Chapter 59: Holding the Ember

“So, where do we have to go?”

“Sichuan.”

“Whoa! It will be rough in many ways.”

The words Baek Mu-ho said about it being rough in many ways indeed had many meanings.

Looking at the geography of the Central Plains as a whole from afar, as you go west, the terrain is higher and there are many mountains, whereas as you go east, the terrain is lower and there are many flat plains.

Therefore, while the east has many plains good for cultivating fields, it is the first to be swept away when a flood occurs, whereas the west is not only rugged and harsh but also has many people with dirty tempers and overflowing craziness due to tight living conditions.

Colloquially, people of ‘unrighteous living.’

‘It is a slightly biased opinion, but who cares, that is my thought. Of course, Master Bodhidharma who came from the far, far, far West should be excluded.’

Anyway, Sichuan, which was mentioned just now, is a region highly biased toward the west.

The representative of places with many mountains, high mountains, and a shitty path to go.

Mentally and physically, if one considered a bright future, it was a place one would not want to recommend as a honeymoon destination.

Though if it were a forced marriage and one wanted to end it by any means, it would be a place worth considering as the first priority.

Racially too, as various ethnic groups like the Hui, Miao, and Qiang live mixed together, their ethnic identity is also extremely diverse.

Moreover, from the perspective of the Martial World, there is currently no place as strange as Sichuan.

“By the way, that…… the place we have to go now is still in the Orthodox faction’s territory, right?”

From a Martial World person’s view, the point was that Sichuan was a region split into three.

Usually, the territory of the Unorthodox faction is spread out across the lower regions, and this influence reaches into Sichuan as well.

Adding to this, near the region bordering the Western Regions, the influence of outer frontier forces like Tibet’s Potala Palace exists, albeit faintly, and even the influence of the Demonic Cult, which can be called one of the axes of Martial World forces along with the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions, reaches here.

In such a situation, the Emei Sect and Qingcheng Sect of the Nine Great Sects, and the Sichuan Tang Clan of the Five Great Families, exert influence as the Orthodox faction.

In a word, it meant it was a pandemonium where the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic gathered in one place to form a three-way battle. It meant it was a melting pot of chaos where the moment one stepped foot incorrectly, they would be utterly screwed.

From afar, it would be an interesting spectacle good to chew on as a side dish, but from the perspective of a Martial World person who has to go there directly, it was a headache-inducing place.

“It will be close, I guess?”

“Look at that answer?”

Perhaps because the answer was not satisfactory at all, Baek Mu-ho glared with narrowed eyes.

“Do you know the rule of ‘no take-backs’?”

“Hmph, who said otherwise? Let us go, go. We just have to go, right.”

At my words lightly poking his side, Baek Mu-ho, showing the craziness of ‘we only die once, not twice,’ moved his steps with long strides.

Roughly, this was what it looked like when our new journey began.

***

“Two brats wandering around in a harsh world like these days? I guess you have two or three lifelines each?”

“Damn it. Even when we catch them, it is only guys like this. Go court some girls. Young bastards have no energy.”

“Didn’t the adults teach you that if you climb harsh mountains recklessly, you will meet mountain lords like us? Do you not have parents at home?”

The current situation was like this.

A bunch of hulks claiming to be mountain lords were blocking the road.

As if they had made a promise, they were all sauntering around with thick great sabers or spiked maces on their shoulders.

Threatening with weapons as ignorant as their size and pouring out harsh words, a weak-hearted person might have trembled in fear.

Unfortunately, it did not apply to me or Baek Mu-ho.

Rather, you could say we were slowly getting tired of it.

[How is it that these guys show no progress?]

Master Zhang Sanfeng, who was keeping his place alone, also sighed of his own accord, finding it cliché.

I agreed too.

“Why is everything they say exactly the same?”

Unlike their expectations, these bastards called bandits were not something we were experiencing for the first time.

“Is there some kind of academy that churns out bandit bastards?”

“There is the Green Forest, but that place is on a different level from those hulks.”

“Really? Then what do the Green Forest guys say when you meet them?”

“Uh…… Mmh…… Come to think of it now, it seems their brain level is similar.”

At my question, Baek Mu-ho frowned as if seriously considering the cause-and-effect relationship of whether idiots become bandits, or if people become idiots once they become bandits.

“Was it like that during your time too, Master?”

[Need I even say it?]

Hearing Master Zhang Sanfeng’s words, the possibility that one becomes an idiot after becoming a bandit seemed higher.

“Have these bastards lost their fear!”

“We tried to let you off with just your lives!”

At our appearance, which had not a shred of tension, the bandits shouted.

“I bet you did.”

Even so, neither I nor Baek Mu-ho had any inspiration.

Because this too was similar to the bandits we had seen and experienced so far.

“Leave a few alive. I should squeeze some information out of them.”

No matter how many mountain paths there were in this area, we ran into them far too often.

This was the fifth time we met bandits on this journey.

Until now, it felt like clearing trash dropped on the roadside, but I think I should find out why there is such a fuss.

Baek Mu-ho smirked.

“Just make sure you do not explode their heads.”

“And you stop cutting them in half.”

“Cutting in half?”

“I mean, do not split them in two. Who was the one walking around splitting people like firewood just because some weight grew in his sword?”

Baek Mu-ho had opened his eyes to the heavy sword while catching a glimpse of Master Heavenly Demon’s sword principles. And the Snow Plum Sword made based on that raised its realm day by day.

Lately, as he honed his combat senses by cutting down bandits, it became a sword technique that split people like chopping firewood with an axe.

“It is the Half-Splitting Sword then?”

“Phew……”

It was a naming sense that not even middle-aged uncles would laugh at.

I shook my head and focused on the bandits in front of me.

Trash exists to be cleared. If it was malicious enough to harm people, the clearing itself was already a merit.

Master Zhang Sanfeng had also said such words when clearing out bandits for the first time.

[Rehabilitation? Good. Making them a new person? Very good. But if that were easy, why would there be the phrase ‘three-day resolution’ in the world? Unless you can be responsible until the end, do not lay hands on them. You just need to do within the range of what you can do. You do not live in the world alone. There is no need to bear and shoulder everything.]

‘I guess I cannot become a hero.’

With calm eyes, I took a step.

“……!”

Perhaps recognizing that my movement was out of the ordinary, several of the bandits reacted, opening their eyes wide.

Perhaps their experience was unusual, as they swung their weapons reflexively.

Whoosh!

The iron mass of the spiked mace, which seemed capable of easily turning a person’s head into mush, fell vertically.

I stared clearly at the trajectory falling toward the crown of my head.

I could clearly see dried meat-like pieces stuck between the round iron ball at the end of the spiked mace and the iron spikes driven into that iron ball.

Traces of turning someone into blood mush.

Confirming that there was no need to show leniency, I gathered the Third Stage of the Heavy Earth Divine Art in my hand and thrust it forward.

Boom!

“Gasp!”

Along with the sound of a thunderbolt falling, the iron mass shattered and scattered in all directions.

“What!”

“The spiked mace……!”

The bandits gasped and faltered.

The sight of a heavy blunt weapon tearing and scattering like pieces of paper was indeed a scene that deviated from the scope of general common sense.

Despite that, they clenched their teeth and swung their swords.

However, the result was no different.

The blow of one whose mind was shaken could not be straight.

Should they flee, or should they continue the attack?

The moment they harbored two minds, the sword cut had already lost its sharpness.

‘The line is blurry.’

While training in Master Zhang Sanfeng’s Tai Chi Chuan, from a certain moment, all human movements began to appear as lines.

Since then, people’s movements appeared a bit simpler.

Such a tendency grew stronger as I acquired Master Heavenly Demon’s synesthesia.

The line that came to be called the Taiji Line.

Those bandits were no exception either.

‘With something like this, I could catch it even bare-handed.’

Crunch!

“Crazy!”

I caught the great saber that lost its sharpness bare-handed.

I broke and crushed the blade.

Overwhelming.

I devour this moment.

“Are you a monster!”

Words that those whose moment was devoured often said.

Backed by the praise that guaranteed victory, I stepped forward once more.

Thwack!

At a single punch landing in the abdomen, the bandit’s two legs floated in the air for a moment.

Although I did not see his face, it must surely be a situation where his eyeballs were bulging as if they would pop out. His insides must have been completely turned upside down.

“Urgh!”

He spewed warm stuff from his mouth.

“Count yourself lucky that this is the fifth time. No, the sixth time.”

The Third Stage of the Heavy Earth Divine Art was indeed of monstrous power.

At the fist swung at the first bandit we met, the bandit’s head literally burst like a cracked watermelon.

It was not for nothing that fellow Baek Mu-ho told me not to explode heads.

Only now, having honed combat senses through several real fights, was I able to show leniency.

Frankly speaking, it was my thought that the control of power was still not complete. Was it that adjusting the power was difficult?

[Hey. This master is alone with you for once, and you are only using the Heavy Earth Divine Art?]

While I was fully immersed in the charm of the Heavy Earth Divine Art, Master Zhang Sanfeng complained.

As he wished, I gathered the subtleties of Tai Chi Chuan in my hands.

Master Zhang Sanfeng’s Tai Chi Chuan was a method centered thoroughly on counterattacks through striking second but arriving first, but depending on how it was used, it was fully possible to operate it in an offensive manner.

A method different from the current Wudang Sect’s Tai Chi Chuan.

It was the method used when proving myself at the Baek Family Escort.

Just by breaking the balance, a person’s body crumbles. Smashing the lines that make up the body’s movement is already as good as suppression itself.

“Aaargh!”

“What are these bastards!”

In front of me, weapons lost their sharpness and weight, and the bandits, who were the owners of the weapons, trembled in fear.

‘Snap it.’

I stir the blurry trajectory of the Taiji Line.

Push and pull, then snap.

Clearing out the terror-stricken bandits did not take long.

***

Toward the bandits who were kneeling and bowing their heads with their bodies broken in one place or another, I asked what I was curious about.

“Did some jackpot deal pop up near here?”

“Indeed. Why is everyone gathered in groups and throwing a fit like this? Annoyingly.”

Unlike me, Baek Mu-ho openly expressed irritation.

It was understandable. In any case, Baek Mu-ho’s primary job was an escort warrior. He could not look favorably on bandits who rushed like gnats to plunder cargo.

One of the bandits looked at Baek Mu-ho and spoke in a cautious manner.

“Rather than there being a jackpot deal…… we fled.”

“Fled?”

“Lately, the Nine Great Sects’ nerves have grown sharp. You could say they are starting to clear out the surroundings. We heard that even in the place we fled from, several mountain fortresses were blown away. The moment we heard that, we bolted in a hurry.”

“The Nine Great Sects are moving?”

It was a story that could not be heard lightly.

The Nine Great Sects are the core of the Orthodox faction, which is one of the main pillars of the current Martial World. In fact, they are the center of the Orthodox faction, and their movement is equivalent to the movement of the Orthodox faction.

“It sounds like they are preparing for war?”

“Since much has accumulated, after all.”

On Mount Song, the sect leader disciple of the Zhongnan Sect died due to a Demonic Cult attack.

In the Mount Hua Sect, the sect was burned down by a spy planted inside, and they almost had their precious secret techniques stolen.

“Since the Nine Great Sects are not composed solely of people who have transcended the world.”

It is human nature to want to hit twice if hit once.

There would be those who want war. Without looking far, even in the Mount Hua Sect, not a few harbored fiery anger in their hearts.

According to Monk Hye-won of the Shaolin Temple, the Zhongnan Sect was also reportedly preparing actively for war.

Already, two of the Nine Great Sects I knew were in a posture to actively step forward for war.

In such a situation, we must go to Sichuan, a melting pot of chaos.

“Is this…… more dangerous than I thought?”

[It probably is.]

While organizing my thoughts in a monologue, a voice was heard in my head.

‘Master Heavenly Demon?’

[This is a fact I learned while frying the newly dead bastards, but it seems something funny is happening in the Sacred Cult.]

‘What on earth does that mean in this situation……?’