Are You Ready? (4)

I had never really thought about it. No, the very act of thinking about it felt strange.

But precisely because of that, Chung Myung was feeling it to his core now.

The preciousness of having someone you can hit.

“Hee, hihiiiiik!”

Pwaaaaak!

Chung Myung’s fist slammed straight into the cheek of a retreating Black Fish Union member.

“Grrrgh!”

At the same time Chung Myung shuddered as if in ecstasy.

This impact! This feel of the hand!

How had he not known? This sensation was what made life worth living.

• Snap out of it, Chung Myung. You’re a Taoist……

Ah, that’s something said because sahyung is dead and can’t taste this.

Chung Myung’s eyes began to gleam ever more with madness.

He had been punched back once or twice while hitting someone he wanted to hit, but he had never once been unable to hit someone he wanted to. His life had been one of choosing to die rather than hold back.

But after meeting the idiot Seok Han-Bin, and having to restrain his fists for the first time in his life, an unimaginable rage had built up inside him.

And now there was someone to hit right in front of him. From the Evil Sect, no less.

“Come here! Aren’t you coming?”

“Hee, hiiiiik!”

Pwaaaaak!

Chung Myung, who had smashed the Evil Sect fellow’s jaw into the air, erupted in a manic laugh and lunged at the Black Fish Union member behind him.

“Aah! S-save me…!”

“What? Save you? The one begging for mercy charged at me with a sword?”

“I was wrong! I’m sorry…!”

“Then why did you do wrong in the first place, you bastard!”

Smack!

“I snapped! Huh? I’m not someone who gets mad, but because of you I can’t help it! Die! You bastard! Die!”

Chung Myung’s eyes glittered as he gleefully beat the man beneath him. He beat him so brutally that the armed Black Fish Union member were too shaken to approach.

Yoon Jong, who had been watching the scene intently, glanced at Baek Cheon.

“…Shouldn’t we try to stop him a little?”

“How? He’s a Taoist who says he’ll beat the Evil Sect bastards—how do you stop that?”

“…To me he just looks like a mad dog biting people.”

“What matters is other people’s eyes, after all.”

But would it really look different to others?

Yoon Jong shook his head.

“True.”

At that moment, one of the Black Fish Union member charged and swung a large blade in a single motion aiming for his head.

Slaash!

Yoon Jong’s sword flashed out cleanly and intercepted the incoming blade perfectly.

Kaaang!

“Gah… w-what is this?”

At the clash of sword and blade, the Black Fish Union member, unable to withstand the counterforce, staggered backwards like a drunk and retreated. He stared in disbelief at Yoon Jong’s sword, which stood unmoving.

“Then I’ll relax as well.”

“Take it easy. Easy.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not Chung Myung, after all.”

“Because you’re not Chung Myung, yes…”

Baek Cheon let out a deep sigh.

He had seen Yoon Jong’s eyes twitching a bit a while ago. No doubt, from the moment he saw the torture instruments Chung Myung had pointed out, he seemed furious to the tip of his hair.

As Chung Myung said, they wouldn’t have used those torture devices on each other, so the victims must have been the common people of Henan.

In that situation, asking Yoon Jong to hold back his anger was unreasonable.

“I’m just going to teach them human decency.”

“Right… but don’t kill them.”

Yoon Jong ran forward without answering. Baek Cheon could only shake his head.

“Hm, then I should do something too.”

Baek Cheon lifted his sword and looked for a place to charge.

“Let’s see. Over there is……”

“You bastards, do you know who I am!”

Where Baek Cheon’s gaze landed, Jo Gul was rampaging literally.

Each time Jo Gul’s blade flashed through the air, two or three Black Fish Union member clutched parts of their bodies and fell. He seemed to avoid vital points, but his strikes were by no means merciful.

Jo Gul’s sword qi, which seemed to have grown even faster, was sweeping the enemies like rays of light.

‘Not here.’

Baek Cheon turned his head to the opposite side.

“Over there is……”

Swaaaaash!

“Aah! My eye! My eye!”

“What eye are you talking about? I hit your eyebrow! Stop whining and don’t pretend you can’t see!”

“Aaah!”

Tang Soso, with a sword in one hand and a long needle in the other, was tearing into the Black Fish Union member like a famished tiger.

That place was no good either. If he went near, he’d probably get a needle in the back……

“Then……”

“Amitabha!”

Booouuuuuuuung!

“Aaaaaaah!”

Those hit by Hae Yeon’s spiritual power flew over the wall in groups of four or five at a time.

“We agreed to take it easy……”

No, for a monk that is taking it easy. Right…….

As for Yu Yiseol… there’s no need to say. If a scream suddenly sounded somewhere, Yu Yiseol had already sliced a couple and moved on.

Baek Cheon scratched his head and lowered his sword. There was no place suitable to jump in.

From the start, this battle was unbalanced. Weren’t these the seven who had fought those he met at the Northern Sea Ice Palace? Asking them to deal with mere Evil Sect members known only across the Henan lands was like expecting a dragon to take fighting a mudfish seriously.

Screeaaaak!

“Oh, right.”

If even that weasel is going wild, you can imagine the rest.

“You little—can I see your forepaws? Fine. I’ll deal with you later.”

Screeaaaak!

Meanwhile, when Chung Myung spotted Baek Ah and glared, Baek Ah panicked, charged at the Black Fish Union member in front and rammed his head into his own.

‘She didn’t completely fail as a guide.’

That might not keep her from getting hit, but… wow, and then she kicks free and goes on. What a ghost of a creature.

Baek Cheon clicked his tongue and shrugged his shoulders.

“Th-this can’t be……”

A trembling voice came from behind him. When he turned, Seok Han-Bin had his eyes nearly half out of his face.

‘Ah. So he was here.’

Still, one thing remained to be done. It was unlikely, but someone might target this kid again, so he should keep an eye on at least one person.

“Why, why did you lie?”

“What lie?”

“You didn’t say it would be this strong.”

Seok Han-Bin said with a dazed look on his face.

Even seeing it, he couldn’t believe it. The Black Fish Union member, that Black Fish Union member, was collapsing. No, ‘collapsing’ isn’t even enough—it was practically mockery.

No one would have believed the Black Fish Union member would last forever. But who would have imagined they’d fall at the hands of fewer than ten people?

“At least you could’ve told me……”

“I told you! I said it! How many times did I say it! You ignored me all of it!”

“…Ah, right.”

Seok Han-Bin awkwardly nodded.

He thought he’d heard Mount Hua mentioned a few times by that pale man. Even if he acknowledged that, it didn’t ease his grievance.

Who could imagine such great people would barge into Seok Han-Bin’s cramped house and put on a pitiful show—all because of Seok Han-Bin.

“Why on earth?”

“What?”

“Why did you come? Why? Am I really that……”

What should he ask? Whether he had value? Whether he was useful? Or whether his family was so great that they now intended to help find descendants and rebuild?

He didn’t know what to ask.

But Baek Cheon seemed to roughly guess how he felt without being asked.

“I’m not sure exactly what you’re curious about, but.”

Baek Cheon shrugged and said.

“Just because someone’s ‘great’ doesn’t mean they have to do great things.”

“……”

“On the contrary.”

Baek Cheon said calmly.

“Just because someone is ‘insignificant’ doesn’t mean they only have to do insignificant things.”

Seok Han-Bin fell silent.

“Well, that’s just it.”

Baek Cheon scratched his head.

“If you have questions, ask slowly. There’s plenty of time. But not now—later.”

Baek Cheon snorted and smiled.

“I think things are mostly settled now.”

The two-faced fiend Seo Gun-Hong looked like he was about to lose his mind.

‘Am I dreaming?’

If it were a dream that would be fortunate, but this couldn’t be a dream. No nightmare in the world could be worse than this.

His Black Fish Union member, which he had built his whole life, was being utterly smashed by what looked like barely adult youths. How was he supposed to accept this horrific reality?

“Mount Hua……”

Thud!

At that moment someone fell in front of him.

“Commander Gam.”

Gurgle……

His right-hand man, Commander Gam, lay foaming at the mouth, convulsing violently. How had someone been hit so that they ended up like that?

“Phew. That feels better already.”

“……”

And the one who had done that to Commander Gam was approaching him, twirling an arm as if casually warming up.

And seeing him triggered a familiar alias in Seo Gun-Hong’s mind—the name he had heard endless times recently.

“Mount Hua Divine Dragon……”

“Oh?”

Chung Myung snickered.

“Seems I’ve gotten a bit famous these days. Even the Evil Sect bastards in the east of the Central Plains all know me.”

“Heh heh……”

Seo Gun-Hong gave a weak laugh.

Right, so there’s no way he could win. These are people living in a different world.

Why would men who ought to be living like immortals atop a mountain jump into such filthy waters to cause this ruckus? What did he and the Black Fish Union members even do?

Grit.

Seo Gun-Hong drew the sword at his waist in one swift motion.

If the man before him was the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, escaping would be difficult.

Then at the very least, if he was to die, he shouldn’t die a cowardly death.

“So you got a bit of fame and the world looks easy to you, huh.”

“Oho?”

“Come on then. I didn’t live cleanly, but I won’t die dirty!”

Seo Gun-hong shouted heartily in a last burst of bravado. But the Mount Hua disciples watching him looked only sullen.

“What did he say, that guy?”

“Seems like he heard some heroic tale somewhere.”