There's Only One Answer
Uncheong's mind was a blur. Suddenly both feet left the ground, and the world whipped past his eyes. His hair and the sleeves of his daoist robes flapped like mad. Only when the wind slapped his face did he realize he'd been reduced to a kitten being hauled along by the scruff of its neck.
"This way?"
"Huh?"
"The road to Mt. Wudang."
"Ah—ah, yes. Follow the main highway and then..."
Even as the world spun around him, Uncheong diligently pointed the way. He was, in effect, a talking map. A wave of melancholy washed over him as he wondered how he—a proud second-generation disciple of the Wudang Sect—had ended up in such a predicament. But it didn't last. Soon his whole body trembled at the sheer speed rushing through him.
Sun Wukong's lightness skill was in a class of its own. It wasn't merely fast. Even dangling from Wukong's hand like a piece of luggage, Uncheong's body stayed perfectly still—comfortable, as if he'd been locked in place.
Is this even possible?
Could such a lightness skill exist? A name flickered through his mind.
Ak Biun. One of the Wudang Ten Swords, a man Uncheong admired without reservation. A prodigy who had reached the Peak Realm at a young age. Could even Ak Biun match this lightness skill?
Uncheong shook his head without realizing it.
Just what is this man?
Uncheong was on the smaller side among the second-generation disciples, but he was still a grown, sturdy man. And this person was casually executing lightness skill while holding a full-grown man by the neck. He even stopped now and then to glance back, checking that the others were keeping up and adjusting his pace so they wouldn't fall too far behind.
Sun Wukong, who had been tearing down the road without a hitch, came to an abrupt halt.
A well-maintained highway. Nine people stood blocking the middle of the road.
They weren't bandits—not as far as Uncheong could tell.
Martial artists!
The martial artists looked startled when Sun Wukong appeared so suddenly.
"Wudang?"
"A daoist of the Wudang Sect?"
They murmured among themselves at the sight of Uncheong. In Hubei Province, there wasn't a martial artist alive who couldn't recognize Wudang robes.
Sun Wukong looked them over, then spoke.
"What's your business blocking the road?"
"We're waiting for the Namgung Clan."
"The Namgung Clan?"
Wukong's eyes narrowed.
"Has the young hero perhaps seen anyone from the Namgung Clan nearby?"
"Hmph."
Wukong folded his arms and studied them. Every last one of them carried a saber or a sword. There was no sense of unity. They weren't from any single sect or organization. But all nine shared the same purpose.
The Namgung Clan.
The instant that name left their lips, a grim resolve and killing intent flickered across every face.
"Got a grudge against the Namgung Clan?"
"In the martial world, who'd be without a grudge against the Namgung Clan? I'll ask a second time. Have you seen any Namgung martial artists in the area?"
Wukong's eyes narrowed. The man was speaking down to him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. This wasn't casual speech because of age.
Born high, huh. Talking down to people is just habit for him.
Tone, manner, expression—Wukong read it all.
"Well? Your answer?"
The attitude of a man who fully expected to be answered. Wukong snorted a laugh.
"Yeah, I've seen them."
"Where?"
The swordsman's eyes went wide. Wukong's eyelid twitched. They were blocking the road to Mt. Wudang—which meant the party's trail toward the mountain had already been exposed. And yet the man reacted as if he were genuinely surprised, as if he truly hadn't expected them to be nearby.
Well, well.
The corner of Wukong's mouth curled up, just slightly.
"I had a feeling. So you're that Great Sage, Equal to Heaven—the guest retainer?"
"You know me?"
"Heard the noisy rumors, sure. The Namgung Clan's guest who saved the Wudang Sect, or so they say. Looking at that golden hair, I suppose the rumors weren't all lies."
A look that raked Wukong up and down. The man spoke as if he were looking down from a great height.
"Where are the rest of the Namgung people? You're just a guest retainer, aren't you? No need to throw your life away for the Namgung Clan."
"My life, huh..."
Wukong didn't need to answer.
"Master!"
"Teacher Sun! What's going on?"
Before he could open his mouth, Muhwa and Seowol arrived. They weren't wearing Namgung Clan uniforms, but the man knew them on instinct.
"The Namgung Clan?"
"This..."
Muhwa let out a sigh. Nine martial artists radiating a vicious aura. She understood the situation without difficulty.
I always knew something like this would happen.
A bitter smile touched her lips. A terrible resolve burned in those eyes.
A grudge against the Namgung Clan.
These people gnashed their teeth at the clan itself.
"Wudang...?"
Even so, the martial artists didn't dare move rashly. Ak Biun, wearing the robes that marked him as one of the Wudang Ten Swords, stood with the Wudang disciples.
Ak Biun spoke with a grim face.
"Thunderbolt Blade Wanderer. Senior Yu Jeok, why are you blocking the road?"
"You know my epithet. Then I suppose you know what I'm here for."
Yu Jeok, the Thunderbolt Blade Wanderer. The moment she heard the name, Muhwa's hand clenched around her sword hilt.
Yu Jeok looked at Muhwa and smiled, cold as ice.
"The Namgung Clan seems to know exactly why I'm here."
"So this is unorthodox faction revenge?"
"Unorthodox faction revenge? This is blood vengeance. My own kin."
"I won't deny that your younger brother was a martial artist of the Sama Order."
"And what of it? Do you settle a blood debt by picking through every last detail?"
Among those who had fallen to the Namgung Clan's merciless blades was Yu Jeok's younger brother. For the Namgung Clan, it had been the only thing to do. He had been a villain of the Sama Order. But in the martial world, there was no cause more powerful than vengeance for one's own blood. And it wasn't just Yu Jeok. The martial artists behind him each nursed their own grudge against the Namgung Clan.
Ak Biun sighed and stepped in.
"These people are guests of the Wudang Sect. Do you mean to turn your blades on Wudang's guests?"
"This is none of Wudang's concern. Stay out of it."
"Senior!"
"No one can stand in the way of a blood feud!"
Yu Jeok's voice cracked like a whip. Internal energy rode the words, and the second-generation disciples flinched. Muhwa's face hardened as well. The level of his martial arts was no ordinary thing.
Ak Biun didn't back down easily. Yu Jeok was a senior of greater experience and higher generation, but the urgency of the situation mattered more.
"I ask that you not make the mistake of interfering with a Wudang Sect affair."
"Hmph. You want to try me?"
Yu Jeok drew his saber. At the same time, the other martial artists gripped their sword and saber hilts, eyes gleaming with murder. But they didn't attack—not yet. Even they weren't stupid enough to ignore a warning from one of the Wudang Ten Swords, here in the heart of Hubei, so close to Mt. Wudang.
The standoff stretched on. Then Yu Jeok spoke.
"If it were up to me, I'd take your heads right now and set them on my brother's memorial altar. But we're not some mannerless unorthodox scum. We'll settle this with a duel."
"A duel..."
Ak Biun took a step back and looked at Muhwa. She hesitated, then nodded.
A martial artist with their enemy standing right in front of them was never rational. Even the wisest, sharpest mind turned into a fool. That was simply how martial artists were. No matter how strong the opponent, no matter how vast their faction—when it came to settling a blood debt, they would do anything. Even if they slipped past now with Wudang's help, there was no telling what these people might try on the road back to Anhui Province. Better to settle it cleanly here, with a duel.
Muhwa gave a small nod.
Ak Biun spoke.
"No duel to the death. I, Ak Biun of the Wudang Ten Swords, will serve as witness."
"Hmph. So long as nobody dies."
"One question."
"What?"
"Do you have any remaining blood kin?"
"No. The Namgung Clan took my only brother."
"Good."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Yu Jeok's brow furrowed. Muhwa's voice was ice.
"If I cut off both your arms, I won't have to watch some other relative come charging in to avenge you."
"......!"
Yu Jeok's eyelid twitched. He glanced back at the martial artists behind him.
"I'll go cut that bitch's arms and legs off."
Muhwa sighed and stepped forward. Seowol caught her arm.
"Sister, should I do it?"
"No."
Muhwa smiled bitterly. This opponent was too much for Seowol. Even at the same Peak Realm, experience was a different matter entirely.
Muhwa assessed the situation in silence.
If I take them one at a time, I can handle them all. They're not rushing us all at once.
She had unshakable faith in her own skill. She glanced at Sun Wukong, who was watching the whole affair with a look of bored indifference.
I've gotten better since then. I know I have.
The clue she'd glimpsed in the duel between Sun Wukong and Namgung Jinbaek, the fragment of insight from Wukong's advice—it had been a vital lead. She was certain that if she could just break through one more wall, she would stand at the threshold of the Transcendental Realm.
She drew a deep breath and settled into her opening stance. Yu Jeok, equally serious, leveled his saber. In that instant, the air around them grew heavy and still.
That was when it happened.
"Hey."
"......?"
A single voice cut through the silence. Every gaze snapped to one place.
Sun Wukong had already pulled the steel staff from his back and was cracking his neck from side to side. His golden hair rippled like a wave. It was a sight that seized every eye in an instant.
"You want revenge, and you're settling for a duel?"
"What are you talking about?"
Yu Jeok's cheek twitched. The pupils looking at Sun Wukong wavered for an instant.
What is this?
A strange sensation wrapped around him.
This isn't inner energy pressure.
It wasn't a presence projected through internal force. The air around Sun Wukong was still. A breeze drifted past as if nothing at all were happening. Just Sun Wukong, standing there with his steel staff in hand. The sheer presence radiating from that stance alone.
...I'm being overwhelmed by mere presence?
Just Sun Wukong. That was all there was. Wukong looked at Yu Jeok's frozen expression and the corner of his mouth lifted.
"If you lose this duel, are you actually going to drop the grudge?"
"......"
"Teacher Sun, the Wudang Sect is serving as witness—"
"Witness, my ass. What good is that in front of a blood feud?"
For a moment, Ak Biun was speechless. Yu Jeok was, to put it bluntly, a martial artist who walked the line between orthodox and unorthodox. He didn't much care what the Nine Sects and One Gang thought. Even if he lost this duel, he'd wait for time to pass and look for another chance at revenge.
"Why bother with all that hassle?"
The steel staff slammed into the ground.
"Let's just finish this in one shot. So nobody has anything left to say. You know what I mean?"
"......!"
Wukong grinned.
"Let's make sure not a single one of them can so much as squeak."
A duel to the death.
"Teacher Sun!"
Before Ak Biun could get another word out, Wukong's steel staff punched through the air.
The staff tore through empty space.
Yu Jeok's eyes flew wide. The force bearing down on him was too savage to block. His skin prickled and trembled. The premonition hit him that if he raised his saber to parry, it would shatter. He rolled aside in a desperate scramble.
"You're just a guest retainer!"
"Nah. I'm not."
"Wh-what?!"
"......!"
"That's a pretty fitting target for revenge, don't you think?"
Yu Jeok's face hardened at Wukong's words. He glared at Ak Biun and shouted.
"Wudang daoists, stay out of this! They started it!"
"That's—"
Ak Biun tried to intervene, but Wukong raised a hand.
"Hey."
"Teacher Sun! We need to get to Mt. Wudang as soon as possible—what is this—"
"That's exactly why."
"What?"
"We came here quietly. Didn't advertise that we were Namgung."
"......!"
"And the ones who spotted us and came looking? That was you Wudang people."
"That's..."
"Our trail's been exposed."
Ak Biun's eyes went wide. Wukong grinned.
"Even if we paper this over with a nice little duel, you think one or two more of these guys won't show up on the road to Mt. Wudang?"
Ak Biun was struck speechless.
"......"
Wukong's steel staff punched through the air. Everything in its path shattered with a sickening crunch.
"We've got to scare them so badly they never dare show their faces again."