Chapter 1851 – Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1851. I don’t see myself that way. (1) ❀ ❀ ❀

Baek Cheon’s hand was trembling. From the previous strike, he had pushed his internal energy to the limit, and it felt like he could collapse at any moment.

But he couldn’t fall now. Even if it meant losing his life, there was still something he hadn’t finished.

“Haa, haa…”

Panting heavily, Baek Cheon forced his shaking vision to stabilize and stepped forward with heavy feet.

The masked man lying on the ground flinched at that moment.

“Don’t move, you bastard.”

Baek Sang pointed his sword at the masked man, threatening him. As if he would pierce his heart in an instant if he tried to harm Baek Cheon, red sword energy flickered at the tip of his blade.

The masked man opened his mouth.

“What the hell is this? The sect leader decided to retreat, so there’s no reason for us to be clashing swords like this, right? Wasn’t it you who wanted us to retreat in the first place?”

His voice was filled with frustration. Even Baek Sang, who had been chasing the masked man, momentarily doubted if something had gone wrong and glanced at Baek Cheon.

“Enough with the obvious tricks.”

But Baek Cheon was unfazed.

“If you had nothing to hide, you wouldn’t have run away. Or am I wrong?”

“……”

“If you’re really innocent, I’ll give you a chance. Show me just one technique of Diancang’s martial arts. If you do, I’ll step back without another word.”

The masked man’s gaze suddenly turned cold. His aura had changed in an instant — or rather, returned to what it had been before.

Baek Sang gripped his sword tighter and pointed it even closer. The masked man spoke icily.

“...I didn’t think you were that perceptive. That was a misjudgment. Or maybe, after getting beaten up like that, you’ve finally grown some awareness?”

“You son of a...!”

Baek Sang was enraged, but Baek Cheon calmly stopped him. This wasn’t the time to fall for such an obvious provocation.

“Where is it?”

“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting.”

“The hostage.”

The masked man didn’t respond, but Baek Cheon caught the faint flicker in his eyes — a momentary tremble.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The one keeping watch on Diancang.”

“……”

“Speak. Where is the hostage?”

The masked man stayed silent. Baek Sang pressed his sword against the man’s neck. As the blade, infused with sword energy, touched his skin, it split open instantly.

He must have felt a sharp pain, yet the masked man didn’t flinch. He only stared at Baek Cheon with a look full of hatred and sneered.

“I told you I don’t know what nonsense you’re talking about. Stop with the crap and just kill me.”

“Cut the bluff, you—”

“Even if I knew, do you think I’d tell you?”

Cutting Baek Sang off, the masked man bit his lip. Threats wouldn’t work on this man. If he could remain this calm with a sword to his throat, he wasn’t someone easily broken.

Maybe with time they could pressure him into talking — but if there was one thing they lacked right now, it was time.

“Damn dogs of the Evil sect! What is Jang Ilso to you that you’d risk your life for him?!”

Baek Sang shouted in fury.

It wasn’t just that things weren’t going their way. According to Baek Cheon, the hostages held by the Evil Tyrant Alliance were mostly very young children who had barely even stepped into this world.

These were lives of innocent children. Maybe if he hadn’t known, it would be different, but now that he did, this was no longer just Diancang’s problem.

The masked man opened his mouth mockingly.

“If you’re that angry, then go ahead and kill me.”

“…What?”

“You can’t, can you? If you’ve got half a brain.”

Baek Sang bit his lip again. The masked man continued.

“If I die, you’ll never rescue those kids. Maybe they’ll be killed the moment I drop, or maybe they’ll be dragged somewhere you’ll never find… Either way, the end’s the same.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“If you really thought it was nonsense, then you wouldn’t hesitate. Kill me.”

The masked man’s voice was cold and commanding.

Faced with such confident defiance, Baek Sang had no choice but to admit it — this wasn’t bluffing or a gamble.

Yes, to be honest, assuming Jang Ilso hadn’t planned for the possibility that his monitor might be discovered was far more naive.

“…Damn it.”

Baek Sang cursed. Though unintended, the quiet curse was a de facto acknowledgment that the masked man held the upper hand.

Baek Sang pressed him again in disbelief.

“What the hell is he? Who is Jang Ilso to you?! Why would you go so far as to risk your life to be loyal to him?!”

“Loyalty, huh…”

The mask covering the man’s face twitched — a clear scoff.

“Enough with the pointless chatter. You just need to decide. Will you let me go, or will you kill me and accept the deaths of the hostages?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would we ever—!”

“Even if half a moment passes, the fact that something’s gone wrong with me will be conveyed.”

Baek Sang went silent. He didn’t bother asking how that was possible — he himself knew of a few ways to make it happen.

“What will you do?”

The masked man asked, staring directly at Baek Cheon.

Ironically, he knew the real decision-maker wasn’t the one shouting up front, but the one calmly watching behind— the man who had lost everything and now survived with only his shell.

There was a strange glimmer in the masked man’s gaze as he looked at Baek Cheon. Was it pity, mockery, or something else?

Receiving that gaze, Baek Cheon slowly opened his mouth.

“It’s not loyalty, is it?”

“…What did you say?”

The masked man narrowed his eyes slightly, and Baek Cheon returned the gaze steadily— piercing, unwavering.

“You’ve simply run out of options, haven’t you?”

Baek Cheon took a step closer. Baek Sang was startled and tried to stop him.

“Sahyung!”

Even if Baek Sang had a sword pointed at him, this was a dangerously reckless move for Baek Cheon. But Baek Cheon walked forward, unfazed, as if he hadn’t heard.

But the strange thing was the masked man's reaction. The one who had stayed calm even with a sword to his neck now suddenly tried to retreat when Baek Cheon approached.

Scared now? That couldn’t be. There was no reason to suddenly fear Baek Cheon, who barely had a shred of inner energy left.

Step.

Finally, Baek Cheon stood right in front of the masked man. If the masked man didn’t care about his own life, he could have easily attacked Baek Cheon from that distance.

Yet, he only glared at Baek Cheon with furious eyes, making no move.

“You have nowhere left to return to now.”

At Baek Cheon's words, the masked man's pupils trembled violently.

❀ ❀ ❀

Sweat trickled down Gwak Hwanso's face.

“Damn it!”

Kwaang!

His sword clashed with a dao that flew at him. The impact shook him to the core, and his wrist felt like it might snap.

“Out of my way, you runt!”

“Ugh… Aaahhh!”

But Gwak Hwanso gritted his teeth and held on. These wretched bastards—the Red Dogs—fighting them was agonizing both physically and mentally, as they brought back painful memories of that day. Even so, he resisted with everything he had.

“Sahyung!”

Soon, Hainan’s disciples rushed in from both sides. Their swords pierced the Red Dogs’s body with precision.

“Ugh... ugh!”

Bloodshot eyes bulged from the Red Dogs's sockets.

“Haaah!”

Slash!

Taking the chance, Gwak Hwanso beheaded the Red Dogs.

“Cough!”

“Sahyung! Are you okay?”

He nodded with the last of his strength. If the Red Dogs hadn’t already been injured, it would have been Gwak Hwanso’s head rolling on the ground instead.

But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Gwak Hwanso survived and the enemy was dead. On the battlefield, survival is everything. Hadn't he learned that painfully well in Gangnam?

“Damn it. What am I supposed to do with this wound…?”

“…Don’t make a fuss.”

Gwak Hwanso instinctively looked around.

His mouth felt dry and gritty as if filled with sand. The Sahyungs standing guard around him all wore weary expressions.

Understandably so. Among all those fighting to protect this land under the Heavenly Comrade Alliance, not one remained unworn. But the fatigue of Hainan’s disciples was on a different level.

Though they fought under the great name of Hainan, they had lost the elders who supported that name.

Youth bearing the name of Hainan with nothing to hold it up—that’s how others saw them, and Gwak Hwanso knew it well.

That left two choices.

One, admit they were too inexperienced to bear the Hainan name and step back quietly. 

Two, fight twice as hard as anyone else to prove that Hainan’s legacy hadn’t fallen.

Had they chosen the first, no one would have blamed them. They’d likely have received help instead—the people of the Heavenly Comrade Alliance were like that.

But Gwak Hwanso couldn’t take that path. Because the moment they admitted their weakness and accepted help, the name Hainan would truly vanish.

‘Sect Leader…’

Gwak Hwanso recalled the late Geum Yangbaek. Would it have been different if he were alive? Yes, it definitely would have.

Gwak Hwanso still felt burdened by the task of leading Hainan’s disciples.

‘At the very least…’

Even if Geum Yangbaek couldn’t return, if just a few others had been there to help lead the disciples, this wouldn’t be so hard.

In that moment, a certain face came to mind. Gwak Hwanso quickly erased it coldly.

That person was no longer among them. No—should not be. Even if he were alive, he could not be longed for. He was someone whose name shouldn’t even be spoken.

And yet…

“Sahyung! They’re coming again!”

Gwak Hwanso gripped his sword tightly.

Like a pack of mad dogs without a master, the remnants of the Red Dogs, unable to find Jang Ilso, were rampaging wildly in all directions. Hainan was barely able to keep up.

“Get in formation!”

But even if it was overwhelming, they could not turn away. That conviction was etched deeply into Gwak Hwanso’s heart.

And he hadn’t forgotten. Among them were those who were Hainan’s mortal enemies.

“Turn this place into the bastards’ graveyard!”

“Yes, Sahyung!”

The disciples of Hainan raised their swords with the last of their strength.

❀ ❀ ❀

“What…”

“I thought about it. If I were Jang Ilso, who would I appoint as a watcher?”

“….”

“There’s no point in using those from the Evil Sect. Even if their faces are hidden, you can still sense their nature from the energy they give off.”

These were people from Diancang, but not ‘just’ from Diancang.

Some were survivors from the Righteous Sect, who had no choice but to become Jang Ilso’s dogs—to survive, or to protect someone.

“It’s also meaningless to place a watcher far away. That makes it easy.”

Baek Cheon reached out and grabbed the masked man’s mask.

“Someone from the Righteous Sect who would follow Jang Ilso’s orders more thoroughly than anyone. And unlike the others, someone who could never return to their original place, even if things changed.”

“…”

“No, someone who would be outright rejected if they tried to return.”

In one swift motion, he ripped off the mask. The face revealed in broad daylight was exactly as Baek Cheon had expected.

“Isn’t that right?”

The one whose mask had been taken away clenched his jaw instead of answering.

”Yu Gong.” [유공(庾供)]

A traitor of Hainan glared at Baek Cheon with venomous eyes.

Next Chapter

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