Hey! Grab the Leftover Liquor Over There! (4)
“T-this is….”
Heo Do-jin-in’s face twisted viciously. He was a Daoist priest, not a man who ever showed such an expression to others. If his emotions were surfacing so plainly, it could only mean the situation was dire beyond words.
Taat!
Without a second word, Heo Do-jin-in shot out into the open.
Realizing just how serious things had become, the other sect leaders quickly followed after him.
The battlefield had changed. The fighting had already stopped, as if the life-or-death struggle only moments ago had been nothing but a lie.
Heo Do-jin-in’s gaze slowly lifted. Everyone in the basin was looking the same way.
Up on the cliff.
From that dizzying height that made one’s neck ache just to look at it, a man was gazing down at them.
He was wrapped head to toe in black.
A rough black beard that fell all the way to his navel.
And a face red as jujubes, framed by a mane of hair like a lion’s.
Along with that unusual appearance, there was even the image of a black dragon carved across his chest. No one needed to say his name for everyone to know who he was.
“Kwahahahahahaha! What brought a bunch of righteous trash all the way out to the Yangtze, thinking they’d get themselves a meal!”
Namgung Hwang’s expression hardened.
The overwhelming internal force in that voice seemed to slice at his skin.
Was the Black Dragon King this strong?
He had heard the rumors, of course.
But even so, he had thought he was still only a Sapa bastard. Compared to the righteous clans—who had fought tooth and nail just to survive, competing with brothers-in-sect and even blood brothers alike—the evil sects were nothing but a ragtag collection of good-for-nothings, a collection of people who had no idea what real diligence was.
How terrifying could the head of such a place possibly be?
And yet the Black Dragon King standing before his own eyes shattered that assumption in an instant.
It felt as if tyranny itself coursed through his whole body, enough to send a chill straight down the spine.
“You not only dared invade the Yangtze, but even crawled your way into Black Dragon Clan. The righteous trash really have lost all fear!”
Namgung Hwang shouted back at once.
“You cowardly bastard! Hiding away in some far-off hole and still spouting nonsense? You abandoned your men and ran with your tail tucked between your legs, and you still have something to say?”
His words might not have been logically airtight. Even so, they did their job, steadying the Namgung warriors who had been wavering.
“Ran with his tail tucked….”
The Black Dragon King repeated the words, then sneered.
“Say whatever you want. It won’t even tickle a man headed for the grave.”
“You bastard!”
Then Beop Gye spoke up.
“Amitabha. This humble monk is Beop Gye of Shaolin.”
“Hmph! A mere elder, not even the abbot, and you dare try to speak to me? Shaolin’s arrogance reaches the heavens!”
At the blatant mockery, Beop Gye’s brow tightened slightly.
“Benefactor. I have heard your claim well enough, but what do you expect to do against us in this situation? You cannot possibly face all of us alone.”
“There’s no reason I can’t!”
The Black Dragon King laughed aloud.
“Why would I need anyone else to deal with little insects like you? My saber is enough.”
He reached for the saber at his waist. The hilt clicked and lengthened, and before long it had become a long guandao.
Paaaah!
He shook the saber once through the air, then smiled with utter arrogance.
“Who will be the first to face me?”
Before Namgung Hwang could yell back, Beop Gye stepped forward.
“Amitabha. If you wish it, I, Beop Gye, can take you on.”
“You? Hahahahahahahaha!”
The Black Dragon King’s roaring laughter thundered through the canyon.
Amused beyond endurance, he looked down at Beop Gye with a face full of contempt.
“Get lost, little brat! This is no place for children to butt in when adults are speaking. If you want to face me, then bring the abbot!”
Beop Gye’s face flushed red in an instant.
As Shaolin’s first elder, where had he ever been treated like this?
“Amitabha. Amitabha.”
He repeated the Buddha’s name over and over, trying to soothe the boiling anger in his chest.
“If you want someone of equal standing, then I’ll take you on. Surely you’re not going to say even this Emperor Sword Namgung Hwang is beneath you?”
“The Emperor Sword, is it….”
The Black Dragon King twisted the corner of his mouth.
“You people who’ve been grazing comfortably within the fence of Namgung Family are pretending to be real men!”
“What did you say?”
“Why? Did I hit the mark?”
The Black Dragon King glared at everyone with his fierce eyes.
“Of course I could sweep away trash like you by myself. But… if you lot think I’m not enough on my own, then I suppose I can meet those expectations.”
“...What?”
At that moment, two people slowly walked out from beside the Black Dragon King.
“That wouldn’t be a bad idea, certainly.”
“For the illustrious gentlemen of the Nine Sects and One Gang, maybe we’d be a little lacking if it were just us.”
Seeing them emerge, Heo Do-jin-in’s face hardened.
Those are…
Of course, he had never seen them with his own eyes.
And yet he knew at once. Across the whole world, there would be very few qualified to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Black Dragon King. And among those two, one man’s appearance matched the one who possessed that very qualification.
“...Man-geum Daebu.”
“How honored I am. To think even the famed Heo Do-jin-in of the world would recognize me.”
Standing to the Black Dragon King’s left, Man-geum Daebu smiled coldly and looked down at Heo Do-jin-in.
“Even if I only took your head, it’d still be a profitable trip. So how could I possibly stay away? Opportunities to make this much don’t come along every day.”
By contrast, the man standing on the Black Dragon King’s right had an utterly ordinary face, with no remarkable features at all.
But Heo Do-jin-in understood anyway. If the one he had identified was truly Man-geum Daebu, then there was only one person who could stand on the other side of him.
The man whose true identity could never be discerned from his appearance alone.
“...Cheonmyeon Susa.”
“Cheonmyeon Susa? That one?”
Byeok Hyeon’s face turned pale blue.
Man-geum Daebu and Cheonmyeon Susa.
The leaders of the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu who commanded Black Ghost Fort and the Hao Sect, respectively.
That meant three of the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu were gathered here now.
Three of the Five Hegemons?
It was a force of terrifying magnitude. Even if three of the Nine Sects and Five Great Families had gathered together, victory still could not be guaranteed.
“S-Sect Leader!”
Before he knew it, Byeok Hyeon had turned to look at Heo Do-jin-in. But Heo Do-jin-in himself seemed equally unprepared for this situation; he stood there with his mouth shut tight.
Why are those people gathered in one place?
Such a thing should never have happened. It had to be impossible.
The four factions gathered here had not forced their way to this place without thinking. There was only one reason they had come to war with the Yangtze Water Bandits.
Because the evil sects were never supposed to unite.
Even during the war against the Demonic Sect in the past, the evil sects had continued to fight among themselves until the very end. The Nine Sects and Five Great Families had only pursued their own gains, but they had not stabbed one another in the back or fought with grinding teeth.
But the evil sects, weren’t they the kind of people who would keep attacking and snarling at each other even with the Demonic Sect’s blade buried in their throats?
If the Yangtze Water Bandits came under attack from the righteous factions, true Sapa nature would be to rush in like wolves—not to help, but to tear apart the territory left behind as the Water Bandits’ influence vanished.
“Then how….”
And at that instant, a group of martial artists appeared at the top of the cliff. They did not hurry. At the front of the line, they looked down into the basin with eyes so cold they seemed to freeze the air itself.
Even a glance was enough to tell they were masters who had reached the pinnacle.
They brought their subordinates too.
Realizing that such masters had occupied the sky above them, an indescribable pressure came crashing down.
But that was a pressure one could still endure.
What truly left Heo Do-jin-in breathless was not their presence alone, but the fact that they were there at all. He could not bring himself to accept the reality that someone had lured them into this bottle trap.
“Who….”
There had to be someone who had brought together those who could never be mixed.
“Who…!”
Just as Heo Do-jin-in was about to shout, a faint sound brushed past his ear.
Jingle.
A tiny, clear ring of metal, like ornaments belonging to a woman striking together.
To ordinary people, it would have been inaudible at this distance. Even Heo Do-jin-in could barely catch it if he listened carefully.
And yet to him, that slight sound felt like thunder.
“Hmm.”
A soft, slightly nasal hum slowly drifted down from the cliff.
At that moment, Heo Do-jin-in felt every hair on his body stand on end. Eyes widening, he glared up at the cliff as though he would devour it whole.
And then.
A man finally revealed himself atop the cliff.
Heo Do-jin-in bit his lip hard.
He saw it.
He saw the Black Dragon King, Man-geum Daebu, and Cheonmyeon Susa clearing the way for the man who had just appeared.
Who in all the world could make those three step aside of their own accord?
Step. Step.
At last, the one who had fully revealed himself at the edge of the cliff looked every bit as vivid as a wound.
A blood-red robe embroidered with a black dragon.
Pale skin so heavily powdered it looked almost feminine.
A white crown set atop hair black as ebony.
And countless ornaments draped around his body and both arms.
Heo Do-jin-in knew this man. No—he had no choice but to know him.
There might be countless people in the world, but a man dressed like this would be rare. And there would be even fewer with the audacity to stand there.
If there was one such man, it could only be one.
“...Paegun.”
Paegun Jang Il-so.
The moment he appeared, the air inside the basin began to cool.
He was different.
The tyranny flowing from the Black Dragon King was strong enough to halt battle on the spot.
The chill radiating from Man-geum Daebu’s body felt like the depths of a killing winter, and even the oddly ordinary presence of Cheonmyeon Susa was enough to set nerves on edge.
But this man, Paegun Jang Il-so, was different.
He did not even need to spill any great aura. He had merely walked slowly and looked down from above.
And yet it felt as if one’s breathing had been seized by the throat.
His strength as a martial artist was not what set him apart—his very presence as a human being was on another level entirely. Even his gaudy and ridiculous clothing did not make Jang Il-so look laughable; if anything, it made him more impossible to approach.
“This is my first time meeting you all. Fellow heroes of the Jianghu.”
Jang Il-so slowly brought both hands together and extended them forward. His waist bowed naturally as well.
A perfectly ordinary martial salute. A gesture so familiar to those who lived in the Jianghu it was as natural as breathing.
And yet even that commonplace motion sent gooseflesh racing over everyone present, stealing their breath. Merely from such a routine greeting.
“I am Jang Il-so, leader of Maninbang and leader of Saperyeon.”
A bright smile spread across Jang Il-so’s handsome face.
In that moment, Heo Do-jin-in could see it clearly.
There was not the slightest trace of amusement in Jang Il-so’s eyes, despite the friendly smile on his face.
A snake? No… that’s a flood dragon.
A flood dragon coiled with its fangs bared, perched upon this towering cliff, slowly looking down at the prey that had fallen into its trap.
With those cold, terrifying eyes.