Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1390. You're making fun of people (5)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Slowly, his gaze follows his lowered head and fixed on his hand.
The hand gripping his sword. That hand was trembling.
'Has my strength run out?'
No. That couldn’t be.
He had rested enough. No matter how endlessly the enemies surged forward, his stamina was not something that could be depleted so easily.
The purest form of internal strength coursed through him, granting him endurance far beyond what he had in the past.
Yet, the reason he felt his limits closing in was likely not due to his body, but because his mind was wearing down and crumbling.
Why?
That was the part he couldn't understand.
The Chung Myung of the past never collapsed. Despite experiencing situations worse than this several times, he had always prevailed, always overcome.
In the process, he had experienced the limits of his body countless times, but he had never once faced the limits of his mind.
So why now?
“Over there!”
Enemies poured out of the bushes in endless numbers. Chung Myung, whose eyes were instantly turned as sharp as blades, leaped toward the enemies charging at him.
Nothing was easier than plunging a knife into the back of someone fleeing. If you truly want to face an enemy, you must act in ways they cannot predict.
Just like now.
"Aaaaargh!"
The enemies, who hadn’t expected Chung Myung to charge at them, screamed and collapsed. Blood spurted violently, and wretched cries echoed through the air.
Those two things alone were enough to summon even more enemies to this place.
No, perhaps already.
Chung Myung’s blade-like gaze shifted to his rear. He could sense enemy forces circumventing to surround his back. Something closer to instinct than sensation.
Paaaat!
Chung Myung kicked off the ground and moved like lightning toward his rear.
"Dieeeeee!"
As if they had been waiting for this exact moment, enemies lunged at him and filled his entire field of vision.
In just the time it took to deliver a few sword strikes—if there were those who could catch his back in such a short time, their skill level was obvious without even looking.
Razor-sharp attacks flew toward him, aiming to slice his flesh, shatter his bones, and slaughter his soul.
Kakakakang!
Chung Myung’s sword, swift as lightning, deflected each incoming weapon. The sparks from the countless clashes of metal briefly illuminated the dark forest.
And within that fleeting burst of radiance, the blade of a grim reaper found its way to an enemy’s throat.
Sogok! Sogok! Sogok!
Having severed three necks at once, Chung Myung dug through between those falling without even confirming whether they were dead or alive.
His sword, now surrounded by their flesh, swung explosively, carving a crimson semicircle around him.
Paaaaaat!
With a deafening sound, the enemies who had charged at him collapsed to the ground, their bodies severed at the waist.
"Huff!"
A ragged breath escaped Chung Myung's mouth.
But there was no time to catch his breath. He immediately kicked off the ground and surged forward. Spears that flew to where he had been consecutively drove into the earth.
- You have always obtained everything far too easily. What was so difficult for others must have been so simple for you.
Something flashes from all directions.
Swords and spears. Heavy blades and scythes with long chains.
All those numerous weapons were flying in, targeting only Chung Myung, him alone.
- People admire you for that, and they also fear you. Maybe even you yourself agree with them.
Chung Myung bit his lip until it bled.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Plum blossoms erupted as if exploding around his body. The red blossoms that spread out in a flash resembled not petals but droplets of blood bursting from wounds.
- However, Chung Myung-ah, you have nothing that you earned on your own. Perhaps all those things were simply given to you. They were merely placed in your hands, regardless if you wanted it or not.
'So what?'
Chung Myung's eyes spew forth a fierce gleam.
What of it? And what was he supposed to do about that? What does it even matter?
Kwaaang!
With a force that seemed to shatter the ground, Chung Myung charged forward. There is only one path to survival. Forward. The place where the enemy was thickest, blocking his way.
Without a moment's hesitation, Chung Myung rushes at the enemies and brings down his sword filled with inexplicable resentment.
Kaaaaang!
The heavy dao blocking his sword was severed in an instant. Before its wielder could even widen his eyes in shock, Chung Myung’s Dark Fragrant Plum Blossom Sword sliced through his body from head to toe.
The blood that sprays as the body splits in two engulfs Chung Myung's entire body. A heat like burning flesh. The screams of severed lives. All of these things pile layer upon layer at the tip of Chung Myung's sword.
- That is why I wish for you to understand its weight. The value of what is obtained through one's own effort, one’s own sacrifices.
“Me too!”
It’s not like I got everything without lifting a finger!
It may look that way to your eyes! But I! At least I!
- But, Chung Myung-ah.
At that moment, the tip of Chung Myung's sword wavered.
- At the same time, I am also afraid. That one day, when you finally earn what’s truly precious, when you truly learn the meaning of building something yourself instead of simply having it handed to you—
His sword cut through the air.
His sword that severs the enemy's neck and pierces hearts remains unchanged in every way.
Just...
- Whether you can stay as you are now. Whether you can continue to live life as you do now.
Kwadeuk!
A broken dao blade lodged itself into his shoulder. The vivid sensation of the thick blade cutting through flesh. Chung Myung took a step forward amidst the eerie pain.
'Cheong Mun Sahyung.'
Chung Myung bites his lip.
Cheong Mun was always like that. Chung Myung liked him. But he never quite understood what his words meant.
Their perspectives were simply too different.
‘Did you really wished—’
Paaaat!
Chung Myung spun like a top, his sword stabbing in all directions.
“Kuaaaah!”
“Aaagh!”
Those charging tumbled as wind holes were punctured in their bodies from the technique. Amid the burst of blood like exploding firecrackers, Chung Myung absentmindedly gazed up at the sky.
‘—For me to grow up?’
I think I understand now. Finally, I think I understand.
Cheong Mun always told him to see more. To understand more, and to stand in the same place as those unlike himself.
Always. Yes, always.
But only now, standing in this role, could Chung Myung grasp the true meaning behind Cheong Mun’s words.
He always told Chung Myung to understand others, but perhaps he might had hoped that Chung Myung would never stand in the same place as others.
Because Cheong Mun alone knew the burden someone like Chung Myung would have to bear the moment he truly understood others.
Tao is to carve away at oneself.
Cheong Mun, who had walked that path before anyone else, and who understood how arduous and painful it was, perhaps… He might have wished that Chung Myung would never walk the same path.
Even if that meant going against the very essence of what it meant to follow the Tao.
“Haa…”
A life that prioritized others over oneself.
Cheong Mun walked that path his entire life. Others came before himself, and other sects came before his own.
If sacrifices had to be made, he was the first to sacrifice himself. And if someone had to be sacrificed, it was always the one he cherished the most.
'With what heart... did you endure that, Sahyung?'
He couldn't know.
But he felt he did know.
“There!”
The entire forest was instantly engulfed in killing intent. Facing that surging killing intent, Chung Myung's hand trembles once more.
‘Ah…’
At that moment, Chung Myung understood.
Why does his hand keep trembling. Why he was now facing limits he had never felt before.
'I am now….'
Chung Myung's gaze sank. Colder than ever before.
‘Afraid.’
He had never thought that he feared death.
If he had to die to do what needed to be done, he had always believed that was enough. Because he didn't think life itself had such great value.
What he had feared was not death itself. But an awkward end without finishing his tasks. Just that.
But now, for the first time, Chung Myung was acutely aware of the fear of death.
To not be able to meet again.
With the people he knew.
To not be able to go back to that place he's so used to, nor spend time laughing at those meaningless jokes. To not see those faces that should've naturally been there when he turned around.
A place where everything remained the same.
Except for Chung Myung not existing there.
Chung Myung covers his mouth.
A sudden wave of nausea hit him. Even though there was nothing in his stomach, his body kept trying to vomit something out.
Why had he tried so desperately to protect everyone?
Right. Because he was afraid. Afraid of the void that would form in the precious relationships he had built.
Afraid of the name Baek Cheon, the name Yoo Iseol, the names Yoon Jong and Jo-Gol, the name Tang Soso, and the name Hye Yeon disappearing from their world.
There was nothing more terrifying in the world than the idea of turning his head and facing an empty void where they should have been.
For no one would have felt more acutely than him how horrifying the absence of those who once existed could be.
But...
Was that really enough?
Was everything good just because they exist? What meaning would it have if Chung Myung wasn’t there?
The moment Chung Myung disappeared, it would be the same as everything disappearing for him. So shouldn’t he be the one to survive?
Even if he loses some of them, wouldn't that be a better choice than him losing everything?
It wasn’t too late.
In his current condition, he could still break through this encirclement. If he ran forward without looking back, he could survive.
Even if, as a consequence, most of those here would pursue Mount Hua and Hainan Sect, even if Hainan Sect were annihilated and he could never again see some of the faces he knew, at least he would live...
“Uwaeeek!”
Red blood flowed out of Chung Myung's mouth in streams.
He stared dazedly at the blood smeared across his trembling hand before letting out a low, dry chuckle.
“…What a filthy way for a heart demon to come.”
Yes. He was afraid.
Dying was terrifying.
But what he feared even more was the idea of dying alone, without anyone within reach. Vividly feeling once more that sensation of dying alone in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
The enemies surged toward him like a black tide.
“Hey, Sahyung. Are you watching?”
Chung Myung looks up at the sky.
“Thinking about it, I’ve never done a single thing Sahyung wanted me to do.”
Chung Myung gripped his sword.
His feet dig into the ground. As if trying to bind his feet that were naturally trying to flee.
“So… don’t expect anything. This is just how I am."
The enemies closed in.
His trembling hand still hadn't calmed, and his heart was still crying out.
But even so, Chung Myung held his ground.
The lingering regret within him would connect to what he had protected. Even if he didn’t exist at the intersection of that past and future, it didn’t matter.
Because will isn’t connected by life.
Paaaaat!
Sharpened and refined beyond limits, his chilling resolve took form as a sword that tore through the empty air.
It was the sword of the Sword Demon, and also the sword of the Sword Sovereign.
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