I Have to Eat That Even If It Kills Me! (5)
Dawn broke.
"Hup!"
Chung Myung sprang out of bed feeling refreshed and flung the window wide open.
"Now this is nice weather!"
Bright sunlight flooded into the room. Basking in the warmth that tickled his face, Chung Myung grinned.
He was in an excellent mood.
Just thinking about the beautiful future and bright tomorrow waiting for Mount Hua made energy surge through his whole body. He twisted his waist to loosen up, then strode to the door and stepped outside with a spring in his step.
"You’re up early," said a voice.
"Huh?"
Chung Myung’s eyes widened slightly.
Wi Lip-san, whose face looked completely different from yesterday’s, was sweeping the courtyard.
"Hall Master, you’re sweeping the yard yourself?"
"Hahaha."
At Chung Myung’s words, he smiled gently.
"Since yesterday, I’ve felt as though I was born anew. To keep that fresh start in mind, I’m trying to begin with the most basic things."
"Mm. That’s good."
Chung Myung smiled in a good mood.
There was no great significance in the Hall Master sweeping the yard himself, but it must mean he intended to lead Hwayeong Gate with a renewed heart and purpose.
"Did you rest well, Junior Sect Brother?"
"I slept like a log for the first time in ages. I feel great."
Wi Lip-san let out a low sigh.
As if that could be true.
Last night, Chung Myung had treated Wi Lip-san until well past midnight. Since he had only gone back to his room about an hour and a half ago, he could hardly have slept more than an hour.
How could a person sleep for only an hour out of twelve and still feel refreshed?
How shameful.
Wi Lip-san had judged Chung Myung by his appearance and thought he might be some delinquent who disrupted Mount Hua. But looking back, Chung Myung had led his martial nephews and senior brothers to save Hwayeong Gate, and had even healed Wi Lip-san’s internal injury.
Besides…
Could someone with such pure energy really be a delinquent?
Chung Myung’s energy was a Daoist aura Wi Lip-san had never felt in his entire life. Once he had personally experienced that crystal-clear energy, the boy seemed different. He was ashamed of having looked down on someone who possessed such a presence.
I had no eye for people at all.
Wi Lip-san gazed at Chung Myung with unmistakable satisfaction.
So this was the Mount Hua Divine Dragon? He really was a dragon among men. He did not easily reveal himself, concealing his skill without shame despite bearing the name of a divine dragon.
Once he started seeing Chung Myung in a favorable light, everything about him seemed positive.
That bright personality was appealing, and on closer look, his face was actually quite handsome.
Chung Myung glanced around and asked,
"Aren’t my martial uncles and senior brothers up yet?"
"No one’s come out except you, Junior Sect Brother."
"The sun’s already high in the sky!"
"……."
High in the sky?
Wi Lip-san rubbed his eyes.
It looked to him as though the sun had only just risen, and Chung Myung was calling it high in the sky…
He must mean that he lives every day diligently.
By then, Wi Lip-san had begun to think that anything Chung Myung said should be taken in the best possible light. Unfortunately, he was making one enormous mistake.
Namely, that energy and character had little to do with each other.
Thinking that someone with a pure Daoist aura must also possess a Daoist heart was only the delusion of people who had never truly dealt with Taoists before.
And with Chung Myung, it was even more so.
"Tsk. I told them to finish by morning, and this is what they do!"
Chung Myung marched toward the main building.
"Where are you going?"
"Ah. I had something I told my martial uncles and senior brothers to do."
Hmm?
He had told whom to do what?
Wi Lip-san tilted his head.
Did I hear that wrong?
Probably. While Wi Lip-san was still trying to make sense of what he’d heard, Chung Myung swaggered toward the main house and opened the door without hesitation.
"Once I’ve finished undoing it—what the hell?"
Chung Myung’s eyes went wide.
A bizarre scene spread out before him.
Scritch, scritch, scritch, scratch.
Baek Cheon, his eyes bloodshot, was furiously writing something on a long scroll with a fine brush. The paper spilling to the floor had already piled up to fill most of the ground.
"No, no. This isn’t it. This isn’t it. This… this can’t be right."
Crack, crack!
One hand was writing at a terrifying speed, while the other was in his mouth. He kept biting his thumbnail, trembling with anxiety.
"It can’t be this way… something has to come out of it. Something."
Chung Myung stared blankly at Baek Cheon, then turned his head.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
That was the sound of Jo Gul repeatedly banging his head against the table while seated at it.
"I’m trash… I’m trash… I’m trash… I’m trash…"
"……."
Yoon Jong was clutching his hair while holding a map in his hands. Tufts of hair had been ripped out and lay in a thick pile on the floor.
And Yu I-seol was tucked away in a corner, muttering something over and over with a gloomy face. The area around her seemed darker than everywhere else.
"……No, what kind of bullshit is this?"
When Chung Myung shouted in utter disbelief, the four of them simultaneously looked up at him. Then all four let out deep, exhausted sighs.
"You can’t solve it?"
"This is impossible."
Baek Cheon spoke in a trembling voice, his thumb still between his teeth.
"I’ve heard the word genius more times than I can count, but this thing has no answer."
"Really?"
Baek Cheon nodded heavily.
"You’d need more than just an ordinary genius to solve it. I swear there are no more than three people in the whole world who could figure this out!"
"But Wudang solved it."
"What?"
"……."
"……."
Baek Cheon gave a small, awkward cough.
"…Then Wudang must have some truly remarkable genius."
Chung Myung’s face soured.
"So the Wudang bastards solved it, but Mount Hua can’t?"
"Who said that! There may be martial uncles among us who could solve it. But to work it out here, the time and manpower are too short!"
"Huuuuuh."
Chung Myung turned his head slightly. Not only Baek Cheon, but the others too were staring into space with dead fish eyes. It didn’t look like giving them more time would help.
This isn’t good.
"Anyway, Wudang can solve it, but we can’t. This is beyond our abilities. We need someone who’s studied the field properly."
"Someone who studied what?"
"Mechanisms, or formations, or something like that."
"Ah, so someone who studied that stuff can solve it?"
"That’s right. So we need to find one quickly!"
"Here?"
"……."
Unconsciously, Baek Cheon turned his head to look out the window.
Ah, right. This is Namyang.
People who studied that kind of thing professionally were hard enough to find even in Chengdu. There was no way such a person would be in a backwater place like this.
"…Wouldn’t it be better to go to a big city right now?"
"Right now?"
Chung Myung’s head tilted.
Seeing that angle, Yoon Jong instinctively took a step back. The tilt was more severe than usual. That meant Chung Myung was seriously pissed off.
Chung Myung’s eyes began to gleam.
"The Wudang bastards are going to come swarming in like a pack of dogs any minute now. And you want to go to a big city and look for someone to crack it?"
"……."
Baek Cheon’s heart sank.
He wasn’t scared because he thought Chung Myung would throw a fit. True, Chung Myung was a hopeless lunatic, but he wasn’t the kind of bastard who picked on people for no reason.
The reason Baek Cheon was frightened was simple.
He could see Chung Myung’s eyes slowly turning feral. Once he made that face, there was no telling what the bastard would do.
"W-well, what choice do we have?"
"Oh? No choice?"
Chung Myung’s lips curled slowly upward. The disciples of Mount Hua flinched at that wicked smile.
"What, what are you planning?"
"Let’s organize this properly."
When Chung Myung extended a hand, Yoon Jong quickly handed him the map he had been holding.
"Is it real?"
"It seems so. It’s complicated, but there’s a pattern. If we had time, we could probably work it out somehow… but right now, it’s impossible."
"So it is real."
Chung Myung stared intently at the map.
"Then it’s also true that Wudang solved their map."
"……."
"All right. So we’re stuck in Namyang, unable to tell where the Sword Tomb is because we can’t even solve this one map. Meanwhile, the Wudang bastards have probably already arrived at Wudang Sect, so in a few days they’ll come flooding into Namyang, right?"
"……."
Chung Myung’s expression grew more and more serious.
"So we end up like a dog chasing a chicken and staring at the roof while the Wudang bastards eat the Honwon Dan and get even stronger?"
Wudang and the Honwon Dan.
That was the single most dreadful combination Chung Myung had ever heard in his life.
Wudang and Shaolin both used martial arts centered on powerful inner energy. What would happen if those bastards acquired even greater internal force?
That would truly be hopeless.
Even Mu Jin, whom he had fought just yesterday, was a problem. If that guy swallowed the Honwon Dan, his inner force would grow, and if that happened, then Mount Hua’s disciples, except for Chung Myung, wouldn’t stand a chance against Mu Jin’s overwhelming internal energy.
"Huuuuuh."
Chung Myung narrowed his eyes.
What do I do?
Seeing him sink into deep thought, Yoon Jong let out a sigh and spoke.
"Chung Myung."
"Yeah?"
"This can’t be helped. We can’t take on Wudang by ourselves."
"……."
"Let’s give up this time and…"
"Senior brother, what did you just say?"
"Huh? I said let’s give up…"
"No. Before that."
"…That we can’t take on Wudang by ourselves."
"By ourselves. Right, by ourselves."
As if realizing something, Chung Myung’s eyes flashed.
"We can’t stop them by ourselves…"
Chung Myung’s lips curled into a grin.
"Then it doesn’t have to be by ourselves!"
"Huh?"
"Let’s make this bigger!"
Yoon Jong and Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung as if asking, What exactly is this bastard planning now?
Chung Myung answered their gazes with complete sincerity.
"We can’t stop Wudang on our own anyway. If they hear that I beat Mu Jin, Wudang will come at us for real."
"That’s true."
"Then it’d be better to blow the whole thing wide open!"
"How?"
"We leak the information that the Sword Tomb is here."
"……."
Baek Cheon stared at Chung Myung with a dazed face.
Has this bastard completely lost his mind?
The very fact that the Sword Tomb existed was treasure enough. It was the sort of thing that couldn’t be exchanged even for a kingdom’s worth of gold.
And now he was suggesting they spread the news everywhere after finally getting hold of it?
"Th-..."
"Ah, no, wait!"
Yoon Jong raised a hand to stop Baek Cheon.
"It sounds insane, but if you think about it, he’s not wrong. If Wudang comes here alone, we can’t stop them. But what if several sects all rush here at the same time?"
"……They’ll keep one another in check."
"Exactly!"
Yoon Jong said, furrowing his brow.
"Then there’s at least a slight chance. We can try to reap the benefits of someone else’s struggle. If Wudang alone excavates the Sword Tomb, there’ll be no room for us to interfere—but if all the other sects come too, then there’ll be room! And…"
Yoon Jong turned slightly to look at Chung Myung.
"If chaos breaks out, there’s someone here who’ll have the most fun tearing through it, isn’t there?"
Baek Cheon bit his lip hard.
This whole thing is insane.
But the tide had already turned beyond the point of reversal.
Working his brain rapidly, Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung.
"Then how are you going to spread the rumor? Just run around shouting that the Sword Tomb is here?"
"You really think anyone would believe that?"
"Then what? We don’t have time!"
Chung Myung shrugged.
"No matter what we say, nobody’s going to believe us. We need someone believable to spread the rumor for us."
"Who?"
Chung Myung smiled faintly.
"Not who. Where is more like it."
Chung Myung spun around.
"I’ll be back, so all of you rest up."
"Where are you going?"
Without looking back, Chung Myung answered with absolute certainty.
"Luoyang!"