Stop Talking and Listen to People! (2)
“What, what is this?”
“How...!”
Dozens of ropes had been lowered from the cliff, and now figures in green robes began descending hand over hand.
From the ease with which they moved, it was obvious they were no amateurs at this sort of thing.
“Th-those clothes—?”
“The Green Forest! It’s the Green Forest!”
“The Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds?”
The water bandits stared with their mouths hanging open in complete confusion. And they had every reason to.
Bandits.
Strictly speaking, the Yangtze River Eighteen Waterway Strongholds and the Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds were usually spoken of together under the broad label of bandit factions. But the Yangtze River faction operated on the river, while the Green Forest factions lived in the mountains; under normal circumstances, they would never have reason to meet.
They knew of each other’s existence, but there was no particular reason for them to be enemies—and no particular reason for them to be friends, either.
So why in the world was the Green Forest suddenly here?
“Kahahaha! You river-wraith bastards!”
“So you dare set foot on dry land! I’ll cut every last one of you down!”
The bandits who had come sliding down the cliff burst out laughing and slammed into the water bandits with wild abandon.
“D-don’t panic! Just kill the ones coming down one by one!”
“What are you doing? Shoot arrows! Arrows!”
The archers hurriedly scrambled to prepare their shots, realizing their mistake. Those descending on ropes were completely exposed to arrows. In a situation like this, striking first would naturally be to their advantage.
Unfortunately for them, their opponents were not ordinary Green Forest bandits.
“Oh? Arrows? We’ve got those too.”
Im So-byeong pointed downward with his fan and said,
“Feed them.”
“Yes, sir!”
The archers waiting behind him stepped forward all at once and began firing the arrows they had already loaded.
Shiiiiiiiiing!
A relentless hail of shots poured down. The archers loosed arrows so fast that their bowstrings were barely even visible. The blackened shafts raining down from above looked for all the world like a storm of black rain.
“Aaaaagh!”
“Arrows! They’re firing arrows!”
“What are you doing? Damn it, return fire!”
The water bandits below tried to shoot back with all their might, but arrows fired upward from below could never match the force of arrows shot downward from above.
No matter how much inner force they poured into the shafts, by the time the arrows reached the top of the cliff, their power had already been spent.
“Tsk tsk. How dull.”
Im So-byeong let out a quiet laugh and jerked his chin.
“Keep firing until they’re out. If the water bandits dared climb out of the water, then they should pay the price.”
“Yes, sir!”
A cruel smile settled at the corner of Im So-byeong’s mouth.
“...The Green Forest?”
Baek Cheon was still blinking in disbelief.
“W-why are the Green Forest bandits here? Aren’t they part of the unorthodox factions?”
“They are.”
“Then why would one unorthodox faction fight another?”
“What kind of question is that? Then why do the Green Forest and Maninbang fight?”
“...Huh?”
“And why do we fight Mount Zhongnan?”
“Well...”
Baek Cheon was left speechless and could only blink like a fool.
“If you think being unorthodox means everyone should get along, then are those bastards really unorthodox? Even the righteous factions claw at each other over profit all the time, so what do you think the unorthodox ones are like?”
Chung Myung snickered.
“This is what you call using one barbarian to control another. Using poison to fight poison, that’s what.”
Seriously...
You called them over, and now you’re calling them barbarians?
Look, sure, they are bandits, but it’s still pretty messed up to insult the people who came here because you asked them to...
“Hehihihi! Good! Good! Fight! Kill them!”
Watching the water bandits and mountain bandits tangle together, Chung Myung clapped with gleeful delight. His expression was one of someone who could die happy right here and now. The Mount Hua disciples all wore expressions of unhideable despair.
Baek Sang murmured weakly, “Good heavens... There are bandits everywhere here, and somehow he looks like the worst one of all.”
“That’s because he actually is the worst one here, Sasuk.”
“...Right. That’s fair.”
Mount Hua, the prestigious righteous sect of Mount Hua. And yet the worst scoundrel ever produced by that sect was shining brilliantly at this very moment.
“But how on earth did you bring them here?”
“What, are you deaf? The water bandits were already aiming for Mount Hua, weren’t they?”
“Th-that’s... true, isn’t it?”
“You really think a bunch of idiots who started a fight after knowing full well what would happen would apologize just because they ran into each other? It was obvious a fight would break out. So what kind of moron would just trot into the mouth they’d already opened?”
Thud.
Chung Myung’s words stabbed cleanly into Baek Cheon’s heart.
“If you think your main force from Mount Hua might be late, then you have to come up with another plan. What? Did you think that was too hard for a three-year-old to figure out?”
Thud.
“The only nearby people worth calling were those bandit bastards, so I summoned them in advance.”
“...On the way here?”
“We made contact on the way. I’d already sent word ahead as soon as we heard the news. They were probably here before Sasuk was.”
Baek Cheon’s mouth fell open.
“Y-you mean... you knew this would happen in advance?”
“Do I look like Zhuge Liang? How the hell would I know that?”
“Then—?”
Chung Myung frowned as if the conversation itself was making his head hurt.
“No, seriously. Isn’t it basic to prepare for even the smallest chance? If you prepare and don’t use it, fine, that’s just a little disappointing. But if you don’t prepare and then regret it later, you die. Got it?”
Baek Cheon was so stunned he couldn’t even close his mouth.
He had always known this bastard wasn’t just someone who charged ahead relying on brute strength alone, but this was the first time he had felt that fact this painfully, in his bones.
As Baek Cheon stood there at a loss for words, Baek Sang hurriedly asked, “But that’s one thing from our side. Why did the Green Forest King suddenly agree to fight the Yangtze River Waterway?”
“Why wouldn’t he fight? Those guys have been whining every damn day about wanting to join the Heavenly Alliance.”
“...”
“What, they think they can buddy up with the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu and still get into the Heavenly Alliance? That’s nonsense. They need to make it crystal clear they’ve drawn a line between themselves and the unorthodox factions.”
“Th-that... makes sense when you put it that way...”
Once it was over and someone explained it in words, it all sounded so obvious. But actually thinking it through and acting on it before anything happened? That was never as easy as it sounded.
That madman. From all the way over there in Shaanxi, he saw this coming in advance...
It was less prediction than preparation, but if the preparation hit the mark, wasn’t that prediction after all?
Whenever he moved together with Chung Myung, Baek Cheon often found himself so dizzy from the speed of it all that he barely understood what the other man was doing. Chung Myung would suddenly whip into action, and Baek Cheon would be dragged along in a daze, too busy keeping up to make sense of anything.
But now, standing back and looking at it from a distance, he could really feel just how absurd this bastard was.
“What are you standing around for?”
“Huh?”
“Their backs are wide open! It’s only polite to stab them!”
Baek Cheon, who had been lost in thought, jerked his head up. Sure enough, the water bandits had been so distracted by the mountain bandits coming down the cliff that they were leaving their backs exposed.
“Right!”
Thoughts later. First, these bastards!
“Go! Sasuk! Sago!”
“Your sisters are behind you, you damned bastard!”
“Then Sajil!”
“Aagh!”
Dang Soso let out a ringing scream and charged forward.
Watching her, Chung Myung chortled with delight.
“All right, then...”
His gaze shifted slightly to the side, and the warmth in his eyes was already gone, replaced by ice.
“Shall we go catch the head of the snake?”
“Ch-chanju!”
At the voice calling him, Zhanpohwueo snapped out of his daze.
“This...”
His vacant expression twisted into a hideous snarl.
“This fucking bullshit! Why are the Green Forest bastards targeting us?”
If the attackers coming over the cliff had been Mount Hua or some other righteous faction, he would still have been shocked, but at least it wouldn’t have been this absurd.
But the Green Forest?
Why in the world were the Green Forest attacking the Yangtze River Waterway? Why!
“Who are they? Which stronghold are they from? That dried-up bastard who looks like a scholar—who the hell is he?”
“I think that man is the Green Forest King.”
“What? The Green Forest King? Wasn’t the Green Forest King supposed to be a seven-foot giant?”
“That was the rumor in the past, but according to what was revealed during the recent Green Forest uprising, the Green Forest King is a man called Sick Scholar. Apparently he looks weak and scholarly on the outside...”
Zhanpohwueo bit his lip.
The Green Forest King?
Not some ordinary mountain stronghold leader, but the Green Forest King himself had come leading his men? No wonder the lightness skill of the men descending that cliff had seemed unusual.
“Why is the Green Forest King attacking us?”
“Th-that, I’m not really sure either...”
Even Joesung, who almost never showed his emotions, had gone pale and started stammering. Something that should never have happened within the bounds of common sense was unfolding right before his eyes. As nothing more than an ordinary strategist, there was no way he could fully explain this situation.
“Get out of the way!”
Pushing Joesung aside, Zhanpohwueo stepped forward and roared toward the top of the cliff.
“Green Forest Waaaaaaarrrrrriiiiiiooooor!”
At that, Im So-byeong, standing above the cliff, lazily turned his head and looked down at Zhanpohwueo.
“You’ve got a good set of lungs. I’m jealous.”
“Why! Why is the Green Forest attacking the water stronghold? Why has the Green Forest turned the Yangtze River Eighteen Waterway Strongholds into enemies?”
“We were never friends to begin with. Why are you acting so surprised?”
Im So-byeong sneered low in his throat. Then, in an instant, his expression changed entirely, and he shouted at the top of his lungs:
“The Green Forest is not one to claim it walks the righteous path with any great pride! But at the very least, we’ve always tried to live without harming the innocent common people! And yet you trafficking those people, even selling them off overseas—we can no longer tolerate such depravity!”
“What... what are you spouting...?”
“In the name of the Green Forest, I sentence you, and I will free the common folk trapped by you and provide them with relief! There’s nothing more to say! Bring me that bastard’s head!”
“Yes, sir!”
The mountain bandits roared their response until their throats nearly burst, and their momentum only intensified as they hacked through the water bandits.
“Hahaha! You little punk bastards!”
“So used to chewing on fish that you’ve gone soft, huh? Come here, and I’ll split you in two!”
“Cut them all down!”
An ordinary mountain stronghold could never gain this kind of advantage over a water stronghold. But the ones here now were not ordinary bandits; they were the elite of the Green Forest, handpicked by Im So-byeong himself.
And having already crushed the Dae-byeol Bandit Band and restructured the Green Forest once again, they could easily be called the finest elite the Green Forest had to offer.
“Muahahahahaha! You pathetic little things! Brother! I’m here!”
Leading from the front, Iron Divine General Beon Chung bellowed as he swung his pot-lid-sized fists and sent water bandits flying.
Behind him came Heuk Ya-ho Kwak Min, raining down flashes of lightning-fast sword strikes.
“Aaaagh!”
“R-retreat!”
One flank of the water bandits collapsed entirely. But behind their backs, even more frightening than the Green Forest itself, the furious disciples of Mount Hua were charging in.
“Where do you think you’re running, you bastards!”
“You looked like you were having fun earlier! We’re cutting all of you down!”
Attacked from both sides, the water bandits began to crumble with no way to hold their ground.
“This...”
As he took in the battle’s turning tide, Zhanpohwueo unconsciously stepped back.
This is bad.
There was no way out.
From the start, it had been impossible to face this much force head-on. If only those people had attacked alone, Zhanpohwueo would have launched the boats without hesitation and ordered the rest to dive into the water and flee.
No faction had the guts to chase them into the water.
But not now. Because they had been distracted by Mount Hua, their backs were exposed, and the river they would need to flee through was now blocked by Mount Hua itself.
If he ordered everyone into the water right now, maybe half of them would survive—but they would lose every last ship. And if that happened, the water stronghold itself would be finished.
“Joesung!”
“C-chanju!”
“We pull out first.”
“What? B-but...”
“At the very least, I have to survive if I want to plan the next move. Or are you planning to stay here instead?”
Conflict flashed across Joesung’s face. But that hesitation was quickly rendered meaningless.
“Hey.”
At the voice behind him, Zhanpohwueo snapped his head around.
“Who said you could leave?”
“...”
Mount Hua Divine Dragon Chung Myung. At some point, he had come up behind them, wearing a twisted smile.
“Ah, I can let you go, sure. That head of yours, that is. As for the rest...”
Chung Myung casually raised his sword and pointed it at Zhanpohwueo’s neck.
“Leave your body behind.”
“...You son of a bitch.”
Burning murderous intent flared in Zhanpohwueo’s eyes.
“I’ll kill you before I go! You damn bastard!”
“Ha!”
Laughing as the man lunged at him like a madman, Chung Myung bared a bizarre grin and threw himself straight at the enemy’s front line.