Chapter 1216: Who Will Help? (1)

Southern Island. A gigantic island at the southernmost edge of the Central Plains.

Located a vast distance to the south of what people of the Central Plains call the “Central Region,” it was once used as a place of °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° exile. Its sweltering climate and humid environment made it difficult to live there in a different way from the north.

Even so, those born and raised on Southern Island lived each day in their own kind of peace.

But now the atmosphere ruling Southern Island was heavier than ever.

In truth, Southern Island is remote and only about half the size of a typical city, so it leaves a faint impression on the world. The reason its name is often mentioned, however, is because of a sect perched on the mid-slopes of the wild mountains of Southern Island.

The Southern Island Sect. A group that seized the place left by Mount Hua and newly became a member of the Nine Great Sects.

Though it lacked the history and pedigree of the traditional heavyweights of the Nine Great Sects, the Nine Great Sects One Union were still the Nine Great Sects. Merely occupying a seat, even a lowly one, was enough to establish Southern Island Sect’s standing without further explanation.

The Southern Island Sect’s central chamber, the Sect leader’s quarters. From that solemn place, a gloomy voice was seeping out.

“...Perhaps.”

The voice, which had paused for a moment, continued as if with some effort.

“Has any communication arrived?”

Southern Island’s Sect leader, Geum Yang-Baek, asked the elders. Strangely, though he was definitely asking, his voice contained no real question.

A question that expects no answer. We call that self-mockery.

“Not yet...”

The answer was not even complete. The way it trailed off awkwardly explained better than anything the situation Southern Island now faced.

“I thought as much.”

Geum Yang-Baek let out a short laugh. The cold cynicism in that laugh made the elders’ hearts feel even more stifled.

“Sect leader... this is not the time to give up hope. Given the circumstances, it’s possible proper communication simply hasn’t been able to arrive, isn’t it?”

“How is that different?”

Cynicism touched the corner of Geum Yang-Baek’s mouth.

“What’s the difference between having the will but being unable to reach out to help, and having no will and thus not reaching out? The result is the same.”

“...Sect leader.”

“If there are those who would reach out? If there are those with the will to save Southern Island, what difference does it make? They still won’t be able to help. Are we to find comfort in the thought that someone will pity us after our sect is destroyed?”

The elder who had spoken hung his head and fell silent.

He knew well that his words were nothing but meaningless consolation.

Geum Yang-Baek let out a long sigh. He had snapped out of frustration, but there was nothing to blame them for in the first place.

What could the elders possibly do in a situation like this?

“What are the Four Sects Alliance’s movements like?”

“They haven’t shown any particular movement yet.”

“...Is it not something we simply failed to detect?”

Again, there was no fitting answer.

To be frank, how could they possibly know Four Sects Alliance’s movements? They couldn’t even send a single disciple across the sea to the Southern lands.

The intelligence network they had established had all been smashed, and the Beggars’ Union that used to share information with them had long since withdrawn from the Southern Lands.

Isolated and abandoned.

All they could know now was the situation on this island.

No people, no information, not even birds in the sky could reach this island. Only news that had shaken the world would take so long before rumors finally reached Southern Island.

“Sect leader... They may not have sent word, but if a worrying situation breaks out there will surely be sects to help us. Shaolin will not merely stand by and watch all of this...”

“Is that so?”

Geum Yang-Baek cut him off and laughed hollowly.

“Ah, so that’s it. The Abbot, after deep thought, has been leaving our Southern Island Sect as if abandoned all this time; and here I am, a petty wretch, whining because I couldn’t fathom the Abbot’s intent.”

“...”

“When matters erupt, they will surely come to help on their own. I worry too much. Is that it?”

In the end the elders shut their eyes tight.

Geum Yang-Baek was not usually one to sneer and mock like that. He was, by all measures, a benevolent man.

But suffering the Four Sects Alliance’s pressure in an isolated and abandoned state over the past few years had made his words coarser and his temperament inevitably sharper.

Sensing the elders’ discomfort, Geum Yang-Baek sighed deeply once more.

“...I’m sorry. There’s nothing to blame the elders for.”

“No, Sect leader. How much you’ve agonized—we do not fail to understand that.”

The elders’ faces also took on a look of desolation.

Their hearts were no different from one another’s.

How could there not be resentment toward the Nine Great Sects?

The Nine Great Sects were not merely a symbol of authority. Though they squabbled and vied for power in peacetime, when external enemies or rogue factions rose up they united as one to oppose them, and that is how the Nine Great Sects gained their reputation.

But since the recent Southern Lands Non-Aggression Pact, Southern Island had received no support from the other sects of the Nine Great Sects.

Thus they were left to face, alone, the wolf-like threat of Four Sects Alliance baring its fangs right at their doorstep.

“Has the Beggars’ Union not sent anyone yet?”

“...Yes, Sect leader.”

“When was the last time someone from the Beggars’ Union came by?”

“A year... yes, a year ago.”

Geum Yang-Baek stared at the ceiling with a bewildered expression.

“Has it really been that long?”

After murmuring that, he fell silent for a long while before slowly speaking again.

“No matter how sharp Four Sects Alliance’s blade or how formidable Jang Ilso’s prestige is... is it really possible that the great Beggars’ Union couldn’t send a single person?”

“Sect leader...”

“Heh heh heh.”

Geum Yang-Baek chuckled softly. His hollow laughter spread sadly through the not-large main hall.

“How laughable. They say a dog abandoned by its master doesn’t realize it’s been abandoned and keeps waiting for its master—that’s exactly our state now. Even in a situation like this, we’re only waiting for news from the Nine Great Sects that may never come.”

It was truly a miserable and sorrowful self-reproach.

No matter how grim the situation, he was the head of a sect—indeed, the leader of a prestigious sect nominally part of the Nine Great Sects. He should not have to liken his sect to a dog.

But no one blamed him. Geum Yang-Baek loved Southern Island more than anyone there.

“What do you think?”

“...”

“Do you truly believe Four Sects Alliance will extend its claws and that the Nine Great Sects will send aid?”

“I- I believe so. Of course they should. Isn’t that justice and mutual obligation?”

One of the elders spoke up again.

“A sect like Shaolin, for the sake of others’ eyes, couldn’t refrain from sending support.”

Hearing that, Geum Yang-Baek nodded slightly. But the movement lacked force; there was no conviction behind it.

“Then I will ask again. Do you think the aid Shaolin sends will arrive in time?”

“That is...”

No one could answer that with certainty.

It’s not that they lacked certainty. On the contrary, they were quite sure: Shaolin would certainly send aid.

But that aid would never arrive in time, whether it was sent in earnest or merely as a gesture.

“What Shaolin desires is a suitable pretext and suitable advantage, no doubt.”

Geum Yang-Baek laughed hollowly.

It was obvious.

“They will issue stern warnings and attempt to punish with force. But... will those who depart to punish really push deep into Southern lands?”

“...”

“They’ll likely just hold a demonstration at the mouth of the Yangtze.”

“S-Sect leader... Shaolin surely wouldn’t go that far...”

“To them, is our Southern Island a sect worth damaging their main strength to save?”

Geum Yang-Baek gritted his teeth.

“If Mount Hua had not fallen so suddenly, and if the vacancy left by Mount Hua hadn’t needed to be filled in haste at that time, could we really have acted as a member of the Nine Great Sects as we do now? Our Southern Island Sect, subtly scorned by them as foreign barbarians?”

At those words everyone fell silent.

Had Mount Hua not collapsed, it might have been forever impossible for Southern Island to break through the solid walls of the Nine Great Sects. Everyone present knew that.

“In the end, even as a member of the Nine Great Sects, we were only a sect that filled out the set.”

“Sect leader...”

“Am I wrong?”

Uncontrollable anger rose on Geum Yang-Baek’s face.

“Are you saying that Shaolin is so lacking in capability that they couldn’t send a single message to Southern Island for an entire year?”

“......”

“That’s a dismal thing to say. It means the Four Sects Alliance’s strength has exceeded our expectations to the point of rendering even Shaolin powerless!”

“Sect leader! Control yourself. Shaolin will not wish for the collapse of the Nine Great Sects. They...”

“That’s a funny thing to say. I guarantee that if the Mount Hua faction had heard that, they would have laughed themselves silly.”

No one could refute that.

Even if a single sect collapsed without leaving a pillar or root, the solid structure of the Nine Great Sects would not fall. Another prestigious school would simply fill the void.

Wasn’t Southern Island precisely the one to benefit from that? Even if a hundred years later the positions were reversed, what would be strange about that?

“The Nine Great Sects will be criticized. They will be pointed at and reviled. But will that remain forever?”

“...”

“If, in the end, they merely stop the Four Sects Alliance, it will be judged an unavoidable sacrifice, and the Abbot’s choice not to waste resources on Southern Island will be praised as a decision that cut off a limb. Isn’t that so?”

“Sect leader...”

“Such is the mercy of the world.”

Geum Yang-Baek let out a soft laugh.

“In the end we will be forgotten. People forgot Mount Hua. No, likely even more quickly than that.”

Geum Yang-Baek closed his eyes.

He had already seen how thoroughly those who commit sins can erase their sins. The fate Mount Hua suffered would now befall Southern Island.

What pained him most was that Southern Island—one of the most active participants in that past—had no right to loudly denounce or curse the situation now.

As everyone sat in desolate silence, a voice like a lament reached Geum Yang-Baek’s ear.

“At this rate... it would have been better to have joined the Heavenly Friends Alliance.”

For a moment all eyes focused on the one who had spoken.

The elder who had spoken hesitated with a slightly sour expression, then let the resentment pour out as if blowing off steam.

“If the Heavenly Friends Alliance would march as far as the Southern lands ruled by the Four Sects Alliance at the appearance of the Demonic Cult... would they really leave a sect of their own to perish, using distance as an excuse?”

With those words, the atmosphere inside the main hall sank utterly and sharply.