What’s So Amazing About That? (2)
Baek Cheon let out a long sigh as he watched Chung Myung come back.
I’m telling you, he’s impossible to pin down.
Chung Myung was the most reckless bastard in Mount Hua. No one in the sect would have denied it.
And yet, every now and then, he showed them something they could never have imagined.
Though, honestly, that wasn’t exactly news anymore.
Chung Myung came right up to the Mount Hua disciples, immediately dropped the hardened expression on his face, and gave his shoulders a smug roll.
"Ahem! This is how you clean up after yourself!"
"…."
Shut your damn mouth.
If he had, maybe people would have looked at him a little differently.
Baek Cheon sighed inwardly and frowned slightly.
"Still, wasn’t that a little too cruel?"
"Huh?"
Chung Myung scratched his cheek, then looked toward the Red Snake Unit tending to Yeop Pyeong’s condition and said,
"Sasuk, Sasuk."
"What?"
"You know how to be the least cruel about it?"
"…I don’t know."
"Kill all of them."
"…."
Baek Cheon shut his mouth.
Chung Myung’s tone was playful, but this was absolutely not a joke. That bastard never joked about things like this.
"How is that the least cruel?"
"What’s more cruel? One person dying, or two people dying?"
"That would… obviously be two."
"Then how many people do you think each of those bastards will kill over the course of their lives?"
"…."
Baek Cheon’s face stiffened a little.
He had never thought about it like that.
"Hmph."
Chung Myung, who had looked as if he was about to explain further, shook his head instead.
In the end, this wasn’t something that could be understood through words alone. Baek Cheon probably knew as well as anyone that if those men were left alive, they would only go on harming ordinary people. He simply couldn’t accept how easily Chung Myung could hurt and kill others.
Chung Myung let out a soft breath.
"I’m not saying you need to become heartless, or that you should never show mercy with your sword or anything like that…"
Then he looked at Baek Cheon with eyes that had gone far more serious.
"Just keep your compassion in your heart. There’s no compassion in a sword."
"…."
Hyun Young stepped in to support him.
"I agree. If there is no compassion in the heart of a Daoist, how could one call him a Daoist at all? But Mount Hua’s sages have never shown mercy to evil."
"Ah…."
"Even that Plum Blossom Sword Saint cut down countless black-do men in a single night and made his name known throughout the world, didn’t he? It wasn’t because he lacked compassion or the concern for others to do such a thing. Surely it was all born of a profound Dao, was it not?"
"That’s right!"
At the mention of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, Baek Cheon’s eyes sparkled at once.
But Chung Myung’s insides turned black with indignation as he watched it.
It’s the same damn thing, so why do you react so differently?
This is why people had to put on a title, any title, no matter what!
Though…
Me, cutting down a black-do gang all night long?
That should’ve only been true a handful of times.
Which time were they talking about? Chung Myung fell into brief thought.
Just then, Baek Cheon spoke with a slightly heated expression.
"You must mean the time you punished the Black Moon Gate, which was infamous in Luoyang."
"Exactly. Even though the Plum Blossom Sword Saint was never one to take life lightly, he absolutely did not forgive those who tormented the common people! That day as well, he saw those black-do scum extorting the commoners and rose without hesitation in righteous fury, didn’t he?"
It was one of the few legends of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint that had been passed down in Mount Hua.
And because it had become something of a legend in Luoyang as well, every Mount Hua disciple knew it.
Only…
Ah, that one.
Chung Myung’s expression turned awkward in an instant.
— These bastards were drinking people dry!
…Er.
Commoners?
…Er.
Chung Myung quietly erased the truth from his mind.
Right. In the end, that’s what happened.
Forget it.
Forget it.
"And…"
Hyun Young frowned and returned to the main point.
"Rather than see all of you get hurt or killed because you were too lenient with your blades, it would be better if Mount Hua became a place without righteousness at all."
At that, the Mount Hua disciples looked at Hyun Young anew.
Of course, they already knew he was the most realistic of the elders. But they had never imagined those words would come out of his mouth.
"So in the future, even if the same sort of thing happens again, you must never hesitate to be ruthless with your sword."
"Yes, Elder!"
Their answer was thunderous, though not everyone had finished sorting out their thoughts.
But this was not something Chung Myung could force.
Anyone who lived in the Jianghu would have to think about this at least once. A person who held a sword could not avoid killing forever.
Chung Myung would not tell them their conclusion was wrong, no matter what they chose. A person’s values were for themselves to decide, and his own thoughts were not the absolute truth.
Only…
"Think about it more."
"…."
"So you won’t regret it."
At Chung Myung’s words, everyone quietly nodded.
"…."
From Mount Hua’s sudden appearance to the Red Snake Unit’s defeat, Nam Ja-myeong had watched the entire situation unfold, and his feelings were a complicated mess that he could not easily put into words.
They brought down Yeop Pyeong of the Red Snake Blade?
More than a dozen Southern Edge branch sects had not even dared to fight and had abandoned their territory. And wasn’t eighty percent of that reason Yeop Pyeong of the Red Snake Blade?
And yet, that very Yeop Pyeong had been defeated not by the Mount Hua Divine Dragon or Hye Yeon of Shaolin, but by that Righteous Sword of Mount Hua, Baek Cheon.
Just how much stronger has Mount Hua become?
They had only called him a member of the younger generation.
But if he had defeated Yeop Pyeong, how could he still be dismissed as merely one of the younger generation?
Nam Ja-myeong shifted his gaze toward the road. He could see the Red Snake Unit hauling away their wounded comrades.
And then…
Ah…
Those who had sensed the ominous situation and locked their gates shut began to cautiously peek out one by one.
Nam Ja-myeong’s face visibly stiffened.
Until moments ago, his mind had been focused solely on driving the Red Snake Unit away, but now that the matter was over, he had started worrying about what would come next.
"I-is it over?"
"…Ah, they’re still over there, aren’t they?"
"Look. That one lying on the ground seems to be their leader."
"T-then Mount Hua’s disciples really drove off the men of Maninbang?"
Nam Ja-myeong looked around with clear signs of confusion on his face.
Most people were still only poking their heads out, but a few brave ones had started to step outside.
"Um… d-dojang-nim. May we come out?"
When someone approached cautiously to ask, the Mount Hua disciples nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Yes, that’s fine. Just don’t go near those bastards. We still don’t know what they might do. And be careful until all of them have left Xi'an."
"Th-thank you!"
Hearing that, everyone could be certain.
Mount Hua had defeated the Red Snake Unit.
As if to prove it, the Red Snake Unit members began to shoulder their injured comrades and retreat weakly down the road.
"What are you strolling along so leisurely for, you bastards? Do I have to beat you all so hard you crawl out of here? You wanna get the hell out now?"
When Chung Myung barked at them, the Red Snake Unit members nearly jumped out of their skins and unleashed their lightness arts. Watching them flee with their tails between their legs, the onlookers burst into cheers.
"They drove them off!"
"W-we’re alive! We’re alive!"
"Serves those evil bastards right!"
As if that sight were a signal, the doors all opened at once and the people of Xi'an began pouring out like a cloud.
They pointed after the fleeing Red Snake Unit and cursed at them until their voices cracked.
"T-those bastards! If Southern Edge had just stayed closed, they wouldn’t even have been able to set foot here!"
"You said it!"
"Damn it! Why are we even talking about Southern Edge now?"
"Huh?"
And then some of them, overcome with indignation, shouted out loud.
"Southern Edge shut its gates, but did its branch sects shut theirs? If they were supposed to protect us in times like this, where were those branch sects of Southern Edge now? Every single one of them ran for the hills, that’s where!"
"Exactly!"
"Damn it, do you know how much official tax I’ve paid them over the years?"
"And no matter how you look at it, does it make sense that not a single branch sect stayed behind and all of them ran away? Can you really call that righteous?"
Rage began to swell from every direction.
The reason people learned martial arts was to protect themselves. And the reason they supported martial schools was because they believed those schools would protect them when the time came.
But Southern Edge’s branch sects had abandoned them and run the moment danger appeared.
If a sect could not defend itself against evil and had abandoned the very people it was meant to protect, who would trust or follow it?
The anger of the masses flared like wildfire.
"If the main sect hadn’t shut its gates, this never would’ve happened…"
"Don’t talk nonsense! What, did the branch sects of Southern Edge learn somewhere other than Southern Edge? The main sect taught them that way, so of course the branch sects would act that way!"
"…."
"Of course, this particular incident wouldn’t have happened if Southern Edge hadn’t shut its gates. But if an even greater enemy comes next time, what guarantee is there that Southern Edge won’t simply abandon Xi'an and run?"
"…Isn’t that a bit much?"
"You can tell what a parent is like by looking at the child! You can tell what kind of place Southern Edge is by looking at its branch sects. Anyway, I’m deeply disappointed in Southern Edge after this. I’m never going anywhere near those Southern Edge branch sect people again!"
Many people silently agreed with that sentiment.
Southern Edge’s influence hadn’t been completely shaken off yet, so not many spoke their dissatisfaction openly. But just from most of their expressions and eyes, it was obvious that distrust had already taken root deep inside them.
"On the other hand, what about Mount Hua? Those people had only just arrived in Xi'an, and yet they risked their lives to protect us."
"…Well, because they hadn’t shut their gates?"
"Don’t be stupid! Even if they hadn’t shut their gates, do you really think Southern Edge would have fought in that situation with only those young second- and third-generation disciples? I’d heard rumors that Southern Edge was starting to be outclassed by Mount Hua and didn’t believe them, but now I finally see why people said that!"
By contrast, the looks directed at Mount Hua overflowed with goodwill.
How could they not?
The Mount Hua disciples before their eyes were all young and barely grown. Those younger than themselves had risked their lives to fight those terrifying evil bastards and, in the end, protect Xi'an.
If the people here had not ostracized Hwayeong Gate before this happened, perhaps their gratitude would have been less intense. But everyone present knew the truth: they had all ostracized Hwayeong Gate because they could not withstand Southern Edge’s pressure.
And yet those people had risked their lives for them.
"They acted like complete thugs, telling us to follow them and not get involved with Mount Hua! And then the moment things got a little dangerous, they cut and ran? Is that something a person does?"
Affection for Mount Hua and hostility toward Southern Edge mixed together and boiled over.
Watching the scene, Nam Ja-myeong shut his eyes tightly.
It’s over.
Power could not be everything.
It only had meaning when people believed that power would be used in the right direction.
Now that things had come to this, Southern Edge’s branch sects would never regain trust in Xi'an again.
From the common people’s perspective, a martial school they could not trust to protect them was no different from a band of thieves.
You pathetic bastards. And I kept trying to stop them, too. How am I supposed to face my sect leader now?
Realizing that there was nothing he could do to change the flow of events, he let out a miserable groan as if the ground had opened beneath him.
Most people were busy expressing their anger toward Southern Edge, but some of them quietly approached the Mount Hua Sect to offer thanks in person.
"Thank you. Truly, thank you. Because of you, we survived."
"Ah. Please, don’t say that."
Chung Myung stuck out his chest and answered firmly.
"You don’t thank people for things like this. What’s there to thank me for? If you open a sect in Xi'an, then even if you die, you die with the people of Xi'an! And if you live, you live with the people of Xi'an! Receiving thanks for something so obvious is actually embarrassing!"
Hearing his smooth, flowing speech, the Mount Hua disciples could not help admiring him.
Did he grease his mouth with oil or what?
Wow, he’s absolutely annihilating Southern Edge’s branch sects.
So he likes stepping on other people more than being praised himself. That’s Chung Myung for you. I respect it.
"Mount Hua! Truly Mount Hua! They say Mount Hua’s fame shakes the entire world, and now I finally understand why!"
"Still, thank you so much. We survived because of Mount Hua. How many people would have died if Mount Hua hadn’t been here?"
"I don’t even know how to express my gratitude."
Chung Myung, who had been wearing an intentionally grave expression, twitched and gradually started to smile.
"Hehe. What’s the big deal?"
"No! It is a big deal! How could it not be!"
"Long live Mount Hua!"
As cheers, applause, and countless requests for handshakes poured down on him, Chung Myung’s mouth slowly began to split into a grin.
"Hehehe."
"Dojang-nims! Thank you so much!"
"Long live Mount Hua!"
Cheers, laughter, and the sound of new trust being built filled all of Xi'an.
Whether that great roar ever reached Southern Edge, whose gates remained firmly locked, no one could say.