Journey to Sichuan (1)
Journey to Sichuan (1)
Clatter-clatter
The wagon heading for Chengdu in Sichuan had several wanderers riding it. Each, bearing their own history, chewed on a reed with a sword at their side, staring into empty air or tossing stones at the floor to pass the time. I sat in a corner and leaned my head against the cart's edge, gazing up at the sky.
"Where are you coming from?"
They, despite their glum faces and guarded demeanor, were rather sociable. The long-haired man chewing a reed spoke in a friendly tone, holding a small rice cake in his hand.
"I came from Shaanxi province."
He kept thrusting the cake at me as if insisting I eat it, so I took it, glanced at him, and answered. At the words "Shaanxi province," the man let out an exclamation.
I considered mentioning the Crimson Ring Sect, then shook my head. I didn't know what this guy was up to, so there was no need to show my hand. The Crimson Ring Sect was a sect that lived in infamy. It wouldn't be strange if there were grudges I didn't know about.
"I trained under a recluse, so I have no sect to name."
"Hmm, such cases happen often. Go ahead, eat. It's good."
Just as I was about to eat the cake, he gestured urgently, and I stopped my hand. The fact that he insisted I eat only made me suspicious. The long-haired man grinned slyly as I fixed my gaze on him, a strange look in his eyes.
The others were all lost in their own thoughts, paying no attention to the conflict between us.
"Huhuhuhu...."
The guy laughed. I still hadn't eaten the cake, and I was moving my hand toward the axe at my waist. After a long while of giggling like a ghost, he spat out the reed he'd been chewing and said:
"....Did you figure it out?"
I shook my head. I couldn't get a read on him.
"I don't even know who you are. What scheme is this? I just came to Sichuan on business."
I honestly didn't care what this guy was up to. I couldn't understand why he was doing this to me. The man didn't so much as blink at my protest. He brushed back his forelock, closed his eyes gently, and shook his head as if drunk.
At the same moment, the others sitting around rose from their seats with weapons in their hands, as if on cue. The long-haired man spoke with an oily expression.
"I am the one in charge of the 60th Stone among the 72 Strongholds of the Green Forest...."
Crack!
The man barely reacted to the axe I swung. His sword was half-drawn from its scabbard, and the hand holding the scabbard trembled violently. My axe had split his head halfway open, and droplets of blood were dripping down.
That nameless man in charge of the 60th Stone went to the underworld just like that.
"Yah-ap!"
One of the men who had frozen in shock swung a club at me. It was an attack aimed at the back of my head, but as I ducked, it effortlessly cut through the air and struck the corpse of the 60th Stone chieftain.
On the slow-moving wagon, the chieftain's corpse lost its balance, slid, and rolled across the floor.
"Oh dear! Chieftain!"
Crack!
The man who had missed his attack but was more concerned with the chieftain's corpse had his head split clean in half just like the chieftain. Another guy thrust a dagger at my flank. He aimed for my left hand, which wasn't holding the axe, but I reached out, grabbed his shoulder, and used Golden Capturing Hand techniques to pop the entire shoulder out of its socket.
"Kyaaaaak!"
The man screamed and collapsed, and a consecutive axe blow smashed his crown.
"Kyaaaak....!"
After the sound of meat being tenderized, a scream begging for mercy rang out.
*****
"P-please spare me...."
The wagon stopped. The area around the wagon was stained with blood, and chunks of human flesh clung to my axe. I roughly picked off the bits of flesh with my fingers, took out a water flask from one of the dead Green Forest men, and rinsed the axe.
"Hey."
"Y-yes...!"
The cart driver who had been pulling the wagon was prostrating himself and trembling. After confirming that the surroundings were empty plains, I pushed the bodies out of the wagon with my foot. Since they were the corpses of bandits anyway, I had nothing to worry about even if someone saw them.
I stowed my axe and spoke.
"Is public safety in Sichuan always this shitty?"
Sichuan cuisine had left a good impression, but Green Forest bandits appeared before I'd even entered the city, ruining my mood. As I frowned and asked the question, the cart driver bowed his head even lower and cried out.
"Oh dear! I've committed a sin worthy of death!"
"Why won't this bastard answer my question? Are there a lot of shits like you around here, you asshole."
When I asked politely again, the cart driver finally spat out a proper answer.
"N-no! It's only us around here, and w-we only set up recently! The ch-ch-ch-chieftain! That bastard chieftain said if we're going to play, we should play in the big water, so we should pretend to be cart drivers near Chengdu and pull a big score!"
"And I happened to be the one you pulled it on. Right?"
"Ah, y-yes...."
"Drive to Chengdu. I won't kill you."
"Ah, yes! Yes, understood!"
The wagon moved again. I thought to myself that my luck was rotten right from the start. There had been a cheap ox cart, so I'd hopped right on — who would have guessed it was the property of Green Forest bandits? If I had delayed my trip by just one day, these bastards would have been killed by some other master. A strange twist of fate.
I examined the rice cake the man had told me to eat once more, then threw it toward the roadside.
The moment I threw it, a swallow flying overhead descended to the ground and began pecking at it. After a few pecks, the swallow's beak gaped open, its body flipped over, and it foamed at the mouth.
"Damn it."
As expected, the martial world was a terrifying place. I frowned and glanced sidelong at the fortress visible on the distant horizon.
******
Chengdu.
I had heard of it in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so it was a familiar region, but its appearance was a little different from what I had imagined.
The city walls were high, and the buildings painted red seemed to hold the wishes of people longing for good fortune. Even from beyond the main gate, I could see bustling inns crowded with merchants and people calling out to customers under splendid lanterns.
Soldiers lined the front of the gate, their eyes wary of martial artists. Once they saw anyone wearing a weapon, they cast suspicious glances, and archers with bows stood ready on the walls.
When our turn came, I gestured with my foot toward the cart driver, who was trembling before me holding the reins, and said:
"You've been working hard. This bastard is a Green Forest bandit, so take him away."
"Uh, uhh?"
The cart driver stared at me with a bewildered face, and the soldiers looked at me with puzzled expressions. I pulled out the plaque from my waist that proved I was the sect leader of the Crimson Ring Sect and spoke.
"Docheol, sect leader of the Crimson Ring Sect in Shaanxi. If you go down the road ahead, you'll find several bodies. This cart driver works with those bastards, and they tried to rob people. All the ones who drew weapons against me are dead; I brought this one along because I had no one else to haul the wagon. You can broil him or boil him, do as you please."
"Ah, aah.... Yes."
The soldiers nodded at the plaque I presented, then looked at the cart driver. The cart driver shouted, tears streaming down his face.
"Ah, n-no, great hero! Y-your words are different from before! You said you'd spare me!"
"Why are you complaining to me about your punishment? Go plead with the magistrate."
"Oh dear! Oh deaaar!"
The cart driver wailed as if terribly wronged while being dragged away. I leaped over the wagon railing, and the soldiers dragged the bloodstained wagon off into a corner.
"Welcome! Our inn is the finest in all of Sichuan!"
"If you stay at our inn right now! You can see the dancing girls from the Potala Palace perform!"
Street touts called out from every direction. The whole city seemed wrapped in a sweltering heat, its crowds so dense they felt out of step with the crisp weather. Everyone passing by was either a merchant or a traveler, and even those who were martial artists often walked around carrying armfuls of something.
The roads were wide so walking wasn't difficult, but the city itself was so sprawling it was hard to tell where anything was. There were no guide signs or sightseeing pamphlets, so asking locals would be faster.
I happened to buy a skewer from a vendor selling grilled skewers and asked as I did so.
"Listen, where is the Yang Family Taiji Sect?"
The vendor, laying meat skewers on the grill, answered in an obliging tone.
"Ah, you mean the Yang Family Taiji Sect? Go down this road and take the big turn over that way, and you'll get there. There's a large sign, so it'll be easy to find. Are you going there to learn martial arts?"
I nodded.
"That's right. I thought I needed to broaden my horizons by seeing various martial arts. But what's the atmosphere like there? Have you heard anything about that? The training culture, or the sect's strict rules, things like that."
At my question, the vendor shook his head and replied.
"The Yang Family Taiji Sect doesn't pick and choose its students so much. Even the elderly gather there to practice Taijiquan for their health, and young people learn it too. They say the young lady who teaches the elderly there is quite pretty. If you're interested, it wouldn't hurt to at least see her face."
"Oh."
Oh.