“Who dares run wild on the Yangtze?”
Not that I expected an answer from all the way over there.
Letting Mu Song’s shout go in one ear and out the other, I circulated my internal energy and sharpened my eyesight.
The distance was easily over two hundred zhang.1 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 swift ship we were riding had surrounded one tiny boat. Black specks that looked like arrows and harpoons flew toward it without pause.
Then I spotted the flags fluttering from the bandits’ ships, and 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?”
“Uh, Senior. I’m not quite sure how to put this.”
“What?”
“That unaffiliated rabble looks like they belong to the Yangtze River Channel League.”
“…?”
“…?”
After a brief silence, Mu Song roared, “That’s impossible!”
“No, it’s entirely possible. Their 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? He was surprisingly sharp.
Instead of panicking, I hardened my expression.
“I’m a fast learner. Besides, is that really important right now? Every moment counts! We need to punish those lawless thugs disrupting order on the Yangtze!”
Mu Song looked as if he wanted to punish me first, but he wholeheartedly agreed with my point.
“Exactly. In this day and age, how dare they commit murder on the Yangtze… I’ll kill every last one of them with a single palm strike!”
It was a little depressing to hear that from 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 philosophy was that taking people’s money was enough. Why take their lives too?
“…”
He was still taking their money.
Come to think of it, they were all much the same. Still, in a Murim where people drew their swords at the slightest provocation, he really was conscientious for a top-tier river bandit—especially one who was a Disciple of the Alliance Leader of the Yangtze River Channel League.
“Raise the red flag!”
At Mu Song’s booming command, the five swift ships raised the red flags that signaled battle and surged forward.
Whoooooosh!
The sails swelled taut in a timely gust of wind. Built for maximum speed, the swift ships sliced through the current and devoured the distance between us.
The two-hundred-zhang1 gap shrank by half in an instant. Among the river bandits preparing for close-quarters battle, urgent shouts rang out.
“S-swift ships!”
“Mu Song of Water Dragon Stronghold is here! Everyone, retreat!”
But Mu Song was not about to let them escape.
Barely fifty zhang1 now separated us from the enemy. A fierce light flashed in his eyes as he glared at the bandits scrambling back to their ships.
“Let’s at least see what you bastards look like!”
Grinding his teeth, Mu Song snatched up a massive harpoon, kicked off the stern, and leaped into the air.
Boom!
The sturdy wooden deck splintered, and the Yangtze swallowed Mu Song’s body as it arced through the air.
Isn’t that dangerous?
Mistaking the Yangtze for some valley stream in Gangwon Province would be a serious mistake.
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.
Even Hyuk Mujin, who had been dry-heaving, asked with a pale face, “Shouldn’t we rescue him—uweeegh!”
“Gibang, pat that bastard on the back.”
“I’m not his nanny…”
Of course he wasn’t. Who would hire a beggar as a nanny?
Despite his grumbling, Gung Gibang pounded Hyuk Mujin on the back.
“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?”
“Oh, right.”
“I don’t know who those bastards are, but they’ve tangled with the wrong man. There’ll be a string of funerals today. Tsk, tsk.”
Gung Gibang’s prediction was accurate.
A few seconds later, Mu Song surfaced more than ten zhang1 ahead of the swift ship.
Spla-aaash!
Every time his massive body traced a supple curve like a wave, he shot forward like a water-skier. My jaw dropped.
“Unbelievable!”
He was even faster than the swift ship.
The sight of Mu Song charging toward the enemy vessel like a fish-man made my own blood boil.
“Since it’s come to this, I’m going too!”
Gung Gibang shrieked, “Going where?”
“Uweeegh!”
“Benefactor, me too!”
“Get lost, all of you! The Grand Line2 is calling me! The Yangtze is calling me!”
Breaking free of the Bermuda Triangle, I raced across the deck and launched myself from the bow with all my strength.
Boom! Craaack!
The bow shattered under the force. Weightlessness swept over me as the wind slammed into my face.
Whoooooosh!
“Freedom! Freedom!”
I became a bird.
Then I lost momentum and began to fall.
“Senior!”
“Gasp!”
Tap!
I landed lightly on the back of a passing fish-man.
Angle, speed, distance, landing point. This result was only possible because I had calculated everything perfectly.
“Whew. Per-fect.”
“What part of that was perfect!”
Mu Song roared at his unexpected passenger, but what could he do? I was already aboard.
I glared at the river bandits frantically turning their ships around.
“Let’s go!”
“Damn it! Since it’s come to this, we’ll charge straight into the ship!”
“That’s my Senior!”
“We’ll settle this when this is over!”
Spla-aaash!
Gritting his teeth, Mu Song increased his speed even further.
The river bandits had only just regained their footing and were frantically trying to escape, but it was already too late.
We had become a single harpoon hurtling toward the side of their ship.
“Go, Senior! Fish-Man Jujutsu:3 Current—One-Arm Shoulder Throw!”
“Yaaaargh!”
Mu Song and I screamed at the top of our lungs and thrust out our arms at the same time.
He held a harpoon and I held a spear, but our weapons had one thing in common.
Powerful qi gathered at the tips of both weapons.
Whoooooosh!
Two blasts of Spear Energy tore through the wind and burrowed into the ship’s damp, sturdy hull.
The next instant—
Kwaaang! Rumble-rumble-rumble!
A thunderous roar erupted with an enormous shock wave.
“Mujin.”
At my solemn voice, Hyuk Mujin finally stopped retching and answered with a pale face.
“Yes?”
“I think I was born to be a river bandit.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Do you want to hear yourself wail?”
“I misspoke because I’m not feeling well. Now that I think about it, the role suits you perfectly.”
“Right?”
“Yes. I can still vividly see you recklessly—no, courageously—smashing straight through that ship.”
“What a rush.”
I nodded smugly and gazed at the slowly sinking ship.
On one side, Mu Song’s men had divided themselves among the small ferryboats carried aboard the swift ships and were pulling floundering river bandits from the water.
On the other ship, the river bandits hung their heads as they were transferred to the swift ships one after another, bound together with ropes.
One ship sunk. The other captured.
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, surrender did not lead to a particularly happy ending.
“How dare scum like you tarnish the name of the Yangtze River Channel League?”
Moderate or not, Mu Song was still a martial artist who had no qualms about killing and a river bandit who had spent his life on the unforgiving Yangtze.
Once he snapped, there was no stopping him.
“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!”
Mu Song answered them with an icy stare.
“Stronghold Lord? You belong to a different stronghold. 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 were willing to invade Water Dragon Stronghold’s territory and do something like this, you should have been prepared for the consequences. Do you know why I had my men pull you out of the water? So I could punish you with my own hands.”
Mu Song jerked his chin, and his subordinates stepped forward and dragged the river bandits away.
The river bandits screamed as death closed in, but their limbs were already bound. One splash after another rang out as they sank beneath the surface.
Cheongpung bit his lip, his face pale, as more than fifty river bandits were drowned alive before his eyes.
No wonder.
Someone who was afraid even of blood could hardly endure a sight like this.
Despite myself, I grew concerned and 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 look at.”
“No.”
“Hm?”
Cheongpung’s eyes twitched.
“I’m just… trying to get used to it.”
Get used to it? I had never expected to hear something like that from Cheongpung.
Cheongpung was kind by nature, and unlike other young men his age, he had not been tainted by the ways of the world.
Perhaps that was why he feared blood and had always avoided killing. But now, I sensed a steely resolve within him.
Was it the battle with the Blood Lord at Mount Song? Did it begin then?
His first encounter with the fear and terror of death must have awakened something inside him.
Part of me was proud of him. Another part felt bitter.
It can’t be helped. This is the Murim.
That was right. This was the Murim—and the storm clouds of war were gathering.
He could not remain an innocent mountain youth forever in a place like this.
If this helped him grow… maybe it was for the best.
Cheongpung fought to keep his eyes from closing. At last, he let out a sigh of relief.
The river bandits had finally been dealt with.
But it was not over yet.
“Hwang Tae-gu. Now it’s your turn.”
Mu Song’s low voice rang 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 attack.
Gung Gibang muttered as he watched him.
“I was wondering why Mu Song was here. So that’s what happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families have their factions. Imagine how bad it must be in a band of river bandits like the Yangtze River Channel League.”
“So this 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 the loser of an internal power struggle had gone rogue and finally gotten himself caught?
As I considered that, Hwang Tae-gu opened his mouth.
“I have nothing to say to some ignorant young punk. Kill me.”
“You’ll get your wish whether you say anything or not. But why did you do this?”
“Heh heh. What a stupid question. I’m a river bandit. What’s wrong with a river bandit killing and taking what he wants?”
“There’s no reasoning with you. I should have killed you long ago.”
Mu Song’s face hardened, and he raised his harpoon.
“Would Great Hero Mu Song, the Ship-Fire Boy, please wait a moment?”
A voice suddenly rang out, piercing the ears of everyone present.
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