Martial King's Retired Life

Bu might’ve opted for something else if he could choose again. He also might have regretted his decision in the future, but he went ahead with his first thought in the moment. Well, he actually regretted it immediately afterwards and even questioned his own sanity. However, he didn’t want to filter it; watching the sword pierce him was nothing worth reliving. Therefore, he decided to just drop the memory since he lived by the adage that there was nothing worth regretting in life to begin with.

A little earlier, when the two teams came face to face, it was clear which team had the overwhelming advantage. The enemy team already numbered more than twenty people and were continuing to increase as time passed, not to mention they had the ability to clear out a street. In contrast, the two of them were just kids.

The Night Sparrow squad had Bu and Zizi encircled at the same time they cleared out the street; even the higher grounds had been occupied. Bu set himself up for defeat from the moment he decided to underestimate them and returned to the capital. He didn’t appear to care, though, until the lady bearing the “Night Sparrow” alias showed up.

Even up north, one would have been hard pressed to find a woman who was tall as a man and packing a physique notably more intimidating than a female warrior. It was impossible to not spot her in a crowd when she embodied every characteristic and feature that made her easy to remember, yet it was hard to remember her appearance when she showed up in a crowded place.

Li Zizi never took his attention off Black Sparrow since keeping tabs on the enemy leader was the wise thing to do in any confrontation. Howbeit, there was no distinct pattern to her movements. She advanced until she was only ten metres from the boys, yet Li Zizi nearly forgot the sound of her unique gait when she first appeared, and even her appearance was indistinct in his memories.

She treaded extremely lightly, propelling herself forward after each brief moment of contact with the ground just as anyone would. In saying that, her footsteps were inaudible to Li Zizi. Her discipline enabled her to erase the sound of her footsteps at will, empowering her to give different impressions each time, making it difficult to remember her. Before Li Zizi could comment on her skill being the most desirable skill for an agent, he inhaled deeply and then heard, “Hey, suck up your drool!”

“Who’s drooling?!”

Bu responded, “What? You think she’s pretty? She’s old enough to be your aunt. How desperate are you? Or are you into older women? Ew!”

“Hey! Don’t make things up! I was just looking at her…” Li Zizi stopped himself from saying that he was observing her skills in case people grew vigilant of him.

Bu looked around, then tracked his friend’s line of sight to Black Sparrow. “Melons?!”

Bu yelled so loud that even Night Sparrow turned her body away a bit out of discomfort.

“Li Zizi, you’re a sicko!”

“What are you saying?!”

“Okay, young sicko! No, young lecher!”

As much as Li Zizi wanted to dispute the assertion, he neither had the words nor the idiocy to worry about it in their situation. Upon attempting to stop Bu, however, he saw a blur before him at the same time he heard a cry from the east followed by the west. Whilst everyone cast their gaze eastward, Li Zizi was the only person to look westward, where he saw someone roughly twenty metres away collapse, but Bu was gone. Upon looking to a roof in the east, there was someone holding his gut and bellowing in pain. Though it was scary to think someone was able to fire a projectile so accurately at a target a hundred metres away, he quickly recollected himself upon suspecting it might’ve been a distraction. When he turned back to the west, nonetheless, Bu wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

As everyone else turned their attention to the west, the man being helped to his feet griped, “… That runt suddenly whacked me over the head… I…”

Being sneaky was one thing, but vanishing into thin air was preposterous. Yet, they heard a clash from the east, looked over and saw a black and white silhouette exchanging blows atop a roof. The only things they saw clearly as the two moved were the flying dust and stones.

Upon separating from Night Sparrow after thirty exchanges, Bu wore the grin of a hunter. Rather than them trapping him in with them, he gave the impression they were trapped in with him.

The cold woman coldly stated in a deep and scary tone of anger, “You’ve already used this distraction strategy before.”

“Well, it worked, right? Listen to them.” Bu cupped his ear with one hand.

Two more men dropped to the ground with heavy thuds without making a peep. Nobody was sure how they were even taken out, but Night Sparrow only showed more despise and then, in a low voice, questioned, “What sort of vicious weapon are you using this time?”

Simpering, Bu raised his hand to show four rocks. “Don’t you think I’d be an embarrassment if I needed to use some convoluted contraption when it comes to projectiles? Do you use pigeons to deliver messages as a tracer?”

Night Sparrow pointed to the one who dropped first in the east. “I dare you to say you took him out with a stone.”

“I didn’t.” Bu chortled with a shrug. “He was poisoned ages ago. It just happened to kick in then.”

As soon as Night Sparrow’s group surrounded them, Bu hit one person with a needle so small that not even the target realised it. He knew how long it took for the poison to work its magic, so he started an argument with Li Zizi to buy time. While everyone paid attention to the poisoned victim in the east, he dropped someone in the west before sneaking between them back to the other side. While their eyes were on the east, he had already returned from his trip west, giving the false impression that he escaped to the west, which made them look west when he was actually fleeing east. He would’ve successfully given them the slip if it wasn’t for Night Sparrow.

Despite getting distracted, she was able to promptly find clues on Bu’s location. She was a dangerous opponent, particularly in her encirclement. For that reason, Bu tried to provoke her into losing her composure in order to avoid a fight. Unfortunately, she had a better grip on her emotions that he gave her credit for.

“… You tried to escape on your own so that I would misunderstand you two aren’t close, that he’s someone you’re willing to abandon any moment, correct? You care about him.”

Somewhat blushing, Bu inwardly cursed, I’ll rip your mouth off your face!

It was too risky to leave Li Zizi behind now that Night Sparrow had seen through him, so Bu jumped back to his friend’s side.

Li Zizi was happy purely to see his friend unharmed, not that Bu ever thought Li Zizi would misunderstand him.

“Hey, young lecher, why didn’t you escape when I created an opening?”

“Because I’m not a young lecher. I can’t run on my own if I’m not sure if you can escape. I can’t abandon you, but I’d be dishonourable if I escaped if you couldn’t.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Is it? Whatever. I’m determined to escape with you. Friends are supposed to look out for each other.”

“Lecher, you sure know how to pick your moments. You should slap yourself for ogling her bosom before,” muttered Bu, under his breath. In a clearer voice, he said, “Fine. Hey, feisty hoe, you heard him. My buddy doesn’t want to leave. I’m going to fight alongside him. What is it that you want?”

“Hand it over,” demanded Night Sparrow.

“Hehe, would you let me off the hook if I did?”

“Don’t ask the obvious. You will be detained and punished.”

Li Zizi was actually glad to hear that because he was against Bu stealing in the first place, and he had no objections to making Bu apologise. It was, however, self-evident that the group wasn’t going to let it go so easily. If it was possible to return the item without anyone knowing, then there was no reason to suffer.

“Bu, let’s tough this out and run when there’s an opportunity.”

“Yeah, sure. My foot. You wasted the only opportunity I gave you. You might’ve had a chance against someone else, but there’s no way the hoe is letting us go now.”

“Why?”

“Why? Hmph, she has a ghost sparrow. Why do you think?”

Virtually every kid in the capital knew of the ghost sparrow legends. They said it was a spiritual bird that acted as an envoy for Heibai Wuchang, two deities in folk religion. They claimed that the bird would inform the duo of anyone performing misdeeds and that they could see even in the night, which would result in the two deities promptly visiting the person in question. Whenever Brilliant Consort used to tell the legend to her young son, she deliberately used a deep throaty voice to warn, “They’re here for you.” In response, he’d yell and give her a fright as well as cause the maids to come rushing to his aid while he was rolling on the ground laughing.

Ghost sparrows weren’t exactly the same as the legends depicted them, but they did have a unique ability to report someone’s every action back to their master. They were a special breed of birds that were chosen among tens of thousands and then trained for the task. Some claimed that the birds were not only able to report information, but their masters were also able to see through their bird’s eyes.

As he had heard of the legends, Li Zizi’s options narrowed themselves down.

“Fine by me.” Li Zizi stepped out in front of Bu, feeling that he was finally undertaking the moment his father intended for him to experience. In the pugilistic world, one was meant to meet enemies at their door with closed fists. If a friend was in danger, then the answer was even simpler. Smiling, Li Zizi charged forward. “Let’s fight then!”

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Martial King’s Retired Life (Manhua) – 003December 28, 2018In "Martial King's Retired Life"