Let’s Go Catch Those Wudang Bastards! (4)
"What, you run a little and you’re already gasping? This is exactly why I kept telling you to practice movement techniques on the regular!"
That human-waste bastard!
No conscience whatsoever.
I’m the idiot for ever feeling a shred of senior-brotherly affection for him!
I want to hit him.
The disciples of Mount Hua were running with everything they had.
And Chung Myung was chasing after them—not from the front, but from behind, sword drawn.
Just looking at that ominous blade and those half-crazed eyes made it impossible to slacken one’s legs. Even if their breath was climbing all the way to their throats and their knees were trembling, they had no choice but to run.
That bastard is scarier than the Blood-Sucking Bat.
I’d rather defect to Wudang!
Among them, Jo Gul, whose internal energy was the weakest, finally began to fall behind little by little.
"Khhh... khhhhuuugh."
This was absolutely not him whining. He was doing his best to run—so what was he supposed to do when his internal energy simply couldn’t keep up?
Unfortunately, the person chasing him from behind had no concept of such ordinary common sense.
"Aaagh, damn it! Agh! Aaaagh, you bastard!"
"Run! I said run!"
Chung Myung jabbed Jo Gul’s back over and over with the tip of his sword, eyes blazing white.
"Those bastards are trying to make off with my stuff! You want to sit back and watch us all die?"
"Aaaahhhh! What is that Taishang Laojun doing? Why isn’t he dropping lightning on this bastard!"
Sadly, they were underground, where lightning could not reach.
And even more sadly, Chung Myung’s brutality had one very clear effect. Jo Gul, stabbed in the back with the sword again and again, ended up sprinting forward twice as fast as before.
"Aaaah! You lightning-struck bastard!"
"Run instead of wasting breath screaming!"
Chung Myung’s eyes spat fire.
There was a good reason he was pushing them so hard.
Those guys have stopped going any farther.
That meant they had reached the end. And the Honwon Dan had to be there. After all the hell they’d gone through to get this far, there was no way in hell he would tolerate those bastards taking the Honwon Dan and running off with it.
"Who the hell do those Wudang bastards think they are, touching this old man’s belongings!"
That’s not yours!
No thief in their right mind would even think like that.
But what could they do?
Unfortunately, the bastard in question was a disciple of Mount Hua—and their cute little martial nephew and martial younger brother, too.
And Chung Myung was not the only one having a miserable time because of all this.
"Huaaaaaa Saaaaaan Goooooood Drrrrrrragon!"
A desperate voice rang out from deep behind them in the cave.
"Hey, you punk! Lemme come with youuuuu! You used us up until now and now you’re gonna leave us behind?!"
"What’s he talking about? That beggar ajusshi."
Chung Myung snorted.
"Hey, hurry up and keep up, will you!"
"It’s not that I can’t go! It’s that our beggars can’t go! Our beggars!"
"Hah. You really are a beggar."
At Chung Myung’s sneer, tears began to gather in Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes.
Once this is over, I’m never coming anywhere near Mount Hua again. I won’t even piss in that direction. Those damn bastards!
But sadly, this wasn’t over yet.
"You beggar bastards! Run a little faster! Chase those guys!"
"Branch Leader... please go on ahead. We... we’re done for."
"What kind of bullshit is that? Why can’t you run faster?"
"Huff! Huff! We can’t... can’t go, Branch Leader! Just kill us instead."
"Aigoo. How are we supposed to chase those youngsters when we’re this old? Those brats can swallow iron and still have room for dessert!"
"Shut up and run, will you?! This is a matter of the Beggars’ Sect’s pride! In movement techniques, we’re supposed to be number one under heaven!"
"We’re number one at begging, maybe!"
"Argh, forget it!"
Hong Dae-gwang grit his teeth and kicked one of the beggars in the butt.
"Aaaagh! Why are you hitting me!"
The beggar, ass kicked, glared and lunged at Hong Dae-gwang.
Huh? That’s not it.
Why wasn’t he becoming the same kind of menace as that bastard?
Realizing that tormenting people was not as easy as it looked, Hong Dae-gwang shoved the beggar charging at him with all his might.
"Hey, Mount Hua Divine Dragon! I said let me come with youuuuu!"
Whether Hong Dae-gwang shouted or not, Chung Myung kept running forward and forward. If he stopped to spare the beggars’ feelings and ended up missing the Honwon Dan, then even beating those beggar bastards for three days and four nights wouldn’t calm him down.
"The exit!"
"Light!"
"Aaaahhhhhhh!"
Cheers of joy burst from the mouths of Mount Hua’s disciples. Of course, it was less the joy of finding their target and more the joy of finally being able to get away from that miserable bastard.
"Light! It’s the light of salvation!"
Jo Gul, who had somehow pulled into the lead, staggered and ran through the exit. Then he froze, staring blankly ahead with his eyes wide open.
"What the hell is this?"
A massive cliff was before him, and martial artists were scaling it like their lives depended on it. The moment Jo Gul saw the sight, his eyes began to twitch.
By then, Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong had arrived at his side, and they wore the same expression.
"Th-tha..."
"I’m seeing this right, aren’t I?"
"It does seem to be a cliff, yes."
As the disciples of Mount Hua stared at the sheer drop before them, a strange light entered their eyes.
Not because the Wudang disciples up ahead had already climbed halfway up.
"...Heh. A cliff. It’s a cliff."
"What? A cliff?"
Chung Myung, who came bursting out behind them, narrowed his eyes and looked up at the cliff.
"It’s up there!"
His finger pointed to a protruding ledge partway up the cliff. From this distance it looked small, only slightly jutting out, but there was no doubt it could easily hold the weight of a hundred men.
"You mean we have to climb that?"
"That?"
"My goodness, we have to climb that..."
Jo Gul, who had been staring blankly at the cliff, tilted his head, and the corners of his mouth began to curl upward.
"What? That’s it?"
"Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Rock climbing? They saved something like this for the finale!"
"All that hell wasn’t for nothing after all!"
Tears welled in Yoon Jong’s eyes.
A cliff?
That little bit of a cliff?
Are they kidding me?
As second- and third-generation disciples of Mount Hua, there was no one among them who could not climb a cliff. Thanks to that human-waste bastard’s training, hadn’t they been forced to scale Danjangae—a cliff five times higher than this—once every single day?
By now, they were so used to it that they could climb a cliff while half asleep, or use it as their after-meal exercise!
For two years, every time they endured that hellish training, they cursed and cursed and cursed again. Who would have thought that the practice they’d assumed was completely useless would shine like this?
Of course, every body in the group started moving.
"Go!"
"Yak Seon’s never been to Mount Hua, has he!"
"This isn’t even enough to digest a snack!"
Without even waiting for Chung Myung’s order, the disciples of Mount Hua launched themselves at the cliff with all their might.
Those who hadn’t yet dared to begin climbing looked up in a hurry at the sudden appearance of Mount Hua’s disciples.
And then...
"W-what? What the hell?"
"How are they so fast!"
Da-da-da-da-da!
Using both arms and both legs, climbing the cliff as if they were crawling across flat ground... no, even faster than that, the disciples of Mount Hua made everyone around them gasp in disbelief.
"What are they, spiders or something? How is a person climbing a cliff like that...?"
It was an absurd speed.
This was not a matter of strength but familiarity, but the onlookers had no way of knowing that. To them, the Mount Hua disciples who had appeared out of nowhere were scaling the cliff at a speed so ridiculous it was almost insulting.
And not just one of them—the whole damn five of them!
Even knowing there was no time to be stunned, no one could tear their eyes away.
"S-stop them!"
"Ah!"
Only then did the crowd come to its senses and glare at the Mount Hua disciples.
"Throw it!"
"Stick a sword in their backs!"
Unable to climb the cliff themselves and unable to give up on the divine treasure, they started hurling weapons upward from below to disrupt those climbing the face.
And the first people they had to stop, naturally, were the disciples of Mount Hua.
Whoosh!
Jo Gul’s eyes nearly popped out as a longsword whistled past his cheek and slammed into the cliff.
"H-hey! There’s a limit to how nasty people can be!"
Just because they couldn’t go up didn’t mean nobody else could? No matter how you looked at it, who throws a sword? A sword!
"Ignore it and keep climbing!"
"They’re throwing swords!"
"I’ll block them all, so just keep going!"
"How are you supposed to block all this?"
That was when it happened.
"Hey, you bastards! Don’t you dare touch Mount Hua!"
Hong Dae-gwang, who had arrived late, quickly took in the situation and charged the attackers below.
"Beat the hell out of those bastards, Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Don’t worry about below and get up there!"
Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
"Look at you, acting like you’ve done something amazing. Whatever, this works for now!"
Just having the interference removed made them much faster. Jo Gul moved his arms and legs in a blur, scrambling up the cliff.
"Hraaaagh!"
"Compared to Danjangae, this is a piece of cake!"
He wasn’t exaggerating.
The disciples of Mount Hua quickly caught up to those who had climbed before them. In fact, they did more than that—they started overtaking them.
Any weapons that came flying up from below were all knocked aside by Chung Myung’s sword.
Each time he blocked one, he shouted like a battle cry.
"Elixir! Internal energy! My elixir!"
He’s lost his damn mind.
Let’s get up there fast. If somebody else takes the Honwon Dan after he’s been acting like this, who knows what that lunatic will do.
Shivering at the thought, the disciples of Mount Hua moved their limbs frantically.
"Elder! Over there!"
"Hmm?"
Heo Sanja’s eyes flew open.
Below them, a fierce mass of martial artists was catching up. The speed at which they were climbing the cliff was almost like a troop of monkeys.
No, there was no way martial artists could be worth only monkeys; they had to be more than that.
"Th-those are?"
"Mount Hua! They’re disciples of Mount Hua, Elder!"
At Jin Hyeon’s voice, Heo Sanja clenched his teeth.
Those bastards!
It was those bastards who had caused this entire mess.
As soon as he thought that, he could no longer suppress the boiling rage within him.
But right now, what mattered more than his anger toward them was this: their speed was far greater than his.
How is this possible?
No matter how strong they were, their age had to set limits. So how on earth could they climb the cliff at such a terrifying speed?
It was beyond Heo Sanja’s common sense.
But what mattered was not understanding. Whatever the reason, the impossible was happening right before his eyes.
"Heo Gong!"
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
"Lead the children! I’ll go up first!"
"Yes!"
Heo Sanja kicked off the cliff.
Then he crossed his feet in midair.
Wooooooong.
A vortex of qi seemed to surge beneath his feet, and his body shot upward.
"Cloud-Piercing Step!"
Someone shouted in awe from below.
It was Wudang’s Cloud-Piercing Step, a technique said to lift a person more than ten jang into the air when perfected.
Of course, climbing this sheer cliff in a single leap was impossible. But if he could attach himself to the cliff here and there along the way, then Heo Sanja would probably be the first to reach the top.
And of course, there was someone here who could not tolerate that sight.
"Are you kidding me, that bastard?"
Chung Myung’s eyes rolled.
After going through all this trouble to get here, was he supposed to just stand there and watch some Wudang bastard gobble up the Honwon Dan?
"I’m going first!"
"Ch-Chung Myung!"
"What are you doing, you punk?!"
"I’m taking it even if I have to die for it!"
Chung Myung’s eyes shone fiercely.
The disciples of Mount Hua could only doubt their own eyes at that moment.
Chung Myung suddenly yanked off his shoes and began running straight up the cliff.
"Huh?"
"He’s running?"
Chung Myung’s feet slammed into the cliff as if it were flat ground. At the same time, his body shot upward with terrifying speed.
"Hraaaaaaaaah!"
Though he started late, Chung Myung’s speed across the cliff was clearly faster than Heo Sanja’s ascent.
"That little brat?"
"Who are you calling little?"
Me, you punk! Huh? Me? How old do you think I am?
"Agh! You’re giving me a headache!"
Like they’d believe anything he said anyway! Tch! Being young was better, damn it!
The two of them climbed the cliff in fierce competition. It was truly a terrifying speed.
Chung Myung ran across the face as though it were flat ground, gritting his teeth and kicking off with all his strength.
At the same time, Heo Sanja stepped into the air and hurled himself upward over the cliff.
And then!
"Haaahhhhh!"
"Hraaahhhhhhh!"
Heo Sanja and Chung Myung shot up almost at the same time through the gap they had targeted in the cliff.