Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1662

Wudang. A sacred Taoist site known as Mount Xuan.

The holy mountain was engulfed in flames. But the true horror was not the burning mountain, but what was happening to those standing on it.

“Kraaah!”

The Songmun Ancient Sword, engraved with the pine tree that symbolized Wudang, pierced through the Sapa man’s neck in one swift motion. It was a rapid sword strike without any mercy. However, the tip of the sword trembled, which was strange for such a fast strike.

The sword’s owner’s eyes reflected the same turmoil. Jin-rip (眞立), the second disciple of Wudang, was in unprecedented confusion.

Of course, the enemies currently rushing at him weren’t worthy of being called adversaries. As the second disciple of Wudang, the sword he had honed for decades through long seclusion had become even stronger. He was confident he could handle not just two or three, but even ten Sapa thugs.

So, the real problem wasn’t the people.

“Junior! The fire is coming!”

“I know, Senior!”

The problem was that even in the short time he was held back by such thugs, the fire was engulfing the entire mountain moment by moment.

No matter how skilled a master one was, surviving in a raging fire wouldn’t be easy.

He had to get out as quickly as possible before the fire spread further.

“Junior, we must retreat immediately!”

“I know!”

But easier said than done; the enemies wouldn’t let him go easily.

Clang!

Jin-rip, trying to pull his foot free, flinched and quickly raised his sword. A blade had suddenly flown in from somewhere, as if to split his head open.

“Eek!”

Jin-rip felt a burning anger, as dark as the smoke rising from Wudang Mountain.

Even as this was happening, the fire grew larger, and more Sapa thugs were rushing in.

‘These awful bastards…!’

It was horrifying to see the Sapa thugs. Flames licked at their clothes as they burst through the fire, screaming and charging at the Wudang swordsmen. They didn’t even try to roll on the ground to stop the flames. They just kept coming.

The smell of burning flesh and burning wood mixed together, almost numbing his nose.

His back became damp with sweat. The world laughed at the Sapa thugs, calling them a disorganized rabble. But could those who charged through such a fiercely burning fire with their bare bodies really be called merely a disorganized rabble?

“Junior! Junior!”

“I know, I know already…”

“Aaaargh!”

At that moment, Jin-rip’s gaze snapped towards the scream.

The sight of someone screaming with a sword stuck in their side seared into his eyes. A thunderous shout erupted from Jin-rip’s mouth.

“Senior!”

Come to think of it, everyone here was in the same situation as Jin-rip. His senior, preoccupied with Jin-rip’s refusal to retreat, had apparently failed to avoid the sword flying in from his blind spot.

“Get out of the way! Aargh!”

Jin-rip, having drawn up as much inner force as he could, swung his sword horizontally, splitting the person blocking his path in two and sending his body flying. He barely managed to knock away the blade flying towards his senior’s neck.

Clang!

Feeling the heavy force in his grip, Jin-rip instantly sensed that if he had been even a moment late, his senior’s head would have soared into the air.

He pushed the staggering senior aside as if colliding with him with his whole body, and the fallen Jin-rip rolled across the floor, wildly swinging his sword at the enemies.

He had lost his composure long ago. The stench of burning grew stronger, making it difficult to breathe, and the fear that his head might be severed at any moment washed over him. The pounding of his heart filled his ears.

He rolled to get up. Flames shot up three yards high. Smoke rose like a dark curtain, reaching for the sky.

And Jin-rip remembered.

‘Black Dragon Company….’

The despair of the cliff, so steep it seemed to reach the sky, and himself, utterly helpless before that cliff.

They overlapped. The hot fire and the cold Jang River of that time.

Things that could never be the same, yet to him now, they felt no different.

“Junior… Rip-ah.”

Then, he heard his senior’s voice. Jin-rip shouted in a rough voice.

“Senior! Get a grip! I’ll take you to a safe place right away!”

“I can… I can still fight…”

“Just stay still!”

Jin-rip snapped and gritted his teeth.

Perhaps it really wasn’t different from the past. The escape route was narrowing, and fighting the enemy was different from what he had thought. The enemies were forcing them into a fight they weren’t used to.

Yes. In fact, if you just looked at the situation, it wasn’t different.

But this time it had to be different. Because Jin-rip was different from the past.

‘I am not the me of the past.’

The Jin-rip who could only tremble in fear at the Jang River was not here. If he was still no different from the past, then what was that time of grinding his teeth in seclusion for?

“Don’t be ridiculous! You Sapa bastards!”

Jin-rip screamed and swung his sword.

At the same time, similar fierce battles were taking place one after another in various parts of Wudang. The fire hadn’t even reached the center of Wudang yet, but the war had already begun.

Crack!

Veins bulged on the back of Heo Gong’s hand, which was gripping his sword.

“You… despicable…”

He knew that it was meaningless to discuss cowardice in a fight to the death. Fire attack was by no means in that category.

Nevertheless, the reason Heo Gong ended up uttering these words was because this fire attack was so fatal to Wudang.

He gripped his sword as if he would break it at any moment. Even at this moment, the seniors were agitated and restless.

“A fire attack! How could we not have thought of this?”

“How could we have thought of it? There’s no way this could be possible in the first place! Don’t you know how vast Wudang is? Burning this entire mountain is absurd!”

“But isn’t it happening?”

“Because it’s the Sapa Alliance… it’s possible because it’s the Sapa Alliance. Who else but them could…”

That wasn’t wrong. It was certainly something that no one but the Sapa Alliance would dare to do.

Because in order to set fire to this vast mountain, a large number of people were needed, and they even had to have mobility. Furthermore, they had to have the ability to command them as if they were one body.

And above all….

“We’re not the only ones on Wudang! Even if there are no villages, how many people live in huts on Wudang Mountain? You can’t do this without the beastly determination to burn them all to death!”

“……”

“The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning… The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning! This is not something a human can do. A human can’t do this…”

“What’s the point of saying such useless things now? This isn’t the time to denounce their wrongdoings, but to come up with a plan!”

Heo Dam said as if shouting.

But even Heo Dam couldn’t continue speaking.

To be honest, how could he quickly come up with a plan in the face of the sea of fire that was devouring everything in front of him and the huge wall of smoke rising above it?

This disaster, which was only getting bigger, was something that a mere human could not do anything about.

“We have to get out of here!” Heo Pyeong blurted out, his voice tight with panic. “Retreat!”

Heo Dam snapped, his eyes widening. “What are you talking about?”

“The fire… it hasn’t reached the back of the mountain yet,” Heo Pyeong rushed on, ignoring Heo Dam’s anger. “We need to lead everyone out, now! Or we’re all going to die in this fire!”

“What nonsense are you talking about! Didn’t we decide to fight them here?”

“This is a different situation! We said we’d fight the enemy, not burn to death in a forest fire!”

“It’s just a fire! We can’t stop the mountain from burning, but are we really going to burn to death?”

“What kind of naive talk is that? Are you saying we should just watch those guys? The problem isn’t the fire, it’s that those guys are targeting us with the fire!”

Heo Pyeong also shouted without backing down.

“Once all the forests covering the mountain have burned down, there will be nowhere to escape! How are we supposed to fight those ant-like guys in that situation? This is a dog’s death!”

“So? You’re saying we should run away?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Right now, we should get out of here and…”

“Like at the Jang River?”

Heo Pyeong flinched.

“That’s…”

“So, you’re saying the same thing you said at the Jang River and telling us to run away? You’re saying we couldn’t have helped it then because we didn’t foresee the falling rocks and oil, and we can’t help it this time because we didn’t know those guys would set a fire?”

Flames sparked in Heo Dam’s eyes.

“And then you want the people of the Jianghu to understand that? And then you want Wudang to say that they don’t run away in the face of the enemy?”

Heo Pyeong couldn’t say anything and closed his mouth.

He might be able to say that. In fact, it wasn’t a wrong argument. But I can say with certainty that no one in the world would try to understand Wudang’s position.

No, they would rather laugh and despise them, saying that the Wudang guys are people who will do anything to survive, cowardly bastards who are quick to run away when they see the enemy.

It was a humiliating seclusion. But if that happened, even the time they had spent suppressing their anger and sorrow and sharpening their swords would become meaningless.

No, they would rather think that it would have been better not to have secluded themselves. Because they would hear that nothing had changed even after secluding themselves.

“But…”

Heo Pyeong’s shoulders began to tremble.

“But we can’t just die like this, can we?”

“……”

“We can’t just accept an obvious outcome with our eyes closed, can we? Huh? Senior!”

Heo Dam couldn’t answer this with confidence either.

To die and protect one’s honor, or to live and take on disgrace.

Choosing one of these two might not be that difficult, because they were disciples of Wudang.

But this wasn’t that kind of choice.

To die a dog’s death and be forgotten, or to throw honor into the trash can in order to die a little later.

No matter how firm their resolve was, it couldn’t have been easy to choose between these two.

Naturally, everyone’s eyes turned to one place.

Because Heo San-ja, who had to make the decision, wasn’t here now. No, perhaps even if Heo San-ja, who was temporarily in charge of the sect, had been here, the place where their eyes turned wouldn’t have changed.

In everyone’s gaze, Heo Gong bit his lip tightly.

“Even if it’s a dog’s death, it’s the same.”

“Junior……”

Heo Gong, the youngest of the Heo generation, therefore, the one who would have to be the center of Wudang for decades to come.

He let go of his lip and said firmly.

“We are standing here to avoid repeating the same mistakes, not to die honorably, but to not suffer disgrace even if it’s a dog’s death. Isn’t that right?”

Heo Gong glared at the elders.

Some faces showed disappointment, and some faces showed resolve.

“But at this rate…”

“Move the defense line back. Now that it’s come to this, ambushes are meaningless.”

“Back? Back to where?”

Heo Gong’s gaze turned to one side, to the most rugged place among Wudang’s undulating mountain ranges.

“Set up camp at Baegan Rock (白顏巖).”

“Ah……”

Baegan Rock was a name given by the disciples of Wudang because the high and long cliff looked like a white face.

“Junior, does that mean?”

“Yes.”

Heo Gong nodded.

“Now that it’s come to this, it would be good to have a change of scenery.”

Completely opposite to the past at the Jang River, this time, it was their turn to climb the cliff, the cliff called Wudang.

“Let’s go, Seniors!”

“Alright!”

Heo Gong immediately kicked off the ground. Some of the elders also hardened their resolve and flew into the air. But….

“Baegan Rock, huh.”

“Let’s go, Senior.”

In the eyes of some who followed him, there was clearly a fear that should not have been there.

‘Isn’t it just… just a dog’s death?’

One person, still hesitant and unable to move, turned his gaze to the left. He saw a large rock, along with the long crack that cut through the center like a sword mark.