Return of the Mount Hua Sect - Ch. 821
Yoon Jong gritted his teeth until his jaw muscles tensed, feeling the blood drain from the hand holding his sword.
It felt like he would be consumed by madness.
Jang Ilso’s insanity overwhelmed them, attacking people as if they could be devoured—a raw ferocity so clear.
He couldn’t even imagine that people like this existed in the world. Just standing face to face felt like his heart was being eaten away.
‘How can we fight back?’
He saw Chung Myung standing face-to-face with Jang Ilso.
Yoon Jong could tell.
Chung Myung was also at his limit. No, maybe he had crossed the limit too. Chung Myung’s slightly trembling legs were proof of that fact.
But Chung Myung didn’t back down an inch.
‘How…’
At that time, Jang Ilso slowly swept up his flowing hair.
He neatly brushed his sweat-soaked hair, wiped away the blood from his face, and stared at Chung Myung with strange eyes.
“I, a child…”
Jang Ilso’s face revealed his teeth, similar to that of a bloodthirsty wolf.
The cruelty was clear, and it was nothing short of creepy. It felt like those teeth would bite the neck and kill him at any moment.
“In this entire world, is there anyone who can call me that?”
Certainly, the word ‘child’ was far from an adult man.
Especially for Hegemony Lord Jang Ilso.
“That is interesting. Still, I don’t feel that bad.”
“…”
A bright smile bloomed on Jang Ilso’s lips.
The moment they all saw that smile, the Five Sword felt an ominousness like never before.
What should they call this feeling? How should they explain this feeling that made their hearts ache with anxiety?
Jang Ilso opened his mouth in a mocking tone.
“But… wouldn’t it save your face if you just let it go after hearing that? Is it not?”
In an instant, Jang Ilso’s entire body began to rage out with qi.
Chung Myung, who took that, staggered as if he would collapse at any moment.
“Cough!”
Blood flowed like a waterfall from Chung Myung’s mouth.
He had used too much of his internal qi when dealing with Jang Ilso. He briefly suppressed his limits by drawing on excessive internal qi. Still, now the side effects were taking over his entire body.
“Euh…”
At that moment, Chung Myung forced out all his strength and grabbed the sword.
Tak!
Yu Yiseol stepped forward.
With a pale face and blood drained from absorbing the qi of Jang Ilso, he took one step at a time and finally stood in front of Chung Myung.
Then he raised his trembling sword and aimed it at Jang Ilso’s neck.
The eyes of Jang Ilso darkened.
It was different from when they first rushed in with enthusiasm. Now, they clearly realized that it was impossible to deal with Jang Ilso, even if all of them tried to block him.
But some people blocked him even though they knew it.
Thud!
At that time, Baek Cheon also walked out with steady feet.
He stood next to Yu Yiseol with a stern expression and pointed his sword at Jang Ilso.
“Ha…”
The same went for Yoon Jong and Jo Gul. Everyone stepped forward, surrounding Chung Myung and blocking Jang Ilso.
Jo Gul forced his lips into a smile and playfully said,
“… I think it works for now.”
“Chung Myung needs to be saved.”
“… Sasuk. Let’s take that guy and run. This place… I will handle the opponent somehow.”
“Stop speaking nonsense. I play the role of being the first to die.”
“Anyway, the insistence of Sasuk is…”
Everyone was trying to mask their trembling voices.
The jokes told with trembling legs, and bloody lips were nothing more than a pitiful tactic to desperately hide their weakness.
But…
Even Jang Ilso, who laughed and ridiculed everything in the world, couldn’t laugh this time.
It wasn’t so difficult to step forward.
A one-day-old puppy didn’t know that tigers were scary. And there were many one-day-old puppies in this world.
But that wasn’t the audacity of such a fearless person.
Courage wasn’t ignorance of fear. Not knowing fear was stupidity.
It was stepping forward even when one knew fear.
It was knowing how to take another step forward despite trembling in the face of the enemy and death.
It was knowing when to lift the sword with trembling hands.
That was what courage was.
That was when Jang Ilso felt it clearly.
The moment they blocked the front, Chung Myung’s breathing changed. Even in the face of the world’s biggest disaster, he dared to take his time, catch his breath, and begin to gather his strength again.
‘Do these guys think they can stop me for even a moment?’
There was no way that an intelligent person would think of such stupid plans. But now, Chung Myung clearly trusted those who blocked his path.
Those little brats.
“HA! HAHAHA!”
Jang Ilso smiled and looked at Chung Myung standing behind them.
“I admit it. Courage is virtuous. But… that isn’t such a good thing. Cowards survive the longest, and the courageous die first.”
“…”
“So… who is the bravest among you?”
Clench.
Jang Ilso clenched his fists. With his face, he took a step forward and intimidated everyone.
“Right, just prove your courage with your life.”
Jang Ilso’s presence began to weigh on them.
The breathing turned tight due to strong intimidation as if a typhoon was blowing. Everyone groaned under that pressure.
At that time, a twisted voice came from behind the Five Swords.
“Seriously, that nose…”
“…”
Jang Ilso’s gaze turned to Chung Myung.
Chung Myung bent his stiff neck to the side.
“For a bastard of the Evil Faction, you sure tend to talk a lot. If you think that way, it is alright to attack, but why do you keep barking like a scared dog?”
Chung Myung revealed it.
Limit? An enemy who could not be defeated?
Who cares?
‘There is no way a person who calculates things like that would have been able to climb the Hundred Thousand Mountain.’
Jang Ilso didn’t know.
No matter how many fierce battles Jang Ilso fought, no matter how many wounds he received, no matter how many times he risked his life and traversed the roads of life and death, he could never be like Chung Myung.
He didn’t know.
What was it like to fight in despair?
This was how it felt for those who had to grit their teeth and fight, even though they knew that attacking with all their might wouldn’t leave a scratch on the opponent, and they would likely lose their lives.
And… what it was like to overcome that!
“I am sorry, but.”
Chung Myung smiled, leaving behind the numerous faces that briefly passed by.
“I have been through too much to call this even a crisis.”
“…”
“So just bark and attack. I will tell you exactly why you are a kid.”
Jang Ilso stared at him in silence.
No matter how you look at it, Chung Myung was at his limit. So much so that even holding the sword must be difficult.
And yet…
‘Those eyes.’
Why do those eyes believe in his win without a doubt?
At that moment, Jang Ilso had a thought.
For the first time in his life, he met someone he couldn’t understand.
At that moment.
“Kuak…”
The cliff was steeped in silence, and a hand rose from underneath, grasping the edge of the cliff.
Everyone’s eyes immediately focused in that direction.
“Eukk….”
One by one, hands covered in dirt rose up. The Wudang and Shaolin finally succeeded in climbing the hellish cliff.
“Go up!”
“Don’t let your guard down and come up! Those on the rise, protect the rear!”
More and more people began to climb up.
Coincidentally, those who climbed the cliff naturally gathered behind Chung Myung.
Then, the Lower District troops and Black Ghost Fort, who were waiting, quickly ran behind Jang Ilso’s back and began to exude killing intent.
The entire cliff was engulfed in tension.
Chung Myung slowly turned his gaze towards Jang Ilso.
“This…”
A clear sneer on his face.
“Even though you made such a big fuss, it seems like your plan didn’t work out? What do we do? Everyone is coming up.”
“…”
“So, we should have fought while you were busy talking. If that were the case, things would have been a little different.”
There was no way Jang Ilso could refute those words. Jang Ilso’s plan was to deal with them at the bottom of the cliff, and that was shattered.
Everyone looked at Jang Ilso’s face.
This was because they couldn’t help but wonder what kind of expression Jang Ilso would make when the plan went awry.
But after a while, the expression on Jang Ilso’s face left them speechless.
The brightest smile ever.
“I admit it.”
“…”
The slow tone was oddly excited.
“This battle…”
He paused for a moment, looked at Chung Myung, and licked his lips. Then he slowly said,
“… you won.”
“…”
Hearing those unexpected words from Jang Ilso, Chung Myung had a stiff face and looked at him.
And then he spoke in a tone that seemed to suppress anger.
“… what do you mean?”
“As I said.”
Jang Ilso shrugged his shoulders. It was a face that clearly showed the calmness of the first time.
“It wasn’t in my calculations that you would be capable of occupying me so much. Clearly, you have completely distorted the plan I created. So there is no way not to acknowledge it.”
“…”
“It is my defeat. This battle is your win. Of course, the strong don’t always win the battle. This is pretty painful. Ga-Myung will be pissed.”
Chung Myung glared at Jang Ilso without the slightest agitation because what Jang Ilso wanted to say couldn’t have ended there.
“But…”
And sure enough, Jang Ilso’s lips parted slightly, showing off his white teeth.
“This is just in combat.”
“…”
“I won this war, Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon.”
If it had been normal, he wouldn’t have even heard those words.
But it was different now. The moment he heard Jang Ilso’s confident words, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.
“You don’t know.”
Jang Ilso’s lips twisted into a smile.
“You should be the one who knows this best, yet you know nothing about it. That, too, is quite strange. You are indeed different.”
“What nonsense…”
“I will enlighten you.”
Jang Ilso paused, looking at Chung Myung softly. Then he spoke in a gentle tone, like a teacher addressing a favored student.
“I will tell you, Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon. Just like in battle, war isn’t won by the strong… those who have something to protect will lose.”
Jang Ilso tapped his head with his finger.
“That is why you cannot defeat me. Do you understand?”
Chung Myung gripped his sword tightly.
“This bastard….”
Crack.
His body tensed, and his feet dug into the ground as if ready to charge at any moment.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Jang Ilso meant or what trick he was playing. But the moment he heard the word ‘protect,’ the faces of many people flashed in Chung Myung’s mind—from the Five Swords to Mount Hua and Hae Yeon.
And now, one thing was certain.
He had to silence Jang Ilso before he did something reckless!
As Chung Myung lowered his body like a hungry wolf, Jang Ilso smiled and shook his head.
“You don’t seem to have understood what I said at all, Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon. This war…”
Jang Ilso spread his arms and declared,
“It is over.”
“Shut up, you bastard!”
In the end, Chung Myung kicked off the ground and charged at Jang Ilso. It wasn’t clear where he found the strength, but the sword qi on his blade burned brightly.
Yet Jang Ilso only smiled strangely at Chung Myung.
As if he knew the sword couldn’t reach him.
‘Why?’
It was at that exact moment that a feeling of extreme discomfort overwhelmed Chung Myung.
Paaat!
Chung Myung’s eyes widened as he rushed toward Jang Ilso. His head snapped to the side.
Kwaaang!
There was no time to react. A flying attack struck Chung Myung in the side.
“CHUNG MYUNGGGG!”
Yu Yiseol cried out, trying to rush after Chung Myung in this unimaginable situation.
“C-Chung Myung!!!!!”
Chung Myung flew out like a kite with a broken string and crashed to the ground.
The five swords ran to Chung Myung, screaming.
But just one person.
Baek Cheon turned his head and looked elsewhere with a devil-like expression.
The person responsible for Chung Myung’s plight.
The face of the one who delivered the unexpected, unpreventable blow.
“This….”
Clench.
Baek Cheon’s teeth ground together, and veins bulged in his eyes. His voice was soft, like a sob.
“Heo…Do”
And then, from his mouth, came a wild, beast-like scream.
“HEO DOOOOOO!”
Sect leader of Wudang, Venerable Heo Do.
His fury-filled eyes landed on the man.