The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 404

The Four Evils Alliance warriors surrounding the Emei Sect fell into great chaos.

"What? An expert appeared and took all our food?"

"Yes, that's correct. They took all our provisions and went up the mountain. It seems they took it to the Emei Sect."

"Damn it!"

The person currently in charge of all the warriors around Emei Mountain was a man named Chang Yun. He wasn't particularly outstanding in martial arts, but he was quick-witted and knew how to handle his subordinates well, which is why he had risen to a middle management position.

'An expert? That's not good....'

He knew his place well. The reason he had joined the Four Evils Alliance in the first place was because he didn't want to starve to death on the streets. And he didn't want to be looked down upon or beaten to death by other warriors. Simply put, his greatest concern was preserving his own life. Of course, most unorthodox sect warriors, especially those of the Four Evils Alliance, felt the same way.

"How skilled is this expert?"

"In total, thirty of our warriors died. But most of them didn't even manage to exchange proper blows before dying. Among them were warriors like Gyuil and Gyugyu."

"What...?"

He opened his mouth in disbelief. Gyuil and Gyugyu weren't just ordinary warriors—they were squad leaders of sorts, possessing stronger martial arts than other Four Evils Alliance warriors. Yet they couldn't even exchange proper blows before dying.

"How much food did we lose? We didn't lose everything, did we?"

"We lost more than half."

"Then how long can we hold out?"

"Originally it was a week's worth of food, but now we can't last more than three days."

"This damn situation.... Where did this bastard come from?"

He had thought they had nearly starved the Emei Sect to death. But now that they'd lost their food, the Emei Sect had a chance to survive again. For the Four Evils Alliance warriors, it was only four days' worth of food, but the Emei monks were far fewer in number and, being women, would eat less. With that food, they could eat their fill for at least two weeks.

"This is serious. Clearly, if food becomes scarce, it will cause major problems with the warriors' morale. We still have sufficient funds from the alliance headquarters, so have someone go buy food again. It doesn't matter if we send many warriors down—just focus on securing food first."

When Chang Yun spoke urgently, his subordinate smiled as if he had expected this.

"Actually, I anticipated you would say that, Great Leader, so I've already sent people. I gave money to about thirty men and ordered them to buy food, so by now they should have returned with provisions."

"Good? Well done. You did well without even being asked."

Chang Yun spoke with a laugh, seemingly relieved to hear some good news amid the chaos.

"Great Leader! I have something to report!"

It was then. Suddenly, a voice came from outside the tent where they were conversing. Chang Yun's subordinate immediately recognized it as the voice of the man he had sent to buy food. He thought the man had come to report that he had successfully purchased and stored the food, but his voice sounded strangely urgent. That urgency made him feel uneasy.

"What's the matter? Come in and speak."

When Chang Yun spoke, the man quickly entered the tent. But the moment they saw him, Chang Yun and his subordinate grimaced.

"You... your appearance...!"

He looked utterly defeated. Blood was trickling from his left arm, which he was clutching, apparently from a sword wound, and his hair was disheveled from running desperately.

"We were attacked! It was an enemy attack!"

"What? An attack?"

"We had gone down to the market to buy food and were on our way back up. But on the way up here, we encountered enemies and lost all the food. In the process, most of my subordinates were killed."

"An attack? By whom exactly? How many were there?"

"That's... I'm not sure. And there was only one attacker."

"You don't know? Didn't you see the person? And only one? You lost all the food to just one person? Food that thirty men were carrying was taken by a single person?"

"Yes. That's...."

The man rolled his eyes nervously, then closed them tightly and opened his mouth. Speaking this might result in his death at Chang Yun's hands, but he had to report properly.

"When the fight started, I was the first to have my arm cut by his sword, so I retreated to save myself. I thought if I died, there would be no one to report this. While I was retreating like that, I became worried about my subordinates and returned to the battlefield to check on the situation. But... there was no food, no enemy, only the corpses of my subordinates."

"You ran away first!"

"I deserve death for this crime! But thanks to that, I was able to report this incident!"

Chang Yun's subordinate glared at the man with blazing eyes, but in fact, Chang Yun's words weren't wrong. If the man hadn't survived, it would have taken much longer to understand this situation, and other squads might have been attacked again. Realizing this, Chang Yun clicked his tongue and spoke to the man.

"Tch. Go back and get your arm treated. If it gets infected, you might not be able to hold a sword again."

"Yes. Thank you, Great Leader."

"That's all. Go."

"Yes...!"

After the man left the tent, Chang Yun began to think. An unknown expert. A man who had killed thirty people single-handedly—he wondered if this might be the same expert who had appeared at the food storage warehouse and slaughtered the Four Evils Alliance warriors.

"Great Leader. Let us track down that person. We'll find out who he is and capture him no matter what."

"An expert like that?"

"Our warriors will suffer some casualties, but numbers are powerful. I will personally behead that person and present his head to you. And I will also have subordinates bring food again."

"Good. This time, don't send many people at once. Have small groups of people scatter and bring the food separately. There's a chance they might be attacked again on the way."

"Yes, Great Leader! I will do as you say!"

Chang Yun's subordinate bowed and left the tent. Left alone in the tent, Chang Yun felt uneasy and began biting his nails while muttering.

"A tiger. A tiger has appeared. The tiger of Emei Mountain has appeared."

In that voice, there was both fear and a shallow determination to hunt that tiger.

* * *

Inside a cave deep in a gorge on Emei Mountain, I and my senior brothers, along with about thirty Emei warriors, were hiding. We had stacked the food we had brought on our backs in one corner of the cave. We couldn't take this food to the Emei Sect yet. If we tried to take it up to the Emei Sect, we would have to break through the enemy's siege again, which would ruin my strategy.

"The Four Evils Alliance probably thinks we've taken this food back up to the Emei Sect. So now they'll strengthen their guard to prevent us from coming down again."

But we didn't go back up to the Emei Sect after taking the food from those who were bringing it. Instead, we were hiding here.

"It's really fortunate that Monk Ju Ryeong knows about this place."

"When we were young, we used to play hide-and-seek here with our fellow disciples. It's amazing that such a place has become so useful."

We spent some time here, planning to emerge from behind when they were focused on watching the area above where the Emei Sect was located, striking at their weak points.

"But Dojang, was it alright not to chase that one person who escaped to the end? It seemed like he confirmed that we had taken the food."

"Yes, it's fine. I let him go on purpose."

"On purpose?"

I nodded. Among the group we had just attacked, I had deliberately let the one who appeared to be the leader escape. It was so that the Four Evils Alliance warriors would learn as quickly as possible that we had attacked them and that we were targeting their food. If I hadn't intended to let him go, I would have cut his body in half with my first move. I could have done that, but I only cut his arm.

"Now they must be panicking. They need to replenish their food supplies before it runs out, otherwise all those many warriors surrounding Emei Mountain will go hungry. We've already taken their food twice, right? So now they'll try a different method to bring food. Instead of a large group going down and coming back up at once, they'll send multiple small groups."

"Won't it be harder to catch them if they're in smaller numbers? We can't face all of them."

"We might not be able to face all of them. But if the enemies split into smaller groups, we can face them more safely. Simply put, we don't all have to stay together either—we can also split into multiple groups."

"Ah!"

Monk Ju Ryeong exclaimed as if she now understood. My goal is to create an environment where the Emei monks alone can face the Four Evils Alliance warriors without me. If the enemies are grouped together, I would have to step in personally just to break through their numbers, but in small-versus-small fights, the Emei warriors, being part of the Nine Great Sects, would be stronger.

"You all should continue going up and down the mountain, attacking those trying to procure food, and bring their food here to stack up."

"Won't Unhwi Dojang be moving with us?"

"No, that's right. I'll be moving separately."

"May I ask what Unhwi Dojang intends to do?"

She spoke with great curiosity. I smiled at her expression. She was curious about many things and showed great interest. That wasn't bad—in fact, it seemed very good. I could feel her effort to learn one more thing from me. I had heard she was a disciple of the Emei Sect Leader, and if Monk Ju Ryeong were to flourish, I thought the future of the Emei Sect wouldn't be dark.

"Of course I can tell you. Actually, I was planning to explain from now on how I will move and how you Emei monks should respond."

Everyone's attention focused on me. Although the time we had spent together was short, I had shown them something they hadn't felt before—victory. So trust seemed to have built up very quickly.

"I will become chaos. I will become such great chaos and fear that they can't do anything about it."

"Chaos...?"

"Confused enemies will fear me, and enemies gripped by fear won't be able to make proper judgments. When that happens, our task becomes easier. They will keep using personnel to try to catch me, and as they use more personnel, the siege surrounding Emei Mountain will become looser and looser. When the siege becomes loose enough... then it will be time for the Emei Sect, which has been crouching until now, to straighten its shoulders again."

She seemed to understand what I was saying, but there seemed to be one more question.

"It seems you have another question?"

"Ah, yes. I'm curious about how to bring that chaos and fear."

I spoke to her as if asking why she would ask something so obvious.

"There's a very simple way. Overwhelming force. That's all."

Monk Ju Ryeong opened her mouth in realization.

(End of Chapter)