Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1340. What happened? (3)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Tok. Tok.
The sound of water droplets echoed with clarity.
Im Sobyeong looked up. Water gathered at the tip of a protruding rock from the ceiling was falling drop by drop.
‘What is this place…?’
His gaze lowered again.
It was so dark that he couldn’t see even an inch ahead. The darkness engulfing their surroundings was so thick that anyone who hadn't cultivated martial arts and developed their qi-sense would not dare take a step. The only thing I could see faintly was a long and narrow path in the distance.
'A cave... No, a man-made tunnel perhaps?'
The tunnel they had traversed stretched far behind them.
He was still dumbfounded at how they had managed to come here. His mind was a jumbled mess.
“Cough.”
Chung Myung, who was walking in front of him, bent over while letting out a light cough. Dried flakes of blood crumbled and fell from his body with every movement.
Im Sobyeong frowned and spoke.
“Dojang....”
“I’m fine.”
But Chung Myung straightened up as if it were nothing and kept moving forward.
A sigh escaped Im Sobyeong's mouth. Despite his offer to carry him, Chung Myung had stubbornly insisted on walking on his own. Who could break his stubbornness?
After following silently for a while, Im Sobyeong finally couldn’t hold back and asked.
“Dojang… Where is this?”
"Cave."
"Yes?"
“Can’t you tell? It’s a cave.”
Im Sobyeong's face twisted slightly.
“No, that’s not it. What cave is this?"
Even as he spoke, he couldn’t help but think how absurd his question sounded. A cave is a cave—what other purpose could it possibly have?
But in truth, the question was entirely reasonable.
Im Sobyeong scanned the cave walls.
No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like a naturally formed cave. Rough as it was, the walls bore the unmistakable marks of human handiwork.
'A cave of this size dug by people?'
Why? For what purpose?
Just then, Chung Myung’s voice spread softly.
“Do you know where this is?”
"...I wonder."
"The edge of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains."
Im Sobyeong's eyes narrowed slightly. What does that mean....
"Most people seem to think of the wars with Magyo as battles fought over single peaks, but in reality, thousands of wars were fought in the southern regions of Jungwon. Over several years."
“....”
“The place where the most wars were fought wasn’t in the center of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. It was on the paths leading there."
“Then this is....”
"That’s right."
Chung Myung replied in a cold voice.
"One of the hideouts they dug."
Im Sobyeong looked around again with stiffened expression.
'Such a place....'
The Hundred Thousand Great Mountains were already a natural fortress. Who would have imagined they would go so far as to carve out hideouts like this in such terrain?
However, what truly shocked Im Sobyeong wasn’t the tunnel itself.
From a strategist’s perspective, there was nothing more chilling than this cave. The mountains were already difficult enough to gauge where enemies might spring from.
But with tunnels like this, enemies could even burst forth from the ground.
'How on earth did they fight against those guys?'
As memories of Magyo cultists he had seen in Hangzhou merged with the terrain in his mind, chills ran down his spine. The past wars he had only vaguely imagined as brutal now seemed to unfold vividly before him.
Even now, after so much time had passed, the chilling scent of blood still lingered faintly in the air within the cave.
“If this one of them, does that mean there are more of these?"
"Might be countless."
A hollow laugh escaped Im Sobyeong's mouth.
But before his thoughts could go any further, three branching paths appeared before them.
“Ah....”
People are all the same. When faced with a fork in the path in an unfamiliar place, anyone would stop and deliberate.
But Chung Myung didn’t pause for even a moment, stepping confidently into the left path as if he already knew the way.
Im Sobyeong narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
“Why this way....”
"The wall."
“...Wall?”
At the short answer, Im Sobyeong looked at the wall that Chung Myung had mentioned.
“Ah....”
Soon he understood. The left path's walls bore chaotic marks never seen before. They looked like marks from a huge beast scratching with its sharp claws.
These were clearly marks left by countless weapons grazing the walls during battle.
'Battles were fought even here?'
Even in this deep cave?
Tuduk!
Im Sobyeong flinched at the feeling of stepping on something.
When he looked down to see what it was, his face turned pale. What he had stepped on was the yellowed bone of a human skeleton.
"...Corpses..."
Groans of unease echoed from those behind him.
The narrow cave floor was strewn with corpses. They were corpses that had long since decayed into bone. A sight similar to what they had seen while breaking through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and heading south.
"...It's the Pine-Patterned Ancient Sword."
"A Wudang disciple..."
The murmur of a brief conversation was followed by silence.
A narrow cave deep underground where not a single ray of light enters. Even here, bloody battles to the death had raged between Magyo and Righteous Sects.
It was clear that Righteous Sects, unable to withstand the enemy’s guerrilla warfare, had plunged into this perilous terrain while risking everything.
"Dojang."
While Hainan Sect disciples trembled at the horror, Mount Hua disciples and Im Sobyeong's eyes were fixed solely on Chung Myung.
“Dojang… does that mean you knew this cave was there, back where we were?”
"Yes."
“...Di- Did you also know that Ho Gamyeong would drive us to that cave entrance?”
Chung Myung nodded slowly.
“Well, that’s the kind of guy he is.”
Im Sobyeong was momentarily dumbstruck.
"Then could it be you even knew I would fall for Ho Gamyeong's manipulation and enter that dead end?"
"No."
“...What? Then...?”
“I just prepared for the possibility.”
Chung Myung responded without even turning his head. Whether it was because he felt no need to meet their eyes or lacked the strength to turn his head was unclear.
“If you don’t get caught, that’s fine. But if you do, we need to have a way out.”
“....”
“The moment we broke through the gorge, the path was already open.”
Im Sobyeong was speechless and stared blankly at Chung Myung's back.
He had been completely defeated by Ho Gamyeong. Perhaps this was the price of his arrogance.
He had always thought that his opponent in the art of war would be Jang Ilso, not Ho Gamyeong. Thus, Ho Gamyeong had essentially been beneath his notice.
Whatever the reason, it was undeniable that he had been utterly defeated by Ho Gamyeong.
But in the end, who won or lost didn’t matter in the slightest. Every battle had been unfolding in the palm of Chung Myung’s hand.
'What on earth is this man....'
Im Sobyeong felt as if he finally understood Ho Gamyeong’s perspective.
Why Ho Gamyeong didn’t include someone like Jang Ilso within the scope of his schemes.
If all the effort, strategy, and plans one painstakingly devised only served to play out within someone else’s grasp, wouldn’t anyone feel the same way?
As Im Sobyeong wrestled with the overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair, Baek Cheon spoke.
“Chung Myung-ah.”
Chung Myung didn't answer, but Baek Cheon asked without hesitation.
“Then how did you know there was an entrance here?”
At that question, a few of Mount Hua disciples flinched and alternated their gazes between Baek Cheon and Chung Myung.
This wasn’t the first time. Again and again, Chung Myung stunned them by pulling out information they couldn’t even begin to guess like now.
But until now, no one had ever explicitly asked such a question. Nothing he did seemed strange to them, so they never asked. That was Mount Hua's unspoken rule about Chung Myung.
But now, Baek Cheon posed the most sensitive question unhesitatingly as if he would no longer accept that rule.
“Answer me.”
Baek Cheon urged him. This time, it was clear he wouldn’t let Chung Myung’s silence slide.
After a moment, Chung Myung opened his mouth. But the words that came out were somewhat unexpected.
"Do you know why Nokrim King got caught up in Ho Gamyeong’s trap?"
"...What are you suddenly talking about?"
“Because he didn’t know.”
Baek Cheon looked back at Im Sobyeong with questioning eyes. Im Sobyeong’s face was frozen. His usual smile was gone, leaving his expression cold and stern.
“Had he known the terrain, he would never walk willingly into it. That’s what it means to fight in unfamiliar territory. There are tremendous advantages that can't be imagined without experiencing them firsthand."
Baek Cheon nodded slightly at Chung Myung's words. Setting aside whether this was an appropriate answer to his question, the statement itself was something he had keenly felt throughout this journey.
It became even clearer when considering the situation from a reversed perspective.
If someone unfamiliar with Mt. Hua tried to climb the mountain to attack it? More than five treacherous terrains immediately came to Baek Cheon’s mind, each capable of driving intruders into hellish traps.
"But what I mean is that if you know, you can anticipate their strategies. Especially if they believe I don't know about that terrain."
“....”
“Nokrim King didn’t know the terrain here, and Ho Gamyeong didn’t know that I did. That's why they fell for it. Because they didn't know."
Baek Cheon stared at Chung Myung's back with stiffened eyes.
"War isn't decided by strength alone. No, to be precise, swinging a sword isn’t the only thing that counts as a force. Anything that can drive an opponent into a corner is power.”
Chung Myung slowly turned to look at Baek Cheon. His eyes visible through his blood-matted hair were cold.
“How I knew?”
“....”
"I didn't just know. I had always known. That's why I went there. No matter how well he thinks he knows Guangdong, I would know more than him about that place at least."
"...That's..."
“How I know more?"
Chung Myung twisted the corners of his mouth.
"How do you think I know?"
For a moment, Baek Cheon felt a surge of emotion rise in his chest, and he was about to raise his voice. But then someone grabbed his sleeve.
He turned to see Yoo Iseol, who had just barely regained consciousness, holding onto his sleeve.
Covered in blood, she slowly shook her head. As if saying not to ask further.
Baek Cheon tried to say something more, but Chung Myung's footsteps changed before he could.
The narrow and long cave ended. Before them lay an unexpectedly wide space, one that seemed impossibly vast for an underground cavern.
“It’ll take them at least two days to find the entrance. Rest with all your strength until then.”
Having left these words in a monotone voice, Chung Myung collapsed forward.
“Chu....”
Before anyone could make a sound, Baek Cheon moved like lightning and caught the falling Chung Myung. He stared down at the unconscious Chung Myung for a moment before heaving a deep sigh.
"...Damn bastard."
His voice spread slowly through the spacious cavern.
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