Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 588

“Ch-Chieftain!”

Lee Jung-bang burst through the door, gasping for breath.

Go Hong, the Gwangwoo-do, frowned, his thick eyebrows drawing together in annoyance.

He was sitting at a crude wooden table, polishing his sword. “What in the world is all this racket?” he growled.

“Ch-Chieftain! Disaster!” Lee Jung-bang cried, his face as white as chalk.

Go Hong clicked his tongue. “You move like a scared rabbit for a scholar,” he scoffed. “Now, spit it out. What is it?”

“H-Hwasan…”

“Hmm?”

“The Hwasan Sect is completely defeating other camps and heading this way!”

“…What?”

Go Hong frowned and asked indifferently, “So what if they are?”

“Huh?”

“Wasn’t that your plan? To sit still and watch them crush the other camps, then swallow them whole when they’re done?”

“But the situation is different from what I expected! I thought Hwasan and the other camps would be equally matched and destroy each other. But now, Hwasan is unilaterally crushing the other camps!”

“Crushing?”

“L-Literally. They’re completely defeating them without taking much damage.”

Lee Jung-bang swallowed hard after finishing his report, fearing the Chieftain’s wrath.

But contrary to his expectations, Go Hong didn’t get angry at his report. Instead, he grinned as if amused.

“Hoo. Those youngsters are more capable than I thought.”

“Hwasan’s strength is beyond our expectations! It’s my fault. I should have guessed when the Yacha Clan was helplessly defeated!”

“Tsk tsk. Incompetent fool.”

Go Hong stroked his thick beard a couple of times and spoke, looking at Lee Jung-bang lying down. “So, what do you suggest we do?”

“W-Well, the situation doesn’t look good. We should probably take shelter…”

“Take shelter?”

Go Hong burst into laughter at those words.

“Has this cowardly fool lost his mind? Are you suggesting that Go Hong run away from those youngsters?”

“B-But Chieftain… Their momentum is not to be underestimated! They’ve already cleared two mountain fortresses, and their morale is sky-high…”

Lee Jung-bang lowered his head as much as possible and said, “It is said that one should avoid the falling rain. It would be best to take shelter for a while.”

“Tsk tsk tsk. What a pathetic fool.”

Go Hong scoffed. “Your guts are so small that you can only lick other people’s boots with that brain of yours.”

“Ch-Chieftain!”

Go Hong asked slyly, “So, there’s a rat among those Hwasan bastards, is there?”

“…Yes. *That rat*, the Green Forest King, is with Hwasan. He is coming here.”

“Haha! Hahahahaha!”

Go Hong clutched his stomach and roared with laughter. His chest puffed out, and his eyes gleamed with cruel amusement. His laughter, filled with internal energy, echoed loudly, shaking the wooden house and causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

“Ch-Chieftain?”

Lee Jung-bang stared blankly at Go Hong, as if he couldn’t understand at all.

Of course, Go Hong wasn’t particularly brilliant. But he certainly wasn’t the type to stubbornly court danger.

If he were, he wouldn’t have been able to rise to the position of Chieftain in the Green Forest, where swords and schemes were rampant. Even if he had risen by luck, it would have been impossible to build the reputation he had now.

That’s why Lee Jung-bang couldn’t understand Go Hong’s current behavior even more.

“Hehehe! That rat is using his head. He must be coming here triumphantly.”

“Ch-Chieftain, you should face the situation…”

“Yes, I know.”

Go Hong said indifferently.

“In other words, the other mountain fortresses that were keeping me in check have all been crushed, so there are no more prying eyes. And these Hwasan youngsters, full of morale, are barging in here with that rat, is that right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Think about it! The other camps are gone. No one is watching me anymore. And these Hwasan kids, full of themselves, are walking right into my trap with *that rat* leading them. This is perfect!'”

“…Huh?”

A glint appeared in Go Hong’s eyes.

“Then, if I kill those Hwasan youngsters and that rat, no one will oppose my ascension to the Green Forest King’s throne, will they? The common bandits won’t dare to confront me, and even those with some power won’t be able to deny that I captured and killed Im So-byeong!”

“Ch-Chieftain! Of course, that’s true. But isn’t that only possible if we can stop those Hwasan bastards with the strength of our Great Byeolchae alone?”

Of course, the Great Byeolchae possessed power that was incomparable to the other mountain fortresses that had entered Mount Heng together. Even if those two mountain fortresses joined forces, they would struggle to handle the Great Byeolchae alone.

But does that mean the Great Byeolchae could crush those two mountain fortresses without taking any damage?

‘That’s absurd.’

If the Great Byeolchae had such power, there would have been no need to form a joint front with other mountain fortresses. They could just sweep away all the Green Forest and everything else on their own.

‘The Chieftain can’t be unaware of that, can he?’

Then where on earth does that confidence come from?

“Hehe… That guy’s words must be right.”

That guy?

The moment Lee Jung-bang raised his head with suspicious eyes, Go Hong exploded from his seat. The wooden chair scraped loudly against the floor as he shot to his feet.

“Open the gates of the mountain fortress and welcome them!”

“N-No! Chieftain, that…”

Lee Jung-bang was horrified and raised his head abruptly. But Go Hong’s eyes felt like cold steel, piercing through him.

“…”

Cold sweat formed on Lee Jung-bang’s forehead.

“If you utter another word, I’ll tear your mouth apart.”

“…”

“Tsk tsk tsk. That’s why scholars are useless. They can’t seize the opportunity even when it comes. Tsk tsk tsk.”

Go Hong’s face was full of spirit. He shouted in a booming voice.

“Muja Yeomra and Tamhyeolrang? Those weaklings who always challenged me? Do you think *they* could compare to Go Hong? I’ll make sure those country bumpkins from Shanxi know exactly why I’m called Gwangwoo-do!”

Lee Jung-bang eventually swallowed hard and nodded.

‘There’s no stopping it now.’

Hwasan would soon be barging in here. With the Chieftain acting like that, a fight was unavoidable.

He could only hope that Go Hong was hiding some kind of secret weapon.

❀ ❀ ❀

“By the way…”

Baek Cheon, who was climbing the mountain, looked at Chung Myung with a puzzled expression and opened his mouth.

“What?”

“…Isn’t the Green Forest one of the strongest groups in the world, called the Shinju Opae?”

“That’s right. So, why are they weaker than I thought?”

“Well, it’s not that they’re weak…”

“Why do they lack energy?”

“…”

“Why are they such a disorganized rabble that they’re not even worth dealing with?”

Baek Cheon slyly turned his head and looked at Im So-byeong, who was following behind them.

Looking at his shoulders, which were drooping like a willow branch in the rain, he couldn’t help but think that they were doing a lot of terrible things.

“…No, I didn’t exactly mean that.”

“Sasuk. But it’s best not to underestimate the Green Forest too much.”

“Huh?”

Baek Cheon blinked and looked at Chung Myung, surprised by the unexpected words. He had expected Chung Myung to say something disparaging about the Green Forest.

Chung Myung said with a serious face, “Even a thousand well-trained elite soldiers can’t defeat ten thousand conscripts. Numerical superiority is more dangerous than you think.”

Baek Cheon’s expression also hardened at this. Chung Myung thought for a moment and said, “If we have about a hundred, we can sweep away about five hundred bandits as an after-meal snack.”

“…It’s not a snack.”

Of course, Baek Cheon thought so too, but considering that Im So-byeong’s ears were open, he couldn’t bring himself to say yes.

“But if there are a thousand, it gets a bit annoying.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Then what about five thousand?”

“…”

“What about ten thousand?”

“…At that point, we wouldn’t even be visible.”

It would feel like pouring a bucket of water into Dongting Lake.

“Even if each mountain fortress only has a hundred bandits, the number of Green Forest bandits already exceeds seven thousand. But as Sasuk knows, there aren’t only a hundred bandits in each mountain fortress.”

“…So, there really are ten thousand.”

“There could be even more.”

Baek Cheon was speechless.

‘Are there really that many bandits in the world?’

Imagining the sight of so many bandits gathered in one place sent shivers down his spine.

“It only looks weak because we’re attacking them individually. Basically, the bandits don’t help each other. So, even if the mountain fortress right below them is being crushed, they don’t come to help, but rather applaud.”

“…What a mess.”

“But if there was someone who could command those bandits, the other mountain fortresses that had already arrived would have joined forces to fight us the moment we attacked Jeokungchae.”

Then at least fifteen hundred would have been waiting there.

One hundred versus fifteen hundred.

Fighting five hundred three times in a row and fighting fifteen hundred at once were completely different matters. As the number of martial artists increases, they become exponentially stronger, not just quantitatively.

“Ah, so…”

Baek Cheon turned around with a fresh look.

‘So that’s why the Green Forest King is important.’

The only one who could unite the Green Forest mountain fortresses, which were at odds with each other and strictly guarded their own territories, and issue orders was the Green Forest King.

Even that fierce Great Byeolchae and that selfish Jeokungchae pretended to follow Im So-byeong’s orders, at least outwardly, before he lost his position and disappeared, didn’t they?

But the moment the Green Forest King disappeared, they became ordinary bandits who couldn’t be united under the name of the Green Forest.

“He was more amazing than I thought.”

Baek Cheon sincerely admired him. Then Im So-byeong said weakly with a withered face, “…Baek Cheon Dojang, are you aware that your personality is worse than you think?”

“Me?”

Im So-byeong looked up at the distant sky, watching Baek Cheon tilt his head as if he couldn’t understand.

‘Is this the right thing to do?’

Was he trying to avoid a wolf, only to bring in a tiger? Of course, the problem was that this tiger wasn’t so much dangerous as it was… very strange.

Baek Cheon didn’t pay much attention to Im So-byeong, whether he was doing that or not. He, like Chung Myung, was only interested in Hwasan.

As expected, he returned to the original topic.

“Thinking about it that way, Hwasan really has a small number of people.”

That Shaolin has over a thousand monks, and even Wudang has over five hundred disciples.

Even if each swordsman of Hwasan becomes skilled enough to surpass them, overcoming the numerical inferiority may be more difficult than he thought.

“We have a long way to go.”

He felt the excitement he had felt while clearing the two mountain fortresses subside.

“There’s no need to be so gloomy. To put it the other way around, it’s just a bunch of weaklings huddled together, pushing with numbers.”

Baek Cheon quickly looked around.

‘It’s a relief that the Beggars’ Sect isn’t here.’

If the Beggars’ Sect people had heard those words, they would have foamed at the mouth and flipped out. There’s nothing more painful than being beaten with the truth.

“But…”

“Huh?”

“I have a feeling those bastards are a bit different.”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung said, staring intently at one place. Following his gaze, they saw rough wooden fences located on top of a peak that soared high like a fortress.

“The Great Byeolchae must be inside there.”

“Hmm!”

Baek Cheon nodded as if bracing himself.

Chung Myung’s eyes were slightly darkened.

‘They can’t be that stupid.’

Im So-byeong and the Green Forest bandits unanimously described Gwangwoo-do Go Hong as an impetuous man. But if he was really so hot-tempered and hasty that he couldn’t think, he wouldn’t have been quietly listening to Im So-byeong’s words until now.

‘There’s definitely something there.’

Chung Myung slightly raised the corners of his lips. The situation was unfolding more interestingly than he had thought.

‘Let’s see if a ghost or a monster comes out.’

He strode forward with vigor, towards the Green Forest camp that was welcoming them with its gates wide open.