You Got Hit Because You Deserved It
When Yi Yeok returned, the first to meet him was his faithful right-hand man, Bang Cheon.
"Senior Brother, this is terrible!"
Bang Cheon gasped the words out in a rush. Yi Yeok only looked at him and waited, perfectly at ease, for the boy to catch his breath.
"Terrible how? Did the Sect Master drop dead?"
"It might be worse than that! The inner disciples who went out on a mission are back. They heard what happened last time, and they're itching to teach you a lesson. I think you'd better hide."
Yi Yeok asked as if he genuinely couldn't follow.
"And why would I hide?"
"Senior Brother, they're really strong. Way stronger than Dong Pil!"
"What does it matter to me whether they're strong or weak? I just have to be stronger."
Bang Cheon looked utterly lost. He couldn't tell whether the man was serious or merely bluffing.
"One comes, I deal with one. Two come, I knock both of them flat. That's all there is to it. My life's a stubborn thing, so don't worry. The day I die is still a long way off."
Bang Cheon stamped his feet, anxiety eating him alive.
Things were different now. Before, everyone had been swept up in the excitement and come charging in a mob, but that heat had long since cooled. Thanks to Yi Yeok, they had already slipped free of the inner sect's tyranny, and who would throw themselves into a fight that promised no further gain? Outer disciples were quick with their sums.
Worse, after the last incident the Sect Master had flown into such a rage that the whole of Nokhyeon Sect had shaken. Whether out of wariness toward Yi Yeok or not, no one had been expelled, but there were still outer disciples serving out their punishment. No one would dare step forward now.
And yet Yi Yeok remained perfectly calm. How could a man be this reckless?
Then three shadows dropped from the sky in front of Bang Cheon. They were experts who had reached the Daoist realm, and a cultivator who attained that realm could fly freely over short distances.
A woman in a blue-green skirt jabbed a finger at Bang Cheon.
"Are you Yi Yeok?"
Bang Cheon startled and shook his head.
"No! I'm not Senior Brother Yi Yeok!"
"Lying, are you? You dare try to deceive me?"
"I'm really not! I'm not Yi Yeok!"
She didn't even listen. Eyes blazing with fury, she drew her sword.
"You've got nerve."
Bang Cheon's face went white with terror, and he whimpered once more.
"I'm really not... I'm really not, so why are you doing this..."
"Insolent. If I say you are, then you are."
The blade's keen cry split the air. Bang Cheon collapsed where he stood, then scrambled to flee, his body shaking and his feet refusing to obey him.
"You dare run? Refusing the honor of dying by this hand!"
Bang Cheon wailed.
"I'm that bastard Yi Yeok's—"
He never got the chance to say he was the man's right hand. The woman only swung harder.
But Bang Cheon displayed a talent no one had expected. Perhaps it came from a long career of being beaten; his ability to dodge was outstanding, and when it came to slipping a blade, no one could afford to dismiss him.
She cut at him again and again, and each time Bang Cheon escaped by a hair. His movements looked clumsy, yet buried in them was an instinct that read the flow of an attack before it landed and slipped aside as if by nature.
The other two watched with deepening frowns. One of them called out loudly.
"Junior Sister, don't drag this out. Cut off his legs, gouge out his eyes, and leave him just enough breath to live."
Bang Cheon shouted, shaking with fear.
"Senior Brother Yi Yeok, save me!"
The woman kept aiming for his vitals, but Bang Cheon's reflexes were astonishingly quick, and irritation began to crawl over her. No matter how she struck, she couldn't put him down.
Yi Yeok watched through narrowed eyes and muttered to himself.
"That brat's more useful than I thought. All that getting beaten specialized him in dodging? He'd make a perfect meat shield."
Bang Cheon kept howling.
"Yi Yeok, you rotten bastard! Save me!"
Yi Yeok smiled inwardly. The ability to unconsciously predict an opponent's attack and slip it was not something just anyone possessed. Watching this unexpected talent, he quietly reassessed what Bang Cheon was worth.
Bang Cheon seized an opening and ducked behind him, and in that span the three inner disciples came down from the sky.
Bang Cheon shrieked as if his life depended on it.
"This bastard— no, the gentleman standing here is Senior Brother Yi Yeok, number one of the outer sect!"
Yi Yeok smiled and bowed his head.
"That's right, seniors. This humble one is Yi Yeok."
"You? You're the Yi Yeok who dared lay hands on inner disciples?"
"Aigoo, there seems to have been some misunderstanding. It was only a trifling quarrel born of a misunderstanding."
The woman shouted, furious.
"Worthless wretch. Bring me the real Yi Yeok, not you!"
The man beside her stepped forward and calmed her.
"Junior Sister Jam Yun. Compose yourself."
He turned to Yi Yeok.
"I am Mok Geom-in, an inner disciple. Prove that you are Yi Yeok."
"Regrettably, there's no particular way for this humble one to prove it. But I am, without a doubt, Yi Yeok. Why won't you believe me?"
Mok Geom-in said coldly.
"With skill like yours, you could never have done the things he did. If you don't tell us where the real Yi Yeok is, I'll end your life right here."
Yi Yeok sighed.
"Good heavens, how many times do I have to say it before you'll believe me? Do you have to experience it yourself?"
Jam Yun let out a disbelieving laugh.
"Ha! First I'll cut off your hands and feet, and then your tongue. Try running that mouth then."
At her declaration, Mok Geom-in added,
"This is for your own sake. Tell us where Yi Yeok is before it comes to that. If Junior Sister truly loses her temper, even I won't be able to stop her."
In the secular world, law and regulation hold humanity's inborn desires in check. Cultivators, however, are beings who have stepped beyond worldly bonds. They are no longer constrained by morality or law. What matters to them is only the accumulation of power, survival, and the attainment of a realm that leads to eternal life.
Every act required for that end is justified, and so practitioners do not restrain their nature. They unleash it. Their cruelty is simply what survival demands. Fail to build strength, fail to press others down, and you are the one who is culled.
Yi Yeok grinned.
"So, from what I see, inner disciples think they can run wild however they please inside Nokhyeon Sect?"
Jam Yun answered with a sneer.
"And if not? If you've set foot in an immortal sect, look at reality properly. The difference between inner and outer is plain. Do you think one little commotion, raised while the core inner disciples were away, erased that difference?"
Yi Yeok opened his mouth, then said nothing after all. Power did come first for them. Even their rules sprang not from morality or ethics, but from strength.
In that case, he had no choice but to show them strength.
Yi Yeok straightened. Not a trace remained of the groveling from a moment ago.
"Nothing for it. Seniors, you're getting hit today."
Mok Geom-in's face twisted viciously.
"So you really are Yi Yeok. The rumors that you're a madman were true."
"That much is right. That I'm Yi Yeok, and that I'm a madman."
Mok Geom-in let out a sharp shout and hauled up his blood-qi.
But in that instant a light sound rang out. Smack!
A red mark bloomed vivid across Mok Geom-in's cheek. He stared blankly at Yi Yeok, then slowly looked around.
"Who? Who hit me? Junior Sister Jam Yun, why did you hit me?"
As he saw it, the only person present who could land a blow he couldn't even block was Jam Yun. She herself looked bewildered.
Smack!
The sound of a cheek being struck rang out again, a little harder this time. Mok Geom-in's face swelled a deeper red, and his eyes began to bloodshot. He was an expert at the middle stage of the Daoist realm, and yet in this moment he could offer no resistance at all.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
The blows came one after another. Yi Yeok's hands moved too fast for anyone to properly see, but everyone realized he was the one hitting Mok Geom-in.
Blood ran from the man's mouth and nose. The world before his eyes spun and blurred.
"When you've got a spare moment, go pay your respects to the Supreme Elder. If I'd been mad enough to forget even his dignity, you'd be dead right now."
Yi Yeok spoke in an indifferent tone and kicked him. Mok Geom-in spun once through the air and was flung to the ground.
Crash!
Yi Yeok kicked him up again and sent him flying into the wall. Mok Geom-in coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed.
"Fortunately, the madness stopped just short of that."
Only then did Jam Yun level her sword and charge. Yi Yeok caught her wrist, knocked the blade aside, and seized her by the throat in a flash. She dangled in the air, swaying.
"You dare... an inner disciple...!"
Yi Yeok shook his head.
"Wrong. You're not getting hit in spite of being an inner disciple. You're getting hit because you are one."
Then he raised his right hand and slapped her cheek again and again.
Smack, smack, smack!
Red marks stood out sharp on Jam Yun's face, and shock and bewilderment stole her words. The remaining inner disciple was too terrified to take a single step closer.
"You— you truly want to die? Daring to humiliate me like this...!"
Jam Yun wailed. Within the sect she had always been someone people watched. Thanks to her outstanding looks and skill, everyone looked up to her, and no one had ever dared slight her.
"I'll kill you! I'll skin you alive!"
Yi Yeok only wore an expression that found her laughable.
Smack!
"You...!"
Smack!
"How dare... how dare you...!"
Smack!
Jam Yun could say no more. She dropped. Yi Yeok had let go, but she only clutched her head in both hands, tears welling in terror. Nothing remained of the proud, arrogant figure from the start. She looked like nothing more than a young girl who had suffered something wretched.
"How could you do this to a woman..."
"Oh, come on, you idiot. You didn't get hit even though you're a woman. You didn't get hit because you're a woman, either. You got hit because you deserved a beating. Think it would've been any different if you were a man?"