“Save us!”

“Forgive us!”

“I will do anything if you let me go!”

Baek Cheon tilted his head.

“What are they saying?”

“…that they will do anything if we spare them.”

Baek Cheon frowned at Jo Gul’s answer.

“Didn’t I tell you not to hit their mouths?”

“Yes, but they rebelled.”

“…”

‘Lovely sajae, just because they resist, we don’t aim for their jaws.’

Baek Cheon shook his head.

‘I cannot use Jo Gul.’

Somehow, they all seemed to resemble Chung Myung. If that was the case, why bother cursing at Chung Myung alone?

He sighed heavily and looked at the kneeling bandits.

‘That looks so painful.’

Come to think of it, there was no room for sympathy for these people. Because they were the ones who were aiming for the merchants’ goods.

According to Kwak Gyung, these bandits had definitely killed a lot of people, so there was a high chance that these people had killed kindhearted people because of their greed.

But despite knowing that…

“Huhuhu.”

“…”

Seeing Chung Myung walking behind him with a smile on his face made him feel bad for the bandits.

Chung Myung, who was smiling the whole time, approached Baek Cheon.

“What do we do now?”

“What do we do?”

Chung Myung smiled as he looked down at the bandits.

“Although they don’t eat grass, they will pull the carriage if we feed them something.”

“…”

‘Just kill them, bastard.’

Kwak Gyung rubbed his eyes.

However, no matter how many times he repeated that action, the vision in front of him didn’t change.

The horses that were supposed to pull the carriage painstakingly were now just lightly walking beside them as if they were out taking a stroll. And it was even more shocking that humans were pulling the carriage now.

“Kuak.”

“Kuak!”

The bandits, who had now turned into horses, dragged the carriage as their entire bodies struggled.

“…”

‘What does he normally do to even think about making a human being pull a carriage?’

‘Would a normal man even be able to think about doing such a thing?’

Even more surprising was that the man-drawn carriage was moving three times faster than when it was horse-drawn.

‘If humans could be such good horses, then why were humans using horses for their carriag… no! no!’

The swordsman named Chung Myung, who sat on the carriage seat, hit the head of the bandit closest to him with his sheathed sword.

“Are you kidding me? Where is the strength in your legs?”

“N-No!”

“You men are really lucky. You are a bandit and a killer; I am not the kind of person to keep such people alive. Still, you are useful, so I spared you. But you keep making useless excuses and don’t even move!?”

“No! Not at all!”

The carriage began to move faster. It was now at the speed where the people around it had to run to keep up with it.

The poor bandits pulled the carriage with all their might without resisting and shedding tears.

Kwak Gyung opened his mouth at this strange sight he had never imagined happening in front of him. And the captain of the escort team quietly approached him and said,

“Merchant head.”

“Yes, escort captain.”

“It is about the people pulling the carriage.”

“Yes. Hehe. So absurd. I am sorry. The captain must be having a hard time understanding it, but the people there….”

“No. No. It isn’t that.”

“Uh?”

The captain spoke with a pale face.

“They are stronger than me.”

“Huh?”

“They are stronger than me.”

“…uh?”

Kwak Gyung looked at the escort captain, unable to understand. The escort captain, whose name was Sama Hui, had the nickname ‘Lighting Fast Hands’.

He was even quite famous in the Sichuan area. Because the path to Yunnan was difficult and dangerous, he was hired to escort the merchant goods they carried with them.

‘It was difficult to even get this man to work for me, but now he’s saying that he’s weaker than a horde of random bandits?’

“So… you were saying?”

“The bandits who are pulling the carriage. They are strong than me.”

“…”

‘So, it wasn’t just the disciples of Mount Hua, but even a group of bandits were stronger than this man?’

“You bastard! What is with those feet!”

‘And a man as young as him was trampling on such bandits?’

“And it isn’t just one, but all of the bandits are stronger than me.”

“…all ten of them?”

“Yes. Each one.”

“…”

The escort captain glanced at the bandits with a tired face.

“Didn’t they say they were from the Occlude Tiger Village?”

“… I did hear something like that in the beginning.”

“If it is that place, then they are notorious and are known to be fearsome death reapers around here. I heard that they were a new group of bandits who were united by some prominent ones.”

“I think I heard that too.”

At this point, only one question remained.

“What are they doing?”

“That, well. It seems good…”

Kwak Gyung didn’t receive any explanation from Tang Gunak about the Mount Hua disciples. He had just heard that they were guests and that he had to take care of them.

So, he knew only one thing.

“I heard that they were the disciples of Mount Hua.”

“Mount Hua? Did you say Mount Hua? Are you talking about THE Mount Hua?”

“Yes. From what I know…”

“I heard that Mount Hua is gaining back its name. I guess…”

The escort captain trembled.

Still, wasn’t this a bit harsh?

Members of the Occlude Tiger Village… unbelievably strong bandits were taken down by young children?

It wasn’t even like all of them had gone up against them.

One young-looking kid went up, and in an instant, all of them were beat up as if they were dogs.

‘The Lord asked me to take care of them.’

‘Since they were guests, he had to take care of them.’

‘….or did the man mean that he had to be careful of them?’

Kwak Gyung coughed.

The whole situation had unfolded pretty quickly, so he couldn’t say anything then, but he had to sort it out now.

“I…”

“Yes?”

Until now, Kwak Gyung had only talked to Baek Cheon, but now his eyes were on Chung Myung. Seeing him dealing with the bandits, he wanted to talk to that person.

“A-Are you fine?”

“What?”

Chung Myung looked at Kwak Gyung with a bright face. As the speed of the journey increased, his mood also improved.

“C-Can we enter Yunnan like this?”

“Uh? Is there a reason we can’t?”

‘What brat!’

‘No matter how you try to put it, it is too weird! Men pulling a carriage!’

“Ah, them?”

“Right. We cannot avoid people looking at them. Besides, we already have a problem with our low staff members. How can we answer questions that would arise from people seeing them?”

“Tell them they are bandits.”

“Uh?”

“What else can we say other than putting the bandits who attacked us to use? There is no need to lie, right?”

“…”

‘I-it does sound nice…’

Chung Myung smiled.

“They wouldn’t ask so much for the bandits. And they might not even think that far. The people in the Nanman Beast palace are also humans.”

“If they ask how they were taken down…”

“Say the escorts over there beat them and punished them by making them pull the carriage. Then everyone will like it. It would be like everyone did their jobs right.”

“…”

‘Will that be fine?’

‘I-if you think about it, there was no reason to hate this explanation.’

“How great is this situation? They pull the carriage instead of the horses, and we create camp at night. If there is anything we can give them to eat, we can put them to other uses too.”

“C-Can we really do that?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t that be better than dying?”

“…uh?”

“If the merchant head doesn’t like it, we can bury them in a quiet place. If we release them, they will go robbing people again.”

At Chung Myung’s words, the bandits who were pulling the carriage shouted with tears and watery noses.

“A dog! I will pull the carriage like a dog!”

“Let us work! We will do anything you ask!”

“Please don’t forsake us! We can pull it far better than the horses! Please!”

“…”

A beautiful sight. Such passion for their work… to escape death.

It was a dire scene of walking on the thin line between life and death.

The bandits desperately began to cry, hoping to win Kwak Gyung’s heart.

“Merchant head!”

“Sir!”

“Savior!”

‘How far can you go, you bandits?’

Kwak Gyung closed his eyes.

“W-Will it be fine? I think taking bandits is dangerous for us…”

“Dangerous?

Chung Myung tilted his head. And he smiled as he hit the ass of one bandit.

“These guys?”

“…”

“Ah. From your point of view, you might be worried then…”

Chung Myung had a worried expression.

“Uh. Then… since they just need legs to pull the carriage, should I break both their arms?”

The bandits looked at Kwak Gyung with worldly earnestness.

Kwak Gyung didn’t seem very compassionate despite the men shaking their heads.

“I will take it as you allow it. So I will break their arms so as to not worry you.”

“Ah, no! Disciple! Wa-wait! No matter what, how can the arms of their…!”

“Eh. What kind of people are they? They kill people to make money, and if we weren’t here, all of you would have been dead too.”

“T-true, but…”

“Normally, it is said that one should save people who are on the verge of dying, but we need to break their arms to live. Personally, I think we should break one of their legs, but we have a long way to go so…”

Kwak Gyung’s voice increased a few decibels as he got up to stop Chung Myung who took his sword out.

“C-Calm down! Calm down! Disciple! I am fine! I am not worried at all! Words will work! There is no need for actions!”

“Uh?”

And the bandits shouted.

“I understand! I really do! Disciple!”

“I will work harder! I will cook well too! Let me work!”

“Break our hands if we touch even one of your men! Please!”

“Save me!”

Chung Myung tilted his head.

“Will you really behave?”

“Yes!”

“We mean it.”

Chung Myung’s eyes twinkled.

“Why are bastards who can work fine acting like bandits in the first place, you bastard!”

Tak!

Instead of the broken plum blossom sword, he used the sword he got from Tang Gunak to hit the bandit in front of him on the head.

“Bastards, you have your limbs all well and intact and could’ve done anything, but you chose to live through such methods! I am going to beat you up! I am the one who beat the shit out of the King of Green Forest bandits!”

Tak! Tak! Tak!

It was a pitiful sight to see. And the most pitiful one was the one getting hit presently.

“Don’t expect to be treated like humans until we arrive at Yunnan! You are horses! You will drag us till we reach the place we need to! I will teach the path of Tao!”

When Chung Myung began to do this, Kwak Gyung looked at Baek Cheon. And Baek Cheon smiled brightly at him.

“Give up. He cannot be stopped.”

“…”

And the sahyungs all joined in the conversation.

“Wow, sasuk. Still, Chung Myung is so kind these days. If it was the past, he would have pulled off their limbs first and then made them pull the carriage.”

“No. There would’ve been no time even for regret. He would have pounced on their limbs right away.”

“Ah, right.”

And Yu Yiseol said.

“The head.”

“Uh?”

“He didn’t break their heads. He is so kind.”

“…”

“Don’t worry. Thanks to that, our journey will be a lot easier, and at the same time, the bandits will learn their lesson. They will turn a new leaf.”

“Turn a new leaf?”

‘They will be a lot better than just turning over a new leaf.’

Seeing Baek Cheon mumble, Kwak Gyung smiled without realizing it.

‘I don’t know anymore.’

‘Do what you want!’

As such, the journey to Yunnan sped up several times faster without any problems.

No problems… problems…

“How dare you bastards eat human food! Horses don’t eat human food! Eat the fodder, you idiots!”

Well, there was a problem.

But it was a small one. A very, very small one.