Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 870

The door crashed open. A Beggars’ Sect disciple, gasping for air and covered in sweat, stumbled in. “They are coming! The Demonic Sects are heading here!”

Wi Rip-san looked up, surprised. “What did you just say?”

“Demonic Sects! Coming this way! Straight for us!” The young Beggar could barely speak between breaths. Sweat dripped from his face onto the simple wooden floor of Wi Rip-san’s office.

The news was so shocking, it needed more explanation. But the Beggars’ Sect man was covered in sweat, like he had run very fast. Seeing him like this, Wi Rip-san could not speak.

“We need to get the Xi’an sects together, now!” the Beggar rushed on. “Leaders are calling sects nearby too. Help is coming, soon!”

“Sects near Xi’an?” Wi Rip-san started to ask, but stopped himself. It was not polite to question their help.

“Tell me one thing. How strong are they?”

“No time to explain everything!” the Beggar said urgently. “But… they are very strong.”

“Stronger than the Myriad Man Clan? Like when they attacked Xi’an before?”

“Not like the whole Clan,” the Beggar replied, “but worse than the Red Death Squad, for sure.”

Wi Rip-san nodded slowly, his face serious. *(Wi Rip-san’s thoughts) The Red Death Squad was terrible. Demonic Sects… this could be worse. But I must be strong for my sect.* “I understand.”

“Shaolin and Beggars’ Sect will send help! We just need to hold on until then!”

“I understand,” Wi Rip-san repeated, standing up quickly.

The Beggars’ Sect disciple watched him, surprised. Most people would panic at this news, ask many questions, try to decide to run or fight. But Wi Rip-san asked nothing more, as if he knew everything already.

“Sect Leader,” the Beggar asked, “are you alright? Are you not worried?”

“What do you mean?” Wi Rip-san asked back.

“Is this… enough for you? Just waiting for help?” The question was unclear, even to the man who asked it.

But Wi Rip-san nodded slightly, as if he understood perfectly. “It does not matter who the enemy is.”

“…”

“For a sect to establish itself in a region means sharing its fate. Unless everyone in Xi’an runs away, we only have one thing to do.”

The Beggars’ Sect disciple’s eyes widened a little.

“A Hwasan disciple never runs. I will gather the Xi’an sects and we will fight to slow them down. Please, hurry with the help.”

“…I will certainly do so.”

“Then.”

Wi Rip-san had barely taken a step when he shouted,

“So-haeng!”

“Yes, Father!”

Wi So-haeng, who had been waiting outside the door, quickly answered and opened the door. The child, who had been so young, had grown quite a bit in the meantime.

“Send disciples to summon the leaders of all the sects in Xi’an. It’s an emergency!”

“Yes!”

“And send the remaining disciples to gather all the disciples in Xi’an.”

“Yes!”

“Hurry!”

Wi So-haeng dashed out without another word.

Watching him, an exclamation involuntarily escaped the Beggars’ Sect disciple’s lips.

‘Hwayeong Sect Leader Wi Rip-san.’

The Beggars’ Sect thought Wi Rip-san was lucky. He got help because he was the only one who stayed in Hwayeong when others left.

Thanks to that, Hwayeong Sect had become the leading sect in Xi’an, but Sect Leader Wi Rip-san himself was just an ordinary martial artist who wasn’t particularly remarkable, according to the Beggars’ Sect’s assessment.

But….

‘Does the position make the man? Or has the Beggars’ Sect failed to properly assess him?’

It was said that a person’s true worth was revealed in a crisis, and the 모습 Wi Rip-san was showing now was enough to make the Beggars’ Sect’s past evaluations pale in comparison.

“Hey, beggar.”

“…Yes? Ah… Yes, Sect Leader!”

“Perhaps….”

Wi Rip-san, who had been speaking clearly and decisively until now, hesitated slightly for the first time and carefully opened his mouth.

“Perhaps… is there still no news from Hwasan?”

The Beggars’ Sect disciple hesitated slightly before speaking.

“Originally, going to a closed sect in any situation is against the laws of the Jianghu….”

Then, he spoke with a confident expression.

“The situation is so urgent that the branch leader must have gone to deliver the message.”

Wi Rip-san nodded.

“I see. Then we just need to hold on a little longer.”

“They might turn you away at the gate.”

“That won’t happen.”

Wi Rip-san smiled without a hint of doubt.

“They will definitely come. If it’s Hwasan.”

*Because that is who they are.*

“Demonic Sects….”

A deep worry clouded Hwang Jong-i’s face.

He sighed softly, having thought through countless possibilities in a short moment.

“They’re coming here?”

“Yes. We believe the first place they’ll target upon reaching Xi’an is likely….”

“This place, I suppose.”

Hwang Jong-i lamented.

The Eunha Merchant Guild was now incomparable to what it had been in the past. Business had become slightly more difficult recently as the world grew more chaotic, but even so, the wealth they had accumulated over the past few years hadn’t gone anywhere. They had long since solidified their position as the leading merchant guild in Xi’an and one of the top ten merchant guilds in the world.

There was no way the villains would leave such a tempting target alone.

“You must evacuate first.”

“…”

When Hwang Jong-i remained silent, the Beggars’ Sect disciple bit his lip and urged him.

“Those who are coming now are dangerous. I’m not just saying this because they’re Demonic Sects. They are mad beasts.”

“…”

“The Guild Leader is also aware of the fact that the Red Death Squad of the Myriad Man Clan invaded Xi’an in the past, isn’t he?”

“That is so.”

“It’s different from then. The Red Death Squad didn’t harm the common people back then. But these people have already annihilated two villages. If you stay here, you absolutely won’t survive. So please, hurry….”

“I cannot do that, beggar.”

But Hwang Jong-i shook his head.

“Yes? But, still….”

“I know. But I cannot run away. A merchant does not abandon his guild.”

“…Guild Leader, this is not a situation to be so complacent. Right now….”

“I am saying this precisely because I am not complacent.”

“…”

Hwang Jong-i shook his head.

“There are countless goods in the guild’s warehouse right now. If those are taken away, the guild will collapse.”

“Why don’t you run away with the goods?”

“Most of the guild members are out on business trips, so there aren’t many people to move the goods. And… would the villains, who are after wealth, turn back just because the warehouse is empty? They’ll chase us to the ends of the earth to take it. That would lead to the deaths of even the guild members.”

“…You already have money saved up, don’t you? If you move only the valuable items first….”

Hwang Jong-i smiled.

“A guild that hoards its saved money in a vault is destined to fail. There are no easily portable valuables here.”

“…”

“And.”

A weighty voice flowed from Hwang Jong-i’s lips.

“A guild is not a place where one earns a living alone. There are countless places that trust us and do business with us. If the goods in the warehouse are taken away, they will all go bankrupt as well.”

“…Isn’t that less important than your life?”

“My father… he always told me, ‘Trust is everything for a merchant, more important than life itself.’ He lived by those words. So, if I abandon my faith and run away because I’m afraid of losing my life, how can I face my father in the afterlife?”

Hwang Jong-i shook his head.

“And most of the goods here are not my property. They belong to my friends who trust me.”

“…”

“If it were them, they would say that money doesn’t matter, so just save yourself… Haha. But since they’re not here, I can do as I please, right?”

“Guild Leader….”

Hwang Jong-i smiled gently.

If the person in front of him wasn’t a Beggars’ Sect disciple who had transcended material possessions, he would have explained in detail how difficult it was to entrust all of one’s wealth to another.

And how much trust was needed for that.

Hwasan had entrusted all of their assets to Hwang Jong-i and gone into seclusion. And he was supposed to lose all of those assets and greet those who came out of seclusion?

Even though he was a merchant who couldn’t live without shamelessness, he wasn’t that thick-skinned.

“I will evacuate as many people as possible. But I will not leave this place. They will not be able to touch even a grain of rice in the guild without killing me. That is the responsibility I must bear as the Guild Leader of the Eunha Merchant Guild, so say no more.”

The Beggars’ Sect disciple bit his lip.

He didn’t think it was a reasonable thing to say. But what more could he say to someone who was speaking so firmly?

“…The Hwayeong Sect Leader will gather the sects of Xi’an to help.”

“The Sect Leader will?”

“Yes. He heard that villains were invading and said he would fight without even hesitating.”

Hearing that, Hwang Jong-i laughed softly.

“Why are you laughing?”

The Beggars’ Sect disciple asked, puzzled, and Hwang Jong-i shook his head.

“No, it’s nothing. I just… had a thought.”

“What….”

“I just thought that he’s so consistent. I guess that’s what he learned from watching and learning.”

The Beggars’ Sect disciple still tilted his head as if he didn’t understand, but Hwang Jong-i didn’t bother to explain it.

‘So, they’re friends of Hwasan.’

It seemed he had watched for too long the person who told him to run away if it was dangerous, but always ran to the front whenever there was danger. Even he didn’t feel like running away at all.

Hwang Jong-i rose from his seat.

What he had to do was clear. Evacuate the innocent guild members and protect this place with the guards.

“They seem to be underestimating this place, but I need to let them know how vicious the people of Seomseo can be.”

“…Guild Leader, I don’t understand why you’re going this far….”

“I understand.”

“…Yes?”

Hwang Jong-i gave a strange smile.

“There were many times when I thought the same way. I couldn’t understand why those smart people were acting so foolishly, and there were many times when I felt frustrated.”

“…”

“But I think I know now. If I were still the young guild leader, I would have told my father to run away without looking back. But I am now the guild leader. One who must take responsibility cannot only consider the benefits.”

Just like his father had, and just like Hwasan had.

So, now was the time for him to prove how foolish he could be.

“Don’t worry too much. I’m not being reckless without thinking. They will definitely come.”

“…You mean Hwasan?”

“That is so.”

Hwang Jong-i nodded.

“But Hwasan….”

“If the news is delivered, there’s no way they won’t come. We just need to hold out until then.”

“…I understand.”

But Wi Rip-san, Hwang Jong-i, and even the Beggars’ Sect disciples who were running around busily to evacuate the common people… none of them anticipated….

That Hong Dae-kwang, who had climbed Hwasan with all his might, was facing an unimaginable situation.