Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1576

A chilling silence fell.

Yoon Jong stared blankly at the fallen Black Dragon King.

The bright blue sky was reflected in the Black Dragon King’s wide, unseeing eyes, even in death.

Death, the end no one can escape.

That end, which always seems too soon, had finally found the Black Dragon King.

Yoon Jong felt something strange and out of place in his heart.

Some people respected the Black Dragon King, Jeok Sekwang. Others hated and cursed him. But everyone agreed on one thing: he was a powerful leader who once ruled the Jianghu.

And now, he had breathed his last right here.

“Uh…,”

Plop!

Yoon Jong, momentarily at a loss, heard someone slump to the ground.

Turning, he saw Jo Gul sitting there, strengthless.

“Get up!”

Baek Cheon, who had been lying down, hurriedly rose and grabbed Jo Gul’s shoulder, hauling him up with a rough hand.

“It’s not over yet!”

He growled, casting a sharp gaze around.

The Jianghu Water Bandits of the Eighteen Strongholds, led by the Black Dragon King, were staring blankly at the scene.

Individually, none were particularly threatening, but Yoon Jong had experienced firsthand the power they wielded when united.

There was no telling how those blokes would react in this situation.

So, they had to maintain a strong front, no matter what. Even if it was a bluff, it was better than showing their backs to a pack of enraged beasts.

“Draw your swords!”

Baek Cheon’s loud voice made the tension tight again.

The injured swordsmen and Hae Yeon stood back-to-back, their eyes burning with determination as they watched around them. They would protect each other, no matter what happened.

However, the bandits’ gazes weren’t directed at them.

“H-he Black Dragon King…,”

“…This can’t be.”

The faces of the bandits grew paler as they looked at the Black Dragon King’s cooling corpse.

The Black Dragon King. He was truly a tyrannical ruler.

At least to the Jianghu Water Bandits of the Eighteen Strongholds, he was literally their king and emperor.

One couldn’t say that the Black Dragon King’s reign was a golden age. But not a single one of them would have thought he would go so easily.

It was a death too unbelievable to accept, even with his corpse lying before their eyes.

“…What do we do?”

“Why are you asking me…? What…?”

“I-is he really dead?”

“Revenge…,”

The murmuring spread like ripples on a lake.

Bewilderment, rage, fear, and countless indescribable emotions.

With thousands gathered, the emotions flowing through the area branched out in many directions.

But this chaos wouldn’t last long. Soon, everyone’s emotions would converge into one, becoming a massive torrent that no human power could stop.

Baek Cheon was the one who made things explode.

Wham!

Baek Cheon kicked the fallen Black Dragon King’s corpse.

“Sasuk!”

“W-what are you doing!”

Hurting a dead body was the worst thing you could do. It was forbidden.

Thud!

But Baek Cheon wasn’t trying to hurt the Black Dragon King.

His true intention was revealed when the Black Dragon King’s kicked corpse was laid bare.

“Ugh…,”

“Eek…!”

The gruesome sight of the corpse was blatantly revealed to all.

No one who saw that spectacle could deny the Black Dragon King’s death. The bandits’ eyes began to tremble.

Baek Cheon lightly picked up the glaive that had fallen to the ground and aimed it at the bandits.

His eyes were endlessly cold. Just looking at them sent shivers down one’s spine.

The Five Swords, belatedly realizing Baek Cheon’s intention, quickly raised their energy and lent him their strength.

“Ugh… Ugh!”

“R-run away!”

“The Black Dragon King is dead! The Black Dragon King is dead!”

“W-we’re all going to die too! We have to go back to the Jianghu, quickly!”

Everything changed in a moment.

Like a broken dam, the chaos could not be stopped. But they could try to change where it went.

The chaos of the bandits was like a flood. Luckily, it flowed away from Baek Cheon and his friends. This was because Baek Cheon had made them even more afraid.

“Aaaaargh!”

They ran like a herd of sheep suddenly seeing a tiger. They tripped over each other, pushing and shoving, desperate to escape. Their fear was a living thing, pushing them forward.

Baek Cheon, who had been watching the situation without letting his guard down, finally let out a soft sigh and slowly lowered the glaive he was holding.

Plop!

As if that was the signal, Jo Gul slumped back down. This time, it wasn’t just Jo Gul. The others who had been stubbornly holding on also collapsed to the ground as if they were breaking down. Like a tightly drawn string snapping at once, the tension that had been maintained to the limit was released.

“…We lived.”

“I really… I really thought I was going to die.”

“I was scared.”

“You bastards. Don’t relax yet…,”

Baek Cheon started to say, but his voice was weaker than he wanted it to be. He felt like he would fall over any second, but he had to keep them together. He had to be strong for them, even if he was breaking inside.

“Ugh…,”

Baek Cheon, groaning, shook his head as he watched the bandits scatter.

“I don’t know anymore, me neither.”

He was so weak he couldn’t even lift a finger. Everyone was hurt and tired. It was hard to say who was in the worst shape.

“Namgoong, are you alright?”

“…Do I look alright?”

“You can still joke? Guess you’re not dying then.”

“I… I might be able to… break that… prejudice…,”

Hae Yeon, who was in the best condition, stepped forward to take care of Namgoong Dowi. Her voice was calm and composed, but her hands were swift and precise as she bandaged Namgoong Dowi’s wounds and infused him with internal energy.

Yoon Jong, who had been silently watching the scene, glanced at Jo Gul.

“Are you alright, Geol?”

“Yes, Sahyung.”

Jo Gul nodded slowly, but his eyes stayed glued to the Black Dragon King’s body. Even though he knew it was dead, a part of him still expected it to jump up, roaring and angry. He couldn’t shake off the fear.

“He’s dead, right?”

“Probably.”

“That damned bastard…,”

Well, no matter how tenacious his life was, he couldn’t survive with a hole through his heart. Of course, Yoon Jong also felt like the Black Dragon King would get up and run wild again at any moment.

“To think he’d give us this much trouble…,”

It wasn’t something one should say after defeating the Black Dragon King. Even if someone pointed fingers and cursed him for saying that, it would be considered a fair reaction.

But the Five Swords’ position was different.

If it was the Black Dragon King with all his power, it would be understandable, but the current Black Dragon King had lost an arm and couldn’t fully display his skills.

They never imagined that it would take this much effort to cut down such a person.

“The battlefield is like that.”

Yoon Jong thought, looking at his friends. It wasn’t just about strength. It was about everything – luck, cunning, and never giving up. They had won, but it had been so close. Too close.

But Jo Gul, who was shaking his head as if he was exhausted, and Yoon Jong, who was trying to maintain a calm demeanor, now knew that the outcome of a battle wasn’t always determined by the power one possessed.

‘We could have missed him if we weren’t careful.’

They had faced even stronger opponents.

The Black Dragon King was certainly formidable, but even if he was in perfect condition, he wouldn’t be comparable to the Bishop of Hangzhou.

But he had a strength that was different from the strong opponents the Five Swords had faced so far.

A cunningness that didn’t care about face, a shamelessness that wasn’t ashamed to run away, and a headstrong attitude that would carry out his intentions even if it meant paying a great price.

‘In the Jianghu, they call that experience.’

In that sense, the Black Dragon King’s actions might befit the image of an ‘experienced’ Jianghu person that the Jianghu talked about.

What was frightening wasn’t his martial prowess, but the person he was.

Then, Jo Gul opened his mouth.

“But…,”

“Hmm?”

He was staring intently at the fallen Black Dragon King’s corpse with a puzzled expression.

“But… why? Why did he come back? It doesn’t make sense.”

Yoon Jong couldn’t answer.

He had seen it too. The Black Dragon King had eventually broken through the encirclement. If he had continued to run, the Black Dragon King could have plunged into the sea of bandits and eventually escaped.

It would have been difficult for their injured and exhausted group to catch the Black Dragon King again.

Of course, the Black Dragon King’s injuries were terrible, but if he had just run away, wouldn’t he have been able to survive?

“But why…,”

What was the reason for coming back? Jo Gul looked at Yoon Jong as if seeking an answer, but Yoon Jong didn’t have an answer to give.

“I don’t know either… Maybe he lost his mind from losing too much blood.”

“…Do you think so?”

“Yeah. And…,”

Yoon Jong said calmly, looking at the fallen Black Dragon King.

“Even if he had run away, he would have eventually died here. We would have followed him a hundred, a thousand times and cut off his breath.”

“Sahyung?”

“Huh? I don’t know…,”

Yoon Jong’s gaze turned elsewhere. At the end of it stood a man who had seized the Black Dragon King’s glaive like a trophy and was leaning his exhausted body against it.

Yoon Jong’s eyes were filled with a mix of emotions – relief, exhaustion, and a deep respect for Baek Cheon. He felt proud of his friend, and grateful to be alive.

“…That bloke would have done it.”

“…Definitely.”

Jo Gul, who had looked at Baek Cheon at Yoon Jong’s words, nodded as if that was indeed the case.

“He would have.”

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

❀ ❀ ❀

Scritch!

“Krr…,”

A bandit with a gaping hole in his chest coughed, and dark red blood gushed out, staining his clothes and the ground. His eyes were losing their light, becoming empty and distant.

“Why… Why…,”

The head of the Red Dragon Stronghold, one of the eighteen strongholds that made up the Jianghu Water Bandits, Tak Tap Hyeolbu, Pan Wi Gong, slowly lowered his head.

The sword, fully bearing that weight, bent slightly. Soon, the body, having lost its strength and drooping, slid down the sword and collapsed with a plop.

“Krr…,”

What was reflected in his eyes, which had not yet completely lost their light, were countless corpses. Corpses and blood that would be enough to dye this forest entirely red.

All of them were bandits from the Red Dragon Stronghold who had rushed to save the Black Dragon King.

All of them had to give up their lives to the sword of a man who had suddenly appeared.

“Why… Why are you… here…,”

Thwack!

A merciless sword pierced his muttering neck.

Pan Wi Gong’s breath was cut off as his body trembled like a seizure.

“A demonic bastard blathering on.”

Cheong Myeong glanced at the scene without any emotion and turned his gaze away.

A dense forest, with a glimpse of a wide field in between. Cheong Myeong muttered, looking towards that distant place.

“A fox…,”

Swish!

As the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword was swung through the air, the blood droplets that had been clinging to it scattered.

Cheong Myeong lightly slid the sword into its sheath with a smooth motion, briefly surveyed his surroundings, and then headed towards the field.

But he couldn’t go far before his steps stopped.

Cheong Myeong, standing there blankly as if contemplating something, muttered again after some time had passed.

“…Just.”

His voice was mixed with strange emotions.

Cheong Myeong smiled, a real smile this time, not his usual teasing grin. “…Just a fox?” he murmured to himself, then looked up, his smile widening. “No. Not anymore.”

His steps, now lighter, were taken without hesitation.