You’ll Know Too (5)
Fwoosh!
Together with the setting sun, Baek Cheon surged forward.
Each time his feet struck the ground, his body flew through the air like a raptor, covering more than thirty yards at a bound. It was a speed that naturally called to mind lightning.
But it wasn’t anything especially remarkable. Everyone around him was moving at the same pace.
Baek Cheon glanced sideways.
Un Geom was running with an expressionless face. He didn’t seem to be straining at all. Relieved, Baek Cheon looked behind him next. They were all keeping up without falling behind.
As for the second-generation disciples, they had plenty of experience with high-speed movement like this, so he wasn’t particularly worried about them. What he was concerned about were Namgung Dowi and Im So-byeong.
Yet his worries proved unnecessary. The frail-looking Im So-byeong was running with complete composure, and Namgung Dowi was, as expected, keeping pace without lagging at all.
Impressive.
Mount Hua was a sect that placed enormous importance on fundamentals. Of course, by now, he even thought that bastard Cheong Myeong had come to care not only about fundamentals, but also about the sect’s mobility and speed……
Setting that aside, both Im So-byeong and Namgung Dowi seemed able to move at Mount Hua’s pace without much difficulty from the very basics upward. It was enough to show just how deep their internal energy ran.
Now isn’t the time to be worrying about others.
Baek Cheon’s breathing grew a little ragged.
He wasn’t the kind of man who would be winded by this level of lightness work. If it had been a normal day, he could have maintained a pace half again as fast without his expression changing one bit.
The only reason he felt strain now was one thing alone.
The savage warriors clothed in red robes spread out all around them.
Unlike the refined bearing of the righteous sects, these men openly displayed a rough, untamed ferocity that seemed ready to explode at any moment, surrounding Mount Hua’s group as though they were being encircled.
Baek Cheon’s face hardened.
He knew they didn’t necessarily harbor any ill will. But that didn’t make them any less intimidating. Until not long ago, they had been enemies who’d crossed blades with Mount Hua.
Maninbang…….
The elite forces dressed in Maninbang’s distinctive white-and-red robes.
Red Dogs.
That probably hadn’t always been the name they were called. There must have been some proper, respectable name at first. But at some point, the jianghu began calling them Red Dogs.
Red dogs.
Dogs of Jang Il-so, loyal to no one but their master.
It was a slur born of fear toward Jang Il-so and contempt for those who followed him. Yet the men themselves seemed to take pride in it. They even called themselves Red Dogs, flaunting their blind loyalty to Jang Il-so.
That was why the jianghu feared them even as it called them dogs.
Wearing their symbolic white-and-red robes, always guarding Jang Il-so by his side, crushing his enemies as his hands and feet.
Those Red Dogs were now surrounding the disciples of Mount Hua.
Every time that wild, unrefined aura brushed past them, it felt as though the hairs on his entire body were standing on end. It was a completely different force from that of the righteous path. That razor-sharp savagery kept them from relaxing for even an instant.
Are the men of Maninbang this strong?
They weren’t going all out, but the disciples of Mount Hua here prided themselves on never being outclassed in lightness work by anyone anywhere.
And yet Maninbang had more than a hundred Red Dogs keeping pace with this speed.
After experiencing Maninbang’s Red Slaughter Squad and defeating the mob that had attacked Mount Hua, he had secretly begun to think they could handle a single force from Maninbang anytime they wanted. That confidence was now shattering without mercy.
Baek Cheon bit his lip lightly.
Still.
That was precisely why Maninbang had been able to sit in the seat of power atop the Evil Tyrant Alliance. No matter how outstanding Jang Il-so might be, if the strength of the faction behind him had been lacking, there was no way he could have stood above all those formidable people.
Tap!
Baek Cheon’s legs tightened instinctively as he pushed off the ground.
These are enemies.
He knew that clearly enough. That was why he couldn’t let his guard down, wasn’t it?
But in this moment, these terrifying men became allies chasing the same enemy as they were.
It was a strange feeling, one in which anxiety and reassurance, discomfort and expectation all coexisted.
Then Yoon Jong’s voice came from beside him.
“Sasuk. How much longer until we arrive?”
“We’ll be there any moment now.”
From Gogang to Hangzhou was a thousand li. For ordinary people, it was a distance that would take ten full days of walking without rest to cover. For them, it was a place they could reach in little more than half a day.
They had been running nonstop from sunrise until the sky began to darken, so they should be entering Hangzhou soon.
“……Then we’ll be seeing it soon,” Yoon Jong said.
The thing he referred to wasn’t named. But everyone there knew exactly who he meant.
The Demonic Sect.
Baek Cheon pictured those two words in his head and naturally looked ahead. Toward the front of the group. Toward the two people running in the lead.
For a moment, the breath caught in his throat.
The backs of Cheong Myeong, dressed in black martial robes, and Jang Il-so, draped in a crimson robe, burned themselves into Baek Cheon’s eyes like branding irons.
In all my life…… I never thought I’d see those two running side by side.
No matter what anyone said, the person Mount Hua’s disciples could rely on most was Cheong Myeong. On ordinary days, he might be the least trustworthy bastard in the world, but on the battlefield, no one was more dependable than him.
And no matter what anyone said, the person Mount Hua’s disciples feared most was Jang Il-so. For Mount Hua, Jang Il-so was the symbol of both hatred and terror.
And now those two were leading the others in tandem.
It was a sight he had never once imagined. No—there had never even been a reason to imagine it. So the sickening sense of alienness he felt was only natural.
And yet, at the same time……
If I say this out loud, they’ll probably think I’ve lost my mind, but……
Baek Cheon flicked a glance over his shoulder. He did it almost as if he were worried the other disciples might hear what he was thinking.
Seeing those two together makes it impossible to think we’ll lose.
Perhaps the other disciples of Mount Hua felt something similar.
Then Jang Il-so’s languid voice drifted over.
“You seem rather tense, Mount Hua Divine Dragon.”
Cheong Myeong did not answer him. He simply kept his gaze fixed ahead and ran on. But Jang Il-so smiled as if he had expected that response all along.
“No need to be so tense. You won’t have much to do, after all. You just have to finish things up at the proper time. If I asked too much of a little brat like you, I’d look rather pathetic, wouldn’t I?”
At that moment, Cheong Myeong turned and smiled at Jang Il-so as he ran beside him. It was a clear smile, one that Baek Cheon could even see from behind.
“Hmm?”
Jang Il-so asked with a strange look.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Go on.”
“Pardon?”
“You should keep talking while you still can. That calm look on your face is going to disappear soon.”
“……Oh?”
Jang Il-so looked at Cheong Myeong with growing interest.
“Do you think I’m underestimating their strength?”
“No. A bastard like you wouldn’t make such a stupid mistake.”
“Then?”
Cheong Myeong’s eyes sank darkly.
“You’ll know too.”
“…….”
“There are things in this world that can’t be measured by calculation.”
Cheong Myeong did not bother trying to explain.
He merely turned his head slightly to check the others following behind.
Baek Cheon, Yu I-seol, Yoon Jong, Jo Geol, and Dang So-so.
The only ones whose faces changed at Cheong Myeong’s words were those who had faced the Demonic Sect in the Northern Sea. They would understand. They would understand the meaning hidden in his words.
“You’ll probably be seeing something you never even imagined.”
As Cheong Myeong snapped at him, Jang Il-so looked back with those peculiar eyes of his.
“That……”
Jang Il-so’s lips slowly curled upward, as though twisting into a smile.
“Sounds promising.”
With a light wave of his hand, Ho Ga-myeong, who had been running not far away, quickly moved up beside him. Jang Il-so gave him a few quiet instructions.
Ho Ga-myeong nodded rapidly, then slowed and rejoined the Red Dogs behind them.
Cheong Myeong watched the exchange with a glint in his eyes.
Jang Il-so must have noticed that stare, because he smiled faintly and met Cheong Myeong’s eyes.
“Why? Curious about something?”
“……What did you order him to do?”
“How sentimental. I simply told him not to be surprised no matter what sight he witnessed, just as you said.”
“…….”
“I can’t know whether your words are right or wrong, but failing to prepare for what can be prepared for is something only a world-class idiot would do. If someone kindly offers advice, there’s no reason not to take it, is there?”
Cheong Myeong let out a hollow laugh.
In the past, even people within the same righteous circle had been unable to accept his advice at face value. And yet here this demonic bastard was, taking his words seriously.
This bastard had no distinction between righteous and unorthodox, between proper and improper. For him, there was only the difference between what could be used and what could not.
It occurred to Cheong Myeong once again.
Cheong Myeong and the Heavenly Demon were beings who had stepped outside the laws of the world. If those two had never appeared, what would have become of the jianghu?
It probably would have ended up being toyed with in this bastard’s hands as he pleased.
From that perspective, perhaps the one who had been forced to bear the greatest losses because of the existence of those two beings called the Heavenly Demon and Cheong Myeong was none other than Jang Il-so.
“A strangely…… unpleasant look in your eyes.”
Jang Il-so twisted his red lips. His jewelry rattled noisily with every movement.
“Don’t look at me that way, my dear. It makes me want to gouge your eyes out.”
“Crazy bastard.”
The words were vicious, but his voice was sickeningly gentle. With an expression of utter disgust, Cheong Myeong turned his head away.
No matter who Jang Il-so was, they were fundamentally incompatible. This was the only time he would ever be joining hands with the man.
Just then—
“There!”
Baek Cheon raised his voice as if he had spotted something. Cheong Myeong’s gaze snapped forward on instinct.
“…….”
At the same time, his feet, which had been moving briskly, gradually slowed.
They slowed little by little, then became a fast walk, then a slow walk. And finally, they came to a complete stop.
Everyone who had been running like the wind halted in place.
No one spoke. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
They all simply stared, holding their breath, at the scene spread before them.
All there was to see was…… earth, and corpses.
The ground, soaked through with blood and dried black, was filled to the brim with mangled bodies.
They knew. Because they had fought so many times, they could tell from the sight alone. This was not the aftermath of a battle. People who had killed one another, screamed, resisted, and fought to the death would never leave behind a scene like this.
This was…… nothing more than the place where a massacre had swept through.
“Ugh!”
Dang So-so clapped a hand over her mouth and bent over at the waist. Yu I-seol, standing beside her, grabbed her shoulder tightly to steady her.
“How…….”
Corpses stretched on and on without end.
He couldn’t even imagine how a human being could do something like this. A sane person couldn’t slaughter even a single ant this endlessly, let alone people.
Step.
At that moment, Jang Il-so took one step forward.
“So this is……”
Standing before a land dyed in death, he slowly licked his red lips. A cruel smile spread across a face drenched in unholy beauty.
“The Demonic Sect.”
Dense killing intent began to gather in his pale eyes.