Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 15. Young Master Ghost Sword (1)

Since there was still some distance to Wondrous Ridge Mountain, I headed to a nearby village called Jawon to rest for the night.

Even though it was evening, it was a village that exuded a quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

While walking down the street, I found an old and shabby inn and went inside.

As usual, I ordered boiled meat and waited for a short while.

When the owner finished cooking himself and served the meat, I casually asked a question.

“Elder. By any chance, are there any rumors about bandits in this vicinity?”

“Bandits? I haven't heard anything in particular.”

“Is that so…”

My words trailed off without me realizing it.

It seemed that the Great Tiger Fortress bastards had not yet established themselves here.

A sense of urgency suddenly surged.

This Jawon village was also peaceful, and there were no bandits on Wondrous Ridge Mountain, so it seemed there would be nothing to clean up.

But somewhere in this vast Jianghu, things worse than trash must be rampant.

I wanted to find the spiritual herb as soon as possible and then deal with that trash.

There was no time to leisurely enjoy the peace.

With that resolve, I stuffed the boiled meat on the plate into my mouth.

And after resting for a night, I left the inn early in the morning and headed for Wondrous Ridge Mountain.

As I was climbing the mountain path, I suddenly realized there was one very important problem.

The problem of where exactly the spiritual herb was.

I only knew the fact that the leader of the Great Tiger Fortress had obtained a spiritual herb from this mountain, but I didn't know exactly where on the mountain that spiritual herb was.

After thinking for a moment, I found a minimal clue.

The fact that he had found the spiritual herb meant that it must have been hidden within the range of movement of the Great Tiger Fortress men.

If so, where would the future Great Tiger Fortress men have established their base and what would have been their route of movement?

Just as there is the saying, ‘think from the other person's perspective’, I tried to imagine what I would have done if I were a bandit.

I am a bandit. I am a bandit.

I am a madman who claims to be the owner of ownerless land.

I am a madman who swings a weapon at innocent passersby, intimidates them, and extorts money.

I am a man worse than trash who willingly stabs a blade into a person's body if they don't give up their money and laughs ‘kehahaha.’

As I climbed the mountain, repeating that to myself, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Ha. I want to kill myself.”

Just imagining it filled me with such shame and guilt that I felt like slitting my own throat with my sword.

A stroke was suddenly starting to come on.

“But why don't these guys kill themselves? Why do they live so shamelessly?”

It seemed it wouldn't do.

“If they can't die by their own hands, I'll have to kill them with mine.”

I wanted to leave this mountain right away, find all the bandit bastards hiding in every corner of the nine provinces and eight wastelands, and smash their heads in.

“Hoo. This won't do. If I think from the perspective of a bandit, I'll end up falling into a mental demon.”

Realizing that this method was dangerous, I looked for another plan.

“Right. The bandit bastards I killed in my past life. Let's recall their behavior.”

Chang!

I promptly drew my sword.

Since a stroke was coming on anyway, I was going to try killing the bandit bastards I had killed in my past life again.

Even if it was in my imagination.

“Haat!”

While climbing the mountain path, on guard in all directions, I didn't miss the moment the bushes on the right shook and quickly swung my sword.

“So you were hiding there. Bandit number one.”

Slice.

The bushes are cut by the blade of my sword.

Vaguely, the memory of my past life where I had pierced the head of a bandit who had been hiding in the bushes and charged at me overlapped.

“Haat!”

Subsequently, I quickly rotated my body and took a motion to strike something down.

It was because I remembered a bandit from my past life who had hidden among the bushes and shot an arrow.

Whoosh~

Immediately after striking the empty air, thinking an arrow had flown in.

“Did you think I would fall for such a trick?”

I used my movement technique and ran towards the place where that bandit was hiding.

Slice!

After slitting the throat of bandit number two, who was running away while shooting an arrow, I turned my body again and looked at the middle of the mountain.

“Hehehe.”

There, ten bandits had set up a formation to capture a passing merchant.

“From bandit number three to bandit number twelve. Today is the day of your death.”

I used my movement technique and ran, swinging my sword at the bandits from my memory.

Whoosh!

A few times, my sword cut through the empty air with a whooshing sound.

After flying around and killing bandits from number three to number five, a smile naturally formed on my lips.

It wasn't because my anger had subsided thanks to killing the imaginary bandits.

Perhaps because I had deeply immersed myself in the memories of my past life, a trajectory had appeared in the empty space.

The figures of the bandits, now much more vivid.

Die!!

Along with the clear shouts they had yelled in my past life.

***

Seven days and nights had already passed since I started climbing Wondrous Ridge Mountain.

I couldn't count how many imaginary bandits I had killed during that time… no, I could.

“To think I only killed a thousand in seven days and nights. I'm still far from it.”

Soothing my disappointment, I stuffed meat into my mouth.

It was a rabbit I had hunted while going back and forth on Wondrous Ridge Mountain, boiled.

After finishing twenty years of training, I roamed the Jianghu for eighteen years.

Sleeping outdoors and hunting were very familiar tasks for me.

Cooking was also not difficult, as it was all about boiling meat. I just had to properly remove the blood and entrails.

There was no seasoning, and there were no spices to remove the gamey smell, so I chewed on the terribly tasteless meat.

I don't know if it was just my imagination, but it felt like I had gained some muscle in the seven days and nights.

Perhaps it was the aftermath of the forced march during my journey to Wondrous Ridge Mountain.

In addition to that, my body was getting stronger thanks to swinging my sword at bandits all day or climbing up and down the mountain to train my movement technique on Wondrous Ridge Mountain as well.

It wasn't just my external energy. My internal energy was the same.

Perhaps because I operated the Jade Cloud Divine Art every time my internal energy ran out while swinging my sword or going back and forth on the mountain, my proficiency in the Jade Cloud Divine Art was growing steeply.

Especially since the battle with Byeok Cheollyong, this beginner's body was finally starting to get used to the Jade Cloud Divine Art.

As expected, it seemed that the more roughly the human body is treated, the stronger it is forged.

That wasn't the only achievement.

As I swung my sword while reviewing the battles with the bandit bastards I had killed in my past life, my eyes would occasionally open.

Every time that happened, I swung my sword following the trajectory revealed in the empty space, and it felt like my swordsmanship was gradually being refined.

However, I was not happy at all.

“Haa. I don't know how long I have to keep doing this.”

Internal and external energy, swordsmanship, and movement technique. Although I was achieving various accomplishments, it was not what I wanted.

“Even at this moment, common people are suffering all over the Central Plains.”

When I was cooped up on a mountain like this and just training, I felt a suffocating feeling of frustration.

“Five days. I'll search for just five more days.”

Still, if I couldn't find it, it seemed better to come back after the Great Tiger Fortress bastards had established their base on this mountain.

***

The next day.

Mr. Bang, an herb gatherer based in Jawon Village, began to climb Wondrous Ridge Mountain from early in the morning to gather herbs.

“Ugh.”

As he passed the path that people commonly traveled and headed to a place where people's hands did not often reach, a weary sound naturally escaped his mouth.

He searched the ground for any useful herbs, and when he found something, he would dig it up and put it in his net bag several times.

“Hmm?”

Feeling as if he heard a person's voice faintly somewhere, Mr. Bang raised his head and looked around.

‘A ghost?’

But it was too bright for that.

‘Could it be that someone else is gathering herbs here?’

As it seemed a new competitor had appeared, Mr. Bang cautiously moved his steps and headed to the place where he felt the presence.

There was a boy there.

Slice!

Swinging his sword in the empty air.

“Farewell. Bandit number one thousand forty-four.”

A boy who was spouting strange words.

Swiiish!

The boy, who had swung his sword once more in the empty air, made a displeased expression.

Slap!

He suddenly slapped his own cheek.

“Get a grip. The trajectory disappeared.”

The boy, who muttered incomprehensible words to himself, once again swung his sword, drawing the same trajectory as before.

“Die twice. Bandit number one thousand forty-four.”

Mr. Bang, who was staring blankly at the scene, began to retreat very cautiously.

Thump.

And as soon as his footsteps echoed, the boy's gaze turned to him.

Gulp.

The moment Mr. Bang swallowed.

Swiiish!

The boy laughed like a madman and charged at him, then suddenly swung his sword.

“There you were, bandit number one thousand forty-five!”

Just before the blade reached Mr. Bang's neck.

The boy, who had stopped his sword by a hair's breadth, had a bewildered look in his eyes.

“???”

The boy, who tilted his head as if confused about something, belatedly retracted his sword and bowed his head to Mr. Bang.

“I apologize, elder. I was momentarily mistaken.”

What was he mistaken about?

It was a statement he couldn't possibly understand, but Mr. Bang didn't bother to ask.

“I-it's alright. Th-then I'll be on my way.”

Mr. Bang, who spoke respectfully to the boy who seemed much younger, turned his back and began to descend the mountain with all his might.

Although he hadn't met his goal for the day, he didn't feel any regret.

‘H-he's a madman possessed by a ghost.’

He was just scared to be with that boy even a little longer.

However, his escape ended in failure.

Fwoosh.

The boy, who showed agile movements that were hard to believe on a mountain path, had already caught up with Mr. Bang.

“Elder!! I have just one thing to ask!”

At the words shouted with bloodshot eyes and even a drawn sword, Mr. Bang swallowed hard and held out his net bag.

“Th-this is all I gathered today!”

Jin Yuseong, who had tilted his head at the herb gatherer's words, replied.

“Elder. By any chance, is there a spiritual place on this mountain where a special herb would likely be? But a place that is dangerous, so you haven't been able to go.”

Immediately after realizing that the middle-aged man he had mistaken for a bandit was an herb gatherer, a thought suddenly occurred to Jin Yuseong.

‘So there was an herb gatherer on this mountain too.’

Until the bandits called the Great Tiger Fortress or something had established themselves, it was a mountain where herb gatherers went.

Immediately after realizing this fact, a question arose.

‘But how could a mere bandit find a spiritual herb that even an herb gatherer who had gathered herbs his whole life couldn't find?’

Driven by that question, he had asked the herb gatherer.

Perhaps it grew in a spiritual place that an ordinary herb gatherer couldn't go to.

“If you tell me, I will give you these.”

Having said that, Jin Yuseong unfolded the cloth that had been tied to his back.

It was filled with various herbs.

They were what he had gathered while roaming Wondrous Ridge Mountain for the past eight days. However, he hadn't gathered herbs to make money.

“Ah, I need these for something, so you can just take the rest.”

Having said that, Jin Yuseong took out only a part of what was in the cloth.

‘I need to leave what's necessary to catch that guy.’

One of the experts who was scheduled to join the Steel Sinew Sect in the future. He needed a little of these to deal with him.

The herb gatherer, who had received the herbs Jin Yuseong handed him, cloth and all, looked at Jin Yuseong with a complicated expression.

“J-just telling you the l-location is really all I have to do?”

“That's right.”

“That… If you go straight in that direction, a cliff will appear.”

“To what extent in that direction? Ah! If you don't mind, could I ask for your guidance?”

“Ah, guidance?”

The herb gatherer, who had asked back with terrified eyes, soon looked at the herbs in his hand and fell into thought.

This was an amount that would take at least a few days to gather.

‘My wife. Juaya. This father of yours is living so diligently.’

Thinking of his fox-like wife and rabbit-like daughter waiting at home, Mr. Bang mustered his courage.

“I-I will guide you.”

The herb gatherer tied the cloth again and slung it over his shoulder, then took the lead and walked up the mountain path.

A path where people did not come and go. How long had they been walking along the untamed, rugged path?

“Haat!”

Whoosh!

The sound of a shout and a sword being swung was heard from behind again.

“Heek!”

As Mr. Bang turned around in surprise, the mad boy smiled innocently and said.

“Ah. I'm just doing some training because just walking seems like a waste of time. You don't need to worry about it.”

“Tr-training, you say?”

“Yes. Training.”

Mr. Bang swallowed hard and took a step forward again.

“There you were hiding! Bandit number one thousand forty-six!”

“Hmph. Did you think I would fall for such a trick!!”

At the sound of him muttering to himself and swinging his sword from behind, Mr. Bang squeezed his eyes shut.

‘How can I not worry when a madman is doing a sword dance behind me!!’