If You Mess With Mount Hua, I’ll Show You What Happens! (5)
“Show me what you can do.”
Those words completely twisted Jin Hyeon’s mood.
And it was only natural.
There were nine Wudang disciples guarding Hwayeong Gate’s front entrance. Including Jin Hyeon himself, that made ten.
But Mount Hua had only five disciples here.
If they’d picked one representative each and suggested a duel, he could have understood it. They had come to protect their vassal sect, after all. However unwinnable the fight might be, once they had come this far, they at least had to leave with the impression that they had tried.
But that bastard wasn’t talking about a duel. He was talking about a battle. He was saying he could take on all the Wudang disciples at once if they came at him.
“Th-that…”
Their numbers were simply doubled.
And yet he was telling them to come on. It was no different from outright insulting Wudang.
When in his life had Jin Hyeon ever been treated with such contempt?
“Amitabha.”
If he didn’t recite his Daoist mantra, he felt as though the rage bubbling inside him would burst out of his chest. He repeated it over and over, forcibly calming himself, but even then he still glared at Baek Cheon with eyes burning with fury that had not yet faded.
“Can I take this as Mount Hua’s intent?”
He meant for the senior disciple, Baek Cheon, to speak. But to Jin Hyeon’s annoyance, the other man only shrugged.
“If we take back words already spoken, the whole world will laugh at Mount Hua.”
“……”
“And besides.”
Baek Cheon gave a faint snort.
“Even if I told them to turn back now, I doubt the Daoist here would allow it.”
“You see me correctly.”
Jin Hyeon bit his lip.
He could endure any insult directed at himself. But that little bastard Chung Myung hadn’t insulted him—he had insulted Wudang.
“You said three shichen.”
Jin Hyeon glared at Chung Myung with terrifying eyes.
“One day. I’ll give you exactly one day. Tomorrow, at this time, we will attack Hwayeong Gate as you requested. Since this was proposed by your side, remember that according to the laws of the martial world, no one can hold us responsible if any unfortunate incident occurs.”
“Then drag your feet till tomorrow. If you’re so unhappy, we can just throw down right now.”
Chung Myung crooked a finger.
“Come on.”
“……”
Jin Hyeon’s clenched fist trembled violently. His breathing turned ragged, and his face went pale.
Watching him, Yoon Jong shook his head.
He’s going to explode from his blood pressure before the fight even starts.
The disciples of Mount Hua knew all too well. Outsiders looked at Chung Myung’s martial skill and said he was amazing, but that skill was nothing compared to his talent for getting under people’s skin.
In the short time Yoon Jong had spent with him, he had already wondered more than a dozen times whether he might actually get angry enough to die. Right now, though the two sects stood on opposite sides, he couldn’t help feeling sorry for Jin Hyeon.
Just don’t talk to him.
The more you said, the madder you got.
But instead of lunging at Chung Myung, Jin Hyeon folded his hands in a perfectly formal salute.
At that, the Mount Hua disciples let out sounds of admiration.
As expected of Wudang.
He’s actually holding it in. Holding it in right there.
What incredible discipline.
They felt like applauding him.
“Tomorrow. Tomorrow at this time.”
Grit!
The sound of teeth grinding together came the moment he finished speaking, cold and frightening.
“I’ll see you again tomorrow at this time. When that moment comes, don’t expect any mercy from my hand. You’ll learn exactly why Mount Hua is Mount Hua, and why Wudang is Wudang.”
“Yep. Yep. Got it.”
“……”
Chung Myung turned away as though all the wind had gone out of him.
“What, so you can’t handle it and you’re running away? Took you long enough to say that. Should I go in and take a nap?”
Yoon Jong’s mouth fell open.
That demonic bastard.
Had he spent three months in closed-door cultivation studying how to get under people’s skin the right way?
But Jin Hyeon no longer gave them the reaction they expected. As the saying went, when a person became furious enough, they grew calm instead. He only cast a single icy glance at Chung Myung, then turned away.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
With those final words, he strode out of Hwayeong Gate without hesitation.
“Senior Brother!”
The Wudang disciples who had been watching the situation rushed to Jin Hyeon’s side.
“Why do you just let that insolent bastard go? There’s no need to wait until tomorrow! We should teach him a lesson right now!”
“That’s right! I’ve lived my whole life and never seen such a rude bastard. He deserves to have something broken—no, even then he probably still wouldn’t know better!”
At their complaints, Jin Hyeon stopped walking.
“……Now?”
“Yes, Senior Brother!”
Jin Hyeon let out a deep breath.
“Do you know why I said we’d meet tomorrow?”
“We don’t quite…”
“Because if we start something now, I’m afraid I’ll draw blood.”
The disciples fell silent.
This wasn’t the first time they had left the sect to travel the martial world. They had already gone on several such expeditions, and every time, they had encountered incidents large and small. Was it likely that they had never hurt anyone in all that time?
Jin Hyeon’s sword had already tasted blood many times.
There was no way a man like him would fear drawing blood. What he meant was that if a fight broke out right now, he would probably kill Chung Myung.
Jin Hyeon turned his head slightly and looked back toward Hwayeong Gate.
“They’ll understand soon enough too. They’ll understand what they’ve done. One day is more than enough time to enjoy the fear of what’s coming.”
“Yes, Senior Brother.”
“We’re returning.”
Jin Hyeon walked toward the Wudang lodging without stopping. His disciples followed after him, and only long afterward did the stunned Hwayeong Gate master hurry after them, flustered and late.
“L-let’s go! We should go too!”
“They’re gone.”
“Mm. They’ve gone.”
“They really left.”
The Mount Hua disciples who remained stared at the suddenly empty gate with a faintly dazed look on their faces.
Unlike them, however, Wi Lip-san looked ready to faint.
“W-what in the world… what did you just do…?”
He had clearly called for help.
But surely that “help” had not meant, “Please beat up Wudang for me,” had it?
Even if Mount Hua was once a prestigious sect and one of the Nine Great Sects, they had still shared a degree of familiarity with Wudang. All he had meant was that they should use that relationship to mediate things well and prevent the situation from spiraling out of control…
Oblivious to his distress, Chung Myung smiled brightly and said,
“Now you can stretch out and sleep in peace.”
Stretch out?
Sleep in peace?
“Grrrkk.”
Thud.
In the end, Wi Lip-san foamed at the mouth and toppled backward.
“Father!”
“Sect Master!”
Wi So-haeng and Yeom Pyeong rushed to him in alarm.
Chung Myung watched the scene for a moment, then clicked his tongue.
“That wasn’t what I meant by collapse here. He’s a little too quick to panic.”
The Mount Hua disciples all let out heavy sighs.
“Haaah!”
Wi Lip-san shot upright on his bed and stared at the ceiling with bulging eyes.
He stayed frozen there for a long moment before wiping his forehead with trembling fingers.
It was a dream.
Of course it was.
There was no way such nonsense could happen in reality.
Letting out a relieved breath, Wi Lip-san reached for the teapot and drank the water down in one gulp.
The cold water soothed him a little.
Then the door opened, and Yeom Pyeong came inside.
“Have you come to your senses?”
“……How long have I been lying here?”
“About two shichen.”
“That long already…”
His body felt weaker and weaker the more time passed. Well, recovery required rest, and he had not been able to rest at all. Perhaps that was only natural.
“I should get up. We never know when Wudang might come looking for us.”
“Wudang said they’d come tomorrow, didn’t they?”
“……Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Did they come while I was asleep?”
Yeom Pyeong frowned slightly and looked at Wi Lip-san.
“Did you perhaps dream something?”
“Yes. I had a truly bizarre dream. Mount Hua sent someone over, and some outrageous little brat started picking a fight with Wudang’s disciples, then said we should settle the fate of Hwayeong Gate in one battle.”
“……”
“I was so stunned… I thought I’d fainted, even in my dream. Does it even make sense for some madman like that to come out of Mount Hua? And to think they called him the Mount Hua Divine Dragon too. The Mount Hua Divine Dragon. Hah hah hah. I really must be in terrible shape…”
When he saw Yeom Pyeong’s face, which didn’t smile at all, Wi Lip-san slowly shut his mouth.
A silence passed between them.
“……No, wait.”
“That’s right.”
“It doesn’t seem like it…”
“It is exact.”
Wi Lip-san’s hand began to shake violently.
“Th-that… was real?”
“Sect Master, please calm yourself. What’s done is done. At this point, we may even need to think about fleeing by night.”
“F-flee by night?”
“Wouldn’t that be better than holding out until you die? The look on Bujeolgeom’s face was so bad that when he comes back, he may very well kill everyone who stands out.”
“……He’s still a Daoist, isn’t he?”
“Sect Master. Please, look at reality. If you gathered together everyone the Nine Great Sects have killed so far, they’d fill the Yellow River and still have room left over. Do you really think every one of them was a villain?”
Wi Lip-san had nothing to say. He closed his mouth.
“If you want to keep your life, think carefully. We have only one day left… no, not even one full day now.”
With a rigid expression, Wi Lip-san sat up.
“Where are the Mount Hua disciples now?”
“I guided them to the detached quarters. They’re probably eating something to restore their energy by now.”
“I see…”
Wi Lip-san accepted reality.
If everything in that dreamlike story was true, then he truly had to make a decision now.
If it were only me, it wouldn’t matter.
But he had a wife and children. He had disciples he needed to protect. And above all…
At this rate, they’ll be caught up in this too.
He could tell that the Mount Hua disciples had chosen the wrong approach because of their inexperience, but they had still come to help Hwayeong Gate. He could not bear to watch them be cut down by Wudang’s swords.
“Pyeong-ah.”
“Yes, Sect Master.”
“I think we may have to take down Hwayeong Gate’s signboard.”
“……”
“Even if it isn’t Namyang, if we can at least preserve the name of Hwayeong Gate, wouldn’t that be enough?”
“Sect Master…”
Yeom Pyeong looked as though his heart was breaking, but Wi Lip-san felt strangely more at ease now.
It was all greed.
Not wanting to leave the land where he had lived. Not wanting to be pushed aside by Wudang’s lay disciples. And wanting to preserve Hwayeong Gate.
In the end, it had all been greed.
Once he set it down, he felt lighter.
But the world rarely moved the way one wanted it to.
“I’m afraid… it won’t be that easy, Father.”
“Hm?”
Wi So-haeng walked into the room.
“What do you mean, it won’t be easy? What won’t be?”
“Even if we decide to give up now, Mount Hua’s disciples won’t leave this place.”
“Why not?”
“……It may sound strange, but it seems none of them believe for even a moment that they’ll lose to Wudang.”
Wi Lip-san went blank.
Are they really a bunch of reckless madmen?
No, that couldn’t be.
Perhaps others might be like that, but the Righteous Sword of Mount Hua, Baek Cheon, was a man whose name was already well known throughout the martial world. And he was the great senior brother of the Baek generation—the man who would someday become Mount Hua’s sect leader.
It made no sense that someone like that couldn’t calmly grasp the seriousness of the situation.
“……I need to meet the Righteous Sword.”
Wi So-haeng’s expression turned odd.
“That’s just as well.”
“What?”
“He said to bring you over as soon as he heard you’d probably woken up by now.”
“……The Righteous Sword said that?”
“No.”
Wi So-haeng answered with a slightly reluctant face.
“The Mount Hua Divine Dragon did.”
That damn Mount Hua Divine Dragon.
“……Divine Dragon, my ass. Calling him a mud dragon would still be too generous.”
For once, Wi So-haeng found himself in complete agreement with his father.