Wouldn’t the Nine Great Sects Catch Even More Flak Then? (1)
Green Forest Main Fortress was restored to order sooner than expected.
In truth, there wasn’t all that much left to do. Once the remaining remnants of the Dae-byeol Bandit Band were restrained and the scattered corpses were cleared away, the external mess was more or less finished.
What really mattered was reestablishing the lines of communication that had been cut off while Go Hong held the place, then dealing with the backlog of work that had piled up in the meantime.
Im So-byeong had been running himself ragged, but the Mount Hua disciples had little to do.
The problem was...
“Aigoo! If you leave me behind, you won’t make it ten li before disaster strikes!”
“Let go! You gonna let go or not? Huh?”
“I’m telling you, you can’t leave!”
The frantic Im So-byeong was blocking Mount Hua’s departure in tears.
“Hey, what the hell!”
Bang!
Chung Myung kicked Im So-byeong mercilessly and slammed him into a wall, then jabbed a finger at him.
“No, seriously, we already beat the crap out of the bandits, took back Green Forest Main Fortress, and killed Mad Ox Blade! We’ve done everything there is to do, so what the hell do you keep clinging to us for?”
“I’m not asking you to do anything more! Just stay a few more days! Just a few! We’ll prepare warm beds and an excellent meal for you.”
“If you can do that, how is this even a bandit den? A bandit den?”
“Heh heh. Isn’t everything a matter of mindset? For someone who has awakened the Dao, even a hard cot is like a mandarin-duck brocade bed, and rough food becomes a taste of the heavens—”
“Go on. Let’s hear how far you can take this.”
“...I’m sorry.”
Im So-byeong hurriedly bowed his head. Then, with unusual honesty, he laid it all out.
“As I said before, there’s basically no force here in Green Forest Main Fortress right now. If other people attack before the ones loyal to me can arrive with reinforcements, my head is going to roll, plain and simple!”
“...No, is that really something the Green Forest King should be saying?”
“Does the Green Forest King not die? Green Forest King, Jade Emperor, whatever—if a blade is at your throat, you die the same as anybody else!”
“...”
The others watching from the side turned pale as ghosts and began whispering among themselves.
“Wow, Chung Myung’s losing.”
“My God, I never thought I’d live to see Chung Myung at a loss for words.”
“Honestly, you can’t beat that.”
No matter how perfect someone’s logic or verbal skill usually was, there was no defeating someone who had thrown everything away. Im So-byeong was proving that point right here and now.
“Grr... So when are they coming?”
“Two days! Just two days. I’ve already sent out the carrier pigeons, so everyone will come flocking here like clouds in two days.”
“If they were that loyal, they’d have helped already.”
“Then three days...”
“...”
“No, four?”
“You damn bastard!”
“Aaagh!”
Chung Myung kicked Im So-byeong away once more and ground his teeth.
“Seriously, you’re useless at everything!”
Just as Im So-byeong lunged toward him again, Chung Myung was about to breathe fire when—
“N-no! I’m a friend of Mount Hua!”
A hurried, high-pitched voice rang out from the entrance to the stronghold. Frowning, Chung Myung turned his head and saw a beggar surrounded by bandits.
“And now what the hell is that?”
“I, I didn’t come here to scout the place! I mean... yes, I’m dressed like a beggar, and yes, I’m also from the Beggars’ Sect... Hiiiiiik! Why are you pointing a blade at a man’s throat!”
The familiar beggar, his face gone deathly pale, threw both hands into the air.
Chung Myung covered his face and let out a long sigh. Just then, the beggar spotted him and lit up with relief.
“Oh, Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Tell these bandit bas— no, these heroic gentlemen here to stop trying to kill me!”
“...Let him in. He’s someone I know.”
“Yes, sir!”
Given everything they’d seen and heard, the bandits dropped back from the beggar as soon as Chung Myung spoke. The beggar straightened his clothes with a little shoulder shimmy.
“See? I told you I’m friends with that Mount Hua Divine Dragon. Friends!”
Hong Dae-gwang, chest puffed out as far as it could go, strode proudly toward Chung Myung. Chung Myung asked, flatly,
“Why the hell are you here again?”
“Can thread go anywhere without the needle?”
Chung Myung let out another deep sigh at the self-satisfied answer.
There isn’t a single normal person around me.
How did every one of them end up like this?
Whatever Chung Myung thought, Hong Dae-gwang looked around at the place carefully, then gasped in admiration.
“So you really did bring down Go Hong and crush the Dae-byeol Bandit Band.”
“Big deal.”
“No, no! This is seriously incredible.”
Hong Dae-gwang nodded with a grave expression.
Others might not know, but Hong Dae-gwang understood just how terrifying Mount Hua’s foundation really was. With the Mount Hua Divine Dragon personally taking action, and Mount Hua itself moving, the destruction of the Dae-byeol Bandit Band had been practically inevitable.
Still...
The ripple effect is not going to be small.
Now that he could see the result with his own eyes, his heart was pounding so hard it felt tight.
The Dae-byeol Bandit Band’s notoriety was, quite literally, sky-high.
Not just in Hubei, where Mount Dae-byeol stood, but in the surrounding cities as well, its name was infamous. For that reason, ordinary people had long considered it best to avoid the area by keeping as far away from Mount Dae-byeol as possible.
“Do you not understand what it means that the Dae-byeol Bandit Band was destroyed here?”
“And what does it mean?”
“It means it could be destroyed.”
When Chung Myung shot him a rapidly disinterested look, Hong Dae-gwang quickly waved both hands.
“No, listen to the whole thing! Don’t look at me like, ‘What kind of idiot is this?’”
“But your face is pretty easy to read.”
“Grr...”
Hong Dae-gwang scratched his head with a miserable look on his face.
“Anyway, the reason people kept suffering under the Dae-byeol Bandit Band without saying much was because its reputation was so monstrous.”
“Why are you stating the obvious?”
“No. What I mean is that because the Dae-byeol Bandit Band was so infamous, people assumed even the prestigious orthodox sects couldn’t do anything about them.”
“Huh?”
At that slightly different angle, Chung Myung absently scratched his chin.
Come to think of it, people who didn’t know the martial world very well might indeed think that way.
“But now that Mount Hua has personally stepped in, cut down Go Hong, and smashed the Dae-byeol Bandit Band to pieces, what do you think everyone will say?”
“That Mount Hua is awesome?”
“...”
“It isn’t?”
“...Of course that’s true too, but...”
Hong Dae-gwang said, sounding put out,
“After watching the Dae-byeol Bandit Band run wild all this time and not stepping in, don’t you think the established orthodox sects are going to get a very ugly look thrown their way? Mount Hua, all the way out in distant Shaanxi, came here and smashed the bandits, while the ones closer by, like Wudang and Shaolin, just sat on their asses and did nothing.”
“Oh? You’ve got a point.”
“Once that rumor really starts spreading, the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families will have their stomachs tied in knots. You could call this a proper dose of their own medicine!”
“It really does sound like that!”
At once, snickering laughter burst out. The two of them laughing together looked so much like alley thugs that no one would have found it strange.
Watching them, Yoon Jong turned to Baek Cheon.
“Sasuk.”
“Hmm?”
“That... Hong Dae-gwang is from the Beggars’ Sect, so he’s part of the Nine Great Sects, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Then why is he happy? If you think about it, he’s getting screwed too.”
“...How would I know?”
Baek Cheon smiled in satisfaction.
“Just let it go. He isn’t even tied to the same sect as us, so do you really think anyone who keeps running around after Chung Myung is still normal?”
“Suddenly, everything makes sense.”
Unaware of the assessment being made of him, Hong Dae-gwang wore an exuberant grin and kept chuckling to himself.
“So I’m saying we pulled off something pretty incredible!”
“Enough of the praise already.”
“Huh?”
“You finished getting everything ready?”
“Ready?”
For a moment, Hong Dae-gwang tilted his head in confusion, then quickly understood what Chung Myung meant and grinned.
“Ah, that preparation? Of course! I wouldn’t have been able to fight alongside you while getting that ready, would I? If not for that, I would’ve taken this cane and just—”
When Hong Dae-gwang’s hand went to the club at his waist, the bandits watching from behind all let murderous intent flash in their eyes.
Startled, Hong Dae-gwang hastily removed his hand from the club and laughed awkwardly.
“...just been hit by a passing deer or something...”
“Cut the nonsense.”
Chung Myung cut him off indifferently.
“This time, you really need to make sure it’s done right.”
Hong Dae-gwang thumped his own chest with a fist.
“Leave it to me, Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Just me!”
“...I’m not going to trust you unless it’s actually trustworthy.”
Chung Myung shook his head. Then he looked at Baek Cheon.
“Sasuk.”
“Hmm?”
“We were supposed to head straight back to Mount Hua after this was over.”
“Right.”
“I think we need to change those plans a little.”
“...Why all of a sudden?”
Chung Myung jerked his chin toward Hong Dae-gwang.
“Didn’t you hear what the beggar uncle said? Because we smashed the Dae-byeol Bandit Band, the Nine Great Sects got screwed.”
“And?”
Chung Myung grinned.
“If you’re going to screw them over, you need to do it properly. If you’re going to do something, do it right—that’s what I’m saying! Now that it’s come to this, we need to go all the way to Mount Dae-byeol and wipe out every last remaining bastard from the Dae-byeol Bandit Band!”
“...”
“Then won’t the Nine Great Sects get even more flak?”
“...”
Just how...
Where in the world did this deep-seated malice toward the Nine Great Sects keep springing from, with no end in sight?
Even a blood enemy wouldn’t torment them this much.
“Anyway, that’s how it’s going to be.”
“...”
The Mount Hua disciples, who now looked like they might not even be going back to Mount Hua but instead be dragged all the way to Mount Dae-byeol, glared at Hong Dae-gwang with bitter resentment.
Feeling that murderous gaze, Hong Dae-gwang flinched and quickly looked away.
“Then I’ll go finish handling the rest!”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“And, and when you go to Mount Dae-byeol, you have to take me with you! Don’t leave me behind this time!”
“...Got it.”
Chung Myung watched Hong Dae-gwang sprint down the mountain. Then Im So-byeong sidled up beside him.
“You’re leaving in four days, right?”
“...”
Chung Myung stared blankly up at the sky and muttered inwardly.
Senior brother.
Martial Uncle.
Can I beat the crap out of these bastards?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The fact that Mount Hua had climbed Mount Heng and annihilated the Dae-byeol Bandit Band, along with three other strongholds, spread faster than the wind.
Changsha, where every kind of merchant caravan passed through, was a transportation hub. Even if left alone, rumors there were bound to spread quickly.
On top of that, the beggars Hong Dae-gwang had mobilized by dragging in every ounce of ability and lack of ability they possessed ran themselves ragged spreading the news everywhere, so it took less than two days for the story to reach all the way across the Central Plains.
Those who heard it couldn’t help but be excited by such a mighty act of chivalry, one they had not heard of in a long time.
“Good heavens, the Dae-byeol Bandit Band? The Mount Hua Sect really took those vicious bastards down?”
“But isn’t it strange? Why would Mount Hua, all the way in Shaanxi, go there just to destroy the Dae-byeol Bandit Band?”
“Why else! Because the other nearby bastards didn’t bother to do it, Mount Hua stepped in itself!”
“...I heard the Green Forest King was the one who asked them to.”
“What does that have to do with anything? If the Green Forest King had asked Shaolin or Wudang instead, do you think the fools who’d been lying down and watching all this time would have lifted a finger? The Green Forest King must’ve had his reasons for asking all the way out in distant Mount Hua!”
“T-true enough.”
“If you want plain truth, how many people had already suffered because of the Dae-byeol Bandit Band and those other mountain strongholds? How many dead were there?”
“Exactly! That’s exactly right!”
“To wipe out those kinds of scum... Good heavens. They say Mount Hua was once one of the world’s brightest prestigious sects, and indeed, a prestigious sect is a prestigious sect. It never really goes away! Incredible! Yes, incredible!”
No sooner had the conversation paused than someone listening nearby shouted as if a thought had just struck him.
“Come to think of it, didn’t they say that if this operation went well, the Green Forest would no longer harm ordinary people?”
“Right! I seem to have heard something like that.”
“What good fortune, what blessing. If that happens, what more could anyone ask for?”
The words, stoked at just the right pitch, went around the world and around again. Once more than two mouths gathered, they all brought up Mount Hua and praised its feat of righteousness.
Of course, a few cynical souls mocked the very fact that Mount Hua was associating with the Green Forest. But in the face of the tangible achievement of destroying the Dae-byeol Bandit Band, they found it hard to gain traction.
And so the news spread as if it had sprouted wings, until at last it reached the ears of the Nine Great Sects.