Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 909

“Ughhh… Ga-myeong, honey water… Please get me honey water…”

“…Lord Leader,” Ho Ga-myeong said.

Ho Ga-myeong sighed quietly. *Why does he have to suffer like this? He’s a master of martial arts, he should be able to use his inner power to feel better after drinking too much.*

“…Honey water,” Jang Il-so groaned again.

“Yes, Lord Leader,” Ho Ga-myeong replied.

Instead of getting angry at Jang Il-so, Ho Ga-myeong quickly told a servant to bring honey water. When the servant gave him the drink, Ho Ga-myeong used his own cold energy to make it even cooler, wanting to help Jang Il-so feel refreshed.

“Here you go, Lord Leader. Drink this,” Ho Ga-myeong said gently.

“Ughhh,” Jang Il-so groaned, making a face as he took the bowl. He drank it all quickly.

Then, sounding annoyed, he said, “It’s cold!”

“…”

*I should just quit being his strategist,* Ho Ga-myeong thought, but he held back the words with great effort.

Actually, Ho Ga-myeong didn’t want to argue with Jang Il-so right now.

He had seen for himself what Jang Il-so had done – what he had achieved.

*Could it be?*

Was the person Jang Il-so met *him*? Someone Ho Ga-myeong could never have imagined, not even in his wildest dreams.

*This is on a different level.*

The saying, ‘reality is stranger than dreams,’ must be for moments like this.

This is the difference between a leader and someone who plans for the leader.

Ho Ga-myeong was better at carefully planning every detail. But a true leader, like Jang Il-so, could see a bigger picture, something a planner could not even dream of.

Jang Il-so could make unbelievable things happen, turning dreams into reality.

Ho Ga-myeong knew how amazing his leader was, and that made him feel even more uneasy.

“…I understand *why* you do it, Lord Leader,” Ho Ga-myeong said, “but I still don’t see why you need to deal with such unimportant people yourself.”

“Tsk tsk,” Jang Il-so clicked his tongue. “Even after I’ve told you so many times, you still don’t get it.” He looked at Ho Ga-myeong, who seemed to be in a bad mood.

Then, Jang Il-so threw off his blanket. He stood up slowly and started to walk.

Servants rushed to him, quickly taking off his sleeping clothes and starting to prepare him for the day. They used a warm, wet towel to clean his skin, then gently dried him with a soft, dry one. They dressed his upper body in smooth, silk undergarments.

“Haven’t I told you again and again,” Jang Il-so said, “that if I ignore even the smallest details, I will become useless, like a pig? Do you want me to become a fat, greasy pig?”

Jang Il-so was used to being dressed by servants. He looked back at Ho Ga-myeong. His eyes were sharp, like blades.

Ho Ga-myeong felt a chill, even before he understood the look. He knew what it meant instantly: *You have gone too far.* Jang Il-so was warning him.

“I was wrong, Lord Leader! I am foolish!” Ho Ga-myeong said quickly, bowing deeply to the floor.

Jang Il-so’s sharp look softened.

“Tsk tsk. Ga-myeong, Ga-myeong,” Jang Il-so said softly.

“…”

“Of course I know why you said that. You just don’t like seeing your Lord Leader drinking and laughing with common people, right?”

“…That is true. I did think that way,” Ho Ga-myeong admitted.

“You are not wrong to think that,” Jang Il-so said.

The servants continued to dress Jang Il-so.

“People need to have dignity,” Jang Il-so explained. “But the dignity of a warrior, a gang leader, and a Lord Leader – they are all different.”

“I agree,” Ho Ga-myeong said.

“But that kind of thinking is only for people who are happy where they are,” Jang Il-so’s voice started to change, becoming harder. “If you become too comfortable in your position, you will only fall.”

Jang Il-so’s face changed. His smile disappeared, and his eyes became cold.

“If I was happy just being a Lord Leader,” Jang Il-so continued, his voice rising, “I wouldn’t have drunk with those people. But I want more! I am still hungry for power!”

He put his hands over his face, as if he was holding it tightly.

“Even if I have to drink from a cup filled with their spit, I will drink it happily. True power doesn’t come from acting important, it comes from *being* powerful.”

“…”

“I am…” He stopped for a moment, then took his hands away from his face. Suddenly, his gentle smile was back, as if nothing had changed.

“Even right now, Ga-myeong, I am getting stronger. Should a martial artist ever stop trying to become stronger?”

“Lord Leader, your words are absolutely right! A thousand times right!” Ho Ga-myeong, still bowed on the floor, hit his head hard against the ground.

Jang Il-so frowned slightly.

“No, why are you hitting your head like that? Does it hurt?”

“…”

“Get up, get up,” Jang Il-so said, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ve told you not to bow so much, but you never listen. Tsk tsk.”

Ho Ga-myeong slowly stood up.

Every time he was near Jang Il-so, he remembered: *This man is a tyrant.*

Jang Il-so was not someone you could treat casually, no matter what you did. It wasn’t just about his physical strength or power.

It was just *who he was*.

The servant carefully began to apply makeup to Jang Il-so’s face. She used white powder to make his skin pale, then gently added red powder to his eyelids. She carefully drew his eyebrows to be perfectly shaped. When she was finished, she stepped back quietly. Jang Il-so picked up a small pot of red lip color and started to put it on his lips with his finger.

“Anyway…” Jang Il-so started to say.

*Bang!*

“Lord Leader!”

The door crashed open with a loud shout. Jang Il-so’s little finger, which was carefully putting on lip color, stopped moving for a moment.

“…Tsk,” he clicked his tongue softly.

A look of deep anger crossed Jang Il-so’s face.

Ho Ga-myeong saw the flash of deadly anger in his eyes and quickly yelled, “What do you think you’re doing, bursting in here like this! You idiot!”

“I-I’m sorry! It’s urgent!”

“Be quiet! You…!”

“…It’s alright,” Jang Il-so said calmly, wiping off the lip color that had smudged with a towel. He turned to look at the person who had rushed in. The deadly anger in his eyes was gone, as if it had never been there.

“It seems important. What is it?”

“Plum Blossom… I mean, the Green Forest bandits and pirates have left Gugaing Island.”

“Left where?”

“That island. The one where those Hwasan… those people from Hwasan are…”

“…You mean Plum Blossom Island,” Jang Il-so said, pushing his hair back from his forehead with his fingers. A servant quickly came to comb his hair and put a small crown on his head.

“They left Plum Blossom Island? They retreated?”

“Yes! That’s right. And the Sichuan Tang Clan is also leaving the Yangtze River and going back to Sichuan.”

Ho Ga-myeong looked surprised. “So suddenly?”

“…From what we hear, they might have already left,” the messenger replied.

“No, this is…” Ho Ga-myeong stopped, his mind racing. The news was confusing.

*What are they planning?*

He could understand *why* they might leave. Plum Blossom Island and the Sichuan Tang Clan were in dangerous positions if they tried to cross the Yangtze River. So, it wasn’t strange for them to retreat now that the immediate danger was gone.

But Ho Ga-myeong didn’t understand *why so quickly*.

*We haven’t even made our move yet.*

Maybe other groups would panic and run. But not Hwasan.

Hwasan was famous for being fearless, almost reckless. He often wondered what made them so bold. And they had the Hwasan Sword Saint.

Even when the powerful Wudang sect was afraid and giving up, Hwasan had attacked Jang Il-so and the Myriad Man House without hesitation.

*That* Hwasan was now leading the Cheonwu Alliance, and they were running away from the Yangtze River? Giving up a place that could make them so much money?

*It doesn’t make sense.*

The Hwasan and Cheonwu Alliance he knew would never give up such a valuable place just because they were worried.

So, why…?

“Anyway…” Jang Il-so said, brushing a strand of hair from his face and clicking his tongue again.

“As soon as that annoying kid gets out of trouble, he causes problems for me. Tsk tsk tsk.”

Ho Ga-myeong noticed Jang Il-so’s face and was surprised.

His expression was strange – a mix of annoyance and something like pleasure.

“So, you’re not going to do what I expect? Good. That’s more like it,” Jang Il-so murmured.

Ho Ga-myeong couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you talking about, Lord Leader?”

“Who else could it be?” Jang Il-so replied, raising an eyebrow.

“…Are you talking about the Hwasan Sword Saint again?” Ho Ga-myeong asked.

Jang Il-so didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. Silence was enough for Ho Ga-myeong to understand.

But Ho Ga-myeong still couldn’t believe it.

He knew Jang Il-so was extraordinary, beyond his understanding. But how could someone so young, like the Hwasan Sword Saint, be on the same level?

“Lord Leader,” Ho Ga-myeong said carefully, “I dare to say something.”

“Go ahead,” Jang Il-so replied.

“…I think you are giving too much importance to the Hwasan Sword Saint. He can’t possibly fight you as an equal. We even gave him that fancy title, ‘Hwasan Sword Saint,’ didn’t we?”

“Why do you think that?” Jang Il-so asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“That young kid…”

“Tsk tsk, Ga-myeong,” Jang Il-so interrupted.

“…Yes?”

“Do you know how old I was when I first entered the martial world?”

Jang Il-so asked, sounding amused when Ho Ga-myeong didn’t answer.

“Compared to then, I have more experience now, and I am more careful. And I am much, much stronger.”

“That’s true, Lord Leader,” Ho Ga-myeong agreed.

“But I haven’t become any smarter,” Jang Il-so finished.

“…”

“People are like that. How much you grow depends on what you are inside. A tiger is a tiger even when it’s a baby, and a dog is just a dog even when it’s fully grown. And a dragon… well, a dragon is something else entirely.”

Ho Ga-myeong bit his lip, feeling frustrated.

Jang Il-so’s words made sense, but Ho Ga-myeong didn’t want to accept them.

Was it just jealousy?

No, it was more than that.

He wasn’t angry because the Hwasan Sword Saint might be stronger than *him*. He was angry because he seemed to be challenging Jang Il-so’s position. To Ho Ga-myeong, that felt like disrespecting someone divine.

“And even if you are right,” Jang Il-so said, ignoring Ho Ga-myeong’s doubts, “it doesn’t matter. The point is not whether he can fight me. The point is that his actions are now putting pressure on me, like a rope tightening around my neck.”

“A rope tightening around your neck?” Ho Ga-myeong repeated, confused.

“Map!” Jang Il-so called out.

“Yes, Lord Leader!” Servants quickly brought a large map and spread it on the table. Jang Il-so pointed a long, thin finger to the middle of the Yangtze River.

“What do you think?”

“…Yes?” Ho Ga-myeong said, still trying to understand.

“Plum Blossom Island, I mean,” Jang Il-so clarified.

Ho Ga-myeong looked at Plum Blossom Island on the map, tilting his head. “I’m not sure. It would be important for soldiers, but how important is it for martial artists? We already control the Yangtze River with our river camps.”

“Tsk tsk. You are still only thinking about battles,” Jang Il-so said, shaking his head.

“Then…?” Ho Ga-myeong asked.

“Do you know how much trade passes through this area?” Jang Il-so chuckled softly.

“The amount of goods going into Gangnam through Plum Blossom Island has greatly increased in the last three years. If that place is blocked now, *we* are the ones who will be choked.”

“Ah…” Ho Ga-myeong finally understood.

“That clever bastard,” Jang Il-so muttered, grinding his teeth slightly. But even as he said it, a small smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

“This hurts. It really, really hurts.”

His eyes burned as he looked far away.

To the north, to a distant mountain range.