Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 717

Jo Gul slumped to the ground, his face showing his frustration.

Yoon Jong, who was behind him, sighed deeply.

“How many days has it been?”

“Three days? Or four?”

“Ugh.”

Jo Gul groaned, looking wearily around the silent, green mountain.

They had been searching for over three days but found nothing. At first, he was very excited. But now, he felt tired.

“Senior Brother, it’s not that I’m tired or annoyed, it’s just that…”

“Sounds like it to me?”

“…”

A very unfair look spread across Jo Gul’s face. Yoon Jong was going to scold him again. But he coughed and looked away when he saw Jo Gul’s face.

“Ahem. So?”

“Honestly, is wandering around the mountain really that hard? We do that tough training that guy makes us do for a whole month.”

“That’s true.”

How could this mountain be harder than Mount Hua? To them, who trained all day on the rugged Mount Hua, this mountain was like a children’s playground.

“It’s just… I feel like this is all a waste of time.”

“A waste of time?”

Baek Cheon, who had been digging in the ground some distance away, frowned. Jo Gul glanced at him carefully before speaking his mind.

“It’s been a hundred years. Honestly, it doesn’t seem likely that anything would be left.”

Baek Cheon looked at him with a slightly displeased expression and said,

“Wasn’t a manual discovered?”

“Just because there’s a manual doesn’t mean there will be other traces.”

“You!”

Yoon Jong was about to shout, but Baek Cheon raised his hand to stop him.

“There’s no need to scold him so harshly. He’s not exactly wrong.”

“Still…”

Baek Cheon shook his head with a bitter look.

“Alright, Gul, if there are no traces left, as you say, we won’t find anything even if we search for ten days instead of three.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“But isn’t that something we won’t know unless we try?”

Baek Cheon looked at Jo Gul with a serious expression.

“We are searching for the traces of a person who came before us. Moreover, traces of someone who risked their life to protect people later. How can you say ‘waste of time’ after searching for only three days?”

There was a frosty aura in his eyes, and Jo Gul flinched and lowered his head.

“Those people threw away their only lives like they were nothing, for something they might not even win. I understand your feelings, but that’s not something someone who has been helped by them should say.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“And normally, you wouldn’t say such things so quickly.”

Baek Cheon looked at Jo Gul quietly and asked,

“Tell me, why are you doing this?”

“That’s…”

Jo Gul, as if trying to read his mind, scratched his head in frustration.

“It would be great if we found something. It would be great if we could find it no matter how long it takes. But what if we waste time and end up not finding anything?”

“…”

“I’m worried sick, that’s why…”

He wasn’t talking about his own feelings. He was probably worried about Chung Myung’s state of mind.

Baek Cheon glanced away, looking at the mountain scenery, which was now quite familiar. A weight settled in his heart.

‘Was I being unreasonable?’

No matter how thoroughly they searched, this was still a mountain. Even if they dug up and removed the entire mountain, there was no guarantee that they would find traces from a hundred years ago.

“By the way, where did that Chung Myung brat go?”

“…He said he was going to look around on his own.”

“On his own…”

Jo Gul muttered for a moment, then sighed deeply and jumped up from his seat.

“Ugh-cha!”

And he began to stab the ground again with the sword in his hand.

“Ugh, fine. We’ll find it. Damn it, we’ll just find it somehow!”

Jo Gul stormed forward, still angry. Baek Cheon spoke calmly to him.

“Let’s put in a little more effort. It’s not just for that Chung Myung brat. If we are disciples of Mount Hua, we should at least search enough to be able to say that we did our best.”

“Yes, Sasuk.”

“Yes, Sasuk. I’ll try my best!”

Yoon Jong and Tang Soso’s voices were filled with fresh energy.

Baek Cheon stared in the direction Chung Myung had gone for a moment before starting to walk again.

Clear stream water gurgled and flowed through the valley.

Chung Myung sat on a large rock, staring blankly at the flowing water.

‘Was I being greedy?’

Water keeps flowing without looking back.

Even if this place was a valley a hundred years ago, the water flowing now is not the same as it was then. Finding traces of something that happened such a long time ago might actually be impossible.

‘Cheongjin…’

Chung Myung’s gaze turned to the sky.

The sky was heartlessly clear, and nothing could be seen.

He had clearly met him in a dream not long ago, but he couldn’t quite remember Cheongjin’s face. He could recall it if he tried, but he couldn’t stop it from gradually fading.

Chung Myung, who was blankly watching the flowing stream, murmured quietly,

“Regret…”

Perhaps what he was doing now was like trying to catch water with his hands.

If Cheongjin was watching him now from a distant place, what would he say?

Wouldn’t he tell him not to do anything useless and just go back to Mount Hua and raise his disciples?

Or would he nag him to find traces somehow and return to Mount Hua?

Chung Myung pondered for a while, then shook his head.

‘I don’t know.’

There was no way to find the answer.

Even if he came to a conclusion on his own, it wouldn’t be what the real Cheongjin would have said. The dead have no power and cannot answer.

He cannot see it with his eyes, cannot hear it with his ears, and cannot touch it by reaching out his hand. No matter how desperately he reaches out, all he can grasp is empty air.

No matter how vividly he lives on inside him, he can never face him again.

Chung Myung, watching the flowing water, thought.

Perhaps he, too, should have flowed away like that water long ago. Just…

Thud.

At that moment, Chung Myung slowly turned his head at the sound of footsteps behind him.

The person he met stared at Chung Myung without a word. Seeing the unexpected guest, Chung Myung chuckled.

“Why?”

“Just because.”

Chung Myung, unsure what to say, hesitated. Yoo Iseol approached the rock he was sitting on and sat down beside him.

He stood silently, watching the stream rush over smooth, grey stones. The water was clear and cold, reflecting the pale sky above. For a long time, only the sound of the water filled the air. Then, after a quiet moment, she spoke softly.

“…Before.”

“Huh?” Chung Myung asked, confused.

Yoo Iseol spoke without turning her head to him. “We went together, remember? To Father’s grave.”

Chung Myung nodded slowly.

“I’m glad I wasn’t alone,” she said quietly. “If I had gone by myself, I wouldn’t have known how to face him. But if Father sees people with me, he might feel a little calmer.”

Chung Myung looked at her, surprised.

Yoo Iseol did not often share her thoughts. Hearing her talk so much and so clearly was new to him.

It was even more surprising that she was trying to comfort him.

“…Father.”

Yoo Iseol closed her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes trembling.

“He wanted to finish his martial arts before returning. He wouldn’t have wanted to return until his last breath. But in the end, he contacted Mount Hua.”

“He must have been worried because he was your father.”

“…I thought so too.”

But Yoo Iseol quietly shook her head.

“Now I think I understand. More than wanting to send me to Mount Hua, he wanted to return himself. He missed it so much.”

“…”

Yoo Iseol’s face was as calm as usual, but Chung Myung could see she was hiding her feelings.

“I even thought about holding his funeral there, because he wanted to return to Mount Hua so much. When I was young, I wouldn’t have dared to think of it, but now I can.”

“…”

“But I decided not to.”

“…Why?”

Yoo Iseol slowly shook her head.

“Because it’s meaningless.”

“…”

A quiet voice escaped her lips, which were usually tightly closed.

“Father has already returned to Mount Hua. If I am in Mount Hua, Father is also in Mount Hua. And if I master the sword technique he was trying to complete, his lifelong wish will come true.”

Chung Myung’s lips were tightly shut.

“Carrying on… that’s what it is.”

At her words, Chung Myung looked at the distant sky.

‘Carrying on…’

That’s what she meant.

Even if he couldn’t find it, if Chung Myung carried on his will, it would be the same as him returning to Mount Hua.

‘Those are the words I should say…’

Chung Myung closed his eyes tightly.

How much thought must Yoo Iseol, who doesn’t talk much, have put into saying these words?

“…Carrying on.”

She wasn’t wrong. Cheongjin cared about the future of Mount Hua more than anyone else.

Yes, if Chung Myung could carry on his will, that would be enough.

Chung Myung finally stood up, shaking off his thoughts.

It wasn’t that he had no regrets, or that he had no attachments. But he couldn’t stay here forever. He had much to do.

“Let’s go back, Sa-hyung.”

Chung Myung and Yoo Iseol looked at each other. Chung Myung smiled slightly and looked at the distant sky.

‘I’ll return someday.’

After finishing everything, he could come back and find it then.

Chung Myung pushed away the sadness that held him back and slowly started walking.

‘Then… yes. Let’s go back together then.’

But after a few steps, Chung Myung suddenly stopped.

He, who had been as still as a stone statue, murmured very softly.

“…Mount Hua?”

– You wanted to return to Mount Hua more.

His cold, pale fingertips trembled.

‘This idiotic bastard…’

What was he thinking? What was he looking for?

Where did he think Cheongjin was, and what did he think he was doing?

“…Jin-ah.”

– My disciples will learn martial arts with the secret manuals I created and build a better Mount Hua.

– This is how I repay the grace of Mount Hua.

Yoo Iseol’s father held a half-finished secret manual and tried to complete the martial art by any means possible. He thought that was how to make up for leaving Mount Hua.

Then what about Cheongjin?

What would he have tried to do, knowing he could never return to Mount Hua?

– That’s why I carry the most important things with me like this.

“Ah…”

Return it.

Even if he couldn’t return to Mount Hua, he would have tried to return the secret manuals.

But how? Surrounded by enemies in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, which was like the Demon Sect’s base, what could he do…?

Chung Myung looked around quickly.

‘If I were Cheongjin?’

He was wounded.

He had lost his pursuers, but there was little chance of survival. If he died here, the secret manuals would fall into the hands of the Demon Sect.

In that case…

‘Hide it.’

In a place the Demon Sect couldn’t find.

And… in a place where his martial brothers could find it someday.

In a place that his martial brothers, who would break through even if the Demon Sect blocked them, would search for him without giving up.

– With Sa-hyung here, how could I die?

Chung Myung’s hands began to tremble like aspen leaves.

Someone who would never die. Someone who must never die.

Someone who would survive those terrible Demon Sect bastards and come to find him.

“It was me…”

Chung Myung’s face twisted terribly.

“…It… was me. It was for me.”

He looked to the side, as if in a trance.

The deep blue sky stretched above them. The mountain ranges rolled like waves in the distance, their peaks sharp against the clear air. Among the ridges so different from Mount Hua, a sharp peak stood out.

A rugged mountain, its peak jagged like broken teeth, jutted out from the gentler slopes around it. Dark rocks and steep cliffs made it look unwelcoming and harsh.

Yes… it was just like…

“…Cheongjin-ah.”

Chung Myung moved as if pulled by a string.

It’s there. It was there.

My martial brother.