A short standoff continued between the man smiling and the man with a hardened face.
"Curious. How did you know?" Jang Ilso tilted his head in wonder. "That I was here?"
"Easy to know." A calm voice leaked from the mouth of the old Taoist, Heo Dojin. "I thought and thought about it. For the past few years, I thought only of you."
"Oh, my, my." Jang Ilso slowly shook his head. A displeased expression was blatantly visible on his face. "Old men's interest is just creepy."
Heo Dojin's eyes were endlessly dark. The Wudang elders he led also looked at the red-robed man in front of them with tense faces.
'Indeed....'
Jang Ilso was there. Right in front of them, within reach.
They had followed Heo Dojin's orders to come down from the mountain, but they had been skeptical. Yet, they truly encountered Jang Ilso here, just as Heo Dojin had said. It was an absurd outcome.
Who would have imagined that simply passing through the enemy's attacks would lead them to face Jang Ilso so easily?
Perhaps no one in the world knew, but in this moment, Heo Dojin might have outmaneuvered Jang Ilso. Even if Jang Ilso was unaware of Heo Dojin's strategy or if he was careless, the result was the same.
And perhaps... they could achieve more than just a simple strategic victory. Perhaps they could capture Paegun Jang Ilso.
That would be a triumph, restoring Wudang's tarnished honor to the pinnacle of the martial world.
'Indeed. He is my Sahyung.'
While everyone else was preoccupied with the war itself, Heo Dojin alone understood the essence of this war. Burning the mountain, the enemy driving disciples to death—none of these were the keys to victory.
There was only one person who held the key to victory on Wudang Mountain. The man standing before them, Paegun Jang Ilso.
"Well, anyway...." Jang Ilso leisurely glanced around at the burning Wudang. The battlefield was quite far from here, but the noise from there was vividly audible even here.
"Honestly, I'm a little surprised."
"...."
"Even if you predicted I was here, it's surprising for someone who should be protecting the mountain to abandon it and come down. What wind blew through our old-fashioned Taoists? Hmm?"
Jang Ilso briefly smirked. "In the midst of all this, your precious disciples must be dying like flies."
At those words, Heo Dojin briefly glanced toward the mountain. Then he looked back at Jang Ilso.
He wasn't wrong.
Even now, Wudang's disciples were shedding blood. Standing there, leading everyone, and fighting together until death might indeed be his role.
But Heo Dojin didn't believe that was the right path. That would be mere self-satisfaction.
What he had to do was stand here. Right in front of the most dangerous man in the world.
"I just know what's more important."
Heo Dojin spat out the words.
"I cannot repeat the mistake of failing to endure temporary pain. Thanks to you, I realized that sometimes one must endure and persevere."
"...."
"To save Wudang, I can endure the pain of burning in hellfire. That is the burden I must bear."
"Hmmm?"
Jang Ilso's eyes narrowed. His gaze, as sharp as that of a venomous snake, made Heo Dojin's heart pound.
As Jang Ilso stared intently at Heo Dojin's face, his lips slightly parted, revealing white teeth.
"Humans, you see… Sometimes they are very foolish. To the extent that they don't even know what they want or what they're doing."
"Enough nonsense...."
"Is that really what you wanted? Does it look like it?"
Jang Ilso's gaze shifted to behind Heo Dojin. The Wudang elders he had brought were lined up. They, who should have been fighting on the battlefield, were Wudang's most crucial forces.
What did it mean for them to be here?
"Distorted pigs are obsessed with covering their true desires with fancy wrapping. Righteousness, chivalry, justice, the future—all those nauseating words. They even convince themselves."
"Paegun."
"But... I see it. What you truly desire. The desire hidden beneath those sweet, sugary words. You just want..."
Jang Ilso mimicked slicing his own neck with his fingernail. Everyone fell silent and focused on that gesture. Jang Ilso's grin deepened.
"You just want this neck."
Heo Dojin's face hardened like ice.
"You...."
"All those other words are just excuses. Deep down, it's different, isn't it? Be honest, it's just us here."
Jang Ilso's small whisper strangely reached everyone's ears clearly. His every word brought back memories of the past to Heo Dojin. That awful cliff, that terrible humiliation.
Squeeze.
Heo Dojin gripped his sword tighter.
He could avenge everything. If he could take that man's head, all his mistakes would be erased, and the martial world would not hesitate to place Wudang back at the pinnacle.
That head could reduce sacrifices.
That head could reclaim Wudang's future.
That head could cleanse all his faults.
Only that head... that...
At that moment,
"Why so serious?"
Jang Ilso's voice pierced Heo Dojin's ears, bringing him back from the depths. It was a nonchalant and lazy tone.
"Do you think you've made a move so great that it will change the tide of this war? Hmm? Just standing before me, do you think that changes anything?"
The condescending tone, as if looking down from an infinite height, struck the heart of the old Heo Dojin.
"...Paegun."
"You're mistaken. Coming here is commendable, but it doesn't change anything."
Jang Ilso was smiling. No, he was sneering.
He was mocking Heo Dojin, who had made the painful decision to abandon his disciples and come here. His choice. And furthermore, him.
"Do you know why?"
"...."
"Because the one standing before me is just you, Heo Dojin."
It could have been dismissed as a simple, light provocation.
But strangely, this remark caused the biggest crack in Heo Dojin's expressionless face.
"Haha."
Jang Ilso, who didn't miss this change, laughed mischievously.
"How pathetic. An actor who doesn't realize his role has ended and stays on stage! You're the only one who doesn't know that no one is watching."
Tremble.
Heo Dojin's sword trembled faintly for a moment.
He had waited for this moment. He had endured the time of isolation solely for this moment.
Yet, facing Jang Ilso, even while ignoring the deaths of his disciples and the burning Wudang, he wasn't even being treated as a worthy opponent.
Heo Dojin gritted his teeth and spoke calmly.
"A mere distraction."
But before he could finish, Jang Ilso clicked his tongue and let out a cold laugh. His pale eyes gleamed with contempt.
"A distraction? Tsk tsk. That's why old men are... Do you still think you have that kind of value? Hmm?"
"...."
"How pitiful."
What truly angered Heo Dojin was not Jang Ilso's words themselves.
It was Jang Ilso's gaze. The indifferent gaze looking down at something worthless. It even seemed to contain a trace of pity for something pitiful and ignorant.
That gaze completely twisted the mood of the old Taoist who had lived his life in lofty cultivation.
"Jang... Ilso."
"You call abandoning what you can't bear as endurance and giving up what you can't overcome as sacrifice?"
Jang Ilso chuckled.
"How insignificant. That Dao of yours, too."
"You!"
Heo Dojin ground his teeth.
"What do you know!"
"Ah."
Jang Ilso lazily waved his hand.
"I'd like to play more, but... I have things to do. I don't have time to waste on a withered old man waiting for death."
Clink.
The rings on his fingers clinked together, making a chilling sound.
"If you can't accept it, confirm it with that old body of yours. How meaningless the time given to you truly was."
The hand gripping Heo Dojin's sword trembled violently.
"Now I'll make you regret those words."
"Of course, you will."
"Jang Ilsoooooooooo!"
Heo Dojin's sword shot towards Jang Ilso like a beam of light.
* * *
"Strategist?"
"...."
"What's wrong? Is there a problem...?"
As Ho Gakmyung suddenly fell silent while giving orders, his aides became tense. However, Ho Gakmyung didn't even glance at them, staring intently at the mountain. His eyes darkened as he spoke.
"Too easy."
"Pardon?"
"Far too easy."
For a moment, confusion flickered across the aides' faces.
Too easy, he said. Yet, their progress in attacking the enemy's stronghold was still sluggish.
The Thousand-Faced Gentleman had stepped forward, and the full power of the Sun Palace was being deployed, giving them a slight edge. But that was all. Considering Ho Gakmyung's usual vigilance, this was not a situation warranting such an expression.
One of the aides spoke cautiously.
"Their resistance is still fierce, Strategist."
"Fierce? It shouldn't be. The opponent is Wudang."
"Ah...."
Ho Gakmyung narrowed his eyes.
There are two possibilities when the enemy feels weaker than expected. One is a trap. And the other...
"They divided their forces? No. There's no reason to target the rear. In that case,
Ho Gakmyung's gaze shifted beyond the mountain, precisely somewhere unseen from this location.
Eventually, a firm voice escaped his lips with a sigh.
"I see. They're targeting the Ryeonju. Or perhaps they've already reached him?"
"Pardon? Str-Strategist, what do you mean...!"
The aides' faces turned ashen. Given that they were capable of assisting in military strategy, they couldn't fail to grasp Ho Gakmyung's words.
"We... we should send reinforcements immediately."
"No need."
"Pardon?"
Ho Gakmyung let out a cold chuckle.
"Is that the best plan they could come up with?"
A clever move? No, such a move doesn't even deserve to be called a strategy. It's merely the desperate thrashing of someone who has lost the upper hand.
"Even if they knew to target the tiger, if the dog bites its tail, it'll only get killed. Thinking themselves tigers when they aren't is foolish."
Or perhaps it meant that Heo Dojin's injuries were more severe than Ho Gakmyung had anticipated. For a once-mighty figure to fall so low.
He had seen it countless times. Those trapped in the past losing themselves.
In any case, this provided an opportunity.
"Listen up."
"Yes, Strategist!"
"Deploy all available forces. Capture that cliff within an hour."
"Yes!"
The aides began moving swiftly. Ho Gakmyung continued to gaze at the cliff, reflecting on that foolish choice.
It's not the Evil Tyrant Alliance or the Sun Palace burning Wudang.
It's them. They are the ones ending Wudang's history with their own hands at this moment. With an irreversible choice.