Return of the Mount Hua

Kill or be killed. (1)

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Tang Soso was overwhelmed by nausea and clenched her mouth shut with all her strength.

‘It’s too much…’

She couldn’t bring herself to look at the scene in front of her. Even before suppressing the urge to vomit, it was difficult to hold back the streaming tears.

Someone tightly held her other hand, and when she raised her head, she saw Yu Iseol looking down at her with a stern face.

“Sago…”

“…”

Yu Iseol, as always, had a stoic expression. But Tang Soso could tell. There was a cold anger beneath that seemingly emotionless face.

The other Ogeom members were equally shocked.

“Sahyeong.”

“…”

Even Yoon Jong, who usually responded to Jo Geol’s words as a matter of course, was momentarily speechless.

They had undoubtedly witnessed the Demonic Cult in the Northern Sea.

They knew how fanatical and ruthless that group could be. However, seeing the aftermath of their cruelty with their own eyes was an entirely different experience.

Shudder.

Yoon Jong clenched his fist, and his knuckles turned white. Blood seeped from the bitten lip.

Seeing Yoon Jong in such a state, Jo Geol was at a loss and eventually couldn’t bring himself to say anything, lowered his head.

There were far too many deaths here.

Living life on the edge of a blade is the life of a martial artist. They are accustomed to death, but even for them, the pile of corpses in this place felt exceptionally heavy.

Sigh.

Baek Cheon gritted his teeth. His bloodshot eyes revealed how furious he was.

“How…?”

Baek Cheon couldn’t continue speaking – he was trembling like a bamboo in the wind. It wasn’t out of fear but because he couldn’t control the anger boiling up inside him.

“How…?”

Even if everyone they saw wasn’t dead, it would be a staggering crowd. With so many people lying lifeless in such gruesome state, how could one not be furious?

But what truly sent Baek Cheon into an uncontrollable rage was not the quantity of deaths here. It was the manner in which these people had been killed.

“A person…,”

Baek Cheon began to speak as if spitting out the words,

“Even if an enemy dies, there should be at least a minimum amount of respect.”

Even in wars waged by those who had contended, swearing that they could never live under the same sky, they didn’t slaughter so ruthlessly and leave the dead abandoned. Unless it was a battlefield where surviving was of utmost urgency, at the very least, the minimum decorum was to bury the deceased.

That’s human decency.

Even if one were to claim ignorance of such decency, they wouldn’t blatantly display their brutal and inhumane actions under the sky. But in this place, there was nothing. No compassion, no pity, no hesitation, no minimum human decency that should be upheld just for the sake of being human.

This fact made Baek Cheon unable to endure.

Jo Geol muttered as if to himself,

“They are humans…”

His voice, usually cheerful, was barely a whisper.

“They are humans, and they are capable of such… How can they do such things? How…?”

Just as everyone seemed to want to respond to his words with sympathy, a dry, mocking laughter echoed.

Jo Geol turned to the source of the laughter. Jang Ilso was suppressing a grin with his hand over his mouth.

In an instant, Jo Geol’s anger surged.

“What’s… What’s so funny?”

“No, no.”

Jang Ilso shook his head.

“It’s just that brats from the righteous factions, they take funny stories so seriously.”

“What?”

“It’s not about how humans can do such things.”

A cunning glint crossed Jang Ilso’s face.

“It’s precisely because they’re human that they do these things. Only humans commit such acts.”

Jo Geol’s face contorted in horror, and he felt as though something heavy pressed down on him. But he managed to respond defiantly,

“You don’t look too happy either, considering you’re speaking like that. Why? Does the evil faction get angry when they see this?”

After finishing his words, he swallowed dry. He had lashed out in anger, but confronting Jang Ilso alone was still a daunting task.

However, Jang Ilso’s response was surprisingly nonchalant.

“You’re stating the obvious. Of course we’d get angry, wouldn’t we?”

“What?”

Jo Geol’s eyes widened slightly in response to that answer. He hadn’t expected Jang Ilso to respond like this.

Jang Ilso turned his head to gaze at the pile of corpses, and his expression was so cold it was piercingly chilling.

“I’m not here to make the obvious statements about people dying or whatever. People are going to die eventually.”

Jo Geol remained silent.

“What makes me angry is… They were mine.”

Jang Ilso raised his hand and grabbed his face. His eyes, visible between his fingers, exuded an eerie light.

“The right to kill those within my territory belongs to me alone. But… for these miserable bastards to dare…”

He muttered under his breath as he sharpened his senses.

At that moment, Chung Myung shot him a cold look.

“You didn’t care much about them in the first place, and now you’re all twisted up because they were taken away?”

“Of course.”

Jang Ilso glared back at Chung Myung.

“Just because I left my toys alone, doesn’t mean others can come in and destroy them as they please. Even if I’m not interested in them anymore, they’re still mine.”

“You’re like a little brat.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

A hint of laughter sparkled in Jang Ilso’s eyes.

“An adult is just a child who can’t express what they want because they are too concerned about appearances. I’m just a bit more honest about my desires.”

Jang Ilso looked directly at Chung Myung and chuckled.

“Unlike others.”

Chung Myung shook his head. He had no desire to engage in this verbal sparring with Jang Ilso, especially in the midst of the gruesome scene before them.

Although it might be shocking and unfamiliar to others, to Chung Myung, this was a sight that was all too familiar. In fact, it was revoltingly familiar, as if his dark past had come to life again.

As a result, it felt even more repugnant to him. The fact that this cruel and brutal scene was being vividly reenacted in front of him.

While Baek Cheon had been gazing at the slender hand sticking out from the pile of corpses, he turned his eyes away as he couldn’t bear to look any longer.

“Don’t look away,”

Chung Myung said in a cold, stern tone.

In that moment, Chung Myung’s steady voice penetrated Baek Cheon’s ears.

“This is the world where Magyo dominates.”

Baek Cheon stayed silent.

“Right now, it’s just a small piece of it. But when Magyo swallows the entire Central Plains, people across the Central Plains will witness this scene.”

They have to know why they have to fight so desperately.

Why did our ancestors in the past sacrificed their lives without even thinking about the next generation right behind them?

“So, we need to stop them here.”

Just as Chung Myung tightly clenched his lips, a group from a distance rapidly approached them from afar.

“Sahyeong!”

“…I know.”

The disciples of Hwasan watched them with slightly nervous eyes. It was evident that there were not just a few… no, there was an immense number of them.

‘Are they enemies?’

Instinctively, everyone reached for their swords.

But at that moment, Mangeum Daebu, who had been silent until now, stepped forward to greet the approaching group.

“We greet the Lord!”

As the distance closed in, several leaders of the unfamiliar group kneeled and paid their respects to Mangeum Daebu.

“What’s the situation?”

“They are still deep in Hangzhou.”

“I see.”

“However…”

“Hmm?”

The one reporting raised his head. His eyes were trembling slightly.

“In the past few days, unidentified individuals have been appearing and steadily joining their ranks. Their numbers have reached around three hundred.”

Mangeum Daebo’s face stiffened.

“Three hundred?”

“Yes!”

His mind started to spin rapidly. While it was the Bishop who caused his miserable defeat, the aura surrounding the Bishop’s followers was also far from ordinary.

“So, three hundred of them?”

The current situation within Hangzhou was uncertain at best. So, they had brought all available Black Ghost Fortress’s forces under the assumption that a considerable number of cultists would be present.

“This is unexpected.”

He hadn’t thought that additional members of the cult would join. Or rather, isn’t it only natural? If they intended to make this place their stronghold, it’s only logical to reinforce their numbers.

To have missed that meant that Mangeum Daebu couldn’t maintain his composure.

He was quick with calculations and equally quick to admit his mistakes. After scanning the five hundred troops gathered before him, he turned to Jang Ilso.

“…It seems like we have a problem, Ryeonju.”

“A problem?”

“The number of enemies is greater than initially estimated.”

“Hmm. So?”

“…It seems like it would be better to withdraw for now. They are not opponents to recklessly charge at.”

Jang Ilso’s eyes formed a peculiar curve at that statement.

“This… is disappointing. Losing one arm seems to have turned Mangeum Daebu into such a coward.”

“I’m extremely rational right now.”

Mangeum Daebu spoke with a snarl.

“Ryeonju, you haven’t yet faced that monster, so you can afford to make audacious remarks. To be honest, even if everyone here were to charge, I’m not confident we could capture that abomination. If Ryeonju’s ‘sword’ doesn’t work well, we might be the ones to suffer.”

Jang Ilso’s brow furrowed slightly, but it wasn’t clear if it was due to disappointment in Mangeum Daebu or if he was taking the words seriously.

Mangeum Daebu looked directly at Jang Ilso.

“We only have one life. Even if we’re fully prepared, it’s not enough.”

Jang Ilso was about to respond to that statement when…

“You are spouting something relevant only during peace.”

A chilling voice silenced him. Jang Ilso, who had been quite displeased, turned to Chung Myung.

“Do you want to say something again?”

“You still don’t understand, not yet.”

“…?”

“Where are we? Who are we facing?”

And in that moment, Jang Ilso’s gaze slowly found its place. Where he looked was none other than the field strewn with corpses, somewhere beyond that.

Chung Myung’s voice rang out sharply.

“Remember this clearly, you foolish Sapa bastards.”

A savage smile broke across his icy face.

“That’s the Demonic Cultist’s territory. There’s only one choice from the moment we step here. “Either kill, or…”

His youthful voice, full of life, felt incredibly ominous. Chung Myung’s appearance resembled a scarred beast.

“…be killed.”

Suddenly, a group in black appeared in the direction Jang Ilso had been gazing at.

Followers of the Demonic Cult approached emitting emanating ominous aura, which made his fingertips tingle.

A thick darkness covered the eastern sky.

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