Episode 39. What did your brother want to do?
Yeonjeokha said, scratching her head and trying to remember.
“Oh, that? It’s called the Nine Dragons’ Embodiment. To put it simply, there are nine dragons living in my body. I wake up the dragons in my eight cardinal veins and my divine vein one by one. They say that if you wake up all nine of them, you can achieve harmony between wind and clouds.”
Hasobaek opened his eyes wide.
“Oh my! The Wind and Cloud Harmony? It’s really scary. But what is the Divine Vein?”
I know about the eight meridians of the Gijing and Qi, but this was the first time I heard about the kidney meridian.
Yeonjeokha pointed to her forehead with her index finger.
“Oh, I don’t think you’d know even if I told you it was in your head. It controls things like your sixth sense.”
“Ah yes.”
Hasobaek nodded absentmindedly.
Just thinking about the usual romance is terrifying, but the harmony of the wind and clouds?
I can’t imagine. I can understand why the black-clad drones fell without making a sound.
Even during the conversation between the two, the fight became fierce.
The fight ended with the opponent being tossed around by the sword wielded by the Gwangdo Army.
Around lunchtime.
Although it was called the Green Forest Competition, each person had to prepare their own meals. The five Bong Sip-geols roughly filled their stomachs with the beef jerky and dried food they had prepared.
Just before the five Bong Shib Geols finished their meal and went to find some shade, Poong Yeon Cho spoke.
“I looked into it, and it seems like the rainy season will end in three days. That means I have to stay in Mansapyeong for the next three days. So don’t keep asking me when it’ll end and just take your time and look around.”
“yes.”
“All right.”
With the answer, the five Bong Shib Geols dispersed in groups of two or three.
Hasobaek followed Yeonjeokha, who was walking slowly as if taking a stroll.
“Brother, where are you going?”
“Oh, I was just going to take a spin.”
“Then I’ll go with you. I’m scared to go around alone.”
For Ha So-baek, who had almost been bullied by men, Mansapyeong was quite a burdensome place.
“Or so.”
Yeonjeokha also did not reject her because he knew her past.
The two walked around Mansapyeong shoulder to shoulder.
Is it about halfway around?
Hasobaek muttered.
“I think there are more women than I thought.”
“I know.”
Yeonjeokha nodded as if he agreed.
I saw about a hundred women during the half-circle. The rest of the people were probably in similar circumstances, so I think there were about two hundred. Two hundred women out of a thousand! When you think about it, there aren’t many women in O Bong San Chae.
“Oh my, those guys look like the Red Army? Right?”
Hasobaek’s hand pointed somewhere.
When Yeonjeokha glanced over, he saw that the bandits of the Red Cross had really gathered in one place.
It is not only Hasobaek and Yeonjeokha who discovered the red sea bream.
The bandits who saw the red flag belatedly whispered with hardened faces.
After a while, the red-faced Chae Joo-ha, the head of the Cheoncheon Bloodthirsty Army, Hyukryun-hu, approached Yeonjeok-ha in a straight line.
“Oh, my, we’ve known each other for a long time, but I guess it wasn’t a formality. Where are you from?”
Hasobaek answered with a forced smile.
“We are Obongsanchae from Obongsan Mountain in Hanam. We are going in the same direction as the Pyosas, so we only accompanied them for a short while.”
“Aha! Now I see, you were from the Obongsan Mountain Clan. There are rules that must be observed among the mountain Clans… … Why did you interfere with our Jeoksa Clan’s hike that day?”
Hasobaek glanced at Yeonjeokha, having nothing more to say.
However, the person involved, Yeon-jeok, just stared blankly as if he didn’t know anything.
This is the moment when Hyukryun-hu, who was shocked by the sight, was about to say something.
“Can you just sit by and let someone you don’t know harass you and curse at you?”
Finally, Yeonjeokha’s mouth opened.
After Hyukryun, he had nothing to say, but he didn’t want to back down like this.
“Even though…….”
“If you’re curious, try picking a fight with me again. Whether I win or not. Back then, I was very lenient because we were both Nokrim. But today, I won’t be lenient.”
Yeonjeokha looked up at Hyukryunhu with a face that said that she had said everything she wanted to say.
Hyukryun-hoo felt ‘sob’ at the increasingly shorter speech, but tried to control his emotions. To be honest, he didn’t have the confidence to handle that young kid’s martial arts skills.
Hyukryun-hu, who was breathing heavily, turned around without saying a word and left.
As the argument came to a bland end, the bandits who had been watching from afar also lost interest.
Some of them were muttering about the young bandits who had made Hyukryun-hu unable to move, but that was the extent of it. Since there were no bandits who recognized Yeon-jeok-ha, the progress was blocked.
“Brother, are you okay?”
Hasobaek was concerned about the last look in Hyukryunhu’s eyes that had been glaring. In his experience, people who returned like that always caused trouble.
“Brother Tak said this before. If you worry about this and that, you won’t be able to make a living by stealing.”
“Wow. This is profound.”
“Don’t worry about it. Should a person who eats rice with a knife be afraid of fighting?”
“Ah! I see. But, is this something you like to do, Brother?”
“This thing?”
Hasobaek explained with a blush on his face.
“What do you do in the mountains?”
“Oh, stealing?”
Ha So-baek snickered at Yeon-jeok-ha’s straightforward words.
“yes.”
“No, I’m just trying to make a living?”
“Then what did you originally want to do?”
“Well, what could it have been?”
Yeonjeokha looked at the distant mountains with hazy eyes.
Before he was locked in the warehouse, when he was playing a game of fighting with his half-brothers using sticks, his role was that of a bandit. At that time, he was beaten mercilessly by Yeonmu Baek, Yeonseung Baek, and Yeonseonju, who were the swordsmen of the martial arts world.
I said, ‘I want to be a swordsman too,’ but my brothers never once made me do it.
When I was locked in the warehouse, I just wanted to go outside. I didn’t even think about dreams or hopes. I just missed the wide yard and the market place of Unsa.
Looking back, I don’t think I was in a situation where I could think about what I wanted to do.
Hasobaek urged him to answer.
“It wasn’t there?”
“Oh, what are you doing?”
“I was going to open a small tea shop.”
“Can you make a living like that?”
“Oh my, you don’t know how much money Daru Tea House costs. Have you never been there before?”
“Oh. They give you free tea when you go to a restaurant. Are you saying you have to pay for it?”
“The ones they give you at the inn are just cheap. The premium teas are delicious and expensive.”
“I see.”
He nodded, answering in a dry tone.
Hasobaek clenched his small fists and spoke as if making a pledge.
“I’ll definitely open a bar when I save up money. I’ll even let you drink for free, brother.”
“thanks.”
As they chatted about this and that, they soon found themselves in the seats of the Five Bongsipgeol. Han Chae-yeon, who was sitting next to Lee Cheol-san, waves her hand to invite them in.
For the first time in my life, I thought, ‘It’s okay to have people waiting.’
***
Second day.
There was an unexpected twist in the Nokrim Competition. The rising new master of Daebyeolsanchae, Chuhonhyeoldo Lee Mujin, defeated the 12-horse army, Jeok-an-chuk-gun.
The face of Seok Mu-hae, the Pacheonma-gun who was watching from the upper seat, hardened slightly. However, he tried hard not to show his discomfort. He thought that it would not be a problem to give up one seat.
But the defeat of the Red Army was only the beginning.
In a battle that lasted until the evening, five people were defeated, including the Hyeoncheonjin Army, Mansangshin Army, Sosuyurang, and Sayeongsul Army.
Seok Mu-hae, whose reputation had fallen to the ground, ended the day with an angry expression on his face that anyone could see.
***
third day.
Of the twelve, two fell away, leaving only five.
A total of seven Twelve Horsemen fell, and Chuhonhyeoldo of Daebyeolsanchae, Naengmyeongeomgwi of Samdosanchae, Gwiyeongdosal of Gwangpungchae, Talmyeonghyeoljang of Dongho Suchae, and Janggang Ilgwae of Janggang Suchae survived.
Five of the twelve demon armies and five other thieves from the mountains.
It’s time for the thieves of Mansapyeong to argue over who will be the final winner.
Suddenly, Seokmuhae declared the end of the war.
The thieves were muttering, “Didn’t they finish it off because they were afraid that the five demons would fall?” However, no one dared say such a thing in front of Seok Mu-hae. That’s because Seok Mu-hae’s name is always included when listing the top ten masters in the world.
Seokmuhae appointed the remaining five members of the Twelve Horse Army to be law-guards, and the remaining five to patrol. In this way, the Green Forest was united into one large group.
On the last night of the Green Forest Festival, a drinking party took place at Mansapyeong.
The atmosphere of the mountain and water fields, which produced five new masters, was festive.
The farmers have already visited five mountain and water plants to get to know each other.
The Twelve Horsemen were difficult to deal with as they were the direct disciples of Seokmuhae, but the five patrolmen were different. The Chaeju expected that if they paid just a little attention to the patrolmen, they would be able to get the results they wanted.
Unlike the noisy outside, Seokmuhae’s tent was completely quiet.
Seokmuhae and the Twelve Horses sat in a circle, but no one spoke first.
The first enemy to fall opened his mouth with a dejected look on his face.
“Your Majesty, I am ashamed. I didn’t know that the power of the Chuhonhyeoldo was that high. There’s no way a master like him wouldn’t have known… … I don’t understand.”
The excuses of the other twelve fallen soldiers were similar.
The five masters appeared out of nowhere, as if they had fallen from the sky. It was so strange that such masters had not yet made a name for themselves in the Green Forest.
For the Twelve Demons, who had already been known as the best in the Green Forest more than ten years ago, this was a truly horrible thing to happen. He had been the best ten years ago, and had even learned the legendary martial art of the Dark Heavenly Sword, but he had lost, so it was understandable.
The Eumpungmyo-gun muttered with an uncertain expression.
“The guy who was supposed to be the Yeonjeok of Oh Bong San Chae also suddenly showed up, but I guess that’s because I don’t know his past… … Chuhon Blood, Naengmyeon Geom Gwi, Gwiyeong Do Slaughter, Talmyeong Blood, and Jang Gang Ilgwae were just some random guys, weren’t they? They were just high-level masters at best, but when I saw them this time, they were amazing.”
The other twelve horsemen nodded their heads.
Seok Mu-hae, who had been thinking deeply, frowned and said.
“You are right. In order for them to defeat you, they would have had to have learned martial arts that were superior to the Dark Heavenly Sword over the past ten years. However, I don’t remember hearing any news of such martial arts appearing in the martial arts world. Then where on earth did their exceptional internal energy come from?”
The defeated Hyeoncheonjin Army cautiously spoke up.
“I have nothing to say even if I had ten mouths because I was defeated, but I didn’t find anything outstanding in their martial arts. Like us, they must have learned some special internal energy. When I encountered the cold-faced swordsman’s sword, I was shocked to the point where my dantian tingled.”
“I was like that too. The magic of the Chuhonhyeoldo was just so-so, but the magic was horribly destructive.”
“me too…….”
The defeated Twelve Horsemen each said a word.
A sigh escaped Seok Mu-hae’s mouth as he listened to his disciples’ words.
“Haa! The only martial arts that are better than the Dark Heavenly Sword and the True Martial Arts of the Shaolin Temple are the Daruma Jinjing and the True Martial Arts of the Wudang Sect. Such martial arts have appeared in five places? That’s ridiculous. This isn’t something that can be passed over lightly. You guys should secretly investigate the five people.”
The Eumpungmyogun asked cautiously.
“Then what should I do with the lover of O Bong San Chae?”
“Are there any similarities between the martial arts of Yeonjeokha and the five patrolmen?”
After thinking for a moment, Eumpungmyo-gun shook his head.
“I think it’s a little different. He was as good at geomancy as he was at internal energy. My sound-wind-white-bone structure was completely blocked by his mysterious movements.”
“Hmm! He came to see me from the Red Cross a while ago and complained about the Five Bongsipgeols. I think I should meet him. Have him come over.”
“yes.”
After that, Seok Mu-hae gave some more instructions to the Twelve Horse Army.
After a while, twelve American soldiers left the tent in Seokmuhae.
***
Around midnight, I went to Seokmuhae’s tent with the Eumpungmyo Army, which I was in love with.
“You stay out.”
Following Seok Mu-hae’s instructions, Eumpungmyo-gun bowed and went outside.
Only Seokmuhae and Yeonjeokha remained in the tent.
A strange silence fell between Seok Mu-hae, the chief of the Nokrim Forest, and Yeon Jeok-ha, the thief of Obongsan Mountain.
Wuxia,
