Read Novel Full Chapter 1214: It Can’t Get Worse Than This. (4)
Chapter 1214: It Can’t Get Worse Than This. (4)
“By sea! I think the sea route would be best!”
“Ah, no, hold on. First, the land route...”
“Shut up! Just pick one quickly!”
“By sea! Let’s go by sea! Riding a ship has been my lifelong wish!”
“Honestly, if I don’t ride a ship periodically, I get splinters in my mouth! I’m serious!”
Everyone was desperate. They knew what kind of man Chung Myung was. Especially the disciples of Mount Hua, who had learned more than enough about Chung Myung, literally felt their lives threatened and veins bulging in their necks.
But......
“Ah, noisy.”
Chung Myung smirked and waved his hand.
“I haven’t decided anything yet, have I? I’m just saying let’s hear him out. Still, if it’s the planner speaking, when the Green Forest King of the Heavenly Friends Alliance brings up such a thing, wouldn’t there be a reasonable reason?”
“He’s from the Evil Sect, right?”
“You said we should burn them?”
“You said listening to that Evil Sect bastard makes your stomach twist and you need antacids!”
“Me?”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue as he looked at the Five Swords.
“Taoists discriminating people by their background, what an age we live in. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
The Five Swords covered their faces with both hands and hung their heads. Despair had settled on their shoulders.
Meanwhile, Namgung Do-Wei, who was somewhat sane, quietly asked Im So-Byeong.
“Green Forest King. What advantage does the third option have?”
Im So-Byeong blew his nose and answered nonchalantly.
“Can’t you see? It’s faster.”
A faint twitch ran at the corner of Namgung Do-Wei’s eye. He looked at Im So-Byeong and smiled as he spoke.
“Ah, sorry.”
“Huh?”
“I expected too much of the Evil Sect gentleman. Asking more than his abilities allow is also rude......”
“Huh?”
This time Im So-Byeong’s face twisted.
“The young gentleman who used to be prickly has been hanging around Mount Hua, and he’s learned to taunt gently, growing up nicely now, aren’t you?”
“Is that necessarily thanks to Mount Hua? It’s because the Green Forest King personally helped me.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Their gazes collided fiercely in the air.
Watching that, Tang Pae pressed his belly with one hand. Tang Soso silently handed him a small paper packet.
“...What’s this?”
“Antacid.”
“......”
“I brought plenty, so don’t worry. We’re used to it.”
“...Thank you.”
Still, only a sister would think of her brother... no, that’s not it!
“This is not the time for this! Please focus, work, work!”
“Ahem.”
“Hem hem.”
Im So-Byeong, who coughed loudly at Tang Pae’s remark, spoke.
“Of course it may sound a bit absurd, but.....”
“A bit?”
“It’s very absurd, actually.”
“One might question your sanity.”
“......”
Im So-Byeong, briefly at a loss for words, continued with an awkward face.
“But if you examine it one by one, it’s not entirely a ridiculous idea.”
“I still think it’s absurd though?”
“Maybe our standards for absurdity differ?”
“Is this how the Evil Sect operates? Well, looking at Jang Ilso, he’s certainly not in his right mind.”
Im So-Byeong’s cheek twitched. Those Mount Hua brats clearly didn’t even see him as a passing bandit rag. Still, to speak like that to the Green Forest King......
“Ah, cut the chatter and just explain cleanly! Anyway, maybe Evil Sect folk are natural liars. Once they open their mouths their tongues go on and on!”
But Im So-Byeong’s complaints melted away before Chung Myung’s annoyance. Right, by just putting up with that bastard, Mount Hua people should be recognized as proper Taoists, shouldn’t they?
“What? Why?”
“...Never mind.”
Im So-Byeong sighed and snapped open his fan. But the reactions were underwhelming, perhaps because they’d already seen worse.
“The land route piercing through the Southern lands is certainly risky. But the time saved makes bearing those risks worthwhile.”
“Why is that?”
“Because it reduces risk.”
A moment of silence followed. Everyone listening pitied him, thinking, “He must’ve hit his head,” but Im So-Byeong shook his head and hurriedly continued.
“Now! Think carefully! Consider it in reverse. It’s simple. What problems arise when the schedule lengthens?”
“Southern Island becomes more close to danger?”
“That could be. Southern Island is in a time-sensitive situation right now.”
Namgung Do-Wei and Tang Pae gave sensible answers, but Im So-Byeong firmly shook his head.
“No. That’s secondary. The real problem is that Four Sects Alliance and the Justice factions will learn of our absence.”
“Ah......”
Upon that, Yoon Jong nodded sharply as if he understood. Jo Gul, still puzzled, quickly asked.
“What do you mean, sahyung?”
“Think about it. Whether the Justice factions or the Four Sects Alliance, aren’t they all on alert about this manor’s situation right now?”
“...... That’s right.”
Of course, they can’t directly surveil the area. It’s practically impossible for weaker forces to monitor stronger ones. Unless Jang Ilso or a sect leader from the same lineage personally intervenes,
They cannot deceive Chung Myung’s attention and monitor the surroundings in detail.
But gauging the manor’s situation from those coming and going isn’t difficult.
“What they care about most are Chung Myung and the sect heads. And the moves of the sasuk who became the Acting Sect Leader this time. If talk of them were to vanish overnight, what would they think?”
“...They’d realize we’ve left the manor.”
“Exactly.”
Smack!
Im So-Byeong struck his own hand with his folded fan.
“Precisely. In my view, it won’t take them more than three days to be certain we’ve left this manor.”
Everyone had to nod. It was such an obvious point.
“Then no matter how stealthily we move, they won’t be able to hide that we’re heading to the Southern Island by whatever route. How would they react?”
“They’d send people to search for us.”
“No.”
Tap, tap!
The tip of Im So-Byeong’s fan lightly tapped the Southern Island map drawn at the bottom of the map.
“There’s no need to do that. It’s enough to mobilize forces and seal off the Southern Island. No matter the route, they’ll come to the Southern Island in the end.”
“Ah......”
“Or else......”
A cruel smile briefly flickered at the corner of Im So-Byeong’s mouth.
“One method would be to erase Southern Island before we arrive.”
For a moment everyone fell silent. A solemn tension filled the air. It occurred to them that their movements might hasten Southern Island’s fate.
“The important thing is three days.”
The tip of Im So-Byeong’s fan drew a line once more from the estuary to the Southern Island.
“The straight-line distance from here to the estuary is 981 km. It’s an enormous distance, but for those here, horses could cover it at a pace that would seem trivial. Even if they covered only 40 km in an hour, in 24 hours a day?”
“...472 km.”
“Yes. Two days is enough. We could reach Southern Island before the Four Sects Alliance even learns we’ve departed!”
“W-wait! Green Forest King!”
Namgung Do-Wei raised his hand with a flustered look.
“Isn’t that overly optimistic? The route to Southern Island isn’t a straight line. Besides, we can’t ride on the main roads.
If more than ten of us dashed along the main roads at that speed, all of the Southern Lands would know of our movements well before four hours, let alone two days.“
“Of course we won’t do that. And as humans, it’s impossible to run at the same pace for two days without resting.”
“Right.”
“But even considering all that, it’s the same. With this number of people, using mountain paths that avoid notice and moving cautiously, it won’t take more than five days to reach the coastal area near Southern Island.”
“......”
“Then even if they notice our absence on ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the third day and dispatch forces to Southern Island?”
“...We can arrive at Southern Island first.”
“Exactly.”
At Im So-Byeong’s words, Tang Pae spoke cautiously.
“Wait. If that’s the case, wouldn’t we simply be besieged along with Southern Island when we enter it?”
“Tsk tsk. Lord Tang, you seem to lack understanding of how long it takes to mobilize large forces. Think about it. When the Sichuan Tang family decided to move to the Yangtze, how many days did it take them to arrive?”
Recalling the past events, Tang Pae blushed slightly and replied.
“I think it took about ten days.”
“That was because the Sichuan Tang could exert force with a small number. To blockade or annihilate Southern Island would require forces incomparable to what the Sichuan Tang family has. It would take at least fifteen days.”
“Ah......”
“In that time!”
Smack!
Im So-Byeong slapped the map once with his fan.
“There will be enough time for us to persuade Southern Island and arrange a way to escape before the Southern Island gets fully besieged. Of course, that depends on Southern Island’s situation.”
Chung Myung, who had been listening quietly, snorted with a laugh.
“And even if things go wrong, you’ll have enough time to slip away?”
“Well... I won’t deny it. I’m not someone with the loyalty to risk my life for that guy’s situation like you are.”
Chung Myung smirked and nodded. It would be stranger to hear loyalty and agreement come from that man’s mouth.
“It sounds plausible, but is it really possible? Would they truly not realize we’re heading to the Southern lands?”
Im So-Byeong grinned at Jo Gul’s question.
“Of course it’s possible. That’s why we requested such a noisy succession ceremony.”
“Eh?”
“A sect leader changing is a significant event. Even Jang Ilso is tied up, having swallowed the Four Sects Alliance and now laying low to deal with the aftermath, isn’t he?”
“...That’s right.”
“No matter how much Mount Hua is a sect without roots or thought... no, no! That’s how they perceive it! Not me! Put your hands down!”
“......”
“Anyway, even for such a sect, they wouldn’t expect that immediately after replacing the sect leader, the Acting Sect Leader would leave the sect. Especially not the Four Sects Alliance, who cannot precisely know what happened in conversations with the Abbot.”
Everyone nodded.
Those here knew what Baek Cheon had in mind when he became Acting Sect Leader, and they knew what kind of person he was, so they accepted the situation without issue.
But from the Four Sects Alliance’s perspective, wouldn’t it simply look like a sect’s second-generation disciple suddenly becoming Acting Sect Leader?
And that person, not the next day but the same day, leaves the sect and breaks through to the Southern lands toward Southern Island?
‘That’s mad.’
‘It’s not something a sane person would do.’
‘They should be sent to a physician for that.’
‘But we’re the ones doing that, aren’t we?’
Im So-Byeong grinned.
“Do you see?”
“......”
“They won’t anticipate it. Later, when they learn, even Jang Ilso himself will say ‘crazy, crazy’ without imagining we’d be this truly insane...... Hey! It’s not an insult, it’s not! Somebody restrain that man!”
Everyone had nearly been won over by Im So-Byeong’s flashy rhetoric when Yoon Jong spoke again.
“I understand that. But Green Forest King, can we really pass through the Southern lands without being detected? In the Four Sects Alliance’s territory? That doesn’t make sense.”
At that moment Im So-Byeong curled his lip in a sneer.
“You’ve forgotten what I said at the start.”
“Yes?”
“The first consideration in choosing any route is to move into regions where the Heavenly Friends Alliance is strong so our movements aren’t exposed to them. That’s why we chose Zhejiang and Anhui, and Sichuan and Yunnan.”
“...That’s right.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Huh?”
For a moment Yoon Jong blinked, not understanding, and Im So-Byeong narrowed his eyes.
“Through where did we say we’d move toward the Southern Lands?”
“Uh... mountain paths that won’t be seen by people... ah!”
Yoon Jong’s eyes widened.
At that moment an oppressive aura emanated from Im So-Byeong, suffocating in its intensity.
“You all seem to have forgotten, but I am the Green Forest King.”
“......”
“Whether it’s the Southern Lands or the Northern ones, every mountain under heaven lies within the Green Forest’s domain.”
At that forceful declaration everyone looked at Im So-Byeong with renewed surprise.
“I’ll guide you. To that Southern lands. Under the Green Forest King’s protection.”
A confident smile spread across Green Forest King Im So-Byeong’s face.