Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1650

Wei whispered, his eyes wide with fear. “Have you… have you heard the news?”

Chen frowned, wiping sweat from his brow. “Heard what? Why are you so jumpy?”

Wei leaned closer, his voice barely above a breath. “It’s about the Shadow Faction… the Shadow Faction!”

Chen’s frown deepened. “What about the Shadow Faction?” He tilted his head, still confused.

The five new factions in the Cheonwu Alliance hadn’t been officially named yet, so they were conveniently referred to as Gap, Eul, Byeong, Jeong, and Mu (A, B, C, D, E).

“The head of the Shadow Faction has imprisoned his own members in the dungeon!” Wei exclaimed.

Chen’s eyes widened. “Dungeon? Wait a minute. Does the Cheonwu Alliance even have a dungeon?”

Wei shrugged. “They probably borrowed the dungeon in Mount Hua, right?”

Chen snapped his fingers. “Ah, right… But that’s not the point! What on earth happened to make him imprison people? Especially with a war right around the corner?”

Wei’s voice dropped even lower. “They say he imprisoned them on charges of insubordination against the sub-faction leaders! That’s why the Alliance is in an uproar!”

Chen stared blankly. “Insubordination?”

Wei nodded. “Against the sub-faction leaders!”

Chen still couldn’t grasp it. “Are you talking about those youngsters as sub-faction leaders?”

Wei hissed, grabbing Chen’s arm. “Shhh!” He glanced around nervously, his face pale with fear. “Watch your mouth! The situation has changed, you know?”

Chen was silent, his eyes darting around.

Wei continued, “We might end up in the dungeon ourselves! We have to be careful what we say from now on. A whopping twenty people were imprisoned this time. This is no small matter.”

Chen’s eyes widened in disbelief. As soon as Wei released his arm, he asked again, his voice trembling, “Really?”

Twenty. It was rare for that many people to be imprisoned all at once. Any sect would be turned upside down by such an event.

Chen swallowed hard. “That… the head of the Shadow Faction is….”

Wei nodded grimly. “Yes. It’s the head of the Tang family.”

Others nearby, drawn by the hushed tones, slowly approached. They were all curious about the situation.

One of them asked, “Twenty? Then that means it’s not just one sect, right?”

Wei confirmed, “That’s right. It’s a mix of the Zhuge and Murong, of course, but also the Beggars’ Sect, the Namgung, and even Jongnam.”

Chen gasped. “Jongnam too? Is that even allowed?” His face turned even paler.

Wei shrugged. “Well, allowed or not, it’s already happened, isn’t it? They even declared that insubordination against the sub-faction leader would be considered a challenge to the Alliance. The Chief Strategist as well!”

The more they heard, the more serious everyone’s faces became.

The Chief Strategist would naturally side with the sub-faction leaders, but for the faction leaders to take the sub-faction leaders’ side was no ordinary matter. Everyone had been subtly disregarding the sub-faction leaders because they were sure that the power of the faction ultimately rested with the faction leader.

One man asked, “Are we to take this as the faction leaders protecting the sub-faction leaders?”

Another replied, “Probably. What other reason could there be….”

Chen looked bewildered. “No, why?”

The Cheonwu Alliance was a coalition of numerous sects. The sub-faction leader appointment had gone too far. Mount Hua, as a single sect, had simply placed all their favorite people in the positions of sub-faction leaders. How could there not be more than one or two members harboring secret discontent?

Therefore, although they hadn’t openly planned it, there was clearly an unspoken consensus and cooperation to suppress the sub-faction leaders.

But now, the faction leaders, whom they considered their representatives, were not only failing to protect their members but were instead siding with the sub-faction leaders? For the members who had been subtly expressing their dissatisfaction, things had gone terribly wrong.

Wei offered cautiously, “Well… the Tang family has a good relationship with Mount Hua, so maybe that’s why. The other faction leaders might think differently. Like our faction leader….”

Chen scoffed. “Don’t talk nonsense. If that were the case, they would have already made their position clear. Some of those imprisoned are disciples of our faction leader!”

Wei’s face fell. Even the small hope that remained had crumbled.

Someone asked, “Then what’s going to happen now?”

Wei sighed. “What do you mean, what’s going to happen? Now anyone who resists the sub-faction leaders will end up imprisoned. I heard they don’t plan to release them until the war is over.”

Another man exclaimed, “What? That long?”

Wei nodded grimly. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying! That’s why the Alliance is walking on thin ice right now, thin ice!”

Sighs rippled through the small group.

That meant they had no choice but to obey the young, inexperienced sub-faction leaders. If they were told to sit, they had to sit; if they were told to crawl, they had to crawl.

Someone muttered, “Damn it… why did those bastards have to cause trouble!”

Another grumbled, “I knew this would happen!”

A third added, “They should have known when to stop!”

If they had quietly passed the time until the war started, things wouldn’t have gone this far. If they were on the verge of battle, there was a high probability that they wouldn’t reduce their forces just for punishment, so it might have been difficult to punish every minor act of disobedience.

But they caused trouble while there was still time, so the sub-faction leaders’ authority would only become more solidified. How many people would be happy to accept this?

One man asked tentatively, “Then, as long as we don’t disobey, we’ll be okay?”

Wei hesitated. “It’s just a rumor for now, but… well….”

Chen snapped, “Don’t be so frustrating, just tell me! What else is there?”

Wei lowered his voice even further. “The Chief Strategist is planning to codify the sub-faction leaders’ authority to include the power of summary execution over faction members….”

Chen gasped, his eyes wide with horror. “Summary execution? Does that mean they can behead someone on the spot if they mess up?”

Wei nodded grimly. “It’s said to be beyond that level. It’s not about messing up or anything; it’s more like the sub-faction leaders can just chop off heads if they don’t like someone.”

Someone exclaimed, “Does that even make sense? Even the Demonic Sect wouldn’t do such a thing!”

Wei shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense. Of course, it doesn’t. But… it’s ‘that Chief Strategist,’ isn’t it?”

These words suddenly gave it legitimacy. It was now common knowledge in the Jianghu that Chung Myung, the Sword Saint of Mount Hua, was out of his mind and worse than the Demonic Sect. Had anything he had done ever been normal?

Chen groaned. “Then what about us?”

Wei sighed. “We’re completely screwed, that’s what….”

They already had to serve some young whippersnapper from a sect they didn’t even know as their superior, and now those guys were going to have the power of life and death over them?

Just then, one of those listening to the conversation opened his mouth. “Even so, we have the faction leaders and sect leaders; it can’t go that far, can it? They’ll stop it at a reasonable level.”

Someone else chimed in. “That’s right. They’re not just figureheads! No matter how reckless the Chief Strategist is, he can’t beat them all!”

Tension hung heavy in the air, thick enough to choke on. Every eye in the Beggars’ Sect headquarters turned towards one place: the main conference room. It was there, behind closed doors and rough wooden walls, that their leaders were meeting. The fate of the recent incident would be decided.

Inside the dimly lit conference room, Mo Yongwi-gyeong cleared his throat nervously. The silence pressed down on him. “So, um… about this situation… I’m sorry, but isn’t keeping them in the Black Tortoise Prison… a bit much?”

“A bit much?” Chung Myung asked, turning to him.

“Yes,” Mo Yongwi-gyeong rushed on, “keeping them locked up for so long… it feels like an overreaction.”

Chung Myung considered this for a moment, a dangerous glint in his eye. “Ah, that. Perhaps it was… a little clumsy of me.”

“Wasn’t it…?”

“I should have just broken their arms and legs on the spot,” Chung Myung continued, his voice casual, “and thrown them out as a warning. My thinking was too soft. I could still do it now, if you prefer…”

“Ah! No!” Mo Yongwi-gyeong stammered, waving his hands frantically. “That’s not what I meant at all! ‘Overreaction’… I just meant… I’m worried about giving the Vice Sect Leader… too much power…”

“Too much?” Chung Myung asked.

Mo Yongwi-gyeong’s face fell. *Too much authority?* he thought miserably. *He can’t even speak his mind here.*

Thump!

Chung Myung slammed the table in front of him, hard enough to break it. “If the Sect Leaders had done their jobs properly, none of this would have happened! I picked you to assist the Vice Sect Leader, but what were you all doing that led to this? You’re not doing the jobs you’re supposed to!”

“Chung Myung… it’s not that the Sect Leader assists the Vice Sect Leader… it’s the Vice Sect Leaders who assist the Sect Leaders…” Hyun Jong said carefully.

“Ah, that’s just in name!” Chung Myung retorted. “In reality, aren’t you just here to clean up after the Vice Sect Leaders? If I’ve given you old geezers something to do, you should at least do it right!”

Hyun Jong wanted to say a lot, but he held back. He was a man of common sense and etiquette.

Chung Myung, lacking such restraint, continued to berate them. “Tell me! What did you do to let the situation get this far? Huh?”

“It’s not that…”

“Are you busy?”

“Ah, no… I’m not busy…”

“So you’re not busy? How wonderful for you, isn’t it?”

Mo Yongwi-gyeong stared blankly at Chung Myung, then felt a surge of emotion. *Wait a minute. Why am I apologizing so much?* As a member of the Mount Hua Alliance, it was natural to respect the strategist. But to be so intimidated he couldn’t even argue back? That was a different matter. He wasn’t someone who would receive such treatment anywhere else. Even the famed strategist of old wouldn’t have treated him like this!

He was about to retort when…

“Strategist, now…!”

“I apologize, Strategist,” Poong Young-sin-gae, the former leader of the Beggars’ Sect, bowed deeply to Chung Myung. The Beggars’ Sect, despite its humble name, was a powerful organization that gathered information across the land.

“Despite the orders the Strategist gave, I was incompetent and failed to carry them out properly. Please forgive my carelessness.”

“Is this a situation that can be glossed over with the word ‘carelessness’?” Chung Myung asked sharply.

“…I have nothing to say, even if I had ten mouths. It was our role to empower the Vice Sect Leaders so they could fulfill their roles… I apologize once again.”

Poong Young-sin-gae bowed his head and apologized. Mo Yongwi-gyeong froze. Everyone else couldn’t hide their dismay.

What kind of person was Poong Young-sin-gae? He had led the Beggars’ Sect for decades, and now he had even passed that position on to the next generation and stepped back. Mo Yongwi-gyeong’s influence was nothing compared to his. But for such a person to bow to that young man? Was that even possible?

“…I suppose I should apologize too.”

Maeng So, with a troubled expression, added his support to Poong Young-sin-gae’s position. “The backlash from the Beast Palace was quite strong, and I was trying to smooth things over…”

“That’s one thing, and this is another!” Chung Myung snapped.

“That’s what I’m saying, tch.” Maeng So smacked his lips and looked embarrassed. His face even turned red. Seeing that huge man so flustered, Mo Yongwi-gyeong was also taken aback.

With those two taking the lead, the atmosphere became strange. In particular, Poong Young-sin-gae openly adopting a humble attitude had a great impact.

It became difficult to criticize Chung Myung for going too far. This was true for Tang Gunak, who had directly caused the incident, and even for Mo Yongwi-gyeong and Jongri Gok.

“I didn’t say this just to receive empty apologies. I want you to be clear about something,” Chung Myung said, his voice a little calmer.

“It’s fortunate that this happened now, because if something like this happened on the battlefield, it would be truly irreversible. I can’t step in and do something about it then.”

“…That’s right,” someone murmured.

“So, I want you to understand clearly what you need to do. Is this the time to be engaging in petty power struggles? I thought we created this alliance to resolve the conflicts between the sects, but now you’re fighting amongst yourselves within the alliance. Ha, the more I think about it, the more angry and annoyed I am with you people! I’m tempted to make you all regret this…”

“Ch, Chung Myung, calm down a bit,” Hyun Jong interjected.

“He’s getting angry at his own words…” someone whispered.

Chung Myung sighed deeply, barely managing to cool his temper. Then, he shouted, “Vice Sect Leaders, get your heads on straight!”

The Vice Sect Leaders who were present flinched and shrank back.

“This kind of thing happens because you look so easy to push around! If some worthless bastards are acting up, you should have stabbed them in the gut with a knife right then and there! How dare you…”

“…At this point, aren’t villains more decisive, Senior Brother?” one of the leaders muttered.

“I’m starting to wonder myself,” another replied.

“Quiet!” Chung Myung snapped irritably, then his expression hardened. “A commander who loses their control loses everything.”

“…”

“Don’t forget that even seemingly minor cracks can ultimately lead everyone to their deaths. We are at war right now.” Everyone felt the weight in his voice. That weight made them all nod in agreement.

And then, at that moment.

Thud.

The door was thrown open roughly, and a man entered the conference room. It was Lim So-byeong, the Green Forest King. His face was paler and more rigid than usual as he spoke.

“Alliance Leader, Strategist. Reporting in. The Four Seas Alliance has finally made their move.”

His voice was colder and heavier than even his complexion.