Chapter 331

“Ow, these are just useless things.”

Qing brushed his hands off.

But the remnants of the local flesh clung to his fingers, getting him even messier.

Frowning, Qing looked around and thought, why the heck is everyone running around half-naked?

Finding a pair of pants that were miraculously blood-free, he desperately wiped his hands, but the makeshift towel was soaked in something sweaty and unpleasant.

He managed to get the sticky blood and grease off his hands, but can this really be considered clean?

Yuck, this feels disgusting.

As Qing kicked at the scattered corpses around him, he suddenly brightened up upon spotting a water pouch at his waist.

This is it!

To maintain his usual neatness, Qing opened the pouch and poured its contents over his hands, oh no.

The sour smell of fermented alcohol hit his nose hard.

Hmm, can this even be considered disinfecting?

Would be nice to take a swig, but since the owner of the pouch is who he is, that’s a no-go.

Qing wiped his alcohol-scented hands on his trousers.

Then he grabbed the Moonlight Sword and shoved it back into its sheath.

All good, but damn, the sword’s length makes the sheath super inconvenient.

Now, he noticed the Deputy Lord still groaning in pain nearby.

“Alright, time for some reflection. If I knew it would turn out like this, I’d have played nice, you know?”

“What, what grudge do you have against the Green Forest to go this far?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I was minding my own business until you decided to pick a fight. I might’ve been willing to pay a reasonable viewing fee, but look at this, it’s worth the money, isn’t it?”

“What nonsense! You barged in here!”

“Barge in? Who’s barge in when all the mountains in the Central Plain belong to the Green Forest? You guys started it when I was just passing through.”

The Deputy Lord couldn’t comprehend what was happening until a dreadful thought crossed his mind.

“You didn’t even know where you were when you set foot here, did you?”

“Hmm? Zhangjiajie?”

Zhangjiajie, a name of a little town that you only reach after passing through those jagged rocks and over two ridges of the Tianmen Mountain.

The Deputy Lord instantly understood.

Shit. It wasn’t an invasion of the Green Forest; he had simply wandered into the territory by mistake.

Just like Qing said, messing around earned him a serious beatdown.

“Now, if you have any last words, make ‘em sound nice.”

“…Please let me live!”

The Deputy Lord, desperately begging for his life, smashed his head against the foot that kicked him, uttering a pathetic scream.

With his nose crumpled, he hurriedly asked, “Why, why…?”

“I said to make your last words, not that I would grant your wish.”

“Is that even appropriate to say right now!”

“And you? Have you ever listened to a single last word of the countless people you’ve robbed? Aside from laughing at it, of course. I’ll spare your life, that’s a favor.”

“That’s…”

The Deputy Lord’s words faltered.

That alone was enough of an unspoken answer.

“I-I’ll do it!”

“Hmm. I can’t trust that at all. But a promise is a promise.”

In a flash, he drew his sword and made two swift cuts, both sides of the Deputy Lord’s shoulders cleanly severed, his arms falling to the ground.

“You’re still alive, though. You seem to be at the peak, so I reckon you know how to stop the bleeding. If you die now, that’s on you, understood?”

“What nonsense, let me live!”

You need hands to apply pressure or bandage your wounds.

But Qing had no intentions of assisting with that.

If you want to live, figure it out yourself. Whether it’s with your feet or your mouth.

“Hmm. I’ll be on my way now. It’s been fun. Goodbye.”

Having enjoyed himself quite a bit, Qing leaped away without a second thought.

He had seen some signal flare things shooting up all around earlier, and sticking around while a crowd comes rushing in would definitely be trouble.

Knowing full well about his superior lightness of movement gave him the confidence that he could escape anytime.

So, Qing decided he’d better make a getaway now.

From the peak of Yulnak Mountain, the paths stretched east-west.

The trail from the west, leading up from Yongsan, continued straight to Tian Mountain.

And Qing chose neither.

He just needed to go south, right?

Southward he went.

Going down the mountain was his plan.

However, there was something Qing didn’t know.

The Han people, Qing’s folk, had a tendency to underestimate the mountains.

Why? Because the mountains of the Korean Peninsula are genuinely easy to tackle.

For one, the terrain itself isn’t steep, and there isn’t even a labyrinth-like rocky canyon.

Plus, sheer cliffs blocking the way are rare.

The trees aren’t tall, and the density is low, allowing sunlight to pour in, giving broad visibility.

Yet, in human history, mountains evoke fear.

Deep woods are dark enough during the day, packed tightly with trees, and come nightfall it turns into complete darkness where you can’t see a thing.

And with unpredictable ups and downs, steep slopes can block one’s path, with cliffs barely a foot tall not even qualifying as cliffs.

So for those from the Central Plain, mountains are places you shouldn’t wander into unless you want to suffer.

Moreover, this was a terrain where lightness of movement couldn’t be utilized.

Qing’s learned Heavenly Flight technique specialized in swift and long runs.

When at top speed, he could leap over three paces with each step!

But now, entering the rugged mountains, there wasn’t a place to leap even within a span of three paces.

Trees blocked him, or he risked falling off a cliff or down a slope, or boulders and cliffs stood in the way, so any attempt to leap would result in what happened to that Deputy Lord earlier—a face-planting against nature.

Not to mention that the thick layers of fallen leaves made the ground even harder to gauge.

He wouldn’t know if he was stepping into a pitfall or sliding if he wasn’t careful.

That’s why even seasoned mountain dwellers, herbalists, and hunters hesitate to run around in the mountains without thought.

Thus, instead of using his technique, Qing walked briskly across the challenging terrain.

Though Qing’s physical abilities had long surpassed that of regular humans.

Even with his surprisingly agile movements, he showed no signs of fatigue.

Why? Because it really wasn’t that tiring.

So he thought,

I can’t use my technique, but is this good enough?

If I keep heading southward, I’ll be fine.

This is easy; climbing a mountain is nothing special.

…That’s what he had thought.

At least until one towering cliff blocked his path.

He felt good as he marched on, thinking, my path is the right one; I’m making my own way.

Suddenly, his view cleared to reveal a breathtaking landscape far below.

Whoa. This is amazing.

Those green patches down there were actually clusters of giant trees, just like little fingernails dotted on the land.

But admiring the view didn’t last long.

But how do I get down from here?

Qing cautiously tested the edge of the cliff a few times for stability, then, like a supreme martial artist, he crawled on all fours towards the edge to peek over.

“Huff.”

Startled, Qing hurriedly crawled back.

This was a sheer cliff without any railings.

It felt like it was more than a hundred paces down, and looking down made his heart drop, with his knees trembling unconsciously.

No matter how strong his physical body was, a fall from over a hundred paces was definitely deadly.

Climbing down the rocks might seem doable, but no, that’s too much. I’m a supreme martial artist, not a cliff-climbing expert.

On top of that, there was a massive cliff looming to the south as well.

Even if he somehow managed to scale down this one, there was no way to get back up that other cliff.

So, what now? A detour, obviously.

Qing scanned left and right and decided to go west.

He followed the cliff edge for a while, but the angle shifted, and soon he was facing an entirely western cliff.

If he kept going around, he’d find himself back at the spot where he battled that bandit earlier.

Qing turned back.

After about half a paces, heading straight east, his view opened up again to reveal Zhangjiajie’s stunning scenery!

A misty haze covered the area, giving it the appearance of floating islands atop clouds, just like one would imagine a celestial paradise!

In other words, a dead-end cliff ahead.

At that moment, Qing finally realized why there was no path to the south.

Oh great, the south is all cliffs, so of course, there’s no way through.

But this time, Qing couldn’t be blamed for his foolishness.

After all, his roots, the Han people, are those who find their way by observing the directions.

They consider forests and mountains free of obstruction, and cities are no different, so as long as you know the geography, you can reach your destination.

However, this characteristic applies to urban areas with divisions, and in old towns, if you try to navigate just by cardinal directions, you might end up hitting a dead end.

And yet, the common sense of a distinct culture often doesn’t extend beyond its bounds.

Fortunately, as he traveled north for a while, he stumbled upon a steep slope instead of a cliff.

Hmm, seems a bit too steep; hope that’s okay…

But going further would lead back to that cliff.

He’d already wasted enough time, and ugh, the paths are no good.

Due to previous painful memories, Qing absolutely despised the idea of being chased.

Qing resolved in his mind.

And his top-notch decisiveness didn’t hesitate.

Of course, because that very decisiveness had led him to meander along the southern cliff of Yulnak Mountain for nearly a full pace, landing him in this situation.

He could’ve simply followed the path downhill and saved himself a ton of trouble, but chose the harder and more perilous route that took dozens of times longer.

With determination, Qing cautiously placed his foot on the slope.

He lay back, clutching the ground with his back and hands, carefully inching down.

So, naturally, his speed wasn’t impressive.

However, if he slipped, even a supreme martial artist like him couldn’t avoid a serious injury.

But what could he do?

This was the path he chose for himself.

He could only grit his teeth and bear it as he slid down.

—-

At the urgent support request from the peak of Yulnak Mountain, the first to arrive were none other than the Yangsan Park Corps.

To the Green Forest, Yangsan Park stood as the ultimate idol and a hero to emulate.

And given the fact that a combat unit bore its name, it was indeed the elite fighting force based at the Green Forest’s headquarters.

So, when the members of the Yangsan Park Corps saw the tragedy at the peak of Yulnak Mountain, they frowned.

Body parts were scattered about chaotically, and not a single corpse had all its limbs intact.

The best-looking one was the head, which had merely severed from the body.

Among the dead, that is.

Among the living, there were those whose limbs were still wholly attached.

“Cough, Young Master!”

“Don’t touch him! His neck is broken! If you shake him, he might actually die!”

As a corps of elite fighters, it was only natural that the Yangsan Park Corps had their medic on duty, who cautiously checked the unconscious Young Master.

“How’s the Young Master?”

“The neck’s one thing, but he’s bleeding from the head. If just a bit more time had passed, he’d have already kicked the bucket. We need to treat him, but it comes with a bit of danger…”

“Better than him dying now. If things go sideways, we’ll treat it as him already being dead, so hurry it up.”

“Yes.”

Meanwhile, the soldiers surveyed the area.

There was no need to scrutinize the identities of the corpses in detail.

The second Young Master led an army of White Tigers, and the Deputy Lord was also lying dead after losing both arms.

“How many members did the White Tiger unit have?”

“Forty-seven, I believe.”

“Yet there are only twenty-four corpses?”

The Deputy Lord murmured ominously.

Well, given how horrific the scene was.

It was easy to picture them turning tail and fleeing.

With anyone willing to fight being merely those pretending to be from the Green Forest, how many would actually put their lives on the line?

“Survivors?”

“None.”

“Guess they all ran. But who on earth could’ve done this? It has to be someone deeply wronged.”

The Deputy Lord of Yangsan Park Corps, Dou Sam, muttered to himself.

He tried his hand at deduction and concluded ultimately with uncertainty.

There are countless people harboring resentment against the Green Forest.

If anger granted power, the Green Forest would have vanished long ago.

“How’s the Young Master?”

“For now, there’s no danger to life, but…”

Due to his neck being broken, he’d be completely paralyzed below the neck and wouldn’t be able to move a single hair.

But it was also unlikely that his head was perfectly fine.

He’d need an immense amount of luck to come out alright, and it was far more probable that he’d end up as a mute, simpleton, or deaf, among other impairments.

Dou Sam frowned.

“Being a simpleton might be better. What a fate—being fully alive but paralyzed. If I were to end up like that, better put me out of my misery. But whoever did this is heinous. Who could it…”

Dou Sam’s questions didn’t last long.

Not long after, a band of mountain bandits from Yongsan appeared, dragging along a survivor of the White Tiger unit that was tied up.

“I wasn’t fleeing; I was sending a support request, cough, ah! Ah!”

The desperate survivor got kicked hard, tumbling to the ground, and after a heavy weight pressed down on his wrist, he screamed in agony.

“Quit yapping, you coward. If you want to live, you better spill everything you know. Who did this? Which bunch was it?”

Without missing a beat, he screamed back a desperate answer.

“Seomun Qing! It was that woman!”

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