This Is What Makes the World Interesting (4)
In a silence so cold it seemed to seep into the bones, Baek Cheon stared at Beop Jeong with a dazed expression.
Now…
What in the world had that bastard just said?
Had he just uttered the word collusion? Heavenly Friends Alliance—with those Sapa bastards?
In an instant, blood surged into Baek Cheon’s eyes. His pulse thundered, and a scorching rage boiled in his chest.
“You—”
Just as he tried to surge forward at Beop Jeong, eyes blazing with blood, a hand gripped his shoulder and pressed him down.
Grinding his teeth, he turned—and saw Un Geom standing there. His jaw was clenched too, but he still shook his head, restraining Baek Cheon.
“...Wait.”
“Uncle-Martial Brother.”
“Sect Leader will deal with him.”
Even so, Un Geom seemed to be struggling to contain his own fury; the single hand he had left was trembling violently on Baek Cheon’s shoulder.
Mount Hua was not the only one shocked by Beop Jeong’s words. Jong Ri-hyeong, the Sect Leader of Kongtong, looked at him in open consternation.
Collusion?
What in the world was this supposed to mean? They had clearly watched everything that had happened on Plum Blossom Island from here.
Then, breaking the silence, Hyun Jong spoke.
“I...”
There was no anger on his face, no grievance—only a blank expression directed at Beop Jeong. But anyone who knew Hyun Jong even a little would understand at once how fiercely he was suppressing his rage.
“I find it difficult to understand what Abbot is asking me.”
There was not a trace of emotion in his voice. It was rare to hear Hyun Jong speak like that.
Beop Jeong answered with a faint smile.
“I mean exactly what I said.”
“...”
“If you think about it logically, there is no reason for the Water Bandits to attack the Heavenly Friends Alliance as it left the island.”
“The reason is simple. We had the Black Dragon King as a hostage.”
“Is that so?”
Beop Jeong glanced down toward his own midsection as if surprised.
So that’s why.
Realizing at last that the Mount Hua Divine Dragon had not yet disembarked, he nodded.
“I see what you mean.”
“Does that answer your question?”
Beop Jeong slowly shook his head.
“No.”
At that answer, Hyun Jong’s face went cold.
“That is not enough, Sect Leader.”
The smile disappeared from Beop Jeong’s face.
“Surely you are not trying to claim that those bandits possess such a thing as trust?”
“Abbot.”
For the first time, anger surfaced on Hyun Jong’s face.
Depending on how one looked at it, Beop Jeong’s question might even seem reasonable. The process by which they had left the island must have looked unnatural from here. Hyun Jong was not so foolish as to fail to understand that.
But even so, there was only one reason he could no longer keep his temper in check.
Malice.
Every word out of Beop Jeong’s mouth was thick with it, crawling with something vile. He was not asking questions and waiting for a convincing explanation. Whatever the answer might be, he intended to drag them into the filth and trample them there.
“We staked our lives to save Namgung.”
“I too wish to thank the Heavenly Friends Alliance for rescuing Namgung. But...”
Beop Jeong’s gaze drifted past Hyun Jong to the line of Mount Hua disciples standing behind him. To those young swordsmen staring back at him with murderous eyes.
“Then who died?”
“Abbot!”
Hyun Jong shouted as if in pain, but Beop Jeong did not even blink.
“What I’m saying is that it’s terribly unnatural for you to charge into a place occupied by the Myriad Man Sect and the Water Bandits, suffer no losses at all, and simply walk back out as though nothing happened.”
At last, anger that could no longer be suppressed bloomed across Hyun Jong’s face.
What in the name of heaven was this insane bastard saying?
“Logically speaking, isn’t there no other explanation but that some kind of agreement existed between the Heavenly Friends Alliance and the Evil Tyrant Alliance? Otherwise, are you claiming that the Heavenly Friends Alliance is strong enough to face that alliance without losing a single man?”
Beop Jeong’s expression was grave. Listening to his solemn rebuke, so full of self-righteous seriousness, one almost found oneself wondering whether Mount Hua had truly done something wrong.
Sure enough, the disciples of Kongtong and the Beggars’ Union, who had been listening with bated breath, began exchanging glances among themselves. A shared sense was forming that what Beop Jeong was saying might not be entirely unreasonable.
“There is only one thing I can say.”
Hyun Jong spoke with a hardened face.
“Mount Hua did not compromise with them. They could do nothing to us only because we had the Black Dragon King as a hostage.”
“Hmm?”
Beop Jeong’s eyes curved strangely.
“Then that means...”
The moment Hyun Jong saw that look, his face paled slightly. He had realized what the next words out of Beop Jeong’s mouth would be.
“Are you saying the Heavenly Friends Alliance decided to spare the life of the inhumanly vile Black Dragon King in exchange for leaving Plum Blossom Island?”
Hyun Jong shut his eyes tight.
The reason Mount Hua had chosen to spare the Black Dragon King was because that vengeance belonged to Namgung. But who would believe that in a situation like this?
To those who had already heard every one of Beop Jeong’s obscene insinuations, it would only sound as though they had begged for their lives in exchange for releasing a monstrously wicked man.
The current jianghu was too harsh to accept Hyun Jong’s words at face value.
“That is going too far!”
At that moment, someone suddenly raised their voice. It was Jao-gae.
Beop Jeong’s gaze turned to him.
“If you cannot trust the Heavenly Friends Alliance’s word, then you should at least trust mine. I witnessed everything from that island. From what I saw, the Heavenly Friends Alliance never colluded with those Sapa bastards!”
Jao-gae glared at Beop Jeong and spoke with force.
“I can swear it on my name.”
But Beop Jeong only shook his head.
“Your name has no such value.”
“What did you just say...?”
“Was it not you, beggar, who cast aside your rank as an Elder of the Beggars’ Union to prove your words?”
At once, burning anger shook Jao-gae to the core.
That insane bastard!
But he had no retort. How was he supposed to rebut words that had no logic in them to begin with?
“And furthermore!”
Beop Jeong narrowed his eyes.
“One pair of eyes and ears cannot represent everything. If what I fear is true, then the world must prepare for a vast calamity. Can you truly take responsibility for all of that, Beggar?”
“Listen here, Abbot—”
“This is no matter for you to interfere in!”
Beop Jeong pressed down on Jao-gae with a heavy, crushing momentum.
No matter how much face he had lost, Beop Jeong was still Shaolin’s Abbot. Once he truly set his mind to it, Jao-gae could not move an inch.
“Be cautious, Beggar. If they truly plotted with those Sapa bastards, then perhaps their very entry into Plum Blossom Island was part of the plan. I am telling you not to judge by what happened there alone.”
“You...!”
Jao-gae trembled all over.
But he could not speak again. He had realized it too—Beop Jeong had no intention of listening to a single word he said.
How can this be?
Jao-gae knew exactly why Beop Jeong was doing this. Which was why he found it even harder to suppress his fury. It felt as though sour bile had risen up from his stomach.
“I will ask again.”
Beop Jeong looked back at Hyun Jong.
“Is it true that the Heavenly Friends Alliance made an agreement with the Sapa sects in exchange for releasing the Black Dragon King?”
Hyun Jong tried his hardest to remain calm. He had the intuition that if he let his anger explode here, he would be dragged exactly where Beop Jeong wanted him.
“...It may appear that way. But that is not something one could rightly call an agreement.”
“Then you mean, Sect Leader, that the Black Dragon King’s life was of such importance to Jang Il-so that he was willing to let Mount Hua, the Tang Family, and Namgung go?”
“What are you—”
“And...”
Beop Jeong’s meaningful gaze swept over Hyun Jong.
“By that logic, it would also mean you had to beg for your lives in order to save that same Black Dragon King.”
“Abbot.”
Dang Gun-ak, who had silently observed the situation until now, took one step forward. As if he could no longer stand this nonsense.
“How can you call that an agreement? By that logic, didn’t Shaolin also beg for its life by making an agreement with them on the Yangtze?”
At those words, Beop Jeong smiled instead.
“That is correct, Clan Head. Precisely so.”
At that reaction, Dang Gun-ak’s expression stiffened.
“And in return...”
The moment he saw the smile at the corner of Beop Jeong’s mouth, Dang Gun-ak realized he had made a mistake.
“Wudang accepted its responsibility by sealing its gates, and Namgung went into seclusion. Shaolin too paid a tremendous price. So let me ask you this: if all of those circumstances are no different from the disaster that happened on the Yangtze in the past...”
The look in Beop Jeong’s eyes was still soft and loaded with implication, but his voice now carried unmistakable force.
“Which sect in the Heavenly Friends Alliance will take the price for having made an agreement with those Sapa bastards?”
“You damn—!”
Dang Gun-ak’s eyes turned red at the edges as he spat out a curse. At last, he understood exactly what Beop Jeong wanted.
Shaolin could no longer recover its former honor. If anything, if word of what had happened on the Yangtze spread across the world, no one would ever again think of Shaolin as a sect of righteousness.
By contrast, the name of the Heavenly Friends Alliance would shine brighter than ever. So brightly that Shaolin could no longer hope to follow.
A normal man would have tried to restore his own honor, to find a way for himself to rise again. But Beop Jeong’s aim was the reverse.
To drag Mount Hua down into the same filth.
Words were a tricky thing; they could turn on a single hinge and mean something entirely different.
If Mount Hua charged into Plum Blossom Island, which was surrounded by Sapa, rescued Namgung, and withdrew without suffering any losses, that would become a great deed.
But what if rumors spread that Mount Hua had negotiated with those Sapa bastards to spare the Black Dragon King so they could leave Plum Blossom Island safely?
The dirt stuck to a filthy man is hard to notice, but the speck that lands on the body of someone clean as snow stands out with cruel clarity.
Realizing all of Beop Jeong’s intent, Dang Gun-ak glared at him as though he meant to kill him. Unlike Mount Hua, the Tang Family had never borne such deep hostility toward Shaolin. And yet in this moment, Dang Gun-ak’s eyes were no different from those of a man looking at a mortal enemy.
He, too, had been sickened by that appalling malice.
Beop Jeong smiled faintly.
“Please do not become so agitated. I too do not think the Heavenly Friends Alliance is so foolish that it would collude with those Sapa bastards over something as trivial as this.”
Dang Gun-ak furrowed his brow. After driving everyone to the wall, what kind of nonsense was this supposed to be?
“No matter how I consider it, it does not make sense. Compared to the life of one Black Dragon King, are not the names of Mount Hua, the Tang Family, and Namgung far too lofty? There is no way the value of those great three sects could be exchanged for the life of some bandit chieftain.”
“Enough of this—”
“Unless, perhaps, it was not merely the Black Dragon King’s life...”
At that moment, Beop Jeong’s voice spread clearly across the entire riverbank.
“But that you had secretly agreed in advance to give up even more.”
“That insane bastard!”
At last, Dang Gun-ak could not bear it any longer and roared in a thunderous voice.
They had entered Plum Blossom Island with their lives on the line. So why should they have to suffer this kind of treatment?
Yet absurdly enough, those groundless words were proving effective. The eyes of the disciples of the orthodox sects standing behind Beop Jeong began to change in subtle ways.
It was only natural.
They had lived with the pride of being disciples of the Nine Great Sects. And yet this time they had only been able to watch Mount Hua’s exploits on the Yangtze from the sidelines.
Because they were weak?
Impossible. No matter how strong Mount Hua had become, they were still one of the Nine Great Sects, were they not? There was no way they should be absurdly weaker than Mount Hua.
Then how were they supposed to interpret the fact that Mount Hua had driven off the Sapa sects and rescued Namgung without any of them being able to lift a finger?
No matter how they thought about it, it was far too unnatural.
Only because of the righteousness Mount Hua had shown until now did they hesitate merely to doubt them. If another sect had done the same thing, they would already have concluded that there was some plot on the Yangtze.
All the color had drained from Dang Gun-ak’s face.
Damn it.
They likely did not realize it, but there was obvious envy in their eyes.
Beop Jeong was now skillfully pricking at the pride of those who had watched the Yangtze from here.
Three people make a tiger, as the saying went.
A small number of accusations did not carry much force. But if the many people here began to harbor doubt, that suspicion would surely spread with power.
What are we supposed to do?
How was it wise to break through a situation where the most authoritative man in the world had deliberately turned on them and the most trusted people in the world were now looking at them with suspicion?
Even Dang Gun-ak could not easily speak.
“Sect Leader.”
Then Beop Jeong looked at Hyun Jong with a strange smile.
As though he were about to drive in the final nail.
“One last question. Mount Hua truly made no agreement with the Evil Tyrant Alliance, did it?”
Hyun Jong looked up at the sky with a distant, hollow feeling.
How terrifying.
So harsh. So terrifying. He had thought he understood the jianghu already, yet this ruthless malice made his body shudder all over again.
“I’ll say this again—”
Just as Hyun Jong was about to raise his voice with force,
“...What if we did?”
a cold voice cut into their ears.
Every gaze on the riverbank turned toward the source of that voice.
“What if we did make a deal?”
Mount Hua Divine Dragon Cheong Myeong. He was walking slowly toward them.
With a face colder than the wind slicing over the North Sea.