The Dog Who Rode a Rabbit
An hour later, Yeop Pung walked the road toward Ink Stream in grim silence, while an angel and a devil bickered without end inside his skull.
"Damn it! Yeop Pung, what's wrong with you? You said you couldn't stand the sight of those guys, so why the hell are you going out of your way to help them? Leave them! Let them live or die on their own!"
"That's not— I'm not helping them! Our paths just... happen to overlap, that's all! Yeah, that's it. I'm just passing through."
"Don't make me laugh! Ink Stream and Taibai Peak are in completely opposite directions! You might fool other people, but you can't fool yourself!"
"Anyway! The Gi Clan mess is something I started. This is a man's responsibility! What would you know?!"
"Fine, fine! Do whatever you want! I won't nag you about it again!"
"Who's nagging who?!"
This isn't working. At this rate I'm actually going to go schizophrenic.
Yeop Pung shook his head hard from side to side and forced his mind back into order. No matter how much he couldn't stand the sight of those Cheonun Sect disciples, they were still his fellow students. Knowing the Gi Clan might put them in danger, he simply could not look the other way.
And besides—he had the power to stand against the 6th Meridian Mysterious Realm now, didn't he? He brushed his fingers lightly over the Myriad Realms Wrist Ring on his right hand, feeding himself a little confidence.
The experiment against the Gi Clan warriors a short while ago had made two things perfectly clear.
First, activating the Myriad Realms Wrist Ring consumed a staggering amount of Profound Qi. Once per battle was the limit. Use it twice, and he might well be the one who ended up on the receiving end.
Second, no one else could perceive the ring's effect. Neither the captain trapped inside the time barrier nor the two ordinary warriors being beaten beside him had noticed anything strange about Yeop Pung. They had simply watched him reach out and snatch away a long blade in an instant, and concluded that his combat speed was monstrous. Not a single one of them realized he had slowed time itself.
That was enough. So long as he had Profound Qi to spare, he could open a deceleration barrier, dodge an attack, and strike back without anyone ever knowing. Even a sixth-meridian expert would find it no easy thing to evade his killing blow.
With that precondition in place, Yeop Pung had earned the right to go to Ink Stream as reinforcements. Without it, showing his face would have brought the entire Gi Clan down on his head—and then running would have been his only option.
He unfolded the map and confirmed Ink Stream's location once more. Reaching it would take at least another full day. There was not a moment to waste. He slipped into the dark and raced toward the depths of Mount Yongnyeong.
After running through the night, Yeop Pung spotted it at dusk: a vast basin in the distance, as though the mountain itself had caved in. From afar the hollow was pitch-black. In the midst of all that green forest, a black so striking it hurt the eyes.
Legend had it that this was where Li Taibai, the eccentric genius of the ancient Jin era, had flourished his brush in a fit of poetic rapture. The tale that a single drop of ink had dyed the rivers and streams black sounded like something out of an immortal's fable, too wondrous to believe.
But Yeop Pung had no leisure to admire the strange and startling vista before him. Knowing he was nearly at his destination, he sharpened his focus and actually slowed his pace, muffling his presence as he crept carefully toward Ink Stream.
As he walked, he could not quite suppress a flicker of unease. Strangely enough, he had not encountered a single wild beast the entire way here.
Weird... I haven't seen a single beast this whole time. Don't tell me the Gi Clan and the Cheonun Sect people already wiped them all out? But there's no smell of blood...
Yeop Pung was a cautious man by nature. Ink Stream lay right ahead. If the intelligence was correct, the Gi Clan and the Cheonun Sect would be facing off inside that basin. And yet the surroundings were far too quiet. The odds were high that Gi Clan scouts were hidden somewhere nearby. There was no other reason for not a single animal to be in sight.
A shame I still haven't opened a Spirit Sea. I can't use the keen senses of a Spirit Realm expert. And Bone isn't here either... That nose of his was incredible. One sniff and he'd know whether there were enemies nearby...
Bone... Just thinking about Bone made Yeop Pung angry all over again.
Is that mutt even on Mount Yongnyeong or not?
He grumbled inwardly, staying alert as he advanced one quiet step at a time.
That was when it happened. Yeop Pung's ears suddenly pricked, and he flung himself sideways. A razor-sharp blade of wind slammed into the spot where he had just been standing, gouging a deep scar in the earth.
"What the—?!"
He spun around. A rabbit stood not far behind him—a rabbit with a knot cinched so tight on its head it would never come undone.
Yeop Pung burst out laughing.
Don't tell me... this little bastard came back for revenge?
The rabbit had its front paws folded across its chest and was standing on one hind leg, tapping the ground with the other. The knot bound around its ears kept it from twitching them; otherwise it would surely have been flicking those ears at Yeop Pung in a full-body display of arrogance.
Human. This time, you're finished!
Murder filled the fat rabbit's eyes.
"Heh heh..."
Yeop Pung laughed even harder.
Listen, I handled you just fine back when I was only at the second meridian. I've broken through to the third now, and you think you can—don't get too full of yourself.
"How've you been, little guy?"
He closed in on the fat rabbit like a wolf with a nasty smile.
"Didn't this big brother tell you to bring other rabbits if you wanted revenge? Coming alone just won't cut it."
Heehee... Yeop Pung clearly saw the fat rabbit's mouth stretch into a sly grin. Then he froze.
It wasn't alone. Five identical gray rabbits came bouncing out of the woods behind it, every one of them far bigger than the knot-eared ringleader. The largest stood as high as Yeop Pung's knee.
It actually brought rabbits...?
He had never expected the creature to take a throwaway remark so literally. The rabbits in front of him did not look all that strong, if he was being honest.
But before he could even sneer, a heavy thud, thud rolled out of the trees, and a wild boar with only one tusk came waddling into view.
"What?! You came too?!"
His instincts screamed that the situation had just gone very bad.
Don't tell me... the reason it's been so quiet around me this whole time is because these bastards have been hiding, waiting for a chance at revenge?
"Grrrr..."
A familiar beast-cry rolled through the trees. More than ten black shapes melted out from behind the boar, fangs gleaming.
Damn it! I knew it!
They were the gray wolves he had run into yesterday. Yeop Pung's blood ran cold.
How the hell did these things all end up together? Why is every single beast I messed with standing right here...?
A moment later, he heard still more footsteps.
Don't tell me... there's more?
There was more. Behind the ten-odd gray wolves, two black leopards came pacing out, their coats as beautiful as black silk, the fur gleaming blood-red in the evening glow. One look was enough to know they were tremendously powerful predators.
And that still was not the end. A pack of spotted hyenas followed the leopards, each one looking stronger than the gray wolves. Among them was a Spotted Hyena King whose aura was potent enough that even Yeop Pung felt the threat. The moment the king appeared, the air itself seemed to throb with the stench of blood.
"What the hell is this?!"
Yeop Pung started looking for a way out. The beast horde still was not finished. New animals kept emerging from the forest without end—big ones and small ones, beasts that had brought their young, beasts that had come alone, carnivores and herbivores alike—swarming around him like a hive of hornets.
"Damn it! What is all this?! Is this a meeting?! Why are there so many of you?!"
Only then did the seriousness of it hit him. He had kicked a hornet's nest. How on earth had this many beasts gathered in one place?
He did not hesitate for a heartbeat. He unfolded the Thunder Shadow Steps at once.
I have to run!
Lightning footwork that tore a golden afterimage through the trees.
Anyone who was not a tremendous expert would have fled in this situation. A moment's delay and these things would not even leave his bones. Yeop Pung's golden afterimage ripped across the dense forest, so fast the leaves scattered in his wake.
Today's leading actor, the knot-eared rabbit, bounced into the air and hurled a blade of wind at Yeop Pung's retreating back.
"Brothers, after him! Get that bastard!"
"GRAAAAAH!"
More than a hundred beasts of every kind surged after the golden afterimage. The sight was nothing short of spectacular.
Every last predator vanished into the distance on Yeop Pung's trail. Afterward, in the forest that had fallen quiet, a dark silhouette slowly revealed itself.
It was a gigantic rabbit. Fully half as tall as a man, the monster radiated a terrifying wind-force from every inch of its body. The moment it appeared, the air around it heaved and tiny whirlwinds spun up, sending the forest leaves into a frantic dance.
"Human..."
A cruel smile flickered across the giant rabbit's face. But in that same instant, a merciless dog's forepaw smashed into the rabbit's head.
Thud!
The rabbit staggered and went tumbling. The cruel smile vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by the most ingratiating expression it could manage.
"B-Big Brother! Good day to you!"
A magnificent golden-furred dog came strolling out from the side. The oppressive majesty rolling off it seemed to declare itself the sole sovereign of heaven and earth, ten times greater than the giant rabbit's.
"Woof!"
The dog named Bone looked down at the rabbit with an arrogant gaze and pointed ahead with his snout.
"B-Big Brother! Please, have a seat. I'll go after that bastard right away."
The giant rabbit bent as if it were Bone's most loyal subordinate, offering its back for him to mount. Bone settled his rump onto the rabbit's plump spine and seized the long ears in both forepaws, radiating the dignity of a king who feared nothing in the world.
"Move out!"
"Yes, sir!"
The giant rabbit slammed its hind legs into the earth. A terrifying burst of force launched them three hundred feet in a single bound, and they tore after the fleeing Yeop Pung in fierce pursuit.
A dog riding a rabbit—now there was a rare sight. Was there a finer picture anywhere in the world?
The sun was sinking in the west.
For the fifty-odd Cheonun Sect disciples trapped at Ink Stream, another agonizing day was drawing to a close. Not one of them could say whether they would see tomorrow's sunrise—or even whether they would survive this night in one piece.
At the mouth of the mountain gorge, a natural fortress in its own right, Wang Maeng stared outward in deep despair. The Gi Clan's encampment stood in orderly ranks before his eyes. His chest felt as though a boulder weighing ten thousand catties were crushing it; he could barely draw breath.
Tonight... can we even hold this place?