The Mountain Is Only Worth Crossing If You Can Climb It (4)
Hyun Sang swept his gaze across the disciples gathered around him.
There were bright, eager eyes. Firm-set mouths. And then there were the fists clenched with such resolute determination that…
Not a single one of these bastards is reliable.
Why did he feel so uneasy?
“Ahem. You all heard the conversation, I take it.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Looks like they’re challenging us to a match…”
Hyun Sang let out a long sigh.
“With the Sect Leader absent, something like this happens, and I can’t seem to shake my unease. What do you think we should do?”
“What else can we do?” Hyun Young answered from the side, sounding utterly indifferent. “Just look at the situation. If we say we can’t do it, we’ll end up leaving in disgrace. Then all the hardship of coming all the way to Hubei goes to waste, doesn’t it? We came here to win some prestige and go back with our heads held high. Does it make any sense to go home humiliated instead?”
“And if we lose?”
“Running away from a challenge is more shameful than losing. Since when were we such an incredible sect anyway? Losing to Wudang isn’t some earth-shattering disgrace.”
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, that did make sense.
He had asked for opinions because of the situation, but even Hyun Sang knew there was no way out of this. In the first place, once one side had decided to charge straight in, whether in a spar or a fight, there was no simple way to avoid it.
“But, Elder.”
At that moment, Unam, who had remained quiet, opened his mouth.
“If you look at the people they’ve brought, most of them are first-generation disciples. They know full well what our situation is, and yet they brought first-generation disciples here. That’s clearly a trick to avoid a fair spar.”
“…Likely so.”
Unam’s lips moved as if he wanted to say more, but in the end he could only bow his head deeply.
“I’m sorry. If only we had been a little stronger…”
It would have been perfectly reasonable to protest that Wudang had brought first-generation disciples when they said they wanted to spar against Mount Hua, whose main force consisted of second-generation disciples.
But they couldn’t. Mount Hua’s first-generation disciples were here as well.
If the other side asked why Mount Hua didn’t simply send out its own first-generation disciples, there would be no good answer.
“Unam…”
Hyun Sang started to comfort the man whose head was bowed, but then a voice thick with irritation cut in.
“No, seriously, are you acting like they’re some kind of big deal or something?”
“…Huh?”
Chung Myung, who had shaken off everyone trying to stop him, strode over and crouched in front of Hyun Sang.
“They’re not even elders, just first-generation disciples. Why make it embarrassing and drag out the martial uncles too?”
“…”
“Your joints are probably starting to ache by now anyway, so just watch from the back. There are plenty of young and lively guys here, so why use an ox-slaughtering blade on a chicken? If you can’t even handle this, you might as well bite your tongue and die! How much training have we done up to now?”
At that, the young and lively guys all nodded in unison.
“He’s not wrong.”
“Yeah, why bring the martial uncles into this against Wudang?”
“We can handle that much ourselves.”
“At the end of the day, it’s still Wudang.”
Unam bit his lip a little.
Damn fools.
It would have been natural to resent them a little, but no one was trying to blame them.
Then again, these were just the sort of people they were.
On the surface they looked rough and disrespectful, with no sense of hierarchy, but even though they clearly knew their martial arts had long since surpassed the Un generation, they had never once been impolite. They had never even tried to put themselves on equal footing with them.
They only looked fierce. Inside, they were soft to the bone.
“Martial Uncle.”
Baek Cheon stepped forward and looked at Unam with a determined expression.
“We’ve been taught by you all. Please trust us. We won’t lose.”
“…Yes.”
When Unam answered in a slightly trembling voice, Baek Cheon turned and met Hyun Sang’s gaze.
“We’re ready.”
“Can you do it?”
“I think there are things in this world that one can do, and things one must do. And in my opinion, this is clearly the latter.”
“…”
“I won’t tell you we’ll win. But at the very least, we won’t show you anything shameful as disciples of Mount Hua.”
All the disciples nodded together.
Seeing their faces—faces made stronger still by the fierce battle with Dae-byeol Bandit Band—left Hyun Sang with a strangely tight feeling in his chest.
The Sect Leader should have seen this.
“The Sect Leader would be proud of you…”
“Ah, seriously, why are you all so gloomy before a fight? It’s making my head hurt!”
“…”
Honestly, that bastard was really…
Chung Myung’s mouth twitched, and he spoke loudly.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a fight. Keep it simple. If they come at us, we just smack them down.”
“You just said not to underestimate them.”
“Is that the same thing?”
After replying irritably, Chung Myung lowered his voice a little.
“Those bastards were always going to have to throw down with us eventually. And that’s how the world works, isn’t it? Nothing ever waits around until we’re fully prepared.”
Perhaps because those words struck home, the Mount Hua disciples’ faces turned serious.
Chung Myung cracked his neck once and grinned.
“Let’s make them regret ever daring to challenge Mount Hua!”
At this point, meaning no longer mattered.
There was no need to keep asking about the state of things. Only one thing remained: deciding who was stronger.
“Hup.”
Chung Myung sprang to his feet.
“At the end of the day, it’s still Wudang. Since when did those bastards get so full of themselves?”
Still, since they were fellow Daoists, he had gone a little easy on them before, and those bastards had… He should have smashed that Taiji Sword Emperor bastard’s face into a steamed bun.
Snorting hotly, he glared toward the Wudang side.
“Fine. If we didn’t do it before, we do it now.”
“Huh?”
“Everyone, listen up!”
Chung Myung’s eyes flashed as he swept his gaze over everyone.
“The loser today crawls all the way to Shaanxi.”
“…Chung Myung. You said ‘runs,’ wrong.”
“No. Crawls! Crawls!”
“…”
That demon bastard.
No, why did he feel more annoyed about fighting Wudang because of that bastard? Why?
Unfortunately, Chung Myung’s madness had long since gone past the point where anyone could rein it in. Seeing the murderous gleam in his eyes, the Mount Hua disciples unconsciously hunched their shoulders.
“If you want to die, then go ahead and lose. I’ll make sure you regret it until the day you die, so your bones ache from it for the rest of your life.”
We have to win no matter what.
Rather die than lose.
Maybe we should just leave Mount Hua altogether…
As I’ve said before, of all the many infuriating things about Chung Myung, the worst was that he kept his pointless promises.
“There are things you can lose and things you can’t. What? Lose to Wudang? To Wudang? The seniors buried in Mount Hua’s graves would rip open their coffins, leap out, and start slapping us around with the Plum Blossom Sword Art!”
That sounds painful… Really painful…
“Elders!”
“Y-yes?”
Hyun Sang and Hyun Young, both pressed down by Chung Myung’s momentum, flinched and looked at him.
“It doesn’t matter what method you use, just tell them we’re going to fight first.”
“…Chung Myung. I’m not doubting you, but are you really sure this is okay?”
“If we’re fighting anyway, we might as well go all out.”
Chung Myung grinned.
“Think of it positively. We came here to build our reputation, right? If we catch Wudang and bring them down too, what could be better? We came to hunt boars, and we go home with a tiger. Isn’t that better?”
That was true.
No matter how high Dae-byeol Bandit Band’s reputation was, and no matter how fearsome the Green Forest’s name might be, they were in no way comparable to Wudang.
It was true they had been dragged all the way here by a twisted series of events, but if they could overcome this situation, they would return with a catch so huge it was almost unimaginable.
“But that’s only if we win, isn’t it?”
“Then we win.”
“No, but still…”
“Elder.”
Chung Myung’s eyes cooled as he said firmly,
“Hmm?”
“We’re Mount Hua.”
“…”
“If someone comes at us carrying the name Mount Hua on the battlefield, we can’t just refuse.”
Hyun Sang quietly met Chung Myung’s eyes. Then, slowly, he nodded.
He, too, was an elder of Mount Hua. After hearing those words, there was no way he could remain undecided.
“Yes. Understood.”
Just as he turned to leave after making up his mind, Chung Myung’s voice called him back and stopped his steps.
“Ah, but.”
“Hm?”
When Hyun Sang looked back again, Chung Myung wore an utterly wicked smile.
“One more thing.”
“…”
“Hmm.”
After a short while, Hyun Sang and Hyun Young finished their discussion and stepped forward. Heo Sanja hardened his face, then went out to meet them in the center.
The three men facing one another in the middle exchanged faint smiles.
“Have you reached a decision?”
“It was not an easy matter.”
Hyun Sang closed and reopened his eyes, then looked Heo Sanja straight in the face.
“However, refusing the offer your sect so earnestly extended would also be discourteous. It is surely something that would be of mutual benefit, so how could we decline?”
As expected.
Heo Sanja smiled to himself.
For a sect that knew honor, and had even a shred of pride, retreating at this point would not be easy. Part of him had secretly hoped Mount Hua would throw away its pride and back out, but in the end, matters had followed the natural course.
“A wise decision.”
Heo Sanja lightly praised his opponent before asking with a smile,
“Then how would you like to proceed?”
“What about consecutive victories?”
“Hmm.”
Heo Sanja shook his head.
“I don’t think consecutive victories would be the best method. Since the purpose is for both sides to learn, wouldn’t it be more important to see as many swords as possible? I feel that would run contrary to the intent.”
Of course, that wasn’t his true motive.
He, too, had heard about the spar between Zhongnan and Mount Hua in the past. On top of that, he was not ignorant of the exploits Chung Myung had shown during the martial arts tournament.
So his hidden intention was to block as many variables as possible—especially those that could arise if Chung Myung entered the fray.
“Hmm. I see.”
But Hyun Sang seemed not to have expected much of that in the first place and smoothly drew back.
“The method can be decided nicely by Wudang. However, allow us to decide one thing.”
“…What is that?”
“The place where the spar will be held.”
“…Pardon?”
Hyun Sang seemed to hesitate for a moment, then wore a what-the-hell, let’s just do it expression and blurted it out.
“How about holding the spar in the largest square in Wuhan, instead of here? This sort of spar is not something one sees often, so if all the people of Wuhan can watch and enjoy it, it will be a great comfort to those who have been suffering under the bandits’ oppression.”
“W-where did you say?”
“The center of Wuhan.”
Having already blurted it out, Hyun Sang now stood with brazen confidence, as if he had nothing left to fear.
“This place is too small for us to properly put on a show, isn’t it? It would also be an inconvenience to Geum-seon Merchant Group.”
“…”
“So let’s do it properly.”
Chung Myung’s last words kept echoing in Hyun Sang’s ears like a refrain.
If you’re going to make trouble, make it properly and on a grand scale. Then there won’t be any loose ends.
Right, that’s true enough.
As long as they won, it would be the best thing imaginable. As long as they won!
I don’t know anymore!
Hyun Sang’s eyes, fixed on Heo Sanja, were bloodshot. Heo Sanja answered with a slightly awkward smile.
“Ha ha… That is indeed a fine suggestion, but if too many people watch…”
“Why not?”
“…Pardon?”
“Are you not confident?”
By this point, sparks were flying from Heo Sanja’s own eyes as well.
“Very well! Let us do it! We’ll prepare the sparring stage in the center of Wuhan!”
The matter kept growing larger and larger with no end in sight.
The Mount Hua disciples’ jaws dropped before they even realized it.
“…Can this even be allowed?”
“Can this really be allowed?”
This wasn’t even a martial arts tournament, so why was there a stage? And why were there spectators…?
At that moment, Chung Myung, who had been watching with utter indifference all along, broke into a crooked grin.
“Sahyeongs. You know why Mount Hua and Wudang hate each other so much?”
“…Why?”
“Because they became like that after doing things like this.”
“…”
“History repeats itself.”
And they’d keep getting beaten up over and over again. You horse-nosed bastards.
And so, the spar between Mount Hua and Wudang ended up being staged on a scale several times larger than anyone had expected. Not quite according to Heo Do-jin-in’s intentions, to say the least.