Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1770

1770. “Who are you?”

*The one with the sword, and the one without.*

*The one who threatens, and the one who is threatened.*

The air was thick with tension, like walking on thin ice that could crack at any second.

The middle-aged man stared at Baek Cheon. His eyes were cold, like ice. Suddenly, he pulled the sword away from Baek Cheon’s neck.

“……”

Baek Cheon touched his neck without thinking. His fingers came away wet with hot, sticky blood. He was hurt and threatened for no reason. But strangely, he wasn’t angry at the man who did it.

Were they his saviors? Maybe that was why. But Baek Cheon felt it was more than just that. Something else was going on.

“…What is happening?”

Baek Cheon felt he *had* to understand. It was his duty, as someone responsible, to figure out this strange situation.

“If I am the leader of Hwasan, then I should know who *you* are,” Baek Cheon said.

The middle-aged man just looked at Baek Cheon, saying nothing.

The middle-aged man watched Baek Cheon for a long moment. Then he chuckled.

“Impressive,” he said. “You answer my question with another question. That’s how you became leader of Hwasan so young, isn’t it?”

Baek Cheon sighed softly.

“It’s not that. I’m just not afraid. I have nothing left to lose anymore.”

“Nothing left to lose, you say…”

A chuckle escaped the middle-aged man’s lips.

“Do you really think so?”

“……”

It wasn’t just a sneer. It was open mockery.

Baek Cheon could see it clearly. This man didn’t respect him at all. Maybe he even hated him. The anger in his eyes was obvious.

But instead of shrinking back, Baek Cheon spoke again.

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“I asked the question first.”

“……”

That was true. The middle-aged man had asked Baek Cheon first if he knew who he was.

But Baek Cheon couldn’t answer that question. No matter how hard he searched, this middle-aged man was not someone he remembered. Not even a fleeting memory surfaced.

“…I don’t know,” Baek Cheon said again. He had no other answer.

“Chuckle, chuckle.”

The middle-aged man chuckled again, softly.

It was a sad laugh, empty inside. But Baek Cheon also heard anger and bitterness in it.

Was it so annoying to him that Baek Cheon didn’t know who he was?

“I guess not…”

The middle-aged man looked up at the tent ceiling.

It was a simple tent, just cloth stretched over poles. He stared at the bare ceiling and spoke quietly, without strength.

“There’s no way you would know. There wouldn’t even be a reason for you to know.”

The middle-aged man slowly lowered his head and met Baek Cheon’s gaze.

“Did you see them?”

“…What?”

“The ones outside, I mean.”

“……”

“What do you think of them?”

Baek Cheon’s brow furrowed.

It was a difficult question. But not one he needed to avoid.

“…They seemed like people who were alive, yet dead.”

“……”

“Without any desire or hope.”

“Haha! Haha! Haha!”

The middle-aged man suddenly burst out laughing.

It was a loud, empty laugh. It sounded like someone laughing when they felt no joy at all. The sound was harsh and unpleasant, like a thorn in Baek Cheon’s chest.

“Well observed. Very well observed.”

“……”

“An accurate description. They are already dead.”

“…What?”

“I mean it literally,” the man said. “They are already dead. They should be dead, but they can’t die. They want death more than anything else in the world.”

The more he talked, the more he felt lost in a maze.

But one thing was becoming increasingly clear.

‘These people are not part of the Demonic Sect.’

It was obvious, but it also needed confirmation. And at this moment, Baek Cheon was certain of it.

Baek Cheon knew they didn’t have the evil energy of the Demonic Sect. But that wasn’t enough to be certain. Someone skilled could hide that energy. Someone could even train Demonic Sect members in normal fighting styles.

But you can’t fake the feeling someone gives off. And these people didn’t feel evil. Suddenly, a memory came back to Baek Cheon.

“…Could it be that you are the ones who blocked the path of the Zhuge and Murong families?”

“……”

The middle-aged man’s face slowly hardened.

“Could it be that you are the very ones who drove Shaolin and Peng Clan into hell in Hubei?”

“Zhuge and Murong, you say…”

The middle-aged man nodded slowly.

“That was us.”

“Why!”

A great shout burst from Baek Cheon’s lips.

“Why did you do such a thing! Why did you side with them! Do you even know how much blood was spilled in that land of Hubei?”

Baek Cheon didn’t even know why he was saying these things.

Perhaps Baek Cheon had already made a judgment in his heart. That even if these people held a grudge against him, they weren’t evil enough to side with the Demonic Sect.

That’s why he was getting so emotional. That’s why he resented them.

“Why, in the world!”

Baek Cheon’s voice was full of pain. His eyes were wide with shock.

Baek Cheon was like a volcano about to explode. But the middle-aged man’s face stayed calm. He was silent for a long time, then slowly spoke.

“A moment ago.”

“……”

“Did you say you had nothing left to lose?”

An irrelevant remark. But Baek Cheon nodded first. That was certainly true. He had things left to do, but nothing left to lose.

The middle-aged man’s face changed when he heard Baek Cheon’s answer.

It was a strange look. Was he mocking him? Or feeling sorry for him? It was hard to tell.

“Do you really think so?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“You might think so. I thought so too.”

“……”

“But you see…”

A chill settled in the middle-aged man’s voice.

“The world is more cruel than you think.”

The middle-aged man showed his teeth a little as he spoke.

“What if I held a knife to the throats of your friends – your old friends from Hwasan? What if I said I would kill them all if you didn’t do what I said? What would you do then?”

Baek Cheon shook his head as if there was nothing to think about.

“I would not obey.”

“…Is it because you are not a Hwasan disciple anymore?”

“No,” Baek Cheon said firmly.

“Because it’s wrong to do something wrong, even if someone tells you to.”

“So your friends will die?”

“That’s a risk they took when they chose to fight,” Baek Cheon said. “Life is important, but it’s not everything.”

“Is something bigger, like ‘the greater good,’ more important than life?”

“I’m not talking about something big like ‘the greater good’,” Baek Cheon said. “I just mean that sometimes, some things are more important than living, even your own life.”

“I see,” the middle-aged man said. His lips curved into a smile.

But it wasn’t a friendly smile.

“Will that conviction never change?”

“Of course.”

“Even if it’s not a fellow disciple, but a master?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Even if it’s not a master, but family?”

“Of course.”

There was not a moment’s hesitation in Baek Cheon’s answer.

His master and his family would rather be ashamed of Baek Cheon doing the wrong thing because of them.

They would rather take their own lives than see such a result. Therefore, there was no need to hesitate or worry.

“The reason?”

“Because they all chose that path themselves.”

“……”

“Someone I know once said this: ‘A person who takes up a sword must always be prepared to be cut down by that sword. A person who is not prepared should not take up a sword.’”

The middle-aged man’s eyes darkened.

“Even if that death is unfair, it is a choice they made themselves?”

Baek Cheon nodded slowly.

“I don’t completely agree. But I don’t think it’s wrong either. Therefore, I will not commit evil to save someone.”

The middle-aged man nodded, as if agreeing.

His eyes softened. He looked at Baek Cheon like a teacher pleased with a student’s good answer. But Baek Cheon felt a cold fear when he saw that look.

“A good answer. Excellent logic.”

“……”

“But therefore, I can ask.”

“What…”

“Then what about those who did not take up the sword themselves?”

“…What?”

“Let me ask you this,” the man said. “What about people who are too young to understand fighting? Imagine your own young student, if you had one.”

Baek Cheon closed his mouth.

Of course, he didn’t have a disciple, but that wasn’t important.

“Imagine young children, still with baby faces, their necks slowly, very slowly, being cut by bad men’s swords…”

“……”

“Watching their tears, hearing their screams, seeing their fear and hate, would you still say, ‘They chose to live in a dangerous world, so they must accept it’?”

Baek Cheon’s eyes widened in horror.

“What are you…”

“Answer me.”

“……”

“Answer me!”

“……”

The middle-aged man’s eyes filled with burning anger.

“Tell me! Tell me what I should have done! Tell me how I should have answered the people who laughed at me, standing over the bodies of the dead! People who play games with the lives of those who can’t escape death!”

“I…”

Those who choose must bear the responsibility.

But what about those who did not choose? Should they bear the same responsibility?

“Answer me, Baek Cheon. Leader of Hwasan.”

“……”

“In the hell you ignored, in the darkness you turned away from, what good choice could we have made? Answer me! Tell me!”

Baek Cheon’s eyes were wide with shock.

*The hell they ignored? The darkness they turned away from?*

“Could it be…”

Everything began to fall into place in Baek Cheon’s mind.

These people who didn’t seem like the Demonic Sect at all. But if so, these people’s strength could not be explained.

Those who should have died but could not.

There was only one existence that could explain all of that.

Their sin, and the source of Chung Myung’s pain.

“Yo, you are…”

The middle-aged man glared at Baek Cheon with fierce eyes.

“I am Jin Song-won.”

“……”

A single tear, red as blood, ran down the middle-aged man’s red eyes.

“I am the former leader of the Emei Sect,” he said, “the one you left behind.”

Baek Cheon felt like the ground was falling away under him, like he was falling into darkness.

He was facing his sin.

He couldn’t ignore it. He couldn’t run away.