Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1497

The Mount Hua disciples came down to the lower floor. They stared intently at the upper floor, their faces showing unease.

“What are they talking about?”

“I don’t know…”

“It’s like they put up a soundproof barrier, but if you listen carefully, you might be able to hear something… Ack!”

Yoon Jong grabbed Jo Gul’s ear, who was craning his neck and sneakily trying to eavesdrop, and yanked it.

“I sent you down here to not listen, and you’re deliberately trying to hear, you rascal!”

“Ack! My ear, my ear! No, honestly, even Senior Brother is curious, isn’t he!”

“If you live doing everything you want, are you even human? You’re just a beast.”

“Ugh.”

Unable to deny it, Jo Gul groaned and shifted away quietly. Yoon Jong sighed and shook his head.

‘Curious, is he…’

To be honest, he was curious too. What kind of conversation were the former leader of the Beggars’ Sect, a group known for gathering information, who had experienced the terrible Demonic Sect War, a conflict that shook the land, and Chung Myung trying to have?

“Aren’t you curious, Martial Uncle?”

“I’m not curious.”

“Huh? Really?”

Jo Gul asked back, surprised by the answer. It was just as Baek Cheon was about to answer.

“Sword Saint…”

“Hm?”

The Heavenly Inn Leader, who was standing guard and blocking their way, suddenly spoke.

“What kind of person is the Mount Hua Sword Saint?”

“What kind of person, you ask.”

A brief moment of bewilderment crossed everyone’s faces. The timing of the question itself was unexpected, but it was also not the kind of question that the Beggars’ Sect Leader would ask.

Wasn’t the Beggars’ Sect Leader the person who might know Chung Myung better than the disciples from the Mount Hua Sect, a famous group of swordsmen?

“What kind of person, well…”

“A madman.”

“A lunatic.”

“He’s not in his right mind. That’s for sure.”

“A demon. Good heavens!”

“…Everyone is being a bit harsh… He’s not really that strange, is he?”

At Lee Song Baek’s words, which seemed to defend Chung Myung, everyone turned to look at him with blank eyes.

“Yes, what you don’t know is medicine.”

“Watching him from afar is like watching a comedy show.”

“…I think the Mount Hua people underestimate the Sword Saint. He’s not as bad as they make him out to be.”

“Yes, yes.”

“I will definitely watch how long those words last, Young Hero.”

Baek Cheon smirked and looked back at the Heavenly Inn Leader.

“He’s a guy who’s hard to describe.”

“…I see.”

The Heavenly Inn Leader nodded briefly. The answers weren’t particularly helpful, but the Heavenly Inn Leader seemed to have sensed something within them.

“But why are you suddenly asking that?”

“I was just curious.”

The Heavenly Inn Leader’s gaze turned upwards.

“…Because I’ve heard about him for a long time.”

Baek Cheon’s eyes narrowed slightly. At that moment, Jo Gul slyly approached and asked Baek Cheon again.

“But, Martial Uncle. Are you really not curious?”

“…I told you I’m not.”

“No, what’s with all the pretense? Lately, you’ve been trying too hard to act serious…”

Thwack!

Jo Gul collapsed in a straight line from Baek Cheon’s short, powerful strike.

“Yeah. He’s been running his mouth too much lately.”

“I welcome the deserved punishment.”

The remaining Five Swords clapped as they watched the scene. Baek Cheon smirked as he looked at the fallen Jo Gul and muttered.

“There’s nothing to be curious about.”

And he turned his gaze towards the hole in the ceiling.

“Because what that guy says is always about ‘next’.”

His two eyes were filled with nothing but trust.

“Sword Saint…”

A cracked voice leaked from Hyun Jong’s lips.

The emotions contained within it could not be fully expressed. Chung Myung simply stared at Hyun Jong calmly.

“As I said before…”

Chung Myung paused for a moment, then continued with a sigh.

“I won’t say that what you’ve done so far is wrong.”

A slightly weary look crossed his face as he slowly shook his head.

“Anyone who has experienced that war has no choice but to come to their own conclusions. Conclusions that they can’t even dare to hope others will understand.”

Chung Myung felt the same. He had come to his own conclusions, and he was still coming to them. But he didn’t expect others to understand his conclusions. Because those who hadn’t experienced it wouldn’t know.

Chung Myung looked at Hyun Jong resolutely and said.

“However, I have a bad temper, so I can’t wait quietly with my neck out like you.”

“…”

“Even if it’s meaningless, I’ll struggle, I’ll resist, and I’ll bite.”

Hyun Jong’s eyes wavered.

“So tell me. The way to return the Beggars’ Sect to its original state. The way for me to gain their power.”

Hyun Jong silently stared at Chung Myung for a long time. And Chung Myung waited patiently for him.

After a long silence, Hyun Jong’s mouth finally opened again.

“Do you really… intend to fight him again?”

“Yes.”

“Doesn’t the Sword Saint… know? The current world of martial artists, known as Kangho, is…”

“Weaker than the past, right?”

“…”

“And that bastard will return even stronger. If he really does return, our chances of winning won’t even be worth a penny.”

“Knowing all that, why…”

“I told you.”

Chung Myung chuckled.

“I’m not fighting because I can win. I’m fighting because I have no choice but to fight.”

“…”

“I’m a human who can only fight. There’s only one answer that such a human can give.”

Chung Myung tapped his sword and quietly recited.

“Just fight. No matter who the opponent is.”

He paused, his gaze unwavering, holding Hyun Jong’s eyes. This created a moment of emphasis.

Hyun Jong bit his lip tightly. Even in the midst of that, his eyes searched Chung Myung’s face, desperate to find his true intentions. He couldn’t feel even a slight tremor from Chung Myung.

Hyun Jong said in a sorrowful voice.

“Sword Saint… If you hadn’t passed away back then…”

“…”

“No, even if it was just a little earlier…”

The old man buried his face in his wrinkled hands. Memories of the war, of loss and despair, flooded his mind. He felt the weight of years, the burden of his failures.

Chung Myung also closed his eyes.

Just as he had despaired, Hyun Jong must have been suffering like hell. He must have felt like he was left alone in a world where no one would reach out to him.

“Sword Saint. The Kangho of that time was terrible, but it was also a place overflowing with countless talented individuals.”

“…It was.”

The Three Great Swordsmen of the World. It was true that it was just an empty title, but this also meant that there were at least two other swordsmen who, at least on the surface, could be compared to Chung Myung.

And then there were Dang Bo, Chung Moon, and Chung Jin.

If they had been born in a different era, they would all have held the world in their hands. Such people joined forces to stop the Demonic Sect.

“But the current Kangho is absolutely not up to the level of that time. Even so… even so, you’re saying you’ll fight?”

“Yes.”

Hyun Jong’s face faintly distorted.

“I don’t doubt the Sword Saint. Anyone who remembers what you showed us in that war will not dare to doubt you. But… no matter how strong you are, you can’t do it alone…”

“I.”

Chung Myung cut off Hyun Jong’s words with a resolute voice.

“I don’t deny that the people of the past were great. It was because of them that I was able to cut off the head of the Heavenly Demon.”

“…”

“They were people who were so great that they couldn’t even be compared to the likes of me. I was just the sword they wielded.”

It was a calm voice. That’s why it came across as even more sincere.

Chung Myung turned his head.

At the end of his gaze was a staircase leading downwards. The light from the lamp was faintly seeping in.

Between that light and this dark place was the soundproof barrier that Chung Myung had set up. So that no sound would leak out.

But… just because words can’t be heard doesn’t mean everything is cut off.

Even if voices can’t be heard, they are definitely there. And they will be watching him with eyes that Chung Myung knows well.

“The more I look back, the more I realize they were great people. But that doesn’t mean they were great from the beginning.”

“…”

“They were all flawed and lacking. They just… had to become great somehow.”

Chung Myung’s gaze returned to Hyun Jong.

“You said I can’t do it alone, right?”

“…Sword Saint.”

“No. I’m not alone. It’s the opposite. And the reason I ended up there in the past was because I tried to do everything alone.”

As Chung Myung’s calm words continued, Hyun Jong’s shoulders began to tremble again.

“Because in the end, I thought it was something only I could do. Because I thought there was no one who could understand me. I thought I had to bear that burden entirely.”

Throughout the story, there was no particular agitation in Chung Myung’s expression, but within that story, Chung Myung’s life, and even the life that Hyun Jong had lived, were contained as they were.

“The reason I’m here now is to not make the same mistake.”

Chung Myung closed his eyes.

Words spoken to Hyun Jong, and at the same time, words spoken to his past self. Words that he couldn’t say because there was no one to listen.

“Yes, as you said, I can’t do it alone.”

“…Sword Saint.”

“So help me, Hyun Jong.”

When he opened his eyes again, Chung Myung’s eyes were endlessly cold and resolute.

“Don’t look at the world with those eyes of someone who’s already finished. You’re still alive. The opportunity to undo the things you couldn’t do back then is still there. I’ll make it happen.”

Clear tears streamed down Hyun Jong’s two eyes.

His vision blurred and overlapped.

The figure of the young boy standing in front of him, and the figure of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint he had so admired in the past.

Hyun Jong could tell. The person in front of him now was the Sword Saint, but not the Sword Saint.

What was in front of him was another person who seemed weaker and more lacking than the Sword Saint, but was clearly stronger than the Sword Saint of the past.

“You said help…?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not forgiving me… you’re not helping me… you’re asking me, who’s just waiting to die of old age, for help?”

Chung Myung chuckled.

“Yes.”

“…You’re cruel, Sword Saint.”

At Chung Myung’s laughter, Hyun Jong also shook his shoulders and chuckled.

The sound, half cough and half laughter, scratched at Hyun Jong’s dry throat and leaked out for a long time.

“Sword Saint… I am a living corpse. The future of the Beggars’ Sect… the path for the world, I can no longer see in my blurred eyes. I have lost the power to judge right and wrong… any words are just empty to me.”

It contained a clear meaning of refusal. But Chung Myung looked at Hyun Jong without the slightest agitation.

Soon, Hyun Jong roughly wiped his face and said.

“But… if the Sword Saint is just, just asking me to help you…”

Tears flowed again in the place where the tears had cleared. There was a scene that still vividly came to mind in his cloudy vision.

A mountain soaring like a blood-stained sword. Back then, he turned away cowardly from that mountain. Back then, he knew everything was wrong, but he couldn’t muster the courage. Memories that had been gouging at his heart like a sharp dagger, without any chance to heal.

If he hadn’t turned away back then, if he had mustered the courage to climb the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, at least he wouldn’t be living such a regretful and miserable life.

Regrets, as dense as a winter fog, swirled around him, blurring the present with the pain of the past.

“How could I…”

Tears poured out from his body, which had been so dry, to an unbelievable extent. Even after living for so long, he couldn’t seem to explain these tears, these emotions.

“How dare I refuse to follow? How dare I.”

What Hyun Jong left behind that day when he turned away wasn’t just Chung Myung and the suicide squad. That day, he turned away from the red blood that made Hyun Jong who he was.

A surge of warmth, like red blood returning to a withered tree, flowed through Hyun Jong’s veins. It was more than just blood; it was the hot blood of righteousness, the very essence of his beliefs, his life, everything he had once stood for.

“If you wish, even if it’s a faded and shabby sense of righteousness, I will be with you.”

A heart that hadn’t beat for a hundred years was pounding again.