Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1367

After the Cheonwu Alliance and the Hainan disciples left, the villagers who stayed behind immediately started making excuses.

“Well… helping them was the right thing to do,” one said.

“Who doesn’t know that? Of course, it’s the right thing to do. We’re not animals; we have to repay the kindness we received,” another added.

“Exactly. It’s the right thing to do… but is it easy? What if those awful villains from the Demonic Sect find out? Not even an ant will survive in this village.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Those people don’t know what the Demonic Sect is like. They can fight if things go wrong, right? How can they understand how we feel? We can only beg for our lives.”

“Still… they must have been disappointed.”

“Of course. I’d be very disappointed too. They helped us because they wanted to.”

“Enough. What’s the use of talking? It’s awful to be weak and live like this, always scraping by. If it weren’t for those Demonic Sect bastards, who would mind giving away a bit of grain?”

But they still felt worried. As time went on, they started to complain more.

A villager mumbled, kicking at the dusty ground, “Let’s be honest… if those people hadn’t lost to the Demonic Sect in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess, right?”

Another villager, his face pale, hissed, “Hey! Be quiet! What are you saying?” He glanced nervously around, as if the very walls had ears.

“Am I wrong?” the first villager insisted, his voice rising slightly. “They bragged about fighting the Demonic Sect, but they were chased out of Jiangnan like dogs with their tails between their legs, weren’t they?”

“Shhh!” the second villager warned, grabbing his arm. “Don’t say things like that so loudly! Someone might hear!”

“If those righteous sects hadn’t interfered in the first place, we wouldn’t be living in such misery. When you think about it, it’s all their fault, so why should we feel guilty? They should be the ones feeling guilty!”

“Well, that’s not entirely wrong… but weren’t they helping us because they wanted to?”

“Helping? Those people know our situation perfectly well, don’t they? Are they so clueless that they don’t know what will happen to us if we help them? They’re educated and know what’s what, so what are they doing?”

“……”

“And their help is just talk. They said they’d send us to Gangbuk, but who came? They just abandoned us again!”

At those words, the villagers’ faces turned pale, their eyes widening in fear.

“From the start, those people don’t care if we ignorant farmers live or die. When things are good, they give us grain like they’re doing us a favor, but when things get a little worse, they demand we give it back!”

“They *said* they would buy it back… they *promised* they would buy it back…”

“Did we get any money? How do we know if they’ll really give it to us? And even if we get the money, can we really use it properly? In this world, grain that we can eat right away is much more valuable than some metal scraps!”

The truth was a little different.

It’s true that grain is more important than money in chaotic times, but Jiangnan isn’t so chaotic that money is useless. Even now, if you go to a big city, you can still buy grain if you have enough money.

Most of the people there knew that, but they didn’t bother to point it out. Saying it would only make them look bad.

“What would we have done without the village chief? If it weren’t for him, we would have lost all the grain here.”

“Come on, that’s too much.”

“What do we know? If someone who has lived longer and thinks deeply says so, we have no choice but to follow.”

“That’s right.”

They themselves made the choice. Old Man Hyeong just told them what he thought.

But ignoring the truth was easier than facing it. Even if it might bring greater disaster in the future, it would be easier for now.

So, they could just think that they were following Old Man Hyeong’s orders. The old man was the village chief of Hyeongga Village, with the strongest voice.

“Now, that’s enough. Didn’t we at least feed them a good meal before they left? We’ve repaid our debt enough with that.”

“……Enough.”

“It’s not wrong, is it? That one meal might be nothing to those people, but we might have to starve for more than half a month because we gave them that grain. We’ve shown them all the sincerity we could…”

“S-Stop it, I said.”

A man grabbed the shoulder of the one who was ranting. But the one who was raising his voice shook off the restraint and burst out in anger.

“Why? Can’t I say what I want with my own mouth?”

“It’s not that! Behind you, huh? Behind you!”

“Huh?”

The man turned around.

Hyeong-uk was standing there, looking at him with a pathetic expression. Hyeong-uk felt a heavy sadness in his chest as he watched them. The man’s face flushed with embarrassment, and he awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Ahem, you’ve arrived?”

“Did you say we’ve repaid our debt enough?”

“……No, I mean, what I’m saying is……”

“Hyung-nim once said something to me.”

“Huh?”

Hyeong-uk spat out the words.

“Just because you’re uneducated and poor doesn’t mean you have no shame. Shame isn’t something you learn; it’s something you just know if you’re human.”

The man shut his mouth like a clam.

“Then what should we call someone who doesn’t know shame?”

There was no answer. Hyeong-uk didn’t wait for an answer and walked away.

Those who watched his rough stride each sighed deeply. As the atmosphere turned sour, people quickly glanced at each other and then scattered.

The village was soon filled with a deep silence. The village was quiet, dust hanging in the air. Chickens clucked softly in the yards, but otherwise, only the villagers’ voices could be heard.

Those who felt guilt deep in their hearts, those who thought the Hwasan group’s sudden and unreasonable demands were excessive, and even those who thought the choice was inevitable regardless of their feelings, couldn’t easily open their mouths.

The sun set, night came, and after a rare, quiet dawn, the sunrise peeked over the mountains.

“Tsk.”

Old Man Hyeong, who opened the door and came outside, clicked his tongue.

Hyeong-uk didn’t return home last night. There was no way a fellow who had lived in the mountains his whole life would suddenly meet with an accident, so he must have spent the night outside because he didn’t want to face his father.

“A fellow who’s not young is so full of himself.”

The world isn’t such an easy place. He should know that by now……

The old man shook his head in frustration.

‘He’ll be alright in a few days.’ But a small voice in his heart whispered that this time might be different.

He knew. Even wounds that seemed like they would kill you with pain would heal over time and be covered with scabs. After repeating that several times, even if you suffered the same wound, the pain would lessen.

People’s hearts were the same. Even if it was stinging and painful, if you experienced the same thing a few times, you would soon become numb. Would guilt be any different?

The old man just hoped that his son would face reality a little more through this incident.

Thud. Thud.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps reached the old man’s ears. The old man turned his gaze to the entrance of the village and his eyes widened in dismay.

“Ah……”

A group of people who looked very evil entered the village quickly. They wore black clothes, some with cruel-looking swords at their waists. They moved with a swagger, their eyes scanning the villagers with disdain. A cold chill ran down his spine.

Snap.

The leader, who looked strangely refined in his dark robes, snapped his fingers. His eyes were cold and sharp.

“Well, well, look what we have here. Bring them all here. Every last one of them.”

“Yes!”

Old Man Hyeong’s face was covered with dark despair.

“P-Please spare us!”

“I didn’t do anything, sir!”

The villagers who were dragged out were made to kneel in the center of the village. Old Man Hyeong, whose legs were so dry they looked like they would break at any moment, was no different.

They were suddenly dragged out from the morning and forced to kneel, but no one properly protested or questioned it.

It was only natural. From the start, martial artists were no different from grim reapers to ordinary civilians.

Even if only one appeared, the village would be turned upside down, but hundreds of them surrounded them, so what could they say?

Beyond fear, it felt like their minds would break at any moment.

“Aargh!”

“H-Hyeong-uk!”

The old man’s head was bowed, heavy with worry. A sharp noise beside him made him jump. He looked up quickly. His heart dropped. It was his son. The boy hadn’t come home last night. Now, rough hands dragged him by his hair. The old man had hoped his son would run far away, find safety somewhere else. But the foolish boy was weak. Even angry, he couldn’t stay away. He’d been hanging around the village.

“No, it’s not true.”

The old man clenched his skinny fist tightly, his eyes blazing as he became determined.

He wanted to hit himself for being so foolish. He should have known this would happen.

“Even if a tiger takes you, you can live if you keep your wits about you.”

He had been afraid of this. That’s why he had refused to help the people who helped them before. The villagers had done nothing wrong. Therefore…

“These are all of them!”

At someone’s shout, the cold-faced warrior in front nodded.

“If you answer truthfully without hiding anything, you will not be harmed.”

Everyone swallowed hard at his blunt words. Then came the question.

“Have rebels been in this village?”

The villagers exchanged glances for a moment, not out of conscience, but out of fear that they would be punished simply for admitting that the rebels had set foot here.

But the warrior, Hoga-myeong, was not one to consider such circumstances.

“You don’t understand. Kill two or three as an example.”

“We, we heard! We heard, sir!”

At that moment, the old man shouted at the top of his lungs.

Thud! Thud!

And he prostrated himself, banging his head on the ground.

“Those bastards were definitely here!”

“Really?”

“Yes! They said they needed grain. They said they would pay for it, so they asked us to give them grain…”

“Grain?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Hoga-myeong nodded as if he understood.

“So? Did you give it to them?”

“How could we! We may be ignorant, but we’re not so foolish as to not know who’s taking care of us now! We refused them outright!”

The old man was ready to answer whatever came next—scolding if it was scolding, praise if it was praise, whatever it might be.

But the words that followed were far from what the old man expected, because Hoga-myeong wasn’t even interested in the grain they might have given.

“I see. Good. Then where did they go?”

“…Yes?”

The villagers looked at each other.

Where did they go? How on earth would the villagers know that?

“You don’t know?”

“We don’t know that much…”

The old man quickly glanced up and assessed the situation. He saw Hoga-myeong’s face, or rather, his eyes. The light in those eyes was indifferent, but that made them all the more chilling, like looking at stone or wood rather than a person. Just from this, the old man could tell what this man thought of the villagers.

“How can I believe that?”

“…Yes?”

“I don’t trust people. All I trust is the simple truth that life is more important than conscience.”

Hoga-myeong gestured lightly, and those on his left and right moved toward the villagers.

“Spare the one who speaks. Kill all the rest.”

“Yes!”

The old man’s face turned blue.

It was at that very moment.

“That’s the one!”

Someone among the villagers shouted desperately.

“That’s the one who followed them last! He’ll know!”

“So, Sogil! What are you saying!”

The old man glared and shouted as if in a fit, because the man was pointing at none other than Hyeong-uk.

“Why! Isn’t it the truth!”

“How can people from the same village do this…”

“Aren’t you the one who said we have to live first, conscience be damned! You said yesterday that people like us have to do whatever it takes to live!”

The old man’s eyes trembled.

That wasn’t what he meant. It was just to get those rebels out…

“That’s the one! It’s Hyeong-uk!”

“He followed them!”

“We don’t know anything! That fellow will know!”

The villagers, having realized what would save them, shouted desperately, vying with each other.

“Stop.”

At Hoga-myeong’s command, the warriors who had been approaching threateningly stepped back.

Hoga-myeong glanced at Hyeong-uk, whom all the villagers were desperately looking at. Hyeong-uk’s face was pale, but surprisingly, his expression was quite calm.

“Do you know?”

“…Yes.”

Hyeong-uk readily admitted the fact.

“There’s no use pressing these folks. I’m the only one who knows.”

“Then answer me. Where did they go?”

“Before that, I have a question. Are you a high-ranking member of the Four Evil Sects?”

Hoga-myeong frowned slightly.

“Let’s just say I am.”

“Then you must be a learned man, so let me ask you something. Perhaps…”

Hyeong-uk paused for a moment and chuckled.

“Do you know what shame is?”

In that moment, everyone’s eyes trembled—the villagers, and even the Maninbang warriors guarding Hoga-myeong’s back. They couldn’t help but shudder at the absurd words thrown at Hoga-myeong.

However, only Hoga-myeong and Hyeong-uk, who had uttered those words, were looking at each other without the slightest agitation.

Hoga-myeong opened his mouth.

“Baek-bi (White Dagger).”

“Yes, Military Advisor.”

“Find out.”

“Yes!”

The one called Baek-bi approached Hyeong-uk, taking something out from his sleeve—a gleaming, blue-edged dagger.

Hyeong-uk chuckled as he looked at the dagger, and muttered,

“Now I’ll find out too, whether I’m a man of shame.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.