Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1375: I Will Make It Like That. (5)
Previously on Return of the Mount Hua Sect...
“A-alliance leader! Over there!”
“I’m seeing it too.”
Hyun Jong looked at the riverbank where black smoke was billowing up with a hardened expression.
“It’s the place where the Nine Great Sects’ ships were docked.”
Hyun Jong slowly nodded at Tang Gunak’s words.
“It must be the Four Sects Alliance, right?”
“That would be so.”
Unless Beop Jeong suddenly went mad and burned his own ship, the only ones who would pull something like this are the Four Sects Alliance.
“They really caught us off guard.”
Tang Gunak slowly clenched and unclenched the hand hidden in his sleeve.
This is precisely the most terrifying part about Jang Ilso.
When everyone’s attention is fixed in one place, he strikes the most vulnerable spot that no one is paying attention to.
He even uses himself as bait.
“Alliance Leader! The Pirates are moving over there.”
“...”
Everyone clearly saw the flotilla of Pirates that had been occupying the Yangtze river change direction.
Even at a glance, the movement wasn’t abrupt.
“As if they were waiting...”
“It must have been planned already.”
A chill ran through his fingertips.
“Then...”
At that moment, Meng So, who had his arms folded behind them, spoke.
“Should we assume that the Hegemony Lord started moving east to draw attention so they could burn those ships?”
“Hmm.”
Tang Gunak exhaled softly.
There’s no denying that because Jang Ilso moved personally, the defenses across the river were left lax.
No doubt, just the fact that Jang Ilso moved away from across the river would have eased everyone’s minds somewhat.
Looking back, even Tang Gunak himself had unconsciously let his guard down; how much more so the others?
“That’s probably it. If it’s Jang Ilso.”
Meng So’s gaze sank gravely.
“He uses himself as bait to divert attention, then attacks where that attention isn’t...”
When Meng So looks at a person, he imagines an animal that matches them.
But he could not conjure any animal fitting for that Hegemony Lord.
More cunning than a fox, more ferocious than a tiger, where in the world could you find such a beast?
“What’s important is.”
At that moment, the silent Hyun Jong spoke.
“It’s not the fact that the ships burned, but that Jang Ilso is still moving east.”
“...”
“He’s moving toward where the youngsters are coming.”
Tang Gunak and Meng So looked at Hyun Jong in sudden surprise.
While the others were worrying about how Jang Ilso’s move would affect this standoff, Hyun Jong’s gaze was fixed solely on Mount Hua’s disciples.
As Tang Gunak was about to speak, Hyun Jong continued.
“Now the Nine Great Sects must know as well—that Jang Ilso’s movement isn’t mere bluff.”
“If they’re not fools, they will.”
Tang Gunak’s gaze, heavy with mixed emotions, turned toward the far bank.
‘Hegemony Lord.’
It was hard to deny.
By establishing the Four Sects Alliance’s main base across the river and holed up there, Jang Ilso had implanted a single thought in people’s minds, even in Tang Gunak’s brain.
The land of Southern lands is vast. Even in the whole history of the kangho, it’s rare for the Evil Sect to have completely dominated such a huge territory.
In other words, Jang Ilso had already achieved feats that would etch his name into the annals of the martial world.
So why would he start a war against the mighty Nine Great Sects to swallow more?
If you shift your perspective a little, it’s clear: right now Jang Ilso faces no threat.
Beop Jeong might serve as a rallying point against Jang Ilso’s attack, but he lacks the influence to muster the forces to attack the Southern lands; and the Heavenly Friends Alliance, Jang Ilso’s most hostile foe, doesn’t have the power alone to pursue the Southern lands.
‘In other words, if Jang Ilso wants to maintain this balance, no one in the world can shake his position.’
Everything is guaranteed. Everything.
By holed up in that lavish main base, by taking the easy choice, Jang Ilso could have likely kept his status as the ruler of Southern lands for decades.
Maybe, given his prudence, he could have lived as the Southern land’s emperor until the moment he died.
That’s why they doubted.
Perhaps this situation had carved even a small taste of ‘stability’—a word unbefitting that ravenous beast named Jang Ilso—into him.
No matter how much of a beast driven by desire he was, abandoning all that and gambling his life away wouldn’t be an easy choice.
If he compromised even a little, he could literally gain everything.
But those raging flames were mocking all such thoughts.
Those flames spoke in Jang Ilso’s voice: he would never be satisfied with something like Southern Lands.
Even if he were consumed by those flames and turned to ash, he would forever covet this side of the river.
Feeling the chilling malice embedded in those flames, Tang Gunak pressed his lips together.
“Reporting!”
At that moment, someone rushed into manor and raised their voice.
“The Nine Great Sects are moving. It looks like they’re trying to follow the Pirates’ ships moving along the river!”
Tang Gunak nodded automatically.
In that case, the Nine Great Sects would have no other choice.
They don’t know what Jang Ilso and that pirate flotilla moving east will do, so they can only follow for now.
“Shouldn’t we move as well?”
The most anxious right now would be Hyun Jong, no matter what anyone says.
Though the remark guessed his feelings, surprisingly Hyun Jong didn’t answer and only stared at the ships on the river with a stiff gaze.
“Leader?”
When Tang Gunak asked again, Hyun Jong spoke with a hardened face.
“Family lord.”
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
“What do you think the Hegemony Lord is aiming for?”
“...Yes?”
Aiming for what?
Isn’t the Hegemony Lord’s aim already clear? Burn the Nine Great Sects’ flotilla and seize complete control of the Yangtze river...
“Isn’t he trying to cross to the Northern lands?”
“...”
Hyun Jong quietly shook his head.
“Do you think the Hegemony Lord would have pulled this off for that one thing alone?”
“...”
Tang Gunak fell silent at those words.
Indeed, there was merit to that statement. Jang Ilso had always aimed for more than they expected.
“But... what could Jang Ilso gain from this...”
Nine Great Sects. Heavenly Friends Alliance. Four Sects Alliance.
The elites of those four powers would be gathered in one place.
‘Ah, no.’
That’s not all. If their guess is right, Chung Myung and his party moving north from the Southern lands are also likely to rendezvous there.
In other words, everyone who guides the fate of the current realm would be gathered in one place.
‘What are they trying to do?’
A cold chill ran down Tang Gunak’s spine.
If anyone would, it would be the Hegemony Lord; he would seek something from that situation, something they couldn’t even imagine.
But what on earth...?
“We must hurry.”
“...Yes, Alliance Leader.”
The Nine Great Sects showing their movement was also a statement of intent to open the way east for them.
So for now they must move east. Whatever happens, if they’re not there they can’t respond.
“We’ll sortie within the hour. Prepare.”
“Yes!”
As Tang Gunak hurried off, Hyun Jong squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Chung Myung.’
Chung Myung’s innocent, smiling face surfaced in his mind.
The face of Chung Myung who always hid his true intentions behind a smile.
‘Have you perhaps foreseen even this situation?’
He did not know.
But he believed it.
On this vast chessboard of the kangho, the only one who could sit opposite the Hegemony Lord would be Chung Myung.
Hyun Jong prayed for it... he fervently hoped so.
❀ ❀ ❀
Whooosh.
Baek Cheon, who had struck the ground, looked around with a hardened face.
The heightened senses swept the surroundings, but he sensed no sign of enemies.
‘What the hell is going on?’
A short while ago they attacked nearly thirty members of the Evil Sect and ended their lives—an action they took even though they could have avoided it.
Yet no matter how much time passed, there was no sign of heightened alert.
‘Could they not notice that nearly thirty people disappeared?’
No way.
No matter how rotten the Four Sects Alliance’s martial ranks are, thirty is not a small number anywhere.
Especially in a situation like this, where enemies are probing the interior.
Then, logically, this shouldn’t be happening...
Baek Cheon unconsciously glanced aside. In that instant, his eyes met Chung Myung’s.
Baek Cheon violently turned his head to avoid Chung Myung’s gaze, but...
“Huuuuuh.”
“...”
“Well, ain’t that strange? We beat nearly thirty of them—so why aren’t those damn guys freaking out? They should be, right?”
“...”
“It’s not like the kids’ eyes suddenly disappeared, right? Isn’t that so, Green Forest King?”
“Haha. Why do you say that?”
Im So-Byeong grinned as he picked up the remark.
“If the Taoist says that, wouldn’t the one who was foaming at the mouth and screaming that we’d all be dead for poking at the wrong guys feel extremely—eh?—awkward? A gentleman shouldn’t cling to another’s discomfort. One should also know how to let it pass magnanimously.”
“That’s how it is, right?”
“Ah yes. Of course. Since the Acting Sect Leader protested, do you think he did it out of malice and foamed at the mouth? He acted with good intentions. Even the sages said: blame malice, not ignorance. The wise Taoist should understand.”
“Tch. If you say it like that...”
“Indeed, indeed.”
Baek Cheon’s hand tremblingly held the sword.
What about the ghosts? Why haven’t they dragged those bastards away?
One bastard alone would have been infuriating, but gathering two similar ones made Baek Cheon’s insides feel like plum blossoms dancing in his belly.
“Tsk tsk. I told you so. How can a Taoist not trust people’s words like that?”
“Whom can we blame but the fact that the muriml world’s morality has fallen to the ground?”
“But Chung Myung.”
Just as Baek Cheon was about to lose it, Yoon Jong naturally spoke to change the subject.
“So the Nine Great Sects really moved?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That I don’t know either.”
“...”
Yoon Jong looked at Chung Myung with an expression that said, ‘What kind of bastard is this?’
He knows they’re coming but doesn’t know why—does that make any sense?
Chung Myung let out a short chuckle at that look.
“What I know is that it’s not a reason big enough to make the bald king move.”
“Then?”
“If it’s Jang Ilso, he’ll use any means to lure the Nine Great Sects in.”
“...”
Chung Myung twisted the corner of his mouth.
Surrounded on all sides. This was the only way to break through the situation.
‘He’s got all the cards. All that’s left is to fight.’
A cold, blue gleam shone in Chung Myung’s eyes.
