Let’s Play Until We’re Dead (3)
"Done!"
"Aaaaargh!"
"I feel like I could cry!"
The Mount Hua disciples stared tearfully at the completed dock ahead of them.
A dock was perhaps too grand a word for it; really, they had only dumped stones, rocks, and dirt into the river to fill in a bit of the water. And yet, because of that, it somehow felt even more impressive.
"...I thought my waist was going to snap."
"Good heavens... I always said you could flatten a mountain, but I never expected you to actually flatten one..."
At those words, every Mount Hua disciple turned to look behind them.
A small hill that had once stood beside the dock was simply gone, leaving a wide, empty stretch behind. They had taken all the soil and stone that made up the hill and dumped it straight into the river.
"...I do feel strangely proud."
"And strangely sad, too."
The Mount Hua disciples looked at the dock with complicated, conflicted expressions, then all shook their heads.
The sadder truth was that by now, the exact same thing was probably happening on the opposite bank. In other words, there were two docks. Two vanished hills....
"Looks like they're about done over there, too."
The Mount Hua disciples' gazes shifted toward the island. From the far side, the plank bridge stretching out from the island had almost taken shape. The Green Forest bandits had made it happen. They had lashed boats together and laid enormous timber planks over the decks to form a bridge.
"...Who in their right mind comes up with putting a wooden bridge on an island?"
If the stones, soil, and boulders from the mountain had been shoved into the water, then what had happened to the trees that had stood there?
The wood they had stripped away had been carefully, if one might call it that, turned into timber by the Green Forest bandits and used to build the bridge.
"They've lashed together a ridiculous number of boats, but that thing really can hold that much weight?"
"It must be unbelievably sturdy."
"What good is sturdy if one fire arrow'll burn the whole damn thing down?"
"D-don't say things like that!"
"You bastard, don't jinx it!"
"What is this, the Battle of Red Cliffs or something? At this rate, we'll have a Jiujiang Battle for real."
"...".
Everyone who imagined the boats going up in flames shuddered. But when Gwak Hoe heard that, he only snorted.
"You're talking nonsense. Do you really think that bastard would let that happen?"
"Huh?"
"Would Chung Myung really let something he paid for with his own money and effort burn that easily?"
"For one thing, not a single coin of his money went into this, and if we're being honest, the only effort he made was running his mouth."
That left Gwak Hoe speechless, and he flinched.
"A-anyway, that won't happen. Word is the Sichuan Tang Family brought some special coating to put on the boats. Something that keeps them from catching fire?"
"...They have stuff like that?"
"They're the Sichuan Tang Family. What don't they have? They even make Thousand-Year Cold Iron swords for people."
"Fair enough."
As if the Sichuan Tang Family itself were proof enough, everyone nodded in unison.
"So are we done? The boats are all lashed together, the docks are built, and we've set aside a separate boat to shuttle people across."
"Looks like the water bandits aren't quite done yet."
"Why?"
"...They still haven't found one of the cannon boats."
"...What?"
"It's missing?"
When Chung Myung bared his eyes, the water bandits flinched.
Cold river water streamed down their chins. A sorry lot drenched like drowned rats might have stirred pity even in a demon from hell, but the Taoist standing before them was a bastard even more vicious than any demon.
"You idiots do nothing but dive into the water all day, you hear me? Not needles! A damn huge cannon boat and you can't find it? Does that even sound human?"
"Daoist-nim, we searched every inch of the riverbed, but.... we just can't...."
"It's true! P-please believe us. We searched inside every sunken boat and it really isn't there!"
Chung Myung's eyes slowly began to glint with anger.
"You couldn't find it?"
"Yes. We really, truly couldn't. We did our best...."
Judging by their condition, they really had done everything short of dragging their souls out to work. They had barely come up for air for days, scraping the riverbed until their faces had gone colorless and their cheeks were hollow as though they had gone hungry for a month.
Unfortunately for them, none of that made the slightest impression on Chung Myung.
"What if I find it?"
"Pardon?"
"What are you gonna do if I find it?"
"Th-that is...."
"Hey, come here!"
Huh? Who was he talking to?
At the abrupt order, the water bandits blinked in confusion and looked around. Then, at that very moment, the top of Chung Myung's robe began to wriggle, and a lump of pure white fur popped out from the front of his chest.
Pop.
Baek Ah climbed down to the ground, stiffened its little back, and let out a mighty cry.
"Kiii!"
Not that it was actually all that loud, objectively speaking.
"You heard that?"
Baek Ah nodded solemnly and repeatedly.
"Go find it."
Whoosh!
The white marten shot off like lightning and plunged into the water.
The water bandits blinked at the sight.
What the hell.
What the fuck did I just see?
Why the hell is a weasel going into the water? Is it a seal or something?
In any case, those Mount Hua freaks really had no normal people or animals among them.
But the real shock came a little later.
Fwaaaaaaash!
Something black suddenly burst out of the water.
"What is that?"
"A dragon?"
"I-it's a giant snake! Why is a black snake that big?"
"But why would a black snake come out of the water...? Huh?"
Flap! Flap!
The black fish that had been dragged out of the river thrashed wildly as it was pulled ashore. Looking closer, Baek Ah was tapping the thing from behind, dragging it out of the water like it weighed nothing, despite the fact that it was ten times larger than the marten itself.
The master catches black river fish....
The pet catches black river fish.
What the hell were those two? The question of whether or not such a tiny weasel could catch such a huge fish was no longer worth bothering with.
"No, but you bastard? I told you to find the cannon boat, and you bring back dinner?"
When Chung Myung barked at it, Baek Ah jumped and shook its head furiously. Then it stretched out its tiny front paws and pointed toward the water's edge.
"Oh, you found it?"
Nod, nod.
"Take the others and haul it out."
Nod, nod.
Baek Ah went pattering off, then shot up the body of a nearby water bandit in an instant and landed on his head. It straightened its back and thrust out its little paws. It looked exactly like a general commanding troops.
"Kii!"
"...".
Anyone could tell what that meant: "Let's go, you slave bastards."
Like master, like pet.
What kind of damn weasel is that....
"Why aren't you moving?"
"W-we're going!"
"We're going right now! Right now!"
As Chung Myung came charging over like he was about to kick them in the ass again, the water bandits panicked and rushed into the river ahead of him.
From a short distance away, Hyun Jong watched the scene and let out a groan.
'He's definitely tormenting them.'
It was unthinkable for a Taoist to torment people, but the problem was that those men were water bandits. They made their living by robbing others and driving people to tears and blood; of course they deserved punishment. That made it awkward to simply scold Chung Myung for harassing them.
"Sect Leader."
"Hm?"
"It seems Chung Myung is right. The preparations are nearly complete, but the water bandits are nowhere to be seen."
"Aren't they right there?"
"...Not those men. I thought the Water Bandit Sect would attack...."
"It would be difficult."
Hyun Jong muttered, then fell silent.
They had heard the news from Hong Dae-gwang as well.
"Shaolin, the leader of the Nine Sects, and Wudang, the head of the Five Great Families' allied forces, and even the Namgung Family, not to mention Qingcheng...."
Hyun Jong's face, as he gazed quietly at the river, had grown as hard as stone.
"Perhaps because we've heard their names so often lately, we don't fully feel it, but that means half of the Nine Great Sects have moved. It's no different from that."
Hyun Sang was silent for a moment, then said,
"I don't quite follow your meaning."
"Hyun Sang. Haven't we seen Shaolin often these days?"
"We have."
"Then have you ever seen them set out to fight?"
Hyun Sang, who had been about to say something, shut his mouth.
Only then did he understand what Hyun Jong had been trying to say.
Shaolin has taken the battlefield.
The terrible weight of those words began to press down on Hyun Sang.
"Shaolin and Wudang are pressing from upstream, while Namgung and Qingcheng move from left and right. This vast Yangtze has been encircled on three sides by those four sects' attack."
"Sect Leader...."
Hyun Jong shook his head.
"It has been a hundred years since the war with the Demonic Sect."
"...".
"There have been large and small disturbances, but never once have the leaders of the Nine Sects and the Five Great Families all moved at the same time like this."
Hyun Sang nodded heavily.
"I cannot help but think about what this means."
Hyun Jong stared at the flowing river with a complicated look in his eyes.
A cup filled to the brim would one day overflow. Peace could not last forever.
Moreover, everyone in Jianghu had already predicted that this tedious peace would one day shatter.
Let us only pray that day is not now.
A low sigh escaped Hyun Jong's lips.
"Be that as it may...."
"Yes?"
Hyun Jong slowly turned his eyes. His gaze landed on Chung Myung, who was shouting and jabbing a finger at the river.
"I truly can't begin to guess what he's thinking...."
"What can we do? He has always been that sort of fellow."
"Hmm."
That was true enough, and there was nothing to be done about it—but Hyun Jong still could not shake the suffocating worry in his chest.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Ch-commander!"
"...".
Nam Jeok, the leader of the Waryu Clan operating around Wuhan, felt his cheeks trembling uncontrollably.
"C-commander! We're being pushed back!"
Of course they were.
They were only a water bandit stronghold that hadn't even made it into the Eighteen Water Bandit Factions yet. But the ones pressing toward them now were none other than the famed Wudang Sect.
The sight of Wudang disciples in their pure white robes surging forward all at once was like a giant wave crashing in on a day of raging typhoon winds.
"Y-you.... Y-you...."
Bloodshot veins stood out in Nam Jeok's eyes.
"You damn Taoist bastards! Why are you attacking us all of a sudden?! You didn't even show your faces on the Yangtze all this time!"
"Commander! You must make a decision!"
"Damn it! Retreat! Tell everyone to scatter and run!"
Even if they hadn't yet entered the Eighteen Bands, he was still the chief of a water bandit stronghold with a fearsome reputation on the Yangtze. And yet he had made such a gutless decision. But no one objected to Nam Jeok's words.
Not because Nam Jeok was cruel. Rather, it was because everyone knew that no matter how hard they fought, it would be impossible to withstand Wudang's deliberate advance.
"Fall back! Fall back! Damn it! Run, all of you!"
The instant Nam Jeok shouted at the top of his lungs,
"You're doing something pointless."
a quiet voice came from behind him.
"...".
Startled, Nam Jeok turned his head.
Somehow, someone had come up behind him without a sound. A swordsman of middle age, dressed in a Taoist robe marked with the Taiji symbol of Wudang and holding a sword in one hand.
"You...."
"Sins must be paid for sooner or later. Be gone."
"You son of a...."
Swish.
One sword strike. Only one.
The casual slash cut cleanly across Nam Jeok's throat as though it were nothing at all.
"Krrk...."
With his Adam's apple neatly sliced, Nam Jeok clutched his neck and staggered backward. His bloodshot eyes were filled only with shock.
But the instant he heard the words spoken by the one who had cut him down, all his doubts vanished.
"I am Heo Do, Sect Leader of Wudang."
"...".
Nam Jeok's body slowly crumpled to the ground.
At the very least, if someone in the underworld asked who had killed him, he would be able to name the man with pride—that was his final thought before the breath left him.
Thud.
Heo Do's gaze, after cutting down the commander in a single strike, held no warmth whatsoever. He mercilessly swung his sword and cut down the trembling water bandits one by one.
Shing.
A moment later, Heo Do Jin-in sheathed his sword, now devoid of even a single drop of blood, and coldly barked at his disciples.
"Do not kill those who do not resist! We are Daoists!"
"Yes!"
"But show no mercy to anyone who does resist! Suppressing evil is a burden we must bear as well!"
"Yes!"
With loud replies ringing out, Wudang's disciples swept through the water bandits. Watching the scene, Heo Do Jin-in's eyes grew colder still.
---