Return of the Mount Hua Sect

“What? Again?”

Hong Dae-gwang twisted his face in anger.

“Those damned bastards! Have they been possessed by ghosts who died while longing to fight?! They keep fighting as if they have something to gain from it!”

The beggars flinched at his exploded temperament and looked around cautiously.

“Where is it this time?”

“That….”

“Is it Hubei again? Or Anhui? No, That’s not it! Is it Henan? The fake monk bastards from Shaolin are still glaring their eyes out so they wouldn’t be able to cause trouble, though.”

“Tha- That’s….”

“Speak quickly! I’m busy!”

“Sha- Shaanxi.”

“…Where?”

“Shaanxi…”

Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes shook like an earthquake.

“Shaanxi?”

“…Yes.”

“Shaanxi, you say? Just now? Shaanxi?”

“Y- Yes.”

Hong Dae-gwang’s complexion turned pale.

“N- No! Not Shaanxi!”

Hong Dae-gwang, who momentarily rolled his eyes left and right, shouted with a contemplative look on his face.

“Beggars! Beggar bastards who are good at fighting! Do we have any idle hands around?”

“…Who’s left? The beggars who can fight were all taken to Hubei and Anhui.”

“Nobody?”

“Currently, none…”

“If we don’t have one, is it over?”

Hong Dae-gwang picked up the gourd that was lying on the dirty table and threw it at the beggars in front of him.

“Hiiek!”

“If there’s none, then make some and come! You bastards are slacking off! There’s a fight going on in Shaanxi right now, you punk! Are you trying to kill me?”

One of the beggars, who was looking at the enraged Hong Dae-gwang, opened his mouth slightly.

“No, Buntaju-nim. Everywhere else is in an uproar too right now, what’s the big deal with this…”

“What?”

Hong Dae-gwang’s gaze fell on the beggar who opened his mouth.

The beggar flinched at the look in his eyes and slightly averted his gaze, yet he said what he had to say as if he had nothing to lose.

“That’s the truth, isn’t it? Just let it be…”

“You son of a beast!”

In the end, Hong Dae-gwang, who jumped over the table, kicked the beggar who spoke with both feet in the chest.

“Aaaaagh!”

As the beggar screamed and fell, a lion’s roar that would put even Shaolin to shame burst out of Hong Dae-gwang’s mouth.

“This bastard doesn’t understand what’s going on right now?! Want me to twist your arm back so you’ll have an easier time begging? Huh?!”

“Aigo! Please be patient, Buntaju-nim!”

“This bastard has just been here!”

“He just doesn’t know what kind of place Shaanxi is because he’s a country bumpkin(?) from Henan!”

“Damn it!”

Hong Dae-gwang could not hold back his anger and gritted his teeth.

“You punk! One accident breaks in Shaanxi and we’re all dead meat. What? Evil Faction? Evil Tyrant Alliance? Those who are afraid of such things have yet to taste the bitterness of the world! Have you ever had your head beat up, you punk?!”

Having been beaten out of nowhere, Bong-oh (??(奉五)) looked around without knowing what to say.

Despite Hong Dae-gwang’s outrageous statements, oddly enough, no other beggars refuted him. They were just trying to prevent him from hitting Bong-oh again.

‘What’s going on?’

Why is Beggar Union a Beggar Union?

Isn’t it Beggar Union because there are beggars who have nothing to lose and speak the truth even if they are beaten?

Officials or whatever, Beggar Union is a union that calls what’s wrong as wrong even if they have to die. However, the fact that there was no backlash meant that other beggars agreed with Hong Dae-gwang’s statement.

‘No, what’s with Shaanxi?’

What’s so special about Shaanxi!

“Get all the beggar bastards we can have!”

“Not long ago, there was a summons in Hobuk, and all the beggars who could throw punches were dragged away! There are no forces left.”

“Then what are you, you beggar bastards!”

Hong Dae-gwang narrowed his eyes.

“N- No, we….”

“If we are not there, who will collect the information? We’re not doing this because we don’t want to go.”

Hong Dae-gwang sighed deeply.

“You beggars.”

“Yes?”

“Think about it well. How long has it been since that bastard entered Bongmun?”

“About… a thousand days?”

“Then will their gate open soon? What do you think?”

“…It’ll.”

“Exactly.”

Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes flashed.

“Where do you think that guy will go first when he sees that Shaanxi is a mess after he came out of Bongmun?”

“…Southern Edge Sect? Agh!”

Hong Dae-gwang kicked the beggar who replied without hesitation and cursed.

“Southern Edge Sect my ass, you son of a beast! What’s he gonna do going to people who have been in Bongmun for five years! Here! He’ll definitely run here, you bastard!”

“Hiiiek!”

“N- No…!”

“Amitabha! Amitabha! Amitabha!”

For a moment, the beggars’ faces turned deadly pale.

Only Bong-oh, who was completely clueless, asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“I… I don’t understand what you’re talking about right now…Who the hell is coming?”

“Devil.”

“Demon.”

“Beast.”

“…Yes?”

The beggar standing next to Bong-oh wrapped his arm around Bong-oh’s shoulder and whispered in a bleak voice.

“Hey, you beggar.”

“Yes?”

“You might not understand because you haven’t been in Shaanxi for long. If you want to beg for food in Shaanxi, remember one thing for sure. Got it?”

“…Yes?”

“A demon lives on Mount Hua.”

“….”

“If you rub him in the wrong way, after you get beaten and beaten and beaten again to death, even all the emergency funds you have hidden are taken away, and you might even have to beg and offer it all up if you don’t have enough.”

“That’s the story if he’s in a good mood! If he’s in a bad mood, you really will… Gasp! Aigoo, Jong Pal! Wake up!”

“Someone give that bastard some cold water. Who mentioned Chung Myung Dojang in front of Jong Pal?”

The beggars dragged away another beggar whose face turned blue with foam coming out of his mouth.

“Anyway, there’s no point in listening a hundred times, and you don’t need to understand. You’ll find out soon anyway.”

Anxious Hong Dae-gwang scratched his head hard.

‘Damn it, even on Shaanxi?’

It’s a situation that happens routinely in Hobuk, Anhui, and Hanam. But now it has started happening even in Shaanxi? This means that soon the entire Gangbuk will be caught in this whirlwind of chaos.

“Those damned Ten Great Sect bastards!”

“Buntaju-nim. At this rate, all beggars will die. Shouldn’t we say something to the Ten Great Sect?”

“And what if we do?”

“Yes?”

“You bastard, do you think Ten Great Sects are all in the same place? How many sects of Ten Great Sects are there in Gangbuk? Hainan Sect is stuck on an island beyond Gangnam! Diancang is in Yunnan! Kunlun is in Qinghai! Qingcheng and Emei are in Sichuan, Sichuan!”

“….”

“Kongtong is stuck at the crossroads towards that far North Sea! Should I ask those yangban to come all the way here because trouble broke out in Hubei?”

“……That would be difficult.”

“The tasty Gangbuk area is devoured by Shaolin, Wudang, and Southern Edge Sect! While what’s left is being sucked dry by the Namgung Family. But now three of those places are in Bongmun! So what can we say now? Shall we ask those Hebei Peng Family bastards in Beijing to come and enjoy the view?”

“Calm, calm down, Buntaju-nim.”

“This is why I said we should have left the Ten Great Sects and joined the Heavenly Comrade Alliance in the first place!”

“But even that Heavenly Comrade Alliance isn’t in a good situation, you know.”

“Augh.”

Hong Dae-gwang scratched his head roughly.

If it were in the past, they would have been able to somehow ask for help from Ten Great Sects on the outskirts of Jungwon. No, they actually requested it.

But the answer that came back was very simple.

– Tell the sect who caused the problem to solve it themselves.

Of course, the answer came back in a long-winded sentence, but when you cut to the chase, that’s what it was. It means that the people who came back from the Yangtze River and suffered disgrace should solve it themselves.

‘….That’s not wrong, actually.’

From the perspective of other Ten Great Sects members, they were struck by lightning while sitting still, so would they run to Hobuk and Anhui to help Wudang or Namgung Family instead? For whose good?

The Yangtze River Disaster created a huge crack in the solidarity between the Ten Great Sects. It was unclear how many years it would take to mend this crack.

‘How can things get so dire?’

It’s beyond absurdity; it’s terrifying to watch.

The relationship between the Ten Great Sects has been fractured, and the Five Great Family is not the same as before either.

They are trying to stop the unrest and turmoil that is happening all over Jungwon, but if the situation worsens just a little more, chaos will spread like a dam breaking.

“Buntaju-nim.”

“What?”

“Will it really be okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Jungwon.”

Hong Dae-gwang narrowed his eyes at the sudden question.

“What kind of bullshit are you suddenly saying after eating a costly meal?”

“N- No. Isn’t that true? Actually, I didn’t think that Evil Tyrant Alliance was that great. I know that those guys are formidable, but even so, if the Ten Great Sects and Five Great Family come together, would Evil Tyrant Alliance even be a worthy opponent?”

“….”

“But that’s not the case. The Evil Tyrant Alliance lives in Gangnam and builds strength every day, and Ten Great Sects is…….”

The rest of the sentence is obvious. Even when being united isn’t enough, they’re fragmented.

Emotional rifts have more impact than you’d think. Even in Hong Dae-gwang’s mind, he could no longer picture the appearance of Ten Great Sects following someone’s instructions and moving smoothly.

“If Evil Tyrant Alliance suddenly pushes up to Gangbuk…”

“….”

Something terrible is bound to happen.

“I really don’t understand. Evil Tyrant Alliance didn’t move an inch in Gangnam, so how could things turn out this messed up?”

“…It’s not that things turned out like this because they didn’t move; it’s because they didn’t move that made this happen.”

“Huh?”

Hong Dae-gwang laughed bitterly.

If Evil Tyrant Alliance had quickly pushed into Gangbuk and waged a war after the Non-Aggression Pact of Gangnam, the Ten Great Sects would have been forced to unite. They would have had to put out the urgent fire first.

However, Jang Ilso’s immobile presence in Gangnam gave time. And that extra time only deepened the emotional rift between the Ten Great Sects.

“…Surely, this isn’t all part of his plan, is it?”

“Huh?”

“N- No.”

Hong Dae-gwang shook his head as if he didn’t even want to think about it.

If Jang Ilso had anticipated all of this and acted accordingly, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he had the whole of Jungwon dancing in the palm of his hand.

And if this ridiculous assumption is true…….

‘Jang Nilso definitely has the next plan in his head to make the most appropriate use of this situation.’

Hong Dae-gwang quickly shook his head and scratched his ears, as if trying to shake off his thoughts.

This is too far-fetched.

“Then what shall we do, Buntaju-nim?”

“Ugh.”

Hong Dae-gwang, who had been rubbing his face, spoke.

“If something happened once, it will happen again. Even temporary means have limits.”

“I think so, too.”

“Anyone who can help… Ah! Huayin Sect! Right, ask Huayin Sect! I’m not sure if it’s Hobuk, but If it is to protect the people of Shaanxi, they will help us!”

“Yes! I’ll try to communicate quickly!”

“Hurry up, you beggar bastards!”

“Yes!”

As the beggars ran out as if their tails were on fire, Hong Dae-gwang opened the broken door and looked up at the sky.

“Rotten thing.”

Up high, the peak of Mount Hua, hidden by clouds, was visible.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Damned Mount Hua Divine Dragon.”

Times when that man caused trouble were a hundred times easier than now. At least back then, it was clear what needed to be done.

Even if he didn’t know, that damned guy would grab him by the collar and drag him along.

If he were here now, things wouldn’t be so frustrating…

“You’re taking too long. Damn it!”

The two years he had estimated had already passed. Yet, the closed Mount Hua’s gate showed no signs of opening.

“Phew.”

With a deep sigh, Hong Dae-gwang turned his gaze far to the south.

‘Please…’

He prayed and prayed again that nothing major would happen before the tightly closed gate opened.