Chapter 1846 – Return of The Mount Hua Sect

 

Chapter 1846. If there is such a thing as fate. (1) ❀ ❀ ❀

“Ooooooh!”

Sparks flew as swords clashed.

Fierce sword energy and deep hatred poured toward one another. The moment he faced it, Baek Cheon’s mind went blank.

‘Why…?’

He hadn’t even imagined it. Yet at the same time, he had no choice but to accept it.

What would the Heavenly Comrade Alliance warriors have thought if they had seen them while tracking Jang Ilso? Those masked men radiating extraordinary energy, clearly fighting on the side of the Evil Tyrant Alliance. If they witnessed those same people escaping the battlefield without much harm…

‘No need to think twice.’

Of course, they would have pursued them.

Unlike the others who scattered and fled, these ones still maintained a collective identity. From Heavenly Comrade Alliance’s perspective, they had to be concerned about what kind of future trouble such a group might bring.

Even Baek Cheon would have thought the same in this situation. He would have pursued them and attacked relentlessly to wipe them out completely.

Diancang? There’s no need to even consider their position. For whatever reason, they were being hunted, and they wouldn’t just die quietly.

That clash of perspectives had led to this tragedy.

A Heavenly Comrade Alliance swordsman swung his blade, radiating murderous intent.

“You filthy Evil Sect bastards! You’re the ones from Hubei!”

The venomous hatred in his voice stabbed into Baek Cheon’s heart. He realized it too late—the blade he swung and the tattered martial robe…

‘Peng family?’

He was a member of the Peng family, who had nearly been wiped out by Jang Ilso in Hubei. One of the few surviving members, pouring out burning hatred at the masked fighters.

“Die! Die! Diiiiieeeee!”

The Peng swordsman lost control and wildly lashed out with his sword.

“Just die, you dog-like bastards!”

The masked ones did not simply take it.

Fwoosh!

Like lightning, a sword sliced through the Peng swordsman’s shoulder in an instant.

“Gaaaah!”

“Hmph…”

The face behind the mask seemed twisted with emotion.

“Shut up… We hate you just as much!”

“What the hell are you barking, you filthy Evil Sect mongrel!”

Clang!

Sword and blade collided fiercely.

Any fight starts with a reason. But as the battle continues, the reason loses its meaning. The weight of the dead and sacrificed crushes the minds of the survivors, stealing away their ability to think calmly.

When cause disappears, only endless hatred for the enemy remains. But who could dare call this fury unjust?

Slash!

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

Someone’s scream pierced the ears. Blood sprayed, blinding their vision.

It was a common sight on the battlefield, yet to Baek Cheon, it felt more horrifying than any hell.

“Sahyung!”

Baek Sang’s voice snapped Baek Cheon out of his daze. Right—this was no time to be spacing out.

‘Who's leading this group?’

Sect Leader of Diancang, Jin Seungwon, was nowhere to be seen.

Even if he were, there was no guarantee Baek Cheon could stop this with words. Jin Seungwon had already conceded a lot.

And to be frank, there was no certainty that Jin Seungwon still had much sway over these men.

He was the Sect Leader who turned Diancang into a Evil Sect dog. Even if he had no choice, not everyone could sympathize. Baek Cheon had seen firsthand how Diancang’s disciples showed open hostility toward him.

Which meant there was only one answer: stop Heavenly Comrade Alliance.

Baek Cheon opened his eyes wide and scanned the warriors. Outfits were mixed randomly. With so many different sects involved, it was hard to tell who was in charge.

‘Damn it, who the hell…’

Then, Baek Cheon’s eyes widened.

“Ooooooh!”

Sword energy of two colors surged up. Like a black dragon and a white dragon twining upward into the sky.

The moment he saw that distinctive energy, two syllables surfaced in his mind.

‘Wudang!’

He followed the sword energy and spotted a one-eyed swordsman clashing with a masked Diancang disciple. It was someone Baek Cheon knew well.

“Mu Jin!”

Baek Cheon instinctively shouted his name and immediately kicked off the ground.

“Hey! Damn it! Are you insane? You’ll die! Sahyung!”

Baek Sang shrieked, trying to stop him.

Anyone with eyes could see how murderous the battlefield was ahead. Even though Baek Cheon had fought his way through the remnants of the Evil Tyrant Alliance, this was a different level.

In their blind hatred, no one would recognize him. One wrong move and he'd be beheaded.

“Sahyung!”

Baek Cheon surely knew that, too. Yet he charged straight into the midst of the fight, throwing himself in like he had no regard for his life.

“Argh! You crazy bastard!”

Baek Sang cursed and flew after him. If he couldn’t stop him, he had to at least prevent Baek Cheon from dying a meaningless death.

“Dojang!”

As Baek Sang expected, those consumed by the battle paid no attention to Baek Cheon. They simply unleashed sword energy at anything that stood in their path.

Slash!

A flying shard of sword energy grazed Baek Cheon’s cheek. Blood soaked his shoulder and leg in an instant.

“Mu Jin Dojang!”

Just as they ignored him, Baek Cheon ignored his own wounds.

He charged straight to Mu Jin’s side and raised his sword. Then he struck Mu Jin’s sword just as it was about to swing.

Clang!

Startled, Mu Jin instinctively stopped himself. Even in the heat of the battle, he recognized Baek Cheon’s face.

“…You?”

“Stop! Please! We don’t have to do this. They are—”

“You idiot!”

Kwaang!

Without hesitation, Mu Jin kicked Baek Cheon in the stomach.

“Ugh!”

Baek Cheon flew backward.

“If you're going to spout nonsense, get lost. You damn fool!”

Mu Jin’s eyes glared with blue murder.

“Stop? Why? Why the hell should we? You want us to show mercy to the ones who killed our brothers and burned down the Wudang?”

In the eyes of the other Wudang disciples, the same deadly rage boiled.

Mu Jin glared at Baek Cheon for a moment longer, then turned without another word and charged back at the masked fighters.

“Kill all of Jang Ilso’s dogs!”

“Woooooooh!”

Not only the disciples of Wudang, but even those from other sects were swept up in Mu Jin’s explosive rage.

“You sure talk a lot. Damn those dog-like bastards from Central Plains.”

The masked disciples of Diancang also spat back their venom, eyes full of murderous intent.

It wasn’t only Heavenly Comrade Alliance who held grudges. From Diancang’s perspective, the root of all evil was the Central Plains, who turned a blind eye to the Evil Tyrant Alliance’s march on Yunnan. So to them, Heavenly Comrade Alliance’s talk of revenge must have seemed like nothing but a farce.

For those who desperately needed someone to direct their rage and sorrow at, the enemies before them were perfect.

And so they swung their weapons endlessly—filled with hatred and resentment, trying to release the suffocating pain within.

Swords once wielded in pursuit of enlightenment now thirsted for blood. Blades once drawn to protect were now turned to kill.

Sword fragments flew, blood misted through the air. Hatred was like a vortex, sucking in everything around it.

‘…No way.’

Baek Cheon instinctively realized he couldn’t stop them. They had already lost too much—things that should never have been lost. Reason and principles meant nothing to people like that.

But even so, he couldn’t just stand by and watch this gruesome mutual destruction continue. [sangjan, 상잔(相殘)]

‘I need to find a way. A method. Something to set all this twisted madness right…’

That’s when it happened. Baek Cheon’s gaze halted somewhere.

What he noticed was a tiny sense of incongruity.

Amidst the searing ground, blazing with the heat of hatred and bloodlust—there was a single spot that was oddly calm.

Maybe it was because Baek Cheon was no longer able to throw himself into the chaos that he could sense it.

‘That…’

In a corner of the storming battlefield…

One masked figure was calmly observing the situation, almost like a bystander. Though dressed like the others, something about them felt clearly out of place, making the hairs on Baek Cheon’s neck stand on end.

“You!”

At that moment, the masked figure turned to face him. Their eyes met.

The masked one stared at Baek Cheon in silence, then slightly furrowed their brow before turning abruptly.

Baek Cheon kicked off the ground instinctively.

“I’m not letting you get away!”

With his last ounce of strength, Baek Cheon dashed toward the masked figure.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Hmm.”

Jang Ilso’s gaze was indifferent as he looked down at the person in his grasp.

Just moments ago, it had been a living person. The expression on the corpse’s face—whether it was fear or venom—was unclear.

Of course, Jang Ilso didn’t care.

Whatever a person felt, whatever they pursued, whatever life they led—it only had meaning while they were alive.

To the dead, everything is meaningless. Joy, hatred, sorrow, glory—they all belong to the living.

So one must achieve things while alive. After death? Who cares.

Jang Ilso tossed aside the lump of meat that had once been a person. His eyes swept across the blood-soaked ground.

“This one took a bit of time. Let’s move.”

He issued the brief order, not even waiting for a response before kicking off the ground.

The monotonous plain, so colorless it almost seemed gray, began to distort.

Everything was going according to his will. Whether what filled his chest was euphoria or mere excitement—he couldn’t quite tell.

But what did it matter? Emotions were unimportant. What mattered was what he was achieving now.

So… he could ignore the unsettling discomfort crawling over his skin. The rising irritation and gut-churning nausea didn’t matter either.

What mattered… yes, what truly mattered…

Jang Ilso suddenly stopped walking.

“Ryeonju?”

A questioning voice called out to him, but he didn’t respond. His gaze remained fixed on the cloud-heavy sky.

‘What was it again?’

There was something—something that truly mattered most to him. He was sure… there must have been something else.

“Ryeonju, what’s wrong—?”

“Shut up. Before I tear your mouth open.”

Jang Ilso growled, clutching his face and lowering his head.

A vile, indescribable feeling wrapped around him. A sickening emotion he couldn’t identify consumed him.

Standing at the edge of a pitch-black swamp of emotion, Jang Ilso suddenly jerked his head up.

“Hm?”

A group of martial artists appeared in his vision.

Seeing them approach, unaware of anything, made Jang Ilso’s eyes curve like a crescent moon.

“Well, well… how pitiful.”

Seeing the ones at the front made him scoff.

Jang Ilso slowly nodded his head, pushing away the discomfort that was holding him back.

“If there is such a thing as fate, it’s certainly cruel.” [the title of the ch]

He spotted a woman wearing the robes of Mount Hua.

Tang Soso. The daughter of someone he had killed.

And with her, others—people who had persistently stood in his way alongside Mount Hua.

Jang Ilso narrowed his eyes. A dark killing intent once again surged in his pale irises.

Clack.

The rings on his fingers ground together roughly.

“This might turn into quite the amusing entertainment, don’t you think?”

He stepped forward without hesitation. Just then, a golden trail arced through the sky above his head.

Ppiiiiii.

A shrill, sorrowful cry rang out, long and urgent.

[tl note: okay the bird has found Jang Ilso, it's time for HCA to run there before Soso dies-]

Next Chapter

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