Chapter 59 - The Precipice

The hook-nosed man, who had been complaining about the lack of reinforcements, spoke. Dong Bongsu turned with him to look down the slope. Sure enough, pirates were climbing toward them. Heads crowded the steep mountainside below so densely that it looked black. Though the thick, closely spaced trees obscured his view, even a rough glance suggested there were more of them than all the reinforcements sent so far combined.

'Too many.'

The thought suddenly struck Dong Bongsu, reigniting his sense of foreboding. And there was another detail to pour oil on the flames.

Their clothes were unmistakably the same color as the pirates' uniforms, but the word “Yangtze” emblazoned across their chests was reversed.

“What the hell? Why are they all wearing their clothes inside out?”

Just as the hook-nosed man said, every one of the newly arrived pirates had appeared with his clothes turned inside out.

'One or two would be one thing, but all of them? That means...'

Uniforms—whether official, military, or school uniforms—only served their purpose when they were uniform. They visibly identified their wearers as members of the same group. Yet these men had deliberately turned the Yangtze Waterway Strongholds' uniforms inside out, creating a different uniform.

The meaning was obvious without further thought.

The instant that realization struck, Dong Bongsu was already sprinting forward.

At that very moment—

“Wh-what!? Aaaaargh!”

The newly arrived pirates began indiscriminately swinging swords, axes, and other weapons at the pirates ahead of them. More than a dozen men lagging at the rear were butchered in an instant. Reassured that these were their allies, they had no way to block the blades that struck without warning.

Even at a glance, the strength and martial prowess of the figure leading the men in inside-out uniforms stood apart.

“Supreme Stronghold Chief?”

“Why is the Supreme Stronghold Chief attacking us...?”

“What in the world!?”

It was Sa Saho, the Yangtze Dragon Champion and Supreme Stronghold Chief of the Eighteen Waterway Strongholds of the Yangtze River—in other words, Water Shadow. Cutting off another bewildered pirate's head, Water Shadow shouted,

“Wipe them all out! Leave no one alive!”

Most began attacking at Water Shadow's command, but a few hesitated, still reluctant to turn on their allies. Water Shadow immediately killed those men and shouted again.

“Anyone who retreats will lose his head under the Laws of the Yangtze!”

The Laws of the Yangtze.

These were the absolute laws every pirate had to obey. Among them were absolute obedience to one's superiors and a prohibition against retreating in battle. Those were the laws Water Shadow meant.

Though they could not understand the Supreme Stronghold Chief's order, they had to obey. That was what absolute law meant. Their preferences did not enter into it. If they wanted to question it, they would have to finish the battle first. For now, they had no choice.

No pirate hesitated any longer. From that moment on, the pirates in inside-out uniforms began attacking the pursuit force indiscriminately.

The pirates who had been chasing the survivors now found themselves pursued by other pirates instead. In fact, their immediate situation was worse than that of the survivors fleeing uphill. Those fugitives at least had an open path ahead and could run freely, but the pirate pursuit force was trapped between the wedding guests and the other pirates attacking them.

Naturally, the pursuers soon fell into chaos. One small mercy was that the surviving guests, bewildered though they were, fled uphill as quickly as possible. The farther the guests went, the farther the pursuers could get from the Supreme Stronghold Chief and the pirates trying to kill them.

Yet something similar was happening among the Heavenly Demon Castle fighters. Their pursuit force, too, was being hunted down by fellow Heavenly Demon Castle fighters wearing their clothes inside out.

An incomprehensible confrontation unfolded. And it could not possibly last long. The balance of strength had favored one side from the outset.

Even in his haste, Dong Bongsu checked his surroundings before leaping toward an opening on the side of the slope. He judged that if he could keep going that way, he could circle the mountain and escape on the other side.

“Kill them! Don't let a single one escape!”

But the pirates in inside-out uniforms were already advancing uphill and securing that direction as well. One particularly nimble pirate rushed at Dong Bongsu like lightning.

SHUNK!

Rather than dodge, Dong Bongsu cut him down without mercy. He could afford to do so because he still had some leeway before his next Level Up.

PAT-PAT-PAT!

Dong Bongsu immediately activated his Qi Circulation Skill, then used Qinggong to turn uphill. Hordes of pirates already occupied the ground behind him and to his left, while Heavenly Demon Castle fighters held his right. But straight ahead—up the mountain—was hardly safe either. The surviving wedding guests were there.

Still, he had no other route to choose. For now, following the rapidly retreating guests seemed the least bad option.

He ran while maintaining a precarious distance, just at the edge of the guests' attack range. It was the only thing he could do now. Yet he never stopped thinking. It was time to find another way to survive.

Meanwhile, as the pirates and Heavenly Demon Castle fighters descended into their strange internal conflict, Tang Wu finally reached the summit of Seonjung Mountain.

He stopped as soon as he arrived. It was certainly not to take a brief rest.

“G-Grandfather! This...!”

The terrain barred their way.

The summit of Seonjung Mountain was broad and flat, like a plate painstakingly hammered into shape by a heavenly god. If only that had been all—but the god had also split the mountain in two. A gorge stretched in a long, straight line, as though a divine axe had cleaved the mountain precisely in half. An identical mountain stood opposite, making it clear that the two had once been one. Viewed from above, they would probably look like a great plate broken in half, its pieces scattered to either side. Yet even at a glance, the distance to the opposite precipice appeared to exceed a hundred zhang. Unless one was a bird, it was far too great a distance to cross in a single leap.

Only then did Tang Wu think he understood why the demonic soldiers had focused more on preventing him from turning sideways than on stopping his ascent. The enemy must have known this terrain well from the beginning. They had clearly driven him and the survivors here on purpose.

TAP-TAP-TAP...

Looking stunned, Tang Wu stood at one edge of the sheer cliff. His foot inadvertently dislodged a small stone, sending it tumbling over the precipice. It pierced the clouds hanging halfway up the mountain and vanished into the depths below.

Tang Wu and Tang Hwa stared blankly down at the spot where it had disappeared. Though the stone was nowhere to be seen, they already knew. It must have shattered into dozens, even thousands of pieces.

“Grandfather... What do we do now?”

Tang Hwa crouched as she spoke to him, seemingly dizzy.

Tang Wu gave no answer. He had no clever solution to their predicament either.

TAP, TAP-TAP.

As the two stood there in despair, the survivors who had followed Tang Wu appeared at the summit of Seonjung Mountain. Every one of them was drenched in blood, making it easy to imagine the ordeal they had endured.

Along with their ragged, exhausted breathing, the clash of spears and swords was drawing closer. The pursuers, it seemed, had nearly reached the summit with them.

There were roughly twenty survivors. Upon arriving, they came to stand beside Tang Wu one by one.

Like him, they were instantly struck speechless. After untold hardships, they had thought they had reached the end of a path to survival, only to discover that it, too, led to death... How crushing that must have been.

“Is this everyone?” Tang Wu asked.

“Yes... Great Hero Tang.”

A tall, burly man beside him answered. His lifeless voice suggested that he had all but given up on surviving.

“Then who is fighting down below?”

Tang Wu could still hear fierce fighting as someone approached their position. He was asking who those people were.

The same man answered again.

“The pirates and the demonic soldiers.”

Unable to make sense of the man's answer, Tang Wu asked again.

“Are you making sport of this old man? I am asking who is fighting against the pirates and demonic soldiers. Judging by the noise, there must be at least several hundred of them.”

“No... How could I possibly jest with you in a situation like this, Great Hero? It may be difficult to understand, but the people fighting the pirates and demonic soldiers down there truly are pirates and demonic soldiers. Another force of pirates and demonic soldiers appeared and attacked the ones pursuing us.”

Tang Wu was once again at a loss for words. Quite apart from their desperate situation, the development was simply too absurd.

The timing of this internal strife was utterly preposterous. And for it to break out among both the pirates and demonic soldiers simultaneously? It was hard to believe. Yet the account came from someone who had been chased by them until moments ago, so he could hardly disbelieve it.

A little life returned to Tang Wu's face. He felt that this might be an opportunity. Perhaps they could exploit the enemy's infighting to break through the encirclement once more and get down the mountain. But the burly man read his thoughts and spoke.

“It will be no use. The force that came up behind them included the Supreme Stronghold Chief of the Yangtze Waterway Strongholds and the leader of the Heavenly Demon Castle forces. The pirates and demonic soldiers who first pursued us will not hold out long before they are annihilated.”

No sooner had his despairing answer ended than several blood-soaked pirates climbed onto the summit. There were barely more than a dozen, and not a single demonic soldier among them. Evidently, the demonic soldiers in the pursuit force had already been wiped out.

The pirates were in even worse shape than the survivors who had arrived before them. In particular, the face of the man at their head was so gruesome that it was almost impossible to look at.