Return Of The Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1753

Tang Gunak leaned forward, the flickering candlelight casting shadows across his worried face. “Tell me,” he said, his voice rough, “what’s the damage? How bad is it?”

Zhuge Jarin stood straight, his face like stone. He avoided Tang Gunak’s gaze, speaking in a low, even tone. “So far, we know about fifty are hurt. And… about twenty are dead.”

Tang Gunak’s breath hitched. “Twenty… dead? And fifty wounded?” He repeated the numbers slowly, as if trying to understand the terrible weight of them. His face, already lined with worry, tightened further, his jaw clenching.

Even though the attack was sudden, the fighting didn’t last long. Still, the damage is pretty bad.

“What do you mean by ‘so far’?” Tang Gunak asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Some people haven’t come back yet,” Zhuge Jarin explained, his voice steady.

Tang Gunak sighed, a heavy sound in the room.

“They’re scattered all over the mountains, so it’s hard to find them. We think most of them are dead, but we’re searching as fast as we can in case some are just hurt,” Zhuge Jarin continued.

“I see,” Tang Gunak said, his voice barely audible.

The Zhuge family suffered the most in this attack. So, most of the missing people are probably from their group.

“Use everything we have to find them,” Tang Gunak ordered, his voice firm.

“Of course,” Zhuge Jarin replied. “But there’s something else you should know.”

“What is it?” Tang Gunak asked, his gaze intense.

“The people who fought the Blood Palace are telling strange stories,” Zhuge Jarin said, a hint of unease in his voice.

“Strange stories?” Tang Gunak repeated, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Yes. They say the Blood Palace guys were healing their wounds right away, even after getting hurt,” Zhuge Jarin explained.

Mo Yong Wi-kyung and Poong Young-shin-gae, who had been listening quietly, gasped in surprise.

“What?” Mo Yong Wi-kyung exclaimed, his eyes wide.

“Did you say healing?” Poong Young-shin-gae asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

“Yes. And it sounds like more than just a few of them are using this weird sorcery,” Zhuge Jarin confirmed.

“How did they heal so fast?” Mo Yong Wi-kyung questioned, his brow furrowed.

“From what I heard, they put something in their bodies. Some kind of gross worm wiggled around and fixed their wounds right away,” Zhuge Jarin said, a slight grimace on his face.

“Oh dear…” Mo Yong Wi-kyung’s face turned even more serious.

People in our world think sorcery is evil and they don’t like it. It’s not because they think sorcery is weak. Instead, all the famous fighters know sorcery is strong and dangerous. You can’t fight it with normal skills.

But sorcery is hated because it always has a bad side. People who use too much sorcery lose their feelings. They can even become like monsters, doing terrible things that normal people can’t even think of.

“Could it just be that our fighters weren’t very good?” Poong Young-shin-gae suggested, a hint of doubt in his voice.

“Even the Mount Hua disciples said the same thing,” Zhuge Jarin countered.

“Even Mount Hua?” Mo Yong Wi-kyung asked, surprised.

“Yes. Jo Gul, known as ‘Ilgeom Bungwang,’ was there. He said it was impossible to win,” Zhuge Jarin stated firmly.

These words hit them hard.

Jo Gul, known as ‘Ilgeom Bungwang,’ is a very talented young fighter. People say he will be one of the best. We can’t exactly measure how strong fighters are. But from what Jo Gul has done, some people think he’s as strong as the old masters of the big groups. And that might be true.

If even Jo Gul couldn’t handle it, this is a huge problem.

Then, Poong Young-shin-gae spoke up, his face grave. “It’s hard to believe. If they have so many people like that, the Blood Palace is much stronger than we thought. Maybe…”

Poong Young-shin-gae paused, looking around the room. Then, Beast Palace Lord Maeng So smirked and finished his sentence. “The other four palaces in the new world are probably even weaker.”

Poong Young-shin-gae nodded slightly in agreement.

“But why haven’t they used this power before?” Mo Yong Wi-kyung wondered aloud. “There must be a reason.”

The others nodded. If they were so strong, they could have won the big battle in Hubei more easily. But Jang Il-so wouldn’t have let them do whatever they wanted.

“The reason might not matter, but if I had to guess, I’d say there are two possibilities,” Poong Young-shin-gae offered.

“Two things?” Tang Gunak asked, his gaze fixed on Poong Young-shin-gae.

“Yes. First, Jang Il-so might not be able to fully control the Blood Palace. Even though the Four Evil Alliances are strong, the groups in the new world don’t follow the same rules as us,” Poong Young-shin-gae explained.

Everyone nodded. They couldn’t treat the Beast Palace and Ice Palace, which were part of the Heavenly Union, the same way they treated other groups. It was different from just being distant because they weren’t from the Central Plains.

Mo Yong Wi-kyung rubbed his temples, his expression still doubtful. “But why now?” he murmured.

“It’s probably because of what’s happening now. That’s the second possibility,” Poong Young-shin-gae suggested.

“What do you mean?” Mo Yong Wi-kyung asked, his brow furrowed.

“Haven’t Shaolin and Wudang lost their power?” Poong Young-shin-gae pointed out.

“Ah…” Mo Yong Wi-kyung sighed softly.

Sorcery is hard to fight with normal martial arts. But the reason sorcery was pushed out of the Central Plains is simple. The groups that naturally fought against sorcery were the strongest in this area.

Shaolin and Wudang.

Shaolin’s Buddhist teachings and Wudang’s Taoist power are the best ways to fight sorcery. Sorcery always became weak when faced with them. But now, Shaolin is weak and has shut down. And Wudang might even be destroyed.

“So, people who are good at sorcery don’t have to worry about the Central Plains anymore,” Mo Yong Wi-kyung realized, his voice grim.

“That’s right,” Poong Young-shin-gae confirmed.

Tang Gunak fell into deep thought. The situation was worse than he had imagined.

‘The damage is so great, even in a short battle,’ he thought, his mind racing.

If the problem was that they couldn’t fight against sorcery, it made sense.

“Isn’t this a big problem?” Poong Young-shin-gae asked, his voice laced with concern.

“It’s definitely something we can’t ignore,” Tang Gunak agreed, his expression serious.

“Hmm…” Mo Yong Wi-kyung hummed thoughtfully.

“We can’t change what’s already happened. The most important thing is to stop it from happening again,” Tang Gunak stated, his voice firm.

Silence filled the room. Everyone’s faces were grim.

“Then… what about asking Shaolin for help?” Poong Young-shin-gae suggested. “I don’t think they should stay closed now.”

“That won’t work,” Tang Gunak said, shaking his head.

“No, even with all their problems…” Poong Young-shin-gae started to protest.

“That’s not what I mean,” Tang Gunak interrupted. “It’s not like everyone at Shaolin can fight sorcery. You need special training and understanding. But Shaolin now…”

The old masters who trained for years and really understood how to fight sorcery are all dead. The Shaolin students left are not trained enough yet.

So, even if we get them to come here, they won’t be much help.

“Then Wudang is probably the same,” Mo Yong Wi-kyung said, his voice heavy.

“That’s right,” Tang Gunak confirmed.

“Damn it! Heo messed everything up!” Tang Gunak cursed, his frustration boiling over.

Mo Yongwi-gyeong, losing all self-control, shouted insults. No one stopped him. He was angry because he thought, ‘If Heo Do-jin hadn’t made the elders capture Jang Il-so, we wouldn’t be in this mess. That plan cost us too much!’

Then….

The others couldn’t find a solution and just groaned. Then, Jongli Gok, the leader of the Jongnam Sect, spoke up.

“Magic is tricky because it’s magic! That’s the problem,” Jongli Gok said. “Sitting around worrying won’t solve it. We need to decide why we need to solve it.”

“What do you mean?” someone asked.

“No matter how strong, it’s just magic. We can handle it. If cutting doesn’t work, we’ll break it. If breaking doesn’t work, we’ll destroy it, right?”

Je Gal-jain sighed.

“What you say makes sense,” Je Gal-jain said. “The young leader of Namgoong fought them like that.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about…” someone replied.

“How many people can do that?” Je Gal-jain asked.

……

“The people here could handle them easily,” Je Gal-jain continued. “But there are many enemies. Do you want to find every member of the Blood Palace on the battlefield?”

Jongli Gok was quiet for a moment, then sighed. He knew it was true. The Cheonwu Alliance was fighting more than just the Blood Palace.

Tang Gunak was thinking hard. He looked at Je Gal-jain.

“Wait,” Tang Gunak said. “Why did they leave so easily?”

“That’s what I want to talk about,” Je Gal-jain replied. “I heard Yoon Jong from Hwasan defeated the magic users with one strike.”

“Yoon Jong? Really?” Tang Gunak blinked. He was surprised it was Yoon Jong, not Yoo I-seol or Jo Gul.

Je Gal-jain’s eyes sparkled.

“It’s best to hear it from him,” Je Gal-jain said.

Everyone agreed.

“…That’s what happened,” Yoon Jong explained.

“Hmm. Seon’gi…” someone murmured.

Yoon Jong had hurried over after helping the injured. He felt everyone staring at him and hunched his shoulders a little.

“What do you think?” Je Gal-jain asked the group.

“It’s possible,” someone answered. “Wudang has always been strong against magic because they use spiritual power, Seon’gi, in their swords. Hwasan is similar, so they should be able to do the same.”

That wasn’t the whole story.

Hwasan focused more on everyday life than Wudang. They didn’t use Seon’gi as much. That’s what everyone thought until now.

Je Gal-jain watched Yoon Jong closely.

Using Seon’gi could weaken magic, but it wasn’t a simple solution.

But after hearing Yoon Jong and the witnesses, it seemed Yoon Jong could almost stop the magic completely.

This meant Yoon Jong’s Seon’gi was better than even the elders of Wudang.

‘It shouldn’t be possible… but Hwasan has surprised us before,’ Je Gal-jain thought.

Je Gal-jain took a breath and spoke.

“Let me ask you something,” Je Gal-jain said. “Could you always use Seon’gi?”

“That’s a tricky question…” Yoon Jong replied.

“Hmm?”

Yoon Jong looked at Je Gal-jain and answered.

“If you’re asking if I always had this power, yes,” Yoon Jong said. “But if you’re asking if I’ve always used it, no.”

Je Gal-jain understood right away.

“Hmm, you had the power, but you only started using it recently,” Je Gal-jain said.

“That’s right,” Yoon Jong confirmed.

“Are the other Hwasan disciples like you?” Je Gal-jain asked.

Yoon Jong hesitated.

“Everyone has their own Tao, so it’s hard to say,” Yoon Jong explained. “But I think everyone in Hwasan has the same energy as me, even if it’s not as strong.”

“Can that power be brought out?” Je Gal-jain asked.

“Pardon?” Yoon Jong was confused.

Je Gal-jain looked at the others. They seemed to trust him and didn’t disagree.

“This is very important,” Je Gal-jain said. “The future of the Central Plains might depend on it.”

……

“As you know, the enemy’s magic is hard to fight,” Je Gal-jain continued. “The problem is we don’t know how many magic users there are. What if there are too many for us to handle on the battlefield?”

Everyone knew what that meant.

Yoon Jong had almost died because of the enemy’s magic. If there were many strong magic users, they could cause a lot of damage.

“Do you understand?” Je Gal-jain asked.

“Yes,” Yoon Jong replied.

“We need to find more people who can fight that strange power,” Je Gal-jain said. “It’s the most important thing right now.”

Yoon Jong was silent for a moment. Then, Tang Gunak stepped forward.

“Yoon Jong,” Tang Gunak said. “I know this is difficult. But we can’t worry about your sect right now. We need to be ready for the enemy.”

Tang Gunak paused and looked closely at Yoon Jong.

“You’re the one who is acting like the senior disciple of Hwasan right now,” Tang Gunak continued. “You’re the only one who can do this. Can you do it?”

His words had a lot of meaning.

The Cheonwu Alliance was in trouble, but Hwasan was in even worse shape. Baek Cheon was gone, and it had affected Hwasan more than anyone thought.

Yoon Jong was the only one who could handle the situation. That’s what Tang Gunak meant. Yoon Jong knew it.

Yoon Jong looked down.

Everyone, including Tang Gunak, stared at him. Yoon Jong felt a lot of pressure.

Finally, Yoon Jong spoke slowly.

“First, please don’t say I’m acting like the senior disciple of Hwasan,” Yoon Jong said. “Everyone in Hwasan knows who that is. No one can replace him.”

Tang Gunak thought Yoon Jong was going to refuse and felt sorry for him.

But Yoon Jong looked up and continued.

“But if it’s my duty as a regular disciple of Hwasan, not as the senior disciple, I’ll do my best,” Yoon Jong said.

……

“Because that’s what I have to do now,” Yoon Jong finished.

His eyes were calm. Tang Gunak nodded.

“I need your help,” Tang Gunak said.

“Yes,” Yoon Jong replied.

Now, they had to rely on Hwasan and Yoon Jong.

Tang Gunak sighed quietly.

‘This isn’t easy,’ Tang Gunak thought.

Yoon Jong would do his best, but he had limits.