Return of Mount Hua Sect

“Kuakkkk!”

The dust-covered Taoist man moved his feet with difficulty and entered the cave.

“W-what is this place?”

Taoist.

Hyun Jong quickly looked around.

‘They have faced so many hardships!’

If only Chung Myung had arrived on time, there would have been no danger. But even so, the opponents were pirates. They weren’t people to be handled easily.

“Come quickly!”

“Yes! Sect leader!”

Because they were the main force of Mount Hua, brought from Shaanxi, and had arrived with him at the Yangtze River.

Of course, the Mount Hua sect couldn’t deal with the Yangtze River pirates all alone, but they could take down one or two groups. Now, Mount Hua was no longer a weak, third-rate sect in Shaanxi!

An intense glow shone in Hyun Jong’s eyes as he saw the disciples standing firmly behind him.

“If you mess with my kids, you will have to pay! Let’s go!”

“Yes, sect leader!”

The disciples of the Mount Hua sect all had this scary atmosphere as they proudly moved through the place.

“… what did you say?”

“It has ended already, sect leader!”

“… already?”

“Yes. Everything has been wiped out.”

“…”

Hyun Jong closed his eyes, feeling dazed. The beggar who spoke looked at him with a slightly sad look.

“… could it be that the pirates were a small group?”

“Is that possible? It is one of the Eighteen Pirates’ places along the Yangtze River.”

“Right?”

“Among the pirates, there is a group called the Great Whale Pirates.”

“Great Star bandits?”

“The Great Whale Pirates! The Great Star bandits are in Green Forest!”

“… why are the bandits and pirates all named in the same manner? It isn’t even like they are making some stir-fried beef dish.”

“That’s what… isn’t that because it was made without much thought?”

“Who did?”

“Well. I don’t know.”

The beggar, frustrated trying to talk with Hyun Jong, who was completely lost, waved his hand.

“Well, the Great Whale pirates were destroyed. Not only the Great Whale Pirates but also one of the newly built pirate groups was completely annihilated. Right now, the entire river is a mess because of that.” 𝙧àＮȫᛒĘş

Hyun Jong closed his eyes again.

“… The entire river?”

“Yes.”

“Pirates?”

“Yes, right!”

“Can you explain what happened?”

“Ah. As for how that happened…!”

After a while, Hyun Jong, who had heard the entire story from the beggar, opened his mouth.

“… He brought the Green Forest with him?”

“Yes, right, sect leader.”

“… Green Forest?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Hyun Jong’s mouth trembled as if it could fall off at any moment.

So… a Taoist brought bandits to defeat the pirates?

‘What does this mean?’

No, he understood it… considering that it was Chung Myung, it made sense…

As he was trying to force himself to understand, he heard whispering from behind.

“As expected, it is Chung Myung.”

“Actually, doesn’t it suit him better?”

“Better? No, they are perfect for each other!”

“Well, whether it is a Taoist or a bandit, we make a living in the mountains, so we are the same.”

Same? What was the same? You bastards!

Hyun Jong, who didn’t know where to go with these absurd events, felt like his stomach would explode. Strangely, a sense of pride welled up as he remembered what the first thing he had to ask was.

“So, where are the kids now?”

“Ah, that…”

A strange anxiety filled Hyun Jong’s face as he looked at the beggar’s expression.

“…”

Hyun Jong gazed at the island visible in the distance. Confusion filled his eyes.

“That… what are they doing?”

“Looks like they are building something.”

“No, it seems like there are a lot of ships crowded there.”

“Why are they there?”

“Well… at the very least, they are doing something useless again.”

At times like this, he really envied that mouth.

The Mount Hua disciples were not particularly surprised by the strange sight they were witnessing. They knew enough about Chung Myung to understand his peculiar ways.

‘Why can’t I still get used to this?’

At that moment, they saw a ship approaching from the other side.

“… it’s a ship.”

“No, maybe not. Can a normal ship move at that speed?”

Soon, a familiar face appeared at the bow of the rapidly approaching ship.

“Sect leader!”

“Uh… um, right, Baek Cheon.”

Baek Cheon flew from the ship and landed right in front of Hyun Jong, bowing respectfully. His face was full of joy.

“I greet the sect leader.”

“You have been through so much. Are you hurt?”

“Thanks to the sect leader’s concern and worry, we all came back safe.”

“Right. It is truly fortunate. Indeed… right, a relief…”

As Hyun Jong trailed off, Baek Cheon glanced at him. He knew what Hyun Jong was going to say, and everyone behind him knew it, too.

Sure enough, Hyun Jong asked while gesturing lightly.

“That… what is being done?”

“… that….”

Baek Cheon couldn’t quite explain it.

“Come and see for yourself….”

“… right. I guess we can do that.”

Hyun Jong didn’t have particularly high expectations. Although it was said that Baek Cheon or Yu Yiseol were the only ones who could stop Chung Myung from Mount Hua, they couldn’t literally stop him.

“Can we get on the ship?”

“Yes, Sect leader. First, there is a fixed number who can come on. So we will come again.”

Hyun Jong nodded weakly.

As the ship approached, several disciples, including Hyun Jong, climbed aboard without delay. Then, the ship turned and quickly headed to the island.

Although Hyun Jong didn’t have much experience with water, he could tell that the speed of the ship was unusual.

“… it doesn’t seem like there is any wind, so why is the ship moving so fast…”

“We have people rowing the ship below. Perhaps because they are all warriors, they are fast.”

In response to Baek Cheon’s explanation, Hyun Jong peeked over the railing and looked down. No matter how he examined the oars, which were rowing, they appeared to be wooden but felt like iron.

“… the people rowing are warriors?”

“Yes, sect leader.”

“…”

Hyun Jong couldn’t bear to ask why so many warriors were rowing under a ship. He could now roughly guess the reason.

As a trained warrior, his ears could also hear the groaning sounds coming from below.

“Move! Move quickly, you men! If you are late, you get beaten to death!”

“What are you, a ghost? Catch that bastard!”

“I don’t know what the ghost is doing, but I know that if we are late, they will catch and hit us! Shut up and move fast!”

“Dragon King! Please stop the bastard! Ugh!”

Hyun Jong shook his head and closed his eyes.

‘I didn’t hear a thing.’

It had to be some auditory hallucination.

Right, it has to be auditory hallucinations…

As Hyun Jong closed his eyes tightly, the image of the island began to appear in his mind.

No, it wasn’t the image of the island, but the image of ships anchored in a row in front of the island.

Such a strange sight.

When ships were anchored, they usually were moored around the island, but now the ships Hyun Jong was seeing were parked in a straight line from the island to the river.

That alone was odd, but all the ships were tied together with large chains, and large wooden boards were placed between them like bridges.

“T-that…”

At the end of the strange ship bridge, a group of people were clinging to each other like ants and shouting.

“Yah! I told you to hold on tight!”

“Make sure to clean it! Chain it up and put the wooden pegs in it!”

“If this thing shakes, our lives will shake too!”

All of them were shirtless men, holding on tightly as if trying to connect one ship to another. It looked like they were trying to secure the ship, but because of the strong water current, the ship rocked every time a wave hit.

“Ahhh! I am falling!”

“Ah!”

In the end, the space between the two ships, which had barely been kept together, widened, and those who were holding them in place fell into the river.

Plop! Plop! Plop!

“Ahh! Save me!”

“I am floating away!”

Those who fell into the water were being swept by the rapids, screaming and moving away. Still, those on the ship didn’t even look in that direction, as if it were a familiar occurrence.

“Narrow it down! Narrow it down! Pull the chain!”

“Ah, hold on tight! If we fall again this time, the boss said he’d throw us into the water!”

“Kuak! Hurry! Pull it quickly! Before my arms fall off!”

When the people who were holding the two ships with both hands tried hard, those holding the chains took advantage to narrow the space between the ships and somehow tie them together.

“That…”

Hyun Jong was about to say something but then went silent. It wasn’t because he had nothing to say or because he was flustered.

Something worse was happening in front of his eyes.

“Puaaak!”

“Eikkk!”

“I-I cannot breathe…”

Another group of people emerged from the river and began to pant as if they hadn’t breathed for years.

“I cannot do this… gurgle.”

“Yeah, come to your senses! If you go unconscious, you will drown here!”

“G-give me a plank! Please! I… I feel like I am going to die of the cold…”

“Mother…”

Neckless dogs.

Hyun Jong, who witnessed the terrible tragedy, closed his eyes in silence and then turned his head to look at Baek Cheon.

Baek Cheon had already turned his gaze elsewhere.

“… Baek Cheon.”

“Yes, sect leader.”

“What about them?”

“They are pirates.”

“…”

Ah, they were the pirates.

Pirates had fallen into the water and were dying. Hahah….

“What are they doing now?”

“… two jobs.”

“Two?”

“Yes. One is to secure the anchor underwater. The current here is so strong that the ship cannot be anchored with an ordinary one….”

“…”

“So we are digging up the riverbed and planting specially made anchors. The anchor and chain are connected to secure the ship.”

“… and the other?”

“We are currently salvaging needed items from a sunken ship from the battle.”

“…”

Hyun Jong’s eyes turned to the pirates.

A mouse that fell into the water… no, calling them mice was a bit much, they were drowning dogs… no, this was also the same….

In any case, the faces of the pirates who had fallen into the water were now pale as water ghosts. Even they would never have imagined that they would end up like this in the water.

“… those pirates…. Are you making them work?”

“Yes. Every single one of them is precious labor….”

Right, that could be. That might happen in life. This would be more true if it was Chung Myung.

But, what he couldn’t understand at all wasn’t the bandits and the pirates who were captured by Taoists and forced to work, but the sparkling something that was connected from the island to their feet.

“Then, Baek Cheon.”

“Yes, sect leader.”

“That person… why do they have something like that on their legs?”

“Ah, that…”

Baek Cheon lowered his gaze as if he couldn’t bear to say this while looking at the sect leader’s face.

“Chung Myung is saying that releasing the pirates into the water is the same as letting them run. They cannot be allowed to run away….”

“So you tied that to a person’s leg?”

“… yes.”

Hyun Jong didn’t ask any more questions and looked at the sky in silence.

The sky was very clear and blue today.

“Heheh… hahah… I sent you all to save people from turning into slaves, but you ended up using bandits and pirates as slaves. Haha… hahaha….”

Hyun Jong, who had been laughing as if he’d lost his mind, looked at Baek Cheon with a much fresher face. Baek Cheon was rather shocked. That relaxed face felt so scary.

“I know roughly what is happening.”

“Yes, sect leader.”

“Let us go back to the main question.”

“… Yes.”

“What are you doing this for?”

This time, Baek Cheon looked up at the sky in silence.

Water filled those beautiful eyes.

Sect leader.

That… that was what he was also most curious about.

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