I Saw Nothing (3)
“Sahyeong.”
“Go.”
“Bu... Sahyeong.”
“I said go.”
“Sahyeong...”—
“Ah, for fuck’s sake!”
Cheong Myeong spun around and kicked Namgung Dowi in the chest.
Bang!
“Guh!”
Namgung Dowi was struck by Cheong Myeong’s kick and rolled across the ground.
“Listen, you little shit! I’m trying to be patient with you, but now I’m really getting annoyed!”
With his eyes wide and wild, Cheong Myeong glared at Namgung Dowi.
“Hey! Do you think we’re easy pickings? If you tell us to accept you, are we supposed to just nod and swallow it? What, the great Namgung Clan says it’s joining us, so the poor bastards of the Heavenly Friends Alliance are supposed to politely refuse? Is that what you’re saying?”
Namgung Dowi jumped back to his feet in alarm.
“S-Sect Leader! That’s not what I meant at all—!”
“Then what? What, did the Sect Leader give you permission? Did the Tang Family Patriarch give you permission? Oh, no? They didn’t? So now that you’re the Namgung Clan’s Young Patriarch, you think the Mount Hua Sect Leader and the Tang Family Patriarch don’t matter anymore?”
“M-Me?”
He could hardly dare?
“Yeah, you! Who the hell else from Namgung is here besides you?”
Namgung Dowi stared at Cheong Myeong as if he’d seen a ghost.
When in his life had he ever been cornered like this? As the Namgung Clan’s Young Patriarch, he had always lived surrounded by expectation and deference. The existence of a human being like Cheong Myeong was simply too cruel.
But as always, Cheong Myeong couldn’t care less about someone else’s position.
“What, do you think you can take people for suckers? When you were riding high, you’d strut around yapping about being the leader of the Five Great Families, the hegemon of Anhui, and all that crap! And now that all your shine’s gone, what? We’re family? Familyyyyy? I’ve never even shared a meal with you, so what the hell kind of family are you, you bastard?”
“Th-That isn’t it, Sect Leader! First, please hear me out—”
“Don’t need it!”
Back Cheon and the others, seated a little way off, watched the scene with strange expressions. Jo Geol glanced over at Back Cheon, looking equally baffled as Namgung Dowi kept hanging on Cheong Myeong only to be kicked back again and again.
“Uh... Sahyeong.”
“What?”
“Was he always like that?”
“……”
Back Cheon had been about to say, How would I know? but trailed off instead.
Somehow... during the martial tournament, he’d seemed so neat and impressive...?
Yoon Jong scratched his head in confusion.
“Why is he acting like that?”
Back Cheon shrugged.
“From Namgung’s point of view, they have no choice but to join the Heavenly Friends Alliance, don’t they?”
“They absolutely have to?”
“Yes. There’s no other way.”
Back Cheon looked quietly at Namgung Dowi.
The situation in Anhui is far too dangerous now.
Anhui in Zhejiang Province borders the Yangtze River. It didn’t fully overlap with the Water Bandits’ direct area of operation, but if the Water Bandits chose to move, they could always bring their fleet in and try to land there.
And...
The Water Bandits are probably seething with poison right now.
Of course, their morale had been driven into the ground, but there was a good chance the Black Dragon King was already seeing red.
Why wouldn’t he?
Even if all of it had been part of Jang Il-so’s plan, the fact remained that the Water Bandits had been utterly crushed by the Heavenly Friends Alliance, and the Black Dragon King had lost an arm to Cheong Myeong.
He would want to take that anger out on someone, anyone. And the current Namgung Clan was the perfect target.
After all, this all began when the Namgung Clan attacked the Water Bandits. And the Namgung Clan’s strength had now been reduced to less than a third of what it had been.
“The Water Bandits might attack Namgung?”
When Yu I-seol said it as though she had drawn the same conclusion, Back Cheon nodded.
“Under normal circumstances, the Namgung Clan wouldn’t fear an attack from the Water Bandits. But right now, the situation is far too unfavorable.”
Losing so much strength on Maehwado was a problem, but the greater issue was that they had completely severed ties with the Ten Great Sects.
In that situation, even if the Water Bandits attacked the Namgung Clan, would the orthodox sects really come to their aid?
As he thought it through, Back Cheon let out a cold, sharp sneer.
No. Even if they hadn’t fallen out with them, would those people really have helped Namgung?
He had seen enough to trust the Ten Great Sects no longer.
“The Water Bandits’ defeat itself isn’t the problem. The problem is that Black Dragon King probably lost a good deal of control over them because of this. When internal strife breaks out, attacking an external enemy to keep things in line is basic strategy, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Sahyeong.”
Yoon Jong nodded, understanding.
“So from the Water Bandits’ perspective, the Namgung Clan is the easiest prey right now.”
“Exactly.”
Then Jo Geol spoke up.
“That won’t be the only reason.”
“Hmm?”
Back Cheon turned toward him. Jo Geol looked a little bitter as he glanced at Namgung Dowi, as if he could see it too.
“A clan is built on strength to begin with. No matter how scrupulously clean you try to keep things, problems are bound to crop up.”
“...You mean old grudges might rise back up.”
“Yes. The Jianghu was never a place that just lets the powerless be.”
Dang So-so nodded too, her face similarly sour.
“My senior brother’s right, Sahyeong.”
“Mm.”
Back Cheon gave a low sigh.
Yes. No sect knows that better than Mount Hua.
Just thinking back to the years after Mount Hua lost its strength in the Demonic Cult’s assault made that clear. The people who tried to strip Mount Hua bare—had they really done it out of personal grievance?
No. Of course not.
The Jianghu was a place where the moment the strong lost their strength, those who had once smiled at them turned into bandits. At this rate, even if the Water Bandits stayed quiet, the Namgung Clan would probably end up in a state very much like Mount Hua’s old days.
“If Namgung can no longer stand with the Ten Great Sects, then there’s no sect left that can help them. The remaining Five Great Families are too far away, too... and as you know, even the Five Great Families don’t all get along with one another.”
“That’s true.”
“So right now, Young Namgung needs a roof over his head. Not for himself—the roof is for the Namgung family who survived, so they have somewhere to rest.”
“Ahh.”
Yoon Jong nodded hard, as if it all made perfect sense.
“But, Sahyeong.”
“What now? Do you still have questions?”
“...That’s not what I was asking about.”
“Then what?”
Yoon Jong looked over at Namgung Dowi with a disgruntled face and said,
“If he wants to join the Heavenly Friends Alliance, wouldn’t it make more sense to speak to the Sect Leader or the Tang Family Patriarch? Why is he clinging to Cheong Myeong like that? He must have already seen that Cheong Myeong won’t even flinch when the Sect Leader talks.”
“……”
Namgung Dowi was still getting kicked away every time he tried to latch onto the man. Back Cheon watched the scene with a strange look and said,
“...His injuries are severe. His judgment probably isn’t very clear.”
“……”
None of this made any sense to them.
* * *
Many people were gathered in the great hall where countless bandits had once bent over their ledgers, their brushes flying furiously as they tallied accounts.
Granted an audience there by Hyun Jong’s consideration, Namgung Dowi looked at the faces around him and swallowed dryly.
The weight in this room was on a different level.
If this had been the Namgung Dowi of old, he might not have felt such crushing pressure here. But the man he was now had to fight desperately against the urge to shrink in on himself.
Was it because the Namgung Clan, having lost Namgung Hwang and standing at a crossroads, felt shabby by comparison?
No.
It’s because these people’s status is on an entirely different level than before.
He didn’t mind sounding like a snob. It was simply the truth.
Those who had never experienced it likely wouldn’t understand. But anyone sitting here in the same position as Namgung Dowi would feel much the same, he was certain of it.
Namgung Dowi glanced at Hyun Jong.
Even that man, too.
When Namgung Dowi had first seen him, he had been nothing more than the sect leader of an obscure little sect with no name to speak of. He had been seated at the honored table reserved for the leaders of the sects participating in the martial tournament, but to put it bluntly, Hyun Jong had looked like a man who could have been shoved out of that seat at any moment and no one would have been surprised.
Yet when they met again on the Yangtze River, he had become the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, a sect that had not only brought down Wudang but risen into one of the core powers of the Jianghu. Now he stood as the leader of the Heavenly Friends Alliance, openly confronting Beop Jeong of Shaolin and Jang Il-so of the Evil Tyrant Alliance without hesitation.
What was strange about feeling tense in front of such a man? In fact, the only one who wouldn’t be tense would have to be out of his mind.
And it isn’t just Sect Leader Hyun Jong.
The same went for Dang Gun-ak, the Tang Family Patriarch seated beside him.
Of course, Dang Gun-ak had always held an exalted position.
But could the Dang Gun-ak of a few years ago really be compared to the Dang Gun-ak who now served as second-in-command of the Heavenly Friends Alliance?
Absolutely not.
Namgung Dowi understood better than anyone the power of the Five Great Families. The Five Great Families might stand shoulder to shoulder in name, but no matter how hard they tried, they could never truly compare to the Ten Great Sects. Which meant even Namgung Hwang could never have stood as an equal to that Shaolin Abbot, Beop Jeong.
But the Heavenly Friends Alliance was different. Hadn’t they already proven they could stand on equal footing with the Ten Great Sects?
The Mount Hua disciples and Tang Family disciples guarding the left and right were every bit as formidable.
But the terrifying thing is that this still isn’t all of it.
The Heavenly Friends Alliance still had more hidden strength. At any moment, they could call in the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace and the North Sea Ice Palace.
No wonder he was only now realizing just how incredible this place really was.
And most importantly—!
Namgung Dowi’s gaze landed on Cheong Myeong, who wore an expression of maximum annoyance across his entire face.
A young swordsman who defeated the Black Dragon King.
Whether he knew it or not, once that fact spread through the Jianghu, it would send a massive upheaval through the whole martial world. No, perhaps the wave had already risen high enough to overturn everything.
Up to now, Cheong Myeong had already been famous. Even though there had been many people called the greatest genius of the younger generation, there was a single reason Cheong Myeong stood out so sharply among them all.
That man would never remain stuck at the level of mere “potential.”
In other words, Cheong Myeong was destined to rise to the position of number one in the world.
There was no such thing as a true number one in the Jianghu right now. No—truthfully, there had rarely ever been a true number one in most eras.
Who was stronger could only be known through a fight. But the best of any sect could not easily test themselves against others, because too much was tied to their name.
If they lost, they had too much to lose.
So there were people worthy of being called one of the strongest, but it was hard for there to be a single, undisputed strongest under heaven. That was why terms like the Three Great Swordsmen of the World and the Five Great Blades of the World had come into being.
But not Cheong Myeong.
Cheong Myeong had stamped it into everyone’s minds at the martial tournament that he was a man who would one day stand at the very pinnacle of the world, and everything he did afterward only forced people to admit that day was not far off.
And now Black Dragon King too.
Everyone would realize it now. The Heavenly Friends Alliance would soon possess an undisputed number one in the world.
No one in the Jianghu could fail to understand what that meant.
The order of the Jianghu might really change.
And it might be changed by the very hand of that Cheong Myeong!
Namgung Dowi clenched his fists. He was a man too overwhelming to keep up with, but he also couldn’t afford not to follow him. Because the road that man walked was the road leading straight to the summit.
So I absolutely have to join the Heavenly Friends Alliance...
Just as Namgung Dowi was hardening his resolve again, someone suddenly chimed in.
“Hehehehe. It’s so nice to see everyone again like this. Well, I suppose that’s all thanks to me preparing the ships on time, but I won’t demand any thanks. Helping fellow members of the Heavenly Friends Alliance is only natural—keck!”
Cheong Myeong’s fist slammed straight into Im So-byeong’s jaw.
“I was gonna let it slide, and you still had to go and rub it in? Hey, you bastard! If you’d come even one moment earlier, we could’ve taken Jang Il-so’s head! I told you to bring the boat quickly, and you still showed up late because you couldn’t do even that one thing right?”
As he thought about it, apparently growing more aggrieved by the second, Cheong Myeong climbed right onto Im So-byeong’s stomach and started raining punches down on him. Blocking the fists that kept smashing toward his face with desperate effort, Im So-byeong protested,
“N-No! How is that my fault? I did everything I possibly could...!”
“Oh? So because you’re a Sapa bastard too, you couldn’t stand seeing the Sapa boss’s head get chopped off? Quit making excuses and die, you bastard! Die!”
“No, I’m telling you I hate that guy’s guts too! Aagh! This is insane!”
Cold sweat ran down Namgung Dowi’s forehead.
W-What the...?
How could something like this happen in a room with men of this caliber gathered together?
“Ahem.”
At that moment, Hyun Jong gave a low cough.
Namgung Dowi turned toward him with a look that said, There, exactly, certain that this was where order would be restored. Yes, of course that had to be punished—
“Let us begin the meeting.”
“Yes.”
“Die! Die, you bastard!”
“First, with the matter at hand—”
Cheong Myeong was still beating on Im So-byeong, while the others began their discussion as though nothing unusual was happening at all.
Namgung Dowi stared blankly at the absurd scene, then slowly looked up at the ceiling.
Should I just ask to be let back into the Five Great Families?
It seemed clear enough... adjusting to this was not going to be easy.
Ha... haha...