Good-Bye, My Friends (4)
“What? You want us to wear this?”
“That’s right.”
Baek Cheon stared at the clothes in front of him with a strange expression.
“These are… from your trade caravan?”
“Yes. They’re what the merchants wear.”
“And you want us to wear them?”
“Look, warrior. We’re going to Yunnan. If we march in there dressed like this, it’ll cause a scene. If we look like part of the caravan, we can get in quietly without trouble.”
“Ah, I see.”
Baek Cheon subtly turned his head.
Then, first, he’d persuade that Chung Myung bastard…
“Why?”
“……”
Baek Cheon flinched when he saw Chung Myung, already nearly fully changed, standing there.
“You put it on?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“No, I just figured you’d refuse to change.”
The martial robes they’d been wearing bore the plum blossom pattern that symbolized Mount Hua.
Chung Myung had no respect for people at all, but he had more than enough for Mount Hua itself, so Baek Cheon had half expected him to dig his heels in.
“Why would I?”
“No, it’s just that… that robe…”
“This?”
Chung Myung glanced at the Mount Hua robe in his hand and shoved it carelessly into his bundle.
“It’s just clothes. What’s the big deal?”
“……”
“Sasuk, hurry up and change too. We’ve got to get to Yunnan fast.”
“……Grrr.”
Suppressing the boiling in his chest, Baek Cheon took the clothes.
Once everyone had changed, the Mount Hua disciples gathered together and looked one another over, snickering.
They were so used to seeing each other in martial robes that seeing them dressed like porters felt absurdly awkward.
“Jo Gul looks almost tailor-made for it.”
“Heh, of course. With that background, it suits him perfectly.”
“D-don’t mock me, Sasuk!”
Jo Gul’s face turned bright red.
At that moment, Gwak Gyeong of the Hwapyeong Trade Caravan approached them and gave them repeated warnings.
“As you all know, Yunnan is a dangerous place. Normally, no one besides authorized personnel is allowed to accompany a caravan’s journey.”
“Yes, Caravan Master.”
“So I earnestly ask that you refrain from anything that might reveal your identities. Truly, once again, I beg you—please! Please!”
After hearing him repeat his request over and over, Baek Cheon’s curiosity was piqued, and he asked casually, “The control in Yunnan sounds very strict.”
“There are certainly people who rule Yunnan, but that’s only in name. Yunnan cannot escape the influence of the Beast Palace. It is the Beast Palace that controls who enters Yunnan from the Central Plains. With the government’s power unable to reach there, their tyranny is all the worse.”
“Why does the government just let that happen?”
“Yunnan is a barren land. Even if they clashed with them and conquered it, there’d be nothing to gain. So the government has no real interest in retaking it. As a result, it’s only the merchants trading in Yunnan tea who suffer.”
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, even Baek Cheon would have lived his whole life without ever setting foot in Yunnan if he hadn’t needed to obtain Purple Wood Grass.
“So I beg you once more. If this goes wrong, our caravan will never be able to set foot in Yunnan again. Then the only road left for us is ruin.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll do our best not to cause any acciden—”
Baek Cheon turned to Chung Myung before he even realized it.
“...We’ll do our best not to cause any trouble.”
We’ll do our best. We will.
But that didn’t mean it would go the way he wanted.
“Please, I’m counting on you.”
Gwak Gyeong pressed the point one more time before returning to his place.
Listening to him, Baek Cheon once again grasped just how absolute the Beast Palace’s presence was in Yunnan.
“It sounds even greater than the Tang Family’s influence in Sichuan.”
“Isn’t that to be expected? In Sichuan, there are sects capable of checking the Tang Family. But in Yunnan, there aren’t any sects of note.”
At Yoon Jong’s words, Baek Cheon tilted his head.
“Hmm? But isn’t there also the Point Mountain Sect in Yunnan?”
“...Ah. Well, there is, but…”
As Yoon Jong hesitated, Chung Myung, who had been listening to them, answered on his behalf, as if it were nothing.
“The Point Mountain Sect doesn’t care about that sort of thing at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. They have zero interest in expanding their power or influence or any of that crap. They just gather deep in the mountains and spend their time cultivating the Dao and training in martial arts.”
“Aren’t we like that too?”
“Pfft. Compared to Point Mountain or Kunlun, Mount Hua and Wudang aren’t even proper Daoists. Just Daoists in name only.”
“……”
No, that lunatic was actually trashing his own sect now.
“Daoists are Daoists, aren’t they?”
“No, seriously. Point Mountain and Kunlun don’t even care what sort of reputation they have in the world.”
“……”
“Even if they got kicked out of the Nine Great Sects, they’d probably just shrug and let it go.”
“Does that make any sense?”
“Think about it. If they had even a little interest in that sort of thing, would they have founded sects in those remote places like Qinghai or Yunnan? Sichuan already gets treated like the countryside, so what do you think Yunnan gets?”
“Hmm. That does make sense.”
Baek Cheon nodded as though he understood.
“From the standpoint of fellow Daoists, they’re worthy of respect. They truly don’t get involved in worldly fame or rank at all. For Point Mountain, they probably wouldn’t care even if the Beast Palace went and did whatever it wanted outside.”
“I suppose that is impressive.”
Baek Cheon shook his head.
It was admirable, yes, but if someone told him to live like that, he honestly had no confidence he could do it.
“So don’t worry about Point Mountain. The important thing is the Beast Palace.”
“...How do you know all this?”
“I came from the gutter, didn’t I? I grew up hearing every rumor there was.”
Chung Myung answered with a straight face, then quickly changed the subject before anyone could say anything else.
“We’ve already wasted a lot of time in Sichuan, so let’s not go causing pointless trouble. Right now, getting to Yunnan fast is what matters, so just cooperate with the caravan as much as possible.”
Baek Cheon’s jaw dropped before he could stop himself.
Who exactly was lecturing whom here?
“You’re the one who dragged things out! If you’d just moved a little faster, we could’ve left days ago!”
“Hey, don’t be so petty! That was the past!”
“Ugh!”
Baek Cheon forcibly swallowed the blood pressure rising to the back of his neck and let out a tired sigh.
“Anyway, fine. We’ll cooperate as much as we can and head to Yunnan quietly.”
Whether or not that promise would be kept was another matter entirely.
The Mount Hua disciples walked alongside the loaded wagons and followed the caravan.
Compared to the trip to Sichuan, where they had changed horses nonstop in a four-horse carriage and raced ahead, this pace was so much slower it couldn’t even be compared. It was impossible not to feel frustrated.
But there was no other way.
The people leaving on the caravan couldn’t possibly carry a whole string of spare horses with them, so they had no choice but to move while accounting for the animals’ stamina.
“Grrr. At this rate, when in the world are we supposed to reach Yunnan?”
Chung Myung let out a long sigh.
Even for him, this was his first time going directly to Yunnan. The suffocating slowness made his whole body itch.
“If the roads were even a little better maintained, we could probably get there faster.”
Baek Cheon frowned at the miserable road stretching before them.
The farther they moved away from Chengdu and the closer they drew to Yunnan, the rougher the path became.
A road had to be maintained steadily to remain usable. Without upkeep, every passing cart would gouge it deeper, exposing stones and turning the whole thing into a mess.
Usually, such roads would be maintained by the government, but Yunnan was beyond the government’s reach, so that upkeep apparently never happened.
Gwak Gyeong listened to their conversation with a bitter smile.
“We’re still on Sichuan soil.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. But since this is the road to Yunnan, even the government doesn’t see much point in bothering to repair it.”
“So the farther we go, the worse the road gets.”
“That’s right. And that’s not the only problem. The closer you get to the border between Sichuan and Yunnan, the more bandits and wild marauders run rampant. This is a caravan that has to risk its life.”
Gwak Gyeong let out a long breath.
“The governments and sects of the Central Plains are all wary of clashing with the Beast Palace, so they don’t send martial artists that way. Because of that, the border region between Yunnan and Sichuan is practically lawless.”
“Ah, so that’s it…”
Baek Cheon casually turned his head to look at the escorting guards protecting the caravan.
They were already short on manpower, so he had wondered why they had brought so many guards along. It seemed they were preparing for bandit attacks.
“We’ve already entered the border region, so everyone, please be careful. If you notice anyone suspicious, let us know immediately.”
“We will.”
“We are hurrying as best we can, so even if it’s frustrating, please bear with us a little. We’d appreciate it.”
“Oh, no, Caravan Master. We’re the ones imposing on you, so there’s no need for you to go to any trouble because of us.”
Baek Cheon bowed toward Gwak Gyeong.
But that relaxed air didn’t last long at all.
“Too slow…”
“……”
“Too slow. It’s too damn slow!”
“...Why are you sulking again?”
Chung Myung puffed up his cheeks.
“How long is it supposed to take to get to Yunnan like this?”
“What can be done? The horses are pulling wagons loaded with cargo, so of course they’re slow. It’s not as if we have faster horses to switch in, and we can’t exactly have people pull the carts instead.”
“Even so, it’s too damn slow! If we travel to Yunnan like this, the seasons won’t just change—the year will change! At this rate, we’ll have to pray the Sect Leader is still alive by the time we head back!”
“Hey, you rotten bastard! Is that any way to talk?”
“I’m saying it because it’s frustrating!”
Chung Myung scowled hard.
“Why don’t we just pull the carts ourselves?”
“...Setting aside the fact that people dragging carts around would draw attention, what are we supposed to do when the people of Yunnan realize we’re martial artists?”
“Grrr.”
Chung Myung scratched his head furiously.
But this really is too slow.
He had braced himself somewhat from the moment he decided to join the caravan, but this was twice as slow as he had expected. At this rate, it would be a blessing if they arrived within a month.
We need to figure out some way around this.
Chung Myung sighed and turned his head.
“But why is setting up camp taking so long?”
They had stopped for the night and begun preparing camp a long while ago, but the caravan members were still bustling about.
“Saje Jo Gul. Is camp always this slow to set up?”
“Usually not this much, but…”
Jo Gul scratched his head.
“They’re already short on caravan members because of the guards they’ve assigned, and with us quietly joining in, it seems the number of caravan hands dropped even further.”
“Huh?”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
“So they’re taking so long because they’re short on workers?”
“Looks like it.”
“Tch! Then they should’ve just asked us to help sooner! Why didn’t they say anything? That’s embarrassing.”
Chung Myung shot up from his seat.
“Well, you are the guests of the Tang Family’s lord, so they probably felt awkward about ordering you around.”
“If they’d just asked us to help from the start, we could’ve finished faster, slept faster, and left faster!”
“From our point of view, yes, but…”
Baek Cheon gave a faint smile.
This bastard really is entertaining in moments like this.
At Mount Hua, Chung Myung’s nickname might have been nothing more than a joke, but the name Mount Hua Divine Dragon was shaking the entire Central Plains now. No one was called the greatest talent of the younger generation for nothing.
Normally, that kind of fame would make a person arrogant, yet Chung Myung remained exactly the same as ever—before he had a reputation and after he had one.
What a total hooligan.
Ah. So that wasn’t a good thing after all?
“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and help. Those old men need to rest soon so they can leave a little earlier tomorrow.”
“Fine. Let’s do that.”
Baek Cheon rose with a fairly satisfied smile just then.
“Hm?”
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
The Mount Hua disciples all turned their eyes toward one place at once.
They could see the bushes rustling in the darkness.
And then.
“Hwahahahahaha!”
“Hwahahahaha!”
With sinister, boisterous laughter, more than ten rough-looking men emerged from the brush.
“Who are you people!”
The guards escorting the caravan all drew their weapons and blocked the men’s advance.
“Heh heh. To think you’d so comfortably set up camp here. Did you not know this place is the front yard of our Jangho Fortress?”
“Leave the goods and we’ll spare your lives.”
“If not, then hand over your lives along with them!”
The Mount Hua disciples, staring at the newly appeared thugs, all went slack-jawed.
A groan-like voice escaped from them.
“Bandits?”
“They’re bandits.”
“No, but this is open ground, so shouldn’t they be called horse bandits or wild bandits?”
“Whatever they are, they’re thieves.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Good heavens.
Bandits, of all things.
Baek Cheon gave a dry laugh.
“I’ve lived long enough to get robbed by bandits.”
“Should I handle them?”
Just as Jo Gul stepped forward,
“No, no.”
a voice from behind stopped him. A voice that sounded strangely delighted, as if it didn’t know what to do with its own joy.
The Mount Hua disciples turned back with uneasy faces.
There stood Chung Myung, wearing a Buddha-like smile.
“Those aren’t bandits. They look completely different to me.”
“...Different how?”
“Not bandits. Horses.”
“...Horses?”
“Yep.”
Chung Myung grinned wide enough to split his face.
“Strong horses that’ll carry us all the way to Yunnan. Good grief, we really are lucky.”
“……”
“What are you waiting for? Catch them before they run off!”
Baek Cheon’s nose stung with pity for the bandits who had come all this way to rob them.