What Kind of Crazy Place Is This? (4)
Swoosh!
With the sound of a blade-slicing wind tearing through flesh and bone, over a dozen martial artists appeared before them.
Snow-white robes.
The character for ice embroidered on the left breast.
North Sea Ice Palace?
Baek Cheon’s face stiffened at once.
They had indeed come here to visit the North Sea Ice Palace, but running into its people so suddenly made his nerves tighten on instinct.
Sasuk.
I know.
Wasn’t there a saying that the good do not come, and those who come are not good?
One look at their frozen expressions told him everything he needed to know: they had not come here with any friendly intent.
The leading warrior from the Ice Palace swept them with a gaze colder than the dead of winter.
Then his eyes settled on one place.
Hong Yi-myung, and Hong Jin-bo.
“You rat-like bastards...”
The voice that leaked from his mouth was even colder than his expression.
What is this?
Baek Cheon glanced at Hong Yi-myung with a slight frown. The man who had been wearing a gentle smile only moments ago now looked completely different, his face hardened as if he were another person entirely.
“To think you were hiding in a place like this. So you do value your life after all.”
The Ice Palace warrior’s chilled rebuke turned toward Hong Jin-bo, standing beside Hong Yi-myung.
“...So it is that child.”
Hong Yi-myung’s body jolted.
Almost without thinking, he reached out and clamped a hand over Hong Jin-bo’s shoulder.
Seeing that, the man’s mouth curled with certainty.
“If you had fled the North Sea, you might have kept that life of yours. But your foolish attachment tied your own feet. Since that’s how it is, I’ll let you be buried in North Sea soil as you wish.”
The man tilted his chin.
“Kill them.”
“Ah, w-wait a second!”
Baek Cheon, who had been treated like a sack of grain tossed in the corner the entire time, suddenly shot a hand into the air.
The Ice Palace warriors turned in unison to stare at the Mount Hua disciples.
At those murderous looks, Baek Cheon quietly lowered his hand again and coughed into his fist.
“Outsiders...”
The man in front twisted his face.
“No matter how urgent things are, bringing outsiders into this... Have you forgotten the duty of a Northerner, Han Yi-myung?”
At that, Hong Yi-myung’s face contorted fiercely.
“How dare you spew such words from that mouth? You were the first to drag in outside forces.”
“Still running your mouth, I see.”
The man shot Baek Cheon a cold glare and asked, “Who are you?”
“Ah. We’re...”
Just as Baek Cheon was about to answer, Jo Gul jabbed him sharply in the side and cut in at once.
“...traveling merchants.”
“Merchants?”
The man frowned and glanced at the cart.
Only after seeing the sacks piled high on it did he finally click his tongue in understanding.
“Idiotic fools, rushing headlong toward death. Trade between the Central Plains and the North Sea was banned ages ago.”
“W-well, it’s not exactly trade, but...”
“Same difference. You’re all dead either way.”
As though there was no need for further words, the man jerked his chin.
“Kill them all. As for the boy, cut off his head without damaging his face.”
“Yes!”
With short, decisive answers, the Ice Palace warriors drew their swords and advanced.
Hong Yi-myung gripped Hong Jin-bo’s shoulder with a huge hand.
“Jin-bo.”
“F-father...”
“I’ll hold them here. You run without looking back.”
“What?”
“There’s no time for explanations! Go!”
“N-no, Father! I...”
“What are you standing there for? Go, now!”
In the end, Hong Yi-myung shoved Hong Jin-bo hard toward the rear. Then he spread both hands slightly and faced the approaching Ice Palace warriors.
“You won’t pass me until you kill me.”
“What a predictable line. A brat who hasn’t even properly learned martial arts can be killed anytime. But a chance to claim the life of the Ice Fox doesn’t come around so easily.”
That openly mocking tone made Hong Yi-myung bite down hard on his lip as he drew up his qi.
Meanwhile.
“...Looks like they’re fighting.”
“Seems that way.”
“...And they don’t seem to care about us at all.”
“He did say he’d kill us later.”
“What do we do?”
“No idea.”
Baek Cheon and Jo Gul scratched their heads furiously.
The situation was clearly turning urgent, but they had no idea what was actually going on, so taking sides felt awkward.
“That old man looks stronger than I expected.”
“Right?”
“Still, it doesn’t look like he can handle all those people alone, does it?”
“Hmm.”
Baek Cheon let out a long sigh.
Normally, he would have sided with Hong Yi-myung without the slightest hesitation. But they were on the way to the North Sea Ice Palace now. If possible, he did not want to create any unnecessary enmity with them.
The problem was...
If we don’t make enemies, someone’s going to die. But if we do make enemies, I’m worried about what comes after.
He was trapped between two choices he could not make.
“What do we do?”
Riiing.
Then the sound of a sword being drawn brushed their ears.
Startled, Baek Cheon and Jo Gul whipped around. Yoon Jong was calmly drawing his sword, his expression as peaceful as ever.
“W-what are you planning to do?”
“We should help.”
“Huh?”
“Even beasts know to repay the kindness of being fed and sheltered. And we’re not talking about an animal here, but a person. How could we just stand by and watch after becoming Daoists?”
This bastard, here he goes again.
“And you heard him, didn’t you?”
“Huh?”
“He said to kill them all. From the looks of it, they don’t intend to leave any witnesses alive. So what difference does it make whether we fight now or later? We might as well choose the path that saves people.”
Just as Baek Cheon was about to say something in return—
BOOOOM!
A tremendous explosion rang out from where Hong Yi-myung stood.
At the sight that met the startled Mount Hua disciples’ eyes...
Fwoooosh!
Hong Yi-myung was sent flying backward, blood spraying from his mouth.
Thud.
He rolled across the ground, then immediately sprang back to his feet. But bright red blood continued to spill from his mouth in thick streams.
Red blood dripped onto the snow one drop at a time.
His outstretched hands remained firm, but the legs supporting his body were clearly losing strength.
“So the Ice Fox has grown old too.”
“He’s past his prime.”
By contrast, the Ice Palace warriors pressing Hong Yi-myung had nothing but leisurely confidence on their faces.
“Father...”
Hong Jin-bo, watching from a short distance away, called to his father in a trembling voice.
Hong Yi-myung’s eyes bulged with blood vessels as he turned around and roared.
“Didn’t I tell you to leave already!”
“B-but...”
“Do you want to stand here and watch me bite my own tongue off?”
“...”
“Go! Go now! You have to live! Hurry!”
His tone changed, but Hong Jin-bo seemed too terrified to notice it.
“How moving.”
The Ice Palace warriors sneered at the desperate scene and closed in without mercy.
“There’s no need to fuss like that. If you die, that boy will follow soon enough.”
Hearing that, Hong Yi-myung ground his teeth and glared at them with terrifying eyes.
“If you truly take pride in being warriors of the Ice Palace, you would never dare speak such words. Do you not know who that person is?”
“We know very well.”
The man at the front gave a cold smile.
“Because we know, we can say this. Of course, an old man bound by the ghosts of the past would never understand, no matter how much we explain.”
“You damned bastards!”
“Enough talk. Die.”
The moment the signal was given, the Ice Palace warriors surged toward Hong Yi-myung with astonishing speed. Hong Yi-myung swept his hands through the air and drew up his qi once more.
Shwaaah!
A pale white energy burst from his palms. Then, like a snowstorm scattering through the air, a series of white palm strikes exploded outward.
“Cold Snow Palm! So he does have some skill!”
The palm force, carrying an eerie chill, poured down menacingly, but the Ice Palace warriors did not hesitate in the slightest as they charged straight through it.
And then—
BOOM! BOOM!
Their blades, wrapped in blue sword aura, struck down the Cold Snow Palm again and again.
Like snow flung away by a broom, the palm force shattered and crumbled.
“Kugh!”
Holding off more than ten attacks alone was clearly too much. Hong Yi-myung soon coughed up blood again and staggered backward in disarray. But the Ice Palace warriors had no intention of letting him escape so easily.
“Die!”
A sword flashed from the front and flew straight for Hong Yi-myung’s neck.
The moment Hong Yi-myung’s eyes flew wide—
KAAANG!
The sharp ring of metal echoed through the air. At the same time, the incoming blade was knocked skyward.
“What?”
The swordsman who had struck blinked in shock.
Thud.
Spinning as it flew, the blade planted itself into the thick snow.
“...”
Hong Yi-myung, who had expected his throat to be cut open at any moment, stared in astonishment at the man who had blocked the strike before him.
“Y-you...”
Broad shoulders.
Upright posture.
A hero’s silhouette...
“...Damn it, I did it again!”
...or so it seemed, perhaps not.
Baek Cheon, who had stepped in front of Hong Yi-myung, scratched his head hard beneath his hat with an awkward expression.
“Well, this was going to happen anyway.”
Yoon Jong walked over and stood beside him.
“They were going to try killing us too, in any case. If we fight now or later, it makes no difference.”
Jo Gul also drew his sword and took his place on Yoon Jong’s other side. Yu I-seol and Dang Soso had already drawn their swords as well, and they approached at an unhurried pace to stand with them.
“Who are you people? You don’t look like ordinary merchants.”
“...We’re not ordinary merchants.”
Baek Cheon shrugged.
“That said, there doesn’t seem to be any need for us to go out of our way to announce who we are.”
“...What did you say?”
Jo Gul backed him up.
“You’re the same. You haven’t exactly introduced yourselves, have you? You rude bunch of idiots.”
“Good. Our Jo Gul finally says something right once in a while.”
“Right? Heh heh.”
Delighted to hear praise from Yoon Jong after such a long time, Jo Gul grinned smugly. But the faces of the Ice Palace warriors watching them twisted colder and colder.
“You dare interfere in matters of the North Sea? You Central Plains people?”
Hearing that, Baek Cheon twitched the corner of his mouth and tilted his head.
“You said you were going to kill us, didn’t you?”
“...”
“What a funny man. A moment ago you were shouting about killing us, and now you’re saying not to interfere. Do you even know what you’re saying?”
Jo Gul and Yoon Jong exchanged a glance in midair.
Sasuk... he’s at it again.
Let him be. You know that’s just how he is.
Baek Cheon thought too much before a fight, but once he had made a decision, he never looked back.
“Amitabha.”
Then, at last, Hye Yeon slowly walked over and stood beside them.
“I do not know the details of this matter, but a human life is precious. I cannot stand by and allow slaughter before my very eyes.”
“...Even a monk?”
The Ice Palace warrior’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. Then he gave a cold sneer.
“So the Central Plains really is full of arrogant fools. You’ve proven the rumor true, trying to interfere with Ice Palace business here in the North Sea. I’ll make you pay dearly for that.”
The man pulled the sword from the ground and ground his teeth, looking thoroughly enraged.
The Mount Hua disciples’ faces subtly hardened.
Will this be all right?
There’s still something about this that feels off...
Then it happened.
Bump. Bump.
“Oh?”
“It’s coming out.”
The Mount Hua disciples brightened slightly and turned toward the cart. As the two sides shifted their attention, the Ice Palace warriors reflexively looked at the cart as well.
The round bundles stacked high on it began to wobble, then slowly collapsed to either side. And from beneath them, an even larger, even rounder bundle suddenly popped up...
No, wait. Was that not a bundle?
A person, covered from head to toe in fur skins, poked their head out.
Then, with a face packed full of every annoyance in the world, they shouted, “Why the hell are you dragging this out again?! If you just stand around, it gets colder!”
At that absurd sight, even the Ice Palace warriors fell silent for a moment.
Why was a person coming out of a pile of luggage?
“Hey, you idiot! Read the room before you talk!”
“What room? What?”
“I said Ice Palace! Ice Palace!”
“So?”
Baek Cheon was about to vent his irritation, but he froze for a split second and tilted his head.
Chung Myung was impulsive, but he wasn’t stupid. He was not the kind of idiot who wouldn’t understand what it meant to run into the Ice Palace here.
Which meant...
“Can I do it?”
“You’re worrying about the strangest things. Do whatever you want.”
At Chung Myung’s indifferent answer, Baek Cheon’s lips curled into a sharp grin.
“Good!”
Finally shaking off even the last scrap of unease, Baek Cheon leaned back with almost arrogant ease and stared down the Ice Palace warriors.
“Did you hear that?”
“...”
“If you turn back now, I won’t make you see anything ugly. My kids are a little rough, you see.”
At that, the Ice Palace warrior at the front ground his teeth.
“You reckless brats... Just when I thought I’d seen enough...”
Then he roared, “Kill them all!”
“Yes!”
The Ice Palace warriors now rushed at the Mount Hua disciples and the monk in unison.
Baek Cheon didn’t even blink. Keeping his sword pointed straight ahead, he said, “Don’t kill them!”
“Yes!”
With Baek Cheon at their head, the Mount Hua disciples shot forward like lightning toward the Ice Palace warriors.