The Filthy Righteous Fist
Ja Gangcheon had learned one rule by which the world turned.
"This is terribly unfair."
"Indeed it is. That is the true face of those Orthodox hypocrites."
Some two hundred beggars began begging in every corner of Jinan.
"Some formidable ones have arrived."
Ja Gangcheon recalled what his parents had once told him.
—They are true chivalrous heroes who never own so much as a single blade in their entire lives, leaving only their names behind.
—They're a pack of dirt-poor beggars. Stay far away because they're filthy.
The fact that Mother had put it that way meant she acknowledged them to some degree. If she had truly despised them, she would have said, "Those lunatics who believe they grow stronger the more filth piles up on them."
"It seems our position has been discovered as well."
A figure appeared, clearly watching the two of them as they observed from a high rooftop. Until now, not even the warriors of the Hwangbo Family had noticed them, yet this old beggar found them without the slightest difficulty.
The moment their eyes met, the old beggar unfolded his lightness skill in a single breath and landed before them. That footwork alone was enough to show he was no ordinary man.
With his shabby appearance and deeply wrinkled eyes, he looked like nothing more than an aged beggar. Yet the depth in his gaze and his broad, powerful shoulders proved he was far more. Above all, he possessed the sheer nerve to smile at ease while standing before the very culprits who had turned Jinan into a living hell.
"Spare a coin, won't you?"
The beggar who had leapt all the way onto a three-story roof pressed his hands together neatly and held them out, palms up. Song Jain was about to say something at the absurd sight, but Ja Gangcheon was faster.
"I refuse."
"Isn't that a little cold? Looking at you, you seem to have plenty."
The disappointment he displayed was exaggerated to a ridiculous degree.
"The reason one gives alms to a beggar is because one has something to spare and the beggar does not. Right now, it seems the situation is reversed. If anyone should be receiving alms, it ought to be me."
"Oho. In all my life, this is the first time I've been refused like that. I'll accept that I have something to spare, but claiming you have nothing—isn't that a bit much? After taking so many lives, you're still not satisfied?"
This time his expression turned serious, almost scolding.
"You seem to know me well, yet I have no idea who you are. The Beggar Sect is nothing but unfairness from top to bottom."
"Come now! Calling us unfair when our Beggar Sect lives with nothing but fairness and justice in our heads! Fine. I am Hobanggae. People call me the Filthy Righteous Fist—a rather famous beggar, if I do say so myself."
"So you're the Beggar Sect Leader."
"I hold that lowly seat, yes."
Hobanggae, the Filthy Righteous Fist.
He was regarded as the greatest not only in martial arts but in the sheer command with which he led the Beggar Sect—among the finest in its entire history. He was counted among the Five Supreme Masters and the Three Chivalrous of the Jianghu as well. An absolute master who reigned over the martial world now stood before Ja Gangcheon.
I can't feel any presence from him at all.
Instead of the overpowering, tyrannical aura an overwhelming master should radiate, Hobanggae felt like an ordinary man—nothing at all. It was like standing before the realm of Returning to Simplicity that Ja Gangcheon had only ever heard of in stories. Even Song Jain would have to yield a step to a master of this caliber, yet Ja Gangcheon remained utterly unfazed.
"Is the Beggar Sect trying to interfere in what I'm doing?"
"Too many people have died. How about stopping the killing and talking instead?"
Ja Gangcheon studied Hobanggae's face. That gaze made the old man distinctly uncomfortable.
I expected a murderous demon, yet…
The expression was remarkably honest and innocent. Most killers wore either a pitch-black darkness or a childlike mask. Ja Gangcheon was different.
He has emotions. He has thoughts. And he knows restraint.
While carrying on the conversation with exaggerated gestures, Hobanggae was carefully taking the young man's measure. Even now Ja Gangcheon was carefully choosing his next words. That kind of temperament was a far cry from those who simply reveled in slaughter.
Before Ja Gangcheon could open his mouth, an unexpected voice cut in.
"Isn't it already far too late to interfere?"
Every gaze turned behind Ja Gangcheon. There stood a young Daoist whose hair and robes were soaked through with sweat, as though he had sprinted with everything he had.
"Brother Jinmyeong."
"I'm relieved you're safe. May I speak on your behalf for a moment?"
Without waiting for permission, Jinmyeong stepped in front of the Beggar Sect Leader.
"Jinmyeong of Wudang, a mere junior, greets the Beggar Sect Leader."
"I thought we got along rather well last time. Today you look ready to devour me."
"You have been oppressing my younger brother. I have no choice but to take issue with it."
"Your younger brother, you say?"
"Yes. We are as close as real blood brothers."
"I wasn't aware of that history. Even so, I cannot simply overlook this matter just because you two are close."
"As I already said, it is far too late for the Beggar Sect to step in."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Where was the Beggar Sect when the Hwangbo Family was oppressing Deungmyeong Manor?"
"We had not yet received word of it."
"If the people of Deungmyeong Manor had been slaughtered by the Hwangbo Family, would the Beggar Sect have held the Hwangbo Family accountable?"
"If we learned of unjust deaths, we would never have let it slide."
"Then, since lives were taken from Deungmyeong Manor, you would take an equal number of lives from the Hwangbo Family."
Hobanggae could not bring himself to say yes. Even if such a thing had happened, it would have ended with a few people taking the blame—and only because it was the Beggar Sect would even that much have been possible.
Jinmyeong pressed the silent Hobanggae harder.
"And no matter how ignorant I may be, I cannot accept a lie."
"Are you saying I lied?"
"There were Beggar Sect disciples in Gyounam as well. After confirming with Haomun, I learned they had been stationed there for a very long time."
Wherever Haomun's power was strong, Beggar Sect disciples were always present. Every martial artist knew that as common sense.
"They would certainly have reported the matter between the Hwangbo Family and Deungmyeong Manor. That means the Beggar Sect knew about this incident from the very beginning. Stepping in only now is anything but fair and just."
Having finished his explanation, Jinmyeong asked Hobanggae,
"Will the Beggar Sect become a hypocrite that speaks for the Hwangbo Family?"
"How dare you call the Beggar Sect hypocrites!"
The moment Hobanggae raised his voice in anger, Song Jain stepped forward.
"Is there a problem with calling a hypocrite a hypocrite?"
"Poisonous Loving Mother, watch your tongue."
"You should be the one watching yours, beggar king. You'll soon be so ashamed you won't be able to sleep."
Hobanggae studied Jinmyeong and Song Jain as they openly defied him.
These aren't the sort of people who would act this way without reason.
Even if Ja Gangcheon remained an unknown quantity, Jinmyeong and Song Jain were different. Facing their unshakable confidence, Hobanggae felt his own certainty drain away. The quickest way to lighten the weight of regret was always to act now. He decided to be cautious.
"We do not close our ears and take one side. We will examine this matter carefully, so do not worry."
At those words, Ja Gangcheon—who had been listening in silence until now—took a step forward.
"There's no need. There are people who reached out their hands to us the moment the Beggar Sect turned away. I will finish this matter with my own hands."
It was perfectly clear whom he meant.
Haomun.
The Beggar Sect had known of Haomun's existence from the start.
"Do not trust them too much."
"Then should I trust the Beggar Sect that says such things to me?"
Ja Gangcheon's retort settled the relationship between them once and for all.
It was a back alley near the Gyounam marketplace.
A beggar hurried into the grounds of an abandoned house.
"Sect Leader!"
In the beggar's alms bowl sat a whole chicken still steaming. The savory aroma of the well-boiled bird made Hobanggae's nostrils flare of their own accord.
"Begging really is best done in a big town. The people are so generous they handed over this precious thing whole."
The one beaming as he held out the bowl was a beggar in his early forties.
"Begging, my ass. I told you not to beg with that body of yours."
"If a beggar doesn't beg, what's he supposed to do?"
"With that face, it's not begging—it's robbery."
He stood nearly six feet tall, and his ragged clothes looked ready to burst from the thick, corded muscle packing his frame. In sheer fame he was hardly inferior to Sect Leader Hobanggae himself. His title was Geumganggae, the Diamond Beggar, and by now people simply called him by that name. The old name Shuangjiu—Double Nine, because he had been picked up on the ninth day of the ninth month—had long been discarded.
"Who would look at that body and think 'beggar'?"
"Master, your words keep changing. You once said I would become the greatest beggar in the Beggar Sect."
"That was only about your talent for martial arts. Don't go around begging."
"If you weren't going to let me beg, why did you sweet-talk young me into becoming a beggar in the first place? I could have followed a performing troupe and eaten well and lived well."
"Just quietly learn martial arts and become the Beggar Sect's club. That's your destiny."
"Understood. Then since I stole this, I'll eat it all myself."
"You little—! You're going to take back what was given to a beggar?"
"You said you wouldn't eat it!"
"How dare you raise your voice at your master?"
"My voice is just naturally loud!"
"What? Then I suppose I'll have to educate that voice of yours first!"
"Since it's time for education, I suppose you won't be needing any liquor."
"What?"
"Did you think I only brought chicken? Jinan isn't only famous for its Dragon Well tea."
Hobanggae's excited face instantly turned kindly and gentle. The dramatic shift was enough to leave even his direct disciple Geumganggae speechless.
"Aigoo. Here it is. I'll give you all of it, so wipe that look off your face. If you're going to worry this much, why even be a beggar?"
"What?"
"What did you say when you brought me in? That as long as I was hungry and had nothing, my heart would always be at ease—didn't you?"
"That was a lie."
"What?"
"You idiot! If nobody has any worries, how is an organization supposed to run? Somebody has to use their head."
"Says the man who has no talent for using his head."
"What?"
"What on earth are you worrying about so much?"
Geumganggae tore off a chicken leg and pressed it into his master's hand.
"Have a drink."
When he also pressed a gourd of liquor into the other hand, Hobanggae let out a long sigh. The worries that had filled his mind only moments earlier came flooding back.
"It still feels wrong."
"About Deungmyeong Manor? Even if they shone for a moment, the Hwangbo Family will win in the end, won't they? They're riding high right now, but once every force concentrates on them, Deungmyeong Manor won't be able to hold out. Even the East Sea Merchant Guild that fled its position in Gyounam won't be able to hide forever."
"That's true enough."
"You only came because the Lord of Deungmyeong Manor and Song Jain showed a rougher hand than expected, didn't you? And because Song Jain joining hands with Haomun felt unpleasant."
They had appeared here more to check Poisonous Loving Mother Song Jain than the Lord of Deungmyeong Manor. As the greatest poison master in the martial world and someone classified as unorthodox, she was a person of special concern to the Beggar Sect.
"You've met them yourself, so judge by your gut. Isn't your eye for people the best in the jianghu?"
"My character and martial arts are also the best under heaven. Did you forget?"
"Ahem!"
"You little—?"
Hobanggae, who had clenched a fist, sighed and let the strength drain away.
The brat isn't wrong, either.
In truth, what troubled him was neither Song Jain nor Ja Gangcheon.
"What bothers me most is the truth the Hwangbo Family is hiding."
The Beggar Sect had long known that the Hwangbo Family's actions had gone too far. Yet without decisive evidence, and because they were still one of the Five Great Families that represented the martial world, everyone had assumed they would keep to certain lines.
"If Deungmyeong Manor's cause turns out to be solid, what do you think we should do?"
"What is there to do? If Deungmyeong Manor's cause is right, we simply acknowledge them."
"Even while they're with Haomun?"
Geumganggae answered while tearing into the chicken that had already lost one leg.
"Can Haomun even handle people who are fighting the Hwangbo Family with nothing but a righteous cause?"
"Hm?"
"They're facing a martial family that belongs to the Five Great Families—just the two of them. How could Haomun possibly control people like that?"
Hobanggae chewed over his disciple's prediction.
"Have you always been this sharp?"
"Even without a sharp head, anyone would think that much."
"So you're saying my head is dull?"
"I never said that."
Before his master could dig further, Geumganggae threw out a question of his own.
"But Master, about the Lord of Deungmyeong Manor. Can we really take the disciples' reports at face value? Now that you've met him yourself, what did you think?"
"Honestly, it's hard to gauge. But that confidence of his didn't feel like empty bluster."
"If you say so, Master, then a genius has appeared."
"I can't be certain, but the possibility is high."
Hobanggae recalled the report from the disciples who had witnessed the Hwangbo Family disaster.
The Lord of Deungmyeong Manor's blade arts are judged to rank among the top ten even within the jianghu. Though he faced opponents weaker than the Poisonous Loving Mother, considering his age the skill is shocking.
They had added the caveat that this was only regarding blade arts, yet never in the history of the martial world had anyone in their late teens received such an evaluation. There was an unfavorable assessment as well.
The internal energy used in his blade arts was pure and orthodox, yet the forms themselves were tyrannical and rough.
That was why some thought it might be unorthodox martial arts. From the beginning his origins had been unclear, so suspicions had piled up.
This matter needs to be investigated from the start once more.
Through long experience he had decided that caution was required now.
"Bah. You eat this."
Having made up his mind, he rose from his seat.
"If you're just going to leave, leave the liquor bottle too."
"How could I completely ignore a disciple's sincerity? I'll take half."
Hobanggae had just tucked the gourd at his waist and was about to leave the place when a voice spoke.
"There is no need to go to such trouble."
Despite the distance, someone had used a concealment technique so refined that even the Beggar Sect Leader failed to notice. Yet because the figure revealed himself from quite far away, no immediate violence broke out.
"Does the Shandong Branch Leader of Haomun have something to say to a beggar?"
The Shandong Branch Leader of Haomun—Yeonhui's direct superior—cupped his fist in a formal salute toward the Beggar Sect Leader.
"I greet the Beggar Sect Leader."
The greeting was so polite that no one could pick a fight over it.
"I doubt you're after my liquor. What is it?"
"I have come to ease the Sect Leader's worries."
"How so?"
"What if I show you the true face of the Hwangbo Family?"
He drew a single book from his robes.
