Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1426

Jeokho watched Jang Il-so’s back. He couldn’t guess what his leader was thinking.

“Lord Leader,” Jeokho called.

“Hmm?” Jang Il-so responded.

“May I ask why you left them unharmed?” Jeokho asked.

Jeokho knew Jang Il-so wasn’t afraid of blood. Killing didn’t bother him at all.

Jang Il-so didn’t care about rules or being nice to people. He only cared if he could get something out of it.

If he could get something he wanted, Jang Il-so would hurt anyone, even normal people or kings, without stopping.

That was why it was so puzzling.

Burning the Sahaegwan would hurt the Mount Hua people a little. But killing them would have been easy too.

“If it’s because you’re short on time, I can take care of it quickly,” Jeokho offered cautiously.

Jang Il-so seemed not to hear him, muttering to himself. Soon, a strange smile spread across Jang Il-so’s lips.

“Do I need a reason?” Jang Il-so asked.

“…Yes?” Jeokho replied.

“Fine, let’s just say I felt like it.” Jang Il-so said.

Jeokho looked confused. He didn’t understand the answer. But Jeokho didn’t ask further.

Jang Il-so asked, as if surprised, “Aren’t you going to ask again? You look confused.”

“I heard you,” Jeokho said. He knew he shouldn’t push his leader. Hearing the answer was enough. That was his duty.

Jang Il-so looked at Jeokho and smirked.

“I know you dislike Ga-myeong,” Jang Il-so said.

Jeokho’s face hardened slightly. It felt out of the blue. Was there a reason for this sudden remark?

“That’s why I keep Ga-myeong around. If he was here, he would have stopped me from playing with them. He would have kept them safe, without hurting them.” Jang Il-so explained.

“…Why is that?” Jeokho asked.

He wouldn’t question Jang Il-so. But if the subject was Ho Ga-myeong, it was a different story. Jeokho’s face twisted slightly in displeasure.

Seeing this, Jang Il-so laughed as if amused.

“What would you do if someone killed your mother?” Jang Il-so asked.

“I would destroy them. I would kill them in any way I could,” Jeokho replied.

“Such a good son. How boring.” Jang Il-so shook his head and continued, “Alright. Then what if someone was holding your mother hostage?”

Jeokho was momentarily speechless.

He had to kill his mother’s enemy. But how should he deal with someone holding his mother hostage?

The more he valued his mother, the less he could do. At least, it would be difficult to act rashly.

“That’s why Ga-myeong would have tried to spare them,” Jang Il-so said.

“…”

“Especially for people like the Mount Hua Sect, this is important. As long as we control the Sahaegwan, they can’t do what they want. Understand? Holding grudges is stupid. What matters is if they are useful to us.” Jang Il-so explained.

Jeokho pursed his lips. It was certainly true.

The Cheongseong and Emei Sects had already fallen. And now, the Tang Clan and Jeomchang would be dealt with. In other words, the entire Sichuan region would be in the hands of the Four Evil Sects.

Everything within Sichuan would belong to the Four Evil Sects. Rather than killing them off, it would be better to use them as a card.

He was looking at the present, but Ho Ga-myeong would have looked at the future.

This was a very painful point for Jeokho.

“…Then, wouldn’t it be better to send some troops to prevent them from escaping, even now?” Jeokho asked.

“Leave them be,” Jang Il-so replied.

Jeokho couldn’t help but look at Jang Il-so with questioning eyes once again.

“You don’t understand what I’m saying. I’m just telling you what Ga-myeong would have done,” Jang Il-so said.

“Then… what about you, Lord Leader?” Jeokho asked.

“I told you, it’s just a simple whim,” Jang Il-so replied.

“…”

“I just wanted to. Is that not allowed?” Jang Il-so asked.

Jeokho let out a weak laugh. He finally understood his mistake.

Jang Il-so was just Jang Il-so. You couldn’t try to understand him like a normal person. His thoughts and actions were his own.

Jang Il-so smiled faintly.

“What’s important now isn’t that, is it?” Jang Il-so asked.

“You are correct,” Jeokho agreed.

What was important to them now was, of course, the Sichuan Tang Clan.

Jang Il-so’s eyes turned cold.

“If there’s a sight you want to see, you can see it at the Tang Clan,” Jang Il-so said.

At least, it wouldn’t be there.

Neither whims nor the luxury of mercy.

They stopped in front of a huge gate. This was the Sichuan Tang Clan. The sign above the gate was made of dark wood, with writing in gold that looked strong and flew upwards like birds.

Jang Il-so, who had been staring at the gate for a while, slowly shifted his gaze to the side.

There was a pattern carved into the gate that was strange. It looked familiar, but wrong. ‘A plum blossom?’ Jeokho thought. A plum blossom on the Tang Clan gate? It didn’t belong there at all.

But the reason a strange light flickered in Jang Il-so’s eyes wasn’t because of the foreignness of the pattern.

“This is… the Sichuan Tang Clan?” Jang Il-so said, his voice quiet. “It’s so silent.” He laughed, but it was a weak, empty sound.

The air was still and silent. You could hear nothing.

Of course, the Sichuan Tang Clan would always have been quiet. Moreover, those welcoming Jang Il-so wouldn’t have shouted and revealed their hostility. Even if they were full of the will to fight, it was normal to hold their breath and aim for him.

But this silence wasn’t the silence of people waiting to fight. It was the silence of a place that was empty and abandoned.

Besides…

“L, Lord Leader. Smoke…” one of the men said.

Jang Il-so chuckled.

Beyond the gate, black smoke curled into the sky from different parts of the Tang Clan. It looked like fire had already destroyed much of the place.

Another enemy? There was no way.

While coming to this Sichuan Tang Clan, they hadn’t encountered a single enemy at Tangga. Just seeing this allowed him to guess what had happened here.

Jang Il-so’s expression twisted slightly.

‘The Sichuan Tang Clan…’

He had thought that the Tang Clan, by their nature, were those who couldn’t leave their territory, but was his judgment wrong?

“Either way, we need to check,” Jang Il-so said.

“Open it.” Jang Il-so gestured forward.

“Yes!”

The gate, which had long protected the historic Sichuan Tang Clan, shattered into pieces.

Everyone stared in shock at what they saw.

The Tang Clan was empty. Not a single person was there. Buildings that should have been beautiful were broken and burning. Smoke and flames were everywhere, and it looked like everything would soon turn to ash.

“…This is…” one of the men said.

Looking at this ruin, no one would believe it was the famous Sichuan Tang Clan, known all over the land.

“Hmm.”

While everyone was searching for words, Jang Il-so shook his head as if dumbfounded.

“Did they trick us? I can’t believe the Tang Clan people ran away like cowards.” Jang Il-so said.

“…”

“Even setting fire to their own home as they did so. This makes me feel so empty.” Jang Il-so chuckled as if amused. But others besides him couldn’t dare to laugh.

Who would have imagined that the Tang Clan would do such a thing?

“This is unbelievable…” Jeokho bit his lip, hard.

Other groups might run away. But not the Tang Clan. He thought the Tang Clan could never leave their home.

“Search!” A fierce voice erupted from Jeokho’s mouth.

“It might be a disguise. There’s no way they would abandon their poisons and workshops and run away. Check where they set the fires, and see if they’re hiding anywhere! Now!” Jeokho ordered.

“Yes!”

Except for the Hongryeom guarding Jang Il-so, all the other methods scattered in all directions at once.

“Tsk,” Jang Il-so clicked his tongue.

‘This is strange.’

He knew he wasn’t always right. But this felt different. He felt a bad feeling in his stomach.

‘I don’t understand.’

The Sichuan Tang Clan deviating from his expectations and setting fire to their own home and running away? That was certainly a possible situation.

What bothered Jang Il-so was that he could see a sense of ‘urgency’ in the scene before him.

If they had really decided to abandon this place, they would have set fire to it more thoroughly. They wouldn’t have wanted to leave anything behind for the Four Evil Sects.

Then what was this chaos lingering in every corner of the building?

It looked like people had been forced to leave very quickly, without planning to go.

“There’s no one here!” one of the men shouted.

“The place that seems to be their poison warehouse is completely burned down! All sorts of poisonous creatures are burned to death inside!” another man reported.

“T, the weapons in the armory are all blackened and unusable. It really seems like they set fire to the warehouse themselves,” another man said.

Voices of those in panic were heard from all directions.

Jeokho’s face contorted. But Jang Il-so just smiled. It was just the moment he was about to give the order to stop the useless actions.

“L, Lord Leader, here…!” a man shouted.

Jang Il-so’s eyes narrowed.

“T, there’s a person!” The expression of the person who came running to report looked rather complicated. As if he himself was at a loss as to how to explain this situation. Jang Il-so took a step forward.

“Let’s go see,” Jang Il-so said.

Clang!

It wasn’t a loud bang, but a clear, ringing sound.

Clang!

It echoed in the silent workshop, faint but strong, like something about to break.

Clang!

In the middle of the burned workshop, where the roof looked ready to fall, stood an old man. He was swinging a hammer, hitting metal on a tiny forge, no bigger than himself.

The hammer, which had soared into the air, fell down at once, striking the heated iron on the anvil.

Clang!

The old man, holding the iron with tongs, carefully examined the iron he had brought close to his face. His eyes were old and cloudy, but they also looked sharp and wise.

Clang!

The old man struck the hammer down again.

As if drawn by the sound, the Maninbang warriors gathered around him one by one, but the old man didn’t even turn his head, continuing to hammer as if only he and the furnace existed in the world.

It was a strange sight.

These were the Maninbang’s best fighters, known for being cruel and deadly. But even they hesitated to attack this old man, who was clearly their enemy.

They, too, seemed not to know how to deal with this situation, and were simply watching the old man’s hammering from a distance.

And then, Jang Il-so looked at the old man, Tang Jo-pyeong, and opened his mouth.

“What… is this nonsense?” Jang Il-so asked.

His face became ugly with anger.