Chapter 20. If You Don’t Know Where To Go, Just Go Straight (1/2)

Chapter 20. If You Don’t Know Where To Go, Just Go Straight

At the Taebaek (太白), located near the Shaanxi castle (陝西省), lies a dangerous mountain. Two boys arrived at this place, known as the Martial Fire Peak (武火嶺), at about noon.

“…….I think we’re lost.”

When a boy with a thin physique muttered this, the tanned boy in front twitched a little. Without saying anything else, the two kept moving forward.

How long did they walk?

They could suddenly see an open field in front of them.

“Oh!?”

The tanned boy who was walking at the front. Peng Ga Ho smiled in joy. He soon came back to his senses, and smiled proudly.

“Umhahahaha! How is it? Did you see? This ability to be able to travel to new locations skillfully like this? You can admire big brother as much as you want.”

The thin boy. Nangong Yubin came into the empty field, looked around, and opened his mouth with a worried expression.

“We somehow found the right path……. But is this really castle Gansu?”

“Hmph! To think you’d still doubt me after seeing all this……. You’re a person who doesn’t trust others too much, it seems. Since we traveled in a straight line, obviously we’d be at castle Gansu.”

“Does really it work like that…….”

Nangong Yubin brushed off a leaf on his head, and faintly smiled. To be truthful, traveling in a straight line, especially in the mountains, was nearly impossible. But he didn’t retort to Peng Ga Ho’s words too much, because this could really be castle Gansu.

‘Come to think of it, this was all just an idiotic trip.’

Nangong Yubin thought of what had happened, and bitterly smiled.

Peng Ga Ho and Nangong Yubin.

They were both young, and didn’t know much about the world.

Since they were usually being taken care of by others all the time, a long trip like this was a first for them. These two both held a high position in society, ever since they were young.

Thankfully, they were smart.

The thing that mattered the most in a travel.

Money.

They both packed their pockets full of money.

“We have enough money, so lets think about how to travel. Do you know the way to the castle, by any chance?”

When Nangong Yubin asked this question without much expectation, Peng Ga Ho answered with a relaxed expression.

“Fufu, this is quite a dumb question, coming from such a smart person like you, Nangong Yubin. Is there anyone in the world that doesn’t know how to get to castle Gansu?”

Nangong Yubin shrugged with an embarrassed expression.

“I don’t know the way.”

“At which direction is castle Gansu located at?”

“That would be…….. West?”

“That’s it.”

Nangong Yubin should’ve disagreed to Peng Ga Ho’s idea here. To think they would travel from East corner of the continent to the West corner in a straight line…….

Even Nangong Yubin didn’t see this coming. This was just completely unexpected.

‘Well, we did save a lot of time.’

Nangong Yubin brushed off the dust and the branches on his clothes, and smiled bitterly. It was too late to be regretful.

But Nangong Yubin was still a bit satisfied. Thanks to Peng Ga Ho, he was able to experience many things that couldn’t be bought with money. He trained his body during the hardships they went through, and saw many strange and exotic things. And lastly, the quote that was forever etched into his mind.

‘If you don’t know the path, go ask someone who knows about it.’

Nangong Yubin trembled when he thought of the past 20 days. Even though Nangong Yubin trained his body with martial arts, this trip was still very challenging.

“What direction should we go in now?”

When Nangong Yubin asked this, Peng Ga Ho spoke while brushing off the various objects on his clothes.

“Fufu, since we found the path here, we’d be able to reach castle Gansu if we follow it.”

When Peng Ga Ho said this.

“Castle Gansu my ass. If you follow this road, you’ll end up at the Martial Fire Peak (武火嶺), kids.”

Nangong Yubin and Peng Ga Ho turned around. And they sighed. They were surrounded by 10+ people.

“Bandits?”

There were about 20 of them. Looking at them, Nangong Yubin whispered to Peng Ga Ho, who immediately nodded. Peng Ga Ho stepped forward.

“Hey, bro, you’re the top dog, right?”

“What? Bro? Top dog?”

The eyebrows of the muscular man at the front twitched.

Iron Hands (鐵手) Sim Duk Hoon (諶德訓).

He, the master of the Martial Fire Peak, grew angry. Why did the boy have to use the word, “top dog”, instead of a more proper word like “boss”? It wasn’t like he was the local gang leader or anything. Sim Duk Hoon’s mood immediately turned for the worse.

‘When was the last time I heard something as arrogant as this?’

The memories of events like this only happened a very long time ago. The only thing he could remember was pulling the tongue of another arrogant fellow and hanging him on a tree. Since he was always pampered with praises from his minions, Peng Ga Ho’s casual style of speaking was something Sim Duk Hoon hadn’t seen in a long time.

When Sim Duk Hoon thought of this, his face began to show some hints of confusion.

‘Come to think of it…….’

These two were obviously nothing but amateurs. Compared to him, who lived in the martial world for more than twenty years, these boys were really just amateurs to Sim Duk Hoon.

But they actually dared to treat him in that matter? Did these kids have a death wish? Or did they actually have something backing them up?

When he thought that much, he started to feel nervous. Because of that, he took a careful look at these two kids. Then he just laughed.

‘I started to get worried over nothing.’

It seemed he started to worry more about useless things as he got older. The boy’s clothes were torn up, and were covered in dust, as if they hadn’t cleaned it for a few days. They were definitely some lost kids that just came here without knowing anything.

When he thought this much, Sim Duk Hoon sighed. It seemed he’d have to see blood in broad daylight.

“Hehe, don’t be angry, boss. These are just babies who don’t know anything, after all.”

“You want to be the one to get beat up instead then?”

The co-head, Suh Sang Joon, who was standing next to his boss, was quietly repressed into a small corner by Sim Duk Hoon’s glare. Sim Duk Hoon, looking at that, repressed some of his anger, and looked at the arrogant babies in front of him.

“I don’t know where you beggars are from, but can’t you see what kind of a situation you’re in? Are your eyes just there as decoration?”

Peng Ga Ho looked around for a moment, then tilted his head to the side. It seemed he didn’t really understand. Then, once again, he just went on and said whatever he wanted to say.

“Hey bro, where the heck is this Martial Fire Peak, anyways? It’s just another word from Castle Gansu, right? We’re in a hurry, you know.”

“This little son of a bitch…….”

Sim Duk Hoon’s patience ended here. His minions all surged forward towards Peng Ga Ho and Nangong Yubin.

In a moment, with a satisfying smack, those two idiots will be strung up like dogs. Thinking that, Sim Duk Hoon calmed his mind, but he immediately made a confused expression.

The boy who was standing there quietly had a sword in his hand. He had pulled out his sword in an extremely clean manner.

If it ended there, he wouldn’t have thought much about it. But then the big kid up front could also be seen with a big sword in his hands, complaining.

“Damn, are you trying to get me annoyed, or what?”

And then.

Papapak–

Chapter 20

“Kuak!”