Chapter 1 Return (1)

Chapter 1 Return (1)

“The great task is nearly complete. Why now do you refuse to submit?”

The being known as the Demon Seed, or the Heaven-Wearing Asura, glared with eyes wide open.

He would never understand.

The warrior named Ouyang Shi.

He could never comprehend the resolve that drove Ouyang Shi to stand alone against him.

Ouyang Shi, gripping a sword that looked extraordinary at first glance, smiled faintly.

“It’s not because I don’t like you, is it?”

Whoosh-!

A simple swing warped space and crushed the earth’s crust.

A strike too overwhelming to be called mere turbulence proved Ouyang Shi’s might.

Witnessing this, the Great Heavenly Demon voiced a question he should have held back.

“Was one city insufficient?”

“No.”

“Then is it personal grudge against this lord?”

“Frankly, I did dislike the way you talk and your face. But aren’t you overestimating yourself?”

At those words, Daechonsu’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you think this lord will fall for such provocation? Tell me what you want.”

“Hmm, what was it again?”

Gu Yangjeok briefly reflected on the path he had walked.

But his deliberation was brief.

He was thirty-two this year.

He had left the Huashan Sect and come this far.

Clinging to the past and whining about it now would leave him with nothing.

He would simply see through the thought he held now.

“I said it was because I don’t like you lot.”

“…I suppose I have no choice.”

He had wanted to remain on the same side until the very end, if possible.

Leaving behind a deep sense of regret, Dae Cheonsu activated the spell he had prepared in advance.

The Great Soul-Shedding Technique.

The most unorthodox spell even within the vast history of Zhonghua, a great technique only a spellcaster who had reached the realm of soul-shedding could wield.

The backlash crushed Daechonsu’s lungs and heart, bursting his blood vessels.

Gurgle.

Even as blood seeped out, he felt no regret.

This was a cheap price to pay for disposing of such a warrior.

“It’s over.”

Daechonsu didn’t elaborate on the Soul-Shedding Great Technique.

Gu Yangji was Gu Yangji.

Even if he sensed victory, chattering about this and that could prompt the other to draw a new trump card and put him in a bind.

……Thud, thud-thud-thud.

The mountain trembled.

The resonance was too great for a mere human to have unleashed.

Gu Yangji unconsciously flexed and unflexed his index finger.

‘Something… seems to have happened.’

One must never underestimate an opponent like Dae Cheonsu.

It was clear he had unleashed a technique at least on par with the Immortal Realm.

Gu Yangjeok naturally drew forth what he had concealed in his sleeve.

It was the talisman left behind by his late friend, the Ten-Thousand-Way Master, before his death.

“……?!”

The Great Heavenly Water’s expression froze stiff upon seeing it.

Even at a glance, the magical power bound within the talisman was clearly extraordinary.

But the Soul-Severing Great Technique had already been unleashed.

No matter how potent the power within that talisman, Gu Yangji’s soul heading to the Netherworld was unavoidable.

‘Wan Tong, this time I’ll truly rely on you.’

Until Gu Yangjeok tore the talisman himself.

Whoosh!

A blinding light shone down upon Gu Yangjeok’s entire body, and the dark clouds characteristic of the Soul-Severing Great Technique descended upon him.

As this happened, Gu Yangjeok recalled something Mantongja had said before.

“You are the sign of defying heaven, twisting the great orbit created by the heavens.”

Back then, he’d raged, “What kind of bullshit is that?” But seeing Dae Cheonsura’s expression now, like he’d just chewed on shit, it seemed he was right after all.

Before his consciousness scattered, Gu Yangjeok delivered one final punch to Dae Cheonsura.

And in that last moment, he found himself thinking, strangely, how much he missed the Huashan Sect.

* * *

A bright light passed, and Gu Yangjeok opened his eyes wide.

“Unless this is a dream, am I… seeing something that isn’t there?”

An utterly unbelievable sight was unfolding before him.

The scenery of the place he had been decades ago.

The scene of plum blossoms blooming profusely spread out before him, dazzlingly bright.

“This is Huashan.”

The entire, vividly colored panorama of Huashan Sect—once destroyed and absorbed by neighboring sects long ago—filled Gu Yangji’s eyes.

The past, without a single false note.

The time before the cornerstone crumbled.

It was the image of Huashan that Gu Yangji had longed for until his final moment.

And right within it, Gu Yangji was breathing.

It was utterly unbelievable.

“Master.”

Startled by the sudden voice, Gu Yangji turned his head.

“…Senior Brother?”

“Haha, yes. It was unusually quiet today, so I came to check on you.”

“You really are Senior Brother?”

“Why are you acting like this today? I’m your Senior Brother, what else could I be?”

Senior Brother, Liu Zhangming, offered a faint smile. Gu Yangji smiled back.

It wasn’t merely a smile born of happiness.

For the mortal enemy who had inflicted severe wounds upon Gu Yangji was none other than the man standing before him now, Liu Zhangming.

Just as the dead never return, this too must be a dream.

“Damn it, you bastard! Who do you think I died for, and you’re grinning like that!?”

As Gu Yangji suddenly swung his fist, Liu Zhangming recoiled in terror, scrambling back.

Thud, thud.

Before the Eight Immortals Palm, perfected to its peak, could strike the soft ground three times, Liu Zhangming’s jaw snapped.

‘……He’s not a priest driven mad, so why is he attacking me?’

It was the moment Yu Zhangming clenched his teeth.

Yu Zhangming’s hand naturally extended toward Gu Yangji in the form of the Xianxue Zhang.

It wasn’t an attempt to use Gu Yangji’s own strength against him. He merely aimed to seize the acupoint on his shoulder to subdue him.

“Guess being a ghost makes you pretty weak.”

But Gu Yangjeok’s expression twisted in annoyance.

Swish.

Simply lowering his stance and twisting his hips diagonally, Gu Yangjeok evaded the Xianxue Zhang and thrust forward, closing in until he was right before Yoo Jangmyeong’s eyes.

The distance narrowed until their breaths mingled. Yoo Jangmyeong swallowed hard.

‘Was the priest’s martial skill always this formidable?’

Even disregarding his insolent attitude, the martial prowess displayed now was a level of skill Yu Zhangming had never seen from Gu Yangji before.

He had just brushed aside the Senior Scholar, whom he normally couldn’t even dodge, and was even attempting a counterattack.

A faint smile was just beginning to appear on Yu Zhangming’s face.

“Enough!”

A thunderous voice boomed.

Gou Yangji frowned at the lion’s roar, so powerful it threatened to burst one’s eardrums, while Yu Zhangming naturally bowed to greet the newcomer.

“Yu Zhangming, disciple of Huashan, greets the Headmaster.”

Under normal circumstances, he would have withdrawn his bow after the greeting, but now was not the time.

While Yu Zhangming remained bowed, the Sect Leader glared at Gu Yangjie with burning eyes.

“What on earth is this?”

“…….”

Gu Yangjie, who hadn’t immediately recognized the Sect Leader, scrutinized his appearance.

A white beard befitting his stubborn nature, and a sword with the character for “Volcano” intricately engraved in relief slung at his waist.

Gu Yangjeok could recall a figure from his memory.

It was the former Head of the Sect, Baek Dan-hyeon.

“You bastard, Gu Yangjeok! As if the trouble you usually cause isn’t enough, now you’ve been fighting with your senior brother!”

Yu Zhangming quickly interjected.

“You misunderstand, Sect Leader. My senior and I were merely…”

“You, be quiet!”

At the Sect Leader’s stern command, Yu Zhangming bowed again and took several steps back.

“Do you even know what crime you’ve committed?”

At those words, Gu Yangji muttered to himself.

“…What a long, crazy dream.”

“Dream? Dream?”

The Sect Leader, forgetting his anger, let out a hollow laugh.

“Now you’re trying to brush it off as a dream? You’d better stop this nonsense.”

“But you all…”

He swallowed the words he’d been about to say—that they were already dead in his memory.

Perhaps this was the afterlife.

Because he himself was truly dead.

And the people he faced now were all dead too.

That was why he didn’t want to speak harshly to Zhang Wenren or Yu Zhangming.

Yet a flicker of unease lingered in his mind.

‘What if this is real?’

Seeing Gu Yangji hesitate, Zhang Wenren stroked his beard and commanded.

“Disciple Gu Yangji, no matter how close we are, the crime of disrespecting your senior brother cannot be considered minor! You are sentenced to three months of wall-facing meditation!”

Hesitating, Yu Zhangming grabbed Gu Yangji’s arm as if resigned.

“Wait, just a moment. Seriously, wall-facing? Why is the afterlife so realistic?”

“Master, let’s go quietly now. I’ll come find you separately later.”

Thud, thump.

No matter how hard Gu Yangji struggled to break free, Yu Zhangming didn’t budge an inch.

Seeing this, Zhang Wenren scolded.

“Dreams aren’t enough now… Ugh, tsk.”

The way he clicked his tongue was exactly as Gu Yang-jeok remembered from the past, making his mouth drop open.

In the end, Gu Yang-jeok had to be dragged along, dangling from Yu Jang-myeong’s arm, all the way to the hermitage halfway up the mountain.

‘If it’s a dream, shouldn’t I be able to control it?’

Though flustered by the absurdity, Gu Yang-jeok kept scanning his surroundings.

What if this wasn’t the afterlife or a dream, but truly real?

In this state of utter uncertainty, Gu Yang-jeok’s eyes shone with sharp intensity.

A moment later.

“Damn it, damn it.”

Gu Yangjeok, moved to a hermitage halfway up the mountain, forced himself to chew and swallow the wall-gourd pill his executioner had given him.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t quite grasp it.

‘The Great Heavenly Water Demon cast a spell… and I tore the talisman, right?’

But then, why did the past Huashan Sect appear before his eyes?

Gu Yangjie couldn’t even be certain he was truly dead.

Perhaps this was merely a flashback after being killed by the Great Heavenly Sura.

For Gu Yangjie, who was so suspicious he was even called the ‘Pseudo-Prophet,’ the current situation was almost impossible to believe.

A hollow laugh escaped him.

Even in dreams, he should not have been dreaming of the Huashan Sect.

“Didn’t I effectively destroy the Huashan Sect with my own hands?”

His gaze, now subdued, sank into the darkness, drifting toward the past.

* * *

His reason for leaving the mountain was simply that he didn’t want to be indebted.

There was also a bit of inferiority stemming from having Yu Zhangming, that peerless swordsman, as his senior.

His age when he began martial training: eight years old.

Having started relatively late, he spent ten years as a Hwasan disciple.

During that time, Hwasan was steadily descending the path to ruin.

The exact reasons didn’t come to mind.

He only sensed, through various circumstances, that the glory of the past was fading away.

He resolved to descend the mountain when he was just past his early twenties.

At that time, Gu Yangji was far from a master; he was barely at the level where people might call him first-rate.

Initially, he had the goal of raising the martial fame of Mount Huashan.

But.

Dreams of wind and clouds?

That wasn’t something a youngster in his early twenties should harbor.

He lived, enduring nothing but scorn.

For three years, Gu Yangjeok was utterly trampled upon, yet he sprouted a seed.

The nickname he earned then was Bloodhound.

It was a cheap, undeserved nickname gained through tenacious survival.

But thanks to that, Gu Yangjeok could grow.

‘Because no one would harbor a competitive spirit toward a mere Bloodhound.’

Three years as a wanderer, two years in seclusion, five years on the battlefield.

Only after that journey could Gu Yangjie finally claim to be a master.

The plum blossoms stretching ten thousand miles, a path long and winding.

He thought he was finally seeing the light.

He planned to return to Huashan after settling the debts incurred wandering the martial world.

‘I never imagined I’d be the one to bring Huashan down with my own hands.’

Gu Yangji looked up at the exit of the hermitage with an expressionless face.

“Should I just walk right out of here?”

Once he had turned his back on Huashan and descended.

A second time would make no difference.

“Who knows if what I’m seeing is my last dream before death?”

Trust is forged through ten handwritten notes and a thousand conversations.

That’s how little you can trust in this worthless martial world.

To think you’ve ‘returned’ based on barely ten minutes of experience was something only a greenhorn would do.

“Shall we test it?”

Gu Yangjie opened and closed his fist.

He applied force, deliberately wounding his own skin, then injected his qi into the wound to worsen it.

Finally, he pressed an acupoint to stop the bleeding.

Yet, throughout the entire process, he felt no sense of incongruity.

“…Hmm.”

From the seemingly trivial pain to the sensation of the monastery’s characteristic damp wind brushing against the wound, everything felt real.

Even the shabby wall before his eyes remained exactly as it was, worn and decaying.

It was like a once-prosperous mountain that had begun to crumble, torn apart by poverty.

Half of him felt this wasn’t a dream, but to dispel the remaining doubt, he needed to verify other things.

Yet, when he stirred his internal energy, an utterly baffling feeling arose.

‘What? It’s this small?’

I was the one who, despite my shabby nickname, was said to possess martial arts skills beyond imagination.

Naturally, my inner energy was unparalleled in depth, and my execution of techniques was exquisite.

But my current martial prowess seemed similar to who I was the day before descending the mountain.

I, Gu Yangji, recall having only about five years’ worth of cultivation right up until I left the mountain.

If my cultivation was like that, how could my body be any different?

“Truly…”

A low voice escaped from his chest.

“Truly, is this real? Am I now… back in the past, at Huashan?”

Even with his senses heightened, he felt no sense of déjà vu.

At least there was no deception here.

“If this is real!”

Gu Yangji concentrated the gathered internal energy into a single point on his fist and struck the wall of the hermitage.

Kwoong…!

The vibration that started from the roof gradually spread like wildfire, shaking the pillars.

“Hahaha!”

Gu Yangji laughed loudly as he looked at the hermitage.

A true master can generate a thousand-jin force even with minimal energy.

What Gu Yangji had just done exemplified this principle. Though his internal energy was limited, its complete concentration at a single point made collapsing the hermitage effortless.

The problem was, it collapsed far too quickly.

“Too fast! It’s just as wretchedly poor as ever!”

Even as the hermitage crumbled, Gu Yangji continued laughing heartily for a long while.

Crash!

Only after a beam fell on his head did Gu Yangji escape outside the building.

Even then, his laughter continued to erupt.

“I’ve truly returned.”

Returning to the past meant he could change the future.

‘Man Tongzi… I don’t know exactly what that bastard gave me, but it’s a damn good opportunity for me.’

An opportunity to change his future, one stained with regret.

‘If this is real, I can change it. Even those damn bastards.’

This time, he would live not as a ronin, but as a Taoist of the Huashan Sect.

A gleam lit up in Gu Yangjie’s eyes.

“Jiyeok! Are you alright?”

Yoo Jang-myeong, who had rushed over as if flying from somewhere, hurriedly checked Gu Yang-jeok’s condition.

“Are you alright? No injuries?”

Gu Yang-jeok grinned.

“Of course! When have I ever been more unscathed than now! Now, I fear no one!”

Though he looked somewhat off, Yoo Jang-myeong breathed a sigh of relief, finding not a single scratch anywhere.

“I was just coming to tell you the hermitage was getting old. What a relief…”

Suddenly, Yoo Jang-myeong’s words trailed off.

His gaze had shifted, discovering something.

A wall, neatly toppled.

Imprinted on it was the clear shape of Gu Yangjeok’s fist.

The depth, the force, even the wrinkles of the skin were uniform.

Yu Jangmyeong’s face stiffened.

‘The way he skillfully dodged Seonhakjang earlier, the traces left in the hermitage also belong to Priest Gu Yang, and his bizarre behavior is also suspicious. ’

Above all, the priest’s martial prowess surpassed what he had known.

‘Had he been concealing his strength? …Then it would be best to test just how strong he truly is.’

“Take this.”

“……?”

Thud.

Gu Yangji caught the wooden sword Yu Zhangming threw and swung it lightly.

A faint smile began to appear on Yu Zhangming’s face.

“Let’s have a sparring match for the first time in ages.”

At those words, Gu Yangji smiled deeply.