Chapter 162

There are moments when a place bursting with noise suddenly falls silent.

This was one of them.

Creeeeak.

The inn went quiet as its old door swung open.

The four leaders had been raising a toast to their plan to turn Shanxi Province upside down. Now, their gazes—and those of the more than two hundred mounted bandits and nomads around them—all turned toward the entrance.

Step. Step. Step.

What the…?

Black Sand’s eyes narrowed as the uninvited guest slowly approached.

What’s with this old man?

The intruder was an old man. Quite literally, an extremely old man.

Black Sand had never seen anyone as ancient as the figure shuffling toward them.

He’s practically a corpse.

He tottered as though he might collapse at any moment. His wrinkled skin looked frozen stiff, and each breath that escaped his lips was faint and shallow.

Temur, Chinggen, and the Human Butcher watched him for a moment before exchanging a few words.

“That’s the oldest person I’ve ever seen. He’s even older than our tribe’s shaman.”

“But what’s an old man doing here? And why does he look like that?”

“He must have run into some mounted bandits.”

The old man did indeed look utterly wretched. His clothes hung in tatters, as though he had suffered some terrible misfortune, exposing a body that was little more than skin and bones.

“What an unlucky old man. He barely survives, only to end up in a mounted-bandit den.”

The Human Butcher clicked his tongue.

“I don’t even feel like killing someone that old. Get rid of him.”

“Yes, sir.”

His subordinate was about to step forward when—

“Wait.”

Black Sand raised a hand to stop him. His brow furrowed as he stared at the old man.

Something’s strange.

Mounted bandits had built this inn. Its owner, cook, and servers were all either mounted bandits or former ones.

As the only neutral ground in Northern Gaoyuan, it sometimes hosted gatherings and reconciliations like the one taking place today.

But he came crawling into a place like this on his own? An old man like that?

Anyone who set foot in Northern Gaoyuan knew about this inn.

They also knew that any ordinary civilian who entered it was as good as dead.

“What is it?”

“Shh. Wait a moment. Something about this doesn’t feel right.”

Black Sand’s reaction made the others notice the oddity as well.

“Come to think of it, how did he get here?”

“He looks like an outsider…”

“He couldn’t have come from outside. There’s no way an old man like that could have made it here in one piece.”

Hundreds of mounted-bandit groups and nomadic tribes were scattered throughout Northern Gaoyuan. No one without extraordinary nerve would even consider crossing the plateau alone.

The four men, including Black Sand, fell into thought.

Could he be…?

It would be possible if he were a martial artist.

A martial artist? That old man?

He bothers me. We should kill him.

To the Human Butcher, murder was hardly different from breathing. He reached for his scabbard without hesitation, but Black Sand shot him a glare.

A thread of Sound Transmission pierced the Human Butcher’s ear.

—I told you to wait. It won’t be too late to act after we watch him a little longer. Haven’t you ever heard that in the Murim, you should beware of women, children, and old men?

—You worry too much. Over that sickly old man?

—Don’t act rashly. You never know what might happen in the Murim.

The old man looked as though a single poke would kill him.

Still, the Human Butcher could not simply ignore Black Sand’s warning.

With an irritated sigh, he took his hand off his scabbard.

—Good choice.

By then, the mysterious old man had tottered all the way up to the four men.

A strange tension hung in the air. The old man looked around through hazy eyes, then opened his mouth.

“W-Water…”

At the sound of his parched voice begging for water, everyone shook their heads as if to say, Of course.

Everyone except Black Sand. Careful and calculating by nature, he refused to lower his guard until the very end.

“The elder seems thirsty. Bring him some cool water.”

“Yes, sir.”

A mounted bandit handed the old man a cup, and he gulped down the water as though his life depended on it. He drank so frantically that it seemed he might collapse.

Only after downing five or six cups in succession did he finally raise his head.

“Whew.”

“Feeling better now?”

A broad smile spread across the old man’s wrinkled face.

“Yes!”

“…”

“Thank you, mister!”

Mister?

Startled, Black Sand shot to his feet and seized the old man’s wrist.

There was no resistance. No strength whatsoever. His gaunt bones felt as though they might snap under the slightest pressure.

“Elder?”

“Yes? Why?”

The old man smiled and spoke like a child. Black Sand stared at him, and his expression twisted.

“Damn it. He’s senile.”

All the tension drained out of him. He had definitely sensed something strange, but apparently it had all been in his head.

With such an important undertaking ahead of him, his nerves were bound to be on edge.

As Black Sand shook his head, the Human Butcher laughed at him.

“You said anything could happen in the Murim, and you were right. An old man suffering from the infirmities of old age! Ha-ha-ha!”

“Shut your mouth.”

Black Sand answered curtly and started to release the old man’s wrist.

That was when—

“Where the hell is this?”

His voice was sharp and clear, completely different from before. His eyes had suddenly regained their focus. He looked around, then heaved a deep sigh.

“Damn it. Once you get old, you ought to die.”

It seemed he had finally returned to his senses. Laughter trickled from all around the inn at his grumbling.

Black Sand had relaxed completely as well. He let out a quiet laugh and asked,

“Elder, have you come to your senses?”

The old man answered.

“Who told a little bastard like you he could use hao-style speech with me? Are you from the Lower District Sect or something?”¹

“…”

“And why are you holding my wrist? You trying to get fresh with me?”

“H-Hey, you.”

“Are you letting go or not? I’ll count to three. One, two, three.”

Whoosh.

Before he knew what he was doing, Black Sand had released the old man’s wrist. The sudden turn of events had left him completely bewildered.

What the hell is this old man?

The stream of coarse curses and rapid-fire words had made his body move on its own.

The man was clearly nothing more than a deranged old fool who did not know a single martial art, yet Black Sand felt as though he had been bewitched.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! He got you good!”

The Human Butcher burst into raucous laughter. He had already resented Black Sand acting as their leader despite being a step below him in martial arts.

Seeing Black Sand humiliated by a senile old man was deeply satisfying.

“That old man has quite a mouth on him. He gave me a good laugh, so I suppose I’ll let him live.”

But the satisfied smile on the Human Butcher’s face did not last long.

A single sentence from the old man wiped it away.

“You worthless bastard… Don’t you have a mother and father?”

“…!”

The inn plunged into icy silence.

Who were Black Sand and the Human Butcher?

They were major figures who dominated the Northern Gaoyuan. Their forces were formidable, but each of them was also a Peak master capable of crushing an average mounted-bandit group with ease.

They commanded respect and fear in equal measure, yet the old man had carved them apart with a few words.

“One’s a sodomite from the Lower District Sect. One grew up without parents and has only half a tongue. And as for the other two…”

The old man glanced at Temur and Chinggen, both of whom wore their hair in queues, then sighed.

“You’re still young, but your foreheads are already bare. How pitiful.”

No one had the energy left to be surprised. Amid the atmosphere of shock and horror, the old man clicked his tongue. Then he noticed the food spread out before the four men, and his eyes widened.

“Well, damn. You’ve laid out one hell of a feast. I was hungry, too. Perfect.”

No one had time to stop him.

The old man grabbed a well-roasted duck by one leg and ripped into it.

“Would you look at how tender that meat is? Melts right on the tongue.”

Crunch, crunch.

After devouring both legs in the blink of an eye, he abruptly held out a chunk of meat to the Human Butcher, who was trembling with rage and shock.

“You’re still young. Why are you shaking like that? Don’t go wasting away from weakness—eat this. I don’t like dry breast meat. No, I can’t eat it. My teeth are bad.”

Crack.

Everyone in the inn heard the same sound.

It was the sound of the last thread of the Human Butcher’s reason snapping—and the death knell of a man.

“You goddamn old bastard!”

The next moment, the Human Butcher, beside himself with rage, shot upward like lightning. At the same time, crimson Sword Energy poured from the horse-chopping sword in his hand and swept across everything in front of him.

“What the hell!”

“Move!”

Kaboom!

Temur and Chinggen had barely thrown themselves aside when a thunderous explosion shook the inn.

Hundreds—thousands—of wooden fragments flew in every direction as a cloud of dust billowed through the air.

“Die! Die! Die!”

The sight sent chills down the onlookers’ spines. Judging by the madness pouring from the Human Butcher, the old man could not possibly have survived. There would not be so much as a scrap of flesh left.

“How dare a senile old man—! Aaaaargh!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A relentless storm of Sword Energy continued to pour forth. The Human Butcher finally withdrew his horse-chopping sword after roughly a quarter of an hour.

“Huff… huff…”

Breathing heavily, he swung his weapon through the air. The resulting pressure scattered the dust cloud, revealing ruins that had been half reduced to powder.

Just as everyone had expected, the old man was nowhere to be seen.

“He was the bravest man I’ve ever seen.”

“Farewell, elder.”

“Why did he have to provoke the Human Butcher…?”

“As expected of those Han Chinese. They’re unbelievably savage.”

The more than two hundred mounted bandits and nomads were whispering among themselves when—

Crunch, crunch. Gulp. Guh-hup!

“…”

“…”

“…”

At first, they were simply dumbfounded.

What kind of clueless bastard would be eating and drinking at a time like this?

But it took only an instant for confusion to turn to astonishment, and astonishment to horror.

“T-The old man! The old man’s alive!”

“What? Where?”

“Behind us! It came from behind us!”

Someone shouted.

Then a sharp, clear voice followed, making everyone doubt their own ears.

“Young people these days have no manners. Is my name ‘old man’? Am I your friend?”

“W-Whoa!”

“That does it. I’ll teach you bastards some manners today.”

Thud-thud-thud! Whoosh!

The mounted bandits and nomads filling the inn went flying one after another.

Every one of them was hurled aside with mangled limbs and smashed faces. The sight made the leaders break out in cold sweats.

W-What is this?

How did he get over there?

I didn’t even see him move.

A master.

A master capable of deceiving the eyes of Peak masters like them.

Black Sand, Temur, and Chinggen went rigid. Only one man charged toward the old man.

“You goddamn old bastard!”

The Human Butcher had already lost all reason. Nothing could hold him back now.

The old man saw him barreling forward and frowned.

“You’re…”

“That’s right! It’s me! This time, I’ll kill you for sure!”

“So you’re the one without parents.”

“Graaaargh!”

Whoooosh!

Mount Tai Presses Down on the Crown.

At that moment, the horse-chopping blade, its crimson Sword Energy blazing, was about to split the crown of the old man’s head.

At that moment, the old man swung something.

Slice! Thud!

Time seemed to stop.

Not a single breath could be heard. Everyone stared in disbelief.

The horse-chopping sword had been cut in half.

And in the old man’s hand was something tiny.

“T-That’s…”

For the first time, sanity returned to the Human Butcher’s eyes. He stared at the old man in fear and astonishment.

“…A chicken bone?”

“No part of a chicken goes to waste. The meat tastes good, the bones make a fine broth when you simmer them long enough, and sometimes they’re even handy for wielding Sword Energy.”

Sword Energy wielded through a chicken bone.

The Human Butcher had never seen or heard of anything so bizarre.

He understood instinctively.

A master. A Supreme Peak master. Someone I could never hope to fight.

The old man looked at the stunned Human Butcher and muttered,

“Come to think of it… You’re a vicious one. The stench of blood is pouring off your entire body.”

Every word sent goose bumps crawling across the Human Butcher’s skin. He had lived his entire life as a predator, yet now he was no more than a rat before a tiger.

“Can’t leave someone like you running around…”

A sudden chill swept through the Human Butcher. His teeth chattered at the deadly aura seeping from the old man’s entire body.

“P-Please.”

“Hm?”

“Please spare me. Please…”

Tears ran down his cheeks. His trousers grew damp, and the horse-chopping sword slipped from his limp hand.

The Human Butcher had spent his life taking the lives of others. No one could believe they were now watching him beg for his own.

The old man stared at him for a moment, then spoke.

“Don’t be afraid.”

I’m safe. I’m alive! I escaped death!

The Human Butcher let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

That was when—

Thump.

A rough, wrinkled hand, its knuckles jutting sharply beneath the skin, pressed against his chest.

That was the end.

“…Huh?”

The world turned upside down along with his faint question. Blood poured from the seven orifices of his fallen body and soaked the floor.

He said he’d spare me. Why?

As his vision dimmed and the sounds around him receded, he heard the old man speak.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll send you off without pain.”

The old man had told the truth.

There was no pain.

The Human Butcher.

A Peak master whose evil reputation had spread all the way to the Central Plains had died in a single move.

“Well, then…”

The old man addressed the people who had frozen in place.

“Where is this place?”