Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1661

Chapter Title: Fire on Wudang Mountain

“Sect Leader, look!” Elder Jian shouted, his voice shaking.

Heo San-ja, the leader of the Wudang Sect, followed the elder’s pointing finger. From the Wudang Palace, a strong building like a fort high on Celestial Pillar Peak, he looked down. Celestial Pillar Peak was the highest point of Wudang Mountain, the sacred home of their peaceful sect, famous across the land for its martial arts. Usually, the view from here was calming – pale yellow cliffs, deep green pine trees covering the slopes, and white mist dancing around the peaks.

But today, something was terribly wrong. Heo San-ja’s face went white as bone. “Wh-what is that…?” he stammered. His hand, hidden inside his long robe, trembled.

Into the familiar green and white scene, a shocking red color was spreading. Underneath the green pine trees that blanketed Wudang Mountain, a red glow flickered and grew, a color they had never seen there before. From that red area, thick black smoke began to rise, swirling like dark storm clouds gathering on the horizon.

Heo San-ja felt like he was in a nightmare. Wudang Mountain, always green and peaceful, was being stained red, as if blood was soaking into clean white cloth. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Fire…,” he whispered.

The blood drained from the faces of the elders who stood beside him. They had never imagined, never dared to think, that anyone would set fire to Wudang Mountain.

“What is happening? The ambush? What do we do about the ambush now?” one of the elders asked, his voice filled with panic.

“Are you serious? Ambush? What good is an ambush now!” another elder exclaimed. “Even the smallest blades of grass, and certainly all the trees, will burn. Where on a blackened, bare mountain would we hide to ambush anyone! We have to get out of here, now!”

“But if we do that…!” a third elder began, but trailed off, unable to voice the full extent of their fears.

Everyone knew what was left unsaid. If the pine forest that had protected Wudang, the dense woodland that had concealed the deep valleys and natural caves, were to disappear, this place would become just an ordinary mountain, losing its special forests and hiding places.

And to those who had mastered martial arts, the slopes of such a commonplace mountain would be no different from flat ground.

Even the elders could not hide their dismay.

“Sect Leader! Say something! What are we to do! We have to stop it! What can we do?”

“But how can we?” another elder asked, his voice laced with despair.

“We must do something! Carry water! Dig trenches to stop the fire from spreading! Anything…!”

Desperate cries came from all directions, but Heo San-ja’s eyes remained fixed on the growing flames. They were drawing closer, like a demon’s red tongue, wanting to destroy Wudang.

After staring blankly for a long while, Heo San-ja opened his mouth with a groan. “How… How can it be so fast…?”

“Sect Leader?”

“How…,” Heo San-ja repeated, his lips trembling.

He had not anticipated a fire attack, but in truth, it wasn’t such an unexpected tactic.

Although a war between martial artists could not be compared to an ordinary war, it was still a war, after all. Fire attacks were a strategy that could be used at any time during a war, were they not?

Nevertheless, the reason Heo San-ja was so dismayed now was that the speed and scope of the fire’s spread far exceeded his understanding.

He had only just realized it was a fire attack, yet it seemed as though the whole world was already being consumed by flames.

A mountain, by its very nature, stretched from a single small point at its peak to hundreds of miles, did it not? Yet flames were rising along the entire boundary of Wudang, connected to that land, without leaving a single spot untouched.

It was as if a giant rope of fire, thick and burning, was wrapping itself tightly around the base of Wudang Mountain.

Just how long and wide an area was that fire burning as it approached this place? It was a sight he could not bring himself to believe, even as he watched with his own eyes.

“How…,” he repeated, his heart clenching involuntarily, as if that crimson fire was tightening its grip on Wudang.

“Set it ablaze, you damn bastards! Don’t wait for the fire to spread, just burn it all down!” a man shouted, wielding a massive greatsword in one hand.

Those holding flaming torches scurried here and there, frantically shoving the burning clubs into the dry trees that had not yet caught fire.

“Pour oil! Gather dry leaves and small sticks to help the fire start, and if there’s nothing else to burn, tear up your clothes! Set everything on fire!”

Whoosh! At that moment, a dry wind blowing through the mountain caused the flames to surge. The unbearable heat washed over those running forward, and they all instinctively recoiled in horror.

The man with the greatsword, seizing the opportunity, grabbed one of them by the scruff of the neck with a brutal grip. “What are you doing? Why are you retreating! Can’t you see there are still places ahead that haven’t caught fire yet?” he roared.

“I-I can see them! B-but the flames are too strong because of the wind…,” the man stammered, fear evident in his voice.

“The flames are what? Are you afraid of getting burned? Huh?” the leader sneered.

Crack! In that instant, the greatsword stabbed into his back.

“H-Hik!” the man gasped.

“Choose. Which is better, to die by fire, or to have a hole blown through your back?” the leader asked menacingly. “Why? Should I choose for you instead?”

At those words, everyone was filled with terror and rushed forward. The scorching heat made it hard to breathe, and the raging flames seemed ready to devour them, but it was not as frightening as the gleaming blade behind them.

The man with the greatsword roared again, even louder. “Anyone who retreats dies by my sword! Set fire quickly! Until everything you see is burned, leave nothing untouched! Hurry!”

The vast and long mountain range extending from Wudang Mountain experienced the same horror in every part of it.

“Aaaargh! Fire! Fire…!”

Some of those who stepped forward to set fires, whether out of courage, bravado, or fear, were unable to avoid the raging flames and were engulfed in them.

A gruesome sight unfolded as people were burned alive, but no one moved to help. They knew all too well that they could be caught in the flames as well.

Trees that had not yet fully dried were engulfed in the fierce flames, emitting bitter smoke. The surroundings were so hazy that it was hard to see. Smoke that felt like it would suffocate you, and flames that radiated heat that would melt your flesh.

In that scene that resembled a transplanted hell, the most horrifying thing of all was the madness of humans trying to burn their enemies alive.

“More! Set more fires! More! Burn all those Taoist bastards to death!”

Despair approached moment by moment.

The way the fire was spreading was bizarre. It wasn’t rushing in like a tidal wave, nor was it pouring down like a landslide.

In places where they thought the flames had not yet reached, red spots suddenly bloomed, and then crimson flames fiercely devoured the surroundings, merging with other flames.

“S-Senior Brother! Behind us! Fire from behind…!”

“What? Behind?” Jinwi’s eyes widened in horror.

Until a moment ago, the fire had been approaching them from far in front. And its claws had certainly not reached their feet.

But how on earth had the fire started rising behind them? Surely the fire had not spread this far.

“What do we do? Do we retreat?” one of his companions asked, his voice trembling.

“A-ambush…,” Jinwi stammered, unsure of what to do.

“Senior Brother! We’ll all die if we stay here like this! We have to retreat!”

Jinmun’s urging turned Jinwi’s face pale. He could not understand the situation that was unfolding before him.

He did not know that those who died in the forest fire were not simply swallowed up while staring blankly at the approaching flames.

Before they knew it, flames flickered behind them, and as they ran, flames that should not have been there rose up in front of them. As they panicked and moved around confused and scared, they were soon surrounded by flames rising from all directions.

But how could they know such a thing, even if they had lived in the mountains their whole lives?

No, rather, they did not know because they had lived in the mountains their whole lives. A mountain that had been ravaged by fire could no longer be inhabited by people. In other words, those who had lived rooted in one mountain for their entire lives had never experienced such a devastating forest fire.

“Senior Brother!”

“Get out of here! For now… for now, we retreat and then! Then we receive new orders!” Jinwi shouted.

Jinwi had no choice but to do so.

They had ambushed this place to fight the enemies targeting Wudang. But what was threatening them now were not the bandits of the Four Evil Alliance.

They had trained with swords and pursued the Tao their whole lives, but precisely because of that, they had no way of knowing how to fight fire.

So, Jinwi’s decision was by no means a bad one.

But the most unfortunate fact was that the enemies they were supposed to be facing were still targeting them.

“Let’s go! We have to get out of here…,” Jinwi yelled.

The moment Jinwi rose from the bushes where he had been hiding, dozens of bandits burst through the flames raging right in front of him. A terrible cry erupted, drowning out the sound of the forest crackling and burning.

Those who had burst out of the flames spotted Jinwi’s group rising and immediately attacked.

“Fight back!” Jinwi gritted his teeth as he drew his Pine Crane Ancient Sword. No sooner had he pointed his sword than Jinmun cried out urgently.

“Senior Brother! But the flames are getting closer…!”

“Retreating will only lead to death! Fight! We have to fight now!”

“The flames are closing in! Damn it! We’ll all burn to death if we waste time here!”

The ambush squad here consisted of only three people. But even so, they were all swordsmen of Wudang. They were not people who would be defeated by a group of about twenty villains.

However, the flames that were gradually consuming the surroundings and the bitter smoke that scratched at their throats began to cloud their judgment and paralyze their reason.

“R-run away! Now!”

“I said fight! Don’t turn your back! It’s dangerous…!”

“Haaaargh!”

As they moved around confused and scared, a villain’s blade rushed towards the back of a junior brother. Jinwi reflexively extended his sword to block the blade.

At that moment, several other blades rained down, piercing Jinwi’s stomach.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Jinwi slowly turned his gaze to those who had pierced his stomach. The villains, emitting white smoke from their entire bodies as they emerged from the flames, were looking at him with triumphant faces.

“Ugh, Aargh!”

Jinwi swung his sword in one motion, slicing off the heads of the three villains who had stabbed him in the stomach. Jinmun cried out urgently.

“Senior Brother!”

“Cough!”

As the blades were pulled out, a dry cough erupted from Jinwi’s mouth. Judging by the fact that no blood was mixed in, it seemed that his internal organs had fortunately not been damaged. The strength he quickly gathered had managed to push the blades away.

But that was all. The fact that he had been wounded remained unchanged.

‘Get out of here… I have to get out of here…,’ Jinwi thought.

It was then that Jinwi was about to steady his staggering body.

“Haaaargh!”

“Kill!”

The pine trees engulfed in red flames swayed violently all at once, and then dozens more villains poured out with fierce shouts. Without regard for front, back, or sides, they came from literally everywhere.

Jinwi’s eyes momentarily lost their focus and trembled.

“Senior Brother!”

“Fight! We have to fight our way out!”

“There are too many enemies! We must retreat first!”

“Don’t whine, pick up your sword! If we can’t break through, we’ll die! We have to fight our way out!”

Jinwi’s eyes were red and filled with anger and a desire to kill.

This was not the Yangtze River. This was Wudang Mountain.

The word despair did not suit them here. It must not.

“Fight!” Jinwi let out a scream filled with desperation.

But the sound of his brave shout was lost in the roar of the fire, burning away without a trace.