Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1575

Baek Cheon felt a strange feeling as the sword went in. It made him shiver.

Crack! The strong sword finally went through the body. It was very hard, like steel and very sticky, like glue.

Baek Cheon looked at his sword in surprise. It had cut through the giant body. Then, he looked up.

He wanted to see the face of the Black Dragon King as he died. He was tired of fighting this enemy.

But the Black Dragon King’s eyes were not those of a dying animal. They were like a wild animal that was hurt, but still angry and ready to attack.

Wham! Baek Cheon flew backwards.

“Kuh… Haaah!”

Crack! The Black Dragon King, Jeok Sekwang, grabbed Baek Cheon’s sword with his hand that held his weapon (guandao). The sword was stuck in his stomach. He wanted to break the sword. But he couldn’t hold it well, and the sword was too strong to break easily. Instead, it hurt him more inside.

Finally, the Black Dragon King was angry. He pulled the sword out of his body quickly.

Splash! Red blood poured out from the wound. The Black Dragon King threw the sword away. He looked at everyone around him with angry, hateful eyes.

“How dare… How dare these young ones…”

A fighter knows that one day, he might be killed by a sword.

Jeok Sekwang knew he could die one day. He was not stupid.

But he never thought he would be trapped by these young people and almost die. He couldn’t believe it.

“Ugh…”

Snap! The Black Dragon King held his stomach wound tightly. He pressed hard, like he wanted to crush it. It was a rough way to stop the bleeding. He didn’t have time to carefully press on the right spots to stop the blood.

The Black Dragon King’s eyes became red and full of blood.

“Me… Me! Jeok Sekwang… Am I to die in a place like this?!”

He roared and swung his weapon (guandao) quickly. Black energy, like ink, shot out and flew straight towards Baek Cheon, who was on the ground.

Just before the energy hit Baek Cheon, Yoo Iseol moved fast like a bird. She grabbed Baek Cheon’s shoulder and pulled him away.

KABOOM!

“You!”

“Jo Gul, calm down!” Jo Gul was angry and wanted to attack the Black Dragon King. But Baek Cheon was lying on the ground. He looked up and shouted quickly.

“He’s hurt… Cough! Cough! He’s trying to escape! Don’t let him get away! Don’t attack without thinking, or you’ll give him a chance!”

The fighters from Mount Hua and Hae Yeon listened to Baek Cheon. They stopped being excited and moved closer around the Black Dragon King. They made sure he could not escape, just like Baek Cheon said.

“Haaah!” The Black Dragon King swung his weapon again, and a burst of black energy came out.

“Amitabha!” Hae Yeon used his strong power. It hit the black energy and pushed it away. The Black Dragon King had used all his strength for that attack, but it didn’t work.

Wham! The energy hit the ground and broke apart. The Black Dragon King’s eyes widened in surprise.

It wasn’t just because his attack was stopped. And it wasn’t because his energy was too weak.

It was because the people who stopped his attack were still calmly surrounding him, getting closer. He had tried to trick them by pretending to be angry, like he always did. But they didn’t believe it. They were acting like experienced hunters now.

“These…” The Black Dragon King bit his lip and shouted. “You people who call yourselves good and honorable! Aren’t you ashamed?”

He was trying to make them angry. It was a simple trick that they didn’t need to answer.

Jo Gul heard this and laughed softly. “Haha. Now that I think about it, this is funny.”

“Wh-What? You!” Jo Gul was smiling, but his eyes were serious. “Before, those words might have made me angry. But after what happened with the Surochae (river bandits), I learned it’s silly to get angry at words like that.”

Jo Gul spoke and looked at his friend without turning his head. “Right, brother?” Yoon Jong answered, “…I still get scared when I see a net. I haven’t gone near water since that day.”

Jo Gul laughed at Yoon Jong’s calm words. He was still smiling, but he kept watching the Black Dragon King closely.

It wasn’t just a joke. In the Jang Gang (a river battle), they learned that talking about being brave or scared on the battlefield is pointless. And it’s dangerous to think you are too strong.

Most importantly, they learned how scary it is to be surrounded. If they hadn’t gone through that, they wouldn’t have become so strong now. So… “Black Dragon King, we learned this trick from you.”

“…” “So give up. You can’t escape.” Jo Gul showed his teeth, looking angry and making fun of him. Yoon Jong watched the Black Dragon King calmly. Yoo Iseol looked at him like he was an animal she was hunting, without any feeling. Hae Yeon looked worried.

And then, Baek Cheon stood up and walked closer. His face showed he was determined. The Black Dragon King, Jeok Sekwang, looked at all of them. His face slowly changed.

Even Lee Song-baek and Jin Geum-ryong were trying hard to stand up and join the fight. The angry look on Jeok Sekwang’s face slowly changed to something else.

He started to feel it without thinking. Even if his many followers were here, even if the Surochae (river bandit group) soldiers were still strong enough to kill everyone here easily, they couldn’t save him.

The weak people around him couldn’t help him now. The question he had in his mind became louder. ‘Why…? Why haven’t they come! Why!’

They should have been here already. The leaders of the Surochae group from Jang Gang, with their soldiers. Not these weak fighters, but the important leaders of the Surochae.

But why hadn’t they even appeared? Hadn’t they heard he was attacked?

“Ugh…” The hand holding his weapon (guandao) shook a little. He was breathing fast and unevenly. His whole body hurt terribly. The worst wound was from the pale man’s sword in his stomach.

His energy was leaking out, like water from a broken jar. The sword must have hurt his ‘dantian’ (energy center) when it went through his stomach.

Could he get away? From here? The Black Dragon King held his weapon tightly. He tried to look strong and brave, but his eyes shook a little.

Then, Yoon Jong took a step closer, making the Black Dragon King feel trapped. The Black Dragon King almost stepped back without thinking, but he bit his lip hard.

“My trick…” Suddenly, his eyes became very angry. “Do you even know my trick, you weak fools!”

Wham! The Black Dragon King ran straight at Baek Cheon. “I am the Black Dragon King! Even if I die, I will take someone with me! You Mount Hua fools!”

Baek Cheon didn’t have his sword, so he couldn’t fight his best. If the Black Dragon King wanted to attack someone, Baek Cheon was the easiest target.

But the others knew what the Black Dragon King would do. “That’s easy to see!” Jo Gul moved in front of Baek Cheon quickly, like he was ready. His sword shot out towards the Black Dragon King, fast and bright.

“Kraaah!” But the Black Dragon King saw the sword coming. He ran even faster, like a crazy bull, and didn’t stop. He crashed into Jo Gul, like he didn’t care if he died.

Jo Gul was surprised for a moment. ‘What?’ Thud! Jo Gul’s sword went into the Black Dragon King’s chest. Wham! At the same time, the Black Dragon King hit Jo Gul with the handle of his weapon (guandao). Jo Gul coughed blood and flew back because he didn’t expect that attack.

“Ugh!” The Black Dragon King coughed, breathing hard. A lot of blood came out, but he didn’t slow down. He looked at Baek Cheon with eyes that wanted to kill and attacked again.

“Stop!”

Yoo Iseol and Yoon Jong moved quickly, slashing at the Black Dragon King. Their swords cut deep, drawing two streams of dark red blood that sprayed into the air, smelling like iron and sweat. Bone was severed, and flesh was carved.

But the Black Dragon King didn’t stop.

“Sect Leader, watch out!”

Lee Song-baek and Jin Geum-ryong stepped in front of Baek Cheon and Namgung Dowi just as the Black Dragon King swung his glaive with all his might. The heavy blade whistled through the air with a sharp, dangerous sound.

Zzzzzing!

“Uwaaaah!”

Power grew in the Black Dragon King’s arm, making it look like it would explode. Then, all that power burst out from the end of his glaive.

Kawaaaah!

Lee Song-baek and Jin Geum-ryong stood firm, their feet planted like the roots of old trees. They gritted their teeth and swung their swords with all their strength at the rushing dark energy.

Kuuuung!

The Black Dragon King’s power was too strong to block with quickly gathered energy. Like leaves before a storm, Lee Song-baek and Jin Geum-ryong were helplessly pushed back.

“Aaaargh!”

Holding on as long as they could, the two men were swept away by the dark energy, like a string snapping.

Clang!

Baek Cheon and Namgung Dowi, along with the two men who had been thrown back, tumbled across the ground.

In the fight, the rope Baek Cheon used to tie Namgung Dowi to himself was cut. Namgung Dowi’s body, like a broken doll, tumbled across the ground, dust and dirt flying around him.

The Black Dragon King, now fighting with a wild and fierce energy, attacked like a man possessed.

“Die, raaaah!”

“Sect Leader!”

Desperate, Hye-yeon put all her strength into one strike.

Then, he saw it.

The Black Dragon King, Jeok Se-gwang, who had been attacking wildly, suddenly turned and stared at Hye-yeon’s power. But his eyes weren’t mad. They weren’t excited. They were icy and cold.

“I’ve been hit…!”

Kuuuuuung!

Before Hye-yeon could scream, the Black Dragon King spat blood and was thrown back by the force, flying over Baek Cheon and his group.

“Noooo!”

Yoon Jong screamed.

The Black Dragon King didn’t block. He didn’t even try to dodge.

He didn’t want to dodge.

Even with his body half-destroyed, the Black Dragon King was desperate to live.

Boom!

The Black Dragon King crashed to the ground and used his one good hand to push himself up.

Blood poured from his mouth, nose, and eyes, but he crawled forward.

‘I will survive!’

Even if he lost arms and legs, even if he lost his martial arts and became crippled, it didn’t matter. In this dangerous world, he had learned that those who live always get a chance.

The dead get nothing. No matter how great their death, no matter how great their glory.

Only the living can take chances.

‘Survive….’

His legs shook as he stood. His body, exhausted and badly hurt, used its last strength to stand up.

As he stood, he saw his men rushing toward him. They were coming! I can live! He could breathe again. The smell of life was there, not the smell of blood.

Now, he just had to run forward to live. He would take any sword in the back to survive.

“Ugh… Uaaaargh!”

The Black Dragon King was about to run when it happened.

Twitch!

His body shook as if hit by lightning, and then he froze.

“Uh….”

No one understood.

Even Baek Cheon and the Hwasan disciples couldn’t see it. They only saw the Black Dragon King’s back.

But the bandits saw it clearly.

The hope on the Black Dragon King’s face, the joy of living, disappeared. He looked confused, frustrated, and hopeless.

“You, you….”

The Black Dragon King stared at the ground.

No, he wasn’t seeing the ground or the bandits. He was seeing something else.

He knew it.

What was coming wasn’t life.

It was the death he was trying to avoid.

“Ugh…. Ugh….”

Now he understood why the leaders hadn’t come. Why he was in this situation.

He knew who was waiting for him.

But knowing didn’t change anything.

“Aaaaargh!”

The Black Dragon King spun around. His eyes darted around and landed on those on the ground.

Wham!

He kicked off the ground. The only way to live was right there.

“Come, come…!”

He reached out with his one hand, even dropping his glaive. He reached for Baek Cheon, who was lying half-conscious, for his neck. Everything depended on it.

“Come here! Come here!”

He had thrown away his authority and his pride. He was just a sad man wanting to live. That was why he looked so desperate and so real.

“Aaaaargh!”

Screaming, the Black Dragon King threw himself forward.

His hand reached Baek Cheon’s neck.

‘I’ve got it….’

Plop!

A loud sound echoed in his head.

“……”

His hand stopped, an inch from Baek Cheon’s neck.

The Black Dragon King stared at Baek Cheon, at his own hand, at the air.

Or maybe he wasn’t seeing anything.

His eyes lowered. He saw a cold sword with a drop of blood on it.

He knew that sword.

Drip.

The blood ran down the blade and onto the hand holding the sword, turning it red.

The Black Dragon King looked at the face of the person holding the sword. He saw the cold look on that beaten face.

“You….”

The face twisted.

The Black Dragon King knew it was a smile.

“I said… I would kill you… with my own hand.”

The lips moved, showing teeth stained with blood.

It was a cold, but bright smile.

“Namgung….”

“The blood debt… has been paid. Jeok… Se-gwang….”

The Black Dragon King looked up at the blue sky.

He could never escape, even if he ruled the Jang Gang.

“Damn….”

The Black Dragon King fell like a rotten tree.

“…it.”

Thud!

A small last word from the giant who once ruled the world.