Chapter 1886 – Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1886. You Can Do It. (6) ❀ ❀ ❀

“Uooooooooh!”

At the very front, Jin Geumryong, leading Zhongnan, charged forward at a fearsome speed.

‘Damn it!’

Strength wouldn’t come to his legs. His body was utterly exhausted. The same was surely true for those following behind him. They had been dragged here just when they were about to catch their breath.

But it didn’t matter.

“Grit your teeth! Don’t show weakness! Don’t let only those Mount Hua bastards rampage around!”

Though he was Baek Cheon’s elder brother, he was also the one who would become Zhongnan’s Sect Leader.

Jin Geumryong could not allow only Mount Hua to be left standing at the end of this war. This was the duty of someone of the Zhongnan lineage, and the pride of a martial artist.

As if sharing that resolve, the Zhongnan swordsmen squeezed out the last of their strength and stamped the ground even harder. Soon, they faced the faces of the Red Dogs, twisted in despair like they had never seen before.

“With everything we’ve got…”

Blood vessels bulged in Jin Geumryong’s eyes as he gritted his teeth.

“Smash through them!”

Kwaaaang!

It was as if an explosion that should have been inaudible rang clearly in everyone’s ears. One corner of the Red Dogs’ formation completely collapsed, and Zhongnan forcibly tore open that gap.

Like a single drop of water falling onto one side of a delicately balanced scale, triggering an irreversible collapse.

“Don’t let a single one return to Gangnam! We uproot the Evil Tyrant Alliance here!”

Zhongnan’s sword, the old blades of theirs, the hardest in all the world, came down to crush the Red Dogs.

It wasn’t flashy, only solid, so perhaps it would have been an easy sword for the Red Dogs to handle. If their stamina had been full, if their minds had been clear, Zhongnan’s sword, which emphasized stability, would have been nothing more than the most digestible orthodox style.

But not now. To the utterly exhausted Red Dogs, that solidity felt entirely different. Because it wasn’t rushed, it left no openings, and it steadily crushed its opponent. It was suffocating.

Even the Red Dogs, who had barely suppressed their despair with hatred, began to crumble before it. All the more so because they were already being torn apart by Shaolin, leaving them with no strength to resist.

“Uaaaaaah!”

Over the collapsing enemy, the snow-blossom storm unleashed by Jin Geumryong swirled violently.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Sasuk! It’s Zhongnan!”

“…Yeah, I know.”

Baek Cheon forced strength into legs that were about to give out.

A wave of weakness surged through his whole body. It was from relief.

Perhaps to hide it, Baek Cheon twisted his face into a grimace and fixed his eyes on the Red Dogs. Before long, the now-familiar sight of white petals fluttering came into view.

“…You sure got here fast. Damn older brother.”

“At least you’re calling him ‘older brother’ now.”

Not ‘hyung-nim’, but ‘hyung-nom’ (damn older brother). But still, he called him ‘hyung’ anyway.

“What?”

“Nothing at all.”

Yoon Jong used his left hand to roughly wipe away the liquid running down his face, whether blood or sweat, he couldn’t tell. He wanted to grin and toss another joke, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the strength for it.

“Don’t let your guard down yet.”

“…Sorry?”

Baek Cheon glanced at Cheong Myeong, whom he was holding in his arms.

“Be sure to be thorough until the very end. That’s the Mount Hua way.”

“Since when were you so thorough?”

“What?”

“…Nothing.”

“You’ve changed, you know that?”

“Not as much as you, sasuk.”

Yoon Jong smiled faintly and gripped his sword tightly. It was time to see the end of this war.

❀ ❀ ❀

The Blood Palace Lord’s gaze was trembling endlessly.

‘Damn it.’

He should have moved. He should have run without looking back. That moment of hesitation was producing the deadliest result imaginable.

There was no longer any time to hesitate. Even if it meant incurring the wrath of the Bishop, he had to survive for now.

“Retreat! Right now!”

The Blood Palace Lord urgently raised his voice. The Blood Palace followers, who had been waiting for that signal, turned without a glance back.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Lee Songbaek swung his sword quickly, but it didn’t reach the backs of those desperately fleeing. Or perhaps Lee Songbaek simply didn’t have the killing intent to strike them down with full force as they fled.

The moment the Blood Palace Lord confirmed their retreat, he too prepared to launch himself away without regret.

But before he could, a flash of white sword energy flew toward his face. Startled, he twisted his head to avoid it.

Slash!

The sword energy grazed across his face. The bandages wrapped around his head were cleanly sliced apart, and a long sword mark was carved into his face.

Throb!

His body, which had long forgotten pain, shuddered at the shock of his facial skin splitting open.

“What the…”

Confusion flashed in the Blood Palace Lord’s eyes. Before he could even find the one who had sent the sword energy, a deep, sunken voice came from right beside his ear.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“….You, you are?”

The Blood Palace Lord’s pupils trembled.

The one who revealed himself was a white-haired swordsman wearing a black-and-white Taoist robe.

“Heo Do…”

The Blood Palace Lord let out the name like a groan.

The former sect leader of Wudang, Heo Do jin-in, stood there, waves of quiet fury radiating from him. His gaze was fixed solely on the Blood Palace Lord.

“I am already someone who is dead, or rather, someone who should have died. So I made Wudang my grave and never intended to leave it for the rest of my life.”

Heo Do jin-in glanced back over his shoulder.

At the end of that gaze stood Wudang Mountain, belching black smoke. More precisely, the ashen remains of Wudang’s main halls at its peak.

“But now, my grave has been taken from me.”

“…..”

“I will not let you live and send you back. Blood Palace… no, should I call it the Blood Cult? They say you lot make use of such vile tricks.”

Wooong.

The pine crest ancient sword in Heo Do Jin-in’s hand let out a low wail.

“Then it would be fitting for you to be punished by a wraith that’s crawled out of its grave thanks to those tricks.”

Cold sweat formed on the Blood Palace Lord’s body, one that was now almost no longer human.

‘Damn it…’

Heo Do jin-in was strong. Who would dare belittle a swordsman counted among the three greatest of his generation?

But the Blood Palace Lord was not the kind to fear Heo Do jin-in. At least, not under any other circumstances.

Enemies were creeping in from behind, and his subordinates had already long since pulled out from the battlefield. The Blood Palace Lord’s face twisted into a grimace.

“Damn Taoist bastard…”

Grit.

He ground his teeth together. A long blade of condensed qi grew from his fingertips.

“Out of my way. Unless you want to die in the most horrific way possible.”

“A petty ruffian of the evil path… and you dare to spew such madness to me?”

Majestic, overwhelming pressure flowed from Heo Do jin-in’s body.

“I am Heo Do.”

“.…”

“Come. I will sever that sinful life of yours.”

“How arrogant…”

The Blood Palace Lord’s eyes erupted in a blaze of crimson light.

“Do not underestimate the Cult, you worthless worms!”

With both hands glowing with bright red qi, the Blood Palace Lord hurled himself toward Heo Do jin-in at full force.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Aaaaargh!”

Even when one’s strength is spent, a sword is still a weapon that can pierce and cut flesh.

A blind swing from a Red Dog’s blade slammed into the chest of a Zhongnan disciple. The wound was so deep that for a moment, death seemed certain. The disciple’s eyes lost focus, and he collapsed where he stood.

“Saje!”

“Nooo! Saje!”

Zhongnan disciples, screaming in rage, rushed in and hacked the Red Dog who had struck him into pieces.

“U-uaah! Damn it!”

As Zhongnan’s fury reached the heavens, an unnervingly calm voice cut into their ears.

“What are you standing there for? Move!”

At the same moment, a small figure dressed in black martial robes slipped into their midst.

Snap!

A pale white hand drove into the wound. Without hesitation, it mercilessly pried it open left and right. The utter lack of hesitation made everyone gape in shock.

“Wh-What are you doing, you lunatic!”

“Shut up and pinch the artery! Unless you want to prepare a corpse!”

The Zhongnan disciple, who had been about to pull her away, froze for a moment at the force of her command, then someone recognized her and shouted.

“F-five Sword! It’s Tang Soso of Mount Hua!”

“What?”

“Do as she says! She’s a doctor!”

No matter what was being said beside her, Tang Soso didn’t even glance over. She was wholly focused on examining the Zhongnan disciple’s wound. She found the damaged area and stopped the bleeding, then poured poisonous liquor [dogju, 독주(毒酒)] over it. Using suction qi, she instantly cleansed the stomach, then swiftly began stitching the wound shut.

Only then did she lift her head for a moment, and in the distance, she saw Baek Cheon, Hye Yeon, and Yoon Jong fighting.

‘Sasuk. Sahyung.’

She wanted to go to them. She wanted to tend to their wounds. But she knew she mustn’t. The place she belonged was beside those most gravely injured.

Having resolved to live as both a martial artist and a physician, this was her destiny.

‘Father.’

The face of Tang Gunak surfaced in her mind. Had her father felt this same loneliness? Tang Soso did not know.

She would never know.

“Cloth!”

“H-Here! Right here!”

The Zhongnan disciples hastily tore their martial robes. Tang Soso barked sharply.

“Clean ones! Do you want to kill the patient?!”

“S-Sorry!”

The Zhongnan disciples quickly apologized and began ripping out the cleanest part they could find.

“Uaaaaah! You bastards!”

Just then, a Red Dog, impaled on a Zhongnan blade, suddenly stamped the ground and lunged straight at Tang Soso.

The startled Zhongnan disciples couldn’t react in time. A massive blade, smeared with flesh and dark-red blood, came flying straight at her face.

Tang Soso’s expression hardened.

She could dodge. But if she let go of the wound she was holding, the man would die.

Tang Soso, as a doctor, and as a martial artist, clashed violently inside. Which should she choose?

She bit her lip hard, staring straight at the dark-red blade rushing toward her.

Kaaaang!

Suddenly, the blade was knocked high into the air, and the Red Dog’s head was cleanly severed, floating up after it.

“You alright?”

Tang Soso, her face splattered with hot blood, turned her head blankly. Standing there was Yoo Iseol, whose face was also stained with blood, yet who still maintained her usual expressionless look.

“Sago? Why…?”

It was a question of why she was here.

“Keep going.”

Yoo Iseol, seemingly feeling no need to answer, stepped forward and blocked the front of Tang Soso.

In Tang Soso’s view, Yoo Iseol’s back now overlapped with the distant figures of Baek Cheon’s group fighting.

Yoo Iseol, too, must want to be over there fighting.

“Sago, you can go. I’m fine....”

“It’s the same for me.”

“…Sorry?”

“This place also has disciples I must protect.”

“….”

Tang Soso’s lips trembled faintly.

“Keep going.”

“Yes, Sago.”

Sweeping away all the distracting thoughts that had been creeping in, Tang Soso quickly resumed stitching up the Zhongnan disciple’s wound. The thread attached to the needle was drawn tight.

‘I’m not alone, Father.’

Even if it’s a road walked alone, there are still people walking alongside you. For now, that was enough.

❀ ❀ ❀

How long had they been swinging their swords? It felt as if all sensation had left their bodies.

Panting heavily, Baek Cheon stared blankly ahead. The white Mount Hua robes had long been soaked through with enemy blood, turned a deep red.

Yoon Jong and Hye Yeon, covered in wounds, also looked around with half-unfocused eyes.

At some point, there was no one left to fight. No one in sight.

The enemies that had once filled the horizon so densely, there wasn’t a single one to be seen now. All that entered their vision were the welcome, familiar figures of Heavenly Comrade Alliance warriors.

“Keuh…”

Thud.

With a groan, the sword slipped from Baek Cheon’s exhausted hand to the ground. For a swordsman, it was something that should never happen, yet in his current state, Baek Cheon didn’t even realize he had dropped it.

“It’s over.”

“…Really?”

“Amitabha…”

The war that had seemed like it would never end had finally shown its conclusion before them.

Yoon Jong, as if still unable to believe it, opened and closed his eyes repeatedly. Only by checking the scene again and again could his heart be at ease.

That was how grueling the battle had been.

“Really… it’s all… over?”

Thud.

Speaking slowly, haltingly, Yoon Jong collapsed to the ground. Not just sitting, he sprawled out entirely on his back.

“Cough.”

Baek Cheon looked down at the sprawled Yoon Jong in disbelief, then, setting Cheong Myeong down almost carelessly, his own legs gave way and he sank down beside him. Even Hye Yeon unable to hold on, sat down cross-legged.

“Really…”

Baek Cheon looked around with a heart full of mixed emotions.

“Really… it’s over.”

His gaze naturally shifted to the side, to Cheong Myeong, limp and still, whether unconscious or simply asleep.

Unlike the three of them, whose bodies were covered in blood, Cheong Myeong had not taken even the smallest wound since his fight with Jang Ilso.

“Damn bastard. Didn’t wake up even once.”

Baek Cheon gave a faint laugh, then lay flat on his back like Yoon Jong. As he was catching his breath, Yoon Jong’s weak voice reached him.

“…Sasuk.”

“Yeah.”

Yoon Jong had only called out, but Baek Cheon already knew what he wanted to say.

It was the most natural thing, and the thing they had most wanted to say.

“Let’s go back. To Mount Hua.”

While lying down, he tilted his gaze just enough to see Jo Geol, Tang Soso, and Yoo Iseol rushing toward him. Behind the three, the sky had already had all its clouds cleared away, and was only clear to the point of being brazen.

Next Chapter

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