It’s nice that it’s simple, isn’t it? (2)
“You, y-you… filthy vermin!”
The enraged Red Dogs ground their teeth. Even in the midst of their fury, confusion began to cloud their faces.
They had once lost track of Jang Ilso. The reason, of course, was that Jang Ilso had shared his plans with no one, not even the Red Dogs, yet to them that offered no excuse.
To them, the very meaning of life was to serve Jang Ilso and obey his commands. Losing his trail was bad enough. They had even placed him in danger. There could be no more humiliating situation than this. It was something to drive one to a rage so fierce it required no time to fester.
They could swear there was no one on this earth angrier than themselves at this moment.
And yet…
They suddenly faced lunatics [광인(狂人)] whose wrath burned even fiercer, consuming everything they had.
Before they could be any more bewildered, one of the masked men charged in again. A relentless barrage of attacks poured down.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A sword brimming with energy hammered against the Red Dog’s blade without a pause. It was less of an assault and more of a desperate onslaught.
‘You lunatic!’
The Red Dog’s eyes trembled with confusion.
Sword energy or not, a sword was never meant to meet a heavy blade head-on. As proof, with each clash, deep notches were being carved into the sword’s edge, yet the masked attacker showed no sign of stopping his mad assault.
It was nothing more, nothing less, than the suicide of a madman.
But what if such lunacy was erupting all over the battlefield all at once? In another sense, it was turning into pure terror.
“Enough already!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Red Dog shouted, grinding his teeth as he forcefully swung his blade aside. The cheap iron sword, struck head-on by the heavy blade, bent and bounced away, looking as if it would snap at any moment.
“Die!”
Not missing the opening, the Red Dog swung his blade sideways with full force.
But at that moment, two eyes gleamed chillingly through the holes in the mask. Instantly, the masked man thrust his forearm out towards the blade slicing through the air. The movement was made without a hint of hesitation.
‘Is he insane….?’
Crunch!
The blade dug straight into the flesh, biting into the bone. It had plunged so deep that it might as well have split the bone more than halfway through.
Crack!
Then, at that moment, the arm with the blade buried in it tightened. At once, its muscles began to clamp down on the embedded blade.
Crack! Crack!
A ghastly, chilling sound echoed as metal ground against bone. Merely imagining the agony sent shivers crawling down one’s spine.
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”
Yet the masked man seemed to feel no pain at all… no, as though such things had never even mattered, he kept swinging his sword.
Crunch!
The blade’s movement was sealed, and the sword pierced Red Dog’s torso as he staggered in shock.. Still gripping the weapon in a reverse hold, the masked man yanked it out and slammed it down again and again.
“Gaaaaaaah!”
Screaming in unbearable agony, Red Dog eventually lost his grip on his blade and collapsed. The intense pain surging through his chest was causing his eyelids to twitch uncontrollably.
“Y-You lunatic, your arm…”
“Arm?”
At the sound of Red Dog’s seemingly terrified voice, the masked man finally glanced down at his own left arm. Due to his vigorous strikes, the remaining portion of the limb had been nearly severed completely, hanging loosely by just a thin strip of flesh.
“This?”
But his expression remained indifferent, as if he were looking at someone else’s limb. Instead, he raised his sword high.
Slice!
With a single clean stroke he sliced off the cumbersome, dangling arm.
Thud.
The neatly severed arm hit the ground. Without so much as a glance at it, the masked man strode towards the Red Dog.
“What about the arm?”
“…Y-You monster…”
Cold sweat drenched Red Dog’s face. Fear slowly but surely seeped into his wavering eyes.
It was not because the man’s martial skill was superior. If the Red Dog hadn’t been swept away by this overwhelming madness, the man before him wouldn’t even have been considered his match.
Even so, Red Dog’s knees trembled now, for he sensed that this lunatic clung to life solely to kill the man before him, harboring not the slightest attachment to his own survival.
The masked man spoke calmly, his voice low and even.
“A body only means something to those still alive. You know? We weren’t even allowed to die.”
No, it wasn’t calm – it was a dried-out voice, hollowed out until nothing remained within it.
“What’s the matter? Why are you looking at me like that? Not so long ago, you wouldn’t have looked at me with such eyes.”
“Y-You… filthy insect…”
“Right, an insect. That’s exactly how you saw me. I still remember – the look in your eyes when you watched the Sect Leader licking Jang Ilso’s feet.”
The masked man’s sword trembled faintly.
“We were already dead then. All that stand here are wraiths [망령(亡靈)] who were robbed even of the chance to die. After clutching to these foul lives by sheer stubbornness, we’ve finally gotten a single chance – to bury a blade in your necks. And an arm? What is an arm worth?”
The masked man let out a brief laugh.
“You made us this way. Come along. Since these lives were forfeit anyway, dragging at least one more of you down will make it a little less unfair.”
In a single motion, the masked man rushed forward, thrusting his sword into the Red Dog’s heart.
Crunch!
Red Dog desperately grasped the blade with both hands, struggling to stop it from penetrating his chest. But the masked man’s sword, heavy with a terrible grudge, gradually sank deeper.
“Gurgh… gurrgh…”
With that strange sound, bloody foam bubbled in the Red Dog’s mouth. The masked man etched every detail into his eyes without so much as a blink.
“Dian… cang…”
“Do not dare speak that name. Even I can no longer bear to utter it.”
Crunch!
The blade pierced clean through Red Dog’s chest.
“Go first. When we meet again in hell… I’ll kill you once more.”
The final words never reached the Red Dog, whose breath had already ceased. It did not matter. The vengeful spirit, his eyes blazing with ghost-fire [귀화(鬼火)], had already turned to seek new prey.
A scene no different from hell unfolded before his eyes.
Traitors from the Just Sects swung their swords at the mad dogs of the Evil Sects, while the villains, who had lost their masters, plunged their blades into the traitors of the Just Sects.
Each time one Red Dog fell, two or three fellow disciples of Diancang lost their lives. Yet the masked men felt no particular sorrow.
They were already as good as dead anyway. In fact, being alive was more painful than dying. Everyone knew that, even if they managed to survive, only greater suffering awaited them.
That was why this was both revenge and their final act of exorcism*.
“Hahah… ha.”
Crunch.
Holding tightly onto his severed arm to stop the bleeding, the masked man laughed bitterly.
‘How suffocating.’
Suddenly the mask felt unbearably cumbersome. Yet he could not remove it. Killing just one mad dog of the Evil Sects was nowhere near enough to earn them the right to look up at the sky.
They could never be forgiven.
Even if the whole world forgave them, they themselves never would.
All that remained was a chilling desire for revenge. And…….
The masked man slowly glanced back. Though nothing stood behind him now, his gaze lingered far away, towards something invisible to the naked eye.
He lifted his remaining hand and pressed the mask down even more tightly.
He had to die as a complete nobody, even if it was nothing but a play which ending everyone already knew.
“Hoo….. Aaaaargh!”
Expelling every ounce of boiling rage from deep within, the masked man yanked the sword from the Red Dog’s heart, then immediately moved on in search of another enemy.
Today they would all die here.
“Aaargh!”
A blade swept across, and Baek Sang, startled, rolled frantically on the ground.
The moment Red Dogs, eyes blazing, leapt at him, masked men burst from behind Baek Sang and tore into the Red Dogs like a pack of jackals.
Clang!
“Dieeee!”
Still collapsed on the ground, Baek Sang panted for breath, staring blankly at the fierce clash of swords and blades unfolding before his eyes.
“Ah… Damn it… I really might die here.”
Baek Sang, too, knew the honor he had to uphold as a disciple of Hwasan. He was not the shameless sort who could sit back in delight while someone else stepped forward to fight in his stead.
But the situation was what it was. Everything Baek Sang had endured today had been overwhelming. Even just getting here, he’d lost count of how many times he’d barely escaped death.
Because he had rushed to join the fight, he hadn’t even been able to circulate his qi properly, and now he truly didn’t have the strength to so much as lift a finger.
“Then the least he could do was to protect me for a bit! That damn jerk, seriously!”
Baek Sang scowled, eyes narrowed sharply, as he glared at Baek Cheon rampaging in the distance. Baek Cheon was pushing back the Red Dogs, unleashing streams of crimson plum blossom sword energy. Just watching him was truly satisfying…
“Ah, no. This isn’t it! Satisfying, my ass.”
Shaking his head vigorously, Baek Sang slowly shifted his body. Staying here would make him nothing but a hindrance. He planned to get up subtly and slip away, when…
Pwaaaaaang!
“What the… Aaaaaaack!”
Something came hurtling in and slammed into the ground right in front of him – it was the severed head** of Diancang’s swordsman.
“Hwasan!”
And in that instant Baek Sang saw a Red Dog, drenched head to toe in blood, glaring fiercely at him with burning eyes.
“…I’m going to lose my mind, seriously.”
Baek Sang weakly lifted his sword.
Honestly, facing a Red Dog in his current state was the same as choosing death. But he couldn’t run away either.
“Fine, come on then! You bastard!”
“Kraaaahhh!”
With a beast-like roar the Red Dog closed the distance in a single breath. Baek Sang clenched his teeth and braced himself.
Paaaaaaaaat!
A sharp, piercing whistle brushed past his ears, and a lightning-fast sword energy ruthlessly penetrated the Red Dog’s neck from the side.
“Guhk!”
The Red Dog, a gaping black hole in his throat, struggled as if unable to believe what had happened, trying desperately to turn his eyes – then collapsed on the spot.
“Haaaaaah…….”
As Baek Sang’s legs buckled and he staggered, someone quickly stepped in to support him.
“Are you all right, Sasuk?”
“Y-Yoon Jong!”
Seeing Yoon Jong suddenly appear, Baek Sang felt tears welling in his eyes. Watching the nearly sobbing beggar – no, Baek Sang – Yoon Jong clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“What the heck, look at your state…? Just tell me, what has happened?”
“I-I really thought I was going to die…”
“No, not you, Sasuk.”
“Hm?”
“I mean Baek Cheon Sasuk.”
“…”
A faint sense of betrayal, mixed with a complicated expression, flickered across Baek Sang’s face. Yoon Jong urgently pressed again, his curiosity clearly reaching its peak.
“How did he show up perfectly fine? Did he really undergo a rebirth through transformation*** or something?”
“Seems so.”
“…..What?”
“I said it seems so. Well, I don’t know exactly either.”
Yoon Jong’s eyes trembled slightly.
A true body transformation – he’d only heard of such things in legends. Could it actually be real? And Baek Cheon, not Chung Myung, had undergone it?
“What exactly happened?”
“But aren’t you even curious about me? I went through hell too, you know…”
“Yes, yes. You had a rough time. Tell me about that later.”
“…..You rotten brat.”
Baek Sang muttered, feeling a different kind of tears welling up.
“It’s too long to explain. This isn’t the time.”
“Then give me the short version.”
“Huh?”
“I need to know, so I can understand the situation clearly.”
Determination stronger than ever settled on Yoon Jong’s face. He clearly wouldn’t back down without an explanation.
Knowing Yoon Jong’s stubbornness well, Baek Sang let out a heavy sigh.
“Well, so here’s how it all happened…”
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*살풀이(煞풀이) – Salpuri – shamanistic ritual to dispel bad spirits or release resentment or lingering emotions (especially of the dead). 살풀이춤 – Salpuri-Chum – shamanistic dance ritual.
**수급(首級) – head of an enemy taken in battle – refers specifically to the decapitated head of an opponent, often as proof of victory or bounty.
***환골탈태 – When a master who has reached a high level of cultivation gains great internal energy and enlightenment, their body transforms into one more suited for martial arts in order to assimilate that energy and insight. This process is called 환골탈태 (hwangol-taltae, “rebirth through transformation”).
Naturally, the gap between a master who has undergone hwangol-taltae and one who hasn’t is even greater than the difference between a martial artist who can wield sword energy and one who cannot – thus, it can be considered a defining trait of a true master.
To achieve hwangol-taltae, one usually must open the Ren meridian [임맥(任脈)] and Du meridian [독맥(督脈)] as well as pass through the Gate of Life and Death [생사현관(生死玄關)]. However, although the Ren and Du meridians are open at birth, they gradually become blocked by accumulated impurities in the body as one grows older. Therefore, unblocking them requires immense internal energy and enlightenment – and if done incorrectly, not only will hwangol-taltae fail, but it may even lead to death.
When hwangol-taltae is achieved, no matter the person’s age, their body reverts to a youthful and optimal state for activity.
In more recent martial arts novels, the most important narrative function of hwangol-taltae is complete healing. It has become a popular cliche: after a fierce duel with a rival, the protagonist lies dying with fatal wounds, only to attain enlightenment at the brink of death – and their shattered body undergoes hwangol-taltae and is miraculously revived.
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What is happening today? Ghosts, wraiths, vengeful spirits, ghost-fires, shamanistic exorcism?…
Also the vocabulary biga used in describing what might have happened to Baek Cheon is giving us the biggest hint.
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Return of the Mount Hua 
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