Sapaeryeon is invading! (2)
“Form the ranks!”
“It’s Sapaeryeon’s invasion!”
It was as if a bomb had exploded.
The news that Sapaeryeon was advancing threw the members of Cheonumaeng, who were just about to relax after barely escaping the threat of Cheon Myeon Susa, into utter confusion.
“R-Really? Are they really pushing in right now?”
“Move instead of spouting nonsense!”
“How many? How many are coming?”
“All of them!”
“What?”
“It’s a full-scale advance! They’re all swarming in!”
This meant only one thing: the fate of Gangho might be decided here today.
“A-All of them?”
Suddenly, a surge of fear washed over him. His heart pounded, and his lips began to dry up.
“S-So suddenly…!”
“Move quickly! Unless you want to die a dog’s death by being attacked before we even go into proper positions!”
His stiff neck creaked as he forced himself to move his head.
And then he began to move hastily.
❀ ❀ ❀
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sound of rapid footsteps echoed.
“Sahyeong!”
Jo Geol, who dashed towards the tent as if flying, violently flung open the tent flap. But a hand suddenly shot out from inside, grabbed Jo Geol’s shoulder, and pushed him aside.
“Out of the way!”
“Argh!”
Jo Geol, who had been pushed aside, turned his head in surprise. The one who burst out of the tent was Yoon Jong.
Yoon Jong scanned the surroundings. It was already chaotic.
Everyone was moving busily as if their behinds were on fire. Both those giving orders and those following them had pale faces.
With a hardened expression, Yoon Jong bit his lower lip tightly.
‘It’s too late to move.’
Moving a large army is not as easy as one might think. Therefore, there was no time to relocate to a favorable position to face the enemy.
To avoid the worst-case scenario of being ambushed during movement, they had no choice but to firmly defend this place.
Late in coming to his senses, Jo Geol shouted.
“S-Sahyeong! They say Sapaeryeon’s bastards are swarming here!”
“I have eyes and ears too.”
Yoon Jong raised his voice roughly.
‘Damn it.’
They were still at war. Large-scale battles could break out again at any time. So there was nothing strange about this incident.
Even knowing this, he couldn’t erase his doubts.
“…Why now?”
He couldn’t understand.
Hadn’t Cheon Myeon Susa infiltrated to sow confusion? Surely they had other aims, so why suddenly overturn all their plans…
“Well, does it really matter?”
At the sudden voice, Yoon Jong flinched and turned to look beside him. Im Sobyeong, holding a fan in one hand, had approached and had already been standing there.
“Nokrim King.”
“W-What are you doing? Why are you here? The current situation is…”
As Jo Geol shouted in surprise, Im Sobyeong shrugged indifferently.
“You know, I don’t have a hobby of preaching to old men who don’t understand words.”
“Haa…”
“So being next to someone who can at least communicate and has some authority to their voice is just right for me.”
Im Sobyeong’s gaze turned directly towards Yoon Jong.
“Isn’t that right, Yoon Jong Dojang?”
“…”
“Of course, if Baek Cheon Dojang were here, I would have gone to him, but in his absence?”
Im Sobyeong slightly lifted one corner of his mouth. It was an expression filled with subtle provocation. However, Yoon Jong simply nodded. At that utterly calm reaction, Im Sobyeong sighed. Then he unfolded his fan and waved it gently.
Yoon Jong asked.
“More importantly, what do you mean by saying it doesn’t matter?”
“Just as I said. We don’t know why they’ve abandoned their original plan. Actually, there’s no need to know.”
“……What do you mean?”
“They might have altered their plan due to certain circumstances, or perhaps…”
Im Sobyeong’s eyes somewhat darkened.
“Sending Dam Yeohae to make us think that Sapaeryeon was plotting something might itself have been a scheme.”
“…What?”
“Thanks to that, we are tied down here, as you can see.”
The tip of Im Sobyeong’s fan swept around the surroundings. Following the fan with his gaze, a vast plain unfolded before his eyes.
“It’s nothing extraordinary. Only one thing has changed.”
“…The terrain.”
“Correct.”
Im Sobyeong nodded quite earnestly.
“I don’t need to explain how important terrain is in battles where large numbers clash, do I?”
Yoon Jong’s face hardened even more.
He may not have fought a hundred battles, but he had fought dozens.
He has fought as a minority against the majority, and has also experienced battles between two large forces.
One thing they learned from that experience was that, no matter how different a martial artists’ battle might be from that of a regular army, the more their numbers increase, the more it resembles conventional warfare.
“…We’ve been played.”
Yoon Jong muttered as if groaning. Jo Geol, still not fully understanding, impatiently cut in.
“What do you mean by that, Sahyeong! Please explain so I can understand.”
“……It’s a matter of time.”
“What?”
“If Cheon Myeon Susa hadn’t stirred things up here, what would we be doing by now?”
“Well……”
“We would be sorting out the situation and preparing to return to Mount Wudang. If we’d hurried a bit more, we might already have set up camp there again by now.”
Jo Geol narrowed his eyes and retorted.
“So what’s your point?”
“Then we could have faced them on Mount Wudang.”
“…How is that any different? They attacked Wudang successfully before, didn’t they? Setting fires on the mountain, launching ambushes.”
Yoon Jong bit his lip tightly.
“Yes. That’s the problem.”
“What?”
“That means that in order to attack Wudang, they had to go to such lengths. Setting the mountain on fire, sacrificing hundreds as decoys, launching surprise attacks to catch us off guard.”
“…”
“Because they’ve been doing that so naturally until now, we took it for granted. But…”
“If the situation is in your favor, there’s no need for trickery.”
Im Sobyeong picked up on Yoon Jong’s words and finished them.
“The best strategy is to create that favorable situation.”
Im Sobyeong’s tone was so excessively nonchalant that Yoon Jong glared at him without realizing it.
“Is that something you can say so calmly?”
“You don’t have to glare at me like that. I’m well aware that I haven’t done anything. However……”
Im Sobyeong’s gaze turned icy.
“You should consider what I could have done in this situation.”
Yoon Jong was momentarily at a loss for words. Because Im Sobyeong wasn’t wrong.
Im Sobyeong is the leader of Nokrim, that is, from the Evil Sects. The reason he has been able to have a voice within Cheonumaeng despite the indelible stigma of being from the Evil Sect is because he had solid backers.
Alliance Leader Hyun Jong, General Chung Myung, and even Baek Cheon, who was tacitly recognized as the representative of Hwasan.
Rightness [옳음*] without the power to enforce it is truly futile. With Hyun Jong secluded, Chung Myung silent, and Baek Cheon excommunicated, there was nothing Im Sobyeong could do in such a situation.
“That is……”
“Well, there’s no need to apologize.”
“…I wasn’t intending to apologize?”
“The important thing is what will be going on from this point.”
Looking out over the wide plains, Im Sobyeong snapped his fan shut with a crisp sound.
“A pitched battle [회전(會戰)] is a form of warfare that anyone would want to avoid. There are too many variables.”
Im Sobyeong looked straight at Yoon Jong.
“So you must strengthen your resolve now.”
“I…”
Yoon Jong was silent for a moment.
He understood what Im Sobyeong meant. Right now, Hwasan is like a body that has lost its head. But the power that Hwasan holds within the Alliance still lives on.
Now, someone must take on the role of that head.
Even if that person is merely a second-generation disciple.
“But it’s too heavy for me.”
“Because you’re a second-generation disciple?”
“…”
“Did you know? Someone I know, even when he was a second-generation disciple, boldly stood up to the Sect Leader and even snagged the position of the Vice Sect Leader.”
Jo Geol let out a small chuckle.
“Looking back, he really was a madman.”
To them, Baek Cheon was an adult. Although the age difference wasn’t that great, when they were just kids, Baek Cheon was already grown up, so it was natural to think of him that way.
As time passed and they found themselves in Baek Cheon’s shoes, they finally realized how incredible he was. They couldn’t help but feel it deeply.
“I am… different from Sasuk.”
“Of course you are. But there must be a reason I came here, don’t you think?”
“What?”
“One time, Baek Cheon Dojang told me, ‘If there’s ever a situation where you can’t rely on me, go to Yoon Jong. He’ll handle it well.’”
“…..Sasuk said that?”
“So, what do you think?”
Yoon Jong bit his lower lip hard.
If he could avoid it, he wanted to. Because the more he experienced, the more he realized how immense the back of the person he was chasing after was.
‘Did Sasuk feel like this too?’
Did he also feel this sense of despair when looking at Chung Myung? Yet, did he still pursue him so relentlessly?
If one asked him how he managed to do it, what would Sasuk say?
That answer… he already knew without hearing it.
When Yoon Jong lifted his lowered head again, Yu Iseol, Tang Soso, and Hye Yeon had approached close and were also looking at him. In their eyes was not urgency but firm trust.
Yoon Jong nodded slowly.
If his Sasuk were here, he would have said:
– Because if I don’t do it, someone else will have to.
“Nokrim King.”
Yoon Jong’s unwavering gaze turned to Im Sobyeong.
“What should I do?”
At his truly resolute tone, Im Sobyeong gave a meaningful smile.
❀ ❀ ❀
Tension flickered across Tang Gunak’s face as he stared straight ahead.
According to the report that had just come in, the enemy was close by.
Since it was information delivered at the cost of lives of the Beggars Sect, it was unlikely to be wrong. Soon, they would be able to see the enemy with their own eyes.
“…Haa.”
Tang Gunak rather wished they would appear quickly. The fear that the reveal of Sapaeryeon would bring might be better than the crushing pressure he felt now.
“Are the preparations done?”
“For now.”
Zhuge Jain paused briefly. He looked like someone whose mouth had gone completely dry. He too must be suffering from immense pressure.
No, it wasn’t just Zhuge Jain.
Jongli Gok, the Sect Leader of Jongnam next to him, and Pung Yeong Shin Gae, the former Sect Leader of the Beggars Sect, were equally tense.
If they couldn’t repel their attack, the world would be ruled by the Evil Sects.
A world ruled by the Evil Path [사도천하(邪道天下)**]. A world which very name was unfamiliar would truly unfold.
Who could easily accept the fact that the fate of the world would soon be decided here?
Unconsciously searching for Hyun Jong’s figure, Tang Gunak tightly closed his eyes. At that moment, he heard Moyong Wigyeong’s stifled grumbling beside him.
“If only Venerable*** Beop Jong were here at a time like this…”
Surprised, Tang Gunak opened his eyes and stared blankly at Moyong Wigyeong.
Beop Jong? Could he possibly mean Beop Jong of Shaolin right now?
It was an utterly absurd statement. However, aside from Tang Gunak, no one seemed to find his words strange.
Seeing this, Tang Gunak realized one thing.
‘Perhaps…’
Maybe everyone here, including Tang Gunak, was not actually afraid of Sapaeryeon.
‘We are groaning in pain. In the emptiness that was left behind.’
Gupailbang was seeking to fill the vacant place of Shaolin, Tang Gunak was chasing after Hyun Jong’s departing figure. Hwasan could not bear the absence of its head disciple, and each family could not erase the presence of Namgung’s Azure Sky [창천남궁 – changcheonnamgung].
‘Was this it?’
An uneasiness that couldn’t be shaken off even though everyone was together. The confusion that couldn’t be solely explained by the silence of just one person, Chung Myung.
But if that’s the case…
Tang Gunak’s thoughts could not continue further.
“Oh, they’re coming!”
Someone’s voice burst out, almost like a scream.
Indeed, beyond the horizon, darkness began to spread.
“…”
Tang Gunak swallowed dryly.
It was exactly as expected, but that made the sight all the more overwhelming.
There was no end. There was no way to measure it. A tremendous wave of people was rapidly pouring in here, overwhelming just by sight alone.
“Sapaeryeon… is coming.”
Invaders bearing the name of ‘Evil’ surged in like a black wave.
________
*옳음(olh-eum) – word number 101 in this novel to describe rightness/justice/righteousness etc. Adjectival noun from 옳다: right, rightness, correctness, justice.
**사도천하(邪道天下) – directly translated as ‘天下 – under the heaven’; ‘邪道 – evil path.’
***대사 – I think biga is implying 大師 here, which means ‘Buddhist master, great Buddhist priest, great teacher of Buddhism.’ Venerable monk basically.
________
Subscribe/Donate on Patreon or Buymeacoffee – if you want to support my work, help me buy official cookies and read the latest chapter of the novel in a few hours after it drops. My schedule is on the About page.
more of an info for me: there was a hiatus on november 18-24th.
Return of the Mount Hua 
Leave a comment