Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 16: Clear Flowing Sword (2)

The situation in the red-light district could be summarized in one sentence:

Five minutes before shit hits the fan.

Or maybe... It already had?

By the time Seojun and Chunbong casually stepped into the red-light district, the ground was already lavishly decorated with blood and corpses.

“Geez.”

Seojun clicked his tongue as he looked around. People screaming and fleeing, courtesans being dragged by their hair, Black Path thugs swinging their swords threateningly.

It was such a scene of pandemonium that just watching made him feel stifled.

He glanced at Chunbong, and her expression wasn’t good either. At this rate, it seemed like she might draw her sword and charge in at any moment.

Seojun took a deep breath.

“HAH...!”

His lion’s roar, infused with qi, momentarily silenced the chaos. But only for a moment. Only those nearby turned to look at Seojun while the rest of the miscreants continued their actions.

“This just won’t do.”

After securing his sword and scabbard with a leather strap, Seojun strode forward.

“Hey! Who the hell are you?”

He was clearly a Black Path thug. A man with a large iron club slung over his shoulder sauntered over, his eyes lighting up when he saw Chunbong.

“Oh ho, what a promising little wench. Come here. If you play nice, I won’t treat you too badly.”

“What?”

Seojun’s eyes widened. Chunbong currently had her bamboo hat pulled low, her face not even visible.

“How did you know? To call her a woman just by looking at this body... Ow!”

After kicking Seojun in the butt, Chunbong walked forward.

“Hehe, that’s right. A wise choice.”

As the man reached out towards her, she slipped past smoothly, diving into his embrace while simultaneously raising her leg to kick.

Crack—

“AAAAAARGH!!”

Ah, that definitely burst. Seojun involuntarily winced and looked at Chunbong fearfully.

“...You cruel woman.”

“What? Want me to kick you too?”

“Uh, no thank you...?”

Hearing the man’s scream, nearby Black Path thugs started approaching.

Seojun paid his respects to the man’s now-vanished descendants and swung down his scabbard.

Crunch!

The man’s screams stopped. Seojun shook off the blood and brain matter on his scabbard and nodded.

“Farewell, child lover.”

“What the hell are you on about?”

“Immediate execution is the answer for pedos.”

“Pedo? I don’t know what that is, but I’m starting to feel really pissed off.”

Chunbong’s eyes narrowed fiercely.

The Black Path thugs, their faces red with anger at seeing their comrade’s head smashed while they were just chatting, charged in.

Pew pew pew pew!

Seojun’s left hand moved rapidly. As he fired qi bullets from four fingers, excluding his thumb, four men collapsed.

“W-What the...”

“It’s a Master! Call the boss!”

Watching the men throwing a tantrum, Seojun shook his head.

“Let’s go, Geum Chunbong.”

“Okay.”

And so began the journey of the duo who would beat the ever-living shit out of the Black Path lowlifes in the back alleys.

*After beating up countless charging Black Path friends, those who had grasped the situation began to hesitate and stopped approaching.

“Alright, friends. This is our territory now, so come here and you’ll die, got it?”

“You think you can swallow up the Black Tiger Sect’s territory all on your own? Have you lost your damn mind!”

“Got a problem? Then come at me.”

As Seojun tapped his scabbard, the Black Path thugs backed away in panic.

This is a bit tricky.

Killing them all seems a bit much, but there’s no real reason to let them live either.

It’s impossible to eradicate guys like this anyway. They’ll probably multiply like cockroaches.

To begin with, being weak doesn’t make someone good. These guys are just openly acting like scum, and there are plenty of other idiots in the back alleys aside from them.

“Well, that’s not really my business.”

As Seojun was licking his lips, Chunbong came over and wiped the blood on her fist by rubbing it on his clothes.

“Um... why are you wiping that on me?”

“What. You don’t like it?”

“Yeah, it’s fucking gross.”

“Deal with it.”

Pouting, Chunbong withdrew her hand and started wiping the blood on her own clothes.

Setting that aside, that girl was scary. She didn’t even draw the sword at her waist and beat all those Black Path thugs into a bloody pulp with just her fists.

She seemed to be relieving some pent-up stress, but I hope she doesn’t use me to relieve stress later.

Such a terrifying future must not come to pass. He needed to make sure Chunbong was properly educated before that.

“Let’s go. I wonder where that woman is.”

“What are you going to do when you find her?”

“I don’t know either.”

Half of the courtesan houses in the red-light district belonged to the Black Tiger Sect. Since those criminal friends he met on the first day were from the Black Tiger Sect, she was probably in one of them.

“Stop right there.”

Suddenly, a large man blocked their path. Judging by how the faces of the nearby Black Path guys brightened, this must be that boss or whatever they were talking about.

“HAH!”

A river flowed. He slammed the Clear Flowing Sword, copied from that Cheong whatever guy from the Clear River Sect, onto the man’s head.

“Wha—!”

The surprised man tried to block with his iron club, but it was useless.

Crunch!

The man collapsed with his head crushed along with the iron club. Seojun shook his scabbard clean and waved his hand.

“Alright, now the lot of you, beat it. For real this time. Unless you really want to die.”

*As they were about to enter one of the courtesan houses, Chunbong spoke up.

“Be careful.”

“What is it this time? Why are there so many things to be careful about?”

“There wouldn’t be if you lived like a normal person, you bastard. But you don’t, do you!”

Chunbong, who was fuming, pointed at the sword at his waist.

“You, if you keep copying every sect’s martial arts carelessly and get branded as a public enemy of murim, then you’re seriously fucking screwed, got it?”

“Geez, you’re all so petty.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!”

She bounced up and down in frustration.

Yeah, I get it. It’s pretty obvious when you think about it.

For starters, every sect had its own signature styles. If someone could use the martial art of the Clear River Sect, they would have been the first suspects even if some random person got stabbed.

Plus, there was always a counter for every martial art. To simplify, if there was a movement that involved a horizontal slash followed by a vertical slash, blocking the horizontal slash and immediately dodging to the side while attacking would have put the user of that movement in quite a predicament.

Of course, counters weren’t always that simple, but once they were developed, it could devastate the entire sect, so they had to be careful.

Lastly, that was just how people were. People got jealous even when their cousin just bought land. If someone stole a recipe from the restaurant next door, there might have been a knife fight, so what about stealing martial arts?

Moreover, martial arts were like family heirlooms passed down through generations. Drawing a sword first when those were stolen wasn’t considered particularly unusual.

“You understand all that, but still do it?”

“Look, I feel wronged too, you know?”

He had only roughly mimicked the Clear Flowing Sword based on its imagery and qi flow, not because he knew the actual movements.

It might have similar characteristics to the Clear River Sect’s inner arts, but... to distinguish that? How could that be possible?

Like the first reason, the Clear River Sect would only come under suspicion if someone got sliced up by one of their signature moves, not just because the qi felt similar.

Probably only something like demonic qi or evil qi that often appears in martial arts novels could be distinguished?

Or if you’ve got insane talent like yours truly.

“Bullshit, seriously.”

For similar reasons, coming up with countermeasures was difficult too. How could there be a counter when he didn’t even know its movements?

It might be possible if someone created something that countered the Clear River Sect’s inner arts, but even for Seojun, that was a bit difficult right now. Maybe later, but not at the moment.

“So in conclusion, if those guys come after me, it’s just because they’re jealous.”

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Are you perhaps a reta... idiot?”

“Were you gonna say retard?”

“Yeah, you bastard!”

Chunbong smacked her forehead and lamented.

“How would they even know that?”

“Huh?”

“Of course they’d think you stole their martial arts, not that you copied it after seeing it once.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

Seojun nodded seriously.

“Then I’ll try to use it less noticeably from now on.”

“...Do whatever the fuck you want.”

Chunbong sighed.

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

*“You’re asking about a courtesan who’s been here for about a year?”

“Uh... yes.”

As they entered the courtesan house, a woman greeted them. The woman, who introduced herself as Maewol, seemed to have quite a position among the courtesans, but her aura was quite peculiar.

“It’s not a small number of women here, so it’s difficult to say. If you wish, I can gather them all.”

Feeling awkward, Seojun exchanged glances with Chunbong and scratched his head.

“No, um, that won’t be necessary.”

“I see. In that case, might there be... something else you desire?”

When Maewol’s eyes curved seductively, Seojun instinctively reached for his sword handle...

Slap!

“You crazy bastard!”

“Oops, force of habit.”

While shaking his stinging hand, Seojun shook his head.

“Then we’ll be... huh?”

Seojun’s eyes widened slightly. As he was about to leave, he saw a somewhat familiar face. It was that woman.

“Found her.”

Seeing Seojun’s reaction, Maewol furrowed her brow delicately.

“That girl...”

“Is there a problem?”

“Not exactly. Hmm, do as you please.”

Maewol withdrew. Though tilting his head in confusion, Seojun walked towards that woman.

“Excuse me.”

“...Yes?”

The woman turned her head. Her face covered in bruises, she hurriedly bowed and limped towards Seojun.

“D-Did you call for me?”

What should I say? As he was thinking, the woman slightly raised her head, and her eyes widened greatly.

“I-It’s you...! That son of a bitch...!”

What the? Is this actually happening?

Slap!

His hand, which had reflexively moved to his sword handle, was smacked again.

“Hey, stop that! Are you some kind of murderous lunatic!?”

Come on, can’t you see the killing intent in her eyes?

“Your big brother feels hurt...”

“W-Wait, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings...”

Chunbong came over and lightly tapped him on the side. Now he didn’t feel hurt anymore.

Seojun, removing his hand from the sword, stared at the woman.

“Excuse me.”