Sichuan Journey - Deepening (15)
Sichuan Journey - Deepening (15)
"Enough, all of you."
When the Taiji Sect elders lost their authority, Grandmaster stepped forward as if he had been waiting and resolved the situation. Yet Grandmaster's expression held no opportunism or triumph from a successful scheme—only bewilderment and regret.
"The crime of undermining sect discipline and causing a disturbance is grave. Drag them out."
With a single gesture from Grandmaster, the elders' positions were swept away like chaff in the wind. Above the heads of those who had once been elders, only emptiness remained.
The elders all lost their positions and, heads bowed, were dragged out of the sect as criminals. The disciples dragging them wore wretched expressions, and the elders themselves looked like pigs being led to slaughter, yet they did not resist.
The storms of the world are, in the end, no different from a fleeting spring. Those who had chased the distant glory of direct disciple and Grandmaster now faced a sordid portrait and became cripples who would never rise again.
Watching Elder Baek's receding figure, So-bin wore a regretful expression.
"How could such a thing happen...! How could this...! Uwaaaah!"
Mu-ung, who had barely regained his composure, trembled as he watched the elder who had cherished him being led away. Then he burst into tears, wailed, and collapsed to the ground. The elders, walking in a single file, only bowed their heads deeper and walked on, trembling.
Had the distance to the main gate always been this far? For disciples and elders alike, a dreadful time stretched endlessly. The sound of slow bodies shuffling in hurried steps across the center of the courtyard—where normally they would have dashed—and the scraping of stone on the ground filled the air.
"Aigoo...! Aigoo...!"
The sound of the main gate opening sent shivers down the spine. The mourners' wailing sounded like the singing of pallbearers. It was as if they were praying for the elders, alive but not truly living, sending them off to the next world.
"Ah...."
At the final moment, Elder Baek cast a glance toward Hong Ye. Haggard, he gazed at her quietly, his lips twitching as if he wished to speak. Like a child searching for its mother, he kept wriggling his lips as if searching for words, then finally bowed his head again.
Urged onward, Elder Baek's feet crossed the Taiji Sect's threshold before he knew it. The moment he stepped outside, he felt a different air. He turned to look back at Hong Ye. But right before the elder's eyes, the old gate slammed shut with a heavy, dreadful sound.
Kung.
Elder Baek could not say a single word to Hong Ye.
*****
Thus several days passed. The commotion inside the Taiji Sect did not end with the elders being dragged away. In a short time, the Taiji Sect was undergoing many changes. First, as the elders had departed abruptly, the vacant positions were to be taken over by the deputy officers in charge of each department and Grandmaster. Without a proper handover from the elders, administrative chaos ensued, and it seemed things would be noisy for a while.
"S-Senior Brother. Please get up...! If you act like this, it's difficult for me as well."
"No! I am the contemptible wretch who, holding a status that should have been a model for the Taiji Sect, foolishly envied and hated you. Here, beat me with this club until your heart is satisfied! This affair made me feel it deeply! I clearly realized how filthy it was to slander and envy other disciples while aiming to become the direct disciple of the Taiji Sect! I was never a vessel worthy of such an ambition. Beat this pathetic senior brother quickly!"
It could not be said that all disciples accepted Hong Ye, but now Hong Ye had gained reliable allies who would stand up for her and take her side.
"Hong Ye, forgive this pathetic senior brother! I was jealous that you inherited Southern Barbarian blood and became a direct disciple! I sided with the gossipers and aided in tormenting you! I did not realize my own lacking capacity! Great is my sin of coveting others' vessels!"
Hong-gi, who had run away from home after hearing the elder's words, knelt before the main gate and publicly begged Hong Ye for forgiveness, and Mu-ung brought a club and struck his own head before Hong Ye, repenting his actions. Even if not everyone accepted her, there were no longer any disciples who openly mocked or envied Hong Ye.
It meant a great deal that there were now people within the sect who cared for her and believed in her.
"Now there are people in the sect who support you, Madam. How do you feel?"
"...I do not know. I have never experienced such things. I wonder if it will change much. Honestly, it is a little burdensome."
But Hong Ye seemed not to know how to adapt to the rapidly changing surroundings. Far from showing emotion or shedding tears, she only clung to my side with a bewildered face.
Then, as she followed me around like a puppy, I caressed her face with my hand and said:
"You just need to get used to it. At some point, Madam will come to know as well. People get used to things more easily than one thinks."
Hong Ye looked like she did not understand my words.
******
"What will happen to the elders? They are the ones who tried to kill the direct disciple and disrupted the sect's discipline."
Thus several days passed. Over tea with Grandmaster, I asked about the elders' current situation. Grandmaster, looking tired, sipped his tea and nodded.
"They are in closed-door training."
He explained that the elders had greatly recognized and repented their sins, and since killing them was out of the question, they were to enter indefinite closed-door training at a secret location of the Taiji Sect in Sichuan.
There, they would spend their days in an empty space, staring at walls, chewing only fasting pills and repenting—no different from imprisonment.
"I see. I am relieved that they seem to have received fitting punishment."
I am not the Grandmaster of the Taiji Sect. Having spent years with the elders, it would have been difficult for him to cut them down with a single stroke. If he had been cold-hearted in cutting down and replacing people, things might not have escalated to this point, I thought.
Grandmaster sighed and said:
"I trusted people."
I gave no particular answer. Grandmaster looked at me and continued speaking.
"But seeing how things turned out, I wonder if I was too hasty. This was not what I wished for."
His expression alone conveyed deep bitterness. He kept gazing into the distance. Perhaps at the foot of the mountain, where his eyes rested, the elders were gathered together, facing the wall.
"You need not blame yourself. The fault and failing lie with the elders."
"Failing to properly control the elders is my error. But even now I do not know what I should have done. I believed there were no walls between people."
"Do not dwell only on what was lost. In any matter, clashes are inevitable. In the end, has your daughter not become part of the sect? Grandmaster, it is time to examine what has been gained. The elders lost everything through their own mistakes. The sect has overcome its wounds and risen again. What should Grandmaster examine?"
Grandmaster did not continue speaking. He was a wise man. He knew well what was needed and what should be done even without my lengthy explanation. His silence now was likely because lingering attachment and regret, which reason could not permit, were gripping his heart.
Grandmaster asked me:
"You could have pretended not to know. You could have just taken Hong Ye and run away. Why did you interfere in this matter?"
I shrugged and said:
"Didn't Grandmaster ask me to look after his daughter? The place Hong Ye cherishes and loves most is this Taiji Sect. How could I abandon the Taiji Sect and take Hong Ye away?"
Grandmaster snorted.
"You jumped in because of love? A peculiar reason."
I downed my tea and offered a quip.
"Is this not also the wondrous principle of four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds?"
Laughter spread. It was a hollow laugh that burst out of sheer disbelief. Yet beneath that laugh, delight and a glint of interest clearly sparkled. Grandmaster asked:
"So, what do you plan to do now? What do you intend to do in the future?"
My dream has always been the same. Though the expression may differ, the thing I aim for is one.
"Born a true man, what dream is there but to swallow the world under heaven?"
Grandmaster stared at me. He silently looked at me, blinked, and rubbed the empty kettle with his hand. Outside the window, the moon was bright. The weather had been cloudy for days, and for the first time in a long while, the moon was shining beautifully.
Grandmaster said:
"The Taiji Sect will always help you."
"You will not be disappointed."
I rose from my seat and showed Grandmaster due courtesy.
Grandmaster also rose and returned the gesture with a bow.
*****
The Taiji Sect incident was thus concluded.
But however it was, my purpose in coming to Sichuan was to see Hong Ye and to smash the Sichuan Tang Clan to bits. To take that first step, I needed to meet the Demonic Cult's Yeonrakchaek that was said to be in Sichuan.
My purpose in coming to Sichuan was now only just beginning.