Chapter 1876 – Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1876 ‘The me in the past’ and ‘him, in the future’. (1) ❀ ❀ ❀

His mind was hazy. A floating sensation wrapped around his body as if he were swimming in deep water. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep forever.

But Cheong Myeong forced his eyes open.

Through his blurred vision, he saw a sky full of dark clouds.

‘Limit...’

His body had already passed its limit. All that remained was sheer willpower.

He had always believed that was enough. His mental fortitude had always been extraordinary. In fact, he had never once given up.

But… was that really true?

Perhaps it wasn’t that he endured, just that giving up had never been an option.

If Cheong Myeong lost, everyone lost. If he gave up, everything was over. If he turned away, someone would die.

He had accepted all of that as natural. He had to. There was no other choice. That’s why it was fine. That’s how he could endure.

But… had it really been fine?

In that moment, something bright blue filled Cheong Myeong’s vision. Instinctively, he twisted his body.

KWAAANG!

The ground where he had just been lying down split open with a deafening roar. The shock of it struck his back.

“Kugh!”

Blood filled his mouth, spilling from lips that opened on their own.

He had already vomited so much, yet somehow there was still blood left inside to cough up. Just like this life of his, persistent and impossible to sever.

PAAAT!

Three strands of internal energy. To be exact, three rings imbued with internal energy, shot toward Cheong Myeong’s head and chest. He quickly swung his sword, deflecting the incoming rings.

KANG! KAGAGANG!

The moment his sword met the rings, a cracking sound echoed through his body. It was the sound of his wrist fracturing. His body, having reached its limit, could no longer withstand even this much force.

Then something flew at Cheong Myeong. A hand engulfed in blue flames. The claw of Jang Ilso, shaped like a divine beast’s talon, slashed toward him.

‘The sword...’

He couldn’t move his sword.

The Plum Blossom Sword, which had always followed his will, now felt like a thousand-ton boulder, refusing to budge.

Cheong Myeong stared blankly at Jang Ilso’s incoming hand as if it were someone else’s problem. A question suddenly flickered through his mind.

Why should I struggle anymore?

He had done enough. Truly, he had given it everything. Was there any meaning left in continuing this endless pain?

But in that moment, a familiar voice brushed past his ears.

“Cheong Myeong-aaaahh!”

As if that voice were a signal, a fierce light reignited in Cheong Myeong’s fading eyes.

‘The sword won’t move?’

So what?

Cheong Myeong knew.

He knew those who kept fighting even after losing an arm. Those who fought even after losing their internal energy. Those who, even after losing every means of proving themselves, refused to give up and ran forward with even more strength.

With such a person standing behind him, there was no room for whining.

Cheong Myeong dropped his sword. Then, with his now-free hand, he drew a red plum blossom in the air.

Plum Blossom Scattered Hands. [maehwa sansu, 매화산수(梅花散手)]

It wasn’t drawn with a sword, but with his hand. Yet it was just as beautiful as any drawn with a blade.

KWAANG!

Jang Ilso’s blue energy clashed with Cheong Myeong’s red aura.

CRACK!

As the two energies collided, the two fighters’ hands extended and tangled mid-air. Without either needing to signal, they each tightened their grip on the other’s hand, then Cheong Myeong’s foot slammed into Jang Ilso’s solar plexus like lightning.

KWAANG!

CRACK!

A loud explosion echoed along with the sound of something breaking. Jang Ilso was flung like a cannonball, crashing into the ground.

“Cough.”

Cheong Myeong coughed dryly. Then, with an indifferent face, he looked down at his right hand, and grabbed hold of the grotesquely twisted fingers.

CRACK.

A chilling sound followed. His blood-darkened fingers quickly turned black, but without blinking an eye, Cheong Myeong forcibly twisted each finger back into place.

CRUNCH.

Then, he gripped his sword again.

His hand was beyond broken, utterly mangled, but now it no longer defied his will. As he lifted his sword, he slowly licked his lips.

Jang Ilso, still on the ground, raised a hand toward the sky.

“Hmph.”

Tap.

With that hand, he roughly tousled his hair, chuckled darkly, and sat up.

“Where the hell are you getting that kind of strength? I thought you were already dead.”

Srrrk.

The sound of Jang Ilso’s robe brushing against his body rang out disturbingly clearly.

Anyone watching him slowly rise would instantly realize, unlike Cheong Myeong, who had surpassed his limit and even let go of tomorrow, Jang Ilso still had strength left to spare.

He was strong.

Cheong Myeong acknowledged that fact without resistance.

That man was strong. Saying that Cheong Myeong hadn’t yet returned to his former peak was no excuse. Even if the Plum Blossom Sword Saint himself were standing here, he wouldn’t be able to deny that strength.

Therefore, it was certain.

In this battered, tattered body, Cheong Myeong could never defeat Jang Ilso. This wasn’t surrender. It was just reality.

Jang Ilso slowly brushed back his fallen hair and muttered eerily.

“I think I’ve killed you, but you live. I think I’ve broken you, but you bounce right back.”

He glanced at Baek Cheon in the distance.

“It’s exhausting. All of you are so damned tenacious.”

“.....”

“What? Did your ‘Sasuk’ coming back to life suddenly give you strength you didn’t have before?”

Jang Ilso looked at Cheong Myeong, his face twisted with disdain, then let out a warped laugh.

“Stop dreaming. I told you. People ultimately stand alone.”

Cheong Myeong said nothing and stared at Jang Ilso. For a brief moment, his past self overlapped with the man standing defiantly before him.

Yes, perhaps what Cheong Myeong was seeing… was himself.

The self that had never truly been abandoned by Mount Hua, and thus never met its people. Never found someone to guide him. The self that survived utterly alone.

The one who couldn’t find a back to follow, and thus only fed his own desires as he clawed his way to this place. That version of Cheong Myeong, without the shade of Mount Hua, stood over there.

Proud, aloof, and terribly isolated.

That’s why he was strong. He had no choice but to be strong. But…

“Empty.”

At Cheong Myeong’s words, Jang Ilso’s eyes twitched slightly.

“Still don’t understand? Miracles don’t happen twice. That pitiful man may have taken all your remaining luck with him.”

“Luck, huh...”

Cheong Myeong let out a faint laugh.

“Thanks to you, I understand now.”

“...Hm?”

“Transformation.” [tal-tae, 탈태(奪胎). Note: what BS and YJ said in the previous chapter was [hwan-gol-tal-tae, 환골탈태]

Cheong Myeong continued in a detached tone.

“Sudden enlightenment, shedding of the shell, pursuit of the Way, becoming an immortal...” [note: what cm said just this short “돈오, 혹은 탈각, 구도, 등선......”]

[Tl note:

Dono, 돈오 (頓悟 ): Sudden enlightenment.

Talkak, 탈각 (脫殼): Shedding the shell. Like a cicada emerging from its husk; metaphor for spiritual or physical transformation.

Gudo, 구도 (求道): The pursuit of the Way. Seeking truth, often spiritual or martial.

Deungseon, 등선 (登仙): Ascending to immortality. A Taoist concept of transcending the mortal world to become an immortal.]

“...What nonsense are you babbling now?”

“People call it whatever they want, in whatever way that pleases them. But in the end, it all means the same thing.”

“.....”

“The thing one longs for desperately, endlessly, manifesting in one’s body. That is transformation.” [btw transformation can also be translated as rebirth.]

Jang Ilso’s gaze dimmed slightly.

“All rivers return to the sea. That tired old saying...”

[tl note: manlyugwijong, 만류귀종 (萬流歸宗) is a classical idiom meaning: “All streams return to the source,” or “All paths return to the origin.” It implies that all philosophies, pursuits, or efforts ultimately lead to the same truth.]

“Wrong.”

Cheong Myeong cut him off firmly.

“In Buddhism, life is viewed as suffering. But to attain enlightenment, one must endure that suffering.”

“....”

“That’s why Buddhism longs for it. A body of diamond, Vajra, that won’t collapse before the trials of pain. A body that can anchor a mind that flickers like a lamp in the wind.” [geumgang, 금강(金剛): diamond or vajra]

Jang Ilso let out a low groan.

“.....Vajra indestructible body.”

[tl note. geumgang bulhoe, 금강불괴 (金剛不壞): The indestructible body of a fully awakened being, one that transcends birth and death. It symbolizes the culmination of spiritual cultivation, where body and mind are purified beyond the reach of karma, delusion, or physical decay.]

“Taoism seeks to become one with the world. Not through artifice, but in its natural state. They long, again and again, for their body to harmonize with the universe just as it is. In Taoism, a body that has reached that state is called a Natural Body.”

[tl note. Jayeonche, 자연체(自然體): a spiritual and physical state where one’s body becomes indistinguishable from the natural flow of the Tao.]

“....”

“And the secular world regrets the passage of time. They do not believe in what comes after, they yearn for a body that grants more time in this life. Yes, simply put, youth.”

“....Returning to childhood.” [hwandong, 환동(還童) is a Taoist concept referring to the idea of regaining the vitality and purity of youth, not in a literal sense of becoming a child.]

Jang Ilso muttered as if entranced. Cheong Myeong slowly nodded.

“Even if the end differs, the root remains the same. A desperate desire that changes the body, slowly at times, and sometimes like a raging torrent.”

Jang Ilso snorted with derision.

“So you’re saying that the transformation, which had been stalled due to a lack of deep realization, unfolds all at once in the very moment of enlightenment, and that this is the true nature of full body transformation?”

[hwan-gol-tal-tae, 환골탈태(換骨奪胎): literally tl-ed as ‘Replacing the bones, stealing the womb’. Another term: rebirth, radical/complete transformation, complete renewal, complete metamorphosis.]

“Exactly.”

“What an amusing notion.”

Jang Ilso glanced briefly toward Baek Cheon again. He couldn’t fully accept it, but if not that, there was no other way to explain that man’s recovery.

“Fine, suppose that’s true. But... why are you telling me this?”

“What about you?”

“....Huh?”

“Your body. How did you change yourself to reach your current level?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Jang Ilso frowned.

“What are you…”

“When I look at your body, covered in scars, that’s what comes to mind.”

Jang Ilso stared at Cheong Myeong, his expression showing clear confusion.

“You’re full of contradictions.”

“....”

“Well, so am I.”

Cheong Myeong let out a low chuckle.

If Jang Ilso had truly longed for a flawless body, those scars would have long disappeared. But Jang Ilso never desired a perfect self.

It was the same for Cheong Myeong.

If Cheong Myeong truly desired his fully matured self, his body would have returned to its past form already. But it hadn’t, his body was still smaller than before.

That contradiction made him realize something about his own heart he hadn’t even noticed.

‘I just wanted to stay.’

Cheong Myeong closed his eyes and murmured quietly.

“I lived always preparing for what was to come.”

“What are you talking about...”

“But I feared tomorrow more than anyone else. No matter how much I tried to deceive myself, it didn’t work. I was terrified of each day being added on.”

Because he was afraid of losing this moment, of losing them all.

“So I could only ever remain a child. Because that’s what I desperately wanted, more than anything.”

Cheong Myeong sneered bitterly.

“But… I can’t be like that forever. Tomorrow eventually comes. Even if completing myself would bring ‘that bastard’ back into the world, I couldn’t stop myself forever.”

Now, at last, he understood.

He finally understood the meaning of the Dalai Lama’s words.

Why merely sensing that guy’s presence had caused him to fall into demonic deviation.

[tl note. ibma, 입마 (入魔): Think of simma 심마 (mind demon) as the seed, and ibma 입마 (demonic deviation) as the result.]

“Are you going to keep spouting that nonsense? This is starting to get tedious.”

Jang Ilso’s face twisted slightly. His mind was in disarray.

‘What is this?’

His heart had already charged ahead, ready to strike Cheong Myeong. But strangely, his body refused to move. His instincts were screaming.

Don’t approach that man. Not now.

Cheong Myeong slowly spoke with his eyes still closed.

“That’s why now I must accept it. In the end, I have to face it.”

“....”

“The me in the past.”

And the one his completion would bring forth...

“Him, in the future.”

The wind blew.

Nothing had changed. And yet, Jang Ilso felt it.

“You…”

All the blood drained from Jang Ilso’s face.

Just as he had when he closed them, Cheong Myeong slowly opened his eyes.

In that instant, Jang Ilso, struck by an icy chill, reflexively stepped back.

The dissonance was overwhelming. He was clearly the same man he had just been fighting, yet he looked like a completely different person. As if someone else were wearing Cheong Myeong’s skin, the sheer wrongness of it choked the breath from Jang Ilso’s lungs.

“What the hell…”

Crack.

Cheong Myeong clenched and opened his crushed fingers and muttered.

“A complete mess. But... right now, just right.”

Finally, Cheong Myeong’s gaze turned fully toward Jang Ilso. Jang Ilso flinched faintly at the familiar yet unfamiliar gaze.

“I’ll let you see it with those eyes. The world from a hundred years ago.”

WUUUUUNG!

The Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword let out a scream, a wail of steel.

Next Chapter

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