Chapter 1534

Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1534. What do you know? (4)

Editor: Hoamz

Co-Translator: Xoxo

The sound of insects chirping suddenly feels foreign. Perhaps it's because this situation itself was foreign.

The two men stared at each other in silence for a long while.

"...Die, you say."

After a while, Baek Cheon's voice broke the silence and flowed out calmly.

“Isn’t that something anyone who holds a sword must be prepared for?”

The words spoken in an unwavering tone were an exceedingly natural and sound argument. But Yoon Jong did not accept that sound argument as such.

“You know that is not what I mean.”

Baek Cheon's calm gaze studied Yoon Jong.

Eventually, Baek Cheon realized anew. That he had surprisingly never had a heart-to-heart conversation with this deep-thinking saje.

"Hmm."

A gentle smile formed at the corners of Baek Cheon's mouth.

"I'm grateful for your concern, but there's no need to look so serious. I am..."

At that moment, the Plum Blossom Sword was drawn from Yoon Jong's scabbard like lightning. Filled with a killing intent he rarely ever showed.

Paaaaat!

The sword, tinged with a crimson energy, shot up toward Baek Cheon’s neck in an instant. Startled, Baek Cheon quickly swung his sword and powerfully deflected Yoon Jong's attack.

Kagang!

The moment sword clashed with sword, Baek Cheon's body was pushed back smoothly.

"What the...!"

But before he had time to show anger at the sudden ambush, Yoon Jong’s sword continued to press in on Baek Cheon.

The strikes came from all directions at once. Baek Cheon felt as if an entire mountain range was bearing down on him.

Pararararak!

The tip of Baek Cheon's sword swiftly scattered dozens of plum blossom sword energies. The red petals that bloomed like clouds blocked the space between Yoon Jong and Baek Cheon like a wall.

Kuung!

Then Yoon Jong stepped forward without delay. Twisting his waist sharply, he swung his sword horizontally all at once.

Whiiiiing!

With a strong sound of cutting air, Baek Cheon’s plum blossom petals were swept away by the sword energy and pushed back, like plum blossoms unable to resist an untimely storm.

Kung!

Yoon Jong quickly threw his body into the space he had thus torn open and brought his sword down toward Baek Cheon's head.

Baek Cheon's pupils dilated greatly.

Kaaaaang!

Baek Cheon’s upward-thrust sword and Yoon Jong’s downward-slashing sword collided violently in mid-air.

Kagak! Kagagak!

Yoon Jong pressed down as if trying to break Baek Cheon’s sword. Baek Cheon also gritted his teeth and tried to push the sword away without yielding, but Yoon Jong didn't budge an inch as if he had become the great mountain itself.

Crack. Creak.

Baek Cheon’s feet were gradually pushed back. Every bone in his body screamed. No matter how hard he pushed, he couldn’t overcome Yoon Jong’s overwhelming pressure.

Baek Cheon's contorted face and Yoon Jong's calm face showing no emotion whatsoever faced each other across their crossed swords.

At that moment, Yoon Jong opened his mouth.

“No matter how…”

As if he had strength to spare even while pressing down on Baek Cheon.

"...splendidly you deceive the eyes, if there's no power behind it, it's merely a shell."

Thwang!

At that moment, Yoon Jong’s sword pushed Baek Cheon away. Thrown several steps away, Baek Cheon finally came to a stop only after stabbing his sword into the ground to steady himself.

Yoon Jong stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Therefore, what must be pursued is not splendor, but the true intent within it."

Baek Cheon slowly raised his head to face Yoon Jong.

"...Those were Sasuk's own words."

Baek Cheon did not answer.

What showed on his face now wasn't shame at being overpowered by a saje, nor self-loathing, nor even anger at Yoon Jong's excessive action. Just...

“You’ve become unrecognizably strong.”

“Have I become stronger?”

“....”

"If people still see Sasuk as a greenhorn, you might be able to deceive them. You could wrap yourself in flashy sword energy and just enough bravado to sell the illusion. But, elSasukder.”

Yoon Jong's cold eyes seemed to pierce through Baek Cheon.

“No one sees Mount Hua’s Acting Sect Leader as a greenhorn anymore.”

Baek Cheon remained silent. That silence was a more certain affirmation than any answer.

"So every enemy you face will try to kill Sasuk with all their might. Without a thread of carelessness."

“Yoon Jong-ah.”

Yoon Jong bit his lips and glared at Baek Cheon.

“I say it again, you will die.”

Baek Cheon, who had been silent for a long while like someone who had lost their words, let out a sigh.

“Does everyone know?”

“They’d be fools not to. How could they not know?”

“Then why has no one said anything until now?”

Yoon Jong answered as if it were the most obvious.

“Because you are our Sasuk.”

It was a response packed with too many meanings. Even Baek Cheon couldn’t grasp them all at once.

Baek Cheon stared straight back at Yoon Jong, who was gazing at him with a firm expression, and asked.

"Then... why are you doing this now, of all times?"

Yoon Jong's grip on the sword tightened. Though the question was different, the answer he had to give remained the same.

"Because you're Sasuk."

Baek Cheon closed his eyes tightly.

Yes. It's not that they can't speak because they don't know. Rather, it's because they know each other that they cannot speak.

Yoon Jong said coldly.

“Please step back.”

Though it was Yoon Jong who uttered the cold words, it was also Yoon Jong whose face contorted as if cut by them.

“No one wants to watch Sasuk die.”

“Hm.”

Baek Cheon corrected his posture and then sheathed his sword. His eyes, as he looked over the distant peaks of Mount Hua, were detached.

“Winter will come soon.”

"...Sasuk."

"When the cold winter comes, this Mount Hua will also be covered in snow. As if it were a lie that it was once full of plum blossoms for a season.”

Baek Cheon’s gaze, which had been off in the distance, slowly returned to Yoon Jong.

“Every flower eventually withers. It's something that cannot be avoided or denied. But..."

His unwavering voice rang clear.

"There is no flower that refuses to bloom just because it knows it will wither."

“Sasuk!”

“Rather, because it knows it will wither, it blooms all the more desperately. That’s what a plum blossom is.”

Yoon Jong bit his lip.

“There is no need to throw yourself away and wither.”

“....”

“You can just step back and recuperate properly. You just need to recover your body, don't you? Then…”

Yoon Jong, who had been pouring his words out intensely, suddenly faltered.

A hollow laugh escaped him.

Because he knew. How meaningless such words were to that person.

How could Yoon Jong not know? Even Baek Cheon, having lost his full strength, would still be of some small help to their forces. And the battlefield is a place where lacking even that single speck costs countless lives.

To endanger his sahyung just to save himself? That kind of option simply does not exist for the Baek Cheon Yoon Jong knows.

“Sasuk.”

“Don’t worry.”

Baek Cheon shook his head. It was a slow but resolute gesture.

"I know that you could all be endangered because of me. I know that, so I’ll never let that happen.”

“That’s not what we’re talking about right now!”

In the end, a shout burst from Yoon Jong’s mouth.

Baek Cheon smiled slightly as he watched Yoon Jong get angry. He was thinking that here was someone who could get so angry.

The fact that the target of that anger was himself was sad in some ways, and in other ways, it also made him proud.

“Mount Hua needs me.”

“....”

“It’s not arrogance or conceit. It’s just that there’s a role I have to play.”

“I can do it.”

"You're not ready yet. You know this."

"I am...."

Yoon Jong clenched his fist tightly.

He wanted to deny it a hundred times over, but he couldn’t bring himself to.

He would have to take over Baek Cheon’s role someday, but that was literally just an uncertain future.

Right now, he was a person who could by no means replace Baek Cheon.

“…So you’re saying you’ll go to the battlefield in the end?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not going to listen, no matter what I say.”

“I suppose not.”

Yoon Jong nodded heavily.

"Then I will stop Sasuk in my own way."

“Yoon Jong-ah.”

"If words won't get through, that's the only option left."

Turning sharply around, Yoon Jong quickly distanced himself from Baek Cheon and descended the mountain.

Baek Cheon silently followed Yoon Jong's retreating figure with his eyes.

It probably wasn't easy to come all the way up here. But he couldn't not come. Because he was Yoon Jong.

With a bitter gaze, Baek Cheon stared at the space where Yoon Jong had disappeared before finally speaking in a subdued voice.

“Come out.”

Rustle.

Then someone walked out from one side of the bushes.

“…I didn’t think you’d notice.”

“My senses may be dull, but I still have some intuition left. The sound of insects stopped briefly halfway through.”

Yoo Iseol nodded as if she now understood what had happened.

The reason she was discovered was that she had almost rushed out in surprise when Yoon Jong ambushed Baek Cheon in the middle of their conversation.

Baek Cheon turned and looked at Yoo Iseol, who was silently brooding.

“Are you going to stop me too?”

"If it were just my feelings."

"So you won't."

“Because I would’ve made the same choice.”

It meant that if Yoo Iseol had been in Baek Cheon’s position, she would have made the same choice.

"...Right."

Baek Cheon nodded. Hearing that brought him a little comfort. But even so, he couldn’t stop the sigh that followed.

“...It’s difficult.”

Baek Cheon gazed blankly at the moon rising in the sky.

A pale moon, half-hidden by clouds, was also looking down at him in silence.

Yoon Jong’s steps down the mountain grew faster and faster.

It felt as if something was completely filling his chest. It was so suffocating that it was hard to breathe.

But it wasn’t because of Baek Cheon’s stubbornness. It was because of himself, who couldn’t help but understand that stubbornness, even while hearing it.

No, maybe it should be called helplessness.

If only Yoon Jong could fully take Baek Cheon’s place, then they wouldn’t be in such a suffocating situation.

He knew this situation could happen at any moment, but he vaguely assumed it would be a distant possibility. That complacency has led to the current situation.

If Baek Cheon were to die during this war, Yoon Jong would never forgive himself for the rest of his life.

No, his regrets are trivial. What matters was that Baek Cheon did not die. Not just Baek Cheon, but that no one died.

‘Grand Sect Leader...'

Yoon Jong, who had unconsciously sought Hyun Jong in his mind, came to his senses and quickly shook his head.

If Grand Sect Leader were to intervene, perhaps Baek Cheon could be stopped, but the situation would only worsen. In the worst-case scenario, it could even escalate.

And he wasn't certain whether restraining Baek Cheon by Grand Sect Leader's command would truly be a complete solution to this crisis.

It was frustrating and stifling. It felt as if all sides were completely blocked.

His heart was urgent and desperate, yet there was no way to resolve it.

At that moment, only one person came to Yoon Jong’s mind.

'Chung Myung.'

Baek Cheon wasn't the only one he couldn't understand.

What he understood least of all was why that damned bastard had been silent until now.

How could Chung Myung not know what Yoon Jong had noticed?

Strength returned to Yoon Jong's feet.

‘If it’s him….’

He had to hear him out.

Why was he maintaining this silence? Why was he acting like this serious matter was someone else's problem when war could break out at any moment? Why… he was standing by and watching Baek Cheon go to the battlefield in such a state?

In the darkness, Yoon Jong’s gaze sank coldly.

‘If it’s him… he would give some kind of answer.’

No, he would make him give an answer.

Without fail.

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