No matter how insignificant the fertilizer may be. (1)
‘Ugh……’
The first to sense the change were none other than Red Dogs. In particular, it was those who had to push the enemy back from the very front lines alongside the elites.
One Red Dog, unable to withstand the surging sword energy, unconsciously retreated a single step.
Kaaang!
Striking aside the sword that came flying in, Red Dog’s expression twisted grotesquely. Shame, self-reproach, and disbelief all mingled together.
‘Am I really being pushed back by this brat?’
He couldn’t understand it.
Normally, he would have smashed that brat’s skull, even if it meant being skewered by the sword in the process. After all, he wasn’t afraid of adding yet another scar to his already scar-riddled body.
But why did he instinctively choose to retreat instead of pressing forward? Could he actually have been intimidated by that brat’s spirit?
‘Ridiculous…….’
He had witnessed countless bouts of fierce struggles bordering madness. Since he took on the name ‘Red Dogs’, the number of sects he had trampled must easily number in the dozens. The desperate cries of those who died then could not have been any less tragic than the grief these people were feeling now.
So then, why?
At that moment, sensing something, Red Dog instinctively turned his gaze. The corners of his eyes twitched with shock.
“We…..”
Kaaaaang!
He swung at the incoming sword with all his might. The tip of the blade snapped off, and the shard grazed his mouth, leaving a long slash.
“…are being pushed back?”
He hadn’t seen it wrong. The front line was shaking violently.
Like cracks gradually spreading through a dam holding back a surging wave, a massive fracture was steadily etching itself across the battlefield.
A faint heat flickered in Yoon Jong’s eyes. It was an emotion close to exhilaration.
He couldn’t clearly explain it, but he could distinctly sense the change. It was a fleeting sensation that only someone who had staked his life countless times on battlefields where life and death were decided could ever feel.
If they seize this moment and strike with all their might, that solid fortress wall will surely collapse – all at once, as if it were a lie that it had managed to hold out so firmly until now.
However, Yoon Jong couldn’t bring himself to shout. Could he be certain that what he had just seen was real? Could he trust that his senses were not mistaken?
Perhaps it was nothing more than a fleeting illusion born from his desperate hopes. If he gave the wrong order, he might well be the one sending his fellow disciples to their deaths.
Yoon Jong reflexively looked to his side.
‘Geol-ah.’
But Jo Geol was no longer at his side. The one who had been shouting and pushing Yoon Jong forward had run off without hesitation to fulfill his own task.
‘Sasuk.’
Baek Cheon, Chung Myung, Yu Iseol, and Tang Soso – those who had always led him from the front or watched over him calmly – were nowhere to be seen.
In that instant, Yoon Jong realized something. In this tumultuous battlefield, he was now utterly alone. The fact that he had no choice but to make his own judgment frightened him.
But he quickly shook off that fear.
What he should fear is not failure. Everything he had gone through until now had been for him to grasp this truth.
“Hwaaaasaaaaaan!”
Finally, a thunderous command burst from Yoon Jong’s lips. It was the most resounding cry he had ever made in his life.
“They’re falling back! Charge in and seize victory at once!”
“Oooooohhhhhh!”
No sooner had Yoon Jong’s words ended than the disciples of Hwasan raised a powerful battle cry. And with not a moment’s hesitation, they all hurled themselves at the enemy.
Yoon Jong likewise kicked off the ground, surging forward like lightning.
The command he had just given was his last. Yoon Jong was, after all, a swordsman of Hwasan. If everyone else was wagering their lives, he would lay down his life as well.
“Hwasan stands here!”
The tension that had kept the man’s body taut slowly stepped away. Before long, he slowly lowered the sword he had unconsciously raised, and quietly turned to look at the person holding his shoulder. The man’s hand was rough and calloused.
When he lifted his gaze to the owner of the hand, a man with a gentle expression was smiling softly.
“Look at that.”
“….Sahyeong.”
Un Geom muttered, as if giving a sigh.
Just moments before, Un Geom had clearly seen it. Short though it was, it was undeniably a moment of hesitation. Having watched his disciple for a long time, he could tell.
He was about to hurry after him. Because he felt that whether it was a sharp rebuke or a warm encouragement, he needed to give him something.
If not for Un Am’s hand gripping his shoulder, Un Geom would have run straight to Yoon Jong.
“Sometimes, it’s better just to trust them.”
“…”
“Aren’t they already more than good enough? Certainly more so than empty husks like us.”
Un Geom let out a bitter laugh and shook his head.
“I feel sorry to even dare to compare.”
“That’s right.”
He knew. Even so, his eyes kept drifting to them. He couldn’t help feeling sorry and pained.
In terms of martial prowess or experience, the disciples had grown beyond comparison with them, yet he always felt anxious and concerned, as though watching a child playing by the water’s edge.
Yet Yoon Jong was… no, rather, all the disciples at this moment had proven it perfectly. That they no longer needed someone to push them forward or to hover over them nervously, worrying they might stumble.
Even without Chung Myung stepping up, even without Baek Cheon leading the way, Hwasan was still Hwasan.
The flowers they had brought into bloom were so dazzling that they hurt his eyes.
‘But still……’
On the other hand, strangely, he felt a bit hurt. As though he had just confirmed with his own eyes that there was no longer a place left for him.
“What are you doing?”
At that moment, Un Am stepped forward, sword in hand. Un Geom furrowed his brow slightly.
“What are you trying to do…….”
“Do you know?”
“What?”
“Even fertilizer* has its pride.”
Un Am glanced back at Un Geom and smiled brightly.
“No matter how insignificant the fertilizer may be, if not for me, how could such pretty flowers have bloomed?”
“…”
“Isn’t that so?”
Un Geom watched Un Am in silence for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“Yes… Sahyeong.”
“So let’s not dawdle any longer. We must finish what we’re here to do.”
Perhaps they would only get in the way. The skill of the Un generation could no longer match that of the Chung generation. No matter how much they tried to reestablish their training, they couldn’t turn back all those lost years.
But still, it didn’t matter. As Un Am said, even fertilizer has its pride.
“If someone must die, we should be the first.”
“Of course. That’s right.”
“Let’s go.”
“It’s been a while since we fought side by side.”
“But, Sahyeong. Do you even know how to use a sword?”
“…I thought I’d gotten rid of that cockiness of yours a long time ago.”
“There aren’t any kids around here, are there.”
“…Good grief.”
Clicking his tongue with a smile, Un Am kicked off the ground forcefully and charged ahead.
Un Geom followed right beside him. Seeing this, the few remaining members of the Un generation also followed behind.
‘Pride, huh?’
A small smile tugged at the corners of Un Geom’s mouth. With his one remaining hand, he gripped his sword tightly.
Boom!
“You, you bastards!”
A look of confusion spread across each of the Red Dogs’ faces.
Behind Wudang’s bastards throwing themselves forward relentlessly, without any thought of retreat, those accursed Hwasan’s bastards were also rushing in. Perhaps provoked by this, Jongnam’s forces began joining one after another.
“How dare you..!”
Red Dogs, brimming with anger, swung their blades violently.
Normally, only a limited number of people can stand on the front lines. To bring out the best combat power, there must be neither too many nor too few.
But now Cheonumaeng had broken that rule.
“Uwaaah!”
Everyone charged in.
Some driven by pent-up rage, some by hot-blooded vigor, and some by the sense of justice, they leaped over those in front to unleash their swords upon the enemy.
“I’ll do it!”
“Get out of the way!”
Hwasan, Wudang, and Jongnam.
Once, they competed for the supremacy of their swordsmanship, never able to draw close to one another. Alongside Shaolin, they were eternal rivals for the leading seat of Gupailbang.
Now, as though competing again, the swords of these three sects poured down upon the enemy.
The word ‘together’ still felt far off. Yet looking in the same direction wasn’t difficult. The swords of the three sects proved this as they precariously coexisted in a single place.
Kaaang!
Jongnam’s sword deflected the enemy’s sharp strike, Hwasan’s sword bewitched them, and then Wudang’s sword severed their breath.
Again. And again.
The momentum they had built up was so fierce that even they could hardly control it themselves. The moment someone wavered while blocking an enemy’s blade, another dashed forward as if waiting for the chance.
And so, the battle line they had carefully arranged collapsed in an instant.
Of course, Cheonumaneg wasn’t the only one caught in the collapse.
“These damn bast-… Guhk!”
The swords of completely different styles kept changing and striking from one moment to the next. For the already exhausted Sapaeryeon, dealing with those blades was simply too overwhelming.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Hot blood splattered and scattered in all directions.
“Charge!”
Sensing something, the swordsmen of the three sects each squeezed out every last bit of strength in an instant.
Even without anyone shouting or urging them on, they knew. This was the moment.
“You bastards….”
Unable to withstand that momentum anymore, Red Dogs were pushed back, and back again. Those from Sapaeryeon, failing to keep up, stood no chance against the three sects, whose momentum only grew stronger.
The sight of Cheonumaeng’s swordsmen, continuously leaping over the shoulders of those ahead to surge forward, resembled a massive landslide. It was an overwhelming disaster that no human power could halt.
“This is……”
Watching it all, Ho Gamyeong bit his lip until it bled.
There was no way he could hear a sound that didn’t exist, yet at that moment, Ho Gamyeong distinctly heard it. A cracking noise – like something was splitting apart. The sound of a serious fracture forming in the frontline that bore the destiny of this battlefield.
‘No!’
If that line collapses, there is no victory. Ho Gamyeong knew this all too well, and was about to make a move when he saw it.
‘That…….’
He caught sight of something he didn’t want to believe.
Beyond those who were pouring out everything they had, risking their all, the figure of a single person rose like an illusion.
For a moment, Ho Gamyeong simply stood there, blankly following that figure with his eyes.
Before his mind could even register it, his instincts knew who it was. Thus, he found himself muttering a name he wished he didn’t have to speak aloud.
“Maehwa….”
A name so detestable and loathsome that he could never forget it.
Ho Gamyeong shouted in a voice that boiled as if he were coughing up blood.
“Maehwa Geomgwi!”
Paaaaaaah!
As though in answer, crimson plum blossoms bloomed in the sky above the battlefield.
Carried on the blowing wind, the blossoms rapidly multiplied one by one until they became a crimson river flowing forth.
“Chuuuuung Myuuuuuung!”
The moment Chung Myung’s sword, which had risen high, came crashing down, that crimson river instantly turned into a massive waterfall that poured over the brink of the collapsing front line.
Kwaaaaaaang!
Those swept away by the fearsome wave of red sword energy couldn’t even scream before being hurled away in a spray of blood.
“Uh…..”
Sapaeryeon, as well as Cheonumaeng, froze for a moment. Then a thunderous shout snapped them out of it.
“What are you doing! Now’s our chance!”
“Pierce through at once!”
The space opened by the Plum Blossom Sword Energy.
Through that opening, the swordsmen of the three sects leaped forward. It was like a massive torrent surging through a burst dam.
Kurrurururung.
In Ho Gamyeong’s ears, the sound of the heavens collapsing roared, announcing that everything had fallen apart.
________
*거름 – manure, fertilizer muck. As they were talking about “brining those flowers into bloom/nurturing their disciples” they were implying that they are a fertilizer for the Hwasan to grow on.
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Return of the Mount Hua 
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