Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 463

“Wow, a cabin!” someone shouted. “Sahyung, it’s incredible!” The disciples from Mount Hua stared at the cabin that had suddenly appeared.

The cabin was built from round logs, stacked on top of each other. It was a style very different from anything they knew in the Central Plains. They knew people built homes in the mountains back home, but this cabin, with its rough, natural logs, was unusual to them.

“It’s bigger than I expected,” someone said. What was odd was seeing no other buildings nearby.

“Is there a village around here?” Jo Gul asked. Hong Yimyung tilted his head, looking confused.

“Are you looking for a village?”

“Oh, no. Not really.”

“If you wanted a village, you came the wrong way. This is a lonely place. Not many people live out here. Did you travel all this way without realizing?”

Everyone looked at Baek Cheon.

“Why? What’s wrong?” he asked, feeling their eyes on him.

“…I thought it was too easy to find this place,” someone mumbled.

“I knew it!” another disciple groaned.

Baek Cheon started to argue, but no one heard him over the noise from the cart.

“Can we go inside?”

Chung Myung and the little sable poked their heads out from the luggage, both shaking with cold.

Hong Yimyung looked puzzled.

“Why is the sable shivering?”

“…Sorry,” Baek Cheon said quickly, even though he didn’t know why he was apologizing.

*‘These people and animals are all strange!’* he thought to himself.

“It’s just a simple cabin, but come in. You can warm up.”

“Yes!” Chung Myung, who never said no to anything good, grabbed Baek Ah and dashed inside the moment the door opened.

Baek Cheon felt embarrassed and tried to explain.

“He seems rude right now, but he’s not usually this bad. He’s just very cold. Please be kind and understand.” Even Baek Cheon knew Chung Myung was rarely polite.

“Polite?” Hong Yimyung chuckled. “People in Bukhae don’t worry much about manners. Those fussy rules are for people with too much time.”

“Oh…”

“Come on in.”

“Thank you for having us.” The Mount Hua disciples bowed and went inside.

*‘Wow,’* someone thought. Even though it was just wooden walls, it was much warmer inside than out. Just stopping the wind made a huge difference.

“Ugh… My clothes are frozen solid, Sasuk!”

“Kyaa! Sahyung! My hair is frozen! Don’t touch it! It’ll break!” Stepping into the warmth made them understand how freezing cold they had been. They couldn’t believe their leather clothes had actually frozen! They shivered as they saw the stiff, cracking leather.

“We would have died if we went any further,” someone said.

“It’s all Dongryong Sasuk’s fault for taking the wrong way!”

“Who said Dongryong? Come here!” They started pulling off their stiff, frozen clothes, talking excitedly with their warming mouths.

“Wow, how is it so warm in here?”

“Sahyung, look! There’s a fire!”

“Huh?” Small flames danced in a fireplace in the middle of the cabin. They went closer and saw wood burning brightly inside.

“Oh my gosh, a fireplace inside?”

“That’s why it’s so warm!”

“The chimney goes up through the roof.”

“Yep. And look, Chung Myung is already glued to it.”

*‘Chung Myung?’* Everyone sighed as they saw Chung Myung pressed right up against the fireplace, as if he was part of it.

“Chung Myung, you’ll get burned!”

“Fire! Fire, fire! It’s fire!” Chung Myung spun around to face Baek Cheon, his face red and already covered in black soot.

“Sasuk, Sasuk! Can’t we put one of these in the cart?”

“Are you crazy? Say something sensible!”

“Why not? If we have one in the house, why can’t we have one in the cart?” Baek Cheon groaned and put his hands over his face. *‘You’d think he’d get smarter as he gets older,’* Baek Cheon thought. *‘But no.’*

Then Hong Yimyung laughed loudly.

“Hahaha! Putting a fireplace in the cart would be hard. It’s very heavy, and…”

“That’s okay! Our horses are strong!”

“Horses? Who’s talking about horses!” Finally, Baek Cheon lost his temper and went to grab Chung Myung. But Yoon Jong and Jo Gul quickly held him back. They sighed.

“Sasuk, you can’t do that in someone else’s house.”

“Please, think about where we are.”

“…” Hong Yimyung watched them, smiling a little at the funny scene.

“More importantly, you should change your clothes. Those look like good leather and fur, but they aren’t warm enough for this kind of cold.”

“…We didn’t know it would be this freezing.”

“That makes sense. Even in Bukhae, it’s not usually this cold. This year is especially bad.” The Mount Hua disciples nodded, finally understanding.

“So, it’s not normally like this?”

“Oh, it’s a little less cold.”

“…”

“Just a tiny bit.”

“…” *‘This is definitely not a place for normal people,’* someone thought.

“There’s water over there. Wash your hands and feet first and warm them up. You can get frostbite easily if you don’t.”

“Thank you.”

“And…” Hong Yimyung went to the side of the cabin and pulled back a cloth covering something. He pulled out a stack of thick animal furs.

“These will be much warmer than what you’re wearing.”

“Oh, is this…?”

“This fur is from animals that live in very cold places. It’s really good at keeping you warm. And remember to cover your head – you lose a lot of heat from there.”

Everyone looked at Hae Yeon. They could see his scalp was red and raw from the cold, and they felt sorry for him.

“Ah… This is too kind,” Baek Cheon said, feeling awkward. Hong Yimyung smiled kindly.

“Don’t worry about it. In Bukhae, we always take care of our guests.” Baek Cheon was about to thank him again when Chung Myung frowned suddenly.

“That one?”

“Hmm?” Hong Yimyung asked, looking at Chung Myung.

“Nothing,” Chung Myung said. Feeling warmer now, Chung Myung stood up and went over to the furs. He pulled back the cloth again and picked up the fur at the bottom of the pile.

“Huh? Is this… sable fur?” When he heard the word “sable,” Baek Ah’s fur stood on end, and he looked around nervously.

“Keeeeeek!”

“Ah! Be quiet!”

Chung Myung pushed aside the soft white fur that was touching his leather clothes. He then pulled out a bigger animal skin from underneath.

“This one hanging here looks much better, don’t you think?”

Hong Yimyung scratched his nose, looking slightly troubled.

“I’m sorry to say, but that one isn’t something I can just give away. If I can’t sell the hides of the beasts I hunt through the winter, my family will starve.”

“Eii. Do I look like such a shameless fellow to you?”

“Yes.”

“…Dongryong, go inside.”

Baek Cheon answered instead of Hong Yimyung, smacked his lips, and stepped aside.

“You’re going to sell it anyway, right?”

“Hmm? That’s right.”

“Then sell it to us, without going far.”

“That’s a bear hide from the Northern Sea, so it’s a bit pricey.”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that.”

Chung Myung grinned.

“We have quite a bit of money, you see. We’ll give you double.”

“……”

“In exchange, can we stoke the fire a bit more here?”

“……”

“Yes?”

“As much as you like, sir.”

Hong Yimyung had changed his tone in an instant.

“Ugh… I feel like I’m finally alive.”

Chung Myung, wearing a large bear hide and sitting in front of the fire pit, brought the cup in his hand to his lips. It was just water boiled with grass, not really tea, but as long as it was hot, even hot soup would have been welcome.

“…To think a house could be this good.”

“Indeed. After being homeless for about a month, my back feels like it’s about to break.”

“Just not having the wind blow is a blessing.”

The disciples of Hwasan were also feeling how good it was to have a home again.

Hong Yimyung watched the disciples of Hwasan with a very happy face.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“…No, we’re fine.”

“Just tell me if you need anything else, okay?”

“…Yes.”

His attitude seemed to have changed, and it had changed for the better, so whatever.

Hong Yimyung received half of the hide’s price in gold and the other half in grain. He sold the hide all at once, and at a better price, so his face was always smiling.

“You’ve saved my life. Getting grain is the biggest problem in the Northern Sea during winter.”

“I imagine so.”

Thanks to Hyun Young, who had stocked up on grain just in case, they still had plenty left even after giving away two sacks of rice.

“But do people in the Northern Sea eat grain?”

“Of course.”

“I wouldn’t think grain grows well here.”

“That’s why we exchange goods from the Northern Sea for grain.”

Hong Yimyung sighed and said.

“When trade with the Central Plains was smooth, we could exchange hides and fish for grain. But recently, even that has become difficult.”

“Ah…”

Baek Cheon nodded slowly, looking serious. Then Chung Myung spoke.

“Mister.”

“Yes!”

“Do you know anything about the Northern Sea Ice Palace?”

As soon as he said “Northern Sea Ice Palace,” Hong Yimyung’s face changed. Chung Myung saw the fear and worry on his face.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t say much about the Northern Sea Ice Palace. If I talk about it to people who are not from here…”

“Sasook. Give him another silver.”

“…What big trouble could there be? So, what do you want to know?”

Baek Cheon’s eyes twitched a little.

This mister seems very different from when we first met him…

Chung Myung shrugged and said.

“You can speak comfortably.”

“Ah, is that alright?”

“Yes. And anything general is fine. We don’t know much about the Ice Palace. It would be even better if you could tell us about recent events.”

“Hmm.”

Hong Yimyung nodded slightly.

“Actually…”

As he spoke, he glanced around. He probably knew no one was listening, but he seemed to be checking without thinking.

“As you all know, the Ice Palace rules the Northern Sea. Since this place doesn’t have a country, the Ice Palace governs the Northern Sea like a king and has taken care of the people here.”

Yoon Jong and Jo Gul looked at each other and nodded.

“It’s like the Beast Palace.”

“The lands beyond the border are mostly like that.”

Hong Yimyung sighed softly.

“The people of the Northern Sea have always trusted and relied on the Northern Sea Ice Palace. That was true even ten years ago.”

“You mean it’s not like that now?”

“…Do you know what kind of place the Ice Palace is?”

“I wonder?”

Hong Yimyung narrowed his eyes.

“The Ice Palace is like a kingdom. The Palace Lord has been in the family for generations.”

“Hmm… It’s like a noble family.”

The Beast Palace of Yunnan was still like a sect. But the Northern Sea Ice Palace seemed to be a family connected by blood, like the Namgung Family of Sichuan.

“Like the Sichuan Tang Family ruling as the king of Chengdu?”

“Be careful what you say, Sahyung! The Tang Family has never ruled like a king. Don’t say things that could cause big trouble!”

“Well, it’s similar, isn’t it?”

Jo Gul shrugged, and Tang Soso glared at him. Jo Gul flinched and pulled his head in like a turtle.

“…Something like that.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Jo Gul was from Chengdu, so he was always nervous around Tang Soso, the daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family.

Hong Yimyung didn’t know about this. He watched them for a moment before continuing.

“But over ten years ago, something happened. The Palace Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace changed.”

“Huh? You said it was in the family for generations, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then…”

Hong Yimyung nodded.

“There was a rebellion.”

“Ah…”

Yoon Jong frowned at Hong Yimyung’s words.

“Was the previous Palace Lord not a good leader?”

“How could that be? I told you, the people of the Northern Sea trusted and relied on the Ice Palace back then. The previous Palace Lord was a kind and good ruler. The people of the Northern Sea and the disciples of the Ice Palace all trusted and followed him.”

Baek Cheon tilted his head.

“Then was the one who started the rebellion kind and fair?”

“The one who started the rebellion was Seol Cheonsang, the younger brother of the previous Palace Lord. He was selfish and not liked by the people of the Northern Sea.”

“…But how did the rebellion happen?”

Hong Yimyung frowned.

“The people of the Northern Sea never betrayed the previous Palace Lord. But that day, Seol Cheonsang brought people from outside into the Northern Sea.”

“Outsiders?”

“…That’s right. They were men in black clothes from head to foot. They were… they were like devils.”

Hong Yimyung looked very scared.

Baek Cheon looked serious and turned to Chung Myung.

“Chung Myung-ah.”

“Yeah.”

Chung Myung’s face twisted as he nodded.

“It’s the Demonic Sect.”