Senior Brother! The Voices in My Head Won’t Stop! (3)
At a glance, it looked like nothing more than a small skiff, rowing forward with both hands and not a sail in sight.
But could it really be called a mere skiff when it was kicking up a spray more than ten jang high and skimming over the water like a swallow?
Crash—crashcrashcrashcrashcrash!
Just from the force of its charge, it looked as if it might split the Yangtze River in two. It was hard to believe that a tiny wooden boat could even withstand that speed.
At the sight of that unbelievable spectacle, an indescribable emotion began to creep across the faces of the Mount Hua disciples.
“......Am I seeing things?”
“Why is he here?”
“Ch, Chung Myung......”
Yoon Jong’s voice trembled slightly with emotion. But then—
“Dammit, this is fucking exhausting! I mean, if you came out onto the Yangtze, you should behave and fight on the water like everyone else! Why the hell did you crawl all the way out here just to make trouble? I feel like I could shove every single one of you into the river myself, damn it!”
Yoon Jong, whose mouth had just opened, closed it again. Then a pleased smile spread across his face.
“Yep, that’s Chung Myung.”
“The foul temper gives it away.”
“......How in the world did he even know to come here?”
“Amitabha...... There really is a hell, and it’s right here.”
The Mount Hua disciples were not the only ones thrown into confusion. The water bandits, too, could not hide their shock. Even after living their whole lives on the Yangtze, none of them had ever seen anything so absurd.
“W-what is that......?”
At that moment, Jo Seung bellowed furiously, “What are you all staring at? Fire the harpoons! Sink it!”
“Yes, sir!”
Some of the bandits who heard his order scrambled inward and dragged out several large carts. They turned the massive cannons mounted on them and aimed them at the skiff.
“Fire!”
BOOM!
Huge harpoons tore through the air and flew toward the boat Chung Myung was riding.
“Huh?”
CRACK—CRACKCRACKCRACK!
The harpoons smashed the skiff to pieces, plain and simple. A giant plume of water erupted from the surface.
“We got him!”
“Serves you right, you bastard!”
The water bandits roared in triumph, but the Mount Hua disciples watching the scene didn’t have a single trace of worry or concern on their faces.
They simply stared flatly at the rising spray.
“If that was enough to kill him, we wouldn’t be suffering like this in the first place.”
“......Exactly.”
Sure enough—
Whoosh!
From within the spray that had shot more than ten jang into the air, a figure burst out at terrifying speed. The Mount Hua disciples’ eyes practically popped out of their heads.
“Th-tha—”
“This is insane......”
Why were they reacting like that?
Of course they had expected Chung Myung not to die from something like that. An attack of that level would be a miracle if it even scratched him. Wasn’t Chung Myung the sort of monster whose life was tougher than a whale’s sinew?
And yet they were shocked because he was actually running toward them at that ridiculous speed.
“He’s running.”
“Yes.”
“He’s running on the water.”
“......Yes.”
“Heh heh heh. I’ve lived long enough to see all kinds of—”
Every time Chung Myung thrust a foot forward, the water exploded upward beneath it. He was moving so fast that dozens of sprays burst up behind him like firecrackers.
“Dammit! I should’ve done this from the start! I only wasted energy rowing! If your head’s stupid, your body suffers, huh!”
Baek Cheon covered his face with both hands.
No, no...... Chung Myung, that’s not it......
Your body is so ridiculously good that your head doesn’t have to suffer, you insane bastard......
“W-what is that......?”
“A person running on water?”
The water bandits, too, gaped with their eyes wide open.
Of course, being martial artists, they knew there was a light-foot technique called walking over water. But none of them had ever actually seen it with their own eyes.
It was true that the experts of the bandit forts occasionally displayed the divine skill of stepping on the water and springing up, but that was exactly what it was—stepping and leaping.
But the strange creature in front of them was literally running on the water.
“He, he’s run—”
“Dammit!”
“Run—”
The bandits, who had been marveling, shut their mouths.
Chung Myung, who had been dashing lightly over the water, slowly began to sink lower. Before long, his ankles were submerged; then it was less like running and more like sliding, until his waist was swallowed by the surface.
“He’s fa—”
That was when it happened.
Whoosh!
Chung Myung’s head dipped beneath the water, and then he began swimming smoothly, effortlessly, as if he had always meant to do that. It was so seamless it was almost graceful.
“......That was natural.”
“Ten points.”
“......”
It was a sight so astonishing it was hard to tell whether it was marvelous or just bizarre. No one could find the words for it, so everyone simply stared in a daze.
Swish! Swishhh! Swish!
Like a mermaid cutting through the water, Chung Myung shot to the bank and straightened up.
Thud. Thud.
Looking like a drenched rat, he staggered forward a few steps, then collapsed where he stood.
“Ow...... my back. I thought I was gonna die. Grrrgh. Why the hell am I doing this for anybody’s so-called glory?”
Still grumbling, he started pounding at his own waist.
The Mount Hua disciples, who had watched him wordlessly, all turned their eyes toward the distant sky.
Honestly, I was almost moved there.
You’d better not expect too much.
At that moment, a nearby water bandit gathered his courage, rushed Chung Myung, and thrust his harpoon forward.
“You bastard! How dare you—”
Huh?
The Mount Hua disciples’ heads snapped around.
No, don’t—
“Dammit!”
Chung Myung, still seated, kicked the bandit in the stomach.
BOOOOOOM!
The sound was too tremendous to be merely a human body being struck. The charging bandit was hurled backward faster than the harpoons fired from the cannons.
Whoooosh!
His body sliced through the wind and flew over the heads of the other clustered bandits before slamming into the middle of the cliff face.
THUUUUUUUM!
Silence fell.
Every water bandit slowly turned his head. After checking on their comrade, neatly embedded in the cliff, they turned back with faces full of disbelief at reality itself.
Chung Myung muttered irritably, “I’m exhausted to death, and you’re stabbing at me with a spear like you’ve got some manners? You wanna die?”
No, Chung Myung. He’s already dead, more or less.
At this point, if he’s still alive, that would be the rude thing......
“Grrr. What a bunch of worthless trash......”
Chung Myung casually uttered a remark that would have made Beggars’ Sect disciples foam at the mouth, then shakily got to his feet and snapped his head toward the Five Swords.
Flinch.
“Hey......!”
Just as Chung Myung was about to launch into a barrage of complaints—
“How did you get here?”
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon cut in quickly, stealing the lead. For a moment, Chung Myung was left speechless, his head tilting in confusion.
“You were supposed to be at Mount Hua. How did you get here?”
“Ah. The Sect Leader sent me.”
As they listened, the Mount Hua disciples mentally burst into applause.
As expected of Martial Nephew!
Look at him smoothing that over like water. No question it would’ve flipped out on him otherwise.
Effortless.
“The Sect Leader?”
“I’m telling you, yes. He figured you idiots would all be out here suffering like dogs!”
Chung Myung puffed out his chest proudly.
“He told me to come here and rescue you. Tch, what a pain.”
“......”
“But why the hell did you crawl all the way in here......?”
“Those bastards dragged us here. They hooked chains to the boat and hauled us along, so there was nothing we could do! It’s not our fault.”
“Those bastards?”
Chung Myung’s murderous gaze shot toward the water bandits.
Having cleanly shifted Chung Myung’s attention, Baek Cheon quietly looked at his disciples and gave a thumbs-up. In response, everyone gave him a silent thumbs-up in return.
Chung Myung scowled. “What, you idiots couldn’t even handle a few lousy water bandits?”
“They used poison.”
“Poison? That’s just because they don’t have the guts! Back in my day, if I got stabbed by a poisoned blade five times, I’d just say, ‘Damn, my back’s a little stiff today—I’d rather you scratched the lower back instead.’ Kids these days!”
“You’re the youngest one here, Chung Myung......”
“Ah, right. True.”
Chung Myung tapped his own forehead and shrugged.
“Anyway, I’ve got a lot to say, but......”
He let out a long breath and turned his gaze to the water bandits. The chief of Daegyeong Fort, Zhan Pohu, was staring at them in utter disbelief.
Crack, crack.
Rolling his neck from side to side, Chung Myung slowly drew the black iron sword at his waist.
“First, I’m going to shove every single one of those water bandit bastards into the river......”
“They’re good at swimming.”
“Then I’ll smash them into the cliff!”
“Ha ha.”
At Chung Myung’s crisp answer, Baek Cheon found himself laughing before he knew it.
In truth, not much had changed. The number had simply gone from seven to eight.
But that eight was nothing like the seven.
The murderous pressure still pierced the body, but it no longer felt as dizzying as before. And more than anything......
Squeeze.
His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword on its own.
The other disciples beside him seemed to feel the same. Their faces, which had been filled with grim resolve only moments ago, were beginning to ease.
There was so much they wanted to ask.
How he had known to come. How he had crossed from Shanxi to here so quickly. How he had even found out where they were......
But......
That’s not what matters right now.
Chung Myung stepped two paces forward and stood straight. The moment Baek Cheon saw that small yet broad back, a brilliant smile bloomed across his lips.
“Fine. First we deal with the water bandit bast—”
“Yahhhh!”
“Listen before you run off, you bastard!”
Without warning, Chung Myung shot forward like lightning and charged at the bandits in front with terrifying speed.
“Huh?”
BOOOOOOOM!
The bandit at the front was kicked away before he even knew what had hit him.
Thwack! Thud!
The body that flew back sent the tightly packed bandits behind him reeling and toppling over like wooden blocks knocked down by a child’s thrown ball.
“W-what the hell!”
“You bastard!”
“What do you mean, you bastard? You bastards!”
Chung Myung’s eyes practically spewed fire as he seized the nearest bandit and slammed his forehead straight into the man’s face.
Bang!
“I!”
Bang!
“Came all the way!”
Bang!
“From Shanxi to here because of you bastards!”
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
The water bandits were flung everywhere like leaves caught in a storm.
“I’ll show you exactly what happens when you piss off my accumulated grudges...... no, when you touch Mount Hua’s friends!”
“The truth came out, you bastard!”
The Five Swords hurried after him as well, rushing forward.
While the water bandits were still thrown into confusion by the sudden turn of events and hesitating over whether to retreat, the Five Swords had already reached them and were driving their swords in.
“Seriously, that bastard’s temper is the one thing that never changes!”
“Can’t help it.”
The atmosphere turned on a dime. Their swords felt lighter than ever. Their footwork, too, seemed impossibly nimble.
“Damn it!”
Baek Cheon shouted something that sounded almost like a cheer, and also like a curse.
He didn’t want to admit it, but when that back stood in front of him, strength came surging up on its own, as though someone was gripping him firmly from ahead and pulling him onward.
The water bandits, who had seemed almost hopelessly numerous, no longer looked so intimidating.
Chung Myung......
“What kind of rude bastard stabs with a harpoon like that? Do I look like a fish, you bastard?”
At the sight of Chung Myung snatching a bandit’s harpoon and jamming it mercilessly into the man’s backside, Baek Cheon clenched his eyes shut.
Only look at the good parts. Just the good parts.
“What! Did you all eat boiled worms together before I got here? Why aren’t you moving faster?”
“We’re coming! We’re coming, you bastard!”
“You bald donkey monk!”
“Yes, sir!”
Without another word, Chung Myung leaped straight up from where he stood.
And in the space he created, Hye Yeon immediately released his power.
“Ooooooh!”
This was not ba, the overwhelming force of crushing weight, but jung.
Power that carried heaviness rather than destruction spread outward like the ribs of a fan, driving the tightly packed bandits back in an instant.
“Now!”
“Yes!”
The Five Swords surged forward like shafts of light. Blossoms of every hue burst from the tips of their swords.
Sheer cliffs and the vast river.
Between them, vivid red plum blossoms bloomed in a spectacular, breathtaking display of beauty.