Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1518

The old Master stopped at the crest of the hill, his robes fluttering in the wind. He pointed a gnarled, wrinkled finger towards the valley below. “Do you see it, Disciple?” he asked, his voice like dry leaves rustling.

The young disciple, barely more than a boy, squinted, his eyes scanning the distant landscape. Then, he gasped, his breath catching in his throat. “Yes, Master! Is that…?”

Rising from the valley floor, a building of grey stone loomed against the sky. Its roofline was uneven, like jagged teeth, and its walls seemed to lean inwards with age. An ancient power seemed to hum from the stones, a weight that pressed down on the air itself.

“That,” the Master said, a hint of pride in his voice, “is the Beggars’ Sect’s main headquarters.”

“Ah!” The disciple’s eyes widened, shining with excitement. He had heard stories of this place, whispered legends of its age and importance.

“The Beggars’ Sect’s history,” the Master continued, “is held within those walls. That building *is* our history. Every stone, every beam, remembers the past. It is a place you must now prove its worth.”

“Yes, Master! I understand! I will certainly do so!” The young disciple’s eagerness was clear. A bright light of determination shone in his eyes.

“Good, good,” chuckled the Master, a dry, rustling sound.

The disciple gazed at the headquarters, his heart filled with purpose.

The old man in rags stared with a bewildered expression at the space that was now utterly open. Before he had grown so old, before his hair turned white, he remembered the warmth of his master’s hand in his own small one as they stood before the towering building, his master pointing out the carvings and telling stories of the sect’s past.

“The, the headquarters…”

The headquarters held his master and his precious memories. The headquarters, which contained his entire life as a member of the Beggars’ Sect, was now only a cloud of dust, showing where it had once stood.

“Ggrck…”

“Elder!”

“Ggrrrck!”

“Eek! Elder! Are you alright? Medic! Get a medic! He’s losing his breath!”

“M-Master…”

“Oh, Elder! Please, come to your senses!”

Not only the Elder but all the beggars were in a state of utter disbelief. It was truly an unbelievable sight.

“What is this…”

“I know.”

The fact that the headquarters had disappeared and revealed a clear sky without a single cloud made it even more absurd and dumbfounding.

Whoooosh.

A cool breeze, carrying the scent of dust and something else, something like peace, drifted over the ruins.

Thump!

But at that moment, a hand suddenly shot up from among the haphazardly piled debris.

Tap! Tap!

The trembling hand frantically groped left and right before finally grabbing a pile of debris.

“Ggrrr…”

Looking pale and shaken, Jo Gul barely managed to push his head up and crawled out of the pile of rubble.

“Wow, damn it! I, I almost died…”

“Get out of here, you fool!”

“D-don’t stab me! Are you stabbing me with a sword just because I’m a little late!”

“Ah, shut up and get out of the way!”

“…So So. I am your senior brother.”

He is not just continuing the legacy of Mount Hua, but leading it… What a scary child.

As if by agreement, the disciples of Mount Hua crawled out from among the debris, groaning. The Shaolin monks and the Beggars’ Sect elders, covered in dust, also leaped out, moaning.

“Ggrrr…”

“I really thought I was going to die this time…”

“Amitabha… I, I saw the Pure Land for a moment.”

“Eek, the headquarters…”

Those who had barely escaped the crisis of being buried alive looked around with stunned faces. Even if they had deliberately tried to demolish it, it would not have collapsed so cleanly.

“H-how could such a thing…”

“H-how can we face our ancestors?”

The Beggars’ Sect elders sat down on the spot like bees who had returned from honey-gathering to find their hive gone.

The disciples of Mount Hua exchanged glances with strange expressions.

“Don’t you feel some sympathy?”

“Still, this side is better off than us. We were burned, but at least here some pieces of the pillars remain.”

“No, but we managed to salvage a few buildings, didn’t we? It seems like there’s really nothing left here.”

“…But where did Chung Myung go?”

“Yes? Now that you mention it… Aaaagh!”

Suddenly, Jo Gul grabbed his buttocks and leaped to the side. A sword was sticking out of the spot where Jo Gul had been standing just a moment ago.

The sword wildly thrashed through the air. After a moment, Chung Myung, covered in dust, crawled up into the widened space. He looked extremely annoyed, his face contorted.

“Out of my way, you fools! Are you trying to get yourselves killed!”

“…Do you have to use a sword for that?”

“Leave him be. He still stabbed gently. Chung Myung must have thought about it a lot to do that much.”

“That’s called being tamed, Martial Uncle.”

“…Let’s just say he’s getting used to us.”

Dust filled the air, and broken wood and stone lay everywhere. The library building was now just a pile of rubble. Chung Myung walked up, looking angry. He brushed off thick grey dust that covered him like a blanket and looked around at everything.

“Hmph.”

His angry face slowly changed. He looked shy and unsure, not angry anymore.

“Heeeuuuum. But, uh… you know?”

“Yes?”

He looked like a guilty puppy. His eyes moved around quickly, showing he was nervous.

“This isn’t my fault, is it?” Chung Myung scratched his head, but his eyes showed a hint of worry.

Silence fell. The Hwasan disciples sighed as if the earth itself would cave in.

“Guild Leader.”

“⋯⋯.”

“⋯⋯Guild Leader, you really need to pull yourself together now⋯⋯.”

“⋯⋯.”

Poongyeong Singae was very pale, like a ghost. He slowly turned his head to look at Baek Cheon. Baek Cheon coughed softly, looking a little embarrassed.

“The shock must be considerable, but you must gather your wits. It’s just a building, isn’t it?” (Baek Cheon meant to say that lives were more important than a building, but his words came out wrong.)

“The documents⋯⋯.”

“Pardon?”

“⋯⋯The library, filled with the Brotherhood of Beggars’ documents and information from each sect, accumulated over hundreds of years⋯⋯. All the Brotherhood’s information⋯⋯.” He had spent years in that library, learning from the old documents. It was more than just a building to him.

“Ah⋯⋯.”

It must be down there, deep under the ground. It’s probably torn apart or completely smashed.

Poongyeong Singae looked as though his very soul was about to depart his body.

“I must, I must die. Die to make up for this sin⋯⋯.”

“N-no, don’t say that, Guild Leader! That’s absurd.”

“Acting Sect Leader⋯⋯.”

“It’s not as if killing one person will solve anything, is it?”

“⋯⋯.”

For a second, Poongyeong Singae looked at Baek Cheon as if he was thinking, ‘Is this person stupid?’ He might have meant it as comfort, but to Poongyeong Singae’s ears, it sounded more like, ‘Your worthless life isn’t enough to pay for this crime.’

“⋯⋯Thank you.”

Once this matter is somehow resolved, he would revise all information and assessments related to Hwasan, even if he stopped being the Guild Leader.

Poongyeong Singae made a firm resolution and turned his head.

“Good grief.”

It was a funny thing.

Although a compromise had been reached, it was never easy for those who had been fiercely fighting each other just moments ago to sort things out.

But, the building falling down quickly solved that difficult problem. It might not have been intentional, but wasn’t the situation remarkably coincidental?

Poongyeong Singae smacked his lips.

Before, if the main building had collapsed, he would have been so upset he might not have eaten or drunk anything for a month. But after experiencing something like this, he felt rather relieved that it had been cleanly destroyed.

“Guild Leader.”

Just then, Ilhoshin-gae was seen approaching.

“Senior Brother.”

“The elders have been subdued and detained for now. It was difficult finding a suitable place for confinement, though.”

“You didn’t need to do so much.”

“No.”

Ilhoshin-gae shook his head firmly.

“We need to be very careful. The Guild Leader said he wouldn’t hold them accountable, but they haven’t completely changed their minds either. Until we choose a new Guild Leader and give them power, we must stop the elders from acting without thinking.”

A bitter expression tightened his mouth and made his eyes look sad as he spoke. He was the one who had fueled their discontent and incited them to revolt.

“And⋯⋯ once this is over, I think I should step down from my position as an elder, at least.” Ilhoshin-gae looked down at his hands, feeling heavy with guilt. It was hard to say the words, but he knew he had to.

“Senior Brother, that’s not right.”

“No.”

Ilhoshin-gae shook his head again.

“It’s not to make up for my mistakes, but to stop myself from having silly ideas again.”

“⋯⋯Senior Brother.”

“If we had shared our thoughts like this from the beginning, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

Poongyeong Singae felt very sad and lowered his head.

He tried to do what his master wanted, but in the end, Poongyeong Singae himself had pushed away the beggars in the Brotherhood.

He thought he was leading the ‘Brotherhood,’ but in the end, he only regarded the beggars living within the Brotherhood as beings subservient to it. Even though he kept telling himself that it was the right way for them.

“I’m truly pathetic.”

“Indeed. That’s why we’re beggars, isn’t it?”

Ilhoshin-gae and Poongyeong Singae simultaneously let out faint smiles. When they let go of their anger and worries, the tension disappeared, and they felt much better. A true beggar has nothing. Someone who wants to control things cannot lead the Brotherhood of Beggars.

He only understood this simple truth now, even though he was old.

“By the way⋯⋯.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

“What are you thinking of doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“About choosing a new leader. The new leader… No, we don’t have time to choose a new leader slowly. Who do you think should be the next Guild Leader?”

Poong Young-shingae’s face twisted slightly. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before glancing to one side.

“Hey, Hwasan Swordmaster! What are we going to do about the main headquarters?!”

“Is this old man always been crazy? Why are you asking me that?!”

“Isn’t it because you ran wild and made it like this?!”

“Are you kidding me? Even if it was destroyed, it was those Shaolin fighters who did it. Do you think a few slashes from me would leave a mark like this? And… why are you suddenly so lively? Did you decide to enjoy yourself before your arms and legs get cut off?”

“Haha!”

Hearing those words, Hong Daekwang proudly put his hand on his hip.

“You’re slow to grasp the situation, Hwasan Swordmaster. Didn’t the Clan Lord say that all the events of today would be forgotten?!”

“Huh?”

“Of course, that means what I said is also null and void! This is an exemption, I tell you! Exemption! Don’t you know?”

“Is this old man really crazy? Did he hit his head on the way here?”

Poong Young-shingae, who had been silently watching the noisy group, unknowingly sighed deeply.

“Senior Brother…”

“Speak.”

“To be honest, I think I know why you did that.”

“Is that so?”

Rather than passing the Clan Lord position to someone like that, it would be better for Ilho Shin-gae to do it…

The two old beggars sighed even more deeply at the sight of Hong Daekwang, who seemed so untrustworthy.

But only for a moment, as Poong Young-shingae let out a bitter smile.

“But… even so, he said that believing is what we must do.”

“Indeed.”

The two men’s gazes met. Hong Daekwang was being kicked by Chung Myung.

“Perhaps that fellow is just someone we didn’t know. We couldn’t believe because we didn’t have the heart to believe.”

Ilho Shin-gae nodded in agreement.

Hong Daekwang’s confident shout remained clear in his mind. A Beggars’ Clan unique to Hong Daekwang, different from both Ilho Shin-gae and Poong Young-shingae, was melted into that shout.

“We should prepare for the inauguration ceremony… even though the main headquarters is destroyed. Ugh.”

Ilho Shin-gae, who was shaking his head, turned to Poong as if he had thought of something.

“Ah, by the way, Clan Lord.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

“Where did you put the sacred object? I couldn’t find it even after searching for so long. If I had only had that… No, never mind.”

“The sacred object, you say?”

Poong Young-shingae smiled faintly and quickly scanned his surroundings.

“Let’s see… It’s…”

Then, as if he had found something, he strode towards one side.

“Come this way.”

Poong Young-shingae led Ilho Shin-gae over the rubble for a while before stopping abruptly.

“Clan Lord?”

“Hmph!”

He reached out and pulled up something buried in the ground in one swift motion.

Thud!

Ilho Shin-gae’s eyes widened at the object that had been revealed.

“This is…?”

It was a very familiar object to him. It was the desk that had been in the Clan Lord’s office. He could tell just by the smooth, worn marks from years of use.

“Why are you suddenly bringing this out?”

“Hmm… It’s broken.”

Instead of answering, Poong Young-shingae smacked his lips as if slightly disappointed. Then, he amplified his internal energy in one hand and struck the desk.

Crack!

The old wooden desk shattered in one blow. Then, surprisingly, a jade-green light suddenly spread out. Ilho Shin-gae, who had reflexively squeezed his eyes shut, hurriedly opened them.

Inside one of the cracked legs of the desk, there was a long object emitting a jade-green light.

“Heh… Hehehe.”

Ilho Shin-gae was stunned for a moment. Then, he let out a hollow laugh.

Pat.

The crushed wooden debris fell down, and soon the complete form was revealed. It was a club about the length of an adult’s forearm, roughly carved in a haphazard manner. It looked like something a neighborhood thug would use to beat a stolen dog, a seemingly insignificant object.

“The Dog-Beating… Stick.”

A stick for beating dogs.

Its formal name was Green Jade Staff, but everyone in the world called it the Dog-Beating Stick. It was the Beggars’ Clan’s sacred object, replacing the Clan Lord’s seal with a naturally formed pattern on its end, in accordance with the wishes of the predecessors who believed that beggars had no business with official seals.

“Heh, hehe…”

That Dog-Beating Stick had been hidden in the desk that Ilho Shin-gae had always been sitting at.

“Right under my nose. Yes… It was right under my nose. Both the object and the person, I couldn’t see them at all. It’s because I only tried to look at the bright places. Hahaha, yes. That’s how it was! Hahahahahaha!”

Ilho Shin-gae’s cheerful laughter echoed clearly over the ruins of the destroyed headquarters.

“Amitabha.”

And above it, a peaceful Buddhist chant harmonized.