Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1469. Let’s make history (4)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Hwang Jongwi's spirit had completely left him. There would probably be no one who could remain sane after seeing such a sight.
Kuuuung!
Dozens of wooden logs were newly stacked on top of a pile of wood that was already as high as a small mountain.
“At this rate, it's going to collapse?”
“It's too high! Stack them over on the side!”
"Ei, we already lifted it up."
few people climbed the mountain of wood, jumping lightly like monkeys. Then they began moving the wooden pillars, each carrying more than an armful in both arms to the side.
"Tsk. This one's too crooked?"
"What? Which human brought this kind of thing! I said only bring straight wood here!”
“Ei, I don't think we can even use this one?”
"Look at the way you're working!"
"Quickly sort them again! If General comes and sees this, someone’s back is gonna break again!”
The gathered people began squabbling and sorting the wood among themselves again. Wood that would require dozens of strong men to handle was flying left and right with whooshes. Watching this unbelievable sight, Hwang Jongwi helplessly turned his gaze.
“H- Hyung-nim. I’ve really hit my limit. No more strength…”
"Stop talking nonsense and quickly infuse internal strength! If we can't finish all this, we won't even get to eat!"
"No... I didn't cultivate internal strength for this purpose..."
"Then did anyone train knowing it would be like this? Won't you do it quickly?"
"Kkeueung."
The men gripping the massive logs simultaneously began infusing internal strength into the wood. The internal strength imbued with the energy of blazing yang instantly dried the wood that was twice as thick as a person.
Crack!
“Aaagh! Damn it, it cracked!”
"Which bastard didn't control it properly? I said to do it delicately! I told you multiple times not to just push internal strength in!"
"Thi- This one can still be used, don't you think? It's really just a little cracked."
“Don’t spout crap and bring a new one! If Gungju-nim finds out, it won’t be the wood that gets chopped, it’ll be us!”
“Aigoo…”
The Beast Palace warriors quickly clung to the newly brought wood.
Wood that would normally require at least a month of drying to be usable was reborn as excellent timber in the time it takes to exhale a few breaths.
"...Done. Move it aside."
"Keuuu... I'm really going to die. Here!"
As soon as the well-dried timber was placed on the large workbench prepared on the side, the swordsmen's blades struck the wood.
Sogok! Sogok!
The Beast Palace warriors moving the wood sent envious glances.
"Must be nice. The sword guys seem to have the easiest job.”
“If I had known this would happen, I would’ve trained with a sword too.”
The Namgung swordsmen cutting the timber were envied just for being able to work using their specialty.
Of course, it wasn't easy for them either.
Crack!
"No, you bastards! Cut it straight! Match the spacing! This one is thick!"
The swordsmen flinched and stopped their swords at Namgung Myung's shout. Namgung Myung was furious and threw the timber in his hands to the ground.
“You just wasted a perfectly good wood! Didn’t you hear that if scrap piles up, we have to pay for it out of our own pockets? At this rate, Namgung Family is about to go bankrupt. Namgung Family! Damn it! Does it even make sense that Namgung Family goes bankrupt because they can't make proper sword cuts?"
"That’s... Elder-nim. We are also really working hard..."
"Don't work hard, work well! You incompetent fools!"
Tears welled up in the swordsmen's eyes.
'The swordsmanship we learned is like that, so what are we supposed to do...'
'When we go fast, they tell us to be precise, and when we're precise, they tell us to go fast.'
In the first place, Namgung’s swordsmanship was a bold, unrestrained style that didn’t fuss over minor details. These people who had learned that even if the sword goes slightly astray, they could crush through with strength and speed were left to die when they tried to deploy their swords with hair's breadth precision.
'I'm dying.'
'I felt like throwing up.'
If it were regular training, they could go for three days and nights straight. But swinging a sword in empty air and endlessly cutting giant logs were not the same thing. The faces of the Namgung Family swordsmen, who prided themselves on their overflowing internal energy and explosive sword qi, became rough like thoroughly dried wood.
But this hellish place gave them no break. Just as they were swinging their swords with every ounce of strength they had left, a cart arrived ahead of them in a cloud of dust.
No, I'm telling you we're short on materials! Why is the work speed so slow?"
"J- Just wait a moment please."
“Excuses only work a few times. General is coming at this rate, you know? It's just swinging swords at best, so what's so difficult about it!"
"Just swinging swords! Then why don't you try it yourself!"
As Namgung swordsmen flared up, Tang Family people who brought the cart answered indifferently.
“Then are you the ones building the house?”
"..."
"We have no complaints, shall we switch?"
“…We’ll hurry. Just give us a moment…”
"Cut in the time you're talking! In the time you're talking!"
Namgung swordsmen swung their swords weakly.
The cut timber was stacked neatly in the cart. As soon as timber was piled to the point where no more could be loaded, the cart rushed forward without delay.
"Let's go quickly, quickly! Gaju-nim is furious!"
Hwang Jongwi’s gaze blankly followed the cart as it raced back and forth across Huayin. Now in Huayin, buildings of an unprecedentedly unique style were being erected in rows.
“The wood’s here!”
"Why are you so slow! Really so sluggish!"
The Tang Family martial artists didn't retort and quickly carried the timber.
"Kkeueung."
Basically, Tang Family had a higher status than the craftsmen. But in a situation like this, the hierarchy was completely reversed.
“Where should I place this?”
"...Put it over there."
“And these large ones?”
“…Behind that.”
This was the perfect opportunity, a chance to boss around the usually high-handed Tang martial artists with just a finger. Any normal person would be thrilled.
But the carpenters giving instructions to the martial artists didn't have excited faces at all. No, rather, despair was clearly evident.
"Ugh..."
One of the craftsmen, who was watching the pavilions going up steadily with bloodshot eyes, finally couldn't stand it and had a fit.
"Uwaa! I can't stand it anymore! This is an insult to craftsmen!"
"St- Stop him!"
"No! Stop!"
"Let go of this!"
He ran with all his might towards a certain place with mad eyes.
“General-nim!”
"Huh?"
Chung Myung, who had been keeping watch here and there, turned his head toward the person running up to him.
"What is it?"
“I can’t stand it any longer!”
"What?"
Chung Myung’s indifferent gaze clashed midair with the bloodshot eyes of the craftsman. At the moment tension peaked, the craftsman threw his body forward. Then he grabbed onto Chung Myung’s trouser leg and hung on.
“General-nim!”
"Ah, what is this. Why are you doing this! My pants are falling down!"
“P- Please! Just let me handle the end of those eaves, I- I'll somehow bake even the roof tiles! P- Please! I'll do it even if I have to stay up all night, so please!"
It was a voice that bordered on a wail. And what was the look in the craftsman's eyes? It was so earnest and desperate that even a mortal enemy would temporarily lose heart.
But alas, the man he was clinging to was Chung Myung.
"Can't you understand what I'm saying?"
"P- Please, I beg you! J- Just looking at those goddamn pavilions feels like my stomach is being torn apart! I- I'll just work without sleeping, so please let me carve even some decorations. Please!"
"Talking nonsense about decorations."
"Get him off!"
"Grab that madman!"
Other craftsmen rushed over and forcefully pulled the man clinging to Chung Myung’s pants away.
“General-nim! General-niiiiiim!”
"Didn't I tell you to stop."
"I know your feelings. I understand your feelings well enough. But you should make plea to someone they'll work on."
The craftsmen dragging away the crying man soon had moisture at the corners of their eyes as well.
Buildings erected in identical square shapes without proper lacquering. Just looking at them made it hard to breathe and twisted their whole bodies into knots.
"Let go! Let go of me! It's obvious people who see that will ask who built those pavilions! I won't be able to close my eyes even in death. I can't leave such things in the world! They must all be destroyed!"
"I told you to give up..."
The craftsmen turned their heads to hide their flowing tears.
They had spent their lives melting down hundreds of completed pieces in the fire just to create one masterpiece. And now those same craftsmen were mass-producing buildings not even a neighborhood carpenter would dare build. It would’ve been stranger if they didn’t despair.
But in this world, there are always those who cannot empathize with them at all.
"We're busy as hell, and you're talking nonsense like 'decorations'! In the time it takes to carve that, build even one more!"
...This was the craftsman's tomb.
Pavilions (if one could even call them pavilions) made to identical specifications, to the extent that even residents couldn't tell which was their house if they closed and opened their eyes once, were steadily filling the leveled land.
There was no Tang Family's characteristic craftsmanship, no Sichuan's distinctive architectural style, no Taoist fragrance that had always subtly lingered around Huayin. None of these are present. Instead, only the speed was terrifyingly fast.
"If, if one lives in a place like this, wouldn't one get a mental illness?"
"Humans are tougher than you think."
"Th- They probably won't even be able to find their own homes."
"Are doorplates for trading for candy? They can find it just fine.”
The craftsmen who faced the living iron wall had no choice but to despair.
“Stop flapping your mouths and work! Work! We need to put up a hundred more houses by today! Move quickly!"
"Ugh..."
Having watched even the sight of the despairing craftsmen trudging away as if being dragged, Hwang Jongwi looked around the new village with renewed interest.
What on earth should this be called?
The mountains were the material for everything.
They used the soil dug out from the mountain to fill the pits, and from the trees came the timber to build the pavilions. Since it wasn't quality timber, there were limits to its durability, but if built well, there would be no problem lasting about ten years.
Rocks? Stones? The boulders dug out from the mountain were being neatly cut by Mount Hua’s disciples and reborn as paving stones for the streets.
Soil, trees, and rock. And most importantly…
“Move! Hurry!”
"They said if we don't finish laying this entire street today, they won't give us food!"
"How petty to threaten people with food."
A weak voice came out of Hwang Jongwi's mouth as he saw those carrying stone chunks on their backs.
"...Manpower "
They were mobilizing manpower that could do the work of at least thirty grown men per person, and pushing them to the brink.
A martial artist is an all-purpose worker.
Breaking, moving, cutting, cleaning, and even throwing. There was nothing they couldn't do. After working such people like slaves, a miraculous situation was unfolding where work that would require thousands of workers clinging to it for a month was being finished in a day and night.
If this wasn't a miracle, what was?
Hwang Jongwi realized how meaningless everything he had worried about was.
Give that man enough people, and he could turn a desert into a lush forest.
'Is he even human?'
It was shocking that a human mind could envision such a scene. That person must surely be heaven-sent.
Tang Gun-ak approached that heaven-sent person.
"It seems more than half is done."
“You could say over seventy percent. There's more work than planned so it'll take a bit longer, but well, if we push hard for three or four more days, we should be mostly finished."
"Setting aside the minor tasks."
Even that was an astonishing speed. Twice... No, even faster than Tang Gun-ak had expected.
It was the result of boldly sacrificing what needed to be sacrificed and prioritizing efficiency. Perhaps such a judgment could not have been made if it weren't Chung Myung.
“Yes, that’s right. It’s definitely faster than expected… Ah!”
Just then, Chung Myung screamed and yanked at his own hair.
"Oh, shit! I screwed up! We should’ve made the waterway over here!”
"Hmm? Didn't we decide to dig wells?"
"The scale became larger than expected, so wells won't be enough. Ei, really."
Tang Gun-ak nodded as if this made sense.
"You didn't account for expansion. So what's the plan? Dig more wells?"
"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm saying we need to dig a waterway."
"Didn't you say the pavilions were already built?"
"We can just tear them down."
"..."
"Call people and tell them to demolish everything built over there in a row. It would be a waste of materials, so let’s tear it down neatly and rebuild them next to it."
"Let's do that. It's a good method."
Hwang Jongwi, who had overheard their conversation, smiled warmly.
'Is he really human...'
A hellscape that would make even the King of Hell turn its back was unfolding on Huayin's land.
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