Chapter 145. The Ties of Murim’s Public Enemies

After the bandits entered Heukmyo Bang.

The ones who were originally here were divided into First Army monkeys, and the bandits were divided into Second Army monkeys.

Naturally, So Gunpyeong took on the task of raising the Second Army’s strength to the level of the First Army. So Gunpyeong had already become a monkey trainer of the martial world.

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I had laid out a mat beneath the plum blossom tree and was taking a nap when I opened my eyes to groaning sounds.

I spoke in a languid tone.

“……Who just groaned? Who dares disturb my deep slumber?”

“My apologies.”

“You lot who can’t even do a hundred push-ups want to learn martial arts?”

Too lazy to get up, I rolled onto my side and looked toward the front.

From my lying position, my eyes met those of the bandits who were pressing their heads into the ground.

Heads to the ground, hands at their waists. The bandits were now in an excellent head-planting posture.

So Gunpyeong’s voice rang out nearby.

“Rise.”

As the bandits hurriedly got up, their faces completely disappeared from my sight.

I closed my eyes again and listened to So Gunpyeong’s voice.

“……You hate inn work. You hate ironworks work. You hate the stables too. Anyway, you hate working, don’t you? That’s fine up to there. But I cannot tolerate you looking down on Heukmyo Bang. Do you think I’m a joke just because the Sect Leader took you in? You garbage bastards who used to hide in the mountains and steal?”

“No, sir!”

“So that’s how mountain bandits are. Is this the best your voices can do? Plant your heads.”

I added weight to So Gunpyeong’s words.

“That’s right. You’re doing well. Plant your heads.”

Again, thudding sounds rang out as the bandits planted their heads on the ground.

So Gunpyeong spoke.

“The Sect Leader is sleeping beside you. Groan again and dare wake the Sect Leader from his nap. Today, you will be planting your heads all night long.”

I replied drowsily.

“That’s right. Let me sleep.”

No one asked me why I had to sleep here of all places.

In fact, when I watched my subordinates training in agony, I strangely fell asleep easily. Occasionally, if someone screamed, I would wake up, but then it was entertaining to watch, so I would open my eyes and observe their training.

This time too, as I looked with bleary eyes, I saw Jangsan, the ignorant Gawoochun, Jogaseong, the brothers Gu Jun and Gu Pyeong, and others pressing their foreheads to the ground.

The reason they were planting their heads in the ground was because they had said they wanted to remain in the martial world.

I asked the bandits again what I had asked them every time.

“Hey, if you hate planting your heads, get lost to Ilyang Valley over there. Go move some dirt. Don’t make a fuss here.”

Jangsan replied in a sullen tone.

“No, sir.”

“Do you think So Gunpyeong is taking you on because he’s free? You bastards are wasting someone else’s time and don’t even know to be grateful. So Gunpyeong.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Work them harder. Anyone who doesn’t come to their senses, kick them out to Ilyang Valley.”

“Understood.”

“If Haomun disciples cause trouble at Ilyang Valley, the sacred ground of Haomun, they will be summarily executed. Keep that in mind.”

More than thirty remained solely in Heukmyo Bang.

The remaining bandits had been sent to Yongdu Forge and Chukmun on the first day of returning to Heukmyo Bang. The ones who said they would remain in the martial world even if it killed them were now planting their heads in the ground.

In short, So Gunpyeong was instilling military discipline.

Having been collectively trampled by Heukmyo Bang’s monkey subordinates from the first day, it seemed some discipline had taken root, but it was insufficient.

First of all, So Gunpyeong was no easy opponent.

“Lift one leg. From now on, anyone whose leg drops will get beaten like yesterday. I’ll give you another chance. If you want to work, get up and go out to the outer quarters. Know your place and live an ordinary life. What kind of brilliant sect life do rotten bandits think they can have? You need to know your place. Don’t you think?”

Lying with one hand supporting my head, I spoke to So Gunpyeong.

“Branch Leader So.”

“Yes, Pavilion Lord.”

“This time, I fought alongside the Murim Alliance and gained much insight. We had initially charged into the Namak Alliance in a formation called Ilgeomjin.”

“Yes.”

“The vanguard was none other than the Murim Alliance Leader.”

So Gunpyeong opened his eyes wide.

“Wow, really?”

“The rest formed a breakthrough formation and followed Leader Lim. I was at the rear. But what was amazing was that the composition was a mix of the escort unit, sword squad, and elders, yet without any particular explanation, they found their positions in Ilgeomjin and charged fiercely. Leader Lim probably charged until he cut off the Namak Alliance Leader’s head no matter what happened. It was extremely impressive that from the elders down to the youngest of the sword squad, they could charge as a single sword formation. Just how much training had they done?”

So Gunpyeong replied.

“It must have been an incredible sword formation. And the Alliance Leader was truly a fierce general.”

“There are fierce generals, and then there are fierce generals like that. Watching the alliance members fight in Namak, I realized that even our Nammyeonghoe under Haomun couldn’t possibly compare. Personally, I thought Nammyeonghoe was the strongest among our subordinate forces.”

So Gunpyeong replied.

“Then where does our Heukmyo Bang rank?”

I thought for a moment and answered honestly.

“Nammyeonghoe is the strongest. The rest are meaningless. About on par with Heukseonbo.”

Suddenly, I lay back down to look at Heukmyo Bang’s First Army monkeys. As always, the First Army monkeys were hanging somewhere doing monkey pull-ups.

Now that sleep had completely fled, I finally rose and sat leaning against the plum blossom tree, looking at the bandits planting their heads in the ground.

“My mountain bandit friends, will you only be at peace if you train like this and die in the martial world? Those who work at Haomun are more comfortable. If you want to get involved in the martial world, you must train at least like the martial artists of Heukmyo Bang. Every single day.”

The bandits answered simultaneously.

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

So Gunpyeong spoke to the bandits.

“Rise, you thieving bastards.”

With a rushing sound, the bandits got up and fixed their eyes on So Gunpyeong.

So Gunpyeong spoke.

“Thirty-two in total. For now, I will accept you as Heukmyo Bang’s Second Army monkeys. The First Army monkeys are all your seniors. Jangsan.”

Jangsan replied.

“Yes, Branch Leader.”

“If you’re confident again, pick anyone from the First Army and try them.”

“No, sir.”

Yesterday, Jangsan had challenged a Heukmyo Bang subordinate who looked easy, only to be ruthlessly beaten for half a gak and knocked unconscious. While Jangsan was stronger by birth, he couldn’t immediately defeat the monkeys who had been rolling around in Heukmyo Bang.

I spoke to the bandits.

“You say you’re prepared to die, so I’ll accept you into the Black Cat Gang. But if I hear so much as a whisper that you’ve challenged the First Unit monkeys, or disobeyed Pavilion Master So, who will be overseeing your training from now on, I’ll personally send you up to join the Southern Yue Alliance Leader in the next world. Got it?”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

I called out to Cha Seongtae as he came out of the main hall.

“Chief Cha, tell Chief Byeok to put these thirty-two men into the Black Cat Gang and manage them.”

“Yes.”

“Also, send the ones who were moved to the outer compound back to the Livestock Gate. Tell him to report to me any bastards who slack off enough to displease Yeon Jaseong. They’re the men I fought Patriarch Sima to put in there. It’s an insult to me. Tell them that if they can’t do their work properly, I’ll turn them into bandits who were beaten to death.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll pick out the ones who adapt well and work hard, then later make them innkeepers or teahouse proprietors or whatever else. But before that, shouldn’t I figure out which ones are diligent and which ones only know how to scheme?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s why I sent them to work for now. Make sure you explain that properly to Yeon Jaseong too.”

“Yes.”

In any case, after returning, I had slept so much that I wasn’t even drowsy anymore. At this rate, if I spent another night circulating qi and regulating my breathing, day and night would naturally end up reversed.

As I was stretching out what would be my final yawn of the day, So Gunpyeong and his subordinates all turned their gazes at once toward the wall opposite me.

Some young bastard whose hair looked soaked in oil had suddenly appeared atop the wall and was looking around the Black Cat Gang.

So Gunpyeong barked.

“Who the hell are you?”

The subordinates who had been doing monkey pull-ups all dropped down and stared at the wall. At that moment, the uninvited guest, grinning with a strange expression, sat down on top of the wall and looked at me.

“Are you the Hao Sect Leader?”

The moment I saw his expression, clothes, and overall air, I frowned and said to my subordinates,

“He’s my guest, so don’t mind him.”

So Gunpyeong replied,

“Pardon?”

“Go inside and eat dinner first. Don’t concern yourselves with this side.”

When my order was given, the bastard on the wall giggled.

I thought to myself.

‘These crazy bastards. Did they smell money and come running?’

He looked so young that I wasn’t sure at first, but the bastard on the wall was probably the youngest of the Gold-and-Silver Seven Bugs.

The Gold-and-Silver Seven Bugs was not some impressive moniker. It simply meant seven bugs.

But the fact that he was the Seventh Bug meant that the First Bug was nearby as well.

To put it simply, they were bugs who loved money.

The problem was that the man who used the Gold-and-Silver Seven Bugs as servants was an expert of the black path, and later ended up on the list of public enemies of the martial world along with me.

The ranking of public enemies of the martial world was determined by the bounty set by the Murim Alliance. Naturally, the higher the bounty, the higher one’s ranking as a public enemy. The master of those bugs was a serious attention seeker, so the higher my ranking rose, the more he kept me in check and the more trouble he caused.

But whether then or now, I was an attention seeker too.

In any case, the appearance of the black path’s Seven Bugs could be summed up simply.

I had earned a fair amount of money, and now bugs were swarming to it.

The rumor that the Hao Sect Leader had a lot of money had probably spread far and wide through the black path. As So Gunpyeong took the bandits and his subordinates inside, I asked the Seventh Bug sitting on the wall,

“What do you want?”

When the Seventh Bug grinned, I saw that his teeth were missing here and there.

“I heard the Sect Leader has been famous these days, so I came to visit.”

“You deranged bastard.”

If I killed the Seventh Bug, of course the Sixth Bug would appear. If I killed the Sixth Bug, the next bug would show up.

The reason I knew all their faces was because all seven of these bugs had died by my hand.

I looked at the Seventh Bug and sank into thought.

Were there fates that could be avoided, and fates that could not?

My slaughter of over a hundred bandits had not been a fate from my previous life.

I had taken upon myself the karma that Im Sobaek should have borne, and I knew that the repercussions and events that followed would newly come crashing down on me. But I had not expected bastards who had died in my previous life to suddenly appear.

The Seventh Bug said,

“Master Liuhe asked me to convey that he wishes to discuss business with the Sect Leader. If you can make time tonight or tomorrow evening, Master Liuhe will visit in person. Hao Sect Leader.”

“Tell him to come tomorrow evening.”

“Understood.”

The Seventh Bug vanished from atop the wall. From outside came a sound like rats scurrying across a roof, and then he was moving away from the Black Cat Gang with the other bugs.

So Gunpyeong poked his head out from the main hall and asked me,

“Master Liuhe is coming? Are those bastards the money bugs?”

“Looks that way.”

“Shall we gather tomorrow and kill them?”

I looked at So Gunpyeong.

“Do you think you can kill Master Liuhe?”

“To be honest, I’ve only heard rumors, so I don’t really know his skill.”

“Tomorrow, we’ll simply treat him to dinner. Leave him be.”

“Understood.”

There were occasionally men like that in the jianghu.

Men whose reputations were built on vulgarity, childishness, and unpleasantness.

Among them, Master Liuhe was an expert of the black path who had become rather well known for his vulgarity. The problem was that no one had ever properly gauged Master Liuhe’s true skill. The same had been true of me in my previous life.

Master Liuhe’s moniker would later change to Liuhe Guizi.

Liuhe Guizi would then become involved in various incidents throughout the jianghu, and his moniker would change again to Liuhe Guimo.

When the Murim Alliance announced the public enemies of the martial world and declared they would be eradicated,

they removed the word Liuhe and simply recorded him as Guimo, the Ghost Demon.

Therefore……

The Ghost Demon, the Mad Demon, the Poison Demon, and the Lust Demon were problematic figures who had all been listed side by side as public enemies. All four of them were classified as the Four Demons, public enemies of the martial world with rather individualistic tendencies.

Add to them the public enemies of the martial world grouped together and called the Five Evils, and they became the Five Evils and Four Demons. That left them one person short of the traditional complete number of ten.

The man who occupied that single spot for a long time was none other than

the man known by the moniker Greatest Evil Under Heaven.

He stood at the pinnacle of the public enemies of the martial world, and since even the entire Five Evils and Four Demons yielded the higher position to him, he was the symbolic leader of the Ten Great Evildoers.

He was the First Calamity, who acted as if neither the Murim Alliance nor the Demonic Cult were even worth his notice.

In other words, one of the Three Calamities.

A man whom even the Murim Alliance had merely placed on the list of public enemies, without actively stepping forward to try to do anything about him.

For there to be no news of this man at all was a blessing for the jianghu, and a blessing for me as well.

I had only heard rumors of him and had never seen him.

If I had, I probably would have died before ever being trapped in the Demonic Cult’s inescapable net.

When I heard that the Ghost Demon was coming to see me after so long……

Villains from my previous life surfaced in my mind without rhyme or reason.

Standing beneath the plum tree with my arms crossed, I slowly began to review my fight with the Ghost Demon, a battle that had never truly been settled even back when I was the Mad Demon in my previous life. After killing every last one of those insects with my own hands, I had fought the Ghost Demon, but neither of us had been able to kill the other.

So no matter that this was the time of Master Yukhap…

I had to prepare for it first.

What would those bandit bastards know, when all they could do was bury their damn heads in the dirt and sweat buckets?

Surviving in the jianghu was no easy task, whether in my previous life or this one.