Chapter 1977 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1977. Things Are Different from Before. (2)

Throb. Throb.

A stabbing pain came rushing in.

He knew. He knew perfectly well that it was nothing more than phantom pain. But no matter how well he knew it in his head, as long as the pain didn’t disappear, he couldn’t ignore it or deny it.

Heavenly Executioner’s face twisted.

The sight of his fallen enemies entered his field of vision. It was a sight he ought to have enjoyed.

But his crushed pride had thoroughly trampled down the pleasure he should have felt.

Those two who had inflicted wounds upon him in the war of the past that could never be healed. Was it truly coincidence that he was now tracing their traces one after another, or was this land sending him a warning?

“What a ridiculous state I’ve ended up in.”

Heavenly Executioner’s gaze fell upon the flying dagger embedded in the ground.

The sword swung by that bastard earlier had certainly reminded him of that person’s sword from the past. Even Heavenly Executioner, who regarded the Central Plains of the present as being less worthy than insects, couldn’t deny that fact.

But the flying dagger that woman had thrown moments ago didn’t even have a resemblance to ‘his’ flying dagger from the past. And yet he had been so startled that he pulled his body away first. How humiliating was that?

It would’ve been better to roll around on the ground like a donkey, bury himself in the mud, and groan in pain.

“What should I do?”

Heavenly Executioner began slowly walking toward Tang Soso.

“How should I repay you for this humiliation you’ve given me?”

Tang Soso’s shoulders flinched.

“Would I feel a little better if I plucked out your eyes and stuffed them into your mouth?”

“......”

“Or would I feel better if I crushed your mouth, ears, hands, and feet all at once, leaving only your eyes?”

Not only her shoulders, but even her hands began trembling violently.

An enemy she couldn’t defeat. The despair that came with it. It was impossible for her to face this man.

Even so, Tang Soso opened her mouth in a trembling voice.

“Would doing that somehow make what happened not have happened?”

“.....Hm?”

Tang Soso forced herself to wear a mocking smile with all the strength she had.

“It’s a shame. If only more people had seen you whining and running away like a damn dog that had encountered a tiger over nothing but a single knife.”

“......”

“Then I wouldn’t have to worry about ever running out of reasons to laugh for the rest of my life.”

Heavenly Executioner abruptly stopped walking and stared blankly at her.

Foolhardiness? Yes, that was certainly what it was.

But Heavenly Executioner knew. Depending on when it was displayed, foolhardiness could be called by an entirely different name. He had lived for such a long time, yet how many people had ever displayed such foolhardiness before him?

Heavenly Executioner’s eyes twisted.

“I’d like to praise you for your admirable courage, but...... that’s something I’ll do after I see whether you can say the same thing even after your eyes have been plucked out.”

It was just as Heavenly Executioner was about to cover his hand in Demonic qi.

Fwish!

He suddenly jerked his head backward. Having barely avoided sword qi that shot upward toward him, Heavenly Executioner turned his gaze. Countless plum blossoms came flying, and vivid Immortal Qi dwelled within each and every flower.

Heavenly Executioner roughly waved his hand.

HWAAAAAK!

Demonic qi that stretched out like the hand of a giant crushed all the incoming Plum Blossom Sword qi to pieces. Heavenly Executioner’s face twisted as he clicked his tongue.

“......What a fool. This was probably your only chance to run.”

“S-sahyung.”

Tang Soso murmured as though groaning as she looked at the one who had sent out the sword qi. Yoon Jong slowly lowered the sword he had swung and pointed its sharp tip at Heavenly Executioner. Soon, a calm voice flowed out.

“I’m sorry about that, but the only thing I’ve never learned from my sect is how to run away.”

“Hahah.”

Heavenly Executioner burst out laughing as though he found it utterly absurd.

It certainly wasn’t the strongest sect in the world. The most troublesome sect in the world? That might be open to debate.

But there was one thing that was certain.......

“Whether in the past or now, it seems only the most damn fearless bastards in the world gather at Mount Hua.”

“That certainly has some truth to it. It’s a mountain that’s difficult to climb without losing your mind.”

Yoon Jong let out a long breath.

‘Don’t tremble.’

The contest had already been decided. They couldn’t defeat that demon.

This was a difference that couldn’t be overcome through effort and grit alone.

‘If only this were a matter that ended here.’

He couldn’t retreat. He couldn’t give up, either. Because the lives of countless refugees rested upon their shoulders.

So from here on, they weren’t going to engage in something as elegant and romantic as a contest. Whether they bit down with their teeth or clung to the hem of his pants, they had to buy even a single moment more of time.

‘I’m a ridiculous bastard, too.’

Just moments ago, his heart had been trembling so badly that he couldn’t even fight properly. If Baek Cheon and his martial siblings hadn’t helped him, Heavenly Executioner would already have torn his head from his neck.

And yet, strangely enough, now that he felt everything was over, he no longer trembled.

‘I’m not a bold person.’

He couldn’t face death without fear and stand against it like the others. No matter how hard he tried, it was something impossible for him.

“Is that so?”

At that moment, Heavenly Executioner let out a faint laugh.

KWAAAAANG!

Yoon Jong’s sword, bent diagonally, warped as though it would break.

Before he knew it, Heavenly Executioner had leaped across the space and flown toward him, driving his fist into the area around his solar plexus.

Half instinct, half sheer luck, Yoon Jong turned his sword and blocked it. But the force carried in that fist traveled along Yoon Jong’s sword and burrowed intact into his body.

His vision reeled, and he felt something burst inside his body.

Irresistible Force. Could there be a situation in which these four characters were more fitting?

[Bulga-hangryeok. 불가항력(不可抗力). Literally “a force that cannot be resisted,” referring to a force or circumstance beyond one’s ability to oppose or control.]

Yet in that life-or-death situation, Yoon Jong reached out his hand.

Grab.

“Hmm?”

A strange light entered Heavenly Executioner’s eyes. The man who should have been sent flying and slammed into the distance by the attack had seized his wrist and was enduring it with all his strength.

That tenacity was certainly worthy of recognition, but it was still a foolish act. Simply being within reach of his hand was no different from willingly offering up his own life.

Heavenly Executioner’s fist shot toward Yoon Jong’s head once again.

KWAAAANG!

The fist wrapped in Demonic qi touched Yoon Jong’s head and erupted with an explosion.

‘Hm?’

Yet at that moment, Heavenly Executioner felt a sense of incongruity that was difficult to put into words.

‘What is this?’

A blade had somehow slipped between his fist and the bastard’s head. If that sword hadn’t stopped his fist, even shallowly, the bastard’s head would already have been shattered to pieces.

But the sense of incongruity Heavenly Executioner felt wasn’t because of that sword.

‘It’s being sucked in?’

Of course, he had experienced something similar before. In the past, when facing a side branch of non-orthodox demonic arts, those who absorbed his qi into their own bodies.

And yet, this was different from back then. It was a similar sensation, but distinctly different. Right, rather than being “sucked in”, it would be more accurate to say it was “dispersing (散)”.

Yes, rather than being sucked in, it would be more accurate to say that it was ‘scattering’.

‘Dispersing Arts?’

[Sangong. 산공(散功). Literally “dispersing skill” or “dissipating martial energy,” referring to Dispersing Arts, techniques or phenomena that forcibly scatter, neutralize, or drain away a martial artist’s built-up internal force.]

This sensation...... surely, somewhere in the past......

At that moment, a flying dagger came flying toward Heavenly Executioner’s face.

“This bitch!”

Heavenly Executioner, furious beyond measure, roared and thrust his fist toward the flying dagger. His fist reduced the flying dagger to powder along with the internal energy carried within it.

The attack was so crude that defending against it wasn’t difficult, but he couldn’t stop Yoon Jong from pulling his body away in that opening.

“Are you all right, sahyung?”

“......Do I look all right?”

“If you’re not dead, then you’re all right.”

“......”

Yoon Jong, momentarily speechless, wiped the blood flowing from his eyes with his sleeve and gave a faint chuckle.

He’d almost died. No, honestly, he was almost wondering himself why he was still alive. He had practically taken that man’s fist head-on from such a close distance. His head should have burst apart, and yet.

‘I don’t know.’

The important thing was that he was alive right now, and as long as he was alive, all that mattered was that he could still buy more time.

“Soso-ya.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any intention of running away?”

Tang Soso let out a faint laugh at that.

“Easier said than done.”

“Right?”

Yoon Jong smiled with an expression similar to Tang Soso’s.

The two of them both knew.

That they were the only ones still standing here, their feet planted firmly on the ground. And what that meant.

That they were too weak to take the lead? They knew better than anyone that it was nothing more than an excuse. That was why they couldn’t back down.

“Come to the back.”

“No. I’d rather die than bear the stigma of being Mount Hua’s biggest coward.”

“......That’s not what I mean. I’m telling you to cover my back. That’s the right thing to do.”

“I said no.”

Yoon Jong squeezed his eyes shut. Those damn Cheong-generation disciple bastards. There wasn’t a single one of them who knew how to properly listen to what they were told.

“Damn it. Do whatever you want!”

“You should’ve said that from the start.”

Yoon Jong gritted his teeth and stepped toward Heavenly Executioner again.

‘We have to hold out even a little longer.’

So that even one more refugee could run one more step farther. If not that, then so that even one more of his fallen martial siblings could come to their senses and escape.

No, honestly, until those stronger than them could rise to their feet again and rejoin the front line.

There was no guarantee that this would be possible. But they had to make it happen. If they staked their lives and gave everything they had, surely……

At that instant, Yoon Jong felt a powerful sense of incongruity.

‘It continues.’

His thoughts. His thinking.

As though the world itself had stopped.

Was it really possible to continue thinking this long even with such a powerful enemy standing before his eyes?

Before long, Yoon Jong saw it. Heavenly Executioner’s hand moving slowly. Slowly, far too slowly, but never stopping.

Pitch-black Demonic qi was gathering in that hand. The Demonic qi that gathered, rippling as though alive, soon condensed into a single point. The energy gathered to its limit seemed to gush outward as though being expelled to the outside, then began to whirl, taking on a certain flow.

Heavenly Executioner’s hand stretched toward Yoon Jong. The pitch-black Demonic qi that had been swirling around his fist created a vortex like a whirlpool, gradually growing larger and larger.

This entire process...... was truly slow. Slow enough to watch.

Had the world stopped? Or had Heavenly Executioner’s overwhelmingly immense power brought Yoon Jong to a standstill?

The vortex of Demonic qi thrust out by Heavenly Executioner came flying toward Yoon Jong. Like a black dragon devouring the world. Yoon Jong’s entire field of vision was filled in an instant with the incoming Demonic qi.

A way to evade? There was none.

A way to block it? There couldn’t possibly be one.

Among all the martial arts Yoon Jong knew, there wasn’t a single method capable of countering this attack. That was why this black dragon could no longer be called martial arts.

To Yoon Jong, the Demonic qi closing in upon him moment by moment wasn’t a threat made manifest. It was nothing but certain death.

Gather courage? Stand against death?

It wasn’t even on that level. Even if he stood against it, nothing would change. Yoon Jong instinctively understood that. This was cognition beyond understanding.

At the same time, Yoon Jong’s hand moved naturally.

To make the final plum blossom of his life bloom?

No. It wasn’t that.

Yoon Jong raised his sword. It was a stance that didn’t exist in the Plum Blossom Sword Technique. It was merely the simple upper stance that anyone learning the sword for the first time would take.

That was precisely why Mount Hua called this stance this.

The foundation of Mount Hua. The starting stance of the Six Harmonies Sword.

Yoon Jong’s sword came sweeping down.

It wasn’t an action carried out through calculation. The moment he faced an irresistible force, Yoon Jong simply chose it unconsciously. Not a death cry, not tears, not surrender, but a small resistance.

A sword swung simply because he was Yoon Jong, with even the expectation that he could overcome it cast aside.

But precisely because of that, it touched the very essence of Yoon Jong, the very essence of the sword. And perhaps, the essence of the Tao.

A purposeless sword became disordered.

It wasn’t the straight and orderly sword path he had always drawn. The sword sought neither speed, nor strength, nor precision. It merely flowed.

Just as water flowing down a mountain draws irregular curves, Yoon Jong’s sword likewise traced a rough line through the air, one difficult to even call a sword path.

[Geomro. 검로(劍路). Literally “sword path,” the trajectory or route followed by a sword strike.]

Yet this irregular line harmonized with everything in the world.

With the still-blue sky, with the wind blowing in, with the droplets of sweat flying upward and the smell of earth rolling in.

Even the absolute fist force unleashed by Heavenly Executioner couldn’t disturb the naturalness of this sword.

[Gwonryeok. 권력(拳力). Literally “fist force,” the physical power or force contained in a fist strike.]

Seureureureuk.

A sword that drew the utmost naturalness.

Yoon Jong himself didn’t know. He didn’t know what he had done.

What he saw was the open sky. The ordinary world, just as it always was, revealed through the enormous mass of Demonic qi that had somehow been split in half.

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