Put Your Neck on the Line, You Bastard! (1)
Chung Myung, who had been sprinting across the cliff face as if it were level ground, suddenly snapped his gaze upward.
The Maninbang warriors stationed above were rushing down fast, trying to stop him. One after another, the fighters spewing their qi tumbled down like rain, their unmistakable killing intent pouring toward him.
“Diee!”
More than a dozen Maninbang warriors hurled their bodies at Chung Myung and swung their weapons at him. There was no hint that they cared whether they lived or died. Their only intent was to cut him down or send him plummeting to his death from the cliff!
“Hah.”
With a short snort, Chung Myung bared his teeth like a beast.
Whoosh!
His sword sliced through the air like a streak of light. In an instant, more than ten bursts of sword qi shot out and severed the Maninbang warriors descending the cliff.
A sword had to change according to the situation.
For enemies falling at a speed he couldn’t match, there was no need for elaborate transformations or illusion-like feints. Only one thing mattered: speed. Speed fast enough that there was no way to evade it.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Along with those chilling sounds, red sword qi pierced the bodies of the Maninbang warriors.
“Guh!”
But Maninbang was not the kind of force that would just sit back and take it.
Even as blood poured from the sword wounds in their bodies, their eyes stayed fixed on Chung Myung.
Venom filled those eyes.
Arms thrown wide.
The Maninbang warriors kicked off the cliff face and lunged straight at Chung Myung.
“Chung Myungaaaaa!”
Baek Cheon, fighting on the cliff above and looking down at the scene, screamed in alarm.
The intent was obvious from the enemy’s movements: even if it cost them their lives, they meant to seize Chung Myung and drag him down with them.
If this hadn’t been a cliff wall, the answer would have been simple—create distance and avoid them. But even for Chung Myung, evading that attack in terrain like this would be difficult.
“N-no—!”
Just as Baek Cheon was thinking that Chung Myung might have made a mistake by jumping down there—
Whoosh!
Chung Myung kicked off the cliff face and vaulted upward, evading the lunging Maninbang warriors.
“What?”
Baek Cheon and Jo Gul both let out involuntary gasps at the same time.
Chung Myung’s body shot up into empty air.
“He’s insane!”
“Hey, you bastard!”
The Mount Hua disciples widened their eyes in shock. No matter how strong Chung Myung was, if he fell from a place like this, there was no way he could survive. And the distance was far too great for him to kick off the air and return.
“That idiot!”
Then, in midair, Chung Myung flipped his body over, curled in on himself, and shouted.
“Now!”
Wooooooong!
At that very moment, a golden fist force surged up from below the cliff.
“Haha!”
Chung Myung gave a short laugh and stepped onto the qi rising beneath his feet, then hurled himself back toward the cliff.
“Hye Yeon!”
“Suuuuuuuuuuperb!”
Cheers exploded among the Mount Hua disciples.
Only one person could release a fist force across that kind of distance and still control it gently enough that someone could step on it without injury.
Who else could it be but Hye Yeon?
“You’re all completely insane!”
Baek Cheon’s face, still spewing curses, was lit with joy.
Chung Myung, who had leaped into open air without the slightest hesitation because he trusted Hye Yeon was below, and Hye Yeon, who had been waiting precisely for that leap and had prepared his fist force to catch him.
Even without exchanging a single word, they already knew exactly what the other would do.
“Damn it! I’m jealous!”
Jo Gul laughed wildly and shouted,
“Sasuk!”
“I know!”
Baek Cheon glanced back. Their eyes met, and Hyun Sang gave a firm nod.
“Press them hard! Don’t let them get to Chung Myung! We have to protect him!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Mount Hua disciples, who had hesitated for a moment, surged forward with renewed courage and charged like arrows toward the Maninbang forces on the cliff above.
“Tch!”
“You little brats!”
The Maninbang warriors were momentarily rattled by the sudden rise in Mount Hua’s momentum.
This cliff wasn’t a structure where a large number of people could move at once. No matter how overwhelming their force was, the number of people who could actually face Mount Hua here would inevitably be limited to a similar number.
And now they also had to allocate men to keep Chung Myung in check below the cliff, which naturally created gaps.
On top of that, Mount Hua’s morale was obviously higher.
“What are you all doing?”
Then a low voice snapped them back to attention.
“Co-commander!”
Ho Gamyeong, who had been watching the situation unfold, lashed out with cold eyes.
“They’re still just brats. Push them back at your own pace. Don’t forget—the goal is not to defeat them, but to hold them off.”
“Yes!”
The Maninbang warriors tightened their grips on their weapons and re-formed their lines. Ho Gamyeong’s gaze shifted subtly down the cliff.
No way.
Had he already calculated all this before descending to the lower cliff?
That thunderous lunatic?
Feeling a chill rise over his skin, Ho Gamyeong bit his lip hard.
Thud-thud-thud!
Chung Myung tore through the Maninbang fighters clinging to him and ran along the cliff, charging toward the first banner blazing ahead of him.
Tap!
Then, with a single clean stroke, he cut through the lower section with his sword.
Clang!
“Huh?”
Chung Myung’s eyes sharpened.
His sword strike was strong enough to carve a deep scar into the cliff, but the banner that had taken the blow head-on had not been cut completely through.
“You bastard!”
Chung Myung roared and struck again. This time the lower section was severed at once, breaking free from the cliff and hanging loose.
Chung Myung glared across at Jang Ilso on the opposite cliff. No doubt Jang Ilso had anticipated that someone might try to cut the banner from afar with sword qi and had deliberately used a special cloth as the fuse.
Preparing a major operation like this and fussing over details down to this level—that wasn’t the sort of thing just anyone could do. It took a truly meticulous, devious mind.
“Swarm them!”
But there was no time to think further. From above his head, Maninbang warriors were racing down the cliff and charging toward Chung Myung.
They were clearly more skilled in footwork than the ones he had just faced.
“Hmph.”
Still, Chung Myung met them with a sneer.
Whoosh!
He kicked off the cliff wall and instead charged straight at the incoming fighters.
The sheer cliff face. From above it, a Maninbang warrior’s dao came slashing downward, and Chung Myung’s sword met it head-on.
The Maninbang warrior’s eyes gleamed with a knowing light.
Fool!
They were heading downward, while he was leaping up from below the cliff. And while their weapon was a heavy dao, his was a thin sword.
If they collided head-on, it was obvious who would be forced back.
Drop to the bottom, you arrogant bastard!
Their weapons collided in midair.
Clang-clang-clang!
Chung Myung’s sword seemed to twist slightly, then shoved the dao upward from below.
“What?”
His body was pushed slightly upward. Only slightly, of course. Under normal circumstances, a mere drop of the heel would have been enough to stabilize himself.
But this happened to be a cliff. Once a body was knocked off balance here, it could only fall.
“Y-you damn—”
The Maninbang warrior flailed wildly, swinging his dao in a frantic panic, and Chung Myung simply passed him by. Then, without even looking back, he shot upward and moved like a venomous snake slithering across the cliff, slipping between the Maninbang warriors charging in one after another.
Thoooom!
Minimum force, maximum effect.
This was a little different from the method he had used earlier, where every exchange of swords meant cutting the opponent’s throat. Right now, Chung Myung’s sword contained softness to the utmost. It merely used the least possible force to knock the enemy off the cliff without maiming them.
Of course, the result was anything but merciful.
“You bastard!”
“Damn it!”
The Maninbang warriors, flung farther and farther from the cliff, panicked and unleashed force after force toward the opposite wall.
After dozens of bursts, they finally managed to cling back to the cliff—but what awaited them was far from pleasant.
“Cut them down!”
“You evil bastards!”
The Wudang disciples who had been climbing up saw the Maninbang warriors, drew their swords, and kicked off the cliff.
“Hah!”
Midway up the cliff face, Maninbang, Wudang, and Shaolin were all hurling killing strikes at one another.
“Aaaagh!”
The result was obvious.
No matter how strong Maninbang was, and no matter that they held the upper ground, a mere dozen or so men could not withstand Wudang forcing its way upward.
In an instant, a Maninbang warrior pierced through with sword wounds and turned into a human porcupine, then fell from the cliff below.
But one.
Clutch.
“W-what…?”
“Ugh… ugh… damn… righteous bastards…”
Even after being pierced through the entire body, a Maninbang warrior still had enough strength left to grab hold of a Wudang disciple clinging to the cliff. Then, with venom gleaming in his eyes, he smiled.
“Let’s go together.”
Crack!
“Aaaagh!”
One of the Wudang disciples screamed as he fell. The cliff he had been gripping until the very end crumbled away, and pebbles and dust came cascading down with it.
“Zhenmiiing! Elder! Zhenming!”
“Ignore him and climb!”
“Elder!”
“Damn it! Don’t you understand? If you stay below, you’ll die no matter what! If you want to save Zhenming, then cut that rope! Climb! Now climb!”
“Damn it…!”
At that sight, Chung Myung twisted his lips into a crooked smile.
“I’m not the only one who gets to suffer.”
Muttering that, he kicked off the cliff and shot upward.
“Monk!”
“Ooooooh!”
Hye Yeon, waiting below, immediately unleashed his fist force upward.
Just as the Wudang disciple had said a moment ago, if you stayed below, you couldn’t guarantee your life. The path they had entered must have become a perfect death trap. There was no way Jang Ilso would leave such an obvious route alone.
To survive, they had to scramble up with everything they had and prevent the cliff from collapsing.
And yet Hye Yeon stood guard below without the slightest trace of doubt or wavering.
“Benefactor!”
“Got it!”
Chung Myung stepped onto the fist force Hye Yeon had sent out and leaped to the opposite side of the cliff.
Clang-clang-clang!
In one breath, he cut through three fuse lines, then glanced at Jang Ilso.
“Hmm.”
Watching the situation unfold, Jang Ilso’s face was filled with interest.
“Tyrant Lord. No, Alliance Leader. Doesn’t the situation seem a little less than favorable?”
At Man-geum Daebu’s words, Jang Ilso let out a low laugh.
“Hm.”
A strange glint swept through his eyes.
“It seems they’ve been too easy to read. Then I suppose I should give them a gift.”
Snap!
Jang Ilso flicked his fingers. A moment later, something came flying over. Man-geum Daebu took one look at what the Maninbang warriors were carrying and, after a brief silence, said,
“…You prepared this in advance?”
“Of course.”
“……”
The color drained slightly from his face.
Then just how long has he been planning this situation?
At the very least, before he had met them. If so, did that mean Jang Ilso had been confident enough even before meeting them that he could bring all of the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu, excluding the Green Forest, under his command?
“When such honored guests are coming all the way to see us, it would be rude not to prepare a gift.”
With a triumphant look, Jang Ilso gazed down below.
He Do-jin-in, who had been leading the climb up the cliff, saw that expression and flinched, stopping in place.
As if answering that ominous instinct of his, black cauldrons soon came into view at the cliff’s edge.
T-that… th-that?
Jang Ilso gave a light, cheerful whistle.
“Pour it.”
A scream like silk being torn ripped from He Do-jin-in’s mouth.
“D-dodge it! No—stop it! Oil! It’s oil! Boiling oil is coming down!”
Dozens of cauldrons tipped at once, and bubbling hot oil began pouring over them like a waterfall from above.
On the faces of the Wudang disciples climbing the cliff, thick fear and despair settled in.