Return of the Mount Hua

It’s different from before. (3)

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“Uh…”

A bewildered exclamation escaped Yoon Jong’s lips.

‘What just……?’

His mind could not make sense of what had happened before his eyes.

A dream? His life flashing before his eyes? Or perhaps a vision experienced by someone already dead.

Any of those three made more sense than the idea that what was happening was real. Yet the pain coursing through his body and the vividness of his surroundings told him clearly.

This was reality, nothing more and nothing less.

Yoon Jong’s gaze shifted from the blue sky he had been staring blankly at to his sword.

An ordinary plum blossom sword. That sword had just split Heavenly Executioner’s fist force in two. Something no sword technique or divine art of Hwasan could accomplish, a mere basic move of the Six Harmonies Sword, and a half-baked one wildly swung about at that…

It seemed Yoon Jong was not the only one dumbfounded by this. Tang Soso spoke to him in a dazed voice.

“What… what on earth did you do, Sahyeong?”

Naturally, Yoon Jong could not answer. He merely thought.

‘Is this the sort of thing that punk Chung Myung used to show us?’

A tingling sensation raced up his spine.

He could neither understand nor explain it. Reproduce it? Of course that was impossible. Perhaps he would never again be able to wield a sword like this for the rest of his life.

But one thing was certain.

Though only for an instant, Yoon Jong had glimpsed ‘what lies beyond.’ That realm which all swordsmen strive to reach – the state of becoming one with the world. A realm so lofty that even its name felt unfamiliar…

“So this is the Realm of Nature*.”

A deep voice pierced Yoon Jong’s ears. Startled by the term that had left Heavenly Executioner’s lips, Yoon Jong fixed his gaze on him.

Heavenly Executioner’s lips twitched a few times. After a brief silence as he pondered, the words he finally offered were simpler than expected.

“…Absurd.”

Yet even Yoon Jong could not help agreeing. The Realm of Nature. How could that possibly make any sense.

With his brow deeply furrowed, Heavenly Executioner stared intently at Yoon Jong.

‘Right. It’s not as if he’s reached the Realm of Nature or anything absurd like that. But still…’

What would have happened if that sword had been directed at him just now?

There was no way to know. But at the very least, he wouldn’t have emerged unscathed. Even someone like him couldn’t deflect such an absolute sword technique – erupting at a moment when it was least expected – without suffering some damage.

Moreover, what bewildered Heavenly Executioner was not the fact that he had avoided injury thanks to his opponent’s lack of skill.

“…I cannot even make sense of what happened. Do all those bastards from Hwasan pull absurd stunts like this?”

At most, the brat was at the Peak Realm [절정(絕頂)]. Even by the most generous assessment, he was a mere upstart who might have dipped a fingertip into Sublime Realm [화경(化境)]**.

And someone like that had suddenly unleashed a sword strike that even he would struggle to withstand? This overturned everything known about martial arts. Even demonic arts, which were said to defy conventional martial principles, offered no precedent for this.

A faint groan escaped Heavenly Executioner’s lips.

‘A Taoist…’

If he had to fit this into his understanding, that would have to be the explanation.

Taoists and Buddhist monks did not pursue martial arts solely to become stronger in the first place. For them, martial arts were ultimately a means to enlightenment. They attained enlightenment through cultivation akin to ascetic practice. In other words, the principle was that the stronger they became, the greater the understanding of the Tao they could find.

But what if one considered this from an opposite perspective?

If that were true, could a practitioner’s enlightenment, in turn, determine their realm of martial attainment?

The enlightenment attained as a Taoist. To give it a name, crude though the term may be, it was the stature [격(格)] of a cultivator. Would that not mean that as this stature rose, their sword could grow stronger with it?

Of course, a mere third-rate martial artist could not suddenly emerge one day as a supreme master simply by attaining enlightenment once. But using that enlightenment as a medium to momentarily set foot in the Absolute Realm***… might be possible.

Crack.

Heavenly Executioner clenched his fist tightly.

“Damn it, I do not even know what I am thinking.”

This was unlike him. What mattered was not explaining the phenomenon that had unfolded before his eyes. That man was his enemy, and whatever tricks he pulled, all Heavenly Executioner had to do was crush him to death. That alone mattered.

“I’m curious.”

Heavenly Executioner bared his teeth.

“Whether you can pull off that bizarre stunt again. If you can, I will acknowledge you as a worthy opponent.”

At that, Yoon Jong could not help letting out a hollow laugh. Unleash that same sword technique again?

‘Dying and coming back to life seems easier.’

But this was no time to weigh whether it was possible. If he could do it, he would live, and if he could not, he would die. And not just him – all of them.

Keeping his gaze fixed on Heavenly Executioner, Yoon Jong spat the words at Tang Soso.

“Stay back.”

“But, Sahyeong!”

“It’s not because you’re in the way.”

Yoon Jong bit his lip firmly.

“Help me focus entirely on myself.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Tang Soso nodded. Right now, it seemed best to do as Yoon Jong said.

“Whew…”

Sensing her retreat, Yoon Jong let out a short breath.

He might have seemed like someone extraordinary now, but who knew. His hand gripping the sword was still trembling faintly.

‘It’s unfair.’

After accomplishing something so incredible, nothing remained with him. Neither the sensation of swinging the sword nor the awe of glimpsing the Absolute Realm.

Ironically, Yoon Jong’s state had not changed at all from moments before. Not even the slightest fragment remained of how he had swung his sword or how he had perceived the world.

But upon reflection, that was only right.

If the true nature of the sword technique he had just unleashed was the result of being as in sync with nature as he could possibly be, then nothing about it could have felt unfamiliar.

‘I understand it in my head……’

It was a little cruel. Wasn’t it? To think that nothing had changed at all. He was still weak, still afraid, and still wanted to run away.

But at the same time, Yoon Jong felt it. Something unfamiliar stirring within his unchanged self.

Had there ever been such a moment? A moment when something depended on his sword, on his strength? Had anyone ever placed their hopes in his sword? Had he himself ever truly placed his hopes in it?

Squeeze.

Yoon Jong tightened his grip on the sword’s hilt. At the same time, he fixed his gaze squarely on Heavenly Executioner.

‘One’s own sword.’

Wasn’t that what that rascal Chung Myung had said. That everyone had their own sword. That there was no need to try to follow someone else, or let what others possessed draw your gaze away.

He had thought they were merely words meant to console those who could not move forward…

‘I owe him an apology.’

And to do that, he would have to survive.

“Insolent.”

Heavenly Executioner’s face contorted with rage. At the same time, his body transformed into a black streak [흑선(黑線) – black line] and surged towards Yoon Jong.

A realm he had touched once before. A single sword strike that seemed like a dream. Recreating that strike…

‘No.’

Yoon Jong was not that kind of person. No matter how radiant what had once come into his grasp might be, no matter how beautiful, so much so that he could barely resist surrendering his soul to it… Yoon Jong would not be beguiled.

Even if it lay within reach of his outstretched hand, he would not be swept away by desire.

The Tao was not some dazzling thing that lay far beyond. It was merely something small at the far end of the path formed by each step he took now.

Yoon Jong charged forward to meet him and unleashed his sword.

“Hm?”

Perhaps he had never imagined Yoon Jong would attack him head-on, for even Heavenly Executioner himself reacted a moment too late. He had missed his chance to counterattack.

Blocking it would be simple. It would pose no difficulty.

But the memory of that single strike, seared into Heavenly Executioner’s mind, ultimately made him draw back.

And as though he had anticipated this reaction, Yoon Jong immediately spun around and pressed after Heavenly Executioner. A sword brimming with crimson energy. The clear, refreshing immortal energy flowing through it surged as if dancing as the blade descended towards Heavenly Executioner’s head.

Crack.

Perhaps deciding that retreating any farther would be a disgrace, Heavenly Executioner planted his feet and drove his fist towards Yoon Jong’s incoming sword.

Craaaash!

It should have shattered. It should have been crushed.

But once again, Yoon Jong’s sword split his fist force. Like a carp swimming up a cascading waterfall, seemingly about to be pushed back, to be swept away, it resisted to the very end and cut through his demonic energy.

In that instant, Heavenly Executioner was certain.

He was not imagining it. This man’s sword disrupted demonic energy. However casually he had thrown that punch, its force should have been far beyond what that man could possibly withstand.

And yet his sword was accomplishing the impossible.

The fact that this man had stepped, however briefly, into a realm he could not have dared imagine was surely connected to this as well.

‘The Tao?’

Heavenly Executioner ground his teeth fiercely.

“Pathetic tricks!”

Whoooooooosh.

He had no intention of humoring those who prattled on about the ‘Tao’ or enlightenment – concepts he found utterly laughable.

Heavenly Executioner had not forgotten. What had ultimately defeated the Demonic Cult was power, not the Tao or the Buddhist teachings they spoke of.

That man’s sword – had it not been for the blade of that man who had been nothing like a Taoist, the Central Plains would have fallen beneath the Demonic Cult’s feet long ago.

“Ooooooh!”

Heavenly Executioner thrust his fist forward with all his might.

It was an immense fist strike. It seemed as though Heavenly Executioner’s resentment and fury had been poured into it in their entirety.

He would pulverize the enemy before him without leaving so much as a scrap of flesh behind. Even if this man unleashed the same sword as before.

With that intent unmistakably embodied in it, the punch surged forward, crushing Yoon Jong’s immortal energy.

For an instant, Yoon Jong’s gaze wavered.

Noticing this, Heavenly Executioner’s lips curled upward. How exhilarating it was to make those who prattled on about things that could neither be defined nor measured realize the despairing gap in strength between them!

But Heavenly Executioner’s brief elation soon gave way to realization. The wavering Yoon Jong had shown was by no means despair.

Thud!

“Ghk…….”

A groan escaped Heavenly Executioner’s lips. Something has been driven into his back. An absurd blunder. An opening he would never have exposed had the man before him not claimed all of his attention.

“Just because I took a hit… did you think I’d collapse and take a damn… nap?”

Even so, charging at Heavenly Executioner’s back while he wielded his demonic energy was impossible without staking one’s life.

Heavenly Executioner clenched his teeth.

‘So what?’

Craaaash!

His demonic energy erupted.

‘Did you think that would change anything?’

He paid no attention whatsoever to the person who had plunged a sword into his back. What he had to do now was grind the man before him into dust. True to that purpose, his punch hurtled towards Yoon Jong as though to swallow him whole.

Just as Yoon Jong, no longer able even to swing his sword, was about to squeeze his eyes shut, golden Buddhist light surged before him. Yoon Jong opened his eyes again.

‘Monk?’

Hye Yeon had risen to his feet and seized the brief opening Jo Geol had created to intercept Heavenly Executioner’s attack.

Crack.

Though he had barely managed to intervene, Hye Yeon, while being injured, could not possibly withstand Heavenly Executioner’s punch alone when it would have been difficult even at his full strength.

Though it lasted but an instant, the freedom gained through Hye Yeon’s presence allowed Yoon Jong’s sword to move once more.

The sword that had soared to the sky slashed downward. Tracing an irregular path free from deliberate artifice.

It was not the sword he had unleashed before. A sword so inferior that even comparing the two would be embarrassing. If that previous sword had contained the vast ocean, what this sword bore was merely a fragment of it.

But even that was enough to cut through the wounded, exhausted body of a demonic martial artist pushed to his limits.

Slaaaash!

Yoon Jong’s sword sliced into Heavenly Executioner’s demonic energy.

Surging with clear immortal energy, Yoon Jong’s sword finally cleaved straight through the punch and buried itself in Heavenly Executioner’s shoulder.

Crrrack!

It was the moment a Taoist’s sword pierced clean through a demonic being’s flesh.

Special Spinoff Chapter 78 >>>

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*자연경(自然境) – see the notes and more about concepts of nature in taoism, and 自然 (ziran) in Chapter 1957. 

**I’m not sure why biga skipped from peak realm into sublime realm, kinda omitted transcendent peak… Note about the realms is in Chapter 1974.

***Written here as 절대의 영역 also mentioned in the sources as 절대경(絶對境). Though I’m not sure where it stands in the reference to the realm of life and death. 

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