Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1591. Even Buddha has abandoned you (1)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
“A... mi....”
The unfinished chant fades away in his mouth.
The fingertips held in banzhang stance tremble violently. Bop Jeong finally realized what was happening.
“How... this, how....”
But even with this realization, there was nothing he could do. He could only tremble while painfully realizing his irreversible predicament.
How in the world did he know?
Jaegal Family and Murong Family were his hidden trump card. How much effort had he put in to make it seem as if they could not arrive at this battlefield?
It was an opening that Bop Jeong had carefully let slip. Jang Ilso clearly intended to exploit that opening.
But Jang Ilso’s fangs had found that deliberately created opening and driven deep into his insides.
"How!"
Bop Jeong shouted as if struggling desperately. Jang Ilso shook his head slightly.
"No, that's not it. Rather, I should be the one asking."
Then he smiled brightly while looking at the ashen Bop Jeong.
“What made you so confident?”
“....”
“That I would not know, that you could deceive someone like me, that you were above my head. With what confidence on earth did you think that?”
Bop Jeong’s eyes shook.
The clear sneer on Jang Ilso’s face made Bop Jeong realize his mistake.
To those watching the grand game from outside, everything is clear as day (명약관화 (明若觀火)).
Therefore, while countless others were being toyed with by Jang Ilso, Bop Jeong, who had stood one step removed from that flow, was able to gain confidence instead.
That those who fell for such obvious tricks were foolish. That he would never fall for Jang Ilso’s trickery.
But Jang Ilso was asking right before his eyes: What made you so confident? How could someone who hasn't even tried walking with their feet stuck in the mud believe that they alone could advance as usual, even in a swamp?
“I, I....”
He had believed he was practicing self-strengthening through hardship while awaiting the right time, and Bop Jeong had called all that time patience. But now, all that time was instead pushing Bop Jeong into a hellish quagmire.
As always, trivial defeats often stem from insufficient skill.
But a great defeat that will be remembered for ages begins with a groundless conviction. Not knowing this fact... no, knowing it yet believing he alone would be different—that was Bop Jeong's fatal error.
“Do you want to hear why you lost?”
“Y- You....”
“Because you were afraid.”
Jang Ilso's gleaming eyes pierced Bop Jeong, as if they were scrutinizing and dissecting any inner thoughts.
At this moment, Jang Ilso’s two eyes seemed far more like those of a lofty monk than Bop Jeong’s.
"You thought you had shown courage, but no... You merely groaned under a great shadow. So the moment you thought you could escape that shadow, you indulged in recklessness called conviction without looking back. Not knowing that it was actually escapism."
“What nonsense are you spouting! I…”
“You know.”
Jang Ilso spoke as if soothing a child.
The screams that tormented the ears, the deaths of countless people.
In the space undulating like a massive kalpic flame engulfing the world, a cool silence settled solely between the two.
"You know, don't you?"
Bop Jeong's hands trembled finely.
He could not deny it. The moment Jang Ilso spoke, the image of one person surfaced vividly in his mind.
"Think about it. Why do you think I lured him so far away?"
Bop Jeong freezes.
“Out of fear? To devour Heavenly Comrade Alliance while he was absent?”
Jang Ilso's two eyes drew gentle curves.
“How could that be? It wasn’t for such a petty reason.”
“Shut your mouth!”
Bop Jeong thrust his fist and frantically unleashed tremendous palm energy.
As if anticipating what would come from Jang Ilso's mouth, as if wanting to block those words.
But the hasty palm energy could not bring down Jang Ilso. Meeting blue flame enhanced energy, its direction was twisted and only gouged the innocent earth.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
A tremendous explosion erupted, and Bop Jeong charged forward with his teeth clenched.
Not yet. It wasn't all over yet.
If only he could kill Jang Ilso, if only he could bring down that demon-like bastard, I could turn this whole situation around. He had not lost, he was not yet cornered!
“Paeguuuuun!”
Fist force like a downpour fell toward Jang Ilso. But Jang Ilso leisurely received the attacks without any particular sign of urgency. And he finally spat out the words that Bop Jeong did not want to hear.
"It was so that you would come."
“Shut up!”
“You can’t let this chance slip away, can you? The chance to not be compared to him, the only way to escape the shadow cast over you, was this.”
“Can’t you just shut up!”
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
An explosively unleashed palm energy pushes Jang Ilso back, and back again.
But a trace of anxiety gradually settled into Bop Jeong's eyes.
Shaolin's fists were originally created to subdue people without killing them. This was the first time that fact had felt so frustrating.
He had to be stronger. He had to be faster. More! More!
Not subduing but killing that demon. To cut off his breath. So that he could no longer wag that bewitching tongue!
“You actually knew better than anyone, didn’t you? That you were a worthless human being amounting to only that much. So..."
Jang Ilso grinned with a sinister face.
"You're standing here right now."
"Aaaaah!"
Explosive fist force burst forth from Bop Jeong.
But it was neither as magnificent nor as heavy as before. While fast and powerful, it strayed far from the fundamentals of Shaolin.
Soon, fists filled with killing intent solely to slay the opponent engulfed Jang Ilso.
“Hahahahat!”
Jang Ilso laughed loudly as he met Bop Jeong's fist head-on.
An energy running wild without end, and soaring murderous intent.
Even in the midst of this, the sight of the battlefield entered Bop Jeong’s eyes.
He didn't want to see it, but he had no choice. The disciples of Ten Great Sects were being thoroughly trampled, and Evil Sects' riff-raff were tearing into them with frenzied movements.
He never imagined that Ten Great Sects, especially Ten Great Sects he led, would be reduced to such a spectacle. Even worse... wasn't this even more horrific than what he had heard about? It was a tragedy entirely created by his own hands.
As his heart wavered, so too did the hand delivering the punch. The internal strength that should have flowed like water was cut off and deviated from its path.
Something deep within Bop Jeong's heart was crumbling.
He wanted to turn his head away. He wanted to cover his ears, close his eyes, and deny it.
But there was no escape from this scene. The brutal reality born from his overconfidence and inadequacy had demolished everything he had built.
The old monk's face distorted like an Asura's. The image of the Buddha he believed in and followed was nowhere to be seen. Neither the yellow robe that had made him so lofty, nor his cleanly shaven head could hide the killing intent that was boiling from within.
“Jang Ilsoooooooo!”
“Hahahahahahahahahat!”
Even as fists poured down, Jang Ilso continued bursting into laughter throughout.
He couldn't contain his joy.
He was just this kind of human.
He packages himself in loftiness, but inside, an unconcealable desire was boiling.
War was ultimately something humans waged.
People often mistake that reading the opponent’s moves requires being better than them.
But in truth, if you just understand the opponent’s heart and the desires that fill it, their next actions can be seen as clear as day.
The trap that Jang Ilso dug was by no means something like the Southern Sea Sun Palace.
The very act of leading Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword to Anhui was a trap.
It might mean little to anyone else in the world, but for Bop Jeong alone, it was a supremely fatal trap.
Jang Ilso's eyes could see it. The inferiority complex that filled that man. The pressure to achieve merits surpassing even Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword. And the greed that Shaolin should monopolize all that glory.
All of that had led everyone here.
“Shut up! I said shut up!”
So Jang Ilso couldn't help but laugh.
How laughable and pitiable it was that this high monk, who acted so loftily in all matters, was in fact the human most enslaved by desire in all the world?
Truly ugly and ridiculous!
“Ahahahahahahahaha!”
It was so funny that it could bring tears to his eyes.
Bop Jeong’s fists began to take on an even thicker killing intent. Within the storm-like onslaught of fist force, his murderous face stood out distinctly.
Jang Ilso suddenly felt curious.
Does that man know? What does his own face look like right now. If he realizes that the demon he so wants to kill was nothing other than the one inside himself, what expression will he put on then?
“Paeguuuuuuun!”
With blood vessels bursting and turning his eyes crimson like a Mara's (마라(魔羅)), Bop Jeong relentlessly struck his fists toward Jang Il-so's head.
Haphazard fists that had lost form (형(形)), intention (의(意)), and even technique (식(式)). Mere punching rather than fist arts, wielded solely under the single-minded desire to kill his opponent.
Fists that narrowly grazed Jang Ilso's head continuously struck down on Jang Ilso's shoulders. But even amidst pain that could shatter his shoulders, Jang Ilso did not stop laughing.
That laughter was the problem. That mocking laughter drove Bop Jeong even madder.
"I said shut up! Before I rip that mouth of yours, shut..."
It was the very moment Bop Jeong was spewing words unthinkable for a monk.
Puhuuuuut!
A fountain of blood suddenly gushed from Bop Jeong’s mouth.
“Keu- Keuagh....”
His raised fist froze in midair.
'What....'
Ambush? Poisoning? No, no.
Bop Jeong's gaze slowly lowered. Blood that had reversed flow from his body and poured through his mouth was thickly staining his front robes.
The color of the blood was black, but it was not the murky black of poisoning, but a transparent black.
This was evidence of a severe internal injury.
'De- Deviation....' (입(入))
“Hm?”
Seeing Beopjeong frozen in place as if turned to ice, Jang Ilso smiled knowingly with understanding. It was a demon-like smile.
"My, my. Energy Deviation..." (입마(入麽))
Step.
Jang Ilso took a step toward Bop Jeong.
"How pathetic."
"Cough! Cough! Y- You... Cough!"
Bop Jeong tried to say something, but he had no leisure to even protest as he continuously coughed up and spewed blood.
Then Jang Ilso asked in a gentle voice.
“Do you know what this means?”
Bop Jeong slowly raised his head. Jang Ilso continued.
"Buddha has abandoned you too."
The words struck Bop Jeong's ears like thunder.
“Eu- Eugh…”
Shaolin's martial arts were martial arts that could never coexist with killing intent.
Everything Bop Jeong had just done went against the fundamentals of Shaolin martial arts. He had indiscriminately poured out a martial art that required the most righteous of hearts (정심(正心)) while engulfed in a thick killing intent. It was only natural that energy deviation (입마(入魔)) would occur.
The saying that Buddha had abandoned him was not entirely wrong.
“If your Buddha truly does not permit evil, then it seems the one he wants to annihilate is not me, but you. Seeing as he doesn't even grant you the short time it would take to kill me.”
"Cough!"
Bop Jeong covered his mouth.
But the reflux of blood showed no sign of stopping. Each time he tried to draw up his energy, his true energy broke strand by strand, and pain as if his dantian were being torn came upon him.
'I....'
Energy Deviation (입마(入魔)). In Buddhism, it was the proof that a practitioner has strayed from the Buddhist heart.
For Bop Jeong, the cause of it was more shocking than the fact that energy deviation had come at this very moment.
“A- Ami....”
His mouth could not ultimately utter even a single chant. The ceaselessly pouring blood and his crumbling body betray all his intentions.
Within pain beyond description, Bop Jeong could only watch as Jang Ilso approached with blue enhanced energy undulating around him.
Ironically, that enhanced energy of Jang Ilso's resembled the halo in Buddha paintings (불화(佛畫)).
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