Did You Say Mount Hua? (4)
'One, two, three... five in all.'
Baek Cheon’s gaze swept quickly over the area. There were five Beast Palace disciples advancing toward them.
Could they handle them?
Baek Cheon considered it for a moment, then realized the question was meaningless.
The important thing wasn’t whether they could clash and win. It was that they shouldn’t clash at all. They hadn’t come to fight enemies; they had come to save Purple Wood Grass.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The Beast Palace disciple who approached from the front parted the children and came to a stop before the Mount Hua disciples. He looked at the sacks of grain spread out before them and the food in the children’s hands, then scowled.
“Who are you?”
“We’re merchants from Sichuan’s Hwapyeong Trading Company. We obtained permission and came here to conduct business, but on the way we found starving children and were simply sharing food with them.”
“Sharing food?”
The Beast Palace disciple’s face twisted. He looked as though he’d just been insulted.
Baek Cheon tilted his head slightly, puzzled.
Was that really something to react that strongly to?
Either way, they had helped people in need. Instead of being grateful, this man was getting angry? Even if outsiders were unwelcome here, it was a reaction he couldn’t quite understand.
“You Central Plains dogs dare look down on Yunnan’s people as beggars? How dare you do something like this without permission? If you came here to trade, then you should have done your business and gone back quietly!”
The Beast Palace disciple’s expression grew vicious.
“This isn’t some case of giving a wound and then treating it. Because of what your people did, Yunnan has been reduced to this state! And now you’re handing out food just to mock Yunnan’s people?”
Baek Cheon couldn’t even hide how startled he was.
Why was he bringing that up too?
The hostility really is beyond anything I imagined.
Apparently this was no one he could reason with. He immediately bowed his head.
“I apologize. We had no intention of causing trouble.”
Even as he bent deeply at the waist, Baek Cheon’s brow furrowed in secret.
Come to think of it.
They had said they were only handing out grain to children, but it was strange that so few adults had come to them.
Hunger didn’t make people so picky about that sort of thing.
I should have accounted for how fiercely Yunnan’s people hate the Central Plains.
It was a late realization, but if they could still fix this, that was enough. Baek Cheon spoke as politely as he could.
“We’ll clear this up at once.”
But even with his lowered posture, the Beast Palace disciple didn’t seem pleased in the slightest and clicked his tongue.
“What faction did you say you were from?”
“Hwapyeong Trading Company.”
“Hwapyeong, Hwapyeong...”
After a brief silence, the Beast Palace disciple let a faint smile appear.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone like you in Hwapyeong Trading Company.”
Baek Cheon’s face stiffened.
The first thought that came to him was that there was no way the man could know every single person there.
But if this was someone who managed Kunming and therefore knew the faces of the few trading company members who came and went, then it wasn’t impossible either.
In the end, Baek Cheon chose the most harmless answer.
“I’m new.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
The Beast Palace disciple pointed toward the back.
“Then the ones with you are all new merchants too, I suppose.”
“Yes, that’s right. You may check with Hwapyeong Trading Company.”
“Hmm. I see.”
The man’s smile deepened.
“Newly arrived merchants were offering relief work apart from the main company, is that it?”
“We—”
“Ah, I know. You’re telling me to check, yes? Then...”
The Beast Palace disciple smiled broadly.
“You won’t mind being detained for a little while I verify your identity, will you? If you really are merchants of Hwapyeong Trading Company.”
Yoon Jong’s eyes wavered slightly.
Of course Hwapyeong Trading Company would say they were new merchants. The problem was that the Beast Palace disciples had already begun to suspect them.
“Of course.”
Baek Cheon did not make this any uglier than necessary. Right now, that was the best course of action.
When Baek Cheon nodded obediently, the Beast Palace disciple looked disappointed, as though the fun had gone out of things.
“You...”
“Enough.”
At that moment, the Beast Palace disciple who had been watching from the back snapped coldly.
“They are Central Plains people, yes, but they were trying to help those in need. Do you want the Central Plains people to say we’re a bunch of ungrateful wretches?”
“...Understood, Senior Brother.”
Baek Cheon let out a quiet breath of relief.
At least there was someone here who could still speak sense.
And then.
That was the moment it happened.
As though resigned, the Beast Palace disciple turned and started to leave, only to draw the saber at his waist in a flash and slash toward Baek Cheon’s throat.
Baek Cheon reflexively drew his sword and blocked the saber flying for his neck.
Clang!
Even though the fierce attack was stopped, the Beast Palace disciple only smiled in triumph.
“So you’re a martial artist.”
“...”
“And not just any martial artist, either. You can stop my saber, and yet you’re pretending to be a mere merchant.”
Baek Cheon bit his lower lip.
There was no point in making excuses now.
“These are suspicious bastards. Arrest them all!”
“Yes!”
Still gripping his sword, Baek Cheon slowly backed away. Behind him, the Beast Palace disciples who had been watching the situation began to close in around the Mount Hua disciples.
“Sasuk...”
“What do we do?”
They had only two choices: fight or run.
Damn it.
Baek Cheon tightened his grip on the sword.
To think they’d end up like this in less than half a day. He had underestimated Yunnan far too much.
Then Yoon Jong bowed his head with a miserable expression.
“I’m sorry, Sasuk. Because of me...”
“Don’t apologize.”
But Baek Cheon cut him off firmly.
“I made the decision. So it’s only right that I bear the responsibility.”
Whether the decision had been right or wrong no longer mattered. Baek Cheon had given the order, and from that moment on, all responsibility belonged to him.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he shouted with a hardened face, “We fight!”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
Jo Gul drew his sword, and Yoon Jong also hurriedly reached for his waist.
“...”
Ah.
He’d sold it.
Yoon Jong’s face drained white as he realized his sword, as inseparable from him as a part of his own body, wasn’t there.
Jo Gul looked at him with a deadpan expression.
“...Go find a wooden stick or something.”
“I, I do have grappling arts.”
“Go look for a wooden stick.”
“...”
Of course he had learned the basics of the Six Harmony Fist, but how was he supposed to use that in place of a sword art?
Chung Myung had emphasized the Six Harmony Fist as the literal foundation, and because of that Yoon Jong’s fist techniques were, in the truest sense, only the bare basics.
When Baek Cheon realized Yoon Jong was out of the fight, his expression tightened slightly.
This isn’t going to be easy.
The pressure from the Beast Palace disciples as they steadily tightened the encirclement was more intense than he had imagined. They said the outer sects of the martial world were no less than the Nine Great Sects, and it seemed that wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Break through! Yoon Jong, stay right behind me!”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
Baek Cheon leveled his sword forward.
The Beast Palace disciple blocking the front let out a dry laugh.
“You think you can escape? This is Yunnan. You’ve only got two choices left. Either die here in one stroke, or die slowly in the endless fields.”
“Neither sounds appealing.”
Even as he spoke, Baek Cheon’s eyes were already searching for a retreat route.
We have to get out of this city first.
He could think after that.
When Baek Cheon looked behind him, the Beast Palace disciple bared his teeth in a smile.
“What a foolish dream. I’ll teach you what the Beast Palace is like! Attack!”
At the command, the Beast Palace disciples surrounding them all rushed forward at once.
“We’re going forward!”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
Baek Cheon clenched his teeth and charged.
No, he tried to charge.
But before he could even kick off the ground, something strange caught his eye.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With loud crashes, the Beast Palace disciples rushing toward them were sent flying backward at tremendous speed.
“W-what the hell!”
“Who’s there!”
Baek Cheon’s whole body prickled with gooseflesh as he froze on the spot.
Cold sweat ran down his spine.
No way...
“Ohohohohohoho?”
Dammit.
He slowly lowered his sword. Then, with a motion that was absolutely not fast, truly not fast at all, he turned his head and looked behind him.
There stood a demon.
“Who...”
“...”
“Are you saying...”
“...”
That demon, of course, was his lovely saje, Chung Myung.
Chung Myung tilted his head to the side.
“Me?”
“...”
“Or Sasuk?”
Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut.
It would have been better to be captured by the Beast Palace. To think that of all times, that bastard would show up now.
“You were the one talking about causing trouble, and then you go and cause a huge damn mess! Huge! My God, how do you even manage to create a disaster like this less than half a day after entering Kunming?”
“Th-that’s...”
“Don’t even start. Ugh! Babysitting my senior brothers is my job, I swear. What a cursed life I have!”
Baek Cheon, Yoon Jong, and Jo Gul all trembled at the same time.
Does he have no conscience at all?!
Why does he have to appear at a time like this, of all times?!
I’d rather deal with the Beast Palace! I really would!
It was a truly horrific situation.
And yet, even while they were shaking, their expressions began to loosen a little. Chung Myung was here now, so they felt maybe he could somehow clean up the mess.
But that faint relief did not last long.
Chung Myung’s wandering gaze suddenly fixed on one spot.
“Where the hell did you pawn off the Plum Blossom Sword again!”
“...”
Yoon Jong desperately scrambled for a proper answer. Sadly, unlike him, Jo Gul wasn’t very good at reading the room.
“To the grain store.”
“...Huh?”
“The grain store. The one that sells grain.”
“...You really sold it?”
“...”
“...”
Chung Myung stared at Yoon Jong and Jo Gul with a vacant expression.
“No... now even this, huh. Hah. Hahaha...”
At his utterly speechless stare, the two of them let their heads sink lower and lower.
To be fair, if they talked around it enough, they might actually be able to make him understand, but this was just not a situation that could be explained cleanly.
“The sect is doing great! Absolutely great!”
The one who saved the two from Chung Myung’s anger as it rose from disbelief into fury was, absurdly enough, none other than the Beast Palace disciple.
“Who the hell are you!”
At that arrogant shout, Chung Myung’s head snapped around.
“No, seriously, is that bastard trying to die?! What kind of idiot says ‘bastard’ to a stranger he’s never met before? And who the hell are you, you little punk!”
“...”
The Beast Palace disciple’s eyes bulged at the storm of curses.
Wh-what the hell is he?
Was he supposed to react like that just because someone said, “Who the hell are you?”
It was less anger than sheer disbelief.
“You, you damn bastard...”
“This is the sort of thing that makes me wonder if you’ve gone insane. I’ll deal with you later.”
Chung Myung frowned once, then looked back at his senior brothers.
The three of them averted their eyes and stared somewhere else the moment they met his gaze.
Among them, Chung Myung fixed particularly on Baek Cheon and stared hard.
“Don’t worry, Sasuk! I didn’t cause any trouble!”
“...I’m sorry.”
Stop that, you damned saje!
Chung Myung sneered as he said, “At this point, I’m only saying this because the situation’s already gone this far, but I looked into things on the way here. And it turns out this isn’t something we can handle from our side.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Apparently, if we want the Purple Wood Grass, there’s no choice but to speak to the Beast Palace in the first place.”
“Really?”
“An apothecary who knows the situation well told me so.”
“...Then what are we supposed to do?”
“What do you mean, what are we supposed to do?”
Chung Myung grinned and lifted his sword, scabbard and all.
“Beat these guys down a bit, take them along, and then go meet the palace lord in the Beast Palace. Isn’t that the fastest way?”
“That sounds more like the fastest way to die.”
“Life and death are but one, so don’t cling so desperately to life, sir.”
“That’s Buddhism, you crazy bastard!”
“Ah. I mixed that up.”
Chung Myung smirked and raised his sword.
“Now then...”
He cracked his neck twice to either side, then looked at the Beast Palace disciples with a faint smile.
“Are you going to guide us to your palace lord nice and easy, or do you want me to make you?”
“...”
It was a situation that would have enraged anyone, yet the Beast Palace disciple who seemed to hold the highest rank among them showed no particular reaction.
He simply stared at Chung Myung for a long moment before speaking in a calm voice.
“You want to meet the palace lord?”
“Yeah.”
“You want us to guide you?”
“Look at that, he understands.”
He nodded lightly.
“You’re guests who’ve come all this way to Kunming. Of course I should guide you.”
“You’re a quick one. Lead the way.”
“Ah, only one thing. I can guide you, but the method might differ a little from what you’re imagining.”
“Huh?”
That was when it happened.
A noisy commotion began rising behind them.
“Huh?”
Chung Myung turned his head slightly. Dozens of Beast Palace disciples were walking out from around the corner.
“Haha. If you’re relying on that and still talking big...”
With a sneer, he turned to face forward, only to see dozens more Beast Palace disciples emerging from the opposite road.
“Oh, there are a few more than I thought. This should make today’s exercise...”
Dozens of Beast Palace disciples appeared on top of the building beside them.
“...”
From alleyways, from atop the walls, and even from inside the buildings, Beast Palace disciples kept stepping out one after another.
“At this rate, they might as well come from underground too.”
Fortunately, it didn’t go that far.
Chung Myung’s expression soured as he looked at the hundreds of Beast Palace disciples surrounding them.
“So, you’re saying you’ll guide us?”
“Of course.”
The Beast Palace disciple standing in front smiled brightly.
“It’s our policy to escort intruders alive all the way to the palace lord.”
“Oh, really?”
Chung Myung nodded as if this were excellent news, then looked back at his senior brothers.
“They say they’ll take us.”
“...”
You’re being arrested, not taken anywhere, you bastard!