Unrivaled Spear Demon
Chapter 45 - The Encounter (1)
Chui and Oh Ja-un found and entered an inn.
This was the territory of the Paedo Sect, a place that even the Taoists of Wudang and Huashan were wary of entering.
Boldly, Chui took a seat on the first floor of an inn not far from the Paedo Sect's manor.
It was a spot immediately visible as soon as one lifted the curtain at the entrance.
Watching Chui sit at the table with a composed expression, Oh Ja-un let out a sound of admiration.
“‘It’s darkest under the lamp,’ as they say. But even so, it takes some serious nerve to be this bold.”
Indeed, Chui made no effort to cover his face or hide, instead striding confidently down the main road in broad daylight.
And in a district not far from the Paedo Sect’s main gate, no less.
Perhaps that was why. Passersby took no notice of Chui as they went on their way.
Soon, an attendant came to take their order.
Oh Ja-un asked.
“What’s good here?”
“Our inn only sells one thing. I’ll bring that out for you.”
The attendant’s words were blunt, but Oh Ja-un didn’t bother to point it out.
He hadn't eaten properly for days, and his stomach felt as if it were stuck to his spine.
Before long, the food arrived.
A stir-fry of wilted greens cooked in pork lard.
And wheat noodles in a broth made from vegetable stock.
Grease floated on the surface of the pale, steaming broth.
Oh Ja-un picked up his chopsticks.
Slurp
He grabbed a large mouthful of the broth-soaked noodles and stuffed them into his mouth.
Chew chew chew
It was maddeningly delicious.
Though the broth was barely seasoned and mostly just hot, it was the first real meal he’d had in a very long time.
Oh Ja-un used his chopsticks to pick up some of the stir-fried greens as well.
He wanted to snap the chopsticks, throw them away, and grab a huge handful to devour, but this was the last shred of humanity Oh Ja-un had left.
The various vegetables and herbs, fried in pork lard, crunched in his mouth.
The gamy smell. The rich, greasy odor of pork.
In the past, he would have grimaced, complaining that the smell hadn't been properly removed, but at this moment, it felt more delectable to Oh Ja-un than any spice.
The sharp saltiness seeped into his entire body, between his flesh and organs.
In the blink of an eye, Oh Ja-un had finished the noodles, the vegetable broth, and the stir-fried greens.
He had devoured it all in a flash.
Just then.
“Here’s your food… huh?”
The attendant, bringing another dish, was startled.
Oh Ja-un had already eaten everything.
“…!”
Oh Ja-un couldn't help but gulp as he saw the dish the attendant brought out.
Cubes of pork hind leg, marinated in a soy sauce with a peculiar flavor, then steamed whole.
It was the inn’s only dish, one without a proper name.
Next to it, a large brass bowl was placed.
The large, dented brass vessel was filled to the brim with a bluish, unfiltered rice wine.
Oh Ja-un looked at the attendant and asked.
“What’s the name of this liquor?”
“It’s Uirokju. Made from millet.”
The attendant placed the brass bowl of rice wine on the charcoal brazier next to them.
Soon, the liquor began to boil with a soft bubbling sound.
A sticky foam rose from the center of the bowl, and the ant-like sediment floating on the surface spread to the edges of the brass bowl.
Meanwhile, Chui was grilling a skewered plum over the charcoal fire before bringing it to his mouth to chew.
Oh Ja-un took a sip of the heated liquor.
“Keh— this is so bland it doesn’t even taste like liquor. Heating it seems to make it even more so.”
“If you drink it cold, the toxins will give you a stomachache. Drink it warm.”
Oh Ja-un nodded at Chui’s words.
Then, he ate the steamed pork like a man possessed.
The blackened, braised cubes of pork also vanished into Oh Ja-un’s stomach in no time.
All the while, Chui hadn’t touched the food, merely munching on the plum.
Oh Ja-un asked Chui.
“Do you like plums?”
“I ate them often when I was young.”
“Hmm. Eating plums while heating liquor like this reminds me of an old tale.”
Discussing Heroes Over Heated Wine.
The old story of how Liu Bei and Cao Cao discussed the heroes of the realm over heated wine with plums as a side dish.
It was a story Oh Ja-un had been fond of back when he was the Plum Blossom Swordsman of the Mount Hua Sect.
He asked Chui.
“How many heroes do you think there are in this world?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care.”
“In my opinion, there are three.”
Oh Ja-un gulped down a bowl of the bubbling Uirokju before speaking.
“Me. You. And the master who raised you.”
“…”
Hearing this, Chui smiled.
Oh Ja-un frowned.
“Why are you smiling? I’m being serious.”
He thought Chui was laughing because he had called himself a hero.
But that wasn’t why Chui smiled.
“Then leave out the last one. Let’s say there are two.”
“Hm? Are you saying your master isn’t a hero? You must not have gotten along with him. Well, I can relate.”
“That’s not it. It’s because they overlap.”
“?”
Oh Ja-un couldn’t understand a word Chui was saying.
Just as he was about to voice his many questions to Chui.
He overheard the conversation of the people at the next table.
“Did you hear the news? About the Bucha Pavilion that burned down.”
“I haven’t. Did something else happen?”
“Nothing major. They say the courtesans of the Bucha Pavillion are all returning to their hometowns. Said there’s no place to work anymore.”
“Hah?! really. Then where are we supposed to go for fun now?”
“I know, right? This is all because some wicked bastard burned down the Bucha Pavillion. What a terrible villain.”
The two men grumbled, seemingly disappointed that they could no longer amuse themselves now that the Bucha Pavilion had burned down.
Hearing this, Oh Ja-un muttered under his breath.
“The path of a xia was never about fighting the wicked strong for the sake of the virtuous weak. It’s about fighting the educated and greedy strong for the sake of the ignorant and greedy weak. That’s why true knights-errant are so rare in this world.”
Chui quietly nodded.
He remembered the days before his regression, when he had followed Oh Ja-un.
Even while fleeing from the pursuit of the Martial Alliance, Oh Ja-un had never forgotten righteousness and chivalry.
He had saved merchants being extorted by ruffians, rescued a woman who had fallen into the water, and even saved martial artists of the Orthodox Faction who were on the verge of being killed by members of the Unorthodox Faction.
But Oh Ja-un was rarely repaid for his good deeds.
No, more often than not, his kindness was returned with enmity.
The merchants he saved from the ruffians reported him to the authorities, coveting the bounty on his head. The woman he pulled from the water accused him of being a lecher. And the Orthodox martial artists he saved from the Unorthodox Faction turned on him, trying to kill him instead.
Yet despite it all, whenever Oh Ja-un encountered someone in hardship or distress, he never simply passed by, always extending a helping hand.
‘It is said that alleviating another’s hardship is called benevolence, and saving one in distress is called courage.’
Just as he had said last night.
Meanwhile, the gossips at the next table continued their chatter.
“It’s a shame the Bucha Pavillion burned down, but there was one thing that was quite satisfying.”
“What’s that?”
“Ah, you know. That.”
“Ah, that~”
The two men chuckled, each slapping their own groin with a fist.
“You mean how Young Master Do of the Paedo Sect was turned into a cripple?”
“Hahaha! you should call him an ‘eunuch,’ not a ‘young master,’ now. That lecher who used to grope all the beauties of the Bucha Pavillion. It’s a relief not to see his greasy face at the anymore.”
“Speaking of which, that Eunuch Do was a real piece of work.”
“You’re right. It says it all that the young women of Chojang County couldn’t even walk around outside because of him.”
“He’d snatch up any woman who caught his eye and abuse her, and he’d even bring his bodyguards along for a gang…”
“Abuse would be one thing, but didn’t he also sell them off to distant places? I heard some of the girls were even sold to the river pirates across the Yangtze.”
“It’s horrifying. I mean, honestly, what about the parents who sent their daughters out and were waiting for them without a care in the world? What if their daughter, who went out for a walk one day, just disappeared forever, only for them to find out she was sold to river pirates on the other side of the Yangtze to be a plaything? They’d die of a broken heart.”
“Good riddance, I say.”
“Hey, now. Who said he died? He just became a eunuch with all his limbs crippled. He’s not dead.”
“Phew. Death would have been better. To cling to life like that…”
At that, voices from the surroundings began to agree with the gossips’ conversation.
The drinkers at the next table and the gossips on the upper floor each added their own comments.
“I came here today to drink in celebration of that lecher becoming a eunuch! Because that eunuch bastard laid a hand on my wife!”
“Do Jwa-yun, that dog in heat, touched my daughter too!”
“He even touched my granddaughter! That little bastard!”
A series of shouts erupted from the drinkers inside the inn.
It was a testament to how far Do Jwa-yun’s debauchery had gone.
At that very moment.
…CRASH!
A tremendous roar erupted, silencing everyone in the inn.
Thud- Thud- Thud-
The paulownia wood door was torn apart like paper as a man of enormous build stepped into the inn.
If Zhang Yide of Changban Bridge were to return to life, would he look like this?
He was a martial artist nearly eight feet tall, with a broad, powerful frame.
His eyes were large and glaring like bells, his eyebrows were so thick they connected to his sideburns, and the beard that grew from under his chin was long enough to reach his navel.
On his back, he could be seen carrying a greatsword as large as his own body.
“Which of you were the ones running your mouths just now?”
The giant of a man asked the drinkers inside the inn.
The drinkers who had been cursing Do Jwa-yun just moments before now had their noses buried in the tables, huddled as if dead.
“Was it you?”
The man reached out a hand as large as a cauldron lid and seized the head of the person who had been speaking the loudest.
And…
…Crunch!
Crack!
He crushed the man’s head in his grip as if smashing a gourd.
At the horrific spectacle, the atmosphere in the inn froze even colder.
And then, the man spoke.
“Listen up, you insects. I am Do Mak-saeng, Master of the Paedo Sect.”
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of Paedo Sect warriors, long swords at their waists, stormed into the inn.
The entire establishment was surrounded by the Paedo Sect.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The frozen atmosphere had now transformed into that of an execution ground.
The drinkers who had been cursing the Paedo Sect moments ago did not even dare to beg for their lives, but could only tremble uncontrollably.
And soon, the mouth of the Paedo Sect Master, Do Mak-saeng, opened.
“Come out.”
His murderous gaze swept across the entire inn.
“I know you are here.”
It was, at last, the harbinger of a bloodbath.
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