Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1303

Dust swirled around Ho Gamyung’s boots as he hurried forward.

Ho Gamyung walked quickly, his face showing no emotion.

‘They are close,’ Ho Gamyung thought. The falling number of messenger hawks didn’t mean the fighting had slowed. It just meant the enemy was moving so fast, they were past the point where messengers could be sent.

The corners of Ho Gamyung’s lips twisted slightly.

Should he call it impressive? Or foolish?

Breaking through the encirclement this quickly with inexperienced fighters who had never left Hainan was certainly impressive.

‘Especially considering that it’s not something that can be done simply by being strong.’

Having great martial prowess and being able to lead were completely different matters.

Ho Gamyung understood this well. He had become a leader through planning, not just fighting.

Leading hundreds of people who had never worked together before was by no means easy. But Hwasan was doing it without a hitch, even though they themselves clearly had little experience in such matters.

‘Well, nothing’s surprising anymore.’

Ho Gamyung’s eyes turned grim.

He was now confident that he wouldn’t be surprised no matter what Hwasan, or Chung Myung, did. There was no need to guess what the enemy would do before they did it. Matching them at this pace was enough.

As a result, they were now finally close enough to strike at Hwasan.

“Hurry!”

“Yes!”

It was time to hurry the pursuit.

Ho Gamyung, and those following behind him, walked over the bodies of the dead fighters without looking.

“Horrible.”

“Only now you say that?”

“I’m not talking about the corpses.”

Goe Ryang bared his teeth as he spoke.

“Can’t you see? They were killed with a single strike to their vital points.”

“…Looks messy to me?”

“Of course. After killing them with one sword strike, they needlessly slashed a few more times to cut the muscles that let them move.”

Ho Gamyung’s face slightly hardened at the unexpected answer.

“The Hwasan Sword Saint did this?” Ho Gamyung sounded surprised. “He doesn’t seem like someone who would be cruel for no reason.”

“If it was just him, he’d kill them quickly and move on,” Goe Ryang said. “But he did this for the others. To make sure the dead stay dead. If someone behind him wasn’t careful, a ‘dead’ enemy could get up and attack.”

“……”

“Where on earth did he experience something like this? It’s not something you can just learn. Just looking at how he uses his sword, it’s like he’s been rolling around on the battlefield for decades. No, more than that. Even fighters who have spent their entire lives on the battlefield don’t do this.”

Goe Ryang bared his teeth, speaking with interest.

“If there were a hell where someone only fought for their entire life, they would use a sword like this. Amazing. For such a sword demon to come from the good side.”

“Enough with the useless talk.”

“He chuckled softly, a glint in his eye as he spoke.

“But…”

Goe Ryang’s eyes did not miss the bodies of the Hainan disciples mixed in among the members of the unorthodox factions. Their uniforms, bearing the color of the sea, were clearly visible even when soaked in blood.

“The damage is significant.”

“Of course.”

“But they’re just insignificant guys, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Crack!

Goe Ryang, maintaining his speed, stomped on the head of a Hainan disciple’s corpse. The corpse’s head shattered and burst, splattering the congealing blood everywhere.

“Ugh…”

A follower behind him let out a suppressed groan. Goe Ryang chuckled with amusement and glanced back.

“Why? Are you feeling sorry now?”

“……”

“Even though you betrayed your group, you still have feelings left? How amusing. From their perspective, the person they really want to kill isn’t us, but you.”

Yoo Gong bit his lip tightly and remained silent.

He couldn’t even bring himself to argue because the man’s words weren’t far from the truth.

“Don’t worry. I’ll let you meet your fellow disciples soon. It will be a touching reunion.”

Yoo Gong shuddered at the mere thought. Those words didn’t sound like a simple threat. If things continued like this, he would really come face to face with his fellow disciples soon.

Then, how would they look at Yoo Gong?

Even though they had allowed him to leave the group without hurting his fighting skills so he could live his own life, he was now using those fighting skills to chase after them.

He had joined the Four Evil Sects Alliance, which had come to destroy Hainan, and had become their tool.

He had no confidence. He would rather die than face Hainan.

He could endure any criticism or humiliation, but he couldn’t bear the gazes of the Hainan disciples looking at him.

“No. I don’t think we have to wait.”

At those words from Goe Ryang, Yoo Gong was startled and quickly raised his head.

Had they already caught up with Hainan?

No. That wasn’t it.

It wasn’t the situation he had feared, where he had to face the disciples of Hainan. But in some ways, it was just as… no, even more terrible.

“Uh…”

A deflated sound escaped from Yoo Gong’s mouth.

“He’s alive.”

In the blood-soaked field, amidst the pile of corpses, a man was struggling to stand.

The clothes, stained black with dried blood, made it impossible to guess what color they had originally been.

But Yoo Gong knew. The shape of those clothes and that back view were all too familiar. The figure of someone he knew well overlapped with that miserable back view.

“Ah…”

He must have lost consciousness after being struck by the enemy and was lucky enough not to die, waking up late. His companions wouldn’t have been able to check on someone who was almost killed in the urgent situation of fighting the enemy, so they wouldn’t have known he was alive.

The man must have heard people coming from behind, as he turned his head with difficulty.

His pupils seemed empty. His cloudy eyes stared blankly at them, as if they belonged to someone who wasn’t alive.

“Senior Brother Jong!”

A scream-like shout burst from Yoo Gong’s mouth. It felt like a fire was rising in his chest.

He was alive.

He wasn’t one of the corpses he had seen on the way here. He looked like he would collapse and breathe his last at any moment, but his senior brother Jong Hyo was definitely alive.

“I, I’m okay…”

“What an unlucky bastard.”

Swish.

But at that moment, the sound of Goe Ryang drawing his sword rang in Yoo Gong’s ears like thunder.

“W-wait!”

Whoosh.

Goe Ryang, having drawn his sword, rushed forward and sliced off Jong Hyo’s head.

Thwack!

The severed head soared into the air.

“Uh…”

Yoo Gong’s eyes widened as much as they could. His hands waved his hands without being able to grab anything in the air, unable to grab anything.

At that moment, Jong Hyo’s eyes and Yoo Gong’s eyes met in the air.

Jong Hyo’s eyes, which contained nothing, and Yoo Gong’s eyes, which were filled with emotions that could not be expressed in words.

The eyes of a hero who had fought against the enemy and died, and the eyes of a traitor who worked for the enemy because he was afraid to die, met in that way.

He could only helplessly watch as the light that had remained in Jong Hyo’s eyes, though faint, rapidly faded away.

“Ugh…”

Yoo Gong’s hands trembled.

Did he see me? In that fading consciousness, did he recognize me? If so, what did he think? What did Jong Hyo feel? Gladness? Or disgust? Hope? Or anger?

He couldn’t know.

The person who could tell him was already dead. The severed head was already rolling in the dirty mud.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, nausea surged up.

“Urgh!”

Yoo Gong clutched his stomach and threw up again and again. But he hadn’t eaten anything for days, so there was nothing for him to throw up.

Only bitter water came up.

But the retching didn’t stop. As if he was trying to push out something disgusting that wasn’t in his stomach, but stuck to it.

“Ugh…”

At that moment, someone running up from behind kicked Yoo Gong, who was bent over.

Wham!

Yoo Gong, sent flying, tumbled to the ground. He rolled mindlessly on the ground, soaked in the blood of enemies and his fellow disciples.

“Keep running.”

“……”

“Or what? Should I just kill you here?”

Yoo Gong grabbed his trembling legs and forced himself to stand.

He couldn’t die.

He mustn’t die.

If he died here after coming this far, Yoo Gong would have nothing left. He would just be a sad person who did anything the enemy said to try to survive, only to lose his life in the end.

If he had lost everything, if he couldn’t leave anything behind, shouldn’t he at least save his wretched life?

Staggering, Yoo Gong started running again. No tears flowed. All that remained was an even stronger anger.

Goe Ryang smirked, as if he was pleased.

‘What makes people truly cruel isn’t malice, but guilt.’

That was why traitors became more brutal and violent.

Ho Gamyung spoke quietly to Yoo Gong, who was running while blood streamed from his torn lips.

“Looks like you understand.”

“……”

“There is only one way for you to live a normal life now.”

Yoo Gong turned his head to look at Ho Gamyung. Ho Gamyung said coldly.

“That is for everyone who knows that you betrayed them to die.”

Yoo Gong’s body flinched greatly. A complex light flashed in his eyes for a moment.

“Conscience is like lukewarm water. When you first put your hand in, it’s so hot that you want to pull it out immediately, but if you endure that pain for a little while, you soon don’t feel anything. Even if you put your whole body in, not just your hand.”

When Yoo Gong didn’t respond, Ho Gamyung glanced at him and turned his head.

Yoo Gong just ran with his head bowed.

‘I don’t regret it.’

Anyone would have made the same choice. It was easy to talk about what is right and fair. But who in the world would put their own life and their family’s lives on the line to do what is right?

So he wasn’t wrong. So he wasn’t mistaken.

No, even if he was wrong, it didn’t matter.

No one could only make the right choices in life. He had just made one more wrong choice this time. So he just had to close his eyes and block his ears. Then he could live. Then he could save them.

‘Curse me and resent me as much as you want!’

A fierce blue anger filled Yoo Gong’s eyes.

Having come this far, there was no way to turn back. It didn’t matter what he had thought at first. All that remained was to survive in this situation he couldn’t get out of.

Yes. That was all. He just had to think about that.

But… no matter how much he resolved and tried to be strong, it didn’t disappear.

Jong Hyo’s eyes, which had been blank and blurred, those eyes whose light was fading…

Even if he closed his eyes, blocked his ears, and screamed, it was stuck in his mind and wouldn’t go away.