Chapter 43
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Tigers of Mount Shan
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Only after crushing the Blood Saber Fortress led by Wang Liang did I finally.
Ughhh.
Able to breathe, I stretched my stiff body. At the same time, my haphazardly tied hair fell in front of my eyes, and I let out a sigh. My long hair and overgrown beard made me look no different from a mountain bandit.
...A lot has happened.
Seeing that my once-short hair now reached my waist, I let out a hollow laugh. It meant that much time had passed.
I was sick and tired of seeing bandits as numerous as the Red Turban Army. Bandits claim mountains as their domain, but they usually just set up fences to mark their territory.
But someone had united all those bandits, weaving them into a single force.
The Evil of the Mountains, Combat King of the Green Forest, Baek Gwang.
Baek Gwang had brought all the mountains under one banner, creating an entity known as the Seventy-Two Fortresses of the Green Forest.
Mount Shandong,
Mount Wutai.
And Mount Heng.
Among the many great mountains of the Central Plains, he established these three as his strongholds, expanding his territory to other mountains and balancing the seventy-two fortresses.
And as an example, the Combat King of the Green Forest, Baek Gwang, advanced on Mount Heng and annihilated the Mount Heng Sect, one of the great orthodox sects. Then, he illegally occupied the now masterless Mount Heng and made it his lair.
There was a lot of talk back then. People asked why the orthodox factions didn't stop the Green Forest sooner.
Why didn't they?
...Let me correct that. It wasn't that they didn't, but that they couldn't.
My uncle explained that just as Shaolin of Mount Song and the Mount Hua Sect were about to join forces to stop Baek Gwang and save the Mount Heng Sect, the Yangtze River Water Fortress and figures from the Great Desert made their move.
They could have aimed for Mount Song or Mount Hua at any moment.
...So they just stood by and watched?
I shook my head, calling them cowards. In that era, Shaolin and Mount Hua were top contenders among the orthodox factions. They probably moved first because of the great cause, as well as the high expectations of the people.
Who would care more for another sect than their own? Shaolin and Mount Hua at least made a show of it, but the other sects didn't even budge.
So that's why they sacrificed Mount Heng to strengthen their own alliances.
Wouldn't that be the case?
Tsk, what good did that do? Because they failed to stop them back then, now every single mountain belongs to someone else.
Mountains are mountains, and water is water.
A mountain, just as it is, could be considered public land. It was open to everyone, but now every mountain has a master.
Even herb gatherers and wild ginseng hunters lost their livelihoods and had to find other work.
That's why we're trying so hard now.
Hardly. In five years, we haven't even dealt with half of them.
Of the seventy-two fortresses, we had only managed to crush twenty-two. The bandits were weak, but in the mountains, they demonstrated their full capabilities.
The traps they set were so elaborate that even the trained eyes of a martial artist had trouble spotting them, and many of us had near-death experiences after being poisoned by the tainted meat of hunted animals.
Focusing on Mount Shandong alone, we were forced to retreat several times despite having a supreme master like the Iron-Blood Sword Saint, all due to the surprisingly coordinated attacks from bandits receiving support from other mountains.
It's a relief, at least. We have capable people.
Namgung Han, Namgung Seok.
They were experienced and skilled enough to take down dozens of bandits at once, yet I had only just understood over these five years why they couldn't conquer Mount Shandong.
...It's relentless.
It took a few years to get used to the mountains with Gang Umun, Dong Hwi, and Black Tiger, and a few more years to build trust with Namgung Han, Namgung Seok, and the other members of the Namgung family.
Just like that, five years had flown by.
...There are still two more years to go.
Isn't that rather good?
Don't you miss Anhui?
Miss it?
Contrary to the words that slipped out, I thought of three people.
It was about time I missed them.
My master and the First Elder, Namgung Yeoul.
And Namgung Byeok, who, unlike in my past life, would be living his days with a happy face.
Namgung Byeok's mother, the beautifully faced Lady Baek, who was also my mother in my past life.
I missed those three people so much.
Any other news?
I hear the Namgung family is busy preparing for the family head succession competition, which is only a few years away. It had been quiet for a while.
...It's going to get noisy again.
We were lucky it was quiet for so long.
I feel sorry for my master again.
My uncle fell silent. For some reason, he always became quiet whenever my master was mentioned.
I was about to ask him something but turned my head at the sound of an approaching presence.
Great Young Lord!
Umun.
The cleanup of the Blood Saber Fortress is complete. With this, we've dealt with most of the Evils of the Mountains remaining on Mount Shandong.
Gang Umun, his eyes gleaming, had also matured into a seasoned young man and swordsman, shedding all traces of his former naivety.
...That doesn't matter. The biggest ones are still left, aren't they?
They haven't shown their faces once. Do you think they'll come down?
At my words, my uncle shook his head.
You fool. Do you not know why I've been focused on this front line?
He had swung his sword against countless members of the Underworld and Demonic Path to earn the name An Baek, the Iron-Blood Sword Saint, and the title of Sword Saint, but his final step was here, on the front lines before Mount Shandong.
If Baek Gwang is a tiger, then the ones who remain here are hyenas.
If they're just hyenas, there's no need to be so afraid, is there?
My uncle shook his head as if to say I had no idea. He looked up at the peak of Mount Shandong with a look of disgust.
Following my uncle's gaze, I saw a fierce-looking snake hiding in the grass. A small rabbit was twitching its ears, wary of its surroundings, but it didn't seem to have noticed the snake's movement.
...A tiger understands its responsibility and moves with dignity. But hyenas are not like that. They are cowards that hide when they should hide and flee when they should flee. But then.
The snake crept closer to the rabbit. Unaware that this could be its last moment, the rabbit was completely absorbed in the delicious grass it was nibbling on.
They know the perfect moment to strike. Just as even a formidable predator can't handle a pack of hyenas.
The snake shot forward, its jaws wide open. It was a hungry lunge to devour the rabbit in one go, and the startled rabbit reacted instantly.
...The moment you let your guard down and underestimate hyenas.
And yet.
The rabbit's hind leg was bitten, and the snake slowly began to coil around its body. Its long body twisted and tightened.
There are three such hyena-like bastards remaining on Mount Shandong. The Evils of the Mountains we've faced so far are nothing compared to them.
Hyenas were just like that snake. For the first time, I saw the look of utter revulsion in my uncle's eyes.
He was a tiger, a beast of prey, and a powerful predator even by the standards of the entire Central Plains.
The five years he had spent in seclusion as a drunkard in the Namgung family...
...were spent here, on the front lines, honing his senses and reclaiming his skills.
Even in my eyes, my uncle's skill was such that, not even as a joke.
...could I mock his level or his abilities.
...You must have suffered a lot.
What's there to say?
But as I looked at my uncle, I stopped shaking my head and gestured with my chin.
Hm?
My uncle followed my gesture. Just as the snake, having tightly coiled the rabbit, opened its jaws wide as if to swallow its head.
Fwoosh!
A slightly larger rabbit appeared and rammed the snake's head. It seemed to be the mother rabbit. The mother rabbit fought a life-or-death battle against the snake, not yielding an inch.
It was a mother's struggle to protect her young.
At the same time, the baby rabbit, freed from the snake's coils, also desperately faced the snake, revealing its own wild nature.
The Central Plains is a wilderness. A lawless land. And even if those hyenas gain power.
And in the end, the snake that had been confronting the rabbits was the one to flee.
The world always finds its way back to the righteous path. This time, it will be different because I am here.
I was confident.
And I was quite surprised at myself.
When had I ever shown such confidence?
When had I ever revealed to someone that I could do it?
That's how much I, in this life, was different from the Namgung Byeok of my past life. I didn't blame others. I didn't fall into despair when faced with hardships.
And the people I met were all
Great Young Lord!
What are you doing? Don't slack off!
Honestly. Some people work, and some people play.
Sigh. Have you no sense? Everyone is working so hard!
Black Tiger, Gang Umun, Dong Hwi, and my uncle.
On top of that.
Great Young Lord, just because I told you not to go out yesterday, are you planning to do the same today?
The Shandong Branch Chief, White Fang Sword, Namgung Seok.
...This is why you can't rely on people who were raised gently!
I thought you went to sleep and checked all the barracks!
Aigoo.
And behind me stood the one hundred and fifty members of the Namgung family who formed the Shandong front line.
I grinned.
...So even Wang Liang was defeated. They say it was the Great Young Lord of the Namgung family.
That's right. The Great Young Lord of Namgung. I heard he's only twenty.
Khahahaha! What's there to worry about? We just need to wipe them out.
With bodies as large as fortresses, massive arms, and an imposing presence that would make a bear weep.
The three men, largely similar yet subtly different, were gathered in one place with varying expressions.
We should make a move. It'll get tiring if the men below start to have doubts.
The Red Tiger Fortress Lord of Mount Shandong, Giant Spirit Fist, Hosan.
We haven't received the King's order yet. It's too rash to move now.
The White Tiger Fortress Lord of Mount Shandong, Iron Pagoda Fist, Gwangbae.
Nonsense! We should get rid of them first and have our achievements recognized by the King!
The Green Tiger Fortress Lord of Mount Shandong, River-Stirring Fist, Pyogap.
At the feet of the three men, other men were prostrated, their limbs trembling as they barely supported their massive bodies. Beside them, women shivered, their flesh exposed, holding back tears.
All of them were unrelated, separate from the world of martial arts.
In the dead pupils of these captives, there was no hope, no dreams.
They were merely living because they couldn't die, moving as the bandits' limbs.
That's why such a saying circulated in Shandong.
Child, do not cry.
If you cry, the tigers of Shandong will bite you.
Child, do not cry.
If you cry, your parents will be taken away.
Child, do not cry.
If you cry, your siblings will suffer.
Child, do not cry.
Child, do not cry.
Whatever their expressions,
Whatever their thoughts.
The three men were indifferent to them. They were only.
Nevertheless.
...concerned with one thing. Though the three men had different opinions, it was only a matter of time before they reached a consensus.
An example must be made.
Of course.
Khuhuhuhu. I'll take the lead.
A bloody light shot out from the eyes of the three men. The fighting spirit of the masters of Mount Shandong, acknowledged by the Combat King of the Green Forest, Baek Gwang, rose above the mountain.