Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1772

The news of about ten deaths threw the Alliance into chaos.

Soon, reports came in that more than just those ten or so individuals hadn’t returned the night before. The chaos turned into fear.

The whereabouts of those missing soon became clear. The number of sentries who died the previous night was actually thirty.

The Alliance’s situation was now beyond just chaos or fear.

Mo Yong Wi-kyung, the leader of the powerful Mo Yong Clan, raised his voice, “How on earth did this happen?”

“Thirty! We lost thirty people in one night. How could that even happen?”

“Please, calm down, Clan Leader Mo Yong,” Poong Young-shin-gae, the former Head of the Beggars’ Union, said calmly.

Mo Yong Wi-kyung retorted, “Calm down? Are you serious?”

Mo Yong Wi-kyung’s beard shook with rage. It was understandable, as some of those killed the night before were from his own Mo Yong Clan.

Poong Young-shin-gae said, “The numbers aren’t what’s important.”

“What matters is that they were sentries. Those guarding against the enemy were taken out without even raising an alarm. This is serious.”

“…Does that mean the enemy was incredibly strong?”

Poong Young-shin-gae shook his head. “Even if the Tyrant, who is very strong, attacked, he couldn’t kill so many people silently.”

“If there were many…” Mo Yong Wi-kyung stopped, thinking.

Even with many attackers, they couldn’t have been that fast. The fact that no alarm was raised was impossible to understand.

Groans were heard here and there.

However, some remained calm. One of them was Jong-ri Gok.

“The key is distance, I think,” Jong-ri Gok stated.

Tang Gunak turned to him, “Distance? What do you mean?”

Jong-ri Gok nodded slowly. “It’s obvious. The fact that no one sounded the alarm means they were attacked at the same time.”

“That makes sense,” Tang Gunak agreed.

Jong-ri Gok continued, “Unless the attacker is a master of throwing knives like the Dang Clan Leader, they had to get close to kill so many at once. What does that mean?”

Maeng So sighed quietly. It meant the guards didn’t notice the enemy approaching. Was that really possible?

“It doesn’t make sense, but it’s the only explanation,” Maeng So muttered.

Everyone silently agreed. To understand what happened, they had to figure out how the enemy got so close to the sentries.

Tang Gunak said, “Let’s forget about the enemy’s skills for a moment. The guards weren’t weak. No one should have been able to get close without them noticing.”

Tang Gunak had personally requested that the guards be carefully chosen to prevent any intrusions.

“Then what happened?”

“If they used extreme stealth…” someone suggested.

Je Gal-ja-in dismissed the idea. “That’s impossible. Even with great stealth, they couldn’t kill ten people at once. Someone that skilled would be famous as ‘The Greatest Killer Under Heaven.'”

“Then, what about soul-snatching?” another asked.

“That doesn’t make sense either. Bewitching people takes time and preparation. I’ve never heard of instantly bewitching multiple guards at once.”

“Hmm. That’s true…”

The more they talked, the more frustrated they became. They couldn’t figure out how the enemy had killed the guards.

Tang Gunak sighed and paused, then asked, “What do you think, Green Forest King?”

Im So-byung, the Green Forest King, was slowly fanning himself, acting as if none of this concerned him. He frowned.

“Are you asking for my opinion now?” Im So-byung asked.

“That’s right,” Tang Gunak confirmed.

Im So-byung smirked. “I don’t think my opinion matters much.”

“What do you mean?” Tang Gunak asked.

Im So-byung replied, “I’m not sure you’d understand even if I explained it.”

Tang Gunak’s expression hardened. Im So-byung often acted slyly, but this wasn’t the time for jokes.

Im So-byung continued nonchalantly, “The whole discussion is wrong.”

“Hmm?” Tang Gunak stared at Im So-byung, wanting an explanation.

Im So-byung looked around at the others and said, “Of course, there are many possibilities. They could be excellent at stealth, or a master of soul-snatching could have bewitched everyone.”

“…”

“Or maybe a master of hidden weapons, even better than the Dang Clan Leader, killed everyone from afar. Or perhaps a master of divine movement, faster than the Beggars’ Union Head, flew in and sliced their necks. Who knows?”

Jong-ri Gok, taking Im So-byung’s faint smile as mockery, said coldly, “Green Forest King, are you insulting us?”

Jong-ri Gok’s cold gaze seemed to pierce Im So-byung. Jong-ri Gok had always been uneasy around Im So-byung, who came from the Demonic Sect. Being mocked like this was too much to bear.

An ordinary person would have been intimidated, but Im So-byung was no ordinary man.

Im So-byung slyly raised both hands. “An insult? Not me! I’m just saying it’s possible. I mean it.”

Jong-ri Gok frowned. “I think your pathetic behavior is separate, so don’t mock us with it.”

“What did you say?” Im So-byung’s playful expression vanished.

Im So-byung stated, “It’s as I said. A master of soul-snatching, a genius of stealth, a master of hidden weapons, a master of divine movement—anyone with those skills could shake the world.”

“So what? That’s obvious, isn’t it?” Jong-ri Gok asked.

Im So-byung’s eyes widened. “Obvious?”

“The Demonic Sect certainly has advantages over the Orthodox Sect. If Jongnam were a Demonic Sect, you would never have become its leader with such ease.”

“You…” Jong-ri Gok began.

Just as Jong-ri Gok was about to stand up, Namgoong Dowi interrupted, “So?”

“…”

Namgoong Dowi continued, “I’m too foolish to understand. What’s so strange about that?”

Im So-byung looked at Namgoong Dowi with a displeased gaze, as if he had interrupted something interesting, before smirking. “The Namgoong Clan is in big trouble too.”

“Explain it first,” Namgoong Dowi demanded.

Im So-byung asked, “Why do I need to explain? If you were Jang Il-so, what would you tell someone with that much skill to do?”

“…What are you talking about?”

Im So-byung continued, “Would you tell such a person to just go around slicing the necks of sentries, just to scare them a little?”

At that question, everyone, including Namgoong Dowi, seemed to realize something and gasped.

As Im So-byung said, the ability of someone who could do such a thing didn’t match the result.

Being difficult and being great are not the same. Killing thirty guards without a sound is hard, but it’s not truly impressive. There were only thirty of them, after all.

“You seem to be starting to understand,” Im So-byeong said.

Im So-byeong clicked his tongue softly and with a flick of his wrist, snapped his fan shut. The sudden sound drew everyone’s eyes to him. The fan, painted with dark mountains and rivers, was now held loosely in his hand.

“The important thing,” Im So-byeong continued, his voice calm but sharp, “isn’t how that person did this impossible thing. It’s why he did it.”

“That means… there’s another reason, but what are they after?”

“I don’t know either. We still don’t have enough information.”

Tang Gunak bit his lip.

Tang Gunak knew it wasn’t fair to blame Im So-byeong. Im So-byeong had already thought deeply about the problem.

Still, Tang Gunak’s face hardened because he had a bad feeling. He felt that if he didn’t quickly figure out what the enemies really wanted, something much worse would happen.

Everyone seemed to feel the same way, and the tent became silent.

“So… what should we do now?” someone asked weakly.

Tang Gunak closed his eyes tightly.

It was hard to respond to an enemy when they didn’t know what the enemy wanted or how they would attack. The Cheonwoo Alliance had set up camp around Mount Wudang, but they could only do so much.

‘If only we could all be in one place….’

But Tang Gunak knew it was impossible.

“First, let’s add more guards.”

“But just that….”

Jongri-gok started to say something, but then shook his head. It wasn’t his place to disagree with Tang Gunak in front of everyone. Besides, he didn’t have any better ideas.

“The good thing is, they’ve stopped attacking regular people.”

“……”

“If we try to fight back right away, they might start attacking again.”

“Hmm.”

“The damage isn’t too bad yet, so let’s watch for now. But we can’t let the damage get any worse.”

The others nodded. But they looked worried and unhappy.

Tang Gunak secretly sighed.

‘This is hard.’

He realized again that it was hard to lead so many people with just his own skills and popularity.

‘First… I have to stop anything bigger from happening.’

No matter what the enemies wanted, he wouldn’t let them have it easily.

“Brother.”

“……”

“…Brother.”

“Be quiet and watch carefully.”

“…Yes.”

Dang-gyu looked ahead again, a little sad. But there was just a wide field in front of him, with nothing to see. The Dang family’s eyes were so good, they could see a bug moving a hundred yards away. Making them watch an empty field like this was like torture.

“Brother.”

“You little rascal….”

Dang-gyu quickly spoke before his brother could get angry again.

“What really happened yesterday?”

“…What are you talking about?”

Maybe his brother was curious, or maybe he was just tired of watching. Either way, he answered instead of scolding Dang-gyu. Dang-gyu asked, excited.

“Didn’t you hear, brother? They said it was impossible.”

“So we should watch even more carefully.”

“Do you think the guards yesterday weren’t careful? Especially when we don’t know when the Demonic Sect will attack?”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Maybe… just maybe…”

“Huh?”

“Maybe we weren’t watching carefully enough. Maybe there was nothing to see in the first place?”

“What does that mean?”

“We’d be watching for an enemy, but if it’s not an enemy, there’s nothing to watch for, right? For example….”

“Are you saying someone inside is helping them?”

“Inside? So many unimportant people have joined the Alliance. When did they become insiders?”

“……”

“Actually, I’ve been suspicious for a while.”

“Of who?”

“The Zhuge family and the Murong family. How could we not fight in the war because some people we don’t even know stopped us? We haven’t even seen them yet.”

“Stop it.”

“No, I mean….”

Just then, a voice came from behind them.

“The walls have ears.”

The two men turned around, surprised. They were relieved and embarrassed at the same time.

“We… we greet the Clan Lord.”

Tang Gunak was walking slowly toward them.

“I told you to watch carefully, didn’t I?”

“I’m sorry….”

“We have nothing to say, Clan Lord.”

The Dang family members looked ashamed.

The Clan Lord himself had told them to watch carefully. They should have been following his orders, but they disobeyed Tang Gunak. They couldn’t help but feel ashamed.

Tang Gunak came closer and glared at them with cold eyes. They couldn’t meet his gaze and looked down.

“What’s happening?”

“…Nothing unusual.”

“All trouble comes from talking too much.”

“We were foolish. Please forgive us.”

“Forgiveness doesn’t matter.”

“I’m sorry….”

Dang-gyu, who was apologizing, suddenly stopped. His face turned serious.

‘What is it?’

He felt uneasy.

“What matters is that you disobeyed orders.”

“Clan Lord….”

Dang-gyu looked up slightly, his expression changing.

“You…! You’re not the Clan Lord….”

A flash of silver sliced through the air, and a thin red line bloomed across their throats, widening instantly.

Tang Gunak smiled. It was a cruel smile, the kind the real Tang Gunak would never make.

“You should have been watching carefully. Too bad.”

The two men fell to the ground.

They realized at the last moment that the person in front of them was not Tang Gunak. But it was too late to help them now.

Tang Gunak, or rather, the Thousand-Faced Shura who looked just like him, glanced at the bodies as if they were bugs. His face twisted strangely.

“It will be a long night.”

His figure disappeared like a ghost.

Only two dead bodies remained in the open field, with a faint smell of blood.