Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1168

A groan escaped Baek Cheon’s lips before he could stop it.

He, too, had never imagined such words would come from Abbot Beop Jeong’s mouth.

Who was Beop Jeong? None other than the Abbot of the Thousand-Year-Old Shaolin Temple! Even if Beop Jeong truly felt that way, it was hardly the sort of thing someone holding the position of Shaolin Abbot should say.

But the biggest reason Baek Cheon groaned was because he found himself agreeing with Beop Jeong’s words.

The idea that a genius forcing their methods on ordinary people was just another form of violence.

Yes, he agreed. Perhaps Baek Cheon agreed more than anyone else.

Because he, too, had felt it keenly.

The way Chung Myung led them could hardly be described as anything less than brutal. And Baek Cheon, in particular, was living an especially harsh life.

If he showed any sign of hardship, any reluctance towards training, the disciples who looked to his back would crumble first.

The Five Swords looked up to Chung Myung. But the other disciples saw Baek Cheon. He was the one struggling through the same hard training as them.

Therefore, Baek Cheon had always kept his mouth shut, no matter his complaints, and followed Chung Myung from the very front.

But that was why he couldn’t help but agree with those words. Because Baek Cheon felt the most despair because Chung Myung’s back, no matter how hard he tried to reach it, always seemed further away.

Why hadn’t he considered it?

Perhaps this was wrong, perhaps he was chasing an unattainable mirage. Could he honestly say he hadn’t doubted whether he was ruining even that by chasing something he couldn’t catch?

And now, Beop Jeong was voicing the same thoughts Baek Cheon had harbored. Even the words Baek Cheon himself couldn’t bring himself to say.

“What is…,”

Chung Myung, too, seemed at a loss for words, unable to finish what he had started. He simply stared blankly at Beop Jeong.

“Do you think my words are wrong?”

Beop Jeong, having asked the question, quietly shook his head.

“Looking back, no one made a wrong choice on Plum Blossom Island. If anyone did wrong, it would only be Namgung Hwang, who did what he should not have done.”

Namgung Dowi bit his lip. Beop Jeong gazed at him intently with eyes full of regret. But he didn’t particularly correct what he had said.

“Leading others to sacrifice themselves to make up for his mistakes was not a choice I could make. If that had happened, I would have received praise for my overflowing cooperation, but I would have had to offer the blood of others as the price for that praise.”

“I…,”

“That’s right. Yes, that’s exactly it. But you were able to save the Namgung without shedding blood. Yes. It was just that difference. It was just the best choice each of us could make from our own standpoints. Tell me, Hwasan Sword Saint. Do you really think I should have headed to Plum Blossom Island, even at the cost of sacrificing Shaolin and the Common Faction?”

Chung Myung ground his teeth audibly.

“Don’t you think that’s a poor excuse?”

“……”

“There are plenty of people in the world who risk their lives for righteousness, even knowing they lack the ability. If we were only going to do what we could, we should have thrown away the name of the Righteous Sects long ago.”

“Perhaps so.”

Beop Jeong, who had chanted the Buddha’s name, looked at Chung Myung with clear eyes.

“Then let me ask you. If the same situation were to occur again, would you head to Plum Blossom Island?”

“Are you even asking that question…..”

“How many of Hwasan’s disciples would have to die as the price?”

“You…!”

In that instant, a wave of heat seemed to roll off Chung Myung, the air around him crackling with anger.

But Beop Jeong merely looked at Chung Myung, who was radiating anger, with indifferent eyes and asked.

“Would ten be alright?”

“Twenty? Thirty? Or fifty?”

“…Abbot.”

“No, let me rephrase that.”

Beop Jeong’s gaze turned to the Five Swords behind Chung Myung. And to Hae Yeon, who was biting her lip beside them.

“What about those here? Even if all of them died, would you have been able to nod your head in satisfaction, saying it was a noble death, since you saved the Namgung young master and the rest?”

Chung Myung closed his mouth. And at that moment, Baek Cheon felt it.

There had been quite a few times when Chung Myung had stopped arguing. But that was mostly to give the other person a chance to speak. There were very few cases where he closed his mouth because he had nothing to say.

But now, none other than Chung Myung was unable to answer the Abbot’s words.

“No. You wouldn’t be able to. Perhaps you would be a wreck by now. Because you would know that all of that was the result of your choices.”

“……”

“Then let me ask you.”

Beop Jeong opened his mouth with a resolute voice.

“How can you blame others for not doing what you yourself cannot do?”

“……”

“I am not trying to fault your hypocrisy. Because it wouldn’t have been hypocrisy. You clearly went to Plum Blossom Island thinking you would bear the sacrifice of Hwasan. That would have been genuine.”

Everyone nodded at those words.

Hadn’t everyone clearly seen how strongly Chung Myung had opposed going to Plum Blossom Island?

“But still. In one corner of your heart, you must have had the confidence that even if you went to Plum Blossom Island, you could resolve the matter without great sacrifice. Am I wrong?”

“……”

“Yes. That is you. You are that kind of person.”

Beop Jeong gave a slight smile.

Now that he had let go of everything, he could see. Now that he had acknowledged that he was ordinary and understood that Chung Myung was seeing something different from him, he could see. What kind of person this was.

The only reason he couldn’t understand Chung Myung was simply one thing.

‘The Hwasan Sword Saint is someone who acts as if he has experienced things he has not experienced himself.’

And he was someone who calculated areas that others could not calculate. What seemed endlessly reckless to others was clearly drawn in the mind of the Hwasan Sword Saint as if it could be grasped.

How could an ordinary person possibly understand such a person?

“But I don’t have that confidence.”

“……”

“So answer me. Even if you were to lose half of Hwasan, would you really head to Plum Blossom Island? Can you confidently say that you can continue to live that way to uphold that righteousness in the future?”

Chung Myung’s face contorted.

He couldn’t easily answer. Because he knew that this answer would become a shackle for him. The moment he answered ‘yes’ here, Hwasan would have to throw themselves into enemy territory without regard for their lives every time the same thing happened in the future.

It was nothing for Chung Myung to become a hypocrite. Chung Myung wasn’t someone who had lived caring about such things in the first place.

But what this conversation shackled was not Chung Myung, but those who were listening to this conversation. Even if Chung Myung wanted to, they wouldn’t stand by and watch Chung Myung fall into the abyss alone.

“That is Hwasan’s way.”

“Is that wrong?”

At Baek Cheon’s question, who had opened his mouth instead of Chung Myung, Beop Jeong slowly shook his head.

“How could that be? It’s wonderful. It’s so great. I’m just endlessly envious. I, too, have spent my whole life wishing for Shaolin to stand in such a position.”

“……”

“But I can’t do that. I can’t. I am too lacking to do so. Then, Head Disciple. I ask you, am I really so wrong?”

Baek Cheon lowered his head.

Beop Jeong was also human. How could avoiding a situation where he had to kill his disciples to save others be said to be wrong as a human being? No one would dare say such a thing.

One could criticize the Shaolin sect for acting in a way that did not befit its position, but one could not simply criticize Beop Jeong as an individual for making the wrong choice.

Rather, it was Hwasan, who cherished their fellow disciples more than themselves, who could not say those words.

“I was not wrong. I gave up too much to get this answer.”

A brief moment of regret flashed across Beop Jeong’s calm eyes.

“But… Hwasan was not wrong either. Rather, they were right. More than me.”

“……”

“So isn’t it a funny thing? There is no one wrong, but we were only arguing about each other’s faults.”

“Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Tell me, Hwasan Sword Saint.”

Beop Jeong sighed.

“Please… just try to understand me, even a little.”

“……”

“I am someone who cannot become like you. But why do you blame me for not becoming you? That is too harsh for me.”

“……”

At that moment, Jo Gul suddenly burst out, “Abbot, with all due respect, what you’re saying… it’s wrong.”

Beop Jeong turned his head and looked at Jo Gul.

“Why is that?”

“What you’re saying is all right. But if you acknowledge that, isn’t there another option?”

Everyone looked at Jo Gul with puzzled faces. Because they couldn’t think of any other option.

“If the Abbot admits that he is not as good as that Chung Myung, then instead of bringing Hwasan into the Nine Great Sects, the Nine Great Sects should join the Heavenly Union. Then Chung Myung will be able to move the Nine Great Sects, won’t he?”

“……”

“Then isn’t that a problem that can be solved? Why should someone who is smarter and sees the bigger picture have to 맞춰 줘야 to the Abbot? Isn’t that better for everyone?”

At that moment, some people began to nod their heads as if agreeing with those words.

They knew it was realistically impossible, but wasn’t that also the best way?

But Beop Jeong, who heard those words, glared at Jo Gul with cold eyes that he had not shown to Chung Myung.

“You really think that’s right?”

“Yes! It *is* right!”

“I hesitated to say this, but since you brought up that story, I’ll just say it.”

“…Yes?”

“Who are the ones pushing the Hwasan Sword Saint into a dead end?”

At that moment, Jo Gul flinched. Because that voice was too stern.

“Hyun Jong.”

The sect leader bit his lip.

“The elders.”

Hyun Young and Hyun Sang lowered their heads.

“And you all here.”

“……”

“Until now, you have only admired the many achievements of the Hwasan Sword Saint. You have only looked up to a hero who achieves what you cannot achieve yourselves. So you must have thought. If we just pretend to give in and listen to that stubbornness, then the Hwasan Sword Saint will be right again as always.”

“……”

“I risked my life, so it’s okay? I’m prepared for my death too?”

Beop Jeong glared at everyone with eyes full of anger.

“Listen carefully, when this situation is repeated, and when the situation where the Hwasan Sword Saint has full authority is repeated, what you will face is not your heroic death, but!”

Beop Jeong’s voice struck everyone like a hammer blow, shattering the comfortable silence.

“The Hwasan Sword Saint, who will be a cold corpse after saving you. That is the reality that those here will have to face someday.”

A fact that everyone vaguely knew. Nevertheless, that fact, which they had vaguely ignored, poured out from Beop Jeong’s mouth and pierced everyone’s lungs.