Still, I Walk With Them (4)
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"We found it! We found it!"
"It’s the Honwon Pill! Damn it, it was here all along!"
Baek Cheon rushed toward Chung Myung, who was tipping backward. Then, instead of grabbing Chung Myung, he snatched up the box containing the Honwon Pill with lightning speed.
Splaaash!
Chung Myung toppled into the water, but no one spared him a glance. Their eyes were half gone with frenzy, fixed only on the box holding the Honwon Pill.
"If this is the Honwon Scriptures, then this must be the refining method for the Honwon Pill, right? Right, Sasuk?"
"It must be! What else would it be? Hahahahahaha! In the end, we actually found it!"
"Aaaaaaaaaah! Sect Leader! We did it! Hahahahahat!"
"Shh!"
At that moment, Yu I-seol signaled for them to quiet down and spoke in a low voice.
"Sahyung. There might still be someone around. Treasure brings trouble. If anyone hears we found this, that would be bad."
"Ah, right."
Baek Cheon quickly clamped his mouth shut and closed the box holding the Honwon Pill as well.
He couldn’t sense a thing nearby, but there was always the possibility of a worst-case scenario.
"So what do we do with this now?"
"W-well..."
"Shouldn’t we take it back to Mount Hua?"
"We should, right? Yeah, we should."
Even Baek Cheon, of all people, couldn’t hide his flustered state in this moment. That bastard had suddenly strode up the mountain, then yanked the box containing the Honwon Pill out from a place no one could have imagined.
Wouldn’t anyone be rattled?
"Chung Myung. You little bastard. You really did good— wait. Chung Myung?"
Only then did Baek Cheon spot Chung Myung, half-submerged in the water and coughing up bubbles, and he rushed over in alarm.
"Hey, you punk! Why are you lying there like that?"
"Grrrgh."
Chung Myung finally regained his senses and trembled all over as he glared at Baek Cheon.
"I’m the one who fell over! You leave me there and just snatch the medicine?"
"...You being the one to fall over is hard to imagine, that’s all."
"I guess I should stop talking."
Chung Myung groaned and hauled himself upright. His clothes were completely soaked, but that hardly mattered.
"Give it here!"
He almost snatched the box with the Honwon Pill straight out of Baek Cheon’s hands. Then he took a deep breath and carefully opened it.
That indescribable fragrance spread out once more.
This has to be the real thing.
No ordinary elixir gave off a scent like this. Even Jaso-dan, once the finest medicine Mount Hua had possessed, had never carried such a clear, pristine fragrance. This was the sort of thing you couldn’t fake even if you wanted to.
"Hoo. Hoo. Hoo."
Chung Myung kept breathing hard as he took out the Honwon Scriptures and shut the box again. He shoved the box carelessly into his robe, then unfolded the scriptures and began to read in a voice that trembled ever so slightly.
"To my disciple, Lianzi."
"Ooooh!"
"Ooooooh!"
The Mount Hua disciples all listened to Chung Myung’s voice with moved expressions.
"If you have understood the meaning of my arrangements and made it here, then you are qualified to inherit my work. The Honwon refinements and medicine arts must be used to save the countless people of this world. If you are Lianzi, you will understand my intent well enough."
"Ooooooh!"
"I-it really is the Honwon Pill and the Honwon Scriptures!"
Chung Myung closed the book.
There were a few more lines beyond that, and after them came the recipe for the Honwon Pill, along with the lifelong achievements Yak Seon had made in alchemy and medicine.
But Yak Seon had never considered this, had he?
He had no way of knowing that the arrangement he’d devoted so much effort to would end up in the hands of someone whose nature was the exact opposite of what he had imagined.
"Hehehehehehehehe."
He couldn’t help laughing.
The laughter simply spilled out of him.
"Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!"
Unable to control himself, Chung Myung tucked the scriptures back into the box. Then he shoved the box into his robes and cinched them tight.
The night luminescence stones and the box bulged out against his chest, making him look absurd, but who cared? His heart had never felt this warm.
"Hahahahahaha. If I feel like it, I could even have a drink with the Mount Zhongnan Sect Leader."
Heh. A toast for the road. That’s just how life is!
What? Plum Blossom Sword Art? Ah, don’t worry about it. You guys never really use it properly anyway, right? Kekekekekek.
"Chung Myung, now the Honwon—"
"Heeheeheeheehee!"
"No. The Honwon—"
"Kwahahahahahaha!"
Baek Cheon shook his head.
He’s lost it.
But he could understand that feeling perfectly. Baek Cheon had been unable to stop his hips from fidgeting ever since a while ago, either.
"Good heavens, the Honwon Pill."
They had come all this way for this, but to think they had truly managed to obtain it. Baek Cheon kept stealing glances at the outline of the box visible through Chung Myung’s chest.
Then Chung Myung, looking refreshed, said,
"Hah. Still, a person should have some manners."
"Hm?"
He turned in a circle and slowly bowed toward the spring source from which he had pulled out the box.
Having finished a second bow to honor the dead, Chung Myung quietly stared at the spring.
"Why are you bowing to something that isn’t even a grave?"
"No."
Chung Myung shook his head.
"This is Yak Seon’s grave."
"...Huh?"
Yak Seon’s remains might have been buried somewhere else. Maybe there wasn’t even a grave at all. After leaving behind the Honwon Pill and the Honwon Scriptures, perhaps nothing more in life had mattered to him.
He may have died alone and lonely, deep in the mountains where no one ever set foot.
Even if there was no body here, there was the will he had left behind. In that case, there was nothing strange about calling this place Yak Seon’s grave.
For him, what truly mattered wasn’t the flesh of his body, but the intent he had left in the world.
"That’s enough."
Chung Myung turned away without hesitation.
He would inherit Yak Seon’s techniques. But there was no need for him to carry on Yak Seon’s will.
"But..."
Yoon Jong spoke, sounding uneasy.
"Is it really all right to take this back to Mount Hua? It doesn’t seem like that was the deceased’s intent."
Mount Hua was a sect.
But Yak Seon had not wanted the Honwon Pill to fall into the hands of a sect. He had merely hoped that someone who inherited his will would practice healing arts.
But Chung Myung only answered with a dry shrug.
"Doesn’t matter."
"Huh?"
"Yak Seon was gambling too. He arranged things and figured, in the end, that some decent person would come along and find them. That’s just irresponsibility dressed up nice."
"Still..."
"If Yak Seon really wanted to pass on his intent and will, then instead of leaving the Honwon Pill like this, he should’ve taken in disciples who could carry on that intent. Even if they weren’t perfect in his eyes, they should have been people who could inherit his will—"
Chung Myung fell silent.
One day, even you will wish for it. The day your disciples, your martial nephews, and your descendants inherit your intent and carry on what is yours.
A sect is such a thing. Living well together isn’t everything. What matters more is continuing one’s will.
Chung Myung slowly closed his eyes.
So that’s what you wanted to say, Sahyung.
Last night’s dream.
That was what Chung Mun had told him.
Were you so worried about this pitiful disciple of yours?
Chung Myung bit his lip.
"Chung Myung?"
"Ah, no. Nothing."
He quickly wiped at the corner of his eyes where the others couldn’t see, then went on in a lower voice.
"Even if they’re not fully trusted, it gets passed on. Even if their abilities are lacking, if generations of people live on, properly carrying on my intent, then someday there will naturally be a successor who can inherit both my intent and my abilities in full. Yeah... that’s how things continue in a sect. Right, that’s what a sect is. That’s..."
Chung Myung turned his head and looked at the rock.
"Yak Seon couldn’t trust those who would carry on his will. He probably wanted a perfect genius who could contain his abilities and intent in their entirety. That’s why he did something like this. But... that wouldn’t have been the right way."
Someone who stands alone and whole will, in the end, have no choice but to look down on others.
From the perspective of a genius like Yak Seon, everyone else in the world must have seemed inadequate. He likely never believed those lesser people could continue his work. He probably thought only a genius like himself could inherit his abilities.
Just as Chung Myung once had.
But—
You were wrong.
And Chung Myung, in the past, had been wrong too. Or rather, he hadn’t known.
One day, those inadequate people will become the most precious things to you.
Chung Myung clenched his fist.
"I understand now, Sahyung."
"Hm? Me?"
When Yoon Jong pointed at himself, Chung Myung looked at him with a sullen expression.
No, maybe he still didn’t fully understand...
Well, whatever!
This wasn’t something Chung Myung could have done alone. If his martial brothers hadn’t all worried over it and worked so hard, Chung Myung would have gone back to Mount Hua having understood nothing at all.
Those weak people pushed at Chung Myung’s back and held him up.
Yes, this was...
Chung Myung opened his mouth in a slightly awkward tone.
"You all worked hard."
"Huh?"
"What’s wrong with him?"
"Did the kid go crazy? Why’s he doing stuff he never does?"
"We need a physician."
"..."
Those bastards?
Chung Myung glared at them, then let out a long sigh.
What was there to blame them for? It was all Chung Myung’s fault anyway.
He quietly stared at the rock. And then he thought of Yak Seon’s will, which might still remain here.
Maybe you made the best choice you could, too. Whether you were right or I was right, maybe that’s something none of us can know. I don’t know everything either.
But—
"Still, I walk with them."
He would no longer walk alone.
He would no longer try to solve everything by himself.
Now he had people who would carry his will onward, and people who would work with him to bring that will to life. Yes, that was a sect. That was Mount Hua.
Yak Seon’s will would end here.
What he had tried to leave behind for the world would no longer have any meaning. His intent had only been passed to Chung Myung, and Chung Myung would not carry it on.
But Chung Myung was different.
His will continued.
As long as Mount Hua existed, as long as Mount Hua’s will lived on in the world, Chung Myung’s will would not disappear—even if he died, even if hundreds of years passed.
And...
As long as Mount Hua exists, my martial brothers’ wills are with me too. Right, Sahyung?
No answer came.
But Chung Myung had already heard it.
He didn’t need to long for the past. The will of Mount Hua, which they had risked their lives to protect, was now with Chung Myung.
Just by being together with Mount Hua’s name, he was no different from being with the martial brothers who had gone ahead of him.
And now...
Chung Myung looked at the martial brothers standing before him.
Yes. All he had to do was walk with them.
"Sasuk."
"Yeah."
Chung Myung smiled, bright and carefree.
It was time to go now.
A place so dearly missed by its name alone. A place that grew warm in his chest just by thinking of it.
"Let’s go back. To Mount Hua."
Everyone nodded, smiling.
It was the moment the long, long journey to Namyoung finally came to an end.
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