Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1592. Even Buddha has abandoned you (2)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Bop Jeong didn't think death was particularly far away. He wasn't that young after all.
But could he have ever imagined that his death would come in this manner?
A form of death he had never even conceived of was now coldly and relentlessly seizing his entire body.
'I....'
The reversed true energy seemed to claw and tear his whole body to shreds.
Yet even that unbearable pain seemed little compared to the hell that had taken hold of Bop Jeong’s mind.
'What did I desire...?'
Everything should have been glorious.
The glory of Shaolin.
Because it was intangible, he wanted to grasp it even more. Like the law of the law, which, no matter how much he searched for it, would never enter his grasp, he desperately wanted to grasp it.
'I....'
Vanity.
The words he had repeated most in his life. He had murmured them countless times.
But had he ever truly treated anything as vain? Had he ever tried to follow even a little those words he muttered like a habit?
“Cough.”
Blood that had flowed in reverse pours over his hazy thoughts. How could there have been so much blood in his emaciated body? It was like the greed he had stubbornly harbored within.
"Don't look so wronged."
Step.
Jang Ilso took a slow step toward Bop Jeong.
“Dying by my hand isn’t necessarily a bad ending.”
“....”
"Compared to what you would have to endure if you lived."
Bop Jeong let out a hollow laugh. Perhaps that man was right.
If he died here, he would be recorded simply as a fool. But if he survived, he would have to endure the unbearable criticism and disgrace with his eyes wide open.
How could a human body walk that path of thorns lasting eons?
Bop Jeong, who had let out an empty laugh, tried to somehow form a banzhang stance.
But his hands no longer moved. Whether his strength was exhausted, or whether Buddha would not permit him even the banzhang.
Behind Jang Ilso, countless people were still dying.
If it became known that the Shaolin bangjang had fallen, the slaughter would only accelerate. Foolishly, he had burdened these powerless shoulders with such a weight.
“Va… nity....”
Bop Jeong's head gradually drooped.
A strange displeasure crossed Jang Ilso's face as he watched quietly.
“My, my… To imitate something so ill-fitting, and now of all times."
Jang Ilso raised his hand tinged with blue.
“Pigs should die like pigs, no? Squeals as their throats are cut.”
It was when Jang Ilso's hand was about to be swung.
Kwaaaaang!
A fist force that flew in from somewhere stopped Jang Ilso. A desperate shout followed.
“Bangjaaaang!”
Bop Kye, with one arm gone, was surging forward while spraying blood everywhere.
"Ooooooo!"
The fist he unleashed with his remaining hand struck Jang Ilso repeatedly. Jang Ilso contorted his face and deflected the incoming fist several times.
“You…!”
In that gap, Bop Kye scooped up the kneeling Bop Jeong and swiftly launched his body away.
Jang Ilso, who had reflexively raised his hand toward their retreating backs, paused for a moment. Then, unexpectedly, he slowly lowered his hand.
“Rye- Ryeonju-nim!”
Jeok Ho, who had been facing Bop Kye, ran over with a pale face and bowed his head.
“My apologies. I never thought that bastard would give up his arm…”
“Hmm.”
Jang Ilso merely turned his eyes slightly to look down at the stiffened Jeok Ho. The moment that gaze brushed the nape of his neck, Jeok Ho trembled involuntarily.
It was a sin for which he could not protest even if his head were severed. It was the same even if it wasn't solely due to carelessness. Because incompetence was a greater sin than carelessness.
“I will at once…!”
“How is it?”
“...Yes?”
Jeok Ho raised his head.
Jang Ilso's gaze had already left him. He was merely quietly observing the hell-like battlefield.
"Quite a sight, isn't it?"
“...Ryeonju-nim.”
"Watch well. You may never see a sight like this again in your lifetime.”
Jeok Ho looked at Jang Ilso in a daze and then fell to his knees again.
"I- I will pursue those bastards."
Jang Ilso chuckled.
“How dull… Do as you wish. I’ll enjoy this a little longer.”
"Yes!"
Jeok Ho gritted his teeth and chased after Bop Kye and Bop Jeong.
Jang Ilso glanced indifferently at the departing Jeok Ho, then looked back at the blood-soaked battlefield. The flames that had begun to blaze from somewhere flickered, casting a deep shadow on his side profile.
“Hahaha....”
A powerless laugh escaped.
“Hahahahahahat!”
Soon the laughter swelled into mad laughter.
His shadow swayed as if dancing unsteadily. The streaks of blood seeping across the ground intersected his long shadow and hung there like a single streak of tears.
❀ ❀ ❀
"Bangjang, hold onto me! You must not let go."
"I... am..."
“Get a grip! Bangjang!”
Bop Kye shouted loudly without waiting to hear more and cut off Bop Jeong’s words. Then, he tore his own monk's robe and tightly bound Beop Jeong to himself.
"Bangjang must live! If not Bangjang, who can bear responsibility for what comes after!"
Defeat was irreversible.
No amount of wailing or bloodied tears would change that. The fate of this battlefield has already fallen into Jang Ilso's hands.
Anyone could weep over defeat and offer up their neck. But there was no one other than Bop Jeong who could salvage this defeat and stop those bastards. At least Bop Kye believed so.
“I... alive....”
"Sahyung!"
From Bop Kye's mouth burst forth a different title than bangjang.
Long forgotten, yet never forgotten.
“Get a grip, Sahyung! Sahyung are bangjang of Shaolin! Sahyung life is not yours alone!”
If Bop Kye could, if he could bear this burden of defeat himself, he would gladly do so.
But he could not. Even there was the will, he lacked the ability.
Bop Jeong would salvage this bone-deep great defeat and save the world from the hands of those wicked Evil Sects bastard. Only he could.
So he must be saved. Even if it meant risking everything.
"We will definitely get out alive, absolutely! So hold on tight to my neck and don't let go!"
Bop Kye's eyes were dyed crimson red.
Regret and self-reproach could come later.
Even if his soul were to be burned by regret later, and even if the self-reproach he was now postponing were to imprison him in the eternal Avici Hell.
“Step back!”
Kwaaaaaaa!
A terrifying force erupted from his one remaining arm.
The most visible wound is the severed arm, but the truly grave injury was the long cut across his side. Yet Bop Kye simply pressed forward even with his entrails cut.
“It’s him!”
“It’s Shaolin’s bangjang!”
Greed ignited in the eyes of the enemies who saw them.
Just like the orthodox faction martial artists who were drawn by Jang Ilso, Evil Sects martial artists, filled with desire, also had their eyes turn upside down the moment they discovered them.
Who could give up the glory of capturing Shaolin's bangjang?
“Catch him!”
The formation Ho Gamyeong had devised moved at once. The enemies rushed toward Bop Kye like an avalanche of earth and sand. Bop Kye gritted his teeth and channeled his internal strength into his fist.
“Ah—mi—ta—bha!”
Arhat Divine Fist (아라한신권(阿羅漢神拳)).
A Shaolin fist technique unleashed true to its essence pushed back the swarming foes with immense force.
Udeuk! Udeudeuk!
Unable to overcome the recoil from his fist, Bop Kye clenched his teeth. His wrist could not endure and screamed in pain. But disregarding even his fist shattering, he hurled his fist out even more powerfully.
"Ooooooh!"
A battle cry that seemed to scrape away his soul burst forth. The path was too treacherous to open alone. No matter how much he pushed back, those bewitched by desire continued to block his way.
His internal strength was hitting rock bottom. But there was no time to hesitate. Bop Kye repeatedly hurled his body against the enemy.
Kwang!
He thrust a punch and sent an enemy flying.
Kwang!
He swept others away with kicks.
Would the Benevolent Kings (인왕(仁王)) who opened paths while subduing asuras (수라(輸羅)) be like this?
Repelling those who attacked and swarmed like demons, he advanced one step at a time.
Sogeok!
As his chest was split open, Bop Kye’s fist annihilated an enemy.
Udeuk!
As his ribs cracked, his fist severed evil (악(惡)).
His consciousness gradually blurred, and strength drained from his body.
And yet Bop Kye continues onward, carrying something heavier than his own body on his back.
'O World-Honored One.' (세존(世尊))
Kwang!
Fist force from somewhere struck his head.
The shock crushed his skull and blood flowed from his eyes. Still, his steps did not stop.
'Now... I understand.'
It could not be achieved through mere study alone.
Though life was a sea of suffering, enlightenment lies within it.
Those who do not overcome suffering and truly yearn for what they desire can never enter the Pure Land (정토(淨土)).
The enlightenment Bop Kye had truly sought was right here.
“Aaaah!”
But Bop Kye resolutely pushed away the enlightenment that was rushing towards him.
Though his soul tried to glimpse somewhere beyond this place, his will remained firmly upon this defiled earth (더러운 땅(穢土)).
'I need not achieve enlightenment.'
It was the enlightenment he had yearned for his entire life. Perhaps it was even the realm of Nirvana that he dared not even hope for. Any practitioner would wish for nothing more.
And yet at this moment, Bop Kye discarded this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like a worn-out shoe.
He swung his fist instead. He committed another murder and accumulated karma on his hands. A sin that could not be washed away even with hundreds of lifetimes, a karmic retribution that would make him wander in eternal suffering.
Sogoek!
Something cut through his ankle. It was a thrown weapon flown from afar. Even in his hazy consciousness, he could instinctively sense the owner of that dao energy.
At last, Bop Kye and Bop Jeong tumbled to the ground together.
'O World-Honored One....'
He knew.
Buddha merely watches and does not protect them. If there is something desired, one must achieve it themselves.
But even so, in this moment he felt forsaken. (하지만 그럼에도 이 순간에는 야속했다.)
'Do not save my life...'
Bop Kye instinctively twisted his body around. If he were to fall forward, the blades of these men would pour onto Bop Jeong.
It was none other than his own body that had to receive those blades.
'Only, save Bangjang.'
Sharp blue daos fall.
The Buddha never reached out. Silent and indifferent like the black sky, he merely watched.
'O World-Honored One....'
But Bop Kye had others who would reach out even if the Buddha would not.
“Elder!”
Kwang!
Fist force poured from somewhere, and those who had been mercilessly striking down their daos were swept away.
“Protect the Elder!”
“Save Bangjang!”
Shaolin. Even if the intentions they held within differed, they were disciples who had simply followed silently. The martial monks of Shaolin had now come running.
"You... all..."
“E- Elder! We will handle this place!"
“You must save Bangjang!”
If it were them, they could have somehow escaped themselves and fled while the enemy's attention was focused on Bop Kye. But instead of saving their own lives, they came here.
"Please go!"
Someone grasped Bop Kye's shoulder and helped him up.
The blood-soaked Bop Kye struggled to raise his trembling body and took a step forward.
All who had rushed here would die. They knew that fate best of all. Still, they stood to guard his back.
If so, then wasn't there only one thing that Bop Kye must do?
“A... mitabha....”
The Buddhist chant that had been recited countless times from Bop Kye’s mouth flowed out in fragments.
It was the name he had called upon so often, yet it had never reached even once. Yet it was still a name he could only continue to chant.
This was both a mantra for these people and a resentment toward someone. Simultaneously, it was an utmost earnest wish.
He moved forward. Supporting and enduring the heavy weight on his back with his entire body.
“Tathagata's light... shines universally (비추어(如來光普照)).... Extinguishing... all darkness (하시니(滅除衆暗冥))..."
Buddha's Light Shining Universally (불광보조(佛光普照)). Muttering a passage from the Avatamsaka Sutra (화엄경(華嚴經)) as if possessed, a faint golden light that seemed ready to extinguish at any moment flowed from Bop Kye's body.
It was truly precarious and majestic.
|Note
Consider supporting me by subscribing on Patreon for 5$. The Patreon membership for Mount Hua and Infinite Mage is the same. The benefit:
Advance chapters of Mount Hua : 76
Advance chapters of Magic Realm Convenience Store Worker : 144 Chapters
Advance chapters of Got a Gallery in the Wild : 10
Comments Box