We’ve Already Come Too Far (1)
“…Damn it, seriously.”
Chung Myung ground his teeth hard enough to make them squeal.
Anyway, those Demonic Sect bastards had been useless in his past life and they were useless now. Hell, if they were merely useless, that would’ve been a blessing.
“Grrrgh.”
He let out a groan from deep in his chest and scratched at his head with both hands. At the same time, a chilling murderous aura flickered in his eyes.
“...Maybe I should just...”
His gaze slowly drifted toward the Ice Crystal tucked in his sleeve.
The Demonic Sect wanted the Ice Crystal to resurrect the Heavenly Demon. Of course, Chung Myung didn’t believe for a second that those lunatics could actually bring Cheon Ma back to life—but there was always that one-in-a-million chance, wasn’t there?
“Should I just smash the whole thing?”
“What? The Ice Crystal?!”
The Mount Hua disciples stared with their eyes wide and their jaws hanging open.
“Hey, do you have any idea how much hell we went through to dig this out?”
“Now is not the time to talk about hell! You son of a—!”
“A-and the Honwon Dan? What about the one we promised to the Green Forest?”
“Honwon Dan, my ass...”
Clenching his fist, Chung Myung bared his teeth.
Of course, his promise to the Green Forest King mattered. But compared to the absurd catastrophe of reviving the Heavenly Demon, it was nothing.
The Green Forest wouldn’t take a backstab lying down, of course, but if the choice was fighting the Green Forest or fighting Cheon Ma, then the Green Forest was a hundred times—no, a thousand times—better.
Except...
“Grr. Easy to say.”
What if the Demonic Sect found out all the Ice Crystals were gone and that resurrecting Cheon Ma had become impossible?
They’d go completely insane.
It would be wonderful if they just lost all motivation, slumped over, and became depressed, but what kind of people were they? More likely, they’d roll their eyes white and throw every last fit they could.
If those bastards went berserk spitting foam from their mouths, not a single ant would survive in the North Sea.
Because not one of those Demonic Sect freaks had a sane bone in their body.
So this was really a method to think about only as an absolute last resort. Which left the remaining options as...
“So in the end, we still have to fight...”
Chung Myung let out a pained sound and clawed at his own hair.
“Those damn Demonic Sect bastards, causing hell again. Again! How are we supposed to handle a Demonic Sect that even with Central Plains reinforcements would still be impossible to deal with, all by ourselves?”
He rolled around on the ground with the air of a man about to foam at the mouth.
“Aaaagh! Why is nothing ever going right?! Why is nothing going right?!”
At his shrieking, the Mount Hua disciples let out deep sighs.
Yoon Jong lowered his voice and asked Baek Cheon, “Shouldn’t we stop him?”
“Him?”
“...”
“How?”
Yoon Jong glanced toward the prisoners behind them and then whispered again, “...Still, there are a lot of people watching.”
“Seems like there weren’t any eyes watching during the Martial Tournament, though.”
“...”
Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung with the expression of a man who had given up on a great many things.
It was fine if he wanted to throw a tantrum, just please, after he finished throwing it, could he come back to his senses? Baek Cheon wasn’t asking for much.
Honestly, the situation was understandable enough.
Even if Chung Myung’s nerves were made of steel rope, with the Demonic Sect glaring from right beside him and the thing they were after tucked inside his own sleeve, it would’ve been stranger if he were calm.
Let’s calm him down a little first...
But just as Baek Cheon opened his mouth, Chung Myung shot to his feet.
Startled, Baek Cheon quickly checked his expression.
It was hard to describe. Rage, annoyance, anger, grievance.
All of those emotions seemed to twist together at once, and then the corners of Chung Myung’s mouth began to twitch.
“...No, wait, right?”
His eyes soon started to gleam with nervous energy.
“Damn it, if you look at it closely, when has anything in my life ever gone smoothly? If a mountain blocks me, I just grind the mountain to dust. If a river blocks me, I bend the river out of shape and call it a day!”
At that glorious declaration, Baek Cheon smiled with warm approval.
My heavens. That’s a Daoist right there. A real Daoist.
Chung Myung, do you perhaps know what wuwei ziran means?
If Taishang Laojun saw you, he’d probably choke on blood foam and collapse clutching the back of his neck.
But Chung Myung’s muttering continued.
“Yeah... so that means you bastards want to resurrect here, huh?”
Who said you could, you motherless bastards?
Blood vessels stood out in his eyes.
“We’re no luckier than they are. Those Demonic Sect bastards picked the wrong guy to cross. I’ll make them regret it so hard they’ll weep blood.”
Watching Chung Myung erupt in fury with every part of his body, Yoon Jong whispered again, “Sasuk. This feels like it’s heading in a very bad direction.”
“Yoon Jong.”
“Yes.”
“If you turn your head away, that’s nirvana.”
“...What does that mean?”
“It means giving up is easier.”
“...Baek Cheon Jisa, that is not what that phrase means...”
Hye Yeon, who had been listening, quietly interjected, but no one paid much attention.
Then Chung Myung abruptly turned his head and looked at Yeo Sa-hon, the former First Elder of the Ice Palace.
“Hey!”
“Y-yes?”
Startled by the sudden call, Yeo Sa-hon answered at once.
“You’ve got the gist of the situation, right?”
Yeo Sa-hon hurriedly nodded. In truth, he still had no clear idea what exactly was going on, but judging by that man-eating air around Chung Myung, it seemed like he had to answer yes.
“We were only planning to get some information and leave, but the situation’s changed.”
“...What do you mean by that?”
“I mean the Demonic Sect bastards didn’t get pushed out here by the people of Central Plains and get stuck here by accident. They came here with a purpose. To resurrect the Heavenly Demon!”
“...”
“Whether they succeed or fail, the North Sea is done for. If they succeed, obviously it’s over. If they fail, those bastards will go nuts.”
“No, how could you possibly...”
“Because that’s just how the Demonic Sect is.”
I know because I’ve fought them myself, old man! Me!
Chung Myung glared fiercely.
“Mister!”
“...Yes?”
Yeo Sa-hon.
By status or experience, he was certainly no one to be looked down on. But now, facing this young Daoist from Mount Hua, he kept feeling himself being dragged around by the nose.
“If you get out of here, can you find the Ice Palace again?”
“F-find the Ice Palace again?”
“Yes.”
Yeo Sa-hon stared at Chung Myung in disbelief.
“We’ve even lost our inner power. How in the world are we supposed to find the Ice Palace again? We’re under the Demonic Sect’s seal...”
“I can take care of that.”
“...What?”
“I said I can undo that seal.”
Yeo Sa-hon’s eyes widened to the point of tearing.
“W-what did you just say...”
“Ah, are your ears bad? I said I can undo that seal. I can help you recover your inner power.”
“H-how in the...”
“How? What do you mean how?”
The people who knew demonic arts best in the world were naturally the Demonic Sect themselves. But after them, the person with the deepest understanding of demonic arts was none other than Chung Myung.
Back when the Demonic Sect had been at the height of its rampage, aside from Cheong Jin, there had been no one who knew demonic arts better than he did. So what was there to say now?
And more than anything...
What do you mean your principles are different?
You’re just weaker now!
Come to think of it, a lot had changed after Chung Myung returned. At least now he didn’t say things like that out loud.
If he’d been the old Plum Blossom Sword Saint, he would’ve stared someone in the face and said, “You’re just too weak to undo it, you idiots.” Straight to their faces.
“I-is that really possible?”
“Have you been living your life getting scammed and still not learned better? Do I look like the kind of man who lies?”
“...”
“...Why aren’t you answering?”
“No... well...”
Seeing Yeo Sa-hon hesitate, the Mount Hua disciples nodded to themselves.
As expected, because he used to be an elder, he really can tell people apart.
He trusts him instinctively.
At that moment, Chung Myung clapped his hands with a decisive expression.
“Anyway.”
Then, in a more serious voice, he asked again, “Tell me this. If you can recover your inner power and get out of here, can you rally the former palace lord’s faction and go toe-to-toe with the Ice Palace?”
A troubled look flickered over Yeo Sa-hon’s face.
“...It won’t be easy.”
“Why not? From what I hear, the current palace lord has already lost a lot of popular support because of his tyranny. Aren’t there many people on your side?”
Yeo Sa-hon let out a long, weary sigh.
“There are. But even so, the warriors of the Ice Palace—and even the people of the North Sea—won’t support us.”
“Why not?”
“Because we are not the Snow Clan.”
Chung Myung frowned slightly and asked, “The Snow Clan?”
“Yes. The leaders of the North Sea have always been chosen from the Snow Clan. Those who are not of the Snow Clan cannot gain the support of the North Sea people.”
For a second, Chung Myung looked utterly baffled and his mouth fell open.
“No, what in the world is—”
The Mount Hua disciples also had no choice but to stiffen their faces.
“That’s basically a kingdom.”
“Exactly. It doesn’t feel like a sect at all.”
Even within a hereditary clan, not just anyone monopolized the position of family head.
“...Then is there some other suitable Snow Clan branch?”
At Baek Cheon’s question, Yeo Sa-hon shook his head.
“The Snow Clan has always been short on heirs. Right now, the only one continuing the Snow Clan line in the North Sea is Seol Cheon-sang.”
“Grrr.”
Thinking the situation was somehow getting horribly tangled, Chung Myung scratched at his head again and again.
“No, really, there’s no other way?”
If there had been another way, they would’ve tried it long ago. Yeo Sa-hon sighed heavily, sounding nearly as frustrated as Chung Myung.
“That’s why I told you we needed the power of Central Plains, didn’t I? Given the nature of the North Sea, without Snow Clan blood, there is nothing we can do. If the son of the former palace lord who fled during the tragedy were still alive, then perhaps there would be a way...”
At that moment, Jo Gul spoke up.
“The former palace lord’s son?”
“...Yes.”
The Mount Hua disciples turned to one another.
“The... what was his name? Seol So-baek?”
“I think so?”
Yeo Sa-hon’s head snapped up. He stared with his eyes nearly splitting open and asked in a trembling voice, “H-how do you know that?”
“We met him.”
Chung Myung answered with a lazy shrug.
“He was with some guy named Han Yi-myung.”
“H-Han Commandant?”
Yeo Sa-hon’s mouth hung open as all manner of emotions swirled across his face.
Though his body was trapped here, how desperately had he tried to learn news of them all this time?
And yet for years, he hadn’t even been able to confirm whether they were alive or dead. To think he’d hear news of the dearly awaited Seol So-baek from these people...
He asked in a rush, “W-where are they now?”
“No idea. Didn’t see where they went after that.”
At that indifferent answer, the hope that had flared in Yeo Sa-hon’s face rapidly went out.
“Ah... if only we knew their whereabouts, the situation might change...”
“Really?”
“...Yes. Young Master Seol is the legitimate heir of the Snow Clan. Those who follow the former palace lord would not hesitate to support him. If only we could find Young Master Seol’s whereabouts... the situation could change.”
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung’s mouth curved upward.
“So if we find that little brat Seol So-baek, we can rally the outside forces and the former palace lord’s faction inside the Ice Palace?”
“Exactly. But how are we supposed to find him in this vast North Sea?”
Chung Myung smiled with clear satisfaction.
“I fed and housed a useless glutton all this time, and now it’s finally time for him to earn his keep.”
“...What?”
Chung Myung tapped his chest.
“Hey, come out.”
Kiik?
Then a lump of pure white fur poked its head out from inside his clothes. It had apparently been asleep; sleepy black eyes blinked dully as it woke.
Chung Myung grabbed Baek Ah around the waist and hauled it out.
“You remember that brat, right?”
Baek Ah, held in Chung Myung’s hands, kept nodding frantically.
“You can find him, right?”
...
“I told you to remember the smell. You can find him, right?”
After staring at Chung Myung for a moment, Baek Ah’s mouth slowly fell open.
Baek Cheon watched the little beast and whispered to Jo Gul, “Gul. Do animals normally sweat?”
“I know dogs don’t, at least. As for martens...”
“...Looks like they do. Must be because it’s a spiritual beast.”
They could see it clearly. Beads of sweat had formed on the back of Baek Ah’s head.
Chung Myung asked again, “What? You can’t find him?”
Kiiy!
They had no way of understanding beast speech, and yet strangely enough, the meaning of that cry was perfectly clear.
Translated into human language, it would have been something like: You crazy bastard, how am I supposed to find a person in this huge place by smell alone?
“Can’t find him?”
...
“You really can’t?”
...
Sweat kept pouring off the back of Baek Ah’s head.
“Really?”
Chung Myung’s eyes began to glint with madness. In the end, Baek Ah nodded as fast as it possibly could.
Kiik! Kiiee! Kii!
“Good. That’s right.”
Chung Myung smiled in satisfaction and set Baek Ah back down on the ground.
“All right, then it’s simple.”
He turned and looked at the Mount Hua disciples and Hye Yeon.
“I don’t usually interfere in other sects’ business, but this situation’s different, so there’s no helping it.”
“...What are you planning?”
“What else?”
Chung Myung grinned.
“We’re going to beat the crap out of the Demonic Sect bastards.”
“...Aren’t we short on troops?”
“Short on troops? What are you talking about? The Ice Palace is crawling with troops!”
“Y-you... don’t tell me?”
“Exactly.”
Blue sparks of wild energy danced in Chung Myung’s eyes.
“We find that little brat Seol So-baek and use him—no, properly leverage him—to make the Ice Palace warriors side with us! Then we lead the Ice Palace and wipe out every last one of those Demonic Sect bastards!”
After giving that loud, blunt, and concise explanation, Chung Myung broke into a bright smile.
“Simple, right?”
“Uh... yeah. Very simple.”
Simple enough that dying looked easier, but sure.
What a load of crap...
