Chapter 52: Chapter 52
Crackle.
The buildings of the small village were engulfed in flames.
The fiery demon was so fierce that despite the deep night, it was as bright as day, and with the water the villagers hurriedly fetched and carried, there was no sign of it being extinguished at all.
Among the urgently moving people, Jin Un and Seok Do-byeok were also included.
“Young Hero Cheon. Well… shouldn’t we help out a bit as well?”
Since they had ended up here, helping to extinguish it was the right thing to do as human beings. Cheon Woo-jin, nodding his head, gazed silently at Jin Un and Seok Do-byeok for a moment.
Unlike Seok Do-byeok, who was full of irritation, over Jin Un’s face was cast anxiety and urgency along with an inexplicable sense of guilt.
Song Yi-yeon, watching Cheon Woo-jin’s reaction, naturally joined the villagers and carried water buckets.
“Hey, don’t just stand there watching, help out a bit!”
Seok Do-byeok shouted at Cheon Woo-jin, who was standing blankly. Even without this, he was someone who disliked Cheon Woo-jin.
Born into an insignificant martial family, he was endowed with mediocre talent. He had realized from an early age that he was a presence kicked around like grains of sand in the martial world.
From the time he challenged the Martial Alliance recruitment exam, his thoughts differed from others. While hot-blooded rising stars harbored dreams of becoming chivalrous heroes in their hearts and headed for Hubei, Seok Do-byeok aimed to build friendships with martial artists of the Five Great Clans or the Nine Great Sects and One Clan.
In his own mind, it was the best and finest measure for someone unexceptional like himself to survive in the harsh martial world.
However, someone had outstripped Namgung Jin, Jin Un, Tang So-yeon, and others whom he had tried to align himself with, taking first place out of nowhere and seizing all the world’s attention, so he could not help but be displeased.
What was more, it was a guy who was not from an outstanding clan or sect, just like himself.
‘…Arrogant bastard.’
Seok Do-byeok clicked his tongue inwardly. To him, the existence called Cheon Woo-jin was an uncomfortable presence that rendered useless the excuse of having no choice because one came from an unexceptional family.
Cheon Woo-jin looked at that Seok Do-byeok, then took out the Crane Feather Fan from his robes. A small water bucket like that could not extinguish the massive fiery demon.
When Cheon Woo-jin approached holding the fan, Seok Do-byeok’s eyes narrowed into slits.
“What are you doing right now? Don’t you see everyone suffering like dogs?”
In Seok Do-byeok’s eyes, it appeared as if Cheon Woo-jin was indulging in leisure alone holding a fan. Perhaps due to his sharp voice, the surrounding people, including Jin Un, looked toward Cheon Woo-jin.
One might be bothered if stares gathered upon them, but Cheon Woo-jin merely looked up at the fiery demon with his usual dry expression.
Soon, Cheon Woo-jin, glaring at the flames, fanned the Crane Feather Fan lightly. A gentle breeze gathering at the tip of the fan poured forward.
“Ha…”
“G-Good heavens…!”
At that sight, the villagers, led by Seok Do-byeok, burst into hollow laughter. It was because it was literally the sight of fanning a house on fire.
However, Seok Do-byeok, who was about to spit out a word, shut his small lips narrowly at the scene that unfolded next.
The gentle breeze that departed from the tip of the fan grew in size like a snowball the farther forward it advanced, soon becoming wild enough for its wind currents to be visible to the eye.
Swoosh!
A gust of wind rushing in as if tearing through the air collided with the fiery demon. At the same time, the flames fluttered about as though thrashing desperately.
The flames scattering like snow across the dark night sky created a truly magnificent spectacle.
At that sight, people stared blankly, losing their minds.
In an instant, the fiery demon grew even larger as if taking the wind as nourishment. Wind was naturally meant to feed flames.
However.
Whoosh!
The gusts pouring forth in succession clashed with the enlarged flames as if fighting them, then soon merged into one to create a massive whirlwind.
The buildings swallowed by the flames turned to piles of ashes and merely fluttered together with it.
The fiery demon, having lost what to burn in an instant, surged up into the sky together with the whirlwind. It truly looked like the sight of a dragon covered in fire ascending to heaven.
“S-Shit…”
Seok Do-byeok, looking up at this with eyes about to pop out, cursed without realizing it. It was a sight where he could not help but do so.
‘Is that bastard even human?’
What would it have been like if the gust Cheon Woo-jin unleashed had been directed at a person rather than the fiery demon? There was no way a human body could withstand a violent wind that even tore apart buildings. Seok Do-byeok, whose thoughts reached that far, shivered once.
How much time had passed like that?
After the gust that had surged into the sky tore the fiery demon to shreds, it scattered into the empty air, and the village regained darkness once more.
The people looked at Cheon Woo-jin with startled eyes.
Among them was also Jin Un, who had become a mere member of the crowd.
“T-Thank you! Great Hero!”
Suddenly, someone shouted. At that, everyone without exception bowed their heads to Cheon Woo-jin. Jin Un merely looked at Cheon Woo-jin with strange eyes that seemed half out of his mind.
Song Yi-yeon, who had snuggled right up beside Cheon Woo-jin before anyone noticed, gallantly clasped his hands like a chivalrous hero who had vanquished the Demonic Cult.
“I am Song Yi-yeon belonging to the Martial Alliance’s Black Tortoise Squad. I cannot tell you how fortunate it is that the village has regained peace.”
“…”
Cheon Woo-jin looked at him as if it was absurd. Feeling that gaze, Song Yi-yeon hurriedly added.
“And here is Young Hero Cheon Woo-jin. Belonging to the same Black Tortoise Squad as me, he is a monster recruit who took first place in this recruitment exam with unprecedented results.”
“Ohh!”
The eyes of the people looking at Cheon Woo-jin shone like stars.
It was then.
“What damn peace?!”
An angry roar mixed with tears burst out from nowhere. It was a middle-aged man sitting slumped on the ground, his face smeared with tears. He was looking somewhere with empty eyes full of desolation.
It was a building that had turned into a pile of ashes, leaving behind not even a trace.
“I worked like a dog my entire life to build that single small shop…”
That was not all. From all around, those who had lost their entire fortunes such as homes and shops before their very eyes let out tearful sighs and screams.
“Mmm…”
Song Yi-yeon coughed dryly and slyly tugged at Cheon Woo-jin’s sleeve. It seemed to mean they should quickly leave since their job was done.
“Because of that bastard!”
The middle-aged man who had shouted in anger moments ago jumped up, pointing at someone and glaring.
At the tip of that finger was Jin Un, whose clothes and face were scorched.
Jin Un met eyes with the middle-aged man glaring at him with trembling pupils.
Soon, Cheon Woo-jin approached him and asked.
“What is the matter?”
“…”
Jin Un merely bit his lower lip. He bit down so hard that his red lips turned pale white.
* * *
Having listened to Seok Do-byeok’s explanation at a small inn situated in the village, Cheon Woo-jin calmly nodded his head.
“A common occurrence.”
To summarize, Jin Un was on his way back to the Alliance after finishing an assigned mission in Shaanxi and meeting Seok Do-byeok halfway.
Meanwhile, he had passed through this village, and upon hearing that they were being oppressed by bandits, he had rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.
Although Seok Do-byeok, who lacked even an ant’s piss worth of chivalrous spirit, fiercely opposed it, Jin Un asked how he as a Daoist could turn a blind eye to the hardships of the common people, instead telling him to return first.
Of course, Seok Do-byeok, who had entered the Alliance to build connections with the rising stars of the Five Great Clans and the Nine Great Sects and One Clan, could not bring himself to abandon Jin Un and leave.
Jin Un was also a man who seized fourth place in the recruitment exam where hundreds gathered, and was called a genius even within the Mount Hua Sect.
Bandits plundering a small village like this could never be a match for him.
“The problem was that they were more vicious bastards than expected.”
At Song Yi-yeon’s words, Jin Un hung his head low. The bandits, unable to cope with Jin Un alone and pushed back here and there, had ultimately set a huge fire to the village and fled.
Strictly speaking, it was not Jin Un’s fault. In the first place, the villains were the bandits. However, someone who lost their entire wealth needed a target to resent immediately, and regrettably, the bandits had long since fled the village.
In the end, Jin Un ended up hearing resentment from several people saying, ‘If you weren’t going to be able to handle it, you shouldn’t have stepped forward in the first place.’ Because it was true that the bandits had set the fire because he stepped forward.
Seok Do-byeok grumbled from the side.
“Young Hero Jin Un. Do not pay too much mind. Does it make any sense for them to act like this now after they were the ones who asked for help first in the beginning?”
Of course, those who asked for help and those who resented Jin Un were different people, so it was not logically sound. However, even amidst this, he thought it was an opportunity to look good to Jin Un.
Jin Un, who had been caught by the villagers and listened to their resentment for quite a while, seemed already exhausted.
At that sight, Seok Do-byeok rolled up his sleeves and spoke.
“Ha, the more I think about it, the more absurd it is. We risked our lives to help them, and they blame us? This won’t do. I need to go say a word or two.”
Seok Do-byeok made a show of leaving. Of course, he had no intention of actually going. It was because things would become troublesome if the villagers filed a formal complaint with the Martial Alliance.
Seok Do-byeok moved his actions as slowly as possible. Soon, Jin Un grabbed his wrist and shook his head.
“It is all right. Strictly speaking, it is my fault.”
While practicing martial arts until now, he had constantly imagined fighting the wicked and unorthodox. He knew their methods were cowardly. However, he had only anticipated cunning methods such as rolling on the ground or aiming for the groin, never even imagining that they would set fire to innocent civilian homes and flee.
It was all his fault. If he were overwhelmingly strong like Young Hero Cheon and subdued them to the extent that they could not even set a fire, something like this would not have happened.
Cheon Woo-jin, approaching Jin Un, spoke.
“Why didn’t you try to say something?”
Before coming to the inn, Jin Un had merely bowed his head repeatedly and only said he was sorry in response to the villagers’ resentment.
“With what shame could I do so? Because of my petty chivalry, they are people who lost the fortune they gathered their entire lives in an instant. Thank you. If not for you, Young Hero Cheon, the whole village would have burned down.”
“Mhm.”
To Cheon Woo-jin, it was something he could not understand. If Jin Un had not stepped forward in the first place, those bandits would have gnawed away at the village for a very long time. If they were such vicious bastards, the situation back then could never have been better than now.
“It was merely the villagers’ misfortune. Young Hero Jin Un does not need to take responsibility for everything in the world.”
That was Cheon Woo-jin’s honest impression. In the first place, there was no need to personally step forward for a village with which he had no connection, nor was there any need to silently endure the subsequent resentment.
Suddenly picking up the hero headband that was scorched black so that even the plum blossom pattern was barely visible, Jin Un smiled bitterly.
“I am a Daoist, after all. When rain comes, one must get wet.”
“…Is that so?”
Cheon Woo-jin thought deeply, then nodded his head. From Jin Un’s single phrase just now, his values were vividly felt.
Any human being wished to avoid difficult matters. But Daoists were different. They were taught never to turn away from the hardships of the common people. That was likely why the villagers had made a plea to Jin Un as well.
Of course, that was theoretical. In reality, just because someone was a Daoist or a Buddhist monk did not mean they lived while perfectly carrying out teachings.
In particular, those who set their sights on martial arts were often more worldly than Daoists who only cultivated themselves in the mountains.
Cheon Woo-jin looked at Jin Un tightly tying the hero headband around his forehead. From that figure, somehow a certain person seemed to overlap.
– Woo-jin. As you roam the martial world, even if it is something you did with good intentions, there will be times when you will incur someone’s hatred instead. But what can you do? To reach your destination, sometimes you must also take the falling rain.
That aloof attitude and the firm conviction that was nonetheless not easily shaken truly resembled Master White Elder.
‘He is a Daoist.’
Having thought so, Cheon Woo-jin nodded and rose from his seat. Jin Un and Seok Do-byeok said they would stay here one more day to prepare for the possibility of the bandits returning.
“We will return first.”
“…Understood. Thank you very much, both of you.”
Cheon Woo-jin and Song Yi-yeon stepped out of the inn, and Jin Un looked at the receding pair with somewhat dazed eyes.
From the side, Seok Do-byeok mumbled in a voice barely audible, ‘That’s why I said let’s just go…’
* * *
Perhaps because both Cheon Woo-jin and Song Yi-yeon had complicated thoughts, they did not display lightness art and merely walked slowly.
How much time had passed since leaving the village? Song Yi-yeon, who had been contemplating something deeply, spoke.
“It is a truly regrettable situation. He seemed like a good person.”
It was words referring to Jin Un.
Cheon Woo-jin had similar thoughts as well.
However, in the martial world, there was not much one could do with just a good personality. No matter how lofty a chivalrous spirit one harbored, without the ability to back it up, it was useless.
He did not deliberately bring up such words aloud. Somehow, he felt that he did not want to disparage Jin Un’s heart.
It was then.
Cheon Woo-jin looked toward one spot. Soon, Song Yi-yeon also glared in that direction and placed his hand on the saber hilt. Preparing to strike at any time.
Cheon Woo-jin reached out a hand toward Song Yi-yeon to dissuade him.
Soon, a group revealed themselves. On the outside they wore ordinary attire, but their faintly felt bearing was undoubtedly suspicious.
They also exchanged looks as if wary of the two. One of the men shook his head very slightly, and at the same time, the energy they had covertly raised scattered.
Suddenly, one man approached, giving a good-natured laugh. Cheon Woo-jin merely watched him with a dry gaze.
“We lost our map, so by any chance, is it correct that if we go straight along this road, Xinyang County will appear?”
“That is correct.”
Cheon Woo-jin answered briefly. The small village the two had left was precisely Xinyang County. Soon, the man who had been gazing at Cheon Woo-jin and Song Yi-yeon smiled slightly and lowered his head.
“Haha, thank you.”
The group brushed past the two and headed for Xinyang County. Song Yi-yeon, gazing for a moment at their receding backs, spoke.
“Young Hero, about those guys…”
Cheon Woo-jin nodded his head.