Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 837

“Aaaaaargh!” A woman’s scream tore through the air, followed by a child’s desperate cry, “Save me, please!”

Crimson flames, like hungry beasts, licked at the wooden houses of the village by the Jang River. Thick, black smoke choked the sky. People fled in terror, coughing and stumbling, as rough men with axes and swords roared with cruel laughter.

“Burn it all! Let it all burn to ashes! Mwahahaha!”

A man with a wild, brown beard, Gwa Maeng, grinned, his eyes glittering with dark pleasure as he watched the chaos. He licked his lips, tasting the thrill of destruction. It had been too long since he’d seen such a glorious sight.

“Boss! We’ve looted everything in the storehouses, but we didn’t find any valuables.”

“Tch. That’s always the way with beggars. No matter. This isn’t the only village.”

The man wore a triumphant smile.

“But is it really okay to do this?”

“Why? Are you scared?”

“It’s not that I’m scared, but…”

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

Gwa Maeng, the leader of the Galho Clan, chuckled as he spoke.

“Normally, the good groups would have come running, but now they can’t even show their faces. What’s the problem?”

Everyone knew the area north of the Jang River belonged to the good groups. Because of this, bad groups usually stayed away from the Jang River. The Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families could appear at any time to stop them.

But now, they could no longer approach the Jang River.

And without the protection of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families, the other good groups wouldn’t have the courage to approach the Jang River, where the Surochae were.

Because of this situation, the area around the Jang River was now practically a lawless zone. Especially the situation north of the Jang River, which was dire.

“As long as we don’t touch the merchant guilds! The Surochae make their living by robbing merchant ships, so they won’t consider it an invasion of their territory if we harass the farming peasants. So let’s loot everything this time!”

“Yes, Boss!”

Gwa Maeng watched the burning village and laughed gleefully.

‘This is why chaotic times are so good.’

In the days when the Nine Great Sects and the Shinju Opae were quietly keeping each other in check, even the bad groups couldn’t run wild. In peaceful times, even small mistakes are noticed. If you cause trouble, you will be punished quickly.

But in a world like this, there’s no need to worry about that.

“Where could there be a better world than this! Mwahahaha! Loot everything! Everything! Don’t leave a single grain of rice!”

It was at that moment, as Gwa Maeng was shouting with excitement.

“B, Boss.”

“What is it?”

“Something’s coming from over there. Looks like quite a few of them.”

“What? Government troops?”

Gwa Maeng turned his head with a surprised expression. He narrowed his eyes as he looked in the direction his subordinate had indicated.

“…Doesn’t look like government troops.”

There weren’t enough of them to be government troops. Besides, it couldn’t be them in the first place. If those guys were the type to move so quickly, Gwa Maeng wouldn’t have even considered looting the village.

“Probably some crazy good sect guys who don’t know the situation, or some other bad group. No need to worry about them. Let’s finish up here first, then…”

But things didn’t go as smoothly as he thought.

He couldn’t finish his sentence and closed his mouth. The speed at which those approaching were moving was completely beyond his comprehension.

The figures that looked like dots in the distance instantly grew larger, and soon their shapes became clearly visible.

“Wh, what?”

The figure of the one running at the front was clearly visible in his eyes. A young man wearing black martial attire, with a sword drawn in one hand, roared like a tiger.

“You sons of bitches!”

The one who charged in like a streak of lightning instantly closed the distance and rushed towards Gwa Maeng. Gwa Maeng quickly raised the axe in his hand.

“Where do you think you’re going, you little brat!”

Gwa Maeng shouted loudly and charged forward to meet the rushing young man. The intense energy on the axe was about to collide with the flying sword.

Gwa Maeng smiled triumphantly.

His axe was a heavy weapon, one of the heaviest. It couldn’t be blocked by a thin sword like that. Seeing him rush in with his head full of blood without considering that, this guy must be nothing more than a greenhorn.

Probably some good sect guys who heard the rumors and rushed to the Jang River without knowing their place. Well, he would make them pay the price.

‘Stupid fool! Die!’

But it was at that moment.

Scritch!

The sword that was rushing towards his axe momentarily split into dozens.

‘What?’

Numerous sword shadows scattered like illusions, and soon emitted hundreds of red sword energies.

Gwa Maeng’s eyes widened at the unbelievable sight. The scattered sword energies brushed past his heavy axe and flew towards his body.

‘Th, this is?’

Red sword energies fluttered. Like… flower petals.

In that moment, Gwa Maeng could recognize which sect the attacker belonged to.

“Hwa, Hwasan…”

Snikt.

The flying flower petals cut through his neck and passed by.

Snikt. Snikt. Snikt!

In succession, various parts of his body were cut by the sword energies, scattering blood.

“Krrrk…”

Gwa Maeng’s body, unable to withstand the weight of the heavy axe, collapsed on the spot. The man who had already passed by Gwa Maeng ground his teeth and looked back.

“B, Boss!”

“The boss, with one sword…”

The faces of those who saw the scene turned pale.

Of course, their boss couldn’t be considered a great master in the grand scheme of the Jianghu. But he was still quite well-known in this area. He certainly didn’t have the skill to lose his life to a young man’s single sword strike.

Fwoosh!

The one who shook the blood off his sword, Jo Gul, bared his teeth at the bewildered bad martial artists.

“You dog-like bastards! You dare to harm the common people!”

The disciples of the Hwasan Sect who arrived afterward rushed in without asking any questions and began to sweep away the bad martial artists.

“You damn bastards!”

“Where do you think you’re causing trouble, you bad bastards!”

The eyes of the Hwasan disciples were blazing with anger.

“Show no mercy!”

“Ooooh!”

The bewildered bad martial artists raised their weapons to resist, but in the first place, a small bad group at the mouth of the Jang River could never be a match for Hwasan.

Unlike when they occupied the village, they quickly lost their momentum and collapsed miserably.

“The fire! The fire! No, now is not the time to beat those bastards! Put out the fire, put out the fire! You can do that later!”

“…No, it looks like it’s all burned down.”

“Why are those sons of bitches setting fire to perfectly good houses! They could have just taken the grain! Aish, damn it!”

Jo Gul, who spat out curses as he could, rushed forward and kicked the bad bastard groaning in front of him.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Does it hurt? You bastard? Does a bastard like you feel pain too?”

Wham!

The guy who was kicked in the face couldn’t even scream and fainted while foaming at the mouth. Jo Gul, who didn’t seem to be relieved even after seeing that, screamed.

“Put out the fire!”

“I know, you bastard!”

“Aish, damn it!”

The disciples of the Hwasan Sect, who had quickly dealt with the Galho Clan, clung to the burning houses. Some were running to the well, but it seemed that only a few houses could be salvaged even if they tried their best now.

“There’s no end to it. No end.”

Chung Myung was right.

– What? When are we going back to Hwasan? What are you talking about? The real thing starts now.

“Don’t think the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families are weak, you fools!” Jo Gul shouted, his voice rough. “Yes, maybe they haven’t done much lately, just living on their old fame. But those names still mean something! Now they are blocked from the Yangtze River. Big trouble is coming.”

Another voice sighed, “Looks like we’ll be running around like crazy people for a while.”

“Ugh.”

Jo Gul sighed deeply.

Jo Gul and the others were busy. They were fighting bad villains who were causing trouble.

Baek Cheon, Yoo Iseol, and Yoon Jong each led the Mount Hua disciples. They were patrolling the Yangtze River. People from the Tang Clan were also helping Mount Hua make the area safe.

Even so, they didn’t have enough people.

The Yangtze River was too big for them to handle alone. With this many people, they could only make the area around Jiujiang safe.

The SaPa Alliance might be slow for now. But the SaPa is not just the Alliance. Smaller groups of SaPa people, who were usually scared of the good groups, were now causing chaos. They were like rats running from a fire.

“Those damned bastards, really…”

“Um… Warrior.”

“Ah? Yes!”

Startled, Jo Gul quickly turned his head. An old villager was looking at him nervously. Jo Gul quickly walked over and clasped his hands.

“Don’t be afraid. We are disciples of the Mount Hua Sect. We won’t hurt you.”

“Ah… Ah, that Mount Hua Sect…”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Jo Gul nodded strongly and continued.

“You can take back all the grain that was stolen. We will make sure those villains don’t try to steal it again.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much. Really…”

Tears of relief ran down the villager’s face, cutting paths through the dust and wrinkles like tiny rivers on old land. If they had lost everything, life would have been pointless. Without food, most of them wouldn’t have survived the year.

“But those houses…”

“Don’t worry about it. Just saving our lives is enough. We can rebuild the houses.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Jo Gul sighed. He wished they had arrived sooner, so the houses wouldn’t have burned down.

“Geol-ah.”

“Yes, Martial Uncle.”

“Some of the people who collapsed are badly hurt. We need to take them to the island.”

“Are they that bad?”

“It’s hard to treat them here. We need a doctor.”

Jo Gul nodded.

“Yes, I understand.”

He turned to the villager, still holding his hands. He spoke carefully, making sure he didn’t sound angry.

“As you heard, we have to take some people with us. There are doctors at the docks in Jiujiang, where Mount Hua is helping. We’ll get them treated.”

“Doctors? I’m very grateful, and also sorry, but we don’t have money to pay doctors…”

“Don’t worry. They don’t take money.”

“Yes? Really?”

“Yes. So, Village Chief, please calm down the people who are afraid. If you need anything to rebuild the houses, send someone to ask for it. We will help as much as we can.”

“How can we ever repay this kindness…”

Just then…

“Damn it, the grain is burning!”

“What?”

Jo Gul turned his head sharply.

“Senior Brother, what do we do? Those bastards parked the carts next to the house, and half the grain has burned.”

“What the… Aish, really!”

Jo Gul’s anger flared up again. He rushed over and kicked the chins of the SaPa thugs who were kneeling.

“Can’t even steal properly, you moronic bastards!”

Jo Gul’s foot stung, but his anger was a little less hot now. He glanced at the village chief, a small, guilty feeling twisting in his stomach. Had he gone too far? He hoped he hadn’t scared the old man.

“Martial Uncle.”

“Hmm?”

“You have money, right? You carry the group’s emergency money.”

“…I know how you feel, but we shouldn’t use this…”

“Let’s think about that later.”

“Chung Myung told me not to use it.”

“…Do you think he’ll kill us?”

“…”

“Give it to me.”

“…”

“Quickly.”

Baek Sang looked up at the sky once, and finally took out a money pouch from his chest. He placed it firmly in the villager’s hand.

“The price of grain around the Yangtze River will probably go up soon, so use this money to buy grain quickly. Then you should be able to get through the winter.”

The villager didn’t know what to do. He looked confused.

“Why go this far…”

“It’s nothing like that.”

Jo Gul pouted.

“If we just said we came back, that devilish bastard would tear his eyes out and go wild, so don’t be grateful. That’s all it is.”

“…Yes?”

“It’s the regret of my life that I joined Mount Hua a little late. The regret of my life. Aish. I should have been that guy’s Martial Uncle. Then I would have just shut his gob!”

“I’ll pass that message on exactly as you said it.”

“Ah, Martial Unclllle! Why are you like this?”

Baek Sang smiled slightly, then quickly became serious again.

“We need to move the injured quickly. We don’t have time for this.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Jo Gul nodded and greeted the villager.

“Then we should be going.”

“Al, already?”

“There might be problems somewhere else. If there are any problems in the village, come to the new docks in Jiujiang.”

“These days, it’s also called Plum Blossom Island, so it shouldn’t be hard to find if you ask around.”

“…Yes?”

“Then.”

As Jo Gul turned around, Baek Sang gave a loud order.

“Tie up all those SaPa bastards and hand them over to the authorities! And the fast ones, carry those injured people on your backs and move them to the island, quickly!”

“Yes!”

“Move it!”

The disciples of Mount Hua moved like a whirlwind, each person knowing their job, their robes swirling around them as they worked. They quickly moved away from the village.

The villagers stared blankly at the scene and muttered to themselves.

“…Where did they say it was?”

“They said it was the Mount Hua Sect.”

“Mount Hua… The Mount Hua Sect…”

A groan-like voice escaped from the village chief’s lips.

“There are still good groups. I thought it was all old stories…”

He stroked the head of the child next to him and said quietly.

“Remember the names of our helpers. That’s all we can do.”

“Yes.”

His eyes, wrinkled by the hardships of time, followed the Mount Hua Sect disciples as they left. He watched them for a very long time, until they disappeared from sight.