Recovery Is Not Enough (1)
“Failed?”
The Mad Ox Blade, Go Hong’s eyes twisted hideously.
At the same time, everyone standing before him began trembling and bowed their heads low.
Go Hong was called the Mad Ox Blade not because he was always a violent-tempered man.
By nature, he was actually capable of keeping a measure of reason. But when he got angry, it was a different story. The name Mad Ox Blade came from the way he rampaged like a crazed bull whenever rage took hold of him.
“You’re telling me Dong Ung failed?”
“I-It seems so, Chaeju!”
Go Hong said nothing as he looked at the messenger.
The face of Lee Jeong-bang, the Bitter Fox, who was lying flat on the ground, drained of all color.
“He took the entire Yacha Hall with him, and he still failed? Then how much damage did they inflict on those people? And what happened to that rat Im So-byeong?”
“Th-that is…….”
As Lee Jeong-bang hesitated, Go Hong shot to his feet.
“Speak before I tear your damn mouth apart!”
“H-hiiik! Y-yes! I-I’ll report! The enemy, meaning Mount Hua Sect, seems to have suffered no damage at all.”
“……No damage?”
“…….”
Go Hong tilted his head slightly, as though he couldn’t believe his own ears.
“They took the entire Yacha Hall and still couldn’t even scratch them?”
“I-I’m sorry…… yes…….”
“Hah, hahahah.”
At the answer, Go Hong laughed in sheer disbelief.
“Am I dreaming right now?”
“…….”
“Were the Yacha Hall bastards weaker than I thought? Or is this Mount Hua Sect stronger than I heard?”
Lee Jeong-bang hunched down even further and hurriedly answered.
“M-Mount Hua is not a sect that can be taken lightly. They’ve already achieved the feat of defeating the martial forces of Maninbang…….”
Kwaaaaang!
But before he could finish, a thunderous explosion shook the room and a plume of dust rose up.
Drip.
Cold sweat poured down Lee Jeong-bang’s face. Slowly turning his head, he saw that the spear planted behind the chair had somehow ended up right beside him.
If it had flown just an inch farther, he would already have been reduced to a neatly packed pile of flesh.
“So?”
“Ch-Chaeju…….”
“You want me, the man who will take the seat of the Green Forest King, to be cautious around a bunch of greenhorns like that? Around a sect that isn’t even among the Nine Great Sects?”
Lee Jeong-bang couldn’t force a single word out.
Mount Hua was not one of the Nine Great Sects, but it was absolutely not a sect to be dismissed. However, telling Go Hong that bluntly now would be no different from begging him to wash his neck clean and chop it off.
“H-how could they possibly compare to Chaeju’s majesty! That would be an utterly absurd thing to say!”
Lee Jeong-bang flattened himself as much as he could, but Go Hong’s expression did not soften in the slightest.
“Useless trash!”
Go Hong sprang up from his seat and roared hard enough to shake the whole stronghold.
“Make the preparations! I’ll go myself!”
“P-please calm down, Chaeju!”
“Calm down? Do I look like I can calm down right now? After suffering this humiliation? What do you think the other Chaeju will say about me?”
It was true that the various strongholds, including Dae-byeol Bandit Band, had joined forces to drive out the Green Forest Main Fortress. But who would ultimately take the seat of the Green Forest King still hadn’t been decided.
If they started debating it openly, they would weaken one another in the process, and that would only serve to strengthen Im So-byeong’s rule in the end.
But now that Dae-byeol had been disgraced so thoroughly, everyone would surely seize on it and use it to belittle him, saying he lacked the qualifications to become Green Forest King.
“That’s why you have to calm down even more! If we take on Mount Hua like this, we’ll just waste our strength for nothing. Then those other stronghold bastards might reap the benefits as fishermen netting a fish for free.”
“……The fisherman gets what, now? No, what are they supposed to get?”
“Who would benefit if our strength were reduced? We’ve already suffered damage, and if we waste more strength fighting those other stronghold bastards instead, Dae-byeol will be ruined! Those guys will come swarming like wolves the moment they sense weakness! Please, calm yourself!”
Go Hong’s face twisted.
“What do I care if I personally smash those Mount Hua bastards? Why should I be the one to lose anything!”
At that point, Lee Jeong-bang’s own face twisted in misery.
He can’t understand a damn thing you say.
If that man had possessed even a sliver of brains to support his natural brute strength, he would already have been the Green Forest King by now.
“Im So-byeong and Mount Hua Sect will definitely be aiming for this place!”
“And you want me to sit here and wait for that?”
“Chaeju! Think about it. Aren’t other strongholds already stationed along the road leading here?”
“Hm?”
“So as they pass through there, they’ll naturally expend their strength. Once that happens, all we have to do is swallow the weakened ones.”
“You idiot! What if some other stronghold catches the Green Forest King before that? That’d be like a dog chasing a chicken and staring at the roof afterward!”
“A dog can’t climb onto a roof, but Chaeju can.”
“……Huh?”
“If they capture Im So-byeong, then all we have to do is attack them and take Im So-byeong from them. Isn’t that the law of the Green Forest?”
At last, Go Hong showed a faint sign of thought.
“So…….”
“Yes, Chaeju! Once the other strongholds wear themselves down fighting them, we can sweep in and crush everyone at once! Then no one will be able to oppose you taking the seat of Green Forest King.”
“So that’s how it works! Hahahaha! As expected of my strategist!”
Lavish praise poured down, but Lee Jeong-bang only kept his head lowered and let out a silent sigh.
Just what is going to happen to the Green Forest…….
Already bound to Dae-byeol, he had no path except to follow Go Hong.
But if that man really did seize the seat of Green Forest King and come to rule the Green Forest, the future was so obvious it was almost nauseating. No need to think long about it at all. It would be no different from driving the Green Forest straight into a pit of death.
If only Im So-byeong were healthy.
He would have been the perfect Green Forest King.
It was a pity, but what could he do? The Green Forest was a place ruled by the strong swallowing the weak.
“Fine. I’ll bear with it once, as you said. But if things don’t go the way you claim, you’d better be prepared for that head of yours to roll all over Mount Heng!”
“Yes, Chaeju.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Hmm.”
Swish.
“Hmmm.”
Press, press.
“…….”
In the middle of the frantic hands working around him, the corner of Baek Cheon’s eye twitched faintly. He gave the people clinging to him a deeply suspicious stare.
After holding it in for a while longer, Baek Cheon finally opened his mouth.
“Um…….”
“Ah, don’t move! We’re smoothing out the wrinkles right now!”
“…….”
Guys. My clothes don’t even have wrinkles to begin with.
“There’s dust here!”
“Brush it off! Brush it off!”
Watching his martial nephews crowd around him from all sides, rough hands busily grooming him like a doll, Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut.
“……Please, just stop already.”
“We can’t. Chung Myung said we have to make you shiny and spotless, with not a single blemish.”
“Are you raising a horse?”
Huh? Am I some kind of white horse?
“You talk too much.”
Just then, Chung Myung strolled over slowly and inspected Baek Cheon from front and back once more. Then he said,
“Think about it, Sasuk.”
“About what?”
“Back when Sasuk looked at Southern Edge, what did you feel?”
“What did I feel?”
“Not the hatred. Just the feeling.”
“Well…….”
They had been tall, handsome…… honestly, they had looked good enough to make one jealous. Reading the answer on Baek Cheon’s face, Chung Myung asked again.
“You know why that was?”
“Huh?”
“Because the guy standing at the front was Jin Geum-ryong.”
“…….”
“Imagine if some big, ugly bastard who looked like a lump of mashed dough was shoving his face out front as the senior disciple of Southern Edge. Who the hell would think that was impressive?”
“…….”
It sounded like something Baek Cheon, as a Daoist and as a human being, really should refute. But when he pictured the scene Chung Myung had described, he found he had no words to argue back with.
“What would people who’ve never even held a sword in their lives know about whether we look impressive or like idiots? If we’re not going to strut around with blades and dance our way through a sword performance, then the first thing that matters is looking damn good. So quit your whining and stand still.”
Baek Cheon swallowed the tears surging up in his eyes.
He wasn’t saying Chung Myung’s logic was impossible to understand.
But there’s a time and a place for everything!
We’re heading out to fight the Green Forest, so why the hell are we being dressed up like this, you lunatic?
Then Im So-byeong quietly approached and clapped his hands.
“Hahaha. Very nice indeed. Truly, Baek Cheon-dojang, there isn’t a trace of deficiency in calling you a peerless beauty.”
“Hey, half-beggar.”
“……Pardon?”
“You go to the very back. No, actually, bury yourself in the middle so no one can see you at all.”
“…….”
“What, are you trying to shove a face that looks like it hasn’t had a decent meal in years in front of everyone? Why don’t you just disappear already?”
At Chung Myung’s merciless words, Im So-byeong’s shoulders sagged and he slipped among the Mount Hua disciples. Watching that, Heuk Ya-ho and Beon Chung fought back tears.
Green Forest King, what a fate.
What utterly heartless bastards.
Where in this world would a Green Forest King be treated like that? Even if he was now in a half-captured state, he was still, at the end of the day, a man who had once lived as the Green Forest King.
But Chung Myung’s wrath splashed over them too.
“Hey, you two as well.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t shove those nasty faces out where people can see and ruin their mood. Go stand in the middle and keep your heads down nicely.”
“……Yes, Brother.”
“Understood.”
After clearing away all the “ugly” things, Chung Myung looked over the remaining people one by one and frowned.
“Hey! Baldy!”
“Don’t do that, you bastard!”
“Have you no conscience? What kind of nonsense is that to say to Monk Hye Yeon?”
“This is too much, this is too much!”
“K-kkhhh.”
Hye Yeon’s face…… no, his whole head turned red. Chung Myung looked at the shining scalp with deep dissatisfaction, then nodded as if there was nothing to be done.
“Tsk, no choice. You can go near the front, more or less.”
“……Thank you, benefactor.”
At least he wouldn’t have to sneak along in hiding, which seemed to make Hye Yeon genuinely relieved.
Unable to watch any longer, Hyun Sang quietly asked Chung Myung,
“Chung Myung.”
“Yes?”
“Must you really go this far?”
“You’ll understand soon enough.”
Chung Myung looked toward the door. Just then, it slid open slightly and Yu I-seol stepped inside.
“Looks like everyone’s here.”
Chung Myung gave a crisp nod, then looked around at everyone.
“All of you, stand up straight and get moving.”
“Hm?”
“You’ll find out soon enough what kind of eyes we’re going to get from now on. The martial uncles need to get used to it too.”
But those who still hadn’t grasped it muttered among themselves with indifferent faces.
“What is he talking about?”
“Ignore him. It’s not like this is the first time he’s said nonsense.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue as if asking what any of them knew. Then he swaggered toward the door.
“All right, then let’s go!”
At once, the door was flung wide open.
Light poured in, and the scene beyond the doorway was laid bare. Baek Cheon, at the head of the group, widened his eyes slightly.
“Wooooooaaaaah!”
What the hell?
Outside the door, the streets were packed wall to wall with people. Standing there so densely they looked ready to be crushed flat at any moment, they shouted again and again in roaring cheers.
“The heroes of Mount Hua!”
“Mount Hua Sect is going to punish the bandits!”
“Waaaaaaaaaa!”
The sound was so deafening it felt like it might tear their ears apart. Chung Myung spoke casually.
“What are you standing around for?”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go.”
“……Got it.”
Baek Cheon let out a small breath and started walking. Behind him, the disciples of Mount Hua followed, all of them looking dazed.
Of course, it wasn’t as though they had expected nothing at all.
They had already stopped the bandits once before, so they thought they’d probably receive looks colored with goodwill. But they had never imagined the people would gather in such numbers simply to cheer for them.
The disciples of Mount Hua walked down the broad street toward the city gate, with crowds packed tightly on both sides.
“Please crush those bandits!”
“Don’t you dare get hurt!”
“Long live Mount Hua Sect!”
With every step they took came cheers, encouragement, and concern. The disciples of Mount Hua whispered to one another, faces flustered.
“W-was it always like this?”
“How would I know? This is the first time I’ve experienced it.”
“Do other sects always get this kind of cheering?”
“Tsk.”
At that, Chung Myung turned to the whispering disciples and scowled hard.
“S-sorry…….”
“Shoulders!”
“Huh?”
“Straighten them!”
At the sharp bark, the Mount Hua disciples straightened their shoulders before they even realized it.
“They’re cheering for what the senior brothers did. Stand tall and accept it. You’ll be getting this kind of thing countless times from now on.”
As they listened to Chung Myung, more and more strength filled their shoulders.
A posture awkward, but proud.
Chung Myung snorted with a laugh.
They’re getting a little full of themselves.
In the past, Mount Hua had met scenes like this as a matter of course. Just the rumor that disciples of Mount Hua were coming out into Xi’an was enough to send people surging toward them like clouds.
But for these disciples, it would all be terribly unfamiliar and awkward.
But they need to get used to it now.
This was one of the many things Mount Hua had lost.
Its lost fame, and its lost esteem.
Chung Myung intended to reclaim Mount Hua’s reputation now.
First, those bandit bastards.
His gaze moved toward the Mount Heng visible in the distance.
“Recovery is not enough.”
I’ll make Mount Hua’s name ring across all of Jianghu! Louder than it ever did in the past!
That good enough for you, Sect Leader Senior Brother?
— It’s been a while since you said something right.
What are you talking about? I’m always right.
Heh heh heh heh.