Return of Mount Hua Sect

The rain of arrows poured down.

It was no exaggeration—just simple arrows raining down.

“Gul!”

“That crazy bastard!”

“Eikkk!”

Jo Gul flinched while trying to lift his sword.

No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like he could stop these arrows with his sword.

“Jump, brat! Jump into the water!”

“Ah!”

Plop!

Jo Gul created a big splash as he jumped into the river and swam desperately.

Jo Gul turned his head and saw the arrows piercing the water, too.

Although their force weakened, the sight of arrows cutting through the water was still threatening.

‘Eik!’

Jo Gul moved his limbs quickly to get further away.

‘Ahhh! Help me!’

He increased the speed of his moving limbs.

Luckily, it wasn’t too late; the arrows that came close to the back of his head had lost their force and just floated on the water.

‘Woah… I thought I would die for sure.’

Jo Gul was shocked by all that had happened.

He sighed in relief as he turned his head in shock.

Inside the murky waters of the Yangtze River.

Unlike Mount Hua’s valley, he could feel something moving in the cloudy water with no visibility.

‘A fish?’

No, this was too big and too fast.

Jo Gul caught sight of something black rushing straight for him, so he swung his sword.

“Grrrk.”

The pirate who was stabbing Jo Gul with Emeici daggers was cut by Jo Gul’s sword.

Red blood flowed from the pirate’s chest and spread around the river’s surface.

‘Haha!’

Jo Gul happily pulled back his sword.

‘Thank you, Elder!’

Hyun Young couldn’t have predicted this situation to arise and trained them, but after practicing swinging the sword under the water of Mount Hua’s valley, swinging the sword here felt natural for Jo Gul.

As he moved his gaze, he saw a bluish shape in the distance.

The blue robe that the pirates wore was clearly visible.

“No matter how strong the pirates are! I will not lose any more! Come at me as many times as you want!”

Jo Gul gripped his sword with a confident look.

But…

“Uh?”

Another shape appeared before the bluish one.

“Two!”

That’s all?

“Three?”

It was a bit burdensome, but even so…

“4? 5? 6?… 10? 20…”

Mother!

Brrrr!

Air bubbles rose from Jo Gul’s mouth as fear took hold.

“Why are so many down here?”

Even though he had learned to swing his sword underwater, it wasn’t easy to deal with such a large number of pirates in this unfamiliar environment.

And weren’t the martial arts of the pirates stronger in water than outside it?

Jo Gul sensed something was off and tried to jump to the surface, but the speed of the pirates’ swings was twice as fast as he expected.

The pirates flew in, leaving bubbles around, and pierced Jo Gul’s body with Emeici daggers.

Swish!

The blue Emeici daggers, shining with qi, were even more terrifying.

Even in the water, the sound of them moving could be clearly heard.

“Tsk!”

Jo Gul swung his sword out of reflex.

Boom! Thud!

The Emeici dagger, pushed by the sword, bounced back. The sword moved as usual. But, since they were in the water, he had no choice but to move slightly slower than usual.

Swish!

Because of the slight speed difference, the pirate was able to react faster, and the dagger grazed Jo Gul’s shoulder.

Although it just barely grazed his arm, it left a huge gash on his shoulder.

“Ahh! Damn it!”

If it weren’t for Hyun Young’s training, this same Emeici dagger would have made holes in his body.

But, despite the training, it wasn’t easy to handle the pirates in the water.

“These bastards! I am Jo Gul of Mount Hua!”

Jo Gul’s eyes shone as he adjusted his grip on the sword.

“Huh!”

But that resolve melted quickly as the dagger passed right next to his face.

“I-I will die!”

The pirates were skilled.

Aside from their attack, their movement speed couldn’t be matched.

He was just a little fast, but the pirates were like mermaids.

Their movement in the water was faster than their movement on land.

Moreover, Jo Gul’s sword was the fastest and most agile one in Mount Hua.

However, the sword dealt the least damage when its speed was slowed down.

In other words, it meant that among the disciples of Mount Hua, Jo Gul was the most disadvantaged when fighting in the water.

Right.

His sword, which should have pierced the enemy like a snake, creating about a dozen remnants, only created five afterimages.

The flying speed wasn’t even half the usual speed.

‘Damn it!’

If he had known this would happen, he would have done his best during the water training without tricks!

At this moment, a large bird claw-like glove attempted to scratch Jo Gul’s face.

As Jo Gul desperately tried to pull back to avoid the glove, the pirate who had gone behind him suddenly stabbed Jo Gul in the back with a happy smile.

‘I cannot avoid this attack…’

Jo Gul gritted his teeth and twisted his body.

The intention was to avoid being stabbed at a critical point, even if it meant getting stabbed elsewhere.

Then!

“Grrrk!”

Suddenly, air bubbles escaped from the pirate who was ready to stab him, and red blood spread around.

‘Uh?’

A very happy face could be seen behind the pirate who was floating in the water.

“Sassssuu… kuak!”

Jo Gul almost screamed, forgetting that he was underwater, and gulped down some water.

Baek Cheon, who saw this, shook his head.

Then, he rushed ahead at lightning speed and passed by Jo Gul.

‘They are running.’

Jo Gul looked at Baek Cheon in shock.

How skillful was he in the use of internal qi to be able to move swiftly as if he were on land?

Baek Cheon passed by him and swung his sword ahead.

As the sword, infused with internal qi, cut through the water, a large wave was created, sweeping the pirates away.

“Kuak!”

“Eupp!”

The pirates were momentarily shocked and pushed back by the wave. At the same time, Baek Cheon grabbed Jo Gul by the shoulders and leaped up.

“Puaaah!”

Baek Cheon rose to the surface at once, kicked the water for movement, and jumped onto the merchant ship.

Thud!

Jo Gul, thrown down on the deck, clutched the floor and gagged.

“Kuaaak! Kuuak! Ackk… I thought I was going to die.”

The disciples of Mount Hua saw this and shook their heads.

“He came back alive.”

“Sasuk is so nice. It wouldn’t have been refreshing even if that guy got killed.”

“Wouldn’t his dying be good for Mount Hua?”

Jo Gul lifted his head.

“Sahyung! You don’t know how hard it was to fight against those bastards in the water! Throw yourself into the water to find out.”

“Right… even a 3-year-old kid would know to check things before going headfirst. What you did is so like you.”

“…”

Yoon Jong sighed and looked ahead. The Dragon Ship, which had pierced their ship, was still pulling them at high speed.

“Sasuk. What do we do?”

“Umm…”

Baek Cheon looked down at the bow.

The harpoon that pierced the bottom of the ship was there.

‘It will be impossible to lose it.’

Even though he wasn’t familiar with ships, he had learned a little about them.

If he pulled out that harpoon now, water would rush in, making the ship sink.

If they were to sink into the water like this, it would mean they had to be willing to die.

“I guess we just wait and watch for now. First, we can only try things out once our feet touch solid ground.”

“… but sahyung.”

Baek Sang spoke, indicating that this wasn’t a good idea.

“If they sink this ship now, they will have a greater advantage. Nevertheless, isn’t the reason they are dragging us because they think their base is a more advantageous place than here, right?”

“… right.”

“I’d rather….”

Baek Sang couldn’t even voice his opinion.

That’s because he couldn’t think of a solution to deal with them.

If they resisted now, the ship would eventually sink. Then, they would have to protect the civilians while also fighting the pirates in the water.

‘Both are just as bad options to pick.’

There was no other way.

Baek Cheon must have thought the same thing. He looked back at his sajaes with a stern expression.

“I guess we need to come up with a solution. Baek Sang! Soso!”

“Yes!”

“Provide us with cover. Get off the ship and go to the river. Inform the officials and bring in reinforcements from…”

“No! I don’t want to!”

Tang Soso shouted.

“Soso.”

“If you die, you DIE. Nothing more!”

Baek Cheon frowned.

“There is no time to call reinforcements! Are you trying to send us back first because you are afraid of us being in danger?”

“Soso. Reinforcements….”

“I will not do that! I was afraid that I would end up like this and only the sahyungs would work hard. I did it once before! But if I continue to step aside, sasuk will also continue to pull me back!”

“…”

“I don’t want to do it! I don’t! I hate that plan! Reinforcements never arrive on time! Then it would mean that the sahyungs die, and I live alone!”

“Soso…”

“In that case, it’s better to bite your tongue and die! We can go to Mount Hua later and lock ourselves in the Plum Blossom Cave! But I will never execute the order you said now!”

Baek Cheon sighed deeply.

“I…”

“I will not be a burden.”

Baek Sang spoke with a stern look.

“There is no disciple of Mount Hua who leaves his companions behind. It might sound stupid and foolish right now, but being smart and rational is enough when dealing with money.”

“…”

Baek Cheon sighed deeply.

“You idiots.”

“We are natural idiots.”

“Actually, there are no smart people in Mount Hua. If we were smart, we would have run away then.”

“…”

That was right.

“Oh my. I get it.”

Baek Cheon nodded and turned.

The Dragon Ship of great size appeared before his eyes.

‘I don’t know what the right action to take now is.’

Finding the best response was quite difficult.

It’s easy to watch and point out things when someone else was leading, but when you were actually leading, there were so many things to consider.

‘Does that guy behave like this normally?’

Perhaps martial arts wasn’t the only thing to learn from Chung Myung.

If Chung Myung were showing his back to them now, the expressions of the sajaes behind him would have been different.

‘But he isn’t here, and I have to do it.’

Baek Cheon bit his lip.

No matter what happened, he had to save them and return them to Mount Hua.

It was at that exact moment that Baek Cheon made a promise to himself.

“Sasuk! There!”

“Hm?”

“I think it is there!”

When Baek Cheon followed Yoon Jong’s finger and turned his gaze, he saw a steep cliff-lined up next to the river.

A fortress of heavenly beauty.

The terrain was perfect for that description; the middle of it was concave and caved in.

“… a place like that.”

Baek Cheon gritted his teeth.

This place was literally a fortress made in heaven.

Behind it was the tall cliff, and in front was the wide river.

It was impossible to move to the left or right because of the cliffs, so the only way to get there was to cross the river or go to the cliff.

And within the hollow space, they could see buildings where people could live and a dock for the ships.

“… pirate base.”

After seeing it with their own eyes, they realized why the pirates had brought them here.

That place was a poison.

A poison that could not be escaped.

And now they were like rats in the poison.

Baek Cheon clenched his fists without realizing it.

Perhaps.

He didn’t even know that he was now facing the worst situation he had ever experienced.