Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 807

A voice commanded, “Heo San.”

“Yes, Sect Leader!” Heo San replied quickly.

“Gather the disciples,” the Sect Leader ordered.

“Right away!” Heo San said.

Heo Do Jin-in bit his lip hard.

Damage? No, it wasn’t as bad as he thought. After such a big attack, only about ten people were hurt, and a few had died. This wasn’t a big loss.

He looked around quickly. It seemed Shaolin and Wudang had lost about the same number of people. Namgung had lost a few more. Luckily, Cheongseong was at the back, so they seemed to be mostly safe.

Then where did all this blood come from?

“These… crazy people…” Heo Do Jin-in cursed. He felt sick with anger.

Most of the blood on the ground was from the Black Dragon Bandits. The attack had hit them the hardest because it didn’t target anyone in particular.

“Hahahaha!” Jang Il-so had been laughing wildly, but now he covered his mouth, still shaking. The last bits of his laughter sounded harsh and unpleasant to everyone.

It was like a victory cry.

“Haaa.” Jang Il-so finally stopped laughing so much and shook his head.

“Sorry about that,” Jang Il-so said. “He’s just… very rude and doesn’t hide what he feels. I hope you understand.”

Heo Do Jin-in suddenly wondered what kind of expression he was wearing. He also felt great confusion.

How on earth was he supposed to understand this man? This person who couldn’t be explained even with the word ‘weird’.

“…Did you use gunpowder?” Heo Do Jin-in asked. Jang Il-so nodded slowly, like he was proud of Heo Do Jin-in for guessing right.

“I managed to find some,” Jang Il-so said.

“…So you used gunpowder?” Heo Do Jin-in repeated, still unsure.

“Yes! As you can see, it worked very well,” Jang Il-so said, smiling.

Heo Do Jin-in gritted his teeth.

“I understand you break rules and use gunpowder. That’s what you people are like. But even if you are from the Demonic Sect, you shouldn’t be monsters! How could you attack like this when your own people were down there! Is that how you fight?” Heo Do Jin-in shouted.

Heo Do Jin-in’s angry voice shouted through the valley. But Jang Il-so didn’t even flinch.

“Ah, yes. This is our way.”

“Don’t you have any pride as a martial artist?” Heo Do Jin-in demanded.

“…Pride?” Jang Il-so repeated. He licked his lips.

Heo Do Jin-in felt a chill as he looked at Jang Il-so.

“Pride? Is your pride about fighting fairly and then losing in the end?”

“No, it’s different. My pride is not like that. I always win, no matter how I do it, no matter what I have to do, no matter who I hurt. I always beat my enemy. Always! I always live.”

Jang Il-so, who had raised his voice for a moment, smiled softly again.

“That’s my pride.”

“I’m bored now, let’s stop talking about things we already know. Heo Do, you must understand what’s happening. You don’t think I only did this much, do you?”

Heo Do Jin-in pressed his lips together tightly.

He knew Jang Il-so was right. Only one part of the cliff had fallen. It was just a small section of the tall, wide cliff around them.

Jang Il-so wouldn’t have only prepared this small attack. If he wanted to trap them here from the beginning, he would have put gunpowder all along the cliff.

‘What if this entire cliff collapses?’

They would die.

Everyone would die.

Maybe a few very skilled fighters could survive even if the whole cliff fell. But what would be the point of that?

Crack! Veins popped out on Heo Do Jin-in’s face. You could clearly hear the sound of his teeth grinding.

Even if putting the gunpowder in place was fast, it must have taken a lot of time to check the ground and plan everything.

‘That means…’

From the beginning. From the moment they decided to attack the Black Dragon Bandits, or perhaps from the moment they came to the Yangtze River…

‘No. It must have been even earlier than that.’

Jang Il-so had planned everything and tricked them into coming here. This meant that all four sects – Shaolin, Wudang, Namgung, and Cheongseong – had been fooled by Jang Il-so.

“Amitabha,” Beopgye said in a sad voice. He had realized the same thing as Heo Do Jin-in.

“Jang Il-so, what do you want?” Beopgye asked.

“What I want?” Jang Il-so repeated.

“Yes. You must want something, or you wouldn’t have told us to understand our situation. You want to talk to us, right?”

But before Beopgye could finish speaking, Namgung Hwang roared like fire.

“What are you saying, Beopgye! Are you saying we should talk to them now? To those disgusting Demonic Sect people?” Namgung Hwang yelled.

“Namgung Clan Leader!” Beopgye shouted back, his voice very loud. Namgung Hwang was surprised by how angry Beopgye sounded and stopped talking.

“Please, let me handle this for a moment. Just a moment!” Beopgye pleaded.

“…Damn it,” Namgung Hwang cursed, his face still angry.

Beopgye clenched his fist tightly.

Beopgye didn’t want to negotiate. A Shaolin disciple had already died in the attack. A disciple he loved like a son had been killed by a rock, not a sword. He was so angry he wanted to hurt Jang Il-so badly.

But he knew he couldn’t act on his anger. If the attacks kept happening, they couldn’t survive. Even if they were lucky and only half of them died, the four sects would be weak for a very long time.

No, it would take even longer. In the past war with the Demonic Sect, everyone was hurt. So even if they became weaker, their place in the world didn’t change.

But now it was different. If things went badly, the leaders of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families could lose their power and become unimportant.

Beopgye couldn’t bear such a situation. Moreover, he was just an elder, not even the abbot.

Beopgye looked quickly at the cliff. Now he saw it. He hadn’t noticed before, but now it was clear. There were black holes drilled in many places all over the wide cliff. They must be filled with explosives.

Long ropes were tied to the holes and went up to the top of the cliff. They were probably going to light them from up there.

Beopgye looked at Jang Il-so, his face tight with worry.

‘No matter what he wants, we have to get out of here first.’ Even if it meant agreeing to something shameful.

“Wouldn’t the other leaders agree with me?”

“Y-yes, of course.”

Byeok Hyeonja nodded quickly.

However, Heo Do Jin-in kept his mouth firmly shut, not answering. He was too proud to agree with the others.

But Beopgye couldn’t wait for an answer.

“Speak, Paegun! What do you want?”

Even if Mount Wudang changed their mind later, they had to solve the problem now.

But Jang Il-so didn’t say what Beopgye expected.

“Haha! What I want, you ask?”

Jang Il-so smirked.

“You live in your mountains. You know nothing of the world. You think you are kings. You talk so easily. What I want?”

“……”

“What I want? Of course, I want something.”

Jang Il-so smiled widely, showing his sleeves.

“You attacked the Sahaegwi Union. The only thing you will get is death! What I want? I want to destroy you!”

“……”

“Don’t think I haven’t killed you yet because I’m being nice. You have done too many bad things to die quickly.”

Beopgye’s eyes started to shake.

“Know why you die! Know who kills you! Know how you die! Die knowing everything! Your deaths will show the world the Sahaegwi Union is here. You will be our sacrifices! Hahahahahaha! No one will live! Not one!”

Beopgye felt despair.

‘How can someone so crazy exist?’

This was more than just crazy.

Grrrr!

Heo Do Jin-in was angry and grinding his teeth.

‘Wudang’s reputation might end with me.’

Heo Do Jin-in’s hands became sweaty as he thought about the danger.

“With your blood, the world will know the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families are finished! The Sahaegwi Union will rule the Central Plains!”

Jang Il-so touched his face, feeling excited.

Man Geum-daebu, who was watching quietly, smiled.

“I didn’t think this day would come so soon.”

The Black Dragon King laughed loudly.

“I will get revenge for my brothers who died in the Yangtze!”

The Black Dragon King acted like the four sects and the Black Dragon Troop’s bandits below the cliff didn’t matter.

“If those four sects lose power, Gangbuk will be nothing.”

Cheonmyeon Soosa was also very excited.

Heo Do Jin-in, who was biting his lip, spoke quietly.

“Heosan.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

He spoke so softly that no one else could hear.

“When I tell you, take the disciples and run.”

“Sect Leader, maybe we should try to remove those explosives…”

“That is for Shaolin and Namgung to do.”

Heosanja looked quickly at Beopgye and Namgung Hwang, who were looking at the holes in the cliff.

“Let them do it. We need to save as many disciples as we can.”

“……”

Heosanja bit his lip, not answering.

Heo Do Jin-in was saying that Wudang would use Shaolin and Namgung as shields to survive.

How could this be called working together? But Heosanja had to obey.

“Understood.”

Heo Do Jin-in clenched his fist.

‘Sahaegwi Union…’

He knew Wudang’s mistakes were his fault.

He underestimated the enemy and was too ambitious. If he had been calmer, this wouldn’t have happened. He would take the blame. The Wudang disciples had to live and escape. They had to!

‘Shaolin and Namgung are strong. If they act quickly, they might remove half of the explosives.’

They just had to cut the fuses.

The enemy would fight back, so they couldn’t remove all of them. Half was the best they could hope for.

‘Then the survivors will fight the bad guys on the cliff.’

Both sides would be almost destroyed.

‘So, for now…’

Jang Il-so raised his hand, his coat moving in the wind.

“The rats are planning. But you can’t escape. Just die!”

Heo Do Jin-in looked up quickly.

‘Ah, no!’

“Heosan! Take the disciples now!”

Just as Heo Do Jin-in was about to shout, a voice rang out.

“Why does my stomach churn whenever I see that bastard’s face?”

A loud voice filled with energy echoed above the cliff.

Jang Il-so lowered his hand.

He looked to the other side.

KWAH-BOOOM!

Several members of the Sahaegwi Union wearing black robes screamed as they were thrown off the cliff.

They had been guarding the other side of the cliff.

Thud. Thud.

A person walked out from the cliff where there were no guards.

“Hwasan Shinryong.”

It was Chung Myung.

“My senior brothers agree, right?”

“Ah, I agree.”

And the disciples of Hwasan.

“……”

Jang Il-so stopped smiling when he saw them.

“Oi.”

“……”

“It’s nice to see you again, in a disgusting way!”

Chung Myung grinned wickedly.