Chapter 299. The Eyes of the Evil Path
Come to think of it, I didn’t see anyone worth killing with lightning qi. In any case, I had imprinted the horror of the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven on them, so after making it look like a move I could unleash again at any time, I withdrew the Hundred Battles Ten-Stage Art that had been coiled around both my hands.
The pier was still ghastly, but surprisingly, the dozen or so ships had suffered no damage beyond being violently rocked.
It was because they had been floating some distance away.
At that moment, a man walked out from inside the flagship with an annoyed expression and stood beside the middle-aged man who had originally spoken with us.
Not only we, but also the captain-like men on the large ships, fixed their eyes on the man who had just appeared.
That madman had his upper body bare, while his lower half was dressed in sleepwear. He looked a little older than the middle-aged man, and his hair was black heavily streaked with white, making it appear a deep gray.
The man put on the ash-gray long robe his subordinates handed him, draping it over his bare upper body, then said,
“……What in the world is all this commotion?”
His tone was as if he had been asleep and had rushed out after being startled by the loud noise. For the leader of an organization, his voice was thick with irritation. However, even as he scolded them, asking what the commotion was, he did not seem particularly surprised.
I could not hear the middle-aged man’s voice as he reported what the commotion had been. After receiving the report, the gray-haired man said,
“You mean one man caused this tragedy? If so, he is worthy of challenging the King of Donghu. Whoever committed this insolent act, step forward.”
Only then did the middle-aged man’s reply reach my ears.
“He is called the Hao Sect Leader.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell him to come out himself. Why are the ships so far away? Advance, all of you. Bring them in close. Are you frightened by a mere four men? Advance.”
At the order, the flagship and the dozen or so ships advanced, drawing near the shore of Baeksa Island.
The man who had appeared spoke in such an absurd manner that we looked at one another.
“Is that ash-gray robe the Number One of the Evil Path?”
“Seems like it.”
“Then what’s the middle-aged man?”
“Could be his disciple, could be his subordinate.”
From the approaching flagship, the gray-haired man asked us,
“Which one of you is the Hao Sect Leader?”
Naturally, I answered.
“Me.”
“A young whelp with an impertinent tongue. Were you never taught manners?”
I nodded.
“No, sir.”
“…….”
“What?”
The gray-haired man suddenly shook his shoulders as he laughed.
“What an outrageous fellow.”
The middle-aged man beside him explained me.
“He has always been like that.”
“Since he’s one who cannot be reasoned with, all of you get off the ships. This tragedy occurred because you were all merely standing by and watching. How long will it take to repair this damage? Baeksa Island was at least a place where fishing had its charms. Tsk.”
When the ships touched the shore, a dozen or so experts flew through the air and landed on the ground.
The middle-aged man from the flagship also arrived on Baeksa Island with light movements.
The instant the officers of the Evil Path Alliance who had landed first all looked toward the flagship, the gray-haired madman with a long robe over his bare skin also flew through the air toward us.
I did not know what sort of lightness skill he had employed, but his slow movement, like a feather drifting in, was quite impressive.
Just from his lightness skill, it was clear he was not an expert one could commonly encounter.
As he approached, I saw he was smiling with a bizarre expression.
He was not tall, and his build was gaunt. Even if judged as old as possible, he had the appearance of a man in his fifties, but judging from his relationship with the middle-aged man, his actual age had to be greater.
I had seen a man who gave off this sort of feeling before. In other words, he was strangely similar in atmosphere to the Great Rakshasa I had killed in the past.
In any case, he did not seem like a man with whom words would get through easily.
We faced each other for a moment with the deep crater where the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven had fallen between us. I looked into the crater I had just made, watching the wreckage of broken ships, water, dismembered corpses, dirt, and rocks float about.
If hell existed, perhaps it would be a pit like that.
When I finished admiring the crater of the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven and raised my head, the gray-haired madman was also admiring the crater.
The man stretched out a hand, pointed at something, and said,
“Look at that. That sword can still be used. Go fetch it. It would be a waste to throw it away.”
As soon as he finished speaking, one of the officers lightly leapt into the crater, landed on the wreckage of a broken ship, snatched up the sword, then sprang back up. Since he had stepped on floating wreckage and then leapt from it, it was not an easy movement.
When the fellow who had retrieved the intact sword approached, a curt remark came.
“You use it. Where do you think you’re bringing that filthy thing?”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Hearing this exchange, the Sword Demon laughed through his nose.
The man, dressed entirely in gray, looked at the Sword Demon and said,
“So you are the Sword Demon. Did you dare laugh at me?”
The Sword Demon replied,
“Old man, who are you? It is strange that your identity is unknown.”
“There are so many people in this world. Must you know the identity of each and every one? For a former Left Envoy of the Demonic Cult, you are unbelievably foolish. That must be why you quarreled with the Cult Leader and now spend your days running away.”
The Lust Demon said,
“What the hell is that senile old bastard babbling about?”
Gray Hair asked the middle-aged man,
“Who is that brat?”
“He is called Meng Lang, the second son of the Fengyun Meng Clan.”
“Was there a family called the Fengyun Meng Clan in the jianghu?”
“It seems there is one tucked away in some corner.”
“To put ‘Fengyun’ before the name of their clan—what rather stupid fellows. Their family fortunes must have declined so badly they were blown to pieces by wind and cloud.”
“That is more or less the case.”
“With a face like a courtesan’s pretty boy, he looks like he should be chasing skirts all day. It’s almost surprising he trained his martial arts that much. And who is that frustratingly ugly fellow beside him?”
The middle-aged man answered carefully,
“May I answer?”
“Of course you should.”
“He is a survivor of a small sect called the Liuhe Sect, which was annihilated. His true name is unknown, but he is a swordsman called Master Liuhe.”
“Why is your introduction of someone I have no interest in so long? Then the remaining fellow must be the Hao Sect Leader?”
“That is correct.”
Gray Hair looked at me and said,
“You brat. I have heard of the Hao Sect several times. I hear you go around spouting absurd nonsense about protecting those who work. Yet why has a man who claims he will protect others gone around committing so much killing? I have stayed in Donghu for quite some time, but in all that while, there has been no one in Donghu who killed as many people as you. How is it that a madman like you is being treated this way? What in the world is the Murim Alliance doing? Why have they not dragged away a fellow like that already?”
The middle-aged man asked Gray Hair,
“Does his physiognomy seem favorable?”
“As if. If he’d been a waiter, he’d be the sort to fight the owner; if he’d been in the Murim Alliance, he’d have been locked in an underground prison; and if he’d been a disciple of a sect, he’d be the sort to grab his senior brother by the collar. That is the kind of man he is. Look at this mess, bad enough to make even me appear. Wherever he goes, he’s bound to cause trouble.”
For the first time in a very long while—no, almost for the first time since I had entered the martial world—I was beaten down with words, and the Lust Demon, Ghost Demon, and Sword Demon looked at me with intrigued expressions.
Among them, the Lust Demon was smiling faintly.
“…….”
They seemed curious about what words I would use to strike back.
But I had no particular desire to counterattack. I said to the three watching me,
“……He said what was true, so what? It’s been a while since I’ve seen a wise fortune-teller.”
With a hint of thanks, I briefly replied to the gray-haired man’s words.
“That’s right. That’s me. Since that’s me, it isn’t even surprising. Old man, whether you’ve been eating your years through your asshole or not, you’ve got quite the insight. Accept my praise. Ptui! You son of a bitch. You’ve been hiding away studying physiognomy for a long time, haven’t you? Hey, do I have the face of one who’ll become king of Dongho? You sharp-eyed physiognomist bastard. What do you think? Can’t tell?”
From here and there, cries that I was insolent, recommendations to shut my mouth, and threats to tear that mouth apart followed in harmonious succession.
Whether they did or not, it was true that while working as a waiter, I had given Grandfather endless grief.
In my previous life, I had quarreled with the Murim Alliance and even fought the Demonic Cult.
I had not belonged to a sect, but I had been dragged around by the Mad Monk, so most of the old man’s observations were correct.
That was the unchanging me.
So what did he want me to do about it?
When the bandits’ colorful curses were about to end, I said,
“Noisy, you thieving bastards. So who the hell is the Number One of the Unorthodox Path?”
The gray-haired man grinned and placed his right hand on the middle-aged man’s shoulder.
“First Sword of Dongho.”
The middle-aged man bowed his head slightly.
“Yes.”
“Right. It’s this fellow.”
That was a little unexpected. But the gray-haired man’s next words continued like this.
“And I am the Number One of the Unorthodox Path.”
“Hm. So they weren’t the same person to begin with.”
At that moment, the Sword Demon, who had remained still, let his voice cut into the gathering.
“……Old man.”
“…….”
We looked at the Sword Demon.
The people looked back and forth between the Sword Demon and the Number One of the Unorthodox Path.
The Number One of the Unorthodox Path, presumed to be the First Sword of Dongho’s master, stared at the Sword Demon for a moment, then smiled broadly.
“Sword Demon, do you have something to say?”
An unexpected story flowed from the Sword Demon’s mouth.
“The experts of the cult who left the old main headquarters arrived at the largest unorthodox faction—in other words, the place commonly called the Unorthodox Alliance—killed its people, enslaved them, and made that place the cult’s new main headquarters. It is the location where the current Heavenly Demon Divine Cult stands. I understand that the Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance at the time was also captured, and his head was hung on the Dragon Gate they had been so proud of. What relation do you have to that Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance?”
The Number One of the Unorthodox Path answered with a smile.
“Former Left Envoy, what made you ask such a question?”
The Sword Demon replied.
“Ever since it was destroyed by the Divine Cult, the martial world has avoided using the term unorthodox path. Because that force was completely annihilated. They likely consider it ominous. It was certainly the general name for a force that once existed, but now it has mostly been replaced by the term Black Path. Whenever I heard the phrase Number One of the Unorthodox Path from time to time, I thought there was something strange about it. If you truly hail from the Unorthodox Alliance that was wiped out, then it is not so strange for you to cling to such an expression.”
The Number One of the Unorthodox Path said nothing.
The Sword Demon flung out his question as though swinging a sword.
“……Moreover, if you even use the title Number One of the Unorthodox Path, that is. If a survivor has been playing chief of a band of water bandits, then I suppose you have been serving as a rather fitting leader of rats.”
Only then did laughter come to me of its own accord.
Because it was quite a refreshing counterattack.
As expected, he was usually a man of few words, but once his mouth opened, the Sword Demon was also a man who could speak well.
The Number One of the Unorthodox Path let out a low laugh in a phlegm-choked voice. Then, suddenly wiping all trace of laughter from his face, he spoke in a rapid tone.
“That’s right. I’m from that Unorthodox Alliance. How surprising. The old Unorthodox Alliance was entirely slaughtered by the cult you belonged to, but I came to carry on its line.”
The Sword Demon replied without any sign of surprise.
“How is it that you are doing water banditry in a place like this instead of dreaming of revenge?”
The Number One of the Unorthodox Path roughly swept back his long robe with both hands and stepped forward as he said,
“What else? Am I not hiding well here in Dongho like this? I hid myself very, very well.”
“…….”
At the bastard’s tone, I felt a slight chill. I was a madman too, but there was a madness in his voice that was rather distant from the kind of madness I possessed.
If I had to describe it, should I call it an unpleasant madness mixed from that of a fugitive and a recluse?
A strange gleam flowed from the eyes of the Number One of the Unorthodox Path.
“You Left Envoy bastard, I’m the same as you. After all, you too are wandering the martial world because you fear the Cult Leader. If you were such a remarkable fellow, you would have returned to the cult at once and competed with the Cult Leader for supremacy. The truth is, you want to become the Cult Leader too, don’t you? Isn’t that right?”
His tone had become childish, like that of a child. Since he was arbitrarily deciding the Sword Demon’s innermost thoughts, they were unpleasant words to hear.
“Sword Demon, you bastard. In the end, you are nothing more than a mere swordsman wandering because you failed to surpass the Three Talents of this generation. The distance must feel endless. Moreover, you saw the Cult Leader from right beside him, so you know that gap better than anyone. Can you handle it? That gap, one you cannot close no matter how many thousands, how many tens of thousands of times you swing your sword, must turn into nightmares every night and torment you. Are you saying you are stronger than the Three Talents? No. You cannot reach that level. That is exactly why I am content in Dongho. If you wish to mock me, first take a look at yourself, always running away.”
“…….”
The Number One of the Unorthodox Path looked around at his subordinates and laughed.
“The Murim Alliance? Yes. We should speak of the Murim Alliance too. When the Demonic Cult unilaterally delivered notice for the Unorthodox Alliance to vacate its seat, we shamelessly requested aid from the Murim Alliance as well. Though we were not on good terms, we asked for help by persuading them that if we fell, the Murim Alliance would soon face the cult’s forces as they were. Who do you think it was that requested that aid? Hm?”
For a moment, goosebumps rose on my forearms, so I looked at my arms and also observed the expressions of the Four Great Evils.
“Wow…….”
It meant that the messenger of the Unorthodox Alliance who had gone to request aid from the Murim Alliance was alive before our eyes, his hair now heavily mixed with white.
I asked,
“You were that messenger?”
The Number One of the Unorthodox Path pointed at me with his finger and shook it repeatedly.
“Yes. It was me. I ran there with all my might. Of course I was refused, and I was mocked, scorned, and laughed at as well. It is still vivid. Not a single person felt pity for us. That was the true nature of the Murim Alliance. In the end, the former Cult Leader bastard who massacred the Unorthodox Alliance died. And the great Sword God, who killed that Cult Leader bastard, also left this world in vain one day, unable in the end to regain his former martial might. If they had joined forces with the Unorthodox Alliance, at the very least, the Sword God would still be alive now and called the Greatest Under Heaven. Fools.”
It was an extremely moving story, but I spoke whatever came to mind.
“……So you wanted to train bitterly and become the greatest under heaven, but the Three Talents who appeared afterward were too frightening, and just thinking about them made you feel like you’d piss yourself, so you hid in Dongho, did you, Messenger Senior? If you’d gone into the mountains, you might have become the Number One Bandit.”
Still, perhaps because he was a man who had weathered all manner of hardship, he responded to my provocation with laughter.
Laughing and cackling like a madman, the Number One of the Unorthodox Path said to me,
“The ones I hold in high regard are the Three Calamities, not you. If Im Sobaek were truly so remarkable, I would already have died at Dongho. The Three Calamities might appear before me and threaten me with this and that, but not you. You should know your level. You should know your place. Plenty of experts in Dongho acted like you and ended up in the water. Plenty of bastards who claimed they would come kill me sank there too. You could say I raised Dongho’s fish by feeding them myself. I lived by tossing bastards like you to them as fish food. My men catch those fish and put them on the dinner table. Well? What do you think?”
I answered.
“If you’re that confident, why didn’t you step forward when I said I’d fight one-on-one? This never had to grow so big. The offer still stands even now. Old messenger of the Evil Path Alliance, are you listening to me? Seems the Cult Leader torments you even in your dreams. What a pitiful life. Looking at you now, your face resembles a snake’s.”
The term Evil Path felt strangely peculiar all over again.
They had been massacred by the Demonic Path.
And scorned by the White Path.
A man who had experienced that with his entire life was glaring at me with eyes truly like a snake’s.
The Evil Path (邪道)—they were the eyes of a man who had fallen onto a road that was not righteous.