Don’t Bow Your Head (1)
Sheeeak!
The sound of a blade splitting bone rang out with chilling clarity.
The Demonic Sect warrior, who had been twitching in violent spasms, slowly toppled face-first into the snow.
“Th-heav… Heavenly Demon… has re… returned, all demons….”
His incantation never made it to the end.
After confirming that the last Demonic Sect warrior was dead, Baek Cheon shook the blood from his sword and sheathed it.
No matter how much their enemies were Demonic Sect monsters who seemed no better than devils, killing people could not be something one felt nothing about. Much less if one called oneself a Daoist; then it absolutely should not be something to shrug off.
He closed his eyes and quietly offered the dead a prayer when—
Thud!
“You filthy Demonic Sect bastard!”
At the rough shout, Baek Cheon startled.
The Ice Palace warriors had rushed the corpse of the fallen Demonic Sect fighter, stabbing it over and over while hurling curses at it.
Baek Cheon frowned and was just about to say something when he gave a small shake of his head.
Whatever I say, they won’t hear it.
Countless Ice Palace warriors had been sacrificed before the Demonic Sect invaders were all brought down. People who had watched their comrades die in such hideous fashion would never be reasoned with by mere words. All one could do was hope their rage did not swell beyond control.
“Sasuk.”
At that moment, Yoon Jong, Jo Gul, Yu I-seol, Dang Soso, and even Hye Yeon all approached him.
Seeing them, wounded in one place or another, made the brutality of this battle feel real all over again.
Yoon Jong, standing at the front, wiped blood from his face before speaking.
“It seems all the invaders have been defeated.”
“Mm.”
Baek Cheon gave a slight nod and looked around.
It’s dreadful.
The Ice Palace, which had once been buried in pristine white snow, was now stained dark red by the blood of its warriors and the Demonic Sect fighters alike. And if most of that blood belonged to the Ice Palace, then it was easy to understand the fury they had just seen.
“The Demonic Sect….”
Baek Cheon bit his lip lightly and said,
“They were truly terrifying bastards.”
“……I agree.”
Not just Yoon Jong, but even Jo Gul, who usually never lost his energy under any circumstances, was openly looking shell-shocked as he shook his head.
Who could possibly deny it? Baek Cheon was still fighting to steady the trembling in his fingertips.
The Demonic Sect warriors were unlike anyone the disciples of Mount Hua had ever faced. Their dreadful malice and skin-crawling madness still seemed to press against his body like a phantom ache.
“……We took the existence of the Demonic Sect far too lightly.”
Everyone had felt that truth in their bones after this.
This was why the name of the Demonic Sect still traveled through the world one hundred years later as a synonym for terror and death.
“If Chung Myung hadn’t been here….”
At Yoon Jong’s words, Baek Cheon silently nodded.
If Chung Myung had not completely turned the tide, the number of casualties would have kept rising without end. No—perhaps the history of the North Sea Ice Palace would have ended today.
He had accomplished something beyond remarkable.
And yet it was also true that questions remained.
How in the world does that bastard make this kind of thing look so easy? No, more than that—how did he know so much about the Demonic Sect?
It was absurd even to think he could still claim to know Chung Myung well. After going through this battle, Baek Cheon had begun to doubt whether he had ever understood anything about him at all.
His gaze naturally drifted toward the fortress.
Just then, he met the eyes of Han Yi-myung and Yeo Sa-hon, who were approaching.
The two men came forward with faces drained of color, hesitating awkwardly for a moment. It seemed they found it hard to speak. Baek Cheon could understand that reaction. After everything they had just witnessed, how could words come easily?
After a brief hesitation, Han Yi-myung was the first to bow deeply in salute.
“Your… no, rather, we owe Mount Hua the deepest gratitude for your help. The North Sea Ice Palace has truly received a tremendous kindness.”
It was a heartfelt thanks.
Baek Cheon’s eyes shifted briefly to Yeo Sa-hon, who stood behind Han Yi-myung. In this situation, it should have been Yeo Sa-hon who said those words. But he only kept his mouth tightly shut and avoided Baek Cheon’s gaze.
“There is no need to thank us.”
Straightening his disordered sleeves, Baek Cheon tidied his clothing and returned the salute lightly to Han Yi-myung.
“As a disciple of Mount Hua, and as a martial artist who follows righteousness, I merely did what I had to do.”
His voice was utterly composed. So composed, in fact, that it sounded almost cold, as if drawing a line.
Han Yi-myung, looking at Baek Cheon, found himself squeezing his eyes shut.
Thinking back to the conversation they had just had about the Demonic Sect, he felt like he could crawl into a hole and disappear.
What if these people had left before the Demonic Sect attacked?
Then Han Yi-myung likely would never have seen another sunrise. And the Ice Palace would surely have suffered an irreparable blow.
How was one supposed to describe the feeling of being saved by those one had driven away?
“……I can only apologize.”
As Han Yi-myung kept bowing again and again, Yeo Sa-hon’s face grew redder and redder. Evidently, he had enough shame not to say it out loud, but he clearly disliked this situation where Han Yi-myung kept lowering his head.
“We had no idea the Demonic Sect was so dangerous. In my head I thought I understood, but the truth is I knew nothing at all. Please, blame my ignorance.”
Baek Cheon looked like he wanted to say something, then shut his mouth.
Normally he would have offered some polite words of restraint, saying that Mount Hua itself had not understood the full terror of the Demonic Sect either. But when he thought of what they had done to Chung Myung, those words would not come.
Baek Cheon simply recited a quiet Daoist greeting.
This is hard.
Even though he was a Daoist, the anger still burning in his chest would not easily subside. That likely meant his cultivation was still lacking.
Still, he had no intention of forcing himself to cast off that coldness.
“Even though the Ice Palace committed great rudeness, I don’t know what words can possibly express my gratitude to the disciples of Mount Hua who raised their swords for us.”
Han Yi-myung merely listened and slowly looked around the area.
The Ice Palace warriors surrounding them were looking at the Mount Hua disciples with different eyes than before. Those who had once stared at them with wariness and fear now looked on with a subtle mixture of admiration and awe.
Only now…?
Baek Cheon let out a sigh he could not hold back.
Of course he knew full well that the Jianghu was a place where one ultimately had to prove oneself through strength. But reality, when faced with one’s own eyes, could sometimes feel harsher than expected.
“……At the very least, you should start cleaning this up.”
In the end, unable to find anything more appropriate to say, he tried to bring some order to the situation. Then a quiet voice pierced his ear.
“Sahyung.”
“Hm?”
“There.”
Yu I-seol pointed toward the fortress with her chin. The gates were open, and Chung Myung was walking out with heavy, unhurried steps.
“Chung Myung….”
Chung Myung, you’re okay! Baek Cheon almost blurted it out, but the words died halfway in his throat.
That was because he saw Chung Myung dragging something along, one in each hand.
People?
No. Corpses?
Either way did not matter.
What mattered was not what Chung Myung was dragging out, but the expression on his face. It was so cold that even Baek Cheon felt a chill run down his spine just looking at it.
Step. Step.
With every slow step Chung Myung took, the Ice Palace warriors, cowed by his presence, hurriedly parted to either side to make room for him.
Drip. Drip-drip-drip.
He walked straight down the path that opened before him and toward the Mount Hua disciples.
Then he tossed the corpses at Yeo Sa-hon’s feet.
Thud! Thud!
Yeo Sa-hon flinched and his eyes flew open wide.
“W-what is this….”
Two headless bodies rolled across the ground.
“A-aren’t these the Ice Palace elders?”
Their heads were gone, so it was impossible to be certain, but from the robes, they were clearly Ice Palace elders.
What on earth had happened for this man to drag out the bodies of decapitated Ice Palace elders?
Yeo Sa-hon could not continue speaking and kept darting his gaze between Chung Myung and the corpses. Gradually, anger began to rise across his face.
“What is the meaning of this—!”
He tried to raise his voice, but Chung Myung’s eyes, flickering with a murderous light, shut his mouth for him.
“Heavenly Demon’s return, all demons prosper.”
“…….”
“That was their last words.”
Han Yi-myung stared at Chung Myung in disbelief.
“I thought they’d rotted to the core, but I never imagined men at the level of Ice Palace elders would be acting as the Demonic Sect’s hounds.”
Chung Myung spat the words out as though chewing them, then ground his teeth together.
If it had not been for these men, the law enforcer would never have gotten away. The frustration he had been unable to vent spilled over toward Yeo Sa-hon and Han Yi-myung.
“I-it can’t be true!”
Yeo Sa-hon stammered, his body shaking uncontrollably.
“No matter what you say, these men were still subordinates of Seol Cheon-sang, but they were still the proud elders of the North Sea Ice Palace! How could such people conspire with the Demonic Sect? There must be some misunderstanding—”
“Keep talking.”
Fire flashed in Chung Myung’s eyes.
“I’ll rip your mouth apart, so keep talking.”
“……Y-you insolent—”
“Proud elders of the Ice Palace?”
Chung Myung sneered coldly, as though he had just heard the stupidest joke in the world.
“Then what exactly did that proud Ice Palace do?”
“…….”
“These pathetic motherfuckers….”
Chung Myung tightened his grip on his sword. At that sight, Yeo Sa-hon reflexively staggered backward.
Who here had not seen Chung Myung’s martial skill?
It was blindingly obvious what would happen the moment that sword was drawn.
Yeo Sa-hon, now as white as paper, cried out as though screaming.
“Are you saying you’ll persecute the Ice Palace over something that isn’t even certain? Is that Mount Hua’s intent?”
His gaze had gone not to Chung Myung but to Baek Cheon. It seemed he was asking him to stop Chung Myung.
But Baek Cheon only stared back with cold eyes.
“W-what is this!”
Pushed to the wall, Yeo Sa-hon turned to the Ice Palace warriors.
“What are you all standing there for? Can’t you see these outsiders are harming the Ice Palace’s elders and making unreasonable demands? Seize them at once and—”
“Elder!”
Unable to hold himself back any longer, Han Yi-myung shouted in a sharp voice.
“Watch your words! Before something irreversible happens!”
“…….”
Yeo Sa-hon retreated further and further with a sickly expression.
Looking at him, Chung Myung bared his teeth.
“No. Keep talking.”
“……Th-that can’t be. T-those men would never have conspired with the Demonic Sect!”
The desperate shriek in his voice was pathetic in the extreme.
Seol Cheon-sang had indeed joined hands with the Demonic Sect, but that had only ever been a kind of “transaction,” one that kept some distance between the two sides. So if Seol Cheon-sang were ousted, it might still have been possible to cut ties with the Demonic Sect.
But the fact that the Ice Palace elders had died protecting a Demonic Sect warrior was something no excuse in the world could clean away.
He had to deny it. He must never admit it. If they had sunk so deeply into this mess….
But at that moment, a voice like thunder splitting the sky crashed into his ear.
“Elder, please step back.”
Yeo Sa-hon gaped and snapped his head around.
The Lord of the Ice Palace, Seol So-baek, was walking toward them.
His face had gone bloodless from the shock of this battle, but the set of his mouth—so like the previous palace lord’s—was iron-hard with resolve.
“Elder Yeo does not need to deny it so fiercely. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“P-Palace Lord?”
“I saw those men shield the Demonic Sect warrior and attack Chung Myung-dojang.”
“Palace Lord!”
Yeo Sa-hon roared.
“What are you saying? What exactly did you see? Do you even understand what you’re saying right now?”
Then he began spewing words in a frenzy.
“Could it not be that the Palace Lord misread the situation?! Shocked by this chaos, perhaps you were simply—”
“Enough!”
Seol So-baek bit his lip hard and glared at Yeo Sa-hon.
“If you truly think of me as your palace lord, then you cannot stand before so many people and deny what I saw and heard with my own eyes as some sort of mistake!”
“P-Palace Lord….”
Seol So-baek’s face had become cold as ice.
“Chung Myung-dojang once said something to me. That the reason the Ice Palace had become this way was not because of the Demonic Sect, but because of people like you.”
“…….”
“I finally understand what he meant. People who run when an enemy stands before them. People who care only about hiding their own shame and never about reflecting on it. People who turn their heads from danger simply to preserve their own comfort.”
Seol So-baek’s voice echoed through the silence like both a sob and a cry.
“Is this the reality of the Ice Palace?”
Han Yi-myung’s tightly shut eyelashes trembled.
If the Demonic Sect had attacked before today, he would have denied it and argued back. He would even have tried to make excuses.
But the reality he had seen today was not all that different. They had somehow forgotten the spirit of the Ice Palace and thrown away the things they ought never to have abandoned in their peace and comfort.
Seol So-baek turned and looked straight at Chung Myung.
“Chung Myung-dojang.”
“…….”
“You said they acquired Ice Crystals and were scheming to resurrect the Heavenly Demon, did you not?”
“Yeah.”
At Chung Myung’s brief answer, Seol So-baek nodded.
“As the Lord of the Ice Palace, I intend to lead the North Sea Ice Palace and strike at the Demonic Sect.”
Then he slowly dropped to one knee before Chung Myung. Murmurs spread like wildfire.
“P-Palace Lord!”
“What in the world—!”
“Be quiet!”
At Seol So-baek’s single shout, the surrounding area fell silent once more. With a face sharp and fierce far beyond what one would expect from a child, he glared at everyone before looking back at Chung Myung.
“……But the Ice Palace’s power alone is not enough. Please lend us Mount Hua’s strength. For the sake of the Ice Palace… no, for the North Sea, we must surely crush them. Whatever it is they plan to do, if this continues, the North Sea will soon be drowned in blood. So please, help the North Sea! Please!”
He lowered his head as though he would smash his forehead into the ground at any second. No—he tried to.
But his body soon floated up into the air.
“…….”
At some point, Chung Myung had grabbed him by the nape of the neck and lifted him up by it.
“C-Chung Myung-dojang?”
“The adults can’t act their age, and the kid has to suffer for it.”
After setting Seol So-baek down properly on the ground, Chung Myung looked up and cast a sidelong glance at the distant sky.
This is a pain in the ass.
His stomach churned.
Not because he had lost the law enforcer, and not because he had seen the Ice Palace’s disgrace.
It was because he could almost see, with his own eyes, how the young disciples of Mount Hua—the ones they had lost from the Cheong generation and the past generation—must have felt when the Demonic Sect invaded.
Back then, Mount Hua must have pleaded just like Seol So-baek. To those they trusted, to those they relied on most. They must have had hope in one corner of their hearts, and faith.
But back then, no one in the world reached out a hand to Mount Hua.
No one.
“……Don’t bow your head.”
“Huh?”
Chung Myung clenched his fist tightly.
“I was going to do it even if you hadn’t begged like this.”
Chung Myung turned and looked at Baek Cheon.
Baek Cheon seemed about to say something, chewing on his lip for a moment before finally letting out a sigh.
“……Fine, you damned bastard.”
Once his permission fell, the disciples of Mount Hua also brightened, their eyes gleaming as if they understood exactly what Chung Myung was feeling.
“Honestly, just leaving them alone would feel too wrong.”
Yoon Jong said with firm resolve.
“And it’d be humiliating, like we ran away.”
Jo Gul added with a snort.
“Exterminate.”
“Sago says the Demonic Sect are the kind of people who have to be exterminated!”
“……Soso. I understand without the explanation.”
“Amitabha.”
Hye Yeon chanted the Buddha’s name and nodded.
“I thought as much from you, benefactor Chung Myung.”
A faint smile rested on his lips. His eyes, full of trust, fixed on Chung Myung.
He understood.
By some standards, this was foolish. Stupid. If they fought the Demonic Sect here in this faraway land of the North Sea and died, who in the world would praise their deaths? If they simply turned and left, no one could blame them.
No, rationally speaking, they should be heading for the Central Plains right now. Everyone here knew that perfectly well.
And yet…
No one moved to do that “right” thing.
“We accept the plea of the North Sea Ice Palace.”
Baek Cheon spoke with a resolute face.
“Mount Hua, and Shaolin as well, will join the extermination of the Demonic Sect.”
To act not by weighing gain and loss, but by following the path of the heart.
The world called that righteous chivalry.