The Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples (3)
Ugh!
Je Hayeong scowled.
Flies were always a problem.
This time, too, the escort had been assembled as it always was — fifty warriors of the Jecheon Medical Manor and fifty ronin, a hundred men in all.
A hundred guards was a record even by their standards.
And yet the flies were no ordinary flies either.
Only five days out from the Jecheon Medical Manor, and thirty of them had already fallen. Seventy remained.
Whoosh!
Just then, a woman in red martial attire dropped down in front of Je Hayeong. She was so identical to Je Hayeong that telling them apart was nearly impossible — her twin younger sister, Je Chuyeong. The only difference between the two was their build. Where Je Hayeong was all muscle, Je Chuyeong was slender and delicate.
"They've blocked the road."
Je Chuyeong spoke as she looked at her sister. She was just returning from scouting the front.
"Did you find out who they are?"
"No."
Je Chuyeong shook her head.
Whoosh!
Next, a cold-eyed man landed beside the two women. A sword slung across his back, he was of medium height with a compact, sturdy frame. His tightly pressed lips and piercing gaze felt as cold as a drawn blade.
He was Mak Hong, known as the One Sword Life-Snatcher — a man who, it was said, never unleashed more than a single strike against any opponent.
"The rear is surrounded as well."
Mak Hong's face was set in stone. He had just returned from checking their back.
"So we're surrounded on all sides. Any idea who they are?"
Je Hayeong asked.
"The Heavenly Evil Gate."
"Why the Heavenly Evil Gate?"
Je Hayeong looked at him, puzzled.
"It couldn't be because of the Heavenly Physician Wagons, could it?"
"This isn't the first time the Cheon-uigeo has headed to the Heavenly Capital. It's practically an annual event. They've never once shown themselves before, and now suddenly this year they..."
"The wagons are the same, but the cargo they're carrying has changed — hasn't it?"
"N-no, absolutely not."
Je Hayeong shook her head.
She had denied it, but her face made it plain as day: 'We happen to be carrying something enormously important, you know?'
A man who had seen it all, Mak Hong was hardly going to miss that.
"Then you'll need to raise our pay."
"You're asking to renegotiate the contract?"
Je Hayeong's face hardened.
"I did this job last year too, but judging by how things are going, this is nothing like last year. We may not even make it to the Heavenly Capital. If you want to keep the ronin on, you'll have to raise their wages."
"...Understood. When we reach the Heavenly Capital, I'll pay you double the agreed fee."
Je Hayeong nodded. There was no other choice but to pay up.
"Did everyone hear that?"
Mak Hong shouted toward the rear.
"We heard."
"Then protect the Cheon-uigeo with everything you have."
"You got it."
Kikikiki! "What adorable little things."
Along with a grotesque cackle, five figures appeared before the wagons.
"Who are they?"
Mak Hong's eyes went wide.
Two men with crippled arms, one with a crippled leg, one hunchbacked, and one with no face at all. Those five were known as the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples. The tallest of them, with the ruined left arm, was Noe Cho, the Single-Handed Secret Evil; the one with the ruined right arm was Bu Ilbi, the Single-Arm Wicked Evil; the one with the ruined right leg was Gwang Saeng, the One-Legged Crippled Evil; and the faceless one was Si Byeok, the Faceless Demonic Evil.
Reaching the peak-realm had changed the Five Vices' lives — but it had never changed the twisted hearts born of their broken bodies.
Even the slightest distortion of their pride, even someone merely smiling at the sight of them, and they would take it for mockery and slaughter every soul present. Their mountain of sins had been so great that under the old emperor, they'd carried bounties on their heads as arch-villains.
It was the changing of the world that had dragged these shadows into the sunlight. For reasons no one knew, the new emperor Hwonwon Chiguk had pardoned every imprisoned martial artist, and countless world-class fiends had walked free — the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples among them.
"Leave the two women and the wagons. Everyone else, get lost."
Bu Ilbi, the Single-Arm Wicked Evil, bellowed in a voice thick with killing intent. That voice like scraping iron made it all the more chilling. The Jecheon warriors and the ronin exchanged glances.
"Convicts from the jianghu labor camps crawling out to strut around. So the world really has changed."
Even before the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples, Je Hayeong did not yield an inch.
"Ooh, that one..."
Si Byeok, the Faceless Demonic Evil, stared at Je Hayeong, smacking what passed for his lips.
"She looks delicious."
"That filthy mongrel..."
Je Hayeong shuddered.
"How dare you insult our Pavilion Master. Just how strong must you be to be that arrogant? Allow me to find out."
A man with the classic bearing of a warrior stepped forward.
He was the chief of the Jecheon Medical Manor's escort — Yang Jung-ak, known as the Tiger-Wolf.
Kelekele! "A little rat playing cat in front of a woman, is it?"
Si Byeok hurled himself at Yang Jung-ak and swung his right hand in a vicious arc. A jet-black palm force surged toward the man.
"That's the Floating Corpse Demonic Palm. Don't try to block it!"
Je Hayeong shouted.
"What I'm after is you, woman."
The black palm force whipped around and shot toward Je Hayeong instead.
"GRAAAGH!"
In that instant, Yang Jung-ak collapsed with a hideous scream. His chest had been shredded beyond recognition.
"The Shadowless Blood Evil Palm..."
Mak Hong murmured, as if groaning. The Shadowless Blood Evil Palm was the exclusive art of Sim Bul-won, the Monstrous Beast Striking Evil.
"Chaha!"
With a sharp cry, Je Hayeong swept her spear.
WHAM!
"Kraagh!"
Je Hayeong was driven backward in a sliding skid, a cry torn from her throat. The situation was clear: among the Jecheon warriors, not a single one could stand against even one of the Five Vices.
"I'll count to three. If you haven't left by then, I'll take it that every last one of you is eager to greet the reaper."
Noe Cho, the Single-Handed Secret Evil, said coldly.
"Daebo!"
"Don't order me around, you brat."
Mu Daebo spoke while busily working on something. What he was making was a sphere half the size of a fist, made of stone. Naturally, the person who'd asked him to carve stones into round shapes was Jin Yigang.
"But are you really sure about this?"
Mu Daebo asked, looking doubtful.
"When I hunted, I only ever used two things. A round stone, and this stone fist of mine."
Jin Yigang said, clenching his fist tight.
"Those guys are masters, kid. This won't work on them."
"Do they know that?"
"Anyone who doesn't know the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples isn't a real jianghu man."
"Must be famous bastards, then. More famous than you?"
"Obviously. Those things couldn't lick the bottom of my boot."
"And their actual skill?"
"You don't know reputation and skill don't always match?"
That was what he said — but in truth, his own skill was on par with one of them at best, maybe a hair above. If two of the Five Vices came at him at once, he'd lose.
"AAAGH!"
Another scream rang out.
"Sounds like they're getting smashed to pieces."
"Aren't you worried?"
Jin Yigang asked — because Mu Daebo looked far too relaxed.
"Why would I worry about them?"
"You're Je Suryong, aren't you?"
"...Right, I am. Hurry up and make them, you brute."
"You want a groove carved into this one?"
Mu Daebo asked, pointing at the sphere.
"Deep enough for your fingertips to sink in."
"Like this?"
Mu Daebo carved a groove and showed him.
"Perfect."
Jin Yigang nodded. Mu Daebo carved grooves into the rest of the stones as well. Even while he worked, Jin Yigang kept making demands.
In the end, Mu Daebo had made him fifteen stones in all. Jin Yigang divided them between both pockets.
"You're using both hands?"
He asked, watching him split the stones.
"You know as well as I do — prey is never slow or stupid. You predict which way it'll bolt, then throw left and right with a split-second delay between them. A hundred hits out of a hundred throws."
"Then what're the grooves for?"
"For gripping them like this."
Jin Yigang took out a stone and showed him how to hold it. He laid his index and middle fingers side by side in the groove, wrapping his thumb and ring finger around from below.
His left hand gripped it slightly differently.
The right hand held the stone aligned with the groove; the left held it perpendicular to it.
"And with that, you're going to catch the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples?"
"Daebo, are you insane?"
"...?"
"Those men have spent decades mastering their arts. You think they're going to stand there and get hit by stones thrown by a guy with no internal force?"
"Then, you brat..."
"The killing is your job — you're the warrior, you oaf."
"Grrr!"
Mu Daebo glared at Jin Yigang.
"First, let's lure one of them out."
Regardless of Mu Daebo's glare, Jin Yigang headed toward where the Five Vices were.
The Jecheon warriors and the ronin were still locked in a standoff with the Five Vices.
The Jecheon warriors racked their brains over how to protect the wagons at any cost, while the ronin agonized over whether to stay or flee.
Je Hayeong wiped the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth and readjusted her grip on her spear. She was carrying internal injuries.
Je Chuyeong beside her was no better off.
Countless elixirs had raised their internal force, making them stronger than their peers — but against the Five Vices, it fell hopelessly short.
And yet they could not hand over the Cheon-uigeo and their lives — no, their bodies. The Five Vices were notorious even for raping women before killing them.
Tch! Tch!
The two women took their stances again.
Both Je Hayeong and Je Chuyeong had chosen the spear, and their martial art was the same. The spear art they had trained in together was the Extreme Spear Ten Decisive Stances. It couldn't be called a divine art, but it was a formidable technique that would hold up anywhere — and yet the two women's attainment had stalled at the seventh stage, keeping them from unleashing its full power.
That was part of why the two women were no match for the Five Vices.
"Strike them all at once!"
Na Seok-jin, the vice chief of the Jecheon escort, roared.
"Chaha!"
"Taha!"
"Haaah!"
With battle cries, the Jecheon warriors hurled themselves forward.
"A litter of puppies."
Noe Cho's eyes lifted without mercy.
"I'll tear you apart."
The first to move was Bu Ilbi, the Single-Arm Wicked Evil. Reaching the front of the group in a flash, he swept his left arm down without hesitation. A massive hook descended upon them. The hook was called the Demonic Hook — and so was the art behind it.
"I'll block it!"
Je Chuyeong stepped forward and thrust her spear upward. It was the fifth stance of the Extreme Spear Ten Decisive Stances — Celestial Pierce — which, read literally, meant piercing the heavens.
Je Chuyeong's spear, laden with tremendous force, struck the tip of the Demonic Hook.
CLANG!
"Kgh!"
Je Chuyeong's mouth flew open and blood spilled out.
"Taha!"
In that very instant, Je Hayeong's spear bored into the empty air. The same Celestial Pierce stance — but what Je Hayeong unleashed was different. Faster and more savage than her sister's. Their spear arts seemed to mirror the two women's very personalities.
Kil!
With a frenzied shriek, Gwang Saeng, the One-Legged Crippled Evil, kicked off the ground, launched himself into the air, and flung both arms wide. He had only one leg, yet he was the fastest mover of the five. A palm force that seemed ready to draw blood shot toward Je Hayeong.
One spear against two palm forces. And Gwang Saeng's internal force surpassed Je Hayeong's besides. The outcome was obvious.
CRANG!
WHAM!
The moment her spear blocked one Blood Evil Palm, the other slammed into her chest.
Shriiik! Shriik!
Cloth and flesh tore away together.
"AAAAAGH!"
Je Hayeong was flung backward with a scream. She scrambled to rise.
But her body would not obey.
"Allow me to finish you."
Gwang Saeng drew up his internal force again.
Snap!
Just then, from somewhere not far off, came the sound of a tree branch breaking. It was faint — but the Five Vices, all attention fixed on their surroundings, caught it instantly. They kept such careful watch because if anyone stronger than themselves lurked nearby, seizing the Cheon-uigeo would be pointless.
At the crack of the branch, all five pricked up their ears. And into their ears drifted a voice like a whisper.
"You five crippled bastards are really that strong?"
This time the voice was loud enough for everyone present to hear.
Thick, viscous killing intent poured from the bodies of all five.
"That's what you call 'cripple-baiting,' you know."
"Why, you little..."
Sim Bul-won, the most hot-tempered of the Five Vices, launched himself at once.
"Fourth!"
Noe Cho called after him — but Sim Bul-won had already vanished from his comrades' sight.
"Si Byeok, you go too."
Noe Cho said, glancing back at the Faceless Demonic Evil.
"Understood."
Soon Si Byeok raced off after Sim Bul-won. From his fleeing body, too, thick killing intent rippled like heat haze.
Cripple-baiting.
Of all the bloodbaths the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples had ever unleashed, five of them had begun with nothing more than the words 'you cripple-baiting bastards' — that was how much they despised those words.