Where Is Mount Hua? (2)
A chilling silence pressed down on the riverbank.
Some may have felt relieved that Namgung Dowi had not rebuked or cursed them.
But those who understood what this situation meant could only clench their fists until blood welled in their palms.
Shaolin was here. The Beggars’ Sect was here. Three of the Ten Great Sects—three sects charged with guarding the martial world and upholding righteousness—stood right before Namgung Dowi’s eyes, and yet he did not look at them.
Even though the people he absolutely had to save were still trapped on that island, waiting only for rescue, Namgung Dowi acted as if these men did not even exist.
Because he had no expectations of them.
That fact made everyone standing there hurt. To be treated like this and not even be able to utter a single protest, to have to lower their heads instead, tore at the conscience buried deep in their hearts and ripped it apart.
As if by silent agreement, everyone held their tongues. They could not answer because they did not know, and even if they did know, they were too ashamed to find the courage to speak first.
Namgung Dowi swept a cold gaze over them all.
“...You won’t ask?”
“...Young Patriarch.”
At last, Beop Jeong let out an impatient groan and spoke.
“I am truly sorry, Young Patriarch.”
The Shaolin monks knew. It was exceedingly rare for Beop Jeong to wear an expression like this.
Right now, Beop Jeong was genuinely ashamed before Namgung Dowi.
“The Peng Clan will arrive soon. Then, whatever it takes, we will save the Namgung Clan that remains on that Plum Blossom Island...—”
“Where is Mount Hua!”
Namgung Dowi’s voice exploded out, cutting Beop Jeong off mid-sentence.
His face twitched. His lips, trembling with the effort of holding themselves together, parted again with difficulty.
“...Where is it!”
Beopgye slowly lowered his head.
Namgung Dowi was not looking for them. He was not begging for rescue. Even though the people he needed to save were standing right before his eyes, he did not look to the nearest hands and cry out his wishes to them.
What right do I have to open my mouth?
He was nothing but a sinner.
“Young Patriarch...”
Beop Jeong drew another deep breath.
“I understand how you feel, but this is not the time. Should you not save them in place of your late father... no, in place of the Namgung Patriarch?”
Beop Jeong’s eyes and Namgung Dowi’s met head-on.
“...”
Beop Jeong was left speechless.
Had he ever met eyes like those before?
They were not the eyes of a man looking at another person. They were the eyes one might cast at a stone lying by the roadside. No expectation, no desire, no hope. It was as though they said the object before them was not even worth the slightest emotion.
“Do you not know?”
“...”
When no answer came, Namgung Dowi slowly nodded. Then, leaning unsteadily, he started walking again.
“Y-Young Patriarch!”
Thud. Thud.
Supporting himself on his sword as a cane, Namgung Dowi wordlessly dragged his weary body onward.
And one by one, the Shaolin monks stepped aside to left and right. Biting their lips and clenching their fists, they hurriedly cleared his path as though they dared not block him.
Thud. Thud.
Namgung Dowi, walking with great difficulty along the opened road, looked as though he might collapse at any moment.
“Young Patriarch.”
“...”
“Young Patriarch!”
“...”
“Young Patriarch! What do you think you’re doing!”
Beop Jeong’s voice, which had first sounded almost coaxing, grew louder and louder. Soon it was no different from a shout.
But Namgung Dowi staggered on as if he could hear nothing at all.
Beop Jeong clenched his teeth and shouted again.
“Don’t be ruled by your emotions! No matter how angry you are, what can Mount Hua in Shaanxi do in this situation? Don’t you know what must be done to save Namgung?”
Namgung Dowi’s steps did not stop.
Beop Jeong’s words never reached him.
That utterly indifferent behavior carved sin into everyone’s chest more brutally than any curse or scream could have done.
“Th...!”
Beop Jeong’s face, red and blue with fury, trembled violently.
“Young Patriarch!”
“...Mount Hua.”
Then someone else spoke. It was not Namgung Dowi.
Jao-gae, who had been watching all of this unfold, spoke up in Namgung Dowi’s stead. No, to be exact, he spoke not to Beop Jeong but toward Namgung Dowi.
“It’s not far from here.”
“...”
At last, Namgung Dowi stopped walking and slowly turned toward Jao-gae.
“...Where?”
“It’s hard to explain in words.”
Jao-gae said calmly, as if he had made up his mind.
“Come with me. I’ll guide you there.”
“...”
Namgung Dowi stared at him wordlessly. And just as he seemed about to nod—
“Elder! What are you doing!”
Beop Jeong cried out in a voice thick with fury. Jao-gae met him with a cool stare.
“I’m only telling him what he asked to know. It’s not some great secret.”
“There can be no Mount Hua here! How can you say such a thing!”
“They are here.”
“...What?”
Jao-gae looked straight at Beop Jeong and repeated himself clearly.
“They’re not far from here. They’ve been there for quite some time already.”
Beop Jeong’s eyes bulged.
“Th-they... They clearly said they would not take part in the Yangtze affair! So how...!”
“They said they would not help the Ten Great Sects. Right now, they’re providing relief to the refugees from the Yangtze.”
Beop Jeong was momentarily struck dumb. It was the first he had heard that Mount Hua was here. Seeing his bewildered face unable to form the next words, Jao-gae shook his head.
“When someone asks me to tell them what I know, I can’t exactly say I don’t know. I was only answering.”
Beop Jeong’s lips trembled.
Jao-gae’s words were not wrong. There was nothing improper about answering a question with what one knew. And Mount Hua’s location was not exactly some profound secret.
But what came after that was the problem.
What if word spread that the Namgung Clan, after arriving at the river where the Ten Great Sects were already gathered, had ignored them and sought rescue from Mount Hua instead?
What tragedy could be more humiliating than that?
“Jao-gae!”
Beop Jeong glared at him like a ghost.
“Is this the Beggars’ Sect’s will?”
“Of course not.”
Jao-gae shook his head calmly.
“I’m no sect master, just an elder. How could a lowly fellow like me possibly represent the Beggars’ Sect? This is just my own will.”
“Do you think an elder of the Beggars’ Sect can have a will of his own?”
Beop Jeong shot back in a cold voice. Jao-gae closed his eyes as if thinking for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
“...That’s true.”
Realistically, Beop Jeong was right.
No matter how much he claimed he was guiding Namgung Dowi of his own accord, as long as he remained an elder of the Beggars’ Sect, everything he did would ultimately become the Beggars’ Sect’s will. For one who led so many beggars, there could be no such thing as personal feeling.
“You’re not someone who doesn’t know how an elder of the Beggars’ Sect should act.”
“...”
“Step aside.”
Jao-gae slowly lifted his head and looked up at the sky.
“Now!”
“...”
A heavy silence fell.
Ignoring Beop Jeong’s urging, Jao-gae simply stared at the night sky for a while longer. Then he slowly lowered his head and gave a snort of laughter.
“Well, there’s no helping it.”
“You made the wise choi—”
RIIIIP!
Before Beop Jeong could finish, Jao-gae grabbed the upper half of his clothing and violently tore it off.
Beop Jeong’s eyes widened.
“W-what are you...!”
Jao-gae threw the shredded rags to the ground. Between the miserable scraps of cloth, the knot symbolizing his status as a Beggars’ Sect member was clearly visible.
Eight Knots.
Only an elder of the Beggars’ Sect could tie eight knots.
“As if this means anything.”
“J-Jao-gae!”
“If this rank keeps me from doing what I should, then I’ll tear that rank right off.”
Jao-gae grinned, looking oddly relieved. Beop Jeong could only stare in utter astonishment as he watched.
“From now on, nothing I do has anything to do with the Beggars’ Sect. So don’t order me around. You have no authority to do that.”
With that, Jao-gae turned around and quickly supported Namgung Dowi.
“I’ll guide you, Young Patriarch.”
“...”
Namgung Dowi stared at him wordlessly, then slowly nodded. The moment Jao-gae was about to step forward, several Beggars’ Sect members also ripped off their clothes as he had done and rushed over to help support Namgung Dowi.
“You...! What do you think you’re doing, you fools!”
Jao-gae glared, but the beggars only grinned back.
“Elder... no, Old Beggar, you’re too old to carry a man for a long distance. Move aside. Don’t make an injured man die before he even arrives.”
“Tch. Damn it. Of all things, I never thought even being a Beggars’ Sect beggar would become a title. No wonder I never got to live however I wanted.”
Everyone wore a strangely relieved expression.
Unable to find the words, Jao-gae was shoved aside by the beggars.
“Please move. Can’t you see he’s injured?”
“Jangpal, you carry him.”
“Yes, Branch Leader... no, hyung.”
Watching them jostle one another for the chance to support and carry Namgung Dowi, Jao-gae finally gave a crooked laugh.
“A bunch of idiot beggars.”
“Who else would we be?”
Shaking his head as if he had no reply left, Jao-gae glanced toward Beop Jeong. Sure enough, the man’s eyes were seething with rage. Looking straight at that expression, Jao-gae flashed a bright grin and shouted proudly,
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
The beggars carrying Namgung Dowi sprinted forward like the wind without the slightest hesitation.
“...”
The ones left behind stood there blankly, watching them grow distant. None of them moved until the figures became mere dots and disappeared from view.
Silence settled again. No one could bring themselves to speak; they only lowered their heads or cast their gazes far away.
They knew it. They knew that they could no longer represent the righteousness of the Central Plains, that they could no longer be the place where those desperate for help would come searching.
“Ha...”
A bitter laugh, slipped from someone’s lips, stabbed painfully into everyone’s ears. The short sound was so full of resentment and shame that it made their lips ache.
“Hahahaha!”
Then someone burst into loud laughter.
“Hye Bang!”
Beopgye raised his voice in rebuke, but Hye Bang laughed even harder, as though he could not hear a word of it.
“Hahahahaha! Isn’t this fitting? Is this what the Abbot wanted?”
“How dare you not shut that mouth!”
“And what changes if I do!” Hye Bang shouted back.
“Yes! Maybe I’m too stupid to understand that lofty intent! I’d rather that were true! I’d rather be so foolish and stupid that I knew nothing! Please! Please!”
Beopgye, struck by that piercing voice that sounded as if it had blood mixed into it, looked around weakly.
Not a single person met his eyes. Truly, not one.
“Hah.”
A hollow laugh escaped Beop Jeong’s mouth.
When had things become like this?
When had they...?
“Ami...tabha.”
He closed his eyes in despair, and it felt as though his body were falling off a thousand-foot cliff.
Down into that endless abyss.