Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Return (2)
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Before the duel, Ouyang Jue gazed at the tip of his sword.
*‘Then and now, even back in my past life, it seems I’m always bound to my senior brother by the sword.’*
To think that even the battle for the Mount Hua Sect’s very fate was fought with him.
Ouyang Jue recalled the final battle of his past life.
In terms of time, it was ten years from now.
Back then, Ouyang Jue had led countless heroes to this place to confront his senior brother.
* * *
"It's been a while."
"...It's certainly a surprise, but I can't say I'm happy to see your face."
Ouyang Jue pretended to be unfazed, but he couldn't bring himself to meet his gaze.
Just standing before Liu Zhangming felt like his flesh was being torn away, and his fists clenched tightly.
Shaking off his sorrow with great difficulty, Ouyang Jue urged his senior brother to surrender.
"Surrender is the only way for the Mount Hua Sect to survive."
The difference in scale was overwhelming.
Mount Hua, which had been on a path of decline and was just one step from annihilation, was nothing more than a firefly.
The renowned masters Mount Hua had once boasted of had all left for their own reasons, and the secular disciples waited in silence for the outcome.
His senior brother, whom he finally faced, looked to be in terrible condition.
His gaunt bones were visible through his training robes, drenched in sweat.
Just looking at Liu Zhangming's haggard state was agonizing.
"Jue."
Even speaking a few words seemed to be a struggle for his senior brother. His upper body swayed slightly with every breath he exhaled.
Unable to watch any longer, Ouyang Jue got straight to the point.
"Don't try to act all dignified. If you have something to say, say it."
"You still call me senior brother."
At those words, Ouyang Jue squeezed his eyes shut without realizing it.
*‘I have to kill him here. I must… kill him.’*
To suppress the surge of emotion, he spat out a curt remark.
"Is that all you wanted to say? How pathetic. I'm not one for such sentimental drivel."
"Ha, hahaha... A man leading a whole unit, and you still talk like a common rogue?"
"None of your business. You look like you could use some gruel. Want me to get you some?"
"That's enough, you rascal."
A round of laughter passed, and the conversation ceased.
Just then, his lieutenant, who had been watching with anxious eyes, spoke up.
"You must kill him. If he survives, he will become a rallying point for the remaining forces of the orthodox sects..."
*Fzzt.*
The lieutenant flinched and retreated, startled by the dense killing intent Ouyang Jue unleashed.
"H-Heok!"
He knew he was acting against the interests of the organization he served.
But Ouyang Jue wanted to save his senior brother, no matter what.
It was the last courtesy he could offer as his only remaining junior brother.
"Have you had a change of heart yet?"
"...I don't have the energy to answer twice."
His words were light, but his resolve was heavier than a thousand pounds of gold.
Having heard his intention, a decision had to be made.
With countless eyes and ears at his back, Ouyang Jue delivered his ultimatum.
"Now, I have no choice but to send you on your way."
At that, his senior brother's eyes looked desolate.
"Is that so."
"It is."
Silence fell once more.
The days they had spent as brothers of Mount Hua felt fleeting, and this confrontation as enemies was unbearable.
As he always had, Ouyang Jue was the first to speak rudely.
"Are you ready to be cut down?"
"Do you have the skill? Bloodhound."
The unexpected title made Ouyang Jue let out a deflated sound.
"Hah, I thought you, of all people, weren't one to fight with your words."
At the jibe, Liu Zhangming gave an awkward smile, as if he hadn't laughed in a long time.
"Perhaps it's because I'm happy to see my old junior brother."
"You don't even sound sure yourself. I highly doubt that."
He tried to reply curtly again, but his senior brother, with a smiling face, calmly retorted with the words of a Daoist.
"Are not all phenomena mere illusion? I have yet to find my true self beyond them."
"Spoken like a true Daoist."
*Shing.*
Ouyang Jue drew one of the three great swords of the martial world, Severing Manifestation.
Seeing it, the martial artists nearby began to whisper.
"Is that the Severing Manifestation?"
"The one forged by the Unrivaled Blacksmith, Do Cheol?"
At that, a rogue sneered.
"What good is it? Its edge is so fierce that everyone who tried to wield it ended up crippled."
There was truth to his words, and even those who had been admiring it fell silent.
Even a man called a master of the sword had his arm severed by a momentary mistake and was sold off in a slave market.
Severing Manifestation, known as a man-eating sword, only gained recognition after it fell into Ouyang Jue's hands.
Ouyang Jue, too, had shed the moniker 'Bloodhound', and once it became known that he was from the Mount Hua Sect, he came to be called the Purple Mist Sword God.
Thus, Ouyang Jue, along with his senior brother, the Plum Blossom Sword God, was revered as one of the Two Great Sword Gods.
At least, until the organization he served emerged from the shadows into the light.
*‘If Senior Brother dies, will I be the only one left with that childish title?’*
For some reason, Ouyang Jue couldn't shake the feeling of loneliness.
*Shwiiiing—!*
As Ouyang Jue lightly swung Severing Manifestation, the clear ring of the blade echoed.
"Here I come."
"Yes, you come to me."
*Clang!*
Power clashed with power, and a sublime mastery beyond what could be described as 'peak' unfolded again and again.
Each of Ouyang Jue's slashes stirred a tempest, while the true energy gathered on his senior brother's sword tip, like a chrysanthemum facing a storm, bent repeatedly but never broke.
From a tactical and strategic standpoint, this one-on-one battle was completely inefficient.
They could have simply ignored the Plum Blossom Sword God, overrun the Mount Hua Sect, and burned it to the ground.
"For some reason, I can't look away."
Yet even the lieutenant watched in awe, his heart pounding.
The life-and-death struggle between the two brothers was, before a clash of strength, a final settling of the bond they had built over a long time.
*‘I have to end this now.’*
Ouyang Jue wept with an indifferent face. His blade wavered, hesitating to take a life he could have ended in an instant.
It looked as if the sword itself were dancing, and even the rogue who had sneered earlier now wore a dazed expression.
"So this is a duel to the death between the Two Great Sword Gods."
"Even the briefest exchange flows like a painting!"
They had no idea what was in Ouyang Jue's heart as he swung his sword.
Nor were they skilled enough to discern it.
That was why he felt ashamed.
The greenhorn who had left the mountain, determined not to be indebted, had returned as the king of third-rate fighters.
Third-rate fighters that his senior brother, no matter his condition, could have cut down with a single stroke.
*‘Was he testing to see if I could truly bring myself to cut him down?’*
He could feel the sharp gaze of the lieutenant standing behind him.
And so, thirty exchanges became fifty, and fifty stretched even further to sixty.
Then at last, just as a plum blossom cannot bloom forever, the end arrived.
*Boom—!*
"Cough!"
Spewing a mouthful of blood, his senior brother fell to his knees.
His meridians were so damaged that he could no longer support his own weight.
Ouyang Jue, too, was severely injured internally, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth.
Yet, Ouyang Jue paid no mind to his own well-being, gazing down at his senior brother.
This was a great man who should not have ended this way.
"You are a truly foolish man, Senior Brother."
"...?"
His senior brother blinked weakly, as if he couldn't quite hear what was said.
*Gush.*
Bright red blood flowed from Ouyang Jue's lips. His internal organs were clearly damaged.
But Ouyang Jue casually wiped the blood from his mouth with his hand and pushed his bangs back.
The sight of his emaciated senior brother felt particularly sorrowful.
"If it were me, I would have replenished my strength by stealing food from the nearby commoners. If you had, at least it wouldn't have been so..."
He couldn't bring himself to say 'futile'. He just felt regret.
How much better it would have been if he had appeared in robust health, cut him across the chest, and fled.
As Ouyang Jue gripped the hilt of Severing Manifestation, seemingly in torment, his senior brother spoke.
"Jue."
"I still have the decency to hear your last words."
"Thank you."
A satisfied smile spread across his senior brother's face.
Finding it strange, Ouyang Jue rubbed his eyes, but it remained the same.
To the very end, he had not hated Ouyang Jue.
"My final opponent was you, and a wind born from the plum blossoms has swept me away. How could I not be glad?"
"..."
With blood in his mouth, his senior brother spoke to the silent Ouyang Jue.
"This senior brother does not resent you. It was only my own shortcomings, my own inability to embrace you, that was the problem."
Ouyang Jue shook his head as if to say, *what are you talking about?*
"Your swordsmanship was better. You only lost because of that stubbornness of yours."
But there was no falsehood in his senior brother's smile.
"In my eyes, your fragrance seemed stronger than my own."
With those final words, his senior brother's body slumped to the side.
Now, his senior brother was merely a corpse.
Ouyang Jue's face twisted into a bizarre expression, as if he were both crying and laughing.
He looked at the blood pooling beneath his senior brother's body.
A single tear from Ouyang Jue fell upon it.
Deep regret, and guilt.
The fact that he, born a disciple of Mount Hua, had led it to ruin instead of revival, stabbed at his heart.
Just then, the lieutenant brushed past Ouyang Jue.
"I will take care of it."
"...What did you say?"
"Now that we've captured a big fish like the Plum Blossom Sword God, shouldn't we behead him and display his head as a warning to the others?"
*Shhk.*
The lieutenant drew a dagger from his sleeve and placed the blade against his senior brother's neck.
Ouyang Jue felt as if his blood were boiling.
*Grit!*
Seeing Ouyang Jue's open hostility, the lieutenant's face turned cold.
"You seem to be quite exhausted. What are you doing? Move him at once!"
*Thud.*
Struck on a pressure point from behind, Ouyang Jue fainted.
The severe injuries he sustained in the fight with his senior brother had created a moment of carelessness.
And a short while later, when he awoke, everything was over.
Was it from that moment on?
That he had sprung to his feet, beheaded the lieutenant, and turned against the place he had once called home.
"Haa."
A faint sigh escaped Ouyang Jue's lips.
*‘I can start fixing things from now on.’*
Shaking off the memories of the past, Ouyang Jue wiped the cool moisture from the corners of his eyes.
If he started to change things now, such a tragedy would never happen.
Ouyang Jue straightened his terribly crumpled expression.
Liu Zhangming was in front of him.
"Junior Brother, what's taking you so long?"
"I was just lost in thought for a moment."
"Oh?"
His expression seemed to say, *you have the luxury to be lost in thought while facing me?*
At the same time, Ouyang Jue's uncharacteristically polite tone brought a playful look to Liu Zhangming's face.
And with that, his sword swung.
*Whoosh—!*
At the sound, the moisture that had welled in Ouyang Jue's eyes vanished, and a curse escaped his lips before he knew it.
"Damn it, shouldn't you at least call out the name of your technique before you attack!"
"And you? Getting lost in thought while facing an opponent with a drawn sword?"
"I'm not some little girl."
"Hah! Scattering Plum Blossoms!"
The Plum Blossom Sword Arts, the first of the twenty-four forms.
Like falling plum blossoms scattering in the wind, Liu Zhangming's sword forms pressed Ouyang Jue sharply.
But Ouyang Jue himself was parrying the attacks without much difficulty.
*‘There’s no need to reveal my true martial arts just yet.’*
Ouyang Jue's sword tip swung.
"First Form of the Six Harmonies Sword: Unyielding Tiger's Advance."
Countering the Scattering Plum Blossoms was a firm, straight line.
It was a solid sword strike that would not be overwhelmed, no matter what kind of sword it faced.
*Thwack!*
The sound of the two wooden swords colliding filled the hill.
"…!"
"Hm."
After the exchange, the two men's figures were pushed back.
*Screee—!*
Four long lines of footprints were carved into the overgrown hill.
It was a moment that showed their mutual seriousness, and moreover, that the brothers' skills had reached a certain level.
Liu Zhangming, in particular, couldn't help but admire the sword strike that had just been unleashed.
*‘How honest, and yet, how solid!’*
This duel had started as a test, yet he was the one who was impressed.
The Six Harmonies Sword was merely a basic sword art one learned at the very beginning of their martial training.
Yet, when wielded by Ouyang Jue, it was more brilliant than most other sword arts.
Before, it had only been a vague feeling, but now he knew for sure.
That made it all the more puzzling.
*‘Can a person really change this much in just one day?’*
Dodging the White Crane Palm was no coincidence, and his swordsmanship had progressed to a level befitting a first-rate master.
No, in terms of the maturity of his forms, he was on par with the five elders who were the Sect Leader's junior brothers.
Liu Zhangming's expression became complicated.
"How long have you been hiding your skills?"
*‘…So this is how he reacts.’*
As if he had already expected this reaction, Ouyang Jue lowered his sword and smiled faintly.
Liu Zhangming, who hadn't hated him even at the moment of his death, would never suspect him just because his skills had improved a little.
Instead, he would ask, just as he was now.
"Why are you only showing such skill now?"
Ouyang Jue gave a slight smile at the question.
"Senior Brother, I..."
Then, he took a deep breath, exhaled, and tossed out his words.
"I hate the Mount Hua of today."
"...!"
At those words, Liu Zhangming turned pale and glanced around in shock.
Knowing this, Ouyang Jue stood tall and looked only at Liu Zhangming.
He had no regrets about what he had said.
It was Liu Zhangming, facing him, who was astonished.
"What do you mean by that! Jue, don't tell me you're planning to leave the sect?"
Ouyang Jue shook his head lightly.
That was a path he had already walked.
At the end of that path, only regret and a single teardrop flowed.
Liu Zhangming's body might even be wandering the nine heavens as a headless ghost.
Unless things changed, starting now.
Mount Hua was bound to be plunged into a sewer lower than its once-brilliant past.
That was why Ouyang Jue spoke.
"Look over there."
"...?"
"That hermitage, that dilapidated hermitage. Imagine if a young disciple was sleeping inside when it collapsed, and a beam struck his body."
Liu Zhangming frowned involuntarily.
"What are you suddenly talking about? Besides, that's a rather cruel hypothetical, isn't it?"
"Senior Brother."
Ignoring Liu Zhangming's reaction, Ouyang Jue's gaze grew darker and deeper.
"Beyond Mount Hua lies the martial world."
"..."
Ouyang Jue persuaded Liu Zhangming with a calm, measured tone.
"The martial world is a place where a single action, a single coin, can cost you your life."
Ouyang Jue's voice gradually rose.
As if he had experienced it in the distant future.
His words delved into deeper matters.
"Even if we don't become fully tainted by the secular world, we must learn to accept some parts of it for the sect to survive, and more importantly, for our disciples to grow stronger. Only then can we prevent situations like the one I hypothesized with the young disciple."
At those words, Liu Zhangming felt as if Ouyang Jue were some old, seasoned master.
He was only seventeen!
*‘To think my junior brother had this side to him...’*
Was the ruffian-like demeanor he usually showed all just a cover for this?
No, perhaps this was his true nature all along.
"Immeasurable Purity," Liu Zhangming muttered to himself, brushing away the goosebumps that had risen on his skin.
But he couldn't simply agree with his junior brother here.
Liu Zhangming straightened his gaze towards Ouyang Jue and countered.
"As a Daoist sect, Mount Hua is meant to remain separate from the secular world. How can you say such things?"
But Ouyang Jue shook his head.
"We may be Daoists, but we are also martial artists, Senior Brother."
"..."
After staring silently at the forcefully speaking Ouyang Jue for a long moment, Liu Zhangming asked with a complex gaze.
"Then what is it you desire, Junior Brother?"
"A Mount Hua that commands the entire martial world. Shouldn't we aim for at least that much?"
"...!"
*Thunk!*
Ouyang Jue stabbed his wooden sword into the damp earth and spoke again.
"A sect where brothers don't have to kill each other. No, I will make it into a Great Sect of the Martial Path that no one can dare to touch."
As he said this, Ouyang Jue looked at the collapsed hermitage and chuckled.
"Though we have a long way to go."
Faced with his junior brother's immense ambition, Liu Zhangming was at a loss for words.
Ouyang Jue wasn't wrong.
The senior brothers who had wandered the martial world for two or three years always warned of its insidious nature.
*‘Is there truly no other way but to do as my junior brother says?’*
While Liu Zhangming was lost in thought, Ouyang Jue was also deep in his own.
*‘To save Mount Hua, I must first become stronger.’*
Simply becoming strong wasn't enough. He had already achieved that much in his past life.
At least, the best under heaven.
Or something even beyond that...
Despite this, Ouyang Jue outwardly feigned bravado, tossing out his words lightly.
"Senior Brother, just trust in me."
"...Such arrogant words."
Liu Zhangming replied unconsciously.
"You're the one who will benefit greatly thanks to this senior brother, so don't you regret your words then."
"Keuk."
A laugh escaped Ouyang Jue's lips.
"This time, I'll make the Mount Hua Sect..."
"What are you two doing!"
At the sudden voice, Ouyang Jue and Liu Zhangming turned their heads.
Ouyang Jue looked relatively calm, but Liu Zhangming's face had turned deathly pale.
"S-Sect Leader!"
"Not only are you not meditating, but you've destroyed the hermitage...?!"
Liu Zhangming showed a troubled expression at those words.
"There seems to be a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding? Don't you see the fist mark over there? Look!"
With lightning speed, Bai Duanxian snatched Ouyang Jue's hand.
"Isn't it obvious at a glance that it belongs to your junior brother!"
"B-But..."
Continuing to defend Ouyang Jue for punching the hermitage meant for meditation would only incur more anger, so Liu Zhangming had no choice but to back down.
Of course, the telepathic message Ouyang Jue sent also played a part.
-*It's alright.*
Despite the consecutive sentences, Ouyang Jue smiled as if it were a good thing.
Bai Duanxian, unable to hear the telepathic exchange between them, hardened his expression and declared.
Even if he was his own disciple, discipline had to be strict.
He could only hope that he would grow a little more during his meditation.
"Ouyang Jue, for the crime of recklessly testing your techniques and destroying the hermitage! Three months of wall-gazing shall be added to your existing three months!"
Even with the extended punishment, Ouyang Jue simply bowed his head.
"I am only grateful for the Sect Leader's mercy."
And as he did, Ouyang Jue thought.
*‘Wall-gazing is exactly what I wanted.’*
No matter how good the method, with only five years of cultivation and a weak body, he could do nothing.
So, he had no choice but to become stronger.
Tenaciously building his strength came first.
*‘I’ll show them why I was the Bloodhound.’*
Ouyang Jue's eyes were filled with determination.