Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1787

“Form ranks!”

“The Four Evil Sects are invading!”

It was as if a bomb had dropped.

The news of the Four Evil Sects’ advance plunged the Heavenly Union, who had barely escaped the threat of the Thousand-Faced Murderer and were trying to relax, into instant chaos.

“R-Really? Are they really pushing in now?”

“Move! Stop talking and move!”

“How many? How many are coming?”

“All of them!”

“What?”

“A total offensive! They’re all coming!”

These words meant one thing: The fate of the Jianghu might be decided here today.

“A-All of them?”

A wave of fear washed over him. His heart pounded, and his lips began to dry out.

“S-So suddenly……!”

“Move quickly! Unless you want to be attacked and die like dogs before you even get into formation!”

His jaw was tight as he turned his head. And he began to move his body urgently.

Tap tap tap!

Rapid footsteps echoed.

“Senior Brother!”

Jo Gul, who had rushed to the tent as if flying, violently threw open the door. But a hand that suddenly popped out from inside grabbed Jo Gul’s shoulder and pushed him aside.

“Get out of the way!”

“Aack!”

Jo Gul, pushed away, turned his head in surprise. It was Yoon Jong who had jumped out of the tent.

Yoon Jong scanned the surroundings. It was already a mess. Everyone was moving busily as if their tails were on fire. Both those giving orders and those following them had pale faces.

Yoon Jong hardened his expression and bit his lower lip.

‘It’s too late to move.’

Moving a large army is not as easy as one might think. So, there would be no time to move to a location advantageous to them and face the enemies.

To avoid the worst-case scenario of being attacked during the move, the only option was to defend this place firmly.

Jo Gul, now understanding, shouted.

“S-Senior Brother! The Four Evil Sects are rushing here.”

“I have eyes and ears too.”

Yoon Jong raised his voice roughly.

‘Damn it.’

The war was still ongoing. A large-scale battle could break out again at any time. So, there was nothing strange about this.

Even knowing this, he couldn’t shake off the question.

“…Why now?”

He couldn’t understand.

Wasn’t Hao Munju infiltrated here to plot chaos? Surely, they had other goals in mind, so why suddenly overturn all their plans…….

“Well. Does it really matter?”

Yoon Jong flinched and turned to the side at the sudden voice. Im So-byeong, holding a fan in one hand, had approached and was standing there.

“Green Forest King.”

“W-What are you doing? Why are you here? Everything’s going crazy!”

Jo Gul shouted in surprise, but Im So-byeong shrugged nonchalantly.

“As you know, I don’t have a hobby of reciting scriptures into the ears of old men who can’t understand.”

“Huh…….”

“It’s best to be next to someone who can understand and has some power in their voice.”

Im So-byeong’s gaze turned directly to Yoon Jong.

“Isn’t that right? Yoon Jong disciple.”

“…….”

“Of course, if Baek Cheon disciple was here, I would have gone there, but, regrettably?”

Im So-byeong slightly raised one corner of his mouth. It was an expression filled with subtle provocation. But Yoon Jong simply nodded. At that extremely calm reaction, Im So-byeong sighed as if he had lost interest. Then, he unfolded his fan and waved it gently.

Yoon Jong asked.

“More importantly, what do you mean by saying it doesn’t matter?”

“It’s exactly as I said. We can’t know why they abandoned their original plan. No, there’s no need to know.”

“……What are you saying?”

“They may have modified their plan due to some circumstances, or…….”

Im So-byeong’s eyes darkened slightly.

“Sending Dam Yeo-hae to make the Four Evil Sects feel like they were plotting something might have been a scheme in itself.”

“……Excuse me?”

“Thanks to that, we’re stuck here, aren’t we? As you can see.”

The tip of Im So-byeong’s fan swept around. Following the fan, a wide-open plain came into view.

“It’s not that great. Only one thing has changed.”

“……Terrain.”

“Correct.”

Im So-byeong nodded quite seriously.

“I don’t need to explain how important terrain is in a battle where a large number of people clash, do I?”

Yoon Jong’s face hardened even more.

He had fought dozens of battles, if not a hundred. He had fought as a minority against a majority, and he had fought in wars between majorities.

One thing he had learned from that experience was that no matter how different the battles of martial artists were from ordinary military battles, the more the numbers increased, the more they resembled ordinary battles.

“…We’ve been had.”

Yoon Jong let out a groan. Jo Gul, who hadn’t fully understood, cut in, frustrated.

“What are you talking about, Senior Brother! Please speak in a way that I can understand.”

“…It’s a matter of time.”

“Yes?”

“If the Thousand-Faced Murderer hadn’t stirred up this place, what would we be doing right now?”

“Well…….”

“We would have been cleaning up the situation and preparing to return to Mount Hua. If we had hurried a little more, we might have already set up camp again on Mount Hua.”

Jo Gul narrowed his eyes and retorted.

“What’s wrong with that? They attacked Mount Hua well, didn’t they? They set fire to the mountain and launched an attack.”

Yoon Jong bit his lip.

“Yes. That’s the problem.”

“Yes?”

“That means they had to go that far to attack Mount Hua. Setting fire to the mountain, sacrificing hundreds of people, and launching a surprise attack.”

“…….”

“We have taken it for granted because they have done it so naturally until now. But…….”

“If the situation is superior, tactics are unnecessary.”

Im So-byeong took Yoon Jong’s words. And completed it.

“The best strategy is to create that superior situation.”

The tone was so nonchalant that Yoon Jong glared at Im So-byeong without realizing it.

“Is that something you can say so calmly?”

“You don’t have to reproach me with your eyes like that. I know very well that I haven’t done anything. However…….”

Im So-byeong’s eyes turned cold.

“You should also think about what I could have done in this situation.”

Yoon Jong was momentarily speechless. Because Im So-byeong’s words were correct.

Im So-byeong was the leader of the Green Forest, that is, from the Demonic Sect. No matter what, he could not erase the stigma of being from the Demonic Sect, and the reason he had been able to voice his opinions within the Heavenly Union until now was because he had strong backers.

The Union Leader, Hyun Jong, the Chief Strategist, Cheong Myeong, and even Baek Cheon, who was tacitly recognized as the representative of Mount Hua.

Being right is useless without power to back it up. In the current situation where Hyun Jong was in seclusion, Cheong Myeong was silent, and Baek Cheon had been ousted, there was nothing Im So-byeong could do.

“That’s…….”

“Well, you don’t have to apologize.”

“…I wasn’t going to apologize?”

“What’s important is from now on.”

Im So-byeong looked at the wide field and snapped his fan shut.

“A pitched battle is a type of war that anyone would want to avoid. There are too many variables.”

Im So-byeong stared straight at Yoon Jong.

“So, you’ll have to brace yourself now.”

“I…….”

Yoon Jong paused for a moment.

He understood what Im So-byeong meant. Right now, Mount Hua was like a body that had lost its head. But the power that Mount Hua held within the Union was still alive.

Now, someone had to take on the role of that head. Even if it was just a Second-Class Disciple.

“It’s too heavy for me.”

“Because you’re a Second-Class Disciple?”

“…….”

“Do you know what? Someone I know used to argue with the Sect Leader even when he was a Second-Class Disciple and even snatched the position of Sect Leader’s proxy.”

Jo Gul chuckled.

“Looking back, he’s really a crazy person.”

To them, Baek Cheon was an adult. Although the age difference wasn’t that great, they naturally thought of him that way since Baek Cheon was already an adult when they were little kids.

Now that time had passed and he was in Baek Cheon’s position, he could finally understand how great a person he was. There was no way not to realize it.

“I…… am different from Martial Uncle.”

“Of course, that’s probably true. But there must be a reason why I came here, right?”

“Yes?”

“Baek Cheon Disciple once told me. If a situation comes where you can’t rely on him, then go to Yoon Jong. He said that you would do well.”

“…Martial Uncle said that.”

“What do you think?”

Yoon Jong chewed on his lower lip.

If he could avoid it, he wanted to avoid it. Because the more he experienced it, the more he realized how enormous the back of the person he had to follow was.

‘Did Martial Uncle feel like this too?’

Had Martial Uncle felt this despair while looking at that Cheong Myeong? And yet, had he followed him so desperately?

If he were to ask how he could do that, what would Martial Uncle answer?

The answer…… he already knew without hearing it.

When Yoon Jong raised his head again, Yoo Iseol, Tang Soso, and Hae Yeon had already approached within reach and were staring at him. What was in their eyes was not urging, but firm belief.

Yoon Jong nodded slowly.

Martial Uncle would have said this.

– If I don’t do it, someone else will.

“Green Forest King.”

Yoon Jong’s gaze turned to Im So-byeong without wavering.

“What should I do?”

At that truly resolute tone, Im So-byeong gave a meaningful smile.

Tension flickered across Tang Gunak’s face as he stared straight ahead.

According to the report that had just come in, the enemies were close at hand.

Since it was information that the Beggars’ Union had conveyed at the cost of their lives, it would not be wrong. He would soon be able to confirm the appearance of the enemies with his own eyes.

“……Haa.”

Tang Gunak rather wished that the enemies would appear quickly. The fear that the Four Evil Sects, who had revealed themselves, would give would be better than the terrible pressure he was feeling now.

“Is the preparation?”

“First of all.”

Jegal Ja-in paused for a moment. He looked like someone whose mouth had dried up. He too would be suffering from severe pressure.

No, not just Jegal Ja-in.

Jongri Gok, the Sect Leader of Jongnam, who was next to him, and Poong Young-sin-gae, the former leader of the Beggars’ Union, were also stiff.

If they could not repel their attack, the Demonic Sect would rule the world.

The Demonic World. Who could easily accept the fact that a world with even that unfamiliar name was really unfolding here?

Without realizing it, Tang Gunak looked for Hyun Jong’s figure, but he closed his eyes tightly. At that moment, he heard Mo Yong-wi-kyung’s sighing complaint in his ear.

“If Great Master Beop Jeong were here at times like this…….”

Surprised, Tang Gunak opened his eyes and stared blankly at Mo Yong-wi-kyung.

Beop Jeong? Was he talking about the Beop Jeong of Shaolin right now?

It was a terribly absurd remark. But except for Tang Gunak, no one seemed to find these words strange.

Watching this, Tang Gunak realized one thing.

‘Perhaps…….’

Everyone here, including Tang Gunak, might not be afraid of the Four Evil Sects.

‘They are groaning. In the empty seat.’

The Nine Great Sects were looking for Shaolin’s empty seat, and Tang Gunak was following Hyun Jong’s back. Mount Hua could not handle the absence of their Sect Leader’s disciple, and each family could not erase the presence of Changcheon Namgoong.

‘Was this it?’

The anxiety that they could not shake off even though they were all together. The identity of the confusion that could not be explained only by the silence of Cheong Myeong alone.

But if so…….

Tang Gunak’s thoughts could not continue any further.

“T-They’re coming!”

Someone’s voice, almost a scream, burst out.

Indeed, the horizon beyond began to darken.

“…….”

Tang Gunak, the master of the world, swallowed hard.

It was as expected, but that made it an even more overwhelming sight.

There was no end to it. There was no way to count it. A wave of humanity so great that it was overwhelming just to look at was rushing towards this place.

“The Four Evil Sects…… are coming.”

The invaders, bearing the name of Evil, crashed in like a black wave.