Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1339. What happened? (2)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Ho Gamyeong repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists. His fingertips tingled.
After a moment, he opened his closed eyes.
'Variables?'
Even after reviewing it ten or twenty times, there were no more variables left. Yet he tirelessly searched for even the slightest possibility of one.
'None.'
No matter how much he thought, nothing came to mind. Even if it weren’t Mount Hua but Shaolin trapped in there, they would have no way out.
“Finally....”
A long sigh escaped Ho Gamyeong's mouth.
After a long chase from Hainan Island to here, they had finally succeeded in driving them to a dead end. And only after making so many sacrifices.
"Advisor!"
The adjutants' faces were flushed with anticipation.
Their reaction was natural, as they too knew they had finally placed their blade at the enemy's throat. Having driven them into an inescapable mire, all that was left now was slaughter.
But despite orchestrating all of this, Ho Gamyeong’s expression remained unchanged from the start. He simply stared at the path between the mountains with cold, calculating eyes.
'Nokrim King.'
Nokrim King must have believed he could manipulate and toy with the situation as he pleased.
Because he had never experienced a true defeat before. He had lost due to differences in military strength when his resources were insufficient, but he must have been confident that he would never lose in a battle of wits.
It was this very arrogance of Im Sobyeong that Ho Gamyeong had exploited.
'This is what it means to fight in enemy territory.'
Nokrim is familiar with mountains. Among them, Im Sobyeong’s knowledge of mountainous terrain was almost uncanny. One might suspect he had memorized the terrain of every mountain under heaven.
But even someone like him would not have the geography of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains in his head. Because it was a place Nokrim never set foot in.
Nokrim was not a sect that dwelled in the mountains. They dwelled in places where people came and went. Thus, they had absolutely no reason to take an interest in the unpopulated Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
But Ho Gamyeong was different.
This was Guangdong, a place where Myriad Man Manor had fought countless battles. While he might not know the inner parts of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, he had a complete grasp of every path leading from Guangdong to the mountains.
Thus, Ho Gamyeong only needed to do one thing.
Make them believe they were making all their choices of their own.
“Advisor! Please issue the command.”
“Wait.”
"...Why...?"
Ho Gamyeong spoke while staring ahead with emotionless eyes.
"Wait until they are absolutely certain they’ve fallen into a trap. If they don't realize this fact, it would be no different from a mere frontal assault."
Ho Gamyeong slowly clenched and unclenched his fists.
"Once they fully understand they’re in the trap, the situation will change. People tend to fall into despair at such moments.”
"B- But couldn't they form a last stand?"
“Fighting with their backs to the cliff and being unwittingly driven to the cliff are entirely different. Eventually, they won't be able to handle the creeping despair. A fire that’s forcibly stoked will quickly die out with even the smallest gust of wind.”
“Ah....”
“We just need to wait a little longer. It won’t take long.”
The adjutant's fingertips trembled slightly.
They had finally cornered their enemy, who had been slipping through their fingers like a rat, into that enclosure. Yet even in this situation, Ho Gamyeong remained completely composed while coldly analyzing the situation without the slightest hint of excitement.
A composure they dared not even attempt to imitate. Perhaps this was why Malice Heart Rakshasa Ho Gamyeong had earned his fearsome reputation across the world.
“It would be fine if they tried to run away too.”
"Indeed."
Then they need only pierce the backs of those halfway up the cliff and be done with it.
"That... Advsior, did you have this place in mind from the beginning?"
Ho Gamyeong frowned slightly. His expression suggested that the question displeased him. But the adjutant, caught up in his excitement, failed to notice this change in his demeanor.
Ho Gamyeong answered with a light sigh.
“…If I were Lord Ryeonju-nim, I might have.”
“What do you mean…?”
“That might be the case for Lord Ryeonju-nim. Such an impossible feat as driving them from Hainan Island all the way here."
“....”
"But I am not Lord Ryeonju-nim. No, I can never be Lord Ryeonju-nim. I am merely an ordinary person. That’s why I don’t achieve the same process, only the same result.”
The adjutant tilted his head. He couldn’t fully grasp what Ho Gamyeong meant.
How could the result be the same if the process was different?
"The same result, you say?"
"There are over ten suitable terrains to trap them along the paths leading out of Guangdong."
“....”
"This place is merely one of them. If they had chosen a different path, I would have driven them into another trap.”
The adjutant stared blankly at Ho Gamyeong.
Ho Gamyeong claimed he had resorted to this method because he wasn’t as capable as Jang Ilso, but the adjutant could not tell which approach was more extraordinary.
For Ho Gamyeong, however, it was simply the natural course of things.
For an ordinary person to involve themselves in a struggle bearing the grand name of 'All Under Heaven’ (천하(天下)), they must struggle and fight until their nails break.
Anything less, and he would never be qualified to stand beside someone like Jang Ilso.
'Im Sobyeong, you’re still too young.'
Of course, Nokrim King was exceptional. But even such an Im Sobyeong ultimately couldn't escape the realm of mere 'talent.'
While Ho Gamyeong had long accepted his ordinariness, Im Sobyeong remained confident that his intellect at least was second to none under heaven.
That difference had led to this outcome. A man filled with certainty never questions his own victory.
“It’s time.”
Ho Gamyeong slowly unclenched his fist.
"Attack. Kill them all without leaving a single one alive."
"Yes!"
No sooner had Ho Gamyeong's words fallen than the adjutants gave the order to attack. Like hunting dogs waiting for their master’s command, Myriad Man Manor forces bared their teeth and charged forward. The sight resembled a landslide of debris cascading down a mountain.
Ho Gamyeong touched his lips, which had become parched unknowingly.
There were certainly no remaining variables. Yet there remained one possibility that he might fail to achieve his objective.
The possibility that the members of Heavenly Comrade Alliance might abandon Hainan Sect and climb the cliff to escape on their own.
If they made that choice, it would be difficult to end their lives here.
Originally, it was a variable that wasn't worth considering when considering Heavenly Comrade Alliance’s typical behavior, but he had no choice but to contemplate it right now.
Because none other than Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword has lost consciousness.
While Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword would never retreat, the others were an unknown factor. People tend to reveal their true nature when driven to their absolute limit.
However…
'Then will cease to be Heavenly Comrade Alliance.'
Ho Gamyeong understood that sometimes, a person’s value comes from something that cannot be quantified or measured.
This applies not only to them but to Jang Ilso as well.
Could Jang Ilso still be Jang Ilso without his Path of Conquest? Could a Jang Ilso who forgot his ambitions and chose to settle for reality wield the same influence he does now?
Absolutely impossible.
Even if his power remained the same... no, even if his objective strength increased, Jang Ilso would become someone who could never look beyond that point.
For Jang Ilso's value lies in his Path of Conquest itself.
The same applied to them.
If they flee while barely clinging to their lives after abandoning what they tried to protect in their final moments, could they still be called Heavenly Comrade Alliance of before?
They would be dead in that instant.
Their life may be saved, but Heavenly Comrade Alliance that built up influence equal to Ten Great Sects and even pressured Evil Tyrant Alliance would cease to exist.
Even if that path was not chosen by Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword himself, the responsibility would fall upon him. At that moment, those Righteous Sects dogs would lose their central pillar.
'I'm curious.'
What choice will they make?
Will they maintain the Chivalrousness they've always boasted about and perish while leaving only their name behind? Or would they cling to their pitiful lives and throw that name into a pile of manure?
Ho Gamyeong stared coldly ahead.
The howls and footsteps of the Ten Thousand Direction Faction disciples bored into his ears like music. The cries of someone’s agony would soon join the cacophony.
‘Is cleanup all that remains?’
Regardless, the fact remained that he had disobeyed Jang Ilso’s orders. Nor would the fact that they had suffered massive losses at the hands of a smaller enemy force.
Thus, he would naturally have to bear responsibility for this.
Even if it meant offering his life as the price, Ho Gamyeong would never regret it.
If his sacrifice could bring Jang Ilso one step closer to his great ambition, he would gladly smile in the afterlife.
A faint smile appeared on Ho Gamyeong's lips. It seemed like his first genuine smile since encountering those people.
But strangely, the screams he was expecting didn’t come. Instead, a strange sight began to unfold.
A number of Myriad Man Manor martial artists who had charged into the valley of Hundred Thousand Great Mountains were now running back out.
'What?'
A situation report? No, this hardly a situation that required any such thing.
“A- Advisor!”
The pale-faced martial artists collapsed to their knees before him.
"What happened?"
“The- They’ve gone.”
Ho Gamyeong failed to comprehend these words for a moment. Having considered every possible move in his mind, confusion struck him as their report described a situation outside his calculations.
"What do you mean?"
"Th- They've disappeared!"
Ho Gamyeong stared blankly at the prostrating martial artists and asked again.
"Disappeared?"
"Yes!"
"They disappeared?"
The prostrated men held their breath. They knew how utterly absurd this sounded.
“Did they climb the cliff?”
"Th- There's no trace! They literally disappeared. Like an i- illusion..."
“Stop spouting nonsense!”
Ho Gamyeong roared like a thunderclap. Everyone flinched and turned to him in shock. They could swear they had never seen Ho Gamyeong raise his voice like this before.
"Out of the way!"
Ho Gamyeong shoved aside the prostrated men as if kicking them and rushed there himself.
'This can't be!'
If they had abandoned Hainan Sect and only Heavenly Comrade Alliance had disappeared, he might have understood. But for even Hainan Sect disciples to have all disappeared made no sense.
Unless they had become immortals and used some supernatural power, how could such a thing be possible?
Impossible. This cannot happen!
Yet moments later, all Ho Gamyeong encountered were the stupid faces of Myriad Man Manor martial artists, looking around in confusion, not knowing what to do.
They really disappeared.
The high cliffs and steep mountains remain, but Hainan Sect disciples are nowhere to be seen. They have disappeared as if they had soared into the heavens.
“This....”
Ho Gamyeong's hands began to tremble as if struck with fever.
How? How could this happen? How?
The ever-calm and composed Ho Gamyeong now looked like a madman, frantically scanning his surroundings like a madman.
"Uu... Uuu..."
Moments later, he began tearing at his hair. His neatly arranged hair fell in disheveled strands.
If something that defied all logic had occurred, then there was only one person capable of orchestrating it.
“Mount... Hua Chivalrous... Sword...”
A beast-like howl erupted from Ho Gamyeong’s lips.
“Mount Hua Chivalrous Swoooooord!”
His anguished cry climbed up the cliffs and soared into the sky in a desperate and pitiful roar.
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