The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

The first time I experienced crossing real swords in martial arts was at the Crimson Lotus Festival. And the first time I truly cut a person was a month ago.

I knew I couldn’t force someone beside me to be covered in blood on Hyuk Dojin’s behalf, and that I couldn’t remain pure and untainted alone while in this position.

I had somewhat anticipated that the day would come when I too would be covered in someone’s blood.

The first to die by my hands were vicious mountain bandits abandoned by the Green Forest.

They were trash who plundered nearby villages, captured people to use as slaves, and imprisoned women in iron cages to rape them.

I felt my blood run cold at the scene I encountered by chance. A child not even ten years old died coldly in my arms.

A bandit chasing after those escaping from the mountain hideout shot an arrow at the child. The child looked at me and died without being able to say a single word asking for help.

That day, for the first time, I felt murderous intent and killed someone.

Killing someone was never an easy thing. But if they lived, I knew they would commit the same acts elsewhere, and others would be harmed, so I had no choice but to kill them.

Despite Hyuk Dojin’s consideration saying he would handle it instead, I drew my sword.

I couldn’t let his hands be dirtied killing beasts. It was enough for me alone to kill them.

“You bitch…!”

The filthy water bandit who had been licking his lips in front of a woman holding a sword with trembling hands collapsed with his heart pierced by my sword.

The blood that spurted forward from his pierced heart from behind covered the woman’s face. The woman’s hand that was wiping the blood off her face trembled like an aspen leaf before she screamed and ran away.

I quietly watched her retreating back, then looked around. While water bandits kept climbing up, there weren’t even fifty people who could fight.

“Oh, what do we have here?”

I turned my waist at the voice coming from behind. The water bandits’ eyes were flashing. They looked at me with wide eyes, then grinned.

“Wow, how much would this girl fetch if we sold her? If we just take her, we’ll be well off for the winter, won’t we?”

“Mm, that’s right. And we can have a taste before selling her, can’t we?”

“Kekeke, that’s right. I’m a man who knows how to enjoy delicacies. So that girl… Huh?”

The water bandit who had been saying all sorts of vulgar things in front of the person concerned narrowed his brows and opened his mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s something stra… Uh…”

The water bandit beside him sensed something strange and hurriedly spoke, but he couldn’t hear an answer from the other’s mouth. His head slowly slid off as if sliding, falling askew from above his neck.

“Aaaagh!!”

“My ears seem to be rotting from hearing too many dirty words. Indeed, I shouldn’t be conversing with beasts.”

I quickly cut them down before they could react as they rushed in. Even if they were water bandits, most of them were just ignorant people who knew how to handle weapons a bit.

If they weren’t frightened, even late-blooming talents could handle them easily, but it’s natural to be afraid when so many water bandits rush in.

A shadow fell. When I turned my head, I saw a crude spear swinging down.

I immediately shifted my stance, leaning my center of gravity backward. I blocked the spear shaft with my wrist, then stabbed the throat of the violent water bandit who was a head taller than me. Blood poured over my body, but it didn’t matter.

More water bandits were climbing onto the ship than those falling to me. Meanwhile, the situation was worsening because of the young late-blooming talents who were busy crawling on the floor and screaming.

It’s already hectic just dealing with the water bandits, but to have to take care of the late-blooming talents too. I turned my head.

Behind, Hyuk Dojin was dealing with the water bandits with his bare hands while hiding his energy as much as possible.

With his skills, there shouldn’t be much problem, but it was annoying that the ship was burning from the continuously flying fire arrows.

“Die!!”

I slightly dodged the sword thrusting from the side, then separated that person’s neck before approaching Cha Jinmok who was fighting nearby and spoke.

“Hey.”

Cha Jinmok cut down one water bandit, then turned to me. As soon as he saw me, he frowned.

“Who are you?”

“If we keep up this war of attrition, this ship will sink.”

I jerked my chin while looking around briefly. Cha Jinmok groaned as he examined the ship.

In the meantime, I cut down another water bandit rushing in, then continued speaking.

“Leave this to me and do something about the kids crawling on the floor and the fire. If the ship burns down completely, we’ll become water ghosts in the Yangtze River. Unless you’re a master who can perform the water-walking technique, shouldn’t we save the ship first?”

“…”

Cha Jinmok stared down at me intently, then rolled his eyes to look at his disciples. The Mount Heng disciples were barely holding on, trying their best to maintain the sect’s name, but they seemed to be gradually tiring due to the swarming water bandits.

Cha Jinmok gritted his teeth and turned to me.

“…Can you handle it alone?”

“Don’t worry unnecessarily. Go quickly. Unless you want to swim in icy water in the middle of winter.”

I pushed his back. Cha Jinmok staggered back and looked at me with a flustered face, then soon nodded and disappeared in the opposite direction.

Confirming his disappearance, I swung my sword to strike down the water bandits, then lowered the tip of my sword.

I probably can’t use violent techniques on the ship. I drew up my energy while regulating my breathing. As energy gathered at the sword tip, a sweet fragrance brushed my nose.

‘Plum Blossom Earth Flame, Plum Blossom Two Paths.’

The fragrance brushing my nose soon changed into sharp sword energy and engulfed the water bandits climbing onto the ship.

I quickly cut down the water bandits who couldn’t regain their senses as I rushed out, then lightly jumped using a pillar on the deck as a foothold.

‘Plum Blossom Falling Island.’

Plum blossoms drop sunlight to create shade, and fall hundreds of times over that.

‘Plum Blossom Falling Rock.’

The moment my feet touched the ground, I bent my knees and thrust my sword into the thick ice.

The energy I had contained in the sword changed into sword energy and pierced through the ice, then burst out explosively.

Baaaang!!

The ice sheet pierced by the sword shattered into pieces, and the water current sleeping under the thick ice rose up like a dragon pillar.

I quickly stepped on the ice and jumped up before the ice sheet broke, looking down at them from the deck.

The collapse of the ice sheet that started on one side spread like a spider web in an instant. When it was solid, the ice sheet could easily support hundreds of people, but now that it was cracked, it had no way to support their weight.

The ice sheet started breaking based on the ship, which also meant there was nowhere for the water bandits to stand.

“Aaaagh!! S-save me!”

“Run away! The ice is breaking!! Get out!”

“W-wait! Take me too! Aaaaargh!!”

The water bandits were sucked under the breaking sheet. The water bandits sucked under the slippery ice sheet struggled to get out, but they were pulled underwater by the freezing water that seemed to freeze their hearts and the thick ice pieces pouring down on them.

“Heurgh!”

At the sound of someone’s last breath, I lowered my eyes to see the people who had just been climbing up the grappling hooks attached to ropes looking down.

The water bandit at the very top hurriedly raised his head, trying to climb onto the ship. His eyes, stained with terror, looked at me.

“S-snow woman…”

I raised my eyebrows. I swung my sword to cut the rope attached to the grappling hook they were holding. The rope, having lost its support, lost its tension, and soon the water bandits hanging on it disappeared into the water that had swallowed their comrades.

After briefly catching my breath, I turned my head. The deck had already been cleaned up by Hyuk Dojin’s hands.

The wind blew. At its end was a lingering scent of thick blood. I brushed back my fluttering hair and came down.

Silent gazes mixed with stillness poured on me. I swung my sword diagonally to shake off the thick blood sticking to it, then wiped it with my already dirtied clothes. I approached Hyuk Dojin while sheathing my sword.

The mouths of people watching me pass by opened quietly.

“Snow woman… It’s the snow woman.”

“I-Ice Jade Palace. It’s the witch of Ice Jade Palace!”

I ignored the voices of those chattering about me.

Hyuk Dojin quietly looked at me, then smiled and wiped my cheek with his sleeve before speaking leisurely.

“We’ll need to change clothes.”

“I want to wash as soon as we get off.”

“Alright.”

I quietly followed him down the stairs to below deck.

* * *

Hebei, Anping*. (tl/n: Anping – a county located in the middle of Hebei Province, it is about 100 kilometres away from Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital)

“Snow Plum Blossom?”

The man who had caught the end of the words spoken to him while covering his face with a book answered in a puzzled voice.

He lowered the book from his face and got up from his seat. It was Moyong Do, who had been resting at the Pearl Jade Mansion.

It had already been a year since Moyong Sowol left, and Moyong Do had matured to a degree that was hard to believe only that much time had passed.

The lines that had been slightly lacking before had now taken on a clear shape of their own, giving Moyong Do’s appearance a more manly and strong feeling.

Moyong Do narrowed his brows as he looked at his disciple Moyong Chae who had spoken to him.

“What’s that?”

“Recently, water bandits attacked a ship crossing the Yangtze River in Hubei, and at that time, a woman called Snow Plum Blossom appeared and defeated over a thousand water bandits.”

“A thousand? That must be exaggerated. Most people crossing the Yangtze River at that time would be martial artists trying to participate in the martial arts competition, so it’s impossible for one person to face a thousand. More importantly, plum blossom… Is it a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect?”

Moyong Do rubbed his chin in thought, then tilted his head.

“Wait. But why are you telling me this story? What’s so important about a Mount Hua disciple? Is she participating in this martial arts competition?”

“Apparently not. They say she’s the wife of a wanderer… I don’t know the details. But…”

“But?”

Moyong Do, frustrated by Moyong Chae’s hesitation, grabbed onto his trailing words.

Moyong Chae hesitated and couldn’t easily speak up.

Just as Moyong Do’s maximum patience he could exert towards his disciple was about to run out, Moyong Chae’s mouth finally opened.

“The rumors are… a bit peculiar.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“About the appearance of the woman who received the title Snow Plum Blossom. She somehow resembles someone.”

“Who?”

Moyong Do finally frowned, frustrated by Moyong Chae’s continued beating around the bush.

Moyong Chae hurriedly opened his mouth.

“T-they say her appearance is similar to Sowol’s.”

“…What did you say?”

“It’s just a rumor, but they say Snow Plum Blossom has white hair as white as snow, skin so fair it’s almost transparent, and a beauty like a snow woman not of this world. Moreover, they say she seems to have just come of age, so isn’t it strange?”

Moyong Do slightly opened his mouth at Moyong Chae’s words.

White hair, fair skin, and coming of age.

How many people in the Central Plains would match that appearance? Until now, there hadn’t been a single woman with white hair who wasn’t an old woman.

Moyong Do felt his heart beating. But he had to maintain his composure.

“…What’s strange about it? If she showed tremendous martial arts, she must be a master who has undergone rejuvenation and returned to her prime.”

“But shouldn’t a master who has returned to her prime have black hair?”

“It’s entirely possible if she achieved that realm recently. It’s not like all the hair falls out and grows back.”

“Is that so?”

Moyong Chae tilted his head with a puzzled face.

Moyong Do chided him and instructed him to withdraw, then turned his body.

A young woman with white hair.

Clearly, it matched the characteristics of Moyong Sowol, but his younger sister, not himself, was a child as fragile as a hydrangea that withers pitifully. There was no possibility that such a child could learn such martial arts in just a year.

Moyong Do quietly looked at his open palm. The cold hand that had quietly held his on the day Moyong Sowol left was still lingering on his fingertips.

Moyong Do bit his lip and closed his eyes.

It can’t be.

It just can’t be.