If You’re Going to Do It, Do It Right (4)
“...What exactly are you doing?”
Heo Do-jin-in’s brows twitched ever so slightly.
“That is...”
Heo Sanja, who knew perfectly well what that expression meant, lowered his gaze a little. It wasn’t as if he had done anything wrong, but who in their right mind would want to face Heo Do-jin-in’s fury head-on?
“They’re... scattering grain across Wuhan.”
“Wuhan?”
“...Yes. The grain was recovered from the Dae-byeol Bandit Band, so they say it should be returned to the people of Hubei...”
Tap.
At the sound, Heo Sanja lifted his eyes slightly. It was the sound of Heo Do-jin-in’s fingers lightly drumming against the tabletop.
“In Wuhan... Of all places, in Wuhan?”
“...”
“What a shameless little scheme.”
The hand stroking his beard became slightly rougher.
“How many people in Wuhan are truly in need that they had to spread that grain there of all places? If they meant to relieve the poor, they could have chosen anywhere else in Hubei.”
“Then...”
“Yes. They’re plainly trying to widen Mount Hua’s influence in Hubei.”
Heo Sanja asked with some confusion, “But Sect Leader, aren’t they already established in the western plains? Why go as far as Hubei...”
“Influence doesn’t necessarily mean direct control.”
Heo Do-jin-in shook his head. His voice was a little more heated than usual.
“Mount Hua doesn’t need to increase its grip on Hubei. It’s enough for us to weaken the influence we hold there.”
“Weaken it, you say?”
“People always compare things. Mount Hua is based in Shaanxi, yet it has come to Hubei to drive out bandits and even provide relief to the common people—won’t that naturally lead to talk about what the same righteous sect, Wudang, has been doing all this time?”
Heo Sanja still looked unconvinced. “But wouldn’t that only be a temporary issue? After all, Wudang has done plenty for Hubei over the years.”
“You’re speaking foolishly.”
Heo Do-jin-in shook his head.
“By nature, people are drawn to what is new and forget what came before. What Wudang has given Hubei until now will already have become something they take for granted.”
“...”
“It isn’t their fault. That is simply how the world works. The real problem is Mount Hua, striking exactly where it hurts.”
When he finished speaking, Heo Do-jin-in bit his lip slightly.
That Hyun Jong...
The Hyun Jong he had known was not someone this calculating. Which meant there were only two possibilities.
Either his judgment of people had been wrong, or someone else was the one steering this within Mount Hua.
Either way, it was hardly welcome news for Wudang. Mount Hua was already making a ridiculous ascent in the world. The fact that there might be someone there sharp enough to make full use of that rising fame was undeniably threatening.
“Th-then shouldn’t we come up with some countermeasure? We could start relief efforts ourselves, or...”
Heo Do-jin-in frowned and glared at Heo Sanja.
“If we were to begin relief efforts now, what would people say? They’d only say Wudang was belatedly following Mount Hua’s lead. This isn’t the same as clearing out the remnants of bandits.”
“...”
“It might let us seize the public mood for a short while, but in the long term it would be the worst possible move. The name Wudang must never stand behind Mount Hua, don’t you understand?”
“I was too short-sighted, Sect Leader.”
Heo Do-jin-in clenched his knee tightly with the hand that had been drumming on the table.
“Mount Hua...”
It felt as if a long needle had been thrust into his belly.
The first time he heard Mount Hua’s name, it had been no more than a sting. However promising the youngsters of Mount Hua might be, no one had ever heard of a sect that had so completely collapsed rising again on the strength of a single genius.
So he had thought it nothing more than a final gasp.
But the needle that had only stung and irritated him gradually grew larger, until now it had become a long spike piercing his stomach and drawing blood.
The bigger problem was that he had no idea when this spike would grow even larger and pierce not only his stomach, but his heart as well.
“Amitabha.”
Heo Do-jin-in murmured a low Daoist invocation.
He had prided himself on having achieved a fair depth of cultivation, yet the name Mount Hua always shook that composure mercilessly.
“Sect Leader.”
Just then, Heo Sanja, who had been watching his mood carefully, spoke up hesitantly.
“I am too ignorant to fully grasp the Sect Leader’s concern. Of course, even to my eye, Mount Hua’s momentum is no small matter. But even so, isn’t Mount Hua still Mount Hua?”
“...”
“For a whole hundred years, they were unable to recover their standing. A sect is not something so simple that a little cleverness and a bit of strength are enough to restore its former glory.”
Heo Do-jin-in could not help but sigh.
The reason his chest felt so tight at Heo Sanja’s words was something else entirely. Most of the answers he had gotten from the other Nine Sects and One Gang after asking them to discuss the matter had been much the same.
“Can you stop flowing water?”
“...Pardon?”
“Principle is like flowing water. It is not especially difficult to stop drops falling from a mountain. Even if that water gathers and flows into a small stream, it can still be blocked with a little effort.”
It was a somewhat abrupt metaphor, but Heo Do-jin-in’s expression was so grave that Heo Sanja nodded seriously all the same.
“But once that water keeps flowing and gathering until it becomes a brook, and then a river, it can no longer be halted by human strength. No matter how many dikes you build, no matter how many reservoirs you dig, the water will eventually overflow, will it not?”
“...”
“What use is it to regret once the river has already formed! What countermeasure will you have by then?”
Listening in a daze, Heo Sanja felt cold sweat soak the back of his robe.
Once it becomes a river, it can’t be stopped...
In other words, if Wudang allowed Mount Hua to continue unchecked, Heo Do-jin-in believed there would one day come a point when even Wudang’s power would no longer be enough to hold them back.
Could Mount Hua really go that far?
Heo Sanja recalled the face of Chung Myung from the Sword Tomb.
When he had seen that boy, he had never imagined that Wudang would end up in such a situation...
“Then what do you intend to do?”
At Heo Sanja’s question, Heo Do-jin-in looked up at the ceiling instead of answering.
Fools.
Shaolin did not understand.
They had never been pressed beneath Mount Hua, so they could not possibly imagine someone standing above them. The other orthodox sects were no different for their own reasons. There had always been sects above them.
Only two sects felt the warning itch and irritation of Mount Hua’s advance.
Wudang, and Zhongnan.
Zhongnan had already failed to stop Mount Hua and gone into seclusion. Of course, who would ever compare Zhongnan to Wudang? And yet, once more time had passed, who could guarantee that Wudang would not end up the same?
“If no one else will act...”
At last, Heo Do-jin-in fixed his gaze straight ahead, and an icy chill that was unbefitting of a Daoist stirred in his eyes.
“Then we’ll have to break that momentum ourselves.”
Heo Sanja flinched at the coldness of his tone.
“Sect Leader...”
“Heo San.”
“Yes.”
“I am one who follows the Dao.”
Heo Do-jin-in slowly shook his head.
“But before I am a Daoist, I am the Sect Leader of Wudang. If I were forced to choose between upholding the duties of a Daoist and preserving Wudang’s glory, I would choose Wudang’s glory without the slightest hesitation.”
“...Sect Leader.”
“Even if that means suppressing another righteous sect by force.”
Heo Sanja gave a deep sigh.
They were Wudang.
Before they were a martial sect, they were a Daoist sect. Since the days of the founder, Sambong Jin-in... no, even before that, from the time Samcheong Palace was built and Daoists first gathered in Wudang, they had striven not to stray from a Daoist’s proper duty.
That was why Heo Do-jin-in’s words were not something a Daoist ought to say.
And yet how could he not understand the heart behind them?
What becomes of the world if it comes to this?
Mount Hua had already allied itself with sects including the Tang Family and seized the western plains. If Wudang, the center of the Nine Sects, were now to stand against Mount Hua, a rift between the Western Alliance and the Nine Sects was all but inevitable.
“There is nothing to agonize over.”
“Pardon?”
“I know you’re wondering what I’m thinking. But this was always how it would end. Mount Hua and Wudang have always been that sort of relationship. The two sects were never meant to coexist side by side. When Mount Hua’s momentum overflowed, Wudang had to quietly lower its head; when Wudang once dominated the world, the name Mount Hua was erased from it.”
“...”
“Only that natural order has come around once more.”
Looking steadily at Heo Sanja, Heo Do-jin-in said in a heavy voice, “If one simply tries to crush those who show virtue and relieve the suffering by force, then it is only natural that the world’s gaze will turn unfavorably. So don’t try to suppress them—just show them. Show them that the name Wudang still stands atop a mountain so great that even Mount Hua cannot dare overstep it!”
In the span of a moment, the uncertainty in Heo Sanja’s eyes hardened into resolve.
He still did not know what was right and what was wrong. All he knew was that Heo Do-jin-in was not someone who would make a wrong choice lightly.
“I’ll lead the disciples and go.”
“Take all of the Third Swords with you.”
“Mu Jin as well?”
Heo Do-jin-in nodded.
“That boy has reached the time to redeem his failure. If they are the Wudang Three Swords, they won’t lose to Mount Hua’s children.”
“But the strength of the Mount Hua Divine Dragon is...”
At the mention of the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, Heo Do-jin-in’s face stiffened coldly. It felt as if yet another thorn had been driven into him.
There’s no helping it.
The strength of the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, as seen at the martial arts tournament, was beyond what any of Wudang’s younger generation could hope to handle. There were countless promising youths in the world, but that Mount Hua Divine Dragon and Shaolin’s Hye Yeon had already climbed to a different level entirely.
“Take Heo Gong with you.”
“He-Heo Gong, Sect Leader? Heo Gong is an elder! No matter how remarkable that Mount Hua Divine Dragon may be, sending an elder to deal with that child would be humiliating.”
“There’s no need for us to deal with him personally.”
“Pardon?”
“If the Mount Hua Divine Dragon I know is there, then simply giving him the right kind of scratch will be enough to make him step forward on his own. A child like that is unlikely to resist a challenge to his pride.”
“...”
“It may be disgraceful to challenge a child, but accepting one’s challenge is not disgraceful. Just having Heo Gong there will naturally make things happen, so don’t worry about it.”
Heo Sanja slowly nodded.
“There is only one goal.”
There was a glint in Heo Do-jin-in’s eyes.
“Right now, the world speaks highly of Mount Hua. But that isn’t because of Mount Hua’s accomplishments alone. It’s because no one knows Mount Hua’s weakness.”
“...”
“Make everyone understand that Mount Hua is sustained only by its young disciples. Make Mount Hua itself understand that fame is nothing but an illusion if there is no power to support it!”
“I will keep it in mind, Sect Leader.”
“And if you fail to do even that...”
Heo Do-jin-in seemed about to say more, then only shook his head heavily.
“Go.”
“Yes, Sect Leader! I will carry out your orders.”
Heo Sanja rose from his seat.
Turning to leave, he glanced back unconsciously. But in the end, he could not bring himself to voice the doubts that had formed in his heart and hurried on.
Thud.
Stepping outside and passing through the door, a clear sky spread before his eyes.
If I fail to do even that...
What had the Sect Leader meant to say after that?
He could not even begin to guess. Heo Sanja hardened his expression at once and quickened his pace.