Chapter 55. I Wonder Where I’ll Fall

Divine General Hwango, who had burst out of the house where the old woman had been weaving hemp, walked straight toward the inn.

He arrived just as I was pouring wine for the waiter, and out of nowhere he seized the waiter by the hair and asked,

“Didn’t you see the guy who came out from over there?”

The waiter started in fright and answered.

“Ah, yes. No one came out. I didn’t see anyone.”

Hwango looked at me.

“And you?”

I stretched out my left hand and pointed behind Hwango.

“Not that way. Over there.”

The moment Hwango turned his head slightly, I used the Great Art of Absorbing Stars to pull him in and grabbed him by the throat.

“Gkk!”

Hwango was a Divine General whose viciousness had been bad enough that I had told Hongshin to kill him anyway.

And now he dared grab the waiter by the hair right in front of me.

I clamped down on Hwango’s neck with the grip of my left hand and struck his mask with my right fist.

Thud!

The mask shattered at once, and when his real face was revealed,

I looked into his eyes and kept driving my fist into his face. Each time the sounds—crack! crack!—rang out, the bones in his face were smashed. While watching the street, I crushed Hwango’s face, then threw him into the middle of the road.

Hwango’s corpse rolled several times with a heavy thud.

The waiter who had been watching was trembling violently.

“Don’t be shocked. This is how matters in the jianghu usually go.”

I wiped the blood from my fist with Dukang wine. I poured the remaining wine into my cup and held it out to the waiter again.

“Let’s drink.”

“Yes.”

The waiter, who had been holding out his cup with one hand, went out of his way to offer it with both hands.

Since this too was a form of worldly tact, I said nothing about it. Still, he seemed far too startled, so I needed to calm him down.

“Noksul died earlier, and that one there is Hwango.”

“Ah, yes. I see.”

If we had properly matched martial arts, Hwango would have resisted fiercely with hands and feet, but from the start he had been completely unwary of me, who was drinking with the waiter.

I drank Dukang wine with the waiter.

Even so, perhaps he had not calmed down, for the waiter’s complexion grew paler and paler.

I said to the waiter,

“Good grief, go inside and rest a bit. I’ll send a subordinate later to settle the wine bill. I’ll keep drinking here.”

“Ah, understood. Then I’ll…”

While the waiter fled into the inn as if running away, two small-fry Divine Generals came running over, examined Hwango’s corpse, and said,

“He’s still nearby.”

Chewing on dried snacks, I looked at the black ox and the red sheep. Among them, Divine General Hyeonchuk looked at me and shouted fiercely.

“What are you looking at, you bastard?”

I simply turned my gaze away, then took one from the chopstick holder. After infusing it with the qi of the Wooden Rooster through my thumb and forefinger, I threw it toward Hyeonchuk’s face.

The moment I threw it, there was a thunk, and the chopstick lodged in his forehead.

The red sheep, who chose to flee, used his lightness skill and opened his mouth.

“Senior Brother! Here…!”

Thud!

The long Dukang wine jar with a little wine left in it struck the back of his head.

When Divine General Jumi toppled forward, I pulled out another chopstick, stood up, and sent it flying at Jumi’s head as he lay sprawled on the ground.

This time as well, the chopstick embedded itself.

The corpses of the Twelve Divine Generals lay in the central street.

Hwango had died absurdly after letting his guard down, and Hyeonchuk and Jumi had been the lowest-ranked of the Twelve Divine Generals to begin with, so their skills were lacking.

Hongshin and Geumhae had at least been lucky enough to eat, ride a carriage, and visit a physician, but war is merciless by nature.

Chewing on dried snacks, I rose and walked down the central street.

I saw Divine General Baekja running toward me from ahead.

I briefly met Baekja’s eyes, then entered an alley on the right and leaned my back against the wall for a moment.

After I waited a while with my arms crossed, Baekja, finding me suspicious, returned and appeared in the alley.

But when he saw me standing near the entrance, he was startled and unleashed palm force with his right hand. Judging from how his body reacted instinctively like that, he seemed to have trained in palm techniques.

Thud!

I met it head-on with my left palm, then turned my wrist and interlocked my fingers with his.

In that instant, I used the Great Art of Absorbing Stars to draw in Baekja’s internal energy while running madly through the alley.

When Baekja’s strength, which had been holding on by forcibly squeezing out power, went slack, I pulled him in and struck his Adam’s apple with my fist.

“Ghk!”

I struck once more between my thumb and forefinger to break his neck, then walked through the alley while holding Baekja’s corpse.

I stopped while listening to the sounds around me, took Baekja’s mask and put it on, then stripped off his white long robe and draped it over myself.

I stared silently at the dead Baekja’s face for a while, then laid him down in a corner of the alley and covered him with a straw mat the neighborhood beggar had been using.

“In your next life, don’t meet someone like me.”

For a moment, I straightened the white long robe neatly and adjusted the position of the mask precisely.

If there was anyone who noticed that my lower garments were different from Baekja’s clothing, I would acknowledge him.

The important thing was to add to the confusion, not to handle things meticulously. Because in wartime, everything is chaotic by nature.

Counting the dead, only the Four Divine Generals and the Great Rakshasa remained.

I briefly reviewed the matchup.

Five against one was still a distasteful matchup.

Based on Heukmyo’s skill, I could infer the strength of the Four Divine Generals to some extent, but since the Great Rakshasa’s skill had not been clearly revealed, I needed to endure once more.

‘Let’s kill one more.’

At the same time, my insides were boiling, so I calmed my mind for a moment.

In an instant, with the insight of the Wooden Rooster, I erased all distracting thoughts like a wooden chicken.

When I went out of the alley again, the Four Divine Generals were examining their dead junior brothers and conversing.

As I approached, I heard Baekyu’s voice.

“We won’t catch him anyway. He was faster than us to begin with. He’s probably planning to lure us out one by one and kill us. What will you do? At this rate, we’ll be played by him.”

Cheongjin nodded.

“The Four Divine Generals should stay together. If the four of us are together, he won’t be able to do anything either.”

Without saying a word, I moved beside Divine General Jeoksa and looked at the dead junior brothers. A mutter came out on its own.

“To die so pointlessly.”

Jeoksa offered another opinion.

“Let us return to Master instead.”

I glanced sideways at Jeoksa.

This bastard was also the one who had attacked me first earlier, and even at a moment like this, he was thinking of Daenachal. Was it deep loyalty, or was he filled to the bone with the servility of a slave? It was hard to say.

Cheongjin objected.

“If we return like this, Master’s mood will only grow worse.”

I listened in silence whenever these bastards from the animal kingdom offered their opinions.

The White Tiger, Divine General Baekyu, remained silent to the end. Then the others looked at Baekin as if asking him to make the decision.

“Eldest Brother, please decide for us.”

Baekin, the eldest of the Twelve Divine Generals, opened his mouth.

“Let us continue the pursuit. As Cheongjin said, the four of us will stick together. Baekja, you go inform Master of our martial brothers’ deaths. Tell him the Four Divine Generals went after the bastard.”

I replied curtly.

“Yes.”

Cheongjin asked back.

“Does this mean we are to be apart from Master for a while?”

Baekin lowered his tone and spoke.

“His goal is Master anyway. He would not have orchestrated all this just to kill us all. Earlier, I thought the bastard was merely spouting nonsense, but the ramblings of those who are inherently mad are often their true feelings.”

“So when he told us to endure, that was his true intention?”

“I believe so.”

“Then why did he kill our martial brothers?”

Baekin pierced to the heart of the matter.

“Because he is a madman.”

I nodded my head at Baekin’s words as well. The other martial brothers also seemed to acknowledge it.

‘As expected of the Eldest Brother.’

These pathetic bastards seriously discussed plans for survival in front of their dead martial brothers. Baekin continued speaking.

“If the four of us stick together, it will not be easy for him to attack. But seeing as he mentioned one-on-one, there is a possibility he will appear where Master is alone. Do you understand what I mean? Master dislikes using lightness skill anyway, so he will continue to stay in the Heukmyo Chamber.”

Listening to Baekin’s words, I thought to myself.

‘Does he have back problems?’

Seeing that he was missing an arm, the injuries he had sustained while surviving until now would not be merely one or two.

The martial brothers furtively glanced at Baekin.

He was saying such things because, if Daenachal died, he would be the one to take everything for himself.

Surprisingly, Baekin even tried to win me over.

“……I shall promote Baekja to the Four Divine Generals. It is enough for us to start anew among ourselves. As that bastard said, how long are we going to act as slaves? I, too, wish to stop seeing young people treated so sadistically.”

I nodded my head repeatedly as if in agreement. But instead of stopping at a nod, I unwittingly opened my trap.

“Then what if I just kill Master? Wouldn’t that solve everything?”

The heads of Baekin, Cheongjin, Jeoksa, and Baekyu moved simultaneously as they looked at me.

“……”

A sigh suddenly escaped me. The identities of Ijaha and Divine General Baekja had become mixed up.

The saying that the mask worsens the madness was no lie.

You could tell by looking at me.

Right now, Jeoksa was stuck to my side.

I unfolded the neck-locking finger technique with my left hand to ambush Jeoksa, and simultaneously poured out Flame Fowl Palm Force (炎鷄掌力) toward the front with my right palm.

In an instant, palm force dyed red poured forth from my palm, swelling to the size of Buddha’s palm.

Baekin, Cheongjin, and Baekyu responded simultaneously with twin palms.

KWAAAAAAANG!

The aftermath of the shock varied depending on the depth of their internal energy.

First, Baekyu shot out in a straight line and rolled across the ground.

Baekin and Cheongjin only managed to stagger back seven or eight steps.

Jeoksa was immobilized, his pressure points struck.

I stripped the mask from the immobilized Jeoksa and covered it over the Baekja mask I was wearing.

I spoke to the Four Divine Generals confronting me.

“The masks of Heukmyo, Noksul, Baekja, and Jeoksa are with me. Do you think you lot will be any different?”

Because I was holding Jeoksa hostage, the remaining Four Divine Generals did not move.

“I have always preferred one-on-one. Do not provoke me any further. For men who supposedly live in the dark path to try to fight so despicably. Would this not all be resolved if Daenachal and I fought and one of us died? The matter was originally this simple, yet you insist on living complicatedly only to die. Baekin, what will you do?”

Baekin replied immediately.

“Today, we will not show ourselves near the Heukmyo Chamber, so spare Jeoksa.”

I stroked Jeoksa’s head and replied.

“I cannot spare Jeoksa.”

“Why?”

“He is the one who kidnapped poor women to offer to Daenachal. Of course, those at the bottom probably did the capturing as well, but this bastard was the ringleader.”

The moment Baekin lost his words, I grabbed the back of the immobilized bastard who had been struck at his pressure points and hurled him straight into the wall. Jeoksa, who had flown headfirst, collapsed under the wall with a thud.

Of course, that was not the only reason I killed him.

He had launched a preemptive attack at me earlier as well, and the Twelve Divine Generals strategy guide had written that he was the one with the deepest loyalty to Daenachal. Of course, the fact that he had kidnapped and offered a blue-eyed beauty not long ago was more than enough reason for him to die.

I looked at the three standing rigidly and spoke.

“The Four Divine Generals have been reduced to Three Divine Generals.”

I pointed my finger at Baekin, Cheongjin, and Baekyu and said.

“If you have no lingering attachment to life, let us fight four-on-one in the Heukmyo Chamber. If you die, you die; if you are lucky enough to survive, keep on being Daenachal’s slaves. I am going.”

I turned around wearing Jeoksa’s mask and headed toward the Heukmyo Chamber.

It was a situation where the three could ambush me from behind, but I just kept walking.

I wanted to turn back and gather the weapons on Jeoksa’s body, but I gave up on it because it would have been unbecoming.

In moments like this, a man cannot afford to turn his back.

The back of my head tingled slightly, but I trudged straight toward the Heukmyo Chamber.

Honestly, if they come at me again after this much explanation, these bastards are beyond salvation.

When I arrived in front of the Heukmyo Chamber, the door was still wide open.

I mumbled whatever came to mind as I headed toward Daenachal.

“Your disciple has come. Jeoksa has come. Baekja has come. After sending Hyeonjuk and Jumi off, Jaha has returned alive. Hwang-o is in the Scorching Hell (焦熱地獄), and Jeoksa is in the Avici Hell (阿鼻地獄); where shall I fall, I wonder…… Master? Where is our dog-like Master?”

When I entered the inner courtyard, the positions had changed.

Daenachal sat on the raised platform, and on the side where I stood, all the subordinates of the Heukmyo Chamber were kneeling.

It seemed he had been playing king and slave again in that brief interval.

Wearing Jeoksa’s mask, I stared fixedly at Daenachal before calling out to him once in a mournful tone.

“Master……”