Still, I Walk With Them (2)
"You’ve had a rough time of it, Mount Hua Divine Dragon."
"…You said you were only going to rest for a day, so why the hell are you still hanging around here?"
"The food here’s good, the beds are comfortable, and the liquor is… ah, no. That’s not it. It’s just that my body still hasn’t fully recovered…."
Chung Myung looked at Hong Dae-gwang with deep suspicion.
How did the Beggars’ Sect end up with someone like this?
The Beggars’ Sect of old had been made up of men who would stake their lives on righteousness alone. If one judged by the losses in combat strength, Mount Hua had suffered the worst damage in the Great Mountain, but when it came to the number of dead disciples, no sect could even hope to compare with the Beggars’ Sect.
Thinking of that Beggars’ Sect, overflowing with chivalry, and then looking at this greasy, slippery bastard….
No, was the Beggars’ Sect always this sleazy?
He wasn’t sure. People changed on the battlefield.
"Anyway, Mount Hua Divine Dragon. You’re heading back to Mount Hua now?"
"I am."
"I see?"
Hong Dae-gwang’s expression turned serious. He clasped his hands and bowed deeply to Chung Myung.
"I, Hong Dae-gwang, Branch Leader of the Luoyang branch of the Beggars’ Sect and one of the Seven Knot Beggars, wish to thank Mount Hua for all the help it gave the Beggars’ Sect during this Sword Tomb affair. The Beggars’ Sect never forgets a favor. Someday, we will repay this kindness."
For once, Chung Myung put away his usual mocking grin and returned the salute.
"Don’t mention it."
When the two of them lowered their hands, they stared awkwardly at one another.
Something like comradery had perhaps been born between them.
"And from now on, you’d better be careful."
"Hm?"
Hong Dae-gwang spoke in a low voice.
"For better or worse, this incident is going to make your name ring all through the martial world. Everyone saw what you did. The reputation you’ve built up since the Hwajong Jihoe, which had started to fade a little over the past two years, is going to spread again."
"Huh."
"Gaining fame in the jianghu isn’t always a good thing. It means more people will envy you, and more people will try to bring you down just so they can make a name for themselves."
"Well, that’s obvious."
Chung Myung replied dryly.
He’d already gone through more than enough of that. And every one of those bastards who came at him ended up with a hole kicked clean through their ass as they went running back home.
By beating those fools one by one, hadn’t he eventually ended up with that grand title, Plum Blossom Sword Saint?
"A man is giving you advice here!"
When Hong Dae-gwang bristled, Chung Myung reluctantly nodded. At any rate, right now he wasn’t Plum Blossom Sword Saint Chung Myung. He was Mount Hua Divine Dragon Chung Myung.
"I trust you’ll handle yourself well. And from now on, we’ll be sending people to Mount Hua regularly."
Chung Myung’s eyes gleamed faintly.
Oh?
Sending people didn’t just mean the Beggars’ Sect branch. It meant the Beggars’ Sect intended to keep up contact with Mount Hua.
"We don’t really have anything to give you," Chung Myung said.
"That’s for us to decide."
Hong Dae-gwang grinned.
"We’re also thinking of restoring the Huayin branch of the Beggars’ Sect, the one we shut down once before. So if you ever need information from the Beggars’ Sect, you can contact us there."
"So you can also steal our information from the Huayin branch, huh?"
"Haha. That’s just how people help each other survive."
Chung Myung snorted.
Not a bad offer. In fact, it was exactly what he wanted. One of Mount Hua’s biggest deficiencies right now was information.
To be honest, Mount Hua’s intelligence network was worse than that of a middling minor sect. They’d been holed up in the mountains, worrying about money all this time; how were they supposed to know what was happening outside?
Chung Myung nodded and added, "And one more thing."
"Hm?"
"Send smart people to the Huayin branch. I’ve got a lot of things I want to know."
"Huh."
"And leave a couple of beggars in Namyang too, while you’re at it. Give Hwayeong Gate some support. If it’s not too much trouble, let them serve as messengers too."
"We’ll do that."
The decision came quick and easy.
Well, it wasn’t a total loss.
It wasn’t the prize he’d originally set out to get, but this alone was no small gain. After all, Mount Hua had been kicked out of the Nine Great Sects, severing all ties with the Beggars’ Sect. Now they could connect again and exchange information.
If Hyun Jong found out, he’d probably shed tears of emotion, wouldn’t he?
"Anyway, thanks, Mount Hua Divine Dragon."
"Yes, take care of yourself. We probably won’t see each other again."
"We’ll probably meet again."
Hong Dae-gwang waved and turned to leave.
"Hold it."
Chung Myung grabbed the waistband of Hong Dae-gwang’s robes as he tried to walk away.
"Hm?"
"Don’t forget your promise."
"Promise?"
"That you’d send that beggar bastard to Mount Hua."
"…."
Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes twitched.
"O-of course. Right. I haven’t forgotten."
"Don’t think I’ll just let it slide. I’m the kind of guy who never forgets."
"…."
What the hell had that guy done to earn this kind of treatment from him?
"I said I’d keep my promise! I’m Hong Dae-gwang!"
"If you don’t, don’t expect the Huayin branch of the Beggars’ Sect to stay safe."
"…Got it. I said got it."
If anyone else had threatened him like this, Hong Dae-gwang would’ve laughed it off. But he had already confirmed Chung Myung’s nature—over and over again—and he couldn’t laugh now.
And so Hong Dae-gwang left Namyang to the very end, while still being threatened all the way out.
The Mount Hua disciples, having finished the last of what they needed to do in Namyang, slung their bundles over their shoulders and stood at Hwayeong Gate’s main entrance.
Wi So-haeng and the disciples of Hwayeong Gate, led by Wi Lip-san, had come out to see them off.
"We are truly grateful."
"Think nothing of it."
Baek Cheon replied to Wi Lip-san.
Over the past several days, he and Wi Lip-san had already discussed how Hwayeong Gate would be run from here on, as well as how Mount Hua would support them.
For Wi Lip-san, who had sent word to the main sect in the hope that they might help in the crisis bearing down on him, there was no way he could fail to be grateful to the disciples of the main sect for solving everything and even promising further support.
"Your burden is a heavy one, Gate Leader Wi. Even at the main sect, we place high expectations upon you."
"Would I truly be worthy of such confidence? Still, I shall break my bones and grind my body to dust if need be, and do my utmost."
As Wi Lip-san bowed deeply, the Mount Hua disciples bowed in return.
"Daoist Chung Myung."
Wi So-haeng looked at Chung Myung with a face full of lingering regret.
"What is it?"
"It’s just… I feel a little sorry somehow…."
"There’s no reason to feel sorry. We’ll be seeing each other often from now on."
That’s a strangely reassuring and terrifying thing to say at the same time.
"Could I perhaps become a disciple of the main sect someday too?"
"No."
Chung Myung cut him off without mercy.
"You need to become the Gate Leader of Hwayeong Gate."
"…I suppose so."
"But coming to Mount Hua to train is always possible. Mount Hua doesn’t discriminate between outer disciples and main sect disciples. Even Jo Gul here intends to go down someday and take over his family line."
"Ah, Daoist Jo Gul?"
Wi So-haeng looked at Jo Gul as if he’d suddenly found the answer he was looking for. Jo Gul, flustered, waved his hands in a panic.
"N-no, nothing’s been decided yet!"
"So it’s possible, then."
Resolution flickered in Wi So-haeng’s eyes.
"So for now, just help your father. You’ll have plenty to do for a while."
"I will."
Wi So-haeng smiled as if something had finally cleared in his mind and stepped back.
Once it seemed the situation had mostly settled, Baek Cheon bowed to Wi Lip-san once more.
"Then we’ll take our leave."
"You are making a long journey. I should really give you some money for the road…."
"It’s fine!"
Chung Myung puffed out his chest. Something bulged noticeably under his robes.
"We’re rich!"
"…."
Uh… yes. Right.
"Then we shall see you again someday."
"Take care."
As the Mount Hua disciples waved and walked away, the people of Hwayeong Gate kept waving after them as well.
"They’re gone."
"Yes. They are."
It felt as though a storm had just swept through.
Wi Lip-san, feeling a faint sense of emptiness, watched the backs of the Mount Hua disciples with a gentle smile.
Mount Hua will change.
No—Mount Hua had already changed.
And someday, those names would echo throughout the world together with Mount Hua’s own.
I can’t afford to stand still either.
"Let’s go inside. There’s much to do. If we’re going to complete the assignments the main sect has given us, even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough!"
"Yes, Father!"
The disciples of Hwayeong Gate turned around.
Their shoulders were filled with a confidence and pride they had never known before.
The words written on Hwayeong Gate’s signboard—Mount Hua Outer Family—had never looked so proper, so right, as they did today.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The streets looked rather bleak.
Everyone who had flooded into Namyang had already left, and the local residents, startled by everything that had happened, had kept themselves indoors. The city, which had never been all that crowded to begin with, was almost eerie in its silence.
"So in the end, we’re just going back empty-handed."
"It’s not empty-handed."
At Yoon Jong’s words, Baek Cheon shook his head.
"We dealt with Hwayeong Gate’s problem, and we gained a good relationship with the Beggars’ Sect. In the process, we even fought a fierce battle with Wudang and raised Mount Hua’s reputation. We couldn’t have gained much more than this."
"That’s true, Sasuk."
Still, the disappointment was impossible to shake.
They had gone through all that trouble because of the Honwon Pill, yet in the end they were leaving the Sword Tomb with nothing in their hands.
"Yakseon… Yakseon, that damn bastard!"
Chung Myung still seemed hung up on it too, grinding his teeth over and over.
But what could he do? No matter how long they stalled around here, the Honwon Pill wasn’t going to fall out of the sky. They had no choice but to go back.
Baek Cheon quietly quickened his pace. If they could just get out of Namyang quickly, maybe this lingering frustration would finally break.
That was when Yu I-seol, who had remained silent until now, spoke up.
"But."
"Hm?"
"Why did Yakseon become Talgeom Muheun?"
"Hm?"
Yu I-seol glanced at Chung Myung.
"You said it before. If you want to start, start there. With Talgeom Muheun."
Baek Cheon, listening quietly, nodded and added his own thoughts.
"Come to think of it, I think you did say something like that. Chung Myung, why is that?"
"How would I know? I’m just saying that’s how it is."
"Tch."
Baek Cheon shook his head.
Unexpectedly, it was Jo Gul who answered that question.
"Maybe because he had to hide his identity?"
"Hm?"
"It was something Yakseon could never have done openly. He’d have had to travel from sect to sect, defeating absolute masters and stealing their swords, right? If he’d done that under the name Yakseon, it would’ve caused an uproar. There’d probably have been people trying to kill Yakseon for it."
"That’s only natural, but…."
Baek Cheon frowned.
There seemed to be another reason.
That alone didn’t quite explain it.
"No. That’s not it."
This time it was Yoon Jong.
"He was hiding his identity while going around stealing swords."
"Yes."
"Why did he do it? From the way he stole those swords only to dump them in the Sword Tomb and smash them all to pieces, it doesn’t seem like he was after them in the first place."
Jo Gul’s brow furrowed.
Now that he thought about it, it really was strange.
Yakseon hadn’t coveted divine weapons. Nor had he coveted the fame of being the world’s greatest man.
Looking back, everything Yakseon had done under the name Talgeom Muheun seemed no more than a pointless game.
So why had he done it?
And why had he made the Sword Tomb?
Then Yu I-seol spoke again.
"Maybe he just hated it?"
"…Hm?"
"Maybe he didn’t need a reason. Maybe he just hated them."
Hated them?
Yakseon hated martial artists?
Baek Cheon tilted his head slightly.
"Yu Sago, explain that a little more."
"Yakseon was a physician."
"That’s true."
More accurately, he had been an alchemist, but at his core Yakseon had been a healer. He had become more famous in the jianghu because of the Honwon Pill, but for his entire life he had treated the wounded and the sick.
"So someone like that might hate them. Martial artists who swing swords around pointlessly and kill people. Even after they’re treated, they still go and kill again."
"You’re saying he caused all this over something that simple? Then what about the Sword Tomb?"
Yu I-seol made an uncertain face.
"Maybe he was trying to warn them? The people of the jianghu, I mean. If it hadn’t been for Yakseon’s disciples, nobody would have known Talgeom Muheun was Yakseon."
"No, wait."
Yoon Jong tilted his head.
"Come to think of it, Yakseon had disciples, so why was the method for refining the Honwon Pill lost? Didn’t he pass it on to them?"
"I heard Yakseon never taught his disciples the refinement method for the Honwon Pill. Said they weren’t worthy, or something."
"The more I hear about him, the weirder he sounds."
"So in the end, was all of it just Yakseon’s whim?"
And then it happened.
Chung Myung, who had been walking slowly as though lost in thought, suddenly stopped.
"Hm?"
Everyone turned to look at him.
"Chung Myung, what is it?"
But Chung Myung ignored them, muttering to himself as he stared at the distant sky, as though he couldn’t hear a thing.
"Yakseon. Honwon Pill. Sect. Talgeom Muheun. Refinement. Disciples. Test. Test…. Sect…."
The murmur went on and on, like a spell.
"Connects. Leaves behind. Tests…. Martial artists. Then…."
Then Chung Myung’s entire body gave a violent shudder.
As though struck by sudden realization, he whirled around in a trance. And then he started walking in the opposite direction from the one they’d been heading.
"H-hey, where are you going?"
Just as Yoon Jong moved to grab him, Baek Cheon quickly stepped in and pulled him back.
"Shh!"
"Ah…."
"Let’s follow him. Quietly."
"Ah, yes."
At once, the others began to follow carefully behind Chung Myung, who kept walking while muttering to himself.
What did you figure out? You monstrous bastard.
An uncontrollable sense of anticipation bloomed in Baek Cheon’s eyes.