Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1598

Zegal Jain, the head of the Zegal Clan, stared blankly at the devastated battlefield before collapsing to his knees.

“Ah… Aaaah…”

He groaned, a sound of deep pain escaping him. Bodies were everywhere he looked. It was a scene of complete destruction.

“How… How could this…”

His sturdy shoulders began to tremble.

“Ugh… Uaargh… Aaaah!”

When he began to tear at his own hair, M容委瓊, the head of the M容 Clan who had come with him, grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Clan Leader Zegal… It is not your fault,” M容委瓊 said.

“This… What on earth…”

A sorrowful wail escaped him.

Zegal Jain felt as though it was all his fault, his insides burning with regret. If they had arrived just a little sooner, this worst-case scenario would not have unfolded.

Even if they couldn’t have changed the outcome, they could have at least saved more than half of those lying dead on this plain.

The half-hour delay had changed everything.

“Uaaaargh!”

Zegal Jain howled like a madman.

Zegal Jain’s grief was too much to watch, even for a clan leader. M容委瓊 couldn’t stop him.

How could M容委瓊 not understand the self-blame in his heart? The scene before them was devastating.

‘How many survived?’

M容委瓊 squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear the sight any longer.

Surely, not everyone had been killed. Some must have escaped. But that was hardly a consolation in this situation.

“The Evil Union!”

In Zegal Jain’s bloodshot eyes, he saw the Evil Union’s forces disappearing like small dots in the distance.

“Jang Il-sooooo! This curse… You will be cursed!”

Zegal Jain cried out, and M容委瓊 trembled, his hands hidden within his sleeves.

If any enemies were still here, he would have attacked them, letting out his anger. He wished he could at least fight for those who had died.

But all that greeted them here were the corpses that had already grown cold.

M容委瓊 sighed with a heavy heart.

‘What must be done now?’

It was a defeat of terrifying proportions.

It was impossible to know the extent of the damage the Evil Union had suffered. They could have recovered most of their subordinates’ bodies before leaving.

Regardless, three of the Nine Great Sects were almost completely destroyed. It seemed unlikely that the Evil Union’s losses were greater.

M容委瓊 had a feeling. The long-standing era of the Nine Great Sects had finally come to an end.

Shaolin would never regain its authority. And the Gongtong and Peng clans would now have to worry about their very survival.

All that remained of the Nine Great Sects were the Wudang and Jongnam sects, who were in seclusion, and the Kunlun sect, who were biding their time far away in the Tian Shan Mountains.

Could they still be called the Nine Great Sects?

More than anything, the fall of Shaolin was devastating. Shaolin was not merely the strongest of the Nine Great Sects. Shaolin itself was a symbol of the Nine Great Sects and the martial world.

Shaolin’s defeat by the Demonic Sect was a huge shock. It was a symbol of everything changing.

‘What must be done?’

A sense of helplessness and despair, like he had lost his way, washed over M容委瓊.

He felt lost and hopeless, like being in complete darkness.

“Ah… Aaaah…”

Zegal Jain was still unable to escape his torment.

There was good reason for his suffering.

It was Zegal Jain who, along with the Court, had devised the plan to tie down their feet and strike them from behind to prevent them from escaping.

He would always feel guilty, believing these deaths were his fault.

After sobbing for a long while, Zegal Jain looked at M容委瓊 with bloodshot eyes.

“We… We must pursue them,” Zegal Jain said.

“Clan Leader…”

“It’s not too late! They must be exhausted from the battle! So even now…”

A deep sigh escaped M容委瓊’s lips.

“Calm yourself, Clan Leader Zegal. You must not lose your reason,” M容委瓊 said.

“There’s still! There’s still a chance, isn’t there!”

M容委瓊 squeezed his eyes shut.

If they had arrived even a moment sooner… there would have been some truth to Zegal Jain’s words. But not anymore. It was too late now.

Just then, a group of people approached them.

‘The Sky Alliance.’

Like them, they were too late… No.

‘They can’t be compared to us.’

It was their plan that had prevented the Sky Alliance from coming here.

M容委瓊 now realized how arrogant they had been. All of this was the result of their arrogance, nothing more, nothing less.

That was why he couldn’t bring himself to face those who were approaching. He simply lowered his head.

“Clan Leader M容.”

“…Clan Leader Dang.”

Tang Gunak, the familiar face at the head of the Sky Alliance, looked at the two men with an unreadable expression.

Tang Gunak, who seemed to be about to say something, closed his mouth.

Of course. What could he say? Unless he was blind, he could see this tragedy clearly.

Zegal Jain, wailing in despair, M容委瓊, who had lowered his head, and Tang Gunak, who had lost his words. A thick despair settled between the three men.

Thud.

At that moment, they felt someone approaching.

M容委瓊 identified the presence and squeezed his eyes shut again. It was not a familiar face, but he knew well enough.

He couldn’t bring himself to speak in front of him.

If he were to blame them for not calling for their help, if he were to blame them for being so arrogant, if he were to ask who would take responsibility for these many deaths… what could he possibly say?

Just imagining those questions in his head was so heavy that he could barely breathe. The presence of Hyun Jong, approaching step by step. No, perhaps he would be crushed to death by the guilt he had cultivated himself.

Hyun Jong opened his mouth with a somber tone.

“I am Hyun Jong of the Hwasan Sect.”

“…I am M容委瓊 of the M容 Clan.”

It was the first time that an introduction he had made countless times felt so difficult.

“What… happened?” Hyun Jong asked.

It was a question that had to be asked. The battlefield was so devastated, yet the M容 and Zegal clans were too without injuries. Arriving late was nothing more than a pathetic excuse.

The Sky Alliance had come quickly from Hwayeom. They had a right to ask what happened.

However, he was at a loss for words, unsure of where to begin.

“That is…”

“The masked men!”

At that moment, Zegal Jain shouted almost hysterically.

“Those bastards! If only those damned bastards hadn’t blocked us!”

Jarin choked on his words, tears streaming down his face. “Kraah… Hooo…”

Mo Yong Wi-kyung sighed and spoke, “The Abbot planned to set a trap here.”

“The Abbot knew they would set a trap. So, he planned to walk into it. But his real plan was to trap *them* here instead.”

“Hmm… And the two great families followed…”

“Yes, but…”

Mo Yong Wi-kyung slowly shook his head. “The masked men already knew about our plan.”

“…Masked men, you say?” Hyun Jong’s face hardened.

Tang Gun-ak, who had been listening nearby, asked with a questioning look, “They stopped the Mo Yong and Zhuge families? Those men?”

“…It is embarrassing, but yes.”

“How…”

The two families were not to be taken lightly. Of course, they were a step below the Namgoong, Tang, or Peng families, but still, were they not among the Five Great Families?

But to have stopped those two families…

Tang Gun-ak, who had been lost in thought for a moment, asked, “Are you saying that because they blocked you, you couldn’t arrive in time?”

His gaze momentarily turned to the members of the two families, who wore faces etched with grief and shock. No matter how he looked at them, they did not seem like people who had fought their way through a fierce battle to get here.

Mo Yong Wi-kyung, reading suspicion in Tang Gun-ak’s eyes, flushed red. “Are you suspecting us now?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” Tang Gun-ak calmly denied.

However, Mo Yong Wi-kyung, already on edge, glared coldly at him. “If that is truly what happened, then the Cheonwoo Alliance should be thanking me, shouldn’t they?”

“What did you say?”

“Since we were stopped and arrived late, maybe the Cheonwoo Alliance is secretly happy we weren’t here to mess things up?”

“How can you say such a thing…!”

“The Mo Yong family is even being suspected of siding with the Demonic Sect, so what great fault is there in such a small remark?”

Tang Gun-ak and Mo Yong Wi-kyung’s faces hardened simultaneously.

They knew. They knew that it was no one’s fault here.

But it was not a situation where they could calmly consider each other’s feelings.

A tragic sight that they couldn’t even dare to touch. And a relationship that had become broken beyond repair. All of it was driving them to extremes.

“Enough,” Hyun Jong’s heavy voice cut through their argument.

Not only Tang Gun-ak, but also Mo Yong Wi-kyung, who originally had no reason to listen to Hyun Jong, paused at his words.

Hyun Jong recited a Buddhist prayer with a somber face and looked at the battlefield.

Those who had once been alive and breathing were now broken and scattered like discarded dolls. Limbs lay at odd angles, robes were ripped and stained, and the ground was soaked dark.

Hyun Jong closed his eyes tightly for a moment, the weight of all the lost lives pressing down on him. He could almost hear their silent screams. Then spoke as if sighing.

“There may be many things you want to say to each other, but let us first gather the remains of the deceased. That is…”

“Gather!” Zhuge Jarin, who had been furious, chuckled, a sound that was broken and sharp, like glass shattering. It wasn’t just sadness; it was madness taking hold.

“Good. Gather!”

Then, he suddenly glared venomously at Hyun Jong. “We don’t know when the Four Evil Sects will return, and we don’t know what those who retreated will do! But we must helplessly gather these corpses! Isn’t that the punishment that the defeated must bear?”

His voice was filled with resentment.

“Now that you are no longer the leader of the Cheonwoo Alliance, who else would give the orders? Command us! Tell us to go and bury them. Make us witness the sins we have committed with our own eyes and feel them painfully! Command us to do so!”

“Zhuge Clan Head!” Mo Yong Wi-kyung shouted in alarm.

Zhuge Jarin paid no attention and continued to yell. “You brought all these people here, and all you do is gather corpses? Is that the way of Hwasan and the way of the Cheonwoo Alliance?”

Mo Yong Wi-kyung flinched and unconsciously glanced at Hyun Jong. Mo Yong Wi-kyung felt a surge of shame mixed with anger. *They dare to doubt our family’s honor, even now?*

It was a remark worthy of severe insult. Moreover, the Cheonwoo Alliance had rushed all this way without even hearing a single request for help.

“No.”

At that moment, Hyun Jong’s eyes, which had been closed all along, slowly opened.

His eyes held a deeper conviction and sorrow than before.

“This is neither the way of the Cheonwoo Alliance nor the way of Hwasan.”

“Then?”

Hyun Jong was silent for a moment, looking at the battlefield.

Soon, a voice filled with pity and sorrow flowed out like the wind. “It is merely, the duty of a human being.”

In that moment, as if everyone was pressed down by those heavy words, no one could open their mouths.

“I ask for your help.”

Hyun Jong bowed politely to Zhuge Jarin and Mo Yong Wi-kyung.

The two men, who had been silent, eventually nodded.

Those who despaired. Those who grieved. Those who worried about the aftermath.

Whatever their position, the first thing all of them should not forget was the etiquette of being human. That simple principle moved those who had been sitting in despair.

“…I will help.”

Mo Yong Wi-kyung gave instructions to the members of the Mo Yong family. Zhuge Jarin also rose from his seat, staggering.

“Forgive my rudeness…”

“It’s alright,” Hyun Jong shook his head, stopping Zhuge Jarin’s words.

“There are more important things to do.”

“…I will do so.”

Hyun Jong, having comforted Zhuge Jarin, now took a step towards the battlefield, which had become a giant tomb. Tang Gun-ak followed behind him.

Thud. Thud.

Hyun Jong’s steps were directed not towards the place where the corpses were gathered, but towards a slightly different location. After walking in silence for a long time, Hyun Jong finally stopped.

He sighed softly as he looked at the person in front of him.

Just looking at him like this felt heavy enough to make his fingertips ache.

It was a truly sorrowful thing that the living bore the heaviest burden of these countless deaths.

That fact tormented Hyun Jong. Perhaps even more than the tragedy that had unfolded here.

“Chung Myung…” Hyun Jong spoke with pity to Chung Myung, who could not take his eyes off the tragic scene before him.

“It is not your fault.”

Chung Myung stood like a statue, dust and blood staining his clothes. His eyes were fixed on the battlefield, unseeing, lost in the horror. He finally turned to look at Hyun Jong.

His empty pupils pierced a corner of Hyun Jong’s heart.

“Then…” Chung Myung asked in a toneless voice. “Whose fault is it?”

“Abbot.”

Something very old, something seething from deep within, could be felt. In the face of that deep, deep despair, Hyun Jong would rather have closed his eyes.