Chapter 67: The Yangtze River Water Bandits (1)
After sending Oh Ja-woon away, Chui descended the mountain.
In a certain valley where the water was clear and the air was good, Chui stopped his steps for a moment in front of a pouring waterfall.
Thud!
Two weapons were placed on the rock.
The black staff, Ink Bamboo (墨竹).
And the Mount Hua Plum Blossom Sword (華山梅花劍) embedded with seven red jewels.
Since the Ink Bamboo was a long staff, its end was blunt.
Since the Mount Hua Plum Blossom Sword was a peerless famous sword of which there were only seven in the entire Mount Hua Sect, its sharpness was extraordinary.
Does spirituality dwell in a good weapon?
Zzzzz… ch-ch-ch-ch-ch…
The two were emitting qi on their own and keeping each other in check.
It looked that way in Chui’s eyes.
A staff that was heavy and hard but could not be sharpened.
A sword that was sharp and keen but had no hilt.
These two were weapons that were once held in the hands of the world’s greatest experts and commanded the Jianghu.
“If I attach the sword blade to the end of the staff, it will become a spear.”
Chui nodded.
The words Oh Ja-woon spoke at the end remained in his memory.
‘As expected, a spear suits you better than a staff!’
He saw it well.
Right before Chui returned, the world called him the Spear Ghost (槍鬼).
Chui raised the sword blade and tried bringing it to the staff.
Clang…
The pieces of metal touched each other and made a sound.
It was not a clear sound.
It was a noise that made the ears uncomfortable somehow.
‘They strangely seem to repel each other.’
Chui furrowed his brow.
The Ink Bamboo and the Plum Blossom Sword did not fit each other.
Although both were rare weapons of the world, they repelled each other without blending at all.
Even grafting different farming tools into one is a difficult task, so naturally joining such outstanding weapons together was practically impossible.
‘If I join them clumsily, both will become useless.’
If he entered any blacksmith shop, melted the iron in fire, joined them, and hammered them, he might end up ruining both weapons instead.
‘…Should I visit the Old Blacksmith (老冶) of Anhui?’
In the past, Chui had ordered equipment from an old blacksmith before invading the Black Path Gang.
At that time, he had obtained a pretty decent black spear, but he lost it in the battle with the Staff Ghost Gu Gang-ryong and obtained the Ink Bamboo instead.
‘If it is him, he would easily be able to graft these weapons.’
Chui nodded, recalling the level of completion of the black spear, awl, hammer, and caltrops made by the Old Blacksmith.
However, there were two problems.
First of all, Anhui, where the blacksmith shop was located, was a very distant place.
Since he had to return to where he came from, it could not help but take a long time.
And even if he went spending that time, it was unknown whether the Old Blacksmith would still be in that place.
Because as long as the Black Path Gang had disappeared and the grudge was resolved, there was no reason for him to stick to that place.
Or, he might have left for a further place, saying he no longer had any lingering attachments to this world.
‘Should I look for someone else to modify these weapons, or should I go that way?’
Chui thought deeply.
Whether there would be another way to modify the weapons without necessarily going to Anhui.
In his memory of the previous life, there were several blacksmiths he had visited frequently, including the Old Blacksmith of Anhui, but they were all in far-off places or he did not know where they would be at this point.
‘If so…’
The moment Chui was about to make a decision.
“Kyaaaaaaargh!”
A scream was heard from far below the foot of the mountain.
“?”
Chui raised his head.
Below the rock, beyond the curved mossy field, a person was seen.
A veil covering the face below the eyes, long hair fluttering in the wind, and the curves of the body revealed even beyond the baggy light armor.
A nameless woman was running, with the hem of her light armor fluttering.
And three hairy men pursued behind her.
“Kuhahaha! You think you can flee from us here?”
“How cheeky! I will catch you and toy with you!”
“If you keep running away, I will cut off one of your legs!”
The three men pursued the woman’s back while holding swords in their hands.
They wore necklaces made of other people’s fingers, ears, and teeth in clusters, and had painted bizarre patterns on their faces with blood and ash.
They were probably a band of bandits who killed merchants passing through the mountains and plundered their wealth.
“Heugh!”
The woman tripped over a tree root while running and fell.
The three bandits giggled and approached her.
“You are lucky, girl.”
“Because though your companions are all dead, you will live long.”
“There is another thing besides that. Because you have three husbands from now on.”
The woman trembled and raised her head.
Tears were filled in her large eyes revealed above the mask.
At that time.
“Hey.”
Chui stepped between them.
An annoyed expression, a rough wave of his hand.
Chui spoke toward the three bandits.
“I will just let you go, so leave.”
“…”
The three bandits stared blankly at Chui.
Eventually, the man who looked like the boss among them opened his mouth.
“Yes. We will do so.”
The bandit bowed his head and just turned around.
The other two followed him and asked.
“No, Brother, why are we just going? Leaving the girl who will become our bride just like this?”
“Is that kid something special?”
Then, the boss clutched his nose and spoke.
“The smell of blood is vibrating, you bastards. Don’t you know? Even a mere sniff tells it’s the smell of a human butcher.”
“Isn’t that the same for us too?”
“It’s not a show-off style like ours, but the real deal. If we get entangled, it will definitely be a string of funerals.”
“Ah… I see. As expected, Brother smells people well.”
They hurriedly moved their steps.
But.
“Huh!?”
They smelled people well, but they did not know how to read people.
Squelch—squelch—squelch—
Watching blood gush out of their own necks, they collapsed forward.
Chui, who was standing behind them before they knew it, shook the blood off his awl.
Since he only said he would let them go earlier, it was not a lie.
It was just a problem because the place he sent them to was the Yellow Springs.
Chui took off the finger necklaces hanging on the bandits’ necks.
How many travelers had lost their lives to their hands until now?
Chui extracted the spear ghost from the bodies of the three bandits and swallowed them.
Three bandits who were once slash-and-burn farmers, but became human butchers after tasting blood.
They ended up trapped in Chui’s dantian, shedding tears of blood.
Now they would never achieve nirvana and would suffer even after death.
At that time.
“Thank you for saving me.”
The woman’s voice came from behind.
At the place where Chui turned his head, the woman who had tripped over the tree root earlier was seen.
She bowed politely, then opened her mouth in a respectful tone.
“I had been trying to cross this pass since two days ago, but I was afraid to go due to the rumor that a tiger appears beyond the pass. I happened to meet a group of merchants passing the path and tried to cross together… but then I met those bandits and almost suffered a disaster.”
She had a small face and large eyes.
Although she was covering below her eyes entirely with a veil, her face shape itself was quite beautiful.
Moreover, perhaps because she wore heavy eye makeup, she was also guessed to have a considerably beautiful appearance.
However, such factors did not really appeal to Chui.
“Leave.”
Chui took his eyes off the woman.
Then, he tried to descend the foot of the mountain.
At that time, the woman held Chui back.
“Wait a moment.”
“?”
As Chui turned his head, the woman continued speaking.
“I want to repay at least a little of the grace of saving my life.”
“No need.”
“I will give you what you need.”
“?”
Chui twitched one of his eyebrows.
Then the woman spoke with shining eyes.
“It appeared that the awl you used when striking down the bandits earlier was quite worn out.”
“…”
Chui stared at the awl held in his hand.
The tip had certainly become very blunt.
Not only that.
The hammer was also on the verge of its head falling off, and the caltrops were almost all used up.
Since he had to join the Ink Bamboo and the Plum Blossom Sword in the first place, visiting a blacksmith shop was essential.
The woman spoke to Chui right at that moment.
“Could you perhaps show me the weapon you are holding?”
“…”
Chui took out and held the staff and the blade he was carrying on his back.
Looking at that, the woman admired slightly.
“It is the workmanship of master craftsmen. But the master craftsmen who made the two weapons are different. Are you trying to make the works of the two master craftsmen into one?”
“You know well.”
“My parents ran a blacksmith shop. So I also have some knowledge of metallurgy (冶金).”
She noticed Chui’s worry just by looking.
“Just as humans dislike being told to become one body when they are two different individuals, grafting metals of different properties into one is also not an easy task. It is even more so for weapons with strong self-assertion.”
“…”
Chui nodded slightly.
The woman spoke.
“May I look at them a bit closer?”
“Do so.”
Chui extended the Ink Bamboo and the Plum Blossom Sword forward.
The woman approached in a cautious posture and examined them.
“They are weapons born from the hands of different master craftsmen, living while serving different masters. The owners of these armaments must have been experts who achieved great success in their respective paths.”
Her discernment was quite accurate.
Chui thought.
The owner of the Ink Bamboo was Staff Ghost Gu Gang-ryong.
He was an expert among experts who once active as one of the Two Ghosts of Wulin, spreading numerous infamies.
The owner of the Plum Blossom Sword was Death Plum Blossom Oh Ja-woon.
He was a giant who was the greatest rising star of the Mount Hua Sect, became a public enemy of the martial world after being falsely accused, and later became the Left Divine General Messenger of the Demonic Cult.
The weapons those two, who were respectively a hero of the heterodox path and a hero of the righteous path, used all their lives were precisely the Ink Bamboo and the Plum Blossom Sword.
Even if he tried to join them, it was utterly impossible for them to fit well.
The woman continued speaking.
“Generally, to join different weapons, one side must have stronger qi than the other. However, since the qi of these two is tense against each other and not suppressed in the least, a craftsman with great skill is needed to press them down and fuse them into one. Probably ordinary blacksmiths would not even dare to try.”
“What is the main point?”
Chui asked.
The woman answered.
“Since you saved my life, I will repay you.”
Her two eyes seen above the veil were emitting a straight and clear light.
“If you follow me, I will make these two weapons into one for you.”
* * *
The river flowing below the mountain.
Cold and transparent waves flickered on the riverbank where black pebbles were spread.
There was a boatman who crossed travelers and received a fare, having moored a boat on the riverbank.
Chui and the woman, who came down the mountain, boarded the boat.
Splash—
The boatman launched the boat onto the water, which was exceptionally clear, showing the riverbed clearly.
The woman and Chui sat at opposite ends of the boat.
The taciturn boatman stood in the middle of the boat and rowed.
Silence continued for a while.
The one who opened the mouth first was the woman.
“My parents were the world’s greatest blacksmiths. Both of them.”
“…”
“But now, both of them have passed away. It was due to the tyranny of the rulers (爲政者) who envied my parents’ talent.”
“…”
“My only brother also set out for revenge and ended up dying.”
“…”
“I alone survived, barely prolonging my wretched life. Because if I die, the family line will be severed, and even my parents’ skills will be lost forever.”
“…”
Deep sadness was exuding from her voice.
The boatman was still silently rowing.
And Chui also had no words.
“…”
Chui, who had kept silent for a while, opened his mouth in a low voice.
“So.”
When the woman sent a puzzled look, Chui’s words continued briefly.
“When are you going to bring up the main point?”
“…?”
At Chui’s words, the woman tilted her head as if she did not know the reason.
Then, Chui added once more.
“I mean, what is it that you want to say, going as far as purposely getting chased by bandits, coaxing a person with plausible stories and excuses, and even having a boatman standby at the riverbank in advance.”
“…”
At those words, the woman’s gaze changed.
Splash!
The boatman who was rowing suddenly plunged into the water.
Now only Chui and the woman remained on the boat.
Eventually, the woman’s eyes curved softly above the veil.
“How did you know?”
The string of the veil was untied.
Hae (亥) Baek-jeong.
It was the moment the woman’s true colors (本色) were revealed.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost