So There Was Still a Justice Gate After All (5)
Step. Step. Step.
Splish.
Pure white silk shoes stepped into a pool of blood.
When the splashed droplets stained the embroidered shoes, the man frowned in clear annoyance.
“...This is why I hate blood,” he muttered.
With a sour look, the man lifted his foot free and looked ahead. The irritation on his face soon gave way to delight.
“But... I do like red.”
Everything in the world had turned red.
The earth was soaked with endlessly spilling blood, and the ground was littered with corpse after bloodied corpse. Worse still, flames were leaping high as they devoured the buildings, dyeing even the black sky crimson.
In this place, the only thing that was not red was the man himself.
“Kuugh... Huuuh...”
At the sound of groaning, the man wrapped head to toe in a white robe, Jang Il-so, turned toward it.
A man who had lost one arm and one leg was writhing weakly in the pool of his own blood.
Jang Il-so walked slowly toward him. Then he crouched before the man and lightly pressed the man’s forehead with a forefinger.
“Ja... Jang Il...”
The man’s body shook like a leaf in the wind.
He was already dying, so there should have been nothing left to fear. And yet the moment he met Jang Il-so’s eyes, he looked as if he had come face-to-face with a demon from hell, and terror swallowed him whole.
“Scared?”
“Hh... Huu...”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. If only you’d listened when I was speaking nicely. Then I wouldn’t have had to waste my energy, and you could have enjoyed the honor of it.”
“...”
“What does it matter what happens to a tiny little sect like this? You should’ve just come under me and lived in comfort. Stubborn fool.”
Blood tears streamed from the man’s eyes.
It was true that they had flatly rejected Saperyeon’s offer to throw everything away and become its dogs. But who could have imagined that refusing one offer would lead to this sort of slaughter?
Everyone was dead.
Not even a single ant had survived within this estate.
The evil spirits of Maninbang had come rushing in without warning and cut down, trampled, and slaughtered everyone inside. Everyone he had been speaking and laughing with just moments ago had died by those demons’ hands.
“Kuhh...”
The leader of Gwimyeon Sect, Gwimyeon Black Fox, Mo Song, had a face twisted beyond recognition.
“Why... why is this... why...”
“Ah. I know, I know.”
Jang Il-so smiled brightly.
“I know what you want to say. You want to tell me that you never intended to resist all that much, yes?”
“...”
“If we’d only come and threatened you, you’d have knelt whenever we told you to. No, no, that’s not right. If we’d even hinted that we might treat you a little better, you’d have been ready to lick my boots. That’s what you’re trying to say, isn’t it?”
Mo Song’s trembling head slowly nodded.
It was hardly a pleasant sight to see a middle-aged man drenched in blood nodding as he shook, but Jang Il-so only smiled more brilliantly, as if thoroughly enjoying himself.
“Oh, my pitiable friend. Think about it for a moment. That’s your position. If I had to hear every such plea one by one, I’d spend all my time meeting the leaders of every evil faction in the world, wouldn’t I?”
“...”
“There’s a far simpler way than that. I’ll tell you, so listen carefully.”
Jang Il-so brought his mouth close to Mo Song’s ear and whispered softly.
“You crush one proper target to a pulp. Then you leave the corpses where they lie, without cleaning up a single one of them. Before the bodies have even finished rotting, word will spread in no time, won’t it? The filthy Jang Il-so refused by Gwimyeon Sect was wiped out to the last rat. Other sects that refuse my offer will end up the same way.”
“Uhh... uhh...”
Mo Song’s body shook so violently it was visible to the eye.
Jang Il-so gave his shoulder a light pat.
“Do you know why I’m telling you this?”
“...Why... why...”
A white smile spread across Jang Il-so’s delicately adorned face.
“Because I’m grateful.”
“...”
“I don’t really bear you any ill will. It’s not as though you did anything especially wrong. From my perspective, you were simply a sect of just the right size in just the right place.”
Blood tears, mixed with hate, pain, and grief, leaked from both of Mo Song’s eyes, but Jang Il-so seemed utterly unmoved.
“Thanks to you, things will be twice as easy. So go on peacefully. My business is generous... Ngh. No, that won’t do. Your corpse needs to rot here for it to mean anything.”
“Uhh... AAAAAAAAH!”
At last, unable to contain his rising fury, Mo Song lunged at Jang Il-so as though he meant to bite him to death. But of course, it failed. As the crippled man hurled himself forward, Jang Il-so calmly seized his face.
Then he squeezed, tightening his grip as if he meant to crush it on the spot.
“Kuh... Kuaaa...”
Mo Song grabbed at Jang Il-so’s wrist with his one remaining hand. But no matter how hard he struggled, Jang Il-so did not budge, only continued to slowly choke the life from his face.
“Oh dear, oh dear. You don’t understand simple words, do you? I was trying to send you off nicely.”
With a sinister smile, Jang Il-so growled.
“You still don’t seem to understand why you’re dying.”
Crack. Crack-crack-crack!
“Kuh... Kuuugh...”
Blood vessels burst one by one in Mo Song’s eyes. He clawed wildly at Jang Il-so’s arm and thrashed in desperation, but Jang Il-so did not even seem ticklish.
“To be weak and dim-witted is a death sentence. In this world, even someone as great as me lives by watching every little thing around him. What are weaklings supposed to rely on? If you thought the world would move however you pleased despite being weak, then you have nothing to say even in death.”
“Kuh!”
Thud!
At last, with a short gasp, a dreadful sound rang out, and Mo Song’s body went limp.
“Tsk.”
Jang Il-so rose from his crouch and brushed his hands as if something filthy had gotten on them.
“Alliance Leader.”
Ho Gamyeong approached him and stood quietly before him.
“The cleanup is finished.”
“Hmm.”
Jang Il-so slowly looked around.
“Still not quite enough. Make it even messier. Scatter the corpses a bit more.”
“Understood.”
“Good, good.”
Jang Il-so nodded with a gentle expression.
“Scatter some money around the nearby area as well. Tell them we’re sorry for frightening them, and that once Saperyeon is managing things, it will be different from the days when these scum were running wild.”
“...Is that truly necessary? In any case, the ignorant masses will have no choice but to do as they’re told.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Gamyeong, you always manage to say something lacking just when you’ve been doing well. War is about reducing your enemies and increasing your allies. There are already more enemies than enough; there’s no need to make more, even if they’re insignificant to the point of being laughable.”
Jang Il-so waved a hand dismissively and added in a low voice, “If a few coins can buy them over to my side, then that’s cheap at the price.”
“I will do as you command.”
“Good, good.”
Jang Il-so fell briefly silent, gazing at the scattered corpses before speaking again.
“Are the others still not moving?”
“Yes. It seems they’re just watching for now.”
“Idiots.”
By now, even the leaders of the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu were probably in turmoil.
“They must be busy calculating what positions they can beg for in Saperyeon. How far they can gorge themselves, that is.”
“Isn’t that the way of people?”
“It’s because they keep putting on such obvious little tricks that they’re still stuck in Jiangnan, digging in the dirt.”
Jang Il-so ran a finger over his lips. The stench of blood on his fingertips stirred the murderous hunger within him.
“They’re nothing but fat pigs in a pen.”
Cattle trapped in a pen only think about what they’ll eat today and tomorrow. At that rate, they would never escape the pen.
To become wolves, one could not be satisfied with the prey already caught. The instant the hunt ended, one had to think of the next prey, stalk it, and tear into it again.
“Alliance Leader... We’ve dealt with Gwimyeon Sect like this, but no matter how much we warn them, not everyone will follow you.”
“I know.”
Jang Il-so waved a hand as if it meant nothing.
“There’s no need for everyone to follow. Crush those who do, and kill those who don’t.”
“...All of those who refuse?”
“Why? Is that a problem?”
Seeing Jang Il-so ask so casually, Ho Gamyeong fell silent.
There was only one person who could carry out such a thing: Jang Il-so.
He was the alliance leader of Saperyeon, and also the hero of the evil path who had toyed with the Nine Great Sects and forced a humiliating treaty out of them. All the evil factions of the world were watching Jang Il-so.
And yet even if he pressed forward on the strength of that achievement, at least half of the evil factions in Jiangnan would refuse to submit to Saperyeon.
And he meant to kill them all?
“Tsk, tsk. Gamyeong, your thoughts are written all over your face.”
“...I apologize. There are times when I cannot keep up with the thoughts of the Alliance Leader.”
“Whether sooner or later, that’s how it will be. What difference does it make whether they’re killed now or killed later?”
“...”
“We have to drive them forward even if it means forcing the issue. Every time the evil path has united, the result has always been the same. We have always been defeated before those righteous factions’ alliance.”
“...That is true.”
“But now the righteous path cannot unite.”
Jang Il-so bared his teeth.
“The so-called Jiangnan Invincible Line isn’t what matters. What matters is that doubt has been sown among them. They blame one another, they point fingers, and at the same time they hate each other. In such a situation, they won’t be able to gather beneath anyone’s banner.”
“A-Alliance Leader.”
“This is the one and only chance. If not now, I’ll only become another pig wallowing here in Jiangnan. Before the blood they spilled has time to dry, before the wounds can crust and heal, we clear out Jiangnan and march north. If we can do that...”
Crack.
Jang Il-so clenched his fist.
“Then I’ll have the whole world beneath my feet.”
Ho Gamyeong shuddered and bowed all the way to the ground.
“Of course it will be so, Tyrant Lord!”
“Tsk. You too, with the flattery.”
Jang Il-so waved a hand.
“Don’t make it sound so grand. That’s only the story if things go well. One small mistake and I’d just be a fool who got himself killed while being greedy. Then you’d die a pathetic death too.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Hmm?”
Ho Gamyeong smiled faintly.
“If it means dying like that while standing beside the Alliance Leader’s will, then I can die smiling.”
“...”
Jang Il-so stared at him for a moment, then snorted a laugh.
“How embarrassing.”
Turning away, Jang Il-so snapped in a voice that had turned cold once more.
“Clean this up. We’ll need to wipe out at least two more places before tonight is over.”
“Yes!”
Jang Il-so slowly resumed walking.
The die has been cast.
This had not been a venture begun with perfect certainty, either. It was a test of himself, and a challenge to fate.
But one thing he knew for certain.
There were times when everything had to be arranged and moved with care, and there were times when one had to step into a black fog where not even a single inch ahead could be seen.
What he needed now was the will to take that one step.
Nothing can stop me.
Not a single thing in this world could. A world stuffed full of fools who soaked themselves in peace and only watched over their own safety could not stop him. Never.
“Only...”
If there was one thing that troubled him...
Jang Il-so’s gaze turned south, toward a place far away and invisible from here.
Baring his teeth, he smiled coldly.
“You’re the same, too, brat of Mount Hua.”
A small stream ran on and on until it became a river, and now it had become a violent torrent. No one in the world would be able to stop that current now.
Not even Jang Il-so himself.