Chapter 1972 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1972. That’s Not How the Story Went. (2)

Yoon Jong’s hand, gripping his sword tightly, began to tremble.

‘What is this…… This horrifying energy.’

They had already encountered Heavenly Executioner in Hangzhou. The memory of being so overwhelmed by that man’s formidable Demonic qi that they couldn’t even move properly was still vivid.

However, they thought things would be different now.

Even if they had to face him again, it would be different from before. As much as they had grown, Heavenly Executioner’s presence should have seemed at least a little smaller.

But it wasn’t.

The presence Heavenly Executioner gave off now was so immense that it rendered meaningless the joy they’d felt over their own growth just moments ago.

‘It just wasn’t visible back then.’

No matter how hard an ant tries, it can’t comprehend the enormity of a mountain. That’s because the extent of what an ant can perceive doesn’t reach that far.

Paradoxically, it was precisely because they’d grown that they could now feel it more clearly. Just how dangerous and terrifying the being standing before them truly was.

Yoon Jong clenched his teeth to suppress his body, which was trembling on its own. If he hadn’t, even standing face-to-face with him like this would’ve been difficult.

Jo Geol seemed to be feeling the same thing, as he spoke in a slightly trembling voice.

“......Sahyung, Heavenly Executioner...... Didn’t they say he couldn’t come?”

“They did.”

“Ha, damn it.”

Jo Geol asked nothing more.

He knew it, too. There was no war in which everything went according to prediction. Every battlefield always produced deviations, both large and small.

It was just that the deviation this time was too enormous to bear.

Step.

Heavenly Executioner advanced one step at a time.

Yoon Jong felt as though his body were slowly being crushed by something invisible. And it seemed that the Mount Hua disciples weren’t the only ones suffering under this intangible pressure.

“Keueuuugh......”

“Ugh……”

Even the Demonic Cultists, who were almost completely devoid of reason, couldn’t withstand the pressure emanating from Heavenly Executioner. They retreated or buried their heads against the ground where they stood. Heavenly Executioner leisurely walked along the clear path created as the Demonic Cultists collapsed.

“……What about samae?”

“It doesn’t seem like her injuries are severe enough to force her out of the fight.”

“That’s a relief.”

Baek Cheon glanced briefly behind him before turning his head back and watching Heavenly Executioner approach straight ahead.

“The real one has come.”

Baek Cheon twisted the corners of his mouth into a distorted smile.

He’d tried to look as calm as possible, but there was nothing he could do about his trembling hand.

Just moments ago, Baek Cheon himself had crushed someone who had come close to the level of a Bishop……

‘So the real Bishops really are on another level?’

No, that wasn’t it.

It was simply that this man called Heavenly Executioner was on a different level. He was an existence so immense that he couldn’t be compared not only to 491, but even to any of the other Bishops.

And such a being was standing right before them. To kill everyone here.

“Sasuk. What are you thinking about?”

“Hmm, well. To be honest.......”

“Yes.”

Baek Cheon gave a bitter smile without pretense.

“I was thinking, ‘Wow, that bastard really did fight someone like that all by himself.’ Something like that.”

“That’s funny.”

“What is?”

Jo Geol bared his teeth in a grin.

“I was just thinking exactly the same thing.”

He wanted to run away right now. He wanted to throw away face, honor, all of it, and flee.

‘Against someone like that…… all by himself.’

It was a strange feeling.

He was still afraid. Yet something inexplicable was beginning to rise through that fear. It was difficult to define exactly what it was, but at least one thing was certain.

“I guess we can’t run away.”

“I suppose not. Otherwise, we’d be mocked by that bastard Cheong Myeong for the rest of our lives.”

Yoon Jong, who had been listening to their conversation, shook his head.

“Honestly…… Cheong Myeong would say we did the right thing. He’d say that rather than needlessly throwing away precious lives, surviving like that was the right choice.”

“Ah, that’s true. But……”

Baek Cheon ground his teeth.

“It’s strange. That actually pisses me off even more.”

“I agree.”

The disciples of Mount Hua gripped their swords.

They had no choice but to fight. If they couldn’t, then it would amount to proving to the world that even all of them together still weren’t worth a single Cheong Myeong.

This wasn’t simply a desire to prove themselves against a stronger opponent. As disciples of Mount Hua, and martial artists who had spent their entire lives training with the sword, it was closer to the last shred of pride they couldn’t bring themselves to cast aside.

“What are our chances?”

“Who knows. Would we even make it to ten percent?”

“On the premise that we kill him?”

“Then, would it even be one percent......”

“......Isn’t that a little too harsh?”

“I’m being generous.”

“Ugh.”

As Jo Geol let out one deep sigh after another, Hye Yeon came and stood beside him. His round, composed face was completely hardened.

“But we have to do it.”

“.....Yes.”

Yoo Iseol, with black blood staining the corner of her mouth, and Tang Soso, who had stayed close to her as though guarding her, soon came to stand beside them as well. Tang Soso spoke calmly.

“We’re really going to die this time.”

“Well, we knew we’d die someday anyway.”

“I just didn’t know it would be now.”

“Then what can we do?”

Jo Geol let out a deep sigh.

“That bastard Cheong Myeong can’t even wake up.”

“We have to think about it the other way around.”

Tang Soso glared coldly at Heavenly Executioner.

“That Cheong Myeong sahyung fought with his life on the line. No matter how incredible a demonic person’s regenerative ability is, he couldn’t have recovered to a normal state. For all we know, that bastard might only be barely able to stand right now.”

“......Now that you put it that way, I suppose so.”

Baek Cheon slowly nodded.

This wasn’t some meager hope they were clinging to. It was simply how much they trusted that bastard Cheong Myeong.

“Then we have to believe there’s hope.”

“Honestly, even if there were no hope, nothing would change.”

“That’s true.”

Baek Cheon lowered his sword.

“Now, then.”

His eyes burned fiercely.

“I’ll go first!”

Kwang!

As though there were no longer any need to prepare himself mentally, Baek Cheon kicked off the ground. He closed the distance in an instant and charged toward Heavenly Executioner.

It was a sudden charge, but the Mount Hua disciples showed no surprise. Without exception, they kicked off the ground almost simultaneously.

They were still afraid. But before their minds could make the decision, their bodies had already moved first. The charging disciples of Mount Hua each unleashed their strongest sword techniques upon Heavenly Executioner.

Countless sword qi rained down toward Heavenly Executioner. Yet even as he watched the countless sword qi flying toward him, he didn’t so much as blink.

Heavenly Executioner thrust out his right hand.

Gooooooooo!

Terrifying black Demonic qi swirled within Heavenly Executioner’s hand. The dense and mighty Demonic qi, incomparable to anything the Mount Hua disciples had seen until now, swallowed up every strand of sword qi flying toward him, like a vast sea swallowing raindrops.

“What……”

Baek Cheon, who had just sent his sword qi flying, widened his eyes in shock.

He’d never imagined that this attack would inflict any meaningful damage. But this...... this was far too powerless.

Then, Heavenly Executioner’s lips slowly opened.

“You are nothing but mere insects.”

Kwaaaaaaaaaaa!

A black vortex erupted from Heavenly Executioner’s hand. The enormous dragon whirlwind that coiled as though sucking up the earth surged toward the Mount Hua disciples, twisting its way forward.

[Yonggwon. 용권(龍捲). Literally “dragon scroll/dragon swirl,” referring to a violent swirling column of wind, here depicted as a massive, dragon-like vortex.]

A black dragon was charging toward them.

Before it, Baek Cheon felt only one thing: death. Before that vicious power that didn’t even allow resistance, the will he’d painstakingly hardened was utterly useless.

“Sahyung!”

At that moment, someone grabbed Baek Cheon and yanked him hard.

Yoo Iseol seized him with all her strength and pulled him out of the black dragon’s maw.

KWAAAAA!

Baek Cheon stared blankly at the black dragon as it passed by, grazing his feet by a hair’s breadth. If not for Yoo Iseol’s help, he would’ve died. With a single strike. What kind of utterly nonsensical gap was this?

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

Yet even at this moment, Jo Geol and Tang Soso were charging toward Heavenly Executioner with all their strength.

After unleashing a powerful attack, there was always an opening. That was common knowledge in martial arts. All they could do now was make thorough use of that principle.

“Eat this!”

Jo Geol’s sword, swift as lightning, and Tang Soso’s sword, swung with all her might, crossed as they descended toward Heavenly Executioner’s head.

‘This one can’t be dodged……’

At that moment, Jo Geol’s eyes widened.

The Demonic qi coiling around Heavenly Executioner writhed as though it were alive, then suddenly stretched out like branches and blocked Jo Geol and Tang Soso’s swords.

Tuuuuung!

A vicious repulsive force came crashing in. Jo Geol and Tang Soso’s swords were helplessly flung backward, and with an opening created before their chests, more Demonic qi shot toward them.

Kwaaang!

Jo Geol and Tang Soso were simultaneously blown backward, spitting blood.

“Amitabha!”

Hye Yeon landed directly before Heavenly Executioner and pulled his fist back. An ordinary strike wouldn’t do. He needed the strongest attack he could unleash right now.

“Ooooooooooh!”

Hye Yeon’s fist, carrying a killing intent that swore to bring down the enemy without fail, shot forward as golden fist force.

The Arhat Divine Fist unleashed with all his strength.

It had the momentum to smash apart and push away anything standing before him. Even if that thing were Mount Tai.

Yet even Hye Yeon’s fist force, powerful enough to shatter Mount Tai, couldn’t shatter the single Demonic person standing before him. When Heavenly Executioner reached out toward the incoming fist, his palm was dyed pitch-black, then formed into the shape of a black hand larger than a human body.

Literally, the Demon Hand.

[Maso. 마수(魔手). Literally “demon hand,” a manifestation of Demonic power taking the form of a gigantic hand.]

The demon hand that appeared in midair seized Hye Yeon’s incoming fist force whole.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

A tremendous explosion followed.

The moment the golden fist force and black hand force collided, Hye Yeon’s seemingly unstoppable fist force shattered into pieces like fragments of porcelain.

Hye Yeon’s eyes filled with astonishment.

‘What?’

His fist contained the Buddhist power of subduing demons. Along with Immortal qi, it was an energy that was practically the natural enemy of Demonic qi. And yet for his fist to be broken so easily, it made no sense.

Just how strong did one have to be for something like this to be possible?

It felt as though despair would shatter his mind. He could feel his heart being dyed pitch-black with every passing moment.

But the powerful enemy before them didn’t even give them time to despair.

Gooooooooo!

The enormous hand that had blocked Hye Yeon’s fist force shot straight toward them. It wasn’t particularly fast or flashy. It was a straightforward attack. No matter how stunned they were, the Mount Hua disciples weren’t people who would simply take an attack like this head-on.

Even without consciously thinking about it, their bodies moved on their own. And so, they all threw themselves away from the enormous palm force flying toward them.

But at that moment.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

The black hand of Demonic qi that had been flying toward them suddenly exploded. A terrifying impact engulfed everything around it, and the Mount Hua disciples who had pulled their bodies away were caught in it as well.

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

The Mount Hua disciples screamed as they were sent flying.

The Demonic qi, which had transformed into the form of a violently spinning black sphere, disappeared as though it had been an illusion. Where the Demonic qi had cleared away, a rough depression had been carved into the ground, as though a gigantic hand had gouged it out.

“Cough.”

Baek Cheon coughed up blood and slowly forced his upper body upright. In his eyes, he saw Heavenly Executioner approaching at the same leisurely pace as before.

“How unpleasant.”

Heavenly Executioner’s eyes began to turn red.

“Your swords irritate me. You filthy spawn of Mount Hua.”

A thick despair abruptly settled over Baek Cheon’s eyes.

Next Chapter

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