I Have Won This War (5)
“So your mouth still works.”
“Oh?”
Jang Il-so laughed, as if he’d found something amusing.
“And here I thought you had no intention of doing anything at all.”
At Chung Myung’s words, a strange light entered Jang Il-so’s eyes.
This one really was interesting. Even Ho Gamyeong, who knew him better than anyone, couldn’t fully read what was on his mind. But this bastard saw through his true intent as if it were nothing.
Was there anyone else in the world who could be this entertaining?
“There wasn’t, was there?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The explosives.”
“Hahaha!”
Jang Il-so burst into laughter.
“You didn’t already go and check, did you? What a shame. You should’ve seen the spot where the hole was blown open with your own eyes and felt your guts twist in disgust. Of course, I wouldn’t have been able to see it, so I suppose I’d have regretted that in my own way too.”
Chung Myung’s lips twisted as if they might split with the force of his expression.
So he’d played me.
Of course there had been explosives.
The first blast that shattered the cliff had not been caused by human strength. The explosives had definitely existed.
But there had been no others.
When he thought about it, that was obvious enough. It would be hard enough for even the government to secure enough explosives to bring down an entire cliff. Getting hold of them, then moving them to the Yangtze River in secret within a short span of time and planting them in the right place was practically impossible.
And yet, at that moment, no one had doubted that there were explosives there. Not even Chung Myung.
There were two reasons.
First, the sight of the cliff exploding before their very eyes had been too overwhelming. Anyone who had witnessed such a monstrous scene firsthand would have found it impossible to stay calm and think clearly.
No, even if they had judged there was only a one-in-ten chance explosives had actually been planted on the cliff, they would still have had no choice but to climb it.
No one was going to gamble their life on a ten percent chance.
And the second reason was…
“Rushing over to haul in the White Thunder Cannons and hand them over too was a setup from the beginning, huh.”
“Of course.”
Jang Il-so smiled as though he were delighted.
It was like watching a game of go. Wasn’t this the feeling of calmly reviewing the meaning behind the stones he had laid?
No matter how brilliant a move might be, if there was no one who understood its meaning, the player would inevitably grow lonely. That was why even great minds needed worthy rivals.
“The people who came to the Yangtze were watching every move Mount Hua made. Of course they would’ve known you got your hands on the White Thunder Cannons.”
“……”
“If they weren’t idiots, they would’ve understood the White Thunder Cannons came from my hand the moment they faced me. So….”
Jang Il-so let out a grotesque little smile.
“Naturally, they’d have thought I had secured a large quantity of explosives. All thanks to you.”
“You snake bastard….”
It wasn’t really an insult so much as a compliment.
To put it simply, that was what had happened.
The Nine Sects and One Gang had been terrified of explosives that didn’t even exist and had desperately climbed the cliff. Because of that, they had suffered damage they never needed to suffer and burned through every ounce of strength just getting up the cliff.
“There wasn’t anything on the retreat route either, was there?”
“Of course not.”
Jang Il-so chuckled with the air of someone praising a clever child.
“We didn’t have the spare men to cover that far.”
“……And what if those guys had retreated down that route?”
“Then there’d be nothing for it but to go home like a dog that missed the chicken it was chasing.”
Jang Il-so shrugged.
“But if that happened, it would just prove they were more stupid than expected, wouldn’t it? If they’re that stupid, we can swallow them whole whenever we please.”
Chung Myung’s face twisted, and then he actually clutched his stomach and laughed.
This man was absolutely insane.
His guts turned over as if he’d swallowed something rotten. The more he picked it apart, the clearer it became.
Everyone here had been toyed with by Jang Il-so.
What made Chung Myung even more infuriated was that even Mount Hua had been dancing in the palm of Jang Il-so’s hand.
It had all started with luring them to the Yangtze. From the very beginning, Jang Il-so had probably intended to drag Mount Hua there and use them to draw in the other righteous sects too.
The Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families had never imagined that the Sapa would dare set a trap for them, and so they had walked straight into the scheme.
The laughter vanished from Chung Myung’s face in an instant, leaving only a cold expression behind.
“The River-Impregnable Accord….”
Chung Myung ground his teeth.
“You really did exclude the Heavenly Alliance from that treaty.”
“Because you would never have agreed to it.”
Jang Il-so snickered.
“Unlike those idiots. You don’t back down. And in that moment, you were the only one who could make a decision on behalf of the Heavenly Alliance.”
“That can’t be all of it.”
“Ha…. Haha.”
Jang Il-so’s smiling face stiffened slightly. Chung Myung’s words had apparently gone beyond even his expectations.
“Fine, whatever. I’ll make good use of the land you handed over. Tell those water bandit bastards clearly—so clearly they can’t possibly misunderstand—that if they even come near it, I’ll cut off their heads.”
“Why would I do that? You understand that the Nine Sects and One Gang can’t approach the Yangtze, don’t you? Then why should I guarantee your territory? Hm?”
“Because it’s what you want.”
“……”
Jang Il-so’s eyes curved into crescents.
Murderous intent.
For a fleeting instant, a thick, viscous killing intent leaked through those narrowed eyes.
“Mount Hua Divine Dragon. Mount Hua Divine Dragon….”
He murmured the title softly, then shook his head.
“That name is already too small for you now. It makes my heart go cold.”
“No need to climb into a palanquin. It’s just the obvious little trick you pulled.”
What Jang Il-so wanted right now was the complete ruin of the Nine Sects and One Gang. For the moment, the Heavenly Alliance wasn’t even in his eyes.
In terms of force, even if you added the Heavenly Alliance and Sapa together, they were still roughly equal to the Nine Sects, or perhaps even weaker.
So long as there was no chance of the Heavenly Alliance and Saperyeon joining hands, Saperyeon couldn’t rest easy after this one victory.
That was why they bought time with the River-Impregnable Accord. And then….
They would tear down the Nine Sects and One Gang completely.
The rumor that the orthodox sects and the Five Great Families had lost in the Yangtze and retreated would soon spread across the entire world. So would the rumor that they had shamefully begged for their lives.
Jang Il-so would be the one to spread it personally.
His condemnation would reach the heavens, and the reputation they had built, the honor they had carefully polished, would be shoved into the mud.
And then, in the middle of all that… if the Heavenly Alliance stood firm on one side of the Yangtze?
If the Heavenly Alliance protected the common people there?
That would be hell for the orthodox sects.
If the Heavenly Alliance also bowed its head, then at least people could say there had been no choice. But if word spread that the Heavenly Alliance had fought to the end, then no one would ever be able to place the word “righteous” before the names of the Nine Sects and One Gang again.
In other words, the one who should be praising the Heavenly Alliance the most desperately right now was none other than Jang Il-so.
“Tch. How boring. This should’ve been a gift tossed to someone too scared to stand up for himself.”
Jang Il-so took a sip of liquor and clicked his tongue.
“The lands you occupied, and the port at Jiujiang too—Surachae won’t be approaching those. If the idiots of the Nine Sects decide to cut off logistics in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t tantrum, or that foolish Black Dragon King goes too hard on the shipping lanes and blocks the trade route to Jiangnan, it’ll give me trouble.”
“How stupid can you get? You expect me to hear that and still let you pass for a few coins?”
“Aren’t you planning to squeeze every last thing you can out of this anyway? Or am I wrong?”
Chung Myung bared his teeth in a grin.
Of course, inside he was twisting himself into knots. So much so that his teeth ground of their own accord.
But if he looked at it coldly, the Heavenly Alliance and Mount Hua hadn’t lost anything in this matter. On the contrary, they had gained rather a lot.
The Heavenly Alliance would now take over the role once held by the Nine Sects and One Gang, who had claimed to represent the righteous will of the martial world, and they would monopolize the river routes to Jiangnan for enormous profit.
And Saperyeon, in exchange, had weakened the forces of the Nine Sects and One Gang and bought time to reorganize its own internal structure.
Mutually hostile symbiosis.
No better phrase existed to describe the relationship between them.
“So, Mount Hua Divine Dragon?”
“What?”
“Do you like my gift?”
“……”
“You can’t refuse it. No—you don’t even have a way to refuse it. But you don’t need to thank me. I’ve already received more than enough gifts from you. Hahahahaha!”
Chung Myung’s smile deepened.
“Then let me say something too.”
“Hm?”
Jang Il-so looked at him with a smile still playing on his lips, as though he could hardly bear the suspense of what Chung Myung was about to say.
“You’re right. You won this war.”
“Hmm?”
“But this was only a war.”
“……”
Jang Il-so’s eyes slowly sank.
“You’ll understand when you see it. Just how stupid a thing you’ve done.”
“……Stupid?”
“A battle is nothing compared to a war.”
“True.”
“But even war is nothing compared to destiny.”
“……”
“If you truly wanted to seize the martial world, then you should have found some way, any way, to bring down me and Mount Hua here. You were distracted by the small prey in front of your eyes and let the larger prize slip away. You’re the one who made the mistake.”
“……”
“You’ll learn.”
A chilling killing intent seeped from Chung Myung’s body.
“You’ll learn exactly what it means to give Mount Hua time. It won’t be long. The moment your neck is cut, you’ll regret today again and again. You will. Definitely.”
“……”
Jang Il-so’s face hardened with coldness.
A simple threat…. No, perhaps just the desperate bluster of a man refusing to bow.
But….
For some reason, those words did not sound simple in Jang Il-so’s ears.
He had to keep Chung Myung alive. Chung Myung was absolutely necessary to his plan. Because Chung Myung existed, the Heavenly Alliance, Saperyeon, and the Nine Sects and One Gang all maintained a balance against one another.
If Chung Myung disappeared, the Heavenly Alliance would collapse at an alarming speed, and with no one left to restrain them, the Nine Sects and One Gang would charge south with bloodshot eyes.
But… at the same time, his instincts were telling him something else.
That perhaps letting this brat live was more dangerous than dealing with the Nine Sects and One Gang.
Exactly as he had said.
Crack.
Jang Il-so clenched his fist without realizing it.
If I were to… right now…
It was just as his murderous intent surged and he bit down on his lip.
Suddenly, far off in the distance, he spotted a group of martial artists approaching at high speed.
What’s that?
Jang Il-so’s eyes widened slightly. They were still too far away to see clearly, but they were definitely approaching at a frightening pace.
Green?
The moment he saw the green capes they wore, Jang Il-so understood who they were.
“Tch….”
With a click of his tongue, he reluctantly unclenched his fist. Even he couldn’t kill Chung Myung before they arrived. And if a battle broke out here, the disadvantage would now be on Jang Il-so’s side.
That meant, in the end….
“...So it was my side that had its life saved.”
“If that Wudang idiot hadn’t gone and done something so stupid, anyway.”
Sichuan Tang Family. They were rapidly approaching Chung Myung.
If they joined the battlefield, the result would have been different for certain.
“……When did you call them?”
“You never know how things will turn out.”
Jang Il-so stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.
That was close.
He had nearly been pushed into a corner instead. This bastard was truly dangerous.
“Whatever.”
Jang Il-so finished the liquor in his hand and looked down at Chung Myung.
“However you slice it, I’m the one who won this war.”
“Right. So enjoy it while you can.”
Chung Myung grinned, showing his teeth.
“That brief moment of joy.”
The two men stared each other down, and in both of their eyes thick killing intent churned like black waves.
“Hmph.”
With a light snort, Jang Il-so turned first and climbed into the carriage.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
As the carriage began to move slowly, Jang Il-so leaned his head against the wall with a strange expression on his face.
That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
He had thought it was a perfect victory. But… now that he looked at it again, hadn’t it been a victory he’d only won by luck? If the others had only held out until the Sichuan Tang Family arrived, Saperyeon would no longer have been able to seize the initiative and force negotiations on its own terms.
“Ruins the taste of the wine.”
A low murmur slipped from his red lips. Jang Il-so’s eyes narrowed like a serpent’s.
Mount Hua… and Mount Hua Divine Dragon Chung Myung.
The moment Jang Il-so carved those names into his heart—
“I’ll need to prepare a proper name. It won’t do for the enemy of Jang Il-so to be called like some brat.”
A short while later, the soft laugh he let out drifted beyond the carriage and slowly spread across the now-silent land.