Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1688. Even if it Fades with Ridicule (3)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Not only Baek Cheon, but even Yoo Iseol's eyes, who rarely lost composure, widened greatly.
A banquet of palm shadows fills their vision. Before that overwhelming sight, even bodies trained to the extreme stiffened for an instant with tension.
"Sa…."
Baek Cheon opening his mouth was almost instinctual. But Yoo Iseol’s sword moved faster than that instinct.
Paaaaat!
A sword as white and pale as moonlight revealed between clouds swiftly confronted the palm shadows. Her sword split momentarily into dozens, hundreds, and began to dismantle the flying palm shadows in an instant.
Kwadeuk! Kwadeuk! Kwadeuk!
Sharp sword tips smash and shatter palm shadows.
Under the unbelievably precise and rapid sword strikes for something executed in an instant, the palm shadows that had bloomed like foam momentarily lost their power.
But….
Hwaaaaak!
The palm shadows that had faltered suddenly multiplied by double, then doubled again. So countless it seemed impossible to even chase with a sword. That sight was almost like white flowers blooming profusely.
Finally.
Tuung!
Tuung! Tuung!
Palm shadows flying without slowing momentum consecutively struck Yoo Iseol. Every time a palm shadow touched her body, she was helplessly pushed back.
“Samae!”
Baek Cheon hurriedly grabbed Yoo Iseol who was pushed to the cliff's edge and was about to fall.
“Keuk!”
He quickly extended his sword and drove the tip into the cliff face. He couldn't anchor it perfectly and slid down a bit, but he somehow managed to prevent their bodies from being flung far off the cliff.
Baek Cheon clung back to the middle of the cliff while gripping Yoo Iseol.
“Samae! Are you okay?”
"…Yes."
Yoo Iseol wiped the blood flowing from the corner of her mouth. Both of their gazes turned at the same time toward the towering end of the cliff.
The cliff meets the moonlit sky. There, a person slowly revealed himself.
It was a face they were seeing for the first time, but both Baek Cheon and Yoo Iseol could intuitively tell who the person was. The appearance was unfamiliar, but the martial art was unmistakable.
"Thousand-Faced..."
Thousand-Faced Gentleman frowned.
“The phrase ‘sick and tired’ is meant for times like this, I suppose.”
Muttering as if fed up, he cast his gaze toward the Mount Hua swordsmen still climbing the cliff.
Those damned black martial robes.
They had become so familiar that they almost felt welcome now.
“I’ll give you credit for that leech-like persistence. But I can't just let you climb the cliff so easily. I have my own position to consider, you see."
Baek Cheon's face distorted involuntarily.
'Damn it!'
Not good.
No matter how accustomed Mount Hua was to this terrain, the fact doesn't change that those climbing a cliff start with a disadvantage compared to those guarding the summit.
And on top of that, an absolute powerhouse like Thousand-Faced Gentleman blocks the way. There could be nothing more dreadful.
From the start, to defeat such an expert and pass requires someone with equal power. But in the current Mount Hua...
Paat!
“Samae!”
As if reading Baek Cheon's thoughts, Yoo Iseol kicked off the cliff and climbed in one breath.
Chaeng!
The sword extended straight forward and rushed toward Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s neck like a viper’s fang.
But soon, palm shadows that erupted before Thousand-Faced Gentleman blocked Yoo Iseol's sword like a solid wall.
Kaaaaang!
The moment the palm shadows and sword collided, an explosive sound erupted as if a massive iron block had been struck.
Kagagagagak!
Yoo Iseol's sword bent as if about to break. However, she didn't retreat even an inch and rather raised her internal strength as if she would definitely pierce through that wall.
Thousand-Faced Gentleman muttered softly.
“Futile effort.”
Paaaaat!
Instantly, palm shadows doubled in size completely covering all of Yoo Iseol's sword strikes then soon struck even Yoo Iseol's body.
"Ugh...!"
Since there was no other way, Yoo Iseol gritted her teeth and twisted her body in mid-air to escape the striking range.
Fortunately, those countless palm shadows didn’t pursue her further, but before she knew it, her body had been pushed down the cliff by another three zhang.
As the palm shadows dispersed, Thousand-Faced Gentleman revealed himself and glanced down at his hand.
“….”
On his white hand was a red line drawn as if struck by a whip.
"Sharp, indeed."
It wasn't cut, but the impact was undeniable.
“But you are still far off. At least for now.”
Meanwhile, Baek Cheon bit his lower lip hard.
He could tell for sure from the collision just now.
Yoo Iseol was strong. But to pierce through Thousand-Faced Gentleman occupying atop the cliff while devoted to defense, at minimum an expert equal to him must step forward.
No matter how strong Yoo Iseol was within Mount Hua, she is bound to fall short before Thousand-Faced Gentleman who has dominated the world for decades.
Urgency flickered in Baek Cheon's eyes.
Right now, they were riding their momentum to break through, but if they become bogged down in a stalemate on this cliff, they might eventually face combined assaults from left, right, and above.
If that happened, this terrain they had used to their advantage until now would instead turn into poison choking their necks.
'What to do? At times like this...'
Baek Cheon gripped his sword tightly as if to break it. Thinking endlessly about someone who wasn’t here solves nothing.
Of course, if Chung Myung were here now, they wouldn't be having such worries. Before Baek Cheon even fell into worry, Chung Myung would have been thrusting his sword into Thousand-Faced Gentleman's neck.
But Chung Myung wasn’t here now. So those here must resolve it. By any means!
It was then.
"What's wrong?"
Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s sneering voice reached Baek Cheon’s ears as his mind raced.
"I thought the sect called Mount Hua seemed a place that doesn't worry or such? Was I mistaken about Mount Hua?"
“….”
“Or… are you not the Mount Hua I once knew?”
Baek Cheon's face instantly hardened.
"You...!"
As he suppressed his anger and tried to spit out a word, Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s low voice dug into his ears first.
"Strategist's words aren't so wrong."
Baek Cheon's eyes widened slightly.
Strategist? Ho Gamyeong? Why does his name come up here?
"He said. It's not that Mount Hua is strong. It’s that Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is strong. Mount Hua's nonsensical feats until now were only possible because there existed an entity beyond common sense called Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword. So..."
Every single word Thousand-Faced Gentleman spat dug deep into the hearts of Baek Cheon and Mount Hua swordsmen.
“If you can simply separate Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, then Mount Hua itself is nothing. Without even doing anything in particular… the foxes who don't know they're foxes borrowing the tiger's might will self-destruct on their own. While putting on airs not knowing there's no tiger behind them."
Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s gaze fixed precisely on Baek Cheon hanging on the cliff.
“Well? Looking at it this way, it seems quite accurate. What do you think?"
A chilling energy ran down Baek Cheon's spine.
Self-destruct? Mount Hua?
"Nonsense!"
It was the moment Baek Cheon shouted through gritted teeth.
“Ami-ta-bha!”
A loud Buddhist chant burst forth.
Woooooong!
Simultaneously, a large golden hand seal (수인(手印)) rose behind Baek Cheon's back.
“Is it Shaolin’s Divine Monk?”
Thousand-Faced Gentleman sneered faintly and spread both arms wide. Then cloud-like palm shadows spreading from his hands covered and pressed down the golden hand seal.
Kuuuuuuung!
The impact from the collision of energies shook the cliff. The golden hand seal shattered into pieces and scattered into the dark night sky.
"No matter how great a talent, they can't compare to Shaolin's elders. To face me, at least bring Bop Kye."
“You bastard!”
Tat! Tatatatat!
The agitated Jo-Gol kicked off the cliff and charged at Thousand-Faced Gentleman. His sword swung straight ahead before splitting into dozens blooming splendid plum blossoms at the cliff's edge.
Kuung!
But before those plum blossoms could fully bloom, Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s palm force flying in at terrifying speed and struck the tip of the sword with pinpoint accuracy.
“Keuk!”
Unable to fully unleash the internal strength he had drawn up, blood burst from Jo-Gol’s mouth.
Paaaaat!
At the same time, Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s palm shadow brilliantly took the place of the plum blossoms Jo-Gol had tried to bloom. This was a blatant mockery that needed no further explanation.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
Jo-Gol let out a beast-like roar, and palm shadows swept like riding a typhoon and covered Jo-Gol.
The moment Jo-Gol widened his eyes, Yoon Jong's sword, who had intervened ahead not too late, erected a sword wall in the air. It was truly an iron-wall defense.
Kuuuuuuung!
Soon, the palm shadows and sword energy collided head-on, and Y00n Jong’s body was flung backward like an arrow.
"Sahyung!"
Jo-Gol supported Yoon Jong’s back in fright, but the momentum was not manageable while keeping their footing on the cliff.
The two ultimately slid gradually downward as if standing on an ice wall.
“Sahyung! You alright?”
Jo-Gol, who had barely stopped, grabbed Yoon Jong’s shoulder.
“…Damn it.”
A streak of blood flowed from Yoon Jong's mouth. No matter how pure their internal strength was, when colliding force against force head-on, there was no way to defeat that old monster who lived for decades.
As Yoon Jong ground his teeth and glared at the summit, Thousand-Faced Gentleman was shaking his head.
"That's all there is to it, Mount Hua. Without Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, you are merely hot-blooded youngsters. Even I had overestimated you."
Baek Cheon bit his lip until it bled.
Before he knew it, the movements of those climbing the cliff had stopped, and he could clearly feel their morale dropping visibly.
They must break through. If they can't, it was dangerous.
'Combined attack?'
No, that won't work.
This situation was fundamentally different from facing Black Dragon King on level ground. From the outset, a coordinated attack launched from below against above couldn’t possibly be established.
Then how?
Squeeze.
He gripped his sword tight in anxiety. He didn't know a way. No, even if there were a way, there was no time to calmly find it.
Baek Cheon gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Samae!”
Yoo Iseol and Baek Cheon's eyes met. Reading the firm resolve reflected in Baek Cheon’s gaze, Yoo Iseol reached out without a word, grabbed Baek Cheon’s sleeve, and immediately began climbing the cliff.
“Haaaaaap!”
Baek Cheon shouted loudly.
Charging in one by one wouldn't yield an answer. Then they had no choice but to somehow layer their efforts.
Yoo Iseol and Baek Cheon climbed up the cliff in one go.
And just before reaching Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s feet, Baek Cheon swung his arm and flung Yoo Iseol, who was holding his sleeve, upward.
Yoo Iseol rose lightly into the air, drawing a semicircle as she surged above Thousand-Faced Gentleman. At the same time, Baek Cheon soared from below and thrust his sword toward Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s abdomen.
"Still don't understand?"
Hwaaaaak!
Pure white hands bloomed like clouds once again.
Kagagagagang!
Yoo Iseol’s desperate sword strike was blocked by the palm shadows that rose like a wall, and her body was flung back yet again.
Kagang!
Almost simultaneously, Baek Cheon's thrust sword was caught outright by Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s whitened hand. An involuntary sigh escaped Baek Cheon's lips.
"Ah..."
It was a sword thrust with all his might, yet it was overpowered absurdly easily.
Baek Cheon's eyes shook with bewilderment and Thousand-Faced Gentleman's merciless eyes met in the air.
"...This sword is not even worth facing. To think someone like this was leading Mount Hua? A mere fox cub with its claws pulled out?”
At that moment, unconcealable despair rose in Baek Cheon's eyes. No, perhaps it wasn't despair but sorrow.
“You must pay the price for running wild without knowing your place. Die.”
Tuung!
Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s left hand swung toward Baek Cheon.
Strangely, the movement seemed slow to Baek Cheon. He saw the palm shadows rising in the air covering his vision and flying toward his face with perfect clarity.
In the face of inevitable death.
Baek Cheon neither squeezed his eyes shut nor opened them wide.
Rather, he opened his eyes straight while radiating a clear light.
Kwaang!
With a loud explosion, Baek Cheon’s body was flung backward. The black night sky and the moon floating in the middle of it entered his vision.
But that too was brief.
An unknown force pulled him. Someone grabbed and supported his body floating in the air.
'What’s this...'
What Baek Cheon saw then was Thousand-Faced Gentleman’s stiffened face standing on the cliff, and something jutting out from his shoulder.
'That's....'
A small blade (소도(小刀)). A small blade like a child's toy. However, it was an object familiar to Baek Cheon.
"These are not people who should be treated like foxes by the likes of you."
Baekcheon turned his gaze blankly. Toward the man who grabbed his shoulder.
“Ta- Tang Gaju-nim?”
“Are you alright?”
“Huh? Ah... Yes! I....”
“It seems this is my turn. I'll open the path.”
Tang Gun-ak, having lightly tapped Baek Cheon’s shoulder, walked up the cliff. Literally slowly, as if the near-vertical cliff face were ordinary ground.
His calm eyes and the distorted eyes of Thousand-Faced Gentleman met in the air.
Tang Gun-ak spoke.
"'Mount Hua without Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is not Mount Hua'... Perhaps that's also right."
“Poison King… Tang Gun-ak.”
“However, Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword without Mount Hua is not Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword either. Far more than you know. At least not people to be carelessly disparaged by Evil Sects old master who doesn't even have the courage to show his face."
Sshling.
A sharp blade settled into Tang Gun-ak’s fingertips.
"Adults have adults' fights. I will see just how tough that neck of yours really is.”
Tang Gun-ak’s eyes emitted a chilling cold.
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