Return of Mount Hua Sect - Chapter 981
Novel Return of Mount Hua Sect Chapter 981
Eyes full of mockery.
It seemed to say, did you, who once strutted around as if the world lay at your feet, ever anticipate this situation?
Tak!
Jang Ilso unconsciously raised one hand and covered his face.
This is because he instinctively thought that the expression he was making right now should not be shown to others.
He is Bangju of Myriad Man Manor. And Ryeonju of Evil Tyrant Alliance.
He is not someone who should distort his face due to Sect Leader of Mount Hua.
At that moment, Chung Myung’s mouth opened.
“Sect Leader has ordered, so Black Dragon King will be released as you wish. But.”
Squeeze.
Chung Myung pressed the foot that was stepping on Black Dragon King’s head. A groan that seems to be a break comes out of Black Dragon King’s mouth. (청명이 흑룡왕의 머리를 밟고 있던 발에 힘을 주었다. 흑룡왕의 입에서 끊어질 것 같은 신음이 새어 나온다.)
Chung Myung, who was listening to the groans with an expressionless face, glares at Jang Ilso.
“I don’t trust you.”
“……”
“Black Dragon King will be released only after we arrive in Gangbuk.”
Jang Ilso glared at Chung Myung without a word. A fierce killing intent was swirling in his eyes.
“So, get lost now. Even my patience has its limits.”
Jang Ilso laughed lowly.
His shoulders, which had been trembling slightly, began to shake more violently. But strangely enough, no sound of laughter was heard.
A silent, manic laughter.
Those watching this spectacle clenched their fists, feeling an inexplicable chill at the scene.
Jang Ilso laughed softly for a long time before slowly removing his hand from his face. His face had already returned to its usual calm expression.
“Hmm.”
Jang Ilso slowly turned his head and looked at Hyun Jong again.
“Sect Leader.”
“Please speak, Ryeonju.”
“I believe that Sect Leader will keep what he said.”
Hyun Jong quietly nods his head.
“It shall be so.”
Jang Ilso nods as if satisfied.
“Though you said you do not negotiate with Evil Sects… That’s Sect Leader’s stance. Since I am also a person with dignity, I cannot simply follow Sect Leader’s words alone. So, in my own way, I must keep my word as well.” (“사파와 협상을 하지 않으신다고 하셨지만……. 그건 장문인의 입장. 저도 체면이 있는 사람인지라 장문인의 말만 따를 수는 없는 노릇이지요. 그러니 제 나름대로 제 입으로 한 말을 지켜야겠습니다.”)
Jang Ilso slightly raises his hand. Following this, two ships from the fleet waiting in the distance began to approach Plum Blossom Island.
When the sword warriors of Mount Hua saw this, their complexions hardened, and Jang Ilso twisted the corner of his mouth.
“They are empty ships.”
“…..”
“For those who have achieved great deeds to return in glory, it wouldn’t do to return in a pitiful state. Consider this a gesture of goodwill from me.”
Mount Hua’s disciples looked at Jang Ilso with eyes full of doubt.
This is because the name Jang Ilso and the word goodwill did not fit together in their minds.
However, Hyun Jong simply bowed deeply, showing his gratitude.
“Thank you.”
“……”
Jang Ilso silently looks at Hyun Jong, who bows his head towards him.
Jang Ilso, who had been staring at Hyun Jong for a long time, creating slightly awkward air, slowly opened his mouth.
“Sect Leader of Mount Hua. Maengju of Heavenly Comrade Alliance.”
His voice was calm, but it spread with a strange resonance.
“…Hyun Jong.”
Jang Ilso’s head nods slightly. It wasn’t the exaggerated appearance he always showed.
“I will remember the name properly.”
“…It’s not a name significant enough for Paegun to remember.”
“Kekek.”
Jang Ilso, with a low chuckle, turns around without hesitation. He slowly walked towards his small ship behind Chung Myung.
Inevitably, he approaches Chung Myung. His eyes and Chung Myung’s met in the air.
“…This time.”
Jang Ilso opened his mouth with a bitter smile.
“I’ve taken a hit. Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword.”
Chung Myung twisted the corner of his mouth.
“This time?”
As a smile that was oddly similar yet distinctly different from Jang Ilso’s, Chung Myung’s mouth opened again.
“Quite the talker for someone just scrambling to save his own life and went home.”
“……”
“F*ck off.”
Jang Ilso lightly shook his head as if he had no choice and passed by Chung Myung.
The moment when his body passed Chung Myung and no one could see his face anymore.
Kkarararak!
The rings on his hand clinked against each other, scattering sounds like the wails of trapped spirits.
As if demons were screaming in pain. (마치 원귀들이 고통에 찬 비명을 질러 대듯이.)
Step. Step.
As he strides forward and boards the boat, the boat moves of its own accord and heads towards the river.
‘Mount Hua and…. Hyun Jong.’
A sinister aura enveloped Jang Ilso’s face. (장일소의 얼굴에 새파란 귀기가 어린다.)
On the surface, it is a result that does not hurt him. In any case, he prevented the death of Black Dragon King, and owed him a huge favor.
Of course, even if the crisis itself was caused by the inaction of Jang Ilso and Myriad Man Manor, the fact that he saved the life of Black Dragon King remains unchanged.
To those who do not understand this conversation, it would appear that Jang Ilso went into Plum Blossom Island alone, which was almost like an enemy camp, and rescued Black Dragon King with just his three-inch tongue, without shedding a single drop of blood. (이 대화를 이해하지 못하는 이들의 눈에는 장일소가 적진이나 다름없는 매화도에 홀로 들어가 피 한 방울 흘리지 않고, 그 세 치 혀만으로 흑룡왕을 구출해 낸 양상으로 보일 것이다.)
It is clear that Jang Ilso’s reputation will increase further.
Yes, on the surface. Just on the surface.
But now, Jang Ilso’s insides were filled with a sense of helpless humiliation.
‘This me….’
Jang Ilso’s face is distorted like a demon.
‘Me, having to beg for my life due to the mercy of someone whose name I barely remembered? This Jang Ilso?’
Hyun Jong was a being who did not exist under his calculations.
From Mount Hua and Tang Family entering Plum Blossom Island and Black Dragon King being put in danger, everything happened just as he had calculated.
But what followed was entirely different from what he had envisioned.
If it is Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword. He believed that Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, which values the disciples of Mount Hua more than his own life and never loses sight of the gain it holds, would never give up on the arrangement he proposed.
It was an offer that could not be worse for Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword.
They can return alive without giving up any of Mount Hua’s disciples, and they can gain the reputation of rescuing Namgung from Plum Blossom Island.
With this achievement alone, Heavenly Comrade Alliance and Mount Hua can gain a clear advantage over Shaolin and Ten Great Sects.
An offer that anyone with a brain could not refuse.
Especially for a person as smart as Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, regardless of his feelings, he had no choice but to hold Jang Ilso’s hand. Certainly!
That is why Jang Ilso was able to head to Plum Blossom Island alone without any escort.
Because he believed Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword would never be able to reject this offer.
However….
‘Hyun Jong.’
Hyun Jong rejected his offer.
An offer that anyone with even the slightest understanding of the gains could never refuse, that man, Hyun Jong, thoughtlessly threw it to the ground.
It was something Jang Ilso could never understand with his way of thinking.
And if one looks at it calmly, at that moment, Jang Ilso was as good as dead.
Because he missed the variable that was Hyun Jong and the moment his offer was rejected, Jang Ilso was nothing more than a clown who, overconfident in his own intellect, stuck his head into the mouth of a tiger.
Yet, surviving was merely a stroke of luck.
Jang Ilso, who until now had held everything in his hands and was able to sway things however he wanted, ended up escaping with his life for reasons he couldn’t even understand.
“Kekekekek.”
Jang Ilso’s eyes are bright with killing intent again. (장일소의 두 눈에 다시금 새파란 살기가 어린다.)
“…Hyun Jong.”
The reason a madman is called a madman is that they do things beyond common sense.
In that sense, Jang Ilso may appear to be a madman in their eyes, but in Jang Ilso’s eyes, Hyun Jong is the madman.
A crazy person whose actions and calculations were beyond his comprehension.
Such a person is Sect Leader of Mount Hua and Maengju of Heavenly Comrade Alliance. And that too with the unwavering support of Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword.
Jang Ilso licked his lips. His lips, blood-red, were colored in a more glamorous color.
“This is why…. what makes the world interesting.”
Jang Ilso suppressed the burning stomach as if he had swallowed charcoal and forcibly twisted his lips.
But his eyes were sinking ever more gloomily.
“Huuuuu.”
“Ahh…”
The moment Jang Ilso left Plum Blossom Island, the wind came out from the mouths of Mount Hua’s disciples all at once.
Some were wiping the sweat that had soaked their foreheads, while others were violently shaking their heads.
Such was the immense pressure that Jang Ilso exerted just by being present.
Just looking at him takes their breath away, and it feels like their skin is being cut by a sharp blade.
Why is that person the Ryeonju of Evil Tyrant Alliance? They feel it in their body every time they encounter him.
But for that reason…
‘Sect Leader.’
It was natural for them to have deep trust in their eyes when they looked at Hyun Jong.
That’s Jang Ilso.
Even against Jang Ilso, the ruler of Gangnam and Evil Sects, Hyun Jong did not back down even an inch. No, it wasn’t just about not retreating.
Hyun Jong did not use force to greet Jang Ilso, nor did he use his momentum to push him away.
He just dealt with Jang Ilso calmly, like Hyun Jong always did.
Who else could do that?
They feel it again. What a great person their Sect Leader is.
“Thank you for your hard work. Maengju-nim.”
These words came from none other than the mouth of Tang Gun-ak.
That means that Tang Gun-ak shared their sentiment.
“No, Gaju-nim.”
Hyun Jong shakes his head.
“I was tired of trying to calm my trembling legs. Paegun is Paegun, after all. How can a person be like that…”
Tang Gun-ak smiles slightly.
‘He is a great person.’
Anyone who saw Jang Ilso’s departing back would feel as Tang Gun-ak did.
Who in the world could send that Jang Ilso back like that?
“This is really great….”
“I’m sorry, but I think we’ll have to share the words later. Gaju-nim.”
At that moment, Hyun Jong’s gaze turned toward Namgung Family.
“As long as Paegun promised, there will be no more attacks. First of all, we must quickly move the wounded in Namgung to the mainland and treat them.”
“Yes. Maengj-nim.”
It is Tang Gun-ak who rarely experiences interruption mid-sentence.
But right now, there wasn’t a single trace of displeasure on Tang Gun-ak’s face.
This is because Hyun Jong’s anxious feelings were conveyed as he feared that more of the sword warriors of Namgung Family would die due to serious injuries.
“Move the wounded to the ships! We are returning to Gangbuk.”
“Yes!”
The disciples of Mount Hua raised their voices and answered with energized faces. And what was interesting was the fact that even the martial artists of Sichuan Tang Family were raising their voices in response to those words.
Tang Gun-ak chuckles at the sight.
Perhaps, at this moment, even his own people have firmly acknowledged Hyun Jong as their leader.
‘We have gained much.’
It was an impulsive start, but truly, much was gained.
Reputation, justification, accomplishments.
Right. So many things.
At that time, Hyun Jong, who was in front of him, seemed to be distressed and ran forward to help Namgung Family’s member.
Tang Gun-ak nodded, watching his back.
‘But the greatest thing we might have gained here is probably that person.’
As he thought about it, there was something that made him curious again.
Tang Gun-ak slowly turned his head.
In his eyes, he can see the back of Chung Myung, standing with one foot on the unconscious Black Dragon King and glaring at Myriad Man Manor across the river.
‘Did you foresee all this and head here?’
Of course.
Chung Myung would not answer.