Return of the Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 799

“Where have the ones waging war gone?”

Jo-Gol looked towards the front with a slightly confused face.

It’s been a long time since Mount Hua had a feast, but the other sect leaders engaged in discussion had no intention of moving at all.

“Sahyung, don’t they seem to have no intention of fighting today? The view must be nice; aren’t they leisurely watching and planning to withdraw?”

“Gol-ah.”

“Yes, Sahyung!”

“Shut your mouth.”

“….”

When the sullen Jo-Gol lowered his head, Yoon Jong sighed. These days, Jo-Gol looks worse than Chung Myung. How could he say such a thing while looking at those formidable sects?

But this time, Baek Cheon also seemed to share the same thoughts as Jo-Gol.

“…They’re really not moving.”

He frowned and muttered. There was no sign that they were preparing anything, but time was being wasted.

Then Yoon Jong, who had been observing for a while, spoke.

“Could it be that capturing that valley is more difficult than we thought?”

“Hmm. That might be the case.”

When Baek Cheon nodded, Chung Myung, who was listening quietly, chuckled.

“That’s not it though…”

“Huh?”

“They’re in the midst of a bloody battle right now.”

“…Battle?”

Baek Cheon looked forward with puzzled eyes. The heads of the four sects were still looking across the river and holding their hands behind leisurely.

“You mean they’re fighting a strategic battle, not with swords?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Does Black Dragon Water Fortress have the strategists to oppose them?”

“No. The opponents are not pirates but those beside them.”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung twisted his lips in a sneer, looking at the leaders of the four sects.

“Right now, they’re too busy fighting among themselves to even consider the pirates in front of them.”

“…It doesn’t look like that though?”

“Originally, high-ranking yangban pretend to be decent on the outside, but are rotten inside.”

A look of contempt flickered in Chung Myung’s eyes. Memories of the past resurfaced..

‘They were the same back then, damn bastards.’

When Magyo first emerged and pushed into Jungwon. No, when Magyo began to turn Five Great Outer Clan into a wasteland and Jungwon into a sea of flames.

Even then, the future may have changed a lot if Jungwon had united as one against Magyo.

However, Jungwon failed to unite in the end.

On the outside, it seemed like they were in harmony with the goal of blocking Magyo, but on the inside, they were desperate to somehow reduce the damage and take advantage of the matter.

“Haha. They are the same even after all these years. Haha…. Ha… Ha….”

Chung Myung’s laughter slowly faded.

“Thinking about it makes me pissed off, those bastards!”

Flames of anger burst from his eyes.

‘They fought day and night over which sect to deploy in a simple operation. Those damned bastards!’

The more he thought about it, the more he gnashed his teeth.

He should have just broken all their heads without care back then! Why did he endure it for wealth and fame, only to end up like this?

Even if Cheong Mun Sahyung had stopped him or not, he should have just defeated them all.

“…What are you mumbling about?”

“Ugh.”

Chung Myung sighed deeply.

“We’ll have a conclusion soon.”

“Huh? On what?”

“They’re fighting over who will lead as the vanguard.”

“…Is that so important?”

“It’s important.”

Chung Myung nodded vigorously.

“A vanguard is a place where you can make the greatest contribution, but at the same time take the greatest risk. So it’s a delicate, complex, and ambiguous position that’s oddly troublesome for oneself but too precious to give to others.”

“What are you saying, you madman?”

“…..What would Sasuk know?”

“….”

Chung Myung, who clicked his tongue while looking at Baek Cheon who was dumbfounded, chinned forward.

“Don’t worry. As I said, this is a settled matter. No matter how much they argue, there is only one place to stand in the vanguard.”

“Shaolin?”

“No, Namgung Family.”

“Huh?”

At those unexpected words, everyone’s eyes widened. On behalf of all those minds, Jo-Gol spoke.

“Uh… No, of course, Namgung Family isn’t a sect that falls short anywhere, but…”

“Why is Namgung Family at the forefront when there’s Wudang and Shaolin?”

“Yeah.”

It was a question worth pondering. Chung Myung explained with a small smile.

“If there were only either Shaolin or Wudang, Namgung Family would not have been able to take the lead. But if both are there, they can. If Qingcheng is there, too, there is no place to stand in the vanguard except Namgung Family.”

“What does that even mean?”

Jo-Gol didn’t seem to understand at all.

But Baek Cheon frowned as if he understood what Chung Myung meant.

“…So rather than having one of the same Ten Great Sect take the lead, they’d rather give that honor to the Five Great Family?”

“Oh. Dongryong do have some wits?”

Baek Cheon let out a scornful laugh. However, Yoon Jong asked back in a way that he didn’t understand at all.

“But Shaolin, Wudang, and Qingcheng belong to the same Ten Great Sect, right? Of course, they may be close to the Five Great Family, but how can that be compared with one from the same faction? Yet why such a conclusion?”

Chung Myung looks at Yoon Jong as if impressed.

“Heh, our Sahyung is indeed kind. How can he be so naive!”

“…Just curse at me, Chung Myung-ah.”

“Sahyung doesn’t seem to know it, but people can’t bear to see others do well. And it doesn’t matter if a stranger buys land, but if a relative does, their stomach would churn so much they could die.”

“Isn’t that just seeing the world too much like yourself?”

“Then look.”

Chung Myung chins forward again.

“See if I’m wrong.”

“….”

Yoon Jong looked suspiciously in the direction Chung Myung pointed.

Just then, those who were lined up began to move.

“Where?”

With everyone paying attention, those in sky-blue robes among the people lined up rushed to the river in unison.

“Namgung Family!”

Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung with slightly fed-up eyes.

‘How does this guy always guess right?’

“Why? Is it amazing?”

“….”

“There’s nothing to be surprised about. Just understanding what kind of people they are, anyone could guess.”

Chung Myung smirked and took another drink of alcohol.

“Anyway… That Namgung Family head seems to have quite the ambition (???(???)). Seeing him bite for the seat. Well… since one of the Five Great Family has switched sides, he has to show that the Five Great Family are still intact. Kikikik.”

Baek Cheon sighed quietly as he listened to what he was saying.

‘Anyway, this guy is really unpredictable.’

Everybody in Mount Hua now knows that Chung Myung is a much smarter guy than he seemed. But no matter what, he didn’t expect even the heads of that Ten Great Sect and the Five Great Family to move within his predictions.

Meanwhile, the battlefield was moving while they were talking.

Members of Namgung Family leaped onto the ships moored by the riverbank. The process of recovering the anchor after completing the boarding literally passed in a blink of an eye.

‘Skilled.’

Baek Cheon was inwardly impressed.

They might be able to match that speed, but that flawless coordination was something Mount Hua couldn’t even dream of. It was a scene that naturally made one wonder how strict their lives had been and how hard they had trained.

‘That’s Namgung Family…!’

The reputation of being the head of the Five Great Family was clearly not for just anyone. The ships loaded with Namgung Family moved quickly toward the water fortress that occupied the other side of the river.

Jo-Gol exclaimed in a slightly bewildered voice.

“Breaking through head-on?!”

“Even so, the opponent is pirates!”

Other Mount Hua’s disciples also watched the ship of Namgung Family, which was rushing fiercely with astonished eyes.

The ships aimed at the pirates were more numerous than expected. However, it was only a handful compared to the water fortress that filled the other side of the river.

“Isn’t it going to be fine? The quality of the forces is different, isn’t it?”

“N- No, but if they attack from under the water, won’t there be no way to stop them?”

Whether they thought the same thing as Baek Cheon or not, some pirates began to jump into the river as they saw the approaching ship. It was clear they intended to go beneath and bore holes in the hulls.

However, Namgung Family did not simply let this happen.

At the very front of the leading ship, atop a lion-shaped figurehead (???(???)), a person stood up.

Seureureung.

The head of Namgung Family, Emperor Sword (???(???)) Namgung Hwang, drew his sword, glaring forward with a face filled with rage.

“How dare these insignificant pirates!”

He lifted his sword high above his head.

Guoooooo!

A surge of energy stormed around his sword like a whirlwind. Soon, a milky glow emanated from his sword, wrapping around it.

“Taaaaaaah!”

The sword swung down in a single motion from above to below.

At the same time, sword energy, as large as a house, shot out like a cannonball.

Chwaaaaaaak!

The moment the incredible Reinforced Sword Energy ((??(??)*note)), which is not enough to be described even by the word ‘incredible’, hit the river, the flowing river burst in all directions. In an instant, the river was pushed from side to side, splitting more than a zhang.

“What, what is that!”

“Crazy!”

Mount Hua’s disciples were appalled and exclaimed.

“He split the river with a sword? Really?”

It was indeed a spectacular sight.

The milky sword energy split the river and continued forward without losing its force. It crashed into the ships that had formed the formation in the front in an instant.

Against the sword energy that could even split a river, the boats made of mere planks were too feeble and trivial.

Kwaaaaang!

The ship couldn’t be cut off, exploded, and debris exploded everywhere like firecrackers.

“Euaaaaaak!”

“Aaaaaakh!”

Those who were swept away by the aftermath, screaming and flying through the air, were the fortunate ones. Those who were hit directly by the sword energy died shattered to pieces, without even knowing how they died.

Kwaaaaaang! Kwaaaaaang

As if destroying one boat was not enough, the Reinforced Sword Energy consecutively smashed two more, only subsiding after it had broken another one in half.

A single sword strike.

A single sword strike shattered as many as three ships, and slowly sank another into the water.

“Aaaaakh!”

“What, what is this!”

The screams were not coming only from the ships.

The astonishment of those who had jumped into the water was incomparable to that of those on the ships.

The destructive force in Namgung Hang’s Reinforced Sword Energy completely swept through the river. Those swept away by the suddenly formed whirlpools had no chance to maneuver, and some found themselves in a bizarre situation where their bodies were not emerging from the surface of the water but from the side, a situation they had never even imagined.

What awaited them as they fell was the deep riverbed, something they had never thought they would see with their own eyes in their lifetimes.

Kung! Kung! Kung!

It was not long before a tremendous amount of water poured down the pirates pinned to the riverbed. The split river found its place again, crushing the pirates with hydraulic pressure in an instant.

Namgung Hwang, who had created a situation that was logically incomprehensible, where the pirates of the Yangtze River were drowned and killed, roared like an angry tiger.

“Strike! Make sure those insignificant pirates know the name of Namgung!”

“Yes!”

As soon as Namgung Hwang’s words fell, the member of Namgung Family ran out of the ship without hesitation and jumped into the swirling Yangtze River.

Those who witnessed this scene could not help but shudder.

“…So that’s Namgung Family.”

“Emperor Sword… Namgung Hwang.”

It was a moment where Mount Hua’s disciples captured the image of a true world leader’s power.