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Translator: uly
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Desert Ten Heroes
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Martial God (8)
Desert Ten Heroes
It was just as Black Wind had predicted.
The last remaining Blood Wolf clansman was the strongest among the twenty, and his name was Yulta.
Yulta lay flat on the ground, staring straight ahead.
Somewhere in that wind, the enemy was hiding. His martial arts were nothing special, but his ability to utilize the desert was superior even to a Blood Wolf clansman who had lived his whole life in the sands.
'I've got the wind at my back, but you're facing into it. I have the advantage.'
The wind blew from below, and Yulta looked up from above. Sand didn't strike his face, so he could detect changes on the dune's surface. Wind piled up sand, but human movement made it flow down.
'Flowing sand… Found you!'
Yulta's eyes grew cold.
What he had spotted wasn't flowing sand, but a camouflage cloak. Just for a brief moment, he had seen it flutter.
Yulta moved slowly.
It was only five jang away—a short distance—but his opponent was a master of stealth. He couldn't move rashly. He had to do his utmost until he seized the perfect opportunity.
Yulta's movements were tediously slow.
It took a whole gak—three minutes—to cover five jang—fifteen meters. Up close, it was definitely a camouflage cloak.
'Got you, bastard!'
Yulta gripped his weapon tightly and raised his upper body. His movements were still slow. Soon, he was in a crouching position.
'It's over!'
Whoosh!
Yulta kicked off the ground. His body leaped two ja into the air. He thrust his sword with all his might toward the center of the camouflage cloak.
Puk!
"Gasp!"
Yulta's eyes widened. The sword that should have pierced flesh sank into empty air instead. And it wasn't just the sword that sank. His body followed suit.
"A t-trap?"
Puk!
A cold object stabbed into his back.
"Keuk!"
His mouth gaped open, and sand mixed with the wind poured in.
Boom!
A vicious pain erupted from the back of his neck, ravaging his entire body. Black Wind swept aside the camouflage cloak and shoved Yulta into the spot.
Whiiiish!
Shhhh!
Sand carried by the wind soon filled the pit.
Black Wind donned the camouflage cloak and lay flat. Five more pursuers from Night Wind's group remained. Only after eliminating them would this war end.
He unfolded his footwork and circled the ridge once. He spotted Night Wind sitting alone in a place untouched by the wind.
Black Wind descended. A smell of blood wafted from her.
"You got them all?"
He stood up a jang away and asked.
"Five Blood Wolf clansmen… yeah."
Night Wind shrugged her shoulders.
"If you say it like that, what does that make me, who fought for two shichen staking my life?"
"We each survive with our own abilities."
"You could help a little."
"Then I should've just asked for help."
"..."
"You fight well enough. Let's go."
Night Wind grinned and brushed the sand off her rear as she stood.
"That's not how you act, you punk. How hard did I work to save the Wind Corps members!"
"Huh?"
Night Wind looked at Black Wind.
"What?"
"Sending the Wind Corps members to the rear was for their sake?"
"Then whose sake was it for?"
"Ours. No, precisely yours."
"Sending the Wind Corps members with the Blood Wolf clansmen to the rear wasn't for me—it was for the sake of the One Hundred Eighty Squad. Absolutely not just for me."
"The problem is you're included in that One Hundred Eighty Squad."
"The One Hundred Eighty Squad is my escort. What can I do?"
The two bickered as they returned to the burrow.
"You survived?"
As they neared the dune, Little Wind and the other five welcomed them.
"You didn't sleep?"
"How could we sleep?"
"There must be someone sleeping. Right?"
Black Wind asked.
"That punk Big Wind is."
"From now on, you sleep too."
"We're nothing without loyalty, you punk. No injuries?"
"Nope. Now go in and sleep."
"Yeah."
The group all entered the burrow.
Black Wind and Night Wind entered the same one. Black Wind lay down as soon as he went in.
"Sleep."
Black Wind closed his eyes.
"With a busty, voluptuous noona like me right next to you, you can sleep?"
Night Wind said.
"Yeah. And I'm older than you."
"Then you're oppa? Should I call you oppa from now on?"
"No."
"You hate noona, you hate oppa—what am I supposed to call you?"
"Call me 'hey' like now."
Black Wind closed his half-open eyes.
Soon, even breathing sounds came from his nose. To survive on the battlefield, a clear mind was essential, and sleep was vital to maintaining it. Black Wind could fall asleep immediately with his own secret method.
"That punk won't even lend an arm. Give it here, punk."
Night Wind pulled Black Wind's arm, rested her head on it, and closed her eyes. Soon, she too drifted into sleep.
The next day, the group rose at dawn.
The meat they had laid out had dried overnight, with fat rising slightly. They divided it into ten portions and each took their share.
"We survived?"
Little Wind asked.
"We can't say we survived until we escape the desert."
Black Wind shook his head.
"You know well."
A low voice laden with killing intent came from above. The group looked up. Ten Blood Wolf clansmen mounted on Blood Wolves stared down at them.
"Ugh!"
Black Wind grimaced.
Even among the Blood Wolf clan, only a tiny fraction could ride Blood Wolves. Their savage temperament made them hard to handle, so only experts of considerable skill could endure on their backs. Yet all of them were riding Blood Wolves. No—seeing the bits of white fur mixed in, they were White Blood Wolves.
In any case, riding them meant all of them were formidable experts.
Or perhaps transcendent ones.
"The war's over, so can't you let us go?"
Fluent Border Wastelands tongue flowed from Black Wind's mouth.
"You speak Border Wastelands well."
The leader of the Blood Wolf clansmen was a woman.
Her hair was reddish like White Blood Wolf fur, and she wore clothes that deliberately revealed her figure.
"My god! The Red Demoness…"
Night Wind murmured like a groan.
Just as the Central Plains had its murim, the Border Wastelands had what was called Border Wastelands murim.
Like the Central Plains' martial world, Border Wastelands murim didn't refer to a specific place. It was simply the world where martial artists lived.
The ten strongest in that Border Wastelands murim were called the Desert Ten Heroes, and the Red Demoness Talri ranked ninth among them—a transcendent powerhouse.
"I've been in the Border Wastelands a long time."
Black Wind answered Talri's question while scanning his surroundings.
"Give up on escaping."
Talri said.
"Until a blade comes for my neck, I have to do my utmost to survive."
"Hohoho! You're an interesting one."
Talri burst into laughter. After scanning Black Wind thoroughly, she continued.
"Who taught you Border Wastelands tongue?"
"I picked it up naturally from living long. No one taught me."
"How long have you lived?"
"Ten years by the calendar, so damn long."
"You must have killed plenty of Border Wastelands folk."
"A battlefield is a place where you survive by killing enemies, and my enemies were Border Wastelands folk."
"So you have no guilt?"
"Don't you think guilt is too luxurious an emotion for those on the line between life and death?"
"Luxurious emotion…"
Talri stared piercingly at Black Wind and drew her blade. It was a curved sword named Red Moon, with a blood groove running along it.
"You plan to kill us?"
"Killing you is what us Border Wastelands folk desire."
"Keuk!"
Black Wind chuckled.
"Why laugh?"
"It's funny. A powerhouse like you could kill the likes of us effortlessly, but you stayed silent for ten years. Now that both sides declared a truce, you pick up your weapon like it's for the Border Wastelands folk. They call that 'covering your eyes to catch a sparrow.' Anyway, it's transparent."
"Even if it's transparent, you die all the same."
"You're confident you can kill us?"
"You seem to trust that dim-witted bitch beside you. Better wake up from the dream."
Talri pointed her blade at Night Wind.
"You can never kill me."
"Pft!"
Talri snorted. Still, she scanned the group, wary of any other powerhouses.
The strongest was the Night Wind she had just pointed out. But Night Wind was only a bit stronger than an average martial artist—not her opponent.
She soon relaxed. No one worth guarding against, no matter how she looked.
She spurred her Blood Wolf and flew forward.
After flying ten-odd jang, she landed two jang ahead of Black Wind's group.
"Wanna bet?"
Talri said.
"Bet on what?"
Black Wind asked.
"I bet I kill you all, you bet you survive?"
Talri said.
"You'll kill me regardless of the outcome, so it's meaningless."
"It has meaning."
"What meaning?"
"It's fun."
Talri grinned widely.
"You… must be really bored, huh?"
Even facing imminent death, Black Wind's face was calm, as if he had something to rely on.
"Yeah, exactly. I'm bored to death right now."
"I have no choice then?"
"Nope. No choice. You have to take the bet."
"Fine, whatever."
Black Wind nodded.
"Good thinking."
Talri approached Black Wind. She came close enough that a weapon thrust would reach, then raised Red Moon high. A reddish glow began emanating from the uplifted Red Moon.
"Shouldn't you at least hear my last words?"
"Last words?"
"Yeah."
"Fine, I'll hear them. Speak."
"Look at this."
Black Wind pulled something from his bosom and held it out.
"Look at it?"
"Yeah."
Black Wind nodded.
"Are you insane?"
Talri looked at Black Wind with a baffled face.
"See it first, then talk."
Black Wind released what he held. The falling object floated back up and flew toward Talri. It was a round token.
Talri looked at the token.
"Hah!"
She let out an involuntary gasp.
The front of the token bore the characters "Sun" engraved clearly.
"The S-Sun Token?"
Talri cried out in shock.
She alternated glances between Black Wind and the Sun Token.
"I got it by chance. If the Border Wastelands Law still holds, I want to exercise its rights."
The Border Wastelands Law referred to several codes one had to follow to survive in the desert, one of which was that anyone holding the Sun Token could make any demand, and Border Wastelands folk had to comply.
The one who left the Sun Token was Great Radiant Martial, the supreme figure of the Border Wastelands a thousand one hundred years ago, founder of the Solar Heavenly Martial Sect. Great Radiant Martial was the only martial artist to unify the Border Wastelands. Yet he did not rule it.
Instead of ruling, he left five Sun Tokens and demanded that any request from their bearer be granted.
The major powers and kingdoms of the Border Wastelands swore to it. Over time, their oath became an unwritten rule.
And Black Wind had presented one such Sun Token.
"You're really giving this to me?"
Talri asked, looking at Black Wind.
"No choice if you want to live."
"True."
"Will you honor it?"
"Fine. State your demand."
"Protect us until we leave the desert."
"You want escort to Dunhuang?"
"Can't go to Dunhuang right now."
"Why?"
"You know the Wind Corps originally had ten thousand men?"
"That was the initial number, but nine thousand died, leaving only a thousand lately."
"Right. But the ledgers still show ten thousand. Pay per man is twenty taels, plus food, weapons, clothes, and miscellaneous—nearly thirty taels total. I'm not talking what we actually get; the ledgers say that. The problem is most of us, including me, never received that money."
"That bastard Division Commander Iron is embezzling?"
"Yeah. Over the past ten years, he embezzled what should've gone to the Wind Corps. Roughly three million taels. If invested on the battlefield, it'd be enormous with interest. And if exposed, Division Commander Iron loses his head."
Black Wind sliced his throat with his hand.
"To erase evidence of embezzlement, he chose to silence us with murder?"
"That too, and we were chosen from the start as bargaining chips."
"Bargaining chips?"
"Sacrifices to soothe your anger."
"..."
Talri silently watched Black Wind.
"What'll you do?"
Black Wind asked.
"Fine. I'll do as you wish. But I lead the way."
"You have a destination?"
"You don't need to know."
"That alone won't suffice."
Black Wind said.
"You know about this?"
"One of the five keys to the Solar Divine Hall."
"You knew and still gave it to me?"
Talri looked at the Sun Token.
"It's real. And I told you—I'll do my utmost to survive."
"Pft!"
Talri burst into laughter.
Then she leaped onto her Blood Wolf.
"Follow closely. I'm not responsible for stragglers. Hya!"
Talri whipped the Blood Wolf's neck.