This Is Mount Hua’s Land, Part 4
“......What did you say?”
“The evil sects are swarming in. Right now, they’re heading here!”
It was the kind of thing that made one want to ask, What on earth are you talking about? But when he saw the Beggars’ Sect member, drenched in sweat from head to toe as though he had sprinted here with everything he had, the words simply refused to leave his mouth.
“We need to gather the sects around Xi'an at once and prepare for battle! The Beggars’ Sect is already sending word to the surrounding sects, so reinforcements should be arriving soon.”
“Around Xi'an, you say......”
The question of what sects in the surrounding area could possibly help rose to his throat, but Hwayeong Gate Leader Wi Lip-san forced it back down.
It would be rude to the Beggars’ Sect, who were working so hard to help them.
“Let me ask one thing. How strong is the enemy?”
“There’s no time for a detailed explanation. But...... they’re formidable.”
“Compared to the Maninbang that attacked Xi'an in the past?”
“If you mean the entire Maninbang, I can’t say. But compared to the Red Snake Unit alone, they’re in a different league.”
“......I see.”
Wi Lip-san nodded with a grave expression.
The sects of Xi'an had once abandoned the city and fled in fear of that one Red Snake Unit.
Many things had changed since then, but...... the fact remained that they could not handle this alone. No, if anything, the situation was several times more hopeless than before.
“Shaolin and the Beggars’ Sect will send reinforcements. You only need to hold out until then!”
“Understood.”
Without another word, Wi Lip-san rose to his feet.
The Beggars’ Sect member looked at him with a flicker of surprise in his eyes. Normally, when someone heard news like this, they would turn pale and frantically try to pry out as much information as possible. That was how one decided whether to run or fight.
But Wi Lip-san acted as though he had already learned everything he needed to know, and asked no further questions.
Finding the reaction strange, the Beggars’ Sect member asked, “Are you all right?”
“About what?”
“Is that enough for you......?”
It was so vague even the man asking the question did not seem to know exactly what he was asking. But Wi Lip-san, as though he understood the feelings behind it, gave a light nod.
“It doesn’t matter who the opponent is.”
“......”
“A sect taking root in a place means it shares that place’s joys and sorrows. Unless every last person in Xi'an has fled already, there is only one thing we can do.”
The Beggars’ Sect member’s eyes trembled slightly.
“Disciples of Mount Hua never retreat. I’ll gather the sects of Xi'an and hold the line as best I can, so please hurry with the reinforcements.”
“......I will make sure it happens.”
“Then.”
The moment Wi Lip-san stepped forward, he shouted, “So-haeng!”
“Yes, Father!”
Wi So-haeng, who had been waiting outside the door, answered at once and flung it open. The child who had once seemed so young had grown quite a bit in the meantime.
“Send the disciples to summon every sect leader in Xi'an. Tell them it’s urgent!”
“Yes!”
“And send the rest of the disciples to gather every disciple currently in Xi'an.”
“Yes!”
“Move quickly!”
Wi So-haeng ran off without even another reply.
Watching him go, the Beggars’ Sect member let out an involuntary murmur of admiration.
Hwayeong Gate Leader Wi Lip-san.
As far as he knew, Wi Lip-san was simply a lucky man who had received massive support because he had been the one person to cling to Mount Hua when everyone else abandoned it.
Thanks to that, Hwayeong Gate had become the sect representing Xi'an today, but in the Beggars’ Sect’s view, the sect leader himself had just been an ordinary martial artist—nothing particularly remarkable.
But......
Does the position make the person? Or has the Beggars’ Sect simply misjudged him all this time?
People’s true worth revealed itself in times of crisis, they said, and the Wi Lip-san standing before him was more than enough to make a mockery of the Beggars’ Sect’s old appraisal.
“You there, Beggar.”
“......Yes? Ah...... yes, Sect Leader!”
“Perhaps......”
For the first time, Wi Lip-san—who had spoken firmly without hesitation until now—showed a trace of uncertainty as he chose his words carefully.
“Has Mount Hua still sent no word?”
The Beggars’ Sect member hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Normally, it would go against the rules of the martial world to visit a sect that has shut its gates...... but...”
Then he set his face with certainty.
“Given how urgent this is, the branch leader will surely have gone to deliver the message.”
Wi Lip-san nodded.
“I see. Then we only need to hold out a little longer.”
“You may be turned away at the gate.”
“That won’t happen.”
Wi Lip-san smiled, his expression free of even the slightest doubt.
“They will come. If it’s Mount Hua.”
Because that was what they were.
* * *
“The evil sects, huh......”
A deep shadow fell over Hwang Jong-ui’s face.
In the span of a brief moment, he ran through countless thoughts before letting out a low sigh.
“They’re coming here?”
“Yes. In our view, the place they’re most likely to strike first after reaching Xi'an is......”
“This place.”
Hwang Jong-ui let out a bitter breath.
The current Eunha Merchant Guild was no longer anything like it had once been. Business had become a little more difficult lately as the world grew chaotic, but the wealth they had built over the past several years was not going anywhere. They had long since established themselves as the undisputed top merchant guild in Xi'an and one of the Ten Great Merchant Guilds of the world.
There was no way the evil bastards would leave such a juicy target alone.
“You should leave first and take cover.”
“......”
When Hwang Jong-ui did not answer, the Beggars’ Sect member bit his lip and pressed on.
“The ones coming now are dangerous. I’m not just calling them evil sects for effect. They’re mad beasts.”
“......”
“You know the Red Snake Unit from the Maninbang that invaded Xi'an in the past, don’t you, Guild Leader?”
“I do.”
“This is different. Back then, the Red Snake Unit did not lay hands on civilians. But these people have already slaughtered two villages. If you stay here, you absolutely won’t survive. So please, hurry and—”
“I can’t do that, Beggar.”
Hwang Jong-ui shook his head.
“What? B-but......”
“I know. But I can’t run. A merchant does not abandon his guild.”
“......Guild Leader. This is not the time to be so complacent. Right now......”
“I say this precisely because I am not being complacent.”
“......”
Hwang Jong-ui shook his head.
“There are many goods in the guild’s warehouses right now. If they are taken, the guild will collapse.”
“Then take the goods and run.”
“Most of the guild members are out on business, so there aren’t many people available to move the cargo. And...... do you really think the evil bastards who came for our wealth would leave just because they found the warehouse empty? They’d chase us to the ends of hell to get what they wanted. That would end up getting the guild members killed as well.”
“......But you’ve already made money, haven’t you? You could move only the valuable items first......”
Hwang Jong-ui smiled faintly.
“A merchant guild that keeps its profits piled in a vault is one that deserves to collapse. There are no easy-to-carry valuables lying around here.”
“......”
“And also.”
Hwang Jong-ui’s voice dropped, heavy and measured.
“A merchant guild is not a place where one man makes a living alone. There are countless people who trust us and do business with us. If the goods in our warehouse are taken, all of them will be ruined too.”
“......That isn’t worth more than your life, is it?”
“My late father always said this: for a merchant, trust is more important than life. He always kept that promise. So if I abandon that trust and run simply because I fear death, how could I ever face him after I die?”
Hwang Jong-ui shook his head.
“And most of the goods here aren’t even really mine. They belong to friends who trusted me.”
“......”
“They’d probably tell me to forget the money and just save my own skin. Haha. But since they aren’t here right now, wouldn’t it be fine for me to do things my own way?”
“Guild Leader......”
Hwang Jong-ui smiled warmly.
If the man before him had not been a Beggars’ Sect member above worldly wealth, he would have gone on and on about how difficult it was to entrust one’s entire fortune to someone else.
About how much trust that required.
Mount Hua had placed all of its assets in Hwang Jong-ui’s hands when it shut its gates. And then what? Come back after losing everything to find them waiting on the other side after reopening the gates?
For all his shamelessness as a merchant, his face was not that thick.
“I’ll evacuate as many people as I can. But I won’t leave this place. Unless they kill me, they won’t be able to lay a hand on so much as a single grain of rice from this guild. That is the responsibility I bear as the Guild Leader of Eunha Merchant Guild, so don’t say any more.”
The Beggars’ Sect member bit his lip.
It was not a statement he thought made sense. But what else could he say to someone who was being this stubborn?
“......The Hwayeong Gate Leader will gather the sects of Xi'an and help.”
“The Sect Leader?”
“Yes. The moment he heard that the evil bastards were invading, he didn’t even hesitate—he said he would fight.”
At those words, Hwang Jong-ui gave a soft laugh.
“Why is that?”
When the Beggars’ Sect member asked in confusion, Hwang Jong-ui shook his head.
“No, nothing. I was just thinking......”
“Thinking what......?”
“That they really are as steadfast as ever. I suppose that’s because of what they watched and learned.”
The Beggars’ Sect member still looked puzzled, but Hwang Jong-ui had no intention of explaining further.
So those are the friends of Mount Hua.
They were the sort of people who told others to flee when danger came, yet every time danger actually appeared, they were the first ones to charge forward. It seemed he had watched such people for so long that even now, the thought of running never crossed his mind.
Hwang Jong-ui stood.
What he needed to do was clear: evacuate the innocent guild members so they did not die for nothing, and hold this place with the escorts.
“They seem to think lightly of this place. We’ll have to show them just how vicious people from Shaanxi can be.”
“......Guild Leader. I still don’t understand why you’re going this far.”
“I understand.”
“......Yes?”
Hwang Jong-ui wore a strange smile.
“I used to think that all the time, too. I was frustrated more than once, unable to understand why those clever people insisted on behaving so foolishly.”
“......”
“But I think I understand now. If I were still merely the young guild master, I would have told my father to run without looking back. But I’m the Guild Leader now. A man who must bear responsibility himself should not think only in terms of profit and loss.”
Just as his father had, and just as Mount Hua had.
Now it was his turn to prove just how foolish he could be.
“Don’t worry too much. I’m not being reckless without thinking. They will come, for certain.”
“......You mean Mount Hua?”
“That’s right.”
Hwang Jong-ui nodded.
“But Mount Hua......”
“If word reaches them, there is no way they won’t come. We only need to hold out until then.”
“......Understood.”
But neither Wi Lip-san, nor Hwang Jong-ui, nor even the Beggars’ Sect members scrambling to evacuate the common people...... not a single one of them could have imagined it.
That Hong Dae-gwang, who had exhausted himself to the limit climbing Mount Hua, was at that very moment facing a crisis he could never have foreseen.