Go Ask Your Own Head Priest (3)
“Take everything!”
Seo Hong, who had just cut down a man daring to resist, cackled and shouted at the top of his lungs.
This is it! This is how it should be!
Until now, even though they were river pirates, he had never been able to run wild to his heart’s content. He knew perfectly well that if they got too greedy, they would end up bringing the orthodox bastards down on them.
But now, the righteous factions that could stop them couldn’t come to the Yangtze. A table laid out like this was exactly what people meant when they said a feast had been prepared for them.
Of course, once time passed, they would have no choice but to settle back into the old balance. If you caught every fish without leaving any behind, the lake would die, and all that would remain in the end was rot.
But for the time being, there was no reason they couldn’t unleash all the savagery they had been holding back.
“Boss!”
“What is it?”
“A boat is approaching from the rear.”
“What? Officials?”
“No. It looks like another water bandit fort.”
“A water bandit fort?”
Seo Hong frowned.
“So they’re coming to pick at the scraps, huh? Ignore them.”
“Yes, sir.”
Even as he told them to leave it alone, he clicked his tongue inwardly.
At least have some sense of courtesy.
The rule of river pirates was simple enough: the first to arrive got the spoils. If it was their own territory, that was one thing, but around Jiujiang, the destruction of Daegyeong Fort had left the place without an owner.
So the right to plunder this ship belonged to whoever had arrived first—namely, them.
“I feel bad, so leave them a little—”
Kwaaaang!
At that instant, the thunderous impact of a massive collision rocked the ship so violently it seemed as if it might turn over.
“Wha—!”
“Aaaagh!”
Caught off guard by the sudden shock, the pirates sprinting across the deck sprawled across the planks and screamed.
“What, what the hell was that?”
Seo Hong, startled, ran toward the bow. Behind the ship secured by chains, an unfamiliar vessel had slammed into them.
“Those, those idiot bastards!”
He spat out a curse, assuming they had approached too quickly and failed to steer properly. Granted, river pirates spent most of their lives on boats and were usually quite skilled at handling them, so something like this was rare—but for the moment, that was the only explanation that made sense.
But it did not take long for him to realize he was wrong.
“Move!”
A pack of martial artists sprang from the ship that had rammed into them.
What?
Their clothing was completely uniform—black martial robes, utterly unlike the garb worn by pirates. There was no way these were ordinary river thieves.
Then he saw the swords in their hands and the plum blossom insignia embroidered on their chests, and one sect’s name flashed through Seo Hong’s mind.
“M-Mount Hua? Why the hell is Mount Hua here!”
His face turned deathly pale with shock.
Had this been a year ago—no, even just a month ago—his reaction would have been entirely different. But now, the standing of the name Mount Hua in the Yangtze was completely different from what it had been only a month earlier.
Everyone near the Yangtze knew the rumors: Mount Hua had crushed Daegyeong Fort with only a handful of men, and had even played a crucial role in the decisive battle against the Black Dragon Clan.
In other words, in the Yangtze now, the name Mount Hua was no different from the Grim Reaper’s.
“Aaaagh!”
“P-please, spare— Aaagh!”
And as expected, the swordsmen of Mount Hua who leaped onto the deck began cutting through the pirates in an instant. There were only a few men left aboard after their raiding party had gone to plunder the other ship, but even accounting for that, the speed was absurd.
“D-Damn it!”
Seo Hong was still reeling from this wholly unexpected turn of events and scrambling for some way to respond when—
“Hup.”
A man in black martial robes lightly jumped aboard the ship they had seized. Almost simultaneously, five young martial artists sprang up behind him and lined themselves up at his back.
“Hmmm.”
The man who had boarded the ship slowly looked around, then twisted his face in visible disgust.
“Have you bastards lost all sense of shame? You call this shitty business in Jiujiang?”
“…….”
“Who’s the boss here?”
Seo Hong stared at the man with a rigid face before speaking.
“I am. And you are with Mount Hua?”
“With Mount Hua? With Mount Hua? You little punk, your mouth is real loose, huh? Where do you get off talking to a pirate like that? Want me to knock out all your teeth so you can live on rice gruel for the rest of your life?”
“…….”
Seo Hong’s face went blank under the barrage of abuse.
“Who are you?”
“Me? I’m Chung Myung, you bastard. What, you still don’t know?”
But to Seo Hong’s surprise, his face had already gone white as paper.
“C-Chung Myung?”
“Huh?”
At that reaction, Chung Myung tilted his head and glanced back over his shoulder.
“Looks like he knows me.”
“……Well, that would make sense.”
“It’d be stranger if he didn’t know by now.”
Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong shook their heads. This bastard had a habit of underestimating his own fame.
“The Mount Hua Divine Dragon!”
Seo Hong’s face was drenched in cold sweat as if he were standing before the demons of hell itself.
He wanted to deny it, but the appearance of the crouching figure in front of him matched exactly what he had heard. On top of that, the bandages wrapped around the man’s wrists beneath his open collar and sleeves proved he had recently been through a fierce battle.
The Mount Hua Divine Dragon, Chung Myung.
The swordsman of Mount Hua who had slain the local boss, the Brutal Black Fish, and shattered Daegyeong Fort.
“Th-that guy who fought the Paegun to a standstill….”
At Seo Hong’s mutter, Chung Myung’s face twisted.
“Hey, bastard, standstill? If that Wudang punk hadn’t gotten in the way, I would’ve won.”
Baek Cheon, standing behind him, said with an awkward expression, “......No, that’s a bit much.”
“What?”
“A person has to have some conscience.”
“No, I’m telling you I won. If we’d kept fighting to the end, I’d have won for sure! Anyone! Any bastard!”
“Ah. Right, right. Let’s focus on the guy in front of us, okay?”
“I’m serious, damn it.”
“Yes, yes. Front, please.”
Seo Hong’s fingertips were trembling like leaves in a storm.
Even with a band of ruthless pirates in front of them, not one of those people seemed remotely tense. Depending on how one looked at it, it might have been humiliating—but in truth, Seo Hong wasn’t in any position to feel humiliated.
Which was only natural.
When the man before him had stormed in, killed the Brutal Black Fish, broken the fort apart, and then fought the leader of the Four Hegemons Alliance in the middle of a war between the Four Hegemons Alliance and the righteous factions, how could some ordinary pirate underling possibly register on his radar?
Resistance?
He couldn’t even think about it. If the opponent was the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, then honestly, dousing himself in oil and jumping into a pit of fire might offer a better chance of survival.
Still, even if he couldn’t resist with a blade, he still had something to say.
“T-the righteous factions are not supposed to enter the Yangtze! W-why are you here?”
“Who says the righteous factions can’t come in, you bastard! It’s the Nine Sects that can’t come in. We’re not the Gupailbang. We got kicked out a long time ago.”
“No, that’s going too far. Why are you saying it like that? Kicked out?!”
“It’s true, isn’t it?”
“You can say the same thing in a nicer way. Like it doesn’t apply to the Heavenly Alliance.”
“Pfft. If we hadn’t been kicked out, we couldn’t have come either.”
“Ughhh.”
Baek Cheon covered his face with the hand not holding a sword, making his displeasure painfully obvious.
Chung Myung jerked his chin at Seo Hong.
“Didn’t you hear that if you get caught doing business around Jiujiang, your head comes off?”
“Wh-what do you mean by—”
“Looks like you didn’t know. Well, too bad. If you die, go complain to your boss about it.”
As if there was no more to say, Chung Myung shouted, “Hahahaha! Take everything they have, and cut down anyone who resists—make them fish food!”
“Stop talking like a pirate, you bastard!”
“That’s not wrong, but now I feel weird about it.”
The Five Swords grumbled as they kicked off the deck like lightning. At the same time, the Baek-generation and Cheong-generation disciples waiting below sprang aboard and began driving the pirates back.
The ship was cleared in no time at all.
There was only so much space on a vessel to begin with. If the numbers were roughly even, then pirates like these weren’t even good enough to count as Mount Hua disciples’ post-meal exercise.
The Mount Hua disciples who had cut down the pirates resisting them and subdued those who surrendered encircled Seo Hong, the last one standing.
Pressing himself tight against the railing, Seo Hong stared at them, sweat pouring down his face.
“Th-the Black Dragon King will never overlook this! I-if you kill me….”
Baek Cheon smiled gently in reply.
“That’s considerate advice, but I don’t think it’s something you need to worry about.”
“…….”
Seo Hong clenched his teeth and glared at Mount Hua with venomous eyes.
“Do you think you can last in the Yangtze for long….”
“Ah, shit!”
At that moment, Chung Myung, who had been standing behind him, sprang forward like a bird of prey and drove a kick straight into Seo Hong’s jaw.
PAK!
Everyone squeezed their eyes shut.
Seo Hong’s head snapped back hard, and he convulsed for a moment before tumbling weakly over the railing behind him.
Plop!
“Ugh! You talk too damn much, bastard.”
Chung Myung dusted off his hands, looking as if he had finally relieved himself of a nuisance.
“I told you not to overdo it. Your wounds still haven’t fully healed.”
“What’s so overdoing about taking out some little fry like him? That was just a light warm-up.”
“Tch.”
Baek Cheon shook his head as though he had long since given up.
He never listened when it mattered. Not to a damn word.
“So-so. Any injured?”
“No one died, Senior Martial Brother. There are a few with cuts, but nothing life-threatening.”
“Those rotten pirate bastards.”
Grinding his teeth, Chung Myung glared at the pirates tied up to one side. The pirates hurriedly lowered their heads, their faces drained white.
“Treat the wounded, and return every stolen item to its owner.”
“Understood!”
The Mount Hua disciples immediately set to work.
The townspeople, who had been cowering in a corner and watching with trembling bodies, finally found the courage to approach cautiously.
“Th-thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Oh, it’s nothing! Ha. Ha. Ha. As righteous people, this is only natural! Only na-tu-ral.”
“Ah….”
The people blinking at him asked, a little confused, “But didn’t the secret agreement with the Four Hegemons Alliance say the righteous factions couldn’t come to the Yangtze?”
“That’s nonsense. It’s true that the bastards from the Nine Sects and the Odaesega can’t come, but we can.”
“……T-then?”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung answered with a broad grin.
“We don’t know about anywhere else, but we’ll protect this entire Jiujiang area perfectly, so feel free to come here. We’ll make sure those pirate bastards can’t even breathe in your direction.”
“Ah!”
“Please spread the word. Tell people that Jiujiang is an area protected by the Heavenly Alliance. Tell them no one in Jiujiang will ever again be at the mercy of river pirates.”
Then Chung Myung leaned in and whispered to a merchant standing at the front, “And hey, we’ve built a bridge to the island out in Jiujiang, right? If you come through there, we’ll give you a discount and handle transport too.”
“R-really?”
“Huh? Have you been living your whole life getting swindled? I’m Chung Myung! Chung Myung! The Mount Hua Divine Dragon!”
Thumping his chest, Chung Myung spoke with pride, and color returned to the merchants’ faces at once.
“That’s right. The Mount Hua Divine Dragon!”
“If it’s the word of that famous Mount Hua Divine Dragon, then it can be trusted!”
The Five Swords, listening in silence, all squeezed their eyes shut.
How did things end up like this?
When did that nickname, once a symbol of fraud and mischief, become a symbol of trust?
In the Yangtze region, Chung Myung’s reputation had risen to a level beyond comparison with what it had been before.
And once today’s events spread, it would not be strange at all if, at least in the Yangtze, Mount Hua took the title of the world’s greatest sect.
Emotional merchants clasped Chung Myung’s hand and bowed their heads over and over.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. How can we ever repay this kindness….”
“Hahahaha. Repay it? Easy. Pay me in money. Don’t make it sound like there’s some special way to repay a favor. You’re merchants, for crying out loud—mmph! Mmph!”
Baek Cheon naturally clapped a hand over Chung Myung’s mouth and dragged him backward. Then he smiled brightly and said, “Haha. He’s not quite right in the head right now because his injuries haven’t fully healed.”
“…….”
Yoon Jong quietly blocked the merchants’ line of sight to the scene, where they stood staring dumbly.
“If you have any questions, you can ask me. I’ll explain everything.”
“Ah… then may I ask just one thing….”
“Yes. Ask anything you like.”
“……This is a terribly rude question, but….”
“It’s fine. Please, go ahead.”
“Then, if you’ll forgive my shamelessness….”
The hesitant merchant took a deep breath, braced himself, and finally spoke.
“Is… is that man really the Mount Hua Divine Dragon?”
“…….”
Yoon Jong could not bring himself to answer yes.