Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1657. I don't like those stupid guys (2)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
The situation was unfolding so rapidly that his mind couldn't keep up.
“W- Wait!”
Jaegal Zian raised his voice urgently.
First, he had to stop this nonsensical decision. The reason for jumping into a trap set by the enemy was 'we just need to smash the trap along with it'! Does that even make sense?
“G- General! First… calm yourself!”
"Vice Hall Leaders!"
But Chung Myung shouted as if he couldn't even hear his voice.
"Summon the hall members right now. I'm giving you fifteen minutes!"
"Yes!"
"Got it!"
"Move!"
Even before Chung Myung's words fully landed, the seated vice hall leaders sprang up and dashed outside like arrows.
"Wha- What?"
Jaegal Zian was stunned with his eyes wide open. Chung Myung continued.
"Hall Leaders, please finish preparations so you can head straight to Hubei. Right now, as fast as possible!"
"Understood."
"We will follow the General's command."
The hall leaders immediately rose to their feet. Tang Gun-ak, Maeng So, and Wind Shadow Divine Beggar reacted immediately, but Jong Nigok rose a little later. Murong Wigyeong, gauging their mood, also stealthily lifted his bottom from the chair.
"Whatever support is needed, the Support Hall Leader Hwang Jongwi will provide anything! Hurry!"
"We will."
The two hall leaders also left without delay.
After the storm-like moment passed, only Hyun Jong, Chung Myung, and the two strategists remained in the room.
“Nokrim King!”
"Please call me Right Strategist, General.”
Im Sobyeong opened his fan with a swish and covered half his face. A deep smile lingered in his two eyes revealed above the fan.
"Or First Strategist is fine too."
Chung Myung silently shot him a glance, then moved his gaze to Jaegal Zian.
“Analyze and predict every movement they can take and report to me.”
“Of course, I would, but...”
Snap.
As Chung Myung snapped his fingers, a golden bird flew in from outside the window. The golden bird that circled once above his head landed obediently on the back of Chung Myung's hand.
"Report with this guy."
Jaegal Zian instinctively reached out and accepted the golden bird Chung Myung held out.
"Is this... a Ten Thousand-Li Golden Dove? This is Beggar Unions’..."
"Don't worry about it. We agreed to use it in the alliance until the war ends."
"Ah..."
Jaegal Zian, who was staring blankly at the bird, looked at Chung Myung with a face of sudden realization.
“W- Wait a moment…! If this guy is with me, how do you intend to issue orders to each hall?”
“It’s fine. I have another one.”
"Huh?"
“Come here!”
As soon as Chung Myung shouted loudly, the closed door opened wide with a thud. Something like a flash of lightning, mixed black and white, entered the room at an imperceptible speed.
In the blink of an eye, something climbed up Chung Myung’s body and settled on his shoulder before lifting its head high.
"...A marten?"
Even a pure white marten wearing Mount Hua's black martial uniform.
Unconcealed bewilderment flashed across Jaegal Zian's face. Chung Myung spoke while roughly scratching the marten’s chin with his finger.
"In terms of speed alone, he's faster than a bird, so you don't need to worry."
"Ah..."
Jaegal Zian nodded with a somewhat strange expression. Then, someone interjected with a gentle voice.
"But... it seems you've forgotten about me?"
Im Sobyeong said while fluttering the fan he had opened.
"Aren't the orders you're giving now actually meant for me, the First Strategist?"
There was emphasis on the word 'First.' Chung Myung watched him giggling for a moment, then nodded as if he understood.
“First Strategist.”
"Yes!"
"You, come with me."
"...Yes?"
“You are coming with me.”
Thwack.
The fan fell powerlessly to the floor. At the same time, Im Sobyeong's face turned deathly pale.
"Me? Why should I...?"
"Jaegal Gaju-nim is here, so you're not needed. Come with me. You'll command on the front lines."
"N- No, General! Don't you know what a strategist is? A strategist should by all means be waaay in the... Yes? In the back! They're people who gesture from the back!"
“Stop babbling and follow. If you don't want to die.”
…Im Sobyeong’s shoulders slumped weakly.
In fact, going to the field was something he could accept to some extent. It wasn't like there were no strategists who commanded from the battlefront.
The problem was that the position he was being assigned to was none other than right beside that damn Taoist bastard.
Anyone who knew even a little about Heavenly Comrade Alliance... no, the current Kangho, could never deny that wherever that damned Taoist bastard was, was the most dangerous place in Kangho.
And he wants to take him there? Im Sobyeong thought.
‘I’d rather fall on my own sword!’
How was a frail (?) scholar like him supposed to endure a place that even those crazy Mount Hua madmen can't endure?
"Tha- That position would really be better for Jaegal Gaju than me..."
“Stop babbling and stick close.”
“…Yessir.”
Im Sobyeong finally nodded soullessly. He instinctively knew that if he refused just one more time here, whether it be a fist, a kick, or a sword, it would definitely come flying.
“Wa- Wait, General. This is….”
“Maengju-nim.”
The moment Jaegal Zian was about to say a word, Chung Myung spun around and cupped his fist at Hyun Jong.
"Mount Hua disciple Chung Myung. I will march out to support Wudang. Requesting permission!”
Worry flashed across his face for an instant, but Hyun Jong soon erased it and spoke shortly with a resolute expression.
"Permission granted."
"Thank you!"
Tap.
Chung Myung turned and stared at the wide-open door for a moment before rushing out like the wind. He didn't even look back once.
"Uh..."
Jaegal Zian watched his retreating back with a face that had almost lost its soul.
"Ugh. This is maddening."
Now, the only one Jaegal Zian could grab onto was Im Sobyeong.
“Wa- Wait. Nokrim King.”
Im Sobyeong, who was already sunk in worry, replied with a sullen face.
"Yes?"
“Wh- What in the world is going on here?”
“What do you mean?”
"Just a moment ago we were arguing back and forth about whether it's okay or not, whether it's right or wrong..."
"Ah, that?"
Im Sobyeong let out another deep sigh, one so heavy it felt as if the ground would collapse.
"Well, opinions can be shared. Everyone has different thoughts."
"...What?"
"But the important thing is that once a decision is made, we don't look back. Isn't that the purpose of this organization?"
Looking at Im Sobyeong's face filled with the meaning 'why are you asking such an obvious thing,' Jaegal Zian swallowed dryly.
‘Don't look back once a decision is made?’
The words were right.
But was that easy? If it were as easy as saying it, why would any sect suffer from internal conflicts?
If there are a hundred people, there are a hundred thoughts; if there are a thousand, there are a thousand thoughts.
Yet those chaotically scattered opinions were unified into one in an instant? As if it were prearranged?
"You don't need to think so hard about it."
"...Yes?"
“Worry intensely, act simply.”
Im Sobyeong picked up the fan he had dropped, folded it, and looked out the door.
"It's the method that guy and the people who've been entangled with him until now have learned through experience. And... Hmm. Well, no need to say this.”
Jaegal Zian, left alone, stood blankly lost in thought for a while. Though Im Sobyeong hadn't told him everything, he seemed to know what the trailing words he had mumbled were.
‘And does that mean this is now Heavenly Comrade Alliance’s way?’
He hadn't even imagined such a thing would actually be possible.
But what if this really comes to pass? If those ragtag halls, scraped together from all sorts of people, can move like the wind at a single word from Chung Myung, just like the event that unfolded before his eyes moments ago?
Goosebumps instantly rose all over his body.
What would follow was difficult even to dare predict. It was an ideal that those who practice military strategy only dream of.
Because it was such a lofty ideal, the impact when such a thing actually occurred in reality was hard to predict.
"Th- Then what on earth should I do..."
"The Intelligence Hall."
"Yes?"
Jaegal Zian turned around. Hyun Jong was looking at him with a gentle smile.
"Information gathered by Beggar Union and information sent by each halls will gather here through the branches that fellow Chung Myung established. You, Strategist, simply need to handle that. In addition, you will also oversee the parts that need to be handled in the rear, such as supplies and support.”
"Ah..."
"Perhaps the battle here will be more intense. Are you prepared?"
Jaegal Zian looked at Hyun Jong in silence.
Even in a situation where he was sending disciples off to a place that might be a trap, a soft smile rested on Hyun Jong's lips instead.
But this smile does not come from simple leisure. That was... meant to reassure Jaegal Zian.
The moment he realized this, Hyun Jong appeared even greater in Jaegal Zian's eyes.
"Hoo..."
Jaegal Zian took a deep breath. He straightened his attire and faced Hyun Jong directly. Then, not with formality but with sincerity, he bowed his head.
"I'll be in your care, Maengju-nim."
"Likewise."
Hyun Jong's eyes, having accepted Jaegal Zian's bow, went past him toward the wide-open door.
"Assembled."
"Damn it, what should we call ourselves? Eul? Eul Hall has also finished assembling!"
"Jeong Hall is also fully assembled!"
"This side too!"
The path to Huayin.
Though it was merely the entrance to a small village, because it was the road leading to Mount Hua, it was famous to some, meaningful to some, and bittersweet to others.
There, countless people were lined up.
Heavenly Comrade Alliance's divisions, which couldn't all line up even in a training ground built at least three times larger than an ordinary sect's grand training ground. They stood lined up along the path leading to Huayin.
Before them stood the hall leaders and vice hall leaders who led each hall.
The meaning of that was far greater than what the world might guess.
The world had suffered countless invasions and calamities, and each time, Kangho had joined forces to stop the enemy.
But at no time, in no moment, had the wall of sect identity ever been completely broken down. How many truly understand what it means for people wearing different clothes, holding different weapons, bearing different titles, to stand together without distinction?
However, there was one person who understood its meaning better than anyone else. He stood straight before the assembled Heavenly Comrade Alliance martial artists.
Chung Myung, wearing Mount Hua's black martial uniform, scanned everyone once and slowly nodded.
In some eyes, anxiety flickered; in others, resolve burned fiercely. Chung Myung's feelings were likely no different from theirs. But…
His gaze suddenly shifted behind him.
He could see the path leading to Huayin and Mount Hua rising tall behind it.
It was a path leading to Mount Hua, but it was also a road advancing with Mount Hua at their backs. Paths were always open in both directions.
He would advance through this path, and he would also walk back along the path he had walked.
It was different from the past. Different from back then.
When Chung Myung looked again at Heavenly Comrade Alliance martial artists, there was no more wavering in his eyes.
Even if lacking, even if still insufficient, there was no hesitation in advancing. For he now knows that the moment of perfection will never come.
Tak.
Chung Myung took a step forward. Then he looked at everyone and opened his mouth.
"When we return."
“...”
"It will be after the war is over."
This was a declaration that they would not set foot on this land again without seeing the end of the war.
Determination filled the faces of everyone who understood the meaning of his words.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
Without anyone needing to lead, Heavenly Comrade Alliance martial artists let out a great yet disciplined shout and began to move.
There was nothing special to order or be ordered.
The destination was one place—Wudang.
It was the very place where the battle that would decide the future of the world would unfold.
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