The Great Clans Don’t Have Heads? (4)
Hyun Jong’s smile never left his face.
“Khuhk!”
He laughed while walking, laughed while reaching for the door handle, and even burst out laughing in the middle of a meal, often clamping a hand over his mouth.
Hyun Sang couldn’t do anything about the strange, weightless feeling that kept lifting him off the ground, either.
He was the Martial Hall Leader, so if anything he ought to have been even more solemn than the Sect Leader, but he couldn’t do a thing about the corners of his mouth stubbornly twitching upward.
He’d spent decades cultivating himself, and yet it seemed a person could still do nothing about a single muscle in their face.
Of them all, Hyun Young looked the calmest.
“At least try to keep some dignity. Must you look so pleased you’re about to die of happiness in front of the children?”
Hyun Jong and Hyun Sang both twisted their faces and glared at him.
“I don’t want to hear that from anyone, least of all you.”
“What did I do?”
“Ugh.”
As Hyun Jong let out nothing but a pained groan, Hyun Sang asked, “Aren’t you surprised?”
“By what?”
“The way those children are performing. Aren’t you surprised?”
At that, Hyun Young snorted.
“There’s plenty to be surprised about. Chung Myung already said he’d smash those bastards’ heads in, so what’s there to be surprised about?”
“……”
“Have you ever seen Chung Myung say something he didn’t mean? Sure, he talks a lot of nonsense, but he’s not the kind of brat who says things he won’t do.”
“That’s true.”
Hyun Young smiled with a knowing look.
“If that kid says he’s going to crack someone’s skull, then he’s going to crack someone’s skull. So what’s there to worry about?”
Hyun Jong blinked.
Hyun Young said in a calm voice, “Sect Leader, I think it’s time you really felt it.”
“Felt what?”
“Mount Hua is strong.”
Hyun Jong pressed his lips together. So did Hyun Sang, who had been listening.
Hyun Young glanced at the two of them in turn, then smiled faintly.
“It’s surprising if a child breaks a giant tree, but it’s not surprising if they snap a sapling in two, is it?”
“W-well, yes.”
“At the very least, these children’s Mount Hua is a strong sect. It’s different from our time, Sect Leader. So there’s no need to be surprised every time those children show what they can do. It’s only natural.”
Hyun Jong subtly gripped his thigh.
Those plain words shook his heart.
Strong.
Had Mount Hua ever been described that way in the last hundred years?
For so long, the word “strong” had belonged to other sects.
And yet now, they themselves were living in a day when they could say the words out loud.
“Soon, the other sects will have no choice but to acknowledge Mount Hua. How could they not? If they keep looking down on Mount Hua, they’ll be the fools who get crushed by our children.”
“I suppose so.”
“So we can simply watch.”
Hyun Jong nodded quietly.
“We must become the fertilizer that helps those children grow.”
Seeing his benevolent expression, Hyun Young curled one corner of his mouth upward.
“Sect Leader. I’ve got a question.”
“Mm?”
“What face did the Sect Leader of the South Sea Sect make?”
“……”
“And the Zhongnan Sect, too, must’ve been worth seeing. Tell us about it! If I don’t hear it, I’ll be so curious I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Ahem. How can a Daoist take pleasure in another man’s misfortune?”
Then Hyun Sang spoke up softly. “I’m curious too, Sect Leader.”
“……”
“Come on, tell us. What face did the Sect Leader of the South Sea Sect make?”
“W-well…”
He looked miserable.
“And Zhongnan! What about Zhongnan? That Jong Ri-gok bastard must be so angry he can’t sleep!”
“He even offered his congratulations.”
“Really? Hahahaha! Just imagining the look on his face while saying those words makes me feel like a ten-year-old blockage in my chest has finally been flushed clean! Heeheehee!”
Watching Hyun Young laugh like a delighted child, Hyun Jong found himself smiling before he knew it.
It’s absolute chaos.
A Daoist laughing like a child over another man’s misery.
Where was Mount Hua heading…?
Where…?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The next day.
The Mount Hua disciples who arrived at the dueling grounds widened their eyes.
There had been no Mount Hua matches this morning, so they had come a little late.
It had also taken a bit longer because of the struggle to drag the damn Chung Myung out of the room, where he’d plastered himself to the floor and fought tooth and nail against leaving.
Anyway, they finally reached the dueling grounds around noon, and…
“What the hell.”
“Why’s the atmosphere like this?”
The Mount Hua disciples stared blankly at the arena.
Wasn’t it obvious that suspicious looks would be flying around?
No. That wasn’t it.
Of course they weren’t used to that kind of wariness, but this much had been expected.
The Mount Hua disciples weren’t idiots. After what they’d done yesterday, why would the other sects have any trust left in them?
The problem wasn’t the wary eyes aimed at them. It was the situation on the dueling stage.
“Aaaahhh!”
“Get out of the way, damn it!”
Watching the fierce sword energy rain down violently over the dueling stage, the Mount Hua disciples blinked.
“Are they on drugs?”
“Did they bring the Black Way guys here?”
The mood of the tournament was completely different from yesterday’s.
Yesterday, there had at least been some warmth to it.
The Mount Hua disciples themselves had finished their matches before anyone could even properly see them, so they were outside the discussion, but on the other stages, there had still been duels worthy of elite sect disciples.
But today, if one were to put it bluntly…
“What a goddamn mess.”
That muttered line from Jo Gul was exactly right.
The killing intent was thick enough to cut. Whereas yesterday there had been no trace of it, today every attack carried a murderous edge, and even the fighters’ eyes were full of venom.
“What’s wrong with them?”
At Baek Cheon’s question, Chung Myung snorted.
“What do you think? They came all the way here with swords in hand. You think they want to go home after just sitting there and watching other people make names for themselves?”
“Huh?”
“Among the guys who won yesterday, was there anyone you remember?”
Baek Cheon thought it over carefully, then shook his head.
“……I don’t think so. But I was focused on our own people’s matches…”
“So you think everyone else was focused on the other dueling stages?”
“……Probably not.”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“Even yesterday, there were plenty of guys who would’ve made names for themselves in a normal tournament. Just by looking at them, you could tell they weren’t ordinary.”
“Hmm.”
“If the tournament had gone on in a calm atmosphere, those kinds of guys would normally be the ones making their mark and bringing honor to their sects.”
“But because of us, they got buried?”
“Exactly.”
Chung Myung grinned.
“They fought like hell and won, but all people talked about was Mount Hua. How many of them do you think could stand that?”
“……”
“Even if the individual himself can endure it…”
Chung Myung’s gaze drifted toward the raised platform.
“Those old men are in a different position.”
It was the same kind of flaw Chung Myung had once felt in the prestigious sects long ago.
No one didn’t know that fundamentals were important.
But when they saw their own disciples start falling behind others, they would set aside fundamentals and teach whatever practical techniques could be used right away.
Because comparison was always the biggest poison that ruined people.
“Even if your own kid can’t memorize his letters and has a stupid head, you still think he’s cute, right?”
“Right. He’s still your child.”
“Exactly. But then the guy I hate most in the world comes to me and starts bragging about his son. Says the brat’s already memorized the Four Books and Five Classics, and that he’s being called a prodigy at the academy. The whole day, it’d feel like the main beam of your house was getting ripped out and the rafters were collapsing.”
“……”
Baek Cheon fell silent.
The metaphor was too perfect to misunderstand. Even he would be seething if he were put in that situation.
“In that sense…”
Chung Myung grinned and jerked his chin toward the place where the sect leaders were gathered.
“What do you think those old men said when they went back to their lodgings yesterday?”
“……”
“Do you really think they said, ‘Even if you don’t stand out, I hope you slowly show your skill’?”
“W-well… wouldn’t they have? They are the leaders of prestigious sects, after all.”
“You really think so?”
Chung Myung smiled.
Well, I guess it’s not easy to understand.
Most people thought the leaders of prestigious sects were half saints.
But were they really?
Not even close.
Sect leaders were more worldly than anyone else.
Leading a huge sect meant feeding, clothing, and housing that many people, while also maintaining the sect’s reputation so that fresh disciples would continue to flock in.
When fame grew, better talents came rushing in; and when those with better talent grew stronger, they in turn raised the sect’s reputation even higher.
Sect leaders, who knew how crucial that virtuous cycle was, had no choice but to cling to their sect’s fame.
Just look at what had happened to Mount Hua when it lost its reputation. Wasn’t the answer obvious?
Chung Myung snickered.
They probably wouldn’t even understand what he was talking about if they heard it.
Only someone like him, who had lived long enough to see the inner workings of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families, would know just how quick they were to look after their own interests and just how deeply they clung to worldly concerns.
He shrugged and said, “Do you really think those brats would be acting so viciously and running wild if nobody had said anything?”
“……”
Baek Cheon had nothing to say after that and shut his mouth.
“Just watch. Once we get up there, they’ll all be scrambling to trip Mount Hua up any way they can.”
“Then what should we do?”
“What do you mean, what should we do?”
Chung Myung grinned as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Nothing changes. The mood’s heated up, so all we have to do is smash every head we see.”
Then he glanced at one of the ongoing matches.
“Aaagh! My arm!”
A martial artist who had been struck by a sword blade and broken his arm was rolling across the ground. Judging from the blood soaking his sleeve, he’d also been cut when the attack skimmed past.
The face of the man who had claimed victory was blooming with a twisted sense of pleasure.
Duels were supposed to involve accepting a certain amount of injury, but the atmosphere now was clearly overheated.
“Nice atmosphere.”
Chung Myung slowly curved his lips upward.
“A place to strengthen the bonds of friendship between prestigious sects and noble families? What a load of crap. Who said they’d make it that way for us?”
Enough glory for Mount Hua was more than enough.
There was no glory to share with anyone else. What everyone not of Mount Hua ought to take away was only humiliation.
Baek Cheon nodded heavily and began to steady the disciples.
Chung Myung ignored what was happening behind him and looked up at the sect leaders on the platform.
Still acting all high and mighty, are you?
The fact that they could sit up there and watch the matches meant they still had room to breathe. If they were truly cornered, they’d be too busy offering advice to the disciple standing in the ring.
“So, how long will that comfort last?”
It wasn’t as though he personally held any grudge against them.
Even if the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families had turned a blind eye to Mount Hua’s crisis, they had not exactly been under any obligation to help.
Besides, the ones who had made that choice were already dead and gone.
He didn’t want to hold descendants responsible for what their ancestors had done. Ancestors were ancestors. Descendants were descendants.
There was just one thing.
“Sasuk.”
“Hm?”
“Look over there.”
The place Chung Myung pointed to was the platform where the sect leaders sat.
Baek Cheon, not understanding immediately, asked with a puzzled expression, “Why?”
“Doesn’t that piss you off?”
“Huh?”
Looking up at the platform again, Baek Cheon’s expression stiffened slightly.
The leaders of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families were seated solemnly in luxurious chairs at the very front of the raised dais.
And in the smaller chairs set slightly behind them sat their sect leader—Hyun Jong.
The back row of the Nine Great Sects.
They were on the same platform, yet the hierarchy was made unmistakably clear by the power their sects held.
“That is certainly irritating.”
Keeping his eyes fixed there, Baek Cheon muttered the words.
Chung Myung cracked his neck from side to side. Each turn made a dry popping sound.
“Still, he’s our sect leader, and they’re treating him like some castoff in the back. Makes me curious. If we go out there and crack every one of those brats’ heads today, do you think our sect leader will still be sitting in that seat tomorrow?”
“He might.”
Baek Cheon answered coldly. Then he licked his lips slightly.
“Then shall we cause some trouble until that seat changes?”
“Finally, you’re saying something I like. That’s more like my sasure.”
Hyun Jong, as if it made no difference to him where he sat, was beaming at the disciples.
Seeing that only twisted something deep inside him.
I said with my own mouth that parents still find their useless children cute.
But Hyun Jong was not a useless child to Chung Myung. He was a pillar of the sect, a man who could have made Mount Hua famous if only the sect had stood properly on its own feet.
“We’ll take it back.”
At first, just one seat.
Nothing much, and yet in truth, it was the most important thing of all.
At that moment, Gongcho, who was presiding over the tournament, shouted in a booming voice, “Next! Baek Cheon of Mount Hua Sect!”
As soon as the name was called, every gaze in the audience turned toward the Mount Hua disciples at once.
Baek Cheon tightened his grip on his sword and glanced sideways at Chung Myung.
“Don’t worry.”
“Hm?”
“I’ll go out there and show them something flashy before I come back. I’ll make sure they understand that daring to seat Mount Hua’s sect leader there was a mistake.”
Watching Baek Cheon’s back as he headed toward the dueling stage, Chung Myung smiled in satisfaction.
“Seriously, every now and then you say something I like.”
Good.
Very good.
Heh heh heh heh!