Return of the Mount Hua Sect Chapter 1397: To The Place You Belong. (2)

He knew. He knew from the beginning the end he would one day face. From the very start...

He was a specter who should not have been left behind. The fate awaiting one who should not exist was predetermined.

So he thought it enough if he could do what remained undone before that end came. But...

To confess, even Chung Myung sometimes forgot that fact.

Thud!

The leg Chung Myung used to stand momentarily gave out. His body lost balance and collapsed forward.

“This is the opening!”

Hungry jackals would not leave a wounded beast alone. Seeing Chung Myung’s weakness, they charged fiercely.

Kaang!

Placing a hand on the ground to brace himself, Chung Myung barely moved his sword with one hand and struck spears and blades aside one after another.

Kwadeuk! Kwaduk!

But he couldn’t defend against the spear that flew from behind; the blade plunged into his back without mercy. Chung Myung’s body couldn’t withstand the impact and staggered forward, collapsing.

‘Opportunity!’

To cut off his neck! That would be an undeniable kill. When the giant fell, a witness, face consumed by desire, hurled himself at Chung Myung. But before he could even swing his dao fully, Chung Myung’s suddenly sprung hand seized his throat.

“Gahk!”

Chung Myung and his foe became entangled and fell forward together.

“Ggrrk... L-let go...”

Clenching his teeth, Chung Myung twisted his body as they fell. The man whose throat he held was forced onto Chung Myung’s upper body. What met his eyes then were countless blades raining down aimed at him.

Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech!

With eyes wide open, the man’s body was mercilessly slashed by the blades.

“G-ggrr...”

In his dimming vision he saw something flying that darkened the sky.

Kwaduk! Kwadeuk!

Weapons rained down like a storm, piercing the corpse that had already stopped breathing.

“Gulp!”

Even though the body above had not yet entirely lost its life force, the fierce swords and blades pierced mercilessly down into Chung Myung beneath.

“Ugh...”

Chung Myung, like a lightning strike, swung his sword and cut out the blade embedded in his body. Without a moment’s hesitation he rolled violently on the ground.

Kwaaaaang!

Tangible qi poured down where he had just been, unleashing a tremendous explosion.

Unable to withstand the blast, Chung Myung’s body was flung lifelessly like a leaf caught in a typhoon.

There had never been a place he was meant to belong. There was only the place he wanted to be.

He realized it a little late, though.

Kuuuuung!

Chung Myung’s body plummeted. A massive shock washed over him, enough to snatch his consciousness away. Yet he somehow clung to it. The moment he let go, everything would end.

Swaaaaak!

Chung Myung kicked the ground and rolled his body once more.

Kwagak! Kwagagak!

The blades plunged one after another, gouging the earth like mud. In the chaos, a blade that he couldn’t avoid sliced across Chung Myung’s neck.

Blood gushed from the deeply cut throat. But with no time to feel the pain, he raised his sword and aimed at the approaching enemy.

In his ears his heartbeat and ragged breathing echoed.

‘Plum Blossom...’

Plum Blossoms bloomed countless times. But the tip of his sword could no longer bloom a Plum Blossom. Half-drawn, it faded and fell into futility.

‘Live...’

Just as a Plum Blossom withers in winter, his sword too was wilting.

“Aaaaah!”

Not missing the opportunity, the enemies leaped onto Chung Myung and brought their blades down.

Dodging those strikes by launching his body away was pure instinct, nothing more. Pushing off the ground, he barely escaped the blades. With no time to catch his breath, countless weapons poured toward him.

Screech! Screech!

He rolled and rolled desperately to avoid the attacks. But clear, definite wounds were now accumulating on his body.

“P-please die...!”

Screech!

Chung Myung’s sword pierced the chest of a Ten Thousand People Clan member who had charged with desperate intensity.

Kwaang!

But the sword, failing to strike the heart precisely, left room for a counterattack. Before the man collapsed, the blow he threw struck Chung Myung’s chest.

Chung Myung spat blood from his mouth and tumbled backward.

Thud! Thud!

Bouncing off the ground, Chung Myung rose then fell flat again. Groaning deeply, he tried one last time to lift himself when—

Kwadeuk!

A metal spear sliced through the air and pierced Chung Myung’s hamstring, pinning into the ground. His body, which had tried to spring up, collapsed forward.

His face was shoved into the dirt—into a spot already darkly stained with someone’s blood.

Only a faint groan, as if it might cease at any moment, barely escaped him.

‘I am...’

Isn’t this enough now?

Can he finally let go?

How much more pain must he endure? How much longer this hell?

He could let go. Letting go would bring relief. Hadn’t he done enough?

‘To Mount Hua...’

Chung Myung struggled to lift his head. Thick blood ran down his face and trailed to the ground.

His head, lifeless as if it might break at any moment, refused and turned stubbornly backward. Trembling, he stretched out a hand and painfully gripped the spear that had pierced his knee.

“Ugh...”

But despite all his strength, he couldn’t pull the spear free. His blood-slick hand kept slipping; nothing moved as he willed.

In the end Chung Myung summoned all his strength and hauled the spear toward himself. Gripping the twisted shaft as if embracing it while it ripped and tore flesh, he bit down hard on it.

With no strength left in his hands, he was pulling it out by biting.

Crack. Gggrk. Grk.

The spear, stained red by the blood dripping from his mouth, creaked and was slowly wrenched out of his knee. Even the Ten Thousand People Clan members who had rushed forward halted at the sight.

It was brutal. Though they were enemies, they couldn’t bear to watch.

Thud.

At last the pulled-out spear fell to the ground. Chung Myung, mouth still agape, slowly bowed his head.

He wanted comfort. He wanted to let go.

But equally... he wanted to live.

Did you see it in me, in the past I so desperately wanted to emulate?

Chung Myung’s hand, which had not moved even slightly, twitched.

Everyone watched, holding their breath, as that barely moving hand fumbled and then gripped his own sword.

Someone’s groan escaped like a sigh.

His eyes half-closed. A body ruined with not a single intact part. Even in a situation where he should have died many times over, the man still strove to fight.

Complex emotions surfaced on the faces of the Ten Thousand People Clan members.

Are they afraid? No, it’s not that. What reason would they have to fear someone in that state?

Yet their feet would not move.

After all, they too are warriors. Even if they are pointed at by the Evil Sect, they are people who staked their lives on martial learning.

At the very least, anyone who has lived as a warrior could not help but feel awe at this sight.

If they could, they’d turn away and avoid this place entirely.

Even though they knew he had killed their comrades countless times and was an enemy that must be killed.

A suffocating silence spread.

Only Chung Myung’s faint breath, as if it might stop at any second, quietly echoed in the stillness.

“What are you doing?”

Then, breaking the dry silence, a cold voice rang out.

Startled, everyone turned to find Ho Ga-Myung standing with an expressionless face. He, who had been in the rear, had somehow appeared here.

“C-Commander!”

“I asked what you are doing.”

The Ten Thousand People Clan members couldn’t bring themselves to answer and avoided Ho Ga-Myung’s gaze. After a quick glance at them, Ho Ga-Myung turned his cold stare to Chung Myung.

The Ten Thousand People Clan members hesitated and stepped aside, clearing a path between him and Chung Myung. But Ho Ga-Myung did not bother to walk it. He simply stared at Chung Myung’s figure.

It was a pitiful sight, almost too tragic to believe it was the Sword Ghost who had tormented him and the Ten Thousand People Clan so mercilessly.

Yet Ho Ga-Myung did not let down even an ounce of his vigilance.

“...Kill him.”

A heavy voice escaped.

Even though the command from the commander fell like an abstraction, the Ten Thousand People Clan members couldn’t move easily.

Ho Ga-Myung squinted and clicked his tongue inwardly.

Why don’t they know?

That hesitation only prolongs this man’s suffering.

That the greatest respect they could show him now was to end his pain as quickly as possible.

No matter how much hatred had passed between them, no one would want to see such a being groan in pain and die miserably.

Even Ho Ga-Myung, who hated Chung Myung most in the world, felt the same.

“Shib Bi.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Bring me the Sword Ghost’s head.”

“Understood!”

The man standing behind Ho Ga-Myung walked coldly toward Chung Myung. A dagger emerged from his sleeve, glinting with a chilling light.

A chilling killing intent approached.

The letters ‘death’ took on a clearer shape as they approached Chung Myung, shining with an almost pale coldness.

Yet even feeling the approaching death, Chung Myung could not resist.

No matter how he tried, his body no longer responded. Even the last fragment of his soul seemed to have faded to ash.

‘I...’

I want to live. I want to live and set foot on Mount Hua’s soil again.

Amid the Plum Blossom scent that filled Mount Hua, he wanted to laugh and chatter drunkenly with his sahyung sajaes.

That was all he wished for. As always.

‘...Chung Jin.’

He thought he knew what Chung Jin, who had died alone, must have thought in his final moments.

‘You must have felt the same.’

Only now could he understand. What remained for Chung Myung were not resentment, doubt, or worry. He simply wanted, just once more, to see those foolish bastards again.

Fwoooosh!

At that moment a fierce qi shot toward Chung Myung. A great shock, as if the world had gone dark, struck his whole body and it grew heavy as waterlogged cotton.

The consciousness he’d clung to slowly drifted away.

It was a sensation he’d felt before. Surrendering to it, Chung Myung fell into an endlessly cold place.

An endless float and a biting chill.

That awkward warmth opened eyes that seemed tightly closed.

In the hazy world, something took shape. What he met was the face he’d longed for.

‘...Sa... hyung?’

Chung Mun. He smiled gently at Chung Myung, as if simply pleased.

An immense, indescribable emotion welled up.

‘Sahyung, I...’

Perhaps there were too many things he wanted to say. He tried to speak, but nothing formed.

Chung Mun simply waited for him with a warm smile.

Words of resentment, words of longing—things that couldn’t be expressed in words...

As he reached to bring them out, the face of Chung Mun before him grew blurry again.

From a familiar face to a strange one, yet strange and somehow familiar.

‘Sahyung?’

At first he didn’t recognize him.

Because the bloodied face looked a bit odd. But when that face took full form, a word slipped from Chung Myung’s cracked lips before he knew it.

“...Sa...suk?”

It was a face so battered he could hardly look, yet the moist, reddened eyes were undeniably those he’d seen countless times.

A vision seen before death?

Even if it were a hallucination... this was too cruel.

At that moment, a familiar voice flowed into his ear.

“...You waited, didn’t you?”

The blood that ran down Baek Cheon’s hand transmitted warmth to Chung Myung’s shoulder.

“Sorry I’m late.”

The tremor in his shoulder told him this was no illusion.

Speechless, Chung Myung stared blankly at Baek Cheon.

But only for a moment; Chung Myung’s body, exhausted of all strength, slowly collapsed forward.

Baek Cheon gently caught the falling Chung Myung.

“...Let’s go back, Chung Myung. To the place... to the place where you belong.”