Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 212

Chung Myung jumped down from the sparring stage and walked towards his martial brothers, opening his arms wide with a grin.

“Haha! Hey, guys! What’s with the sad faces? Do you not know who I am?”

But as he got closer, his martial brothers quickly moved back, their eyes wide with worry.

“What are you doing?” Chung Myung asked, confused.

“Ah… nothing!” Baek Cheon said quickly, forcing a smile. Small drops of sweat appeared on his forehead.

“Hmm?” Chung Myung frowned, noticing their strange reaction. “Why are they acting so weird?” he thought.

“No… it’s just…” Then, Baek Cheon suddenly moved quickly, stepping back.

Chung Myung’s face twisted in confusion as he watched his martial brothers retreat as quickly as he approached.

‘Retreating?’

They didn’t look happy at all. They looked at him like he was carrying a terrible sickness.

“Hey! Did someone catch a disease? Why are you avoiding me like the plague!”

“Hey! You! Shouldn’t you think before getting close to someone! You’re covered in poison from head-to-toe, acting like it’s nothing as you creep closer! We’ll die if we get poisoned!”

“Huh?”

Oh, right.

Chung Myung looked down at himself.

He was immune to the poison, but his entire body was covered in the toxins that Dang Woe had used. A faint green mist seemed to cling to his clothes, the air around him smelling sharp and strange.

Chung Myung’s body could clean itself of poison, but his martial brothers would be meeting the King of Hell if they touched him.

‘I died because that junior brother accidentally poisoned me.’

They would say something so ridiculous.

Chung Myung scratched his head and looked around.

“Aish!”

Thinking about it, not only his martial brothers but everyone else was keeping their distance, carefully watching him.

Seriously! Did they think he was a god with a disease?

Huh?

“Clan Lord Dang?”

“…”

Why was he standing so far away?

He was supposed to be the head of the Dang Clan!

“Ahem.”

Tang Gunak cleared his throat and slowly, very slowly, walked towards Chung Myung.

Chung Myung suddenly took a step towards Tang Gunak, who jumped back in surprise.

“H-Hold on! Just stay still!”

“…”

Uh…

This felt familiar.

Thinking about it, his martial brothers used to act like this whenever he did anything.

‘What kind of life did I live?’

A cold feeling went through him. Had he really been so bad?

Realizing how awful Plum Blossom Sword Saint Chung Myung had been, Chung Myung wiped his stinging eyes.

‘I’m sorry, my brothers.’

He felt a pang of sadness for how he had acted before. This senior brother was wrong.

While Chung Myung sighed and felt regret, Tang Gunak received many small bottles from someone who rushed up from behind. Then, he quickly sprayed them at Chung Myung, his hands shaking slightly as he kept a safe distance.

“Ah, Achoo!”

“Stay still! Stay still! Don’t even cough!”

Seriously, these people!

Even after spraying over a dozen types of powders and a dozen types of potions, Tang Gunak still looked at Chung Myung with a strange expression, as if he wasn’t relieved.

“Can you feel the poison?”

“…”

“I was thinking of keeping you away from everyone for about a week. Would you agree…?”

“Aish! You wretched bastards!”

At that moment, Chung Myung’s entire body burst into flames.

Not ordinary fire, but bright, white-hot flames that roared around him, burning away the poison in a flash.

“Oh?”

The poison around his body was completely burned away by the Samadhi Fire. Panting, Chung Myung slumped to the ground and grumbled.

“Aish, it really uses up my internal energy.”

Creating a small flame at his fingertips was easy, but creating a fire this big needed a lot of internal energy.

Also, he had used up half of his internal energy in the fight, so he felt his strength draining away.

“Alright. Do what you want.”

Tang Gunak nodded.

Then, he slowly walked up to the sparring stage.

“Elder Council Member Dang Woe, listen.”

Dang Woe struggled to lift his head. But he was too weak, and his body stayed on the sparring stage.

Tang Gunak used his internal energy to make his voice louder.

His voice was strong and clear.

“Do you understand what you did wrong?”

Dang Woe’s eyes were red.

“…I! What did I do wrong!”

Dang Woe’s energy was gone because his dantian was destroyed, but his angry spirit was still strong like poison. He shouted with such strength that he seemed ready to jump at Tang Gunak and bite his throat.

“If losing to that monster is a crime, then the Clan Lord is just as guilty, isn’t he?”

Tang Gunak shook his head as he watched Dang Woe scream as if he were about to vomit blood.

“Winning or losing is not a crime. The crime I’m talking about is something else.”

“…”

“Bring him in!”

Tang Gunak looked to one side.

The Dang Clan members looked where Tang Gunak was looking.

“That…”

“Young Clan Lord?”

“What about the Young Clan Lord?”

Dang Pae, the young lord of the Dang Clan, was dragging someone who was tied up.

Everyone watched Dang Pae. But Dang Woe only looked at the person Dang Pae was dragging.

“H-How…”

Dang Pae threw the tied-up person onto the sparring stage.

“I’ve brought him, Clan Lord.”

“Hmm.”

Tang Gunak spoke coldly.

“Dang Hwa!”

“C-Clan Lord…”

The person called Dang Hwa trembled and knelt down.

“If you tell all your crimes here, I will let you live.”

Hearing that, Dang Hwa bit his lip.

‘It’s over anyway.’

Dang Woe, who had protected him, had lost his power and was lying there in a terrible state.

Even if he stayed loyal, he would only be killed or spend his life in the underground prison.

Why would he do that?

“I, I…”

“Dang Hwa, you bastard! What are you trying to say!”

Dang Woe shouted, but Dang Hwa spoke as if he didn’t hear him.

“Under Elder Council Member Dang Woe’s orders, I put Cheonilchwi in the alcohol and food for the Hwasan Divine Dragon.”

Everyone started to whisper.

Using a deadly poison in a martial arts match?

That was a terrible thing to do.

Going against the Clan Lord?

That was also bad.

But even those things were not as bad as trying to poison someone before a martial arts match. It was an act that went against the Dang Clan’s values.

As a Dang Clan member who used poison, they should never do such a thing.

“Cheonilchwi! That’s terrible!”

“Wait. If he was poisoned with Cheonilchwi, how did he fight?”

“It’s strange that Cheonilchwi didn’t work on someone who is immune to the Ghost King Order.”

“…I guess so.”

The people looked at Chung Myung with new eyes.

They were realizing how strong the Hwasan Divine Dragon was.

Tang Gunak waited for everyone to quiet down before speaking coldly.

“Are you sure this was under Elder Council Member Dang Woe’s orders?”

“Yes, it is.”

Tang Gunak looked at Dang Woe with a cold expression.

“Do you have anything to say?”

Dang-oe squeezed his eyes shut. *It’s over,* he thought, despair washing over him.

Everything was finished. He would never be respected as an elder of the Dang family again. And because the Supreme Elders of the Council had supported him, they would lose their power too. They would be sent away, forgotten in the back rooms.

In this one moment, Tang Gunak, the new Patriarch (family leader), had taken complete control. Now, he could do whatever he wanted with the Dang family.

“Patriarch… I truly had the Dang family’s best interests at heart…”

“Achieving results does not justify any means.”

Tang Gunak’s voice was like ice, cold and sharp, cutting through the room.

“True sincerity must be shown in the right way. Do not utter another word. I fear my ears will be soiled.”

“…”

Tang Gunak turned his gaze from Dang-oe, addressing all the family members.

“I am the head of the Dang family, and I give you my command!”

“Yes!”

All the Dang family members knelt in their places.

“Dang-oe, who has committed a serious crime, is hereby removed from his position as the head of the Council of Elders and imprisoned. Until the investigation is complete, the Council of Elders will stop working, and the Supreme Elders of the Council cannot leave their homes! Until the full truth of this matter is revealed, all members of the Dang family must be careful in their actions!”

“We obey the Patriarch’s command!”

“And!”

Tang Gunak turned his head to look at Cheong-myeong.

“Hwasin Shinryong (Divine Dragon of Fire), Cheong-myeong!”

“Yes, sir!”

Cheong-myeong, this time without his usual jest, stood straight and looked directly at him.

“Thanks to your hard work, we have been able to learn about and fix the terrible events happening within the Dang family. As the head of the Great Sicheon Dang family, I officially thank you, your martial brothers, and the Hwasan Sect!”

Tang Gunak put his hands together tightly, held them out, and bowed his head towards Cheong-myeong.

A deep bow of respect (pogweon).

It was the highest honor a family head could give.

The Dang family members also responded to this.

“We thank Hwasan!”

“We thank Hwasan Shinryong!”

“We thank the disciples of Hwasan!”

Everyone bowed their heads together, showing their respect (pogweon).

The disciples of Hwasan felt warmth in their hearts as they received this greeting.

‘We have been accepted by the Dang family.’

Hwasan, once an outcast from the Nine Great Sects, had, in just a few years, risen to a place where it was being recognized by the Dang family, the rulers of Sichuan.

Who could have imagined such a day would come?

At that moment, Cheong-myeong stepped forward.

“Cheong-myeong, the Third-Class Disciple of Hwasan, accepts the thanks of the Sicheon Dang family on behalf of Hwasan.”

Cheong-myeong bowed back to Tang Gunak.

“And… uh…”

Then, he tilted his head, stopped bowing, and stepped back.

“Sasuk.”

“Huh?”

“This is something Sasuk should do.”

“…”

“What are you doing?”

“Ahem.”

Baek Cheon cleared his throat and stepped forward.

He bowed to Tang Gunak and began to speak.

“Baek Cheon, the Second-Class Disciple of Hwasan, thanks the Dang family on behalf of Hwasan. I hope that this event will make our two sects closer and allow us to share true friendship.”

“Of course!”

Tang Gunak smiled slightly.

“Of course, it will be so.”

“Woooaaah!”

“Long live the Sicheon Dang family!”

“Long live Hwasan!”

As soon as the Dang family head finished speaking, cheers came from everywhere.

It was the moment Tang Gunak had overthrown the Council of Elders and taken complete power, and also the moment he officially allied with Hwasan, the home of the Hwasan Shinryong who had defeated Dang-oe.

Everything had happened so fast. People were still trying to understand what it all meant. However, just by looking at how the family head and the Hwasan disciples were acting, everyone could see that this was good for the Dang family.

A flood of cheers.

In the middle of it all, Cheong-myeong shrugged.

“It’s not like I did anything great. The cheering is too much.”

“Cheong-myeong.”

At that moment, Baek Cheon turned to Cheong-myeong with a serious face. Even his voice was quite serious.

“Yes?”

“You did something great.”

“Hehe. That’s obvious…”

“But!”

“Huh?”

Baek Cheon’s face, as he glared at Cheong-myeong, was full of anger.

“From now on, if you’re going to do something like this, tell us first!”

“No, there’s no need to go that far…”

“You must!”

“…”

Cheong-myeong, who was about to say something, flinched at Baek Cheon’s gaze. It was a truly rare, angry look.

“You might have been okay with that poison, but we thought you were dead, you blasted idiot!”

Then, Yoon Jong added from behind.

“…Honestly, it wasn’t that bad.”

“I agree.”

Baek Cheon turned around sharply and glared at Yoon Jong and Jo Gul, who flinched and looked down. Baek Cheon looked back at Cheong-myeong and repeated.

“Remember my words. If you ever do something like this again without telling us, I will not allow it.”

Cheong-myeong, who seemed about to say something, closed his mouth again.

Cheong-myeong, his face twitching slightly, finally let out a deep sigh.

“Alright, alright. I will from now on.”

“You blasted idiot.”

Baek Cheon sighed and shook his head.

“First, turn around!”

“Huh?”

Baek Cheon grabbed Cheong-myeong’s shoulders and turned him around. Then, the cheering Dang family members came into Cheong-myeong’s view.

“This is the cheering for you.”

“…”

Cheong-myeong stared at the pouring cheers with a dazed look.

‘Have I ever received such cheers outside of Hwasan?’

Well.

In his previous life as the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, he had done many greater things, but he had never received such pure cheers.

“Wave your hand or something.”

A smile appeared on Cheong-myeong’s lips.

What.

Who cares!

“Oh my! Thank you. Oh my! What great thing did I do to deserve this? Hahaha! Yes, yes! Thank you.”

The disciples of Hwasan chuckled as they watched Cheong-myeong’s jesting.

“Wow… He’s really amazing.”

Dang-jan trembled as he looked at Cheong-myeong from afar.

‘I was going to pick a fight with someone like that.’

It was a miracle his head was still attached.

“Sister, isn’t he really amazing?”

“…He is amazing.”

“Hwasan Shinryong is truly the greatest rising star in the world. He’s so amazing.”

“Not him.”

“Yes?”

Dang-jan looked at his sister’s face, confused.

Dang So-so was staring at one place. Following her gaze, Dang-jan frowned as he saw someone unexpected.

“Yoo Iseol?”

“Jan-ah.”

“Yes, Sister.”

“I’ve made up my mind.”

“Yes?”

As if she couldn’t look away, Dang So-so was watching Yoo Iseol without blinking.

“I’m going to…”

She bit her lip slightly and said firmly.

“I’m going to join Hwasan.”