Second Departure — The Five Thousand Are Coming
Mounted on horseback, So-un alone received, deflected, and brushed aside the weapons of four men while finishing everything he had to say.
The real issue was this: he was driving back, with disconcerting ease, the four strongest masters of Tianshan—men known throughout the martial world as the "Four Dragons of Tianshan."
They unleashed their fury and swung their blades with full force, yet they were repelled too easily.
He merely tapped their weapons aside with the long halberd, yet they staggered backward.
The Baekryongdae trooper who had first been attacked muttered again under his breath.
"Damn fools, waving swords like they're something special."
"Yeah, amateurs."
The murmurs reached the Tianshan men.
Their eyes twisted sharply with wounded pride.
They poured more strength into their swings, but could not withstand the pushing motion of So-un's halberd and were forced back step after step.
They did not retreat cleanly.
They stumbled, scrambling to regain their balance, on the verge of rolling across the ground.
The old man who had remained behind spoke with a strained smile.
"Your words may be correct, but why do you oppress us?"
"If my words are correct, then acknowledge them and act accordingly.
To say 'you are right, but I will not comply' is no different from a child's tantrum.
And does this look like oppression to you?
Does it not look like I am clearing a path for an army to pass?"
So-un's calm, measured tone reddened the old man's face, though he restrained himself.
"Still, we are guests!"
"So are we.
We are guests who gathered to protect General Jin Mugwang.
Guests ought to behave as guests.
To command the host is the conduct of occupiers.
Had you come as friends, this would be different."
"We have come from afar—from Tianshan."
"We have come from farther still, crossing deserts from Haran and circling the continent."
"Are you mocking me?"
"I march for righteousness at the risk of my life.
I have no mind for mockery.
If you were enemies, I would already have cut through you.
I restrain myself.
For every watch we delay, someone may die.
Do you believe the price of those lives compares to your pride?
Do you consider your pride weightier than human lives?"
There was no answer to that.
Behind him, over a hundred mounted warriors of the Baekryongdae adjusted their ranks, while the second and third units advanced from within the compound.
So-un stepped forward again and nudged them aside.
Anyone could see the path should be cleared.
It required only five men to step aside.
Yet paltry pride held them fast.
To So-un, the martial world seemed pitifully small.
He removed his helmet.
His bound hair fell to his shoulders.
Holding the helmet at his side, he spoke with quiet respect.
"Please step aside, Elder."
"I wish to hear your apology."
So-un did not accept the demand.
He glanced back at Gagyeongpil.
Gagyeongpil spoke only one word.
"Move them."
As if removing an obstacle from the road.
So-un lowered his halberd and urged his horse forward.
All five attacked at once.
Blades swept high, middle, low, from left and right, sealing every path.
The old man's sword trembled as it thrust toward So-un's throat—a flawless killing strike.
Do they truly mean to kill me?
So-un's halberd turned once and swept horizontally.
A single form.
It appeared effortless.
A faint blue aura lingered in its wake.
All five attacks dissolved into nothing.
The weapons that met it shattered.
Four were flung backward.
The old man struggled to stand.
So-un lowered the halberd and pressed his palm toward the man's chest.
A gentle force, like wind, pushed him away.
All five fell beneath the great stone bearing the words The First House Under Heaven.
"Advance.
We have no time for such matters.
Let us win and return."
The family of the Jin household rushed out.
From a great-grandfather nearing ninety to a nursing infant, they prayed for the Baekryongdae's fortune.
"Five thousand are coming."
A sigh passed among them.
Yet no one showed weakness before the departing warriors.
A child of perhaps seven stepped before the vanguard, toddling forward.
So-un slowed and bent low from the saddle to meet the child's eyes.
"What is it, little one?"
"Please take this. And win."
In the child's hand was a rice cake—half-eaten, small, bearing the marks of tiny teeth.
So-un leaned down deeply from the saddle and accepted it.
"Thank you. I will return victorious."
He rose in the saddle and lifted the rice cake high.
The hundred riders behind him raised their hands as well.
Each held some humble token given in sincerity.
Gagyeongpil shouted,
"Thank you!"
The Baekryongdae echoed in unison,
"Thank you!"
The Tianshan men, their weapons broken, stood stunned.
They watched the Baekryongdae ride past, watched the Jin family cheering them on, and held their breath.
They had been brushed aside with ease.
Had So-un wished it, they would no longer be among the living.