C1700
"Sasuk!"
"Yes, I felt it too!"
Baek Cheon clenched his teeth.
Even amidst this confusion, he could feel it.
Someone was fighting at the base of that cliff!
'Everyone!'
They had climbed that cliff.
The most dangerous place in the world right now, a place that could collapse at any moment, just to save them.
Baek Cheon's hand trembled slightly.
If it were Mount Hua, there would be no need to think; they would have climbed the cliff without hesitation.
But precisely because of this, he knew what that act required, how much determination and resolve it entailed.
"Should we join them?"
Baek Cheon quickly looked back at the question.
If they returned to the top of the cliff, they could join those who had climbed it and fight together. Alongside those they trusted the most.
"No!"
But the decision was quick.
Mount Hua was now accompanied by Wudang. It would not be a good choice to return to the dangerous cliff that could collapse at any moment, taking the wounded with them.
Moreover, that was not what those who had climbed the cliff to protect Mount Hua and Wudang would wish.
"Forward! Don't waste the time they have bought for us!"
"Yes!"
Boom!
Mount Hua's swordsmen surged forward. Their figures were imposing and determined.
Baek Cheon clenched his fist instinctively.
'We are not alone.'
He had always thought that they had to lead and pave the way. Because they were Mount Hua. Because that was the nature of their sect.
But it wasn't everything.
Just as the senior brothers pushed his back to move forward, now the leaders of the Heavenly Comrade Alliance were protecting Mount Hua's rear.
"Somehow..."
Baek Cheon, firmly holding Mu Jin, extended his sword with all his might.
"This gives me strength!"
He wasn't the only one who felt that.
The other swordsmen of Mount Hua, who wielded their swords to clear the way, also seemed lighter and more cheerful. Just knowing that someone had their backs made their swords feel lighter.
But the situation was still complicated.
"Amitabha! Move aside, Siju!"
Baek Cheon instinctively moved to the side at Hye Yeon's shout.
"Ooooooh!"
Immediately, a powerful energy passed by, barely a millimeter away.
Hye Yeon's famous strike, which looked like a great golden fist, shattered the enemies blocking the path, clearing it widely.
"Jo Gul!"
"I'm on it!"
Jo Gul's eyes shone with an intense blue light.
'These guys are nothing!'
The real enemy that Mount Hua had to defeat was blocking the entrance to the slope leading to the top. It was undoubtedly the ace that Ho Gakmyung had prepared.
Certainly, it was evident at a glance that his presence was not ordinary.
But, looking at it another way...
"We just need to get through those guys!"
Boom!
Jo Gul stomped on the ground with force.
Flash!
He darted forward like lightning.
The enemy's face, surprised, passed by his shoulder, and the sword the enemy wielded reflexively grazed Jo Gul's hair.
The scorching heat of the energy, the wind hitting his face.
Amid those intense and vivid senses, Jo Gul became even sharper.
Flash! Flash!
Jo Gul's sword cut cleanly through the vital points of the enemies he encountered. The wounds were so perfect that they didn't even leave scars.
The enemies didn't realize their wounds until Jo Gul had already passed, at which point blood spurted from their cuts.
Jo Gul advanced, faster and faster.
'Faster!'
He could do it.
'Stronger!'
He would make it.
The sword became Jo Gul, and Jo Gul became the sword. Distinct, yet united. As it always should have been.
Unification.
Beyond speed, beyond strength, his sword became his will, and perhaps, his will became the sword.
"Foolish..."
Boom!
At that moment, a massive wave of blazing energy covered Jo Gul’s vision.
The scorching fire, like an explosion of intense heat, seemed ready to consume Jo Gul.
“Jo Gul!”
Yoon Jong shouted, unable to keep up with Jo Gul’s speed. There was no way a human body could withstand that infernal fire…
But at that moment.
Flash!
The fire split in two. It wasn’t cut but divided as if it had always been that way.
‘What…?’
Yoon Jong’s eyes widened in astonishment.
Then.
Jo Gul’s sword, which had pierced through the blazing energy, plunged into the neck of the elder leading the enemies.
Crack!
“Urk…!”
The elder’s eyes filled with disbelief.
“Guk…”
Jo Gul’s sword exited through the back of the elder’s neck.
But the elder couldn’t see the sword that had pierced his neck. All he could see was the cold expression of the swordsman who had stabbed him.
“I’ve always been a bit insolent.”
“Grr…”
Flash!
Jo Gul pulled the sword out in one swift motion, and the elder’s body fell backward.
Thud!
Jo Gul, adjusting his grip on the sword, unleashed a swift and deadly wave of energy towards the elders of the Southern Sea Sun Palace, who were still dazed.