Chapter 1994 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1994. So That’s Why. (4)

“Uraaaaaaah!”

The Mount Hua disciples, making their grand entrance onto the battlefield with proud and stately strides, raced across the vast land in black martial uniforms bearing the plum blossom, the symbol of Mount Hua.

If this had happened in the past, even just a few years ago, it wouldn’t have seemed particularly remarkable. But things were different now. In the present world, there wasn’t a single person who would dare look down on them.

Mount Hua. The sword sect of Shaanxi that looked down upon all under heaven. A sect that had personally reclaimed its once-glorious reputation through the path it had walked. They now carried a weight and presence that the Mount Hua of the past had never possessed.

The sight of Mount Hua’s swordsmen drawing their swords in unison and charging forward was so overwhelming that it made everyone watching catch their breath.

But.... the eyes of those actually charging forward were wavering precariously, as though an earthquake had struck.

“We’re fucked. We’re fucked. We’re fucked.”

“We’re fucking done for!”

“Run! Hurry the fuck up!”

Of course, there were always some who were completely incapable of grasping the situation.

“W-Wait, is there really a need to hurry this much?”

“What?”

“I mean, is the situation really that urgent? Why are we running like our lives depend on it..? It’s not like we’re already in good condition after coming all the way here.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind? Can’t you see Zhongnan over there, you bastard?”

“Huh?”

The eyes of the Cheong-generation disciple, who had belatedly spotted Zhongnan’s martial uniforms, began to waver just like everyone else’s.

“Those Zhongnan bastards arrived before us! Do you understand what that actually means?! Do you have any idea who’s going to go fucking berserk?!”

At someone’s shout, the blood drained completely from the faces of the Mount Hua disciples.

Naturally, the image of Cheong Myeong approaching while licking his bright-blue sword blade with his red tongue appeared in their minds.

— You bastards, my fellow disciples, showing up later than our enemies? Oh, is that so? You’re telling me to just fucking die? Fine, I’ll die. But I can’t be the only one dying, can I?

“Eek! We’re really going to die.”

“If dying were all there was to it, that’d actually be a blessing.”

“Run! Run, fuck! I’d rather get killed by those Demonic Cult bastards!”

“That’s why I told you we should’ve come this way from the beginning!”

“No, we were told to go to the rear! That was the order!”

When they had first arrived here with such impressive momentum, they had been imagining how the Five Swords would look at them as though they were saviors, practically giddy with anticipation. But that naive hope had vanished without a trace the moment they saw Zhongnan packed densely across the area ahead.

There was no way that madman would let this situation slide.

Of course, the Mount Hua Sect was not at fault. If they had committed any crime, it was simply following the instructions too well.

“No, didn’t they tell us to gather in Zhengzhou?!”

All they had done was go where they had been told. They had followed the instructions, but the other sects had ignored every single one of them and rushed ahead instead. How on earth was that Mount Hua’s fault?

But at the same time, everyone knew.

There were countless excuses they could make. But in the end, the only place where they would get to make those excuses was inside their coffins.

Above all, Zhongnan was the problem. Now that they had arrived later than Zhongnan, of all sects, the only path to survival left was to fight like madmen and prove that they had been more useful than Zhongnan.

“Uraaaaaaah!”

“Fight with every last bit of strength you’ve got!”

“Don’t you dare die! You’ll get beaten again in hell if you die!”

The Mount Hua disciples, practically half out of their minds, didn’t even properly look at the Five Swords standing as though blocking their way.

It was just as Baek Cheon drew his sword and was about to shout firmly.

“Now, everyone from Mount Hua..”

“Get out of the way!”

“Ah! You’re in the way, Sasuk! Get out of here!”

“Stop getting in the way! Damn it, we’re busy as hell!”

“Huh?”

Watching his sahyung and sajil race off into the distance without even paying the slightest attention to whatever he was saying, Baek Cheon blankly blinked his large, elongated eyes.

“W-Wait for me, you bastards!”

“Ah, we’re busy! Stop dawdling or everyone’s going to fucking die!”

The half-mad Mount Hua disciples plunged into the battlefield.

“W-What the hell?”

“Is that the Demonic Cult?!”

At the sudden, oppressive momentum coming from behind them, the Zhongnan disciples turned around in alarm. They were people who had suddenly appeared from behind, dressed only slightly more neatly, but otherwise behaving no differently from the Demonic Cultists. No, not merely no different. Judging by their eyes, those people might actually have been even more unhinged....

“GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAY!”

And it wasn’t just their eyes that had gone crazy.

These bastards had no sense of seniority whatsoever. If they didn’t clear the way immediately, they looked ready to run a sword through the backs of the old elders themselves. Overwhelmed by their momentum, the Zhongnan disciples hastily opened a path almost out of reflex.

“W-Wait!”

But the Zhongnan elders saw things somewhat differently. Having experienced the strength of the Demonic Cultists on the front lines, they could only regard these young, still-unseasoned swordsmen charging in without a second thought as nothing but reckless youthful bravado.

“Don’t! They’re no easy opponents! With your current skills, it’s still too much for you..”

KWAAAAANG!

It happened at that very moment. Within the shouting elder’s field of vision, he saw the bodies of Demonic Cultists explode into pieces and fly in every direction.

“....I guess not?”

The Zhongnan elders blinked.

“Kill every last one of them!”

“You fucking Demonic Cult bastards! Fancy seeing you again here!”

“We haven’t forgotten the grudge from Hangzhou! This time, we’re really killing every last one of you!”

“Those aren’t the same bastards from back then, are they?”

“Who gives a damn! Demonic Cult is Demonic Cult. Just kill them all!”

The Mount Hua disciples who had charged into the center were slaughtering the Demonic Cultists as though they were sweeping away low-ranking riffraff from some unorthodox sect.

Jin Chobaek muttered as though he were groaning.

“What in the world.. This makes no sense..”

Hadn’t they already experienced it themselves? The bodies of those Demonic Cult bastards weren’t normal. More precisely, the viscosity of the demonic energy flowing through their bodies was beyond imagination. Their bodies were so tough that only a sword enveloped in sword force could cut through them.

So for young swordsmen who couldn’t maintain sword force throughout an entire battle, the burden was simply too great. It was supposed to be too great for them.

Although the Namgung Family primarily practiced powerful swordsmanship, relying on sheer force and momentum to cut through those tough bodies, Mount Hua wasn’t a sect that employed that kind of swordsmanship.

But the sight unfolding before his eyes was completely different from what he had expected.

Fwooooooosh!

“KUAAAAARGH!”

“Where do you get off opening that foul-smelling mouth of yours, you damn Demonic Cult bastards?!”

“Shove a sword down their fucking throats!”

“Ugh, I don’t like getting spit on my sword....”

The Mount Hua disciples were casually spewing such foul language that it was difficult to believe it could come out of the mouths of Taoists, while wielding their Plum Blossom Swords with uncanny skill and rapidly cutting down the Demonic Cultists.

Jin Chobaek was utterly dumbfounded.

It made no sense. And yet, it was unquestionably happening right before his eyes. If so, there had to be some reason capable of explaining it.

Just then, a shout bordering on a shriek came from behind him.

“Hey, you little bastards! Even so, how dare you ignore me?! You bunch of disrespectful little shits!”

Jin Chobaek flinched and turned around. A face far too familiar entered his sight.

“D-Dong....”

“Get out of the way!”

“Huh?”

Jin Dongryong, no, Baek Cheon, completely ignored Jin Chobaek and pushed ahead, his eyes bloodshot, joining the Mount Hua swordsmen.

“You damned bastards! I’m still the Sect Leader’s head disciple!”

“Dongryong....”

As Jin Chobaek watched Baek Cheon’s retreating figure with a hollow expression, the remaining Five Swords passed by him, bowing their heads slightly.

“Th-That.... please, stay strong.”

“....”

“But honestly, this is partly the Elder’s fault, too....”

“Shh. Keep quiet. Why do you have no sense of tact?”

“Amitabha.”

Jin Chobaek watched his sons’ friends hurry past him, carefully avoiding his gaze, with a sorrowful expression.

“Aigoo, Sasuk!”

“Unfilial son.”

“Say something before you go, at least!”

“Amitabha....”

The Five Swords had now joined the Mount Hua swordsmen at the vanguard, piercing through the Demonic Cultists. Then, almost as though they had agreed beforehand, they began emitting powerful sword auras simultaneously.

Jin Chobaek’s eyes widened like lanterns.

‘What is that?’

Every time the swords of the Five Swords at the vanguard plunged into the bodies of the Demonic Cultists, a certain difficult-to-describe energy briefly flickered into view.

Unless his eyes were deceiving him, whenever that energy flashed, the demonic energy that had been enveloping the Demonic Cultists in black was fading away like snow exposed to sunlight.

‘....Is that immortal qi?’

Jin Chobaek was also an elder of Zhongnan. And Zhongnan was, in any case, a sect that had originated from Taoism. Of course, by now, it had become a sect closer to the secular martial arts schools, to the point where speaking of Taoism was almost laughable. Even so, it hadn’t fallen into such decline that its members no longer knew what immortal qi was.

“Isn’t that immortal qi?”

Naturally, Jin Chobaek wasn’t the only one who had recognized the extraordinary nature of the Mount Hua disciples. The other Zhongnan elders couldn’t conceal their bewilderment and began looking around in confusion.

“B-But immortal qi is something that only venerable old Taoist masters who have attained enlightenment can barely wield. H-How can such young children.....”

“Even so.... it’s nothing more than an amount of energy as small as a fingernail.”

“Even if it’s no bigger than a grain of sand rather than a fingernail, immortal qi is still immortal qi!”

While the elders argued heatedly, Jin Chobaek kept his mouth firmly shut and watched the scene unfolding before his eyes.

‘This is....’

Immortal qi was like proof of a Taoist’s life of purity. It was known as an energy that Taoists who had severed their ties with the mundane world and spent their entire lives alongside nature could barely obtain in their final years.

It was remarkable. But that was because immortal qi was something that testified to the life a person had lived, not because the energy itself possessed any particularly extraordinary efficacy.

And yet.....

‘Those children’s immortal qi is clearly pushing back the demonic energy.’

So clearly that it could be confirmed with the naked eye.

Did immortal qi inherently possess such an ability, or was the immortal qi cultivated by those children something special?

He didn’t know. There was no way Jin Chobaek could know. There was only one thing he could say for certain: the Mount Hua disciples were displaying something close to being the natural enemies of the Demonic Cult.

And that was more than enough to weigh heavily on Jin Chobaek’s heart. The only weakness Mount Hua currently possessed was that its disciples were too young to wield the same strength as the elders of other prestigious sects.

But what if those young disciples could now display extraordinary strength against the Demonic Cultists, the very beings that could be called the world’s only remaining threat?

‘Wouldn’t that mean the only advantage we have would disappear?’

Put the other way around, it meant that the only weakness Mount Hua possessed would disappear. A Mount Hua without that weakness. What an absurd thought.

As Jin Chobaek struggled to conceal his bewilderment, a certain sight entered his eyes.

Young swordsmen sweeping through the Demonic Cultists in unison, without the slightest fear. At the vanguard of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, with plum blossoms scattering profusely from the tips of their swords, one person was boldly swinging his sword.

“Dongryong.....”

His third son, the one who had left Zhongnan of his own accord, was leading everyone from the very front of Mount Hua.

Watching that figure as though entranced, Jin Chobaek’s mouth unconsciously fell slightly open.

“Perhaps…. it’s not so bad.”

“Huh?”

“Kh-keuhem.”

“Sahyung, what did you just........”

“Enough!”

When he found himself unable to come up with an answer, Jin Chobaek suddenly flew into a fit of anger. His face had turned bright red.

“What are you all standing around for?! The young swordsmen of another sect are risking their lives fighting, and you’re just going to stand here and watch?! Everyone, cover Mount Hua’s backs!”

“Cover their backs?”

“N-No, that’s not what I mean! I mean, that! Help them! I’m telling you to fight and not let yourselves be outdone!”

“....Sahyung?”

“Hurry!”

“A-All right.”

Watching the Zhongnan disciples reluctantly rush forward, their expressions still rather sour, Jin Chobaek repeatedly cleared his throat, seemingly trying to hide his embarrassment.

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