Chapter 395. Bound for Mount Hua.
I stared outside the carriage for a long time.
I had not ridden in carriages all that often.
There was a certain pleasure in watching the scenery keep changing.
In truth, traveling by carriage like this, there was no telling how many days it would take to reach Mount Hua. But there was no need to hurry, so I filled my eyes with the peaceful scenery.
What had the Cult Leader thought about while riding around in a carriage?
No matter how much he stared outside, it must have been difficult for him to find a worthy opponent. Was being exceptionally strong in martial arts as lonely a thing as I imagined? Or perhaps he was lonely because he knew no life beyond martial arts.
The Cult Leader was a man who knew very little.
Because he had never lived any life other than one of killing and being killed.
I was someone lacking in skill when it came to cooking.
The Cult Leader was a human being who had never made food at all.
How could a person never have made food before?
Of course, I knew roughly what life in the Demonic Cult was like.
I also knew well the sense of achievement and the instinct-born elation that came from finally surpassing an opponent who had been difficult to break.
But that should not be everything.
In that sense, judging by the fact that he had kept Eldest Brother and me alive until now……
It meant the Cult Leader’s greatest enemy was the Cult Leader himself.
If I had not stolen the Heavenly Jade in my previous life……
Who would have eaten the Heavenly Jade?
Would the Cult Leader have eaten it, as I expected?
Perhaps the Debauchee, who had hurriedly followed me to Manjang Cliff, might have eaten it. Or the First Young Master might have taken advantage of the Cult Leader’s closed-door cultivation to eat it.
Even assuming the Debauchee or the First Young Master had taken the Heavenly Jade.
They would have been killed by the Cult Leader anyway.
Had he grown so sick of boredom that he was trying to create an opponent for himself?
If so, it would have been a rare amusement for the Cult Leader. And even if he ended up being defeated by that, he would have no reason to feel wronged. After all, it would mean handing the cult over to either the Debauchee, who had been the Left Envoy, or the First Young Master.
Now that I thought about it, if the Debauchee had taken the Heavenly Jade.
That too would have been its own kind of hell for the people of the jianghu.
He would have built an Epang Palace without precedent in history, then died young.
In any case, as I sat in the carriage and kept musing, the current of my thoughts often reached strange places.
Would the battle at Mount Hua once again be a struggle over the cult’s succession?
Killing all disobedient subordinates along with the rest.
Killing an external candidate for successor as well.
For the Cult Leader, there was nothing bad about it.
Even the being that sent me back to the past could not know about things that had not ultimately happened.
Of course, I could not know either.
As I had been looking out the window for a long while, Sambok’s voice sounded.
“Sect Leader.”
“What?”
Sambok asked out of nowhere.
“You do not fight battles you will lose, do you, Sect Leader?”
“Generally not.”
“How great is the gap between you and the Cult Leader?”
“The difference in years. The height of our internal energy.”
“Is that all?”
“The rest, I will only know once we actually clash. The Cult Leader cannot know everything I know. And it is difficult for me to know every method the Cult Leader knows.”
“Do you have other concerns?”
“Other concerns? Such as?”
“For example, if you use any and all means and methods and ultimately bring down the Cult Leader…… what you will do afterward.”
“That is not something I need to worry about.”
“Then who should?”
“Eldest Brother should.”
Sambok nodded, then asked me something that was, in its own way, important.
“Sect Leader, once I return, I am the one who will report anyway. I want to give you sufficient time to train at Mount Hua. A year would be impossible, but if I report as late as I possibly can……”
“Sambok.”
“Yes.”
“Do not show loyalty through petty schemes. When you are in the cult, be faithful to the cult. If you think it differs from the cult’s will, then leave without lingering attachment. If you behave like someone who is neither this nor that, the Cult Leader will kill you nine times out of ten.”
“Mm.”
“The Cult Leader needs time anyway. He needs time to gather up those who are to die by our hands and come. If he summons someone, they will need time to arrive as well. That much is enough for me.”
“Understood.”
“If the fight is delayed, those bastards who absolutely refuse to listen to me may gather at Mount Hua one by one. If that happens, it will be no different from a Great War between the Orthodox and the Demonic factions. This is a fight to prevent that from happening…… so we cannot allow it.”
I spoke while looking out the window.
“Tell them to stop if they see an inn. Let us eat.”
“Understood.”
“And while we are eating, tell the coachmen this. Let us travel, if possible, along routes where mountain bandits or mounted bandits often appear. Regions ruled by black-path forces great and small, places with Tuoba tribe bastards or remnants of Dai are fine too. We should move while smashing them all to pieces.”
When I suddenly looked at Sambok, the fellow was smiling.
“Why are you smiling?”
Sambok scratched the back of his head and replied.
“No reason. I just got a little excited. I will do that.”
Thinking about it, I recalled that the way Sambok had treated the Third Young Master had been rather tactless. In other words, he was the type who was good-natured but somewhat lacking in tact. I asked Sambok in a quiet tone.
“You are excited?”
Sambok flinched slightly, then answered at once.
“I apologize.”
“Groups of mounted bandits usually number over a hundred.”
“That is true.”
“Do not go off to heaven while fighting excitedly.”
“Yes.”
“In any case, since there are two carriages, they will think we are good prey. Fill your belly well too. We have a long way to go. And the carriages are too black. Later, see if you can stick some wildflowers on them or something. Make them look idiotic.”
Sambok grinned this time as well.
“Understood.”
* * *
Moyong Baek heard that the patient had returned, waited for a while, then personally set out on a house call.
Just what was this patient bastard so busy with?
Usually, after returning, he would come loitering into the medical house within a day or two and spout nonsense, but today felt a little strange.
Thinking he would eat pork backbone for the first time in a while, he hurried over and arrived in front of the Zaha Inn, where everything was no different from usual.
As it happened, Yoran was sitting in front of the Zaha Inn doing nothing, and met Moyong Baek’s eyes.
“Doctor.”
“Yoran, where is your master?”
“He left early yesterday morning.”
Moyong Baek went to the chair and met Yoran’s eyes.
“They left? Already? All four of them?”
“No. Second Master never came. Three of them left. They split up between two pitch-black carriages.”
“I see. Where did they say they were going?”
“Mount Hua.”
Moyong Baek spoke in surprise.
“Mount Hua? To Mount Hua? The enemy is there?”
“No. They said they were going to fight the Cult Leader there.”
For some reason today, Moyong Baek kept repeating the words that had just left his own mouth.
“Cult Leader? The Demon Cult Leader?”
“Yes.”
Jang Deuksu walked out of the inn wearing an apron and said,
“Physician Moyong.”
“Yes.”
“It’s exactly as Yoran said. They’ve decided to fight the Cult Leader. At Mount Hua.”
“No, already…”
He nearly asked why they hadn’t stopped him, then swallowed the words. For the most part, there was no one who could stop that patient. There were too many things he could not understand, so he had no choice but to ask Jang Deuksu.
“The Demon Cult and the Hao Clan are going to clash at Mount Hua?”
“I don’t think that’s it. It sounded like a few people are gathering to compete.”
“No, how many years has he even trained in martial arts that he’s already challenging the Cult Leader? Has he lost his mind?”
“His mind’s been a little gone for a while now.”
Jang Deuksu suddenly furrowed his brow and shot a look toward Yoran. It seemed to mean that he should watch what he said in front of the disciple, and only then did Moyong Baek realize his mistake.
“Ah, at any rate, I understand.”
As Moyong Baek turned away, Jang Deuksu asked,
“You’re not thinking of going to Mount Hua, are you? The greatest masters of the age will probably all gather there. Restrain yourself. The fact that they didn’t tell you means they don’t want you to come.”
Moyong Baek turned back and stared quietly at Jang Deuksu.
“If the greatest masters of the age fight…”
“……”
“There will be many patients as well. I understand.”
“Hey, Physician.”
Moyong Baek hurried back to the clinic. Watching him go, Jang Deuksu let out a sigh.
“That bastard doesn’t listen worth a damn either. Isn’t that basically him saying he’s going?”
Yoran said,
“I want to go too.”
Jang Deuksu shook his head.
“No. Impossible. Not a chance. I won’t send you. Don’t even think of following Physician Moyong, not even by some one-in-a-million chance. Let’s go inside. Not only your master, even the Cult Leader would get angry. It means only the truly skilled should gather.”
“The physician isn’t truly skilled either, though.”
“That’s true, but the atmosphere around him changes every time he comes by, so he isn’t an ordinary person either.”
“How do you know that so well?”
Jang Deuksu met Yoran’s eyes and said,
“When you run an inn, you can see the level of your guests clear as day. It’s nothing special.”
“What about me?”
Jang Deuksu smiled.
“The best under heaven. Of course, not right now.”
Jang Deuksu scooped Yoran up, already seeing all too clearly the signs that she would not listen.
“Yoran, please, I hope you don’t take after your Third Master.”
“Why?”
“He listens to no one.”
“Whose words?”
“Everyone’s.”
Jang Deuksu looked at Yoran’s expression and asked, feeling an ominous premonition.
“Why are you smiling?”
Yoran answered,
“I was smiling on the inside.”
“It didn’t look that way at all.”
“I’ll practice more.”
Jang Deuksu’s sigh continued. Only now did he realize that she was not learning only martial arts from her master. Since Jang Deuksu had never had a master, it was something he could not have noticed in advance.
* * *
Moyong Baek returned to the clinic, gathered medicines and poisons, then stuffed them into a bundle. Since he would have to find a horse and chase after them anyway, he also took a hefty amount of money. He had already made preparations so the clinic could run without him, so he was not particularly worried about that. If anything, he was worried about himself.
Was it right to chase after them?
Without even having decided that, he blindly finished preparing to leave and then called the female medics together.
While the medics were gathering, Moyong Baek took a white band from a drawer and tied it around his forehead. Even as he straightened his hair, his breathing was unsteady. When all the medics had finally gathered, the curious Baek Soa asked,
“Physician, are you going somewhere?”
Moyong Baek nodded, then looked around at the medics.
“I’m making a house call. I’ll be back.”
“Are you going far?”
“It’s Mount Hua, so a little far.”
Heuk Soryeong replied with a startled expression.
“You’re going all the way there to make a house call?”
Moyong Baek took a deep breath and said,
“If I do not return for a long time, Heuk-Baek Soso, take the medics and visit the Murim Alliance once. Female medics as capable as you are rare in the martial world. They must be very short on medics there. Tell them you came on the recommendation of the Hao Clan Leader, then ask for work. They won’t turn you away.”
The medics all stared at Moyong Baek, their eyes widening round at once. Baek Soa asked in confusion,
“…Are you going there to die?”
At the absurd question, Moyong Baek let out a chuckle and answered with a smile.
“What kind of ridiculous question is that? I told you, I’m going to make a house call.”
“But you look so uneasy.”
Moyong Baek nodded, then explained in a little more detail.
“They say the Clan Leader and the Cult Leader will clash. Heuk-Baek Soso, since you know a little about the martial world, you must have heard what sort of person the Cult Leader is.”
“Yes.”
“I am not going to fight. I intend to go to Mount Hua and treat people, whether they are enemies or allies. I will try to save as many as I can. I learned medicine for days like this. If I were to lie comfortably in town, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”
Another medic asked,
“It’s only natural to treat our allies, but you’ll even treat the enemy?”
Moyong Baek nodded as he stood.
“They’re patients, the bastards. What enemies and allies are there? First, they must be treated. And only if I save the enemy too can I read the situation and save our allies as well. It would take too long to explain. I’ll leave at once. Because of that bastard Clan Leader, it looks like I’m going all the way to Mount Hua. Damn it all… Don’t come out.”
Though he told them not to come out, all the medics followed him outside and saw Moyong Baek off.
Moyong Baek walked without looking back, while the medics’ cheers continued behind him.
“Physician, please return safely!”
Moyong Baek answered by simply waving his hand once.
* * *
Lin Xiaobai read the letter from the Master of Haomun that Gongsun Yue had brought, then looked at Gongsun Yue. Gongsun Yue asked in a cautious tone.
“May I read it as well?”
After Gongsun Yue read the letter too, he silently looked at the Alliance Leader. The two of them sank into silence, unable to say a word.
Lin Xiaobai held out his hand again.
“Give it here.”
Though there was no way the contents of the letter would have changed, Lin Xiaobai read it again. He read it a third time, set the letter down on the desk, and asked his strategist.
“Strategist Gongsun, what am I supposed to do?”
At a loss for an answer, Gongsun Yue picked up the letter on the desk and read it again.
Gongsun Yue said,
“For now……”
“For now, what?”
“I am not sure either. If the Sect Leader, the Sword Demon, Master Liuhe, and Young Master Meng join forces, would it be difficult to deal with a single Cult Leader?”
“I don’t think they’d be pushed back, but the problem is that the Cult Leader would never move alone. Knowing that, why is he so adamantly opposed to my going to Mount Hua?”
Of course, it was not Gongsun Yue who was opposing him. It was a question directed at the contents written in the letter.
Gongsun Yue said,
“He is quite a strategic person. Wouldn’t he have a reason?”
“If the Sect Leader perishes together with them at Mount Hua and the jianghu gains peace, does that have any meaning?”
“It does not.”
Lin Xiaobai’s temper flared in an instant, and he spoke with a transformed expression.
“Strategist Gongsun.”
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
“Summon every last one of the executives.”
“Is it all-out war?”
“No. I’m sick and tired of this, so I’m going to stop being Alliance Leader now. Tell them to gather because I’ll appoint a successor as Alliance Leader, whether they debate it out or beat each other senseless among themselves to decide. Summon those outside as well.”
Gongsun Yue answered with an equally heated expression.
“What kind of Alliance Leader gives up his position overnight just to go to Mount Hua? Alliance Leader, please calm yourself.”
“How am I supposed to take it when he’s telling us they’ll handle the fight themselves, so the Alliance should preserve its forces?”
Gongsun Yue spoke in the calmest tone he could manage.
“I understand. Now that I think about it, there is one expert outside our forces. I will contact him.”
“Who?”
“The former Chief Strategist. I do not know whether he will go or not. As the Sect Leader emphasized, you should protect the Alliance. If the former Chief Strategist goes, he will certainly be of help.”
“A retired man?”
“Yes. If he refuses, then do as you wish, Alliance Leader.”
Feeling stifled, Lin Xiaobai picked up the letter again. In the midst of his rising temper, he gave voice to the words that surfaced with the flow of his thoughts.
“……Are flowers scarce on Mount Hua?”
“I have never been there either, so I do not know.”
Lin Xiaobai read the letter over and over again.