I Rather Like the Ones Who Won't Listen
The instant Yi Yeok leapt from the cliff, a savage wind roared up and swept him clear of the rock face.
The onlookers shook their heads, every face wearing the same look. Of course.
But in the very next moment he was driving downward, folding his whole body and sliding through the air the way a loach cuts through water.
"Is something like that... even possible?"
Someone whispered it, stunned. Mok Geom-in frowned.
"I never thought his skill ran that deep..."
What Yi Yeok was using was no ordinary movement art. It was the ultimate realm of motion—riding the wind, treading the air as though it were water.
Ride the wind. Tread the air as water. Move without friction, without a trace.
Ju Jin, by contrast, was dropping like a boulder tumbling down a mountainside, body held rigid and upright. Yi Yeok caught him in a blink.
The first pole appeared. They had passed a hundred zhang. Neither man spared it a glance as they shot past.
Surprise flickered through Ju Jin's eyes. To think the Yi Yeok who had looked so ordinary possessed skill like this.
Was he truly an outer disciple? As far as Ju Jin knew, even the foremost of the outer disciples amounted to little beside those of the inner sect.
Yi Yeok spun once in the air, laced his hands behind his head, and drawled, easy as anything.
"Not much to it, is there? I could squeeze in a nap."
Ju Jin forced a stiff smile.
Tension tightened the faces of those watching from above. Every one of them was skilled in movement arts, yet they could not help but stare as the two men plunged downward without shedding a shred of speed.
Far from slowing, they were accelerating. When they broke the third pole—three hundred zhang—the watchers above could no longer tell one from the other.
Ju Jin's heart grew heavy. He had sworn to take first this time, and he had never imagined the man he had privately dismissed would be the one to hobble him.
Yi Yeok curled into a ball and drilled downward, spinning like a top. In moments the gap between them stretched several zhang.
Ju Jin's eyes flashed. He straightened his body and closed the distance in an instant.
A cold glint leapt from his hand, and something shot toward Yi Yeok. Yi Yeok flinched—and began to fall. A cold smile touched Ju Jin's lips.
The two of them passed the fourth pole. On a shelf of rock jutting out beside it, the man serving as adjudicator watched the descent.
Yi Yeok still wasn't moving. Ju Jin was certain of his success. The ground rushed closer before his eyes.
He judged that falling the rest of the way unchecked would be too much. Spinning, he planted a foot on the final pole. The pole bent like a drawn bow, then snapped back to true the moment the slowed Ju Jin kicked off it.
Near the base of the cliff the wind died away. Ju Jin pressed himself to the rock and fired palm blasts in rapid succession, bleeding off the speed of his descent.
Less than ten zhang remained to the ground. Suddenly Yi Yeok stamped the air. The air shuddered, and the whole cliff seemed to ring. For an instant his legs seemed to vanish as he sheared through the air and forged a brutal resistance against it.
Ju Jin was aghast.
How is that possible? The hidden weapon struck him square in the lower back!
Before he could master his shock, Yi Yeok landed cleanly. Ju Jin hauled his body under control and landed as well, though the impact nearly shattered his legs.
"Looks like I win."
Yi Yeok grinned. The corner of Ju Jin's mouth twitched, but he managed a smile.
"Congratulations. Your skill is truly remarkable."
"Well, you went easy on me, senior. Let's head up."
A short while later the two of them reached the top of the cliff.
"That was incredible!"
Dong Pil spared no praise.
"Junior Brother Yi, that was perfect. Anyone with eyes can see you took first!"
Mok Geom-in said little, but what came off him was less resentment toward Yi Yeok than pride in the Nokhyeon Sect.
The onlookers, by contrast, looked distinctly uncomfortable. The result had caught them all off guard.
Yi Yeok smiled, bright and easy.
"Truth is, I could have done better, if I hadn't suddenly been hit by this."
He opened his right hand. A steel needle some three inches long lay across his palm, and a murmur ran through the crowd.
Ju Jin's brow creased.
"Something like that happened? That truly should never have occurred. You weren't hurt, I hope?"
Yi Yeok looked at him and smiled.
"Whose is this? I ought to return it."
Ju Jin answered coldly.
"Returning it isn't enough. The owner should pay a fitting price. That's the rule."
Yi Yeok's grin widened.
"I think so too."
He gave his hand a light flick, and the steel needle ripped through the air.
Thuk!
Ju Jin staggered and toppled backward, his face gone corpse-white. He had been on his guard, and still the needle had pierced his heart.
The crowd could not hide its shock. Even within the Sungwol Sect, Ju Jin ranked among the finest disciples.
"By the rules, I should already be dead at the bottom of that cliff. But as I said, I'm not much of a rule-keeper."
"You dare lay a hand on the Sungwol Sect!"
More than twenty Sungwol disciples unleashed a murderous aura and closed around Yi Yeok. Helped to his feet by someone, Ju Jin forced down several healing pills. The wound was a killing one, but not enough to drop him on the spot.
Yi Yeok smiled, utterly at ease.
"Blind, deaf, or both? He's the one who came at me first."
"Even if that were true, do you imagine an act like this will be tolerated?"
"Oh? So you really are the sort who won't listen."
He added it with a sunny smile.
One of the Sungwol disciples sneered.
"You mean to take all of us on by yourself?"
Dong Pil stepped to Yi Yeok's side and arched a brow.
"No. Two of us."
Mok Geom-in hesitated a moment, then took his place beside Yi Yeok as well.
"Not that either. Three."
"Well, I'm grateful, but why are there so few of us?"
Dong Pil and Mok Geom-in scowled. All of it was Yi Yeok's doing. After he had beaten even Eldest Senior Brother Ju Uk, most of the disciples had chosen to cut back on outside affairs and devote themselves quietly to training.
"Do you intend to make a scene? Your results can be stripped from you."
The adjudicator spoke. Dong Pil shouted, flushed with anger.
"What are you saying? You're taking the Sungwol Sect's side?"
"We gathered to foster goodwill between sects and to improve our skills. Causing a disturbance will not do."
Yi Yeok's group could guess the scheme well enough. Everyone had watched his performance, and first place was as good as decided. They meant to snatch the prize that was his.
The crowd, reaching much the same conclusion, began to nod one by one. Push the Nokhyeon Sect aside, and they might even recover their stakes.
"He's right! Must we really go this far?"
"And how do you prove the hidden weapon was Ju Jin's?"
"Didn't that fellow invent the whole thing just to frame him?"
Dong Pil's and Mok Geom-in's faces hardened. Yi Yeok only kept on smiling, whatever he was thinking.
Someone added, with a sneer.
"Take Ju Uk out of it, and does the Nokhyeon Sect have a single talent worth mentioning?"
Yi Yeok suddenly burst out laughing. Dong Pil spoke low, his expression set.
"We should withdraw for now. There will be a chance for revenge later."
The situation was bad. Of nearly a hundred people, not one stood with them. However strong Yi Yeok was, a difference in numbers could not be ignored.
The Sungwol disciples shouted.
"You think you can wound Senior Brother Ju Jin and walk away unharmed? We will not let this go!"
Yi Yeok laughed harder and harder, until he was clutching his stomach and gasping for breath.
"I can't. This is so funny I might actually die."
Mok Geom-in asked, displeasure plain on his face.
"Junior Brother Yi, you can laugh in a situation like this?"
Yi Yeok smiled, unhurried.
"You lot are truly pathetic. Be honest. You just don't want me walking off with the prize, do you? Then admit it and come at me. Why all the hypocrisy?"
"Watch your tongue! Do you think everyone is like you?"
In the next instant, Yi Yeok was standing behind the adjudicator.
"I hate breaking the rules. And I hate unfairness even more. What's your connection to the Sungwol Sect? Did they promise you something in advance?"
The adjudicator's face went pale. Yi Yeok nodded.
"That's as good as an answer."
He seized the adjudicator by the scruff of the neck and hurled him off the cliff. Only when Yi Yeok had returned to Dong Pil and Mok Geom-in did the falling man's scream come drifting up, thin and distant.