Chapter 1954 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1954. It’s Damn Fucking Good to See You Again. (4)

Pain surged into his chest and his neck. Both the wounds carved into him in the past and the wounds carved into him now cried out in pain.

The first emotion that rose in Heavenly Executioner’s mind as he pressed down on the wound from which blood was thickly seeping out was ‘unfamiliarity’.

Yes. Strangely enough, it felt unfamiliar.

This pain, too. This situation, too.

Wasn’t it laughable? That one who had thrown himself into the Demon would find pain unfamiliar. Of course, if he thought about it for even a moment, it was understandable. For the past hundred years, Heavenly Executioner hadn’t been wounded by anyone.

And yet, even so, he couldn’t tell.

Whether the source of this unfamiliarity came from the long absence of pain, or because he hadn’t expected to be wounded by anyone on this journey to the Central Plains.

‘Perhaps it’s both.’

Heavenly Executioner stared blankly at the person before his eyes.

It was difficult to deny.

Even knowing that comparing such a young brat to ‘him’ was something that could never be allowed. Even if one could speak of the realm he had reached, a ‘human’ like that could never exist again.

And yet, it couldn’t be denied. That the person standing before him now was terribly similar to that ‘Plum Blossom Sword Saint’. The pain resounding from his old scars was proof of it.

“......I can’t understand it.”

No matter how much he thought about it, it was impossible.

Ironically, the Plum Blossom Sword Saint was practically an existence created by Heavenly Executioner.

Heavenly Executioner created the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, and the Plum Blossom Sword Saint completed Heavenly Executioner. The Heavenly Executioner of now and the Plum Blossom Sword Saint of then were like bastard children born from that brutally intertwined struggle.

And yet, someone who has not experienced those days reminds him of the figure from back then. How was he supposed to accept such a situation?

“What a farce.”

Heavenly Executioner thrust his right hand toward Cheong Myeong. A palm force capable of pulverizing a human and more than enough to bring down a mountain surged forth. Yet the swordsman before him simply swung his sword once and easily deflected the palm force.

Kwaaaaaaang!

The demonic qi that whirled across the empty earth seemed to speak for Heavenly Executioner’s feelings.

“I understand.”

Heavenly Executioner gave a faint nod.

There was no need to force himself to understand something that made no sense. He only needed to acknowledge it. That this young swordsman was terribly similar to the Plum Blossom Sword Saint of the past.

And what that meant, as well.

Heavenly Executioner asked with a curiosity that had blossomed purely within him.

“Why?”

“Hmm?”

“A swordsman of your caliber is rare. Even looking across all of history, you must be rare.”

“What’re you suddenly talking about?”

“Then you should know. That a life like yours shouldn’t be thrown away in a place like this.”

“.......”

Heavenly Executioner narrowed his eyes.

“Answer me, unbeliever. Does your presence here mean that the incompetence of the Central Plains is no different from the past? Or does it mean that your arrogance is excessive enough to reject the Central Plains’ attempts to dissuade you?”

This was an extremely meaningful question to Heavenly Executioner. Yet the answer that came from Cheong Myeong was perfectly detached from what he had expected.

“This idiot doesn’t get it.”

“......”

“You should be asking that to yourself. Not me.”

Heavenly Executioner couldn’t readily understand the answer that came back to him.

But after a brief passage of time, his face stiffened rigidly.

“You bastard…….”

“Well, I won’t bother asking. You obviously moved according to your own whims anyway.”

“......”

“Thanks to that, I got an opportunity like this. An opportunity to cut your head off without the other bastards getting in my way.”

The demonic qi that had fallen silent for a moment slowly flowed out from Heavenly Executioner’s body.

“That was a pointless question. It wouldn’t change anything anyway.”

“Yeah, I agree. Every now and then, we really do end up thinking alike like this. But…….”

Kagak.

The tip of Cheong Myeong’s sword scraped across the ground.

“This is a little different.”

Kaaaaaaang!

As though tearing through space itself, Cheong Myeong’s sword suddenly appeared before Heavenly Executioner, and his sword collided with Heavenly Executioner’s fist in midair.

“I’d rather get into a sword fight than chatter with you.”

“………Know your place……”

At that moment, Heavenly Executioner’s eyes were dyed completely red. At the same time, an enormous amount of demonic qi burst forth from his body as though it were exploding.

“Know it! You wretched unbeliever!”

Kwaaaaaaaang!

Cheong Myeong was soon blown away like a fallen leaf struck by a typhoon. At the same time, he clutched his solar plexus with his left hand.

‘Fucking hell!’

He’d only been caught in the aftermath. Even so, his insides had been shaken violently, and his qi and blood were seething.

He’d expected him to have grown stronger. It was only natural. Even at the moment Cheong Myeong’s life had ended, that bastard had continued to live. It was only natural for him to grow stronger.

But this had gone beyond that level.

Kwaaaaaaaaaa!

Palm force came crashing down like a raging torrent. Cheong Myeong watched the black demonic qi, denser than anything in the world, so dense that merely looking at it made one feel as though they might be sucked inside.

The hair all over his body stood on end. He didn’t even dare think of raising his sword. He twisted his body and barely evaded the attack.

If it hit him, he’d die. Even Cheong Myeong couldn’t face that head-on and survive. No, perhaps merely grazing it would be enough to cost him his life.

And that bastard could continuously fire palm force carrying that much demonic qi without pause. Comparing the strength each of them possessed, it was hardly different from a human and a sparrow fighting to kill one another.

Faced with an overwhelming disparity so great that even the word ‘despair’ seemed inadequate at first glance, Cheong Myeong suddenly grinned.

“Ah, well. Still..... I should at least be a swallow!”

Paaaaaaaat!

Then, instead, he charged straight toward the torrent of surging demonic qi.

He shot forward with all his strength, like someone throwing his life into the rough current. Just before being swallowed by the palm force, he stepped on the air and sprang upward.

Saaaaaaaak!

As he rose, he split the palm force apart with the tip of his sword. Then, like striking the surface of the water with a sword and bouncing upward, he struck the palm force with his sword and used its recoil to shoot toward Heavenly Executioner once more.

It was a movement closer to an artful feat than a martial technique.

Even after witnessing such an unbelievable sight, Heavenly Executioner didn’t panic in the slightest.

Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!

Three streams of palm force, each cut short, shot toward Cheong Myeong.

As though he’d expected it, Cheong Myeong began to twist his body. At that moment, the incoming palm force exploded upon reaching the vicinity of Cheong Myeong. Its aftermath swept in all directions with terrifying momentum.

Cheong Myeong was driven backward even more violently than the speed at which he’d been flying forward. Blood spurted from his mouth like a fountain.

“Keuk……”

His upper teeth dug into his lower lip, wet with blood.

Strong.

No. Could this even be expressed simply by calling it strong?

There was no martial art in the world that could explain this power.

Perhaps even to Cheong Myeong, who had encountered and knew more martial arts than anyone else under heaven, that power felt overwhelmingly beyond measure.

The nature of it was fundamentally different.

Yet this fact alone couldn’t break Cheong Myeong’s will.

No matter how lofty it was. No matter how mighty it was.

‘Even so……’

By then, the entire space before Cheong Myeong had been completely covered in pitch-black demonic qi. It was an attack that realized for real what would normally only be possible in words: leaving not even the slightest opening through which to evade.

Cheong Myeong instead raised his sword even more firmly toward it.

The blade took in red sword qi. The sword qi, surging as though aflame, suddenly caused thousands of plum blossom petals to bloom one after another.

The plum blossoms that had fully bloomed in midair gathered together in one place as though flowing, and soon fell toward the sea of black palm force like a meteor cutting across the night sky.

Plum Blossom Sword Art: Plum Blossom Meteor Fall.

[Plum Blossom Meteor Fall. Maehwa Yuseongnak. 매화유성락(梅花流星落). Literally “Plum Blossom Meteor Fall.” A technique that causes thousands of plum blossoms to bloom and then gathers them into a single concentrated sword qi, sending it falling like a meteor.]

It splits the internal energy apart to make thousands of petals bloom, then gathers those petals together again and shapes them into a single sword qi. The extreme of inefficiency, without reason or context.

Yet sometimes, a sword is born precisely from that ‘discarding’.

[tl note: The Korean “버려짐” carries the sense of something being discarded or cast aside. Here, it refers to deliberately abandoning conventional efficiency or established forms, suggesting that a sword can be born from what has been cast away.]

The sword qi, condensed and condensed again, was honed until it became utterly sharp, like a single blade of sword qi, transforming into sword force. It cleaved vertically through the sea of black demonic qi.

Chwaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!

The churning sea of demonic qi split apart to the left and right as though by a miracle. The dark clouds that had covered the world cleared away, and dazzling light poured down.

It didn’t matter how strong it was.

This wasn’t despair. Something like this, something as trivial as this, couldn’t even be called despair.

To those who knew what true despair was, no matter how strong this martial art might be, in the end, it was merely a human martial art.

Cheong Myeong threw the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword with all his strength.

At the same time, he made his body infinitely light and placed it upon that sword.

He wasn’t advancing while holding the sword. He was being carried along by the advancing sword.

An extremely practical Sword-Controlling Flight. Cheong Myeong’s body cleaved through the air like an arrow shot at precisely the speed at which the sword flew.

[Sword-Controlling Flight. Eogeombihaeng. 어검비행(御劍飛行). Literally “flying by controlling the sword.” A high-level sword technique in which the practitioner uses the sword as the means of flight or movement.]

Martial arts of a caliber fit for myths overturned heaven and earth, and a realm that had only ever been passed down as legend unfolded as though it were nothing. It was, quite literally, a battle that could shake heaven and earth, but unfortunately, there was no one here capable of recognizing just how extraordinary it was.

Watching Cheong Myeong fly toward him like a streak of light, Heavenly Executioner twisted the corner of his mouth.

“You’re playing petty tricks.”

Kwaaaaaaang!

Frenzied demonic qi whirled along Heavenly Executioner’s fist.

Whatever method his opponent used, all he needed to do was crush it head-on.

But at that moment.

Cheong Myeong’s body, which had been charging forward as though there were no tomorrow, came to an abrupt halt in midair. Even Heavenly Executioner, the one beneath heaven, flinched at this unexpected movement.

Pararararararak!

At the same time, Cheong Myeong’s sword moved brilliantly through the air.

One. A plum blossom blooms. Again, one. A plum blossom blooms.

They bloomed again and again, until soon they covered the entire world beneath a blanket of plum blossom petals.

Plum Blossom Sword Art: Plum Blossoms Shake All Under Heaven.

[Plum Blossoms Shake All Under Heaven. Maehwa Jincheonha. 매화진천하. 매화진천하(梅花振天下). A technique in which innumerable plum blossom sword qi spreads across the battlefield and converges upon the opponent.]

It was undoubtedly the Plum Blossom Sword Art, yet it seemed like a sword form that should no longer be called that. It had surpassed the limits of the Plum Blossom Sword Art. The countless plum blossoms that had been fluttering about all surged toward Heavenly Executioner at once.

If a hundred times weren’t enough, a thousand times. If even a thousand times weren’t enough, ten thousand times.

The realm reached by connecting the past and the present, its very essence, was contained wholly within this sword.

‘You too!’

Cheong Myeong glared at Heavenly Executioner as though his gaze alone would pierce him. No matter how much of a Heavenly Executioner he was, he couldn’t possibly remain unharmed beneath this sword……

‘What?’

It was at that moment.

Heavenly Executioner’s hand moved slowly. No, it must certainly have been fast, but to Cheong Myeong, it appeared strangely sluggish.

Kwaaaaaa!

The demonic qi that had been continuously whirling along Heavenly Executioner’s fist slowly gathered into one place and condensed.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

Then, the instant Heavenly Executioner’s fist opened.

Crack Crack.

The condensed demonic qi spread outward like an explosion. It split into hundreds, thousands of strands and shot forth like lightning. Every single one pierced through the plum blossom petals that had been closing in around Heavenly Executioner.

The countless plum blossom sword qi that had covered the world was torn apart and crushed by Heavenly Executioner’s demonic qi, leaving not even a single strand behind.

‘What?’

Through the opening that had been created, a single bolt of black lightning surged toward Cheong Myeong with terrifying strength and speed.

Before an absolute speed so great that he couldn’t even react to it directly, the only thing Cheong Myeong could do was widen his eyes.

Kwaddeudeuk!

Heavenly Executioner’s demonic qi dug into Cheong Myeong’s chest.

Unable to withstand the entirety of the impact, Cheong Myeong was driven up into the air, then plunged headlong like a kite with its string cut.

Heavenly Executioner cast an emotionless gaze at the fallen Cheong Myeong.

“That is your arrogance.”

Heavenly Executioner’s indifferent voice spread across the earth sunk into silence. Just as the blood that had flowed from Cheong Myeong slowly spread.

❀ ❀ ❀

If anyone wants to donate to motivate me (I'll use the money to buy the RAWs from Naver Series too). Thank you so much!

- Buy Me a Coffee

- Patreon

- Trakteer (this one for Indonesian)