Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1261. I won't let you go alive (1)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Kung!
With each step, shock waves coursed up through his legs to his chest.
Perhaps that was why his chest felt like it was about to explode.
'Faster!'
Though his legs pounded the ground with frantic force, his body felt unbearably slower than usual.
The distance to the battlefield isn't far. Normally, he could have reached it in one breath with distance to spare. But now, no matter how much he ran, the gap seemed insurmountable.
Had he somehow grown weaker? No, that couldn't be.
Gwak Hwanso knew. It wasn't that he was slow—it was that they were fast. He was running with more focus and speed than ever before, but their capabilities far outstripped his own.
‘Damn it!’
Gwak Hwanso kicked off the ground even harder in desperation.
“Sa- Sahyung!”
A breathless cry came from behind him, but he didn’t slow down in the slightest.
'This is!'
Kwang!
Gwak Hwanso's body shot forward even faster.
'This is Hainan Sect!'
Mount Hua Sect might be stronger than them. It might even be natural to think Namgung Family or Tang Family were more powerful than Hainan Sect.
But this was a war to protect Hainan Island, not any other place.
Even if Hainan Sect was weaker, it was unthinkable to simply stand back and let outsiders do all the fighting.
Yet Heavenly Comrade Alliance's envoys who had engaged the enemy first seemed utterly oblivious to Gwak Hwanso's feelings, continuing to push back Myriad Man Manor martial artists with tremendous momentum.
As if they were determined to make scarecrows out of Hainan Sect disciples.
“Aaaaargh!”
With a roar that felt like his chest would burst, Gwak Hwanso surged forward. Geum Yangbaek and the elders, seemingly of the same mind, shot toward the enemy like arrows loosed from tightly drawn bows.
'Faster!'
Charging like a leopard eyeing its prey, Gwak Hwanso leaped in one breath toward the visibly flustered Myriad Man Manor martial artist.
"This is Hainan Island! You dog bastards!"
Paaaaaat!
The Surging Wave Sword Technique (장풍파랑검법) of Hainan Sect which resembled rough waves was unfolded. The wave-like sword energy that gushed out from Gwak Hwanso’s sword instantly covered the Ghost Platoon.
"O- Oooh!"
Perhaps caught off guard by the sudden flood of reinforcements or maybe still reeling from the earlier onslaught by Heavenly Comrade Alliance, Myriad Man Manor martial artists barely managed to raise his saber before being swept away by Gwak Hwanso’s wave-like swordsmanship.
"Aaaaakhh!"
Red blood gushed from his deeply cut chest. At the same time, a searing heat surged in Gwak Hwanso’s own chest.
Thump!
As a disciple of Hainan Sect, a Righteous Sects, it was something unthinkable to speak of, but how long had he yearned for the blood of these vile evildoers? How long he had yearned for this moment of executing them with his sword?
Kwang!
Seizing the momentum, Gwak Hwanso stomped forward and shouted until his throat nearly burst.
“Drive out all Evil Sects who have invaded Hainan! Do not fall behind Heavenly Comrade Alliance!”
"Yes, Sahyung!"
Gwak Hwanso immediately charged forward. Now, he truly understood what it felt like for his blood to boil with excitement.
'This is real battle!'
In that moment, he realized something for the first time: He had never truly struck down a person in earnest before.
As a disciple of the prestigious Hainan Sect in the southern seas, he had trained all his life in martial art. Perhaps it might seem strange that such a person had never cut down another until now.
Until now, the disciples of Hainan Sect had never had to fight for their lives. First, conflicts rarely arose within Hainan Island. And given the nature of the island, there weren’t many opportunities to go out and take on other martial artists.
And now for the first time, he was facing the real battle—against none other than the infamous Myriad Man Manor of Evil Tyrant Alliance! How could he not be excited?
Gwak Hwanso gripped his sword with all his might.
The tales of Mount Hua’s martial artists had even reached this distant to Hainan Island. How could Gwak Hwanso not know of their great deeds?
Every time he heard such news, Gwak Hwanso's heart as a martial artist would swell with excitement. His competitive spirit boiled as well. He had countless times sworn that someday he too would face enemies in battle like those of Mount Hua.
That long-held wish of his, he was about to fulfill it right here and right now.
'I can do it too!'
Gwak Hwanso charged forward like lightning with his teeth clenched.
“Taaaaat!”
His sword swung ferociously.
The feeling of the earth pressing on his toes.
The surge of internal strength fills his entire body.
The feel of the sword hilt (검병(劍柄)) in his palm!
And above all, this gratifying sense of unity!
This must be what they mean by becoming one with the sword.
His sword plunged straight down fiercely toward the still-bewildered Ghost Platoon member's head.
Kaaaaang!
But at that moment, Gwak Hwanso’s wrist was struck by a searing pain, and he unconsciously gasped in shock.
His sword had been blocked by a massive blade raised in a flash. Despite striking with all his might, Ghost Platoon member's blade had perfectly blocked his sword like solid cliff face.
'No...'
The flustered Gwak Hwanso looked into Ghost Platoon member's eyes. Through the gap where sword and blade crossed, he saw blood-shot eyes, and at that moment, Gwak Hwanso's hotly boiling blood began to run cold.
The Ghost Platoon member sneered and muttered.
“This little bastard….”
Kwang!
With a deafening crash, Gwak Hwanso was sent staggering back, desperately retreating step after step. His palm, which had made contact with the blade was torn and blood poured out in streams.
But Gwak Hwanso didn't even have time to feel pain, because the enraged Ghost Platoon member burst forth with fury and charged straight at him.
"Uoooohhhhh!"
Kwaaang!
Gwak Hwanso instinctively blocked the incoming sword with his own but had his body violently thrown back instead. His right arm that held the sword felt like it was being crushed whole from the shoulder. Fresh blood surged in his throat, perhaps from internal injuries sustained from failing to withstand the collision of internal strength.
'So s- strong...'
Incredibly strong. It was hard to believe that just moments ago, these same people had been overwhelmed.
'Why?'
In that moment, Gwak Hwanso realized what mistake he had made.
These men only appeared weak because Heavenly Comrade Alliance who pressed them were even stronger. In truth, these were undeniably the sect members of Myriad Man Manor, who had made the world tremble in fear.
Thus, ordinarily, there was no way Gwak Hwanso alone could face these enemies.
His first sword strike only succeeded because they were dazed from the previous onslaught of attacks. If they had fought head-on, with nothing but skill alone, he never could have matched them.
Due to excitement surging to his head and confidence from his first successful attack, he had momentarily overlooked this fact.
'S- Such mistake...'
But as always, regret comes too late.
"Die!"
Before he could properly regret his mistake, the Ghost Platoon member's blade strike flew toward his chest.
"Keuk!"
Kagang!
Gwak Hwanso somehow twisted his sword to block the incoming strike. With all his internal strength poured into it, his sword succeeded in twisting the trajectory of the strike. The problem was that his sword had been knocked away.
With his body now open, the sword of the Ghost Platoon members came hurtling toward his neck faster than before.
“Sa- Sahyung! Noooo…”
The world seemed to slow down.
Lee Jayang's startled scream stretched out as if heard underwater. he blade that rushing toward him like a lightning strike seemed to move as slowly as if a fly could land on it.
‘Ah...’
But in this slowed world, Gwak Hwanso was equally slow. No matter how much he twisted and struggled, there was no way to avoid the blade flying toward his throat.
'Shit...'
As Gwak Hwanso instinctively braced for death, his eyes squeezed shut, but something suddenly appeared in his vision.
'A sword?'
A white sword flew swiftly into the path of the blade, blocking it from Gwak Hwanso’s throat.
But to Gwak Hwanso's eyes, it seemed too powerless a resistance. Surely, in a contest of strength, a thin sword could not possibly win against a heavy blade, right?
However, the sight that unfolded before his eyes completely shattered such common sense.
Kaaaaang!
At the moment the swords collided, the thin sword twisted slightly, completely deflected the force behind the blade. At the same time, the sword energy burst forth, sending the heavy blade flying back as if it were a mere sheet of paper.
'What?'
Gwak Hwanso could clearly see the Ghost Platoon member's face contort. The tremble of the wrist showed that the thin sword wielder was feeling the same pain that Gwak Hwanso had felt earlier.
The thin sword that deflected the blade didn't stop there.
Paaaaaaaat!
The white sword blade moved, drawing an almost illusion-like trajectory through the air. It seemed at once straight yet curved, sharp yet flowing.
As the blade flew toward his neck, the Ghost Platoon member recoiled in terror and twisting his neck to avoid the strike.
Sseut.
The sharp blade grazed the Ghost Platoon member's neck, leaving a thin trace.
In that slow-motion-like sensation, Gwak Hwanso clearly saw it. The sight of the Ghost Platoon member's skin splitting, and even the few drops of blood that sprayed up from that split wound.
'He dodged...'
Gwak Hwanso's eyes widened.
The thin sword that had grazed past the Ghost Platoon member's neck halted abruptly in mid-air, then was pulled back twice as fast as its initial thrust.
In that moment, Gwak Hwanso saw it.
The sword, tracing a completely different trajectory as it was retracted, swiftly slashed across the Ghost Platoon member's neck.
Sogok!
The relief of having avoided the strike was evident on the Ghost Platoon member's face, but that expression gradually shifted to one of shock, then despair, and finally sharp, unmistakable fear.
Tolseok.
Blood spurting from the fallen Ghost Platoon member's neck seeped and spread into the white sand.
Gwak Hwanso couldn’t say a word. Goosebumps ran down his spine. A chill crawled up his spine. It wasn’t because he had narrowly escaped death.
'This is... their true skill.'
He had seen it clearly, felt it—just how vast the gap was between the members of Heavenly Comrade Alliance and these people.
Among those present, how many would even realize that the fallen man had been struck not by one sword strike, but two?
Had Gwak Hwanso not been gripped by fear and time not slowed for him, he would have believed the first sword strike to be the one that killed the Ghost Platoon member. Even if he were to examine the corpse later, only then would he have wondered why there were two wounds rather than one.
You must have wondered why there were two wounds, not just one.
He realized that true skill was not something that was visible to the eye but hidden in fleeting moments that ordinary people do not notice.
"Are you alright?"
"...Huh? Ah... yes!"
Gwak Hwanso lifted his dazed gaze. He saw a handsome man wearing a snow-white hero's headband.
"Ah..."
“You are not fighting alone! You fight together with your Sahyungs. Don’t forget that this isn’t your battle, but the battle of Hainan Sect.”
As Gwak Hwanso nodded mindlessly with a dazed expression, the man responded with a light nod.
“Then...”
The man spun around. Baek Cheon lightly swung his sword to shake off the blood and said:
"Let's seize the ship."
"...Yes!"
Gwak Hwanso, who had been silently watching Bai Cheon run ahead, gritted his teeth. Then he shouted.
"Follow Acting Sect Leader!"
"Yes, Sahyung!"
The disciples of Hainan Sect, dressed in blue robes, swept over the Ghost Platoon members like rough waves crashing against the shore.
White sword light scattered like foam atop blue waves, and in that moment, red-tinged flower petals bloomed brilliantly over the southern sea.
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