Even If We Go All the Way, I Like It
The summit shuddered. War cries, screams, and curses thick with rage braided together and rolled across the peak, and the whole of Nokhyeon Sect shook with them.
Everyone on the scene had thrown themselves into the fight in a fit of madness. Reason had fled their eyes, and it no longer mattered who stood opposite them. If a person appeared in front of you, you attacked. Elder or fellow disciple, the distinction was gone.
At first the outer disciples had simply hammered the inner disciples without answer, but the brawl snarled into something far more tangled. It spilled into men against women, and then old grudges detonated, and scenes of revenge began to play out in the open.
Bang Cheon slung an enormous banner over his shoulder and went about kicking people as he passed.
"So long as the sun rises in the east, I, Bang Cheon, am certain to win! Remember that well in your next life!"
He bellowed slogans without pause, his voice booming over the chaos.
"Stop this!"
So Cheon-jeon, Sect Master of Nokhyeon Sect, had appeared, and the roar was his.
The disciples did not spare him so much as a glance. Blind with rage, they began hurling every weapon they had straight at him.
In an instant the place where So Cheon-jeon stood vanished under a cloud of dust. Not even a Sect Master's authority could put the situation back together now.
A vast hall came down with a crash, and a tremendous column of dust shot into the sky. In the same breath thunder rolled, as if the heavens themselves were tearing open.
Storm clouds surged in, and lightning ripped across the sky. The thunder, as though heaven itself had lost its temper, beat mercilessly at every ear. In that instant the rioters' eyes wavered. Their bodies locked rigid, as if reason were clawing its way back.
So Cheong-ha gave the order in a voice cold and grave.
"All of you. Stop."
The battlefield froze, and a stillness settled over it. Hands that had been mad with fighting went still.
They were a wretched sight. Every one of them stood in torn clothes, soaked through with blood. Anger and confusion still lingered in their eyes, but before So Cheong-ha's majesty they could not move another step.
Yi Yeok felt a crushing pressure settle over him. They called the man an authority above even the Sect Master, and yet Nokhyeon Sect was nothing but a low-rank sect. The oppression rolling off So Cheong-ha was far stronger than anything he had felt from the woman of Guryeong Immortal Sect.
So Cheong-ha's lips barely stirred. Cold seeped through his voice.
"Is this truly the skill of this sect's inner disciples? So many resources poured into you, and this is all you managed to raise?"
Dong Pil spoke in a rush.
"Supreme Elder, I beg you, please hear me out..."
"Shut your mouth."
He had not raised his voice at all, and yet the pressure rang through the mountain like a struck bell.
"You have something to say? Do you truly know no shame?"
Dong Pil wilted and drew back.
So Cheong-ha let out a long sigh and turned his gaze on Yi Yeok.
"Is your anger settled now? Then take the children of the outer sect and go back."
"Why should we go back?"
Yi Yeok lifted his chin and answered without a flinch.
The outer disciples drank in that unbowed stance with open admiration, even as they fretted that So Cheong-ha might fly into a rage.
So Cheong-ha arched a brow.
"Then what is it you wish to do?"
"Stand against what isn't fair."
"So you mean to bring Nokhyeon Sect down today, in the name of standing against injustice?"
"It doesn't have to go that far. The inner sect has stolen far too much from us out here. We want all of it back. If not..."
So Cheong-ha's reply was perfectly calm.
"If not, then what?"
Yi Yeok stared at Dong Pil and opened his mouth slowly.
"I'll see to it he never stands again. So long as this body of mine draws breath, he will never walk on two feet."
Dong Pil shook from head to toe and did not dare meet his eyes. The inner disciples understood well enough that the words were no empty threat.
The outer disciples roared. For them this moment was the finest revenge of all, the washing-away of a long humiliation.
"We... we have no way to raise that kind of money all at once."
A woman of the inner sect spoke through her trembling. Tears wet her face and laid her desperation bare.
Yi Yeok's answer was pitiless.
"If you can't raise the money, you'll be throwing away the last of your pride as well."
The color drained from her face, and she bowed her head.
"That goes for every one of you."
Yi Yeok leveled a finger at the inner disciples one after another, his voice like ice.
"Pay up, die, or live a life worse than death."
So Cheon-jeon, Sect Master of Nokhyeon Sect, watched the chaos with a darkened face. A greenhorn who had barely been in the sect had stirred up every outer disciple and raised a riot like this. It was absurd.
In effect Yi Yeok had shoved him aside and taken hold of the sect. No one spared a thought for the fact that So Cheon-jeon was Sect Master.
He turned to Baengni Hae, the Vice Sect Master at his side.
"What do you make of it?"
Baengni Hae answered with a smile.
"What's there to make of it? The strong one wins. The boy's grown stronger in only a few days. Even I would have a hard time putting him down."
So Cheon-jeon looked back at Yi Yeok.
"Let us speak of what is real. What will it take to end this?"
Yi Yeok's eyes lit.
"For the sake of the Sect Master's face, let's settle it cleanly. By the laws of Nokhyeon Sect, forbid the inner disciples from exploiting us from this day on. And the inner disciples will greet the outer disciples first, without exception, and yield the road."
He smiled as he set the last of it down.
In the end, So Cheon-jeon accepted Yi Yeok's demands.
The arrogant inner disciples finally went to their knees. For them the moment was a humiliation they would not forget for the rest of their lives.
They had always looked down on the outer disciples from on high and ordered them about as they pleased. The outer disciples had always lowered their heads before them, cringing, trembling with fear.
Today all of that changed. They had proved what their strength could do when they stood together.
Before anyone quite noticed, Bang Cheon had climbed to the summit and planted the banner. It snapped in the wind, golden characters cut clear upon the cloth — a standard proclaiming the day's victory.
The outer disciples turned eyes full of respect on Yi Yeok. In their hearts they swore that from this moment they would follow him alone.
Yi Yeok smiled, satisfied. He had beaten back the inner disciples' outrageous demands, made the outer disciples his own people, and along the way shown So Cheong-ha exactly what he was capable of.
So Cheong-ha watched him and let out a quiet sigh.
"This boy. Always too far."
Yi Yeok answered with a smile.
"I've always liked things hot."
Something glinted in So Cheong-ha's eyes.
"The true talents among the inner disciples were not here today. Most of them are out on assignments. Dong Pil does not even rank among the top five of the inner sect."
Yi Yeok answered, unimpressed.
"That hardly matters. Whether they rank among the top few or not, most of them won't even be able to see me move."
So Cheong-ha studied him anew, plainly puzzled.
"How in the world did you train?"
Yi Yeok's smile turned meaningful.
"Ten years of walking the threshold of death, honing myself. But in the end, isn't it simply a difference in talent?"
So Cheong-ha looked him over once more and nodded.
"Yes. There were clearly several fortuitous encounters along the way, yet even setting those aside, I have no choice but to acknowledge your talent. From now on you will train directly under me."
Yi Yeok shook his head.
"I have little interest in Nokhyeon Sect's martial arts."
So Cheong-ha smiled.
"The outer sect's arts are a little crude, yes. That is to keep the sect's core techniques from leaking outside."
"And what, exactly, do you find lacking in the arts I already have?"
"Your speed is excellent, but you lack explosive force. No matter how many times you strike, the decisive power falls short, and in the end you cannot break past your limit."
Yi Yeok nodded. The man was right. He was so fast that his strength, paradoxically, ran thin, and at the critical moment the explosive force dropped away.
So Cheong-ha went on.
"I have an art that suits you perfectly."
Comprehended over ten years of watching the waves along the shore.
"Its name is the Blue Wave True Art. I came to it by watching the waves at the seashore for ten years."
Interest kindled in Yi Yeok's eyes.
"You're truly going to teach it to me?"
"Of course. On the condition that you cause no more trouble."
Yi Yeok snickered.
"I like a deal. A deal that favors me, especially — those I welcome anytime."
For the first time, something like a smile touched So Cheong-ha's stern face.
"Come find me in three days."
So Cheong-ha took the Sect Master and the Vice Sect Master with him into the Sect Master's residence. There was little doubt about it: the Sect Master was in for a thorough scolding.
Yi Yeok laughed, broad and easy.
"Anyone who can still move, help with the cleanup! We're all of the same sect in the end. No need to live at each other's throats, is there?"
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
A roaring cheer blanketed the mountain. Yi Yeok felt a jolt of admiration in spite of himself. So this is what it means to win people's hearts. It was a rather thrilling feeling.
The outer disciples tidied the surroundings in a flash and receded like an ebb tide.
Then Yeogwi came over.
"Let's head back and rest. I'm worn out too."
Yi Yeok grinned.
"You all right?"
"Don't even start. The inner disciples hit hard, I'll give them that. I got the shit beaten out of me. Honestly thought I was dead."
Neither side had set out to kill in this fight, and so, fortunately, no one had died.
"But where's Mo Yeong?"
Only then did Yi Yeok realize he couldn't see her.
Yeogwi answered.
"No idea. Heard an inner elder had his eye on her. She was probably called off on her own."
Yeogwi thought a moment, then added,
"Feels like her old man already paved the road for her."
The two of them sank into a brief gloom. Mo Yeong had always grown up happy, soaked in her father's love, getting whatever she wanted. For a while that fact sat heavy on them.
"Let's go back and sleep some more. We got up way too early, getting ready for today's job."
Yi Yeok said it through a yawn. Yeogwi nodded.
From that day on, Yi Yeok became both the most legendary figure in Nokhyeon Sect and the one with the greatest sway. Whoever saw him treated him with courtesy. The inner disciples feared him. The outer disciples held him in respect and gratitude.