The Black Swords of Mount Hua Are Strong (1)
- Son of Mount Hua. The Mount Hua of today may have lost its former brilliance, but in the past, it was a sect that shone more radiantly than any other in the world. Your father was proud all his life to be an affiliate of Mount Hua.
Gulugulugulugulugul.
Chung Myung, dressed in Mount Hua’s martial robes, was chugging liquor as if he meant to drown in it.
"Krrraaaah! Now that is a good drink!"
- Mount Hua is a distinguished sect. That name was not given to it without a center or a history. Countless generations of sages shed blood and sweat before Mount Hua earned the title of a distinguished sect.
"Hey, gimme some meat! Sahyung!"
"I don’t even have enough to eat and die on! Why are you stuffing your face with mine and then eyeing someone else’s? Unless you want your hand chopped off, move that thing out of the way!"
"That’s cold!"
- Though Mount Hua is suffering now, one day it will rise again and make its name echo through the world. So do not commit the foolish mistake of looking only at the Mount Hua of the present and turning away from it. Protect Mount Hua. Then one day, Hwayeong Gate too will rise with Mount Hua and soar into the heavens.
"Ahh! Now that we’re off Mount Hua, I feel alive again!"
"Watch your mouth, punk. Sasuk is right here!"
"It’s fine. It’s fine. I bet Sasuk is thinking the same thing I am."
"…No. I feel like I’m going to die just being around you."
"Hahaha! Good one!"
"…I wish that were a joke too."
Watching the Mount Hua disciples stuff themselves with drink and meat while hurling abuse at one another, Wi Lip-san smiled with satisfaction.
I wish my father could see this.
And then they’d have to talk sense into him, too.
What? A distinguished sect? A revival?
Give me a break.
Mount Hua has fallen, Father.
Completely and utterly, too.
What? Utterly?
Wi Lip-san quietly pressed a hand to his own chest. Ever since a little while ago, his stomach had been aching as though someone were driving nails into it. The more he watched these people, the worse the pain became.
"Cough, cough!"
Unable to endure it any longer, Wi Lip-san let out a rough cough. The Mount Hua disciples all turned to look at him at once.
"Ah."
Chung Myung blinked, belatedly remembering him, and held out the wine bottle.
"Want a drink?"
"You’re a patient!"
"I hear you suffered internal injuries!"
"Use your brain once in a while, will you? Your brain!"
"Hey, you bastards!"
The room erupted into noise again. At the same time, Wi Lip-san’s stomach started throbbing all over again.
Damn that distinguished sect.
Still, when he had visited Mount Hua more than ten years ago, leading young Wi So-haeng by the hand, he had at least been able to feel the aura of a declining but still noble sect.
But what in the world had happened over the past decade? In the disciples standing before him now, there wasn’t a trace of that noble air. All he could smell was rot.
Instead of the despairing Wi Lip-san, Yan Pyeong, who had been watching the situation, spoke up.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"…Do you understand what situation you’re in right now?"
At that, Baek Cheon rose from his seat.
Then he bowed his head slightly.
"I apologize. They’re such free spirits that they can be difficult to manage."
Wi Lip-san let out a sigh.
"I don’t mean to blame you. In any case, you did buy us a day’s worth of time. But Baek Cheon Dojang, we need to make a decision now."
"A decision?"
"It isn’t easy to abandon everything and leave behind a place you’ve grown attached to, but given how things have turned out, I don’t see any other way. Hwayeong Gate will give up Namyang and retreat, so you should all return to Mount Hua."
"…Gate Leader."
Baek Cheon’s expression darkened slightly.
"I understand that you don’t trust us very much…"
"That’s not it. If our opponent had not been Wudang, I would have held out until the end myself. But I don’t see what meaning there is in resisting Wudang. The fact that they sent Bujeolgeom here means they intend to take Namyang by any means necessary, does it not?"
"Hmm."
"Even if we manage to fend them off this time, the same thing will happen again."
Chung Myung poured himself another cup, then downed it in one gulp.
"Krrrgh."
Then he looked at Wi Lip-san and said,
"I was actually about to ask about that."
"Yes?"
"Is there something huge here? Their methods are way too extreme."
The Wudang Chung Myung remembered was not the kind of place that handled things like this.
Wudang was one of the most image-conscious sects in the world.
Those guys were yelling their Daoist names even when they were dying.
Of course, a lot of time had passed since the days Chung Myung had roamed the martial world, but a sect’s fundamental nature was not something that changed easily.
So Wudang was actually using such brutal methods just to bring Namyang under their influence?
There’s definitely something here.
At Chung Myung’s words, Wi Lip-san tilted his head.
"Something huge, you say?"
"Yes."
"Not particularly. If there were something huge here, would people have left Namyang alone in the first place?"
"Mm. Fair enough."
It wasn’t the answer he had wanted, but Chung Myung wasn’t disappointed. If it was information Wi Lip-san knew, then most people probably already knew it too.
It was only information Wi Lip-san didn’t know that mattered.
If it comes to it, I can always make those Wudang bastards talk.
"More importantly, return to Mount Hua as soon as daybreak comes tomorrow. I’ll take care of the rest."
"What? No, that won’t do."
"…It won’t do?"
"Yes. The Sect Leader told us to handle the problem at Hwayeong Gate properly. If we let Hwayeong Gate get driven out of Namyang, the Sect Leader will spend the next three months staring at the moon and sighing."
"Wow, that’s pretty horrifying."
"I agree, Sahyung."
Yoon Jong and Jo Gul shivered as if the very thought was unbearable.
"Listen, this is not a joke."
"We’re not joking either."
Just as Wi Lip-san was about to flare up from frustration, Chung Myung stopped him with a voice that was slightly different from before.
"Mount Hua hasn’t forgotten what Hwayeong Gate has done for it."
Wi Lip-san’s eyes wavered.
From Chung Myung, who suddenly seemed serious, there flowed an air of solemnity unlike anything before. Wi Lip-san found himself overwhelmed by Chung Myung’s presence for a brief instant.
"Now it is Mount Hua’s turn to repay Hwayeong Gate. Mount Hua never abandons its affiliates. The people of this world will learn that for themselves, clearly and unmistakably."
Without realizing it, Wi Lip-san nodded.
Chung Myung.
The one called the Mount Hua Divine Dragon.
Wi Lip-san thought that perhaps he had judged this Chung Myung too hastily.
"But before that."
"Yes?"
"There’s a favor I’d like to ask, Gate Leader."
Wi Lip-san nodded.
"Speak. If it is within my power, I will grant it."
"Then."
Chung Myung shook the wine bottle in his hand.
"If there’s any liquor left in Hwayeong Gate, could I have just one bottle?"
"…"
"Actually, three bottles would be even better."
"…"
"There isn’t any?"
"…"
No, no. I really was seeing them correctly after all.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Everything is ready, Jin Hyeon Dojang."
Jin Hyeon quietly nodded.
"Good work."
"Once one more day passes, this tiresome business will finally be over. Acting as a district magistrate—a role entirely unsuited to my temperament—has been no small burden, I can tell you."
Jin Hyeon smiled faintly.
"The main sect is fully aware of your efforts, Magistrate. Once this matter is over, Wudang will certainly show its sincerity."
"Oh, please. You needn’t say such things. It’s not as though I’m expecting anything. If I can be of help to the main sect, that is enough."
Still smiling, Jin Hyeon nodded.
It didn’t matter whether those words were sincere or not. In any case, the district magistrate was not someone important. Even if he refused, Wudang would reward him anyway, and that would be the end of his role.
"By now, the Mount Hua lot must be trembling in fear."
"I wouldn’t be so sure. They’re the kind of fools with guts in their bellies."
"Isn’t that just bluster? How could the likes of Mount Hua possibly stand against Wudang? I can assure you, by tomorrow there won’t be a single ant left in Hwayeong Gate. Isn’t that why you granted them a day’s grace in the first place, Jin Hyeon Dojang?"
Jin Hyeon merely smiled without saying yes or no.
After stealing a glance at his reaction, the district magistrate rose from his seat.
"You must still be weary from the long journey. I fear I have stolen too much of your time."
"Not at all."
"Please rest comfortably tonight. I will see you again tomorrow morning."
"Have a pleasant night."
Once the district magistrate left, Jin Hyeon let out a sigh.
"Sasuk."
His younger martial brother, Jinmu, spoke quietly.
"Did Sasuk expect Mount Hua to come?"
"I did not. But it seems the Sect Leader did. His insight is beyond what I could ever hope to match."
"Is he not the kind of man who can sit still and see a thousand li?"
"Indeed."
Jin Hyeon nodded slowly.
"What do you think, Sasuk? If the district magistrate is right, Hwayeong Gate might flee tonight."
"The Gate Leader of Hwayeong Gate might."
Jin Hyeon continued evenly.
"But the disciples of Mount Hua cannot."
"Why not?"
"Because they have already gained a false reputation."
"Ah…"
Jin Hyeon chuckled softly.
"By nature, people do not cling so desperately to a reputation that they know they do not deserve. But once they obtain more fame than they should, they begin to become attached to it. That fellow probably cannot abandon the empty title of Mount Hua Divine Dragon. If he provokes us first and then runs away, the whole world will laugh at him."
"But even if he waits and loses, won’t he still lose that false reputation?"
Jin Hyeon’s brows twitched slightly.
"Are you saying that being defeated by me would be a disgrace to him?"
"N-no, that isn’t what I meant, Sasuk."
Smiling, Jin Hyeon patted Jinmu on the back.
"I’m joking. Still, wouldn’t he stay? Losing is less disgraceful than running away."
"I hope he at least knows shame. From what I can tell, they all seem like reckless brats who don’t even know what shame is."
"Hahaha. That may be so."
With a smile, Jin Hyeon thought of Chung Myung’s face.
Arrogant little bastard.
He could understand it.
To have earned that kind of fame at such a young age, the boy would naturally have no sense of reality. Jin Hyeon himself had once known the thrill of being puffed up by his own reputation in the martial world.
Wasn’t it the duty of a true adult to knock that pride out of him?
"If he doesn’t know shame, then we’ll teach him."
"Of course."
"However."
Jin Hyeon’s expression hardened as he spoke.
"It would be wrong to focus too much on that side of things. You haven’t forgotten the true reason we came here, have you?"
"Of course not, Sasuk. Not even for an instant."
Even the other disciples did not know.
Only Jin Hyeon and Jinmu knew what this operation truly was. The reason the two of them were aware of it at all was merely to prepare for any possible contingency; under normal circumstances, even Jinmu should never have been told.
"Hwayeong Gate and Mount Hua don’t matter. What matters is drawing every eye away from Namyang. If this operation goes as planned, we may be able to rise beyond Shaolin and become the greatest sect in the world."
"I will keep that in mind."
Jin Hyeon turned his head and looked out the window. The moon hanging high in the sky caught his eye.
The Sword Tomb.
The tomb of swords.
That was why they had come here, going so far as to create a fake sect called the District Magistrate’s Office.
"First, we drive those Mount Hua bastards out of Namyang. After that, we’ll carry out the plan slowly."
"Yes, Sasuk!"
A low smile touched Jin Hyeon’s lips.
Soon, the whole world will be beneath Wudang’s feet.
It was a night in which the conspiracy deepened.