The Mountain Is Only Worth Crossing If You Can Climb It (5)
Hubei Province, Wuhan.
If one were to pick the single most striking thing about Wuhan, everyone would point to the Yangtze River, grandly slicing through its center.
Vast plains stretched around that broad, broad river, the lifeblood of the Central Plains. Wuhan had been built upon them.
On the banks of that symbolic Yangtze, a group of martial artists were busily building something. Those who watched from nearby whispered among themselves.
“What are they doing?”
“They don’t look familiar. What are they making by the riverbank…?”
“Huh? Aren’t those people from the Wudang Sect?”
“What? Wudang?”
At that, the onlookers widened their eyes and looked again at the people gathered by the river.
“It is them. They’re from the Wudang Sect!”
“But what on earth are the Wudang folks doing there?”
Men in Taoist robes were laying a foundation on the riverbank, then carrying over slabs of solid blue stone and setting them in place. After that, they drew their swords and began cutting the uneven surface smooth.
“Th-there’s no way! They’re cutting those boulders like tofu!”
“What’s there to be so surprised about? They’re Taoist adepts of the Wudang Sect, aren’t they? The kind who can cross mountains in a single breath and wade rivers without breaking stride. Of course this is nothing to them.”
“No, I’m asking what they’re making right now.”
“Looks like some kind of stage, doesn’t it?”
It was truly a strange sight.
Boulders the size of houses were moved as if they were pebbles, then neatly sliced and laid down like bricks. Once that process repeated itself for a while, a fairly high platform was soon completed.
“Elder, it’s almost done.”
“Hmm.”
Heo Sanja nodded quietly as he looked at the sparring stage.
“But… why are we the ones doing this?”
“You ask an obvious question.”
At Mu Jin’s cautious question, Heo Sanja spoke in a low but powerful voice.
“Wuhan is Wudang’s territory. Has there ever been a host who made a guest do work in his own home? Just as guests must observe their manners, so too must a host observe the duties of a host.”
“Ah…”
Heo Sanja’s eyes flashed faintly.
“Do not pick fights over trifles. Those who covet the small things never see the big picture. People who cling to petty matters and scramble not to lose a little here and there are the first to miss the broad current. If you want to look at the world as a disciple of Wudang, then you must learn to see large.”
“I will keep that in mind, Elder.”
Seeing Mu Jin bow his head deeply and answer with such gravity, Heo Sanja smiled.
Mu Jin had once been defeated by Chung Myung.
For someone who had carried the name of the Wudang Three Swords and even aimed for the title of Wudang’s greatest swordsman, it must have been a tremendous shock. A man who had never once considered a disciple of Mount Hua to be his rival had been beaten by someone younger than himself.
But that defeat had not tripped Mu Jin up. It had only taught a man who had once feared nothing in the world what he lacked—and what humility meant.
Like barley flattened once by the wind rising taller and straighter afterward, or a pine tree that grows on rough ground with deeper, tougher roots, that defeat had tempered Mu Jin and driven him toward a higher place.
“How is it?”
“Pardon?”
“How do you feel seeing the Mount Hua Divine Dragon again?”
At Heo Sanja’s question, Mu Jin thought for a moment before answering.
“I’m not sure. It feels as though nothing has changed, and yet too much has changed. In the first place, I never really knew him all that well.”
“That’s not what I’m asking. I asked how you feel.”
“……I was glad.”
“Hmm?”
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Mu Jin’s mouth.
“When I first met him, his reputation wasn’t all that high. Of course, he had made a name for himself in the duel with Zhongnan, but that reputation was full of suspicion.”
“It was.”
He remembered it clearly even now.
Heo Sanja himself had not paid much attention to the name Mount Hua Divine Dragon. He had thought the boy was just another talent that would shine briefly and vanish.
But after meeting him in person, his opinion had changed completely. Wasn’t that why he had tried so hard to bring him to Wudang? He had even offered conditions so extraordinary that there had never been anything like them in Wudang’s history.
In the end, however, the boy had stayed in Mount Hua, and that Mount Hua was now pressing a blade to Wudang’s throat.
It’s not as though all of that is the Mount Hua Divine Dragon’s doing alone…
Still, at the very least, without that Mount Hua Divine Dragon, Mount Hua’s position would have been very different from what it was now.
“Since then, he has kept advancing and building his fame. Now, before the name Mount Hua Divine Dragon, people are attaching not only the title of the greatest rising star of the Central Plains, but even the label of the greatest talent of the last hundred years.”
“Indeed.”
Mu Jin spoke with certainty.
“So there is all the more meaning in paying him back.”
“……”
“If anything, I should be grateful. Because he has never grown complacent, I’ve been able to keep him in the corner of my heart and train toward him as a target. It is a little embarrassing to set my sights on someone younger than myself, but…”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Heo Sanja cut him off sharply.
“In the world of Jianghu, neither age nor background matters. The only thing that matters is who is more righteous and who is stronger.”
“Yes, Elder.”
Heo Sanja reached out and patted Mu Jin on the shoulder.
Geniuses who had been expected to shine since childhood often fell into the abyss after a single defeat, because they learned the meaning of fear only after success had flowed too easily.
Mu Jin should have been devastated by a loss that rare, and yet he had held himself together like an ancient tree unmoved by the wind. Heo Sanja found that deeply admirable—and deeply satisfying.
This is certainly something to thank the Mount Hua Divine Dragon for.
Thanks to him, Wudang had gained a pillar who could help lead the sect into the future.
“And what about that fellow Jin Hyeon?”
“He won’t be much different from me.”
“Good. Then that’s enough.”
Heo Sanja nodded, then lowered his voice slightly.
“Still, I’m sorry to you. If I looked only at the situation, it would have been only natural to give you a chance for revenge, but circumstances don’t allow it.”
“Please don’t concern yourself. What matters is the sect, not me.”
Mu Jin knew as well that his opponent in this spar would not be Chung Myung.
“But… Elder.”
“Hmm?”
“Will Elder Heo Gong really be taking part in the duel?”
“He will.”
“Someone who had little interest in worldly matters…”
At the concern in his disciple’s voice, Heo Sanja gave a low chuckle.
“Is there any elder who truly has an interest in worldly matters? I am the strange one.”
“Well, yes, but…”
“He is a troublesome fellow, but once the sect leader has spoken directly, he has no choice but to move. And all he has to do is come here.”
Mu Jin still seemed to have trouble understanding, so Heo Sanja smiled faintly.
“If you consider his fighting spirit, he won’t be able to resist unsheathing his sword. The fellow has always been interested in Mount Hua’s Plum Blossom Sword Art, which in the past was said to overwhelm Wudang… no, to stand shoulder to shoulder with Wudang.”
“Ah.”
That made sense.
If it was Heo Gong, the greatest sword fiend of Wudang, he would surely take great interest in the Plum Blossom Sword Art.
Heo Gong was not Wudang’s greatest swordsman, but he was someone who might one day rise to that position. If he had not been the youngest among the elders and had instead been of similar age to the others, the title of Wudang’s greatest swordsman might already have belonged to him.
“But that’s not what matters.”
Heo Sanja spoke decisively.
“Heo Gong defeating the Mount Hua Divine Dragon is nothing to boast about, and nothing to hold up proudly. On the contrary, the fact that a Wudang elder has to step in just to deal with that Mount Hua Divine Dragon is something so shameful it’s hard even to say out loud.”
“……”
“No matter how overwhelmingly he wins, he’ll still end up being pointed at.”
Mu Jin nodded as if he understood.
The third-generation disciple of Mount Hua and a Wudang elder.
To anyone hearing it, the mere fact of crossing swords between those two was strange enough. Even if Chung Myung were defeated by Heo Gong without landing a single blow, his reputation would not be lowered in the slightest.
No—if anything, the fact that it was a Wudang elder who stood across from him might raise that reputation even further.
“So you must do it.”
Heo Sanja looked steadily at Mu Jin.
“I know it must bother you that, as a first-generation disciple, you’ll be facing Mount Hua’s second-generation disciples. But the purpose of this match is not to show that we are superior to Mount Hua. That much should be obvious. What we must make known to the world is that Mount Hua’s fame has been exaggerated far too much.”
“Yes.”
“We must show all the people under heaven that there is no one in Mount Hua who can dare match you. Can you do that?”
Mu Jin answered with resolute eyes.
“My personal grievance is a small matter. What matters more is the honor of the sect. I will prove with this sword that Mount Hua still does not reach even the tips of Wudang’s feet.”
It was a truly dependable answer. Heo Sanja nodded with satisfaction.
“Yes. Good.”
There could be nothing more gratifying than seeing one’s disciple grow into a dependable man.
Mount Hua was probably looking at its disciples with the same feeling Heo Sanja had now.
One must acknowledge what must be acknowledged.
In terms of the power and momentum of the young men—the ones who would carry the future of their sects—Mount Hua had the advantage.
Heo Sanja had felt it clearly after seeing Mount Hua’s disciples in person. Their un-Taoist, unbound freedom and carefree spirit had been irritating beyond measure, but each and every one of them radiated solid strength and iron will.
The anxiety born from that had made Heo Sanja susceptible to a meaningless provocation. A fear that, if things went on like this for another few decades, that Mount Hua Divine Dragon’s words might actually come true.
“We’ll wash all that away in this duel.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. Forget it.”
Heo Sanja checked the sparring stage one last time.
“The matter has become noisier than expected, but if they insist on disgracing themselves, there’s no reason for us to stop them. Go tell the boys to announce that there will be a duel between Wudang and Mount Hua, and gather the spectators.”
“Publicly?”
At his disciple’s slightly flustered question, Heo Sanja nodded silently.
“We need to show those who are wavering which sect truly carries the line of the Dao. In truth, we have been too reserved for too long. I should have realized earlier that if one doesn’t put oneself forward, no one will notice….”
Thanks to Mount Hua, he had learned that much.
“Go.”
“Yes!”
Heo Sanja watched quietly as Mu Jin turned and walked away, and a faintly complicated expression crossed his face.
There is nothing that will become a problem.
The stage had been made grand, spectators had gathered, and an ordinary contest had become a full-scale duel—but if Wudang won, all of it would turn to their advantage.
And there was no way Wudang’s first-generation disciples would lose to Mount Hua’s second-generation disciples. He couldn’t understand why that sharp-minded Mount Hua Divine Dragon was digging his own grave.
Yes. Everything was perfect.
And yet…
Why do I keep feeling uneasy?
Heo Sanja’s eyes darkened slightly.
The cold sparring stage, carved from stone, felt strangely unfamiliar to him.
＊ ＊ ＊
“The spectators are all here too.”
“There are more than I expected. It’s to the point where I can’t even see the end.”
“Hmm, yes. So it is. I never imagined people would show this much interest in a duel between Wudang and Mount Hua.”
Heo Sanja shook his head as he looked at the enormous crowd that had gathered.
This couldn’t have happened from Wudang’s fame alone. A one-sided match was usually dull, something no one would bother spending precious time to witness with their own eyes.
In other words, the people who had come had judged the match between Wudang and Mount Hua to be fairly even.
I don’t like that.
Mount Hua had been gaining fame recently, but he had never imagined it was to this extent. The more he thought about it, the more painfully he realized just how much Heo Do-jin-in had already seen.
“Everything is ready on our side, isn’t it?”
“Yes! We’re fully prepared.”
“……That bastard Heo Gong will arrive soon enough.”
“……”
Heo Sanja’s face twisted ever so slightly.
The sect leader told him again and again, and yet as an elder he still—
Then again, Heo Gong had always been that kind of man, so it was hardly surprising.
“Then all preparations are complete?”
“Yes.”
“And we’ve already informed Mount Hua of the duel start time.”
“Yes. We even received a reply.”
“Good. But….”
“Yes?”
“……Why isn’t Mount Hua here?”
“……”
Heo Sanja’s facial muscles twitched faintly.
A bunch of people who don’t even know what manners are.
More than one shichen had already passed since the promised time.
For those who understood the Dao and knew etiquette, there was no way they could violate the appointed duel time like this.
“I knew they were rude to begin with, but…”
“Should I go check again?”
“Forget it! What are we lacking that we should be the ones hurrying them?”
Heo Sanja bit his lip, displeased.
It feels like I’m being backed into a corner over and over.
This was a transparent trick. They were probably trying to make the waiting crowd anxious and seize even the tiniest advantage with petty games.
And these are supposed to be Daoist sects with history… using such cheap tricks…
What irritated him even more was not the trick itself, but the unease he kept feeling despite seeing through it clearly.
The faces of the Wudang disciples standing in formation behind him also carried irritation and impatience.
“Wu liang shou fo.”
Just as Heo Sanja was reciting a Daoist chant to calm himself, and was about to open his mouth to soothe his disciples—
“They’re here!”
“Mount Hua!”
“Aren’t those the ones who crushed the Dae-byeol Bandit Band and opened their coffers to the people of Wuhan!”
“Wooaaah!”
In an instant, the cheers exploded like wildfire, and Heo Sanja jumped in surprise, looking around.
Far away, he could see Mount Hua’s disciples walking toward them. But what truly startled him was not Mount Hua’s arrival—it was the reaction of the crowd.
“Mount Hua! Mount Hua! Mount Hua!”
“Long live Mount Hua Sect!”
Shouts of praise for Mount Hua spread everywhere like a raging blaze.
T-this much?
He had expected Mount Hua to have won over quite a bit of the public, but he had never imagined it would be this much. Wudang had protected Hubei for years upon years, and yet now the crowd was cheering so enthusiastically for Mount Hua, which had only just begun to make its presence known?
And this, even though Wudang was their opponent!
Heo Sanja’s expression turned cold.
Mount Hua strolled toward them with loose, carefree steps.
“Well, it’s even nicer seeing you again.”
The Mount Hua Divine Dragon at the front waved like a neighborhood hooligan.
“Did you sleep well? After the duel, you’re probably not going to get much sleep, so you should’ve rested up in advance.”
“……”
That was the moment reason abruptly flew out of Heo Sanja’s head.