Chapter 1956 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1956. If There Is Something to Gain, Then There Must Also Be Something to Lose. (1)

It couldn’t be fully expressed by simply calling it absurd.

“More……”

Heavenly Executioner opened his mouth for a moment, but couldn’t bring himself to finish the word.

Only after identifying once more what this violent emotion surging within him was could he open his mouth again.

“You want me to show you more?”

Heavenly Executioner realized it.

Of all the curses he’d heard, all the most horrific words imaginable, even the sharp words that perhaps denied his very existence itself.

Even taken all together…… nothing had ever made him angrier than what Cheong Myeong had just said.

Blood rushed to his head. It felt as though his consciousness might fade away, pushed onward by rage.

And yet there was only one reason Heavenly Executioner wasn’t raging and running wild. Because he still didn’t understand.

“What did you do?”

Heavenly Executioner felt the wound on his shoulder. A second wound had been carved into his body.

But this wound was clearly different in nature from the first wound carved into his neck. The first wound could be called a mistake caused by disregarding his opponent and letting down his guard, but this wound wasn’t.

‘How…..’

There was simply no way for him to know. How in the world had that man’s sword managed to touch his body?

‘Is this even possible?’

Of course, someone might say that it was possible because his opponent was strong.

But what Heavenly Executioner was feeling now was distinctly different from that.

If a person had his throat cut and fell by a praying mantis, could that possibly be understood? No matter how strong a praying mantis might be among insects.

No matter how much he thought about it, it was impossible. After all, the kind of wound a praying mantis could inflict upon a human would ultimately be nothing more than a small scratch.

Which meant that a human who died to a praying mantis could not possibly exist.

‘But I’ve been wounded.’

That was why Heavenly Executioner was confused. It was a fact that the sword had touched him, yet he couldn’t analyze how it had been possible.

“Tell me, unbeliever. What in the world did you do?”

There was only one person who could answer this question, so he asked. But all that came back was ridicule.

“Since when…… did a Bishop bastard start running his mouth instead of fighting?”

“......”

“If you wanna know something, come at me. You learn it with your body. Wasn’t that your way?”

Heavenly Executioner’s gaze sank.

A sense of danger? There could be no such thing.

But Heavenly Executioner couldn’t deny it. A strange excitement was lingering around him. Perhaps it was because the faint scent of something called ‘death’ brushed against the tip of his nose, a concept that had perhaps existed around him continuously since the past, but that he’d forgotten for far too long.

Heavenly Executioner’s two eyes emitted a crimson, blood-red light.

“Fine. I’ll just have to find out!”

Paaaaat!

Heavenly Executioner tore through space and charged at Cheong Myeong.

Kwaaaaaang!

Cheong Myeong’s Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword, which blocked Heavenly Executioner’s straight punch, twisted as though it might break at any moment. If he hadn’t wrapped it with his internal energy to the fullest, then no matter how much of a Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword it was, it would’ve become nothing more than a pile of shattered scrap metal.

But he blocked it.

At first, he’d barely managed it, quite literally surviving by a margin as thin as a sheet of paper. But now it was different. Now Cheong Myeong’s sword was already occupying the position where Heavenly Executioner’s attack was about to arrive. Cheong Myeong was slowly, but surely, adapting to Heavenly Executioner’s speed.

But this was still within the range of Heavenly Executioner’s expectations.

Heavenly Executioner, who’d driven his fist straight into the sword, suddenly appeared behind Cheong Myeong.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

If his opponent adapted, then he only needed to increase his speed. The absolute gap couldn’t be closed. What Heavenly Executioner had accumulated through years of endurance couldn’t possibly be overcome by a momentary resolve or realization……

“.........”

Chwaak!

At that moment, the skin at Heavenly Executioner’s temple split open, and a fountain of blood spurted out.

‘What?’

Had he been cut?

“Thi.....!”

Ppudeudeuk.

“Euaaaaaaaaaah!”

Kwaaaaaang!

Heavenly Executioner kicked Cheong Myeong with all his strength. Cheong Myeong was blasted away like an arrow shot from a bow and slammed into the ground once again.

Chwaaaaaak!

Even that wasn’t enough to dissipate all the force, and his body was dragged along the ground, leaving a long trail across the earth.

“You wretched bastard!”

Kwaang!

Heavenly Executioner then kicked off the air. Turning into a streak of lightning, he charged toward Cheong Myeong, who hadn’t yet managed to bring his body to a stop.

“I’ll crush you until not a single piece of flesh remains!”

Hwiiiiiiiiing!

A thunderous roar like a tremendous whistle rang out, and powerful demonic qi gathered in Heavenly Executioner’s right hand. Without a moment’s hesitation, Heavenly Executioner thrust out his right hand.

Wuuuuuuuuung!

Three streams of palm force, which had already swollen to the size of houses, came crashing down toward Cheong Myeong.

Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaaaaaaaaang!

Three explosions erupted almost simultaneously. In that instant, a triumphant light bloomed for a moment in Heavenly Executioner’s two eyes, which had been dyed blood-red.

Slash.

Heavenly Executioner stiffened with a start and lowered his gaze.

The hem of his clothes had been cut vertically from top to bottom. Through the opening, a sword wound spurting blood could be seen. Heavenly Executioner stared blankly at the wound before slowly turning his head.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

Cheong Myeong came into view, repeatedly vomiting lumps of blood the size of fists. He already looked no better than a rag, yet his eyes were not the slightest bit different from how they’d been at the beginning.

“……Not yet.”

Cheong Myeong, who had opened one swollen eye halfway, bared his teeth.

“Show me more. I’m still...... still not there yet.”

For an instant, a cold chill ran down Heavenly Executioner’s back.

‘What in the world is this man……..’

He’d thought there was nothing left in this world that he couldn’t understand, yet where in the world had someone like this come from?

Under Heavenly Executioner’s gaze, Cheong Myeong vomited another mouthful of blood.

“Uweeeeeeeek!”

The blood had turned black and dead. This meant that not only his internal organs but even his vital qi had been damaged. Cheong Myeong knew this all too well.

[Wongi. 원기(元氣). The fundamental vital energy of a person, understood in traditional East Asian medicine and martial-arts theory as the innate or original energy that sustains life.]

But it didn’t matter.

An opponent who, under normal circumstances, would’ve been more than enough to kill him already. At this rate, he’d gotten off cheap.

Cheong Myeong raised his upper body and gripped his sword tightly.

‘They say life is something you can’t understand.’

He’d never even imagined it. That something he’d done merely to weaken the enemy’s spirit before the Demonic Cult’s invasion would come back to him like this.

‘Was it that old man called the Phantom Divine Lord?’

Cheong Myeong let out a hollow laugh.

Of course, that man had been strong, too. He wasn’t denying that strength.

But the strength of that man and the strength of Heavenly Executioner were on entirely different levels.

There was no way he could apply the insights he’d gained from fighting the Phantom Divine Lord to his fight against Heavenly Executioner.

So that wasn’t why Cheong Myeong had thought of the Phantom Divine Lord.

‘The problem is that he and that old Phantom Divine Lord are dealing with similar problems.’

If he hadn’t sparred with the Phantom Divine Lord, Cheong Myeong wouldn’t have known what kind of situation Heavenly Executioner was facing now.

‘A hundred years……’

The Phantom Divine Lord had certainly been strong. But he’d had a clear flaw.

Namely, the fact that he hadn’t experienced actual combat for nearly twenty years.

And the fact that he couldn’t properly handle the speed he’d reached over those twenty years.

They might look like different problems, but in the end, they were the same thing. If he’d continuously experienced actual combat, then eventually even the Phantom Divine Lord would’ve been able to make that speed his own.

But the Phantom Divine Lord couldn’t control his own speed as a side effect of secluded cultivation for twenty years. Then what?

‘What about someone who hasn’t experienced proper actual combat for a hundred years? Can he really be different just because his realm is higher?’

It can be seen.

In that single instant, so brief that even calling it a moment would be too much, when Heavenly Executioner reaches his maximum speed, even if only briefly, his consciousness fails to keep up with his own speed.

Under normal circumstances, this should be impossible. The human mind isn’t confined by the limits of the physical body.

But Heavenly Executioner is exactly the opposite. His mind, confined by the limits of what is human, can’t bear the power and speed of a body that has become far too mighty.

So he only needs to strike. At that one instant.

“It’s easy to say that, but……”

Cheong Myeong bared his teeth and laughed.

He couldn’t bear it. It was too ridiculous to bear. If he could, he felt like he wanted to throw his head back, open his mouth wide, and laugh until his throat burst.

“What’s so amusing?”

Heavenly Executioner asked, his face twisting.

“It’s true that you wounded me. But compared to the wounds you’ve suffered, it’s a mere drop in the bucket. The fact that you’re the one who’ll die in the end won’t change. Have you gone mad enough to forget that?”

Cheong Myeong’s gaze fell upon Heavenly Executioner.

“Spout whatever you want, you little runt.”

“……What did you say?”

“You think I’d laugh over something as trivial as cutting your throat?”

Heavenly Executioner’s eyes twitched as though he doubted his own ears. Cheong Myeong continued.

“But it’s fine. I’ll forgive you. I’m in such a good mood right now. Because I’ve finally..... yes, finally gotten hold of a clue.”

Cheong Myeong smiled brightly, baring his blood-soaked teeth.

God exists.

If we call that immense, irresistible force beyond man’s ability to do anything about it a God..... then the Heavenly Demon is without a doubt worthy of being called one.

At times, Cheong Myeong wailed at the absurdity of it all, and at other times, he trembled in awe at its might.

Because he was simply too vast to be opposed by the power of mere humans. A single sword strike that had only barely reached him after pouring out every ounce of strength he possessed. But he couldn’t hope for such a stroke of fortune to happen again this time.

He needed something. A way for human power to reach a god.

And now, Cheong Myeong finally realized it.

“What if.”

“.....What if?”

Cheong Myeong quietly asked as he looked at Heavenly Executioner.

“If there had been no Heavenly Demon in this world, who would’ve been called the Heavenly Demon?”

“......What are you talking about? If the Heavenly Demon did not exist, then ‘Heavenly Demon’ would merely be a concept that could not exist.”

Cheong Myeong grinned.

“No. You would’ve been the Heavenly Demon.”

Heavenly Executioner, realizing what he was trying to say, hardened his expression.

“This filthy bastard, what blasphemous nonsense are you saying……”

“Isn’t it? In the end, the Heavenly Demon refers to the ‘demon’ that man cannot do anything about. Then, speaking coldly, you too can be said to possess the qualifications to be the Heavenly Demon. It’s only that a more powerful existence makes that meaningless.”

“And what does that…… have to do with anything?”

“I was just thinking. I wonder which of you would’ve been stronger, the Heavenly Demon who would’ve been called the ‘First’ or you?”

“.......”

There was no way to know. But the thought itself held meaning.

Perhaps even the god who manifested upon the earth had at first been nothing more than Heavenly Executioner. If so, then at the distant end of the road Heavenly Executioner was walking now, there must also exist an ending where a human becomes the Heavenly Demon.

“What meaning is there in a question to which even the answer cannot be known?”

“There is meaning. Because it implies that the Heavenly Demon, too, is nothing more than a human.”

The question and the answer don’t fit together. They merely take the form of a conversation, while each obtains a different answer.

But that wasn’t what mattered.

What mattered was this.

“If he’s still an existence that can be called human, then there’s one law he can’t escape.”

Heavenly Executioner’s heart throbbed as though it might burst.

He mustn’t ask any further. He mustn’t hear this. And yet, even knowing that, Heavenly Executioner ultimately opened his mouth. The disbelief he’d thought had vanished. No, the tiny fragments of disbelief that had already been shattered and scattered. They caused a sharp pain, as though responding to the man’s words.

“......What is it?”

“If there is something to gain..... then there must also be something to lose.”

Cheong Myeong gripped his sword.

“Let’s find out. With your life.”

Something flashed in Cheong Myeong’s eyes that now ought to be called something closer to rapture.

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