Chapter 71: Water Bandits of the Yangtze River (5)
Chui recalled a conversation he had with Hong Gong on a rainy night.
‘You are lucky. When I taught another fellow before you, this martial art was in an incomplete state. Right. Was his name Ga Jeong-maeng? I wonder what that pitiful water bandit is doing and how he is living now.’
Tiger Butcher Ga Jeong-maeng.
Chui pulled that dust-covered name out of his old memories.
‘Right. There was such a fellow.’
Chui did not miss the name that suddenly entered his ears while he was half-listening to the conversation of the water bandits.
‘Come to think of it, it must indeed be around this time. The time when he was staying in the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union.’
Strictly speaking, Chui had no direct connection with the Tiger Butcher.
This was because the Tiger Butcher was already a dead figure of the past when Chui entered the martial world.
There was only one reason why Chui at that point had paid attention to the footsteps of the past figure named Tiger Butcher.
‘……Tiger Butcher. Hong Gong’s disciple.’
It was literally so.
The Tiger Butcher was a person who had learned Spear Ghost Calling.
And that was much earlier than Chui.
In other words, if Hong Gong, who taught Spear Ghost Calling, was Chui’s master, then the Tiger Butcher, who had learned Spear Ghost Calling from Hong Gong before him, would be Chui’s senior brother.
‘Hong Gong said that before meeting me, he had passed down Spear Ghost Calling to a water bandit in the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union as a distraction. That guy’s name was definitely Ga Jeong-maeng…… the one who used the alias Tiger Butcher.’
Though he called it a distraction, in reality, he must have been a test subject created for the completion of Spear Ghost Calling.
In other words, the Spear Ghost Calling that the Blood Demon Hong Gong passed down to the Tiger Butcher was in an incomplete state.
‘It is a matter of course, since even Hong Gong probably had not completely established the martial art of Spear Ghost Calling at this point.’
Naturally, the Tiger Butcher, the disciple raised by Hong Gong, could not handle the demonic energy of Spear Ghost Calling and went mad, causing numerous bloody disasters after that.
After that, after running wild while trapped in the Heaven and Earth Net, he was caught and killed by the experts of the righteous path.
Chui had learned of this past history only much later, after entering the martial world.
‘……But he is alive at this point in time?’
Chui was curious.
He wondered what kind of person his senior brother was, whether he was currently learning Spear Ghost Calling or not, if he had learned it, what realm he had reached, and if he had not learned it yet, whether the Blood Demon Hong Gong would appear before him one day.
…Grip!
Strength entered his hand holding the staff.
Among the goals Chui had set after his regression, killing the Blood Demon Hong Gong was at the very top.
‘It is a life that will pass by like a bug anyway. Why don’t you come down here and take a gamble?’
The man who used him, tried to kill him in the end, and led his closest friend to death.
If he waited by the Tiger Butcher’s side, he would be able to meet him someday.
Was that why? Chui did not simply pass by Hae Baek-jeong in front of him.
If he captured and interrogated her, the youngest junior sister of the Tiger Butcher, he would be able to obtain various pieces of information.
By collecting the information she spat out when alive and the information she spat out when dead, he would be able to understand not only simple facts but also what she had tried to hide and even her intentions.
However.
“Master is not dead!”
Hae Baek-jeong did not seem to have any intention of dying obediently.
Bang!
She unleashed a kick with all her might.
Hae Baek-jeong’s instep tore again, and countless pebbles flew toward Chui.
Clack clack clack clack clack clack!
The pebbles turned the rocks and trees behind into rags.
But Chui had already leapt into the air to evade them.
Swish-
Chui’s staff flew like a venomous snake and thrust at Hae Baek-jeong’s abdomen.
Hae Baek-jeong rolled on the ground to avoid it, and soon picked up a hand axe scattered on the corpse of her subordinate.
…Grab!
Seeing that she went out of her way to pick up an axe when there were spears and swords nearby, she seemed to prefer that type of weapon the most.
“Uaaaaah!”
Holding the crude hand axe, she rushed straight at Chui.
Clang!
A wounded beast was still a beast.
Hae Baek-jeong drove Chui back, wielding the hand axe in all directions.
Sss…
The internal force emitted by Hae Baek-jeong rose like a haze on the surface of the axe.
They flowed along the axe blade and condensed like dew at the sharp tip.
Pop pop pop!
The droplets of internal force scattered like dew.
They pierced holes through rocks and trees alike with thudding sounds.
Whirrrr-
Chui spun his staff to deflect them.
At the same time, using a move of the Returning Horse Spear, he thrust hard at Hae Baek-jeong’s chest.
“Die.”
A cold voice and emotionless eyes directed at Hae Baek-jeong.
Clang!
The staff deflected the axe blade upward and struck Hae Baek-jeong’s shoulder.
“Argh!”
She suppressed a scream and tumbled backward.
A tree killed by lightning stood there, and the place where Hae Baek-jeong tumbled was unfortunately in the direction where a sharp branch tip was sticking out.
…Stab!
The branch pierced through Hae Baek-jeong’s left calf.
She had suffered penetration wounds from branches twice in total: once while drifting downstream, and once just now.
“Damn it, why are branches in such abundance!?”
She gritted her teeth, and then.
Snap!
She kicked and broke the branch that had pierced her left leg with her right foot.
It was truly remarkable fighting spirit.
A venomous malice that was even desperate.
Chui nodded his head.
‘There is a reason why her martial arts are so high despite her young age.’
Becoming a peak expert at an age that did not even seem to be thirty meant that she had not just encountered one or two miraculous encounters.
……But that was all.
“Hae Baek-jeong.”
No matter what circumstances or past the opponent he had resolved to kill had, it was none of his business.
“Hae Baek-jeong.”
Since a strong enemy was like a good elixir, Chui merely called the opponent’s name three times in silence.
Whoosh-
The staff was swung.
Clang!
Hae Baek-jeong raised her axe to block it, but due to the rebound force, she lost her grip on the axe handle.
Chui did not miss that exact gap.
“Ptooey-“
The blood drawn from biting the tip of his tongue flew mixed with saliva.
It landed precisely inside Hae Baek-jeong’s mouth.
“Bah, ptooey! What……?”
She had thought it was merely a dirty trick.
At that moment, Hae Baek-jeong’s eyes widened as if they would tear.
“Argh!?”
A terrible spiciness.
At the same time, past her mouth, an immense heat exploded deep inside her throat, below her stomach, and deep into the dantian in her belly.
“Aaaaah!”
It was a pain as if she had swallowed a burning piece of charcoal, with both her lungs and intestines burning hot.
But that was not all.
At the same time her scream erupted, Hae Baek-jeong’s internal force dried up.
Once the internal force flowing in the axe blade cut off, it degraded into a mere ordinary piece of iron.
…Crack!
The tip of the staff, which shot forward in a straight line, broke Hae Baek-jeong’s axe handle and sent the axe blade flying.
The next step was, naturally.
Thud!
It was time for Chui’s staff to lodge deeply into Hae Baek-jeong’s abdomen.
“Cough……!?”
Hae Baek-jeong could not even scream properly.
This was because Chui immediately raised the staff and slammed Hae Baek-jeong’s body into the river.
Splash!
A large column of water soared from the place where Hae Baek-jeong broke the water surface and plunged.
Gurgle gurgle… Bubble bubble bubble…
Hae Baek-jeong sank into the water once again.
An auditory hallucination echoed in her ears.
‘Mom… Mom… Mom…’
A girl’s crying.
Her mother’s smiling face in the water.
Her father’s indifferent hammering movements.
Her brother’s wailing sound as he pounded the ground in the heavy rain.
Gurgle…
The last breath was spat out from Hae Baek-jeong’s mouth like water bubbles.
She struggled, but perhaps because the current was not very strong here, she only kept sinking.
‘Is it no use?’
Her body gradually grew sluggish.
She also felt as if she heard the voice of her missed master from somewhere.
‘Hae… Hae… Go… Go far away… Go learn about the world outside the fortress and come back…’
Hae Baek-jeong saw off the fading illusions beyond her dimming vision.
‘I am sorry. Mom. Dad. Brother. Master.’
And she slowly closed both eyes in the relief that she could finally rest.
……However.
Thud!
The sudden pain piercing her flank brought Hae Baek-jeong’s consciousness back to reality.
“Argh!?”
Before she could even scream, the pitch-black staff lifted Hae Baek-jeong’s body and fished her out of the water surface.
“There is still one call left.”
Chui had only called her name twice so far.
…Thump! Splash!
Hae Baek-jeong, pushed out of the water, was slammed onto the gravel field just like that.
Chui looked down at Hae Baek-jeong with an indifferent expression.
“This is the first time I have seen a water bandit who cannot swim.”
At the voice tinged with absurdity, Hae Baek-jeong coughed up river water that felt as if it filled her lungs to the brim.
“Urgh! Urgh!”
A few minnows coughed up from her mouth were seen flopping around.
Soon, Hae Baek-jeong spoke.
“……Why did you fish me out?”
“To kill you.”
“Crazy bastard.”
Hearing Chui’s reply, she limply tilted her head to the side.
But Chui’s reply was sincere.
‘……If she dies in the water, she cannot be made into a spear ghost, so even if it is bothersome, I have no choice but to fish her out.’
For example, Bi Mu-geuk, whom Oh Ja-woon had killed, could not be made into a spear ghost in the end.
This was because he was not an opponent killed by utilizing a killing blow directly.
Like this, if the opponent was not killed by directly seeing blood, they could not be made into a spear ghost.
This was one of the basic principles forming the foundation of Spear Ghost Calling.
That was why Chui went into the water himself to fish Hae Baek-jeong out.
Since if Hae Baek-jeong were to drown when she was already completely captured, he would not be able to absorb her soul.
Soon.
Swoosh-
Chui’s staff soared high into the sky.
It was to smash Hae Baek-jeong’s head just like this.
“Hae Baek……”
Just as the third call was about to come out of Chui’s mouth, her lips twitched.
“Master…… could not have died……”
Of course, it was a monologue that was none of Chui’s business.
“So…… I must live…… I cannot…… die…… here……”
If it was begging for her life, it was useless.
It was right before her name was called three times.
However, as if reading Chui’s thoughts, Hae Baek-jeong continued.
“It is not…… begging…… It is a…… deal……”
“……?”
Was there anything to trade at this point?
For Hae Baek-jeong, who had lost her subordinates, master, and sect brothers?
When Chui paused his staff for a moment, her words continued.
“I will make…… a spear for you……”
Hae Baek-jeong’s gaze directed back and forth between Chui’s staff and the Plum Blossom Sword hanging at his waist.
Chui recalled the words Hae Baek-jeong had said when she first disguised herself as a delicate woman.
‘Since you saved my life, I will repay the favor.’
This time, it was not the look of someone telling a lie.
In her two eyes, which were gradually dimming, a desperate sincerity was felt.
‘If you follow me, I will make these two weapons into one.’
The moment Chui lowered the staff, a single tear also fell from Hae Baek-jeong’s eye.
“Help me.”
Unrivaled Spear Ghost