Return of Mount Hua Sect - Chapter 587
”Chae- Chaeju!”
Bitter Fox (고호리(苦狐狸)) and Li Jeongbang (이정방(李正方)) hurriedly opened the door and ran in.
Mad Ox Sword Go Hong also frowned as if he were upset.
“Why are you making a fuss?”
“Chae- Chaeju! It’s a big deal!”
Li Jeongbang shouted with a white face. Go Hong clicked his tongue and rebuked him.
“Scholar has such a light butt. So, what’s going on?”
“Mo- Mount Hua…….”
“Hm?”
“Mount Hua is coming here now while destroying other Stronghold!”
“… What?”
Go Hong asked with a frown.
“But does it matter?”
“Yes?”
“This was your plan, wasn’t it? You said if we sit still, they’ll beat up the other Stronghold, and we’ll just watch and then swallow them all.”
“But it’s different from what I thought! I thought Mount Hua and the other Stronghold would suffer a defeat on both sides. But now, Mount Hua is unilaterally destroying other Stronghold!”
“Destroy?”
“Li- Literally. It is said that they unilaterally subjugated the Stronghold without any damage.”
After the report, Li Jeongbang swallowed dry saliva. This is because he feared a scolding that would fall from Chaeju.
But contrary to his opinion, Go Hong was not particularly angry at his report. Rather, he just grinned as if he was having fun.
“Hooh, those youngsters seem much better than I thought.”
“Mount Hua’s power is beyond our imagination! F- Forgive me. I should have guessed since Yachadang was helplessly defeated!”
“Tsk tsk. Incompetent.”
Having swept down his shaggy beard several times, Go Hong opened his mouth while looking at Li Jeongbang lying on his stomach.
“So what do you want me to do?”
“That, things don’t look good currently. First of all, avoid them…….”
“Avoid?”
Hearing this, Go Hong burst into laughter.
“This coward has gone out of his mind! Do you mean that this Go Hong should run away from such young children?”
“Bu- But Chaeju……. They’re in great momentum! They’ve already cleared up two Stronghold, and their morale has risen…….”
Li Jeongbang said, lowering his head as much as possible.
“There is a saying to avoid falling rain. It would be better to hide away for a while now.”
“Tsk tsk tsk. This idiot.”
Go Hong laughed at him.
“You bastard only amount to this, that’s why even with that head, you’re wiping others’
backs.”
“Cha- Chaeju!”
Go Hong insinuated.
“Right, I heard there’s the rat among those Mount Hua kids?”
“……Yes, Nokrim King is also coming here with Mount Hua.”
“Hahahahaha!” Go Hong held his stomach and laughed. When his laughter rang loudly, the whole room shook and dust fell from the ceiling.
“Chae- Chaeju?”
Li Jeongbang stared blankly at Go Hong as if he didn’t understand at all.
Of course, Go Hong is not a very intelligent person. However, he was certainly not the kind of person who would risk himself with useless stubbornness.
If he had not been such a person, he would not have been able to rise to the position of Chaeju in this Nokrim where swords and conspiracies are rampant, and even if he had risen because of luck, it would not have been possible to build the same reputation as he has now.
Therefore, Li Jeongbang couldn’t understand the current Go Hong.
“Hahahahat! That rat is rolling his head. He must be on his way in high spirits by now.”
“Chae- Chaeju. Looking at the situation… .”
“Yes, I know.”
Go Hong said in a nonchalant way.
“Don’t you mean that all the other Stronghold that had been keeping me in check have been destroyed, and that rat has swindled the children of Mount Hua into this place?”
“It is.”
“What could be a better situation than this?”
“…Yes?”
The light was vivid in Go Hong’s eyes.
“Then if I just beat the Mount Hua’s little kids and the rat to death, didn’t it mean that there will be no one against me being crowned as Nokrim King? Those odds and sods wouldn’t dare to stand in front of me, and even those who have their own power won’t be able to deny that I caught and killed Im Sobyong!”
“Chae- Chae-ju! Of course, it is. But isn’t that a story when we can stop them with the power of our Daebyeolchae?”
Of course, Daebyeolchae has unparalleled power compared to other Stronghold that came with them. Even if those two Stronghold were united, it would be too much for them to afford one Daebyeolchae.
One thing is, can Daebyeolchae clean up those two Strongholds without any damage?
‘That’s ridiculous.’ If Daebyeolchae had such power, they would not have had to form a joint front with other Stronghold. Nokchae or whatever, it’s enough to just wipe it off by themselves.
‘There’s no way Chaeju doesn’t know that.’
So where does that confidence come from?
“Huhu…. I’m sure that guy is right.”
‘That guy?’
As soon as Li Jeongbang raised his head suspiciously, Go Hong suddenly rose from his seat.
“Open the Stronghold and greet them!”
“N- No! No! Chaeju……”
Li Jeongbang raised his head in fright. However, Go Hong’s blade-like gaze pierced him.
“…….”
A cold sweat broke out on Li Jeongbang’s forehead.
“If you say one more word, I’ll rip your mouth off.”
“…….”
“Tsk tsk tsk. That’s why scholars wouldn’t do it. They can’t even catch the opportunity. Tsk tsk tsk.”
Go Hong’s face was full of spirit. He shouted in a loud voice.
“Merciless Yama? Tamhyolrang? How dare you compare such bugs to this Go Hong! I’ll let the hillbilly from Shaanxi know why I’m called Mad Ox Sword!”
Li Jeongbang eventually swallowed dry saliva and nodded.
‘We can’t stop him anyway.’
Mount Hua will be here any minute now. As soon as Chaeju came out of the way, fighting became inevitable.
He can’t help but hope Go Hong is hiding some secret card.
* * * “But…….”
Baek Cheon, who was climbing the mountain, looked at Chung Myung and opened his mouth as if wondering.
“Why?”
“… Isn’t Nokrim one of the strongest groups in the world, called Five Great Evil Sect.”
“Right, but why are they weaker than I thought?”
“Well, rather than weak…….”
“Why don’t they have more power?”
“…….”
“Why, is it not worth dealing with because they are ragtag?”
Baek Cheon turns his head and looks at Im Sobyong following them.
When he saw the shoulders drooping like a willow branch in the rain, he thought he was doing many things he shouldn’t do.
“……No, not necessarily.”
“Sasuk, by the way, it’s better not to look down on Nokrim.”
“Huh?”
At the unexpected words, Baek Cheon blinked and looked at Chung Myung. He knew there would be a word that ignored Nokrim.
Chung Myung spoke with a serious look on his face.
“Even a thousand hardened soldiers (정병(精兵)) cannot defeat ten thousand conscripts.
Numerical superiority is more dangerous than you think.”
Baek Cheon’s expression hardened. Chung Myung thought for a moment and said.
“If we have about 100 of us, about 500 bandits can be swept away as an after-dinner snack.”
“… It’s not a snack.”
Of course, Baek Cheon thought the same inside, but he couldn’t bear to agree at the thought that Im Sobyong’s ears were open.
“But with a thousand people, it becomes a bit annoying.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“Then what if it’s five thousand?” “…….”
“What if it’s ten thousand?”
“……we won’t even be able to see at that point.”
It felt like a bucket of water had been poured into Dongting Lake.
“Even if only a hundred people live in each Stronghold, the number of Nokrim bandits will already exceed 7,000. But, as Sasuk knows, there aren’t only a hundred bandits in a single Stronghold.”
“…So it’s really ten thousand.”
“It could be much more.”
Baek Cheon is speechless.
‘There are so many bandits in the world?’
The sight of so many bandits gathered in one place gave him goosebumps.
“They just look weak because we’ve faced them individually. Basically, bandits don’t help each other. So even if the Stronghold is being smashed below them, they don’t come to help, but rather clap.”
“… It’s a mess.”
“But if there was anyone who could command the bandits, the other Stronghold that had already arrived would have joined forces to deal with us the moment we attacked Jogungchae.”
Then at least 1,500 would have been waiting there.
500 to 1,500.
Dealing with 500 three times in a row was a completely different matter from facing 1500 at once. As the number of martial artists increases, they become exponentially stronger, not just quantitatively.
“Ah, then…….”
Baek Cheon looked back with a new look.
‘That’s why Nokrim King is important.’
Only the Nokrim King can give orders by tying the Stronghold of Nokrim, which are at odds with each other and thoroughly guarding their own territory, into one.
Didn’t that fierce Daebyeolchae and Jogungchae, who knew nothing but himself, at least pretend to follow Im Sobyong’s orders before he disappeared?
However, when Nokrim King disappeared, they became ordinary bandits that could not be woven under the name Nokrim.
“You are a better person than I thought.”
Baek Cheon was sincerely impressed. Im Sobyong then said helplessly with a withered face.
“……Do you know that your personality is worse than you think, Baek Cheon Dojang?”
“Am I?”
Im Sobyong looked up at the distant sky, looking at Baek Cheon tilting his head as if he couldn’t understand.
‘Is this a good thing?’
Maybe he dragged in the tiger while trying to avoid the wolf. Of course, this tiger is not dangerous, but rather… The problem was that it was very strange.
Baek Cheon didn’t pay much attention to Im Sobyong’s thoughts. He, similar to Chung Myung, was of little interest except for Mount Hua.
As expected, he returned to the original topic.
“Come to think of it that way, there are really few martial artists of Mount Hua.”
That Shaolin has more than 1,000 monks, and even in Wudang alone, the number of disciples far exceeds five hundred.
Even if each of Mount Hua’s martial artists can surpass them, it may be harder than expected to overcome the inferiority of numbers.
“There’s a long way to go.”
He felt his excitement subside as he cleaned up two Stronghold.
“There’s nothing to be so gloomy about. On the other hand, they’re like weak people huddle together and push each other heads.”
Baek Cheon quickly looked around.
‘I’m glad beggar of Beggar Union isn’t here.’
If people from Beggar Union had listened, they would have foamed at the mouth and flipped over. Nothing hurts more than being beaten.
“But…….”
“Yes?”
“Those bastards seem a little different.”
“Huh?”
Chung Myung said, staring into one place. When Baek Cheon followed the gaze, he could see wooden fences on the peaks that rose high like a fortress.
“There must be Daebyeolchae in there.”
“Hum!”
Baek Cheon nodded his head as if to hold his heart.
Chung Myung’s eyes slightly darkened.
‘They wouldn’t be that stupid.’
Im Sobyong and other bandits of Nokrim unanimously said that Mad Ox Sword Go Hong has a violent temper and is reckless. But if he’s really so hot-tempered and impatient that he can’t think, he can’t have been listening to Im Sobyong all this time.
‘There must be something.’
Chung Myung rolls up the corners of his mouth slightly. Things were going more interesting than he thought.
‘Let’s see if ghosts or monsters come out.’
He stepped with strength.
Towards Nokchae, who welcomes them with the door wide open.