Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1341: I Will Go To Rescue Them (1)

A night deep with darkness. Gentle moonlight still settled on the window of the pavilion where a light remained lit.

Sarak. Sarak.

The sound of an ink-soaked brush sweeping across paper drifted through the window crack. The long-continuing brush sound was halted by a voice coming from outside the door.

“Family Lord.”

“Come in.”

Tang Gunak set down the brush in his hand and lifted his head. Soon the door opened and Dang Ik, the Tang Family’s guardian, cautiously entered.

“You have not gone to your bedchamber yet?”

“It’s still early.”

Tang Gunak shook his head with a blunt expression.

“Well then, what is it?”

“The poisons and covert weapons sent from the main household arrived just a moment ago.”

“That’s fortunate. And the reports that came with them?”

“Yes, Family lord. The refugees sent to Sichuan have all settled in well, they say. I considered reporting it tomorrow but...”

Tang Gunak slowly nodded.

“There aren’t many hands left in the clan; they must have had a hard time.”

Those who remain in the Tang Family are not particularly strong in martial prowess. Of course, within the Tang Family, making poisons and crafting covert arms is no less important than martial skill, so it’s not as if they have been idle.

“What if those left comfortably in Sichuan don’t even do that?”

Tang Gunak let out a soft laugh at Dang Ik’s words.

In the past he would never have laughed at such a joke, but the current Tang Gunak had become noticeably gentler than before.

But Tang Euk did not miss the faint bitterness that colored that smile.

“...Is there still no news from those who went towards the Southern Island?”

“It’s not a place where news can be easily sent. Especially not in the current situation.”

“That may be so, but...”

Dang Euk trailed off and sighed.

Tang Pae, the Tang Family’s Young lord, also accompanied this trip to Southern Island.

As the Tang Family’s guardian, Tang Euk approved of Tang Pae’s trip to the Southern Island. In any case, it was a mission where the major figures from the sects listed under the Heavenly Friends Alliance would all travel together; it was unthinkable for the Tang Family to be absent.

“Do not worry too much, Family lord. The Young lord will do well.”

“Worry...”

“...Yes?”

Tang Gunak gave a short, dry laugh.

“That praise is too much for me right now.”

He rose from his seat after leaving that enigmatic remark.

“Family Lord?”

“You should rest as well. You will have to train again from dawn tomorrow.”

Then he walked out the door. Tang Euk, watching his retreating back, let out a long sigh.

The chirping of insects echoed here and there.

Tang Gunak felt the same peculiar sensation he always did.

Insects typically avoid people. If someone is nearby, they usually quiet down and stop calling.

But where that person is, the insects do not stop calling. It’s not as if that person is hiding his presence.

It is something martial skill cannot explain, perhaps Tang Gunak would never understand it in his lifetime.

Hyun Jong. He stood by the riverbank, gazing toward the distant Southern land.

Tang Gunak, silently watching his back, soon shook his head.

He had sent his son and daughter to enemy territory. But even those worries and concerns could not be said to be greater than that person’s.

For that person had, in effect, sent all that he possessed into enemy land.

“Hm?”

Hyun Jong turned his head, having noticed the insect noise stop. When their eyes met, Tang Gunak bowed his head lightly. Hyun Jong returned the gesture with a slight salute.

“The night is late, Alliance Leader.”

Hyun Jong smiled faintly.

“I simply cannot sleep easily, Family lord.”

Tang Gunak exhaled a quiet sigh. He didn’t know how to answer.

The two stood side by side on the riverbank and looked across. The river, which could be crossed at will if one chose, now seemed endlessly distant and wide.

Only the faint insect calls and the sound of waves rolling into the river resumed.

Just as Tang Gunak opened his mouth to raise a topic, Hyun Jong spoke first.

“Family lord... have you ever regretted taking the position of the Family Lord?”

Tang Gunak’s expression hardened slightly. Depending on how one saw it, it was a delicate question that could be rather rude.

But the question was permitted because it was Hyun Jong asking. Not because Hyun Jong had the right to be disrespectful to Tang Gunak, but because there was no malice in his words.

“Regret...”

Tang Gunak quietly looked at Hyun Jong, pondering how to answer that question.

In truth, there was no meaning in him answering this question. It wasn’t really a question to begin with. So instead he asked back.

“Do you regret becoming the Sect leader of Mount Hua?”

Hyun Jong smiled faintly.

“I used to, quite often.”

“...”

“But not now. I am a lacking man, but becoming the Sect leader of Mount Hua has been the most rewarding thing in my life, I think.”

“Then...”

Hyun Jong’s gaze turned to the river cradling the moon.

“However, from time to time I think: what kind of person was I?”

Tang Gunak frowned slightly.

“What do you mean by that...?”

“You feel the same, do you not, Family Lord? Of course anyone might feel this in life, but especially living as a Sect leader, there are many times one must hide one’s true heart.”

Tang Gunak nodded in agreement.

“It is a position heavy with responsibility.”

He felt the same. Before meeting Chung Myung, Tang Gunak had been under excessive scrutiny from the Elders’ Council and had no choice but to become colder than his nature, because he could not show any weakness to them.

He had regained some composure now, but back then nothing had been easy.

“At first I intended merely to do what I could with my abilities.”

His voice was calm. But it didn’t sound purely peaceful because of the deep, dark gaze that had settled in Hyun Jong’s eyes.

“But it didn’t turn out that way. I am not that grand a person, yet people kept wanting me to be a great man. They said that the Sect leader of Mount Hua ought to be like that.”

Tang Gunak slowly nodded. Anyone who had assumed a position of responsibility would sympathize.

“So I pretended. Pretending to be magnanimous when I was not, pretending to be kind when I was not, pretending to know some Tao when I did not...”

“...”

“I played the image of the ideal Sect leader I had imagined for decades. At first it was hard, but at some point it became a bit easier. Then at another point I grew accustomed to it.”

Tang Gunak closed his eyes.

He seemed to understand. Thoughts govern actions. But sometimes actions govern thoughts. Just as changing thought changes action, changing action can eventually alter thought.

“Now it all became natural. I thought like the Sect leader I wanted to be, acted to appear that way, and thought I had grown somewhat closer to being a man worthy of Mount Hua’s Sect leader.”

Hyun Jong smiled faintly. He turned to Tang Gunak and gave him a gentle look.

“Yet at some point this thought came: what kind of person was I originally? Now I hardly know.”

“Alliance Leader...”

“I think I have become a better person. I have become someone less ashamed to bear the name Sect leader of Mount Hua. But... I sometimes wonder: was that truly a good thing?”

There was an indescribable emotion in Hyun Jong’s voice.

“Was it really only a good thing...?”

Tang Gunak said nothing.

Though it was hard to add anything, he could deeply understand it. He could empathize. That was why his chest ached so.

A brief silence settled. Hyun Jong spoke again.

“The children have grown splendidly. They have become people who can no longer even be compared to me.”

“They are still far from it. How could those brats be compared to you, Alliance Leader?”

Hyun Jong suppressed a bitter smile at Tang Gunak’s words.

“But I also think: did that growth truly make those children happy?”

“...”

“As they bear more responsibilities, are they not losing more things? Just as I once did, are those children not desperately suppressing themselves, striving to become what someone else wants them to be?”

A small sigh escaped Tang Gunak.

“Isn’t that how people live, for the most part?”

“Yes. I suppose so...”

Even knowing that, the regret didn’t vanish, because he realized he too might have been imposing the life he had lived onto those children. Hyun Jong said.

“I think I know one thing.”

“...What is that?”

“What I had to do.”

Tang Gunak stared at Hyun Jong with questioning eyes. But it was not easy to discern his inner thoughts from Hyun Jong’s calm, still-surface expression.

Then, just as Tang Gunak was about to say something, he suddenly turned his gaze sharply.

“Something...”

Something was approaching at high speed from the river. Narrowing his eyes and watching for a moment, the object slicing the surface became clearer. It was white... somehow.

“A weasel?”

Tang Gunak’s eyes widened.

It was surely the weasel that Chung Myung used to carry around. Of course, one cannot easily identify a weasel by appearance alone, but common sense dictated that there could be no other white weasel swimming across the Yangtze river at this hour.

Kiiiiiiii!

Baek Ah, having spotted Tang Gunak and Hyun Jong, let out a sharp cry and increased her speed to nearly fly through the water as it swam.

Tadadad!

Arriving ashore, Baek Ah planted her short paws firmly on the ground in an instant. Without bothering to shake off the water, she immediately climbed onto Hyun Jong’s body and untied the bundle tied to its neck, offering it out.

Kik! Kick!

Ragged breaths and coughs burst out in succession. The little body trembled, making it clear how urgently it had rushed here.

But Baek Ah, as if unconcerned, offered the bundle again, as if urging them to check it immediately.

Hyun Jong untied the bundle Baek Ah offered and took out the letter inside. The corner was a little damp, but it did not prevent reading the contents.

Hyun Jong read it without changing his expression, then calmly handed the letter to Tang Gunak.

“Is this a letter sent by the Mount Hua’s Sword Saint?”

Tang Gunak snatched the letter and read it without waiting for an answer. But unlike Hyun Jong, his eyes trembled greatly while reading.

The letter’s contents were beyond absurd; they were chilling. It briefly contained a declaration to break through the Southern lands together with Southern Island Sect.

It meant Southern land, the stronghold of the Four Sects Alliance.

“W-what is this...”

For a moment a startled Tang Gunak looked at Hyun Jong. But Hyun Jong’s expression did not change. He merely continued to gaze across the river as before.

“Mustn’t we find some way?”

No matter that the place is Gangnam, they could not just fold their hands and watch. What if they all died like this...?

Tang Gunak bit his lip.

But... no.

Invading the Southern Lands now would mean declaring war. No matter how important they were, they could not throw the entire Heavenly Friends Alliance into the blaze of war for the sake of a few lives...

“Family lord.”

“...Yes?”

Hyun Jong asked with an expressionless face.

“Are you not curious what I had to do?”

Tang Gunak frowned at the oddly timed question. Hyun Jong sent him a calm look and spoke.

“I issue an order as Alliance leader. Summon the leaders of all sects affiliated with the Heavenly Friends Alliance to the Alliance Hall immediately.”

Aghast, Tang Gunak widened his eyes.

“W-what do you intend to do...”

Hyun Jong, Sect leader of Mount Hua, looked across the river again, his eyes colder than before.

A steady voice spread out.

“I will go to rescue the children.”

At that moment Tang Gunak realized: the insect calls had stopped some time ago.