Return of Mount Hua Sect

Novel Return of Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1038

“Sa- Save me….”

Kwadeuk!

An indifferent foot trampled on a man’s head and crushed it.

Dan Jagang, who had carelessly cut off one life, stepped on blood and brains and moved forward. Then, he casually looked back.

The place he passed by was full of corpses.

After realizing the situation, empire troops (관군(官軍)) came running. Ordinary people would find this terrifying, and even formidable martial artists wouldn’t dare touch these empire troops. Yet, to Dan Jagang, they were no more troublesome than a swarm of flies.

All that remained was a hellish scene as if a war had swept once.

Of course, even this hellscape hardly impresses Dan Jagang. He was simply erasing those who deserved to be erased.

There was no way for even the slightest sympathy or question. He just silently erased everything he could see.

Right. These beings looked human but were not.

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Though they looked no different from the believers, these were merely swine who had thrown away the chance of faith given to them.

Heavenly Demon has already given them a chance. To realize the existence of Heavenly Demon and submit before Him.

But they turned down that opportunity themselves. Since they have rejected the descending God, all that remains is death and the eternal pain that will follow.

‘In the end, they chose this themselves.’

It was just when Dan Jagang, who had been looking indifferently at the red-stained ground, was about to turn his head.

Dan Jagang’s gaze suddenly turned to the side.

A faint sound of a child crying brushed his ears. His brow furrowed slightly.

The dead and the dying. He seems to have missed a faint presence mixed in there.

He moved his feet, thinking once again that he, too, did not have much experience with this kind of slaughter.

“Plea, please…. please.”

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Eventually, what caught his eye was a rather bizarre sight.

Beneath the pile of miserable corpses, a woman was covering her child with her entire body. His eyes narrowed as he watched the shivering woman desperately covering the mouth of her crying child with one hand.

“Please….”

The woman who was trying to stop her child from crying flinched violently when she sensed Dan Jagang’s presence. Soon her frightened eyes looked up at Dan Jagang.

As soon as their eyes met, the woman sobbed and trembled as if she had just met the God of Death.

“Plea, please….”

Her plea remained the same.

However, the target the words were directed at was clearly different. If the first plea was said to her child, now it is said to Dan Jagang.

“Please, just this child… Please!”

Dan Jagang still looked at the woman and the child in her arms with indifferent eyes.

Foolish. Utterly foolish.

How do they not realize that all of this is the result of their own choices? How come they don’t understand that the person they need to ask for forgiveness is not Dan Jagang?

Dan Jagang indifferently raised his hand.

But at that moment, the child in the woman’s arms burst into tears as if gasping for air.

“Heuk… heuk…. please. Heuk.”

The woman tightly embraced the child to her chest and closed her eyes.

Dan Jagang watched intently, his hand still raised.

In time.

Eventually, his hand slowly lowered. With an inscrutable expression, he continued to stare at the woman and child before turning away from them.

It was not out of sympathy.

After all, everyone in this area was destined to die. There was no way a weakened woman and child in such a place could survive. They were doomed to die whether he intervened or not.

Even if he doesn’t touch them, they will die quickly, so he just doesn’t want to get dirty with the dirty blood of an unbeliever any further. Right. That’s it.

Thud.

Splashing through blood pooled on the ground, he walked for a while until Jong Nil approached him quickly.

“Reporting!”

As if nothing was wrong with the blood-soaked land, Jong Nil immediately raised his head as he tried to start reporting. His eyes were severely distorted, perhaps because he felt signs of movement behind Dan Jagang.

“I will listen as we walk.”

But at that moment, the words that came out of Dan Jagang’s mouth made him not dare to act rashly.

“Yes!”

In the end, Jong Nil silently got up and followed behind Dan Jagang.

“Over 90% of the task is complete.”

“You’re late.”

“I apologize. Being a city… there are too many hiding underground.”

“Excuses are a good shield for incompetence. But it cannot mask a lack of faith.”

Hearing this, Jong Nil’s face turned pale.

“I will finish it in three days, no matter what!”

“Two days.”

“….”

“I give you two days. Erase everything that exists here within that time.”

“Understood!”

Jong Nil bowed deeply.

Whether it was possible or not was irrelevant. What mattered was that he had been given an order. The Bishop’s orders must be carried out at all costs. Because that’s the doctrine.

As the messenger was steeling his resolve, Dan Jagang’s voice rang out again.

“Jong Nil.”

“Yes, Bishop.”

“Let me ask you a question.”

Jong Nil lowered his head without answering and waited for Dan Jagang.

“Their deaths are merely the consequence of their sins.”

“That’s right.”

“They rejected the hand of salvation offered by the Great One. Even though they knew about the existence of Heavenly Demon, they did not convert and dared to oppose Heavenly Demon.”

“That’s right.”

“There is no room for salvation for those who knew the existence of the Great One but did not choose to follow. There is no way for those who cannot make a choice due to ignorance to escape their sin.”

Jong Nil nodded as if there was nothing to consider. It was one of the doctrines taken for granted.

“But Jong Nil.”

At that time, Dan Jagang opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.

“What should we do with life that does not know the existence of Heavenly Demon and has not yet had the opportunity to choose?”

“…What does Bishop mean by that?”

“Literally. Should children who are not yet conscious also have to pay the same price for their sins?”

Jong Nil’s face was strangely distorted.

“…They may not have sinned, but isn’t it natural for children to bear the sins of their parents?”

“Is it?”

Dan Jagang nodded quietly.

‘…A choice.’

Can it really be called a choice?

Dan Jagang gently stroked his face. Rough lips brushed against the palm of his hand.

When living within the faith, there was no need to harbor such doubts. They all believe the same and think the same. Because anything that was deviant was completely excluded.

Just believing was enough to bring peace.

One could enjoy infinite joy simply by accepting without doubt the sermons of the bishops who preached Heavenly Demon and its divine doctrine (복음(福音)).

But….

Dan Jagang looked up at the cloudy sky.

The world he actually encountered was as hazy as the sky. The sky without a speck of uncertainty that we used to see at the cult does not exist here.

“One more question.”

“Yes, Bishop.”

“If we achieve all this and still…”

Dan Jagang stared blankly at the sky for a moment, as if he couldn’t bear to continue his word. Then he opened his mouth.

“If He does not respond to our cries… what will you do?”

“….”

“Will you return to the cult and just wait eternally for Him to come?”

“I…”

Jong Nil bowed his head as if he was sorry for his hesitation.

“I do not know the answer to that.”

“…Is that so?”

“All I know is one thing. The joy of a believer lies solely in following and preserving His word. Any pleasure pursued against His teachings is mere apostasy, in my view.”

Dan Jagang nodded as if he liked the answer.

“A good response. There is no doubt in your faith.”

“Thank you, Bishop.”

“Finish things here.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, and.”

Jong Nil stopped at Dan Jagang’s firm voice.

“I am still concerned about that one.”

“…The one who came before?”

“Yes. Although I don’t remember what his name was.”

Dan Jagang chuckled. It’s not like he even needs to remember his name.

“He doesn’t seem like one to give up easily. He’ll probably target us again.”

“Yes.”

“It will only be a vain struggle, but there is no harm in being cautious. Check for any approaching individuals and prepare accordingly.”

“The believers of the cult that followed just in time have just arrived. I I will assign them to be on guard.”

“I’ll leave the method to you.”

“Yes, Bishop!”

Jong Nil departed as quickly as he came. Dan Jagang’s indifferent stride continued, but it seemed slightly slower than before.

‘The doctrine is not perfect.’

Yes, that is only natural.

If the doctrine were perfect, unbelievers could not exist. In the first place, doctrine does not exist to distinguish between the foolish and the wise. It is nothing more than a yardstick to separate believers from non-believers.

Therefore, doctrine should not be perfect. Because doctrines that leave no room for doubt cannot serve as a measure of faith.

To believe even when there is room for doubt. Isn’t that true faith?

So do not doubt. Just believe.

But how can knowing and doing be so different? Even though he knew that all those doubts were eating away at him, there was no way to extinguish them once they had bloomed.

‘Perhaps I just want to confirm it.’

Dan Jagang’s goal is not to see the enlightened world that He will open with his own eyes. It is merely to confirm His existence with his own eyes.

Even if the price of this deep doubt is to burn in hellfire forever, if he can confirm the existence of Heavenly Demon, he will be able to smile forever in hellfire.

So… So…

‘Please answer me.’

Please tell me. That all the doubts, all the suspicions, were just futile.

And thus, condemn this one lacking in faith.

Please do not abandon these pitiful and poor beings who only revere and revere Heavenly Demon on this barren earth.

Dan Jagang will be the spark.

His existence will become a spark, and his doubts will die away to become conviction. And finally, eternal peace will come to this world.

With a face mixed with ecstasy and disbelief, hate and affection, Dan Jagang let out an excited laugh.

‘I am a contradiction.’

Doubt but believe, believe but doubt. While he cannot believe without a doubt, he desperately hopes and wishes that everything he is doing is wrong.

How could this not be ridiculous?

‘Forget it.’

Now was the time to simply do what had to be done.

Dan Jagang, who was about to move his feet that had suddenly stopped, turned his head sharply.

Northwest.

There was nothing visible to the eye. Nothing registered in his senses either.

But what was it? What was the sensation he had just felt a moment ago?

Dan Jagang slowly clenched and unclenched his fist.

‘Northwest…’

His eyes sank gloomily.

“I might have to cross the river…”

Dan Jagang, who had been watching the northwest with dark eyes for a while, walked slowly again.