Chapter 456. I'm the Expert at That, You Know. (4)
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The cart raced down the official road without pause.
The Mount Hua disciples hauled it forward like tireless packhorses. Even though it was loaded with far more baggage than the carts they had carried on their journey to Sichuan, the whole thing seemed to move even faster than before.
“Hyaaah!”
“Heup!”
At the front, Jo Gul and Yoon Jong shouted out in competition with each other, each trying to outdo the other’s spirit.
“How are you supposed to build training into that kind of pulling?”
“And yet it looks like sahyung’s legs are already shaking.”
Yoon Jong and Jo Gul glared at each other, then clenched their teeth and pulled harder.
Watching the two of them charge ahead like angry bulls, Baek Cheon frowned slightly.
“You two.”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
“Yes!”
“Being energetic is one thing, but if you burn yourselves out from the very start, you’ll collapse from exhaustion before we even reach North Sea.”
Yoon Jong tilted his head, looking a little puzzled.
On the trip to Sichuan, Baek Cheon had kept saying they should suffer quickly and rest quickly. In fact, if something had to be endured anyway, he was the type who preferred to get it over with instead of avoiding it. So why had his stance changed now?
“Is North Sea really that far?”
“It is.”
“How far is it?”
“Hmm. Well….”
Baek Cheon thought hard for a moment before answering.
“According to Young Noble Huang, it’s about six thousand li.”
“……Pardon?”
Yoon Jong tapped at his ear and rubbed it hard.
“How many li? I must have misheard.”
“Six thousand li.”
“…….”
Yoon Jong’s eyes went wide.
“I-isn’t Sichuan Chengdu only a little over a thousand li away?”
“That’s right.”
“Then how many did you say? Six thousand li?”
“I said it was.”
At that moment, Chung Myung shot upright from his seat atop the baggage cart.
“How many li did you say?”
“……Are all these guys deaf? I said six thousand li.”
Chung Myung’s eyes nearly shook the earth apart.
“What the hell! You wouldn’t even get that if you circled the entire Central Plains! No wonder that damn bald monk was paying so much!”
“…….”
Then Hye Yeon, who had been sitting beside him, cried out in alarm.
“D-Done…! Even so, you can’t call the Abbot ‘that bald monk’….”
“What did you say?”
Chung Myung kicked Hye Yeon without warning.
“Aaaagh!”
Hye Yeon was sent flying off the pile of luggage and thudded into the ground.
“You little bastard, you’ve been riding around comfortably since earlier without pulling a damn thing, and now you’re mouthing off? I’ll rip every hair off your head.”
“……How are you going to rip out hair that isn’t even there to begin with….”
Lying face-down, Hye Yeon’s eyes grew wet with tears.
Where is the Buddha?
At this rate, he was going to die of rage before he ever found the Dharma.
Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung with some surprise.
“You didn’t even know where North Sea was?”
“Why would I ever go there? It’s not like I was born there.”
Chung Myung ground his teeth.
He had roamed the whole of the Central Plains as if it were his own backyard during the war against the Demonic Sect, but he had never once gone beyond the frontier.
“I thought North Sea Ice Palace meant something like Yunnan at most. Then out of nowhere you tell me six thousand li—a number I’ve never even heard in my life—and you expect me to link it to the Central Plains?”
“……That’s why it’s beyond the frontier.”
“Grrrgh.”
Chung Myung scratched his head furiously.
“Just how long does it take to go six thousand li?”
“If you run like a horse all day, you’d cover about two hundred li, so… you’d need a full month.”
“……A month?”
Chung Myung went blank for an instant.
“We’re already busy every single day, and now you’re telling me we have to spend a whole month getting there?”
“Chung Myung, calm down first….”
“No, what the hell are those Demonic Sect freaks doing all the way out there? They should’ve just gathered in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and gone to die together!”
Seeing Chung Myung begin to froth at the mouth, Baek Cheon quickly asked, “Do we know anyone who sells sweets and pastries up here?”
“……Would there be?”
Of course not.
Baek Cheon let out a long sigh.
They had only just set out, and yet Chung Myung was already throwing a fit. This was shaping up to be one hell of a journey.
“Anyway, the Demonic Sect bastards all need to be beaten to death!”
Chung Myung’s eyes were practically spitting fire.
Baek Cheon, who had quietly resumed pulling the cart, jerked his chin at Jo Gul.
“Gul, put Hye Yeon monk back on the cart for now.”
“Yes.”
With Hye Yeon loaded back on, they set off again, though the cart’s speed had slowed a little compared to before. Yoon Jong glanced at Baek Cheon and spoke up.
“By the way, Sasuk.”
“Hm?”
“Now that the topic’s come up, what exactly is the Demonic Sect?”
“……The Demonic Sect?”
“Yes.”
He scratched the back of his head with a somewhat embarrassed expression.
“Honestly, everything I’ve heard about them has been a bit vague. Things like how they’re absurdly powerful, or a gathering of vicious criminals who kill people without hesitation, or that they drink human blood. That sort of thing.”
“Hmm, right.”
“But now that we might actually run into them, I feel like I should know more.”
Baek Cheon went “Hmm” and frowned.
“Come to think of it, I don’t really know much about the Demonic Sect either.”
“Pardon?”
“It is a little strange. Rumors about the Demonic Sect have spread so widely that there’s hardly anyone who hasn’t heard of them, and yet no one seems to know exactly what kind of people they actually are.”
Baek Cheon looked down at Hye Yeon, who had been placed back atop the luggage pile.
“Monk Hye Yeon, do you know anything about the Demonic Sect? You are from Shaolin, after all.”
“……Why does ‘after all’ sound so strange, donor?”
“……My apologies.”
Hye Yeon looked up at the sky and gave a pitiful sigh. Then he said slowly, “I’m sorry, but this humble monk doesn’t know much about the Demonic Sect either.”
“You too, monk?”
“When I was training in Shaolin, I didn’t pay much attention to the world outside….”
Embarrassed, he lowered his head slightly.
He was suddenly reminded just how much of a frog in a well he had been while living within Shaolin. Just one step outside that well, and there was so much he could see, so much he could feel.
And yet…
Why did it also feel like that well had been happy?
“Weird. Why does nobody know anything about the Demonic Sect?”
Listening to them, Chung Myung answered lazily, “Because there’s no real need to know.”
“Huh?”
The Mount Hua disciples turned to look at Chung Myung.
“What do you mean there’s no need? Know the enemy and you’ll never lose a hundred battles, right?”
“……Know the enemy, huh.”
Chung Myung snorted.
“The Demonic Sect is a religious order made up of seventeen churches.”
“Eh?”
Suddenly real information was spilling out, and the Mount Hua disciples looked at him in surprise. They had never thought Chung Myung had that much interest in the subject.
“Wait, seventeen churches? That many?”
“Well, that’s how it used to be. I don’t know how many there are now.”
He had personally smashed most of them to pieces, after all.
“How do you know that, though? Nobody else does.”
“……If nobody else knows something, does that mean I shouldn’t know it either?”
“I just didn’t think you would.”
“Why you little—”
Chung Myung glared.
“What are your ears for? What are your eyes for? Why wouldn’t I know? I don’t know because I don’t care to know and don’t bother looking into it, that’s why!”
“……You really do love hearing yourself talk, don’t you.”
“Kyaaaagh!”
Chung Myung twitched again, ready to explode, but Hye Yeon quietly pressed a hand down on his shoulder.
After huffing for a moment, Chung Myung let out a long sigh and continued his explanation.
“At its core, the Demonic Sect is a religious group. In that sense, there isn’t all that much difference between them and Shaolin, which is also built on Buddhism.”
At that, Hye Yeon’s grip on his shoulder tightened. He looked ready to shout in protest, but Chung Myung quickly reached out and slapped a hand over his mouth.
“Listen before you talk! This bald monk’s temper is getting worse and worse.”
“……I could understand that if my fellow monks said it, but how can you possibly accuse me of being short-tempered? Where did your conscience go, donor?”
“I left it in Shaolin’s donation box. Why?”
“……Gghh!”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
“Anyway, in that sense, they’re not so different from Mount Hua either. After all, Mount Hua is a sect that reveres Daoism.”
“That’s true.”
By now Baek Cheon had stopped the cart entirely, and he nodded quietly.
But the rest of the disciples still didn’t seem able to accept it.
“No matter how you slice it, comparing the Demonic Sect to Mount Hua doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m talking about the root of it, the root.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
“See? You were all going on about knowing the enemy and all that, but the moment I actually explain it, you act like I’ve said something impossible. That’s why it’s pointless!”
“……No, that isn’t what I meant….”
“Shut up!”
Jo Gul, having run out of words, snapped his mouth shut like a clamshell.
Seeing Chung Myung annoyed, Baek Cheon smiled faintly and urged him on.
“Keep going.”
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung scratched his head and continued.
“Just because the root is the same doesn’t mean the outcome is the same. The Demonic Sect has one decisive difference from other religions.”
“What’s that?”
“They follow a person.”
Jo Gul tilted his head at that.
“A person? Like a king?”
“No. Like a god.”
As he spoke, Chung Myung’s brow furrowed slightly, as if even the explanation itself was irritating him.
“The Demonic Sect is a religion that worships the Heavenly Demon as a god.”
“……They worship a person as a god? A living person?”
“Yeah. That’s the key point.”
Chung Myung patted Hye Yeon’s polished bald head absentmindedly as he went on.
“Neither Daoists nor Buddhists worship a person as a god. They may revere people who’ve attained realizations close to divinity, but that’s a different matter. Sure, there are always the odd ones who claim to be the incarnation of the Buddha or the manifested body of Taishang Laojun, but people don’t really take that seriously, do they?”
“That’s true.”
“But the Demonic Sect bastards truly believe the Heavenly Demon is a god himself.”
Chung Myung’s voice dropped slightly.
“I asked earlier why information about the Demonic Sect didn’t spread through the world, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
“It’s because it’s pointless, plain and simple. Religious scriptures and doctrines are basically a way of passing down the words of a god so that people who can’t directly meet that god won’t forget the teachings, right? But what happens if the god is standing right in front of you?”
“……Then you don’t need doctrine anymore.”
“Exactly.”
Chung Myung narrowed his eyes.
“What would happen if someone who swore yesterday that no man should be killed suddenly said today that killing people isn’t sinful anymore?”
“……Wouldn’t that cause confusion?”
“Normally, yes. But the Demonic Sect doesn’t work that way. Because it’s the word of a god. All you have to do is follow it.”
“…….”
“The Demonic Sect worships the Heavenly Demon as a god. And the Heavenly Demon is a living human. Then every single word that human speaks becomes the word of a god. So they follow without doubting and without hesitation.”
“……How can people do that?”
Chung Myung gave a short laugh.
“That’s what makes the Demonic Sect so terrifying. It’s full of people who can.”
“…….”
“There’s nothing more frightening than humans who don’t doubt and don’t fear death. For people who think dying while following a god’s word is an honor, courage isn’t even necessary.”
Baek Cheon’s expression hardened.
Hearing that, he could finally begin to imagine just how fanatical the Demonic Sect must be.
People who didn’t even fear death, charging in on the command of someone they themselves considered a god?
Just the thought gave him chills.
“……In other words….”
“Hm?”
“The Demonic Sect is the kind of place that could go to either extreme depending on what that Heavenly Demon is like.”
“Right. That is true, but… honestly, it’d probably be mostly the same either way.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s never been a Heavenly Demon who was sane.”
“…….”
Then Yoon Jong raised his hand. Chung Myung pointed at him with his chin.
“Yes, yes. Speak.”
“If what you say is true, then the Demonic Sect is a place that worships the Heavenly Demon as a living god, but there is no Heavenly Demon now, is there? How, then, does it continue to exist?”
“They wait.”
“……Wait?”
Chung Myung nodded.
“Until a new Heavenly Demon appears. To them, the Heavenly Demon is both god and human. As a god, he is absolute, but as a human, he can die. But even if he dies, he will come back….”
Chung Myung closed his mouth for a moment.
Then he turned his head and looked far to the south.
South.
The place where the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains lay.
“They believe he will return. A new Heavenly Demon, a reincarnated Heavenly Demon.”
“……I think I understand.”
At Yoon Jong’s murmur, Chung Myung frowned.
“You understand nothing.”
“Huh?”
“There’s only one thing you need to understand from this.”
Everyone noticed that Chung Myung’s voice was quieter than usual, and they waited for him with serious faces.
“What is it?”
“You asked earlier, didn’t you? How humans could worship another human as a god without doubting.”
“……I did.”
“The Heavenly Demon makes that possible.”
“…….”
“What is a god, in the end? It’s a being that can do what humans can’t. In other words, even if he’s wearing a human body, if he shows power no human can dare follow, then he can be raised up as a god.”
Yoon Jong fell silent.
“It’s not that they believe in the Heavenly Demon because they have no reason. It’s that he makes it impossible for them to keep even a shred of doubt, and turns them into fanatics. A being whose martial arts go beyond martial arts and appear as something inhuman. That’s the Heavenly Demon.”
Chung Myung ground his teeth softly.
He had never once thought he was inferior to anyone in the world by force of arms.
People called him one of the Three Great Swordsmen of the world, or Mount Hua’s Number One Sword, but if he had set his mind to it, being called the world’s greatest swordsman would have been no trouble at all.
But…
That was on a completely different level.
The Heavenly Demon had been so strong that even he could do nothing against him.
It had taken the complete annihilation of the death squad assembled from all the power of the Central Plains before they had finally managed to sever that bastard’s neck.
Only after facing the Heavenly Demon in person had he understood why the Demonic Sect’s followers were so fanatical.
To warriors who had learned the martial path, it must have looked less like martial arts and more like a miracle.
“……Then does that Heavenly Demon still exist in the world right now?”
“Who knows.”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
“…….”
The Mount Hua disciples’ faces hardened at once.
Only then did they fully understand that this journey wasn’t merely about making contact with North Sea Ice Palace and checking the situation.
“And can we really figure that out?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“I’m the expert in that area, you know.”
Chung Myung lifted one shoulder in a shrug.
“Fanatics or whatever, people usually talk after you beat them until they’re on the verge of death, wake them up, beat them again, and then repeat the process.”
“…….”
At that self-assured voice, Baek Cheon smiled wryly.
You’re scarier than the Heavenly Demon, you bastard.
“Anyway.”
Chung Myung’s gaze moved north.
“We should make sure. Whether the Heavenly Demon really has returned.”
His eyes, oddly enough, had sunk into a gloom that didn’t suit him at all.