Chapter 43

Only after I destroyed the blood lord Wang Liang’s army.
Off.
I stretched out my stiff body with my breathing open. I sighed, my haphazardly tied hair falling over my eyes. With his tousled hair and bushy beard, he could hardly be more different from a bandit.
“You’ve been through quite a …… lot.”
I smirked as my short hair fell to my waist. It meant a lot of time had passed.
I was getting tired of seeing bandits, especially those with as many heads as the Reds. They claimed to rule the mountains, but all they did was build fences and mark their territory.
I unified them and wove them together.
The Mountain Evil, the Green Forest King, the White Light.
Bai Guang united all the mountains into a single entity, which was the Green Forest Seventy-two.
Shandong,
Otaishan.
And the Hengshan.
Among the great and many mountains of the Zhongyuan Forest, these three made their home base, expanded their territory to other mountains, and balanced the seventy-two.
And King of the Green Forest, Bai Guang, following his example, went to Mount Hsingshan and destroyed the Hsingshan Sect, which was one of the ten great sectaries and was called the prestigious sect, and he took possession of Mount Hsingshan, where my master had disappeared, and set up shop there.
“Many people said at the time, “Why didn’t you stop the Green Forest long ago?”
“Why didn’t we stop them?”
“I’ll say it right ……. It’s not that we didn’t, it’s that we didn’t.”
The elderly woman said that at the moment when the Shaolin and Huashan factions of Songshan united to stop Bai Guang and rushed to save the Hua Shan faction, the figures of Zhang Gangshu and Da Mak rose up.
“They could have targeted Songshan at any time, or they could have targeted Huashan.”
“…… So you watched in fascination?”
I shook my head, calling myself a coward. The Shaolin and Huashan of the time were at parity, even among the political factions. Perhaps the first reason they moved was because they had a great cause and the people’s expectations were high.
“Who cares about other sects more than my own?” Shaolin and Huashan made a show of it, but the other sects didn’t move a muscle.
“Perhaps that’s why they gave up the mountain and became even closer to each other.”
“Perhaps so.”
“Well, then, what’s the point, since we couldn’t stop it then, and now all the mountains belong to others.”
A mountain is a mountain, and water is water.
A mountain that looks as it is can be said to be immovable. The mountains, as they appear to be, are immovable, and they were given to everyone, but now they all have their own owners.
Even the herbalist and the simani had lost their way and had to find other work.
“So we’re using dragons here, aren’t we?”
“Hell no. Five years and we haven’t gotten half of it done.”
Of the seventy-two huts, they had only smashed twenty-two. The bandits were weak, but in the mountains they were at their best.
The traps they laid were too elaborate for even the most trained eye to discern, and many of them were killed by the poison of the mountain beasts they ate.
On one mountain alone, they were forced to retreat several times, even with the iron-blooded defense of the bandits reinforcing them from other mountains.
“Thank goodness. I have capable people.”
Nangong Han, Nangong Stone.
I hadn’t known for five years why a man so experienced and skilled could defeat dozens of bandits in one fell swoop and still not be able to control the mountain.
“……Jingling.”
It took me years to familiarize myself with the mountains with Kang Wumen, Donghui, and Black Lake, and years to build trust with Namgung Han, Namgung Suk, and the rest of the Namgung family.
Five years had flown by.
“……You still have two more years to go.”
“It’s not so good.”
“Don’t you miss Anhui?”
“I do.”
Despite the words that came out of my mouth, I remembered the three of them.
It was time to miss them.
My teacher and elder, Nangong Yue.
And Nangong Wall, who, unlike in my previous life, would live her days with a happy face.
And Mrs. Bai, the mother of Nangong Wall and my mother in my previous life, with her beautiful face.
I missed those three people so much.
“Any other news?”
“I heard that the Southern Palace is busy preparing for the Jiaju Competition, which is only a few years away. It’s been quiet for a while.”
“I’m sure …… will be noisy again.”
“It’s a good thing it’s been so quiet.”
“I’m sorry to offend you again.”
The uncle remained silent. For some reason, whenever the subject of the teacher came up, he became speechless.
I was about to ask him something, but I turned away as he approached.
“The Grand Duke!”
“Wumen.”
“The blood bonds have been cleaned up, and with that, we’ve almost taken care of all the remaining mountainous terrain in the mountain range.”
Wu Wen’s eyes shone, showing the appearance of a mature young man and swordsman, and he had shed his worldly appearance.
“It doesn’t …… matter. The biggest ones are still to come.”
“They didn’t even show their noses, and you think they’ll come down?”
The old man snorted at my words.
“You don’t know why I cared about this front, do you?”
In order to reach the Iron-Blooded Sword Saint An Bai, I had swung my sword at countless black swordsmen and martial artists, but my last step was here, at the front of the mountain range.
“Bai Guang, if he’s a tiger, then the people staying here are mangu.”
“If it’s only a mangu, there’s no need to be afraid.”
The old man shook his head in disbelief. The old man looked at the top of the mountain and said, “Jingle, jingle.
He followed her gaze to where a fierce-looking snake was hiding in the grass. A small rabbit was perking up its ears and watching all around, but it didn’t seem to catch the snake’s movements.
“A tiger knows its responsibilities and moves in my face, but a mangu is not. They hide when you hide, dodge when you dodge. So.”
The snake slithered closer to the rabbit. For what could be its last time, the rabbit didn’t even realize what was so delicious about the grass it was gnawing.
“They know when it’s time to strike, and they pounce, just as no predator can handle a million of them.”
The snake slithered forward and opened its gaping maw. It was a hungry gesture for a quick meal, and the rabbit, frightened and alarmed, reacted in an instant.
“The …… moment you let your guard down and let your guard down.”
Nevertheless.
The rabbit’s hind leg was bitten, and the snake slowly coiled around it. Twisting and turning its long body.
“There are three of them left in the mountains. The previous ones are nothing compared to them.”
The mangu was shaped like that snake. For the first time, I looked into my uncle’s twinkling eyes. He was a tiger, a beast of prey, and the strongest predator in the entire Zhongyuan forest.
Five years in the southern palace, living as a chipper, drunkard.
It was here, on the front lines, that I regained my senses and regained my skills.
The skill of such a man, even in jest.
I couldn’t make fun of him, he was too good.
“You must have been in a lot of pain, …….”
“I can’t tell you.”
But I just stared at him, shook my head, and pointed with my chin at one spot.
“Huh?”
He followed my chin gesture and shifted his gaze. At that moment, the snake’s jaws snapped open and it looked like it was about to swallow the rabbit’s head.
Poof!
A rabbit with a slightly larger body appeared and smashed into the snake’s head. It was the mother rabbit. The mother rabbit didn’t back down from the fight over the snake. It was a mother’s struggle to protect her young.
At the same time, the rabbit cubs, who had escaped from the snake’s clutch, desperately confronted the snake and showed their bestiality.
“The middle forest is wild, a lawless place, and such mangoes are in control.”
Eventually, the snake that had confronted the rabbits began to slither away.
“The world will find its way, and this time it will be different because I am here.”
I was confident.
And I was surprised at myself.
When had I ever expressed such confidence?
When had I ever told someone that I could do something?
In this lifetime, I didn’t blame others as much as I had in my previous lifetime. I didn’t despair when I encountered twists and turns.
And each and every one I met.
“Grand Duke!”
“What are you doing? Don’t be silly!”
“I see. Some people work, some people play.”
“Hmph. Don’t you see, everyone is suffering!”
Black Ho, Kang Woo-moon, Dong-hwi, and Mr. Eo.
Also.
“Grand Duke, if you told us not to compete yesterday, why not today?”
Shandong Branch Leader, Bai Xiaochun, and Southern Palace Master.
“You can’t use a sword that’s been …… bred to be fine!”
“I thought you’d gone to bed, but you’ve been all over the barracks!”
“Phew.”
The hundred and fifty or so members of the Southern Palace who were building the Shandong and Shandong fronts stood behind me.
I smiled wryly.
* * *
“……I’ve been defeated by a king. They say you’re the Grand Duke of the Southern Palace.”
“That’s right. Grand Duke of the Southern Palace. I heard he was only twenty.”
“Hahahahaha, what’s the point of worrying about something that can be swept away?”
He was as tall as a mountain, with biceps that could make a bear cry.
The three of them huddled together, each with a different expression on their faces.
“We’ll have to move. If they start to get suspicious, we’ll get tired.”
Ho Shan, the Red Tiger Lord of Shandong.
“We have not yet received the king’s orders. It’s too soon to move.”
Gwangbae, the White Tiger Lord of the Iron Tower Region of Shandong.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about! We must destroy it first, and then give the king the credit!”
Shandong’s Black Tiger Master Honkang Kuan’s armor.
At their feet, the men lay prostrate, their limbs trembling as they barely managed to hold on to their massive bodies; beside them, the women were bare-chested and trembling with tears in their eyes.
Each one of them, separate from the mighty, unimportant.
No hope, no dreams, just dead pupils of captives.
The captives’ dead eyes were filled with hopes and dreams, and the people who couldn’t die were moving them.
That’s why there was a saying in Shandong.
“Child. Don’t cry.
If you cry, the tigers of Shandong will bite you.
Child. Don’t cry.
If you cry, your parents will be taken away.
Child. Don’t cry.
If you cry, your siblings will suffer.
Child. Don’t cry.
Child. Don’t cry.
Whatever your expression,
whatever you think.
The three were indifferent to them, just.
“Nevertheless.”
There was only one thought. It was only a matter of time before the three men’s differing opinions were narrowed down to one.
“We need to set an example.”
“Of course.”
“Kah-hoo-hoo, I’m the leader.”
The three men’s eyes glowed with blood light. As the masters of the mountain range and recognized by the Green Forest King Bai Guang, their fighting spirit rose above the mountain range.