[I've revised some of the earlier chapters--I marked them at the top if they're fixed. If there are any chapters you feel like need revising, let me know in discord (see last chapter). My sidenotes/comments will be in these brackets.]
Example: ['Bongmun' = 'closed/sealed gates' (aka sect is closed to outside)]
[fixed]
Hyun Jong, sitting at the head of the conference room, gazed blankly toward the entrance.
Boxes and packages were piled up high to reach the ceiling.
With a blink of his eyes, he turned his gaze slowly towards Hwang Jongui, who was sitting beside him.
"All this..."
"They're gifts."
"Gifts?"
Hyun Jong frowned.
After Mount Hua's name became well-known, gifts from the wealthy started arriving from time to time. Although Hyun Jong reluctantly accepted them due to the old one and the young one who kept complaining why they didn't receive gifts when their livelihood was in dire straits, he inwardly didn't like it.
But now, gifts were arriving coming to even the Eunha Guild, not just Mount Hua. It left him feeling somewhat uneasy.
"...Is there a need to pile them up like this?"
Hwang Jongui chuckled happily as he saw Hyun Jong swallowing his words to send them back.
"I think you're misunderstanding. These gifts were sent by the people of Xi'an to express their gratitude to Mount Hua."
"...The people of Xi'an?"
"Yes. These are the things they harvested and sold in their stores. They might not be worth much in terms of monetary value, but I thought would Sect Leader would like such gifts, so I brought them inside."
"Well, I see."
Hwang Jongui could see the corner of Hyun Jong's mouth curling up slightly as he said these words. When the latter suspected that the gifts came from people with money and power, he couldn't hide his annoyance. But when he heard that they were tokens of gratitude from ordinary folks, he couldn't help feeling a sense of pride.
'Normally, it's the other way around.'
That was what made the Mount Hua Sect so interesting.
"We're grateful."
"Fortunately, it seems we weren't too late."
Hyun Jong nodded in agreement with Hyun Sang's words.
Then, Hong Daegwang, who had been quietly observing from the corner, raised his hand subtly. Lightning-fast reprimands poured out as soon as he did.
"No."
Just by uttering that word, everyone immediately knew who the person opening his mouth right now was.
"This isn't even the market square? Why are neighborhood beggars in here?"
"W-What do you mean, neighborhood beggars! I'm a branch leader of the Beggar's Union!"
"That's why I'm asking why a gentleman of the Beggar's Union like you is here. Sir, are you from the Heavenly Comrade Alliance? Did the Beggar's Union quit the Ten Great Sects and join the Heavenly Comrade Alliance without me knowing?"
Hong Daegwang smiled contently.
'I thought that after this rascal grew three more years older, he might've become a bit more mature.'
How had he changed so little after all this time? It was almost embarrassing to use the phrase "consistent."
"But that's not the important part..."
"Wow, now you're deciding what's important. We should gather all the beggars in the neighborhood and break them all at once."
Hong Daegwang desperately turned away from Chung Myung and asked Hyun Jong.
"Where were you? I went up to Mount Hua, but there was nobody there..."
"Oh."
Hyun Jong casually replied as if it were no big deal.
"I was in the sect, but it was difficult to focus there, so I moved my residence..."
"No, why..."
Instead of Hyun Jong, Hyun Young interjected with a twisted expression on his face.
"Every day, something breaks and falls apart. What kind of work can you do there?"
"..."
Uh... that was true.
Even when Hong Daegwang had surveyed the place, it was battered that he thought someone might have broken in.
"It's a consolation that we moved. If we had stayed, whether it was in Xi'an or Nabal [not sure], we would've had to rebuild the entire Mount Hua! 'Bongmun' should at least have one wall left. What kind of intense training are they doing! Ugh!"
As Hyun Young clicked his tongue as if it still made him angry, Hyun Jong smiled bitterly.
"There were such issues, but even after entering Bongmun, there were people coming to find us, making it difficult to focus on training. So, we had no choice but to leave the sect, going to a secluded place where no one would come, and train."
At the end of his words, grumbles started to emerge from the Mount Hua disciples' lips.
"Pulling up weeds."
"Catching wild boars."
"What? Is chopping wood and building temples better?"
When Hyun Young raised his eyebrows, the Mount Hua disciples turned their heads discreetly.
Hong Daegwang, still puzzled, asked.
"So, how did you know and arrive on time? Did you see the villagers fleeing to the west while exiting Bongmun?"
"Hmm?"
Hyun Jong looked at Hong Daegwang as if he didn't understand.
"What are you talking about?"
"Huh?"
"Didn't you come up to Mount Hua to find us?"
"How did you know? There was no one on Mount Hua."
As Hong Daegwang squinted his eyes, something white suddenly popped out of Chung Myung's chest. Then, it stood on the table and extended its belly forward with its two feet.
"Um, that…"
Hong Daegwang's face froze.
The pure white...Baek-Ah had an incredibly proud expression. It was astonishing how a creature could look so proud. If it could speak, it would have definitely said, 'Well, well.'
"That Baek-Ah, ugh. It's acting all high and mighty just because I fed it once. I should have shaved off your fur a long time ago!"
As Chung Myung clicked his tongue, Baek-Ah, who had playfully extended his belly, sullenly averted his gaze, looking down with his large black eyes.
Baek Cheon chuckled.
"We've got plenty left for the meal. If we can save one more civilian, I can feed him for a lifetime."
"That bastard eats as much as a cow! Does Sasuk earn that money?" [Sasuk = "senior senior martial brother"]
"...It's just words."
Chung Myung shook his head and glanced away.
"Well... there are people who can't even afford to pay for a meal."
Hong Daegwang flinched.
"Hey. No matter what, that's true. A high-ranking official from the Beggar's Union like you couldn't even sense a creature? What? No one was there? No one?"
"... "
With nothing left to say, Hong Daegwang just stared blankly at Baek-Ah. Looking at the conspicuous white fur, he couldn't come up with an excuse.
Luckily, Hyun Jong came to Hong Daegwang's rescue.
"We couldn't just leave Mount Hua completely empty. I tasked that little guy with guarding Mount Hua. I had to take the dogs with me since I have to feed them, but that little one can come and eat and go whenever he pleases."
"So, you mean... I didn't see that little guy, but he noticed something was wrong and informed Mount Hua about it?"
"That's right."
Hong Daegwang slumped in his chair, feeling defeated.
"No... I'm not even a beast..."
He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.
Whatever it was, he had to be grateful for the bloodshed averted thanks to that little creature...
"Kiii!"
Why was the sight of the animal tapping the floor with its front foot so obnoxious? Why?
"Anyways... I'm grateful."
Xi'an had been saved by a spirit animal. This was something he could know but never say.
"So, are you opening up Bongmun now?"
"Yes."
Hyun Jong nodded.
"Even if Baek-Ah hadn't delivered the news, we'd been preparing for a while now. Bongmun lasted gotten longer than we expected, so there's no need to drag it out any longer."
"But why did it take you so long?"
At those words, Hyun Jong's face paled.
"...There's a saying that rice needs to ripen to become a meal. But that rice... was made of sand or something. Boiling it for three years, it still wouldn't cook. So what could we do?"
"Oh, is that my fault? Or is it the Sahyungs'? Well, I know at least I improved!" [Sahyung = "senior martial brother"]
It seemed like he had improved quite a bit. No, maybe a little too much?
Hong Daegwang trembled at the thought of the Mount Hua disciples literally chewing up the Evil Sect members.
"Then, Sect Leader."
Hwang Jongui asked Hyun Jong subtly.
"Have you achieved the purpose of Bongmun?"
Hyun Jong smiled mysteriously, as if he wasn't sure what to say.
"I don't know what to say... At the very least, I've come back with the confidence that no one in the world will dare to underestimate Mount Hua's strength."
It was a confident statement.
Hyun Jong was not one to easily become arrogant. Even in situations where others would boast, he always remained humble. But as he spoke with such certainty, Hong Daegwang was able to guess the hardships and efforts Mount Hua had endured during this time.
'No... I already saw it with my own eyes, so there's no need to guess.'
And now, the fact that even a devil who would usually charge in without a second thought was keeping quiet proved this to be true.
Of course, on the surface, his facial expressions continued to say, 'Even if you boast about your skills increasing by a mouse's tail, if you puff up your shoulders, you'll just end up getting a beating somewhere and have to lower your shoulders, right?' But the fact that he didn't say it out loud and only expressed it through his expressions was quite remarkable in itself.
"Congratulations, Sect Leader!" [not sure]
"Congratulations!"
Wei Ryepsan, who attended the last meeting before leaving for Nanjing with Hwang Jongui, gave his congratulations.
Hyun Jong also received the congratulations with a humble smile.
"It's the result of the hard work of my disciples."
It was a heartwarming scene.
If only the grumbles of the Mount Hua disciples weren't audible.
"If we don't do it, we're screwed. Can we escape from that?"
"Just coming back alive is enough for me. Let's just leave it at that."
"If we're going to do it again, I'll hurry back home."
"I slept last night and trained in my dream. When I woke up, I felt like jumping into a well."
"I went in once and came out."
Hong Daekwang desperately closed his ears and ignored the terrifying words.
'Were these kids always like this?'
Three years might not be a very long time, so why did everything feel so unfamiliar and difficult to adapt to?
As the atmosphere loosened a bit, Hyun Young brought up the main point.
"For now, we need to stabilize Xi'an a bit more immediately, but Mount Hua won't have too much to do."
Hong Daegwang, who naturally melted into the meeting, subtly asked Hyun Jong.
"What do you plan to do after that?"
"Hmm."
Hyun Jong smiled and looked at someone.
"I think that little guy knows best."
Hong Daegwang's head turned slowly, following Hyun Jong's gaze. Seeing Chung Myung's grumpy expression made him anxious for some reason.
"...But why do you keep making that face?"
"What am I doing?"
Baek Cheon chuckled and patted Chung Myung's head.
"Don't worry, Buntaju ['branch leader']. He just came down from the mountain after exiting Bongmun, but he hasn't even swung a sword at the enemy yet, so his stomach's in knots."
"Those bastards should have been skinned!"
"..."
Clearly, this kid hadn't changed at all.
"More than that."
Chung Myung raised his chin slightly and spoke to Hong Daegwang.
"Now that we've just come down from the mountain, it seems like we should find out what's going on. It's convenient that we have the Eunha Guild and Beggar's Union here, so we can ask. Please tell us."
"What should we start with?"
"First of all."
Chung Myung's lips curled up.
"What that Jang Ilso guy is doing right now."
His eyes gleamed like sharp blades.