Chapter 248
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 248
Chapter Title: What Hyunjin Will Protect
Hyunjin did not charge toward the Mountain King.
He chose the path of protecting his junior brother Hyunseong instead of seeking revenge on his mortal enemy.
“Junior Brother Hyunseong!”
He shoved the defenseless Hyunseong behind him out of the way of the Mountain King’s whisker blades and drew a circle with his sword.
The pinnacle of flowing swordplay, the Taiji Sword Method, deflected the blades.
No, it tried to.
-Clang!
“…!”
But at that exact moment, Hyunjin’s Songmungogeom—whose blade had been chipped away in places by bursts of qi—snapped clean in two with a sharp crack.
At the sudden breakage of his sword, Hyunjin failed to properly twist the trajectory of the incoming blade.
-Shunk!
The Mountain King’s whisker blade sliced straight across his chest.
“Guh… ack!”
“Senior Brother—!”
“Hyunjin!”
Blood sprayed from his chest as Hyunjin collapsed.
Cries mixed with screams rang in his ears, and a blaze of pure white flames swirled before his eyes.
It seemed Cheong and Hong, who had been nearby, had leaped in to save him.
But none of the chaos around him registered in Hyunjin’s mind.
Blood droplets spraying into the air and the white flames.
Beyond them, something fluttering behind the Mountain King’s horns captured his gaze.
‘That’s…!’
A familiar blue hue peeking out from behind the massive horns.
He reached toward the vivid blue tassel against the beast’s red fur, but his body only drifted farther away, against his will.
-Thud!
Hyunjin finally hit the ground.
Hyunseong rushed to his side in a panic.
“S-Senior Brother…! Are you all right?”
“Huh, huff….”
Unable to properly answer his junior brother’s question, Hyunjin gasped for breath and laboriously felt at his chest.
A searing pain shot through his fingers the moment they touched the wound.
Gritting his teeth against the agonizing torment, he examined it closely and found the injury shallower than he’d feared.
Though his sword had shattered, he had deflected the attack to some degree.
With that thought, Hyunjin struggled to his feet.
The wound was shallower than expected, and he could still move.
In that case, he had to stand and fight again.
“Grr, grrr…!”
Clenching his teeth, Hyunjin forced himself upright once more.
Blood now soaked his chest, but he ignored it and stared ahead.
With the suicide squad all knocked out, Cheong and Hong were battling the Mountain King in their stead.
They withstood the great tiger’s assaults with astonishing power, just as before, but they looked precarious, as if they might collapse in a spray of blood at any moment.
“Senior Brother, you can’t move like that recklessly. The wound will reopen….”
“Junior Brother.”
“Y-Yes?”
Hyunseong stammered, flustered by Hyunjin cutting him off.
Hyunjin lowered his head and whispered softly into his ear.
Hyunseong’s face betrayed his shock upon hearing the whisper.
“What? What do you…?”
“Please. It’ll only take a moment. Tell the elders and the other junior brothers.”
Hyunseong stared at him for a moment with an indescribable expression at Hyunjin’s strangely resolute tone, then finally nodded.
He moved off to relay the message to the others.
Watching Hyunseong’s retreating back for a brief instant, Hyunjin turned to face the Mountain King battling Cheong and Hong.
More precisely, the hilt of a pine-patterned sword deeply embedded behind its horns.
He knew exactly what that was. He couldn’t not know.
“…Senior Brother.”
It was Hyunwoon’s sword hilt.
He recognized it instantly from the blue tassel tied to it.
It was the only item his senior brother Hyunwoon had received from their mother when he left his parents as a child to climb Mount Wudang.
Though he had severed worldly ties upon receiving his Taoist name, Hyunwoon had always cherished that blue tassel and kept it tied to his sword hilt.
They had only managed to recover part of the broken blade from where the body was retrieved, unable to find the rest—never imagining it had lodged in the beast’s skull.
Amid his shock, thinking of Hyunwoon fighting the Mountain King to his very last breath stirred something deep inside him.
“…Hoo.”
Hyunjin squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath to steel himself, then slowly opened them and gazed once more at Hyunwoon’s sword hilt.
The hilt was embedded precisely in the crown of the Mountain King’s head.
For any living creature, a sword hilt buried in the center of its skull would be inevitably fatal—it felt like Hyunwoon himself guiding him.
Here.
Right here was the beast’s weakness.
Hyunwoon’s voice seemed to echo in his ears, resounding in his mind.
Hearing it, Hyunjin slowly stepped toward the Mountain King.
One step, two steps.
His narrow strides widened, his pace quickened, until he broke into a full sprint.
Blood spurted from the wound on his chest, bringing waves of excruciating pain, but he gritted his teeth and pressed on.
“Hyunjin?”
“W-What!?”
Cheong and Hong, in the midst of battling the Mountain King, gaped in bewilderment as Hyunjin charged past them at full speed.
To them, unaware of the situation, he must have looked like he’d lost his mind.
Of course, Hyunjin wasn’t mad.
Nor did he have a death wish.
He was seizing an opportunity.
The opportunity Hyunwoon had left behind to protect Wudang and his senior brothers.
-Grrr-!
Meanwhile, the Mountain King sneered mockingly at Hyunjin charging toward it.
What could this fool, whose weapon had shattered, possibly hope to accomplish?
To the Mountain King, ignorant of his intent, Hyunjin looked like nothing more than a moth to the flame.
-Roar!
Hyunjin reached it in an instant.
As the Mountain King gaped its jaws to bite off his head in one go, Hyunjin leaped high into the air.
-Boom!
Far higher than the Mountain King’s stature.
A height impossible for any ordinary human.
“That’s… Young Master Goon’s…?”
Cheong and Hong murmured in astonishment upon seeing it.
It was the superhuman movement unique to Jaseong and his group that they had witnessed while ascending the mountain.
‘When did he…?’
As their puzzled gazes turned toward him, memories of the previous night flashed through Hyunjin’s mind.
“No.”
Flat refusal.
Even at Jaseong’s firm words, Hyunjin did not back down.
“Please. I need that power.”
“It’s not something you can master in a single day. Focus on the Taiji Sword instead.”
“If you just tell me the method, I’ll figure out the rest somehow.”
Jaseong frowned in frustration at Hyunjin’s unyielding stubbornness.
“…You’ve only just grasped the concept of emitting internal energy outside your body. It’s like trying to run before you can even walk.”
Jaseong, who had agreed to help Hyunjin with his revenge, was teaching him internal energy emission in between lessons on the Taiji Sword.
But the results were lackluster.
Unlike Hyeokligwang, who had mastered it in a mere two hours, Hyunjin just couldn’t get the hang of it.
Of course, Hyeokligwang was freakishly talented, so it wasn’t fair to blame Hyunjin.
“I know it’s an unreasonable request.”
“Then why?”
At Jaseong’s retort, Hyunjin fell silent for a moment before cautiously speaking again.
“…Tomorrow’s battle will be grueling. One that decides the fate of Wudang itself.”
“Yes. That’s why we’re preparing as best we can.”
Jaseong nodded.
But Hyunjin’s words weren’t over.
“And that final enemy will be that tiger.”
“…Likely.”
The object of his vengeance, the most threatening foe.
Just thinking of it made Hyunjin’s fists clench involuntarily.
“That one beast will be a greater threat than the hundreds of other monsters.”
It was the creature that had even driven the Wudang Sword Sage, Master Muheo, to the brink of death.
Master Muyup and the others were refining the Five Elements Sword Formation and such, but it still felt insufficient.
“To defeat it, I might have to stake my life….”
“Hyunjin.”
At Jaseong’s chiding tone, Hyunjin immediately shook his head.
“Of course I don’t mean courting death. As you said, if I’m to take revenge, it has to be complete. But the world doesn’t always go as planned.”
“…….”
“To prepare for the worst, I need a hidden card. A way to protect Wudang and my brothers, even if it means my death.”
Jaseong silently regarded him.
In eyes that had brimmed with unstable rage and resentment just days ago now burned a steely resolve.
He’s not giving up no matter what.
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Jaseong sighed deeply, scratched his head vigorously, and spoke lowly.
“…One promise. Use it only at the absolute last moment.”
“Ah…!”
As Hyunjin’s face lit up, Jaseong issued a grim warning.
“Remember this. You’re forcing power beyond what your current level can handle. The backlash will be immense.”
‘I’m already prepared…!’
Snapping back to the present, Hyunjin became aware of his situation.
Emitting internal energy to float midair, only to plummet—the sensation of falling enveloped him.
Unaccustomed to emission, he had leaped far higher than intended.
Below, the Mountain King mocked him, aiming its forehead horn right at him.
If he stayed still, he’d be impaled without fail.
Gritting his teeth, Hyunjin emitted energy from his Yongcheon acupoint in a do-or-die gamble.
His descent accelerated, veering slightly off course.
Thanks to that, Hyunjin narrowly evaded the Mountain King’s horn.
He landed atop the beast’s body and reached for the sword hilt behind the horn—Hyunwoon’s hilt.
-Flinch.
Sensing it, the Mountain King froze for an instant.
Realizing Hyunjin’s intent, it felt a surge of crisis and immediately tried to roll over and shake him off.
But at that moment, four figures charged at it from all sides.
“Raaah!”
Master Muyup, Hyuncheong, Hyunho.
And Hyunseong too.
The four from the suicide squad thrust their swords into the Mountain King’s four paws in unison.
-Stab!
-Roar!
They drove their blades deep into the ground, restraining the beast’s body, then hung desperately from its legs.
This was what Hyunjin had asked Hyunseong to do.
He would kill the Mountain King, so the others from the suicide squad needed to tie down its movements somehow.
“Guh…! We can’t hold much longer! Hurry!”
Master Muyup, bloodied from the holes pierced through him, cried out hoarsely.
His face pale from massive blood loss, he clung to the great tiger’s forepaw with every ounce of his dying strength.
“Grrr…!”
As Hyunjin desperately crawled across the thrashing Mountain King’s body, his hand finally reached Hyunwoon’s sword hilt.
-Kuhaaaak!
A scream erupted immediately.
The pain drove the Mountain King into even wilder frenzy.
“Grrk!”
As the suicide squad reached their limit and groaned, a glowing chain flew in from somewhere to bind the Mountain King’s entire body.
“Hurry up with whatever you’re doing!”
It was Cheong and Hong.
Having realized a beat late what Hyunjin intended, they supported him with their spells.
With the Mountain King immobilized by the glowing chains, Hyunjin gripped the sword hilt firmly with both hands.
He drew up every last bit of energy remaining in his dantian and channeled it through his hands into the sword they clutched.
“Grrrr…!”
Immense pain spread from his wrists through his palms.
Without proper energy circulation, he was crudely forcing qi into his meridians, making them scream.
But Hyunjin ignored it.
Now was not the time to worry about that.
All he thought of was staking everything to bring down this tiger.
For the dead Hyunwoon.
For all the living souls of Wudang.
“Raaaaah—!”
A shout so fierce it drowned out the Mountain King’s roar.
With it, a faint haze rose from Hyunwoon’s sword hilt.
-Kuhak-!
With a short death cry, the Mountain King’s head flew through the air.