Chapter 1920 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1920. I Wish This Could Last. (10) ❀ ❀ ❀

“Have you forgotten, Second Bishop?”

The Archbishop asked calmly in a serene voice that showed no disturbance at all. Even the murderous intent radiating so clearly from the Second Bishop seemed insignificant to him.

No, perhaps that was a mistaken interpretation born from failing to understand the Archbishop. To him, anything other than the Heavenly Demon was likely worthless. Even his own life.

“Faith is not something you expect a reward from. Faith is not something you seek meaning in. Faith is dignity in and of itself.”

Heavenly Executioner’s expression twisted. Even as he watched this, the Archbishop continued speaking in a composed manner.

“Why must you assign meaning to their deaths? To die while awaiting the descent of the Supreme Heavenly Demon is the greatest blessing a believer could receive. Why do you not understand that the very fact you consider this a punishment and suffering is proof that doubt has already taken root in your heart?”

“Ha…… Haha.”

Heavenly Executioner shook his head.

“Doubt? You’re calling that doubt?”

“Are you denying it?”

“You foolish wretch!”

Kwaaaang!

Heavenly Executioner’s demonic energy burst forth explosively.

“You intend to justify everything under the lofty pretense of faith?”

“Better that than making excuses with the pretense of so-called enlightenment to cover your lack of devotion.”

The Archbishop’s cold rebuke cut sharply.

“This is your last chance. Repent. I do not wish to kill one of the few who truly understand His greatness.”

At Archbishop’s words, Heavenly Executioner let out a bitter smile.

Anger? There was no such thing. There was no reason to feel it.

From the very beginning, he and the Archbishop were opposites. Looking back, it was astonishing they had endured facing each other for so long.

Expecting beliefs hardened over ages to change easily would be pure arrogance. Heavenly Executioner declared.

“Archbishop, I am going to the Central Plains. I will lead those who follow me.”

“I cannot allow it.”

“I do not seek permission. If you try to stop me, I will break through.”

A strange twist formed at the Archbishop’s lips. Even in his once-calm eyes, a chilling light flickered.

“You abandon even this final opportunity.”

“I am simply following faith in my own way.”

“……”

“If the Heavenly Demon truly cared for us, He would not wish for us to wither away in this forsaken place. And if this outcome is truly what He desired, then He is not worthy of our devotion.”

“A god does not prove Himself. He merely exists.”

“Then rot here if you want. As for me, I will go seek Him.”

No sooner did he speak than the bishops who had stepped back began slowly encircling Heavenly Executioner. Seeing this, he felt an irresistible urge to kill and a faint trace of sorrow.

A believer who has lost their god is truly this fragile.

Some doubt and some scream. If people could exist wholly without a god, they would never need to cling to faith in the first place.

‘Is this truly what You wished for, O Heavenly Demon?’

Heavenly Executioner’s hand was engulfed in thick demonic energy.

He advanced, even if it meant staining his hands with the blood of his fellow believers.

The question that young bishop had delivered to him with his death. Now, Heavenly Executioner would answer it.

“Come.”

Before long, the grand hall was steeped in the bishops’ demonic energy.

At that moment, Heavenly Executioner realized, he was looking back over his shoulder.

‘What…?’

How could he even describe this sensation?

It felt as though the world had been severed once, then reattached. The act of turning around was something his will had no part in. As if another version of him moved the body in secret.

His thoughts did not continue for long.

His gaze was already fixed on the wide-open door. A place where the highest of the cult judged the most revered within it. A door that no one should have dared to open, yet there it stood, wide open.

It was truly bizarre. That open door felt like a crack that should never have existed.

Through that open door stepped someone, someone who stole every fragment of Heavenly Executioner’s attention.

‘Who… is that?’

The very first emotion he felt was a chilling sense of ‘unfamiliarity’.

A face not found anywhere in his memory. A completely unfamiliar existence in a place where no outsider should ever set foot. An indescribably violent sense of wrongness swallowed Heavenly Executioner whole.

His mind churned like murky waters he could not control, and his breath grew rough. Then he recognized it. He felt it. He realized it. He understood.

There was no way a mere stranger could shake him this deeply ‘just’ by appearing.

A premonition beyond comprehension surged within him.

This was an encounter of immense significance.

The unknown being took a step forward. No sound, no presence followed. It clearly existed before his eyes, yet he could sense no weight from it. The worn hem of its clothes, the roughened skin, and the dust-covered hair faded halfway to gray. All of it made the stranger appear human, and yet not human at all.

More than anything…

‘Those eyes.’

How could such eyes exist in this world?

They held too much, yet at the same time, nothing at all. In them drifted only emptiness beyond emptiness. A complete and utter void.

The emptiness and nihilism radiating from those eyes seemed poised not only to swallow Heavenly Executioner whole, but to suffocate him.

He tried to do something, anything, but Heavenly Executioner couldn’t move.

All he could do was remain frozen in place, as though crushed beneath an immense boulder that had sat unmoving for ten thousand years.

But not everyone was like Heavenly Executioner, it seemed.

“Who are you?”

One of the bishops in the Grand Hall stepped forward, blocking the stranger’s path.

He barked in a voice thick with displeasure and rising fury.

“Do you have any idea where you stand, to dare set foot here?!”

Even if he belonged to the generation that had not faced the Great War, a bishop was still a bishop. Few could remain indifferent before his wrath.

Yet at that moment, Heavenly Executioner clearly saw it. That the bishop standing in the stranger’s way was not reflected in his eyes at all.

As though the bishop blocking his path simply did not exist, ‘he’ continued forward with the same slow, unchanging steps. As if walking was the only meaning to his existence.

“My words are not wrong, are the—”

Instead of responding, he raised his hand. Very slowly.

It was a gesture as though brushing away something bothersome.

No, even that was too large a description.

It was so small and light it seemed utterly devoid of meaning.

And then, the impossible happened.

Thud!

The body of the bishop who had blocked the way instantly turned into a spray of blood, scattering in every direction.

Splat!

Even Heavenly Executioner’s face was nearly splashed with the red blood.

Yet Heavenly Executioner felt nothing. Not the heat of it, not the stench. In a daze, he touched his cheek. Sticky blood smeared onto his fingertips. This rapidly cooling blood was the final trace that the bishop had ever existed in this world.

The result lay plainly before his eyes, and yet he couldn’t understand anything. He had witnessed every moment of a human turning to liquid blood, yet had no idea what principle or process had made it so.

“……This is……”

There was only one thing permitted to him: to accept what had happened. To simply accept phenomena he could not comprehend.

Yes… wasn’t that what they called faith?

Splash.

The stranger who wore nothing on his feet stepped into the pool of blood on the floor.

Splash. Splash.

His steps were now headed toward Heavenly Executioner. And though Heavenly Executioner knew it… he could do absolutely nothing.

Movement, breathing… even the mere act of existing felt impossible to control. Ever since he appeared. As though everything here could only exist under his permission.

Shuffle. Splash.

At last, he stood directly in front of Heavenly Executioner.

Splash.

A moment that felt like eternity where even breath was forbidden, he simply continued walking past Heavenly Executioner. Without sparing him a single glance.

The world froze still. Everyone except him felt as though they were trapped inside a dream, watching something far removed from reality unfold before their eyes.

Thud.

Someone collapsed to their knees.

“Oh…… Ohhhh… Oooh……”

It was the Archbishop.

His face, always masked in artificial calm, was now soaked in tears.

“You have…… come. At long last… at long, long last, You have come…”

The highest and most exalted of the cult fell to his knees and crawled toward the man. He did not even dare step upon the path that the stranger walked, he pressed his entire body against the ground beside it, prostrating himself.

“This lowly servant of the cult… finally beholds the Most Revered One.”

He passed by the wailing old man without a hint of interest.

Splash.

His blood-wet foot stepped onto the worn stone steps.

Step. Step. Step.

After climbing the five steps at a slow pace, he turned and sat on the throne. Then leaned his body back against the high seat.

Watching the figure sink into it, everyone realized: that throne had existed from the very beginning only for him.

Now, there was only one action left for all to take.

Thud. Thud.

The bishops’ knees buckled one by one.

Some trembled in overwhelming joy. Some, in terror. Others barely forced down what lingering doubt remained.

But regardless of emotion, every action was the same.

Reason and explanation no longer held meaning. His sheer existence demanded their submission.

The Heavenly Demon.

The one who will herald the end of the world.

“Ahhh…”

Lastly, even Heavenly Executioner’s rigid knees struck the floor.

He understood.

Why he had waited for so unbearably long. How he and the Grand Elder, despite being so fundamentally incompatible, could still continue together.

Everything stolen by endless years was returned in this single moment. Tears clouded his vision, reclaiming the light lost to time.

“Heavenly Demon’s Advent. Endless Blessing of Ten Thousand Demons.”

Heavenly Executioner bowed deeply.

“We, the servants of the Cult, dare to greet the Heavenly Demon!”

All the bishops slammed their foreheads against the floor in unison.

It was an overwhelming sight, yet the Heavenly Demon didn’t even glance at them. His gaze was fixed somewhere far beyond. His desiccated, lake-bed eyes seemed incapable of holding anything anymore.

The emptiness encasing the Heavenly Demon spread outward, consuming the surroundings. A vast void pressed down on all present, suffocating even the thought of defiance.

How much time passed, no one knew.

After sitting in silence on the throne for what felt like an eternity, the Heavenly Demon faintly twitched. Something faint surfaced in his eyes, like he had dredged up a memory long sunken in unreachable depths.

The emotion that barely surfaced was faint, but dramatic.

That slight tremor in his eyes resembled a man struggling to comprehend the very memory he had dredged up.

In pupils that once held no focus, a faint glimmer of light flickered.

“…Mount.”

A voice thick and murky echoed faintly, so small that one would miss it if not focused.

“…Mount Hua.”

At that moment, the halted wheels of fate began turning once more.

Toward an end no one could yet comprehend.

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Hello, this is Biga. It’s been a while since I last greeted you.

As of today, Part 2 of Return of the Mount Hua Sect has come to an end.

A lot has happened while I was serializing Part 2. Personal matters overlapped, and I felt the limits of my abilities. But I think that whatever I say in the end would only sound like an excuse. I should have done better, and I’m sorry that I couldn’t.

Starting now, in order to show you something better, I plan to take some time to recover my health, which I’ve lost due to the long period of serialization. For now, after resting for the remainder of this year, I’m planning to return early next year. Depending on the situation, the return date might be a bit later, but I want to promise that I’ll come back as soon as possible.

Thank you always, and I’m sorry. I hope you stay well until we meet again.

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Translator's note: Guys, so biga took a hiatus! see you next year! aaaaaa

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