Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1389: Underestimating People. (4)

A terrible, throbbing pain pulsed in his thigh. The strike he had allowed a moment ago must have run deeper than he had thought.

Dizzy spells washed over him from time to time. He couldn’t tell whether it was from losing too much blood or the poison seeping into his wound, eating at his body. His breaths grew shallower.

“Huff! Huff! Huff!”

But he couldn’t stop now.

“Chase him!”

A harsh voice sounded not far away. The pursuers were merciless and cruel. If they caught him, he would suffer so much he’d beg them to just kill him.

It wasn’t the pain he feared. What he truly feared was ending his life like this, dying in a place like this, accomplishing nothing, holding nothing, crawling on the ground like a worm. He could not accept that.

Screeeeeeetch!

At that moment a stabbing pain shot through his calf.

“Ugh!”

The boy, losing his balance, tumbled to the ground with the momentum of his run. After bouncing and rolling several times, his body lay sprawled out.

Whoosh!

With a short tearing sound, several armed men landed in front of the boy.

“You bastard...”

Clad in blue, they glared at the boy with vicious, cruel eyes. Though he lay wounded all over and could have evoked pity, there was not a trace of it in their gazes. Their hatred boiled so hot it made even mortal enemies’ looks seem gentle by comparison.

But those revealing hatred toward the boy had their reasons.

“How dare you, not only steal the clan’s precious treasure without fear, but assassinate the clan leader while fleeing?”

“We’ll tear you apart a thousand ways to repay the sect master’s grudge.”

The boy before them looked at first like a heedless, weak child, but in truth he was a vicious demon to rival snake and scorpion.

He had ambushed the clan leader, who had especially favored him as a successor and bestowed boundless favor, while the clan leader was traveling, then fled after stealing the clan’s true relic. The number of people he killed while escaping reportedly reached into the tens.

“Even a mute dog knows what gratitude is. You’re worse than a dog! The clan leader cherished you so much!”

“Heh heh heh heh.”

The boy lying there chuckled in a suppressed voice, then slowly sat up.

“Gratitude...”

Between his blood-matted bangs, pale eyes shone—an eerie madness emanating from them.

“Does such a thing even exist in this world?”

“...What did you say?”

“That old man only raised me to make me his instrument. If I had no talent, would that ‘grace’ ever have come to me?”

“This bastard...”

“People are strange. They live without thinking of such things most of the time, but when it’s convenient to preach, they heap them up like they’re holy.”

The boy clenched his hand as if seizing the ground and slowly pushed himself fully {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} upright.

“Fool. Even if that was the clan leader’s intention, if you’d calmly inherited the leader’s legacy you could’ve become one of the few top warriors. You threw that chance away yourself. And for that you’ll die miserably.”

“A top warrior... by becoming that old man’s disciple?”

The boy laughed brightly as if incredulous. Sharp mockery and overt self-mockery mingled in it—hardly a laugh one would expect from a child.

A ‘top warrior.’ What would change by making a name in some backwater like this?

A pitiful life, a pitiful reputation.

How worthless is a life spent scrambling for such things?

Some might be satisfied with that. But not the boy. A life that cannot ascend was worse than a miserable death.

“Not just the clan leader! The whole clan had pinned their hopes on you. If it was you...”

“Hopes? For what, exactly?”

The boy sneered as he looked at the man.

“If I become great, will your lives change?”

“Y-you bastard!”

“Would that change your worth? You’re useless lives anyway.”

The man foamed at the mouth with rage. Then the boy’s voice, sharp, slipped out.

“The clan? Hopes? It’s because you lean on such things that you live like that. The only thing you can trust is yourself! If you want to change, if you want to obtain, the only thing you must train and abuse is yourself. If the unqualified grasp what’s beyond them, all that’s left is misery.”

“...”

“I won’t live like that. If I want something, I’ll take it with my own hands, and I’ll bear the sacrifices that come with it myself.”

Childish bravado or the arrogance of someone naive of the world... could such words describe the boy?

There was a venom in the child’s voice that even those older than him would find hard to endure. Its source was beyond guessing.

“...So it was you.”

Then a man’s voice came out with a hoarse sound, as if he’d finally realized something.

“The one who killed Caoling Clan’s young clan leader and stole their secret technique... the one who killed Evil Tryant Clan’s maiden and took their sacred relic while fleeing... it was all you, wasn’t it?”

At those words everyone was shocked and looked at the man who spoke.

“Th-then all the incidents that occurred in the various sects over the past few years...?”

“...Impossible. There’s no way they were that stupid, right?”

“Were we fools who fell for it?”

Those words shut everyone up.

No, they weren’t stupid. They could never be stupid.

Enlightened Way clan was a clan known in the north area as if it were a reaper; if its leaders had truly been foolish, how could they have attained such stature?

“We’re not foolish. That bastard, he’s simply too cunning. He deceived everyone in such a short time without a trace.”

The men bit their lips. Someone muttered with a face of contempt.

“Worse than a dog.”

“Heh heh...”

The boy lazily wiped the blood trailing down his face. The red smeared along his mouth like exaggerated stage makeup. At a glance he looked like a madman grinning wide.

That alone changed his impression completely. The previously innocent-looking face had turned into that of a depraved demon.

“Is that really my fault?”

“What other nonsense are you going to spew...!”

“Do you have any idea? What I’m thinking now? With what thoughts I’m looking at you?”

The man’s face contorted—he couldn’t grasp what that cunning bastard was saying.

“You don’t know. Of course you don’t. One cannot fathom another’s heart or intentions. Standing just a pace away, glaring as if in hatred, you still couldn’t know.”

The men’s eyes twitched. The boy smiled.

“But what nerve did you have to trust a person whose inner heart you couldn’t even know? And why do you rage that you’ve been betrayed? Is the trust you gave something that must be returned? If not, does that grant you the right to blame and curse?”

“What sophistry...”

“If that’s the case, it’s utterly shallow.”

Perhaps this wasn’t mere mockery but a genuine question.

The boy could not understand.

Those who relied on others, who pinned hopes on others, even those who believed others would act as they wished.

To the boy, it was like throwing oneself into a pitch-black well. A madman’s wager, betting everything on groundless optimism and faith without knowing what monsters or abysses lurked within.

They might deem him a madman, but to the boy the world was madder, filled only with the unhinged.

To the boy, watching such a world was both revolting and indescribably beautiful. It glittered.

So he wanted to clutch it in his hand, the world full of things he could never permanently possess.

“Say whatever you like. We will exact the price for what you’ve done.”

“You lot?”

“I’ll give you courage. But kid, you know nothing of the world. And thanks to you everyone will learn how cruel and thorough Enlightened Way Clan’s vengeance can be!”

Hearing that, the boy scoffed.

Of course his body was in the worst state. Other pursuers were coming after him in the distance. Yet the boy felt no loneliness or isolation.

“This is why the dull-minded...”

“What did you say?”

“You blurted it yourself. The one who stole Caoling Clan’s secret technique scroll and the one who stole Evil Tyrant Clan’s treasure, both were me, you said.”

Those who heard it flinched.

“Then what do you think I did with them? Did you think I sold them off for petty coin?”

“S-seize him at once...”

“Now do you understand? I didn’t flee because I feared you. I fled because I didn’t want my name to spread here. You should’ve known!”

A perverse madness burst from the boy’s eyes.

A crazed shout echoed from somewhere.

A killing intent felt even from afar, like something slicing the skin.

It felt as if the whole world spun violently and screamed to seize and kill that one thing.

But it didn’t matter. The world had been like this from the start. He did not want it to be different either.

The moment he trampled this filthy world beneath his feet, he would finally find the reason he was born into it.

Even if he were torn to pieces along that path, leaving not a scrap of flesh behind, he would have no regrets.

He would simply laugh once and go to hell.

“Strike!”

Watching his attackers rush in, the boy, Jang Ilso, grinned with narrowed eyes.

‘I will seize it.’

All things he could not obtain.

Jang Ilso slowly opened his eyes and, with a languid face, gazed out the window.

‘Rare occurrence.’

He rarely had dreams, especially not that dream of rolling in misery.

Lost in thought, Jang Ilso suddenly wanted to ask himself a question.

Had he obtained what he sought?

No. Not yet. He hadn’t grasped a single thing.

The power others envied, the soaring fame, the wealth that could never be exhausted even in a lifetime—these remained trivial to him.

None of them were what he truly wanted to obtain.

But Jang Ilso was certain. If he saw this path through, everything would soon fall into his hands. And after that...

“...Who knows.”

Jang Ilso murmured with a languid face.

“What comes after is none of my concern. Isn’t that right?”

Most people wouldn’t understand.

For some, it’s not the life they will gain by achieving a goal but the very fact of achieving the goal that matters more.

Perhaps the one who would understand is writhing now in a hellish situation, just as the past Jang Ilso once did.

And they would probably feel exactly what past Jang Ilso felt.

Jang Ilso survived by abandoning everything. But could he do that as well?

“Either way is fine.”

A seemingly benevolent smile flickered across his face. Yet his red lips twisted, exuding a chilling aura.

“It wouldn’t be bad if you came this way.”

Then perhaps Jang Ilso might gain it.

The one and only person in the world who could understand him.