Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 222

Chung Myung acted like he was behaving for a moment, but then he peeked his head out again.

“Mister, I have one more question.”

“…Just what kind of fellow are you?”

The Beast Palace disciples laughed in surprise as they looked at Chung Myung.

“You said you’ve never seen guys like us before.”

“No. I’ve never seen anyone like you.”

“⋯⋯.”

Seriously. This guy is being a bit much considering we just met.

“⋯⋯Anyway. So, there were other people from the Central Plains captured by the Beast Palace before us, right?”

“That’s obvious.”

“What happened to them?”

The Beast Palace disciple smiled slightly.

“Have you ever heard of anyone captured by the Beast Palace being released in the Central Plains?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“You know the answer to that. Why are you even asking?”

Chung Myung pulled his head back inside and shrugged.

“That’s what he says?”

“⋯⋯.”

“Looks like they all died?”

Please. Please, just shut that mouth of yours, Chung Myung. Please.

The Mount Hua disciples now wished they could just enter the Beast Palace quickly. Being trapped in such a small space with Chung Myung was an awful experience.

Fortunately, their wish was soon granted.

“Open the gates!”

The doors of the building swung wide open, and the ox cart carrying the Mount Hua disciples slowly entered.

“Wow…”

The Mount Hua disciples gasped without meaning to.

The sight inside the building was more amazing than they could have ever imagined.

In the huge plaza, countless martial artists were lined up on both sides. Around these martial artists, beasts that looked extraordinary were walking around.

The sight of humans and beasts living together gave a truly strange feeling, unlike anything they had ever experienced.

“Isn’t that a tiger?”

“No, why is a tiger sitting next to a person?”

“That looks like a serpent?”

“⋯⋯Why is he wearing a snake around his neck?”

Baek Cheon blinked.

They had heard that the martial artists of the Southern Barbaric Beast Palace controlled beasts, but he never imagined they would actually live with them.

Moreover, the beasts here were easily twice the size of those they knew.

“There’s no need to be surprised,” one of those escorting them said coldly. “Soon, you will be feeding those children well.”

One of the guards said, ‘Soon, you will be feeding those children well.’ Baek Cheon thought, *That sounds strange. Feeding them? Wait… are *we* the food? Oh, they mean the beasts will eat us and be full. Right.*

Chung Myung smirked.

‘What an interesting sight. If I had known it would be like this, I would have visited the Beast Palace in advance.’

He wondered if he had spent too much time only wandering around the Central Plains in his past life.

Even as they looked around, the martial artists of the Beast Palace continued to gather. The number of those visible was easily in the hundreds. And the group that had escorted them numbered well over a hundred.

It was impossible for all the disciples of the Beast Palace, who had to monitor the entire Yunnan, to be gathered here.

That meant that those gathered here were not the entire force of the Beast Palace.

Considering that fact, one could understand just how large the scale of the Beast Palace was.

‘Indeed, one of the Four Outer Palaces.’

Baek Cheon’s face stiffened with tension.

No matter how strong each fighter was, the fact that there were so many who had mastered martial arts was truly remarkable.

Even the biggest temples in the world wouldn’t have so many fighters.

The ox, frightened by the sight of the giant beasts, stopped by itself.

Then, the Beast Palace disciples opened the locked gate and dragged the Mount Hua disciples out to the center of the plaza.

“Hey, handle me gently. I might just rip your wrist off!”

Chung Myung glared fiercely, and the one who was dragging him looked at him, shocked.

“In all my life, I’ve never seen such a fearless bastard. If I had my way, I’d just!”

“If you had your way, what? Just what? Do you know what my temper is like?”

You’d be better off not knowing?

“Eek!”

Just as the Beast Palace disciple was about to erupt, someone standing behind him scolded coldly.

“Stop it. The Palace Lord will be coming out soon!”

At the mention of the Palace Lord, the Beast Palace disciple’s body flinched. Just from that reaction, one could tell how much someone feared the Beast Palace Lord.

They dragged Chung Myung and his group to the center of the plaza and left them standing there.

They didn’t take their weapons or try to restrain them.

“What are they doing, not worrying about us running away?”

“It probably means that running away is useless. Do you think we can hide from them, pass through this big place, Yunnan, and reach Sichuan?”

“⋯⋯I guess not.”

It would take at least ten days just to go back the way they came. It was not easy at all to escape in Yunnan, which could be said to be the Beast Palace’s territory.

“And it doesn’t seem easy to run away from here right now either. Everyone… is stronger than I thought.”

The Mount Hua disciples looked around with tense eyes.

It was intimidating.

The bronzed bodies of the lined-up martial artists were very muscular and strong. Their eyes were all intense and sharp. Unlike the freedom felt in the name Beast Palace, everyone was like a well-trained soldier.

That alone was intimidating, but the beasts freely roaming between them occasionally bared their teeth and threatened them.

The sharp teeth of the tiger growling at them were terribly eerie.

“⋯⋯If that tiger were brought to the Central Plains, it would easily be called a mountain god, wouldn’t it?”

“At that point, wouldn’t it already be something other than a tiger?”

“Since a while ago, a bird the size of a person has been flying around above my head.”

“⋯⋯I really don’t understand. Why are they wearing snakes around their necks, why?”

Something was making his legs tremble.

It wasn’t anxiety because the enemy was strong. It was the unease that came from facing something unknown that he had never experienced before.

The feeling of being a stranger he had felt in Yunnan or Kunming was nothing compared to what he felt now in the Beast Palace.

It was as if this place was another world.

And at that moment!

“Kaaa!”

With a sharp cry, a white streak of lightning rushed towards them.

“Wh-what is that!”

“Kaaa!”

The rushing streak of lightning stopped just a step away. It was a ferret whose entire body was covered in pure white fur. The sight of it raising its fur and threatening them…

“I-it looks like a magical creature?”

“Is it a cat?”

What?

Everyone’s head turned towards Chung Myung.

Is this bastard blind?

“Tsk tsk tsk. Come here. Tsk tsk!”

“Don’t do that! You’ll get your fingers bitten off!”

Chung Myung bent down and reached for the sable. The sable looked angry. Yoon Jong and Jo Gul panicked. They grabbed Chung Myung and pulled him back.

But Chung Myung was very calm.

“Why? It listens well. It’s well-behaved, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

Jo Gul and Yoon Jong rubbed their eyes in disbelief.

The white sable, which had been bristling just moments before, was now practically nestled in Chung Myung’s arms, licking his hand.

It even acted cute sometimes, licking its paws.

“It looks desperate?”

“…Did it sense something?”

The way it wagged its tail so eagerly seemed less cute and more earnest.

“…It really might be a spirit animal.”

“The head is precious, after all. It knows not to get hit, so it’s definitely a spirit animal.”

People say animals can just *feel* if someone is good or bad.

If a spirit animal was wagging its tail this desperately, just how awful was Chung Myung’s personality?

In any case, it felt like the tension eased a bit, thanks to him.

Chung Myung picked up the sable and shoved it towards Baek Cheon, snickering.

“Bite him! Bite him!”

“Stop it!”

“Stob it!”

Baek Cheon gritted her teeth.

To be joking even in a moment like this. It was hard to tell if he was brave or just insane.

And at that moment!

Suddenly, the big wooden doors of the hall crashed open. A man walked out. He looked very important and powerful.

“Wow…”

“Oh…”

In an instant, all the Mount Hua disciples were overwhelmed by his presence.

His thick arms and legs, like carved stone pillars, bulged with straining muscles, and the massive pectoral muscles revealed through the gaps in the animal fur he wore seemed harder than steel.

His hair was long and rough, like wire. It showed he was wild and untamed.

‘This, this person is…’

The man, walking slowly like a tiger, stood on the steps and glared at the Mount Hua disciples with eyes blazing like fire.

“Central Plains people!”

Baek Cheon winced at the booming shout.

Sometimes, how someone says something is more important than the words themselves. The Beast Palace Lord’s shout showed he really hated people from the Central Plains.

‘I was thinking too easily from the start.’

If the Beast Palace Lord’s hostility towards the Central Plains people was this strong, things wouldn’t be easily resolved no matter what they tried.

Grinding his teeth menacingly, the Beast Palace Lord shouted.

“Who are you! Who dares to disguise your identities and enter this sacred land! Speak! If your reason is not sufficient, I will tear you all to shreds and feed you to the beasts!”

His voice was so loud and strong, it felt like the ground shook.

Baek Cheon unconsciously reached for her ears to block the sound, then flinched and lowered her hands.

‘Tremendous inner strength.’

His inner power was stronger than anyone Baek Cheon had ever seen.

Inner strength wasn’t everything in martial prowess, but at least the Beast Palace Lord’s inner strength was at a level unmatched by anyone he had seen so far.

“Speak! You cursed Central Plains people! Or I will tear you apart right now!”

The Beast Palace Lord’s eyes were bloodshot.

That wasn’t the attitude of someone willing to listen to excuses. It was the attitude of someone looking for a justification to tear them apart.

‘What should I do?’

Cold sweat beaded on Baek Cheon’s forehead. A single slip of the tongue could lead to irreversible…

It was then.

“We’re from Mount Hua.”

The Mount Hua disciples’ heads snapped around.

Chung Myung had already taken a couple of steps forward. And, scratching his nose nonchalantly, he said,

“We came to find something. Can you help us?”

“Uh…”

“Hey! Hey, you!”

“…Hiccup.”

Even Yoo Iseol, who maintained her composure at all times, seemed quite flustered this time, as she hiccuped.

H-How could he reveal that…

“Mount Hua? Did you just say Mount Hua?”

“Yes, we’re from Mount Hua.”

As expected, an enormous light burst from the Beast Palace Lord’s eyes.

“Are you talking about that Mount Hua, the cursed Nine Great Sects? That Mount Hua in Shaanxi! You dare to claim you are disciples of that Mount Hua!”

The Beast Palace Lord’s face twisted. His voice doubled in volume, and the inner strength contained within it doubled as well. The Mount Hua disciples staggered, nearly collapsing under the force of the voice that erupted almost like a sonic attack.

But Chung Myung, undaunted, puffed out his chest and shouted confidently.

“Yes! That Mount Hua!”

“Y-…”

Everyone held their breath. The Beast Palace Lord practically leaped down the steps and charged straight towards Chung Myung with terrifying momentum.

And he stopped abruptly, like a solid rock, right in front of Chung Myung.

“…”

The Mount Hua disciples froze in place.

The moment the Beast Palace Lord stood before Chung Myung, they realized anew just how enormous he was. Chung Myung wasn’t short, but his head only reached the Beast Palace Lord’s chest.

The aura emanating from that massive body was truly overwhelming. Just looking at him made their mouths dry and their bodies stiffen.

It was strange because he had such a strong presence, but the Beast Palace Lord whispered very softly.

“Mount Hua?”

It was a low, and therefore even more threatening, voice.

“…”

The Beast Palace Lord, who had been glaring at Chung Myung as if to tear him apart with his eyes, suddenly raised both arms high. As if he would bring those two arms down on Chung Myung and crush him.

Baek Cheon unconsciously drew her sword. But before she could launch an attack, the Beast Palace Lord brought his arms down forcefully.

A scream burst from Baek Cheon’s lips.

“No!”

Thump!

But the Beast Palace Lord’s large hands, which seemed ready to crush Chung Myung at any moment, instead gripped Chung Myung’s shoulders. He held him firmly and said with emphasis.

“Then does that mean you are the descendants of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint!”

“…Pardon?”

Huh?

“To think that I would meet the descendants of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint in my lifetime! Welcome! The Namban Beast Palace welcomes the descendants of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint! Because you are his family, you are our honored guests!”

“…”

Huh?

“Hahaha! Prepare a feast! We have guests! Guests have arrived!”

The Beast Palace Lord shouted, roaring with laughter.

Then the Beast Palace warriors began to move busily and in perfect order, cheering.

Yoon Jong, watching the scene, turned his head to look at Baek Cheon, dumbfounded.

“What… what’s going on here?”

“…”

Would I know?

Would I?

Would I?