Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 606

Yoon Jong stopped the cart in front of a small, worn-down house. “Here it is.”

An old woman with a deeply lined face and kind eyes looked up at them, her voice trembling. “Oh, I don’t know how to thank you enough…” She grasped Yoon Jong’s hands tightly, her wrinkled fingers surprisingly strong.

Yoon Jong smiled gently, his eyes warm. “Please don’t mention it, Grandma. This is just returning what those bandits stole from you and others.”

“Even so…” Tears welled in her eyes, and she wiped them with the back of her hand.

Just then, Jo Gul’s head popped out from behind Yoon Jong, a wide grin on his face. “Hee hee! Grandma! Don’t forget, this grain is from the Mount Hua Sect!”

Yoon Jong shot Jo Gul a sharp look. “You be quiet,” he hissed under his breath.

Jo Gul immediately shrunk back. “⋯⋯Yes.”

Yoon Jong turned back to the old woman, holding her hands again, his smile softening. “We should be going now.”

“Oh, wait! Let me at least get you some food to take with you…” she insisted, already turning towards her door.

“No, really, it’s alright,” Yoon Jong said quickly, gently but firmly refusing her offer. They stepped back from the house, eager not to burden her further.

The old woman stood in her doorway, waving to them for a long time, watching until they were small figures in the distance, disappearing down the dusty road.

“Where to next?”

“They said it’s further ahead. We have to go about five more li.”

“Hmm.”

Yoon Jong subtly turned his gaze to examine Jo Gul’s face.

Following Chung Myung’s instruction that they had to win the people’s hearts from the ground up, they were now going around the houses outside the castle of Mu Han, distributing grain.

Not only the two of them, but other disciples of Mount Hua were also paired up, each pulling a grain cart and touring the small villages around Mu Han.

“That aside.”

“Yes?”

Yoon Jong chuckled and said,

“What’s with you working without complaint for once? Normally, you’d be moaning about whether we really have to do this kind of thing.”

“Hey. I’m not Chung Myung.”

Jo Gul scratched the back of his head awkwardly, then glanced back at the old woman’s house, which was already far away.

“Actually…”

“Hm?”

“I still don’t really understand. What is ‘hyeop-ui’ (which means something like doing what’s right and good), and why do we have to do this?”

“⋯⋯”

“It’s called ‘hyeop-ui’, but isn’t this just Chung Myung trying to outdo the Wudang Sect and become famous? It only benefits Mount Hua.”

Yoon Jong only nodded slightly instead of answering.

“So, I don’t think I’m doing anything great…”

Jo Gul, looking ahead again, said it as if spitting it out with an awkward face.

“It’s just… when I hand out the grain and see people’s happy faces, it feels a bit ticklish.”

Judging by the fact that he even cleared his throat quietly, it seemed like he wasn’t quite used to these things.

“⋯⋯It’s a bit like that.”

A faint smile appeared on Yoon Jong’s face as he quickened his pace again.

“That’s enough.”

“⋯⋯Yes?”

“I don’t think ‘hyeop-ui’ necessarily has only one form.”

“⋯⋯”

“As you said, sacrificing oneself is also ‘hyeop-ui’. But just because one doesn’t sacrifice oneself for others doesn’t mean it’s not ‘hyeop-ui’.”

“It’s difficult.”

Jo Gul tilted his head as if he had a hard time understanding Yoon Jong’s words. Yoon Jong decided to explain it a little more clearly.

“Did you say this is just something good for Mount Hua?”

“Yes. At least in my opinion…”

“Then isn’t that even better?”

“Yes?”

Yoon Jong smiled gently.

“If we’re good and others are good, there’s nothing better than that. Did the common people suffer because Mount Hua benefited from this?”

“That’s not the case.”

Of course not. Rather, since they were given grain, the people of Hubei were happy, and there was nothing bad about it.

“Doing ‘hyeop-ui’ by sacrificing yourself is definitely great and important. But I can’t sacrifice myself forever. If I keep sacrificing myself, I will be able to do less and less.”

Yoon Jong’s gentle face was like a warm breeze in spring.

“The best kind of ‘hyeop-ui’, I think, is when helping myself also helps others. Then, we can do ‘hyeop-ui’ for longer and more often, right?”

“Ah…”

Jo Gul looked at Yoon Jong with a fresh gaze.

Listening to it, this was in line with what Yoon Jong had said in front of the Beast Palace Lord in the past.

– If the glory of Mount Hua makes life a little easier for those who live in the world, all the disciples of Mount Hua will be able to proudly boast of that glory. But if it remains only the glory of Mount Hua, then Mount Hua will only be a sect that can be replaced by another sect at any time!

That cry from that time still remained vivid in Jo Gul’s mind.

‘Senior Brother wasn’t just saying empty words.’

He doesn’t brag or try to be the leader. He quietly does what needs to be done. He has been working hard for a long time, and he is also staying true to his beliefs.

‘Mount Hua’s glory is the world’s glory.’

It sounds like a big idea.

But when it comes out of Yoon Jong’s mouth, it doesn’t feel so grand. He will really do what he can one by one and achieve the Dao in his heart.

Like a cow, steadily.

“⋯⋯I can’t beat you?”

“Hm?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Jo Gul chuckled.

It was something he couldn’t understand at all back then, but now he felt like he knew a little. Of course, it’s still a bit vague.

However…

“It’s just that Chung Myung is the one making Mount Hua like this, the Mount Hua you are talking about… that’s a little worrying.”

“⋯⋯”

“Is Chung Myung doing this kind of thing with that kind of thought?”

“⋯⋯Probably not.”

“Then isn’t something wrong with this?”

“The, the important thing is the result, isn’t it!”

It was a word that a Taoist should never say, but Jo Gul didn’t want to blame Yoon Jong for it.

‘It’s a strange thing.’

What Chung Myung does is always like that.

That guy definitely doesn’t care about others. Everything he does is either to help Mount Hua or to cause trouble for other groups.

But isn’t that what we see when we look at what actually happens?

‘Of course, the people who have been completely robbed of their souls by that guy would foam at the mouth if they heard that.’

But isn’t that what we see when we look at what actually happens?

Chung Myung solved the poverty of Yunnan and also resolved the crisis in the North Sea. And now he is relieving Hubei.

Looking at his actions, it’s like…

Huh?

Jo Gul’s face twisted slightly as he felt something strange.

“⋯⋯Hey, Senior Brother.”

“Hm?”

“If someone in the distant future looks back on the actions of Mount Hua now…”

“Looks back?”

“Won’t people in the future see Chung Myung as a hero who is incredibly ‘hyeop-ui-ji-sim’ (full of righteousness and good will)?”

“⋯⋯”

Yoon Jong became as still as a stone.

“Surely… surely not,” Yoon Jong started to say, his voice tight.

“No, think about it. Later, people will not know how bad Chung Myung’s personality is, or how mean he can be. They will only remember what he did.”

“But if people only remember his actions…”

“Stop. Enough.”

“This is terrible… No, let’s stop thinking about this and finish our work quickly.”

Jo Gul sighed softly as he watched Yoon Jong shake his head as if he didn’t want to think about it and walk forward.

‘That guy is supposed to be a hero?’ Jo Gul thought, shaking his head. ‘What is the world coming to?’

Empty carts passed through the main gate of the Geumseon Merchant Guild one after another.

The disciples of Mount Hua lined up the neatly emptied carts on one side of the guild and then rushed to Hyun Sang.

“Elder! We finished giving everything out and we’re back!”

“Good. You’ve worked hard.”

“We also went to all the villages you told us to!”

“Yes, yes. You’ve all worked hard.”

As Hyun Sang smiled gently, Hyun Young said jokingly,

“You didn’t steal anything or sell it, did you?”

“Please be quiet for a moment.”

“Just a joke…”

“I said be quiet.”

“Yes.”

Meanwhile, behind the two elders who were watching the disciples with their hands behind their backs, Song Tae-ak, the head of the Geumseon Merchant Guild, was deep in thought.

‘It’s strange.’

The more he looked at this sect, the more unusual it seemed.

Usually, elders would control everything in the sect. He had seen this in all the other sects.

But the elders of this Mount Hua sect were simply watching and encouraging their disciples’ work silently.

‘This is really not an easy thing to do.’

He knew how hard it was to trust his team and watch them work without interfering.

No, it wasn’t just the elders.

The older disciples who were guarding the elders were also not interfering with the other disciples. Even though they were old enough to be very active. Rather, it seemed that the younger disciples were working even harder, feeling a sense of responsibility and moving with enthusiasm.

‘Maybe this way of letting the younger disciples take charge is why Mount Hua is becoming so famous,’ Song Tae-ak thought.

Even as Song Tae-ak thought that, empty carts continued to enter the guild.

“Heave-ho!”

Jo Gul, who returned last, parked the cart and shouted cheerfully.

“We’re all back!”

“Good work.”

Hyun Sang smiled gently.

‘You could see pride on everyone’s face.’

Their faces looked proud, like when they won their first fight against the Green Forest bandits. But this pride felt different.

‘Wonderful’

Even after hard training and battles, the Mount Hua disciples still really wanted to help people.

Hyun Sang was very happy and proud of them for this.

“So, are we finished now?”

Hyun Young nodded at Hyun Sang’s question.

“We gave out all the grain we had. We’ve done everything we needed to do in Muhan.”

“Hmm.”

Hyun Sang nodded lightly and turned his gaze to the side.

“Chung Myung.”

“Yes.”

“Can we return to Mount Hua now?”

“Hmm.”

Chung Myung scratched his cheek and grinned.

“Yes, well. There’s nothing more to do now.”

“Then when would be a good time to depart?”

“Let’s do it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

Hyun Sang tilted his head at the unexpected answer.

Chung Myung always said, ‘Time is gold, and laziness is a sin!’ He was the type to tell them to run back to Mount Hua right away. So, it was strange that he was saying they should leave tomorrow.

“Are you planning something else?”

“Well, not really…”

Chung Myung smiled with a slightly mysterious face.

The faces of Baek Cheon and his group filled with worry.

“That’s the face he makes when he’s planning something bad.”

“Just seeing that face makes me scared.”

“He’s definitely planning something bad.”

Chung Myung, unaware of their anxiety, simply smiled and replied.

“I thought, since we’ve been here a while, we might get a visitor.”

“Guest?”

“Yes.”

Hyun Sang tilted his head.

A guest. Who would be visiting Mount Hua in a place that wasn’t even in Shaanxi?

“Did you perhaps call someone?”

“Hmm. I don’t know whether to say yes or no.”

“Huh?”

Hyun Sang’s eyes narrowed slightly as he kept talking nonsense.

It was then.

“Guild Master!”

Someone burst through the main gate in a hurry. Song Tae-ak asked.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s, it’s a big problem!”

“Huh?”

“G, Guests… Guests are coming!”

“Guests? Who are you talking about?”

Song Tae-ak was about to ask why the man was so worried about guests. But then he heard the next words and his jaw dropped.

“M, Wudang! The Wudang Sect is coming!”

It was a voice that sounded like a scream. Everyone’s eyes turned to Chung Myung as if they had made a promise.

Chung Myung smiled, receiving everyone’s attention.

“They came faster than I thought. Hee hee hee hee. They must be in a big hurry!”

“······.”

No…

What is this guy planning now?

The faces of all the Mount Hua disciples turned pale in an instant.