Stop Talking and Listen to People! (3)
“Let’s see now.”
A smile slowly spread across Im So-byeong’s lips as he looked down over the battlefield from the cliff.
“This’ll be over soon. Still, this is overkill for handling one water fortress.”
It was true that the Green Forest had lost some of its strength to the rebellion of Dae-byeol Bandit Band and several other mountain forts, but Five Hegemons of the Jianghu was far too heavy a name to be dismissed at that level.
Of course, their opponents were also a water fortress belonging to the Jianggang Water Bandit Sect, one of the Five Hegemons, but compared to the Green Forest main force Im So-byeong had brought with him, they were nothing more than rabble and had been helpless from the start.
“Green Forest King.”
“Hmm?”
The Green Forest elder prostrated beside him frowned slightly as he spoke.
“Forgive me for presuming to guess at the lofty intentions of the Green Forest King……”
“I know, I know! You’re asking why we’re fighting those river wraiths from the Yangtze, right? We still haven’t even finished cleaning up inside yet.”
“……Yes.”
“What can I do? That man told me to come.”
Im So-byeong’s gaze drifted toward Chung Myung, and watching him rampage around like a tiger, a laugh threatened to spill out of him.
“If I don’t want to die, I’d better do what I’m told.”
“……Green Forest King. I beg your pardon, but……”
The elder’s face stiffened.
“You are the ruler of all the mountains of the Central Plains, the leader of the Green Forest Seventy-Two Forts, and one of the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu.”
“I know.”
“And yet you would obey that child from Mount Hua……”
“Elder Yi.”
“Yes, Green Forest King.”
“Watch your mouth.”
The Green Forest King smiled faintly as he spoke, but the elder could not smile back. He had read the warning hidden in those eyes.
“People grow wiser with age, but they also grow stupid by clinging to their own common sense. Do you find it so unbearable that I listen obediently to that young disciple?”
“……That is not what I meant……”
“Well, I suppose it might be irritating. It annoys me sometimes, too.”
“……Pardon?”
As though the thought had only just made him angry, Im So-byeong began fanning his face furiously.
“They send one flying letter and tell me to gather every scrap of force I have and rush to Jiujiang! Not even the damned emperor would bark orders at me like that. What do they take people for, damn it?”
The elder’s expression twisted strangely as he listened to the complaint.
And yet…… wasn’t it the Green Forest King who had followed that order exactly as written? While kicking, dragging, and bullying every available man and every unavailable one along the way…….
Then Im So-byeong shrugged.
“But what choice did I have? The one who wrote that letter was the Mount Hua Divine Dragon.”
Then, with a sly smile, he added,
“A man has to know how to read the signs of the times. If I’d cared too much about my dignity as the Green Forest King and sat there with my chin in my hand, wouldn’t I have ended up a headless corpse by now, good only for fertilizer?”
“H-how could you say such a thing……”
“A gamble isn’t fun if you keep it small. You’ve got to throw in everything you’ve got, everything you don’t, and stake it all until you’re ruined. That’s the only way to win huge when you do win.”
Im So-byeong smiled with a twisted mouth.
“I’m betting on that man. Maybe thanks to him, I and the Green Forest can become something different from what we’ve been until now.”
A strange fervor burned in his eyes.
“Ah, and really, really watch your mouth in front of that man. He doesn’t care if you’re man or woman, young or old.”
“…….”
Even as he closed his mouth, the elder couldn’t shake the feeling that something about the Green Forest was going very wrong.
“Kraaah!”
The claw blades of Cruel Black Fish tore through the air like lightning.
It was like watching a rabid wildcat lash out with its claws, but thanks to the man’s massive build, the pressure he gave off was in no way comparable to a wildcat’s.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
The three blades fixed to the ends of his fist gauntlets grated against one another, making a sound as vicious as a threat.
Cruel Black Fish. The cruel, vicious black fish.
Black fish were far more ferocious than most people thought. In a river, unlike in the sea, they had no natural predator.
They were tyrants of the river, swallowing anything and everything that came into view. The fact that Yeo Gwang-gye carried such a nickname made it easy to understand the standing he held in the Yangtze.
Clack, clack, clack, clack!
The claw blades on his gauntlets snapped together like shears.
This brat!
Cruel Black Fish was certain of victory.
He was not the kind of man who overestimated himself, nor the kind who looked down on his enemies. And he certainly wasn’t foolish enough to lower his guard just because the opponent was young.
Anyone who looked down on the river was eventually devoured by it. He had survived that river, and more than anyone else, he knew exactly what caution meant.
Even so, the reason he was certain of victory was that Chung Myung was, after all, a swordsman.
Snap!
His claw blades were no ordinary weapons.
They weren’t the familiar eighteen standard weapons like swords, spears, sabers, and staves. They were bizarre weapons that most people would never even have the chance to face, generally called unusual weapons.
Compared to the weapons commonly used by martial artists, they had the drawback of lacking depth and versatility, but in certain situations they could display strengths no ordinary weapon could match.
To Cruel Black Fish, the greatest strength of claw blades was that they were absurdly effective against swords.
Being shorter than a sword meant they could not exploit the advantage of a longer weapon, but their shorter length allowed for more delicate movement, and the crossed blades could trap a sword outright.
Once a sword was caught between the blades and suppressed, a swordsman was nothing at all. And he had two such claw blades, one in each hand.
Every swordsman who had once dazzled him with brilliant techniques had died with their sword pinned, their bellies pierced by the claw blade from the other hand, their guts spilling out in a heap.
Even if Chung Myung were stronger than him, so long as he was a swordsman, there was no way he could win. That was Cruel Black Fish’s conviction.
I’ll rip his belly open and kill him!
He could not forgive this bastard. Wasn’t everything a disaster because of him?
If he abandoned this water fortress and ran, there was no guarantee it could ever be rebuilt. No, he might even have to spend the rest of his life fleeing the wrathful Black Dragon King’s pursuit. All that fear and fury flooded straight toward Chung Myung.
“Dieeeeee!”
His claw blades moved relentlessly, aiming for Chung Myung’s entire body.
But Chung Myung dodged the attack that tried to rip him to pieces with effortless ease, slipping away here and there as if it were nothing.
“You little flying squirrel! How long are you planning to keep running? What, are you going to sell that fancy sword of yours or something?”
“Oh? You want to see it that badly?”
At that moment Chung Myung leaped backward, widening the distance between them, and grinned.
“If you want it that badly, I’ll show you. What the sword of Mount Hua looks like.”
Cruel Black Fish’s face twisted. But that was only the expression he deliberately put on; inside, he was practically cheering.
Got you, you fool!
He didn’t care what sword style it was. No matter how fierce a sword style might be, it still came from a single blade. If Chung Myung only came in to attack, he would snatch that sword in an instant.
“You b——!”
The moment Cruel Black Fish’s roar, made to sound like rage, echoed out, Chung Myung’s sword began to move.
Flutter, flutter, flutter.
The tip of the sword quivered ever so lightly. The tremor grew stronger and stronger, and soon the blade seemed to overlap into dozens, then hundreds of swords.
What?
Confusion bloomed in Cruel Black Fish’s eyes.
N-no!
There was nothing to panic over.
He had already seen the sword techniques used by those Mount Hua bastards several times. They were flashy, yes, but they were not completely without substance.
If he stayed calm and met it head-on, there was no way he couldn’t block it……
And then, in that instant.
The countless swords that had multiplied from Chung Myung’s blade suddenly spread through the air like they were opening wide, and each and every sword tip began to bloom with flowers.
Like plum blossoms bursting all at once from the branches of a flowering plum tree.
Now, grab—
Cruel Black Fish’s face turned black with fury.
The blossoming flowers all swept up into the wind and flew toward him.
A garden of flowers. It was as if the world itself had been buried beneath blossoms.
All he could see was the blue sky and the petals scattering across it.
“Wh—”
Grab?
Grab what? What in the world was he supposed to grab?
All he could see were flower petals.
A sword technique he had already seen?
Even if a martial art was the same in name, the rank of its execution changed depending on who used it. The Arhat Fist used by a low-ranking novice monk and the Arhat Fist used by a high monk of Shaolin were the same martial art, and yet utterly different martial arts.
Why had he forgotten such an obvious truth?
Ffssht!
A plum blossom leaf flew past and sliced across his face.
The bridge of his nose split open, and red blood ran down over his face. But Cruel Black Fish did not even feel the pain.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
His body was cut apart in multiple places, and blood sprayed out in scattered bursts.
“Aaaagh!”
Cruel Black Fish screamed and gritted his teeth.
He was seasoned in battle. He knew exactly what he had to do now.
If he retreated, he would die.
The moment he faltered and stepped backward, those petals would tear him apart without end and reduce him to rags.
The place he needed to go was not back, but forward!
Dragging up every shred of inner power he had, he concentrated it into his arms and abdomen. Crossing his arms over his head to protect it, he surged forward, then forward again.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The plum blossoms shredded his arms and legs. It felt as if he had fallen into a pit brimming with blades and was trying to swim through it. The horrifying agony that tore through his entire body stole his wits away.
J-just once!
Black fire surged in Cruel Black Fish’s eyes.
Slash!
In that split second, his neck was cut deeply again, and a jet of blood burst out.
Slash!
His side was carved open in a long gash. It was plainly a wound severe enough to expose bone.
Slash! Slash!
The plum blossoms that lodged themselves into his body were not as deadly as the petals that cut and passed through, but they still bored at least an inch into his solid flesh.
J-just one step!
It was now faster to search for the one part of his body that had no wounds than to count the wounds themselves, and Cruel Black Fish, screaming like a beast, thrust his body through the wall of petals before him.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
Whoosh!
Now, on his blood-soaked face, the only thing that remained unred was his pair of blazing eyes.
And at last, when he caught sight of Chung Myung, he howled.
“You son of a b——!”
Like a thunderbolt, the descending claw blade shot toward Chung Myung’s head.
At that very moment, Chung Myung raised the sword he had withdrawn and blocked the attack.
Claaang!
The two weapons collided in midair.
Crack! Clack, clack, clack, clack!
This was the moment Cruel Black Fish had been waiting for all along, from the beginning of the fight until now.
As though determined not to miss his final chance, he used all his strength to clamp down on Chung Myung’s sword with the claw blades. It looked as if he intended to snap it clean in two.
Clack! Clack clack! Clack clack clack!
The claw blades and the Dark Plum Sword locked together, and Chung Myung’s sword came to a halt.
Got you! You rat bastard!
Kill intent gleamed in Cruel Black Fish’s eyes.
“Diiiiiie!”
He violently swung his free right hand. It was a movement that seemed ready to split Chung Myung horizontally in one stroke.
But then, at that moment.
RUMBLEEEEEEE!
The violent clash of qi sent wind surging in all directions, and as if responding to that force, dust and grit rose up in a wave.
A moment later, as the dust cloud swelled like a storm cloud and slowly settled, the scene revealed beneath it was entirely different from before.
Cruel Black Fish.
The man who had clearly nearly cut open Chung Myung’s abdomen was down on one knee, his two claw blades crossed as he strained to hold Chung Myung’s sword in place. No, it was closer to him desperately trying to block it with both hands.
And before him, Chung Myung was pressing down on the sword with calm, indifferent eyes.
“Figures, a river dog like you would resort to cheap tricks.”
“Khk…… krrk……”
It was truly an eerie sight.
Chung Myung did not even seem to be exerting himself; he simply held the sword in one hand and pressed downward in silence.
Meanwhile, Cruel Black Fish, whose frame was at least twice as large as Chung Myung’s, was straining so hard that veins stood out all over his body.
And yet he still could not push Chung Myung’s sword back even a fraction.
“Krrk……”
Crack! Crack-crack-crack! Crack!
Cruel Black Fish’s arms screamed.
Blood was gushing from every wound in his body like a madman’s fountain, and the sound of bones crushing was chillingly clear.
Chung Myung looked down at the scene with a haughty gaze, then twisted the corner of his mouth.
“Idiot.”
Chung Myung’s sword exploded with a burst of sunset-colored sword energy and split the claw blades blocking it cleanly in half.
Whoosh!
Chung Myung, who had somehow appeared behind Cruel Black Fish, shook the blood off his sword onto the ground.
“…….”
Thud. Tuck.
The severed claw blade tips fell to the floor.
A moment later, along the red line that had formed from the crown of Cruel Black Fish’s head all the way down to the end of his crotch, blood burst out like a fountain.
“No…… wai……”
Shhhhk!
The body of Cruel Black Fish split in two and collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Clack.
Chung Myung sheathed his sword and, without looking back, said quietly,
“Regret the day you laid a hand on Mount Hua from hell, for all eternity.”
It was a cold voice announcing the end of the battle.