Return Of The Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 781

“Don’t just stand there, you bandits!” Hyun Jong’s loud voice boomed across the island like thunder. The salty wind whipped around the small beach, carrying the sound.

On the other side of the island, the same mess Hyun Jong had just escaped was happening again. Boats were drifting, men were shouting, and nothing seemed to be getting done.

But here, on this beach, there was one small difference: Qing Ming was here.

It seemed like a tiny thing, just one person. But it made a huge difference.

“Ugh….”

“I, I can’t get any strength in my hands.”

Some bandits, crying softly, slowly came to Qing Ming, who was standing firm near the water’s edge.

“What?”

Qing Ming glared, and the bandits immediately flattened themselves to the ground.

“Aigoo, Master! We’re all going to die like this!”

“More than thirty people have already drowned this morning!”

“Everyone is too exhausted. Holding onto the boat to keep it from drifting away is harder than you can imagine.”

At their continued complaints, Qing Ming tilted his head, looking as though he couldn’t understand.

“So?”

“……Yes?”

“So?”

“…….”

They used the same words, but they didn’t understand each other. Words only have meaning if people understand what you mean. Here, people were talking, but no one understood.

The bandits, who had been about to suggest, ‘Let’s give up on this task if possible,’ changed their tune when they saw Qing Ming’s expression, which seemed genuinely puzzled as if he were thinking, ‘What are these guys talking about?’

“W, we need to rest, at least….”

“What? Rest?”

“A, a break….”

“Breaaaaaak?”

Sparks flew from Qing Ming’s eyes.

“Did you leave your brains playing around in the mountains because you were too busy playing hermits? You dare to rest in broad daylight with perfectly good limbs!”

Wait a minute, aren’t hermits supposed to be respected? Is he calling *us* hermits? Coming from the Mount Hua master, that’s… strange.

And we worked all night yesterday….

“Master, everyone is too tired….”

“Tired?”

Qing Ming tilted his head to the side, displeased.

“You can climb mountains just fine, but you’re tired from doing this much? That’s why the Green Forest is in this state! Why? Do you want me to show you what real exhaustion is?”

“N, no, it’s not that….”

“You guys just don’t have any determination! Well, that’s why you’re living as bandits! Fine, I’ll fix your attitude this time! Get back to your positions and work, now!”

“Hiiiik!”

First Elder, watching Qing Ming glare and kick the bandits’ backsides, cautiously spoke to Im So-byeong.

“Um… Green Forest King.”

“Hmm?”

Im So-byeong, sitting on the watchtower, enjoying the scenery and calmly sipping tea, looked at First Elder as if asking why he was being called.

“……Are you going to leave him like that?”

“Why?”

“His words are a bit harsh….”

“Ah, you mean what I just said?”

Im So-byeong carefully placed the teacup on the table and smiled.

“Isn’t it all true?”

“…….”

“The truth always stings. It’s time for First Elder to accept some harsh words too.”

First Elder, speechless, felt the sting of the truth.

It was definitely a problem that such a fellow was the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua. It was a great misfortune for the Jianghu that the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua, who was praised as the best of the third-generation disciples and destined to become the best in the future, was such a person.

But from the Green Forest’s perspective, it was an even bigger problem that this man was their king.

‘What will become of the Jianghu?’

A bandit, from a bandit group who made a living by banditry, was worrying about the future of the Jianghu. A truly terrible situation was unfolding.

At that moment, a group of people jumped off a boat that was rapidly approaching, cutting through the water.

“Dojang!”

“Hmm?”

Their happy shouts of joy, directed at Qing Ming as they ran towards him, rang out energetically.

“We’ve recovered all six White Lightning Cannons!”

“Haaah! It was really tough.”

“The pirates almost died. They managed to survive, but… well, that’s not important. Anyway, we found everything as you instructed!”

“Oh?”

Qing Ming’s face softened for the first time in a while.

“You found them all?”

“Yes, Dojang! Haaah! Really… it was really hard. The chains were short, so we had to go into the water holding onto them, and that….”

“Yes, yes. You’ve worked hard.”

Qing Ming smiled, pleased, half-listening to their babbling explanations of their hardships. Then, he suddenly asked again.

“But how many cannons did you say?”

“Six cannons.”

“Ah, is that so?”

At that moment, Qing Ming leaped like lightning and delivered a flying kick to a bandit.

“Kweeeeek!”

With a scream like a pig being slaughtered, the bandit tumbled backward.

“You bastards, do you think my eyes are just holes? What? How many? Six cannons? I clearly counted the number of cannons on the sunken ships while fighting! What? Six cannons? Six cannoooooonns?”

The bandit’s body, lying on the ground, trembled.

That terrible man… He was counting them even while fighting so fiercely.

“Ah, you’re just ignorant bandits who can’t count, right? Fine! I’ll teach you how to count properly from now on!”

Qing Ming rushed forward, climbed on top of the bandit, and began swinging his arms like a windmill.

“One hit! Two hits! Five hits! Ten hits! Count, you bastard! Count as many as you get hit! If you get the last number wrong, you start over from the beginning!”

“Aaaah! Aaaaah! Please save me! Dojang! I was wrong! I misspoke because I was too tired!”

“Tired? You won’t be tired when you’re dead, you bastard! Just die!”

The faces of the bandits and pirates gradually turned pale.

From the beginning, thieves were helpless against the strong.

This wasn’t because they followed the law of the jungle, but because they were not people who followed the morals or laws of the world in the first place, so they had no way to resist being controlled by the stronger except with force.

What could they do?

Would a bandit argue morality with someone who used force? Or would a pirate go to the government office to report it?

In that sense, Qing Ming was a natural enemy of thieves.

First of all, he was a master, and in his own way… he was from the orthodox faction, so he had a reason. On top of that, he was incredibly strong. There was no way they could resist when such a person was driving them with venom in his eyes.

“I’ll just…!”

Qing Ming took his eyes off the sprawled bandit and looked around.

Everyone who met his gaze flinched and lowered their eyes.

“Why do thieves expect to be treated like people! You’re useless even if you live, I’ll gather you all and throw you into the river!”

The man who was working with those thieves was criticizing them and getting angry.

“Don’t even think about eating until you’ve recovered all the White Lightning Cannons!”

“Th, then what do we eat?”

“Catch some fish or something! There’s plenty of meat around here!”

“…….”

“Ah, and don’t even think about sleeping until you’ve finished connecting all the boats!”

“…….”

“Work without straightening your backs! Don’t straighten your backs! It’s harder if you rest in bits and pieces! Finish it quickly and rest all at once! If you always have that way of thinking, there’s nothing you can’t do!”

The nagging was enough to make their ears bleed.

‘I want to go to the mountains.’

‘I’d rather be scolded by Chaeju.’

But unfortunately, this was an island.

The bandits had no way to escape from this place, avoiding Qing Ming and Im So-byeong’s eyes, and the pirates all had shackles on their legs. No matter how skilled they were in the water, escaping from Qing Ming with these heavy shackles was nothing more than a pipe dream.

‘What else is a slave? This is slavery.’

‘Oh, my fate….’

The faces of the slaves… no, the faces of the thieves turned black.

From the beginning, Qing Ming didn’t show much mercy to ordinary people, but he couldn’t understand why he should treat thieves like people.

Qing Ming himself, whose natural instinct was to punish thieves, was enduring and holding back like this according to the teachings of Mount Hua. What reason does he have to tolerate those insignificant bastards living as thieves?

“Anyway, these bastards won’t come to their senses until they get beaten more!”

“Qing Ming-ah.”

“Why! You bas….”

Huh?

Qing Ming stopped cursing and slowly turned around.

“Huh?”

Why was this face here?

He tilted his head and awkwardly softened his expression.

“Oh… When did you arrive, Sect Leader?”

“……I just arrived.”

“Ah… You should have contacted me before coming….”

No, he must have contacted me.

How else would he have found his way here if he hadn’t contacted me….

Qing Ming quietly looked to the side, and saw Baek Cheon hiding behind Hyun Jong.

“……I call that guy my granduncle….”

“Ahem.”

Qing Ming, gritting his teeth and muttering, completely changed his expression and smiled brightly at Hyun Jong.

“Sect Leader, you must be tired from your long journey? Welcome… Ah! Ah! Your ear, your ear! Sect Leader, your ear! Your ear is falling off!”

“Come here.”

“Your ear! Your ear! Ah, let go! Aaaah!”

Despite Qing Ming’s fake complaints, Hyun Jong smiled and pulled his ear even harder.

“I ordered you to prevent innocent people from being sold as slaves, but you’re directly using bandits and pirates as slaves? Let’s go and hear what’s going on.”

The tyrant left long footprints in the sand as he was dragged away. Even in the midst of this, he glared at Baek Cheon with resentment, but Baek Cheon simply turned his head away, avoiding his gaze.

“Uwaaaah! Baek Cheooooon! Jin Dong-ryoooong! It’s not fair to bring an adult without saying anything… Aaaah! Your ear! Sect Leader! Your ear! Aaaah… I think it’s a little torn! No, really, Ack!”

“Shut your mouth and follow me! You’re embarrassing me!”

“Sect Leaaaaader!”

The thieves all looked as if they had seen a ghost at the sight of the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua being dragged away in such an embarrassing way.

“……The Divine Dragon of Mount Hua is being dragged away?”

“By the ear?”

Those here had clearly seen with their own eyes Qing Ming splitting the Chaeju of Dae Kyung-chae in two with a single blow, and running across the water to cut a ship with his sword.

Seeing such a terrifying man screaming and being dragged away was so unbelievable it felt like their souls were leaving their bodies.

“……That person is the Sect Leader of Mount Hua….”

“Oh my… How strong must he be to subdue such a monster so easily.”

“Ahem.”

Baek Cheon cleared his throat very quietly.

It seemed like an unnecessary misunderstanding was occurring… but well, there didn’t seem to be any need to correct it.

“He won’t be able to come out for a while, so everyone, take a break in the meantime.”

“Th, thank you, Dojang!”

“Haaah… I can finally rest!”

“Long live the Sect Leader! Long live!”

The thieves of the bandit group, who should usually dislike the orthodox faction’s master, began to praise the Sect Leader of Mount Hua all together.

If one didn’t know the situation, it would have looked like a peaceful meeting between the orthodox and bandit groups, but the inside story was too pathetic and tearful.

“But why did that person come all the way here?”

“I don’t know… It seems like he brought a lot of Mount Hua people with him.”

“Could it be that he predicted this situation in advance and came here to occupy it?”

“Eh. No way… He’s not all-knowing.”

“No, no. If you think about it, that makes sense. No matter how much of a genius Qing Ming is, he’s still just a third-generation disciple, right? It doesn’t make sense for a third-generation disciple to make the decision to occupy a place like this and create a branch on his own.”

“Oh? Now that you mention it?”

The thieves looked at each other.

“So the Sect Leader of Mount Hua predicted all of this….”

“Indeed, masters with deep spiritual knowledge can read the heavens. It’s amazing.”

“……Should I believe in Taoism too?”

“The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning.”

“Amitabha!”

Baek Cheon tightly closed his eyes.

‘I’m sorry.’

He didn’t have the courage or the will to correct them.

Well… and in fact, the result is good, regardless of the meaning….

“The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning….”