Martial Kim loved wine but hated the hangovers. Oddly, this morning was worse than usual; whatever wine he drank from the roadside teahouse had been especially potent to make him still feel like he was trapped in a drunken stupor.
His body felt heavy so he laid in bed, fumbling around. He muttered, "Martial Blue Sister... warm a towel...and boil some tea...Aauuugh."
Something fell on his face. Odd. Only Martial Red Sister would be audacious enough to throw a cold towel at him. Grabbing it, he realized—it wasn’t a towel.
A maple leaf? He wondered. Right indoors?
Sitting up, his head throbbed. He wasn’t in his bedroom, he wasn't at Moon Tavern. The young master found himself waking in the middle of a forest, completely disorientated. A series of faint images from the night before fluttered into his mind.
“Was I dreaming?” He uttered as he tapped his head to full the pain of his hangover.
Better question: which was the dream? Sending Fae Fae off in secret? The strange pavilion with no name? Or this forest he woke up to? Reality eluded him the more he tried to think about last night.
"Martial Blue Sister!...Martial Red Sister!...Martial Yellow Sister!...Anyone!?" When the young master received no response from the woods, he started to believe this was some prank that his friends in Moon Tavern had pulled. Sounds like something they would do...save for one.
“Martial Blue Sister?...Martial Blue Sister?... Where are you?...Where am I?”
Are they laughing in silence or what? I cannot even detect their snickering breaths, Martial Kim muttered in his mind. This joke has gone far enough. Time to hunt them down and...huh? Wh-where is my sword!?
A blink and he realized he was gripping a long stick instead of his trusted weapon. A swordsman is never seen without his companion at arms, so he was horrified to learn he can't find his sword anywhere. He searched high and low, in and out of tree trunks, literally turning the woods upside down.
No sword...why, even the gourd of wine he bought from the roadside teahouse was missing.
...Roadside teahouse? Right, I ran across that place after watching Fae Fae leave. That was no illusion... But the pavilion I fell asleep after. Was that real, or my eyes playing tricks?...
Also...When did Autumn arrive so fast!? Once more, Martial Kim was taken by surprise.
Last he recalled, the forest was a luscious spring green. Now, it suddenly became a vibrant amber red. Why, even the trees were three times taller than last night. What happened? How long was he out for? Surely he didn’t fall into a long coma like Fae Fae!
"Martial Blue Sister, please come out! I know the others coerced you into pulling this trick with them. I swear, I will not punish you if you show up right now."
After calling for the one person he could trust in this confusing situation, he received no response whatsoever. Not even a shy pop of a head with long ocean blue hair saying ‘sorry Martial Kim, they made me do it!’.
How did I get here? Who moved me? Impossible, I would have known and snapped awake! Why can't I recall anything from last night to this morning?
Water, that's what he needed. Definitely to drink, as well as to splash cold water to wake him up completely.
So Martial Kim wandered, armed with only the stick in his hand. Even as he marched forward in stumbles, he can't seem to find anything familiar or recognizable from last night's forest. No twin moons, nothing like a nameless pavilion in the distance. The crack of sun light was the only light and companion in the shadows as he continued to run to find answers.
This is too elaborate to be a prank! And it is not an ambush or else the assassins would have struck by now. So what is happening!?
Panting, gasping. and feeling he had been running around in near circles, the young master leaned against a tree trying to ease his racing heart. He had to find his way out of this place, find a town or village to assess his situation. So he did some breathing exercises to calm down, to regulate his internal energy.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
He enhanced his hearing to increase its sensitivity. So not only can he hear virtually everything in great detail, he knew exactly where it was coming from much like a bat's ear.
Fighting? Martial Kim stared to hear the faint sound of mortal combat. The clashing of metal swords and the howling of men was most recognizable. He followed the noise down the hill, hoping to find people for answers. The young master swiftly glided through the trees with his flying skills and soon stumbled upon an unexpected sight—
A massive battle!?
Over 100 men in heavy armor clashed below, wielding large swords and shields. Squinting, Kim wondered, Is this the Imperial Army? Why does their armour look foreign? Did I wander close to a contested border? Is this an invasion by a rival kingdom?
Still dazed from the wine, he hesitated. Should I help? Who do I fight for? I see no Imperial banner to side with.
Martial Kim then witnessed one iron knight getting overwhelmed. In a flash, the knight was knocked over and skewered to death with 10 thorny spears wielded by warriors bearing skull masks over their faces. Blood splashed across the battlefield, screams and cries echoed in the smoke and fire, and in no time the iron knights fell like dead birds. Only a small portion of them remained as they regrouped for a last stand, cheering each other for king and country – against the dark horde!
"HALT!" Without thinking, Martial Kim leapt into action, gliding down into the fray like a hawk swooping for a rabbit! He knocked aside the skull warriors with agile spins and flips, using only the stick in his hand like a sword! He had to finish this fight quick, so he decided to unleash the power of his [White Tiger Flying Snow!]
He expected to cover the battlefield with a mystical blizzard...but...
Nothing is happening? Was my cultivation crippled? Martial Kim panicked when he saw his hand empty of any snow. Then he realized: No, I can still use my inner energy. I guess, I shall rely on that then!
Martial Kim dove into the midst of the skull warriors. Never giving them a chance to even think, he would leap, fly, and twirl around to strike at them with his sword-stick!
He gave them a taste of his signature move, Dance of the Moon Sage, an advanced swordplay he invented in his adventuring youth! It involved complex slashing maneuvers that swept up the winds to knock aside enemy formations; leading and scattering dancing clouds of leaves to cut into hands and faces, blinding them like smoke; and a series of swift kicks and hard palm strikes that threw even the most disciplined soldiers into confusion and disarray!
Perhaps the liquor was still strong in him. The chaos and excitement of the battle made his body feel lighter and giddy, to the point he could not resist chanting a poetic song in his devastation!
"I am an immortal with an unrivaled sword art, as elusive as the shifting moon~! What does unrivalled mean, you ask? Hah~! Not even the blade of the sun, past to future, can catch my unfettered swordplay~! Should a true rival ever slow me down, they can only be a pot of wine or a cloud to sleep upon!~"
Martial Kim spun up a storm of leaves and dust in his wake as he sent nearly every skull warrior in his reach flipping and flying like a shed of plywood in a hurricane. With a flick of his blade, he would knock some of their spears out of their hands to let them flail and land in a single file line – a makeshift wall to protect the surviving iron knights; shaped after the elegance of a crescent moon!
He then float down to stand on the top of that wall, a crane perched perfectly like a righteous flag!
"I am Martial Kim of Moon Tavern!" He bellowed to settle the demons, "I will not allow your villainy taint the lands of the Jade Empire and tarnish the peace. Surrender now, or--"
"CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!"
The scream came out of the blue, so hard Martial Kim ended up choking on his heroic speech and swaying on the spear. Then several things happened that made him question his reality.
The knights in iron armor he was protecting started to boo and curse at him. Why?
The skull warriors picked themselves up to their feet, whipping off their masks to reveal themselves a regular humans. Why?
What shocked him the most – those who died on the battlefield just sat up and hauled each other to their feet. Even the ‘blood’ and 'viscera' that hung from their bodies were still clinging onto them as they chatted amongst each other like people in a market place.
...How? Who? What?
The answer fell upon this one man who had been standing on the sidelines the entire time. Surrounded by many others in strange clothing who: carried black boxes with single glass eyes on their shoulders and pedestals; moved a giant pot spilling sunlight across the field; wielding lanterns that spewed smoke from their funnels on command; and holding long spears into the air with fur dripping over the spear head.
The one man with a roll of paper in his hand rose from his chair made of cloth before bellowing.
"That...WAS GOLD! ABSOLUTE CINEMA!"
----------------------------------------
image [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/e5d49d01-e685-46aa-8d92-b07d57dc33fb/di6ht8a-6b7841a9-7268-4fab-a51a-b1367877f8d8.png/v1/fit/w_828,h_1210/moon_tavern___pavilion_arc__lightnovel_image_01__by_suimaifiles_di6ht8a-414w-2x.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY2NyIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2U1ZDQ5ZDAxLWU2ODUtNDZhYS04ZDkyLWIwN2Q1N2RjMzNmYlwvZGk2aHQ4YS02Yjc4NDFhOS03MjY4LTRmYWItYTUxYS1iMTM2Nzg3N2Y4ZDgucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExNDEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.1MRXBAT-lkHjJI86BlLFW_2-DsZ2mPQmrpQnyPY-Ay8]