Nice to See You Again, You Bastard! (1)
“...Heo San.”
“...Yes, Sect Leader.”
“Take care of the disciples.”
“Yes!”
Heo Do-jin-in bit down hard on his bloodless lip.
Was it that bad?
No, the damage was surprisingly light. Considering the sheer scale of the assault, a dozen or so injuries and a handful of deaths were hardly devastating.
At a glance, Shaolin’s losses were about the same as Wudang’s, and the Namgung Family had taken slightly more. Qingcheng, who had been stationed farther back, seemed to have gotten off the lightest by far.
Then where had all this blood come from?
“You... insane bastards...”
Unable to suppress the nausea and fury rising in his throat, Heo Do-jin-in spat out the curse between clenched teeth.
Most of the blood soaking the ground now belonged to the water bandits of the Black Dragon Clan.
That blind attack, which hadn’t cared friend from foe, had trampled the Black Dragon Clan’s men the most of all.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
Jang Il-so’s mad laughter finally seemed to settle a little as he covered his mouth and shook with amusement. What laughter remained in him scratched at everyone’s ears like a faint, lingering rasp.
It sounded almost like a victory cry.
“Haaah.”
At last, Jang Il-so subdued his laughter enough to shake his head.
“My apologies. I’m... rather lacking in fundamentals, you see. I don’t really know how to hide my feelings, so I hope you’ll understand.”
“...”
For a moment, Heo Do-jin-in wondered what expression he himself was making right now. More than that, he felt a deep and bewildered confusion.
How was he supposed to understand this man?
This thing that defied even the word grotesque.
“...You used gunpowder?”
At the question, Jang Il-so gave a leisurely nod, as though praising Heo Do-jin-in for figuring it out.
“I happened to get my hands on some, luckily enough.”
“...And so you used gunpowder?”
“As you can see, the effect is excellent.”
Heo Do-jin-in gritted his teeth.
“I can understand breaking the rules and using gunpowder. That sort of thing is to be expected from the likes of you. But no matter how vile the Sapa dogs are, they are still human beings. Your comrades were down there, and yet you attacked so brutally and blindly! Is that the way of you lot?”
Heo Do-jin-in’s seething voice thundered through the valley. But even that furious shout did not shake Jang Il-so.
“Ah. Yes, that is our way.”
“Do you have no pride as a martial artist?”
“...Pride?”
Jang Il-so stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.
Just watching that almost alluring gesture sent chills racing over the body.
“Pride? You mean the pride of fighting fair and square, then offering your neck at the end?”
“...”
“No. Different. Mine isn’t like that. My pride is this: by any means necessary, no matter what I have to do, no matter what I have to sacrifice, I will always profit. I will always crush my enemy. Always. Always survive.”
After raising his voice for a moment, Jang Il-so smiled again, soft and thin.
“That’s my dignity.”
“...”
“This is getting boring, so let’s stop with the obvious talk. Heo Do, you must understand the situation you’re in by now. Surely you don’t think this is all I prepared?”
Heo Do-jin-in clenched his lips tightly.
He knew.
What had collapsed was only one side of the cliff. Compared to the tall, wide precipice surrounding them, it was barely a tenth of the whole.
Even if it was Jang Il-so, he wouldn’t have prepared only this much. If he had intended from the start to bury them here, he would have packed the entire cliff with gunpowder.
If this whole cliff comes down?
Then they die.
Everyone dies.
Even in that hellish chaos, a few dozen peak experts might manage to save their own lives. But what meaning would that have?
Crunch.
Veins bulged on Heo Do-jin-in’s face. The sound of his grinding teeth leaked out ominously.
It couldn’t have been easy to plant that much gunpowder and prepare the collapse of this cliff.
Even if the placement itself had been quick, verifying the terrain and planning everything out would have taken a great deal of time.
Which means...
From the very beginning. Since the moment they decided to attack the Black Dragon Clan—no, perhaps since the moment they came to the Yangtze River...
No. Earlier than that.
Jang Il-so had created all of this and lured them here. In other words, it meant that Shaolin, Wudang, Namgung, and Qingcheng—the four sects that represented the Central Plains—had all been played in the palm of Jang Il-so’s hand.
“Amitabha.”
Beop Gye seemed to have reached the same conclusion as Heo Do-jin-in, for he intoned the Buddha’s name in a somber voice.
“Paegun. What is it you want?”
“What I want?”
“Yes. Surely you told us to understand our situation because you want something. One can only speak once the situation is clear...”
But before Beop Gye could finish, Namgung Hwang shouted like a man set ablaze.
“What are you saying, Elder! You’re talking about negotiating with them now? With those filthy Sapa bastards?”
“Namgung Gaju!”
Then a thunderous rebuke burst from Beop Gye as well. The force behind it was so formidable that Namgung Hwang, stunned for a moment, shut his mouth.
“Please leave this to me for a moment. Just a moment!”
“...Damn it.”
In the end, Namgung Hwang spat the curse out with a cold face. Beop Gye clenched his fist tightly.
And why wouldn’t he want to bargain with them? A Shaolin disciple had already lost his life to that attack.
The vital life of a disciple he had cherished like a son had been snuffed out beneath a boulder instead of a blade. Even if he tore Jang Il-so’s flesh apart and swallowed it whole, this rage would not be soothed.
But that was exactly why he could not afford to act on it.
If attacks like this kept coming, they would never endure. Even if fortune spared them total annihilation and only half of them died, these four sects would not recover their former power for a hundred years.
No, even longer than that.
During the war against the Demonic Sect, everyone had suffered losses. That was why, even after losing strength, no one’s standing had truly been overturned.
But this was different. If things went badly, the leaders of the Gupailbang and the Odaesega could lose their positions and be reduced to mere afterthoughts.
Beop Gye could not bear such a future. And he was only an elder, not even the abbot.
His gaze swept over the cliff.
He could see it now.
At first he had not paid attention, but now it was unmistakable. Black holes had been bored into the vast face of the cliff all around them. Gunpowder was probably stuffed into every one of those openings.
Long fuses ran from those holes up to the top of the cliff. It looked as though they intended to light them from above.
Beop Gye looked at Jang Il-so and bit his lip.
No matter what conditions we have to accept, we need to get out of here first.
Even if it meant swallowing humiliation.
“The other Sect Leaders must agree with me, yes?”
“I... yes.”
Byeok Hyeon nodded quickly.
But Heo Do-jin-in kept his mouth shut and gave no answer. That immense pride of his probably would not let him speak the words of compromise aloud.
Beop Gye could not wait for him to come around.
“Speak, Paegun! What is it you want?”
Whatever Wudang might say later, they had to deal with the situation in front of them first.
Yet the answer that came from Jang Il-so was nothing like what Beop Gye had expected.
“Hahaha. What do I want, you say?”
One corner of Jang Il-so’s mouth curled upward.
“You people, tucked away in your mountain valleys and pretending you rule the world while knowing nothing of it... you do love to chatter, don’t you? What do I want?”
“...”
“What do I want? Why, of course I have something I want.”
Jang Il-so spread his arms wide as if to display the sleeves of his robe, smiling with deliberate extravagance.
“The only thing I’ll take from those who trespassed into Saperyeon’s territory and attacked us is their lives! What do I want? Naturally, your extermination!”
“...”
“Don’t misunderstand me, you bald monk. The reason I didn’t slaughter you all on the spot is because the sins you committed are too great to be repaid with such an easy death.”
Beop Gye’s eyes began to tremble.
“Know why you’re dying! Know who is killing you! Know how you will die, and die knowing it! With your deaths, I will announce to the world that Saperyeon has risen! As an offering, you’ll be more than enough! Hahahahahaha! Not a single one of you! Not a single one will be left alive! Not one!”
For a moment, despair filled Beop Gye’s eyes.
How can such a madman exist in this world?
This went beyond anything one could describe with the word insane.
Clench.
Unlike the despairing Beop Gye, Heo Do-jin-in could not hide his fury and ground his teeth.
Wudang’s reputation may end with my generation.
Thinking all the way to the worst possible outcome, Heo Do-jin-in’s fingertips began to tremble.
“The world will know through your blood that the age ruled by the Gupailbang and Odaesega has come to an end! From this moment on, the Central Plains will be brought under Saperyeon’s name!”
Jang Il-so lightly stroked his own face. Dark excitement gleamed at the tips of those gentle fingers.
Man-geum Daebu, who had watched in silence until now, gave a thin, ugly smile.
“To think this day would come so soon.”
Heukryongwang also burst out laughing.
“I’ll collect the price of the brothers who died in the Yangtze!”
Below the cliff, there were surely not only the four sects but also the water bandits of the Black Dragon Clan. Yet Heukryongwang was speaking as if those men didn’t even exist.
“If those four sects lose their strength, then the Northern River means nothing.”
Cheonmyeon Susa’s face was also flushed with open excitement.
With his lips pressed tight, Heo Do-jin-in watched them and said in a low voice,
“Heo San.”
“...Yes, Sect Leader.”
It was so quiet no one else could hear it.
“When I give the signal, lead the disciples out of here.”
“...Sect Leader. Wouldn’t it be better to try removing the gunpowder instead?”
“Shaolin and Namgung will handle that.”
Heo San turned his head slightly. Sure enough, Beop Gye and Namgung Hwang were already scanning the holes in the cliff face.
“Leave that to them. Save as many disciples as you can.”
“...”
Heo San could not answer at once. He bit his lip instead.
What Heo Do-jin-in had just ordered was no different from saying that Wudang should use Shaolin and Namgung as shields and escape while they bought time.
It could hardly be called negotiation. But Heo San could not bring himself to disobey.
“...Understood.”
When Heo San answered, Heo Do-jin-in clenched his fist tightly.
Saperyeon...
If he were to speak honestly of Wudang’s failure, the fault was his alone.
Underestimating the enemy. Being driven by pride and failing to look back. All of it had intertwined to bring about this outcome. If he had only been a little calmer, they would not have ended up in such a miserable state.
So he would bear all the disgrace himself. The disciples of Wudang must escape this place alive. They had to.
Shaolin and Namgung are no soft targets either. If they move decisively, they might be able to remove half the gunpowder.
All they had to do was sever those fuses.
The enemy would not sit idly by and watch that happen, so it would be impossible to eliminate all of it. At best, they could remove half.
Then there will be a war between the survivors and the Sapa dogs on top of the cliff.
Both sides would have to prepare for near-total devastation.
Then first...
As he ran through the calculations in his head, Jang Il-so suddenly raised his arm high, his cloak flaring dramatically.
“You little rats are busy scheming. No matter how hard you think with those shabby brains of yours, you won’t find a way out. So just die already!”
Heo Do-jin-in’s gaze shot upward.
No, damn it!
“Heo San! At once, lead the disciples and—!”
Just as he was about to scream the order,
“But why does my stomach twist every time I look at that bastard’s face?”
a sharp voice, filled with internal force, rang clear and bright from atop the cliff.
Jang Il-so’s hand, which had been held high, slowly came down.
And then his eyes turned toward the far side.
Kwaaaang!
With a tremendous explosion, several Sapa men in black fell screaming from the cliff edge and plummeted downward.
They had been guarding the opposite side of the cliff occupied by Saperyeon.
Step. Step.
From the cliff face, where no one was left to guard, a single figure slowly appeared.
“...Mount Hua Divine Dragon.”
It was Chung Myung.
“You guys feel the same, right?”
“Ah. Totally.”
And the disciples of Mount Hua.
“...”
For the first time, the smile vanished from Jang Il-so’s face.
“Hey.”
“...”
“Nice to see you again, you bastard!”
Chung Myung grinned. It was an utterly wicked smile.