Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1478. The Plan Was Sound (3)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Swaeeeeeek!
A small, golden-hued bird cut through the incomparably blue sky and advanced.
“No! What kind of bird is that fast!”
"Birds are originally fast, you bastard!"
"Monk-nim! Please do something about it!"
“A- Amitabha? Why me all of a sudden?”
“No! It’s gold-colored like you!”
“Jo-Gol Dojang. Have you lost your mind?"
Jo-Gol wasn’t the only one spouting nonsense, but the others all had twisted expressions on their faces just the same. In the first place, does a person running after a bird even make sense? And not even an ordinary bird, but a mystical creature?
“Sahyung! Sahyung! Just let me stab its wings with a needle and steal the message! Give the word! I’ll turn it into a skewer!"
“It’s not the message that matters, it’s where the bird’s going! It won’t fly if you stab it! Just follow it!”
"We're doing this because we can't follow it!"
"Right."
"How on earth are we supposed to follow that?"
"Hmm... Can't we just do it well somehow?"
“Sago! This guy is crazy!”
"I know."
Chung Myung narrowed his eyes as he looked at Five Swords who were groaning like they were dying.
But seeing even Hye Yeon's head glistening with sweat, it didn't seem like something to dismiss as mere dramatics.
Come to think of it, he too was gradually becoming out of breath. What should he do…?
"Aaak! Get off, you bastard! I'm already dying from exhaustion!"
“Kiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
“Get down! Seriously, you’re driving me insane! You’re just like your damn owner! At least cling to my shoulder or something!"
"Oh?"
Chung Myung's eyes sparkled as he looked at Baek-ah desperately clinging to Jo-Gol's head.
“Sahyung! Hand him over!"
"Huh?"
Chung Myung instantly rushed to Jo-Gol's side and then snatched Baek-ah clinging to his head.
"Ahhh! My hair! Let go! You bastard! Let go! I'll become like monk Hye Yeon! All my hair will fall out!"
“...You will definitely end up in hell. Jo-Gol Dojang.”
From Hye Yeon’s mouth came words far from what a monk should say, laced with malice.
“Kii?”
In the meantime, Baek-ah, who was grabbed by the scruff of the neck by Chung Myung, looked at Chung Myung while screaming. Its eyes screamed, ‘What are you planning?!’
Chung Myung smiled faintly when he saw those bright eyes.
"Go and come back!"
"Kii?"
“Eurachaaaaaaaa!”
Chung Myung stomped the ground with a bang and then threw Baek-ah he was holding into the sky with all his might.
“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
A scream too pitiful to bear echoed as Baek-ah’s tiny white body shot upward like a comet.
"Wow, is it raining? Something’s falling."
"It's tears, tears..."
"Ah..."
In the solemn silence, the white streak left by Baek-ah’s body intersected with the golden streak of the Ten-Thousand Mile Golden Dove. Baek-ah flew right in front of the flying Manri Geum-gu, and even in that situation, he vigorously paddled its short front paws and attempted to grab the Ten-Thousand Mile Golden Dove.
"Chirp?"
But the Ten-Thousand Mile Golden Dove simply tilted its small head, confirmed the rising Baek-ah, and with a casual twist of its body effortlessly dodged his grasp.
Then it slightly turned its head and indifferently let out a single 'chirp' sound to Baek-ah who had missed, before accelerating forward and flying away.
"Caaaaaaawk!"
A rough cry flowed from Baek-ah's mouth. To be toyed with by a bird the size of its own head, this was a matter of pride. But unfortunately, that temper inherited from Chung Myung didn’t last long either.
“…Kii?”
Baek-ah's rising body slowly comes to a stop. At the same time, Baek-ah's narrowed eyes soon opened roundly.
And soon...
"Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii."
No matter how great a mystical creature is, it cannot go against the laws of nature. As he began plummeting downward, Baek-ah burst into tears and flailed his tiny limbs with wild desperation.
“Aigoo, Baek-aaaaah!”
"Catch him! Catch him! If he falls like that, he'll really die!"
Regardless of being a mystical creature or not, they didn't have the slightest thought that he would be unharmed falling from that height. Horrified, Five Swords poured every ounce of strength into lunging toward where Baek-ah was plummeting.
"Too far!"
"Hey you crazy bastard! Does it even make sense to catch something by throwing it?"
"Catch him somehow!"
But how could a person run and catch something thrown by another person? It was the very moment when everyone's faces turned deathly pale seeing Baek-ah falling far away.
“Amitabha.”
“Huh?”
Jo-Gol flinches and turns around. In his eyes came the sight of Hye Yeon smiling benevolently with an endlessly compassionate face that didn't match this situation.
"Monk-nim?"
No- No way?
"Go forth! Dojang! Oooooooooh!"
"Hey, you crazy monk bastard!"
Paaaaat!
Hye Yeon picks up and throws Jo-Gol forward with all his might. The throw that's a little personal— no, the throw that's nothing but personal— turned Jogeol's body into a ray of black light that shoots forward.
Jo-Gol, who flew like a cannonball, spins his body and catches the plummeting Baek-ah with his stomach.
"Oh!"
“Monk-nim! You are the best!”
Kuuung! Kuuung! Kuuuung!
Unable to control his momentum, Jo-Gol bounced across the ground like a skipping stone on water, but that fact was no longer important to the other Five Swords. At least the small white marten would be safe.
"Amitabha. We won't forget Dojang’s sacrifices. Please rest in peace."
"He’s not dead! Damn, what a bad luck!"
“Let’s go!”
Into the eyes of those who hurriedly approached comes the sight of Jo Geol lying collapsed, foaming at the mouth. Everyone's faces hardened in an instant upon seeing that sight.
“Aigoo! Baek-ah!”
“Are you hurt?”
"That bastard’s stomach better be tough."
"Let me see. Are you okay?"
Everyone made a fuss and rushed to Baek-ah, who was half out of his mind on Jo-Gol's belly. Then they lifted Baek-ah up and patted him.
In the meantime, the dust cloud created by their kicking feet quietly covered the face of the fallen Jo-Gol.
“Kiiiiiii!”
Baek-ah came to his senses and jerked his head up. Then, while dangling from Tang Soso's arms, he filled his short front paws with tiny rage to the brim and violently pointed accusingly at someone.
"Give him here."
Chung Myung grabbed Baek-ah's scruff and pulled him over. Baek-ah flailed his two hands and screeched desperately, trying to scratch Chung Myung's face.
"You remembered, right?"
“Kaaaaaah!”
"I said, did you remember!"
"...Kii?"
“The scent, you know. The scent! Didn't you say that a scent you've smelled once, you can follow even for ten thousand li?"
“...”
The white marten thought deeply at those words and then stretched his neck, twitching his black nose.
Sniff, sniff.
After sniffing for a good while, Baek-ah's two eyes opened roundly.
“Kii!”
Soon, as if he had caught the scent of the Ten Thousand-Li Golden Dove, Baek-ah nodded his head vigorously. Chung Myung grinned slyly and set Baek-ah down on the ground.
"Good. Lead the way!"
“Kii!”
Baek-ah turned his body to one side and then dashed forward like a flash of lightning.
“Follow him!”
"Got it!"
"Oh! That's right. We didn't need to bother following the bird's tail."
"Every time I see this bastard, I'm amazed at how quick-witted he is."
“Let’s go, Baek-ah! Run slowly.”
Everyone becomes one and runs forward.
One step behind, the expression of Hye Yeon watching that sight momentarily turned peculiar.
‘Wasn’t that marten making a fuss about not wanting to run just a moment ago?’
No matter how you call it a spiritual creature, in the end, a beast is a beast. Seeing how he had completely forgotten about that already.
"Hoho."
But...
Why did he also feel like he had forgotten something? The dust cloud rising from the ground as the group sped away slowly settled.
“That dog...”
From within the settling dust, Jo-Gol lay sprawled on the ground, foaming at the mouth.
"...bastards."
A single drop of crystal-clear tears trickled down from Jo-Gol's two eyes.
❀ ❀ ❀
"Leaving a person behind?"
“Gol-ah… You've already said that ten times."
“No, how can you leave a person behind like this!”
“...Now it’s the eleventh.”
Yoon Jong plugged his ears with his fingers. Jo-Gol, who had miraculously regained consciousness and caught up, hadn't stopped complaining since.
"No matter what, I'm still a person! How am I worse than a beast?"
“No, Gol-ah. You have to think about it the other way around.”
"What?"
"A person handles their own affairs, and a beast needs to be taken care of. We can't treat you as less than even a beast, can we?"
“...”
Yoon Jong wrapped his arm around Jo-Gol's shoulder and smiled warmly.
“Do you understand now?”
"Just go die."
“Ei, not working.”
Baek Cheon looked at the two with a bitter smile.
"But where on earth have we come to?"
"Who knows?"
“I don’t really know this terrain. Is there anyone who knows Henan well?”
At those words, everyone turned to look at Hye Yeon. As if to meet their expectations, Hye Yeon nodded.
“Haven’t you been running east all this time?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
"If we keep going like this... Perhaps we should be reaching that place soon.”
"That place?"
“Beggar Union.” (개봉(开封))
Everyone's faces hardened slightly at the words.
"If it's Beggar Union..."
"Yes."
Hye Yeon nodded.
"It is the place where Beggar Union's main headquarters is."
"Hmm."
A low groan escaped Baek Cheon's mouth.
He couldn't confirm because he was following in a hurry, but thinking about it, it was obvious. The ones who would send messenger birds after seeing them would naturally be from Beggar Union, and thus, the letter would obviously be headed toward Beggar Union’s main headquarters.
Then...
“Chung Myung-ah!”
"Hm?"
"Don't tell me the place you're trying to go is Beggar Union main headquarters?"
Chung Myung chuckled at the word.
"It's not like I'm an idiot. I wouldn't have come this far without knowing that Beggar Union main headquarters is in Kaifeng."
"Right?"
That’s exactly why it made no sense. If the destination were Kaifeng, there would have been no need for such a complicated process. So where were they actually heading?
"Then why did we come here?"
“I already told you. I didn’t mean to come here. I came and it just happened to be here.”
“...Huh?”
Baek Cheon's face went blank for a moment. What kind of strange talk is this again.
“Oh, what I mean!”
Chung Myung scratched his head.
"I wasn’t deliberately searching under the lamp, but while fumbling around, it turned out the thing was right under it. That’s all."
"Ah."
Baek Cheon immediately understood the meaning of those words.
“The place you’re looking for isn’t Beggar Union main headquarters, but it’s right in Kaifeng?”
“Yeah. Right!”
"Ah. I know what you mean."
Baek Cheon nodded vigorously. In that case, it makes sense. It’s actually simpler than expected.
The place that Chung Myung was looking for wasn’t Beggar Union main headquarters. But it is in Kaifeng. Those two just coincidentally overlapped.
"Then we can just ignore the main headquarters and keep chasing it."
“Right. It’s simple.”
“Yeah. Simple….”
Baek Cheon's face suddenly twisted.
"Wait a moment."
"Hm?"
"...Seeing that you bothered to chase that messenger bird, doesn’t that mean the place they are going to is something Beggar Union wants to hide?”
“That’s right!”
“Normally, you would absolutely try to prevent anyone from coming near there?”
"Hiya! Our Dongryong has gotten smart again. Is it because he sweated a bit?"
Chung Myung joked, but Baek Cheon didn’t have the energy to engage with it right now.
“Right. That’s right. That means...”
At that moment, the sight of a large city far away began to enter Baek Cheon's eyes as he ran through the mountains.
"That….. so you’re saying we need to infiltrate the place that the Beggar Union wants to hide while avoiding beggars’ eyes?"
“Yes! Precisely!"
"In Kaifeng, where the Beggar Union's main headquarters is located?"
“..........”
"............ in this Kaifeng, where there's more beggars than common citizens, we’re going to slip past beggars’ eyes and infiltrate the place Beggar Union wants to hide?"
"Uh……"
Everyone's feet slowly came to a stop. Even Baek-ah, who had been running with his tail practically falling off, straightened his back and looked at Chung Myung.
Under their collective gaze, Chung Myung also stopped and fell deep into thought.
His expression changed dramatically, and soon a somewhat awkward voice came out.
“Uhm……..”
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“The fact is, this, uhm…..”
Chung Myung smiled brightly.
“The plan.. seemed sound.”
Hearing those straightforward words, Baek Cheon also smiled back brightly like Chung Myung.
"Just die. You crazy bastard."
I knew this would happen.
I knew it.
|Note
Consider supporting me by subscribing on Patreon for 5$. The Patreon membership for Mount Hua and Infinite Mage is the same. The benefit:
Advance chapters of Mount Hua : 76
Advance chapters of Magic Realm Convenience Store Worker : 144 Chapters
Advance chapters of Got a Gallery in the Wild : 10
Comments Box