Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1621

Mo Yong Wi-kyung’s eyes went wide, staring at the faces around him. *How had it come to this?* Just moments ago, the air had been thick with grumbling, everyone complaining about Chung Myung’s crazy idea. He’d expected a lot of arguing, maybe some angry shouts, but in the end, everyone taking what they felt they deserved. Now… now it was different. Something had shifted, and Mo Yong Wi-kyung felt a cold dread creep up his spine.

It was Jongli Gok. Just Jongli Gok’s words had been enough to turn everything upside down. Mo Yong Wi-kyung swallowed hard. He was now the one standing against Hwasan, and everyone was watching him.

*If only the Zhuge Clan had agreed with me,* he thought desperately. But no. They too had chosen Hwasan. He felt horribly exposed, like a single tree standing alone in a storm. The Mo Yong Clan against Hwasan? The very idea sent a shiver of ice down his back, and beads of cold sweat popped out on his forehead. This was dangerous.

*No, not yet,* Mo Yong Wi-kyung told himself, his mind racing. He quickly looked around at the other leaders. He remembered who had first spoken out against Chung Myung’s plan – the Southern Savage Beast Palace and the Northern Sea Ice Palace. *If I could just get them to speak up again, to argue more strongly…*

His eyes landed on Seol So-baek of the Northern Sea Ice Palace. Maeng So of the Southern Savage Beast Palace looked too stubborn, too set in his ways. But Seol So-baek was young, new to his position. Perhaps he could be persuaded. Mo Yong Wi-kyung focused his attention on the young Palace Lord, hoping, pleading with his eyes.

But Seol So-baek seemed lost in his own world, completely missing Mo Yong Wi-kyung’s desperate stare. He sat with his head bowed, his brow furrowed in thought. After a long moment, he finally lifted his head, his young face troubled. He turned to Han Yi-myung, who sat calmly beside him. In his clear eyes, Mo Yong Wi-kyung could see a flicker of uncertainty.

“Um…” Seol So-baek began hesitantly.

Before he could finish, Han Yi-myung spoke, his voice gentle but firm. “Do what you believe is right, Palace Lord.”

“Huh?” Seol So-baek blinked, surprised. He looked at Han Yi-myung, his eyes widening slightly. Han Yi-myung just smiled, a warm, reassuring smile. “You are the Palace Lord. Your decisions shape the lives of everyone in the Northern Sea Ice Palace. That responsibility, and that power, rests with you.”

“I understand,” Han Yi-myung continued, his smile still gentle. “I know you initially refused Chung Myung Daojang’s plan… perhaps to protect my position.”

“Chief Manager…” Seol So-baek murmured, looking slightly ashamed.

Han Yi-myung chuckled softly. “But Palace Lord, you didn’t need to. You see, you personally have nothing to lose by accepting this proposal.”

He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice. “Everyone knows, Palace Lord, that while you hold the title, it is I who truly manages the Ice Palace. It would have been… awkward, to say the least, for you to suddenly take that authority away from me and give it to Hwasan.”

“You are too kind, Palace Lord,” Han Yi-myung said gently. “Sometimes, you worry too much about what others think, even before they ask. If you had just spoken to me, even briefly, I would have supported you completely. No matter what you chose.”

A wave of emotions washed over Seol So-baek’s face – confusion, relief, and something else, something deeper.

“Are you… confused?” Han Yi-myung asked softly.

“Yes,” Seol So-baek admitted quietly. “A little.”

“Then stop thinking so hard,” Han Yi-myung advised. “Listen to your heart. Sometimes, that’s the clearest path.”

Seol So-baek closed his eyes, considering his words. Watching him, Han Yi-myung allowed a small, sad smile to touch his lips.

Han Yi-myung knew Seol So-baek’s past. This Ice Palace, these people… they had never been kind to him. In fact, under the old Palace Lord, they had hunted him, tried to kill him. He owed them nothing.

It was Hwasan, those five swordsmen, who had shown him kindness, who had guided him. Han Yi-myung suspected Seol So-baek felt a stronger loyalty to them than to the Ice Palace itself. He knew the young Palace Lord wrestled with this – his personal feelings pulling him one way, his duty to his people pulling him another. Would choosing Hwasan hurt the Northern Sea? It was a heavy weight for such young shoulders.

Han Yi-myung watched, offering no further words. He was only an advisor. This decision, the burden of it, had to be Seol So-baek’s alone. Young, inexperienced… yet, he was the Palace Lord. This was his trial by fire.

Finally, Seol So-baek opened his eyes. His gaze was now firm, focused. He looked directly at Hyun Jong, then at Chung Myung.

“I have one question,” he stated clearly.

“Ask, Palace Lord,” Hyun Jong replied, nodding kindly.

Seol So-baek took a breath. “Can the Cheonwu Alliance… no, can Hwasan promise me that those of us from outside, those of us considered… foreigners… will not face prejudice within this alliance?”

“Palace Lord, of course!” Hyun Jong began, his voice warm and reassuring. “It is our duty to ensure…”

But before Hyun Jong could finish, a sharp voice cut through the air. “No.”

All eyes snapped to Chung Myung. Hyun Jong’s words hung unfinished in the air. Seol So-baek stared at Chung Myung, a question in his eyes.

“…You can’t?” Seol So-baek asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“No,” Chung Myung repeated, his gaze unwavering, locked on Seol So-baek’s.

Chung Myung met Seol So-baek’s gaze directly. He knew this was no longer the shy boy he had once known. This was Palace Lord Seol So-baek, a leader who deserved respect and honesty.

“I can’t promise you there will be no prejudice,” Chung Myung said, his voice ringing with sincerity. “Prejudice is like a weed with deep roots. I can’t pull it all out with just words or orders. If it were that easy, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Seol So-baek listened intently, his expression unreadable.

Chung Myung continued, “But we will fight it. We will do everything we can to stop the unfairness, the stupidity that has gone on for too long. We want to reach a day when we can look at each other as people, not as ‘outsiders’ or ‘foreigners.’ But we can’t do it alone. You, the Northern Sea, must also be willing to change.” He paused, letting his words sink in. “Hiding away in the cold will never change how others see you.”

Seol So-baek’s eyes searched Chung Myung’s, seeking truth. “Do you truly believe,” he asked, his voice low, “that we can break down these walls?”

Chung Myung nodded, a firm, unwavering nod. “Maybe not perfectly. Maybe not overnight. But we can build something better than what we have now.”

He leaned forward slightly. “Because if we don’t even try, nothing will ever change.”

Silence hung heavy in the air as Seol So-baek considered Chung Myung’s words. His face was a mask, revealing nothing of the turmoil within. He stared at Chung Myung for what felt like an eternity. Then, finally, he spoke.

“The Northern Sea Ice Palace will stand with Hwasan.” A visible weight seemed to lift from Seol So-baek’s shoulders.

In the shadows, Han Yi-myung allowed himself the smallest of smiles. *He made the right choice.*

“As leader of the Northern Ice Palace, I give all my power as Ice Palace Lord to the alliance until this war ends. Everyone in the Ice Palace will be told this, and no one can change it.”

Just as Chung Myung was about to nod, Seol So-baek added,

“Sect Leader, promise me one thing. Show me you are not just saying nice words to please the Central Plains people. Show me you truly want to save lives.”

Seol So-baek’s eyes were now unwavering. A hush fell over the room. Then, Chung Myung answered in a low voice, yet clearer than ever before,

“I will.”

Only then did Seol So-baek nod.

‘Well done, Palace Lord,’ Han I-myung thought, smiling gently. After a long time, it felt as though Seol So-baek had finally become the true Lord of the Northern Ice Palace.

You can only give away what you own.

Only now had he cast aside the excuse of immaturity and resolved to bear the responsibility for his own choices.

“Then, Lord of the Beast Palace.”

“……”

“It seems your answer should change?”

At Seol So-baek’s audacious remark, Maeng So looked troubled and sighed.

“Hwasan as well… These young ones today… they are not like in my time, not at all.”

“……I agree with that.”

“Likewise.”

Hyun Jong and Tang Gunak, as well as the other sect leaders, all sighed deeply.

It wasn’t about arguing right or wrong.

It was a scene of Chung Myung turning the bomb Baek Cheon had thrown into a torrent, sweeping everything away. And Seol So-baek was fanning the flames. Could anyone have imagined such a sight in the past?

The rigid atmosphere inside relaxed slightly at Maeng So’s grumbling and wry laughter. After a moment, he opened his mouth in a voice like the rumble of distant thunder, filling the room and demanding attention.

“During the war against the Demonic Sect in the past, Hwasan’s Sword Saint and the Dang Family’s Dark Lord stood against the Demonic Sect’s forces heading towards Yunnan.”

A few people’s eyes widened slightly. This was a well-known fact within the Heavenly Union, but it was an untold story unknown to many outside the Heavenly Union.

“At the time, the relationship between the Central Plains and the outer regions was even worse than it is now. They regarded each other as enemies and were rather pleased with the other’s downfall.”

There was no hint of a smile on Maeng So’s beast-like face.

“In that situation, the Demonic Sect targeting the Beast Palace might have been good news for the people of the Central Plains. But the Sword Saint and the Dark Lord risked their lives to stop them. If it weren’t for them, I, and by extension, the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, would not be here today.”

Memories flickered across Maeng So’s beast-like face. His eyes softened as he remembered the past, a hint of sadness and deep respect in their depths.

“Because of that history of receiving grace, I am here today. It wasn’t fancy speeches that fixed the bad feelings between us. It was what those two people *did* when they risked their lives. That single act of the Sword Saint and the Dark Lord has changed the world after nearly a hundred years.”

Maeng So smiled faintly as he spoke.

“Of course, I am not the Sword Saint. I cannot do such great things, nor do I have the ability to do so.”

His gaze stopped at Chung Myung.

“But even in this world, there is someone who says that boundaries mean nothing and that what matters is people. I presume that the Sword Saint of the past stood before the Demonic Sect with the same thought.”

Chung Myung clenched his fist under the table without realizing it. Maeng So continued.

“I still reject Maeng’s proposal. I don’t believe the world has changed that much yet. However……”

This time, Maeng So’s gaze shifted from Chung Myung to Hyun Jong, and then to Tang Gunak.

“If now is the time for the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace to repay its debt to Hwasan and the Sichuan Dang Family, and if the current Hwasan and Dang Family have the same heart as the Sword Saint and the Dark Lord of that time, then the Beast Palace will stand with the two sects. Not to break down walls, but to prove that we can sacrifice ourselves this time.”

Maeng So’s calm yet resounding voice echoed through the conference room.

“What do you think?”

As Maeng So’s question turned back on him, Tang Gunak cleared his throat softly.

“Actually… it’s difficult for us now to know what our ancestor was thinking when he stood against the Demonic Sect back then. But……”

Tang Gunak took out eleven throwing stars from his chest and placed them down.

“I know well what kind of heart he fought with. To protect. To be willing to risk one’s life to save even one more person.”

Tang Gunak lightly stroked the handle of the eleven throwing stars, their metal dulled and smooth from years of handling, each one a silent testament to battles fought, and raised his head.

“If you ask whether that heart still exists in the Dang Family, I will naturally answer yes.”

Now only Hyun Jong’s answer remained. As Maeng So and Tang Gunak looked at him simultaneously, Hyun Jong let out a faint groan and opened his mouth.

“We are not worthy to be compared to our ancestors. But… we try our best to live in a way that would make them proud. That spirit… it is still in Hwasan. And it will always be in Hwasan.”

It was a truly Hyun Jong-like answer. Maeng So looked at Chung Myung and asked cautiously. In fact, he was the person he most wanted to ask this question to.

“What about you? Can you become like them?”

Chung Myung was momentarily stunned, then chuckled. Maeng So may have asked the question earnestly, but from Chung Myung’s perspective, could there be a funnier question?

The answer was already determined.

“I’m not doing all this just to become like them.”

“……Then?”

“I have to surpass them,” Chung Myung said, his voice firm, but a shadow flickered in his eyes. “Because what they did… it wasn’t enough. It *had* to be more. I *have* to do better, much better, than back then. How else could I look them in the eye again?”

Maeng So shook his massive body and laughed.

“That’s why I can’t help but rely on you, Strategist!”

The past and the present are connected. The same yet different, and different yet not different. The aura of a beast, not unlike Chung Myung’s, lingered on the face of Maeng So, the Lord of the Beast Palace.

“The Southern Barbarian Beast Palace will prove it. That the spirit of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint and the Dark Lord is not only carried on by Hwasan and the Dang Family. That the spirit lives on in our Southern Barbarian Beast Palace as well. With our blood and our lives!”

It was a declaration that made the blood boil hotly.