Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: The Road Back to Chengdu
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The two parted ways with Piao Chong on the northern side of Mount Luogun and headed south toward Chongqing.
Now that the roads were familiar and bridges had been built, they could reach their destination quickly by passing through Mount Luogun.
"...Should we just go around it?"
"That might be best."
But Dang Mujin and Namgung Myeong chose to take a slight detour instead of going through Mount Luogun.
It hadn't even been a few days since their heartfelt farewell. Running into each other again so soon would surely create the most awkward atmosphere in the world.
Just as mud needs to be left alone for a few days to harden properly, memories need time to settle in order to remain beautiful.
Of course, avoiding Mount Luogun didn't make the journey particularly arduous.
Since most of the travel funds Ha Ryeong had given them remained, the two were able to stay in the best rooms and eat the finest meals until they arrived in Chongqing.
And as if it were the most natural thing in the world, the two entered Dengxian Tower.
The Dengxian Tower owner greeted Dang Mujin with his usual mix of anticipation and worry, and before long, they were sitting across from Ha Ryeong.
"How did it end up taking so long? I figured with travel time included, you'd be back in ten days or half a month at most, but it's already been three months."
Ha Ryeong's tone wasn't so much accusatory as it was grumbling preemptively to mask her guilt or gratitude.
The art of medicine yields ever greater results the more leisurely time one invests.
"There ended up being more to do than I expected."
"Your intentions are good, but it's troublesome if you linger that long every time you go."
"Why is that?"
"It makes it harder to ask you to look after the people again. Next time, just spend three or five days tending to them and come back."
"Next time... You won't need to worry so much anymore. From now on, if anyone gets sick, the people of Mount Luogun can go find a physician themselves. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll cut off all contact entirely."
Ha Ryeong's expression turned peculiar.
"They'll go find a physician?"
"Yes."
Dang Mujin recounted to Ha Ryeong everything that had happened on Mount Luogun. The plank road and the cloud bridge. The Luogun Three Swords and the Supreme Physician Sword Sect Leader.
It was a tale so eventful that it sounded exaggerated or fabricated at first glance. But the proof was irrefutable. Namgung Myeong, who had surpassed the wall of peak mastery.
Ha Ryeong looked dubious.
"Yi Chung visited Mount Luogun several times, but he never mentioned any of this."
"The old master's only concern was treating patients. He probably didn't want to get more involved."
"That sounds like him."
"And I have a gift for you."
"A gift?"
Dang Mujin rummaged through his baggage and pulled out a few wooden tablets, placing them on the table. They were the memorial tablets from the cave on Mount Luogun.
The tablets bore people's names. Gu Wolun, Hwan Jangmu, Bok Wi-gyeong.
Unlike the other tablets that noted age at death and cause, these had only names.
They weren't missing persons either—those tablets explicitly said "missing."
In other words, the people named on these tablets were neither missing nor dead. Dang Mujin hadn't paid much attention to that.
What had caught Dang Mujin's eye was the name Bok Wi-gyeong on one of the tablets.
He had heard it only once, but Dang Mujin knew who Bok Wi-gyeong was. It was the name of the previous Iron Merchant Gang leader whom he and Hong Geolgae had killed.
Why would the Iron Merchant Gang leader's tablet be here? Dang Mujin had pondered endlessly as he examined each tablet in the cave, and he found a clue on one at the very top.
Dang Mujin pulled out the final tablet and slid it across the table.
"There was even a tablet for you, Ha Ryeong."
Compared to the others, it looked a few generations older, noticeably more worn. And on the front was written the name Song Ha Ryeong. Too coincidental to be mere chance.
Ha Ryeong's expression turned bitter.
"Your insight has already surpassed your master's."
"Were you from Mount Luogun?"
"Yes."
Ha Ryeong grasped the neck of the酒 bottle and spun it idly. With her cup more than half full, it wasn't because she needed more酒.
"Quite a long time ago, when I was around thirteen. I met a nun on Mount Luogun. I hated mountain life so much I begged her desperately to take me out, and eventually, I was able to sneak away from Mount Luogun with her."
"That kind of life would be unbearable. The people of Mount Luogun have it far from easy."
"But mine was even harder. Unlike the others, my mother was a true-blue rebel."
Dang Mujin and Namgung Myeong flinched. It was the kind of statement that seemed primed to spark a murderous frenzy.
Yet Ha Ryeong showed no sign of intending harm.
Dang Mujin and Namgung Myeong watched her carefully as they listened to her story.
"When I was very young, my father was dragged off by the authorities and beaten to death. I don't know the reason. Filled with rage, my mother joined a band of rebels. Fortunately, she entrusted me to distant relatives, so even after the rebellion failed, I survived—though I was dragged to Mount Luogun."
Ha Ryeong finally tilted the bottle to fill her cup. The fragrant aroma of酒 filled the private room.
"At first, it was tough but bearable. But as time passed, people learned I was the real daughter of a rebel. And do you know what happened then?"
"No idea."
"All their anger came crashing down on me. They blamed me for being exiled from their homes and trapped on Mount Luogun. Even though neither they nor I had directly taken part in the rebellion."
Ha Ryeong downed her酒. To match the mood, Dang Mujin and Namgung Myeong emptied their cups as well.
"I hated the hunger and exhaustion, but their glares were worse. It was commonplace for them to eat without me, and I'd get beaten for no reason multiple times. Meeting my master on Mount Luogun and escaping was a stroke of heaven's luck. No regrets. If I hadn't gotten out then, I'd have died soon enough."
"You had no choice. I understand."
Namgung Myeong chimed in at the right moment with agreement.
Ha Ryeong gave a small laugh and continued.
"Anyway, I ran away. What happened to the people of Mount Luogun was no longer my concern. I recited Buddhist sutras nonstop and trained in martial arts. But as time passed and I grew older, I started to understand their feelings a little. They're pitiful people too, aren't they?"
"So what did you do?"
"I rationalized my actions. By cultivating the Buddhist path like this, perhaps far in the future I could save them and lead them to paradise. As more time passed, people began calling me Hwayeon Divine Nun."
At that moment, the door opened, and a courtesan entered with warm dishes. She seemed flustered, sensing the heavy conversation.
Dang Mujin quickly took the dishes and sent her away. When the mood is grave, delicious food can lighten it.
Ha Ryeong knew this too, so she shrugged lightly and picked up a piece of pork dish. It was sweet and tasty.
"Then one day, I realized something. No matter how much I chanted here for a hundred days, the fact that I'd abandoned the people of Mount Luogun and fled wouldn't change. Nor would their lives improve. So I founded Haomen to help those in hardship."
Dang Mujin raised one eyebrow. He understood the good intentions behind the good deeds, but the approach and solution were convoluted in many ways.
"If that's the case, instead of founding Haomen, shouldn't you have returned to Mount Luogun and faced its people? You could have helped them in some form or another."
Ha Ryeong readily admitted Dang Mujin was right.
"I know that's the proper way. But whenever I think of going back, all the reasons not to flood my mind. Memories of their cold treatment back then resurface, and I worry that associating with me—the real rebel's daughter—might bring them even greater suffering. It's clear they wouldn't welcome me anyway."
Ha Ryeong's emotions were profoundly complex.
Resentment and faint vengefulness, worry, fear, guilt.
A tangle of feelings compounded over a century. Ha Ryeong leaned back obliquely.
"Besides, the people who knew me are probably all dead of old age by now. Thinking that way, I could never bring myself to go to Mount Luogun. Can you understand my heart now?"
"So that's why you sent the old master in your place?"
"Yes. I asked him to go and tend to their illnesses instead of me. That way, I could gradually ease the debt in my heart. But it was you, not Yi Chung, who resolved it cleanly."
However, Dang Mujin shook his head.
"Mount Luogun's problems may be solved, but it seems Ha Ryeong's own issues remain unresolved."
"My issues?"
"Yes. Go to Mount Luogun and meet the people."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure if it even needs forgiveness in the first place, but don't you want to receive it from them and clear your heart's debt?"
Dang Mujin pointed to the pork dish Ha Ryeong had eaten from.
"Also, the timing is perfect. Forgiveness comes from leisure and abundance. And right now, the people of Mount Luogun are tasting their first abundance in life, so they'll gladly accept and forgive you."
"..."
Ha Ryeong sat silently for a long while before finally nodding.
"...Once I gain a bit more confidence, I'll do it."
"Don't miss the opportunity."
With that, Dang Mujin rose and left Dengxian Tower.
Ha Ryeong propped her chin on her right hand and gazed out the window. She could see Dang Mujin and Namgung Myeong departing Chongqing.
Ha Ryeong watched Dang Mujin's retreating figure for a long time.
*
On the road back to Chengdu from Chongqing, a massive question bloomed in Dang Mujin's chest.
Namgung Myeong was heading to Chengdu alongside him as if it were the most obvious thing.
'When does this guy plan to return to the Namgung family?'
Dang Mujin had assumed Namgung Myeong would go back to his clan. He was plenty worldly now, and his martial prowess was high enough to boast anywhere.
Namgung Jincheon was no pushover, but he didn't seem the type to be dissatisfied with such achievements.
In the end, Dang Mujin asked Namgung Myeong directly.
"You're not going back to the Namgung family?"
But the response was neither a plausible reason nor a lame excuse.
"Why would I?"
That short reply plainly revealed his view that not going back was the natural choice.
Not the words one expected from the eldest son of a great clan.
"Why? It's your family."
"Not much interest in going back."
"Why?"
"If I return to the clan, I'll have to receive the Namgung family's martial arts transmission."
"So?"
"I don't like that."
"...What kind of nonsense is that?"
Dang Mujin couldn't comprehend Namgung Myeong at all.
He didn't know that Namgung Myeong had formally learned the Imperial Sword Form by stealing it, nor how much satisfaction he'd derived from that act—it was only natural.
Namgung Myeong strung together whatever came to mind.
"I don't want to learn martial arts in such a bland way. Learning through pure personal enlightenment in real combat, then reestablishing the rigid Namgung family arts anew. That's my path."
Namgung Myeong smiled contentedly. Once spoken, it even sounded plausible.
Of course, Dang Mujin didn't buy it and had no intention of trying to understand Namgung Myeong's bizarre notions.
"Whatever, it's your life. Do what you want."
"No need to worry. There are only a handful of Namgung arts I haven't learned."
"Who's worried?"
"Besides, from now on, it's the realm of enlightenment, not learning. Being transmitted a few arts won't make a big difference. You might find it hard to grasp as a mere first-rate nobody..."
Dang Mujin unleashed White Lotus Divine Fist without hesitation, targeting Namgung Myeong's side.
But Namgung Myeong, as a peak master, effortlessly deflected the attack.
Dang Mujin sighed deeply.