Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1678

The Heavenly Union people walked past them without a word. They acted like the others weren’t even there as they headed towards Mount Hua.

They couldn’t stop themselves from glancing at the camped groups, but the Heavenly Union ignored everyone and strode towards Mount Hua.

Jang Il-So watched them go with a relaxed smile. Then, he turned to the man sitting across from him.

“Hmph, how callous.”

“……”

“I truly didn’t expect them to just leave like that. I thought good groups always helped each other… But it looks like that’s not true, huh?”

“How dare you spout such nonsense, you villainous bastard.”

“So fierce.”

Jang Il-So chuckled. Then, he stared silently at the cup placed before Chung Myung.

“The cup is empty.”

He picked up the wine bottle before him and personally refilled Chung Myung’s cup.

The sound of wine pouring mingled with the footsteps of countless individuals, spreading outwards.

Thunk.

Placing the bottle on the low table, Jang Il-So lightly slid it towards Chung Myung with his fingertips.

“Pour me a cup as well.”

“……”

“Since we’re here like this, shouldn’t I get some kind of reward? Like a title? Being the only villainous sect member to have tasted wine poured by the famed Mount Hua Sword Saint sounds like a good title, don’t you think?”

Chung Myung wordlessly stared at the grinning Jang Il-So before grasping the neck of the bottle. And he slowly began to fill Jang Il-So’s empty cup.

Drip, drip, drip.

The wine soon overflowed, unable to be contained within the cup. But the tilted bottle showed no sign of stopping. Jang Il-So narrowed his eyes slightly and met Chung Myung’s gaze. He looked at Jang Il-So with a sneering expression.

“These days… it seems even villainous bastards drink wine poured into a cup? Back in my day, we would have licked up the spilled wine from the floor, happy to have it.”

The corners of Chung Myung’s mouth twisted cruelly.

“Here, drink up. As you said, it’s a rare occurrence, so consider it an honor.”

Right away, the Red Plum Swords got angry and showed they wanted to kill Chung Myung.

The killing intent was strong and wild. It felt like a storm. Chung Myung’s clothes moved in the air, and even his messy hair stood up.

Meanwhile, Jo Gul kept turning back.

Yoon Jong, Hae Yeon, and Nangong Dowi beside him were the same.

The sight of Chung Myung grew smaller and smaller. Unable to find peace, he gripped the sword hilt, his hand growing increasingly tense.

‘Damn it!’

Jo Gul knew they couldn’t just leave Chung Myung alone.

Even so, the reason Jo Gul didn’t immediately protest as he usually would was the weight that came with the position of Vice Sect Leader.

Orders are orders, he thought. If they can’t even follow simple orders, how can they expect others to listen to them?

‘Just what…!’

He had a mountain of things to say to Baek Cheon, who was striding ahead. But instead of opening his mouth, Jo Gul clenched the sword hilt even tighter.

But then.

“Sasuk, are you sure… this is alright? No matter how I think about it, this is…”

Yoon Jong spoke instead of Jo Gul. His voice sounded as if he was suppressing something. He, too, seemed to find Baek Cheon’s decision difficult to accept.

But Baek Cheon didn’t answer. Yoon Jong eventually raised his voice.

“Sasuk!”

“He’ll be fine.”

“But still…!”

“He’s not the type to act without thinking.”

Baek Cheon replied in a monotone voice.

“And if we move as Jang Il-So wishes, we’re bound to fail. Isn’t that the conclusion we’ve reached based on countless sacrifices?”

Yoon Jong was left speechless. That was definitely true. But…

“Even so, does it make sense to leave him behind like that?”

At that moment, a wave of anger was felt from behind. Baek Cheon quickly turned around.

He saw the Red Plum Swords, restless as if they would charge at any moment, and Chung Myung, sitting calmly before them.

Baek Cheon bit his lip in silence. Then, he turned his head back.

He couldn’t say anything more.

He would just believe. Believe that he… that he was none other than the Mount Hua Sword Saint, Chung Myung.

The tip of a long finger lightly brushed the wine that had spilled on the low table. The fingertip, coated in wine, soon moved towards red lips.

Jang Il-So slowly licked the wine and said.

“What a waste… I said it was good wine. This is why those raised delicately are useless.”

After a light grumble, Jang Il-So glanced at the Red Plum Swords, who were grinding their teeth.

“Tsk. How rude.”

With that simple word, the Red Plum Swords’ killing intent vanished as if washed away.

“If you act so recklessly, how ridiculous will I look? Behave yourselves.”

The Red Plum Swords silently lowered their heads in unison. Jang Il-So looked at the Red Plum Swords and they stopped. Then, he smiled at Chung Myung like he wasn’t embarrassed at all.

“I’m sorry. I told them to train, but they’re naturally rough children.”

“They must take after their master.”

“Hmph. Certainly… there’s that aspect.”

Chung Myung picked up the cup before him and drank.

Thunk.

No sooner had he placed the empty cup down than Jang Il-So refilled it. Watching this, Chung Myung asked.

“Let’s hear the reason.”

“Reason?”

Jang Il-So asked back, and Chung Myung’s eyes sharpened.

“What’s the reason for going to all this trouble? There shouldn’t have been a need to go this far just to hold me back.”

“I simply wanted to talk.”

“……”

“Oh, dear, oh, dear. Don’t look at me with such eyes.”

Jang Il-So let out an exaggerated laugh, as if he were troubled.

“This is why people should live honestly. Once you’ve been suspected, even if you speak the plain truth, people won’t believe you. It’s truly frustrating.”

“I didn’t think you’d be so foolish as to not even know the saying ‘you reap what you sow.’”

“……Ugh.”

Jang Il-So sighed deeply.

No matter what Jang Il-So was really thinking or feeling, he acted like he was just talking to an old friend. It was very natural.

“There’s no need to be so on guard.”

Jang Il-So said softly, lifting the cup filled with wine. It was the cup that Chung Myung had filled earlier. He drank the wine without haste, as if savoring it.

“After all, neither you nor I can reveal all our inner thoughts to each other… but it’s true that I wanted to sit face to face with you like this at least once.”

Chung Myung looked at Jang Il-So calmly.

“And also keeping me here, right?”

“Well, that’s obvious enough that there’s no need to mention it, isn’t it?”

“And if the opportunity arises, you’d like to stick a knife in my neck as well, wouldn’t you?”

“Haha!”

Jang Il-So burst into hearty laughter.

“I’m not *too* greedy. Well, I am greedy, but I know you can’t take too much at once, or you’ll get sick.”

His sly eyes curved into a smile.

Chung Myung knew. The cruelty hidden within those seemingly gentle eyes. He felt a strange, chilling sensation, as if watching a well-honed blade.

Chung Myung grabbed the wine bottle.

Drip…

The wine, stretching out like a silken thread, slowly filled Jang Il-So’s empty cup. Jang Il-So, who had been watching the scene with interest, opened his mouth.

“But I didn’t expect you to sit down so readily? I thought I’d have to persuade you quite a bit.”

“Same here.”

Chung Myung replied in a somewhat indifferent tone, as if talking to himself.

“I still think you’re not even worth associating with… but I, too, might have wanted to have a conversation with you at least once.”

“……Oh?”

“And it’s the same for another reason.”

“Hmm? What are you talking about now?”

Chung Myung slammed the wine bottle down with a thud and faced Jang Il-So head-on.

“Just as you think you can easily devour Mount Hua if you keep me tied up here, I also think that the Sinister Path Alliance is nothing if I keep you tied up here.”

The corners of Jang Il-So’s eyes curved slightly.

“Is that what you think?”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself.”

“……”

“So I just figured there was no loss. As long as I’m here, you won’t be able to rush back there no matter what happens.”

“Oh, dear, oh, dear.”

Jang Il-So shook his head like he was giving up.

“So… it’s not that I’ve tied you up, but that you’ve tied me up?”

“It depends on how you look at it.”

“Haha.”

Jang Il-So laughed out loud once more. But unlike before, his face seemed slightly distorted.

“That’s why… yes, that’s why you’re so amusing. You can’t even compare to those other morons. But I wonder… will it really go as you think?”

Jang Il-So’s gaze left Chung Myung’s face and turned to the floor. There, Heo Do-Jin was barely clinging to consciousness, as if about to snap at any moment.

“People… tend to overestimate things at times. Themselves, and those close to them.”

“……”

“That’s why their vision becomes clouded.”

Hearing those words, Heo Do-Jin trembled.

It must be painful.

To be defeated by an enemy whom he wouldn’t be satisfied with even if he tore them limb from limb, and to be ridiculed in such a fallen state, he must be feeling like biting his tongue and dying.

But humiliation is an unavoidable punishment for the defeated. Heo Do could only endure this humiliation now.

“What about you? Are you truly looking at those you lead with a cold eye?”

Chung Myung, who had been listening expressionlessly, smirked.

“Don’t talk about being cold. I’ve already done it to excess, that sort of thing.”

Chung Myung leaned back in his chair and looked up at the sky.

“Looking at them coldly, criticizing them for being unhelpful, and struggling alone.”

“……”

“Yeah. Just like you’re doing now.”

Jang Il-So’s expression subtly hardened. Even for him, who played with people’s hearts, these words were difficult to understand.

“Then, what are you doing now?”

Jang Il-So asked, and Chung Myung turned his gaze elsewhere. At the end of it was the Heavenly Union, growing further and further away.

“Just…”

A faint smile appeared on Chung Myung’s lips.

Anyone who heard it might say it was hopeless. It was an answer he would never have uttered in the past.

But it was an answer he had finally reached and found after an irreversible failure.

“I’m just believing.”

“……In those guys?”

Chung Myung’s eyes sank deeply.

“In them. And in what I, what we have done.”

Jang Il-So’s face froze like an ice sculpture. His calm face changed. It wasn’t calm anymore.

What should one call the emotion that surfaced on that face?

Bewilderment? Anger? No, perhaps it was despair.

The reason was unknown even to himself, but in any case, the word that could best describe that expression would ultimately be only one.

“This… is disappointing, isn’t it?”

White teeth were revealed between Jang Il-So’s red lips.

The face that had constantly held a bright smile was now distorted, and the soft voice was gone. A chilling voice flowed out.

“To think such words would come from your mouth.”

“……”

“I thought we were at least somewhat able to understand each other.”

Jang Il-So’s killing intent was full of hate. Chung Myung showed his anger too.

The air around them suddenly felt tight and tense. Like a bomb about to explode.