Are you crazy? Just as every person has their own characteristics, the dark path also has its varieties.
However, I have not seen many dark paths that kill their subordinates like this.
The fight, which started chaotically at the mention of sparing just one person, ended after Dokgo Saeng killed all his subordinates.
He turned to me with a blood-soaked face at the bow of the ship.
"I killed them all. As promised, will you spare me?" This guy still did not trust me until the end.
He seemed like someone who would jump into the river if he sensed danger.
Dokgo Saeng's mental state was impressive to me.
"I will spare you."
Only then did Dokgo Saeng plop down on the deck and let out a sigh of relief.
"Hoo."
"How's the atmosphere on the Black Ship?" Dokgo Saeng replied sharply, still on edge.
"What do you mean? It's full of idiots. Can I run away now? Or do I have to keep cleaning up after you?" "I spared you to guide me, so where do you think you're going?" "Fine. What about those sailors?" Dokgo Saeng pointed to the crew members who were trembling with blood-stained knives.
It was a question of whether he would kill them too.
Naturally, I shook my head.
"Don't kill those who are working."
Dokgo Saeng nodded and then, as if the break was over, stood up and threw the dead subordinates into the river.
Splashing sounds followed one after another.
I had a question about Dokgo Saeng's strange behavior.
"You said there were six hundred of them, right? Did you expect to survive even after going to the Black Ship?" Dokgo Saeng replied while tossing the corpses into the river.
"How would I know? The moment I saw you, I knew you were a madman. I expected you to kill us all. I don't know what happens after that."
Indeed, it was a response from a man who did not know what would happen next.
After a while, the ship docked near Heuksago Castle, and only Dokgo Saeng and I got off the ship and headed toward the Black Ship.
The main base of the Black Ship was situated inside a long wall built by a minority to resist foreign powers, resembling a clustered village.
The old sailors and fishermen here used to gather in groups on stormy days to pass the time gambling, and surprisingly, the Black Ship's power began from that small gambling den.
Initially, the first leader of the Black Ship organized it to protect the fishermen, but in reality, he focused on the gambling business.
The intention to protect the fishermen was similar to why I established the Hao Gate.
However, the business that started from the gambling den soon grew to control auctions, gambling, and some waterways to collect tolls.
Thus, the Black Ship is both a dark path and a numerical force.
If one traces back to find the origin of a force that exploits the powerless, they will conclude that these people were originally powerless themselves.
Dokgo Saeng extended a knife to the subordinate guarding the crumbling gate.
"I brought the one you were looking for, Lee Ja Ha. Open the gate."
The gatekeeper opened the door hastily without a word.
It seemed that Dokgo Saeng was acting recklessly even within the Black Ship.
After entering the grounds of the Black Ship, Dokgo Saeng asked me, "How long do I have to follow you? I want to leave early."
"You will follow me until I leave the Black Ship."
Dokgo Saeng frowned deeply in response.
"Understood."
What was peculiar about Dokgo Saeng was that, while he feared me, he never used honorifics and maintained an attitude of keeping his word.
Whenever someone approached or asked about my identity, Dokgo Saeng would draw his blood-stained knife.
"I'm busy, so don't get in my face. Move aside before I cut you!" Dokgo Saeng moved through the grounds of the Black Ship in a straight line, as if he were Guan Yu breaking through the five passes.
There were indeed many people inside the Black Ship.
Some asked who I was, and occasionally someone told us to stop, but Dokgo Saeng stubbornly brandished his knife and shouted curses to make people back off.
While the count of six hundred was accurate, not all of them could be considered martial artists.
If all six hundred were martial artists, the Black Ship would be one of the top forces among the dark paths of the Central Plains.
However, the six hundred mentioned by the dead man included everyone who made a living within the grounds.
Finally, Dokgo Saeng pointed to a building ahead and said to me, "I'll go report first, so take your time. I won't run away. As promised, if you survive and leave the Black Ship, you must spare me."
Was it a remarkable survival instinct? Or should it be called the antics of a madman? Dokgo Saeng quickened his pace.
He must have been thinking of informing them of my arrival while planning to hide nearby.
The guard at the entrance of the main base spoke to Dokgo Saeng.
"Dokgo Captain, what’s going on?" "I brought Lee Ja Ha. Inform the leader."
"Who is Lee Ja Ha?" "The one who killed Captain Wi."
"Ah!" I looked around and entered the largest building in the grounds.
Perhaps because they made money through gambling, the atmosphere inside the shabby walls was more splendid than expected.
It seemed excessively built to maintain the leader's face.
However, the main hall of the base felt empty, like a barrack set up on a battlefield.
There was a seat for the commander, and chairs were lined up on either side, with all kinds of weapons displayed against the left wall.
It seemed a meeting had just ended, as the executives of the Black Ship were chatting quietly.
I glanced around the interior and said, "There are a lot of old men."
It felt like not ordinary executives but elders had gathered.
One executive who received the report said to his subordinate, "It seems we need to call the leader back."
"Yes."
The previously noisy atmosphere quickly settled down, and everyone fell silent, either sitting in their chairs or moving to the wall to stand guard like sentinels.
While looking for a chair, I spoke to an executive sitting at the end.
"Give me your chair."
Without a word, I slapped the face of the one who was staring at me, sending him flying out of the chair.
With a loud thud, the man rolled on the floor and quickly got up.
As I moved to the center with the chair, a man near the head seat spoke.
"Stay back."
The one who lost his chair obediently moved to the wall and glared at me in silence.
Sitting in the chair and looking around, I saw Dokgo Saeng leaning against the wall, standing crookedly.
Before long, the leader of the Black Ship walked out.
He appeared to be over sixty years old, with dark skin and white eyebrows.
The executives all looked at me, and the leader of the Black Ship, sitting in the head seat, stared at me.
"Lee Ja Ha, thank you for coming."
I nodded and replied, "I said I would come next time, but my subordinates insisted on bringing me."
"Who brought you?" Dokgo Saeng, leaning against the wall, replied, "It was me, my lord."
The leader of the Black Ship looked at Dokgo Saeng and said, "Dokgo Saeng, you’ve worked hard. Thank you."
Surprisingly, Dokgo Saeng replied, "What kind of silly joke is that?" As Dokgo Saeng spoke rudely, the other executives all cursed in unison.
"That insolent brat needs to have his mouth sewn shut to come to his senses."
The leader of the Black Ship raised his hand to silence them.
"Lee Ja Ha from Il Yang Hyun is here; what should we do?" At the leader's question, everyone suddenly fell silent.
"If there are no opinions, I will decide."
"As you wish."
"Lee Ja Ha, you killed three people from the Black Ship. I heard you burned down their house; is that correct?" "That’s probably right."
My memory was a bit hazy.
It wasn't a significant matter, so I hadn't dwelled on it.
The leader of the Black Ship said, "Since our people caused the initial trouble, just cut off three fingers and leave."
What kind of strange judgment is this? I spread my fingers and replied, "I cannot recklessly cut my body, which my parents passed down. I refuse."
The leader of the Black Ship nodded.
"Then let it be one finger for a hundred gold coins. Lee Ja Ha will be under the surveillance of the Black Ship and will have to repay the damages. That’s all."
The leader of the Black Ship seemed to have lived like a king.
Once the judgment was over, he waved his hand a few times as if to dismiss me.
I couldn't help but sigh.
Fellow martial artists, there are so many madmen in this world.
The other executives accepted the leader's judgment as if the small trial had ended without any major issues.
"Thank you for your hard work."
I sighed and said, "I don't have that kind of money. Even if I did, I wouldn't pay it back."
The executives who had just gotten up from their chairs sat back down and glared at me.
This time, the leader of the Black Ship also looked at me with an unpleasant expression.
"Lee Ja Ha, do you not know where this place is?" "I came in because I didn't know."
"The Black Ship is a place that will extract money by any means. Your family will have to bear the repayment; is that okay?" "I have no family. I miss them today. I also miss the taste of noodles."
"If you have no family, those in Il Yang Hyun will be forced to repay. Is that okay?" "Tsk."
I called out to Dokgo Saeng, who was leaning against the wall.
"Dokgo Saeng, you bastard, come here."
Dokgo Saeng frowned and replied, "Why are you yelling at me?" I reached out toward Dokgo Saeng's knife and said, "Give it to me."
Dokgo Saeng walked over and handed me the knife, grumbling as he returned to the wall.
Holding Dokgo Saeng's knife, I said to the leader of the Black Ship, "Old man, are you crazy?" "……."
These guys were so crazy that even I, who was a madman in my past life, was slightly taken aback.
I looked around at the executives and said, "You guys are completely a group of madmen."
The leader of the Black Ship calmly replied, "It has been over ten years since the executives and I have seen blood."
One executive interjected, "Not me."
"Shut up. But I have never avoided such fights. Are we going to end it like this without suggesting another solution?" Now that I think about it, all the executives sitting in their chairs looked to be over forty.
Most of those waiting near the wall were young.
Is this a dark path that thoroughly respects the elderly? They seemed to have completely cut off the outside world and created many laws to protect themselves.
I asked, "How many executives are there?" Dokgo Saeng immediately replied, "Including the leader, there are twenty-one."
I stood up, still holding the knife, and said to the leader of the Black Ship, "Old man, you can either come here on your knees and lick my feet or kill all twenty-one of them. Choose."
Suddenly, my memories of my past life became hazy, and I felt suffocated.
I remembered hearing that the Black Ship had been massacred by a certain master during the time I was learning martial arts, but I couldn't recall who it was.
Anyway, it wasn't me.
At that time, I was being dragged around by a problematic figure under the pretense of learning martial arts.
These guys were a force that deserved to be massacred.
They must have built walls near the river to fend off foreign invasions, just like their ancestors.
Their attitude of naturally passing down judgments and punishments to outsiders could be seen as a small dictatorship rather than a dark path.
It felt like I was on a tour in a kingdom full of madmen.
As the leader of the Black Ship stood up, two waiting subordinates approached and handed him each a dagger.
The leader of the Black Ship held a dagger in each hand and clicked his tongue.
"Young man, do you really want to see blood?" The other elders also stood up from their chairs and went to the place where the weapons were displayed, each grabbing a weapon.
I watched in a daze as the elders held various weapons.
Three-pronged spears, curved sabers, straight swords, long swords, judge pens, iron rods, naginatas, and guanxi... and most of them turned around holding metal skewers that I didn't even know the names of.
Those seemed to be harpoons.
Dokgo Saeng said, "Why are you fighting in such a cramped place?" At that moment, one elder holding a metal skewer suddenly threw it toward Dokgo Saeng's forehead.
As Dokgo Saeng dodged with a nod, the skewer struck the wall with a thud.
Dokgo Saeng glared and said, "That damn old man."
The elder who threw the skewer calmly replied, "Shut up. I’ll kill you first."
At that moment, Dokgo Saeng said something that pierced my ears.
"Go ahead and try. You probably only have seven fingers left."
It seemed that if they killed each other from the Black Ship, they would cut off one finger.
I couldn't immediately determine whether this was a fair judgment or not.
Anyway, I was greatly impressed by all of the Black Ship's antics.
"Wow, these guys are really madmen."
While the leader of the Black Ship stood still like a commander, a full twenty old martial artists charged at me.
At the same time, weapons such as three-pronged spears, curved sabers, skewers, and straight swords rushed in...
Ah, I didn't know.
I swung my knife.