Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1698

“Delusion?” Jang Il-so’s voice was smooth, like silk, but with a sharp edge.

Clink. The small wine cup landed on the wooden table, the sound sharp in the quiet night. Chung Myung placed it down, his movements careful.

How many cups had they drunk already? Empty wine bottles stood like dark soldiers on the table, their glass reflecting the faint light from the nearby lanterns. Neither man’s face showed anything, their eyes locked on each other, cool and steady.

The air between them was calm, but thick with tension. You couldn’t ignore the danger that hung in the air, like a drawn sword ready to fall.

It wasn’t a life-or-death battle with swords clashing, but the atmosphere between the two men sitting across from each other was sharper than any blade.

“Did you say delusion?”

“Yes.”

Jang Il-so’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

“Hmph, I wonder. What’s the delusion? Doesn’t seem like anything is really wrong, does it?”

“That’s why you can’t understand me.”

Chung Myung spoke with an emotionless face.

“Knowing *about* someone is not the same as *understanding* them. You might know facts about me, but you don’t understand *why* I do things. Probably never will.”

Jang Il-so curled up the corner of his lips as if amused.

“Hmph. That’s a rather sad thing to say. But… I don’t think we were talking about that, were we? What did you say I was deluded about?”

“That they think like me, and that what I intend to do is being achieved through them.”

Chung Myung chuckled as if even he found it ridiculous.

“It’s a laughable thing to say.”

“……You’re saying that’s not true?”

“You can’t help but think that way. That’s just who you are.”

Jang Il-so narrowed his eyes. An unpleasant air hung about him. But Chung Myung continued without paying it any mind.

“For you, the world is probably an incomplete something made only of imperfect things.”

Chung Myung’s gaze was fixed on the sky, not on Jang Il-so. He stared at the stars that still hadn’t lost their light even through the hazy smoke.

“So you can’t believe it. Those humans who are lacking and pathetic compared to you, not even a single one.”

Jang Il-so’s bright red lips slightly parted. Soon, he revealed his pearly white teeth and smiled brightly.

“Oh, my. You say you can’t understand, but you understand quite well, don’t you?”

Jang Il-so slowly stood up, his tall frame casting a shadow over Chung Myung. He moved like a snake, graceful but also a little scary. Then, he looked down at Chung Myung, who was sitting in front of him. At the same time, he grabbed the bottle of liquor placed on the tea table.

“Let me ask you the opposite. Do these people look so trustworthy in your eyes?”

He turned his body and slowly began to walk. It was in the direction where Heo Do-jin was collapsed.

“Look.”

Jang Il-so, standing right in front of Heo Do-jin, who was struggling to breathe, looked at Heo Do with eyes mixed with contempt and mockery. No, he was looking at Chung Myung.

“This is reality.”

“……”

“This one probably believed it himself too. That he had gotten better, that he was different from the past, that he could do anything with his current self.”

Chung Myung’s face turned cold.

“Whether it’s a sense of duty or cooperation… whatever the basis may be. But….”

Jang Il-so slowly tilted the bottle.

Glug, glug, glug.

The flowing liquor poured onto Heo Do-jin’s head. His head, smeared with blood, was soaked in the clear liquor.

Chung Myung’s eyes, glaring at Jang Il-so, became even colder. Jang Il-so laughed as if to show off.

“Isn’t this the result? Sad and pitiful, but this is reality. This is the result of that great belief.”

Glug, glug, glug.

“He is like a ghost, walking but not really alive….”

Clang!

At that moment, the bottle Jang Il-so was holding shattered into pieces. The liquor that hadn’t been completely poured out soaked Jang Il-so’s sleeves and pants.

The Hong Gyeon, who had been silently guarding his side, flared up.

“How dare you…!”

“Tsk.”

But with just a click of his tongue, Jang Il-so silenced them. He quietly looked at his wet clothes, then lifted the liquor bottle, which only had its mouth left. Then, he even shook it like a child’s toy.

“Oh, dear, will this be enough? The thing you really want to cut is my neck, isn’t it?”

A ghastly aura began to settle on his painted face.

“Instead of spouting nonsense about believing in those guys and beating around the bush….”

Jang Il-so’s long fingernails slowly drew across his neck horizontally.

“Why don’t you try it yourself?”

Chung Myung’s eyes sank coldly.

“You also think that’s a more certain method, don’t you? Isn’t that right?”

He was staring intently at Jang Il-so’s pure white neck. He could cut it. Just like Jang Il-so said.

Even if there were countless enemies here, it was possible.

If he braved all the dangers, if he was prepared to sacrifice his life, perhaps he could create a fleeting moment where his sword could touch Jang Il-so’s neck.

But instead of grabbing his sword, Chung Myung grabbed his cup.

“The liquor is empty.”

Jang Il-so, who had been silent as if momentarily speechless, let out a deep sigh as if he had never exuded a ghastly aura.

“It doesn’t work.”

Then, he trudged back and sat across from Chung Myung again. He propped up his chin and stared at Chung Myung, asking.

“Then what about it?”

“What?”

“Is the world you see different from the world I see? Is the world you see so beautiful and perfect?”

Even as he asked the question, his mockery only deepened. As if he was ready to ridicule whatever answer came out.

But Chung Myung didn’t even bat an eye, let alone change his expression.

“Of course not.”

“……Hmm?”

“It’s the same for me. The world is still absurd, those who fill that absurd world are unreliable, and even pathetic.”

Jang Il-so frowned as if he hadn’t expected this. Chung Myung continued.

“But I’ve only just realized it.”

“What?”

“That I, who believed I was more complete, have utterly failed.”

“…….”

“I couldn’t protect what I wanted to protect, and I couldn’t defeat what I wanted to defeat. The goal I tried to achieve by betting everything on the last one collapsed, leaving only scars.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about at all.”

Displeasure began to settle in Jang Il-so’s eyes.

A deep displeasure that welled up from within, different from the bewilderment he felt because he couldn’t understand.

“So, isn’t that why you’re trying to achieve it through them?”

“You’re wrong, you idiot.”

Chung Myung gritted his teeth. Anger and hostility flashed in his eyes as he looked at Jang Il-so.

“They are not my tools. Nor are they something that will fulfill my dreams. They are, simply, just themselves.”

“…….”

“All I know is that they can achieve the goal that I, who thought I was better, couldn’t achieve.”

Jang Il-so tried to say something, but Chung Myung cut him off sharply and shouted.

“Not knowing that is your limit. A guy like you can’t do anything the moment you hit a wall you can’t overcome, and in the end, you even throw yourself away. You can’t even dare to challenge something you can’t get through effort and struggle.”

Jang Il-so’s face momentarily hardened.

“But I’m not like that. Even if I encounter something I can’t overcome, I don’t despair. Sometimes I’ll be frustrated, and it will be painful, but in one corner of my heart, I believe it. That even something I can’t overcome with my own strength will eventually have a way to overcome it.”

The expression on Jang Il-so’s face disappeared as if scattered. There was silence for a while.

But soon, his eyes curved softly again.

“That’s them….”

He sighed deeply and shook his head.

“If a joke is that bad, it’s hard to even laugh out of courtesy. Huh?”

Chung Myung closed his eyes.

The words he was about to say were not his own.

They were the words of the person who had conveyed this meaning to him. A person who was greater than anyone, and stronger than anyone.

“Only those who know they are lacking can move forward.”

“…….”

“Those were the words of my martial uncle.”

At that moment, Jang Il-so’s complexion was tinged with a strange light. It was an emotion that was a mixture of disgust and bewilderment, truly unknowable.

Jang Il-so, who had been staring at Chung Myung strangely for a long time, murmured languidly.

“He seems to be quite… a pathetic fellow. Seeing him spout such silly words.”

Chung Myung chuckled.

It was like looking at longing.

It doesn’t mean they are the same or similar. Because none of his words reach Jang Il-so. Perhaps his words will not reach him until the moment this person’s breath is cut off.

Like talking to someone in longing who can face each other but never reach each other.

What meaning would his words have to this person?

“You asked me before. What would I do if they betrayed my trust.”

“You did.”

“I’ll answer you. No, I’ll promise you.”

The corners of Chung Myung’s lips, which had been quiet, twisted upward as if crooked. So frightening that even Jang Il-so, the Jang Il-so of all people, momentarily stopped breathing.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the sword was drawn from Chung Myung’s scabbard like lightning. It was a terrifying speed that even the Hong Gyeon, who had been tense and guarding their master, couldn’t even react to.

Clang!

The blade met Jang Il-so’s face right in front of him, touching his wide-open hand.

Screech!

The rings on his fingers screamed. Chung Myung, who was closely facing Jang Il-so with the sword and hand between them, bared his pearly white teeth and growled.

“Then you… die here.”

“Ha… Haha! Hahaha!”

A loud laughter echoed loudly. Jang Il-so’s wide-open eyes were emitting a crazy light.

Snowflakes began to fall unexpectedly on the blood-soaked cliff.

The sight of white snow gracefully fluttering was truly beautiful. It was a scene that made one naturally think that the word ‘elegance’ was used in times like these.

However, the moment one realized that the identity of that seemingly delicate snow was actually scattered sword energy, the elegant scenery was transformed into an all the more terrifying scene of carnage.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

“Kuh!”

The sword energy, like white snow, mercilessly cut and pierced through the bodies of the disciples of the Sun Palace.

“Damn it!”

As they began to collapse helplessly in front of the unexpectedly appearing enemy, one of the Sun Palace disciples roared and raised the Scorching Yang Energy Art even more fiercely.

But no matter how much he invigorated his energy to protect his body, it was difficult to completely block the sword energy that seemed to be pouring down from the sky.

“That, that sword is….”

“Pull yourself together first.”

Namgoong Dowi, who had been muttering in surprise, suddenly came to his senses at the strong force grabbing his shoulder. And he firmly gripped the cliff, fixing his body even more tightly.

Even if circulating energy was impossible, he was given enough time to catch his breath. And for him now, that alone was a great help.

However, he couldn’t completely hide his doubts.

“Plum blossoms….”

“It’s a sword with quite a complicated story.”

Lee Song-baek smiled bitterly as he infused true energy into Namgoong Dowi’s body.

‘Snow Flower Twelve Forms.’

It was a sword that was all the more painful for the Jongnam Sect.

It was once believed that it would open the future of the Jongnam Sect, but now it had become a symbol of utter shame.

However, while those who knew all the circumstances were busy avoiding and hiding the sword, Jin Geum-ryong was not. He did not abandon the sword.

He sneered coldly.

– Does it disappear if you turn a blind eye? That would be nice.