“How was your morning?”

Hyun Jong smiled at Hyun Sang’s concerned question.

“I couldn’t sleep well.”

“Because of the children?”

“Yes.”

Hyun Jong sighed.

“I can’t be at peace after sending out our children to remote and difficult places. I know that the children are strong as Hyun Young said, and that this is the path Mount Hua has to take, but…”

“The human heart has a mind of its own. If the will of a human can do wonders alone, why would one need a heart?”

“Right… that.”

Hyun Jong couldn’t hide his bitterness.

‘I cannot properly lead the children like I should because we don’t have enough strength.’

This was the last wish that Hyun Jong had. Mount Hua was developing extremely fast with Chung Myung’s help, but the driving force for that development was the children.

The fact that Hyun Jong couldn’t develop and lead the children of Mount Hua into adults and his inability to provide them a shoulder to lean on for support made him sad frequently.

Hyun Sang, spoke in a firm manner.

“Sect leader, believe in our children.”

Hyun Jong turned around and Hyun Sang smiled as he continued.

“Didn’t Hyun Young tell us? The children are better than us. I don’t think he was wrong when he said that. It felt absurd when he said it, but in retrospect haven’t they proved themselves enough?”

“Yes, they have.”

“What we need to do is give the children a solid foundation and a home to come back to.”

Hyun Jong nodded but his face couldn’t smile.

“But… I am worried. It is their first time going so far away.”

It was then.

“S-Sect leader!”

From the other side, Hyun Young was running towards him with his eyes wide open.

“You are running around like a boar as if we have some work so early in the morning.”

“H-huge! Sect leader! Something huge! Huge~! It is a real big deal!”

Hyun Jong’s face became serious. Hyun Young could have acted out once or twice, but he wasn’t the kind of person to behave like this without reason.

And for him to fuss like this must mean that something huge had really happened.

“Wh-what happened! Try to explain so we can understand as well!”

“Tang! Tang family!”

“Tang family?”

“Tang family lord! The Lord of Tang family is in front of our gates!”

Hyun Jong’s eyes went wide as he heard the unexpected news.

“Who? Who did you say has come?”

“The Lord of the Sichuan Tang family has come to see the Sect Leader of Mount Hua!”

‘Tang family Lord?’

‘Why has he come so suddenly?’

“H-Hurry!”

“Yes. This isn’t the time to think!”

Hyun Jong quickly moved his feet. As soon as he ran to the gate, he saw Tang Gunak and bowed to the man. Or at least he tried to. Before he could do that, the man in front of him clasped his hands together and bowed to him.

“Lord Tang Gunak of the Sichuan Tang family greets the Sect Leader of Mount Hua.”

Hyun Jong flinched as he heard that and opened his mouth.

The Lord of the Sichuan Tang family. Such an individual wasn’t even a little bit inferior to Hyun Jong.

Even if it had been the Mount Hua of the past, the Lord of the Tang family had been stronger than them, but the present Mount Hua couldn’t be remotely compared to them.

How could the present Mount Hua, which had been thrown out of the Nine Great Sects, One Union even be on par with the Tang family?

There was no way Tang Gunak was unaware of that, so why was he being so respectful and polite to Hyun Jong? It was when Hyun Jong was at a loss of what he had to do that he felt Hyun Young poke him with a finger.

“Uh? Uh?”

Hyun Jong immediately came to his senses and bowed.

“Hyun Jong, the oldest living member of the Mount Hua sect, greets the Lord of the great Sichuan Tang family.”

When they both finished greeting him, Tang Gunak raised his head with a light smile.

“Nice to meet you. Sect leader, please don’t hate us for coming without informing first.”

“What are you saying! The head of the Sichuan Tang family has directly come. We are way too surprised.”

“Thank you for looking at us so kindly.”

“B-but, what is it?”

Tang Gunak looked at Hyun Jong and said,

“The disciples of Mount Hua came to the Tang family.”

“…Uh?”

“The Tang family was favoured by them, and we have decided to form a friendship with the sect. So of course, we had to come and visit Mount Hua to discuss our future, right?”

“F-Friend?”

‘Friend? A friend?’

‘Chung Myung made friends with the Tang family?’

Hyun Jong looked at Tang Gunak with a puzzled expression.

The word ‘friend’ was used where the word ‘alliance’ should have been used. In that case, it would mean that the Tang family wanted an alliance with Mount Hua.

“W-why would…”

Hyun Young stabbed him again.

“Uh?”

Hyun Jong felt lost at the unexpected turn of events, so Hyun Young took the lead.

“It isn’t polite to let out guests stand near the gate. I will guide them to the guest house.”

“Right! Guest house! The guest house! We have one.”

Tang Gunak smiled brightly.

“Sect leader, you don’t have to be so shocked. We came here because we really wanted to build a good relationship with Mount Hua. There is no hidden reason.”

Tang Gunak turned to the side.

“Soso, greet them.”

Tang Soso bowed her head at the elders.

“Tang Soso, the daughter of the Sichuan Tang family, greets the Sect Leader of Mount Hua. This child of the Sichuan Tang family wishes to enter Mount Hua.”

“Join us?”

‘Why would you?’

Confusion and bewilderment flashed through Hyun Jong’s face. And Tang Gunak said.

“She is my daughter.”

‘Why is your daughter saying this?’

A voice mixed with laughter entered the ears of Hyun Jong who couldn’t keep up with this situation.

“If it’s like this, Chung Myung must have done something again.”

“Exactly.”

“Ah…”

Hearing the words of Hyun Young and Tang Gunak, Hyun Jong nodded his head.

‘If there was something that one couldn’t understand in Mount Hua, simply inserting the two words ‘Chung Myung’ would clear up everything.’

“We’ll discuss the details inside.”

“Yes.”

“This way please.”

Hyun Young guided them inside in a polite manner.

Hyun Jong, however, couldn’t speak until Tang Gunak had moved to the guest house far away. Seeing that, Hyun Sang spoke with a laugh.

“See that? What did I tell you about our children. Didn’t I say they would do well?”

“…”

“They seem to be doing well in Yunnan. How can we think of them as normal kids?”

At the proud words, Hyun Jong had to agree.

“Right. That is true.”

His gaze moved to the south. The disciples of Mount Hua were somewhere on that side.

“They must be well! They have to be! Ah! They are our children after all!”

Hyun Jong’s voice was filled with great joy.

** *

Rattle. Rattle!

Shake Shake!

Chung Myung lay on his back and spoke.

“Ah, it has been a while since I’ve had it this easy. We should have done this sooner.”

“…”

“Sasuk, you should lay down too. This is so freaking comfortable.”

“…”

But Baek Cheon just stared at Chung Myung.

‘What is going on inside that bastard’s head?’

Baek Cheon sometimes felt a great urge to split open Chung Myung’s head and see what was happening inside.

“Chung Myung.”

“Uh?”

“Is it fine?”

“Why? This is so comfortable. We’ll just let them take us to where we want to go”

‘Comfortable?’

‘Let them take us?’

Baek Cheon looked around.

He saw vast land with numerous mountains around them. The huge rocks truly were magnificent, until his eyes rested on the window of the wooden grate they were in.

“Moooo!”

And the cow which was dragging it was mooing loudly. The disciples of Mount Hua, along with Chung Myung, were being taken to the Nanman Beast Palace after being imprisoned in this wooden grate prison.

‘But what did he say?’

‘This is comfortable for him?’

Baek Cheon sighed.

“…Chung Myung. Shouldn’t you feel a sense of crisis?”

“Crisis?”

Chung Myung smiled and clasped his hands.

“Do you have some other plan?”

“…”

“If we want the purple wooden grass, we need to get in contact with the Nanman Beast Palace. If they don’t allow it, no one will speak about it.”

“Right.”

“Then the best way to get the grass is to meet them like this.”

“True!”

“Then this is the fastest way!”

“That is the problem, you rotten idiot!”

Baek Cheon screamed and ran for Chung Myung and the wooden floor made a huge noise.

Thud! Thud!

The guards who were next to it, hit the bars.

“Just be quiet, will you!”

“Ugh!”

Baek Cheon reluctantly sat down, and the guard clicked his tongue.

“These people… what are these people? They are acting so shamelessly despite being caught?”

“It is my first time seeing such crazy people from the Central Plains.”

“Just leave them alone. They’ll all turn sane when we take them to the Lord.”

Chung Myung poked his head through the wooden bars.

“Mister! Mister!”

“…What is it again?”

“How much longer will it take?”

“ha…”

The guard glanced at Chung Myung with an absurd look on his face.

‘Does he think that this a passenger carriage?’

“You seem to have a wish to be punished soon. We will arrive there soon.”

Chung Myung who heard the answer, sat down and nodded. Seeing that, Jo Gul sighed and Yu Yiseol sat cross-legged with an expressionless face as usual.

“…when did sago get caught?”

“I was right behind you people.”

“…you have no presence at all. But they still caught you. If you have something like a skill that lets you hide your presence, you should use it for good! Why do you always follow people and scare them?!”

“Aren’t I bound to get caught at some point if I do that?”

“Ah, right.”

Chung Myung shook his head. Yoon Jong, who saw him doing that looked like the world had collapsed. Chung Myung tilted his head as he noticed it.

“What is with him?’

“…Despite the fact that I’ve repeatedly denied it, he seems to think that we were caught because of him.”

“We were caught, that is the end of the story. Why waste your time thinking about that?”

“You should really not talk about such things this easily.”

Baek Cheon, who was angry, yelled and Chung Myung just smiled as he looked at Yoon Jong.

“Yoon Jong sahyung.”

“…yes.”

“Good intentions do not always lead to good results.”

“…”

“There are plenty of people in the world who make a lot of their decisions with good intentions and suffer for a long time because of it… people who never get rewarded.”

At that moment, Yoon Jong lifted his head and little by little his eyes began to turn normal.

Chung Myung continued.

“But that doesn’t mean that the intentions themselves should be abandoned. Did sahyung do it with the hope of being rewarded?”

“No. It wasn’t that.”

“Then pull in your stomach and stand tall. What you did wasn’t wrong.”

“…I get what you mean.”

Yoon Jong nodded his head and Chung Myung looked up at the sky.

‘_Right? My sect leader sahyung?’_

Mount Hua had sacrificed itself for the world. But no one had noticed nor remembered, and they even tried to bite the hand that had fed them.

Then…

Was everything that Mount Hua did a huge mistake?

No. It wasn’t that.

Even if Chung Myung thought of it that way, his sahyungs and sajaes in his past life probably would have had no regrets about what they did.

If Chung Myung and the Mount Hua sect hadn’t stopped the Heavenly Demon, not only Mount Hua, but most of the righteous sects would have vanished completely.

And now, Chung Myung was working hard to prevent something like that happening in the future.

“…just thinking about it makes me angry.”

‘You make the accidents and create troubles!’

‘And I’ll have to do the repair work!?’

-Curse at them and I’ll hit you.

“Kuak!”

Chung Myung sighed. While trying to comfort Yoon Jong, Chung Myung was hit by his past memories.

‘Who will curse whom?’

And Baek Cheon glanced around.

“Wouldn’t it be better to escape now? We can break these wooden bars for sure.”

“And what do we do after escaping?”

“That…”

“We need to get that grass into our hands, and this is the quickest way to do it. How many times do I have to tell you the same thing?”

“Okay.”

Baek Cheon sighed. At that time, Jo Gul, who had been silent until then, suddenly pointed to one direction.

“Chung Myung, there.”

“Uh?”

Looking at the place he pointed, Chung Myung saw a large engraving.

“Oh?”

The scenery of the pavilion in front of them was different from the Yunnan they had seen so far.

Behind the huge pavilion, a dense forest stretched out. It seemed as if not even a single ray of light could penetrate the thick canopy.

It was different from the barren fields they had seen.

“This is the Nanman Beast palace?”

Baek Cheon looked around with tense eyes. It was as if the true weight of the name seeped into their minds after seeing the pavilion.

Moreover, aren’t they in a situation where they had already been caught?

Looking at the pavilion, they could clearly feel the majestic power of the Nanman Beast Palace…

“Ah. It looks like they have some money left.”

“…”

‘How can you jump to that conclusion in this situation?’

‘In this situation!?’

‘You rotten bastard!’