Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1529. Now it's my turn (4)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
“An attack.... Chung Myung, don’t tell me you....”
Hyun Jong looked at Chung Myung with his eyes wide open as if realizing something.
“Achoo!”
At that moment, Chung Myung sneezed loudly and rubbed under his nose.
“It’s not even cold, why all of a sudden…”
“....”
"Eiii. Don't worry. It's not like I'm some idiot who would charge into Evil Tyrant Alliance alone with a sword just because I said I'd attack and shouting I’m gonna cut off Jang Ilso’s head?"
"You wouldn’t?"
“Would I?”
"You really wouldn’t?"
“But these punks?”
When Chung Myung glared, Five Swords averted their gaze.
Meanwhile, Im Sobyeong slowly tapped his shoulder with a folded fan and pondered Chung Myung's words.
'Upside-down tower.'
It wasn’t a wrong statement. They just hadn’t realized it because that tower was so huge and splendid, but Evil Tyrant Alliance was definitely a deformed power.
Heavenly Comrade Alliance had been having similar concerns, and the root of those worries was Chung Myung’s existence.
Chung Myung was the link between Heavenly Comrade Alliance and Mount Hua. The moment he collapses, neither Heavenly Comrade Alliance nor Mount Hua could ever be the same as before.
Then what about Evil Tyrant Alliance?
Can Evil Tyrant Alliance still be Evil Tyrant Alliance without Jang Ilsso?
No. It couldn't be. In fact, it was more severe than Heavenly Comrade Alliance’s situation.
Even if Chung Myung disappeared, Heavenly Comrade Alliance would at least keep its shell, but Evil Tyrant Alliance without Jang Ilso would surely be torn to shreds, to the point where the expression ‘scattered in all directions’ would be an understatement.
As if this period when Evil Tyrant Alliance displays its might had been a lie.
It was obvious in hindsight, yet no one had pointed it out until now.
Im Sobyeong opened his mouth.
“So in the end, you're saying we can't win by playing a grand game."
Chung Myung's face turned pale at those words.
“No, it’s not like we can’t win….”
“Ah, I’ve chosen my words poorly. Then let’s say the damage would be too great, right?”
“Exactly! That’s it!”
Only then did Chung Myung's face turn into a satisfied expression. Im Sobyeong smirked.
“There are few who can defeat Paegun in a method of exchanging moves sitting across a Go board. Moreover, if the other side even takes the first move, even the nation's best go master couldn't win."
“Hmm.”
Worry spread across several people’s faces.
“So there are only two ways to win. One is to flip everything over and smash the Go board on that bastard’s head.”
“...Are you crazy?”
“Get a grip, Nokrim King.”
Im Sobyeong calmly snapped open his fan.
“The other is… to drag him onto the board.”
As Im Sobyeong's voice rang heavily, everyone’s faces grew serious in tandem.
Jang Ilso's life.
That was the way to end it all, and reduce the bloodshed in Junwon, if only a little. Everyone had no choice but to agree.
"The method?"
“Don’t know.”
Tang Gun-ak's eyebrows twitched. Im Sobyeong grinned and looked back at Chung Myung.
"But I think someone here does... Isn’t that enough?"
Tang Gun-ak let out a faint sigh. Hyun Jong spoke on his behalf.
“What do you intend to do, Chung Myung-ah.”
“I don’t know either.”
“Huh?”
“No, don’t look at me like that. It’s not that I don’t know the method, it’s just that I haven’t decided which move I’ll use yet.”
“Why?”
"Well, it's obvious. Because we don't know how that bastard will come out."
Then an unexpected person who had been quietly listening opened his mouth.
“So you’re saying you’ll watch the bastard’s movements and bite him the moment you see an opening. Is that right?”
"...I feel like Sahyuk shouldn't have come to Mount Hua."
"Huh? What are you....”
“I think your intelligence rises after you wear Southern Edge Sect’s clothes just once, so maybe you might as well…”
"What, this little bastard?"
"Kekekeke."
Chung Myung laughed mischievously while looking at the bristling Baek Cheon. But he soon erased the smile from his face and lowered his eyes.
“It’s similar, but no.”
“No?”
"That guy doesn’t show openings like that. You don’t wait for a gap to appear. You create one."
"How?"
“I told you. I don’t know yet.”
Baek Cheon let out a sigh so deep it could have collapsed the earth. The others likely felt the same. Just how are they supposed to...
“Don’t try to understand.”
Im Sobyeong cut in.
"Even if you fully explain supreme martial arts to a child who's just picked up a sword for the first time, it's not like they could understand it, right?"
“...That’s true.”
“Even if he explains it, we probably won’t understand anyway. The important thing isn’t whether we can understand… but whether we can trust.”
Im Sobyeong's sharp gaze turned to Chung Myung. Everyone followed suit and stared at Chung Myung.
Can they believe him without understanding....
“Chung Myung-ah. Can you do it?”
When Hyun Jong asked, Chung Myung grinned.
"It’s not about whether I can, it’s ‘I have to’.”
“....”
“Somehow.”
Hyun Jong nodded heavily. Though Chung Myung answered lightly, Hyun Jong knew well just how much weight those words carried. He trusted him.
But Heavenly Comrade Alliance was not a place where he made decisions alone. He looked at the others besides Chung Myung and asked.
"As for the other....”
"There’s no need to ask."
Tang Gun-ak cut his words as if even asking was unnecessary.
"We're here because we believed in the first place."
Everyone agreed and nodded firmly. Even Five Swords, who usually nitpicked everything Chung Myung did.
"Then it’s decided."
It was a response without a single disagreement. Now that their opinions were gathered, Tang Gun-ak turned to Chung Myung.
"So what do we do?"
Chung Myung grinned at the words.
It was that same ominous smile as always.
❀ ❀ ❀
"…Giving refugees the job of building houses and raising fences is, in a way, only natural."
"Right. They can’t just idle forever. Don't people feel stability when they earn money through work?"
"And it makes sense for Tang Family to hire workers for their new workshops."
Baek Cheon nodded while continuing his sewing.
"After all, the smithy lack manpower to supply weapons to the entire Heavenly Comrade Alliance."
“Right.”
Jo-Gol, who had been listening, widened his dim eyes in disbelief.
"No, I'm telling you, this is actually a huge deal."
“...What is?”
“Tang Family’s smithy was a place where only those with the Tang surname could hold a hammer. For such artisans to accept people who aren’t even skilled craftsmen, who’ve never even held a hammer before…”
From Jo-Gol's perspective, having grown up in Sichuan, this was truly a world-shaking event.
“Well, because Gaju-nim ordered me to do it?”
“Don’t speak nonsense, Sahyung. What kind of people is in Tang Family’s smithy? Do you think that's something that could be done just with the patriarch's command?"
Baek Cheon said bitterly.
"...It must be the will of the late Elder Tang Jo-pyeong."
“....”
“He said such things weren’t important. And those who feel that most deeply must be the artisans of Tang Family’s smithy themselves.”
Jo-Gol, who was raising his voice, nodded at these words.
“If you think of it that way, that’s understandable.”
“Right. I heard the Eunha Merchant Guild is also hiring refugees in large numbers.”
“It looks like they’ll even share the reclaimed land.”
“For free?”
"...What money do refugees have to pay? They’ll probably just take a portion of the harvest as rent. I don't even know if that will make any money. Given = Sect Leader's personality.”
Yoon Jong chuckled.
“Just earning enough to pay the folks going around collecting grain would be lucky.”
“Exactly.”
Having been the son of a merchant family, Jo-Gol had clear and sensitive concepts about profit and loss, so this aspect seemed quite displeasing to him.
But amidst all that, Baek Cheon had other thoughts.
‘Houses are being built, farmland is being created… and on top of that, there are places to work…’
Moreover, Mount Hua manages most of the land. Then it was plain as day how those who work that land would be treated by Mount Hua.
Not only Hyun Jong, but even the current sect leader Un Am was someone who would be second to none in soft-heartedness.
“Refugees…”
"Yes?"
Baek Cheon muttered softly and chuckled.
How long can we call them refugees?
If refugees refer to those who left after suffering disaster, they would be refugees forever, but if it refers to those who temporarily left and would return again....
Well, shouldn’t that label be taken off soon? Since there would probably be no need to go back.
There's a place to sleep, food to eat, and a place to work. Would they really need to return after that?
“...Just how far ahead was this thought out?"
“What are you muttering about, Sasuk?”
“Just leave him alone, Sahyung. My mother also used to grumble just like that whenever she was sewing… Aaargh! Are you seriously throwing needles at someone’s face?”
Baek Cheon crumpled his face as he retrieved the thrown needle.
'One of Mount Hua's biggest weaknesses is that its neighboring cities are small.'
He had vaguely thought this before, but seeing Kaifeng made him understand clearly.
Tang Family has Chengdu, Wudang has Wuhan, and Shaolin has the great cities of Luoyang and Zhengzhou on both sides.
Mount Hua also has Xi'an, but the influence of the closer and more powerful Southern Edge Sect was much stronger.
Even if the situation had changed somewhat now, there was no guarantee it would last. If Mount Hua’s power waned even slightly, those greedy Southern Edge Sect bastards would swallow Xi’an whole in an instant.
Even if that's prevented, unlike other sects, they would ultimately have to share the city of Xi'an with Southern Edge Sect.
'Territory isn't simply the land you occupy. It is a place where you build relationships with those within it, make money, receive disciples, and then become a passage for those disciples to advance into the world.'
If that virtuous cycle doesn’t take place properly, the sect will wither and die while stuck in the mountains. Hadn't all the disciples of Mount Hua already experienced that?
Baek Cheon, who had always considered this part, had intended to firmly secure Xi'an first after becoming the sect leader.
But to think… they would go so far as to build an entire city here.
If this happens, even if an era comes when Mount Hua doesn't produce proper talent, Mount Hua would never perish.
“…Did he really do all this after thinking that far ahead? Or was it just something he did because it would make money?”
“What are you muttering to yourself about?”
“Money talk came up. He must be thinking about Chung Myung.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Shut it.”
Baek Cheon sighed deeply.
To prepare for decades, hundreds of years later, while facing a battle where everyone would end if they didn't win right now… This was no ordinary madman.
Then Yoon Jong let out a long sigh and said.
"I can understand everything else, but why do we have to do this…?"
"Didn't you hear during the meeting?"
"I did hear it.”
“If it’s a fight where we win by killing people, we don’t need to do it. But if it’s a fight where even one more person can survive, then we must.”
“....”
“I agree with that.”
Yoon Jong nodded.
Among the agenda that came up in the subsequent meeting, the one that was most significantly accepted was precisely the problem of medical arts (의술(醫術)).
“...I really thought Soso went crazy.”
"I thought Chung Myung looked normal for just that moment."
What Tang Soso suddenly stood up and argued was very clear and simple.
❀ ❀ ❀
“We need to dismantle Tang Family.”
"Wh.... at?"
"I said we need to dismantle Tang Family."
Tang Gun-ak's mouth gaped wide open. He had forgotten all dignity and majesty from the shock.
His gaze soon turned to Chung Myung.
“…It wasn’t me.”
Chung Myung’s face looked so utterly wronged that it was hard to doubt him. Only then did Tang Gun-ak look at Tang Soso again.
His daughter had finally lost her mind.
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