Swordless Demonic Path

Chapter 30 : Dog and Cat (1)

Early in the morning. Hyun Jin, who came out to the yard while breathing in the cold air, stood where Jin Sa-wol's footprints were.

He tried to match his own feet to Jin Sa-wol's footprints.

'Was he holding a sword? A starting stance? A ready stance?'

The distance between his two feet was about one step, and his right foot was back.

Seeing that his left foot was forward, it seemed like the stance of someone who used their left hand.

But Jin Sa-wol used his right hand. In that case, his right foot should also have been forward.

Hyun Jin, who was examining the shape of the feet, raised his head and stared straight ahead. In his eyes, he saw a small dot on the wall.

Hyun Jin approached the wall with a hardened expression and examined the dot.

A small crack.

'It looks like a mark made by an awl.'

If he had pierced it with the tip of his sword, there should have been footprints nearby. But it was a distance of two zhang from the footprints.

Looking at the direction of the footprints, they were connected in a straight line with the dot on the wall.

He drew a straight line in his mind between Jin Sa-wol holding the sword and the dot on the wall and then thought about how he had moved the sword.

Hyun Jin, who was thinking with his pupils raised, stopped thinking for a moment when he saw the sun rising.

'Did he jump?'

If he had jumped from where the footprints were to the wall, one of the two feet should have had a different depth.

Usually, since one puts strength in the back foot, the depth of the back foot should have been deeper, but the depth of the footprints carved into the bluestone was the same for both.

"Bean?"

Hyun Jin, who had confirmed the smell that brushed past his nose, stepped back, sniffed, and turned his head.

It was the smell from the house next door.

"Young Brother Jin."

Thump!

Im Woo, the bald man who opened the door and came in, flinched when he saw Hyun Jin.

"...Who?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm the person from next door."

At Im Woo's answer, Hyun Jin cupped his fist and greeted him.

"My name is Woo Jeong-bong. I'm a close friend of Younger Brother Jin."

"Is that so? I haven't heard that Younger Brother Jin has a close friend."

"It's because Younger Brother Jin is taciturn."

"Well, he is a man of few words."

Im Woo, who was frowning, smiled when he saw that Hyun Jin's eyes were directed at the tofu he was holding in his hand.

"Take it."

Im Woo handed the tofu to Hyun Jin and then turned his body.

"When Young Brother Jin wakes up, tell him he can't run away tonight."

"Alright. Chomp! Chomp!"

Hyun Jin answered, then ate the tofu and went inside.

He placed the half-eaten tofu on the dining table and then headed for his room.

Jin Sa-wol opened his eyes after finishing his energy circulation.

For the past two years, whenever he trained in the Ink Shadow Heart Art, a headache would occur at the Tiantu acupoint.

He had tried to find out whether it was because the Ink Shadow Heart Art was a martial art of the unorthodox, or if there was some special reason, but he couldn't.

Because of that, he had stopped cultivating internal energy by training in the Ink Shadow Heart Art. The current state of his energy circulation was just enough to calm his mind and body and control his scattered internal energy.

The feeling that the Ink Shadow Heart Art was dangerous was an instinctive one. The occurrence of a headache during energy circulation meant that something was wrong.

There were countless people in the martial world who had died from falling into qi deviation, and there were also a considerable number among the Slaughter Ghosts.

Jin Sa-wol, who stood up while contemplating the cause of his headache, frowned when he saw the tofu on the dining table.

'The headache started a year ago.'

He recalled that the headache had started after he had bought this house and lived here.

There was no poison in the tofu. He had checked several times to see if there was poison, and each time, no poison was detected.

The conclusion was the Ink Shadow Heart Art.

Jin Sa-wol, who was standing at the dining table, headed for the yard at the sound of hot breathing from the yard.

On the yard stood Hyun Jin with a sword.

Hyun Jin was standing in the spot where he always stood, in a similar posture, holding a sword.

He would extend his sword forward and then withdraw it again, showing a posture of various contemplations.

"What are you doing?"

Hyun Jin, who heard Jin Sa-wol's voice, sheathed his sword and turned his body.

"I was thinking about how to avoid Younger Brother Jin's fast sword."

"Did you solve it?"

"Not yet."

Hyun Jin shook his head and sighed. If he could have easily avoided it, his shoulder would not have been broken like this.

Thump! Thump!

Someone knocked on the firmly closed door.

"Brother Jin! Are you there?"

"Who is it?"

"It's Jang Oh."

"Come in."

As Jin Sa-wol gave his permission, Jang Oh, wearing the martial arts uniform of the Martial Alliance, opened the door and came in.

He frowned when he saw Hyun Jin.

"Who are you?"

"I am Hyun Jin of the Wudang Sect."

"I am Jang Oh of the Nanchang branch of the Martial Alliance. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

At the mention of the Wudang Sect, Jang Oh cupped his fist and bowed his waist. Hyun Jin also cupped his fist in return.

Jang Oh turned his gaze and asked Jin Sa-wol.

"Did you have a connection with the Wudang Sect?"

"He's just an uninvited guest."

"I'm a house guest."

Although Jang Oh was curious about the relationship between the two, he had other business, so he got to the point.

"The steward wants to see you."

"Now?"

"Didn't I come because he told me to come now? Let's go together."

"Alright."

Jin Sa-wol answered, then took his sword from the room and came out. As he crossed the main gate with Jang Oh, Hyun Jin followed like a puppy.

Jin Sa-wol stopped and said to Hyun Jin.

"Just guard the house."

"What? Do you think I'm some kind of house-guarding dog? I'm just going to the Nanchang branch."

"What are you going to do at the branch with that shoulder?"

"Mind your own business."

At Jin Sa-wol's words, Hyun Jin touched his left shoulder and shook his head. Since Hyun Jin said he was coming, Jang Oh had no reason to stop him, so he was in the position of a bystander.

The eyes of Jin Sa-wol and Hyun Jin turned to Jang Oh.

Jang Oh quickly began to walk. Jin Sa-wol and Hyun Jin went with him.

As they were passing through an alley, a middle-aged woman carrying a small bundle entered Im Woo's house.

Thump!

At the sound of the door closing, Im Woo, who was in the kitchen, poked his head out.

"Wife."

Im Woo, with a startled face, quickly came out to the yard and took the middle-aged woman's luggage.

The middle-aged woman, who was a little short and had an ordinary appearance, made many wrinkles around her eyes and grabbed Im Woo's sleeve.

"What is this stain? Sniff! The smell of wine?"

"Hmph! What are you talking about? Water must have splashed while I was making tofu."

"It smells like wine. You went to the brothel, didn't you?"

"I didn't go."

Im Woo quickly rolled up his sleeves and shook his head.

"I don't have money, so what brothel?"

Seeing the strongly denying Im Woo, the middle-aged woman nodded and then asked.

"Do you still hang out with the young man next door?"

"Other than giving him tofu in the morning, not really."

At the words that there was nothing special, the middle-aged woman sat at the dining table. Then Im Woo poured her tea and asked.

"How are your in-laws?"

"Nothing special. Other than catching and eating an annoying puppy that was loitering in front of the house, there's nothing special."

"Well done."

Im Woo smiled. The middle-aged woman whispered lowly in the smiling Im Woo's ear.

"They told me to catch and eat the dog next door at home."

"Really? It seems the tofu we gave them suited their taste."

"It turns out it was one of the dogs that ran away from home."

"How did it run away?"

"Do we need to know how a son of a bitch lived?"

"No."

Im Woo swallowed his curiosity and shook his head.

The middle-aged woman spoke again.

"Two female cats will be coming soon. After we catch and eat them."

"Alright. Go change your clothes."

Im Woo smiled and then headed for the kitchen again. The middle-aged woman also soon went into the room and changed her clothes.

* * *

He had a feeling that annoying things had been happening frequently lately.

Hyun Jin had appeared, Jang Oh had come to find him, and the Nanchang branch of the Martial Alliance had given him a job.

It might be the price of gaining a little fame, but he was not at all happy about such changes happening around him.

"You'll have to help us subjugate the bandits."

Steward Jo Mal-sang said in a voice filled with firm will.

Jin Sa-wol first shook his head and asked back.

"I heard that the subjugation team has already left."

"The subjugation team that left before has mostly died."

During the month or so that Jin Sa-wol had killed Hyung Jo-geo and returned, the subjugation team had left.

But only a few of them had returned alive.

"Oh dear."

Hyun Jin, who was sitting next to Jin Sa-wol, clicked his tongue and shook his head.

The conversation was between Jo Mal-sang and Jin Sa-wol, but the person who was actually talking a lot was Hyun Jin.

Hyun Jin, with his arms crossed unnaturally, asked.

"To have so thoroughly trampled the branch's subjugation team, the fortress master's martial arts must be outstanding."

"Umm..."

At Hyun Jin's words, Jo Mal-sang couldn't easily open his mouth. His face seemed to have flushed slightly red.

There was a thorn in Hyun Jin's words, and it sounded as if he were mocking the Nanchang branch.

As Jo Mal-sang was silent for a moment, Hyun Jin smiled and said.

"It doesn't seem to be a problem to be discussed here. Wouldn't it be better to just report to the main headquarters and form a subjugation team? If the main headquarters says they will form a subjugation team, countless masters from all over the world will gather."

Thump!

Jo Mal-sang slammed the table with an expression that said he couldn't stand it.

"Ouch!"

Hyun Jin flinched his shoulders as if he were surprised by the sound. But unlike his actions, his eyes were smiling. This situation seemed amusing to him.

Jo Mal-sang raised his voice with a hardened expression.

"Dozens have died! This is not a joke! And forming a subjugation team is the business of the Alliance, not a problem to be discussed with you."

As Jo Mal-sang raised his voice, Hyun Jin shrugged his shoulders and turned his head.

'If only he weren't a disciple of the Wudang Sect...'

Jo Mal-sang clenched and unclenched his fist and closed his eyes for a moment. If he hadn't been a disciple of the Wudang Sect, he would have thrown a punch first.

Hyun Jin, as if he didn't know Jo Mal-sang's heart, drank his tea and turned his gaze out the window.

Jo Mal-sang spoke again to Jin Sa-wol.

"The bounty on the head of Mak Gu-dong, the fortress master of the Black Curtain Fortress in Noryeon Mountain, was thirty nyang of gold. But now it has become three hundred nyang."

Thirty nyang and three hundred nyang were on a different scale.

It meant that Mak Gu-dong's reputation had risen that much, and it meant that he was difficult to kill.

Jin Sa-wol nodded.

"That's a lot of money."

Hyun Jin muttered and showed interest.

Jin Sa-wol said.

"The reason the Black Curtain Fortress is tricky is not only because the fortress master's martial arts are great, but also because the leaders under him are also considerable masters."

"That's why the subjugation team failed, but the number of bandits in the fortress has also decreased a lot. Now it will be less than a hundred. So we are planning to urgently gather hunters like you and send them."

"That's not a bad plan."

It was Hyun Jin, not Jin Sa-wol, who answered.

The number of bandits in the Black Curtain Fortress was limited, but the martial world was not.

They had the capacity to send as many as they wanted. If they sent a subjugation team several times, even a strong Green Forest would collapse.

Hyun Jin asked with a face full of curiosity.

"If you kill the fortress master, it's three hundred nyang of gold. How much will you give for a leader?"

"Fifty nyang of gold."

"That's good."

Hyun Jin smiled like a worldly person.

Jin Sa-wol asked.

"How many are going?"

"I think it will be about fifty. Most of the famous wanderers in Jiangsu Province will gather. The departure will be in five days, and Jang Oh has decided to be the guide."

It meant that a few from the branch would also go. However, the fighting was the job of the wanderers, and the warriors of the branch would probably just do the cleanup after the wanderers had fought.

"If you refuse this time, I won't accept the heads you bring in the future."

Jo Mal-sang stroked his beard and notified him. Although it was a threat he couldn't refuse, Jin Sa-wol answered with an indifferent face.

"I will go to Noryeon Mountain."

(End of Chapter)