Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 809

Chung Myung paused, his eyes scanning the scene below. He looked at the group of Sae-pae warriors on the other side of the cliff. “I don’t like those guys either,” he muttered.

Then, he glanced down at the bottom of the cliff, his face twisting in displeasure. “And I don’t like those guys either.”

He clicked his tongue, looking bored. “Are there so few people in the world I actually like? This is a problem. A real problem!”

Just then, Yoon Jong, standing close behind him, whispered, “Hey, Chung Myung.”

“Huh?” Chung Myung responded.

“You’re just saying that, right? You actually want to help the groups down there, don’t you?”

Chung Myung turned to Yoon Jong, his face scrunched up in a pathetic frown, like a kicked puppy. “Is this guy sick or something? Why would I help those guys? If I had my way, I’d pour oil on them and set them on fire.”

“…”

“Why? Still thinking they’re part of the traditional groups?”

“N-no, that’s not it, you idiot!”

“Huh?”

Yoon Jong desperately gestured downwards with his eyes. “She’s down there!”

“What?”

Chung Myung, utterly clueless, couldn’t understand, so Yoo Iseol, unable to bear it any longer, furrowed her brow and helped Yoon Jong. “Venerable Hae Yeon is below!”

“Huh?”

“That’s right! Venerable Hae Yeon is down there! Forget the nine major groups, we have to save Venerable Hae Yeon!”

“That’s right, Senior Brother!”

Only then did a look of realization flash across Chung Myung’s face. “Oh, right! She is down there!”

Hae Yeon was standing in the middle of the Shaolin, looking up at them. Her cow-like eyes sparkled with sadness, a sight that no one could possibly ignore. Chung Myung stared at the lamb and said.

“But…”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t it normal for monks to build a stupa and cremate them when they die?”

“…Why are you suddenly talking about that?”

“No, well…” Chung Myung scratched the back of his head and grinned. “Monks are cremated when they die, right? So, isn’t this just like cremating her early? It’s not really unfair if that’s the end anyway!”

“What are you talking about, you crazy bastard!”

“You need to say something that makes sense!”

“Are you even a person?”

In the end, the Five Swords all rushed at Chung Myung, grabbed him by the collar, and shook him violently. Now that they were all enraged, they didn’t seem to care about Jang Ilso or anything else.

Chung Myung protested, looking wronged. “But! Isn’t Buddhism supposed to start with abandoning attachments? Isn’t cherishing one’s life the biggest attachment of all! In a way, this could be me helping her, you know?”

“That mouth! That damned mouth!”

“He needs to be punished!”

Yoon Jong slapped Chung Myung’s mouth with his palm, and Yoo Iseol tapped Chung Myung’s head with her scabbard.

“Hey! Don’t be a pain and let go! Then how about this! Hey! Bald Monk!” Chung Myung pushed Yoo Iseol and Yoon Jong away and shouted loudly. Hae Yeon, not knowing what was going on, blinked her big eyes and looked at him.

“You, come up here!”

“…Yes?”

“I’m telling you to just come up. Do you think they’ll freak out if just one of you comes up?”

“…”

“If only you come up, it’ll be neatly resolved. Hurry up and come up!”

Hae Yeon smiled faintly.

‘I knew he was crazy a long time ago, but…’

‘He’s crazier than I thought. Beyond imagination.’

Chung Myung was proving with his whole body that a madman doesn’t care about time or place.

“…How can I go up, leaving my fellow disciples behind, Benefactor?”

“Huh? You’re not coming?”

“I cannot go…”

“Tsk. As expected, our Bald Monk has a sense of loyalty. Then you can all die together.”

“…”

Tears welled up in Hae Yeon’s eyes.

‘I wanted to see such a bastard, even for a moment.’

Even after being treated like that…

Meanwhile, Byeok Hyeonja was speechless and stared blankly at Chung Myung.

Arrogant. Unspeakable.

“…How can he be so frivolous?”

“He’s a madman, no doubt.”

An undeniable displeasure was also evident on Namgung Hwang’s face.

Clearly, Chung Myung’s actions had gone too far. But there were exactly two people who looked at Chung Myung with different eyes from the rest.

Heo Do-jin looked at Chung Myung with a heavy, thoughtful gaze.

‘That’s not an action that can be done just because one wants to.’

Humans are ultimately animals, so they instinctively feel a sense of crisis. Even the most reckless person in the world cannot act as usual when a knife is held to their throat.

But now, Chung Myung is acting even more recklessly than usual.

‘It means that neither Shaolin nor Wudang, nor even the Myriad Man and the Black Demon Squad, can make that child nervous.’

He knows. The Divine Dragon of Mount Hua is not a fool who cannot grasp the situation. Rather, he is excessively calculating and accurately captures the flow of the times.

Isn’t the recklessness of someone who doesn’t know the situation foolishness, but the act of someone who knows the situation confidence?

‘Does he have the confidence to put even this situation under his feet?’

Heo Do-jin bit his lip.

He had been highly praising Chung Myung enough so far. There would be few in the world who would rate Chung Myung higher than him. But at this moment, Heo Do-jin could not shake the suspicion that his assessment of Chung Myung had been completely wrong.

And another person who looked at Chung Myung with different eyes, excluding Heo Do-jin.

Jang Ilso slowly opened his mouth. “You’re not going to keep up this silly performance, are you, Divine Dragon of Mount Hua?”

Chung Myung cast a sharp gaze towards Jang Ilso. “I told you to shut your mouth, didn’t I?”

“I wish I could, but you know it too. If I don’t open my mouth, the confrontation will only continue forever.”

Chung Myung scratched his head without a word. He knew that what Jang Ilso said wasn’t wrong, even though it came from his mouth.

“Alright. Then go ahead and spout it out. But watch your words. If you spout nonsense, I’ll charge at you without looking back.”

Silence fell on the cliff edge. Everyone who heard Cheong-myeong’s sharp words stared, mouths open in shock.

Just moments before, Cheong-myeong had snapped at others to be quiet. Now, he was telling Jang Il-so, a man of great reputation in the Jianghu (the world of martial artists), not to talk foolishly. Even the respected Abbot Beopjeong of Shaolin Temple would not dare to speak to Jang Il-so with such disrespect.

Strangely, Jang Il-so didn’t seem angry at the insult from this young man. He simply watched Cheong-myeong, a small, almost amused smile playing on his red lips, as if being called foolish was a minor thing.

Man Geum-daebu, who had been watching silently, twisted his lips into a smile.

“A prodigy, indeed.”

“That word hardly suffices.”

Jang Il-so nodded and stared intently at Cheong-myeong. Man Geum-daebu thought Jang Il-so looked almost happy.

Man Geum-daebu watched them both, a strange thought forming in his mind. *Is there something that connects madmen?*

It was truly a bizarre situation.

Man Geum-daebu was more famous than Jang Il-so in the Jianghu. But neither of them could compare to Cheong-myeong, also known as the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua. This young man was on a different level.

Yet, Man Geum-daebu couldn’t bring himself to join their conversation.

Man Geum-daebu sensed a different kind of power in these two. It wasn’t about fame or status in the Jianghu. It was something deeper, something almost… unsettling. It wasn’t just madness, but something else he couldn’t understand.

Jang Il-so’s red lips curved into a smile.

“What do you think, Divine Dragon of Mount Hua? Of the gift I’ve prepared?”

“…What silly things are you saying?”

“There’s no need to hide anything from each other now, is there? Of course, you’d like to tear me apart and kill me, wouldn’t you?”

“You know me well.”

“But at the same time, you’re the kind of guy who can cooperate with an enemy if it’s for something you want.”

Jang Il-so’s brightly smiling face looked almost grotesque.

“Bringing different groups together, even enemies, to work together… only someone driven by great desire would do that.”

“You’re wrong, the Cheonwu Alliance is not like that.”

“No, no, Divine Dragon of Mount Hua.”

Jang Il-so shook his head.

“Forget that. The real point is, you’re not going to stop here. What you want is for the Cheonwu Alliance to grow even bigger! Even more! Enough to devour everything greedily! More!”

Cheong-myeong’s eyes darkened.

“Do you know me? You’re talking as if you know me very well?”

“Of course, I do. I have to know. Because we’re alike.”

Cheong-myeong’s face twisted.

“Don’t you know that not everything that comes out of your mouth is worth saying? I told you I wouldn’t let you get away with saying silly things, didn’t I?”

“No, no. There’s definitely one thing we have in common.”

Jang Il-so scanned Cheong-myeong with meaningful eyes.

“That you don’t know satisfaction.”

It wasn’t Cheong-myeong who flinched at those words, but the disciples of Mount Hua who were guarding him.

*That’s something we really can’t deny.*

If Jang Il-so is the embodiment of desire, then Cheong-myeong is the embodiment of greed. Wasn’t it thanks to Cheong-myeong’s greed that Mount Hua grew so quickly?

Cheong-myeong is the one who has achieved such great growth in a short period of time, something that other sects can’t even imagine, and yet he is not satisfied and has come all the way to the Yangtze River to start another venture.

“So, look, Divine Dragon of Mount Hua. Could there be a better opportunity than this?”

“The Cheonwu Alliance and the Four Evil Sects are bound to face limitations as long as the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families exist. But… if we can bring those guys down, the Cheonwu Alliance and the Four Evil Sects can divide the vast land of Gangbuk and share it!”

Everyone saw Cheong-myeong as just Cheong-myeong.

But only Jang Il-so accurately sees Cheong-myeong’s ‘position.’ The person he is dealing with now is not only Cheong-myeong, a disciple of Mount Hua and the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua, but also Cheong-myeong, the real leader of the Cheonwu Alliance.

“Morality, justice, righteousness… You know those words are meaningless. You must see how fake they sound when *they* say them!”

Cheong-myeong only glared at him from across the way without answering. Jang Il-so calmed his excited voice and smiled.

“Help me, Divine Dragon of Mount Hua.”

“Not a single ant will survive. Not a single one will be allowed to leave here alive. Then no one in the world will know what happened here. The Four Evil Sects will take all the blame for killing them. You just have to stand there and watch.”

Jang Il-so lightly spread his arms. His red robe fluttered in the wind, and his ornaments jingled eerily.

“Then you can have half the world in your hands.”

“It’s not just them that will collapse. What will collapse here is the rule of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families that has lasted for the past hundred years! The world will be turned upside down right here! You and I will twist this world together!”

There was conviction in every word Jang Il-so spoke.

Baek Cheon unknowingly took a step back.

It was as if an invisible pressure was pushing him away.

*Jang Il-so….*

The pure, dark madness he exuded was covering this cliff.

Heo Do-jin’s eyes shook.

*What on earth is that guy… what is he talking about?*

The Cheonwu Alliance joining hands with the Four Evil Sects to strike the Nine Great Sects (the most powerful groups in the martial world)?

*What ridiculous nonsense….*

Such a thing could never happen. No, it must not happen. How could the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions join forces to attack the Orthodox faction?

But unlike the fierce resistance of Heo Do-jin’s common sense, his reason was constantly whispering that this was not an impossible story.

His trembling eyes followed Cheong-myeong.

The core of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families are gathered here. If they were to be annihilated here, the Nine Great Sects would be left with only their shells.

Could the Nine Great Sects without Shaolin and Wudang, and the Five Great Families who have lost the Namgung Clan and the Sichuan Tang Family, withstand their combined attack?

*Absolutely not.*

No. Even if they could withstand it, it would be the same.

Even if the Nine Great Sects were to win the long war, there would be no place for Shaolin, Wudang, Namgung, and Cheongseong there.

No matter what the outcome, depending on Cheong-myeong’s decision, these four sects may eventually disappear from the history of the Jianghu.

*That must never happen!*

No matter how much resentment Mount Hua has towards them….

At that moment, Heo Do-jin gasped.

*Even if they have resentment?*

What are you trying to say?

Even if they have resentment, should they follow the Dao? Even though the Nine Great Sects were the first to break the Dao that should be protected?

At that moment, Heo Do-jin finally realized how harshly they had been judging Mount Hua, packaging themselves as the Orthodox faction.

The harsh standards that he had not known, even though he thought he knew them.

And so, he had no choice but to think about it.

If he were in the same position, would he fight to protect those who had stood by and watched his sect burn? To protect his own Dao?

When he could just take a step back and watch?

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

Mount Hua is just doing back to the Nine Great Sects what was done to them. Can we really say that’s wrong?

Heo Do-jin distorted his face and opened his mouth.

“Divine Dragon of Mou⋯⋯.”

But before that, Cheong-myeong, who had been standing silently and listening to Jang Il-so’s words, spoke.