Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1470

Hwang Jong-ui felt empty inside. What he was seeing was so strange, it was hard to believe he was still thinking clearly.

Boom!

Dozens of tree trunks were added to the mountain of wood, which already looked like a small mountain.

“Is this going to collapse?”

“It’s too high! Start a new pile next to it!”

“Hey, we already got them up here! It’s too much work to move them again!”

Men climbed the huge wood pile like monkeys. They grabbed trees thicker than they could hug. “This one’s bent!” one shouted, throwing a massive log aside.

“Who brought this junk? I said straight trees only!” another yelled back.

More crooked logs were tossed down. “Look at this mess!” someone complained.

“Sort it again, fast! The Chief Commander will kill us if he sees this!” The men argued loudly, throwing the giant trees around like they were nothing. The wood crashed and thumped as they re-sorted the pile.

Hwang Jong-ui looked away. He couldn’t watch anymore. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this. Are these people even human?’ he wondered.

“B-Brother. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t have any strength left…”

“Don’t talk nonsense! Use your *inner force*! If we don’t finish this, we won’t get any food!”

“But… I didn’t learn *inner force* for this…”

“Does anyone ever train expecting to do this? Hurry up, will you?”

“Ugh…”

Those gripping the large trees poured their *inner force* into them. This *inner force* was like a powerful energy inside their bodies. The *inner force*, imbued with hot energy, instantly dried out the trees, which were twice as thick as a person.

Crack!

“Aargh! Damn it, it split!”

“Which idiot can’t control their power? I told you to be delicate! How many times do I have to say not to just shove in your *inner force*!”

“B-But can’t we still use this? It’s only a small crack.”

“Don’t talk rubbish and get a new one! If the Palace Lord finds out, we’ll be the ones getting chopped into pieces, not the wood.”

“Oh dear…”

The Beast Palace warriors swarmed around the newly brought tree once more.

Trees that would normally take at least a month to dry were reborn as excellent lumber in the time it took to exhale a few breaths.

“…Okay. To the side.”

“Ugh… I’m really going to die. Here it is!”

As soon as the well-dried lumber was placed on the large workbench, the swords flashed! They sliced through the thick wood with sharp, quick movements.

The Beast Palace warriors moving the wood cast envious glances.

“Must be nice. Looks like the sword-wielding folks have it the easiest.”

“If I’d known, I would have learned the sword too.”

The Namgung swordsmen, able to use their skill to work with the lumber, were the envy of all.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly easy for them either.

Clang!

“Hey, you lot! Cut it straight! Keep the spacing even! This is too thick!”

The swordsmen flinched and stopped their swords at Namgung Myung’s roar. Namgung Myung, in a great rage, flung the lumber he was holding onto the ground. He was under pressure from the Chief Commander to finish quickly. He knew if they failed, the Namgung Clan would be blamed.

“You’ve wasted a perfectly good tree! Didn’t you hear that if we waste wood, we have to pay for it ourselves! We’ll lose money! At this rate, the Namgung Clan will go bankrupt! Damn it! Is it even possible for the Namgung Clan to go bankrupt because they can’t cut wood properly?”

“W-Well… Elder. We are really trying our best…”

“Don’t try your best, just do it well, you incompetent fools!”

The swordsmen felt like crying. This wasn’t swordsmanship, it was just hard labor! Their pride as swordsmen was hurt.

‘That’s the kind of swordsmanship we learned, what are we supposed to do…?’

‘If we do it fast, they tell us to be precise, and if we do it precisely, they tell us to hurry up.’

In the first place, Namgung’s swordsmanship was a bold sword style that didn’t dwell on trivial matters. They had been taught that even if the sword went slightly astray, they could crush it with power and speed, but now they were trying to wield their swords with precision down to a single hair, which was driving them mad.

‘I’m going to die.’

‘I really want to throw up.’

If it were training, they could do it for three days and nights straight. But there was no way that swinging a sword in the air could be the same as cutting down large trees without rest. The faces of the Namgung Clan swordsmen, who boasted overflowing inner force and explosive sword energy, were becoming as rough as dried lumber.

But this hellish place gave them no time to rest. A cart, kicking up a cloud of dust, arrived before them as they swung their swords with all their might.

“Hey, we’re short on materials! Why is the work so slow?”

“J-Just wait a moment, please.”

“Excuses are only good once or twice. The Chief Commander is coming soon, you know? It’s just swinging a sword, so why is it so difficult!”

“Just swinging a sword! Then why don’t you try doing it yourself!”

The Namgung swordsmen flared up, and the Dang Clan people who had pulled the cart replied indifferently.

“Then would you like to build the houses?”

“……”

“We have no complaints, should we switch?”

“…We’ll do it faster. Just wait a little longer…”

“Cut it instead of talking! Cut it!”

The Namgung Clan swordsmen listlessly swung their swords.

The cut lumber was neatly stacked on the cart. As soon as the lumber was piled up as much as it could hold, the cart rushed forward without delay.

“Hurry, hurry! The Clan Lord is furious!”

Hwang Jong-ui’s gaze blankly followed the cart that was constantly crisscrossing Hwaeum. Now, buildings of unprecedented and unique styles were being erected in rows in Hwaeum.

“Lumber’s here!”

“What took you so long! Always so slow!”

The Dang Clan warriors did not respond and quickly carried the lumber.

“Ugh.”

Basically, the Dang Clan warriors were of higher status than the artisans. But in this situation, the positions were completely reversed.

“Where do we put this?”

“…Put it over there.”

“What about these big timbers?”

“…Put them behind that.”

A golden opportunity to order around the Dang Clan warriors, who were usually bossy, with just a finger. It was a situation that would naturally excite anyone.

But the carpenters giving instructions to the warriors didn’t look excited at all. No, rather, they looked utterly despairing. Their tired faces and slow movements showed their despair.

“Ugh…”

One of the artisans, watching the rising buildings with bloodshot eyes, finally couldn’t bear it any longer and had a fit.

“Aargh! I can’t take it anymore! This is an insult to artisans!”

“S-Stop him!”

“No! Stop!”

“Let go of me!”

He ran as fast as he could towards one place. His eyes looked wild.

“Chief!”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung was looking around. He quickly turned his head when he saw someone running to him.

“What is it?”

“I can’t take it anymore!”

“Take what?”

Chung Myung’s indifferent gaze met the craftsman’s bloodshot eyes. It was a tense moment. Suddenly, the craftsman jumped forward and grabbed Chung Myung’s pants leg. He held on tightly.

“Chief!”

“Ah, what is this? My pants are coming down!”

“Plea—Please! Just let me finish the ends of the eaves. I—I’ll bake the roof tiles somehow! Plea—Please! I’ll do it all night, so please!”

His voice was almost a sob. The craftsman’s eyes were very serious and full of worry. Even a person who never showed kindness might feel sorry for him.

But, alas, the person he was clinging to was Chung Myung.

“Are you deaf or something?”

“Plea—Please, I beg you! Just looking at those—those awful buildings makes my stomach churn! I—I’ll just work without sleep, so please let me carve even just the decorations. Please!”

“Decorations? That’s not important.”

“Get him off!”

“Seize that man!”

Other craftsmen, belatedly arriving, forcibly dragged away the one clinging to Chung Myung’s trousers.

“Chief! Chieeeef!”

“Didn’t I already tell you to stop?”

“I know how you feel. I understand well enough. But you should be begging someone who will listen.”

The eyes of the craftsmen dragging away the sobbing man quickly became moist as well.

The buildings were like plain grey boxes, all exactly the same. They had no paint, and the wood looked rough and cheap. Looking at the long rows of these ugly boxes made the craftsmen gasp and feel sick to their stomachs.

“Let go! Let go! People who see this will ask who built these buildings! I can’t die in peace. I can’t leave something like this in the world! It all has to be destroyed!”

“I told you to give up…”

The craftsmen turned their heads to hide their flowing tears.

These craftsmen were used to making things perfectly. They would even melt down many finished items to make just one perfect piece. For them to be mass-producing buildings that even a village carpenter wouldn’t make was enough to drive them to despair.

But there were also those in the world who couldn’t empathize with them at all.

“I’m busy enough as it is, stop talking about decorations! Build one more in the time you’d spend carving that!”

…This was the tomb of the craftsmen.

The buildings (if we can even call them buildings) all looked so alike that people could not tell which house was theirs, even after looking closely. The buildings were steadily filling the flattened earth.

There was nothing special about how these buildings were made. They didn’t show any special skills or local style. They were just built very, very fast.

“W—Wouldn’t people get mental illnesses living in a place like this?”

“People are stronger than you think.”

“They won’t even be able to find their own homes.”

“Do you think they’ll trade their nameplates for candy? They can all find them.”

The craftsmen, facing a living iron wall, had no choice but to despair.

“Work, work, stop complaining! We need to put up a hundred more houses by the end of the day! Move it!”

Hwang Jong-i sighed sadly as he watched the craftsmen trudging along as if being dragged. He looked around the new village with fresh eyes. What on earth should he call this?

The mountain was the material for everything.

The soil and sand from cutting into the mountain were used to fill the ponds, and the wood from the trees was used to make the lumber for building the pavilions. The durability was limited because the wood wasn’t of good quality, but if built well, there wouldn’t be a problem with it lasting about ten years.

Rocks? Stones? The rocks that came out of cutting into the mountain were neatly cut by the Hwasan swordsmen and reborn as stone to be laid on the roads.

Dirt, wood, and rock. And the most important thing…

“Move it! Faster!”

“They said we won’t get food if we don’t finish this road today!”

“How can people be so petty as to threaten us with food?”

A listless voice flowed from Hwang Jong-i’s mouth as he watched them carrying the stones.

…Labor.”

Laborers, each doing the work of at least thirty strong men, were being massively exploited.

Warriors could do everything.

They were forced to work very hard, like slaves. Because of this, something amazing was happening. Thousands of people were finishing work in just one day and night that usually takes a whole month.

This was like a miracle.

Hwang Jong-i realized just how meaningless all his worries had been.

If you just gave that man people, he could turn a desert into a lush forest.

‘Is he even human?’

Hwang Jong-i was shocked that a person could even think of doing something like this. He thought Chung Myung must be sent by gods.

Tang Gunak approached the man sent by the gods.

“Looks like you’re really making progress. More than halfway done, right?”

“You could say we’re more than seventy percent done. There’s a bit more work than expected, so it’ll take a little longer, but well, if we work hard for another three or four days, it should be roughly finished.”

“Not even counting the small jobs.”

That alone was an amazing speed. It was twice as fast as Tang Gunak had expected… No, even faster. It was the result of boldly sacrificing what needed to be sacrificed and prioritizing efficiency. Maybe only Chung Myung could decide to do this.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s definitely faster than expected… Ah!”

At that moment, Chung Myung screamed and tore at his hair.

“Oh no, really! Mistake! I should have put the waterway over here!”

“Hmm? Weren’t you going to dig wells?”

“The scale is bigger than I thought, so wells won’t be enough. Oh no, really.”

At those words, Tang Gunak nodded as if he understood.

“You didn’t plan for it to be bigger. So what are you going to do? Are you going to increase the number of wells?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I’m saying we need to dig a waterway!”

“Didn’t you say you already built the pavilions?”

“We’ll just have to tear them down, then.”

“……”

“Tell some people to knock down all the buildings in that line. The wood and stones are important, so tell them to take them apart carefully and build them again nearby, or something like that.”

“I will. That’s a good idea.”

Hwang Jong-i, who had been listening to their conversation, gave a warm smile.

‘Is he even human…?’

The place was becoming a terrible mess, so bad that even a demon would not want to look at it. This was happening in Hwaseong.