Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1190

Beopjeong looked at Hye-yeon. His eyes were dazed and stayed on her for a long time, as if he was seeing something far away. Dust motes danced in the shafts of sunlight from the high windows, making the silence in the hall even heavier.

Hye-yeon kept her gaze down. It wasn’t fear or discomfort that made her avoid his eyes, but a deeper understanding. She knew that to meet Beopjeong’s gaze now would be too cruel, like showing a wounded animal its own reflection.

“Huh…” Beopjeong breathed out, a sound barely louder than the rustle of his robes.

A moment stretched, thick with unspoken words. Then, a hollow laugh escaped Beopjeong’s lips, a sound that held no joy, only emptiness.

“Heh heh… Heh heh heh…”

“…”

“Heh heh heh heh.”

Beopjeong finally looked around at everyone. The Mount Hua disciples stood tall and straight, their hands clasped behind their backs. Their eyes, when they met Beopjeong’s, did not waver, filled with a quiet strength. Beopjeong shook his head, speaking as if he was completely shocked.

“Now that I see it… this was a pointless meeting from the start. I was just holding on to those who never planned to join me.”

“Venerable.”

“Sect Leader.”

Beopjeong spoke softly, without anger or hostility.

“You have won.”

Baek Cheon could not understand what Beopjeong was really thinking, even though his face was calm.

“I cannot argue with your logic. How can I defeat someone who speaks the truth?”

Beopjeong looked past Baek Cheon to Hyun Jong, who had a strange expression.

“If you knew how scary the world is, you wouldn’t say such things so boldly. How can old men like us, being pushed aside, deal with youngsters like you?”

“Venerable, we…”

“Sect Leader.”

Beopjeong looked back at Baek Cheon, his eyes a little bitter.

“You should know that your high ideals, your noble sense of right, and your strong principles might one day destroy you and bring the Mount Hua Sect to its end.”

“…”

“Those who cry for justice give way to power, those who preach mercy are crushed by evil, and those who argue for what’s right have their throats slit by betrayal.”

Baek Cheon closed his eyes tightly.

“Life is suffering, and the world is a hellish realm of hungry ghosts, a place where desires gnaw like endless hunger. Your high ideals might give you the strength to live in that hell, but they won’t give you the power to change it.”

Beopjeong sighed deeply, his shoulders slumping. His face looked unusually weary, lines etched around his eyes and mouth like cracks in old pottery.

“This is not a curse or an insult. It is just the truth.”

Baek Cheon felt a heavy weight on his chest. He knew this already. Mount Hua had been through it many times.

Beopjeong asked again.

“Is that really okay with you? You speak so grandly, but in the end, aren’t you just saying that Mount Hua will sacrifice itself and shed blood at the front, like it always has?”

“…”

“You said that someone who cannot care for those around them cannot possibly care for everyone in the world. Then, how can someone who cares so much for those around them be willing to give up their precious life for strangers? Can you light that thorny path, that hellish road, with only the light of righteousness and walk it? Can you praise those who died following your orders, saying they were magnificent?”

These words were not spoken to be mean.

Hadn’t Beopjeong also dreamed of a bright future when he was young? Hadn’t he once been full of ambition? Who in this world wants to wear themselves out? Even as the body gets old, the heart still wants to be passionate.

This was advice from someone who had walked the path before, to someone who was about to start, a concern offered to someone who insisted on going down the thorny path that he had already turned back from.

But Baek Cheon simply smiled at those words.

“Did you say those who die following my orders?”

“Indeed,” Beopjeong confirmed.

Baek Cheon then looked at those around him.

“Venerable, do you see them?”

“…”

“Do you see them as people who would risk their lives to follow orders they don’t believe are right?”

Beopjeong turned his head. The disciples of Mount Hua stood there, their faces determined as they looked at him.

“As the Sect Leader, my job is just to jump into the fire before them.”

“You yourself?”

“Yes,” Baek Cheon nodded.

Beopjeong asked, sounding shocked.

“The future Sect Leader is going to throw himself into the most dangerous place?”

Baek Cheon tilted his head slightly, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

“Why shouldn’t I?” he asked, his voice calm and steady.

“Sect Leader…”

“Venerable, you believe that no one can replace you in your position, don’t you?”

Beopjeong closed his mouth at this question.

“You probably think that among the disciples of Shaolin, and even other sects, there is no one who can replace you. That’s because you are so outstanding. But…” Baek Cheon shook his head.

“I am not like that. I believe that anyone in Mount Hua can replace me. It’s just that it’s my turn to step forward now. Someday, someone better than me will take over my position.”

Beopjeong’s lips trembled slightly. Seeing him like that, Baek Cheon smiled.

“That’s why sects exist. To do what one person cannot do alone, and to pass on the will found over a lifetime to future generations. So, a truly outstanding Sect Leader is…”

Baek Cheon turned his head to look at Hyun Jong and continued.

“Someone who can trust future generations. And someone who helps future generations walk a better path.”

At those words, Chung Myung’s shoulders twitched slightly.

‘Sect Leader Brother…’

He could almost see Chung Mun’s smiling face. He remembered him always saying that everything was for the sake of future generations.

“So, I will jump in without hesitation. I will endure the blood shed as a result. Because I believe without a doubt that that blood, that will, that sacrifice will make Mount Hua even more like Mount Hua.”

“…”

“And the actions of myself and the other disciples will prove that Mount Hua has been walking the right path until now.”

“Sect Leader.”

Beopjeong sighed.

“I don’t know if I should say this, but I will shamelessly ask one more thing.”

“Ask away, Venerable.”

“I understand your intentions well. I even understand why. But even so, there is one thing I cannot understand.”

“What is it?”

Beopjeong looked at Baek Cheon, Hyun Jong, and the disciples of Mount Hua.

“Will Mount Hua be okay with that?”

“…”

“Isn’t Mount Hua the place that knows best what results that high will, that unstoppable righteousness, has brought about?”

Beopjeong asked again.

“You may face the same results again this time. And that high righteousness may even lead to the collapse of the world. Is Mount Hua really okay with that?”

Baek Cheon smiled slightly.

“Venerable, I think the answer to this question should be given not as the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, but as Baek Cheon, the Second Disciple of Mount Hua.”

“…As just a Second Disciple?”

“That’s right.”

Baek Cheon took a deep breath and continued.

“The thing you mentioned, Venerable, has troubled me the most for a long time. Whether it is truly right to act as in the past and face the same results as in the past.”

“…Amitabha.”

“I, too, once looked down on our predecessors for being foolish and became angry at their meaningless sacrifices. It was more like regret than anger, but still. But Venerable, after experiencing the world of martial arts as you said, I was able to come to a conclusion.”

Baek Cheon looked at the disciples of Mount Hua, as if these words were not just an answer to Beopjeong, but to all of them.

Then, he turned his head to stare directly at Beopjeong and spoke in a sincere voice.

“Do you think they were wrong, Venerable?”

“…”

“I will ask again. Do you think those who upheld righteousness with their lives were wrong?”

“That is…”

“No. No, that is not so.”

Baek Cheon shook his head.

“People do good because that good brings benefits. Because it is good in itself.”

“…”

“Taoism emphasizes compassion and Buddhism emphasizes mercy for all living beings, not because that compassion and mercy bring good results. Even if the results are not good, it is because we are human, because it is right for humans to do good.”

Baek Cheon’s eyes were firm with resolve.

“You are a Buddhist, Venerable, and I am a Taoist. But why should we judge our predecessors and discuss the results? Even if the whole world criticizes that choice as wrong, shouldn’t you and we, at least, not do that?”

“…”

“If we condemn good because the result was not good, no one will be left in the world to do good. Instead of doing good for the sake of good, they will only try to do what brings them good results. Then, as you say, Venerable, the human world will be no different from hell. Venerable, who creates that hellish human world you speak of? Is it our predecessors? Or is it us?”

Beopjeong’s eyes, which were silently watching Baek Cheon, were trembling slightly.

“The ones who should pay the price for their mistakes are not the predecessors who did good with their lives. The ones who should be punished are the descendants who failed to properly inherit the lofty intentions of those predecessors, and those who buried those lofty intentions. If the current world of martial arts had inherited the intentions of those predecessors and practiced righteousness, it would not be as it is now.”

“…”

“You asked if I would not regret the same results?”

Baek Cheon smiled faintly.

“The will left by Mount Hua’s predecessors will continue as long as Mount Hua continues, for a hundred years, for a thousand years. Maybe it will continue forever as long as the name Mount Hua remains in the world.”

“…Sect Leader.”

“If there is anything I desire, it is only one thing. That I, too, will follow in their footsteps, becoming a descendant who is not ashamed of our predecessors. And that someday, I, too, will uphold my will like them, becoming someone who will be passed on to future generations.”

“…”

“You said that the world might collapse because of my choices, Venerable. We have already defeated the Demonic Sect. We have already prevented countless outbreaks of evil sects. But this time, we are standing before the same situation again. Why is that?”

Determination flickered in Baek Cheon’s eyes.

“It is because descendants who have not truly practiced righteousness and have not properly inherited the intentions of their predecessors repeat foolish actions. If we compromise and compromise again, hesitate and retreat before the name of reality, we will always face another Demonic Sect. We will always face another Four Evil Sects with swords drawn. And someday, we will be defeated by them.”

“…Sect Leader.”

“My conclusion is one.”

Baek Cheon straightened his shoulders. The will of Mount Hua that he had inherited was with him.

“In order not to repeat this foolishness any further, I intend to learn and practice what I have inherited. That is the will of me, the Second Disciple of Mount Hua, the will of me, the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, and also…”

Baek Cheon spoke the final words to end this conversation.

“It is the will of Mount Hua.”

While everyone was looking at Baek Cheon with overwhelmed faces, Chung Myung was the only one with his head lowered. His shoulders were trembling slightly.