Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1330: Nothing Has Changed. (5)
Previously on Return of the Mount Hua Sect...
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Bang!
Each step unleashed an explosive boom.
This was not the Yu Yiseol who was always quiet and nimble like a swallow. Urgency she could not hide emanated from her now.
‘Faster!’
Her expressionless face contorted more and more as her anxiety grew.
Whoooosh!
Accelerating so the scenery blurred around her, she ran, slicing off the neck of an Evil Sect member who got in her way in an instant.
There was something about the sword strike she gave now that resembled Chung Myung’s.
‘Faster!’
She kept stamping the ground.
Attached to her sword was not just her own life. It wasn’t only the lives of the Southern Island sect disciples struggling under the rain of arrows flying from behind her.
Chung Myung’s lonely back, standing alone to hold the line after sending her on, kept haunting her. If she failed to clean this up in time and return, that back might be the last image of Chung Myung she would ever see.
‘Too slow!’
Yu Yiseol, seized by impatience, stamped the ground again hard.
Kwang!
Softness and calm were strengths unique to Yu Yiseol that no one in Mount Hua possessed. It was the path she had chosen to avoid falling behind those born with strength.
A sword style not beholden to physical power, one that could be built through bone-grinding effort even if not innate.
That was the blade of the sword ghost Yu Yiseol.
Shriiiing!
A force-infused heavy arrow flew at tremendous speed. She lowered her body fully without slowing. It was almost as if she were skimming the ground.
The fiercely shot arrow sliced through the air in vain.
Wham! Wham!
Arrows came in succession, but Yu Yiseol’s technique would not permit a single arrow to touch her body.
Yu Yiseol cut the throat of the archer nocking the bowstring in one stroke.
Swoosh!
Her blade traced a graceful curve and, in an instant, cut through the archer’s upraised bow and severed the carotid. It was a single, marvelous stroke that drew gasps from anyone.
Yet Yu Yiseol bit her lip so hard it bled.
‘Too slow!’
This was wrong. She had to be faster. More efficient.
I think I understand.
Why Chung Myung’s sword was so often frantic. Why there was no leisure in his blade.
‘Faster!’
She bit the flesh inside her cheek and ran toward another spot where arrows had been fired.
She knew, of course. The people she sought were not there. Those firing the heavy arrows were still hidden to avoid revealing their positions.
But she had no time to hunt them down one by one now.
Then there was only one method.
Instead of her finding them, make them find her.
If she fought most loudly at the center and slaughtered many enemies, those {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} who couldn’t stand it would charge at her.
Then, at the cost of exposing herself to danger, she could find the enemies and lure attacks away from the main force...
Grit!
The thought flashing through her head made Yu Yiseol involuntarily bite her lip hard.
It wasn’t that she distrusted the sahyung sajaes. She had never doubted their skill.
Still, she must overextend herself.
Because that way she could save even one more person.
Still, she had to push herself.
So the enemies would target her and not others.
Fighting most brilliantly at the front was simply the best choice. The more she leapt into the enemy center and drew attention with her blade, the safer everyone else became.
She saw enemies arrayed up ahead.
Seeing her rush headlong without looking back or ahead, the archers’ faces went dark.
“Shoot! Fire!”
The archers twisted their upraised bows and aimed at Yu Yiseol. The arrows nocked several per bow rained down on her like a storm.
Instead of slowing, Yu Yiseol drove her sword into the ground. The resilient Plum Blossom Sword bent as if to break and then snapped back. Using that force, she leapt into the air.
Screeeech!
A speeding arrow grazed her pantleg, but unfazed, Yu Yiseol shot up like a raptor and thrust herself into the midst of the enemies.
The Plum Blossom Sword traced a far rougher, fiercer arc than her usual trajectory.
Kwagagagak!
A steel bow was cut off along with a body. As the split bow and torso flew apart, blood splattered above her head.
Bang!
As soon as her foot hit the ground she struck, quickly plunging her sword into the throat of a startled, recoiling archer. There was a gruesome cracking sound as the throat was pierced; the blade protruding from the nape was red.
“Kill, kill her!”
“She’s alone anyway! Kill her!”
There’s a common belief that once an archer’s distance is closed, he can do nothing.
But a well-known saying isn’t always true. An archer with his string released can still wield a powerful short-staff-like weapon, and close distance doesn’t mean he can’t shoot.
In fact, as the distance shortens, arrows can become even more devastating to the target.
The archers surged forward, swinging their short, strung crossbows. Those behind them held their bowstrings taut, ready to fire at any opening.
Kraaang!
Yu Yiseol deflected a steel crossbow aimed at her head in an instant. But before she could brace her blade again, another archer leapt up nearby and fired a force-infused arrow at point-blank range.
Without thinking, Yu Yiseol leaned back. The arrow whistled past right above her shoulder, tearing a few strands of hair, and mercilessly pierced the belly of a Four Sects Alliance man who was charging from behind.
“Kyaaaargh!”
The fired arrow had harmed an ally, but no one cared. Archers who surged up alongside continued to rain swift shots at Yu Yiseol.
Faced with countless arrows pouring in at close range, all Yu Yiseol could do was roll her body and dodge.
Papapapat!
The spot she rolled out of was instantly packed with arrows. If she’d been a moment slower, the outcome would’ve been obvious.
‘Different.’
Yu Yiseol sprang up like lightning and charged the nearest visible enemy. Her body moved more readily than she expected.
“U-uh!”
Shing!
After driving her sword into the startled enemy’s belly, Yu Yiseol grabbed his throat, yanked hard, and spun him. In an instant he rolled and their positions swapped.
“Ah, no...”
Thrown into that forced reversal, he sensed his approaching fate and frantically turned his head.
Kwaduk! Kwadudduk!
Before his head had fully turned, arrows rained and embedded themselves all over his back. Using his body as a shield against the arrows, Yu Yiseol drew her sword and cut down others immediately.
The moment you leap into a pack of wolves, you must be prepared to pay the price. No matter how fierce, one cannot come out of their midst entirely unscathed.
Yu Yiseol knew that well. Doing the impossible out of desperation would be nothing but suicide.
And yet there was only one reason she leapt into the wolf pack’s center.
“Aaaaaaah!”
Several of the group surrounding Yu Yiseol let out screams. They were helplessly struck by a blade from behind. They died without even seeing who had cut them.
“Sago!”
It was Yoon Jong. He had calmly but swiftly broken the enemy lines from the outside.
As harrowing screams kept sounding from outside the encirclement, the archers’ hands trembled slightly.
A bow, unlike a spear or sword, can only aim at one place. There is no bow that can fire at enemies surrounding you front and back at once.
As if to prove that an archer is weakest not when the distance shortens but when the directions to aim become mixed, two Mount Hua people scattered sword qi from inside and outside simultaneously.
The splendidly blooming Plum Blossom Sword qi swept through those who had gathered to encircle Yu Yiseol.
“Aaaaah!”
“Kraaaaah!”
Enemies riddled with holes fell limply like old rag dolls.
Momentum had now shifted to Yu Yiseol. She seized it and began slaughtering enemies in an instant.
Whoooosh!
But then, a whistling sound rose high. A heavy arrow of terrifying speed flew toward Yu Yiseol and Yoon Jong. It was clearly of a different caliber than the arrows the archers here had been shooting.
At last, having found the traces of those she had to chase, Yu Yiseol’s eyes flashed a deadly blue.
But before she could push off the ground, someone was already running in that direction.
“Gul?”
Jo Gul, his face unusually cold, dashed into the forest like a heroic guard. It didn’t take long to learn the result. A death shriek that was clearly not Jo Gul’s was heard.
Once. Again.
A total of three screams burst out. The moment the heavy arrows were fired, Jo Gul had precisely located and memorized their positions, hunted them down, and turned them all into ‘prey’.
It was a calmness and decisiveness hardly recognizable in the Jo Gul everyone knew.
Despair filled the archers’ eyes when they realized even the supporting warriors had been taken out.
Naturally, as the assault slackened, Yu Yiseol staggered and clutched her stomach.
“Sa-Sago!”
Startled, Yoon Jong hurriedly grabbed her.
Blood seeped through the gaps of the hand clutching her belly. When she had used the enemy’s body as a shield to stop an arrow, that arrow which pierced the body had left a wound in Yu Yiseol’s abdomen.
“You bastards!”
A furious curse burst from Yoon Jong’s mouth. He swung his sword violently and sliced the archers apart.
“Aaaaaah!”
The shattered momentum could not be recovered. Judging survival more important than orders, the archers abandoned their comrades and fled without looking back.
“Sago! Are you all right?”
Yoon Jong did not pursue them and instead supported Yu Yiseol. Checking on her mattered far more than cutting down those scoundrels.
“Yoon Jong.”
“Sago, y-you’re wounded! You need treatment at once...”
“There are still cannons.”
“What?”
“Trust me!”
Yu Yiseol shoved Yoon Jong away and stamped the ground at the same time.
“Sago! No, you can’t! Sago! Sago!”
Yoon Jong called out desperately, but Yu Yiseol ran full tilt toward the rear, leaving the front to Yoon Jong and Jo Gul, hoping Chung Myung would not fall before she arrived.
Her throat burned with anxiety.
Wherever she stepped, the ground was stained red with the blood she left behind.