Return of the Mount Hua Sect

Thin lines moved around the pure white paper.

The letters were created at a speed that no naked eye could believe, filling the largest part of the sheet with black.

At a glance, a middle-aged man wearing this luxurious green-colored robe was seated at the wooden desk, dealing with these mountains of documents.

“Head!”

The writing sound, which continued for a while, went still at the voice that came from outside the door.

The middle-aged man looked at what he had written again and glanced at the door.

“What is happening?”

“A guest has arrived.”

“A guest?”

The eyes of the middle-aged man, Tang Gunak, frowned at this.

“A guest came when I was working. I will need to speak of that to the elders.”

The words that came out were rather sharp, and the person standing outside the door flinched.

“That… it is from Mount Hua…”

The eyes of Tang Gunak shone at those words.

“Mount Hua?”

“Yes.”

Tak.

He put down the brush without another thought and jumped up from the place.

“Come in.”

“Yes!”

The door burst open with the man bowing to the family head. A beggar whose face he had seen several times before came in.

The beggar made a bow.

“I am Ju Pyung, the branch head of the Beggars Union.”

“Beggars Union.”

Tang Gunak’s sharp glance landed on the guest.

Ju Pyung, gulped at this cold and intimidating gaze.

‘My heart is shaking.’

Although he came here for the sake of doing business, he never imagined that he would meet the head of the Tang family in person.

It did not matter that he was a branch leader. There was a difference in status as big as heaven and land between the head of the Tang family and a branch leader who commanded different things.

Normally, all they would have done was hand over this letter at the mansion’s gate or look at the head of the family from afar…

‘Who knew that suddenly they would drag me into this place?’

Ju Pyung rubbed his palms on his pants and took a booklet from there.

“This is a letter that Mount Hua of Shaanxi had asked me to deliver to the head of the family through their branch.”

Perhaps because he was nervous, he said things he wouldn’t normally say.

“T-this letter was tied to a falcon called the Sea Green Falcon, which is only used to hold the most important news of the Beggars Union. There might be a slight time difference, but it must have been about just two days since the letter came out from Mount Hua.”

“Hmm. Give it to me.”

“Yes!”

Ju Pyung was sweating profusely and quickly tried to take the letter to Tang Gunak. But before he could step ahead, the hand of Tang Pae called for him.

“Come here.”

“Ah… h-here.”

Tang Pae politely presented the letter handed to him to Tang Gunak.

Tang Gunak opened the letter without saying a word and checked the contents inside.

“Hmm.”

Tang Gunak’s face, which had been cold the entire time, twitched slightly.

In a short period, while reading that booklet, his expression changed several times. A wry smile appeared on the lips of the Tang family head, who was quietly reading the document.

And the only time Tang Gunak, who typically remained expressionless, showed anything was when he heard news of Mount Hua or Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon.

“Hmmm.”

Tang Gunak, who soon read the entire booklet, scratched his chin as if something was odd and asked.

“You were told to present this letter?”

“Yes, right!”

“I understand.”

“Yes. If there is anything you have to say to Mount Hua…”

“It is alright. With his impatient attitude, he probably wouldn’t even be waiting for my response.”

Although those words were incomprehensible, Ju Pyung simply lowered his head.

“In that case.”

And he turned to leave.

To be honest, he had no intention of staying more than he should in this place. Even within any normal sect, the Sichuan Tang family was feared. And wasn’t the Tang family leader known to be one of the most difficult people to deal with?

Unless one had an iron body, they had no choice but to be afraid.

‘But so.’

Just before leaving, Ju Pyung glanced back without realizing it and gulped.

‘It is a fact that is most known that Mount Hua and the Tang family have some form of relationship, but I have never thought that it would be this serious.’

Occasionally, he would deliver news to the Tang family. However, even when delivering news from Shaolin and Wudang, he had never even caught sight of this room, let alone entered.

But he never thought he would come face to face with the Tang family head with just one letter.

‘Maybe their relationship is stronger than it is known.’

Thinking that he must report this, Ju Pyung began to walk swiftly.

Tang Pae clicked his tongue, watching Ju Pyung move away in an instant.

“If he walks that way, his feet will sweat.”

“Hmm.”

However, Ju Pyung had long disappeared from Tang Gunak’s mind. His interest was focused solely on the letter Mount Hua sent.

The Tang family head quickly rechecked the contents of the letter. Soon, his face was also distorted.

“Ughh… what is this guy up to…”

“Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon…”

A faint smile appeared on Tang Gunak’s lips.

Usually, those who had big events ahead of them would be careful of their benefactors. This was because anyone could be involved in what happened later.

However, Mount Hua and Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon seemed to be planning to increase the stake further.

“Is this fine? Still, the Green Forest…”

“It is true that it will be annoying. If things don’t work out right, there will be problems.”

“Yes. I am definitely concerned.”

“But it is okay.”

“Uh?”

The Tang Family head, who had briefly spoken, then added.

“It is hard for a mere messenger to know what you mean.”

“There is no way that Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon would do something without a thought. On the outside, he might seem like an impulsive person, but he is probably the one who has done the most calculations within his head.”

“Ah…”

Tang Pae noticed Tang Gunak’s expression.

Tang Gunak, who sensed the intention of this, smiled.

“You think I might have overestimated Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon?”

“…How can I ever doubt the insight of the head? But… No one in the world can doubt the strength Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon holds, but it is a bit strange that he is a topic of justification discussions at such a young age.”

“Discussing the reason is done when you aren’t sure of the results.”

“…”

“When my sight and senses do not correlate, one criminal doubts what is seen with eyes, but a noble being doubts his own senses.”

Tang Pae stayed silent.

“You should also make sure that you aren’t deceived by being bound to only what you know?”

“I will make sure to keep that in mind.”

“As written in the letter, spread the rumor within Sichuan. It doesn’t matter if it is exaggerated a little.”

“Yes, head! I will get to it right away.”

Tang Pae left right after he said so. And Tang Gunak looked at him as he walked to the window to see the sky.

‘Things are slowly becoming interesting.’

But…

What did the last line in the letter, ‘And I am saying in advance, it would be a good idea for you to prepare a lot of money,’ even mean?

Tang Gunak began to feel a little uneasy then.

Chung Myung’s actual plan was to have the rumor spread around to some extent by the time they reached their destination.

But contrary to that expectation, the rumor spread fast.

One of the reasons was that the people in the world thought that the position of Mount Hua was higher than what the disciples thought. It was also the perfect reason to appeal to those without any major events since the tournament.

But the biggest reason was…

“Fly a bit more! More, I say! More!”

Hong Dae-Kwang, who was brushing his teeth on the soaring pavilion, did not know how high it was.

One of the beggars who was sitting inside the place while writing letters couldn’t handle it and began to yell.

“Damn it! All because of you, I cannot do anything else right now, and we are all reduced to writing hundreds of the same form of letters, and now you are saying something like this!”

“It isn’t like you had to do anything anyway! At best, the most you did was to feed my pigeons!”

“T-that… where did you get those seeds from!”

Hwang Gu-gae, the elder of the Beggars Union, rolled his eyes in anger, but Hong Dae-Kwang didn’t step back.

“Isn’t this what Beggar Wang asked you to do?”

“Ughhh!”

Hwang Gu-gae sighed and looked back at the beggars around him.

“Write it down swiftly! Hurry up now!”

“Ughhh!”

“Damn it!”

The beggars writing the letters were now at a point where their arms were almost falling off. Beggars who did not hold brushes collected the letters, tied them to the pigeons in the cages, and then let them fly.

Dozens of pigeons flew into the sky at once.

Some would go to various branches of the Beggars Union, while the others would go to other pavilions built around the middle of the Central Plains.

“Do we have to go this far?”

“Elder, it is because you don’t know what is happening to me in there! Do you even have any hint about how much that guy criticizes me for being incompetent in the Beggars Union?”

“That guy? Just who is that?”

“Ughhh.. that… is a bit hard to answer…”

Hong Dae-Kwang couldn’t bring himself to answer and hesitated.

People needed to have pride.

How could he say the name of a boy who was 20 years younger than him yet constantly ill-treated him?

“Whatever, this time we have to show Mount Hua sect the ability that Beggars Union has!”

“Ughh.”

Hwang Gu-gae sighed deeply at that.

‘So it is something you don’t have to say.’

He knew it too well.

Hwang Gu-gae was the person who spent all his life handling information from the Central Plains and delivering it based on orders. He couldn’t have known just how important Mount Hua had become.

‘Rumors spread fast, but they slow down at times.’

The evaluation of Mount Hua by the families in Central Plains had soared. Still, its influence wasn’t fully understood by many.

To add a bit of exaggeration to the rumors, Mount Hua’s influence had long since surpassed that of the Nine Great Sects, and considering its growth and the recent swift movement, it would surely become one of the best sects in the world.

“Let me ask one thing!”

“Uh?”

“You must have built good ties with Mount Hua, right?”

“…”

“You have done all this, but the day comes when Mount Hua kicks open the door and goes for someone else. I will personally crush you and feed you to the pigeons.”

“Ha, haha… hahahah! Why are you speaking of such an obvious thing? The Divine Dragon of Mount Hua now calls me uncle and follows me around like a nephew!”

“Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon?”

“Yes!”

“… are you being serious now?”

“You think I would deceive you?”

Hong Dae-Kwang pounded on his chest in excitement as he spoke.

Well… it wasn’t all a lie. Because it was true that Chung Myung called him Mister rather than Beggar. Hong Dae-kwang, though, had his own meaning for what Mister meant.

“I have a firm grip on Mount Hua, so don’t worry and write the letters now.”

“Ugh. Make sure you make it believable.”

Hwang Gu-gae shook his head and obediently began to write the letters.

“Dae-kwang.”

“Uh?”

“I am saying this because Wang isn’t here.”

“Yes, elder.”

“If you really have a firm grip on Mount Hua, it isn’t a dream anymore for you to be the leader. The way things are going, aren’t you the most knowledgeable person in the Beggars Union?”

“Of course.”

“But… if Mount Hua is really not under your hand.”

“….”

“Wang will really roast your entire body and feed you to the dogs, so think once again.”

Cold sweat began to drip down Hong Dae-Kwang’s body.

“D-do not worry! I am sure.”

“I believe you.”

He nodded as he stepped back slowly.

“Then, please take care of the rest.”

“Where are you going now?”

“I should hurry back to Mount Hua now. Don’t you think we’ll know that we did well when someone gets a favor shown back?”

“….”

“Work hard!”

Hwang Gu-Gae clicked his tongue, watching Hong Dae-Kwang jump down from the place and quickly disappear.

“He looks like he has a big mouth.”

He turned his gaze at the pigeons flying in all directions.

“They say one cannot know what happens in the world.”

Who would have thought that the day would come when Mount Hua would open the world up with just a few words.

“It is something to live a long time and see. Hehehe.”

Hong Gu-gae smiled and shook his head as he quickly wrote a letter.

As planned by Chung Myung, rumors about Mount Hua spread throughout the world. It spread widely and swiftly.