Chapter 286: Great Desert (4)
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I swept my gaze over the Great Chieftain’s appearance. Strange tattoos covered the area around his eyes. They were probably the mark symbolizing the Great Chieftain.
“You are quick-tempered.”
The Great Chieftain laughed softly.
“We cannot fight here. Come inside.”
“Is that so?”
I let go of Bright Elegance. I had expected him to tell me to attack at once, but his response was more refined than I had thought.
The Great Chieftain turned his back and led me and Myeong-gyeong inside. The interior was astonishingly spacious.
“Do you practice martial arts here?”
“That I do.”
In fact, the walls had been reinforced with iron plates. Judging from how many of them were bent and warped, I could indirectly gauge the Great Chieftain’s strength.
“If you fought here, there would be no risk of internal energy or sword aura flying everywhere.”
When powerful martial artists fought one another, it was common for the surroundings to be reduced to wasteland. In that respect, I could tell the Great Chieftain was not as muscle-brained as he appeared.
“Well, that too. And if I lost, it would be embarrassing. My authority would suffer.”
That was unexpected. He seemed to carry the constant conviction that no one could possibly defeat him.
“You thought I would charge in like a starving mad dog? You have quite the prejudice against the Great Desert.”
“…Ah. My apologies.”
He had seen through me. I could not deny that I had been prejudiced against the Great Chieftain of the Great Desert. After all, those who ruled others had to be clever. And seeing how fluent he was in the Central Plains tongue, he was clearly no ordinary mind.
Interestingly, the Great Chieftain’s manner of speech had also grown much calmer. Earlier, he had deliberately spoken in a booming voice, putting force into his belly as he talked.
“You never had any interest in the position of Great Chieftain to begin with. There is no loss in losing to such a man. I would have to carry out the duties of Great Chieftain with diminished trust. If a successor appeared who could take my place, I would raise both hands in welcome.”
That was rather surprising. The Great Chieftain truly was a clever man.
“How did you know?”
“That I have no interest in the position of Great Chieftain?”
“Yes.”
“You are not weak enough to be dragged here quietly by our people. Yet you came without resistance, which means you clearly came to the Great Desert with a purpose. When one’s purpose is that clear, one leaves the moment it is fulfilled. How could such a man take on the role of Great Chieftain?”
“Your insight is remarkable.”
I clicked my tongue. His insight was better than I had expected. Then again, there was no law saying people of the Great Desert had to be less clever than those of the Central Plains.
“So what is your purpose?”
“I intend to capture the Mad Buddha.”
“The Mad Buddha?”
The Great Chieftain tilted his head as though surprised.
“He is somewhere that cannot be reached.”
“I plan to go see for myself first.”
“I see.”
The Great Chieftain did not ask why I wanted to capture him. That too showed his wisdom.
“If you capture the Mad Buddha, will you leave the Great Desert?”
“I have to.”
“I see. So that is why you provoked me.”
“That is correct. I am sorry for that part, at least.”
“There is nothing to apologize for. If you had tried to leave without provoking me, that too would have damaged my dignity. In the end, you would still have needed my acknowledgment.”
So my method had not been wrong. I had been worrying that I might have needlessly complicated things.
“Then will you let us go?”
“I must. We do not go so far as to stop people who are fleeing.”
“Then why do you kidnap people?”
“To rid you of your prejudice. Once you come in and see for yourselves, you will know we are not such savage people.”
“That is true.”
“And even if you fled in secret, that too would be as we intended. When they return to the Central Plains, they will spread word that the Great Desert is not savage. Like dandelion seeds.”
Then maybe I should have just fled in secret. No. If I had, I would not have known the Great Chieftain was this sort of man. Provoking him had definitely borne fruit.
“That is shrewd calculation.”
“The Imperial State has shallow roots. That is why it is possible to shake it from the roots. A nation built on rebellion is always like that. Though that may be a saying your people do not know.”
“Are you speaking of Great Ming?”
This time it was the Great Chieftain who looked surprised.
“You know of Great Ming?”
“I do.”
“Heh heh. You cannot cover the sky with the palm of your hand, after all. For someone of the Imperial State, not knowing would be the norm.”
Myeong-gyeong beside me wore a slightly confused expression. He would not know of dynasties outside the Imperial State. I told him through voice transmission that I would explain later.
“The Imperial State erased Great Ming entirely from history. Because they themselves are not upright.”
“I do not know the full details either. I only know that the Imperial State tries to hide Great Ming.”
“Heh heh. It is simply their shameful past. The Zhou clan served the Zhu clan and received their favor. Yet out of nothing but greed, they assassinated Great Ming’s imperial house and overturned the nation. With no justification whatsoever, they had no choice but to conceal it.”
I had more or less expected some story like that. If it were not so, there would be no need to hide it. An imperial house without legitimacy. There were no shallower roots than that.
“I see. I would like to hear more about Great Ming, but we do not have much time.”
I laughed. It was true that we had little time, and I did not especially want to hear more about the Imperial State’s disgrace and Great Ming’s history in front of Myeong-gyeong.
“I suppose so. But hear me.”
“Yes.”
Suddenly the Great Chieftain’s eyes changed. I shielded Myeong-gyeong and stepped back. That was a martial artist’s instinct.
A spear tip spinning before my nose grazed past. A fraction later and my head would have flown off at that speed.
“What is this?”
“You still have to pay the price for provoking me.”
The Great Chieftain’s gaze was the same one I had seen at the main gate. Because he had seemed so clever, I had almost forgotten he was a warrior of the desert. Before becoming Great Chieftain, he too must have been a hot-blooded desert fighter.
“Wait. Leave this one out of it.”
“…A child?”
Myeong-gyeong looked uncomfortable at being treated like a child. Then again, calling him Senior Brother here would be a little awkward too.
I set aside Myeong-gyeong’s displeasure and placed him in a corner.
I drew Bright Elegance. This was the first time I was facing a master who had trained external arts to the extreme. In the Central Plains, internal arts carried far more weight than external arts.
By Central Plains common sense, internal energy was martial power itself. The gap in strength came from internal energy. If one’s internal energy was overwhelmed, one suffered internal injury.
But I knew at least that internal energy was not everything. I had defeated opponents many times not through internal energy, but through enlightenment and forms.
“Come whenever you are ready.”
The Great Chieftain planted his spear in the floor. The vibration rolling up from the ground was solemn and heavy.
I charged swiftly into the Great Chieftain’s range. My calculation was that because he was large, he would be slow. But his flexibility and speed far exceeded my expectations.
The Great Chieftain sidestepped and flipped his spear, driving the shaft into my ribs. Startled, I pivoted on my right foot and twisted my body sharply away. It was an excessive movement, but I possessed the Martial King’s Body. Ordinary motions were borne by my muscles and strength.
“Hoh. So you are not a man who trusts only in internal energy.”
The Great Chieftain laughed. I regained my balance and charged at him again. When I brought my sword down, the tip of his spear shot toward my blade.
‘That should not work.’
I admired the accuracy with which he aimed for the descending blade with his spear tip, but worry flashed through me in that instant. If a man without internal energy clashed with my sword, he would surely suffer severe internal injury.
Thud!
Yet when blade and spear tip met, it was I who was bounced back by the recoil. My hand went numb, and I felt my body cavity vibrate.
I raised my head and looked at the Great Chieftain. There was no sign at all that he had taken internal injury.
‘How did this happen?’
For a moment I was flustered. The Great Chieftain wore a faint, cruel smile as though he had expected exactly this.
The Great Chieftain charged at me with explosive speed. It was truly the speed and pressure of a tiger pouncing.
I blocked his downward spear shaft with my sword. My wrist stung. That was so even though I was protecting my wrist with internal energy. It felt like facing an iron wall.
“Haha! You really do have some skill!”
The Great Chieftain laughed loudly, pulled back his spear, and began pouring out brisk thrusts. The speed was so tremendous that the spear tip seemed to split into eight. What was astonishing was that none of them were feints.
I judged that I lacked the speed and strength to knock aside every thrust and leapt upward. It was a decision made because I was certain the spear would gain even more force the moment I retreated.
“The worst possible move!”
The Great Chieftain changed the angle of his spear and began thrusting upward. Of course, if I had jumped without thought, it would have been a terrible decision. Unless I had mastered the art of treading empty air, I would have had to fall onto his spear tip.
But I had also intended for the Great Chieftain to judge it the worst possible move.
“Hup!”
I focused on a single point of my sword. If he was going to push with external arts, I would push with internal energy. I wanted to see the limits of external arts.
Sensing the energy gathering upon my blade, the Great Chieftain’s eyes changed. He immediately withdrew the spear shaft he had been driving forward and took a defensive posture. Truly animal reflexes. But that did not mean he could avoid it.
If the first form of the Hunwon Muhui Sword Art, New Moon, was about severing and cutting away, the second form was about piercing through a single point.
‘Extreme.’
The name of the form was Extreme. It was a sword technique that compressed all the power I possessed and fired it from one point.
I unleashed Extreme upon the Great Chieftain from above. The tip of his spear and the point of my sword collided.
This time, I felt my power pour into the Great Chieftain’s body without being deflected.
“Kuuurgh!”
The Great Chieftain’s eyes widened as he was driven back hard. He lifted his heels as though trying to hold his ground, but the force I had gathered into one point was not easily endured.
“Kuaaahk.”
The Great Chieftain planted his spear shaft in the ground and bent at the waist. Pink blood, the mark of internal injury, spilled out.
“Heh heh. You are stronger than I thought.”
The Great Chieftain laughed as he wiped away the blood with one hand. I was a little surprised. My Hunwon Muhui Sword Art was fully capable of matching the martial arts of elders from the old great sects. Yet he still endured and laughed with such ease.
“Your realm, raised through external arts, is considerable.”
“Heh heh. Internal energy is not everything. You too have a truly excellent body, so I will tell you this. If you focused on training external arts, you would become a far greater master.”
“Is that so?”
“Would it not be so? If even a fraction of my level of external arts were added to your current internal energy, there would be no one who dared treat you lightly.”
That was worth thinking about. No one had ever told me to specialize in external arts alone. Then again, everyone I could call my master had been a martial artist of the Central Plains, so they would have emphasized the importance of internal energy rather than told me to train external arts.
“With strength like yours, you must surely be well known in the Central Plains. What is your name?”
“I am Muk Hui-yeong.”
“Hoh. A bigger figure than I expected. A fellow disciple, am I right?”
“You know of me.”
“Is there any martial artist in the Central Plains right now making as much of a name as you?”
When he put it that way, it was true. Still, it was moving in a new way that even the Great Chieftain of the Great Desert had heard my name.
“We keep our ears quite close to the Central Plains martial world as well. Many of the people here are Central Plains natives, in fact.”
“I see. It is an honor that you know of me.”
“I am called Yelü Chang.”
“A pleasure.”
And so we exchanged names and brought the bout to an end. Since the Great Chieftain had taken internal injury, there was no need for further contest.
“To think the great figure known as the New Justice Association Leader would come to the Great Desert. This is a tremendous opportunity for us as well.”
“An opportunity?”
When he learned I was the New Justice Association Leader, Yelü Chang’s expression changed. He once again wore the face of a wise Great Chieftain rather than a warrior.
“Would you have any interest in trading with the Great Desert?”
“Excuse me?”
I narrowed my eyes.
This was a direction I had never even imagined.