Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1427

Dang Jo-pyeong hammered the red-hot iron on the anvil. Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as the hammer hit again and again. It seemed like the hammer didn’t care about anything else happening.

Clang!

Each time the small hammer fell, the red-hot iron spat sparks in all directions.

After hammering for so long, Dang Jo-pyeong used tongs to lift the iron. He stared at it with deep eyes, then shoved it back into the furnace that spewed flames of high temperature.

His face, as he watched the iron in the flames, was lit by the fire.

Jang Il-so, who had been silently watching Dang Jo-pyeong, finally spoke.

“Old man.”

His voice was cold and made the old man feel uneasy.

“Where did the other Dang family fellows go?”

It was a voice that no one could ignore. After all, who could remain calm while a venomous snake coiled around them?

However, Dang Jo-pyeong did not react to Jang Il-so’s words. Just like a deaf man, he merely fixed his gaze on the furnace.

Jang Il-so’s eyes narrowed, becoming like chips of black ice. A muscle twitched in his jaw. But before he could speak, Dang Jo-pyeong calmly pulled the red-hot iron from the furnace again and started hammering.

Clang! Clang! The loud, metallic sound echoed in the workshop. Each strike of the hammer sent sparks flying, and Jang Il-so felt a strange tension in the air.

“Hmm,” Jang Il-so murmured, a small smile playing on his lips. He watched the old man with a new interest. (*Why is he so calm?* Jang Il-so wondered.)

“It’s been a long time since someone dared to ignore me like this,” Jang Il-so said, his voice soft but dangerous.

Instantly, the faces of the Hong Ryun guarding the surroundings paled. The Hong Ryun were guarding Jang Il-so closely. They could feel his anger growing as he spoke slowly. They felt it more strongly than anyone else.

One of the Hong Ryun hurriedly stepped forward.

“This old man⋯⋯.”

“Step aside.”

But Jang Il-so coldly rebuked, blocking him. The Hong Ryun, who had tried to step forward, retreated.

Thud.

Jang Il-so slowly approached Dang Jo-pyeong. Soon, standing close enough to touch him, Jang Il-so looked down at the small, frail old man, as if he would crumble at any moment. His eyes were clear, devoid of any emotion.

This is just a waste of time.

What the old man does doesn’t matter to him. He could easily kill him with a flick of his hand and chase after those who fled. He knew that better than anyone, but Jang Il-so stopped here out of simple curiosity. Yes, it was just that.

“What are you making?” Jang Il-so was actually curious, despite himself.

Again, there was no answer.

Jang Il-so chuckled. Obvious murderous intent bloomed in his beautifully curved eyes.

But at that moment, a mumbling voice leaked from Dang Jo-pyeong’s mouth without even turning his head.

“Throwing knife.”

“Hmm?”

“I am making a throwing knife.”

It was more of a soliloquy than an answer. Jang Il-so frowned slightly.

A throwing knife… In this situation?

Clang!

Dang Jo-pyeong hammered again. In Jang Il-so’s eyes, which were staring intently at the scene, an infinitely wicked light swirled.

“What I dedicated my life to… has collapsed,” Dang Jo-pyeong thought sadly about his family and his life’s work.

A mocking voice rang out.

“Everything I’ve built with my heart and soul has turned to ashes. Yet, this is all I can do. So, even at the end of my life, I repeat what I used to do.”

Jang Il-so raised the corner of his lips.

“So, this is what your life is? Just making knives until the end? That’s pretty sad, isn’t it?”

Clang!

Dang Jo-pyeong’s hammer sound became a little more intense. Jang Il-so twisted his lips a little more and smiled. The sound of pushing the iron into the furnace rang out.

“What do you think?”

“⋯⋯.”

“Do you think a great sword will come out?”

It wasn’t just a simple question, but a knife piercing the soul.

“Is a sword great enough to compensate for that terrible end coming out? Enough to comfort you that the miserable life you’ve led wasn’t meaningless?”

“⋯⋯.”

“Life is hard. In stories, a great sword made at the last moment by a lifelong artisan might be special. But that’s just stories, not real life. In reality, you’re just hammering iron that hasn’t even melted properly, creating useless garbage.”

At that moment, Dang Jo-pyeong, glancing at Jang Il-so with eyes that were hard to decipher, pulled the throwing knife out of the furnace again and placed it on the anvil.

Jang Il-so asked.

“How is it? How does it feel to have everything you have denied? How does it feel to cling to useless things?”

I feel sick inside. People who have lost everything often pretend to be kind at the end. They act like they never wanted what they lost anyway.

I have seen countless fools who act as if they have attained enlightenment at the last moment. Jang Il-so felt disgusted every time he saw people like that.

It’s better to have those who cry and cling. Because they are honest. It’s better to have those who crawl on the floor, begging for their lives and struggling. Compared to losers who give false meaning to meaningless things and babble that they actually wanted what they didn’t want.

“Answer me. Is that throwing knife worth it as the last thing in your life? If it’s such a trivial life⋯⋯.”

A voice that seemed to twist the soul.

“There’s no need to hold on to it, is there? Huh?”

Jang Il-so’s hand twitched under his wide sleeve. It seemed that he had no intention of just threatening with words.

But Dang Jo-pyeong, knowing that Jang Il-so could end his life at any moment, just looked at the heated iron as if his own life didn’t matter at all.

Clang!

Dang Jo-pyeong’s hammering began again. The red sparks flew up as if the old man’s soul was scattering.

The iron on the anvil gradually took the shape of a throwing knife, and Dang Jo-pyeong carefully examined the iron he had picked up again with tongs before shoving it into the furnace.

Dang Jo-pyeong glanced at Jang Il-so. The old man’s indifferent gaze and Jang Il-so’s flickering eyes intertwined in the air.

Jang Il-so couldn’t help but feel a surge of disgust for a moment. Just as he was about to swing his hand, Dang Jo-pyeong opened his mouth.

“I collect the purest iron from countless irons.”

“⋯⋯.”

“Melt it in a furnace that is hot enough to be cruel.”

Clang!

Once again, Dang Jo-pyeong’s hammer struck the throwing knife.

“I strike it hundreds, thousands of times, and strike it again.”

Clang!

“Until it has the most perfect shape and strength. Countless times it is twisted, broken, and bent⋯⋯.”

Claaang!

Dang Jo-pyeong, who had struck the hammer strongly, put the throwing knife in a bucket of water next to him.

Sssssss!

“It is thrown into dirty sewage.”

White steam soared violently from the water containing the heated throwing knife.

“Until the very end, it is ground and ground again, tearing off its flesh, and only then⋯⋯ does it become a masterpiece.”

At that moment, Jang Il-so’s eyes became strangely calm.

Dang Jo-pyeong’s voice contained a strange resonance. The resonance created a weight that even Jang Il-so could not easily dismiss.

“I have been doing such things all my life. Making stronger, sharper, and greater swords, making excellent weapons, and breaking them if they don’t meet the standards even a little, and melting them again.”

Dang Jo-pyeong took the throwing knife out of the bucket and placed it on the anvil.

Dark and rough surface. Even though it hadn’t been polished yet, it was impossible to call it a masterpiece.

It was made with an old, small furnace and arms that had become emaciated with age, but it was still a sword made by the Dang family’s artisan at the end of his life. But the appearance was so shabby that it was hard to believe that fact.

Dang Jo-pyeong was examining the extremely shabby throwing knife with great care. As if it were the greatest masterpiece in the world that he would never have again in his life.

Grasp.

Dang Jo-pyeong grabbed the throwing knife, which had not yet cooled down, with his hand.

Sssssss!

The blood that flowed out as the cooked flesh was torn off soaked the throwing knife. But the old man didn’t seem to feel even that pain, he just stared at the throwing knife indifferently and said.

“So, is this throwing knife a failure?”

Dang Jo-pyeong slowly put down the hammer.

Leaving the throwing knife that seemed to need to be hammered countless more times. Leaving the poor, low-grade throwing knife.

But there didn’t seem to be any regret in his hand as he put down the hammer.

He slowly turned the throwing knife in his hand and looked at every corner of the throwing knife with calm eyes, then slowly nodded his head.

Dang Jo-pyeong felt a sense of peace as he offered the knife. And he handed the throwing knife in his hand to none other than Jang Il-so.

Silence flowed. Jang Il-so was about to open his mouth at the old man’s inexplicable behavior, but Dang Jo-pyeong’s indifferent voice was thrown first.

“Take it.”

At that moment, a clear emotion of ‘embarrassment’ bloomed on Jang Il-so’s face. He looked back and forth between the outstretched throwing knife and Dang Jo-pyeong, and slightly distorted his eyes.

“⋯⋯What are you doing?”

Even if he is an old man whose life is fading away, as long as he uses the Dang surname, he cannot not know who is in front of him now.

Yet, this old man is now handing Jang Il-so the throwing knife he made at the end of his life. He wouldn’t be begging for his life by handing this over, would he?

As if answering Jang Il-so’s question, Dang Jo-pyeong said.

“Iron has no designated owner. The one who holds it in their hand is the owner. It’s just that you’re here now.”

Jang Il-so looked down at the rough throwing knife as if he was dumbfounded.

“⋯⋯This throwing knife could be stuck in the Dang family’s neck, couldn’t it?”

Even to that, Dang Jo-pyeong did not take back the outstretched throwing knife.

He just stared at Jang Il-so blankly. Suddenly, Jang Il-so also had no expression on his face. Jang Il-so, who had been silent like that, slowly reached out and grabbed the outstretched throwing knife.

Grip.

The heat that had not yet cooled down was transmitted. Dang Jo-pyeong’s blood, dried on the surface of the throwing knife, was smeared on his hand in dark red.

Jang Il-so, who was staring intently at the rough, twisted, and messed-up throwing knife, clenched the throwing knife tightly and raised his head. It was to cut off Dang Jo-pyeong’s neck and blow it away at once.

But.

“This old man⋯⋯.”

Jang Il-so’s face contorted.

Dang Jo-pyeong’s head was drooping down. In the meantime, the old man’s breath had stopped.

Shabby.

The hammer he put down at the last moment, his old and twisted body, and even the old furnace in front of him are all just shabby.

But Jang Il-so could not sneer at the smile on Dang Jo-pyeong’s lips, no matter how shabby he was.

Dang Jo-pyeong’s body gradually cooled down as if the fire in the furnace had gone out. Jang Il-so, who was watching the Dang family’s artisan who had passed away silently, turned around, fluttering his robe.

“I just wasted my time.”

A cold voice rang out.

“They’re not here. Chase after them. They can’t have gone far yet.”

“Yes, Lord Ryun!”

The Hong Ryun and other guards around him, who had been very quiet, quickly ran in all directions. Perhaps they will soon be able to find the traces of those who fled.

Tap.

Jang Il-so, who was about to walk away without regret, stopped at the sound that brushed past his ear for a moment. It was the sound of the furnace burning. A strange light flashed across Jang Il-so’s face.

“⋯⋯Humph.”

Wham!

Jang Il-so’s hand was swung. As the power poured out, the entire workshop collapsed at once, covering Dang Jo-pyeong’s body.

Rumble!

Jang Il-so, who was coldly glaring at the collapsed workshop, roughly shoved the clenched throwing knife into his arms.

“I hate being in debt.”

He turned his body and walked away, leaving behind words that no one could hear.

The workshop collapsed like that.

On top of the ruins of the workshop, which had now lost its meaning and was therefore abandoned by everyone, a small, old hammer protruded. It was like a tombstone for someone who had finally found peace.