A Dragon in the Pond! (4)
"Hey, you idiot!"
Baek Cheon shouted, his face flushed bright red.
"What?"
But Chung Myung looked as calm as ever.
Baek Cheon’s blood pressure spiked so hard he even jabbed a finger at him while stammering. "N-no! Idiot! Huh? At least, uh, cover yourself up first!"
"Cover what?"
"Put some clothes on! Clothes!"
"Huh?"
Chung Myung lowered his head and looked at his own body.
"I’ve still got my underpants on. What’s the problem?"
"Aaagh!"
Baek Cheon scratched his head furiously.
And fair enough—Chung Myung was standing there with nothing but a single pair of underpants, flaunting his body with complete swagger.
Of course, the steel-hard muscles packed on his frame were enough to draw admiration, but surely wearing at least pants would make him a little less indecent.
"You’ve got I-seol too, you know! What are you—"
Baek Cheon worried about Yu I-seol’s eyesight, but even in the middle of that, she remained perfectly unruffled. She silently looked around, picked up something that seemed to be cloth, and walked over to drape it around Chung Myung’s shoulders.
"Wear this."
"Oh, as expected of Sago!"
"You look indecent."
"......Thanks."
Thanks. I’m touched.
Chung Myung accepted the cloth and wrapped it around himself with a shrug.
"Anyway, I can take that snake bastard down now. Let’s hurry up, grab the Purple Wood Grass, and head back."
At that, Yoon Jong let out a long sigh.
"Chung Myung. I think the snake is not the issue right now."
"Huh? Why?"
That was when it happened.
"What is the meaning of this!"
"You damned lunatics!"
"Huh?"
With furious shouts, the disciples of the Beast Palace came surging toward the collapsed hall.
Before long, their faces were burning red with rage.
"We treated you with every courtesy as guests because you are the heirs of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, and you dare do this?!"
"Do you want to die?"
The Beast Palace disciples kept exploding with outrage. Once the shouting started, more and more people came pouring in.
"Uh..."
Only then did Chung Myung finally glance around at the utterly ruined buildings and the surroundings that looked as if a war had broken out, and he gave an awkward smile.
"Well, uh. It wasn’t exactly on purpose."
Did he seriously think that would settle this?
Baek Cheon exhaled and stepped forward.
It was Chung Myung, damn him, who had caused this, but he was still the leader of their group. He had to step out first, apologize, and beg forgiveness for the offense.
"First, we are sorry—"
But just then, Chung Myung grabbed Baek Cheon by the shoulder and tugged him slightly back.
"Sasuk, I’ll handle—"
"Aaaaargh!"
"Huh?"
He had only pulled a little, but Baek Cheon’s body shot backward like a cannonball.
Thud! Thoom! Thoom! Thud!
Skipping along the ground like a stone over water, Baek Cheon smashed into a wall and shook all over.
"......"
"......"
"Uh..."
Chung Myung stared at his own hand with a blank expression. Then he scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh.
"Ah, sorry. I’m still not used to it."
"Grrrrrrr."
Baek Cheon pushed himself up from the ground and glared at Chung Myung with bloodshot eyes.
"Fine... Today, you and I are going down together!"
"Come on. Then it’d just be you dying. Hold on. I’ll take care of this."
"Aaaagh, you damn bastard!"
"Please calm down, Sasuk!"
"Hold it together! He’s always like this!"
"Grrrrrrr!"
Jo Gul and Yoon Jong lunged to restrain the thrashing Baek Cheon.
Chung Myung merely shrugged and stepped forward. Then he stood before the Beast Palace protectors, who had pushed through the crowd.
The protectors glared at Chung Myung with icy eyes and barked, "What do you intend to do about this?"
"Huh? About what?"
"Didn’t your group just smash this hall to pieces?"
"Come on, that joke’s too much. How could we do that?"
"What? Are you denying that you destroyed the hall?"
At that, Chung Myung snickered.
"Did you see me do it?"
It was the most obvious sort of excuse, but of course it wasn’t going to work.
"I saw it!"
One of the Beast Palace disciples stepped forward and shouted, "I saw it clearly! A black tornado blasted out of that hall and blew the whole place apart with my own eyes! So don’t even dream of making that excuse!"
"Oh?"
Chung Myung looked at him with interest.
"A tornado, you say?"
"That’s right!"
The protectors’ expressions hardened too.
"Explain yourselves. If you cannot offer a proper explanation, then no matter that you are the heirs of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, you will not escape responsibility! Unless the Plum Blossom Sword Saint himself comes in person!"
He came in person, you idiots!
I’m the Plum Blossom Sword Saint!
Chung Myung let out a sigh and went on. "So if we can’t explain ourselves, you’re saying you’ll just beat us up?"
"If necessary!"
"Uh... but isn’t that a little strange?"
"Hmm?"
The protector at the front tilted his head at Chung Myung’s words.
What was strange about it?
"If I’m hearing him right, he’s saying some huge tornado blew the hall away."
"That’s right!"
"And you think I made that?"
"......Huh?"
"Could a person even do that?"
"......"
Huh?
Was that really... huh?
Chung Myung shook his head as if he truly couldn’t understand.
"If a tornado rises up and wrecks a hall, isn’t it common sense to worry about the people inside? More than suspecting that I caused the tornado?"
"......That is..."
The protector fell silent, opening and closing his mouth.
No. If he thought about it, that really was common sense.
Could a person even create a tornado? What, was he a dragon?
"And there’s another thing that’s strange."
"W-what is it?"
"Let’s say I did cause that tornado."
Chung Myung made a point of glancing around casually.
"Then you’re saying you’re about to beat up the person who, bare-handed, whipped up a tornado and turned the surroundings into this mess. You sure that’s fine?"
"......"
The protector pressed his lips shut.
He wasn’t wrong.
If this had really been done by one of the young disciples of Mount Hua, it would mean an absurd master who had transcended common sense. Capturing someone like that couldn’t possibly be easy.
At the very least, they’d need......
"What is the meaning of this!"
At that moment, a thunderous voice rolled across the area.
"Palace Lord!"
"We greet the Palace Lord!"
Seeing the Beast Palace Lord approaching from afar, the Beast Palace disciples all dropped to their knees. The disciples of Mount Hua also bowed deeply toward him.
The tense protector recognized the Beast Palace Lord and brightened, hurrying to speak. "Palace Lord! These people—"
"Silence!"
The Beast Palace Lord raised a hand lightly to stop him. Then he widened those fierce eyes and strode toward Chung Myung.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The ground seemed to tremble beneath his firm steps. Every time his foot struck the earth, it looked as though the huge tiger following behind him was lifting slightly off the ground.
Thud.
Before long, the Beast Palace Lord stopped right in front of Chung Myung and glared at him, face twisted.
"You brat!"
"......Yes?"
The Beast Palace Lord’s face flushed a little. Staring at Chung Myung with his face turning red, he let out a groan-like sound.
"...Did you make a breakthrough?"
"Come on, this is just a small success. I only got a little more internal energy."
"A small success? You call that a small success?"
"Yes. That’s all it was."
The Beast Palace Lord’s face twisted further. Shaking as though he could no longer hold it in, he suddenly burst into loud laughter and slapped Chung Myung on the shoulder over and over.
"Kwahahahahahaha! Small success! So it was a small success! Yes, a man should have that sort of nerve! Kwahahahahahaha!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each time the Beast Palace Lord’s hand struck Chung Myung’s shoulder, a booming crack rang out.
He’s going to die like that, isn’t he?
Is he really just hitting him because he’s pissed off?
With every blow, Chung Myung’s body sank a fraction deeper into the ground. By the time the Beast Palace Lord’s laughter died down, Chung Myung was sunk all the way to his knees.
The Beast Palace Lord found even that amusing and laughed heartily as he grabbed Chung Myung and hauled him out of the ground.
"All right! We need a drink to celebrate your breakthrough!"
The protectors’ faces turned pale.
"Palace Lord! They are the criminals who destroyed the Beast Palace hall!"
"You must judge them!"
"What?!"
The Beast Palace Lord barked out a roar.
"Because they knocked down a few scraps of buildings, you want me to punish our guests? Since when did the Beast Palace become a nest of penny-pinching cowards like you? You useless fools!"
At that booming rebuke, the disciples all hurriedly lowered their heads.
That was when they saw Chung Myung, secretly sticking out his tongue behind the Beast Palace Lord’s back.
Blue veins bulged on the disciples’ foreheads.
Honestly, I want to beat the hell out of him.
What kind of bastard comes here as a guest and—
If I could just smack that mouth once, I’d die happy, really.
He says he’s the heir of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, but how can he be so different from the Plum Blossom Sword Saint people talk about?
Of course, the personality of the former Plum Blossom Sword Saint and Chung Myung’s personality were, in fact, a perfect match. But there was no way these people, who had only heard the sanitized version of history, could know that.
"If a guest of ours achieved a breakthrough at the Beast Palace, we should be congratulating him, not asking whether he dared to make a fuss over a few broken buil—what? Small? Small, you say? These miserable little saps! How can you say such things and still call yourselves proud men of the Beast Palace? You idiots—"
"Come on, don’t get so angry. They’re only like that because they care about the Beast Palace so much."
"Hm? Ah. Yes. Right."
"And it’s our fault anyway."
"What fault? What fault is there? When a martial artist trains, that sort of thing can happen! I smashed plenty of training grounds when I was young myself!"
"Hehe. Right. It can happen."
The Beast Palace disciples’ faces soured.
How could he fit so perfectly with an outsider they’d only met a few days ago, when he’d been with these disciples for decades?
At this rate, isn’t he basically his secret son?
Too small to be a son, though.
Just looking at their faces, there’s no way they’re blood-related.
The Beast Palace disciples and the disciples of Mount Hua both let out deep sighs. And while they did, their eyes met. Seeing that the other side also held pity in its gaze, both groups let out even deeper sighs.
"Hahahahahaha! We should throw a feast!"
"No. Not right now."
"Hm?"
The Beast Palace Lord tilted his head.
"Not right now?"
"First, let’s catch that snake. Then we can have a drink with snake soup as the side dish."
"You mean the Ink-Scaled Blood Python?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, yes. But be careful. The Ink-Scaled Blood Python is truly one of the greatest spirit beasts."
"It’s still just a snake."
"Yes! That’s the sort of nerve a man should have!"
"Of course! Heh heh heh!"
"Kwahahahahahaha!"
Another long sigh escaped the people listening to the two of them converse.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"......What exactly did you do?"
"What?"
"What did you do to cause something like that?"
"Oh, that?"
As Chung Myung headed toward the Divine Pond through the jungle, he snorted at Baek Cheon’s question.
"I increased my internal energy a bit."
"......"
"Just a little. A little."
Baek Cheon lifted his head and looked up at the sky, which was barely visible through the dense undergrowth.
Primordial Lord of Heaven.
Please, just do something.
Since when was internal energy like a piece of chewy candy you could stretch longer just because you felt like it?
Was he supposed to be shocked that Chung Myung had increased his internal energy because he needed to? Or shocked that he had blown apart an entire hall just to do it?
Please. Please.
"Well, it didn’t increase as much as I hoped... but hey, I didn’t die while doing it, so that’s a win."
"Can you die while increasing your internal energy?"
"This time it was a little dangerous."
"......I don’t know you anymore."
Not that he ever really had.
Baek Cheon sighed and muttered something under his breath, but Chung Myung paid him no attention and kept heading straight for the Divine Pond.
That really was dangerous.
The poison and power contained in Miin-ru had surpassed even Chung Myung’s imagination. If he had made even the slightest mistake, or if his internal energy had been just a little less pure, his body would have burst apart and killed him.
But in the end, Chung Myung had succeeded in purifying Miin-ru’s energy and absorbing it.
Tch. There was too much garbage mixed in.
The amount of power was vast, but the energy he could actually extract from it amounted to almost nothing.
Still, the good thing was that because the total amount was so enormous, even that tiny extract was enough to create as much power as Chung Myung had accumulated until now.
Compared to what the Plum Blossom Sword Saint at his peak had possessed, it was still pitifully lacking, but this much would be enough to spare him from worrying about internal energy for a while.
"So, first—"
Chung Myung pushed the bushes aside on both sides.
At last, the Divine Pond came into view, filled with crystal-clear water.
"I’ll show that beast what happens when it picks a fight with a human!"
Chung Myung.
Even if your mouth is crooked, speak right.
You were the one who picked the fight. You.
That thing over there didn’t do anything.
They had plenty they wanted to say, but the disciples of Mount Hua could only sigh.
"I’m going! Oraaaah!"
Without hesitation, Chung Myung drew his sword and leaped toward the Divine Pond.
"Hey! That sword’s already snapped in half!"
"It’s fine!"
Chung Myung waved a hand in midair and landed.
"Come out!"
Then he shouted at the top of his lungs.
And then—
From the center of the still pond, a small ripple spread outward, and soon the Ink-Scaled Blood Python revealed its massive body above the water’s surface.
Hisssssssss.
Blood-red eyes, set like drops between glossy black scales, locked onto Chung Myung.
"You’re dead today."
Chung Myung spat onto the ground, gripped his sword, and charged across the surface of the pond straight at the Ink-Scaled Blood Python.
Kyaaaaaaaa!
The Ink-Scaled Blood Python let out a monstrous cry and launched itself forward to meet Chung Myung’s charge head-on.