Chapter 1838 – Return of The Mount Hua Sect

 

Chapter 1838. This Is Why It’s Not Fun. (3) ❀ ❀ ❀

“No, Sahyung! Wait a moment!”

Baek Sang called out repeatedly with a flustered voice to the person running ahead of him. But the man didn’t even glance back, only continuing to sprint forward.

“Sahyung!”

Only when Baek Sang shouted more forcefully did the man finally cast a fleeting glance. His face was haggard beyond belief, but his eyes still shone with the same brilliance Baek Sang remembered.

“What?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Where exactly are you going right now?”

Baek Sang couldn’t understand. Baek Cheon had appeared before him out of nowhere, given him no time to exchange greetings, and simply dragged him along.

Fine, that much was acceptable. He could understand.

Even if Baek Cheon was excommunicated, he was still Baek Sang’s Sahyung. Even if the sect leader himself decided to beat him to death, that wouldn’t change. So if Baek Cheon needed help, it was only natural for Baek Sang to assist him.

But to help, he at least needed to know what Baek Cheon was trying to do.

“Are you chasing after Jang Ilso?”

Baek Cheon shook his head firmly.

“No. Even if I went after him now, there’s nothing I could do.”

“Well…”

Baek Sang swallowed back the words “That’s true”. Even if it was the truth, it wasn’t something he should say to his Sahyung’s face.

“Then what exactly…?”

“I have to do what I can.”

“And what is that?”

“Either atonement or rescue. It depends on the outcome.”

“…What? Rescue? Is someone captured?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“The disciples of Diancang. They’ve been taken by the Evil Tyrant Alliance.”

Baek Sang was momentarily speechless before shouting in disbelief.

“N-no, wait a minute. What are you saying? Why are you trying to rescue them?”

“If someone can save them, they should! What kind of question is that?”

Baek Cheon glared at him with a furious expression, making Baek Sang instinctively shrink back.

“W-Where are they?”

“I heard they’re in Yunnan.”

“…You’re joking, right? You’re going to rescue people in Yunnan? Do you even hear yourself?”

“Of course it’s impossible.”

Baek Sang let out a sigh of relief. He had been worried Baek Cheon had lost his mind, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

“Then?”

“If they really were in Yunnan, then we couldn’t save them.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Do you really think Jang Ilso would keep hostages so far away?”

Baek Sang frowned.

“That’s not the kind of person he is. He always prepares his next move. If the disciples of Diancang ignored the hostages and attacked the Evil Tyrant Alliance, he’d drag them out and put a blade to their throats.”

Everything was confusing, whether it was Diancang or about the hostage, but even Baek Sang couldn’t deny that. Jang Ilso was always ahead of his opponents.

“But you can’t be sure, right?”

“Yes. I couldn’t before. Not until just now.”

“…Are you saying things have changed?”

Baek Cheon nodded resolutely.

“Yes. Because I saw it.”

“You saw what? The hostages?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what?”

“Stop talking and follow me. I need to confirm what I saw with my own eyes!”

“No—”

Baek Sang muttered weakly, but Baek Cheon ignored him. Right now, just chasing after his target was exhausting enough.

‘They were definitely there.’

If Baek Cheon was right, then there was hope. Hope that they could atone for their mistakes.

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“Damn it!”

Im Sobyeong ran with all his might, his mind flooded with the same thoughts over and over again. When had it started? When had they been played?

‘Wudang…!’

Blood seeped from his lips as he bit down hard, but he didn’t even notice the pain.

When had it begun? Yes, ever since Wudang burned behind them. That was when everything started going wrong.

‘And, of all the others, I!’

The flames had only consumed a few halls and the wounded.

The righteous sects, like the Heavenly Comrade Alliance, might have been fooled, but Im Sobyeong, a man of the evil sects, should have realized it sooner. Jang Ilso wouldn’t have deployed separate forces just to target something so insignificant.

‘If he had the manpower, he would’ve gone for their backs.’

But in that moment, he had accepted it. He had mistaken the burning halls as bait to lure the disciples of Wudang away from the battlefield. He had believed their blood-soaked determination had crushed Jang Ilso’s plans.

Yet, what had actually happened?

Led by Jo Gyeol, those who should have guarded the rear had been drawn into Mount Wudang. And by now, the demons of the Blood Palace had likely bypassed an empty mountain and descended upon the exposed disciples.

No, they might have already encountered each other and been fighting.

“Damn it!”

A furious shout burst from Im Sobyeong’s lips. He was stupid. How foolish. How utterly idiotic.

“This isn’t the time to blame yourself.”

At that moment, Maeng So’s deep voice cut through his thoughts.

“No one noticed it. This isn’t your fault.”

“Yes, you’re right. But I should have known. That’s why I’m here.”

Im Sobyeong bit his lip once more.

There was only one reason for his mistake. He had been blinded by the chance to end the war.

No, perhaps he had been afraid. Afraid that the war might never end.

Whichever it was, he had failed to stay calm. Jang Ilso’s bait had caught his attention, and that single moment had been enough for Jang Ilso.

‘Please…’

In the end, all he had left was a desperate prayer.

“He's not someone who'll be easily defeated. You know that.”

Maeng So tried to reassure him, but Im Sobyeong clenched his fists.

“That’s not the problem.”

Maeng So and Jongli Gok turned to him at the same time.

Tang Gunak? Of course he was worried. At some point, Im Sobyeong had come to respect the man.

It felt odd to call it friendship, but at the very least, he couldn’t bear to see Tang Gunak die at Jang Ilso’s hands.

Yet right now, there was something even more important than Tang Gunak’s life.

“Don’t you understand?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The Blood Palace is strong.”

At the sudden statement, Jongli Gok frowned.

“Isn’t that something everyone already knows? But we are not so weak that we should fear them…”

“And that Blood Palace is being commanded by Jang Ilso.”

Jongli Gok fell silent.

The moment the name Jang Ilso was added to the mention of the Blood Palace, the weight of the situation shifted entirely. The Blood Palace alone was one thing, but the Blood Palace led by Jang Ilso was an entirely different entity.

“To make matters worse, we are now scattered, separated into different factions, without even knowing exactly where our allies are. Can you not foresee what will happen if Jang Ilso sets his sights on us?”

Jongli Gok’s gaze trembled slightly.

“If we warn everyone now…”

“And how exactly do we do that?”

At a loss for words, Jongli Gok shut his mouth once more.

“The Evil Tyrant Alliance is already beyond recovery. But damn it, the same applies to us!”

Im Sobyeong gritted his teeth. The control of the Heavenly Comrade Alliance had already collapsed. The Heavenly Comrade Alliance was like a wolf that had lost its senses at the sight of a flock of sheep scattering in every direction. Chasing after them had caused it to stray too far from its pack, recklessly running ahead.

And now, a tiger was approaching from behind that pack of wolves.

As Jongli Gok finally grasped the full extent of the situation, a simple four-character phrase flashed through his mind.

‘Divide and conquer.’ [gaggae gyeogpa, 각개격파]

Jang Ilso knew exactly what he needed to do to bring down the Heavenly Comrade Alliance most efficiently. After all, he was the one who had manipulated the Heavenly Comrade Alliance’s movements from the start.

Every action taken by the fake Jang Ilso had been designed solely to make the Heavenly Comrade Alliance easier to tear apart and devour. The realization sent chills down Jongli Gok’s spine.

The situation was far worse than he had initially thought. Desperation filled his voice as he asked.

“Then what must we do?”

“For now… stopping him before he makes his move is our best option. No matter what it takes.”

That was why they were throwing everything aside and running at full speed.

They didn’t need to stop him completely—just delaying him, just hindering him enough to prevent him from executing his plans smoothly, would be enough. Reinforcements would come. Others must have sensed that something was wrong as well.

‘Please!’

But all Im Sobyeong could do was hope. That Tang Gunak and Zhuge Zain had realized the severity of the situation. Or at the very least, that they could stall Jang Ilso, even for a moment.

‘If they fail to do even that…’

Im Sobyeong shut his eyes tightly. Just the thought alone made his hair stand on end, and his mind grew hazy with fear.

Their forces were scattered, and the battlefield had expanded to an immeasurable extent. It was impossible to determine the exact location of either allies or enemies by sight alone. In this hellish situation, they had to locate the Blood Palace and Jang Ilso, who were no more than a handful of men.

The longer they delayed, the faster their forces would collapse, and the casualties would rise into the hundreds. By the time they managed to reach and stop the enemy, nearly half of the Heavenly Comrade Alliance’s warriors would have already perished.

“No matter how strong Jang Ilso is, does this even make sense? Even if he brought every warrior of the Blood Palace, they would number at most a few hundred.”

“If it were only the Blood Palace, that would be true.”

“Then… are you saying there’s something more?”

“What do you think the fleeing Evil Tyrant Alliance members will do when they see Jang Ilso leading the Blood Palace in a charge?”

Maeng So let out a breath.

There was no need to think about it. The answer was obvious. Those cowards would follow him without hesitation, simply to survive.

Plans and strategies didn’t even matter anymore. Jang Ilso’s mere presence on the battlefield would be enough to unite the scattered forces around him.

‘Even if their numbers aren’t great, it won’t matter. As long as he gathers enough strength to divide and conquer the disorganized Heavenly Comrade Alliance, that will be enough.’

At best, those men would be mere cannon fodder. But everyone knew—Jang Ilso was the kind of man who could make even cannon fodder the deadliest weapon.

Im Sobyeong, Maeng So, and Jongli Gok all fell into silence. The more they thought about it, the more they realized just how horrifying the situation had become. The Blood Palace alone was already overwhelming, but what if Jang Ilso had another hidden piece to play?

The answer was obvious. Total annihilation. No matter how the war had played out so far, everything would have to be reconsidered from scratch.

Maeng-so couldn’t understand it no matter how much he thought about it.

“How… We were definitely winning, weren’t we?”

“……”

“In that momentum, Jang Ilso seemed almost powerless. And yet, how could a single move change everything so drastically?”

Im Sobyeong remained silent. He didn’t know how to explain it.

To call it ‘just one move’ was misleading—every moment in which the Heavenly Comrade Alliance had thought they were winning had, in reality, been orchestrated for this final move. Or perhaps, the battlefield itself was simply a place where a single decisive move could twist fate in an instant.

But even after deep contemplation, Im Sobyeong could not bring himself to speak. There were words that could serve as an answer, but he could not say them aloud.

Surprisingly, Jongli Gok spoke them instead.

“…That’s why we are the defeated ones.”

“Damn it…”

“For now, we must focus on rescuing Lord Tang.”

Jongli Gok declared firmly. Maeng So nodded heavily.

At that moment, a group appeared in the distance. When Im Sobyeong saw who was at the lead, he cursed under his breath.

“Damn it.”

Cheong Myeong. He was leading the Mount Hua Sect. In the direction that Im Sobyeong was running.

With that, any hope that Cheong Myeong had realized the situation before Im Sobyeong and had gone to rescue Tang Gunak was crushed.

“Nokrim King!”

Yoon Jong, running beside Cheong Myeong, shouted at the top of his lungs. Without needing any further orders, the two groups merged into one.

“Dojang. The situation is…”

“I already know.”

Im Sobyeong turned his head wordlessly. There was no need for further explanation. All that was left was to confirm it with their own eyes.

“There!”

After sprinting with all their might, they finally arrived at their destination—where those they had left behind should have been.

“Ah… Ah, ah…”

“Damn it…”

A reality they could never bring themselves to believe was laid out before them. Countless gruesome corpses were piled upon the desolate land.

The blood still flowing from their bodies, not yet hardened, stained the ochre earth a deep crimson.

Next Chapter

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