Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 936

The door crashed open with a loud bang. Hong Daeguang stood there, yelling, “Volcanic Sword Sect—Raaah!!”

“Honestly, does this bloke think this is just *any* house?” Chung Myung muttered, his eyes narrowing.

“N-Now isn’t the time to be worrying about that! Volcanic Sword Sect!” Hong Daeguang exclaimed, ignoring Chung Myung’s comment.

“What is it now?” Chung Myung asked, clearly annoyed.

“The, the Namgung Clan!” Hong Daeguang blurted out.

The eyes of those seated in the Hundred Flower Hall narrowed simultaneously. The air in the room seemed to tighten as everyone focused on Hong Daeguang.

“The Namgung Clan is surrounded by the Waterway Fortress!” Hong Daeguang announced, his voice filled with urgency.

Chung Myung didn’t show any particular reaction. Hong Daeguang grew frustrated, raising his voice and rushing over to shove his face close to Chung Myung’s.

“Their main force is trapped on Plum Blossom Island, surrounded by the Waterway Fortress’s ships! If we don’t do something right now, they might all be annihilated! Are you listening to m—”

“Ugh! Stop yapping so loudly, you’re being a nuisance!” Chung Myung sighed, looking annoyed, and used one finger to push Hong Daeguang’s face away.

The Mount Hua disciples exchanged knowing glances, trying to hide their smiles.

“Chung Myung is so polite. Using his hands, too,” one disciple whispered.

“Yeah. I thought he’d kick him away with his foot,” another added.

“The kid’s gotten a lot nicer, though. He would have kicked him with the bottom of his shoe in the old days. Makes me happy,” a third chimed in.

Chung Myung’s eyes twitched. *Excuse me? You call this polite? What kind of darkness have these Mount Hua blokes experienced?*

Hong Daeguang was too panicked to notice the exchange. “W-What do we do?” he asked, his voice almost a whine.

Chung Myung raised an eyebrow, looking bored. “About what?”

“The Namgung Clan! They’re in trouble!” Hong Daeguang’s hands fluttered in the air, his face pale. “The Namgung Clan!”

Chung Myung stared at him, mouth slightly open in disbelief. “What *about* the Namgung Clan?”

“We have to help them! We have to do something!” Hong Daeguang pleaded.

“Help them?” Chung Myung repeated, as if he hadn’t understood. “Why should *I* help them?”

Hong Daeguang’s pupils widened, then seemed to shrink and tremble like a frightened animal’s.

“They’re all going to die, you know? They’ll be annihilated if things continue like this!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, dear. So, what are they going to do? Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Chung Myung said, feigning sympathy.

Hong Daeguang’s mouth slowly opened. “Th-That…”

Chung Myung cut him off, his expression full of annoyance. “Does this old man think I’m some kind of magic wand? Coming to whine every time there’s a problem!”

“W-Well, that’s true, but still…” Hong Daeguang stammered.

“That’s why I’m asking why they went in there in the first place. If that man’s going to go mad, he should do it quietly. What made him think he could just waltz in there? Did they think they could just copy what we did? Just because one person does something, does everyone else have to do it too? Did they think they could do what I did?”

It was understandable why Namgung Hwang had made that mistake.

Three years ago, even with all their strength combined, Mount Hua couldn’t have dared to compare themselves to the Namgung Clan. But they had seen even a part of the Green Forest taking over an island and keeping both Gangnam and the Waterway Fortress in check at the same time, so they must have thought they could do it too.

*Of course, it would look that way on the surface.*

But the reality of Plum Blossom Island was different. Plum Blossom Island was the result of a treaty between Jang Il-so and Chung Myung, born out of mutual necessity. Chung Myung’s mind worked quickly, analyzing the situation with cold precision.

It wasn’t a place that could repel enemy attacks because it was easy to defend; it was a place that didn’t need to be defended because no one attacked it.

The moment Mount Hua withdrew and the treaty disappeared, everything changed. Now, Plum Blossom Island was nothing more than a dangerous place in the middle of enemy territory, with no way out. If it could be occupied, it would guarantee enormous profits, but it had become a land that was impossible to occupy in the first place.

Let’s say the Four Evil Sects and the Nine Sects were to fight over that island.

Which side would have the advantage?

*The Four Evil Sects, who control the Waterway Fortress, would inevitably take it.*

That’s why both Chung Myung and Im So-byeong had pulled out before the war broke out.

But they had recklessly entered that dangerous land without a second thought…

The weak get hit, the ignorant get hit, and those who act recklessly get hit… Ah, except for the last one.

In any case, wasn’t it the truth of the Jianghu that ignorance leads to getting beaten?

“Still, it seems like the Namgung Clan blokes used to have some sense back in the day,” Chung Myung mused.

It was usually the Peng Clan who caused trouble, and the Namgung Clan was in charge of cleaning it up. But what on earth had happened in the last hundred years to turn the Namgung Clan into such a mess…

“Wait a minute,” Chung Myung said suddenly.

“Huh?” Hong Daeguang responded, startled.

“I’m just asking in case, but Namgung Hwang, that old man, you know,” Chung Myung continued.

“Yeah? The Namgung Clan Lord? Why the Namgung Clan Lord?” Hong Daeguang asked, confused.

“Who’s that bloke’s mother?”

At that moment, Hong Daeguang’s eyes widened as much as they possibly could.

“T-The Divine Dragon of Mount Hua. O-Of course, I know there’s nothing you won’t do, but that seems like crossing the line a bit…”

“Agh, damn it!” Chung Myung kicked Hong Daeguang without warning, sending him rolling.

“This bloke’s suddenly trying to make me someone who kills his own father! Do I really look like the kind of person who would do that, no matter what?”

The disciples of Mount Hua, upon hearing those words, nodded with pleased expressions.

“He could do it,” one said matter-of-factly.

“Definitely capable,” another agreed.

“He commits massacres as easily as breathing, so this is nothing,” a third added casually.

Chung Myung stared at them, aghast. *Are these blokes serious?*

“That’s not what I mean! What’s his maternal clan! Clan!” Chung Myung shouted, exasperated.

“Ah, clan?” Hong Daeguang, letting out a sigh of relief, searched his memory.

“Let’s see… As far as I know, the current Namgung Clan Lord’s mother is from the Peng Clan…”

“Ah, is that so?” Chung Myung said, a strange sense of understanding in his voice.

Right. That explains it. That bloodline never lies.

Only then did Chung Myung speak with a refreshed expression, as if the unresolved question had been answered. “I knew it. I was wondering how such a bloke came out of the Namgung Clan.”

It could happen in a typical sect. After all, a sect is a place where many people gather, all sharing a single value.

Families are supposed to stick together, like people with the same blood. But even families can have problems, as Chung Myung was thinking about the Nangong family.

Even though Nangong Hwang was known to be stubborn like the Peng family, this situation was still extreme.

“Chung Myung.”

“Huh?”

Just then, Baek Cheon of the Five Swords, who had approached Chung Myung, asked.

“What do you think will happen? Do you think the Nangong Family will be able to escape from there?”

“It’ll be difficult.”

“…Then what happens now?”

“Hmm. That’s…”

Chung Myung rubbed his chin.

“Things are happening as I thought they would, but there’s a small change I didn’t expect.”

The Nangong Family will likely be destroyed. Martial artists today haven’t fought in big wars. They don’t understand how important the land around them is in a battle.

Of course, they would have learned about military tactics. But they probably thought they could overcome it with their martial prowess.

“I predicted that the Nangong Family would advance to the Plum Blossom Island… The problem is the Black Dragon King.”

“The Black Dragon King?”

“He looks like he’s going to charge straight into Plum Blossom Island and fight to the death… but he’s surprisingly cunning, like a clever old fox.”

“You shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance, but…”

Baek Cheon agreed with this. The Black Dragon King he saw in the Jang River three years ago seemed like the incarnation of tyranny. Who would have imagined that the Surochae led by him and the Nangong Family led by Nangong Hwang would end up like this?

“If that Black Dragon King is as hot-tempered as we think, and he tries to wipe them out by pushing into the island while they’re surrounded, then the Nangong Family might actually have a chance.”

Baek Cheon’s expression hardened at those words. Because when Chung Myung said things like this, he always had another situation in mind.

“What if.”

Baek Cheon said in a darkened voice.

“What if the Black Dragon King and the Surochae have no intention of invading the island? Does it become a fight over which rescue arrives first?”

“Logically, that’s what would happen. But… it won’t happen that way.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because the Black Dragon King will know that too.”

“What does that…”

Baek Cheon tilted his head for a moment, then gasped as if something suddenly occurred to him.

“That… yes. That’s right.”

Jo Gul, who didn’t understand their conversation, looked back and forth with a puzzled expression and asked.

“Sasuk. What are you talking about? Please explain it so I can understand.”

“…The Black Dragon King, who is besieging the Nangong Family, will also know that the side whose reinforcements arrive first has the advantage.”

“That’s right. He’s not an idiot.”

“But think about it. What if the Black Dragon King thinks that the reinforcements from the Nine Sects will arrive first? Would he just let his trapped prey go?”

“…No, he wouldn’t.”

Baek Cheon bit his lip slightly.

“At the very least, he would try to reduce the Nangong Family’s strength as much as possible before the reinforcements arrive. That means there won’t be a situation where they just spend time facing each other.”

Chung Myung nodded.

“And the Black Dragon King’s position is different. If the Four Evil Sects arrive first, it means the Nangong Family will be destroyed, but if the Nine Sects arrive first, it’s just a slightly more troublesome situation for the Surochae.”

“Because they’re on the river?”

“That’s right.”

The corners of Chung Myung’s lips curled up slightly.

In the past, Chung Myung was busy explaining when they had these kinds of conversations. But now, Baek Cheon understands the situation first and gives an answer even before him.

“In any case, all Nangong can do is hold out. That’s all they can do right now.”

“Can they hold out?”

“Nangong Hwang is a madman, but he’s not an idiot. He can probably hold out. The problem is…”

Chung Myung’s face twisted slightly.

He paused for a moment as if choosing his words, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Do you know when a person collapses?”

“…”

It was a sudden question, but Baek Cheon couldn’t bring himself to interrupt. He could feel the unknown weight in his voice.

“The moment a person collapses isn’t when things are hard. You can endure hardship somehow. When there’s hope that you can survive.”

“…”

“A person collapses the moment hope is cut off.”

Chung Myung smirked slightly.

“I wonder. Will that man, who tries to calculate war, be willing to risk his life to save the Nangong Family?”

No name was specifically mentioned. But everyone here knew who Chung Myung was referring to. No, they couldn’t not know.

“No, surely…”

“Just a thought, a thought. Something that hasn’t happened yet.”

Chung Myung waved his hand as if telling them not to go too far. But unlike his casual and light gesture, his eyes were darkly sunken.

“But what if…”

Chung Myung paused slightly before continuing.

“If one in a thousand, one in ten thousand, the thing I’m thinking about happens…”

The atmosphere became heavy.

“The Nangong Family will see hell while still alive.”

A moment of silence flowed. No one could open their mouths.

“Well, we can just enjoy the show and eat some rice cakes.”

“Chung Myung. Shouldn’t we do something about it then?”

“Huh?”

“If the Nangong Family is in such danger…”

“Sasuk.”

Chung Myung cut off Baek Cheon’s words as if suppressing them.

“The moment you step onto the battlefield, you have to take responsibility for all your decisions.”

“…”

“A person who thinks it’s natural for me to step in and help will also think that someone will naturally step in and help when they’re in danger. That being too relaxed will take their life.”

Baek Cheon closed his mouth.

“That’s the battlefield, and that’s war. Don’t forget it. I don’t want to see my Sajae die because of that relaxed judgment, instead of me.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Chung Myung, who nodded, shrugged his shoulders.

“Everyone, watch closely. It might be something we’ll experience someday.”

Everyone swallowed hard, feeling a strange dryness in their throats.