Novel Return of Mount Hua Sect Chapter 646

It is commonly said that eyes are the windows to the soul.

This is because the eyes are the place where a person’s true feelings are most easily revealed.

That’s why, Heo Sanja preferred to look into the eyes of anyone he faced, if possible.

However, he couldn’t bear to see the eyes of the person sitting in front of him now.

Tak.

The other person’s finger lightly tapped the table.

Tak, Tak.

The sound that had been ringing steadily began to speed up little by little. Heo Sanja’s heart rate increased in response.

“I see.”

“….”

“So you lost.”

The voice finally reaching his ears felt like a sharp blade stabbing Heo Sanja’s heart. He held his breath as if he had been really stabbed. The cold voice continued.

“Heo Sanja.”

“Yes… Sect Leader.”

Heo Sanja, who raised his head with a short breath, stopped breathing again without realizing it

Heo Dojin.

This is because the face of this Wudang’s Sect Leader and his Sahyung, Heo Dojin, had an expression that he had never seen before.

Although Heo Sanja had been with Wudang for dozens of years, he had never remembered Heo Dojin’s face showing such a cold expression even once.

With a frozen face, Heo Dojin spoke again slowly.

“You lost.”

“….”

Sharp eyes pierced Heo Sanja. Heo Sanja lowered his eyes again and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, Sect Leader. I was careless…”

“This is nothing to apologize for, Heo Sanja.”

“….”

A cold voice quietly spread through the room.

“Tell me.”

“….”

“Why did you lose?”

Heo Sanja swallowed a dry saliva.

While returning to Wudang, he thought and thought about how to report the situation to Sect Leader. But in the end, there was only one thing he could say.

“Mount Hua….”

After repeatedly chewing on words that he did not want to say out loud, Heo Sanja could finally spit them out with difficulty.

“…Mount Hua was stronger than I thought.”

Heo Dojin did not show much reaction to this response. He just looked at Heo Sanja as if the answer wasn’t enough.

“Mount Hua’s rising stars, called the Five Swords, have already surpassed the common first-class disciples of our main sect. The other second or third-class disciples fall short of them, but… If it’s a match between the second-class disciples, we can’t guarantee the victory of our main sect. And…”

“And?”

“Mount Hua Divine Dragon’s ability is… his ability made even the Five Swords seem dull.”

“You mean Heo Gong lost in terms of his skills?”

“Yes.”

Heo Sanja bows his head as if to apologize.

“Even if they compete again, Heo Gong’s chances of winning are not high. Even when the match was over, Chung Myung’s breathing was not disturbed at all.”

“….”

Heo Dojin’s eyes slowly closed.

Heo Sanja tried his best to keep his breath silent and not disturb his thoughts.

Heo Dojin, who had closed his eyes for so long and was lost in thought, opened his eyes again. The sharpness that was visible in his gaze just moments ago had disappeared. But something much heavier than before was felt in his presence.

“They were just stronger?”

“…That’s right.”

Heo Sanja slowly nodded his head. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with anything else to say.

Reason?

Ten reasons can be given. There will be ten more that came up as excuses. But he knew well that none of them could be true reasons or excuses.
It might seem more responsible if he just blamed himself for his mistakes and regretted them. However, this answer would drive Wudang’s position further into a corner, and it was not what Heo Dojin wanted.

So he had to answer honestly like this.

“Heo Sanja.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Think again properly.”

Heo Dojin muttered in a low voice.

“Were our preparations lacking?”

“No, Sect Leader.”

If anything, they were overly prepared.

They had to deal with the second and third-class disciples of Mount Hua. He took Wudang’s first-class disciples and even an Elder. The preparation was thorough.

Even if he were told to put down his dignity, there was no excuse to make.

“Then, was the timing bad?”

“That wasn’t it either.”

Then there was no problem with preparation and timing. That leaves only luck…”

Heo Dojin’s gaze gently pressed Heo Sanja.

“Did Mount Hua have heavenly luck on their side?”

“… Neither is that.”

Heo Dojin looked silently at Heo Sanja. Under the pressure of his gaze, Heo Sanja bit his lip and opened his mouth.

“If we fight with equal force, we will lose five out of ten times. We may be able to achieve a ‘victory,’ but a ‘true victory’ will be difficult.”

“Then….”

Heo Dojin said plainly.

“I’m the one who’s wrong.”

“…Sect Leader.”

“I sent a general on the battlefield against a force that couldn’t be won, so it was only natural to lose.”

Said Heo Dojin with a self-deprecating laugh, causing Heo Sanja to close his eyes tightly this time.

If nothing wasn’t anything wrong with the preparation, timing, or luck, then it could only mean one thing. Underestimating and not properly understanding the enemy was the mistake.

Yes, that was all.

However….

“Heo Sanja.”

“…Yes.”

Heo Dojin spoke with a wry smile.

“Do you think this makes any sense?”

Heo Sanja could not answer. In fact, anyone would have had difficulty answering that question immediately.

“According to what you said, it means that Mount Hua raised their second-class disciples to rival our first-class disciples in such a short period of time.”

“…Sect Leader.”

“It means that a sect, who went to the brink of ruin, is doing something that no Wudang’s ancestors could do, and even Mount Hua’s ancestors themselves couldn’t do.”

Heo Dojin’s voice fell lower and lower.

“It’s not logical.”

Tak, Tak, Tak.

His fingers started tapping the table again.

Unlike before, it sounded somehow unstable. Now that Heo Sanja can tell Heo Dojin’s true feelings through the sound, he e exhaled deeply through his nose.

“Mount Hua…. Mount Hua.”

He could hear very faint gnashing of teeth. Meanwhile, the sound of tapping on the table did not decrease, as it disturbed Heo Sanja’s mind like a grotesque sound wave. His breathing became short and his heart pounded.

Kwadeudeuk!

Soon after, the fingers that had been tapping all along penetrated the table. The thick wood was pierced at once, and the table cracked and collapsed.

“Se- Sect Leader.”

The teapot on the table rolled over and spilled tea. However, Heo San-ja had no choice but to only watch because moving forward with this situation was difficult.

A wave of emotion began to hit Heo Dojin’s face.

Feeling the pressure that made it difficult to breathe, Heo Sanja unconsciously hunched his shoulders.

“It’s humiliating.”

However, compared to that, Heo Dojin’s voice was loose.

“We brought not only the first-class disciples, but even an Elder, yet we couldn’t handle the second and third-class disciples. Even the Elder lost to the third-class disciples. Kangho’s gossipers will be so delighted to mock us.”
Heo Sanja bit his teeth tightly and bowed his head.

He couldn’t raise his head even though it wasn’t his fault. There was no way he didn’t know how much Wudang’s honor had fallen because of this incident.

“The word will spread throughout the world that there is not much time left for Mount Hua to beat Wudang to be positioned as the world’s greatest sect and the world’s greatest sword sect.”

“I have nothing to say, Sect Leader.”

“Do you know why I’m in so much pain?”

“…I don’t know.”

Heo Dojin turned his head and looked toward the window.

The sky outside the window was clear without a speck of clouds, but now no such sight came into his eyes.

“I began to think that it might be more than just words.”

“Se- Sect Leader.”

“This is beyond common sense.”

The waves of emotion disappeared into thin air and Heo Dojin’s face regained its composure.

If this had been a mistake, he would have been angry. If it had been Heo Sanja’s fault, he would have punished him accordingly.

But it wasn’t anyone’s fault.

Putting right or wrong aside, Heo Dojin and Heo Sanja took the best action for Wudang Sect. Nevertheless, Mount Hua lightly trampled on their efforts.

“I’ve always kept Mount Hua in check even when everyone around me said it was too much. There probably weren’t many people in the world who were as wary of Mount Hua as I was.”

“….”

“But even I didn’t really know Mount Hua.”

“Sect Leader… this is not your fault.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

A calm voice.

“To properly face the enemy, we must first recognize them. I have to admit, Mount Hua’s potential has surpassed both my predictions and common sense. I thought their swords were still far away, but their blades were already at our throats.”

Heo Sanja shuddered as he heard the sharp words. As if something ominous had seized the back of his neck.

“I underestimated Mount Hua.”

Heo Dojin, who closed his eyes for a moment and controlled his mind, slowly opened his mouth.

“The shock our disciples have felt cannot be small, so first we need to reinforce their discipline.”

“Yes.”

Heo Dojin was about to say, ‘Sometimes defeat can be a good medicine,’ but refrained himself, as the loss was too great to find any comfort in.

“…Heo Gong.”

“Yes?”

“Heo Gong, did he regain consciousness?”

“…Yes, right before we arrived….”
“What did he say?”

Heo Sanja tightly grasped his sleeve before answering.

“He locked himself in his quarter while saying incomprehensible stuff like how he was fundamentally wrong.”

“….”

Heo Dojin remained silent and looked up at the ceiling. After a moment, he nodded with a more composed face.

“I understand. You should go and rest too.”

“…Please punish me, Sect Leader.”

“Punish you?”

Heo Dojin smiled wryly.

“Heo Sanja.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“If you have to be punished, how much bigger punishment do you think I should receive?”

“….”

“Now go.”

“…Yes.”

“I’ll give you a separate order on how to deal with this. Focus on taking care of the injured disciples so they can return to their daily lives without further harm.”

“I will keep that in mind. Then, with your permission.”

Heo Sanja rose carefully and went outside.

The remaining Heo Dojin silently gazed at the disarrayed room filled with spilled tea and broken furniture.

The pitiful state of the room reflected his inner turmoil and the current situation of Wudang.

Slowly getting up from his seat, he walked to the door and opened it.

“Sigh….”

He was greeted by the peaceful and traditional scenery, as usual.
But Heo Dojin knows. The fact that the sweat and efforts of the predecessors are buried in this landscape.

Just how much effort had Wudang put in to attain the grandiose title of ‘The World Greatest Taoist Sect’?

However, now in his generation, that status is about to be shaken.

‘Was it wrong from the very beginning??’

What was it?

What went wrong?

“Mount Hua….”

Thick anguish was written on Heo Dojin’s face as he uttered a name he could not understand.