Chapter 1877 – Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1877 ‘The me in the past’ and ‘him, in the future’. (2) ❀ ❀ ❀

Jang Ilso suddenly realized he had involuntarily stepped back.

‘What?’

Had he just felt fear toward this tattered man who looked like a rag, barely a scrap of flesh intact?

‘That’s not even funny.’

Jang Ilso clenched his fists tightly.

There wasn’t a single reason he should lose. He still had plenty of strength left. Meanwhile, Cheong Myeong was no better than a half-dead corpse clinging to his last breath.

Even if his opponent were in good condition, there was no reason for Jang Ilso to lose. So how absurd was it that the thought of defeat crossed his mind now?

But if that's the case, then why?

Why wouldn’t his feet move? Why was his heart pounding like a war drum? As if... as if he were facing something overwhelmingly immense, something beyond what he could bear.

Grit.

Jang Ilso ground his teeth.

Nothing had changed. His opponent’s energy hadn’t surged. His wounds hadn’t suddenly healed. Even if a god of war had descended into Cheong Myeong’s body, in that torn-up state, he shouldn’t be capable of anything.

No, more than that, there were no more paths left now. Only one path lay before Jang Ilso.

He opened his mouth out of habit.

“......How terrifying. But acting tough won’t help you anymore.”

He tried to force out his usual sly smile, when Cheong Myeong’s sword suddenly drooped downward. At the same time, he slowly lowered his stance. His movements made it blatantly obvious that he was preparing to charge forward.

‘If you're going to be that obvious, even if I wanted to take the hit, I couldn’t....’

Fwoosh!

But before Jang Ilso could even finish the thought, Cheong Myeong kicked off the ground. As expected, Jang Ilso raised both hands in the direction Cheong Myeong was flying toward.

And then he saw it.

No, perhaps more accurate to say, he sensed it rather than saw it. Even before his hands had fully extended, he could feel the chilling presence of a sword blade brushing his throat.

Slash!

Jang Ilso’s eyes widened.

A burning pain radiated from his neck.

‘Cut me? When? How?’

When he’d finally caught the motion, Cheong Myeong had already half-pierced into his space with his sword extended.

At that moment, Jang Ilso knew. If he hadn’t instinctively twisted his neck, he’d be dead. From that single strike.

A vicious chill raced down his spine. Their eyes met in midair. Cheong Myeong’s gaze was emotionless, utterly devoid of feeling.

Jang Ilso reflexively swung his hand. Or tried to.

But Cheong Myeong’s elbow, mid-spin within Jang Ilso’s guard, struck him square in the side first.

KWAANG!

The world in front of Jang Ilso’s eyes blinked out for a moment.

THUD!

Only after he felt his face smash into the ground did his briefly distant consciousness return.

He didn’t feel any pain. He didn’t even have time to feel it. Realizing he’d been slammed into the earth, Jang Ilso immediately struck the ground with his palm and sprang up.

He’s coming. He’s definitely coming. He must be right before his nose right now...

Flinch.

But there was nothing, only empty air before his eyes.

‘Behind!’

He spun violently. He wouldn’t make it if he waited to see and react. Without even checking, he fully unleashed Blue Flame Crushing Technique to engulf the space behind him.

FWOOOOOOOSH!

A torrent of blue fire exploded like a flood.

The torrent of flames surged toward Cheong Myeong, who was dashing for Jang Ilso’s back.

Jang Ilso’s judgment was flawless. His response was too. It was a brilliant counter that reversed what could’ve been a fatal mistake.

At that moment, Cheong Myeong’s downward-pointed sword moved.

Paaaang!

Cheong Myeong swung his sword toward the Blue Flame Crushing Technique. It was a reckless move, like trying to stop a tsunami with a stick.

KAANG!

And as expected, there was no miracle. His slash was swallowed by the blue flames and vanished without a trace.

Cheong Myeong swung again without any sign of panic.

KAANG.

The second slash was also absorbed and dissolved.

Then the third. The fourth. Again and again.

An endless tide of sword strikes poured into the blue flames, relentless and ceaseless.

‘What... is this...?’

Jang Ilso found himself staring in a daze. He couldn’t look away.

Was time really still flowing?

His Blue Flame Crushing Technique, which should’ve exploded at tremendous speed, now felt as if it had frozen in place.

Śaṇa [찰나(刹那)]. A moment, no more than the briefest flicker of time itself.

And yet Cheong Myeong was extending that instant indefinitely, wandering through the world alone. His slashes traced the air, forming massive mandala-like shapes. [mandala, 만다라(曼茶羅)]

They were walls of sword energy [검벽(劍壁)], yes, but far beyond anything Jang Ilso had ever known. Of course, all of it unfolded in that single, eternal moment.

The sword walls clashed directly with Jang Ilso’s Blue Flame Crushing Technique.

There was no sound. Or rather, there must have been a sound like the heavens collapsing. But before that sound could reach him, a blindingly white sword, as if it alone moved through a different time, drifting through a world slowed to a crawl.

Jang Ilso threw his head back with all his strength.

‘Please!’

Moving his body within this dreadfully slow time drained immense spiritual power.

But more than the burden of moving this heavy body, more than the looming death just inches away—

What crushed Jang Ilso even more... was the figure behind that sword. It was Cheong Myeong who was sending him gazes that did not even show a trace of emotion.

Paaaaat!

Time, which had seemed to stop, suddenly snapped back to normal.

Kwaaaaaaaa!

The belated roar of destruction hit his ears, and the sword that had been flying for his face instead pierced Jang Ilso’s hand. To be exact, it should have pierced his face, but he had blocked it with his hand.

Kagagagagagak!

His hand, filled with inner energy, barely pushed the blade away. The sword, having torn through his flesh, scraped against the bones reinforced with energy.

“EUAAAA!”

Jang Ilso let out a scream of desperation and gripped the sword that had pierced his hand. But before his fingers could even touch the blade, the sword that had been driving forward suddenly withdrew like a lie.

Jang Ilso’s hand clutched at empty air.

Then he saw it, an overwhelming swarm of sword shadows filling his vision as they came flying at him.

‘This can’t be...’

His mind went blank, but his body moved on instinct. He kicked off the ground and retreated, as if it were madness to try and face what lay ahead.

But the moment Jang Ilso drew back, the sword shadows that had shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow burst all at once, like fireworks. And the space they had filled bloomed red, completely blanketed in blood-colored petals

Jang Ilso blanked out for a moment.

The world looked like it had turned into a flower garden. Everywhere he could see was plum blossoms. Only plum blossoms.

The earth, once scorched and ravaged by Blue Flame Crushing Technique, now bloomed with flowers. As if life, once withered and withdrawn, had found breath again, blossoming spread across the world. [gaehwa, 개화 (開花)]

‘Bullshit.’

Jang Ilso gritted his teeth.

This was not such a romantic sight. Those flowers were nothing less than the blades of a grim reaper. [sasin, 사신(死神)]

Even calling them the claws of a demon that cuts down all existence would be insufficient.

Tension surged through his body, nerves sharpened to the limit. He had to block everything he saw. In this abyss where illusion and reality, truth and falsehood were all mingled together, he had to survive.

The beginning of all martial understanding is perception. [gwan,관(觀)

It all starts with sensing your opponent by any means.

Jang Ilso focused his perception with everything he had. And the moment his concentration surpassed its limit, his insight reached the realm of contemplative insight, catching every single blade aura blooming before his eyes. [gwanjo, 관조(觀照)]

But at the same time.

“Uh...?”

Jang Ilso’s fist, charged with immense inner power, suddenly hesitated.

There was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Everything scattered before his eyes was nothing but void, a mere illusion. [heo, 허(虛)]

‘All of this....?’

No substance, meaning there was nothing to shield Cheong Myeong. He’d entrusted his body to illusions that could be shattered with a wave of the hand? In a moment where life and death were on the line?

“What are you looking at?”

A voice came again. This time, from behind Jang Ilso’s back.

Cheong Myeong stood back to back with Jang Ilso, not even turning his gaze, and quietly muttered.

“You’re chasing after nothing.”

“.....”

“Just like the path you’ve lived.”

“Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword!”

Jang Ilso swung a fierce backhand toward his side. But before the energy in his strike could fully unleash, Cheong Myeong kicked the back of his knee.

Thud!

Jang Ilso’s knee buckled from the force. In that instant, Cheong Myeong drove a dozen sword shadows into his back.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

“GUAAAH!”

The swords tore through the protective energy that Jang Ilso had raised with all his might. The blades pierced flesh, and as the force within them exploded, blood gushed from Jang Ilso’s mouth like a waterfall.

Even then, Jang Ilso twisted his body and threw a punch at Cheong Myeong. The blazing flames condensed into a single point, becoming terrifying energy that shot forward in a straight line.

KAAAANG!

But before the punch fully extended, the tip of Cheong Myeong’s sword struck Jang Ilso’s fist.

Crack.

At the same time, the sword tip split into dozens of strands and wrapped around Jang Ilso’s fist, like a cunning snake, like a mocking tongue. No, perhaps, like a mother gently caressing her child.

It wasn’t forceful, but it completely sealed the punch. The delicate sword energy wrapped around his fist without leaving a gap.

When full power is released, it’s like a burst of water. It can’t be recalled or redirected.

So when the path is blocked, the backlash returns to the one who threw the punch.

BOOOOM!

The redirected force of Blue Flame Crushing Technique exploded within Jang Ilso’s fist. His large hand burst apart, spraying blood in every direction.

Jang Ilso stared blankly at his hand, it was destroyed, the bones exposed.

But before pain could even register, Cheong Myeong slashed across Jang Ilso’s thigh.

Slash.

Before he could even glance down at his leg, the sword cut across his forearm again.

Slash.

It was a speed beyond understanding. The sword appeared faster than perception could follow, something closer to shifting form and transposing place through the blade itself.

[ihyeonghwan-wi, 이형환위(移形換位): Moves with such blinding speed or subtlety that it appears they’ve disappeared from one place and reappeared elsewhere instantly]

A strike that skipped the act of swinging, leaving behind only its conclusion: the cut.

It was the very level that every swordsman dreams of, even in their sleep.

“EUAAAAAHH!”

Realizing he couldn’t possibly react to this sword, Jang Ilso gave up on defense and charged at Cheong Myeong. Even if he had to sacrifice a limb, he would crush Cheong Myeong’s throat, a desperate final strike.

But just then, a small hand entered his vision.

Grab.

“Stop thrashing around.”

Cheong Myeong grabbed Jang Ilso’s face. Then, with that grip, he slammed Jang Ilso down into the ground.

“Rookie.”

[tl note: aesong-ah (애송아) is a sharp, condescending term often used in martial or hierarchical settings. It’s a dismissive way of calling someone an inexperienced, immature brat, like calling someone a ‘rookie’ or ‘greenhorn’.]

KWAAANG!

Cracks spread out like a spider web from where Jang Ilso’s body hit the earth.

“Ugh...gh...”

Through Cheong Myeong’s fingers, he stared coldly down at Jang Ilso. In the remaining sliver of his vision, the dark clouds parted slightly, revealing the sky above.

“Do you see it? This is...”

Cheong Myeong curled his lips into a hollow sneer.

“This is the world from a hundred years ago.”

The entire world was dyed a terrifying shade of blood-red.

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