Chapter 40: Scaling the Wall (1)
The sun set several times.
With the high fortress wall before their eyes, Chui and the Death Plum Blossom hid their bodies in the forest on a nearby hill.
The fortress wall of Chu River County, the outermost edge of Hubei Province.
Once they get past this place, there is a secret path leading between Sichuan Province and Gansu Province.
It was a plank road directly connecting to Xinjiang, where the Demonic Cult is located, crossing Qinghai.
Chui had crossed that place once in the past, so he knew the geography well.
Heartbreak Cliff (斷腸崖).
A cliff so high and precarious that it would sever the intestines of anyone crossing it.
The precarious single-rope bridge hanging like a shelf there was precisely the plank road.
If only they could pass that place, they could be said to have traveled half the way to the headquarters of the Demonic Cult.
“To do that, we must pass through this place, Hubei…… the problem is that the Wudang Sect is in Hubei Province.”
The Death Plum Blossom said, furrowing his brow.
The Wudang Sect is close to the Mount Hua Sect.
This is because they are sects of the same Daoist lineage.
Perhaps because of that?
The Zhaoguan Pass, which the martial artists of the Mount Hua Sect and the Wudang Sect were guarding together, was more heavily guarded than ever before.
The shout of the guard captain was heard from afar.
“Examine all travelers closely, but inspect those going from west to east especially strictly!”
Behind the guards, swordsmen of Mount Hua and Wudang carrying blades were visible.
Civilians and officials were cooperating closely to capture the Death Plum Blossom.
“Oh dear, why has the city gate security become so tight lately?”
“They say a public enemy of the martial world might come this way, you know?”
“They say it’s because of that what’s-his-name, Death Plum Blossom or Bullshit Plum Blossom.”
“Aigo. I am in a hurry. I’ll have to wait three or four days in front of the city gate……”
In front of the city gate, countless travelers stood in a single line, undergoing inspection.
The guards and the warriors of the Martial Alliance examined the temporary travel passes issued from the cities the travelers had passed through so far, and compared each face with the facial description of the Death Plum Blossom drawn on the wanted posters.
The fortress wall was high, and the surveillance was tight, making it seem that unless one was a flying bird, they could absolutely never pass through here just like that.
Whoosh-
A wanted poster blew in with the wind.
The Death Plum Blossom caught the wanted poster and held it up to his face.
“Is it similar?”
“The drawing is better.”
“The real thing must be better. Look. How could I look so poorly made?”
By the time they arrived here, the Death Plum Blossom’s physical condition had recovered enough for him to joke with Chui.
He narrowed his eyes and probed Chui.
“By the way, it seems the Demonic Cult welcomes me quite a bit. To send an individual like you to receive me.”
“……”
“But why did they send only you? Where are all the attendants? Did you lose them to the Namgung Clan?”
The Death Plum Blossom seemed to think of Chui as some sort of informant sent out by the Demonic Cult.
Otherwise, why would he risk his life to help him go to the Demonic Cult? Such was his logic.
Chui did not bother to correct the Death Plum Blossom’s misunderstanding.
He merely warned him briefly.
“A pursuit team will also come here before long.”
“I suppose so. The leader of the pursuit team will be Bi Mu-geuk, that fellow.”
“Is he someone you know?”
“I know him. We were classmates. We entered the Mount Hua Sect around the same time, and he became a Plum Blossom Swordsman slightly later than me.”
“What kind of person is he?”
“Although his character is upright and he is competent, he has a harsh and narrow-minded side. Because he disliked me for no reason, we had a few clashes in the past.”
“Is he strong?”
“Originally, he was weaker than me. However, since I am now one-armed……”
The Death Plum Blossom gave his answer after pondering for a moment.
“Now, I would have to fight to know.”
“……”
Chui quietly nodded his head.
The Death Plum Blossom probed Chui with a slightly expectant look.
“So. Do you have a clever way to bypass that fortress wall?”
“Why bypass it?”
“?”
At Chui’s counterquestion, the Death Plum Blossom’s expression turned bewildered.
It was a situation where the Martial Alliance’s inescapable net was tightening moment by moment.
In such a situation, why ask why bypass it with that sturdy fortress wall right before our eyes?
Did he mean he would climb over it or something, then?
Yet Chui was composed.
“We go through that fortress wall.”
“??”
“And as soon as we break through the wall, we will launch a counterattack on the Martial Alliance’s pursuit team.”
“???”
The Death Plum Blossom’s expression gradually turned blank.
Chui drove a wedge into that.
“They will be annihilated.”
Fortress wall breakthrough.
Pursuit team counter-strike.
And annihilation.
None of the three had any realism.
To the Death Plum Blossom, all of this sounded like a delusion.
He spoke logically.
“First, we have no means to break through the tight guard of that fortress wall. Second, to launch a counter-raid on the pursuit team…… no. Forget it. I don’t know what kind of crazy talk this is.”
The Death Plum Blossom sighed.
“You seem to not know in the slightest what an inescapable net is.”
“I know. The elite drafted from the Fifteen Pillars of the Orthodox Path chasing like a pack of dogs carrying swords.”
“Do you say that knowing that?”
The Death Plum Blossom could not trust Chui’s composure at all.
He sighed once again and continued.
“First of all, how we can pass through the Zhaoguan Pass of Chu River County, which is rumored to be an iron wall, is beyond me.”
“It is easy.”
“……Easy?”
At Chui’s words, the Death Plum Blossom wore a blank expression once more.
At his words, Chui nodded his head.
“I will get you inside that fortress wall within half a day.”
Finishing his words, Chui dusted himself off and stood up.
And then he walked with long strides toward the city gate.
The Death Plum Blossom was too dumbfounded to even grab Chui.
“……”
He merely stood blankly.
* * *
A long line stretched in front of the city gate.
Farmers, woodcutters, hunters, brokers, liquor merchants, coachmen, peddlers, women from ordinary families…… besides these, countless figures of humanity stood in a long line, waiting for the gate crossing screening.
“Don’t push!”
“Let’s go forward a bit, hey!”
“Who is cutting in line up front! Have you no conscience!?”
“Here, roasted chestnuts for sale. It’s good to peel and eat them while waiting~”
The line was so long that it wrapped around the city gate once.
Probably, the person at the very end of the line would have to wait outside the gate for a full week, eating sand dust.
At that time.
There was a young man walking toward the front of the line while humming.
He walked with a sluggish step for a while, then suddenly cut in line stealthily near the front.
“Get out of the way, get out of the way!”
The young man widely swung the A-frame carrier he was carrying and extended his cane.
Because of that, a child standing in line was hit by the cane and fell, but the young man cut into the line without a care.
At this, the people behind clamored.
“Who is that bastard cutting in line over there!”
“How can you hit a child with a cane!”
“What kind of unconscionable bastard is that?”
“Hey, step out while I’m speaking nicely. Before I drag you out.”
A few peddlers, including the child’s parents, approached the young man with threatening expressions.
At this, the young man pulled out a travel pass in a haughty manner.
<Travel Pass>
Name: Dong Go-gong (東皐公)
Occupation: Physician
Purpose of Entry: Delivery of medicinal herbs ordered by the Hegemon Society
-Seal-
His name was Dong Go-gong. His occupation was a physician.
However, the reason the people trying to grab his collar hesitated was not because of that.
The Hegemon Society (佩刀會).
It was a heterodox sect representing Hubei Province.
“……”
“……”
“……”
Those who were glaring at the physician Dong Go-gong all cast their gazes downward.
Enjoying the silence of the crowd, Dong Go-gong spoke.
“Ahem. As for me, I am one who has traveled a long distance to procure medicinal herbs for Young Master Do of the Hegemon Society. Speaking of these herbs, each and every one of them is an aphrodisiac worth a thousand gold.”
“……”
“If I deliver the herbs late because of lowly ignoramuses like you, yes? And if that causes a hitch in Young Master Do’s enjoyment of the arts? Huh? Do you have the confidence to handle the consequences?”
If one spoke of Young Master Do of the Hegemon Society, he was a famous libertine in this area.
Since everyone knew his temperament of turning red-eyed at anything related to stamina, they could not help but avoid physician Dong Go-gong’s gaze even more.
Dong Go-gong moved his steps conceitedly.
Right at that moment.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk—”
A beggar boy nearby clicked his tongue.
“A physician doesn’t even know his own fate of dying, yet he’s taking care of someone else’s crotch.”
“……?”
The moment Dong Go-gong turned his head, the beggar boy said bluntly.
“You stepped on and killed a snake on your way, didn’t you?”
“What?”
Dong Go-gong frowned as if looking at some complete madman.
“I don’t know. I never did that.”
“You killed it. Without a doubt. You stepped on and killed it with your left foot.”
At the beggar boy’s words, Dong Go-gong glanced down at his left foot.
Come to think of it, something seemed to be faintly stained on his straw shoe.
Whether he had stepped on a baby snake while walking at night, a slight bloodstain was showing.
‘Surely he isn’t saying this after seeing this faint trace. What is it?’
When Dong Go-gong raised his head, the beggar boy opened his mouth once more.
“Your shoulders are heavy, aren’t they?”
“Of course they are. Because I am carrying an A-frame carrier of herbs.”
“Not that. The vengeful spirit of the snake has attached to you. It is pressing down on your shoulders right now.”
At the beggar boy’s words, Dong Go-gong snorted.
At that very moment.
Heavy-
The weight of the A-frame carrier of herbs he was carrying suddenly began to feel heavy.
“……?”
Dong Go-gong was startled and hastily set the A-frame carrier down on the ground.
But.
“Soon your spine will run cold. The vengeful spirit of the snake is crawling down your body.”
Just as the beggar boy said, his spine below the shoulders soon ran cold.
While Dong Go-gong was panicking, the beggar boy continued speaking.
“Next is the left foot. Since the left foot is where all evil began, it will rot away before long.”
Simultaneously, Dong Go-gong’s left foot began to freeze cold.
The feeling of something tightly constricting his leg.
At the same time, the tips of his toes also seemed to prickle as if bitten by snake fangs.
Around that time, Dong Go-gong heard a laughter brushing past his ears.
Hehehehehehe—
Dong Go-gong began to tremble violently.
It really felt as though the vengeful spirit of the snake was constricting his body and casting a curse.
“Aigo, Mr. Physiognomist. Please save me.”
Dong Go-gong prostrated himself flat before the beggar boy.
Not only was he naturally cowardly, but his mind was also not strong, and because he easily believed in folk religions and various superstitions, he was extremely weak to this kind of atmosphere.
Yet the beggar boy merely kept clicking his tongue.
“It is already too late. Since the vengeful spirit’s hatred has reached the heavens, a heavenly punishment will surely descend.”
“I, I really didn’t know! I didn’t even know I stepped on a snake, so how!”
“It is pitiful, but it cannot be helped. There is nothing to do but at least save your family.”
“F-family? Will the disaster reach my family too?”
“Is your home here in Chu River County?”
“Uh…… yes, it is, but.”
“If you return home like this, the disaster will spread to your family. It would be better to leave far away.”
“Aigo!”
Then Dong Go-gong clung to the beggar boy’s feet.
“Mr. Physiognomist, no, Master! Please save me. What should I do to live? Yes?”
“There is no way but to save at least your family. Never go home.”
“I won’t go home! And please open a path for me to live as well. Uheeeng—”
Dong Go-gong clung to the beggar boy desperately.
After playing hard to get for a long time, the beggar boy opened his mouth.
“It cannot be helped. I will leak heaven’s secrets from now on, so wash your ears and listen well.”
“Yes—of course.”
“Discard everything you have and leave this place.”
“Yes?”
When Dong Go-gong was shocked, the beggar boy replied firmly.
“Leave this place with your herbs, A-frame carrier, and clothes all stripped off. And do not come down from the mountain for at least three months. Only when you shake off all the dust of the human world’s red dust will the scent be removed. Then the vengeful spirit of the snake will also lose track of you.”
“I-is that so?”
“If you don’t believe it, then don’t. I am leaving.”
“Ah! Ah! When did I say I wouldn’t believe you! I will do so immediately!”
Dong Go-gong took off his outer garment.
And he laid all the baggage containing medicinal herbs on the ground.
The beggar boy stared intently at Dong Go-gong and said.
“If you happen to have any documents stained with human scent, discard them quickly.”
“Uh…… should I discard this travel pass too?”
“Are you joking? That is the first thing you should discard. Do you want to be chased by the snake’s vengeful spirit?”
Hearing the beggar boy’s words, Dong Go-gong was startled and threw the travel pass to the ground.
He spoke with a thoroughly sullen expression.
“But even if I escape from the snake’s vengeful spirit, I worry about what comes after. I must deliver the herbs to the Hegemon Society, and if I disappear like this, I don’t know what kind of scolding I will receive.”
“Do not worry about that part. I will speak well on your behalf.”
“Yes? You, Master Physiognomist?”
“I am also on my way upon the invitation of the Hegemon Society. I must read the physiognomy of the Hegemon Society Leader’s mother. I will explain your circumstances at that time, so go with peace of mind.”
“Ooh! Thank you!”
Dong Go-gong admired him.
If he was someone the Hegemon Society Leader called to read his mother’s physiognomy, he must be extraordinary.
Thinking that the Hegemon Society would sufficiently show respect to such an extraordinary fortune-teller, he quickly moved his steps.
With the herbs, A-frame carrier, clothes, and travel pass all abandoned on the ground.
* * *
Chui collected everything physician Dong Go-gong had discarded.
The outer garment, the A-frame carrier of herbs, and even the travel pass stamped with the seal of the previous county’s guard captain.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch……
Chui also retrieved all the spear ghosts he had cast onto Dong Go-gong.
When the realm of Towering Vessel deepens, one can play such minor tricks.
Although it cannot cause serious illness, making the physical condition poor as if caught in a cold, or causing hallucinations or auditory hallucinations is fully possible.
‘……Cao Yangzi and Namgung Paeng-saeng also died caught by this move.’
If even peak experts who practiced martial arts fall for this move, bewitching a commoner like Dong Go-gong is as easy as turning over a palm.
Soon, Chui took physician Dong Go-gong’s baggage and travel pass and headed toward the city gate.
Because the Death Plum Blossom is naturally tall and has a dignified build, disguising him is not easy, but in Chui’s case, it is a different story.
And also, unlike the Death Plum Blossom who is a public enemy of the martial world for the first time, Chui has a lot of experience in this regard.
An old veteran of the martial world who has rolled around as much as one could walks toward the Zhaoguan Gate, which is famous as an iron wall.
Chui adjusted the bundle of medicinal herbs to be delivered to the Hegemon Society and thought.
‘Shall I stir up a small disturbance first?’
Of course, small and large must be relative standards.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost