Chapter 332

“Who dares cause trouble on the Yangtze!”

I didn’t expect anyone over there to answer.

Ignoring Mu Song’s shout with one ear, I circulated my internal energy and sharpened my eyesight.

The distance was easily over two hundred zhang. But my vision had improved enough that you could call me a human eagle, allowing me to take in the entire scene at a glance.

That’s…

River bandits.

Two ships far larger than the fast ship we were riding had surrounded a tiny boat, while black dots resembling arrows and harpoons flew at it without pause.

When I spotted the flags fluttering from the bandits’ ships, my gaze naturally shifted toward Mu Song.

“I don’t know what kind of scum they are, but they picked the wrong target. You there! Immediately deal with those rootless bastards… What’s wrong?”

“Senior, how should I put this?”

“What is it?”

“Those rootless bastards. They seem to belong to the Yangtze River Channel League.”

“……?”

“……?”

After a brief silence, Mu Song shouted,

“That’s impossible!”

“It’s not impossible. The flag says ‘Yangtze River Channel League’ in very bold lettering.”

“Didn’t you say you were illiterate a moment ago?”

Was he a river bandit or a razor blade? He had a surprisingly sharp side.

Instead of panicking, I hardened my expression and said,

“I’m a fast learner. Besides, is that the important thing right now? We need to punish those lawless thugs disrupting order on the Yangtze as quickly as possible!”

Mu Song looked like he wanted to punish me first, but he wholeheartedly agreed with my opinion.

“That’s right. In this day and age, how dare they commit murder on the Yangtze… I’ll kill those bastards with one blow!”

It was lamentable that those words had come from the mouth of a river bandit chief, but according to something Gung Gibang had casually told me, Mu Song belonged to the moderate faction within the Yangtze River Channel League.

His principle was that taking money was enough. There was no reason to take lives, too.

“……”

No, he was still taking the money.

Come to think of it, there wasn’t much difference between them after all. Still, in a Murim where people reached for their swords whenever they got bored, he really was more conscientious than most top-tier river bandits—especially one who was a Disciple of the Alliance Leader of the Yangtze River Channel League.

“Raise the red flag!”

At the booming command of their leader, Mu Song, five fast ships raised red flags signifying battle and charged forward at tremendous speed.

Whoooooosh!

The sails swelled taut in the wind that happened to blow at just the right moment. Modified to achieve maximum speed, the fast ships cut through the waves without hesitation, rapidly closing the distance.

When the two-hundred-zhang gap shrank by half in an instant, an urgent shout rang out among the river bandits preparing to attempt a boarding attack.

“F-fast ships!”

“Mu Song of Water Dragon Stronghold has appeared! Everyone, retreat!”

But Mu Song was not the sort of man to let them retreat in peace.

The distance between us and the enemy was already barely fifty zhang. As he glared at the bandits hurriedly returning to their ships, a sharp light flashed in his eyes.

“Let’s at least see what you bastards look like!”

With a teeth-grinding sound, Mu Song seized a massive harpoon, kicked off from the stern, and leaped into the air.

Boom!

The sturdy wooden deck splintered. At the same time, Mu Song’s body shot out in an arc and was roughly swallowed by the Yangtze.

Isn’t that dangerous?

It would be a mistake to think of the Yangtze as some valley stream in Gangwon Province.

Although this was a branch of the Yangtze that split away from the main channel, it was as wide and deep as the sea, and the current was viciously rough.

That was why even Hyuk Mujin, who had been dry-heaving, asked with a pale face,

“Shouldn’t we rescue him—ueeegh!”

“Gibang, pat that guy on the back.”

“I’m no nanny…”

Even Gung Gibang wasn’t a nanny. Who would hire a beggar as one?

Despite grumbling, Gung Gibang pounded Hyuk Mujin’s back and said,

“There’s a limit to ignorance. Do you think a river bandit chief would jump into the Yangtze without learning water-based martial arts? Especially a Disciple of the Seafaring King, who no one can match in the water?”

“Ah, right.”

“I don’t know who they are, but they picked the worst possible target. There’ll be funerals one after another today. Tsk, tsk.”

Gung Gibang’s prediction was accurate.

A few seconds later, Mu Song emerged from the water more than ten zhang ahead of the fast ship.

Spla-aaash!

Every time his massive body traced a supple curve like a wave, he surged forward like a water skier. My mouth fell open on its own.

“This can’t be happening!”

He was even faster than the fast ship.

Watching Mu Song charge toward the enemy vessel with the appearance of a fish-man, I felt my own blood begin to boil.

“Since it’s come to this, I’m going, too!”

Gung Gibang screamed,

“Going where?”

“Uweeegh!”

“Benefactor, me too!”

“Get lost, all of you! The Grand Line is calling me! The Yangtze is calling me!”

Shaking off the Bermuda Triangle, I raced across the deck and launched myself from the bow with all my strength.

Boom! Crack!

The bow shattered under the force. My body was swept up in weightlessness as wind slammed fiercely into my face.

Whoooooosh!

“Freedom! Freedom!”

I became a bird, then quickly lost momentum and began to fall.

“Senior!”

“Gasp!”

Tap!

I landed lightly on the back of a fish-man who happened to be passing by.

The angle and speed, the distance, the point where I would fall—all of it had been calculated perfectly. That was the only reason the result had been possible.

“Whew. Per-fect.”

“What part of that was perfect!”

Mu Song shouted at the unexpected free rider, but there was nothing he could do about it now that I was already aboard.

I glared at the river bandits hurriedly turning their ship around and shouted,

“Let’s go!”

“Damn it! Since it’s come to this, we’ll charge straight into the ship!”

“Yes, that’s my Senior!”

“We’ll settle this after it’s over!”

Spla-aaash!

Gritting his teeth, Mu Song increased his speed even further.

The river bandits had only just found their footing and were desperately trying to escape, but it was already too late.

We had become a single harpoon, shooting toward the side of their ship.

“Go, Senior! Fish-Man Jujutsu: Current—One-Arm Shoulder Throw!”

“Yaaaargh!”

Mu Song and I shouted at the top of our lungs as we thrust out our arms at the same time.

He held a harpoon, and I held a spear, but we had one thing in common.

Powerful qi gathered at the tips of both weapons.

Whoooooosh!

The two currents of Spear Energy cut through the wind and pierced the damp, sturdy side of the ship.

The next moment—

Kwaaang! Rumble-rumble-rumble!

A tremendous shock wave erupted along with a thunderous roar.

“Mujin.”

At my solemn voice, Hyuk Mujin finally stopped retching and answered with a pale face.

“Yes?”

“I think I may have the constitution of a river bandit.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Do you want to hear the wails?”

“I made a verbal mistake because I’m not feeling well. Thinking about it again, you do seem suited to it.”

“Right?”

“Yes. I can still vividly see the way you recklessly—no, courageously—pierced straight through the ship.”

“It was exhilarating.”

I nodded smugly and gazed at the ship that was slowly sinking.

On one side, Mu Song’s men were using the small skiffs carried aboard the fast ships to pull river bandits from the water, where they thrashed helplessly.

On the other ship, the river bandits had their heads hanging low and were being transferred to the fast ships one after another, bound together with ropes.

One ship sunk. The other captured.

That was an excellent result for my first naval battle.

Originally, I had planned to sink both ships. But the river bandits lost their will to fight as soon as they saw the ship carrying their comrades sink, and they surrendered.

Of course, even after surrendering, their ending was not particularly good.

“How dare scum like you tarnish the name of the Yangtze River Channel League?”

No matter how moderate Mu Song was, he was still a martial artist who had no qualms about killing and a river bandit who had lived his entire life on the harsh Yangtze.

Once Mu Song lost his temper, nothing could hold him back.

“Throw them to the fish.”

The tightly bound river bandits opened their eyes wide.

“T-this can’t be happening!”

“Stronghold Lord! Please, anything but that!”

But the only answer they received was Mu Song’s cold gaze.

“Stronghold Lord? The strongholds you belong to are different from mine. Why would I be your Stronghold Lord? And don’t worry. Your chief will be joining you soon, so you won’t be lonely.”

“We were wrong! Please, just this once…!”

“If you invaded Water Dragon Stronghold’s territory to carry out this kind of act, you should have been prepared for this much. Do you know why I had my men pull you from the water? So I could punish you with my own hands.”

At a jerk of Mu Song’s chin, his subordinates approached and dragged the river bandits away.

As the presence of death drew close enough to touch, the river bandits screamed. But their limbs had already been bound, and they sank beneath the surface with a series of splashes.

Cheongpung bit his lip with a pale face as he watched more than fifty river bandits being drowned alive one after another.

It makes sense.

Someone who was afraid even of blood had no chance of enduring a sight like this.

Concerned despite myself, I spoke to him quietly.

“Close your eyes. I’ll tell you when it’s over.”

“No, Benefactor. I’m fine.”

“They may deserve to die, but you’re still watching people die. It might be hard to see.”

“No.”

“Hm?”

Cheongpung’s eyes twitched as he opened his mouth.

“I’m just… trying to get used to it.”

Get used to it? I had never expected Cheongpung to say something like that.

Cheongpung was naturally kind-hearted, and unlike other young men his age, he had not been tainted by the ways of the world.

Perhaps that was why he had been afraid of blood and avoided killing. But now, I could feel a firm resolve within him.

Was it the battle with the Blood Lord at Mount Song? Did it begin then?

The fear and terror of death he had experienced for the first time must have awakened something inside Cheongpung.

I was proud of him in one way, but bitter in another.

It can’t be helped. This is the Murim.

That was right. This was the Murim—a Murim where the winds of war were gathering.

He could not remain an innocent mountain youth forever in a place like this.

If he managed to grow even this way… maybe it was for the best.

Cheongpung stubbornly forced strength into his eyes, which were about to close, and let out a sigh of relief. The river bandits had finally been dealt with.

But everything was not over yet.

“Hwang Tae-gu. It’s your turn now.”

Mu Song’s low voice rang out across the deck.

Unlike the other river bandits, a man in his fifties had been forced to his knees before Mu Song, tightly bound in chains.

Hwang Tae-gu was the mastermind behind this incident.

Gung Gibang muttered as he watched him.

“I was wondering why Mu Song was here. So that’s how things turned out.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families have their factions. How much more so would a group of river bandits like the Yangtze River Channel League?”

“That Hwang Tae-gu lost a factional struggle?”

“He was famous for being greedy and violent. Just a few years ago, he lorded over the Yangtze in Sichuan… There’s no doubt Mu Song pushed him out.”

So a loser in an internal power struggle had gone rogue and finally been caught?

I was thinking that when Hwang Tae-gu opened his mouth.

“I have nothing to say to a young brat who knows nothing about the ways of the world. Kill me.”

“You won’t need to say anything for your wish to come true. But why did you do something like this?”

“Heh heh. What a stupid question. I’m a river bandit. What’s wrong with a river bandit killing and taking whatever he wants?”

“There’s no reasoning with you. I should have killed you sooner.”

That was the moment Mu Song hardened his expression and raised his harpoon.

“Great Hero Mu Song, the Ship-Fire Boy, would you wait a moment?”

A voice suddenly rang out, piercing the ears of everyone present.