Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1344: I Will Go To Rescue Them (4)
Previously on Return of the Mount Hua Sect...
Ho Ga-Myung glared fiercely at the adjutant standing before him with a gaunt, haggard face.
“The entrance?”
“Not yet...”
The lieutenant’s answering voice trembled.
It was the first time anyone had seen Ho Ga-Myung so disheveled. Therefore, it was impossible not to know how much wrath he was holding back.
The sword at Ho Ga-Myung’s waist seemed as if it might leap out and slit the lieutenant’s throat at any moment.
But what reached out was not a sword but a low, short command, sharper than a blade, more chilling than a dagger.
“Find them.”
“Yes!”
“By any means necessary.”
The lieutenant bowed deeply.
But Ho Ga-Myung had already averted his eyes from him and was staring at the razor-sharp peaks of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.
Grit.
His tightly clenched lips split and red blood trickled out.
‘Mount Hua’s Sword Saint...’
He had been toyed with by Mount Hua’s Sword Saint from beginning to end. What tormented him most was that, no matter how he thought about it, he could not find any reason for their defeat.
He couldn’t understand how such a thing had happened.
Is it even conceivable that newcomers to Guangdong could know and exploit secret places that even he had failed to discover?
Who could possibly have imagined such a possibility?
‘Impossible...’
It felt as if someone had plunged their hand into his head and was ransacking it.
But denying that possibility was meaningless; the impossible had already happened. No matter how hard he screamed or refused to see it, reality remained reality.
They had poured out everything they could. They had borne tremendous losses. He had even committed the unthinkable, defied Jang Ilso’s orders.
Thus the plan for which he had staked everything had vanished in an instant like foam.
If they managed to escape the Ten Thousand Great Mountains like this?
‘That cannot happen.’
Once they cross this hellish range, the vast lands of Southern Lands open up. No matter how many forces the Four Sects Alliance could muster, it’s impossible to seal off all of Southern Lands.
How could they possibly catch those they couldn’t seize even in Guangdong once they disperse over a much larger land?
“Push all available troops inside.”
“...Sorry?”
The adjutant behind him flinched and looked at Ho Ga-Myung’s back in alarm.
“Wherever they’re hiding, they can’t remain hidden forever. They’ll have to show themselves eventually. Then we catch and kill them.”
“...Troops? Into there?”
When the adjutant asked, Ho Ga-Myung slowly turned. The look in his eyes made the adjutant flinch.
“S-sorry.”
“Don’t make me say it twice.”
“Yes!”
The adjutant bowed his head deeply.
Only after Ho Ga-Myung’s gaze dropped did the adjutant manage to raise his head and look with shaking eyes at the mountain range before him.
A hellish range where one couldn’t even guess what lay just beyond.
‘From here?’
Was he being ordered to face Mount Hua’s Sword Saint? That man?
The very thought made him nauseous and dizzy. But there was no alternative; one could not oppose Ho Ga-Myung now.
So those who followed the order could do nothing but pray: may Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, that devil’s blade, not reach them.
❀ ❀ ❀
Crack. Crack.
Chung Myung tilted his head left and right and lightly opened and closed his hand.
‘He’s different.’
He was by no means the same as he had been. This battle made that clear. Yet he also had strengths different from before.
First was resilience.
The purest qi he had gathered in the land granted him a recovery ability incomparable to before.
That was likely why he could rise quicker now even from injuries more severe than in the past.
His body’s internal state was also improving rapidly.
Tension eased, blood began to flow, and sweat ran down his entire body. The turbid qi accumulated from battle was being expelled in sweat.
If he sweated it out like this, his condition would surely recover to at least seventy percent.
‘So it wasn’t all for nothing.’
He hadn’t yet reached the peak height he once had, but it proved that the summit he now chose to climb was far higher than the one his past self had ascended.
Tududuk.
Chung Myung tore off the bandage wrapped around his chest.
Baek Cheon, who had been about to yell asking what he was doing, shut his mouth. Chung Myung’s chest wound had already healed.
“...Is he even human?”
“Sometimes I doubt it too.”
Chung Myung chuckled softly. But Baek Cheon couldn’t relax his expression at the response.
“A man who can heal like that...”
“What?”
“Then if you’d been a little restrained you wouldn’t have had to °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° go through that mess with that leg, right?”
“Huh? True.”
“What a madman, really...”
Baek Cheon ground his teeth.
He knew it too.
That Chung Myung had no time to rest. That had he not taken the front and fought without pause, the sacrifices would have been far greater.
But even knowing that, his boiling anger couldn’t be helped.
Baek Cheon sighed as if the ground could swallow him. Chung Myung then asked calmly.
“How about Jo Gul sahyung?”
“Yoon Jong is tending to him elsewhere.”
“He wasn’t that badly hurt, but these youngsters are just weak-blooded nowadays.”
“...Have you never thought your constitution is abnormal? Others would have died ten times over.”
“Tsk tsk. Weaklings.”
Chung Myung snorted and smiled despite the grumbling; Baek Cheon’s face twisted.
“You find it funny?”
“What changes if we pretend to be serious?”
“...”
“Sasuk, relax your face too.”
“You...”
“People are watching.”
Baek Cheon’s face took on a complicated expression at Chung Myung’s seemingly light remark.
“Everyone’s staring only at the sasuk’s face. Their expressions reveal exactly what situation we’re in. If the sasuk keeps scowling and making an already ugly face uglier, everyone gets more anxious.”
“Have you ever heard of dependency in your life?”
“At this point you are a peerless handsome man.”
“...Don’t even say that.”
Baek Cheon let out a deep sigh. His heart was heavy.
He wasn’t unaware of that. He knew one must not show weakness in any circumstance.
But it wasn’t as easy as saying it.
He had almost killed Chung Myung. He had nearly driven Yu Yiseol and Jo Gul to death. Because his judgment had been flawed. If only he had been a bit more...
Clack.
At that moment, Chung Myung lightly tapped Baek Cheon’s shoulder.
“...What is it?”
“I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
“...”
“The sasuk’s judgment was correct. I couldn’t even imitate it.”
“...Don’t give me needless flattery.”
“Still, you have some sense.”
“What, you bastard?”
While spouting nonsense, Chung Myung’s gaze checked Yu Yiseol’s condition. There were deep wounds here and there, but it seemed unlikely any aftereffects would remain. Taoist cultivation skills exert great power in such cases.
But the absence of aftereffects did not erase the suffering she had endured.
This time Chung Myung’s gaze fell on Tang Soso, who lay asleep from exhaustion. The small wounds at her fingertips hinted at how fiercely she had struggled.
Those who fight with swords finish their role the moment battle ends; the healer’s fight begins then. She had probably saved countless lives and had to send away countless more.
Chung Myung’s gaze sank coldly.
Step.
He took slow steps.
Across the wide communal hall lay the Southern Island disciples scattered about. Any semblance of noble bearing was long gone; they lay like corpses in the shape of defeated soldiers.
“Understand?”
Baek Cheon, who had quietly followed him, spoke in a firm voice.
“Everyone fought to their limits. Two days of rest won’t be enough to recover. If we go out now we’ll only be driving the name to its doom.”
“Hm.”
Chung Myung nodded.
“There’s reason in that, but it’s not entirely right. By now the crazed Mind-Probing Inquisitor is probably clawing desperately to find the entrance.”
“...”
“And with his power he’ll soon find the entrance. He’s only half-blinded; that’s the only reason he hasn’t found it yet.”
Baek Cheon pressed his lips together.
Chung Myung was right. This place could not remain safe forever.
At that moment, those who noticed Chung Myung waking swarmed over.
“Taoist!”
“Are you all right?”
“Your wounds are severe, shouldn’t you rest more?”
Seeing Namgung Do-Wei, Tang Pae, and Hae Yeon rushing in, Chung Myung snorted. Each bore worry heavily on their faces.
‘I’m done for.’
Causing concern to such greenhouse plants.
“What about the Green Forest King?”
“Here.”
Im So-Byeong trudged up from the rear.
“They say even the King of Salt hesitates to take ill-natured people, and seeing you, taoist, that doesn’t seem like nonsense.”
Chung Myung laughed at the crooked remark.
“You got beaten by Ho Ga-Myung and now you are taking it out on me.”
“W-who are you saying got beaten?”
“Or shall I say you were trounced?”
“Ugh...”
Im So-Byeong clenched his fist. Even if he pretended otherwise, his pride was clearly hurt. After trembling a moment, he took a deep breath and asked.
“What do you intend to do now?”
“What?”
“Given the situation, as you know we can’t stay holed up here forever—we have to get out. But everyone’s condition is like this...”
At those words everyone’s faces darkened.
They had barely caught their breath, but no one could pretend the situation was easy.
“What are we going to do?”
“...Yes.”
“You should ask the others, not me.”
“Yes?”
Im So-Byeong looked at Chung Myung as if to ask what he meant.
“Because the positions have changed.”
“...What do you mean by that?”
Chung Myung surveyed those standing before him.
Not as bad as Yu Yiseol, but their injuries were no joke. The marks of their brutal struggle remained on all their bodies.
“What about Jo Gul sahyung?”
“Over here...”
Namgung Do-Wei guided him. Chung Myung followed and silently stared at Jo Gul, who still hadn’t regained consciousness, as if memorizing every scar on his body.
A moment later, Chung Myung turned back to Im So-Byeong.
Im So-Byeong’s shoulders involuntarily twitched.
Chung Myung’s gaze was so cold it made him doubt if this was the same person he’d known.
No, it wasn’t just the chill. There was an uncanny dissonance, as if looking at the same person but seeing someone else.
“Sword.”
“...”
Baek Cheon handed over Chung Myung’s sword that he had been holding.
It was the sword he had kept to prevent Chung Myung from rampaging. He had intended never to hand it over until Chung Myung recovered.
Yet somehow he could not bring himself to disobey Chung Myung’s words now.
“Green Forest King.”
“Yes, Taoist.”
“Prepare while you buy me some time. We’ll break out of here in one go.”
Im So-Byeong nodded.
He was a strategist too. He knew that if they could only cross the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, they could move to the Yangtze River in one swift sweep.
Ho Ga-Myung had rallied all those he had to press tightly and formed a last-ditch stand in Guangdong. Now they would have to pay the price.
The problem was that with the current state of the Heavenly Friends Alliance and Southern Island Sect, even fully exploiting the terrain of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains would not make battle easy.
Furthermore, in gaining time to heal they had also given the enemy time to encircle them again.
Chung Myung knew this as well.
And Chung Myung’s words now implied he could resolve this situation himself.
“What are you planning to do...?”
Im So-Byeong asked cautiously. Chung Myung let slip a crazed smile.
“I’ll collect the debt.”
His twisted lips revealed white teeth in a chilling grin.
“They will learn what it means to set foot in this place.”
What he had once painfully learned, now it was time to make them understand.
