Chapter 119. Five Dragons Fight for a Pearl (15)
Mu Bi was taken aback by Woo-Moon’s question, and he scratched his head.
“Seeing your reaction, it seems like we have met before. Do you mind telling me where?”
He still didn’t seem to remember anything.
“We met a while back in front of the Inksmoke Gang. Xiahou Jinxian started an argument with me, asking me why I took down the Inksmoke Gang,” Woo-Moon explained.
It was only after hearing Woo-Moon’s explanation that Mu Bi had a look of realization.
“Ohhhh! That’s right. You’re the guy from back then who said his teacher was from before the Three Kingdoms period, right? Haha, how nice to see you again. Wow! But how did you become the captain of the Wind Sword Squadron? When did you even join the Justice Coalition?”
“A person from before the Three Kingdoms period, Ha! What a complete idiot. He really is qualified to be the captain. So much better suited than Xiahou Jinxian,” said Young Master Tang, finally standing up himself.
All of those taught a lesson by Woo-Moon were slowly coming to their senses.
“How are you guys so calm? I thought you’d curse me, maybe say that I used magic or something, then try to fight me again.”
“There’s no way you could beat all of us using magic or whatever bullshit like that. If you beat us, then you’re strong,” the bald young man replied.
Woo-Moon found himself liking them more than he had expected. At the very least, they were much better than the other prominent talents of the Justice Coalition, who behaved in ugly ways out of unfounded pride.
‘Moreover, their martial arts skills seem to be stronger as well.’
Woo-Moon looked around at his motley crew of subordinates one by one before going to the sleeping beauty and unlocking her acupoints. However, as she was already sleeping, she didn’t move even after her acupoints were unlocked.
“Well, would you please introduce me to the squad?” Woo-Moon asked Mu Bi, as he was the most familiar.
Then, the young man with the sound technique sat on a chair and began singing and playing the gayageum again. It was as if he felt neither anger at nor interest in Woo-Moon, who had just defeated him. In an incredibly discordant manner, he started yapping lyrics that none of the gathered wanted to listen to.
Mu Bi started with him, pointing.
“This brat is a descendent of the So Family, the famed creators of the Sound Emperor Heavenly Palace. His name is So Gun-Pil. We fight often because his music skills are shit.”
Not yet accustomed to So Gun-Pil’s melodic talents, Woo-Moon frowned and nodded.
As they spoke, Young Master Tang walked back over to his pot.
“Damn it, it’s another failure. I’ll have to make another one.”
Then, he added water and some of the unidentified powders sitting nearby, carefully inspecting the liquid in the pot. Quickly becoming immersed in his work, he began to chuckle as he stirred his pot.
“That bastard is the seventh son of the Sichuan Tang Family Patriarch, Tang Yuk. However, he’s a lunatic who believes that he’s a genius at poison, even though his talent for poison is absolute garbage. He’s been doing this every single day as he researches new poisons, and it drives me nuts.”
At that moment, the beauty woke up and opened his eyes, quietly joining Mu Bi’s explanation.
“Don’t go around calling others strange. You can’t remember people’s faces anyway, to the point where you even ask your own parents who they are, you weirdooo...”
The beauty trailed off, dozing back into sleep.
“Cough, cough.”
Mu Bi coughed awkwardly before pointing at the beauty.
“And this is Ra Mi of the Hainan Sword Sect. She’s suffered from a rare disease called narcolepsy from a young age, which is why she’s like that. She falls asleep all the time.”
“Damn it, it’s itchy!”
Suddenly, the bald young man stood up and immediately started tearing at his clothes and scratching his whole body again.
“Oh, that hyung is Ha Gun-Choong, the little prince of the Trustworthy and Secure Escort Agency. Far as I can tell, he just has eczema or fleas or something because he never washes. According to him, it’s because he was taught physical cultivation improperly by some master when he was young, and now he’s getting itchy all over, all the time. But he’s actually the dirtiest man in the world.”
“Look here, you bastard! How many times do I have to tell you that if you scratch your body this much, dead skin will fly everywhere like dust?! It’s disgusting,” the white-clothed you man shouted suddenly, walking away from Ha Gun-Choong. He drew a fly whisk from his robes and began to dust his entire body.
“That hyung is Zhu Mubai of the Zhu family, a lay family of the Kunlun Sect. As you can see, he’s very... clean. Sometimes, his mysophobia gets really bad, and he washes himself until he bleeds. Anyway, there’s one last member who isn’t here...”
Creak.
“...ah, speak of the devil and he doth appear.”
“I am Peng Tianhao of the Hebei Peng Family. As expected, I always knew we would meet again someday. However, I didn’t think that it would be like this, as captain and subordinate.”
“Ah, I didn’t expect this, either.”
“For your information,” said Mu Bi, “Sleepy Sword Ra-Mi over there and Tianhao hyung are the strongest among us. Well... I guess he’s also the most normal one of us here.”
Peng Tianhao looked Woo-Moon up and down, then tapped the sword on his waist.
“I think I told you before, but I would love to spar sometime. What do you think? Are you up for it?”
“If you want to, then why not.”
Several of the members gave Peng Tianhao a look before looking away with faint smiles, knowing full well what would happen.
Indeed, a whole three seconds into their spar, Peng Tianhao had to concede to Woo-Moon.
“Damn it! You’re just ridiculously strong. I can’t beat you, I can’t.”
As Woo-Moon muttered to himself about fighting people on his first day, Peng Tianhao asked another question.
“Well, anyway, what do you plan to do next? It’s going to be difficult to carry out any missions or go into battle with them.”
“Why?"
“Everyone is extremely... unique. None of them get along well with each other, and most importantly, all of them refuse to work hard at anything that doesn’t pertain to their interests. Also, each of them has a fatal flaw in their martial arts, and their personalities are so damn different that it’s impossible to deal with them all at the same time.”
“Well, I guess that goes for you too?”
“Hmpf!”
“It’s fine, I don’t mind. It’s not as if I’ve known them that long, nor do I have any intention of changing them for my own purposes. I don’t even think we’ll be together for long, either. Let’s all just get along, okay?”
After he finished speaking, Woo-Moon went upstairs, and without saying a word to the members of his unit, who were all back to doing their own things, he entered the largest empty room.
***
As the situation was urgent, the preparations for the Justice Coalition’s departure were completed in just one day. Not expecting it to have ended this quickly, Woo-Moon wondered if he had gotten angry with Palan Shin-Tong for no reason.
The Justice Coalition had decided to divide its forces into three armies in line with the Black Bull Gang’s forces. The commander of the third army was Seong Woo-Seol of the Mount Tai Sect. Woo-Moon’s Wind Sword Squadron was naturally assigned to the army heading toward Jiangsu Province.
Woo-Moon set off for Nanjing without much conversation with anyone other than Mu Bi. As each person used their respective movement techniques to travel quickly, a messenger came running from far away and reported to Seong Woo-Seol.
“The secondary defensive line has been breached! If things continue like this, the enemy will break through the blockade in Nanjing and enter Anhui Province.”
Although Woo-Moon’s heart was racing, he was still calm. At the very least, there was no way the enemy would reach the Baek Family before they arrived.
“What’s the provincial government’s stance?”
One of the soldiers answered, “Nothing special so far. They’re just watching closely while maintaining their stance of not intervening in the murim’s affairs.”
“I see.”
While Woo-Moon was listening in to their conversation, his juniors suddenly came running.
“Uncle!”
“Hmm? Oh, yes?”
“At the family’s request, we’ve decided to return to the family estate. We’ll have to leave you now.”
“Yes, okay. Be careful, and say hello to my parents and junior sister for me.”
“Understood!”
Having received Woo-Moon’s answer, Jeong-Woo set off for the Baek Family estate with the other juniors.
As the army began marching again, another messenger came running. Unlike the previous one, he was covered in blood.
“Urgent, urgent!”
What’s going on?”
“The Ten Demon Generals of the Black Bull Gang have launched an attack and have broken through to the third defensive line! Nanjing’s defense has become unfeasible.”
Of course, it wasn’t as if the Justice Coalition was planning on blocking the enemy using Nanjing itself as a barrier. If that were their plan, not only would Nanjing’s government have thrown a fit, but it wouldn’t have been very effective anyway.
However, having a city close to one’s own encampment was incredibly important to the people of murim. Not only was it necessary to provide food and other various daily necessities, but it was also beneficial to be able to rest comfortably inside the city walls when not in battle.
If Nanjing were to be taken over by the Black Bull Gang, the military representatives and other members of the Justice Coalition there would be exterminated. Above all, the symbolic meaning was the most important—having a major city captured like that was a major blow.
“The Ten Demon Generals were also dispatched here? No, this can’t be. Speed up the advance!”
As the roughly two hundred people of the Third Army quickened their pace, the Hwangbo Family soon joined them, increasing their numbers to almost a thousand.
Most importantly, Hwangbo Gwan, the Fist Emperor, had come with them.
“To think even the Fist Emperor has come, it feels like we’ve gained a thousand troops and ten thousand horses!”
After exchanging greetings, Seong Woo-Seok naturally handed over command to Hwangbo Gwan.
“What is the situation?”
“The Black Bull Gang’s Ten Demon Generals have finally broken through Nanjing’s defensive lines. The Zhuge, Namgoong, and Iron Sword Baek Family troops have arrived and formed another defensive line behind Nanjing. It’s said that the Ten Demon Generals have appeared there.”
“The Ten Demon Generals... What happened with the Shaolin Temple?”
“Their main force is leaving Henan Province. Their vanguard, consisting of the Eighteen Arhats, the Four Great Vajras, and their other masters, are not far from us.”
“Well, they sure travel fast. In any case, now that the Ten Demon Generals have emerged, it just won't do for me to leave it like this. I’ll go ahead and test them out.”
“Understood!”
“Then, I’ll be off.”
The Fist Emperor’s movement technique was like a storm as he rushed toward Nanjing.
Woo-Moon could feel a mountain-like, heavy aura coming from this man—someone who had reached the pinnacle through the Dao of the Fist.
Thump, thump.
Woo-Moon’s heart pounded as he imagined the Fist Emperor using his martial arts against the incoming army.
Martial arts used in individual fights and martial arts used against large armies in such grand-scale wars were the same but different. Woo-Moon was curious about what that difference really could be.
Although he had experienced many one-on-one battles, this was his first time experiencing a battle as close to a war like this. He was quite looking forward to it.
Because the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Eight Great Ancient Families belonging to the Justice Coalition were all spread out in various provinces, and also because the forces were located very far away from each other, the three armies that the Justice Coalition had sent to deal with the Black Bull Gang were not yet fully formed.
From their current estimation, they had only reached a bit over sixty percent of their total scale. On the other hand, the Black Bull Gang was said to have gathered about eight-tenths of their total forces. Thus, even if the Justice Coalition was ahead in terms of overall strength, it was bound to be a difficult battle.
Moreover, if the current Justice Coalition forces were to fall to the Black Bull Gang before the rest of their troops could gather, the Righteous Faction as they knew it could actually cease to exist.
“Ma-Ra, this is also my first time experiencing a large-scale battle, so make sure to always stay around me. Same as always, alright?”
“Yes.”
Ma-Ra’s voice could be heard from somewhere, and it made Woo-Moon feel at ease.
Now, he couldn’t even begin to imagine not having Ma-Ra around him, as they had traveled together for so long.
As the march wasn’t fast enough to be tiring, Woo-Moon took a book from his robes and began reading.
It was Dao De Jing.