Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 151

“They’re gaining on us!”

“Blast it! We need to go faster!”

This showed how worried he was.

‘How did things come to this?’

Before entering the Sword Tomb, things were unremarkable. Nay, even after. Even if all those who sought the Sword Tomb had entered, Heosanja wouldn’t have been particularly concerned.

None of them were as skilled as someone from Wudang.

But things are not always easy, and this was not good news for Wudang.

With many, agreement is difficult. But with few, it was easier for them to agree. Especially when those gathered are powerful individuals wary of each other.

As a result, Wudang was now being pursued by a coalition of those who had entered the Sword Tomb.

It seemed they had agreed to prevent Wudang from deciphering the Sword Tomb. And this stopping them was now a real danger to Wudang.

Urgency laced Heosanja’s voice.

“Why is this place so vast!”

“We should reach the end soon!”

“Ummm!”

Yet Heosanja’s face remained grim.

‘Blast it all. What was the Medicine Saint thinking, creating such a place?’

It was common for dangerous traps to be found where valuable objects were hidden. People who hid treasures instead of giving them to family were often a little crazy.

Such individuals usually believed that only the worthy should obtain what they left behind. So they set up traps to test that worthiness.

But wasn’t this the Medicine Saint’s tomb?

Who would have imagined that the Medicine Saint, like those eccentric individuals… or even worse, would make a tomb full of traps?

‘How utterly foul!’

Heosanja had already faced death several times. As he was at the front, he was the first to encounter the Medicine Saint’s traps.

A barrage of hidden needles. A terrifying trap where the floor suddenly gave way. And other bizarre traps that frightened him a lot were scattered everywhere.

Traps awaited in front, and those trying to stop them, eyes bloodshot, pursued from behind. In his long life, he had rarely faced such a painful situation.

Heosanja bit his lip.

‘This isn’t happening by chance.’

He couldn’t stop thinking someone was making this happen on purpose. He knew there was little chance of it being true, but he couldn’t help but think it.

Wasn’t it strange that those who should have blocked their entry with the Barrier of Benevolence, or entered the Sword Tomb with them to tie them down, had failed to enter at all?

‘Could it be that young brat…?’

The thought that the Chung Myung of Mount Hua had scattered Jangbodo to gather the heroes led Heosanja to suspect that this situation might also be Chung Myung’s intention.

But he quickly shook his head.

This was too hard to believe. There was no way that young brat could have foreseen such a distant future and created this situation. He might be quick-witted, but predicting the characteristics of the Jianghu and setting up a game was impossible without experience.

Besides, weren’t the elders of Mount Hua absent from Nanyang?

Baek Cheon, the so-called Hwajeong Sword, was leading the disciples. It was too much to imagine that they had foreseen this situation.

“Elder! The pressure is intense!”

“Ummm.”

Heosanja rumbled heavily.

“Heogong!”

“Yes, Senior Brother!”

“Block those coming from behind as much as possible. Lead the disciples and tie them down!”

“And you, Senior Brother?”

“I will lead a few and advance quickly.”

“Understood!”

Heogong Jinin answered resolutely and leaped backward.

“Jin Hyun! Mugil! Mupyeong!”

“Yes! Elder!”

“Follow me! We will obtain the Honwon Pill!”

“Yes!”

Heosanja quickly darted forward.

Guarding the rear and stalling for time was not a good strategy. It would be a great burden for those remaining if Heosanja and a few others left, but obtaining the Honwon Pill was the priority, even if it meant some sacrifice.

As Heosanja pushed forward, creating distance, he suddenly became angry!

“Duck!”

Thwack! Thwack thwack!

No sooner had the words left his mouth than sharp arrows flew in unison from the front. The arrowheads glowed with a green light, clearly indicating they were coated with deadly poison.

“Medicine Saint!”

Heosanja’s sword deflected the incoming arrows in all directions. His continuous strikes allowed not a single arrow to pass.

“The one called Medicine Saint uses poison and hidden weapons! What is this place!”

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“Elder, there are signs of people ahead.”

Heosanja frowned at Jin Hyun’s words.

He couldn’t sense any energy, so what could these signs of people be…

It was then.

Heosanja, who had been running forward, stopped in his tracks.

He stared ahead in disbelief.

In the darkness.

Something was moving in the deep darkness that could not be seen with the naked eye.

Heosanja was not alarmed by the fact that something was moving in this deserted Sword Tomb.

‘I can’t sense any life?’

Something was moving, but he couldn’t sense any energy. If something was moving, it should have life, but he couldn’t sense any at all.

Then what on earth was moving?

Ggrrr…

Ggrrr…

Heosanja felt the hair on his body stand on end at the strange sound coming from inside.

When he finally identified the things that were moving, he couldn’t help but utter a harsh curse.

“What insane…”

He had never seen them with his own eyes.

But he was certain of what he was seeing. He had heard of them countless times.

“…Jiangshi, like zombies.”

The dead were moving.

Corpses with lifeless eyes and ashen skin were staggering towards them. The mere sight of them felt very disgusted.

Heosanja shouted in anger and horror.

“What is this place!”

But there was no time to be surprised.

“E-Elder! They’re coming!”

“Blast it!”

Heosanja gripped his sword. Whatever was coming, what they had to do was clear.

“These are dead people who can’t rest! We need to make them stop!”

“Yes! Elder!”

Heosanja bit his lip.

‘What were you thinking, Medicine Saint!’

Perhaps he had misjudged the Medicine Saint. If so…

‘Perhaps no one will leave this place alive.’

Heosanja stopped thinking about those things, chanted a Buddhist invocation, and charged at the Jiangshi.

He felt wronged.

Hong Daegwang felt unbearably wronged.

Why did he feel so wronged after committing a wrong?

‘I did wrong.’

He couldn’t deny it, even if he had ten mouths.

But no matter how wrong he was.

“I’m an elder!”

“Why, you!”

Chung Myung raised a hand. Hong Daegwang flinched and pressed himself against the wall.

“Ugh, if I could just get angry!”

If Chung Myung were in the body of the former Plum Blossom Sword Saint, Hong Daegwang would have been reduced to dust. But strangely, when he tried to beat someone with this body, he felt a subtle reluctance when facing someone older.

That was why it ended like this. And yet, he had such a wronged look on his face, unaware of this fact.

“Ugh. I’m so frustrated.”

Whether he knew Chung Myung’s feelings or not, Hong Daegwang looked around with a mournful face.

But all that returned were sharp glares.

“I knew that man would cause trouble someday.”

“Just bury him. Dying here by the hands of the Mount Hua Divine Dragon is too good for him! Too good!”

“How did we end up meeting such a man as the Branch Leader!”

“If you’re going to die, die alone!”

He felt mournful.

The fact that those hurling insults and curses were not Mount Hua’s disciples but his own subordinates made him even more mournful.

Hong Daegwang rubbed his eyes as he received many angry insults and curses from the Branch members. The only consolation was that the dimly lit darkroom would hide his bruised eyes.

“This is why I try not to associate with beggars!”

“…Don’t call us beggars. It makes us beggars feel bad.”

“Then don’t act like beggars!”

“……”

Hong Daegwang simply shut his mouth, knowing that no matter what he said, he would only hear more insults.

“Anyway…”

Chung Myung glared at Hong Daegwang. He seemed to be looking for something else to scold him about. Hong Daegwang squirmed every time the fierce gaze pierced his body.

Feeling like they were on his side from that sight, Baek Cheon quietly approached Chung Myung and changed the subject.

“We can’t waste time here.”

“Sigh.”

Chung Myung groaned. He wanted to spend three days tearing him apart, but he didn’t have the time.

“Behave yourself.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Tsk.”

Chung Myung glared at Hong Daegwang as if he didn’t like him at all, then turned away.

“The Beggars’ Union wasn’t like this in the old days. Why is everyone getting worse?”

When did you know the Beggars’ Union of old?

Hong Daegwang felt unfair and sad inside. Then Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong approached and patted him on the shoulder without a word.

“Don’t comfort me. I feel like I’m going to cry!”

“I understand.”

“Hic.”

Hong Daegwang shook his head and sighed.

“Anyway, where is this place?”

Chung Myung looked around. The end of the long corridor led to another vast stone chamber. And at the end of that chamber, another new door could be seen.

“Hmm.”

Chung Myung gave a strange look.

The door was tightly closed.

“There are no signs of anyone entering?”

“Ugh.”

Chung Myung became angry.

“There was a side path in the middle. We were supposed to go that way, but a certain beggar collapsed the ceiling!”

The ‘certain beggar’ shrank back.

Outside the Sword Tomb, he was considered one of the Beggars’ Union’s top talents and a veteran Jianghu expert, but here he was just a troublemaking beggar.

“…Then what went wrong?”

“Tsk. Wrong or not, we have to go anyway.”

Chung Myung glanced back and said.

“The way back is blocked anyway.”

Everyone’s expression hardened at those words.

Until recently, they could have climbed back up the way they came if things went wrong, but now there was no way to retreat. They had to move forward and find a new path.

“I’ll go first. Stick close.”

“Alright.”

“If you touch anything weird again, I’ll cut off your hand!”

“…Alright.”

Chung Myung glared and strode forward to open the door. Then he tilted his head slightly.

“Why?”

“No, I think I smell something strange.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Let’s go in.”

Chung Myung carefully opened the door and walked inside. It was different from the corridor he had just passed through. A natural, untouched cave spread out before him.

‘It’s the same narrow cave, but…’

Chung Myung quickened his pace with a slight frown.

He had been walking through the cave for a while.

Pat pat.

“Don’t make noise.”

“Okay.”

Pat pat.

“I said don’t make noise.”

“I didn’t.”

Pat pat.

Chung Myung stopped talking. And his head slowly began to turn upwards.

“Huh?”

No way.

At that moment.

As if hundreds of small red dots had splattered red paint on the cave walls, they simultaneously revealed themselves.

“Huh?”

This doesn’t look good?