Chapter 70: The Yangtze River Water Bandits (4)
A scene visible while sinking into clear water.
The sunlight shining above the water surface distorted in several layers.
She was dreaming with her eyes open right now.
‘Mom!’
She shouted without opening her mouth.
But her mother just smiled with sad eyes.
The bubbling molten iron swallowed her mother.
Her mother slowly dispersed into the water without making any sound.
Like a doll made of salt, she dissolved in the water just like that.
‘Mom! Mom! Mom!’
She wept.
But her mother did not answer.
Her father was looking down at her with an expressionless face.
While holding a bellows and a hammer in his hands.
“…Keugh!”
Hae Baek-jeong spat out water.
From the moment she fell into the river, she desperately flailed her limbs.
Being hit by arrows, colliding with reefs, and swept by the riverbed’s pebbles, Hae Baek-jeong drifted downstream.
Then, the moment her flank was pierced by a sharp tree branch, she was able to crawl out to the land, holding that tree branch which pierced her body like a helping hand.
Clatter!
Hae Baek-jeong lay prostrate on the pebble field.
And she sobbed quietly, recalling a memory of long ago.
“Mom… Dad…”
At that very moment.
Clatter—clatter—clatter—
From ahead, the sounds of stepping on pebbles began to be heard loudly.
“…!?”
Hae Baek-jeong suddenly came to her senses.
She hastily raised her head and stared straight ahead.
Familiar faces of water bandits were seen there.
“Leader!”
A water bandit of the Hundred-Head rank rushed in front of Hae Baek-jeong.
He was Hae Baek-jeong’s oldest subordinate.
“…!”
Hae Baek-jeong hastily raised her body, but she already did not have a single weapon in her hands.
Having no choice, she picked up a large stone.
“What… you bastards… is it betrayal?”
“No, Leader! We came to save Leader!”
The water bandits shook their heads with urgent expressions.
Hae Baek-jeong scanned their faces quickly.
Six of the Hundred-Head rank.
All the rest were of the Ten-Head rank.
Hae Baek-jeong asked.
“What happened? There were guys who came to strike me upstream.”
“Those guys are traitors. They are the guys who betrayed our Pig Fortress (亥寨) and went to join the Tiger Fortress (寅寨).”
“In (寅)? To Senior Brother In?”
Hae Baek-jeong muttered with a blank expression.
The Union Master of the Twelve Yangtze River Water Fortresses has twelve disciples.
Ja (子), Chuk (丑), In (寅), Myo (卯), Jin (辰), Sa (巳), Oh (午), Mi (未), Sin (申), Yu (酉), Sul (戌), Hae (亥).
Those who had aliases meaning rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig respectively were precisely the twelve Thousand-Head rank supporting the Twelve Yangtze River Water Fortresses.
Among them, Hae Baek-jeong was the Union Master’s youngest disciple.
And Senior Brother In, whom the traitors decided to follow, meant In Baek-jeong, the third of the Union Master’s twelve disciples.
The Hundred-Heads bowed their heads to Hae Baek-jeong and spoke.
“While Thousand-Head Hae was away, there was a scuffle over the seat of Union Master.”
“Rumors are rife that Tiger Thousand-Head is trying to push aside Thousand-Head Ja and Thousand-Head Chuk to usurp the seat of Union Master.”
“It is said that all Thousand-Heads except Leader Hae are already gathering at Tiger Thousand-Head’s fort. Probably a competition for the seat of Union Master will take place there soon.”
“Where on earth have you been all this time, Leader Hae? We searched so much!”
At the words of the Hundred-Heads, Hae Baek-jeong wore a dumbfounded expression.
‘No, the situation was turning out like this? But why did Union Master tell me to leave the mountain fort? Don’t tell me…’
Hae Baek-jeong grit her teeth, realizing her mistake.
At that time, the Hundred-Heads approached Hae Baek-jeong.
“Leader Hae. You must participate in the battle for Union Master even now.”
“You cannot just sit back and be victimized like this, can you!”
“All Thousand-Heads have already gone to Tiger Thousand-Head’s mountain fort. We should also hurry there!”
Each and every one of them had a voice that sounded loyal.
However.
Hae Baek-jeong narrowed her eyes toward her subordinates.
“I get it… but why did you guys come here?”
“Yes? That’s because we came to serve Leader…”
“You guys who claim to have come to serve me didn’t pack a single pack of medicine or a single blanket? While heavily carrying only swords?”
At those words, the look in the Hundred-Heads’ eyes changed.
The old Hundred-Head at the very front spoke in a low voice.
“…Let’s go quietly, Thousand-Head Hae.”
Beginning with those words, all the water bandits drew their weapons.
Indeed, there was not a single person among them carrying food, medicine, or blankets.
Hae Baek-jeong clutched a large stone as if she knew it would be so.
“The guys who shot arrows earlier are also in on it, right? Everyone betrayed. I’ve lived my life in vain.”
“Isn’t it us who lived our lives in vain? Since we had to serve a young girl who is only strong in martial arts as our leader until now. Union Master must have gone senile in his later years.”
“It’s fine to curse me, but do not curse Master.”
“What’s the harm in cursing an old geezer who dropped dead a while ago anyway?”
“…!?”
At the traitors’ words, Hae Baek-jeong’s expression shook.
“U-Union Master… no, Master passed away? Why?”
“Ask the next Union Master about that.”
“The next Union Master? Senior Brother Ja?”
“Hahaha—what a greenhorn who doesn’t know the ways of the world. How is Ja Baek-jeong the next Union Master? Tiger Thousand-Head is the next Union Master.”
At those words, Hae Baek-jeong grit her teeth even harder.
“In Baek-jeong… the third senior brother is finally causing a rebellion. The culprit who assassinated Master must also surely…”
“Now, no need to talk long. Let’s go. Since Tiger Thousand-Head specifically told us to capture you alive.”
Six Hundred-Heads took out thick ropes.
The remaining Ten-Heads were holding bows and arrows, pointing toward this side.
At that very moment.
Whoosh—
Hae Baek-jeong threw the stone held in her hand.
Crack!
The stone flew toward the rock right in front of her and shattered as it was.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
Stone fragments burst by the tremendous force scattered in all directions.
Stone fragments splattered into the eyes of the archers who were surrounding Hae Baek-jeong with bows.
“Argh!?”
Several shot arrows in the wrong direction.
The moment a few arrows pierced the arms and legs of their allies, the round encirclement collapsed slightly.
Hae Baek-jeong did not miss that gap and picked up another stone.
“Thousand-Head Hae! Give up!”
Six Hundred-Heads rushed in holding swords.
Hae Baek-jeong grit her teeth and kicked the pebbles.
Thump, thump, thump!
The top of her foot broke, and pebbles and soil scattered along with drops of blood.
The moment the Hundred-Heads crouched and blocked it, Hae Baek-jeong picked up a piece of wood protruding at the water’s edge and smashed the head of a Ten-Head next to her with it.
Crack!
The sound of a human head bursting.
Hot blood splattered and warmed Hae Baek-jeong’s coldly cooled body.
“I’d rather have my skull crushed and die here than watch that bastard In Baek-jeong become Union Master.”
Hae Baek-jeong spat once, then picked up the iron mace fallen on the ground.
It was the weapon held by the Ten-Head she had just killed by crushing his head.
The Hundred-Heads retreated hesitantly.
“Thousand-Head Hae. Calm down. We did not come to kill you.”
“Tiger Thousand-Head promised. That if we bring you back alive, he will heavily employ everyone. The same goes for you, Thousand-Head Hae.”
“Anyway, the former Union Master is already dead, so why are you trying to show such loyalty?”
The last words uttered by a Hundred-Head made Hae Baek-jeong blow her top.
“Who is dead!”
She swung the iron mace.
“Our Master is not dead!”
The heavy mace was swung making a brutal wind sound.
Clang!
One Hundred-Head tried to block it by raising his sword, but only lost his sword in vain.
The broken blade stuck into the Hundred-Head’s neck, gushing out bright red blood.
“This won’t do! We must cut off a few limbs!”
“We just need to go with her life spared!”
“Bring the nets! Throw them!”
It seemed they always carried nets like water bandits.
They threw tightly woven nets in several layers, covering Hae Baek-jeong.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hae Baek-jeong swung the mace, but it was too blunt to tear the net.
Moreover, in a state exhausted and injured from being swept by the water current, it was even more impossible.
“Uuuugh!”
Hae Baek-jeong slowly retreated.
The sword tips of the Hundred-Heads tightened even more sharply.
It looked like a matter of time before she would be captured with her limbs cut off.
At that very moment.
Crack!
Along with the sound of a skull crushing, one Hundred-Head at the rear fell flat like a frog hit by a stone.
“…!?”
In the vision of the water bandits who turned their heads, someone was seen.
Thud—thud—thud—thud—
A boy holding a staff was descending lazily from the mountain peak.
“…In Baek-jeong, I see.”
There are things in this world that should not be drawn.
The bandits had drawn such a taboo thing.
“Tell me more about that guy.”
Namely, Chui’s interest.
* * *
Since it was not a long incident, it could not be described at length either.
As soon as Chui came down from the mountain peak, he beat all the surviving water bandits to death with his staff.
Just that.
Rather than asking the living, asking the dead allowed him to hear more honest answers.
So Chui did so.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch…
Chui extracted spear ghost from the corpses of the water bandits.
The spear ghost with dented heads, necks bent to the side, and holes in their bellies and chests bowed their heads while shedding bright red tears of blood.
Chui listened silently to what the spear ghost reported.
First: The Union Master of the Twelve Yangtze River Water Fortresses died.
Second: The twelve disciples raised by the Union Master possessed the qualification to become the Union Master.
Third: Currently, the eleven disciples except Hae Baek-jeong are gathering in one place to compete for the seat of Union Master.
Fourth: Hae Baek-jeong was excluded from there for some reason.
Chui shrugged his shoulders once.
“Because the master of the river died, the subordinates were fighting like hungry ghosts.”
The judgment was brief.
“It was nothing major.”
However, to someone, it seemed it was not a minor thing.
“Shut up!”
Chui lowered his head to dodge the club flying in suddenly.
Hae Baek-jeong was panting heavily over there.
Having stopped the bleeding of her wounds, she pointed a club toward Chui based on her somewhat recovered strength.
“Union Master! There’s no way Master passed away! He is… strong!”
“What do you want me to do? I have no interest in the leader of a mere band of water bandits.”
“A… mere? You bastard…”
Murderous intent dwelt in Hae Baek-jeong’s eyes.
Chui furrowed his brow as if annoyed, but even so, he was not of a personality to avoid a fight that came his way.
“Think carefully. This is not on the water either.”
“I will kill the bastard who insulted Master.”
Hae Baek-jeong did not seem to have any intention of letting Chui go.
Of course, separate from that, Chui also had no intention of keeping Hae Baek-jeong alive.
‘Under the premise of making her a spear ghost first, shall I extract information?’
If he made an expert of Hae Baek-jeong’s caliber into a spear ghost, it would be good for increasing his cultivation and also allow him to obtain quality information.
Namely, information about the person named ‘In Baek-jeong’ whom he would meet in the future.
‘…It reminds me of the old days.’
Chui recalled the past for a moment.
Namely, the memory with ‘Senior Brother (師兄)’ before returning.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost