“What is it then?”

“He says it isn’t here?”

“Haha. It is not.”

“Maybe not this one?”

“Whoa, it is not here.”

Cold sweat ran down Baek Cheon’s back. All these damn bastards around were glancing at him.

“Then wouldn’t it have been a dog’s death if we died here?”

“We would have turned into water ghosts. A vengeful ghost, vengeful one. Later, the sect leader would have to come and hold an ancestral rite for us.”

“Ugh. That is a great plan. So trustworthy.”

“Ugh, what is this….”

“What? I didn’t hear it, right?”

“Gul… it is right.”

Baek Cheon gritted his teeth.

But Chung Myung was not shifting his attention from him.

“What? It isn’t here? Then who is the bastard who beat up our kids and dragged away the civilians?”

“I-I too…”

“Um?”

“I don’t know!”

“You don’t know? Is it over if you don’t know?”

Chung Myung grabbed Jo Seung by his collar and began to beat him up.

“But this bastard deserves to be hit! A bastard who doesn’t even know what to do is cheating around? Ah! I heard you people swim well! Let us see if you can come out even after I tie your body and throw you in with a rock!”

“S-spare me! Please spare me! You said you would!”

“I did?”

“Yes! Surely you…”

“I did?”

“…”

Jo Seung looked at Baek Cheon and the rest of the disciples with bewildered eyes, but they just looked into the distance, ignoring him.

‘I am sorry.’

‘There is a reason for everything.’

‘Amitabha. May you be reborn in paradise.’

Whoa…

This world was rotten.

“Therefore! You heard my words, right? You can hear right with your ears, right?”

“… No. I must have been mistaken.”

Jo Seung, who had withstood the threats with his humor, knew at this moment how he had to behave.

“A-anyway… you don’t know?”

“Y-Yes.”

Chung Myung had this sullen look on his face, and Baek Cheon spoke like it was unfair.

“No, I said they got on the ship and found out about the special package! Even though we claimed to be from the Mount Hua sect, who would suspect their actions when they came armed?”

“… right?”

“There are rumors going around that there was a special package on board, so how could the pirates not outnumber us?”

“Then why did they continue to fight even after hearing about the Mount Hua sect?”

“That…”

Jo Seung scratched his head awkwardly.

“Who would have thought that Mount Hua, from far-off Shaanxi, would actually come to the Yangtze River? Hahaha…”

“Hahaha!”

“Ha… hahahah!”

“Are you laughing now?”

Crack!

An animal-like scream escaped Jo Seong’s mouth as his neck was pushed to the breaking point.

“I don’t get it, why are brats these days so clueless? Now, while I’m at it, this little bastard needs to have his neck broken and put to sleep!”

Pouak! Puak! Puak!

Jo Seung turned his head left and right.

“Die! Die, you bastard! Die! You know nothing! You have no clue! Then it means it is time to go! Die!”

Such a strange sight.

The person currently being beaten by Chung Myung was a pirate. If he were caught by some official, the punishment would be beheading. If caught by another sect, it would be the same.

But Chung Myung was now showing immense mercy to him.

“AHH! I remember! I remember! I can guess something!”

“Oh?”

Chung Myung stopped his fist in mid-air and smiled.

“You remembered?”

“Yes! Yes! Well, I have a guess!”

Everyone applauded in their hearts at this.

‘I heard that squeezing a dried squid will bring water out.’

‘He is now making up an answer that doesn’t exist…’

‘Amitabha. I cannot see with my eyes anymore.’

Jo Seung, whose face was swollen like a dumpling and whose original facial features were no longer visible, opened his mouth in desperation.

“Well, I recently heard that a group of pirates had settled near Dongting Lake.”

“What do you mean? You aren’t pirates, then? What is with this number, then?”

“Well, our Great Whale Pirates is one of the river families in the Yangtze, but that doesn’t mean we manage the entire river. For that to happen, anyone who wants to create a new pirate group would have to get the permission of the Black Dragon King. Get it?”

“Uh?”

Chung Myung looked at Im So-Byeong to confirm this. Im So-Byeong nodded.

“It is the truth. When bandits first appear and want to grow in size, they come to the Green Forest. Then, we decide whether to include them in the 72 bandits or exclude them to another side, or just let them use our name.”

“Such a hassle.”

“At first glance, Taoist Chung Myung seems to know everything about the world, but it seems like you don’t know the basics. This is a common thing, you know.”

“What good would happen to me if I learned about bandits and pirates? I just have to catch and kill them.”

“…”

Im So-Byeong was speechless, his shoulders slumping. Baek Cheon comforted him by patting his shoulder as if to say it wasn’t his fault.

“It is fine. It’s okay. Anyone can see that he is the bad guy here.”

“… thank you for the kind words.”

Chung Myung, who had created numerous victims in a short time, pulled Jo Seung towards him again.

“So?”

“Pirates, those belonging to a group, rarely use such drastic methods. If the fishing ground gets destroyed, isn’t the fisherman’s livelihood going to die? I-If it’s true that they kidnapped the civilians, it is a problem for them, too. But those who start out initially are ignorant and radical.”

“Hmm.”

Chung Myung nodded his head like this made sense.

“Are there any other pirates around here?”

“The area around the cavity there is tightly held by Great Whale pirates….”

“You people aren’t that strong either.”

“…”

Tears flowed down from Jo Seung’s eyes.

‘You are the monster here, you bastard!’

The sound of his heart, which he had never heard until then, was resonating desperately.

“Tsk.”

Chung Myung stared at the Five Swords with an expression of disapproval. All the Five Swords could do was tap their soles.

“That…”

“…”

“Um…”

“…”

“Eh, enough. Let’s not talk about it.”

“Curse us! You bastard!”

“Get angry!”

“Ah, I was wrong!”

In the end, no one could stand it anymore and turned violent with their words. But this time, Chung Myung just clicked his tongue and turned away.

Wasn’t the saddest thing about this the indifferent act? The disciples of Mount Hua became sad.

However, it was true that if it wasn’t for Chung Myung, they would have died here, so they couldn’t even say anything.

“Well, that is fine. You did pretty well at this level.”

“… really?”

“Who would have imagined that they would bring the whole ship with them? It was fine.”

What is with that bastard?

Normally, he wouldn’t have been able to control his anger and would have ended up cursing everyone.

“However.”

Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon and his companions with cold eyes.

“If one could do anything with just motivation and a plan, they wouldn’t be a prestigious place.”

“… sorry.”

“If you understand it, it is good enough.”

After saying that, Chung Myung nodded. An awkward silence lingered around.

Basically, the Five Swords had nothing to say because they committed a bad sin. Chung Myung is a human who has never comforted someone with roundabout words. So they had nothing to say.

Im So-Byeong broke the awkward air.

“So what do we do now, Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon? The pirates?”

Chung Myung pretended not to care much about it and said.

“Whatever. We just crush them!”

“First, we send some of the captured prisoners to another pirate camp. Check to see if there is a place where civilians were indeed caught.”

“…will they listen to us?”

“As if. We poison them. When we tell them that if they don’t come back within 5 hours, their internal organs will melt and die, they will come back, right?”

“…”

Chung Myung, who had prepared what to say as a ‘having a smart guy makes things easier,’ quietly closed his mouth.

Sometimes, they forgot that this bastard was the true bandit.

“Well, it doesn’t seem like it was the work of these ones.”

“Seems like it. There is nothing we can do about this. Ah, all my troubles were in vain.”

As Yoon Jong listened to this entire talk, he thought to himself, ‘Then why bother holding onto the pirates here?’ But he didn’t bother asking.

Actually, there was no need for a specific reason for these pirates to be held or hit.

The problem here was that the people who were commanding them were Taoists, worse than bandits.

“After gathering all the information about those pirates, it appears they used an island as a base.”

“Island?”

When Chung Myung tilted his head like he couldn’t understand, Im So-Byeong explained everything again.

“So…”

Chung Myung, who heard Im So-Byeong’s entire explanation, spoke as if this was absurd.

“Because the Yangtze River is so wide, there are small islands in the middle of it, and they are used by the pirates to increase their strength.”

“Of course.”

“…There are all sorts of people in the world.”

“So what do we do?”

“What?”

Im So-Byeong shrugged his shoulders.

“Honestly, I don’t recommend raiding an island. We are bandits, not pirates. There is nothing to be afraid of if our feet are on the ground, but fighting on a ship is a lot to handle. No one knows how to move a ship either.”

“You worry about everything.”

“Uh?”

“There are a lot of them there, those who can drive a ship.”

Chung Myung pointed to the pirates with his chin.

“Ehh, come on…”

Im So-Byeong’s eyes twitched.

“It is basic to deal with pirates like this! This is how it is done!”

In the end, the Five Swords, who endured everything, whispered.

“I like this a lot.”

“Leave him be. What can be done and cannot be done was never a problem.”

Chung Myung looked at the Yangtze River and gritted his teeth.

“It is an island, and if they touch Mount Hua, I will chase them to hell and break their heads! Make them say they don’t know how to handle a ship! We will attack them then!”

“… No, my physician…”

As Im So-Byeong was about to say something, Chung Myung put his arm around his shoulder.

“Why are you doing this? We are on the same boat, you know.”

“… Isn’t it because of our personality that we seem to be in the same boat? But the thing is, I get seasick.”

“It is fine. Totally fine. I will handle everything! You trust me, right?”

“Can I actually be honest?”

“You cannot.”

“…Okay.”

Im So-Byeong, who was listening to Chung Myung, quietly said,

“No… if we have come to this point, I don’t plan on going against anything, but if this is the case, I would rather wait for the reinforcements of the Mount Hua Sect to arrive and then all go together. Things will be easier then.”

“Ehh. That won’t do.”

“Why?”

Chung Myung looked at Im So-Byeong and spoke as if he had asked the most absurd question he could.

“What if the ship sinks and the kids fall into the water? That is such obvious shit.”

“…Then aren’t we kids too?”

“Can I be honest?”

“… Don’t, don’t bother being honest.”

“Get prepared quickly. I am a busy person.”

“…”

Im So-Byeong’s choice wasn’t wrong. There was just one thing he forgot.

The fact was that in this world, there weren’t just racehorses that ran fast on the path; there were also racehorses that sometimes deviated from the path and kicked people in the chest.

Sadly.