149. Sakju (5)
Sakju (5)
149. Sakju (5)
"Are you satisfied now?"
"Yes! Truly, thank you. But may I ask for just one more thing? If you think it's rude, feel free to refuse."
She was drowning in happiness and still openly displaying her desire, yet she remained polite and never abandoned courtesy. She had a perfect understanding of the weaker party’s position.
"Go on."
"Well... mm... you're planning to have Madam Seong and Miss Yu stay near Yeongsan from now on, yes? Then might you entrust me with attending them?"
She was unquestionably clever. Even if I placed her in White Tiger Sect, she would still be an outsider. By taking responsibility for staying beside Great Grandmaster, with whom she had already formed a strong bond of trust, she intended to secure her own position. It was a shrewd plan, and after she had risked her life to help Great Grandmaster, I could entrust the task to her. At the same time, her request made me realize that the tearful reunion had to pause while we decided the urgent matter before us.
"Wait just a little.
"Master, I apologize for interrupting while you speak with Great Grandmaster, but it seems you must now decide how we will handle Great Sun Association."
At those words, Master released Great Grandmaster and looked at me.
"Decide? What do you mean?"
"Right now, I've struck down one of Great Sun Association's commanders, so war with them will begin. The Hao Sect won't cooperate with Great Sun Association on intelligence, but it seems those bastards already know a fair bit about us. In the end, there's no one besides me in this region who can deal with their commanders.
"There are three options. First, retreat immediately to Yeongsan. Once we reach Hebei, we can receive help from the Orthodox Faction. We have no connection to the Eon Clan, and things are slightly uncomfortable with the Peng Clan, but the Beggars' Sect promised aid in a conflict with the Unorthodox Faction, and even without that, the pride of the great Orthodox sects won't let them simply watch Great Sun Association crawl all the way up to Hebei."
As the topic shifted from warm memories to the war looming before us, Great Grandmaster and Yu So-wol went pale as death. But Master spoke to me with composure.
"And the other options?"
"Since retreat looks bad no matter what, the second is to fight a decisive battle against Great Sun Association here in Shanxi. No matter the difference in scale, if word gets out that Yeongsan Sect was so afraid of Great Sun Association that it chose to flee without a fight, our standing in the Martial World will plummet."
"Standing doesn't matter."
"Master. Not necessarily so. The Martial World is a vicious place. If Yeongsan, which has only just begun building its reputation, becomes a laughingstock, its subordinate forces will also suffer. The perception will take root that Yeongsan Sect is a pack of cowards, so meddling with its subordinates won't be any great problem."
When I spoke of practical threats rather than a laughable matter of pride, Master nodded gravely.
"Th-this is absurd! No matter how strong you are, Great Hero, Yeongsan Sect is only six people. And this child is just a young girl not much different from me!"
Yu So-wol cried out, pointing at Cho-ryeong. Great Grandmaster, too, began trembling, shaking her head side to side just like her daughter.
"Is an all-out war possible?"
Master displayed nearly ten times her usual composure today. Perhaps it was because she had finally reunited with Great Grandmaster after more than ten years.
"I don't know. We'd have to try to find out. Even if Great Sun Association's might is formidable, they're stirring up conflicts everywhere, so if we exploit the gaps, it won't be impossible. First, if we send word to assemble all of White Tiger Sect, Seungdeok Manor, and Red Flower Pavilion here in Shanxi and dig in solidly on defense, we might somehow manage to hold out."
"Doesn't Great Sun Association also have many subordinate forces?"
Son Yeong asked with a worried face.
"They're a little different from ours. Subordinate forces aren't usually mobilized for total war. They won't want to be cannon fodder either. But if Yeongsan Sect collapses, our subordinate forces face a direct threat to their very survival. They'll probably stake their lives and come forward. Besides, Master's character has made them that way."
"But a defensive battle, you say. This is Shanxi, their territory. Won't we eventually be at a disadvantage as time passes?"
This time it was Lee Eun-ha's opinion.
"Normally that would be so, but if we hold out just a month or two, it's over. Once the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering in Henan concludes, the Orthodox martial artists will each return to their own main sects. At the very least, the Murong Clan will help us on their return journey. Because you, Master, made a pact with Murong Clan Head."
"Still, Great Sun Association is an enormous sect of hundreds, isn't it? Our subordinate forces will shed a great deal of blood."
At talk of commanding subordinate forces and making a pact with Murong Hyeok-jung himself—stories difficult even to imagine—Great Grandmaster and Yu So-wol stared at Master with faces drained white. But Master still spoke with a worried expression. At one word of command from her, more than a hundred martial artists from her subordinate forces would move, along with Peng Seok of the Top Hundred Masters and me, who stood beyond even him. Feeling the weight of it, Master feared that so much blood would flow from a single decision of hers.
Honestly, what I myself truly regretted was that in just three more years, I'd have welcomed an all-out war. Our Yeongsan Sect's own skills would improve by leaps and bounds, but White Tiger Sect would have begun fully mastering the Heavenly Astral Internal Art and Blood Wolf Sword, and Red Flower Pavilion would train in the improved Water Moon Dance and Pure Sound Art and achieve considerable progress in skill. Moreover, once the Young Clan Head of the Peng Clan was decided, Peng Clan martial artists on the wrong side of the line would join Seungdeok Manor.
"And the other option?"
"Breakthrough. If we simply flee all the way to Henan, even if it were the Demonic Cult and not Great Sun Association, they couldn't pursue us all the way to Henan, where thousands of Orthodox martial artists and Shaolin are. Although during all that, Great Grandmaster and Miss Yu won't be able to endure our forced march and would have to return to Yeongsan first. If we ask the manor lord of Seungdeok Manor for help and summon him this way, we should be able to escort the two of you safely to Henan."
The Seungdeok Manor Lord, Peng Seok, was among the Top Hundred Masters. What Great Sun Association was after now was not a single prisoner but our Yeongsan Sect, so if they committed considerable strength to pursuing us as we fled south, he could more than adequately protect Great Grandmaster fleeing north.
Retreat. Decisive battle. Breakthrough.
Master deliberated over the three options. At this moment, retreat to Yeongsan seemed the most realistic, but in the end, Master was the one to decide. Infuriatingly, I was far from being the kind of strategist or advisor who laid out plans.
At that moment, a familiar voice resounded through the inn.
"I favor the all-out war myself."
The man I had parted with not long ago ambled into the inn, his nose much redder, reeking fiercely of alcohol, and spoke in a booming voice.
"I pay my respects to the Sect Leader of Yeongsan. I am Drunken Beggar, an elder of the Beggars' Sect."
Startled by Drunken Beggar’s entrance, Master returned his cupped-fist salute with one of her own, but between the talk of all-out war with Great Sun Association and the appearance of a Beggars’ Sect elder, Great Grandmaster was already on the verge of fainting.
"I am Chae Yeong-ok, Sect Leader of Yeongsan."
"Indeed, you are as beautiful as the rumors say. I had heard you were the finest sect leader under heaven, but I never imagined you would be so young and lovely."
"The finest sect leader? That's nonsense."
At Drunken Beggar's words, Master could no longer keep her sect leader's composure and answered, blushing bright red.
"Simply keeping that fellow Yeongmok on a tight rein already makes you the greatest sect leader under heaven."
Drunken Beggar burst into a booming laugh and naturally sat down beside me. I was glad to see him, a comrade from the hell of alcohol, and since the Beggars' Sect's help was desperately needed, I handed him a bottle of liquor and spoke.
"An all-out war, you say? Don't tell me the Beggars' Sect is stepping in as well?"
"Of course it's impossible. You said it yourself, didn't you? If tens of thousands of Beggars' Sect followers flood this place, will Yeongsan Sect feed the beggars?"
"Then while Yeongsan bleeds from its ass fighting Great Sun Association, the Beggars' Sect just plans to watch from the sidelines, and you recommended an all-out war?"
"Was it our Beggars’ Sect that made an enemy of Great Sun Association? No. Yeongsan did, did it not?"
Drunken Beggar spoke infuriatingly, lifting his cup. But then his eyes suddenly turned serious.
"The speed at which Great Sun Association has expanded its power is anything but normal. I still don't know what trick they used to grow so enormously, right under the Martial Alliance's nose, evading the eyes of our Beggars' Sect and the Hao Sect, but even the Demonic Cult wouldn't act this recklessly. Gunjo Sect and Sangjo Sect have already joined hands and decided to strike Great Sun Association. Among the minor unorthodox sects that Great Sun Association attacked, there were subordinate forces of Gunjo Sect and Sangjo Sect. Besides, right now hundreds of martial artists are heading here to subjugate Great Sun Association."
"What? Hundreds of martial artists?"
"Those sons of bitches. If they're going to meddle, they ought to fight it out among themselves, unorthodox scum against unorthodox scum, but they meddled with a sect they shouldn't have. Those stupid bastards burned the Medical Immortal Sect and abducted the Medical Immortals."
"Whaaat?!"
The Medical Immortal Sect? It was certainly a small neutral sect, but its influence in the Martial World was immense. For decades, they had maintained neutrality and treated Orthodox and Unorthodox martial artists alike, without discrimination. Countless people in the Martial World owed an enormous debt of gratitude to the Medical Immortal Sect. Though its members were few and its martial arts insignificant, the fact that it could never be touched was the most fundamental common sense of the Martial World.
Huh... truly unbelievable. Were those bastards completely insane?
"A front line of the Gunjo Sect and Sangjo Sect coalition has already formed in the south. And in the east, regardless of faction, martial artists are gathering to rescue the Medical Immortals. With things at this level, isn't it worth trying?"
Drunken Beggar spoke with deliberate implication.
"No, at that scale, wouldn't Yeongsan Sect not even need to step forward?"
"Not necessarily. Great Sun Association was already the strongest of the unorthodox powers, and recently it has somehow expanded at a terrifying pace. Gunjo Sect and Sangjo Sect, by contrast, rank among the weaker of the Ten Great Evil Factions. Great Sun Association has been eating away at their territory in Shanxi for decades. The Hao Sect probably won't take the field openly, but it will support them with money and intelligence, so the western front should remain roughly balanced.
"And right now, the strongest fighter in the Medical Immortal Rescue Force is a second-rate martial artist. Martial artists from all across the land are heading for Shanxi after hearing news of the Medical Immortal Sect from afar, but the martial artists gathered now are from minor sects around Shanxi."
Drunken Beggar spoke gravely. Great Sun Association was simultaneously confronting two of the Ten Great Evil Factions and a coalition of small and medium sects while still concealing its true strength. As I had expected, Great Sun Association had truly built up a monstrous force. Even setting aside how they had expanded their power, just what trick had those bastards used to evade the Martial World's eyes?
"What has the Martial Alliance in Henan been doing while things grew this bad? It is winter now, so the flood-relief work should already be over. Have they just been watching because the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering is more important?"
By Drunken Beggar's account, Great Sun Association was already a threat to the entire Martial World. Frankly, even if Wudang or Shaolin stepped forward, it was hard to guarantee victory with a single sect alone.
"The Martial Alliance is an interest group. Those rigid hypocrites have settled on watching the unorthodox factions fight among themselves for the time being. After all, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering truly will end in two months."
Drunken Beggar spoke while clenching his teeth and downing the entire bottle. He too seemed to harbor considerable fury at the Martial Alliance's behavior.
"Great Sun Association has already expanded to this extent. This is no ordinary dispute among unorthodox factions. We know neither how they grew so quickly nor what they truly intend. In two months, it may be too late. If Great Sun Association wins this war and absorbs Gunjo Sect and Sangjo Sect, an enormous unorthodox power will rise directly beneath the Martial Alliance’s nose. Shanxi will become territory where the orthodox factions can no longer intervene at all, and the common people here will be cast into hell."
Drunken Beggar spoke with a bitter smile, clenching his fist.
"That is why a handful of martial artists free to speak independently of their sects or the Alliance have gathered. Shaolin, Wudang, and our Beggars’ Sect organized an advance party. But we are only a tiny force, barely sufficient even for reconnaissance. I happened to hear from the local beggars that Yeongsan Sect was passing nearby, and when I came to find you, I discovered that you were already preparing to fight Great Sun Association.
"Watching the unorthodox factions tear one another apart may be entertaining, and supporting the courageous minor sects that united regardless of faction wouldn't be wrong. Even so, would it not be most honorable for the orthodox path to resolve a crisis threatening the martial world? Yeongsan doesn't belong to the Martial Alliance, but would joining us not benefit both sides?"
It was a good proposal, naturally. Yeongsan Sect had meant to confront Great Sun Association alone with only this small force from the start. Setting aside victory or defeat, if we could spare the blood of Yeongsan and its subordinate sects now, there couldn't be a better arrangement. Master, who held final decision-making authority here, also nodded at Drunken Beggar's opinion, her face brightening at once.
"We are the ones who need help. But can we truly be of help?"
"Of course, Sect Leader. Hasn't Yeongsan already achieved the great feat of defeating Black Heaven Association, one of the Ten Great Evil Factions?"
Drunken Beggar answered merrily. Though he was an old man past sixty and an elder of a great sect, he was, as befits a beggar, a fellow exceedingly skilled at flattering his counterpart.
—Hey. But let me ask one thing. Who is that pretty woman over there?—
The moment the alliance was sealed, the fellow abruptly launched a voice transmission at me.
—Senior Sister Jeong-hyang?—
—No, you brat. Would I not know the faces of the mere six members of Yeongsan Sect? I mean the woman sitting next to the Sect Leader.—
—She is our Great Grandmaster. Surely you aren't eyeing Great Grandmaster? Absolutely not!—
—Hey! You crazy bastard! I'm over sixty. Your Great Grandmaster is barely forty! If I'd had a daughter, she'd be that age.—
Drunken Beggar recoiled in horror at my warning. Great Grandmaster certainly occupied a grandmother-like position in Yeongsan Sect, but it seemed in a genuine old man's eyes she still looked like a far younger woman. Perhaps because at the Wine Immortal Sect I had only seen men in their eighties and nineties with him, I had briefly forgotten that his age of sixty plainly made him an old man.