More Than Enough (4)
“By sea! I think sea travel would be best!”
“No, wait, hold on. At least let’s go by land first…”
“Ah, shut up! Just pick one already, and make it quick!”
“By sea! Let’s go by sea! Sailing on a boat has been my lifelong dream!”
“Honestly, if I don’t get on a boat regularly, thorns start growing in my mouth! I swear it!”
Everyone was frantic. They knew exactly what kind of person Cheong Myeong was. The Mount Hua disciples, who had long since learned more than enough about him, felt as if their lives were in danger and shouted themselves hoarse.
But then…
“Ah, this is noisy.”
Cheong Myeong waved a hand with a crooked grin.
“I haven’t even decided anything yet, have I? I’m just saying let’s hear the guy out. Still, if the King of the Green Forest—who’s supposedly one of the top strategists in the Heavenly Friends Alliance—brought it up himself, there’s got to be a good reason for it, right?”
“Didn’t you say he was a Sapa bastard?”
“You said we should burn him, though.”
“You said listening to a Sapa guy talk makes your stomach twist so bad you need medicine!”
“I did?”
Cheong Myeong clicked his tongue at Ogeom.
“What kind of Daoist discriminates against people based on where they’re from? The end times really are here. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Ogeom covered their faces with both hands and bowed their heads. Despair settled onto their shoulders.
In the midst of all that, Namgung Dowi, who was still holding on to the last shred of his sanity, quietly asked Im So-byeong, “King of the Green Forest. What is the advantage of the third option?”
Im So-byeong blew a mouthful of blood from his nose and answered lazily, “Can’t you see? It’s faster.”
The corner of Namgung Dowi’s eye twitched faintly. He looked at Im So-byeong and said with a smile, “Ah. I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”
“I expected too much of a Sapa man. Demanding something beyond your capabilities is, after all, discourteous…”
“What?”
This time, Im So-byeong’s face twisted.
“You Mount Hua brats really are something. A man who used to be all prim and proper and looked like a fussy, sheltered young master spends a little time with Mount Hua and suddenly learns how to mock people so smoothly? You’re growing up real fine, huh?”
“And who’s to say that’s all thanks to Mount Hua? It’s because the King of the Green Forest was kind enough to help.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Their eyes collided fiercely in midair.
Watching them, Tang Pae began pressing both hands against his stomach. Dang So-so silently held out a small paper packet to him.
“……What’s this?”
“Stomach medicine.”
“……”
“I packed plenty, so don’t worry. We’re used to this.”
“……Thanks.”
At least his little sister still cared about her brother… no, wait, that wasn’t it!
“This is not the time for this! For the love of heaven, can we please do some actual work here?”
“Ahem.”
“Hrm.”
At Tang Pae’s rebuke, Im So-byeong coughed heavily into his fist and said, “Of course, it might sound a bit ridiculous, but…”
“A bit?”
“That’s wildly ridiculous.”
“I’m honestly wondering if you’re in your right mind.”
“……”
After being left speechless for a moment, Im So-byeong continued with a sour face. “But if you examine it one step at a time, it isn’t actually that absurd an idea.”
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
“Maybe your standard for absurd is different?”
“Is this what Sapa is like? Well, after seeing that Jang Il-so bastard, I guess I can tell he’s definitely not sane.”
Im So-byeong’s cheek twitched. Those Mount Hua bastards clearly didn’t even regard him as a passing bandit. No matter what, he was the King of the Green Forest—
“Forget the nonsense and just explain it cleanly! Honestly, are all Sapa bastards born liars? Once you open your mouth, your tongue just keeps going and going!”
But Im So-byeong’s complaints dissolved like snow in the face of Cheong Myeong’s irritation. Right—didn’t the Mount Hua people already deserve recognition as proper Daoists just for putting up with that bastard?
“What? Why?”
“……Nothing.”
Im So-byeong let out a sigh and snapped his fan open with a sharp flick. But perhaps because he’d already shown everyone the worst of himself, their response still wasn’t particularly enthusiastic.
“The land route cutting through Jiangnan is certainly dangerous. But the risk is worth it if it shortens our schedule.”
“Why?”
“Because it reduces the danger.”
For a moment, silence fell.
Everyone listening looked at him with pity, as though thinking, He got hit so hard his head must’ve gone in the end. Im So-byeong shook his head and hurried on.
“Now! Think about it carefully! Reverse your perspective. It’s actually very simple. What problems arise when the schedule is delayed?”
“Hainan becomes dangerous?”
“That’s possible. Hainan is in a situation where every moment matters.”
Namgung Dowi and Tang Pae at least offered sensible answers, but Im So-byeong firmly shook his head.
“No. That’s a secondary issue. The real problem is that Sapa and the orthodox sects will realize we’re gone.”
“Ah…”
At that, Yoon Jong nodded as if he understood. Jo Geol still didn’t seem to get it and blurted out, “What do you mean, Sahyung?”
“Think about it. Whether it’s the orthodox sects or Sapa, don’t you think they’re already keeping a close eye on this estate?”
“……Right.”
Of course, they couldn’t directly surveil the area. The weak watching the strong was, in practical terms, nearly impossible. Unless someone at the level of Jang Il-so or a sect master personally moved, they couldn’t mislead Cheong Myeong and monitor every detail around them.
But it wasn’t difficult to infer the situation through the people who came and went.
“And what they’re most focused on are that brat Cheong Myeong, the sect masters… and, this time, my elder martial brother, who became Acting Sect Leader. But if the news about them all vanishes overnight, what do you think they’ll assume?”
“……That they left the estate.”
“Exactly.”
Thwack!
Im So-byeong smacked his own hand with the folded fan.
“Precisely. If I had to guess, it’ll take no more than three days for them to become certain we’ve left this estate.”
Everyone could only nod. When you thought about it, it was perfectly obvious.
“Once that happens, no matter how secretly we move, they’ll still know we’re heading for Hainan somehow. And then what will they do?”
“They’ll send people out to look for us.”
“No.”
Tap. Tap.
The tip of Im So-byeong’s fan lightly tapped the lower part of the map, where Hainan Island was drawn.
“There’s no need to go that far. It would be enough to deploy the forces they can spare and seal off Hainan. No matter which road we take, we’ll end up going there in the end, won’t we?”
“Ah…”
“Or else…”
A cruel smile briefly touched Im So-byeong’s lips.
“They could always erase Hainan before we arrive.”
For an instant, everyone fell silent. A solemn tension hung in the air, hard to put into words. It suddenly occurred to them that if things went badly, their movement might end up deciding Hainan’s fate even sooner.
“The important thing is those three days.”
Im So-byeong’s fan traced a line once more from Guangdong to Hainan.
“The distance from here to Guangdong is twenty-five hundred li in a straight line. It’s an enormous distance, of course—but for the people here, moving at a speed where horses would barely matter is entirely possible. Even if we only covered one hundred li in a shichen, twelve shichen a day would mean…”
“……Twelve hundred li.”
“Yes. Two days would be enough. We might even reach Hainan before the Evil Tyrant Alliance knows we’ve set out!”
“Wait, hold on! King of the Green Forest!”
Namgung Dowi raised a hand, looking alarmed.
“Isn’t that far too optimistic? For one thing, the road to Hainan isn’t a straight line. And we’re in no position to gallop along official roads or major highways. If more than ten of us charged through them at that speed, the whole of Jiangnan would know our route before even two shichen had passed.”
“Of course we wouldn’t do that. And in the end, humans can’t run at the same speed without rest for two straight days, either.”
“That’s true.”
“But even accounting for all that, the result is the same. With this many people, even if we move cautiously along mountain paths where we won’t be seen, we can still reach the coastal regions near Hainan in no more than five days.”
“……”
“And if that happens, then even if they notice our absence on the third day and send troops toward Hainan…”
“……We could arrive first.”
“Exactly.”
At Im So-byeong’s words, Tang Pae said carefully, “Hold on. If that’s the case, wouldn’t we just be getting trapped in Hainan along with it?”
“Tsk, tsk. Young Patriarch Tang, you still seem to lack an understanding of what happens when large forces start moving.”
Im So-byeong turned to him and said, “Think about it. How many days did it take before the Sichuan Tang Clan arrived after deciding they had to move toward the Yangtze?”
Tang Pae recalled the events of the past in his head, blushed slightly, and answered, “I think it took about ten days.”
“And that was only because the Sichuan Tang Clan can exert strength with relatively few people. To blockade Hainan or wipe it out, they’d need a force that can’t even be compared to the Tang Clan’s. It’ll take at least half a month, probably more.”
“Ah…”
“In that amount of time!”
Thwack!
Im So-byeong slapped the map once with his fan.
“We’ll have plenty of time to persuade Hainan and figure out how to slip away before the island gets completely surrounded. Of course, it depends on Hainan’s situation.”
Cheong Myeong, who had been listening quietly, let out a snort.
“And even if something goes wrong, you’d still have enough time to get your own ass out of there?”
“Well… I won’t deny it. I’m not some man who’d stake my life on other people’s circumstances, unlike the rest of you.”
Cheong Myeong grinned and nodded. It would actually be stranger to hear the words loyalty and righteousness coming out of that man’s mouth.
“Sounds convincing enough, but is it really possible? Wouldn’t they know we’re heading for Jiangnan?”
At Jo Geol’s question, Im So-byeong smiled thinly.
“Of course it’s possible. That’s why I specifically asked you to make this succession ceremony so noisy.”
“Huh?”
“When the leader of a sect changes, it’s a tremendously big event. Even that Jang Il-so bastard, after swallowing the Evil Tyrant Alliance, has been forced to keep his feet tied and keep a low profile to deal with the aftermath, hasn’t he?”
“……He has.”
“No matter how much Mount Hua is a sect without roots or brains… no, no! I mean that’s what they would think! Not me! Put those fists down, please!”
“……”
“Anyway, even if it’s that kind of sect, they wouldn’t think that the moment they replace their sect leader, they’d immediately shove the Acting Sect Leader outside the mountain. Especially not the Evil Tyrant Alliance, which can’t know exactly what happened in your conversation with the abbot.”
Everyone nodded.
The people here knew exactly why Baek Cheon had become Acting Sect Leader, and they knew what kind of person he was, so they could accept the situation without issue. But from the Evil Tyrant Alliance’s perspective, wouldn’t it just look like some second-class disciple had suddenly been made Acting Sect Leader out of nowhere?
And then that person, not the next day but the very same day, leaves the sect and heads straight through Jiangnan toward Hainan?
That’s insane.
No human being would do that.
You’d have to send someone like that to a doctor.
But… aren’t we the ones doing it?
Im So-byeong smiled broadly.
“You understand now?”
“……”
“They won’t see it coming. And when they find out later, even Jang Il-so himself will say, ‘I heard he was mad, I heard he was mad, but I never imagined he was this thoroughly insane’… Ahem! That’s not an insult, I said it’s not an insult! Someone please restrain that man!”
By the time everyone had been more or less swept away by Im So-byeong’s dazzling tongue, Yoon Jong spoke again.
“I understand that. But King of the Green Forest, can you truly pass through Jiangnan without being discovered? In the Evil Tyrant Alliance’s territory? That doesn’t make sense.”
At that, Im So-byeong curled one corner of his mouth in a sneer.
“You’ve forgotten what I said at the beginning.”
“Pardon?”
“The first consideration in choosing this entire route was to move through areas where the Heavenly Friends Alliance holds strong ground, so our movements wouldn’t be exposed to them as much as possible. That’s why we chose Zhejiang, Anhui, Sichuan, and Yunnan.”
“……Yes.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Huh?”
For a moment, Yoon Jong blinked, not following, and Im So-byeong narrowed his eyes.
“How are we getting through Jiangnan?”
“Well… through mountain paths where people won’t notice us… Ah!”
Yoon Jong’s eyes widened.
At that same instant, a suffocatingly oppressive aura rolled out from Im So-byeong.
“I suppose everyone’s forgotten, but I am the King of the Green Forest.”
“……”
“Whether it’s Jiangnan or Jiangbei, every mountain under heaven belongs to the Green Forest.”
At that pressure, everyone turned to him with renewed astonishment.
“I’ll guide you,” he said, looking toward Jiangnan. “Straight through it, under the protection of the King of the Green Forest.”
On the face of the King of the Green Forest, Im So-byeong, a self-assured smile spread.