Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1278

Gohong stared at Yoogong. His eyes were a mix of anger and hurt, like a wounded animal. Yoogong chewed his lower lip, avoiding Gohong’s gaze. He felt the weight of Gohong’s resentment.

Gohong started to speak, “Senior Broth—”

“Just ‘Brother’,” Yoogong cut him off, his voice sharp and without warmth. “We are not disciples of the Hainan Sect anymore. Remember that.”

“…Yes, Brother,” Gohong replied quietly.

Gohong glanced at the other men gathered around them. They were all former Hainan Sect disciples, like him and Yoogong. Qinghai Village, their home, was the biggest village near the coast, so many of them had settled here after leaving the mountain sect. Yoogong had called them together urgently.

“…As you know,” Yoogong continued, “we need to steer the ship.”

“No, Brother!” Gohong cried out, his voice shaking. “We are from Hainan! Don’t you understand? If we sail *that* ship, they will think we are still helping the Hainan Sect! We’ll be seen as traitors by everyone!”

The other men were silent, but their eyes mirrored Gohong’s fear and anger. Yoogong met their stares, his face hard. “Then what?” he demanded, his voice low and dangerous. “Are you all just going to stand here and die?”

Silence fell over the group. Yoogong pressed on, his words sharp and forceful. “If it was just our lives at risk, maybe I’d think twice. But it’s not, is it? If we don’t act, everyone in this village will die. Are you really saying we should just watch them perish?”

“B-But, Brother!” Gohong stammered, his voice tight with worry. “It’s true we know *some* sailing, from our Hainan training… but we’re not *masters* of the sea, are we?”

“Enough to steer,” Yoogong insisted.

“No… but if that’s the case…”

Yoogong cut off Gohong’s words and glared at him.

“Are you saying we should put villagers who don’t even know martial arts on that ship?”

“…That’s…” Gohong mumbled, unsure how to argue.

“Look,” Yoogong said, softening his tone slightly, “I don’t want to force anyone. But *we* have a chance. If things go wrong, we can jump overboard, swim, run. We have our skills. We might even escape when we reach Jiangnan – the land to the south – if it gets too dangerous.”

“…” Gohong fell silent, looking down at the ground.

“But the villagers… they don’t have our training, do they?” Yoogong finished.

Gohong knew Yoogong was right. Growing up in Hainan, by the sea, all the men learned to handle boats, even the disciples of the sect. Steering a ship itself wasn’t the real issue here.

The *real* problem, the heavy weight in the air, was this: the ship they were being asked to steer belonged to the Sa Pae Clan – a powerful and dangerous group. And they were being asked to chase after… the Hainan Sect. The very sect they had all abandoned, the sect they had betrayed.

“Enough talk,” Yoogong said, his voice now strong and resolute. “We left Hainan to protect our families here in this village, didn’t we? That’s why we came down from the mountain in the first place. We can’t forget that now. There’s no reason to hesitate.”

“That’s true, but…” Gohong started to agree, but then Damhwan spoke. He had been silent until now, but his voice was sharp and bitter, like poison. “I don’t understand why *we* have to do this. Why all of a sudden?”

“What do you mean?”

“It sounds good, but isn’t it true that anyone other than us can go? All we need is someone who can steer the ship, and there are people in this village other than us who can steer ships.”

Yoogong’s voice rose, filled with anger. “Are you really saying that? Now?”

Damhwan just laughed, a nasty, mocking sound. “Don’t pretend to be a hero, Senior Brother. It doesn’t suit you.”

“What did you say?” Yoogong’s eyes narrowed, a dangerous spark in them. But Damhwan didn’t back down. His face twisted with bitterness. “Let’s be honest, Senior Brother. Aren’t *we* the ones who ran away? Who left our sect, left our brothers and sisters to die, just to save our own skins?”

Yoogong froze, his mouth snapping shut. He wanted to shout that it wasn’t true, that it was different. But deep down, he knew Damhwan’s words hit their mark. They *had* abandoned the sect. They *had* chosen their own lives.

“But now, you’re saying we have to risk our lives for some great act of kindness and cooperation? If that were the case, we wouldn’t have descended from Hainan in the first place.”

“You…” Yoogong started, his voice tight with anger.

“Damhwan!” Gohong warned, but Damhwan ignored him. He spat out the words, his jaw clenched. “It was *you*, Senior Brother! You were the one who convinced us to leave! You told us what would happen to our families if we stayed and died! Because of *you*, I took a knife and scratched my name off the Hainan Sect’s list! I swore I’d never leave Hainan, but I walked away, because of *you*!”

“…”

“But now you’re telling me to risk my life again? Now you’re telling me to do the right thing? Why should I? Wasn’t it you who said that it’s right to save my own life first?”

“Isn’t the situation different now?”

“Is the situation really different?”

“…”

“Really?”

Yoogong closed his mouth. He clearly thought the situation was different, but this wasn’t a problem that could be argued to a conclusion. Because people think differently and accept things differently.

Damhwan’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “Conscience? I don’t know if we have any of that left, after what we did. Is it even worth talking about now? We’re not heroes, Senior Brother. We’re just trying to survive. A selfish man should live like a selfish man. You want to risk your neck? Go ahead. Someone else will steer the ship if I don’t.”

“But this is our village, Damhwan!” Yoogong pleaded, “The place we grew up!”

“Hainan Sect was our home too!” Damhwan roared back, his voice cracking with pain. “Damn it all!” He glared at Yoogong, his eyes burning with hatred. Yoogong flinched, a tremor running through him. Damhwan’s teeth were clenched so tight his jaw stood out.

“If you suddenly care about doing the right thing,” Damhwan spat, “you should have stayed in Hainan! You should have fought with us! What are you even doing here? If you had just stood with us, fought beside us…” He stopped abruptly, shaking his head, cutting himself off. What was the point of saying it now?

He also knew that even though Yoogong had poked him in the side, it was ultimately his own choice.

And he had to bear the full cost of that choice.

“…Anyway, I’m not going to do it. Good luck with whatever you do. I’m not very good at handling ships anyway, so I won’t be of any help.”

Damhwan turned away coldly. Then, he suddenly stopped and said.

“Ah, and…”

“…” Damhwan paused, then turned back slightly. “Oh, and one more thing. Guilt… it doesn’t just vanish. If you didn’t want to feel it, you shouldn’t have done what you did in the first place.” With that, he turned and walked away, his steps not as confident as his words, almost… nervous.

Yoogong opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he only let out a deep sigh. In that gap, another voice hurriedly interjected.

“I, I think it might be a little difficult for me too, Senior Brother.”

“Me too. As you know, my father is ill, and there’s no one to take care of him if I leave.”

“I’m sorry. Then…”

Two other disciples also glanced around and slipped away. They ran away quickly, not even looking back, as if afraid Yoogong might grab them.

Yoogong clenched his fist tightly. His trembling fist was telling of his current state of mind.

Yoogong closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to regain control. When he opened them, he looked at Gohong. Gohong was still there, but his face was set in a frown, his eyes filled with disapproval.

“…Aren’t you going?”

“Me?”

“Don’t you also have a sick old mother?”

“Sick old mother?” Gohong repeated, a wry twist to his lips. But he didn’t move. He stayed standing there. After a pause, a short, bitter laugh escaped him. “I knew this was coming the moment you called us together, Brother.”

“…”

“So, when I told my mother that I needed to get away for a while, do you know what that sick old mother said?”

“…I don’t know.”

“She said she’d rather drown herself in the sea than be a burden to you.”

Yoogong bit his lip.

“That’s what the women of Hainan are like. They open their eyes and find their husbands, who they lived with, drowned in the sea. Then, they sleep for another day and open their eyes to find one of their children has become fish food.”

“…”

“But Hainan women… they don’t just sit and weep. They lose husbands, they lose children to the sea, but they keep going. They fight to feed the ones who are left, they live with a strength that’s like iron. So, she can’t stand the idea of her son *avoiding* danger, using her as an excuse.”

Gohong chuckled as if he was dumbfounded.

“Even though she coughs every time she utters two words.”

“…”

“She’s losing her mind. If I steer that ship, the villagers might live, but I’ll be killing my fellow disciples with my own hands. It seems she hasn’t thought that far.”

“Gohong…” Yoogong started, softly.

“But what choice do I have?” Gohong continued, almost to himself. “When you’re dealing with a stubborn old woman like her… you have to be just as stubborn. I have to make sure she never hears that her son was a coward, that he let others die. And it looks like you’re going anyway, Brother, even if no one else will.”

“That’s…”

“She’s the one who always said, as if it were a habit, that your father died bravely going out to sea to feed you, so you should be proud of him for the rest of your life. And she’s proud of raising her son alone and making him a dignified disciple of the Hainan Sect. My mother doesn’t even know that I descended from Hainan. But… how can I stand in front of her and say I can’t go?”

Yoogong couldn’t bring himself to speak. Gohong muttered self-deprecatingly.

“If I had known this would happen, I should have just stayed in Hainan. Why did I leave Hainan…”

Yoogong lowered his head slightly without realizing it. A strange silence passed between them.

To shake off this awkwardness, Yoogong turned his gaze to the remaining disciple.

“What about you?”

“Well, it’s similar.”

“…I see.”

Yoogong nodded and opened his mouth.

It wasn’t a good situation to continue the conversation, and there wasn’t enough time to do so. First, he had to do what he had to do.

“Since those guys aren’t going, we’ll have to pick more people than originally planned. Make sure at least two people can board each ship. We’ll only have one person on the ship we’re taking.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

“…Understood, Brother.”

“Let’s move.”

Watching the disciples running out quickly, Yoogong let out a deep sigh. The sea he turned to look at was indifferently blue.

“Preparations are finished,” Yoogong announced, his voice weary.

“It took longer than I expected,” a voice said from behind him. Hogamyeong stepped forward, his eyes like chips of black ice, cold and assessing.

“…It was quick.”

“Hmm.”

Hogamyeong nodded as if he was reasonably satisfied.

“I assume,” Hogamyeong continued, his voice smooth but edged with steel, “that you’ve chosen men who know how to sail. Any delays… and you will answer for them.” He paused, his gaze fixed on Yoogong. “Let’s go.”

“…Yes.”

Yoogong turned and headed for the ship. The others were already on board. Once he boarded, they would depart.

Forcing his feet to move, Yoogong inadvertently turned his head. The villagers were gathered on the shore.

From those who looked at him with gratitude, to those who watched with indifferent faces, and even his disciples who looked at him with hostility.

His eyes scanned the crowd, and then stopped. His wife. She stood there, tears streaming down her face, holding their young son tightly in her arms. Yoogong’s heart clenched. He could see every detail – her trembling lip, his son’s small hand reaching for her cheek. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, as if afraid the precious image would vanish forever.

‘I will come back alive.’

Definitely…. He would definitely come back alive.

No matter what it took.

Gwaeryang, introduced as the Blood Sword Leader, watched Yoogong climb onto the ship. He turned to Hogamyeong, his voice casual, almost bored. “Are these really the best men for the job? They look more like trouble than help.”

“You don’t know.”

“Hmm?”

“The scariest thing in the world isn’t the enemy.”

“…”

“It’s the betrayer.”

Gwaeryang’s gaze followed Yoogong, a flicker of something like curiosity in his eyes. Hogamyeong chuckled, a low, unsettling sound. “Especially betrayers like these,” he said, his voice laced with amusement, “the ones burdened by guilt… they can be the most dangerous of all. You’ll see.” A slow, cruel smile spread across Hogamyeong’s face.