Chapter 1695
That’s enough for me. (5)
“Aaaaaghhhh!”
The anguished cry echoed loudly, as if it were a wailing spirit from the depths of the underworld.
Jo Geol listened to the sound with a dazed expression and muttered.
“Is it… the end? Is he reacting like that because they failed?”
“No way!”
Yoon Jong immediately retorted.
“The opponent is Jang Ilso. It can’t be this half-baked!”
If it ended here, it would be nothing more than a hollow move.
Of course, no one wished for it to end here more than Yoon Jong. But if Jang Ilso and Ho Gamyeong were that easygoing and forgiving, who would have volunteered for this grueling ordeal?
There will definitely be a second and a third attempt.
And their purpose will be one.
Baek Cheon murmured.
“Are they planning to bring down the entire cliff?”
“Probably…”
“…Including everyone from Sapaeryeon here?”
“Otherwise, there would be no reason for Cheon Myeon Susa to react like that, would there?”
Baek Cheon gritted his teeth for a moment.
No one could ever adapt to this ruthless and merciless behavior. It was shocking and brutal every time.
“What, what do we do then?”
“What do you mean, what do we do? We need to get out of here right now!”
“Now?”
“What nonsense are you talking about, Geol? Of course!”
Baek Cheon shouted fiercely.
They had to withdraw from this place as soon as possible. The cliff could collapse at any moment. The explosion that just occurred might have been preparation for a larger one.
Even if it wasn’t preparation, it didn’t matter. It was all too clear what they were plotting.
However, Jo Geol’s face still showed hesitation.
“But, but what about Wudang?”
Baek Cheon’s face hardened instantly. Behind Jo Geol, Wudang, still surrounded by numerous enemies, came into view.
“Ah…”
They had come to rescue Wudang.
But even if they managed to escape now, there was no guarantee everyone would survive. In such an urgent situation, should they still save Wudang to the end?
For a moment, conflict flickered in Baek Cheon’s eyes.
If the cost of the decision was only his life, Baek Cheon would have rushed to save Wudang without hesitation. If he could save even one more person, there was no reason to hesitate.
But now, there were a hundred brothers behind Baek Cheon. Could he gamble with their lives at stake?
“This…”
Baek Cheon’s eyes shook violently.
The dilemma was deep, and the time to decide was short. How could it be so cruel?
‘What should I do?’
At the moment Baek Cheon’s cold fingers clenched tightly,
Swoosh!
“Sahyeong!”
“Yoon Jong!”
Without a second thought, Yoon Jong launched himself toward Wudang.
Sapaeryeon’s members, who had been standing dazed since the explosion, reflexively swung their weapons at Yoon Jong.
Clang!
Yoon Jong quickly deflected the enemy’s weapons and cut off their breath.
“Aaaargh!”
The scream, as if a throat was being slashed, briefly broke the frozen battlefield.
“Sahyeong! Damn it!”
“Yoon Jong!”
Jo Geol and Baek Cheon swiftly chased after Yoon Jong.
Crunch!
Yoon Jong moved his sword faster than ever, cutting down the enemies. He shouted with determination.
“We don’t have time to hesitate!”
“You…”
“We save Wudang and move forward! The escape route is on the other side!”
Baek Cheon bit his pale lower lip tightly.
He’s right.
They couldn’t return through the cliff anyway. Therefore, the only way out was on the opposite side of the cliff.
Ultimately, they had to carve a path towards where Wudang was.
“Damn it!”
Yes, when you think about it, it’s a simple problem. How could he have been so caught up in hesitation and missed something so straightforward?
“Hwasan!”
Baek Cheon shouted, his voice echoing off the cliff.
“Don’t think about what’s behind! Clear the way! Don’t hold back your strength! If we don’t break through here, we’ll all die!”
“W-wait a minute! Sasuk!”
Jo Geol shouted in surprise.
“These bastards know the situation too! If they have any sense, they won’t try to fight us now…”
“That’s impossible, Geol!”
“They won’t let us go that easily!”
Just at that moment.
“What are you waiting for! Kill them!”
In response to Jo Geol’s question, shouts erupted from various directions, almost as if answering him.
“Don’t worry about it! That’s the sound of dealing with the remnants below! Don’t let them escape!”
“Fight!”
Indeed, some of them regained their momentum and charged at Hwasan, swords swinging. The atmosphere at the summit, which had been cooling, heated up again as if engulfed in flames.
Clang!
Jo Geol blocked an attacking enemy’s sword, his face twisting in frustration.
“These stupid bastards, right now…”
“Argh!”
Jo Geol’s eyes met the bloodshot eyes of the enemy. He hesitated for a moment. The enemy’s eyes showed not anger at being unable to grasp the situation but desperation.
‘What the…’
Slash!
Baek Cheon mercilessly cut down the shouting enemy. The warm blood that spurted into the air became a signal flare.
“Kill them!”
“Aaaahhhh!”
Sapaeryeon’s warriors clashed fiercely with Hwasan swordsmen once more. Those who had been attacking Wudang also renewed their assault.
“You idiots! If you keep this up, we’ll all die!”
“It’s no use!”
Yoon Jong gritted his teeth.
If it were Ho Gamyeong or Jang Ilso, they would have control over a few key individuals to steer the situation. It wouldn’t have been too difficult. There are many things people fear more than their own deaths.
Even those who were confused had no choice but to follow the orders of those few. In the immediate situation, whose words would they trust more: those of the enemy or those of their superiors?
“Damn it! Didn’t they hear Cheon Myeon Susa’s screams? These idiotic bastards!”
His insides were burning with frustration, but Jo Geol’s words didn’t reach them.
In the end, Jo Geol also began to swiftly cut down the enemies. His strikes brought the members of Sapaeryeon back to their senses, and they started to block the path. In utter frustration, Jo Geol shouted furiously.
“You crazy fools, the explosives are going to blow!”
“Kill them!”
Of course, they wouldn’t believe it. The number gathered here and their allegiance clouded their judgment.
Even if they put themselves in the same position, they couldn’t imagine that their superiors would bury everyone here just to capture barely a hundred enemies.
“Move aside, you bastards!”
“Filthy Just Sect scum! We’ll kill you all!”
“If you keep this up, we’ll all die! Get out of the way!”
Just then, Yoon Jong’s voice pierced through his ears.
“Get out of the way, Geol!”
“Huh?”
Jo Geol flinched and twisted his body to the side.
“Oooooooh!”
At that moment, Hye Yeon’s enormous power surged through the spot where Jo Geol had just been standing.
Boom!
The golden power swept through Sapaeryeon who hadn’t yet managed to regroup.
Jo Geol gritted his teeth again and tightened the grip on his sword.
“I’m not going to die here! Move aside!”
Crunch!
A spear flew in and struck Jin Hyeon’s chest. He could no longer put enough strength into his sword to properly deflect even such a simple strike.
“Jin Hyeon!”
Crack!
Jin Hyeon immediately broke the shaft of the spear embedded in his chest and thrust his sword into the face of the trembling enemy.
His body was battered and bruised, but Jin Hyeon was still fighting.
“Ugh…”
He had already reached his limits, which were now taking control of his body.
Somewhere, another death cry was heard. Wudang, as if their earlier strength had been a brief resurgence before the end, was rapidly collapsing. Simultaneously, the formation they had managed to maintain was beginning to crumble.
Had the enemy not hesitated momentarily due to the tremors from the explosion, they might have already fallen apart.
“Strength…”
Clang!
Mu Jin, who was trying to encourage Jin Hyeon, also couldn’t finish his sentence as he barely blocked the sword coming at his face. Even though it was just a simple strike, it shook his internal organs greatly. His swollen, battered wrists no longer felt any pain.
‘Is this the end..’
He thought he had seen a glimmer of hope for a moment. But that light was completely crushed by the massive explosion that occurred below the cliff.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he had no choice. He knew what would happen here.
He couldn’t deny it, no matter how much he wanted to.
“Hah…”
His labored breath burst out like laughter, then like sobs. In the end, they had been thoroughly played with.
What pained Mu Jin even more was the realization that Wudang was merely bait to lure Hwasan here.
Clang!
Mu Jin retaliated against the enemy’s attack and swung his sword with all the strength he could muster.
Slash!
With a chilling sound, his sword pierced flesh. But it wasn’t enough to deliver a fatal blow. He lacked the strength.
The enemy, struck in the chest, retaliated with a fierce scream.
Crunch!
A searing pain erupted near his elbow as if it were being branded by fire. As Mu Jin instinctively staggered back a few steps, a powerful force from somewhere struck his body.
Boom!
His weakened body rolled back.
The world turned white, and all sounds stopped abruptly. In the world filled with a deafening silence, Mu Jin, lying on the ground, raised his head blankly to look ahead.
Enemies were surging into the spot where he had fallen back. It was violent and rough, like water bursting through a broken dam.
The scene of their swords slicing through the bodies of his brothers seemed to unfold slowly, like a dream. If this isn’t despair, then what else could it be?
Perhaps that scene signaled the end of Wudang. No, perhaps it was the end of the Just Sects and Gangho as it was.
‘Ah…’
At that moment, someone entered Mu Jin’s field of vision.
A slow but steady walk. In this painfully slow-moving world, it was as if he alone was walking in his own time.
Mu Jin’s eyes widened at the familiar back of the person who stood in front of him.
‘Sa…’
It was Heo Gong.
Though he was beyond exhaustion and had lost consciousness previously, he stood there. He should not have the strength to lift even a finger.
Heo Gong moved his hand, lifting a sword that felt heavier than a mountain to him now.
Mu Jin’s remaining eye opened wide in disbelief.
‘No…’
At that moment, Heo Gong’s murmurs reached Mu Jin’s ears clearly.
“If you let it flow… …it will circle around and circle back to where it belongs.”
Heo Gong’s sword traced a slow arc.
From below to the left, from the left to the top, from the top to the right. It was a perfect circle, the likes of which Mu Jin had never seen before.
Then, black and white sword energy swirled forth, coming from the sword of a man who shouldn’t even have the strength to stand.
“And so…”
Woooooong!
Another force mingled with the swirling sword energy. It was colorless and transparent, yet as clear and blue as a mountain stream.
This energy, as pure as water, is known as… Innate true energy [qi].
The sword energy formed the shape of the Gankyil [삼태극(三太極) a circle of three swirling energies coming together], adding transparent energy to black and white, swirling at the tip of Heo Gong’s sword.
“Taiji.”
Boom!
The energy spread out as if exploding.
The sudden eruption of tremendous sword energy swept through Sapaeryeon, leaving them unable to resist.
Boom!
The sword energy, which combined Yin, Yang, and innate true qi, pulverized human bodies in an instant, smothering even their screams.
“Ah…”
What remained was only nothingness [무(無)]. The space before Heo Gong returned entirely to emptiness. The presence of the enemies who had charged with malice was nowhere to be seen.
It was a miracle created with a sword, an unbelievable sight to have been achieved by a human body.
In the midst of it all, Heo Gong stood alone.
“Sa…suk…”
Was it Mu Jin’s voice that signaled it?
The upright and still body of Heo Gong crumbled. It wasn’t a person falling. It was like a sand flowing down.
“Ugh…”
Mu Jin instinctively reached out towards Heo Gong. His blood-soaked fingers trembled pitifully.
What he had let go of, Heo Gong was still holding on to. He had thrown everything away to protect Wudang until the very end.
But did it matter? After all, this place…
“Die, you monster!”
One of the enemies, barely surviving the sword energy, suddenly came to his senses and charged at Heo Gong.
It might not have been courage but a desperate struggle born from fear. However, neither Heo Gong nor Mu Jin had the strength to stop this insignificant outburst.
The swung sword aimed at Heo Gong’s neck, who knelt like a criminal with his head bowed.
“Sasuuuuuuuk!”
Just as Mu Jin screamed and reached out with all his might.
Crunch!
Something long and sharp suddenly jutted out from under the chin of Sapaeryeon’s warrior, who was swinging his sword.
Paaaaat!
The sword flew from his grasp, spinning violently and embedding itself in the ground right next to Mu Jin.
Crash!
It was a situation where his body could have been split in two, but Mu Jin’s gaze was fixed elsewhere.
“Ugh…”
The enemy had stopped as if frozen right in front of Heo Gong, and above his head, like a vision, was a person who had thrust a sword through him.
That person’s name was surely…
“You…”
Crash!
At that moment, someone struck the neck of the convulsing enemy, severing it, and surged forward to stand right in front of Heo Gong.
His intense gaze met Mu Jin’s dazed eyes directly.
His face twisted like a demon’s, covered in blood…
“…Baek Cheon.”
“What are you doing!”
Baek Cheon, who had slain the enemy in one strike, grabbed Mu Jin’s shoulder.
“There is no time to dawdle! We’re escaping now!”
“But… but this place..”
Mu Jin’s face darkened.
Cheonumaeng and Hwasan had risked everything to save Wudang. But in doing so, they were now on the brink of losing everything.
In this situation, how could he possibly face them?
“You know that…”
“So what!”
“…”
“So, are we going to sit and die? Is that Wudang’s way?”
“I, I…”
“Shut up and get over here!”
“Huh, wait!”
Baek Cheon forcibly lifted Mu Jin and slung him over his shoulder.
“W-What are you doing!”
“Stay still! The situation is too complicated to argue right now!”
Mu Jin, at a loss for words, fell silent. Baek Cheon shouted.
“Carry all the survivors! We’re escaping right now!”
“Yes!”
The disciples of Hwasan gritted their teeth and rushed to lift the disciples of Wudang.
Baek Cheon, breathing heavily, looked towards the path leading up from the cliff. It was the way to the summit of Wudang.
‘A path to survive!’
If there was any chance of survival, it was up there!
‘We’ll make it out alive. No, we’ll save everyone!’
Even if it meant risking their lives.
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