Chapter 329: Sichuan’s Upheaval (2)

On the second floor of the inn.

A group of men carrying weapons were having a secret conversation in whispers.

“Those damned mountain bandits must be crazy. To think they would dare to come to Sichuan, which can be considered the territory of the righteous path, and cause such trouble.”

“Senior Brother. Are you just going to sit back and watch? Shouldn’t we step in and help the Tang Clan?”

“Calm down, Junior Brother Bo. Don’t you know the rumors going around?”

“Don’t tell me you believe them, Senior Brother. Even so, there’s no way the Sichuan Tang Clan would protect the Fire Faith…”

“Shh. Quiet.”

“…My apologies. Anyway, there’s no way the Tang Clan would do such a thing, right?”

“Even so, the rumors have spread too quickly. It’s probably the work of those Green Forest mountain bandits.”

“Then what should we do? Are you just going to stand by and watch? If the Green Forest and the Tang Clan clash, we of the Qingcheng Sect must help.”

“As much as I want to, we lack justification. If, by any chance, the Tang Clan really did such a thing, they would be condemned by the people of the Central Plains. If we hastily help them, we might get involved as well.”

“Isn’t that why we came without our sect robes?”

“Ha. Junior Brother Bo. Even if they are just a group of bandits, their leader is the Green Forest Fighting King. Do you think a superhuman with the title of Eight Stars wouldn’t be able to distinguish the swords of the Qingcheng Sect?”

“Tch.”

“Junior Brother is right. For now, let’s exercise restraint and observe. I heard they are still in a standoff, so whether it’s true or not will soon…”

At that moment, the middle-aged man called Senior Brother among the group stood up and turned his gaze to the lower floor.

The man beside him asked in confusion,

“Senior Brother, why are you doing that?”

“Look at them.”

At the middle-aged man’s gesture, the group of men looked there.

Someone with two swords at their waist was trying to leave, and people who seemed to be martial artists were following behind them.

Anyone could tell that they were not ordinary martial artists but people from the martial arts world.

However, one person among them particularly stood out.

“Don’t you know who that guy is?”

It was a muscular bald man wearing a tattered cassock with torn sleeves and a broken rosary around his neck.

One of the men who had been staring at him intently spoke up,

“Isn’t that Ja Geum-jeong, one of the Three Madmen?”

“You only recognized him now?”

At his words, the men stirred.

They had been focused on the conversation and sitting on the inner side, so they hadn’t noticed him.

However, their Senior Brother was sitting on the side with a view of the lower floor, so he seemed to have spotted that crazy monk.

Most of those called the Three Madmen were lunatics known as madmen.

Therefore, regardless of their background, most people from the righteous path treated them as heretics.

The same went for Ja Geum-jeong, the expelled monk from Shaolin.

“What is that crazy monk doing here?”

“Shh. Be quiet. They’re still leaving.”

“But Senior Brother…”

“That’s where they were sitting. Look there.”

At the words of the middle-aged man called Senior Brother, everyone looked at the place where the bowls of food were placed.

There, they saw unfinished bowls of food.

Judging from the fact that noodles and food were left in almost all the bowls, it seemed they had gotten up in the middle of their meal.

At this, one man spoke with widened eyes,

“Could it be that they got up in the middle of their meal?”

“I was constantly glancing at them because I had a feeling they were all from the martial arts world, including the expelled monk Ja Geum-jeong, and they suddenly got up in the middle of their meal.”

“Then does that mean they overheard our conversation?”

“It’s possible.”

At Senior Brother’s words, the men couldn’t hide their perplexed expressions.

If they had overheard their conversation and gotten up in the middle of their meal…

“Could they be on the same side as the Green Forest bandits?”

“I don’t know if they’re on the same side, but I can’t deny it either.”

“Senior Brother, if that’s the case, we can’t just leave them be. I heard that the Tang Clan is already outnumbered. If experts from the evil path help the Green Forest in this situation, things could get even worse.”

“I think so too.”

“Then what will you do?”

“Even if we can’t directly help the Tang Clan due to lack of justification, we should stop any reinforcements from going to the Green Forest.”

“Yes!”

At his words, all the men rose from their seats.

***

Outside the manor of the Sichuan Tang Clan,

Numerous mountain bandits surrounded the large-scale manor.

Just by looking at the number of those surrounding, one could tell that they were nearly three times the number of those guarding the inside of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

They were the Green Forest mountain bandits who had set up oil barrels and braziers and were fully prepared to pull the bowstrings of fire arrows at any moment.

The expressions of the Tang Clan warriors watching this from the walls were not very good.

Although some of them had a lot of combat experience, it was the first time they were in a standoff like a siege against their own family.

As they faced the third day in a state of tension, not knowing when a battle might break out, they couldn’t take their eyes off the Green Forest bandits even for a moment.

Among these Tang Clan martial artists, those guarding the main gate were glaring at certain individuals in the distance with eyes full of hatred.

-Munch munch!

The ones they were glaring at were none other than Green Forest Fighting King Seok Pae-ung and the Green Forest executives, who had set up a large tent across from the Tang Clan’s gate, about twenty jang away, and were sitting under it with a luxurious feast.

‘Damn those bastard bandits!’

‘Are they trying to provoke us now?’

Anyone could see that it was an act of provocation towards them.

Of course, that was the correct answer.

“Hahaha! Let’s have a drink, everyone.”

“We’re having a real feast after coming all the way to Sichuan.”

The executives showed off, deliberately enjoying themselves noisily while tilting their wine cups and tearing into the meat.

It was to lower the morale of the Tang Clan warriors and provoke them.

Surprisingly, it was quite effective.

Because they had the advantage in numbers, the Green Forest bandits were maintaining the siege day and night through rotation, but the Tang Clan warriors were at a disadvantage in numbers, so they were standing guard all day without getting a wink of sleep.

As a result, fatigue naturally accumulated, and they would also get provoked.

Seeing the haggard faces of the Tang Clan warriors, Hyungtaek, known as the left arm of the Green Forest Fighting King and the Throwing Killing Guest^[3] among the executives, said with a grin, revealing his yellowed teeth,

“Hehe. Fighting King. It seems to be working. I wondered why you gave them four days, but it wasn’t just for that. You did it to slowly kill them.”

“It serves multiple purposes.”

“If it serves multiple purposes, do you have another reason?”

“That’s… You don’t need to know.”

With those words, Green Forest Fighting King Seok Pae-ung downed his wine cup.

At that moment, the words ‘she’ had said suddenly came to his mind.

[It might be difficult to give them a long time, but how about giving them four or five days?]

[Give them time?]

[Yes. Even a cornered mouse being hunted will bite the neck of the chasing cat. So I thought, how about giving them time to think?]

[Giving them time to think is good…]

At first, he thought there was some sense in those words.

The goal wasn’t to wage war blindly but to simply take the member of the Fire Faith Order.

But was there really a need to give them four or five days?

If they lacked justification, it would be a different story, but since they had the advantage of the Tang Clan protecting a member of the Fire Faith Order, there was no need to give them a long time.

Rather, it might have been better to give them only half a day to think and push forward without giving them a chance to think.

However, since he had already made such a proposal, it was awkward to change it midway.

He just hoped that the head of the Tang Clan wouldn’t make the foolish choice of trying to protect the member of the Fire Faith Order.

***

The carriages and horses of Mok Gyeong-un’s group, having left Deyang, were heading southwest at a fast pace.

However, just one li (approx. 500 meters) away from the village, their path was blocked by a group of people.

They were thirty masked individuals wearing gray martial arts attire.

Seeing these people, all carrying swords, Seop Chun sighed and said to Mong Mu-yak, who was riding a horse next to him,

“There’s no way there would be mountain bandits on a forest path not far from the village… Are they the ones from the inn?”

“It seems so.”

Mong Mu-yak nodded in agreement.

Although they were wearing masks, they were all wearing similar gray martial arts attire, and since they had rented the entire second floor of the inn, he remembered the whole group.

“Hey, guys. It’s good that you’re hiding your faces, but didn’t you think about changing your clothes and weapons?”

“…”

At Seop Chun’s shout, the men in gray martial arts attire shut their mouths.

This was because they had nothing to say in response.

They had to overtake them with lightness skills before they set off, so they didn’t have time to pay attention to their attire.

They had hidden their faces midway, but it was also to prepare for any unexpected situations since it was awkward to officially step forward.

One of the men in gray martial arts attire, who was called Senior Brother, stepped forward and shouted,

“Where are you going?”

To that question, the expelled monk Ja Geum-jeong, who was sipping from a gourd, laughed and said,

“What does it matter to you where others go?”

At those sarcastic words, one of the men in gray martial arts attire flared up and shouted,

“You’re going to help the Green Forest bandits, aren’t you?”

“Green Forest? You mean those groups of mountain bandits?”

“Don’t play dumb. Isn’t it to help the Green Forest bandits and attack the Tang Clan?”

“Help the Green Forest bandits? Ha? That’s quite a refreshing idea.”

Ja Geum-jeong scoffed at their words.

-Creak!

At that moment, the carriage door opened, and someone slightly revealed their face.

It was Mok Gyeong-un.

“What’s the matter?”

To that question, Ma Ra-hyeon, who was guarding the side of the carriage, replied,

“It seems the people from the second floor of the inn have followed us.”

“Ah, those gentlemen.”

“Yes, what should we do?”

To that question, Mok Gyeong-un lightly scanned the men in gray martial arts attire and then casually said,

“We’re in a hurry, so just have one or two people stay behind to deal with them and follow us.”

-Tak!

With those words, Mok Gyeong-un went back into the carriage.

It wasn’t just Mok Gyeong-un’s subordinates who heard those words, so the men in gray martial arts attire were dumbfounded.

‘Huh?’

‘Deal with what?’

Although they were hiding their identities, they were the elite swordsmen of the renowned righteous sect, the Qingcheng Sect.

As those who had been dispatched to assess the situation upon hearing the news of the confrontation between the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Green Forest, they couldn’t help but feel their pride hurt by those words.

At this, the Senior Brother stepped forward and showed his anger.

“You are truly arrogant people. I don’t know who you think we are to show such confidence, but if you want to leave this place, be prepared…”

The Senior Brother of the Qingcheng Sect, who was speaking, stopped midway.

He was raising his voice and speaking, but none of them were listening to his words.

“The master said to do that, so who will do it? You, do you want to do it? Or should this monk do it?”

“…”

“If you don’t want to do it, at least answer. shit. Anyway, I don’t like it. Just have any two of you stay behind and deal with it. No, is it difficult because of that guy over there? Or both of you deal with it and come back. This monk can’t do it because that guy is pissing me off.”

“You’re just pushing it away because you’re lazy, aren’t you?”

“Tsk tsk.”

Seop Chun, who was clicking his tongue, looked at Hyun Mun-ja, the Senior Brother of the Qingcheng Sect swordsmen, and said,

“That guy seems to be somewhat capable.”

Hyun Mun-ja was a renowned swordsman even within the Qingcheng Sect.

Apart from the Sect Leader and the elders, he possessed the highest martial prowess.

‘He has reached the early stage of the Transcendent Realm.’

Mong Mu-yak, who had assessed his skills at a glance, felt a competitive spirit.

He had been wanting to test his rapidly improving martial prowess against a proper expert recently.

Thus, Mong Mu-yak said,

“I’ll deal with that guy. You handle the rest, Seop Chun.”

“What? I was going to deal with that guy.”

This was the same for Seop Chun.

He also had a strong desire to test his increased skills by facing the most outstanding one among them.

At their bickering, Hyun Mun-ja felt genuine anger surging within him.

The only one he was wary of was Ja Geum-jeong, one of the Three Madmen and the Demonic Demon Fist Sage.

But how much did those young-looking fellows among them look down on him to give him such humiliation?

-Shing!

Hyun Mun-ja drew his sword halfway and was about to step forward.

But right at that moment…

-No. I’ll just do it myself for the sake of time.

The voice of that young fellow who had said to deal with them or whatnot came from inside the carriage.

Just what kind of person was this guy to spout such arrogant words, even though they had hidden their identities?

It seemed he needed to be taught a lesson…

-Creak!

At that moment.

The carriage door opened, and two swords floated out from inside as if they were alive.

‘!!!!!!!!’

Seeing this, Hyun Mun-ja’s body froze with his sword half-drawn.