The Red Cliffs (1)
“Great hero! Thank you for severing the Bloodthirsty Asura’s throat in our stead. Thanks to you, our fallen comrades can finally rest in peace.”
“I only did what had to be done.”
“Great hero...”
The sole survivor of the patrol that had been wiped out while tracking the Bloodthirsty Asura, Yu Il-han, gazed at me with eyes brimming with emotion.
I had come with the Hundred Elder to check on him after hearing he had awakened, and the way he fussed the moment he saw us suggested his recovery was progressing swiftly.
Typical martial artist.
“Easy now. If you get too worked up, your wounds might reopen.”
“Ah...”
Only then did Yu Il-han settle back down and look up at us. It seemed he still had more to say. When I listened closely, another round of thanks spilled out.
“Once again, I am deeply grateful. I don’t know how I can ever repay this kindness...”
“People help those in need along the roadside from time to time, don’t they? Think nothing of it.”
The Hundred Elder waved his hand dismissively as he spoke. Yu Il-han looked up at him with even greater emotion and cried out.
“As expected of the Hainan Sword Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects! Your chivalry knows no bounds!”
“Haha...”
Though he pretended otherwise while stroking his beard, he clearly enjoyed the praise. Watching the scene, I turned to Yu Il-han and asked,
“By the way... were you ambushed by that Bloodthirsty Asura?”
“No. We received a report on his location and struck first, but... it was a miscalculation. According to the information passed to the Wulin Alliance, he was said to be a first-class expert, yet he turned out to be a peak-level demonic head. By the time we realized...”
Anyone who had risen to the level of a Wulin Alliance warrior should have been able to gauge that much. Perhaps he had been blinded by the prospect of advancement and ignored every warning sign. Ambitious men who caused disasters in their hunger for success existed everywhere. I had seen more than a few lose their heads after pulling such stunts, so a sigh escaped me.
“Don’t make the same mistake again.”
“Yes. I will never repeat it. I’ve learned my lesson from this incident...”
“Then we’ll be on our way.”
“Yes, travel safely.”
We turned and left the clinic. Now we had to depart Tongcheon and head for the Wulin Alliance in Wuhan.
“I’ll pack our things and depart at once. Our next destination is... Chibi.”
Chibi?
The same Chibi from the Battle of Red Cliffs?
“Chibi... you mean?”
“It’s the city that appears along the official road to Wuhan. Everyone in the Central Plains knows of it, but since you came from the Western Regions, you wouldn’t.”
...I actually did know, but I couldn’t let on. It would be strange for me to be familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so I couldn’t bring it up first. I could only hint at it indirectly.
“Chibi... it has a fine name.”
“A famous battle once took place there. If the chance arises later, I’ll tell you the story.”
I didn’t think that was necessary, but since I had to keep up the pretense, I wondered how to wave it off.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Chibi, huh. I was curious. It was a place that only appeared in ancient tales of the Three Kingdoms, so in reality it was probably nothing special, yet I couldn’t help feeling a flicker of anticipation at the thought of standing where the legendary Battle of Red Cliffs had occurred. I had never been particularly invested in the story, but even someone like me who had little interest in books knew of it.
“...I hope we can pass through Chibi quietly.”
“...I agree.”
My sigh overlapped with the Hundred Elder’s.
“Whoa...”
“It’s enormous.”
Now that was a wide lake. I slowly took in the sight of the vast body of water beside Chibi. It stretched so far that the far shore was invisible. At a glance, it was hard to tell whether I was looking at a sea or a lake.
“Uncle! Look over there! The cliff has the characters ‘Red Cliffs’ carved into it!”
...So it did. I gazed at the red characters etched into the cliff face and felt a surge of admiration. The brushwork was bold and striking, far from ordinary.
“Who do you think wrote it?”
“Who knows...”
“According to legends passed down from long ago, it is said that Zhou Yu carved the characters to commemorate his victory at Red Cliffs.”
How did she know that? Whether it was true or not, it was impressive. This world was subtly twisted from real history, making the exact timeline difficult to pin down, but the fact that those massive characters had withstood the elements for at least several hundred years was remarkable. Perhaps Zhou Yu had been an extraordinary master. No, he must have been. How else could anyone carve something so large and deep into a cliff face? At the very least, he would have been at the master level.
“Zhou Yu...”
“Ah, Zhou Yu was one of the most renowned generals in the Central Plains. He is famous for achieving a great victory in the battle fought here.”
Ha-jin kindly added an explanation for my benefit. It was a somewhat abbreviated version, but he had kept it simple because I lacked the necessary background knowledge. Explaining everything from the start would have taken too long. Still, hearing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms from a local’s perspective seemed rather interesting.
“He must have been an extraordinary man.”
“Heaven already gave birth to Zhou Yu, so why did it have to give birth to Zhuge Liang as well!”
Hye-ryeong’s clear, bird-like voice rang out beneath the quiet cliffs of Chibi. After blurting out the sudden line, she smiled playfully and continued.
“They say he spoke those words on his deathbed!”
“Quite the dramatic last words.”
Whether that line came from the novel or the historical records, I couldn’t recall. Either way, I tore my gaze away from Hye-ryeong, who was flapping her arms about as dramatically as the line itself, and looked back at the lake.
“Uncle? What’s wrong?”
What else? It was just...
“Whether he truly uttered such a lament is unknown, but that is what people say.”
Just as I was about to speak, an unfamiliar voice cut into the conversation. It was a slightly intellectual male voice. I turned my head toward the speaker.
...Zhuge Liang?
Whether he was trying to imitate Zhuge Liang or not, the man was covering his mouth with a fan as he looked at us. When our eyes met, he tucked the white-feathered fan into his belt and clasped his hands in greeting.
“My name is Jegal Hyeon-sang.”
“I never expected to meet a member of the Jegal Clan in a place like this.”
The man, who appeared to be in his mid-to-late twenties, smiled with his eyes and swept his gaze over us before fixing it on me.
“I never dreamed I would encounter the chivalrous heroes of the Hainan Sword Sect here either—especially the Blue-Eyed Sword Saint, whose name has been spreading through Hubei lately.”
So my reputation had spread that far already. I looked at the Jegal warrior who had mentioned my epithet. Jegal Hyeon-sang, was it? I had never heard the name before. No matter how hard I searched my memories, there had been no character named Jegal Hyeon-sang in the original novel. Given that the Jegal Clan had almost zero presence in the story, it was only natural. How many martial arts novels even featured the Jegal Clan in any meaningful way?
I lifted my bamboo hat slightly and returned the greeting while introducing myself.
“William Marshall. It’s hard to pronounce, so you can just call me Wi.”
“Ah, Young Hero Wi. It is truly a pleasure to meet you. You are as courteous as I have heard.”
“It’s only basic manners.”
“Haha, there are plenty in this world who fail to uphold even those basic manners.”
There was a barb in his words. It didn’t seem directed at us, though. He retrieved the white-feathered fan from his belt again, half-covering his face as he smiled with his eyes. There was something subtly unsettling about that gaze.
“I would love to talk more, but I have duties to attend to, so I must take my leave. I wish you a pleasant journey.”
“Safe travels to you as well.”
“Then I shall see you again another time.”
The eccentric named Jegal Hyeon-sang turned his back and walked in the opposite direction from where we had come. His steps were leisurely, yet strangely swift—perhaps a form of lightness skill. After watching him for a while, Hye-ryeong was the first to speak.
“Uncle, what do you think that was about?”
“I don’t know.”
“...I’m not even sure if he was truly a member of the Jegal Clan.” Ha-jin also voiced his suspicion, having sensed something odd in the man’s behavior. Wuxia tales were full of eccentrics and strange characters, but running into someone on the road, exchanging a few words as if meeting an acquaintance, and then leaving felt strange. Of course, since we belonged to the same orthodox faction, a greeting wasn’t unusual, but something still felt off. He might simply be the type who enjoyed playing the mysterious expert, yet it didn’t feel like mere posturing either.
...Well, it didn’t matter. Nothing had happened to us, so I could just treat it as an encounter with an odd person and move on.
“Let’s keep walking.”
At the Hundred Elder’s words, we buried our lingering unease and resumed our walk toward Chibi City.