Chapter 163. A Flame as Beautiful as Flowers
I looked at Hwang Bangju, who was having trouble getting up.
"Hwang Bangju, your stamina leaves something to be desired."
Hwang Bangju turned onto his back—facing the sky—and answered.
"……If I hadn't taken that hundred-year-old He Shou Wu, I would have died running."
I too sat on the ground.
"Good work."
"Yes."
Hwang Bangju lay looking at the sky, while I looked at the wasteland that had grown silent. As I gazed at the desolate wasteland, Geoma suddenly came to mind. Because, as far as I knew, Geoma's heart was no different from this wasteland.
'By now, has he gone to visit Elder Heo?'
Who could say. Actually, Geoma's condition wasn't normal either, so a patient visiting another patient wasn't exactly a natural thing. If he was sitting there grasping his sword on the verge of enlightenment, there was even a chance that lecherous bastard hadn't delivered the news at all.
In fact, Geoma had no disease name (病名).
After all, he was a man who had become Geoma precisely because the very serious attitude with which he thought about the sword was the disease (病).
Hwang Bangju, lying down, asked me.
"What kind of sect is Haomun?"
Having been lost in thought while looking at the wasteland, I answered Hwang Bangju briefly.
"The kind that does this sort of thing."
"……I see. You mean the sort where you make me run through the wasteland until I'm on the verge of death, then make me kill them?"
"It makes a difference whether you kill them or I kill them. I'm not a man who needs fame. Let's say the one who took down the bandit leader was the Bangju leading the Daeobang."
"Thank you. I killed the chief with my own hands, after all. Though the world will never know."
I stared up at the sky for a moment, then asked Hwang Bangju.
"Do you still have the signal flare?"
"Yes."
"Take it out."
Still in a position looking at the sky, Hwang Bangju reached into his bosom and took out the signal flare.
"Shall I give it to you?"
"No, hold onto it for a moment."
I too lay down on the wasteland ground for a moment and looked up at the sky.
The sun had set, but as if it had paused somewhere along the way, a faint light remained in the sky.
Once the lingering light—still pleasant to gaze upon—finally faded, densely packed stars would soon take their place.
A short while later, just before stars shining as if ready to pour down appeared, I spoke to Hwang Bangju.
"Now."
"What?"
"It's a sky suitable for watching flames."
"Ah, I'm not sure if it will explode. I'm firing."
Hwang Bangju raised the signal flare to the sky from his lying position, then grabbed and pulled the cord attached to the bottom.
In an instant, gunpowder ignited with a wind-splitting sound, and something like a shell soared into the air.
It didn't soar very high, but with a bang—flames bursting once more from the shell bloomed in full like flowers opening in the sky.
I gazed at the flames beautiful as flowers and spoke.
"It seems it is indeed an escort agency's signal flare."
"That is correct."
That was because it was a crude signal flare somewhat lacking in refinement. The signal flares of organizations like the Murim Alliance were of even higher quality than that.
In any case, Hwang Bangju and I had taken revenge on behalf of the guardsmen who had possessed the signal flare.
I watched the remnants of the signal flare scatter in the air and spoke.
"Still, it would have been better if they had fired the signal flare."
"Why?"
"You never know. A guy like me might have been lying around like this and gone to save them."
"……."
"In any case, nameless guardsmen, rest easy, for we have avenged you."
Hwang Bangju also bid farewell to the guardsmen he had never seen.
"Rest in peace."
I looked at the darkening sky, then checked Hwang Bangju's condition.
Actually, it was time to get up and walk before it grew any darker.
But Hwang Bangju was silently looking at the sky, so I left him be for a while.
In an instant, the night sky was filled with stars.
I gazed at the stars and muttered.
"Why are there so many stars?"
Only then did Hwang Bangju open his mouth.
"Indeed."
Hwang Bangju sat up and looked at me.
Thinking he was about to say something, I struck first.
"Shut up."
"Yes."
"……."
"But how did you know what I was going to say to tell me to shut up……"
"It's none of my business. Shut up."
"Yes."
"Just don't live pathetically and wickedly like these bandits going forward. Vows are useless."
Hwang Bangju rubbed his face with his hand and spoke.
"Munju-nim, I will visit Hwapyang Pyoguk later and apologize."
"Do as you see fit."
Suddenly, hearing the sound of hoofbeats beginning to echo across the silent wasteland, I sat up and turned my head.
It wasn't one or two horses.
Hwang Bangju opened his mouth with a bewildered expression.
"Ah……there must be more."
Incomprehensible shouts were echoing across the wasteland.
Soon after, torches flickered and the sound of numerous hoofbeats was heard.
Hwang Bangju got up and grabbed his sword.
I looked at Hwang Bangju and smiled.
"You still have energy left?"
"I can't just roll over and die."
The probability that the approaching figures were bandits was extremely low.
Because I had beaten them to death and annihilated even their leadership; they weren't the type to come to their senses and attack again.
"Hwang Bangju."
"Yes."
I looked at the wandering lights in the wasteland and spoke.
"It seems they came to save us because we fired the signal flare."
"Huh? That can't be."
A short while later, a man holding a torch discovered us as he rode past.
"……They're here! Hahaha……."
Naturally, he was someone I didn't know.
But seeing me and Hwang Bangju, he burst into laughter, overjoyed, and waved his torch about with his hand raised high.
"Over here!"
Hwang Bangju looked at me.
"Munju-nim?"
I told Hwang Bangju exactly as he had expected.
"They're the people from the inn. I told you. They came to help."
In that instant, Hwang Bangju's tension completely drained, and perhaps overcome by emotion, he covered his face with one hand.
Meanwhile, the man who had arrived first asked me.
“Sect Leader, we searched for you for quite a while. There were horse bandit corpses scattered here and there, so I thought you had to be nearby, but it took us far too long to find you.”
I nodded and smiled.
“How did you find us?”
“A signal flare went off in the sky, so I came just in case.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, people carrying torches came crowding in noisily. Naturally, Murong Bai was among them.
When I dusted off my backside and got to my feet, Murong Bai said with a faint smile.
“Sect Leader, you’ve been through a great deal. Our support was late.”
He seemed to already know that I had wiped out most of the horse bandits. The men who had come to find us asked, as though they were curious.
“Was the Red Ghost killed as well?”
I did not feel like answering, so I deliberately looked at Gang Leader Huang. Left with no choice, Gang Leader Huang opened his mouth.
“Yes, he died here at the very end. The truth is……”
Before Gang Leader Huang could say anything more, the men holding torches all burst into cheers at once. It was a cheer mixed with curses and joy, so Gang Leader Huang’s words were quickly drowned out. The people’s thanks were given evenly to both me and Gang Leader Huang.
Thank you, Gang Leader Huang, or thank you, Hao Sect Master……
In any case, that was the sort of thing they said.
One man from the group led over a horse and said to me.
“Sect Leader, please ride. I’ll ride with a companion.”
I did not refuse and climbed onto the horse. Another man likewise yielded his horse to Gang Leader Huang, then mounted his companion’s horse.
One man stepped out in front, raised his torch high, and shouted.
“Let’s go back! Follow me!”
The people shared their joy, speaking as if they were bellowing.
“Are we having a drink tonight?”
“I think we might be a bit short on liquor tonight.”
With the men’s jokes mingling noisily, we spurred our horses on.
Those holding torches naturally moved to the outskirts as they rode.
Those whose torches had gone out, along with me, Gang Leader Huang, and Murong Bai, rode in the center under the escort of flames.
It was my first time riding in the middle of the night while surrounded by flickering firelight, and my chest felt utterly refreshed.
Even without my making a point of laughing loudly, the people drove their horses on with great laughter.
As I looked around while riding, Murong Bai was smiling as well, and Gang Leader Huang had also burst into laughter.
***
There are drinking gatherings that simply cannot be avoided.
This was one of those times. Everyone had come outside to share the news and begun drinking. Even if I returned to the lodging, the people there would be gathered in twos and threes, drinking as well, so there was nowhere I could rest.
Left with no choice, I took over a table and drank with Murong Bai and Gang Leader Huang. However, since I disliked making a fuss, whenever people came crowding over and asked me to tell them the story of killing the Red Ghost, I pointed at Gang Leader Huang.
In the end, Gang Leader Huang had to tell the same story again, and again, and again. After a while, perhaps even Gang Leader Huang had lost his temper, for he simply gathered the people together and explained what had happened in the wilderness.
Every time Gang Leader Huang looked at me, I put a finger to my lips.
‘Don’t talk about me.’
As a result, Gang Leader Huang had no choice but to stand at the forefront of this incident. Like someone putting on a performance, Gang Leader Huang explained what had happened in the wilderness, and the people staying in the bustling district by the great crossroads listened closely.
I sipped my liquor with Murong Bai and watched the people.
At that moment, an old man supported by others approached Gang Leader Huang with difficult steps.
Gang Leader Huang looked at the old man with a flustered expression.
“……”
The old man had begun crying even before he reached Gang Leader Huang, and now, holding on to him, he kept thanking him over and over. The old man was likely not the only person here who had lost family to the horse bandits.
As I watched……
Quite a few people held on to Gang Leader Huang to express their gratitude, and some even bowed to him. At first, Gang Leader Huang had merely accepted their thanks with a flustered expression, but before long, his face had grown utterly solemn as he listened to the people, lowered his head, and embraced the elderly.
Murong Bai, who had been watching, said.
“Gang Leader Huang doesn’t know what to do with himself.”
“Indeed.”
“Sect Leader.”
Murong Bai looked at me and said.
“……Was the Red Ghost strong?”
I nodded.
“He would have been too much for the people here to handle. It seems the Red Ghost thought of this place as little more than a supply depot. He probably avoided tormenting them too much on purpose, striking and withdrawing whenever he needed something, and played lord of the wilderness.”
Murong Bai lowered his voice and asked.
“Did Gang Leader Huang really kill him?”
I answered in a low voice as well.
“He did. Though the man was already dying.”
After thinking for a moment, Murong Bai said to me jokingly.
“I suppose I should go feed him some laxatives. Seeing him flounder like that before the old folks, Gang Leader Huang must be feeling something.”
Of course, some of the martial artists here seemed to know that Gang Leader Huang could not have killed him alone. But every time people came over with cups of liquor, Murong Bai smiled, held out his hand, and pointed at Gang Leader Huang. His expression and gesture said he wanted to pass the credit that way, and fortunately, the people were quick to take the hint.
Murong Bai looked at Gang Leader Huang and said.
“At this rate, Gang Leader Huang will be pushed by the people into becoming a knight-errant.”
I nodded.
“Better a knight-errant than a horse bandit, Master Murong.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s make a good number of knight-errants from now on. Even if I’m the one beating people to death, I’ll pass the credit to my subordinates and place plenty of such knight-errants here and there throughout the jianghu.”
Murong Bai smiled like someone plotting a prank.
“Understood.”
The two of us watched the boisterous crowd and each raised the cup of liquor we were holding.
I said.
“To knight-errants.”
Murong Bai followed.
“To the Hao Sect.”
The two of us drained our cups.
Gang Leader Huang, who had been tormented by the people for quite some time, finally came over with a flushed face, as though he had barely managed to escape.
Gang Leader Huang plopped down into a chair, looked at me, and said.
“Sect Leader.”
“What?”
“Dealing with people is too difficult. Telling the same story over and over. Then telling it over and over again. I feel like I’m going to die. They’re calling me Great Hero Huang. Does that make any sense?”
I deliberately cleared my throat, then said to Gang Leader Huang in a clear tone.
“Great Hero Huang, accept a cup.”
“……”
When I opened my mouth in a solemn tone, the surroundings instantly fell quiet. Perhaps because Gang Leader Huang was here, everyone was looking over.
Gang Leader Huang took in the mood around him, then raised his cup with a startled expression.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
After pouring wine for Gang Leader Huang, I consoled him for his efforts with a graver expression than ever.
“It is truly fortunate that Great Hero Huang personally beat Honggui to death, allowing us to set one great worry aside. I confirmed this with my own eyes out in the wilderness.”
I sprang up from my seat and raised my cup.
“Brothers, let us drink together.”
Murong Bai rose with the corners of his mouth lifted, then raised his cup and looked around. People here and there filled their cups and held them high.
Meeting my gaze, Murong Bai deliberately shouted in a loud voice.
“To Great Hero Huang!”
At Murong Bai’s lead, the people answered in thunderous voices.
“To Great Hero Huang!”
Gang Leader Huang’s expression was quite a sight. It was a complicated mix of seeming pleased and realizing he was now in serious trouble.
I met eyes with the Poison Demon of my previous life…….
Then, mingling with the others, I laughed loudly.