Volcanic Age - Chapter 31

“It seems like you have become sensitive because of what happened at Weng An. How about going inside and resting?”

“That’s not necessary but thank you for your consideration.”
Gu Pung thought that he had indeed been too sensitive and let it pass.

He calmed himself and enjoyed the scenery.

He wasn’t holding a bottle of alcohol but the view of Yangtze that was enough to enjoy without alcohol appeared before their eyes.

The cliffs that were lined up could only be seen entirely after completely looking upwards, and the dense thicket made you think of a world that didn’t belong to humans.

At first they had dropped their mouths when looking at the Yangtze river. They were overwhelmed by this great nature and their bodies became stiff.

They had gotten quite accustomed to its view by now but the scenery of the Yangtze river was as impressive as ever.

If they stuck out their heads from the ship, they would be able to see fishes dancing under the flowing water.

Gu Pung, who was reminscing the past while looking at the water, opened his eyes widely.

“Warriors of the Murim Assoction, listen!”

Srung.

The sword hanging on Gu Pung’s waist was pulled smoothly. A rough and keen aura was released from his sword.

“Protect the members of the Lotus Peak and the Zhuge Sega!”
“Fourteenth Gallant Sword…?”

Zhuge Zak put on a surprised expression.

The warriors of the Murim Association moved at the same time and set up a defensive formation before Zhuge Zak could even ask anything.

“Hmph! The Fourteenth Gallant Sword indeed, you are quite fast on catching on things!”

Zhuge Zak’s face hardened in an instant. His eyes moved quickly to find the owner of the voice.

Above the cliff, the dense thicket rustled and then men dressed in blue appeared.

“Get on the ship!”
Someone’s voice echoed in the air.

Splash, splash!
“Huk!”

A warrior of the Murim Association yelled.

The tranquil river suddenly spurted up and several unsightly men got on the ship.

But there weren’t one or two or them. There were easily about thirty of them.

“D, damn it”
“It’s shaking!”
The number of people that could get on the ship was at most sixty and its center started to shake because there were too many people on the ship.

“The Nine Fleets of the Water Forest”
Zhuge Zak yelled with a pale face.

There weren’t many people that could swim in the Yangtze river and that was because the water currents would constantly keep on changing.

No, in the first place, one had to master the Arts of Water to properly be able to follow a ship while diving underwater.

The pirates were the only martial artists that had mastered the Arts of Water in the Yangtze River.

“I will let this matter rest if you have gotten on the wrong boat so get off immediately.”
Gu Pung showed the plum blossom engraved in his sleeves slightly and warned them in a low voice.

“Haha. This is not the first time we are meeting so there’s no way we came to the wrong ship, right?”
The man that had the biggest physique among the pirates stood forward.

“You are…”
A face filled with scars. There weren’t many people with this characteristic.

“You won’t know me because I didn’t tell you my name last time. I’m called Yook Dae Rang. I am grateful for the wage you gave me last time. Huhu.”
Yook Dae Rang showed his yellow teeth and smiled coarsely.

“Ah! The pirate from back then!”

Jang Hong recognized Yook Dae Rang. Only then did Gu Pung, Jang Seo Eun and Ju Seo Cheon remember who that man was.

It was the head of the pirates they had met when they first crossed the Yangtze River from the Midlands.

“Whe, when you say Yook Dae Rang…”

Zhuge Zak mumbled with a trembling voice.

“One of the Hundred Experts, the Slipping Water Spearaman!”

And Zhuge Sang followed his words.

“Ho, it’s so moving that a prideful high noble of the Five Segas recognizes me. I’m about to cry.”

Yook Dae Rang laughed gloomily.

The atmosphere of the group cooled down in an instant at that reaction and the faces of the warriors of the Murim Association showed deep despair.

Yook Dae Rang took out the long spear he was carrying on his back and then spun it and stabbed the ground. The ship that was shaking severely without being able to stay balanced stopped and lay stably.

‘He’s the real deal.’

Gu Pung gulped dry saliva.

“What business does the Slipping Water Spearman have in this ship?”
“What business? Kuhahaha!”

Yook Dae Rang tilted his head back and laughed. That wasn’t an enjoyable laughter at all.

“For you to ask a pirate what business they have when getting on another ship… Are you seriously asking that?”
Yook Dae Rang’s way of speaking changed and a chill could be felt from his voice.

“Slipping Water Spearman, did you go crazy!”
Zhuge Zak yelled among the guards.

And all the gazes in the surrounding area turned to look at Zhuge Zak.

“I’m crazy?”
“You are attacking the ship where the future of Mount Hua and Zhuge Sega are at. You won’t be able to get away safely with this!”
“Ho, the Zhuge Sega indeed. You are quite outstanding on falsely incriminating others.”

Yook Dae Rang laughed.

“Listen well. We are the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest. The protectors of the Yangtze River.”

Yook Dae Rang wet his lips with his tongue.

“There has been a tradition from long ago to pay a passage fee to the protectors guarding Yangtze. However, weren’t you the ones that spoke ill about us saying that we were a group of bandits and paid for the fee by yourselves? In the first place, you were the ones that picked a fight with us.”
“Ha? What kind of nonsense…”

Zhuge Zak wanted to continue speaking but stopped. He understood what was going to happen looking at how Yook Dae Rang was smiling.

“The first ones that repelled are those arrogant brats of the Lotus Peak and the Zhuge Sega, am I not right? Didn’t they raise their swords saying that they wouldn’t negotiate with pirates?”
Yook Dae Rang raised his spear and pointed at a body of a warrior.

“Uncle, it seems like there’s something behind this. They aren’t planning on letting us go.”
Zhuge Sang grabbed his sword that was hanging on his waist. He didn’t know how much help he would be but the situation was that serious.

“So the reason there were no ships on the harbor…it was like this?”
Gu Pung grinded his teeth.

“Not knowing the forces of Murim and making mistakes, isn’t that something that ‘happens frequently’ in your first expedition to Kang Ho?”

Yook Dae Rang gripped his spear with more strength. The muscles in his hands, wrist and shoulders swelled up greatly.

“If I tell you about it again, the Yangtze River is the territory of the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest. You caused problems in this place so we are just protecting the law and peace as the guardians of Yangtze. Hahaha!”
Yook Dae Rang’s laughter resonated loudly.

“Don’t leave anyone alive!”
“Kehehe!”
The pirates charged forward.

“Huh?”
Bewildered voice came out by their own. Ju Seo Cheon couldn’t understand what was happening right now.

“Fellow brother, hide behind me!”
Jang Hong still acted like older brother and stepped forward.

“Suran! Seung Kye!”
Zhuge Sang also hid his little siblings behind him. Ju Seo Cheon, Zhuge Suran and Zhuge Seung Kye took cover in the middle and Zhuge Sang, Jang Hong and Jang Seo Eun surrounded them. Lastly, the warriors of the Murim Association took a defensive formation around them. You could feel deep resolution in each one of them.

‘Just what is happening?’

He had thought that everything had ended when he boarded the ship.

He was also thinking about whether he should throw himself out of the ship along with Zhuge Seung Kye. But something unexpected occurred.

‘There is no way I wouldn’t remember it if they fought against the Slipping Water Spearman… Did this originally happen?’

The Hundred Experts changed really frequently based on the era and that was especially the case in the era of war. It changed so quickly that information couldn’t catch up with it.

However, there still some people that didn’t get their positions taken from them and remained as one of the Hundred Experts for a long time.

One of those people was the Slipping Water Spearman, Yook Dae Rang.

Yook Dae Rang was originally a seaman in the army.

But one day he fought with his superior and ended up killing him as he couldn’t endure his anger and after that, he escaped because a bounty was put on him.

He somehow ended up getting himself enrolled in the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest while fleeing. Originally, he had just planning to hide for a while but he realized that the pirate life suited him too well.

There was no need to endure rotten personalities and Yook Dae Rang was originally a strong person so he managed to climb to a high position in no time. He stayed in that place and became a pirate.

There were two big reasons on why he could remember Yook Dae Rang.

One was that the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest didn’t have that many experts and the second was that Yook Dae Rang lived a long life.

The Nine Fleets of the Water Forest  was an annoying force that not even the government could do anything about.

They needed power to exterminate them but the governments of Xian and Ming had to face the northern barbarians so they had to concentrate their forces on land soldiers, and they were weak in their naval force. They weren’t even thinking of strengthening them either.

Even if it was called a naval force it only was only inside of the Yangtze river which was inside their country. It was much better to be cautious of the countries at the west of China that were outside the Midlands.

Because of this, they lack manpower to subjugate the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest and it was hard to catch Yook Dae Rang, that didn’t leave the Yangtze River.

Most of all, Yook Dae Rang was at the top among the Hundred Experts when he was in the Yangtze River because of the characteristics of the Water Arts.

There was no way rumors wouldn’t have spread if Gu Pung and the famous  Yook Dae Rang had fought. It was weird if he had no memories of it at all.

‘It’s a future I haven’t experienced!’

His head spun quickly. Thoughts he could guess passed in his head as fast as lightning.

“Kuaagh!”
Ju Seo Cheon stopped his thoughts for a moment at the screams that were heard in the surroundings and got a hold of himself.

‘It’s not the time to be thinking leisurely!’

The other warriors seemed quite weak. They were at most second rate.

In the first place, how strong could bandits be?
They had been scared at the appearance of the Slipping Water Spearman but they were strong enough to face the pirates.

Chaeng! Chaeng Chae chaeng!

“Kuut!”
“Hahahaha!”
But the problem were Gu Pung and Yook Dae Rang.

Not much time passed since the battle started but they could already see Gu Pung having a hard time.

‘It’s a battle that’s overwhelmingly disadvantageous for senior uncle.’

In the first place, the Water Arts were martial arts made to fight on a ship and under the water.

It was obvious that Yook Dae Rang held the advantage. Most of all, he had lived half of his life as a seaman.

In the other hand, Gu Pung was greatly affected even at the slight shake of the ship and he was also not accustomed to fighting on the deck of a ship.

He might have been able to win if Yook Dae Rang was weak but unfortunately he was one of the Hundred Experts!

‘I have to help him.’

Ju Seo Cheon grabbed his sword.

It didn’t matter if his real skills were discovered here as they were in a situation where his neck could be sent flying even with a little bit of carelessness.

‘I can’t die here!’

Ju Seo Cheon’s face contorted hoarsely.

“Uaaagh!”
Plop!

One warrior of the Murim Association got cornered by the pirates and got thrown off the ship while he was thinking.

“Don’t kill the girl!”
“Hohoho, that girl looks really tasty!”

Their contorted eyes headed towards Zhuge Suran.

Even her, that was emotionless until now, trembled at that gaze as if it felt bad and frowned.

“Kehehe!”
A pirate found an opening and extended his hand. His objective was Zhuge Suran.

“No!”
Zhuge Sang’s sword change trajectories in a hurry but he was too late. The hands of the pirate was too fast.

‘Get under water li…huh?’

The pirate opened his eyes roundly. He couldn’t see his hand that had tried to snatch the frail wrist of Zhuge Suran.

“Just wh…Kuhuk!”
The pirate clenched his chest and fell back. There was a small hole in the pit of his stomach.

“Fellow brother…?”
Jang Seo Eun couldn’t shut her surprised mouth and looked at Ju Seo Cheon. Ju Seo Cheon shook off his sword and scattered the blood on the floor.

“I’m going.”