Episode 392. Declaration of War.
Senior, it is I, Ijah.
It would be easier to speak face to face, yet a letter is inconvenient. Should the content displease you and the sentences be a mess, I ask your understanding. It is because I have rarely written letters.
Letter-writing is a task for women, so I am not pleased either.
When you read this, I shall be en route to Huashan.
To speak the conclusion first: do not come to Huashan.
I say again, do not come. Since there are those who insist on coming even when told otherwise, I stress it once more.
The Cult Leader says he does not wish to see you.
Had he wished to kill you, he would have bid you come; it seems his mind has changed.
To bid you not to come likely means he does not wish to kill you.
If I guess the reason, the Alliance Chief seems to think the Jianghu within the Martial Alliance is preferable. I think the same.
At Huashan, there will be me, the Sword Demon, Mengyeon, and Teacher Yukhap together.
If only the White-Robed Scholar or Tian’e would come, it would suffice. Even if a few more kings were added, it would mean little.
Therefore, please be the one to make contact.
I intend to fight the Cult Leader there, but I do not know how it will turn out.
As you know, Senior, the results of the things we strive for are not greatly important. Rather, it is more important that we simply strive with all our might.
However, I promise this: if our entire party dies, the Cult Leader will not descend Huashan alive either.
I have made up my mind thus.
If the worst comes to pass, we will all die on Huashan.
But should the Cult Leader keep to propriety as in the duels of old masters, perhaps the battle on Huashan may end with no one dead.
How can one predict the affairs of men?
It is unknown.
In the worst situation, you were likely thinking of cutting off the Cult Leader’s arm and perishing together, but from what I have observed of the Cult Leader, that will not be easy either.
So please hold out well within the Martial Alliance.
The Cult Leader will ascend Huashan accompanied by his strongest subordinates, but when he descends, he will either descend alone or be buried on Huashan with me and everyone else.
In the meantime, if you hold out in the Martial Alliance, the Jianghu of this era will have no great problems.
That the Cult Leader said he does not wish to see you, despite knowing this,
is likely simply a disposition unique to him that we find hard to understand. On the other hand, I understand. He has likely never once considered defeat.
It is difficult to define or predict the fight between the Cult Leader and me like this or that.
That the Cult Leader is stronger than me is true, but in fact, victory in battle depends on me. If I can raise my realm but once more within the given time, I have the confidence to not lose to anyone. However, my concern is that having ascended in realm not long ago, a great enlightenment may not come within such a short period.
Therefore, truthfully, I am not training frantically and desperately even now. It is because the time given is very limited.
Alliance Chief Senior, the greatest under heaven of this era was the Cult Leader.
If time is given to me here without incident, the next greatest under heaven will be me. Should I fall on Huashan and Mengyeon survive by good fortune, then in about eighteen years that lecher will likely become the greatest under heaven. If after that peace continues without incident, then the greatest under heaven thereafter will be my disciple.
My disciple is Jang Yoran of Ilyanghyeon.
When word reaches that I fought the Cult Leader on Huashan.
If I cannot descend from Huashan.
Please send someone to Ilyanghyeon to call Jang Deuksu, Hong Sin, and Yorani to the Martial Alliance. Take Brother Deuksu and his wife in as your retainers. Teach Yorani the Yukjeon Daegum.
It is merely a request; it depends on your heart, Senior.
However, Yorani will likely be the only disciple in the Jianghu capable of learning the Yukjeon Daegum.
Of course, if the four of us idiots are alive, Yorani will not have the mindset to learn the Yukjeon Daegum, so you need not teach her then.
She probably will not be able to learn it because she will not understand.
From what I see, the Alliance Chief’s martial art is such a martial art.
If I had conveyed these words while sharing a drink, the Alliance Chief would have asked me thus:
Do you have confidence you can win?
Can the fight not be avoided?
What about killing him by combined attack? And so forth.
To answer in order:
At present I lack the confidence to win; the fight is a situation that absolutely cannot be avoided; and killing him by combined attack is impossible.
That we agreed to clash with the Cult Leader on Huashan is a martial artist’s promise.
We shared the wine of a sworn pledge.
This is the Cult Leader permitting us to fight by the orthodox way. Having fought the first battle, I found him a man well-versed in schemes and strategies, so he cannot be broken by ordinary means.
That we fight on Huashan is...
When a man unlike a human, unlike a martial artist, has chosen to act by the martial artist’s way—should we respond like the Demonic Way or the Unorthodox at such a time, everything will come to naught.
If we win, we win.
And even in defeat, only by being defeated properly
Can we keep the Cult Leader bound as a human. For the Cult Leader’s own sake as well, I wish him to remain human. Because he is one who has faced inhuman beings since long ago, all the more so.
Only if the Cult Leader remains human will his subordinates not cross the line. Only then will the damage caused by that unknowable religion gradually decrease.
If that comes to pass, might not another victory ultimately be ours?
I am thinking of winning even in defeat.
Please gauge this well, Alliance Chief.
To my knowledge, if one were to name the finest martial artist in the Jianghu, there are none but the Alliance Chief and myself.
When will you marry, Senior?
Senior, keep playing at being Alliance Chief for just another eighteen years or so.
Retire without lingering attachments.
As it is a fate where you cannot retire if you do not marry, I advise finding a suitable woman before retiring.
You must burden the young with heavy loads for them to grow strong like the Alliance Chief. If you hold on like that, you yourself will grow stronger, but you cannot narrow the gap with the next generation.
People must live happily.
There is no leisure for happiness if one belongs to the Martial Alliance.
Alliance Chief, find your happiness.
The voice of the Alliance Chief muttering not to talk nonsense rings in my ears.
This is not nonsense, but nagging.
When it was decided that I would clash with the Cult Leader on Huashan,
rather than fear, my heart grew lighter. I wished for this kind of fight. Before entering the Jianghu I was merely a tavern waiter; now I come to fight the Cult Leader, so this tavern waiter’s journey into the Jianghu can be called a success.
As always, it is not the Cult Leader’s martial art that I fear.
But rather, that I may fail to surpass my own limits—that is what I fear more.
Born a true man, what else is there to fear but this?
They say Huashan, contrary to its name, has few flowers.
This younger brother shall go first and check.
From Ilyanghyeon.
Your unworthy younger brother, to the Martial Alliance Chief.
* * *
Setting down the brush, Yorani approached and spoke.
“Master, are you finished writing?”
“Yes.”
“Who is the letter for?”
I looked at Yorani and said,
“The Martial Alliance Chief.”
“Wow.”
“Your master is that kind of person.”
“Master, you are amazing.”
“Are you teasing me?”
“No. But what did you write?”
“I told him to get married quickly. He’s an old bachelor.”
“What’s an old bachelor?”
I called Yorani over and whispered in her ear.
“Like your first master. Though a bit older in age.”
“Ah.”
“Understood?”
“Yes.”
Yorani whispered too.
“Then is the opposite of old bachelor ‘lecher’?”
“That might be somewhat controversial? Both are not good words.”
“Understood.”
I returned to my original voice and asked,
“By the way, what is for dinner tonight? Recite it.”
Yorani cleared her throat and answered.
“Pork backbone stew.”
“Good.”
“They say since the masters are busy, there have been few chances to let you taste it, so this time they prepared it every day to treat you.”
“The pork backbone stew that even the Cult Leader could not resist, the delicacy of Ilyanghyeon, the supreme dish that saved the Jianghu—that is pork backbone stew.”
Yorani answered with surprised eyes.
“Pork backbone stew saved the Jianghu?”
I nodded with a serious expression.
“Yes. Our Sister-in-law Jang saved the Jianghu. Delicious food is this great.”
“The Cult Leader must have grown up eating only unappetizing things.”
“How did you know?”
“Is it true?”
“It is true. Since childhood, there were many around the Cult Leader trying to assassinate him. Every meal, he would have worried whether poison was mixed in; he likely could not even drink water with ease. Perhaps he has even eaten food laced with poison. If one grows up that way from childhood, what happens to a person?”
“His expression was really stoic.”
“Correct. He must have been that way since long ago.”
“But why do they assassinate him?”
“Because he was not the Cult Leader then. There were many competitors eyeing the position of Cult Leader.”
“What’s so good about becoming Cult Leader?”
I smiled at Yorani.
“Nothing particularly good.”
“Then why would they want to become Cult Leader?”
“To survive, I suppose.”
From here, the content was a bit difficult, so Yorani fell into thought for a moment before answering.
“...What a strange religion.”
“My thoughts exactly. Let’s go in.”
“Yes, Master.”
As Yorani and I ascended to this floor, I asked,
“But which part did you find strange?”
“So, I don’t want to be Cult Leader. Maybe they couldn’t make that choice. That you have to do it unconditionally is what’s strange. Because they don’t want to, but if they don’t, they die. So it’s very strange.”
“Correct.”
My disciple is this smart.
The Eldest and the Shitter were already seated at the table. I sat beside Yorani and drank water first. The Shitter looked at me and asked Yorani,
“Did Third Master badmouth me again?”
“No?”
“I thought I heard the word ‘lecher’?”
“Isn’t that the Fourth Master’s nickname?”
The Eldest, who was drinking water, spat some out.
I looked at the Eldest and clicked my tongue.
“You can’t even swallow water properly. And you’re still so young...”
While waiting for the meal, Yorani asked us,
“But when will Second Master come?”
I looked at the Eldest and the Shitter before answering.
“...Second Master is the weakest among the four of us. He is training fiercely even now. He intends to catch up to the three of us. It will be difficult to catch up, but his hardworking attitude deserves respect.”
“Where is he training?”
“There is a man second strongest to the Cult Leader. I’ll tell you his nickname later.”
“Tian’e?”
“You knew that much? What don’t you know? As expected of Jang Yoran of Ilyanghyeon.”
Now Yorani had learned to hold back laughter and was managing her expression. Yorani slightly bowed her head to me with an expression of barely suppressed laughter.
“You overpraise me.”
“You’re quick-witted. It was overpraise.”
This time, Yorani’s nostrils were flared. Then Brother Deuksu set down a bowl brimming with pork backbone stew on the table. It was the largest table, so Brother Deuksu and Sister Hong also took their seats, and after distributing chopsticks, everyone looked at the Eldest.
The Eldest smiled slightly and spoke briefly.
“Let’s eat.”
Brother Deuksu also said with a smile,
“Please eat plenty. This is the legendary pork backbone stew that even made the Cult Leader exclaim in admiration.”
Yorani looked at me and slyly held out a chopstick.
“Master?”
“Hmm?”
Yorani gripped her wooden chopsticks and stabbed them into the pork backbone stew.
“The Cult Leader did it like this, and the wooden chopstick slid right into the bone. Very softly. Can you do it?”
I nodded at Yorani.
“All the masters can do that.”
“Really? Does Chief Cha do it too?”
“That guy has no chance. He can’t.”
“Yes.”
I gripped one chopstick and looked at the Eldest and the lecher.
“Looks like she has the sort of face that won’t believe until it’s shown.”
I first infused my chopstick with the qi of the Wooden Chicken and stabbed it into the pork backbone stew. Naturally, the chopstick lodged in the bone. Then the Eldest nonchalantly stuck his chopsticks in, and the Shitter also stuck one chopstick deep into the center of the pork backbone stew and handed it to Yorani.
“Eat this.”
Yorani received it with both hands and said,
“Thank you.”
I gnawed on the pork backbone stew and realized that Yorani had already mostly caught on to what was about to happen. Because she was still young, she could not hide all her expressions.
Yorani, eating the pork backbone stew, asked,
“How can you win against the Cult Leader?”
There are times when it is difficult to answer a young disciple’s question, and now was such a time. The Eldest and the Shitter could not answer either. Brother Deuksu and Sister Hong could not open their mouths.
If I too remained silent, Yorani’s worry would likely grow.
But I could not find words to say right away.
Because she is a young disciple, I could not lie. After thinking hard, I barely chose my words and spoke to Yorani.
“We masters have fought the Cult Leader since long ago.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean only in martial arts. We fought with our respective lives, and with our thoughts. We often fought with our mindsets as well. The Cult Leader came here and ate pork backbone stew because his heart had changed as well. There is no need to worry greatly.”
Yorani answered,
“Understood. But Third Master.”
“Yes.”
“How do you win with mindset?”
I nodded my head a few times and answered,
“You just have to laugh more often than the Cult Leader. The Cult Leader truly finds such an easy thing difficult.”
Yorani gave quite a surprising answer.
“...But you masters don’t laugh often either?”
I looked at the Eldest and the Shitter and answered.
“We all laugh often on the inside. Eldest, right?”
The Eldest nodded.
“Correct.”
Yorani asked, as if to confirm the Shitter’s heart too,
“Fourth Master, is that right? Do you laugh on the inside?”
The Fourth nodded.
“Correct. I am laughing on the inside.”
Yorani declared, holding the pork backbone stew in her hands.
“Then from now on, I too shall laugh on the inside.”
I looked at Yorani’s expression and pointed out,
“Yorani, that’s a scornful expression.”
“Yes.”
“But it wasn’t bad. When you meet a rival you want to get under their skin, maintain that expression always. Practice it.”
Brother Deuksu sighed and looked at me.
“Man, you teach them the good stuff.”
Only then did I laugh too, and the people eating together all laughed together as well.