Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1613

Tang Gunak looked flustered and tried to say something.

“Chief….”

But Chung Myung subtly raised a hand to stop him.

“Let’s check something first.”

Chung Myung’s gaze turned to Jegal Jarin.

“Why did we lose?”

Jegal Jarin’s face momentarily darkened with displeasure. Why ask the obvious?

“Haven’t I said it repeatedly? An unidentified enemy blocked our path….”

“No. What I’m asking is, even if that happened, were the Nine Great Sects really so weak? Did they truly deserve such a big loss?”

“……”

“Did you expect this? That just being a little late would lead to this?”

Jegal Jarin’s face hardened.

The sight he had witnessed upon arriving at the battlefield was so terrible that he hadn’t had enough time to fully assess it, but this was certainly something he had considered.

“Speaking only in terms of strategy….”

Jegal Jarin, hesitant to answer, eventually shook his head.

Though his personal feelings might not be favorable, as a member of the Jegal clan, he could not lie when discussing strategy.

“No, it’s not. Certainly not.”

Chung Myung nodded.

“I feel the same way. No matter how great the tricks the Sae Pae Union used, their power didn’t increase dramatically. There’s no way that Shaolin, Peng, and Mount Hua could have been so utterly crushed. Even if Shaolin was not at their full strength.”

The faces of several individuals hardened. Chung Myung sharply looked at Jegal Jarin again and asked,

“Then, why did it happen?”

Jegal Jarin fidgeted with his lips, a nervous habit he wasn’t even aware of.

Why?

The horrific scene still vividly flashed before his eyes. To those who hadn’t studied strategy, it would merely appear as a mass killing.

But Jegal Jarin had been able to find the answer even within that.

Combining the image of the ruined battlefield with the testimonies of the few survivors, the reason became all too clear.

“Collapse of command… and independent actions.”

Jegal Jarin, having uttered the answer, sighed deeply and nodded.

“Indeed… no, Chief’s words are correct. It certainly wasn’t a force that should have been annihilated like that. The reason it happened was that they didn’t move as they had initially agreed.”

“By ‘they,’ you mean?”

“Peng and Mount Hua, I suppose. Originally, they were supposed to support Shaolin’s main attack. If they had been faithful to their roles, the bodies wouldn’t be scattered so chaotically… no, they wouldn’t have died everywhere.”

Jegal Jarin, realizing he had momentarily misspoke, glanced around cautiously, but Chung Myung continued the meeting without paying any attention.

“Then, why didn’t they follow the agreed-upon tactics?”

“That’s….”

This didn’t even require thinking about strategy. Even if Jegal Jarin didn’t answer, everyone present would know the reason.

“……Ambition, perhaps. The desire to raise the sect’s reputation by taking the heads of the defeated enemy.”

Jegal Jarin sighed deeply once more.

‘How could you do this?’

The more he thought about it, the more regrettable it became.

If they had only been victorious, if they could have won, the glory would have been shared by all. Shaolin would have taken the greatest glory, and even the remaining glory would have been enough to illuminate a sect.

But why did they do such an absurd thing at that moment? What were they thinking?

In the end, the ambition that flared up inappropriately had led to such a terrible result.

However, Jegal Jarin couldn’t bring himself to condemn them, even if he felt regret. He knew best what their hearts and minds must have been like.

Wasn’t the desire to bring glory to one’s sect a common sentiment among all leaders? If Jegal Jarin had been in that position, he couldn’t be certain that he wouldn’t have acted the same way.

“From the start, the Abbot began this war wrongly. And an unexpected variable intervened in that wrongly started war.”

Chung Myung’s eyes left Jegal Jarin and scanned the others.

“But up to this point, it’s something that could happen at any time in a war where people kill and are killed. Then… if we had properly seized the timing to respond to the war and there had been no variables, could we have won?”

Jegal Jarin bit his lip, thinking hard. He looked down for a moment before speaking slowly.

“No,” he admitted finally. “I don’t think… I don’t think victory would have been easy, even then.”

“Patriarch?” Moyong Wi-kyung asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise. He looked confused by Jegal Jarin’s answer.

Jegal Jarin met Moyong Wi-kyung’s gaze. He had to be honest, even if it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. “You see,” he explained, “an army with too many leaders… it’s like having too many heads. I’ve never heard of such an army winning in the end.”

This wasn’t just his problem, but the problem of his clan. He was, after all, a member of the Jegal clan, skilled in strategy. Even if they could clash and tear each other apart for profit, they couldn’t deny the identity of their clan. Jegal Jarin was a person who valued his clan’s principles above personal feelings, especially when it came to strategy.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Chung Myung nodded emphatically.

“The existence of a traitor? Of course, it’s important. But if we’re distracted by that and fail to fix what really needs fixing, the result will be obvious next time too.”

Tang Gunak cleared his throat, a little louder this time.

“Hmm… Chief,” he began, a slight hesitation in his voice. “But… aren’t *we* different? The Heavenly Union, I mean, compared to the Nine Great Sects?”

“How is it different?”

“Still, we….”

Tang Gunak tried to say something but closed his mouth. It was a little embarrassing to bring up. Chung Myung shook his head slightly.

“They probably believed that too. That their alliance was unshakeable.”

“…….”

“If we have trust, they have history. We thought we saw a path to the future, and they had a sense of loyalty, relying on and helping each other even in difficult circumstances.”

Moyong Wi-kyung nodded emphatically.

He certainly thought so. No matter how frighteningly the Heavenly Union built up its momentum, it couldn’t surpass the bonds of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families that had been allied for hundreds of years. Those who fought together even in this situation were true comrades.

“But that was shattered without exception. Not because of betrayal, not because of conflict. Rather, their faith in each other was strong. Yet, in the end, they became a disorganized rabble. Why?”

Chung Myung’s voice fell heavily.

“Because they couldn’t abandon the ambition to further glorify their sect, the desire to make their names known throughout the world. And Jang Il-so is a guy who knows how to exploit that desire better than anyone else.”

Jegal Jarin chuckled involuntarily.

He and the Mount Hua Divine Dragon saw the same thing. They arrived similarly, saw the same scene, and reached the same point.

But the answer he gave and the answer that person gave were completely different.

It wasn’t a matter of arguing what was right or wrong. The important thing was that Chung Myung was already seeing something he hadn’t even considered.

‘Age isn’t an issue, after all.’

Now he seemed to understand. Why that person was sitting in the Chief’s seat. How he was leading the meeting in this place where so many formidable individuals had gathered.

It was because he had the eyes to see the world like that, and because he was someone who could boldly say such things, that the leader and deputy leader of the Heavenly Union rushed to him at his every word.

“We are different, we can cope. Behind countless defeats in history, there is always that kind of thinking.”

Tang Gunak nodded heavily. The belief that we are different is not enough.

This was a correct opinion that should be acknowledged.

A brief silence fell in the conference room. Then Jegal Jarin opened his mouth.

“May I ask something?”

“Yes.”

“The Chief’s words… no, I understand what the Chief is saying. But even if a diagnosis of the situation is possible, it’s meaningless if there’s no solution.”

Unlike before, his tone was respectful. Everyone looked surprised as Jegal Jarin paused to catch his breath.

“But martial artists and ambition are inseparable. The Chief may not know this because you are affiliated with the Taoist sect, but telling ordinary martial artists to put aside their ambition and just fight is no different from telling a person not to breathe.”

Chung Myung nodded without denying it.

“That’s right.”

“Then wouldn’t it ultimately be a meaningless discussion? If the solution to something that arises from one’s mindset is to change one’s mindset… it will ultimately become just obvious nonsense.”

This time, Chung Myung shook his head.

“As you said, it’s impossible to change a person’s mind with just a few words. Surely the Abbot also repeatedly emphasized before this battle that they must act as they had previously agreed.”

Jegal Jarin nodded strongly. Even he, who hadn’t directly faced the Abbot much, was sick of it, so the Mount Hua sect leader and Peng clan leader who had been by his side must have had their ears worn out.

But even so, they couldn’t overcome their desires at the crucial moment.

As the survivors said, if Jang Il-so hadn’t offered his own neck and shouted for them to cut it off, Mount Hua and Peng wouldn’t have been shaken to that extent.

Even an army with perfect discipline will have its formations disrupted in the moment of victory. Doesn’t that mean that there can be no perfection in what people do?

Chung Myung said firmly.

“We can’t do anything about people. We can only trust them. We can only believe that those sitting here, and those who have been backing us up until now, will prioritize their comrades beside them over their own fame and ambition, and fight.”

His gaze reached each and every one of them. Those sitting in this place knew the weight contained in that gaze. They had no choice but to nod heavily.

Then, Chung Myung brought up the main point.

“But there are things we can change.”

“What is that?”

“Sects.”

The voice was calm, but in fact, it wasn’t a word to be taken lightly. The leaders of each sect exchanged brief, questioning glances and asked back with bewildered faces.

“……Sects?”

Chung Myung took a deep breath.

“That’s exactly what I mean. The name Mount Hua, the name Tang, the name Jegal, the name Jongnam, the orthodox and unorthodox sects, and the foreign lands. The distinction between major and minor sects as well. All those names and all those walls, the boundaries that make us different from each other.”

As Chung Myung’s words continued, the faces of the leaders hardened. They realized what Chung Myung was trying to say.

“We can’t change people, but we can tear down the boundaries of sects. If the place where different people come together is ultimately the confrontation of that ‘difference,’ then there’s only one method left.”

Chung Myung’s words fell with the weight of a thousand pounds.

“To truly become the same.”

Someone hurriedly tried to speak, but Chung Myung didn’t give them an opening. His gaze was fixed straight at Hyun Jong.

“I believe that we must recall all command authority from each sect affiliated with the Heavenly Union, bind all affiliated members in the name of the Union, and eliminate the boundaries of the sects.”

“…….”

“That’s the best we can do right now. That’s what I think.”

A silence as still as death settled in the conference room.

No one even dared to speak. Because what they had just heard was too absurd.

“Cough… cough cough.”

In the silence that seemed capable of swallowing a person whole, someone let out a small laugh. It was a small sound, but everyone’s gaze poured towards that direction.

“Acting Sect Leader?”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

Baek Cheon slightly covered his mouth with his hand, still caught in laughter.

What was the path he had walked? What was the gaze he had received?

‘I just can’t beat him.’

Baek Cheon felt that way. Regardless of right or wrong, all of this was too much like a solution that only Chung Myung would come up with.