From now on, I’ll be the one to face you. (5)
Fwoooosh!
Brilliantly blooming plum blossoms burst forth and swept over the enemy.
“Uh…”
It was overwhelming enough to eradicate even the thought of resistance. Faced with a spectacle better described as a ‘calamity,’ the members of Sapaeryeon froze on the spot.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Dozens, hundreds of petals brushed past Saparyeon’s warriors. Bodies, still upright as they tried to withstand the sword energy, were shredded, pierced with dozens of holes.
“Guuh…….”
Thud. Thud.
Unable to endure the agony, the trembling enemies collapsed one after another, dead.
Where the illusion-like plum blossom sword energy had vanished, only a few corpses and silence remained.
“Ah…”
Baek Sang let out a faint groan. A chill crept down his spine.
It was the sword energy of Baek Cheon he knew – or perhaps something even greater.
“Sahyeong!”
Overwhelmed with astonishment, Baek Sang turned hastily towards Baek Cheon and shouted. His eyes brimmed with anticipation.
“How did you…”
Yet Baek Sang couldn’t finish his words.
On Baek Cheon’s face, as he slowly lowered his sword, rested an emotion too complex to be named. It carried a depth and heaviness Baek Sang could scarcely comprehend, leaving him momentarily speechless.
“Hah. Hah…”
Then Baek Cheon, struggling to steady his ragged breathing, closed his eyes. He fell silent for a moment, as if lost in deep contemplation, then opened his eyes again.
“Start with the children.”
“…Huh? Ah, yes!”
Baek Sang nodded hurriedly, still dazed.
“Hurry.”
“Yes!”
Baek Cheon was right. This was no time to marvel at his martial prowess.
Yet, Baek Sang couldn’t help but feel troubled. The sword energy Baek Cheon had just demonstrated, and that unfamiliar expression on his face, lingered vividly in his mind. It felt as if discomfort clung to his feet, hindering his steps.
Even so, Baek Sang ran first. He began tearing down the roughly-made wooden barriers blocking the cave entrance.
“Damn it! Treating people worse than beasts!”
Before Baek Sang had even moved his hands a few times, more than half of the wooden barrier had come away.
“It’s done! Come out, kids!”
Having made an opening large enough for a person to slip through, Baek Sang hurriedly poked his head inside. Yet from the spot where the children had surely been only moments ago came no response. Only silence returned.
“What are you doing? Hurry, it’s urgent!”
Baek Sang impatiently urged them on. At that moment, Baek Cheon lightly pulled him back by the shoulder.
“I’ll do it.”
Baek Sang glanced at Baek Cheon briefly, then stepped aside. Baek Cheon slipped into the newly opened space.
The darkness inside was so thick it momentarily felt as if he’d closed his eyes. The place was too dark and damp for humans to live in. After a moment, when his eyes adjusted to the surroundings, he saw several pairs of eyes staring straight at him.
They seemed to be trembling with anxiety.
“We are……”
Baek Cheon began to speak, then hesitated briefly. He gathered strength in his voice and continued.
“We’ve come from Hwasan.”
“…”
“Please trust us. We know you’re the children taken from Diancang. To save the elders of your sect, we need your help.”
“You… came to rescue us?”
Finally, a young voice echoed from within. Baek Cheon answered calmly.
“Yes. I know it must be hard to trust us easily right now, but…”
“I believe you.”
The voice cut off Baek Cheon’s words.
“Because I saw it. Just a moment ago… the plum blossoms.”
“Ah…”
Baek Cheon let out a slightly embarrassed sigh.
“The only sect in the world that makes plum blossoms bloom with their sword is Hwasan, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
From the darkness, one child stepped forward.
“We heard Hwasan is a sect that upholds righteousness. So, of course, you came to help us.”
It was a young girl. The moment he saw her face, Baek Cheon felt an overwhelming guilt that words couldn’t fully express. They had failed to protect Diancang. Hwasan couldn’t claim they were without responsibility for the children’s current plight.
But hearing such words from the children he had failed to protect felt, in a way, like a punishment. Some might have clicked their tongues, calling it excessive guilt, but at least for Baek Cheon, that’s how it felt.
“Let’s go.”
“Sajeo [사저(師姐)*], are you sure? It’s too dangerous…”
“Haven’t you heard that disciples shouldn’t fear danger? You’re disciples of Diancang. Don’t embarrass yourselves.”
When she spoke firmly, the rest of the children finally stepped forward all at once.
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon was momentarily stunned. Far more children emerged than he’d expected.
‘Were there this many?’
The interior must have been much larger than he’d imagined. At least a hundred children poured out from the darkness.
‘Yu Gong was right.’
Finding a hidden place large enough to secretly hold more than a hundred children wouldn’t have been easy. Discovering such a location was impressive on its own.
Baek Cheon carefully observed the children.
They all looked worn and ragged, their faces pale. Just a glance told how much suffering they’d endured since the day Diancang fell beneath Jang Ilso’s feet.
Yet their eyes still shone with clarity.
“What should we do?”
Baek Cheon could not help but let out a bitter laugh.
‘What exactly was I thinking?’
Had he imagined himself rescuing trembling children and comforting crying ones? Had he hoped, even belatedly, to save Diancang by rescuing them?
They might be young, but they were undoubtedly martial artists. They knew what they needed to do and what they had to protect.
‘These children must not be used as tools.’
If the elders of Hwasan, who had sacrificed everything to protect their own disciples, could see Baek Cheon now, they would have surely scolded him. Children must not become tools. They did not exist for the sake of the sect. Rather, the sect existed for their sake.
Protecting these children had to come first.
‘Only now do I grasp it…’
Unconsciously, Baek Cheon clutched tightly at his chest. He felt something stir deeply within him.
‘It must be my imagination.’
Shaking his head, Baek Cheon turned decisively.
“Everyone, follow us. We’ll lead the way. I won’t promise it won’t be dangerous. But I swear we’ll protect you.”
“Wait a moment.”
“Hm?”
Several of Diancang’s children dashed swiftly outside. They promptly seized swords and blades from the hands of the fallen Sapas.
“We should protect ourselves.”
“Damn right. If only we’d had our swords, we wouldn’t have been beaten by those guys.”
“Says the one who was shaking like a leaf.”
“When did I ever?!”
Hearing the children squabble, Baek Cheon quietly chuckled to himself.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Baek Cheon nodded decisively and ran ahead. Behind him and Baek Sang, the children from Diancang rushed up and formed ranks.
Catching sight of them, Baek Cheon turned slightly and spoke softly to the girl following behind him.
“Are you Daesajeo [대사저(大師姐)*] among those kids?”
“Huh? No, my name is Ok Danghyang [옥당향(玉堂香)]. I’m a disciple of Emei.”
Surprised, Baek Cheon quickly glanced at her.
“Huh? E-Emei?”
“Yes.”
Meeting his eyes, the girl nodded as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“But… why would an Emei disciple be here?”
“Because I was captured, obviously.”
“Ah, r-right.”
Speechless, Baek Cheon nodded blankly. He hadn’t heard anything about disciples from sects other than Diancang being captured.
“We were caught before the Diancang kids. While trying to look after the children captured after us, my voice unintentionally became the loudest.”
“…So that’s how it is. But didn’t you just say you were Diancang’s disciple earlier?”
“I said, ‘You’re the disciples of Diancang.’ Most of the kids here are from Diancang, after all.”
“…I see I can’t win.”
Baek Cheon burst into laughter. Even in such difficult circumstances, this child had done the best she could.
‘I was arrogant.’
He had felt that too much rested upon his shoulders, upon the shoulders of Hwasan.
But children like these were still growing in the world. One day, they would be the ones to bear its weight.
‘What I needed to do was to protect these children’s futures. It was never my role to be the center of it all.’
Throb.
“Ugh.”
Suddenly, a sharp, tearing pain seized his chest again. Baek Cheon bent over in agony.
‘What is this? It’s not my dantian.’
Pain from his shattered dantian would be understandable. But this agony radiated from near his heart, a place that had never been struck.
“Are you alright?”
“Huh? Ah, I’m fine.”
“Then why are we moving so slowly? You haven’t even used your lightfoot techniques. We can go faster if you like.”
“…Yes, of course.”
Baek Cheon nodded awkwardly. Seeing his strained expression, Baek Sang quickly answered in his stead.
“…There might still be ambushes ahead, so it’s safer to move cautiously.”
“Ah, I see.”
Ok Danghyang nodded in understanding. Relieved, Baek Sang quietly checked on Baek Cheon’s condition.
Baek Cheon’s face was expressionless, yet that only made Baek Sang’s thoughts all the more tangled.
‘Sahyeong…?’
That earlier complicated and heavy expression, and now the inability to even use lightfoot techniques. These two factors clearly signified something serious. Baek Sang bit down on his lip.
Now wasn’t the time for sorrow or pity. Right now, they had to…
“There’s the exit, Sahyeong.”
“Good.”
Seeing the flood of light pouring in, Baek Cheon kicked hard off the ground.
‘For now, saving these children comes first.’
He had to rescue them and inform Diancang, easing their hearts. If only he could manage that…
‘Nothing else matters. My body, my life, none of it.’
He could only pray earnestly.
That the faint warmth remaining within his ravaged body wouldn’t fade before fulfilling his mission.
That he might retain enough strength to complete his final duty.
Baek Cheon mustered all his strength as he emerged from the cave.
“Everyone, be caref…”
“That goes for you first.”
At the sudden voice, Baek Cheon’s eyes widened. A black shadow swiftly rushed towards him.
Had it been him in the past – or even just moments ago – he would have had more than enough strength to react and dodge such a surprise attack. But the current Baek Cheon had no power left.
The blade swung by the black figure came flying straight at him, and a chilling sensation soon swept across Baek Cheon’s chest.
Fwoooosh!
His vision flushed crimson, accompanied by a burning sensation running across his chest.
“Saaahyeoooong!”
A desperate cry erupted, swiftly fading into the distance. His ears rang.
Thud.
His knees slammed into the ground.
‘No… this can’t…’
The world, dyed red, quickly blurred before his eyes.
‘Not yet… not yet…’
His body slowly collapsed forward.
“Saaaaahyeoooong! Aaaaaaaaagh! Saaaahyeooooong!”
The echoing cries could barely be heard now.
Thump.
‘Chung Myung-ah…’
Baek Cheon’s blood seeped into the earth, staining it the color of plum blossoms. A red so vivid, it was almost sorrowful.
________
*사저(師姐) – Sajeo – Senior Sister (like Senior Brother, which is Sahyeong).
*대사저(大師姐) – Daesajeo – like Daesahyeong – the great disciple, or the eldest disciple of the generation.
________
OKAY. THERE ARE SIGNS. Signs that he had felt something in his chest, near his heart, rather than in his dantian. And his martial arts were spectacular and beautiful (and biga kept going over it again and again in several chapters), and Baek Sang thinks that Baek Cheon somehow seemed stronger. HE WILL LIVE (im delirious).
________
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Return of the Mount Hua 
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