The Taihang Mountain Stronghold

Late winter of the sixth year of Zhongping — December, 189 AD

The Taihang Mountain Range. It was the natural boundary that divided what people commonly called Shanxi from Shandong, and in this era it served as the dividing line between You Province, Ji Province, and Bing Province once more—a roster of peaks that guarded the north of the realm.

Stretching a thousand li from north to south—roughly four hundred kilometers—and about four hundred li east to west—some hundred and fifty-seven kilometers—it was a rugged mountain range that defended the northern reaches of the empire.

But now it was nothing more than the worst crime-ridden zone imaginable, flooded with bandit gangs that had flocked there to escape the chaos of the realm.

The Black Mountain Bandits—the worst bandit collective of all, who ravaged the north of the empire as if it were their own living room. Their origin point was right here, a place called Black Mountain in the very heart of the Taihang range.

They were no threat on the scale of the Yellow Turbans. Yet unlike those rebels who had openly dreamed of overthrowing the Han, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Black Mountain Bandits only occasionally came down from the mountains to plunder, which made suppressing them anything but easy.

Having given up on a proper campaign, the court had bestowed the title of General of the Household Who Pacifies Chaos upon their great chieftain, Jang Yeon, and demanded his submission. In practice it was little different from recognizing their right to self-rule.

“Where exactly are we going? This is Black Mountain Bandit territory.”

Zhao Yun asked. I paused to catch my breath and surveyed the surrounding ridges.

“You think I don’t know what the Taihang Mountains are? We’re going to find those very Black Mountain Bandits.”

“If you go there, you die.”

“That’s why I hired you. Your job is to keep me from dying. That’s the whole point of this contract.”

A few days earlier there had been that shocking slaughter. Bound by that damnable “promise,” Zhao Yun had killed Son Hong and his daughter Son Yeona, then entered a new contract with me.

The compensation was nothing other than my own life. In order to keep my contract with Zhang Qian, I had paradoxically signed another with the very person who had become my enemy.

“You don’t need my protection. So why did you hire me?”

“The other side is the Black Mountain Bandits. Even if I have the strength of a peerless warrior who can face ten thousand, I can’t take on an entire mountain stronghold alone.”

“Now that you mention it, you’ve changed a little. I don’t know what it is, but…”

“The way I look at you has changed, that’s all. I still can’t forget the moment Son Yeona’s body went cold right in front of me.”

“…”

Bring up Son Yeona and she went quiet in an instant. But it was true that I had changed.

Because while we were on the road here another New Moon had risen, and I had reallocated my stats from scratch.

It was a setup that essentially discarded every survival skill—a gamble, pure and simple. The only reason someone who valued his own life more than anyone else could make such an extreme allocation was one thing alone.

I had hired the strongest bodyguard under heaven.

Of course my image of her was not exactly glowing. Zhao Yun was a cold, ruthless woman with neither blood nor tears, and the moment she killed Son Yeona right in front of me, whatever scrap of goodwill I still had left had evaporated completely.

But what choice did I have? Simply because she had rolled god-tier stats, I had no option but to bring this woman along.

Swish-swish!

From somewhere came the sound of grass being kicked aside. Zhao Yun instantly sensed the movement, raised her spear, and stepped in front of me.

“Already protecting me? I might actually get a little moved.”

“You don’t need anything like protection, but a contract is a contract, so I follow it. I’ll deal with them—”

“No need. Hey! Is that you, Dogshit? It’s me, Hoji.”

“…?”

I raised my voice at a leisurely pace and called someone’s name. At once—thud-thud-thud!—a pack of Black Mountain Bandits who had been hiding in the forest revealed themselves.

“It’s Hoji! Is the scouting already finished?”

“It took a little longer than expected. But I made it back in one piece, so don’t worry.”

“And who’s this woman? She’s something else.”

These were Black Mountain Bandits who had lived cut off from civilization for so long that their lives were only a little better than beasts. To men like that, Zhao Yun’s beauty was a cultural shock beyond imagination.

“What do you think she is? My woman.”

I shrugged and held up my little finger. At once they all stared with envious eyes, drool practically running down their chins.

“Dogshit, is Lady White Sparrow well?”

“Same as always. Oh—and Great Sage Guo came over from Yinglü Valley. Word of your fortune-telling must have already reached that far.”

“Then I’d better show off a little after all this time. Lead the way. We’ll follow.”

With that short Black-Mountain-style welcome finished, we fell in behind them. While we walked, Zhao Yun asked in bewilderment:

“How do you know those people?”

“You’ve got at least that much sense, right? I’m their comrade, so of course they act like they know me.”

“You were a Black Mountain Bandit? You told me I was a murderer who killed innocents, yet you’re a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worse villain than that, aren’t you?”

“Sorry, but I’ve never taken an innocent life. If looking the other way counts as a crime, I’ll accept that gladly.”

“Why did a Black Mountain Bandit hire me?”

“Because this place isn’t my final destination. That’s why I’m putting up with the disgust and traveling with you.”

“…”

Zhao Yun seemed to sulk again at the single word “disgust” and shut her mouth. Well, whose fault was it that she did things that pricked her own conscience?

“If you’re curious about something, ask ahead of time. Once we’re inside, if you draw suspicion, even you won’t be able to protect me.”

“How can a person’s name be Dogshit?”

“These people are ordinary commoners who never even had proper names. But once Jang Yeon, the Black Mountain chieftain, received an official post and they essentially built their own little kingdom, they started aping the gentry.”

“So that’s why they use names like White Sparrow and Great Sage? And what did that finger gesture mean earlier?”

“Black Mountain slang for ‘you’re my lover.’”

“Why did you say that?”

“Should I have told the truth and said you were my bodyguard? Just keep your mouth shut like usual and stick to my side. I’ve got a pretty decent reputation in there.”

“Did you read fortunes for them too?”

“Thanks to that, White Sparrow would believe me even if I said you could make soybean paste out of red beans.”

There had been no reason to waste a whole month just looking for Zhao Yun. The moment I left Yawang I had plunged straight into Black Mountain, joined them, and worked hard at raising my intimacy.

With my War maxed out, I had risen like a new star overnight in a society that valued strength above all. I wasn’t officer rank, but my name had grown as a one-man-army assault captain.

On top of that I had spent half of the four fortune-telling uses I got each month on the chieftain, White Sparrow. Strangely enough every single reading came true, so she had come to revere me considerably.

But my goal was never simply to gain status inside Black Mountain society. Before the next New Moon rose, I was going to make this entire stronghold vanish without a trace.

Hoji’s back!

The moment we arrived at the stronghold nestled against the foothills of the Taihang, my Black Mountain comrades gave me a passionate welcome.

Out in the wider world I got nothing but contempt, yet here I was being praised by a pack of bandits. The feeling was a little strange.

“You came later than I expected. But… who is this woman?”

The chieftain herself, White Sparrow, came out to greet me. She was a woman, yet she was armed with the burly build and fierce face befitting a bandit leader.

She looked like a beardless Ma Dong-seok trying to play the fatal seductress—rather unsightly. Even now, the instant she saw Zhao Yun she openly showed her wariness.

“A new girlfriend I picked up this time.”

“Really? I thought our Hoji and I were getting somewhere.”

“How could a lowly man like me dare set his sights on someone like Lady White Sparrow? I got so lonely I brought back even a girl who looks like that.”

“Heh… so you’re saying I’m better than her?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

At flattery that completely defied the laws of physics, my Black Mountain comrades shut their mouths with bitter expressions. Whatever the case, White Sparrow didn’t seem angry about Zhao Yun, so that was a relief.

“Anyway, I heard Great Sage Guo has arrived?”

“I mentioned the fortune-telling and he said he absolutely had to meet you once. You’ll read for him, of course?”

“How long have I wanted to meet that man? Then shall we go right in?”

I told Zhao Yun where my hut was and sent her that way. Then I entered the chieftain’s hall together with White Sparrow.

“I heard you are a remarkable fortune-teller.”

Great Sage Guo was a man with a relatively likable face for a bandit. Even though I was no officer, he personally received me in the chieftain’s hall and even offered me water steeped from tree roots.

“I myself have long wished to meet Great Sage Guo, the one called the Great Sage of Yinglü. Then shall we begin the reading at once?”

I pretended to concentrate my spiritual power and examined his face with a thoroughly serious gaze. Of course I had discarded the fortune-telling skill long ago, so actually seeing his future was impossible.

“Great Sage Guo, you nearly took a fall recently, didn’t you?”

“No? I don’t recall anything like that.”

“If you had, it would have been truly disastrous. The character ‘Great’ in your name is shaped like a man raising a hat with both legs. If one of those legs collapses, the hat cannot survive.”

“Th-then that means I must be careful from now on?”

“If you simply pass this crisis this year, it will reverse into a warding-off of misfortune and your luck will open from next year onward. There are only a few days left, so I suggest you take the utmost care.”

“Ohh! That is truly fortunate. Is there anything else?”

“Do your shoulders ache from time to time? They always feel knotted and tired; the pain worsens at night and eases a little when morning comes?”

“How did you know?”

That was because he was exactly the age for frozen shoulder. But I kept playing the fortune-teller to the end and waggled my fingers.

“I can see everything. Tell me once—how many people have you killed until now?”

“That’s hard even to count.”

“When the vengeful spirits cling to you, they press down on the shoulders just like that. But it isn’t as if there is no method at all, so don’t worry. When you return to Yinglü, hold a memorial rite for seven days. Then the spirits will sever their worldly ties and depart for the northern burial hills.”

“How does one perform this memorial rite?”

“Hmm… you slaughter fifty chickens, ten pigs, and two oxen. Then you offer three hundred seok of sacrificial rice. But! If anyone lays a hand on the offering food, everything becomes foam, so after the rite is finished you must burn it all. Do that for seven days straight. Then the vengeful spirits will disappear.”

“Th-three hundred seok of sacrificial rice for seven days would exceed two thousand seok, would it not? Isn’t that amount far too great?”

For reference, one seok was two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sacks—the amount an adult man could eat in a year.

In other words, while holding the memorial rite he was to destroy the yearly food supply of two thousand one hundred people.

“But what can you do? The future of the stronghold only opens if the chieftain’s body is healthy first. At that scale, everyone will simply accept it.”

Absolutely they would not accept it. They would boil with complaints everywhere that he was a madman blinded by superstition who was squandering the military grain.

And from that moment it would be internal strife. You kill each other, and then the government troops come and wipe you out.

“Huu… you are right. In the end, without me the stronghold does not exist, does it? I will do as you say.”

“I am honored that I could be of help to Great Sage Guo.”

“Ah, I should give you a fee. Is there anything you desire…?”

“No! How could I take a fee from the hero of the realm, Great Sage Guo? However…”

“However?”

“I have heard that in your youth Great Sage Guo mastered countless classics and is skilled in writing and composition. This ignorant fellow cannot read a single character, yet if Great Sage Guo would write me a single poem, I would like to receive that in its place.”

“Haha! Where did you hear that rumor? Wait a moment there.”

If I accepted a fee he might grow suspicious of me. So here I needed to put Great Sage Guo in the best possible mood and make certain he truly held that seven-day memorial rite.

Moreover, when I praised him as the only one among the Black Mountain Bandits who could write, he was delighted and began composing a poem at once. Presently he lifted the paper and handed it to me.

“This is a gift for you.”

“I will keep it as an honor for my house. But this stupid fellow cannot read, so would Great Sage Guo kindly tell me the contents?”

“Haha! Of course.”

Great Sage Guo cleared his throat. Then he began to recite the poem he had just written.

Clap clap clap!

The content was surprisingly not bad, so I applauded with genuine feeling. Great Sage Guo scratched the back of his neck as if embarrassed and said:

“Then I must be going. I have a memorial rite to prepare, after all.”

“I look forward to seeing you again. At that time I will read your fortune once more.”

And just like that he left already excited, without even knowing what that memorial rite was intended to do. That aside—this bastard fell for my lies far too easily, didn’t he?

It was lucky I hadn’t dumped everything into Charm and had put a decent amount into Intelligence. For all his talk of having studied the classics, Great Sage Guo’s Intelligence was thirty-two or lower, just like a proper bandit.

I saw Great Sage Guo off quite a long way. Once he vanished, White Sparrow sidled up and linked her arm through mine.

“When are you going to read my fortune?”

“What am I to do? As you know, once I use my spiritual power I have to gather the earth god’s energy for a while afterward.”

“But what you told Great Sage Guo bothers me. You know as well as I do that I’ve killed more people than he has, not fewer.”

“Ah… that’s true, but wasn’t all of that for the good of the stronghold?”

“I did what I had to do to eat and live, but it still pricks my conscience. So I was thinking of holding that memorial rite myself—what do you think?”

“…”

Absolutely not. I had told Great Sage Guo that method so they would destroy themselves, but I needed this place’s full military strength preserved intact.

“Actually… there is one method I did not tell Great Sage Guo earlier.”

“What is it?”

“Well… you know I have a contract with the earth god, right? So even after my spiritual power is spent, the earth god and I remain connected through our souls. And this earth god goes completely crazy for beautiful women. Especially a peerless beauty like Lady White Sparrow who makes the moon hide in shame—he can’t control himself.”

“Pfft! You see me that highly?”

No. You were the classic “hey, your girlfriend’s walking by” type of friend’s girlfriend. I swallowed my revulsion and forced my mouth open.

“But the earth god has no physical body, so even when he sees a beauty he can only suck his fingers and watch. However… if he joins with that beauty through his proxy in the act of man and woman, the sins can be forgiven.”

“Pfft! Fine by me. But is it okay to say that where your girlfriend can hear?”

“Huh?”

I whipped my head around. There stood Zhao Yun, who had somehow appeared and was staring blankly at White Sparrow and me.

“H-her? She’s just for killing time. If she could share a bed with a noble person like Lady White Sparrow, she’d probably consider it an honor herself.”

“Heh… but I’m on ‘those days’ right now, so it’s impossible. I’ll call for you the moment it’s over.”

Whew… the operation had barely succeeded. I had been planning to use my specialty, the Art of the Bedchamber, anyway—and this woman White Sparrow was already burning for it.

Evening came and I returned to the hut. Zhao Yun was squatting alone at one end; I leaned against the opposite wall and sank into thought.

If I used the Art of the Bedchamber, my intimacy with White Sparrow would practically hit max level. From then on I would become her pillar husband and could twist the entire stronghold however I pleased.

“…”

But I would have to spend a night with that woman. Mental suffering I could endure—but could I really deceive my own conscience as well?

Could I go to Yu Bi with a defiled body and say I had returned safely? Could I truly look Chosun in both eyes and pretend nothing had happened?

I shook my head hard.

What the hell was I thinking? Those girls wouldn’t care whether I slept with White Sparrow or fathered ten pairs of twins.

If I could help them by sacrificing this one body of mine, that was enough. So here I needed the heart of a beast and a decision for the greater good…

“Can sins really be washed away?”

“…?”

It was Zhao Yun. She had been squatting in silence the whole time, and the first words out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of her mouth were a little absurd.

“What are you talking about?”

“Earlier you told White Sparrow that if she joined with you, the earth god would forgive her sins. Could… I do that too?”

“…”

Was this because she had killed Son Yeona? I had known she was quietly brooding over it, but this reaction was too shocking.

“Does that even make sense? It’s an obvious lie—why would you say something like that?”

“But your fortune-telling was real.”

“The fortune-telling was real, but what I told White Sparrow was a lie. I simply need to get closer to her, so I’m offering up this one body of mine.”

“Even so, I want to wash away my sins.”

“…”

To Zhao Yun the truth or falsehood of those words did not matter. She simply wanted to escape, by any means, from the act of having killed Son Yeona.

Even if it was superstition, she wanted to lighten the burden on her heart by joining with the earth god.

It was nonsense. The whole earth-god business was pure bullshit.

Accepting Zhao Yun’s request that way would be nothing more than taking advantage of a foolish girl to satisfy my own lust.

Slide…

But perhaps because I myself was cornered, a sudden thought rose and I found myself shifting my body little by little.

If I was going to give someone my “first” anyway… wasn’t Zhao Yun better than White Sparrow?