Return of the Blossoming Blade Reading Guide: Season 3

This Return of the Blossoming Blade reading guide has a short answer: start at Episode 1 on WEBTOON and read in order. Two seasons are finished, a five-part spin-off sits between them and the current run, and Season 3 is running again, with Episode 180 the newest on the website after a one-week break. Nothing in the run is skippable, and there's no separate side story you need first.

The series is also known as Return of the Mount Hua Sect (화산귀환). It adapts Biga's web novel, which began on Naver on April 25, 2019; WEBTOON credits the manhwa to LICO and ARCHE. Cheongmyeong of the Mount Hua Sect dies after striking down Cheonma, leader of the Demonic Cult, and wakes a hundred years later to find his sect "reduced to a mere shadow of itself." The rest is him dragging it back up, mostly by force.

Where Return of the Blossoming Blade stands now

Return of the Blossoming Blade Korean volume 1 cover (Studio LICO). Image via AniList.

On October 28, 2026, the newest English episode on WEBTOON's website was Season 3 Episode 180, posted October 27 after a one-week gap (Episode 179 went up October 13), and the "will return!" note from the week before was gone. WEBTOON's app runs five episodes ahead of the web list. Naver no longer shows the Korean webtoon on hiatus; its 180화 is dated the same day, October 27. Here's how the English run breaks down by season, using the dates on WEBTOON's own episode list:

The Korean run on Naver Webtoon started earlier, on March 23, 2021, which is why Korean dates you see on fan sites don't match the table. In 2022 the webtoon won a Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism award in the comics category of the Korea Content Awards.

Return of the Blossoming Blade reading guide: the order

The order this Return of the Blossoming Blade reading guide recommends is simply the episode list, top to bottom:

1. Season 1 sets up the premise: Cheongmyeong wakes up, finds Mount Hua broke and half-forgotten, and starts training the disciples who become the core cast. It's the funniest stretch, because the gap between what he expects and what he finds is widest here.
2. Season 2 takes the disciples out into the wider murim world, where other sects start paying attention. Read it straight after Season 1; there's no reason to wait.
3. The spin-off chapters come after the Season 2 finale on the episode list. They're short, and reading them in list order costs you an evening at most.
4. Season 3 starts at Episode 153. WEBTOON lists it as a Wednesday series; it skipped one week after Episode 179 and came back with Episode 180 on October 27, 2026.

If the opening chapters don't grab you, you're not alone. Under a post sharing one of the series' character scenes, an r/manhwa reader admitted: "I've tried reading this a few times. I think the furthest I got was Chapter 17. If there are more character scenes like this then I'm about to binge ts!"

For the series verdict, spoiler-light, read our Return of the Blossoming Blade review.

Manhwa or novel?

Return of the Blossoming Blade banner art. Image via AniList.

Start with the manhwa. It's a WEBTOON Original (WEBTOON's help center says Originals are free to read in the app, though not every episode is: the five newest were app-only on October 28, 2026), the fights read better drawn than described, and the comedy depends a lot on Cheongmyeong's faces. The novel is the original and runs far ahead of the comic, so it's where you go once you've caught up and want to know what happens next. It runs in Korean on Naver Series; we couldn't confirm an official English edition, so we don't link one. Expect spoilers for arcs the manhwa hasn't drawn yet: the novel won't stop where the webtoon does.

What carries readers through hundreds of episodes is the mix. In the same thread, one reader answered a complaint that murim stories feel shallow: "the stake always feel real, the characters and how they interact with each other feels natural, the comedy slaps and the serious parts is kept serious." Another, to a newcomer: "youre in for a ride, you got 2 complete seasons and current season is cooking."

If you're new to murim

You don't need to know the genre, but three ideas help:

• Sects are martial arts schools with their own techniques, rank and reputation. Mount Hua's fall matters because a weak name means fewer resources and fewer recruits.
• Internal energy (qi) is the base of all martial power. Cheongmyeong's edge is that he remembers techniques his sect has lost.
• The Demonic Cult is the old enemy. Cheongmyeong's death fighting its leader is where the story begins.

For another murim series built on different rules, the Nano Machine reading guide covers a Demonic Cult hero instead of an orthodox one.

Our Take

Read it in order and don't overthink it. Season 1 is where the jokes land hardest, Season 2 is where the sect starts to matter, and Season 3 is where you'll be waiting for the weekly episode with everyone else. If you hit the wall around Chapter 17 like that Reddit reader did, push a little further before you give up; the cast is the payoff, and it takes a season to assemble.

"The Last Sword Dance," the official music video Studio LICO released for the webtoon.

How We Checked This

On October 21, 2026 we opened Return of the Blossoming Blade's WEBTOON page and walked its episode list back to Episode 1 to date every season premiere and finale, then checked AniList for status and credits and Wikipedia for the novel's start date, the Korean webtoon start and the 2022 award. Everything above is in our sources table. That pass corrected the season dates the old version of this guide had: Season 1 ended in October 2022 in English, not August; Season 2 started in July 2023, not June, and ended on January 30, 2025, a month later than we had it. We also removed the novel chapter counts and fan-translation numbers we couldn't confirm from an official source. On October 28, 2026 we rechecked the WEBTOON episode list and Naver's listing after Season 3's short break. Reader quotes come from a linked r/manhwa thread; we haven't claimed any reading of our own.

Last reviewed: October 28, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I read Return of the Blossoming Blade?

The official English manhwa is on WEBTOON, which lists it as updating every Wednesday. After one skipped week, Season 3 Episode 180 went up on October 27, 2026. The original web novel by Biga runs in Korean on Naver Series; we couldn't confirm an official English edition to link.

How many seasons does Return of the Blossoming Blade have?

Three. On English WEBTOON, Season 1 ran from June 2021 to October 2022, Season 2 from July 2023 to January 2025, and Season 3 began on April 14, 2026. On October 28, 2026 the website's newest episode was Season 3 Episode 180 from October 27.

Is Return of the Blossoming Blade the same as Return of the Mount Hua Sect?

Yes. Return of the Blossoming Blade is WEBTOON's official English title; Return of the Mount Hua Sect is the name used by many novel readers and fan communities for the same story (화산귀환).

Related Reading

• Return of the Blossoming Blade Review: our verdict on whether the comedy and the sect politics hold up.
• Return of the Blossoming Blade Character Guide: who the Mount Hua disciples are, checked against AniList.
• Manhwa Like Return of the Blossoming Blade: six picks for when you've caught up and need another murim comedy.
• Nano Machine Reading Guide: the same genre from the Demonic Cult's side.

References

• Return of the Blossoming Blade on WEBTOON
• Return of the Blossoming Blade on AniList
• Return of the Blossoming Blade on Wikipedia
• 2022 Korea Content Awards results, comics category (Korea Manhwa Contents Agency archive)
• 화산귀환 on Naver Webtoon (Korean)