on the street?!”
An errand boy shouted angrily through the pouring rain.
It seemed that the gold pieces dropped in the muddy water looked like lumps of dung in the errand boy’s eyes.
“Aren’t you going to pick this up right now?! How dare you in front of someone else’s dumpling shop… Gasp!?”
The errand boy swallowed a breath in the middle of his shouting.
He had seen Chui’s shadow standing eerily beyond the rain.
“S-sorry. Please pass by. Y-yes, you could feel like taking a shit, sure, sure—just take a dump and go. I will clean it up tomorrow morning. Aha—since it’s raining like this, it’ll j-just wash away. Nothing to clean up at all. Haha—hahahaha…”
Come to think of it, the errand boy’s face was familiar.
He was the fellow whom Chui had asked various things about the Tiger Pit Sect before.
Perhaps the errand boy recognized Chui too, as he hastily covered his cheeks and shut the back door.
“…”
Chui gathered the gold ingots scattered on the ground, wrapped them in the bag, and stood up again.
The cold rainwater beat against his body, but his body was still hot.
It felt as if a spearhead that had just been pulled out of a furnace was heated red-hot.
Even with the beating of countless raindrops, his body did not soften but was instead being forged even harder.
Drowsiness came.
Suddenly, Chui felt himself stumbling.
The blood, muddy water, and rain soaking his entire body.
The black staff and the money bag held in his hands were also becoming heavier and heavier.
Soon, the back door of the Tiger Pit Sect would come into view.
Once he climbed over the wall and entered the stable, he would first fall onto the soft hay and sleep soundly.
Thinking of that, Chui slowly stepped onto the mud-covered road.
At that very moment.
“Excuse me.”
There was someone who caught Chui’s steps.
A clear voice that could be heard distinctly even through the rain.
A voice newly overlaid on his blood-stained memories after returning to the past.
Chui raised his wet head and looked between the alleys.
“…”
Ho Ye-yang was standing there.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost