Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1314

Dark figures dropped from the sky like a sudden storm. It was a crazy sight, but Jo Gul was seeing it happen right in front of him. His breath caught in his throat. The black-clad attackers fell from the cliff edge, filling the small opening of sky above the canyon like angry wasps swarming a nest. Jo Gul’s face tightened.

“Bloody hell!” he roared, his voice echoing in the narrow space. “They definitely weren’t there before!”

When he and Yoon Jong had scouted just moments ago, there weren’t nearly this many enemies. He’d felt a prickle of danger, a sense of hidden blades, but nothing like this overwhelming force.

Yoon Jong bit his lip, equally bewildered.

There was only one way this could have happened: they had been lying in ambush in large numbers behind the mountain, not on top of it.

Yoon Jong hadn’t thought they would hide behind the mountain. He thought it was too obvious a trap.

The enemy was numerous and held a perfectly advantageous terrain. Why would they bother setting up such a trap? They could simply crush them with force.

Yet, they had gone to the trouble of digging this trap.

Only then did Yoon Jong understand what he had missed.

‘They’re desperate too.’

This was different from before. Until now, Mount Hua had mostly faced opponents stronger than themselves. Therefore, it was always Mount Hua who caught the enemy off guard.

But now, the tables had turned.

They didn’t underestimate Mount Hua like the others they had faced. They were using every possible method, even inducing carelessness, to tear them apart thoroughly.

Even though the attackers knew they weren’t fighting the real Mount Hua sect, but a smaller group with people from Hainan and Cheonwoo.

Because he hadn’t recognized that change, that desperate resolve, he had missed what he shouldn’t have.

“Damn it!”

Jo Gul’s roar echoed.

Jo Gul was quick-tempered, not stupid. There was no way he wouldn’t realize what Yoon Jong had.

“Eek!”

Eventually, as Jo Gul lowered his stance, preparing to leap upwards, Yoon Jong shouted sternly.

“Jo Gul, stop! We have to protect the others!”

Jo Gul gritted his teeth and turned to Yoon Jong.

“Senior Brother, this is…!”

“It’s done! Do what you have to do now. Protect the Hainan disciples!”

“But there are too many enemies!”

“Chung Myung and Yui Seol will handle this! Our job is to protect the Hainan disciples!”

Yoon Jong, who had suppressed Jo Gul’s fierce resistance in an instant, raised his head. He saw Chung Myung and Yui Seol soaring upwards towards the enemies pouring down.

The strong wind blowing through the canyon lashed at Chung Myung’s entire body. His martial robes fluttered wildly. But Chung Myung’s speed didn’t decrease in the slightest. Each step he took on the cliff face was powerful.

Meanwhile, those descending the cliff screamed as soon as they spotted Chung Myung.

“Knock him down!”

“Euhwaaaaaaa!”

The attackers swung their moon blades together. Thick blades of energy flew haphazardly towards Chung Myung.

Clang! Crash! Crack!

The flying blades of energy struck the cliff face one after another. The untouched cliff face was marked with huge claw-like gashes, as if a giant demon had raked its claws across it. But Chung Myung, who should have been crushed by those blades, had already leaped to the opposite cliff face.

It was an unbelievably swift movement. An ordinary enemy would have been more than flustered.

But the black-clad figures weren’t surprised at all; rather, they swung their blades again as if they had already anticipated it.

Swaaaaaaash!

Dozens of black-clad figures simultaneously unleashed blades of energy that flew fiercely towards Chung Myung once more.

It seemed like too many attackers just to stop one person. But the black figures didn’t think they were using too much force.

Because they already knew who they were dealing with.

The Mount Hua Sword Saint, Chung Myung. Against that lofty name, the concept of ‘excessive’ didn’t even exist. At least, not within the Four Evil Sects!

Before the blades of energy flying with such great resolve, Chung Myung’s eyes flashed a chilling blue light for a moment.

Front, back, left, and right.

They were perfectly covering every possible place Chung Myung could move to. No matter where he retreated, there was nowhere to escape.

Even when the sky falls, there’s a hole to escape through, they say. Of course, that might be true. But within this canyon, even that sky was narrow.

Faaaah!

In that desperate moment, Chung Myung chose to face the front where the blades of energy were flying.

“No! He’s going to get killed!” Namgoong Dowi cried out.

There was no other way to see it. Just dodging those countless blades of energy while clinging to the cliff was already impossible.

And now, in mid-air! How could he possibly block those blades of energy while floating in the air!

But as Chung Myung’s sword unfolded, Namgoong Dowi’s mouth fell silent as if it had been suddenly sealed shut.

Faaaah!

The Plum Blossom Sword was swung towards the flying blades of energy.

Clang!

Each and every massive blade of energy collided head-on with Chung Myung’s thin sword. Logically, Chung Myung’s body should have been knocked backwards… No, downwards.

But at that moment, the sword rotated smoothly, and Chung Myung’s body soared even higher. It was absurd, but it was as if the blades of energy flying head-on were pushing Chung Myung’s back.

Namgoong Dowi’s eyes widened.

“Th-that!”

He couldn’t understand what was happening even though he was seeing it with his own eyes. No, he could understand it, but he couldn’t believe it.

This was the amazing technique of using an enemy’s power against them. Chung Myung wasn’t just blocking the attacks; he was using their force to push himself higher.

The technique of Yi Hwa Jeop Mok, which, along with the soft swordplay, had elevated Wudang to a position comparable to Shaolin, was now being displayed through Chung Myung. To a level that even the Taoists of Wudang would be astonished by.

‘How?’

A thrill, as if struck by lightning, swept through Namgoong Dowi’s entire body.

When you think about it, using the opponent’s power the first thing one learns after mastering the basics of martial arts?

Nevertheless, the reason why Yi Hwa Jeop Mok is called the highest level is because it is almost impossible to demonstrate that simple principle in actual combat.

But Chung Myung had perfectly manifested that mystery with his sword. He completely deflected the opponent’s power behind him, converting the recoil into propulsion to move forward.

Namgoong Dowi, who had experienced the Plum Blossom Sword, trained in the Cheonwoo Alliance, and even endured fierce battles in this Gangnam, could understand what it meant to use that sword in actual combat.

How incredible it was to lift one’s body in that mid-air where there was no place to set foot, using only the opponent’s power.

Faaah! Faaaah!

Chung Myung deflected the blades of energy with his sword and moved forward. From one blade of energy to another, his speed increased each time he swung his sword.

By the time he emerged from the forest of blades of energy, his form was almost like a black lightning bolt.

“I-insane!”

Horror and fear swept through the eyes of those who saw the scene from above.

There was no way there could be a path for a person to escape through those raging blades of energy. But that path, which shouldn’t exist, was now clearly open. As if the blades of energy were turning their direction themselves to open a path for Chung Myung.

Finally, Chung Myung’s body, having struck down the last blade of energy, soared upwards at the speed of light.

“Kugh!”

The person who saw Chung Myung flying towards him reflexively raised his sword to cover his body. But at that moment, Chung Myung’s sword was swung with a completely different momentum than before. From below to above, a powerful, unhindered movement.

Fwaaaaaaa!

The Plum Blossom Sword collided head-on with the black-clad figure’s sword, which had been infused with internal energy.

Kwaaaaaang!

With an explosion that seemed to burst the eardrums, the black-clad figure’s body, split in two by a single blow, was flung away at a terrifying speed and slammed into the cliff.

Chung Myung, who had split the black-clad figure in half in an instant, immediately plunged into the midst of those descending and twisted his waist.

Fwaaaaaaaaaang!

The fully twisted waist returned to its original position in an instant, and the sword in his hand drew a circle like the sun in the sky.

Everything within the radius of that circle was cut down in an instant. Those whose necks were cut off died instantly without even having time to scream, but those whose arms and legs were severed had to clutch their wounds and scream in the mid-air where there was no place to set foot.

“Aaaaaaargh!”

But Chung Myung, without even a moment to catch his breath, stretched out his sword and pierced the chest of the screaming figure. Barely half a span. Chung Myung, who had stabbed the sword in just enough to avoid the heart, then strongly slashed the sword downwards, using the recoil to lift his body into the air once more.

A look of terror flashed in the eyes of the black-clad figures for a moment.

They had done countless times the act of ambushing those below. But would they ever have had the chance to exchange blows with someone in mid-air like this?

The relentless training they had repeated, the training they had done risking their lives, was useless at this moment.

Snikt! Snikt! Snikt!

Chung Myung moved his sword in mid-air. The carotid arteries of three black-clad figures were pierced without an inch of error.

Stepping on the collapsing upper body of the black-clad figure, Chung Myung leaped up again.

“Kk, Kkeureuk….”

Venom boiled in the eyes of the black-clad figure clutching his neck. Either way, the only path left for him was death. Now that it had come to this, he swung his sword with the thought of taking Chung Myung with him as a companion on his journey to the afterlife. No, he tried to swing it.

But at that moment, a sharp pain pierced his wrist holding the sword.

Slice!

The hand holding the sword was separated from his body and fell away.

The black-clad figure blankly watched the scene. Something black brushed past him and soared upwards.

‘Hwa, Mount Hua’s…?’

Even as his consciousness gradually faded, that intense figure seemed to be etched into his eyes.

A female swordswoman with cold eyes was stepping on his chest, chasing after Chung Myung, who had already soared upwards. She was actively fighting and supporting Chung Myung.

Chung Myung was heading higher and higher. Only upwards, without ever falling for a moment. And so, in an instant, Chung Myung soared higher than the canyon, higher than the position from which the black-clad figures had jumped.

As he emerged from the canyon, the sky, which had seemed so narrow, spread out wide. Chung Myung, who had leaped high into the sky, spun his body around for a moment and kicked off the air. And then he accelerated downwards.

Hwaaaaaaa!

It was like all the plum trees on the cliffs suddenly burst into bloom. Red plum blossoms filled the sky above the canyon.

The red sword energy, even more blood-red than what Chung Myung usually showed, scattered all at once, pouring down on the heads of the descending black-clad figures, as if seeking yet more blood.