Zhang-il had gained a great realization.
There are crazy bastards in this world.
And crazy bastards do crazy things.
But worldly affairs are complex and mysterious, so those crazy things don't necessarily lead to bad results. Sometimes when you do crazy things, those crazy things end up resolving the situation. Absurdly enough.
"Kaaa~ See, it came out, didn't it."
Zhang-il wore an extremely sour expression as he looked at the brilliantly gleaming silver sword in Wei Yan-ho's hand.
'No, why is a silver sword popping out from there!'
When he said he'd beat them until a silver sword came out, I thought he was just talking. But he really did it until a silver sword came out…
"No, why is a silver sword popping out from there! Why are you carrying something like that around?"
Upon hearing Zhang-il's outrage, the Great General patted Silver Dragon Lord's shoulder with a look of approval.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
Thanks to his alias, he had poured all the money he'd gathered through banditry into acquiring a decent silver sword, and that had saved them.
When Wei Yan-ho began beating the Mountain Lords like dogs, Silver Dragon Sword had prostrated himself flat and held up his pathetic silver sword, crying out:
"Here it is! The silver sword is here! Lord Spirit!"
Seeing the silver sword appear, Wei Yan-ho smiled contentedly and took the silver sword.
And so this situation came about.
Wei Yan-ho, who had stopped the beating raining down on the bandits, gathered the bandits to one side and made them kneel. The sight of the stronghold leaders of the Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds, who feared nothing in the mountains, huddled together kneeling as a group was… how should I put it… calling it spectacular would be awkward, really…
'It's a complete mess.'
Zhang-il shook his head back and forth.
What made Zhang-il even more dejected was that the expressions of the Mountain Lords who had been beaten and released weren't bad at all. Watching the Mountain Lords smile brightly as if they were fortunate to have gotten off with just this much, giving thumbs up to Silver Dragon Sword, made him fundamentally question what kind of place the Green Forest was.
Having completed the Three Sacred Artifacts of gold sword, silver sword, and iron sword, Wei Yan-ho looked at them, then lifted up the gold sword and shouted:
"Is this sword yours?"
"…No?"
Then Wei Yan-ho lifted up the silver sword and shouted:
"Then is this sword yours?"
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
A quiet silence passed between them.
As soon as he felt something had gone wrong, Wei Yan-ho spat on the ground with a thwack.
"Lies coming out of your mouth, is that it? As expected of bandits, there's just no reforming you."
'But he told the truth, that guy.'
To think the day would come when I'd feel sorry for bandits.
Just as Wei Yan-ho was about to start beating them again, the Great General desperately shouted:
"I say! Hero Zheng! Hero Zheng! Please save us!"
"Save you?"
"…Please spare us, my lord."
Wei Jeong-han shook his head and approached Wei Yan-ho, saying:
"Stop for now."
"No, these bastards are lying!"
"…What's the lie?"
"They're saying this silver sword is theirs."
Who was the bandit here?
If the definition of bandit is someone who steals others' belongings in the mountains, then the bandit in this place was Wei Yan-ho.
A very nasty bandit who not only robbed others' belongings but even resorted to assault.
"I get it, so move aside a bit."
"Yes sir."
As Wei Yan-ho climbed up onto the carriage roof, smiling gleefully while looking at the silver sword, Wei Jeong-han let out a deep sigh and looked at the Great General.
"So what's this about?"
"Well…"
"Who said you could get up?"
The Great General, who had been stealthily trying to rise, flinched at Wei Yan-ho's sharp voice and sat back down in his spot.
"We truly have no other intentions. We just came to make a request."
Wei Jeong-han frowned.
'It doesn't seem like a lie.'
Whether bandits or thieves, these guys were very accustomed to the logic of force. To put it nicely, they were simple and clear; to put it badly, they were specialized in groveling on their own.
From their behavior, it seemed they had heard enough rumors about Wei Yan-ho, and seeing how they didn't even try to resist when Wei Yan-ho charged at them, it appeared they already knew that no matter how hard they tried, they wouldn't be a match for Wei Yan-ho…
'Then why did they come?'
Bandits originally don't attack those they think are stronger than themselves. If you rob both the weak and strong indiscriminately, you become a robber or thief, not a bandit.
So it really meant they had something to request from Wei Yan-ho.
"So what is this request?"
The Great General didn't answer and quietly looked around. His gaze conveyed that there were too many people around to speak.
Wei Jeong-han smiled warmly to reassure the Great General.
"You'll have to tell Yan-ho anyway, right?"
"Th-that's right."
"It's embarrassing to say with my own mouth, but that bastard has the loosest lips of anyone I know."
"..."
"It won't take even three days for something that bastard knows to spread throughout the Central Plains, so you might as well just speak. Then at least I can control the mouths of the people here."
The Great General looked at Wei Jeong-han with a dumbfounded expression.
"…Really?"
Nod nod.
Surely a father wouldn't sell out his child just to hear some information. So those words were the truth without a shadow of doubt.
Newly realizing Wei Yan-ho's greatness(?), the Great General let out a deep sigh and began to speak.
"We would like you to treat someone."
"Treatment? If it's a treatment, you should go find a physician. Why come looking for Yan-ho?"
"It's not something a physician can treat."
Wei Jeong-han's brow furrowed.
"Qi Deviation?"
"..."
"Hmm, I see. Qi Deviation… But if it's Qi Deviation, rather than Yan-ho, I would be…"
"It's also not something an ordinary martial artist can handle."
Crack.
A vein bulged on Wei Jeong-han's forehead.
Since when was Wei Jeong-han an ordinary martial artist?
And to say his son could do something that Wei Jeong-han couldn't.
'This is awkward to argue about…'
Since it was true that Wei Yan-ho was much stronger than Wei Jeong-han.
Suppressing his slightly surging emotions, Wei Jeong-han forced himself to speak.
"Then the person with Qi Deviation must be the Green Forest King. Right?"
"..."
Conflict appeared on the Great General's face.
But it was already pointless to deny it. Thinking there was no other choice, the Great General nodded heavily.
"That's right."
"Hmm."
Wei Jeong-han made a thoughtful sound.
'The Green Forest King has Qi Deviation?'
No matter how the Green Forest King was the leader of the Unorthodox Path and hadn't learned stable orthodox techniques, for someone who had reached that level to fall into Qi Deviation alone would be a probability more difficult than lightning striking from a clear sky.
'It means someone intervened.'
Curiosity appeared on Wei Jeong-han's face.
"So you want Yan-ho to treat that Qi Deviation?"
"Yes!"
"Hmm…"
Wei Jeong-han looked back at Wei Yan-ho.
"That's what they're saying?"
Wei Yan-ho replied nonchalantly:
"They must have eaten something wrong. Let's just deal with them roughly and send them away."
Wei Jeong-han's head turned again.
"That's what he's saying?"
"Great Hero! Please, I beg you. This is a matter on which the fate of the Green Forest depends. I earnestly request this of you."
"…But I think I might be misunderstanding something, so let me ask."
"Yes?"
Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.
"If it's a matter on which the fate of the Green Forest depends, that means if you can't treat this Green Forest King person, the Green Forest might collapse."
"That's right! It's a very serious matter!"
"But isn't that a good thing?"
"..."
The Great General began to panic.
Wei Jeong-han's eyes also wavered.
"Now that you mention it…"
"No, there's nothing to mention or not mention. Wouldn't it be good if the Green Forest disappeared?"
"It seems like it would be?"
Murmuring sounds could be heard. The companions all sided with Wei Yan-ho in unison.
"The atmosphere made those bastards seem like the underdogs, so I didn't notice the strangeness, but if the Green Forest King dies, that's beneficial!"
At Zhang-il's instigation, Peng Daoji nodded vigorously. Didn't he even have a grudge against the Green Forest?
"They're bandits that should disappear."
"Amitabha."
Musan silently chanted and nodded.
Gong Mu-jin clicked his tongue.
"These bandits keep sprouting up like ant hills even when you hunt them down one by one. If they collapse with this opportunity, that would also be a good thing."
Only the Ghost Lady of Hao Clan, who had similar tendencies to the Green Forest, kept her mouth tightly shut.
Sensing the atmosphere was flowing strangely, the Great General waved his hands in horror.
"No! It's absolutely not like that!"
"What's not like that?"
"The Green Forest is a place that must not disappear. I fully understand why you all think that way, but if the Green Forest disappears, chaos will come to the world."
Wei Yan-ho nodded with a serious face.
"That's some novel bullshit."
"I agree."
Even Wei San-ho sided with Wei Yan-ho's words.
"It's true! Everyone, do you think we became bandits because we wanted to?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"Didn't you?"
"Probably did."
At the stabbing words, the Great General swallowed his tears.
'Heartless bastards.'
These bastards were worse than bandits.
"If the world were all peaceful and there was enough to eat and live on, what would be good about crawling into mountains like this to do banditry? We may be called bandits, but we are slash-and-burn farmers. Most of us cultivate slash-and-burn fields to grow grain, and occasionally get a little share from passersby…"
"Do we have to listen to this bullshit to the end?"
At Wei Yan-ho's words, sounds of weapons being drawn could be heard from here and there.
"It's not wrong."
For once, Wei Jeong-han defended the Great General.
"The Green Forest doesn't exist because there are bandits; the Green Forest exists because there are bandits."
"But they're all bad guys anyway."
"Among the bandits I know, there are those who killed an official and fled to the mountains when that official dishonored their mother and tried to take their younger sister. Are they criminals?"
"That's ambiguous."
"You might think they live comfortably in the mountains stealing others' belongings, but for people to gather in groups and live in the mountains is extremely difficult. If it were easy, who would gather in villages? Everyone would live in the mountains. They are harsh people, that's right."
"Eh, what's harsh about it?"
Wei Yan-ho snorted.
"There are so many people who live well without bothering others even when it's difficult. So are all those people fools?"
"Hmm, that's also right."
"No need to listen to this and that…"
Wei Yan-ho summarized the situation.
"If this Green Forest King fellow dies, that would be a good thing too, and if these people go back intact, it's obvious they'll just cause trouble for the common people… Let's just bury them here?"
"I agree."
"Right!"
As agreeing voices came from here and there, the Mountain Lords' faces began to turn deathly pale.
'This can't be happening…'
Wei Jeong-han's face hardened slightly.
It seemed this matter wasn't something to be resolved so simply. But he had no justification to stop them with just that suspicion.
In that case…
"Bury them!"
Just as people were about to rush forward at Wei Yan-ho's words, the Great General's eyes flashed as he raised both hands high and shouted loudly:
"The Green Forest King's stronghold has treasures piled up like mountains! Wei Yan-ho, Great He~ro~o~o~op!"
"Sto~o~o~o~o~o~o~op!"
Wei Yan-ho's shout, more urgent than anything in the world, rang thunderously through the mountains.