Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1391. You're making fun of people (1)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
“Faster!”
Baek Cheon relentlessly urged everyone around him.
Even though simply moving faster wasn’t the solution, Baek Cheon kept shouting as if enemies were stabbing at their backs.
"More!"
But the group's pace could hardly increase.
"Strike in one breath!"
The enemies they encountered along the way? Of course, they were a factor.
"Sasuk! Enemies are following from behind!"
"Damn it, I'll go!"
Myriad Man Manor martial artists, who clung to them no matter how many times they were shaken off? Naturally, they were having a significant influence. After all, they couldn't help but slow down during engagements. This was especially true for those running with the determination not to allow even a single person to fall behind.
But those who understood the situation knew. The reason why the group's pace wouldn't pick up was absolutely not just that.
"Done! Let's go!"
Baek Cheon, who had swiftly annihilated the enemies alongside Namgung Dowi, shouted with a booming voice. However, upon hearing that voice, Tang Pae didn’t kick off the ground but instead turned to look behind.
The empty behind. The path they had already passed.
“What are you doing, Sogaju?”
"…My apologies."
Tang Pae gritted his teeth and turned his head forward. His neck creaked as if something were being forcibly bent into place, something that should never be turned back.
His gaze kept drifting backward.
Like someone who had left behind something they shouldn’t have.
‘Why hasn’t he joined us yet?’
As the Yangtze River approaches and the distance between the enemy increases, they become more and more aware of the fact that the distance between them and Chung Myung was grew extremely vast.
And he instinctively knew.
He was no fool, so he knew exactly what it meant that neither the enemy’s main force nor Chung Myung had shown themselves.
They were getting safer.
The hellish journey through Gangnam was finally nearing its end. The Yangtze River was now just a stone's throw away, and if they didn't fall victim to the enemy's schemes in between, they could reach the Yangtze without major issues.
But that fact only made Tang Pae more uneasy.
"Nokrim King."
“….”
Tang Pae, kicking off the ground, turned his head to look at Im Sobyeong, whose face was as expressionless as if it were covered in iron armor.
"Is there no one blocking our way ahead?"
“….”
"Doesn’t that seem odd? If they chased us this far, they should try to encircle us. Isn’t more than half of Myriad Man Manor still stationed at the Yangtze River? What are they doing…?”
"You are quite nasty."
A nonchalant voice escaped Im Sobyeong's mouth. It was a voice that was strangely dissonant with his extremely serious expression. Which only made his words ring even clearer.
"Why ask what you already know? Do you want confirmation through my mouth because you’re unsure, or because you want to pretend you didn't know?"
Insulting words that could leave room for anger to overflow. ut Tang Pae remained silent. He felt that the cold blade hidden in those words wasn’t entirely directed at him.
Im Sobyeong bites his lips slightly at Tang Pae's reaction.
“Where do you think he went?”
“….”
“Let’s not ask the obvious. There’s nothing we can do.”
What Tang Pae felt at the moment was a weight too heavy to describe.
But perhaps Im Sobyeong was feeling not just heaviness but despair.
The role of a strategist is to find the best course of action within limited circumstances. The moment they fail to do so, their worth becomes utterly meaningless.
The despair Im Sobyeong was feeling was fully contained in those words—that there was nothing they could do.
“…So Dojang really went at them.”
“….”
Im Sobyeong's face was filled with annoyance. What difference did it make to confirm that fact out loud?
Seeing his reaction, Tang Pae turned his gaze forward. His eyes fell on the disciples of Mount Hua who were fiercely cut through the enemies.
'Surely they must know too?'
Why they were heading toward the Yangtze so easily now, and where the enemies had gone.
But how could they fight without even looking back?
Even he, who hadn't shared meals with Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, kept feeling as if someone was pulling him from behind and kept turning back despite his efforts not to. With what feeling were they holding their swords?
He couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“Tang Sogaju.”
Then someone called out to Tang Pae. He turned his head to find Gwak Hwanso standing beside him, looking at him with firm, unwavering eyes.
"Is it true that Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is luring the enemies away?"
“…I’m not sure.”
Tang Pae couldn’t bring himself to confirm it.
Whatever answer he gave would only be painful from Hainan Sect's perspective. These people were neither shameless nor foolish. They were the kind of people who felt deep in their bones that Chung Myung was taking too much risk.
How could he drive a knife into the faces of such people?
"Soon… he will probably join us soon. Chung Myung Dojang has always been like that. It is difficult to judge him by ordinary standards.”
Tang Pae said that much and turned his gaze away.
He couldn’t bring himself to say anything more.
“….”
Gwak Hwanso also seemed to notice that Tang Pae was lying. He moved his lips as if to say something but eventually closed them.
"Hurry!"
Baek Cheon's powerful voice, coming at just the right moment, erased their lingering thoughts.
“Let’s go.”
"Yes."
Now wasn’t the time to slow the group down with such thoughts.
Even if there were concerns and worries, they had to bury them all for now and simply follow Baek Cheon’s orders.
It was likely Chung Myung's will to remain alone in a dangerous place to save them.
'But...'
Tang Pae shifted his gaze and slowly scanned his surroundings.
Even if he set aside the faces of the Mount Hua disciples, whose backs were all he could see, the expressions of Namgung Dowi, Hye Yeon, and even Hainan Sect disciples were all stiff and frozen.
'Dojang. Is this really what you wanted?'
Perhaps everyone here could survive without sacrifice.
But even if they did, could they truly accept that survival with a clear conscience? Could they affirm a life obtained at the cost of sacrificing the one who should never have died?
If Chung Myung really thought that way, Tang Pae would hate him.
If he had believed them to be people with even the slightest sense of shame, he could never have made that decision. None of them would have wanted to save their own lives at the cost of Chung Myung’s sacrifice.
'But why….'
Tang Pae bit his lip.
He was asking, but he already knew. In the end, there was no other choice.
A path that put himself in danger, and a path that put others in danger. If only these two paths remained, Chung Myung would certainly have chosen the one that put himself in danger.
He had always made that choice.
That was why everyone followed him. That was why everyone liked him.
But the very method that had made everyone follow him was now leading to the worst possible outcome. As if it was the price he and they would have to pay someday.
So he can't help but feel resentful.
At the very least, no one wanted this worst-case scenario. No one.
And then.
“Ah…”
A sight that seemed almost like a lie entered Tang Pae's eyes. The end of a path that seemed eternal. The end of a vast forest that seemed to stretch forever.
The land that unfolded beyond the low ridge. The edge of that land was dyed a deep black darker than the sky.
One by one, those who realized what that black line was came to a halt, as if unable to withstand the turmoil rising within them.
A voice, uttered as if entranced, flowed quietly between them.
"It's... the river."
The Yangtze River.
The great river that divided the north and south of Jungwon. And the place they had desperately longed to reach.
The sight of that Yangtze River was now unfolded before their eyes.
Their legs gave out beneath them. Even Tang Pae, who thought he wouldn't react this way, had to steady himself as his body swayed momentarily.
How should one express this emotion?
Relief? Exhaustion? Or just simple joy?
It would be impossible to define that incomparably complex whirlwind of emotions in a single word.
In the midst of those intense emotions, TangPae and those around him could only tremble.
"Urgh."
At that moment, Lee Jayang lowers his head in front of Tang Pae.
"...Jayang."
Gwak Hwanso placed his hand on Lee Jayang's shoulder. Then, Lee Jayang spoke in a choked voice.
"Honestly..."
A suppressed voice leaks from Lee Jayang's mouth as he forcibly swallows something boiling inside.
“I… I honestly never thought… I’d live to see this sight.”
Those words spoke for every Hainan Sect disciple present.
Merely ten.
The number of those who came to rescue them was only ten.
Who could have dared to think they would break through Gangnam trusting in them? It was Gangnam soil they had stepped on merely with the determination not to die pathetically even if it meant dying.
Yet after enduring countless sacrifices and a path like hell, they had finally reached this place.
Of course, it wasn't over yet.
Crossing that river wouldn’t be easy either. For all they knew, those who remained might not survive the journey across.
But even though I knew that, I couldn't help but feel the emotion of seeing that river with my own eyes.
“…Now it’s really just one step.”
“Yes. Sahyung.”
Lee Jayang nodded at Gwak Hwanso's words.
"We’re almost there."
Without mentioning the dangers still lurking by the river, Gwak Hwanso and Lee Jayang made up their minds. Hearing those words, Hainan Sect disciples also firmly set their expressions.
And simultaneously, Baek Cheon, who had been looking only forward until now, turned his head.
Baek Cheon looks at Gwak Hwanso with an expression as cold as ice. His face was stiff as if encased in iron armor.
“Gwak Sohyeop.”
“Yes, Acting Sect Leader.”
Gwak Hwanso faced Baek Cheon head-on.
He would now jump into a fire pit if Baek Cheon told him to, and would give up his life if asked. Baek Cheon had earned that right.
“That is the Yangtze River. If you just cross that, you’ll reach Gangbuk. Once you reach Gangbuk, whether it’s Heavenly Comrade Alliance or Ten Great Sects, someone will come to accept Hainan Sect."
Gwak Hwanso's eyebrows twitch slightly.
It wasn't that he was offended or anything. He was just curious why Baek Cheon saying such things. The Baek Cheon he knew wasn't one to state the obvious.
“For Mount Hua’s kindness…”
"Sohyeop."
Baek Cheon brought his hands together and bowed deeply. Startled by this unexpected courtesy, Gwak Hwanso flinched and stared at Baek Cheon.
“The help Mount Hua can offer ends here.”
“…What?”
Gwak Hwanso asked back with a dumbfounded face.
What was this all of a sudden?
"The border at the Yangtze will not be as strong as you might think. Cross the river before daybreak. That way, Hainan Sect can be safe.”
“Wa- Wait a minute. Acting Sect Leader. What are you saying? Cross the river? Then what about Mount Hua?”
Baek Cheon raised his head to look at Gwak Hwanso.
That gaze.
The moment Gwak Hwanso saw those unwavering eyes, he knew what Baek Cheon was going to say.
“You're asking the obvious.”
Mount Hua disciples walked over to stand beside Baek Cheon. Their eyes were not even slightly different from Baek Cheon's.
“We’re going to retrieve that stupid Sajil.”
"A- Acting Sect..."
“I’m certain that he’s—”
Baek Cheon's voice flowed out firmly.
"—waiting for us too."
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