Chapter 429: Baldy and Me

“Mount Zhongnan is this way.”

“So it is.”

Standing at the fork in the road, the Ghost Demon and the Lust Demon stopped walking and looked at each other. The two studied each other’s expressions, then smiled faintly.

The Lust Demon spoke first.

“……We won’t be seeing each other for quite a while.”

“I suppose not.”

“Second Brother, do you have a birthday?”

“No.”

“I see.”

This time, the Ghost Demon asked.

“Then does Eldest Brother have one?”

“I don’t think so. The cult wouldn’t have bothered with things like that.”

“The Third probably doesn’t either, does he?”

“Probably not.”

“What about you?”

The Lust Demon shook his head.

“I do, but I’m not planning to celebrate it.”

The Ghost Demon let out a short sigh, then asked.

“Do you think Yoran remembers her birthday?”

“She probably doesn’t know.”

“Right. Even gathering once in a while won’t be easy. In any case, the next time we meet, will I be seeing you as the Martial Alliance Leader?”

The Lust Demon shook his head.

“I’ll know once I get there. Even if I win everything, if my heart isn’t in it, I’ll have to go to Ilyang County.”

“Eldest Brother will be disappointed if you come back.”

“I’m fairly confident in my skills, but is it really right for me to become the Martial Alliance Leader?”

“Do you think you’ll cause trouble with women even in the Alliance? Or do you think even you can see that a lecherous Martial Alliance Leader is a bit much?”

“That worries me too, but wouldn’t the Third suit it better? He’s not popular with women either.”

The Ghost Demon thought it over, then apparently decided that would not do either and shook his head.

“Let’s leave the Third alone. He might develop an illness of the heart as deep as Alliance Leader Im’s. Alliance Leader Im knows the Third’s disposition well too, so he’ll find it hard to entrust the position to him.”

“Is that so. I’ll go and think it over carefully. More importantly, do you have money to establish a sect? You don’t, do you?”

The Ghost Demon smiled.

“I learned plenty about how to make money from the Third. Why do you think I said I’d force myself to do good deeds? If I clean up the area around Mount Zhongnan, along with the surrounding underworld and Green Forest bandits, the money will pile up on its own.”

“Really? That sounds more interesting than being Alliance Leader. Well, it’s not as if I have to be Alliance Leader for life. I’ll go and put my back into it for now, so don’t worry.”

The Ghost Demon said.

“I’ll hear the news that the Alliance Leader has changed from Mount Zhongnan. Let’s go now.”

“Second Brother.”

“Yes.”

“What courtesy should brothers observe when parting?”

“There’s nothing in particular.”

As soon as he finished saying there was nothing in particular, the Lust Demon gripped White Dragon with both hands and paid his respects.

“Brother, take care on your way. Stay healthy.”

Only then did the Ghost Demon untie the banner wrapped around his waist, tie it to the hilt of the Six Harmonies Sword, and thrust the Six Harmonies Sword between the bundles hanging from his back. Since the banner did not seem to be showing properly, the Lust Demon stepped forward and neatly arranged the bundle and banner for him.

The Ghost Demon turned and said to the Lust Demon.

“Youngest, stay healthy. I’ll hear the tale of your exploits in the dueling arena later.”

“Let’s do that.”

The Lust Demon pointed toward the road leading to Mount Zhongnan.

“You go first.”

The Ghost Demon nodded, then turned and started walking. The Lust Demon watched the Ghost Demon stride away, then once again murmured the words rippling like waves on the fluttering banner.

“The Number One Sword of Zhongnan…… Second Brother!”

The Lust Demon had nothing in particular to say, but he called out just to see the Ghost Demon’s blunt expression one more time.

The Ghost Demon turned and answered.

“What?”

“What do you think the Third is doing right now?”

The Ghost Demon looked up once at the bright sky, then answered.

“Since the weather’s nice, isn’t he beating someone up?”

As soon as the Ghost Demon finished speaking, the two laughed at the same time.

The Lust Demon watched until the Ghost Demon vanished down the road, then trudged off with White Dragon in his left hand and let out a long sigh.

“Martial Alliance Leader, of all the things not in my fate.”

* * *

We did arrive at the sea.

But there were so many bastards chasing us that I had no time to leisurely admire it. Only after beating them for quite a while did Baldy walk over to the shore and gaze at the surging waves.

The moment Baldy saw the sea pouring with light, he smiled truly brightly.

The sea glittered, and Baldy shone too…….

Even my eyes were dazzled as I watched.

When I looked at the bastard trying to ambush me from the side, he absurdly fell flat on his rear.

The bastard who had fallen on his rear met my eyes and tried to flee with bizarre movements like a sea crab, so I went out of my way to chase him down, grabbed his ankle, and hurled him straight into the sea.

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

The scream stretched on, then I heard a splash. Admiration came out of me on its own.

“Wow, even I feel refreshed.”

Since the bastards I had already beaten were strewn all around, I had no trouble grabbing them one by one and dropping them into the sea.

We had come because the Mad Monk wanted to see the sea, not because I wanted to see it. While the Mad Monk looked at the sea, I twisted the limbs of the fallen men who were still somewhat intact and sent them flying into the water one by one.

For one bastard, I broke his arm and threw him into the sea; for another, I twisted his ankle before throwing him.

Even if they were good swimmers, getting out of the sea would be a torment.

Because I had thrown them quite far.

For the bastard I caught this time, I grabbed both ankles with both hands and spun around in place.

“Waiter’s Great Rotation, round and round, human skipping stones on the waves.”

I threw him after about six rotations.

Whoooosh!

An unknown pirate soared into the distant heights and was falling toward the sea, but perhaps he had already fainted in midair, for he did not scream.

When I approached another bastard, he showed me his badly twisted left hand.

“……M-my arm is broken. Please spare me.”

“Is your right arm just for decoration?”

This time, I grabbed his arm and threw him with all my strength, combining internal and external arts. Just as I was about to enjoy the next water game, a man who had long since stopped resisting suddenly shouted at me.

“Stop!”

“You startled me.”

I walked over to the man, who had all manner of gold, silver, treasures, and ornaments hanging around his neck.

“King Yinping, why did you follow me all the way here and make a nuisance of yourself? You wait for a moment.”

The ones who chased me included not only Eunpyeongwang's forces but also Zhejiang's Xiaoyecha, Haining's Fengshuigui, and the Shengsihui, which had expanded its power by taking advantage of the Nangong Clan's seclusion.

They were forces that Gwangseung and I had crushed while making our way to the sea; since we hadn't uprooted them completely, they went so far as to form a coalition to pursue Baldy and came chasing after us.

As you can see, this is the result.

Already on the shore were fifty-some corpses and roughly over a hundred injured, either groaning or unconscious.

Watching them wriggle around trying to flee even amid all this, they looked like sea creatures washed in by the tide, squirming in a group.

I had tried to merely sever their arms and legs if possible, but things happen in a fight.

It's because I'm no merciful monk.

The past life's Mad Monk, current life's Baldy, was soaking his blood-stained stone staff in the seawater to wash off the blood.

I looked around and asked,

"Is Xiaoyecha alive?"

The head of Xiaoyecha, who had rampaged about with twin blades, was stuck in the sand; it seemed he had met his end at Baldy's hands.

"He's dead. What about Fengshuigui?"

He was lying face down on a rock a short distance from Gwangseung, and seeing blood flowing out from beneath it like the great sea, it seemed that bastard too had been killed by Baldy.

Baldy is a man of such violence.

It seems the leader of the Shengsihui didn't appear personally.

If so, then of the leaders here, only Eunpyeongwang remains alive.

I grabbed the ankle of a bastard near Eunpyeongwang, crushed it, and threw him into the sea.

The ones who had fallen into the sea earlier were floundering as they approached, and perhaps because their arms and legs weren't intact, they were utterly desperate.

These bastards must have been in high spirits when they chased us here as a coalition, but unfortunately, I am currently invincible.

There isn't a genius in the martial world who could predict that a monk and a young man accompanying him with a silly grin would be invincible.

This place, Zhejiang, didn't know me, as if it were a completely different world. It wasn't just Zhejiang; there wasn't a single person in other regions who recognized me either.

That was because I had come here before my fame had spread across the Four Seas.

I threw the stragglers around me into the sea, then sat my rear down on the ground while facing Eunpyeongwang.

"Eunpyeongwang."

"…"

"Any dog or cow calls itself a king."

Gwangseung also approached, placed the stone staff he had washed in the seawater neatly down, and sat in meditation at a position forming a triangular formation.

"Munju, do you intend to kill him?"

I answered while looking at Eunpyeongwang.

"I'm considering it."

Gwangseung spoke to me as if he were scolding a kid from the neighborhood.

"Don't kill him right away; ponder it a little more."

"Haven't we already killed quite a lot?"

"Still, think it through anew. I shall also restrain myself."

"Understood."

I continued my staring contest with Eunpyeongwang, who had come chasing me as part of a coalition. The number of those slowly fleeing was increasing, and the ones returning from the sea were also beating a hasty retreat, but I left them be.

Looking at the various accessories hanging around Eunpyeongwang's neck—especially necklaces befitting a woman—my killing intent stirred again.

I reached out to tear off the accessories around Eunpyeongwang's neck, but the moment I saw him turn his head away, I slapped his cheek.

Smack!

Had I hit him too hard?

Or was it because my martial arts were too strong?

My palm print was clearly stamped on Eunpyeongwang's face. Then Eunpyeongwang spat out broken teeth onto the ground and took off the accessories himself, placing them on the ground.

Did this bastard come after me knowing my true identity?

"Eunpyeongwang."

"Speak."

"Did you come chasing me knowing who I am? Did you think this force could capture me? Two hundred men? You thought this would be enough?"

I first pocketed the expensive accessories. It was a habit developed from traveling for so long.

Eunpyeongwang looked me up and down and let out a sigh.

"What do I know? We came to kill you. More than that, why did you provoke us?"

"Who are you? Untouchable beings?"

"In Zhejiang, yes."

I pointed at the sprawled-out corpses and injured as I spoke.

"We fought roughly. I tried not to kill if possible."

Why was I babbling on explaining such things?

The moment I thought, 'I should just kill him,' Gwangseung spoke.

"Munju, try to endure a little longer. You've already killed many. At this point, the injured won't rejoin their respective forces but will scatter to the winds."

"Yes, I'm enduring."

I reached out and grabbed Eunpyeongwang's face, examining his gaze, the shape of his eyes, the curve of his mouth, and his jawline.

"You're a brave one."

Eunpyeongwang spat out a futile threat.

"My elder brother will avenge me."

"Jinshanwang? He paved his floors with silver and piled mountains with gold, and yet……"

I took out the ink-black throwing knife from inside my clothes.

"Couldn't protect your hair."

Mixing in a bit of Ice Arts, I struck his upper body with a finger technique, then roughly cut Eunpyeongwang's hair with the ink-black throwing knife.

"Couldn't protect your hair, could you? You have so much money, yet you can't buy hair with money."

The ink-black throwing knife was so sharp that his hair was cut off in clumps. Perhaps because his snout hadn't frozen over either, he spoke in a strangled voice.

"……If you're going to kill me, kill me; if you're going to spare me, spare me. Why do you heap such humiliation upon me?"

I glared at the man.

"Humiliation?"

"…"

"Eunpyeongwang, what are you going to do about it if I give you humiliation? If you're displeased, challenge me or kill yourself. How shameless of you to speak of humiliation. You who squeezed the lifeblood out of people with your bizarre usury—what humiliation do you feel? Your elder brother's fate won't be much different from yours."

Eunpyeongwang's long hair flew off in clumps, riding the sea breeze to somewhere unknown.

My hand and the dagger were both covered in hair. Come to think of it, cleanly shaving him bald was also a bother, so I made his hair look like a village idiot's and put away the ink-black throwing knife.

Perhaps because he felt wronged and resentful, the fully grown man was shedding thick tears, so I slapped his cheek once more.

"Stop crying, you crazy bastard. It's not even shaved clean; why the hell are you bawling?"

Truthfully, I had wanted to kill this bastard too, but since Gwangseung was watching from the side, I let it slide for now.

I had forgotten something, so I asked Baldy,

"Ah, by the way, now that you've seen the sea directly, how is it?"

The gleaming Baldy gazed once more at the gleaming sea.

"……How should I put it. It's complicated. What about you, Munju?"

"As always, I have no particular thoughts."

"Munju, could you perhaps give the sea we are now looking at a name?"

The bald man looked at me as though he were expecting something.

“You want to give the sea a name?”

“It is not so strange. Mountains have names, after all……”

Come to think of it, it was not so strange, so I stared out at the vast sea where shafts of light were pouring down and gave it a name without much deliberation.

“Let’s call it Gwanghae (Sea of Light).”

At that half-hearted naming, born from the thought of a shining bald head combined with the sea, Gwangseung looked at me with a faint smile.

“That was originally my dharma name.”

“Oh.”

That startled me.

“To be precise, it was the dharma name I received before I became a martial monk.”

Even I found it strange that I had guessed his dharma name. Gwangseung said with a smile.

“Since my dharma name was Gwanghae, I had always thought I would see the sea one day. I wondered whether being given the dharma name Gwanghae was coincidence or not, and I felt I would only know once I came to the sea.”

“What do you think?”

“I feel that not a single moment of the journey here was coincidence. What do you think, Sect Leader?”

I thought for a moment, then answered honestly.

“It was not coincidence.”

“I think so as well.”

Gwangseung looked at King Eunpyeong.

“King Eunpyeong, for now, since the Sect Leader has kept you alive, simply be grateful that you are alive. Do you understand?”

I spoke to King Eunpyeong, whose cheek had been slapped and whose hair was a mess, leaving him thoroughly disheveled.

“Answer him.”

“I understand.”

“King Eunpyeong, there are no coincidences. Not the fact that you’re alive, nor the fact that you suddenly became bald. You might even become a monk from now on.”

King Eunpyeong shed tears yet again, but this time I did not slap him.

Have I, too, now deepened in compassion?