Welcome Back, Mount Hua Sword Hero (5)
“Please….”
With Chung Myung and Im So-byeong clawing at each other like wild dogs, and the Mount Hua Five Swords crowding around them under the pretense of breaking them up while quietly fanning the flames, the scene before Tang Gun-ak was nothing short of hell.
To a man accustomed to the strict house rules of the Sichuan Tang Family, it was more than bewildering. It was painful.
Why is Mount Hua always like this…?
Hm? Soso?
Why are you over there?
Seeing Dang Soso perched behind Chung Myung’s shoulder, pointing at Im So-byeong and hollering at him, Tang Gun-ak felt something start to crawl up from the depths of his stomach.
Those damned Mount Hua brats were turning his daughter into one of them….
Bang!
“Anyway, what I’m saying is—”
Chung Myung slammed a hand against the floor.
“You need to pull your foot out.”
“Well, that part is true.”
“...No, why are you agreeing all of a sudden, Green Forest King?”
Im So-byeong shrugged.
“It’s not wrong. We can’t keep doing this forever.”
“...Why not?”
“Isn’t the reason obvious?”
Whoosh!
Im So-byeong snapped open his fan and spoke with a bored look on his face.
“There’s no way Jang Il-so will sit around forever, drooling over the lands north of the Yangtze River.”
“....”
“He’ll move soon. One way or another.”
“As if anyone here doesn’t know that.”
“Exactly. Which means we naturally have to pull out.”
Listening in, Chung Myung stepped in to back him up.
“I don’t know what insane stunt that bastard’s cooking up, but one thing’s certain. If he wants the north, he has to cross the Yangtze River.”
“That much is obvious.”
“Then what do you think happens? The Tang Family, who’s been guarding the Yangtze, will be the first shield he runs into.”
“...Hmm.”
Tang Gun-ak gave a quiet nod.
He wasn’t a fool. If Saperyeon crossed the Yangtze, he knew full well that the Tang Family’s main force would be the first to meet them.
But….
“A shield….”
Tang Gun-ak looked at Chung Myung in silence.
“If it’s a shield for the Nine Great Sects, then of course we should refuse.”
“Yes.”
“But if it’s a shield for the common people?”
“....”
Tang Gun-ak slowly shook his head.
“The reason the Tang Family has guarded the Yangtze until now was not to help the Nine Great Sects. It was for the common people.”
To be honest, that had not been his intention in the beginning.
At first, he had simply thought it was a chance to raise the Heavenly Union’s name and build legitimacy while the prestige of the Nine Great Sects was falling.
But after crossing the Yangtze River again and again, living among those people, Tang Gun-ak had come to feel many things. He could not stand by and let the homeland they had protected all this time, along with the common people living there, fall into Saperyeon’s hands and suffer.
“If there’s no way to know what Saperyeon will do to them, then surely that alone is reason enough not to back down?”
Chung Myung frowned slightly.
“Wasn’t the Tang Family supposed to put family interests first?”
“That is true. However….”
Tang Gun-ak’s gaze fixed straight on Chung Myung.
“That is a matter for the martial world. The Tang Family does not compete with commoners for profit. At least, not while I am the family head.”
His tone was firmer than ever.
Chung Myung’s lips curled up a little.
It wasn’t the answer he had been expecting. But perhaps it was even better than that.
I don’t know what happened over those three years….
It seemed Tang Gun-ak had learned a great deal while away from Sichuan as well.
“Well, that’s definitely the family head’s call. But….”
“But?”
“The problem is that while trying to help the common people, we might end up becoming the shield for the righteous sects.”
“Isn’t that something you simply have to bear?”
Chung Myung’s mouth twisted into a thin grin.
“Even if the Tang Family gets wiped out and the Nine Great Sects don’t lift a finger to help?”
“....”
That made Tang Gun-ak fall silent too.
He let out a low breath, clearly turning the matter over in his mind, then finally asked Chung Myung, “Do you think that’s possible?”
“Yes.”
“...If Saperyeon cannot be stopped, then it will not be only the Heavenly Union that falls. And even so, you think the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families would stand by and watch the Tang Family collapse at Saperyeon’s hands?”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung’s calm, blunt reply left Tang Gun-ak speechless for a moment.
That meant there was a difference between the way Tang Gun-ak and Chung Myung looked at the Nine Great Sects.
And Chung Myung set out to close that gap.
“I think there’s something you’re misunderstanding.”
“...And what would that be?”
“The Tang Family is no longer an ally of the Nine Great Sects. It’s an enemy.”
“...An enemy?”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung nodded, then added,
“From the Nine Great Sects’ point of view, there’s no real difference between fighting alongside the Tang Family and letting the Tang Family wear down Saperyeon first as a shield before joining in afterward. If there’s another enemy on the route an invading army would take, who’s going to cross the border and fight together with them? They’d just stand around, sucking their thumbs, until one side gets smashed to pieces.”
“....”
Tang Gun-ak’s expression changed several times in a very short span of time. After a moment of silence, he shook his head.
“But that comparison doesn’t hold. There are no citizens outside the border. But north of the Yangtze, there are commoners who must be protected.”
He meant that the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families would move for the sake of the common people, even if not for the Tang Family itself. But Chung Myung gave a lopsided smile when he heard that, as if he had been waiting for exactly those words.
“You heard about Shaanxi, didn’t you?”
“....”
“Do you really think those bastards just stood by because they lacked the strength to stop the Sapa bastards?”
Tang Gun-ak found himself at a loss for words. After a long hesitation, he finally let out a deep sigh.
“...No, I suppose not.”
If Mount Hua hadn’t come out of seclusion in time… no, if word had reached Mount Hua even a little later, Shaanxi would have been turned into a living hell.
No.
Tang Gun-ak bit his lip hard.
It wasn’t that Xi’an had burned, and yet hell had still been unleashed. Hadn’t two villages already been swallowed by those Sapa bastards’ claws and reduced to ash? The ones who let that happen without lifting a finger were clearly Shaolin. More precisely, the Nine Great Sects.
They had already pushed commoners into the hands of Sapa once before. What reason was there to believe they could not do it again?
As if guessing what Tang Gun-ak was thinking, Chung Myung nodded and drove the point home.
“If Saperyeon moves north, how do you think the Nine Great Sects will respond? They’ll probably stall for time with a bunch of crap about waiting for reinforcements, fighting from a better position, and all that nonsense.”
“Until the Tang Family is completely crushed by Saperyeon?”
“No.”
A sly smile returned to Chung Myung’s lips.
“Until the Heavenly Union—Mount Hua, first and foremost—can’t stand by and watch the Tang Family fight alone anymore, and charges into the Yangtze, getting dragged into the war.”
“....”
“Then how convenient would that be for the Nine Great Sects? Mount Hua, the Tang Family, and the Green Forest—those thorns in their side—would all be locked arm in arm, destroying each other together with Saperyeon, that thorn stuck in their throats. They’d just sit back and wait for Saperyeon to chew through the Heavenly Union, then move in to clean up the weakened survivors. All while going on and on about noble sacrifice.”
Mockery colored Chung Myung’s mouth.
How did he know?
Because I already lived through it.
It wasn’t that Chung Myung or Chung Mun had been ignorant and suffered for it. They had known, and still been forced to stake everything. If they had retreated, everyone would have collapsed.
Fine. He didn’t regret that time.
But….
I’m not getting screwed twice, you damn bastards.
Chung Myung ground his teeth and said, “Beop Jeong isn’t a bad guy.”
The words “Beop Jeong” and “bad guy” together made Hye Yeon, who had been standing in a corner, flinch and look at Chung Myung. But given the situation, he only shut his mouth tight and said nothing.
“Even Heo Do-jin-in isn’t a bad person. It’s just that there’s one thing fixed in their heads.”
“...And what is that?”
“That the most important thing in the world is the interests of their own sect.”
Hearing that, Tang Gun-ak closed his eyes.
It wasn’t so different from the way he had thought until recently. That was precisely why he could understand it so clearly. The odds were high that Chung Myung’s words would come true exactly as he said.
Chung Myung wore a bitter smile.
The times had changed, but their way of thinking had not. It had been the same when Mount Hua went up to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, the same when Mount Hua was attacked by the Demonic Sect afterward, and the same when Mount Hua later fell into miserable ruin.
Even the behavior Heo Do and Beop Gye had shown during the Yangtze Massacre was no different. All of it was nothing more than a rational decision that put their own faction’s interests and safety first.
“I’m not saying that’s necessarily wrong. That’s just how people are.”
“....”
“But….”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“If they’re going to play that game, then we’d better start thinking about our own interests too, don’t you think?”
“...A fair point.”
Tang Gun-ak nodded.
By now, he no longer wanted to argue with Chung Myung. He, too, had no intention whatsoever of sacrificing the Tang Family as another sect’s shield.
“I understand what you’re saying. In this situation, continuing to defend the Yangtze will lead to the Heavenly Union’s downfall.”
“Glad you’re quick on the uptake.”
“However, one thing still bothers me.”
Tang Gun-ak frowned.
“Even if that’s the right direction, if we simply pull out like this, public sentiment along the Yangtze will turn against the Heavenly Union. People aren’t such cold-blooded creatures, are they? I’m worried all the work we’ve put in over the past three years will be for nothing.”
At that moment, Chung Myung’s lips curled into a wicked smile.
“For nothing?”
“Yes, for nothing.”
Chung Myung looked at Tang Gun-ak for a long moment, then spoke.
“You know what I hate most?”
Tang Gun-ak answered with a grave expression.
“Zhengnan.”
“....”
For a moment, Chung Myung’s brain seemed to stop. His mouth, which had been moving like a waterfall, hung open and went still.
“Am I wrong?”
“Th-tha—”
Conflict flickered across Chung Myung’s face. Of course, he should say, “No, that’s not it!” That would let him continue with what he had been about to say.
But….
How the hell am I supposed to say, with my own mouth, that I don’t hate Zhengnan?
Huh? It wasn’t that he didn’t hate them, it was that he hated them less?
What’s the difference, you old fool!
The only thing in this world he hated more than Zhengnan was the Demonic Sect!
Chung Myung shut his mouth, as if robbed of speech. His eyes began darting wildly left and right.
Unable to bear it any longer, Baek Cheon reached out to help him.
“Family head. I think this man isn’t asking who he hates most, but what situation he hates most.”
“Th-that’s right!”
Chung Myung quickly agreed and nodded vigorously.
Good grief, Dong-ryong actually being useful after eating enough to keep him alive!
“Situation?”
“Yes! A situation!”
“...Losing to Zhengnan?”
“....”
For one moment, Tang Gun-ak felt as if he could actually see Chung Myung’s face cracking apart like dried plaster.
Chung Myung wasn’t the only one shocked. Even the Five Swords, who had been listening quietly from the side, shuddered.
“Wow. I’d be pissed too.”
“I don’t even want to imagine that.”
“Better to bite my own tongue and die.”
Baek Cheon, who had been the last to speak, even looked as though he might draw his sword and sprint straight for Zhengnan at any moment.
Even the elders and the sect leader were nodding as if that seemed perfectly reasonable.
“Urgh… uh… yes, that’s definitely the most infuriating thing… but….”
Chung Myung shook his head hard.
“Anyway!”
“...Why are you shouting all of a sudden?”
“I’ve always hated it most when someone reaches into my rice bowl. Watching other people swallow down the hard work I put in? I can’t stand that.”
“By your own words, doesn’t that mean you should protect the Yangtze even more?”
“But there’s one thing I hate even more than that.”
“...And what would that be?”
Chung Myung stared at Tang Gun-ak in silence for a moment before answering slowly.
“Losing the people we mustn’t lose because we became obsessed with empty things like profit and legitimacy.”
“....”
“If that’s what it takes to avoid it, then I don’t care what else we lose.”
Tang Gun-ak closed his mouth.
Not a trace of a smile remained on Chung Myung’s face. He could tell every word had been spoken in absolute sincerity.
The people we mustn’t lose….
After hearing that, he could no longer stubbornly press the matter.
“...I understand.”
Their gazes met in the air. Tang Gun-ak seemed to have made up his mind, for he nodded.
“I don’t know whether this decision is right or wrong. But….”
What followed was his unadorned, honest truth, spoken with calm composure.
“I simply trust you.”
A gentle smile appeared at the corners of Tang Gun-ak’s mouth.