Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1091

It’s not that he doesn’t understand the fear they feel.

No, Chung Myung understood their fear very well, maybe even better than anyone else. He had experienced it before.

Long ago, when the Demonic Sect started to attack, Mount Hua felt a terrible fear. They understood how strong the Demonic Sect was and what they wanted to do. This fear felt like it was choking them, and they felt a lot of pressure.

The fear that the Central Plains might be destroyed if they didn’t do something. And the pressure that Mount Hua had to share that responsibility. Tormented by that weight, Mount Hua eventually volunteered to sacrifice themselves.

That might have been the right choice. Because of it, the Central Plains defeated the Heavenly Demon and stopped the Demonic Sect. But…

‘Sect Leader.’

Chung Myung asked Cheong Mun, who was shedding tears of blood, staining his face like dark red paint.

‘Do you still believe that choice was right?’

There was no need to hear an answer. The tears Cheong Mun was shedding were answering for him.

Imagine if the Immortal Realm was real. If Cheong Mun could see Mount Hua now, weak and failing. He would see his students and their children suffering.

Maybe Cheong Mun would think of it not as a heaven, but as a terrible hell.

How could a place that forces one to watch a scene where burning in hellfire would feel more comfortable be called the Immortal Realm?

And now, Hyun Jong was walking that path.

Chung Myung opened his eyes and looked at Hyun Jong. The face of Cheong Mun seemed to appear over the face of Hyun Jong sitting in front of him.

Chung Myung looked at Hyun Jong. He spoke softly, “Sect Leader.”

Hyun Jong looked up, his eyes tired. “…Yes? What is it, Chung Myung?” His voice was low and quiet.

“I know it sounds silly for me to say this,” Chung Myung said, a small smile on his face, but his eyes were still serious.

Hyun Jong let out a small chuckle. “…You know that very well, you rascal.” A tiny bit of the heavy feeling in the room lifted, like a cloud moving away from the sun.

Chung Myung was always like that. Even when everyone else tried to stop him, he would rush into enemy territory without a moment’s hesitation because it was what he had to do. It didn’t make sense for him to be stopping Hyun Jong now.

“Disciple, I have thought about it for a long time. Why did Mount Hua collapse, even though it upheld justice and did what it had to do?”

“……”

“Why did we have to shed tears of blood even though we did the right thing?”

Hyun Jong closed his eyes slightly. In fact, that question was like an unsolvable problem for those living in Mount Hua today.

They are taught to uphold righteousness. But the price of upholding that righteousness was too terrible. What they were taught was different from what they were living. This difference made them question if they were doing the right thing.

If it meant protecting others with their own death, everyone here would be able to do it without a moment’s hesitation.

But the disciples of Mount Hua knew. What they were trying to do now was to push even those they wanted to protect most into the shackles of sacrifice.

How could they accept that the price of trying to protect their loved ones was the sacrifice of those they were trying to protect the most?

Could they really die smiling?

Could someone who had watched with their own eyes the horrific scene of their colleagues, who had trained together and laughed and joked together, all dying, die smiling, feeling the joy of preventing the destruction of the Central Plains?

Now, Chung Myung was bringing up the fact that the disciples of Mount Hua had been trying not to mention.

“…Have you thought about it?” Hyun Jong asked, his voice filled with a deep sadness.

“Yes.”

“So… did you find the answer?”

Chung Myung slowly shook his head.

“I couldn’t find it, Sect Leader.”

“……”

“I was just hoping. That we would become stronger. And that they would be weaker than in the past. So that even if we repeated the same thing this time, the same terrible result would not occur.”

Hyun Jong closed his eyes.

It was an empty and futile answer. But Hyun Jong was no different from Chung Myung. They wanted to keep believing they were doing the right thing, so they just hoped. Just hoping that something wouldn’t happen that would one day aim at their necks.

“That’s why when I heard the news that the Demonic Sect had appeared, I had to go. Not to stop them, but to confirm. To see with my own eyes how strong they were.”

Hyun Jong’s eyelids fluttered.

It was because he could imagine the despair Chung Myung must have felt when he saw the power of the Demonic Sect with his own eyes. No, it was because he could clearly feel it in those eyes.

“…You must have despaired.”

“Yes.”

Chung Myung answered calmly, but his eyes were dark and serious. It was so calm that it was rather bitter. A long, heavy sigh escaped from Hyun Jong’s mouth, showing how tired and worried he was.

Why did this child always keep such stories to himself?

If he could just let out a little more of the stories he kept inside, he would somehow be able to help. No… even if he couldn’t be of help, he would at least try his best.

“I fought without finding an answer. Because fighting would be better than not fighting.”

“……”

“But as I fought, I came to know. Why Mount Hua failed.”

Hyun Jong stared at Chung Myung with a blank face.

“Why is that?”

“Because they didn’t believe.”

“…Didn’t believe?’ Hyun Jong repeated, his voice barely a whisper, his face showing he was completely lost.

“Yes.”

Chung Myung slowly nodded.

Cheong Mun was definitely a great man. If one were to discuss strength as a person, not the strength of martial arts, there would be no one to compare him to in Chung Myung’s entire life. Even Hyun Jong, whom Chung Myung now recognized, might be nothing more than a weak person if compared to Cheong Mun.

But…

“Mount Hua at that time was too strong, and the one leading Mount Hua was too excellent. Therefore… precisely because of that, Mount Hua couldn’t trust anyone but themselves.”

Only now did he realize. Why Mount Hua had to bear that heavy burden alone.

Cheong Mun always told him not to step forward alone and to take care of his fellow disciples. Not to go forward alone, but to lead those who were lacking with his excellence. That was Cheong Mun’s way. But…

Chung Myung bit his lip slightly.

Perhaps this was the first time in his long life… that he was saying this.

“That method was wrong.”

The moment he said the words, his tongue felt bitter, like he had swallowed something rotten. Denying Cheong Mun was no different from denying everything about Chung Myung. But… now Chung Myung had to do that bitter thing.

Not for those left in the past, but for those living in the present.

“The reason why Mount Hua was able to fight at the forefront was because there were those who supported them from behind.”

The reason why Chung Myung was able to fight at the forefront was because there were those who supported him.

Chung Myung felt it deeply: they had been alone. “If only,” he thought, remembering the battles, “if only Mount Hua had looked back, even for a moment, at those fighting with them… things might have been different.”

Chung Myung quietly closed his eyes.

In the past, Mount Hua had been powerful, no one could deny it. They were like a tall mountain, proud and strong. But they were also arrogant. They believed they were right and everyone else was wrong. They looked down at anyone who didn’t understand their way, their eyes as cold as winter ice. This was the harsh truth of the old Mount Hua.

Chung Mun, his old leader, had often told Chung Myung he didn’t fit in, that he couldn’t ‘harmonize’. But now, Chung Myung wondered if Mount Hua, even with Chung Mun in charge, was really that different from him. Perhaps Chung Mun’s ‘harmony’ only meant everyone in Mount Hua agreeing with each other.

Despite this, Chung Myung had always looked up to Chung Mun. Chung Mun was right about everything, or so Chung Myung had always believed. He was a giant, someone Chung Myung could never hope to be.

But then, fighting Dan Ja-gang, something became clear. Dang Bo was there, fighting beside him, always there. But looking back at the past Mount Hua, Chung Myung saw emptiness. No one had stood beside *them*.

Suddenly, Chung Mun, the leader he had always seen as a perfect mountain, seemed different. He was just a man, like any other, who had struggled and worried. For the first time, Chung Myung felt he could see the world without Chung Mun’s shadow blocking his view. It was a shadow that had been comforting, yes, but also heavy, like a dark cloud always above him.

“Sect Leader,” Chung Myung said softly.

“Yes, Chung Myung?” Hyun Jong replied, his voice gentle.

“You know,” Chung Myung continued, “when people get too rushed, they stop seeing what they already have.”

Hyun Jong was quiet for a moment.

“What do you mean? What do *we* have?”

Hyun Jong couldn’t readily answer that question. What do we have… What do we possess?

Were they strong because they were right? Because everyone agreed with them? Or just because they were powerful?

Hyun Jong looked around at those seated in this place with deeply sunken eyes. And then, as if there was nothing more to think about, he opened his mouth.

“Mount Hua has so much. But if I were to say what is most precious and important among them, there is only one thing.”

Hyun Jong nodded with a slight smile on his face.

“Simply people.”

Chung Myung smiled back at those words. The words he had hoped to hear from Hyun Jong had come out exactly as he wished.

“It is different from the past. We have people. Not only Mount Hua, but those who are with Mount Hua.”

Hyun Jong nodded his head.

Since Chung Myung came, Mount Hua has gained many things. But the greatest of these would be relationships and bonds, no matter what anyone says.

“I was the same. When I was crushed by the power of the Sa-Paeryeon, the first thing I chose was to increase my own strength. I was willing to give up everything for it.”

“Yes, you were.”

“Originally, the Cheonwoo Alliance should have collapsed at that time. Who would wait for someone who abandoned all responsibility and retreated in order to increase his own strength? But… Clan Lord Dang took on even the work we had to do and silently waited for us.”

Chung Myung turned his head and looked at Tang Gunak. Tang Gunak, receiving that gaze, let out an awkward laugh as if he was embarrassed.

“Why did you do that, Clan Lord?”

“Is there a particular reason? Just…”

It was a shy voice that could rarely be heard from Tang Gunak. So, on the contrary, it felt full of sincerity without even a hint of doubt.

“Because we are friends.”

As if he was embarrassed to say such a thing himself, Tang Gunak lightly cleared his throat. Chung Myung smiled faintly.

If at that time.

At that time when they lost what they should not have lost.

If Mount Hua had a sect like the Dang Family, if Mount Hua had someone like Dang Bo, would they have really just watched the downfall of Mount Hua? Would they have stood by and watched the pack of wolves rush towards Mount Hua?

No, that couldn’t be. Absolutely not.

Dang Bo would have stopped them even at the cost of his own life. The current Dang Family would not have allowed them to set foot in the gates of Mount Hua no matter what.

What the current Mount Hua has, and what the Mount Hua of that time did not have.

“Sect Leader…”

These are the words that Chung Myung, a disciple of Mount Hua, gives to Sect Leader Hyun Jong, and the words that Plum Blossom Sword Saint Chung Myung gives to Chung Mun of the past.

“What a swordsman wavering before a mighty foe must believe in is his sword and the time he has spent training.”

“…That’s right.”

“Then what must a sect believe in?”

“Well…”

Hyun Jong once again looks at those sitting before him. And he answered, looking at Chung Myung with warm eyes.

“The things we have fought to keep safe… and believing in the choices we’ve made.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

Chung Myung also smiled softly.

“The reason we created the Cheonwoo Alliance is because we needed people to trust and fight with. Because we believed that each other would be strength and a bulwark for each other.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Chung Myung slowly lowered his head.

“So, Sect Leader. When you are troubled about what to do, look back on what you, Sect Leader, and Mount Hua have protected. I believe all the answers are within that.”

Hyun Jong quietly looks at Chung Myung, who has lowered his head.

What they have done. What they have protected.

“…I understand what you mean.”

Chung Myung closed his eyes.

‘Sect Leader Brother.’

In the darkness, Chung Mun was still looking at him. But Chung Mun’s face is no longer filled with pain.

‘Don’t worry. The children are better than we were now.’

At that moment, a soft smile bloomed on Chung Mun’s lips as he looked at him.

Chung Myung kept his eyes closed for a long time, gazing at that smile.

For a long time.