Who did you just say it was? (5)
The one holding a sword and the one without.
The one threatening and the one being threatened.
A tense standoff, as if walking on thin ice, continued briefly.
The middle-aged man, who had been glaring at Baek Cheon with eyes that could only be described as chilling, suddenly withdrew the sword pressed against Baek Cheon’s neck.
“…”
Baek Cheon instinctively raised his hand to touch his neck.
Warm, sticky blood stained the tips of his fingers.
Threatened and wounded without even knowing why.
Yet, strangely, he felt no hostility towards his opponent.
Was it because he was the benefactors who saved him? That could be. But Baek Cheon sensed it.
While that might be one reason, it couldn’t be the whole explanation.
“…What do you mean?”
At the same time, Baek Cheon felt a strong sense of duty – the duty to understand this situation that he couldn’t comprehend.
“You said that if I were the Vice Sect Leader of Hwasan, I should know who you are.”
The middle-aged man silently stared at Baek Cheon.
After looking at him for a while, the man suddenly chuckled.
“Impressive. Even in this kind of situation, you turn around and ask all the questions. That’s why… you could become the Vice Sect Leader of Hwasan at such a young age.”
Baek Cheon let out a short sigh.
“It’s not like that. I’m just fearless. Because I have nothing left to lose now.”
“Nothing left to lose…”
A chuckle burst from the man’s lips.
“Do you really think so?”
“…”
A faint sneer. No, an outright mocking laugh.
At the very least, it was certain that the middle-aged man sitting in front of Baek Cheon did not think kindly of him. He might even hate him. The eyes that made no effort to conceal their hostility proved that fact.
But instead of shrinking back, Baek Cheon spoke again.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“I asked you first.”
“…”
He was right. The middle-aged man had asked Baek Cheon first.
Whether he knew who he was.
But Baek Cheon couldn’t answer that question.
No matter how much he searched, this man didn’t exist in his memory. He couldn’t even vaguely remember him.
“…I don’t know.”
Therefore, Baek Cheon had no choice but to repeat the answer he had already given.
“Heheheh.”
Hearing that answer, the middle-aged man began to chuckle lowly again.
A laugh steeped in deep emptiness. However, Baek Cheon could sense a hint of resentment and anger within that laugh.
Is it something to be so angry about? That Baek Cheon doesn’t know who he is?
“I suppose so…….”
The man’s gaze turned to the ceiling.
The barren ceiling of the empty tent. Fixing his eyes there, the man muttered weakly.
“You wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t even have a reason to know.”
He slowly lowered his head to face Baek Cheon.
“Did you see?”
“….What?”
“The people outside.”
“…”
“What do you think?”
Baek Cheon furrowed his brows.
It was a difficult question. But it wasn’t one he particularly needed to avoid.
“…They were alive, but they seemed dead.”
“…”
“I couldn’t feel any motivation or hope.”
“Hahahaha.”
A loud laugh burst from the middle-aged man’s mouth.
It was a dry laugh devoid of emotion, a murky laugh as if someone who had no reason to laugh was forcing it out. But somehow, that awkward laughter pierced Baek Cheon’s heart like a thorn.
“You’ve observed well. Really, very well.”
“…”
“It’s an accurate description. Because they are already dead.”
“…What?”
“I mean it literally. They are… Yes, they are already dead. Dead but unable to die, who should have died already but were not permitted death. Therefore, they desire death more earnestly than anyone else in this world.”
The more the conversation continued, the more he felt like he was falling into a maze.
But one thing was becoming increasingly certain.
‘They are not from the Evil Sects.’
It was obvious, but also something that needed confirmation.
And at this moment, Baek Cheon was convinced of that fact.
He had already confirmed that he couldn’t sense any evil energy [사기(邪氣)] from them. But that alone wasn’t enough to be sure.
The aura one emits is determined by the mental cultivation* methods and the nature of their internal energy. Someone like Jang Ilso, if he sets his mind to it, can create as many Evil Sects’ members who have mastered orthodox internal arts as he wants.
But while one can fabricate aura and appearance, it’s difficult to artificially create the atmosphere that naturally emanates.
And at that moment, one of Baek Cheon’s lingering memories resurfaced.
“…By any chance, are you the ones who blocked Zhuge and Moyong?”
“…”
The middle-aged man’s face slowly hardened.
“Don’t tell me, are you the ones who drove Shaolin and the Peng family to hell in Hubei?”
“Zhuge and Moyong…”
The middle-aged man calmly nodded.
“Indeed.”
“Why!”
A loud shout burst from Baek Cheon’s mouth.
“Why did you do such a thing! Why did you side with them! Do you even know how much blood was shed on the land of Hubei?”
Even Baek Cheon himself did not fully understand why he was saying such things.
Perhaps Baek Cheon had already made a judgment in his heart. That although they might hold a grudge against him, they were not evil enough to side with the Evil Sects.
That’s why he was angry. That’s why he resented them.
“Why on earth?!”
Baek Cheon’s eyes shook violently.
But unlike Baek Cheon, who was like boiling lava, the middle-aged man’s expression did not change in the slightest. After a long silence, with a calm face, the middle-aged man slowly opened his mouth.
“Just a moment ago.”
“…”
“Did you say you have nothing left to lose?”
An unexpected remark. But Baek Cheon nodded for now. Because that was certainly true. He had things he needed to do, but he had nothing left to lose.
Hearing Baek Cheon’s answer, a strange expression appeared on the middle-aged man’s face.
It seemed like he was mocking him, or perhaps feeling sorry… but it was a complex and subtle expression that couldn’t be fully described with such words.
“Do you really think so?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I suppose one might think so. I used to think so as well.”
“But you see…”
The middle-aged man’s voice took on a chilling tone.
“The world is a more cruel place than you think.”
He slightly bared his teeth as he spoke.
“What if I were to hold a sword to the necks of your fellow disciples – or rather, those who were once your fellow disciples – and say I’ll kill them all if you don’t follow my orders? What would you do then?”
Baek Cheon shook his head as if there was nothing to consider.
“I will not comply.”
“…Because you’re no longer a disciple of Hwasan?”
“No.”
Baek Cheon strengthened his voice.
“Because following what is unjust is not the right thing to do.”
“Then your fellow disciples will die.”
“It’s something we should have been prepared for from the moment we took up the sword.
Life is certainly important, but it’s not the most important thing.”
“Is a greater cause more important than life?”
“I’m not trying to say something superficial like ‘a greater cause.’ It’s just that sometimes there’s something you must value more than someone’s life – even your own.”
“I see.”
The middle-aged man’s eyes curved gently.
But it was clearly not an expression of goodwill.
“Will that conviction of yours never change?”
“Of course.”
“Even if it’s your master instead of your fellow disciples?”
“Yes.”
“Even if it’s your family instead of your master?”
“Certainly.”
There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation in Baek Cheon’s reply.
Because his master and his family would be ashamed of his wrongdoings committed because of them.
They were people who would rather take their own lives than witness such an outcome. Therefore, there was no need to worry or hesitate.
“The reason?”
“Because they all chose that path themselves.”
“…”
“Someone I know once said: Those who wield a sword must always be prepared to be cut down by it. Those who lack that resolve should not pick up a sword.”
The middle-aged man’s gaze sank.
“Even if that death is unjust, it’s a choice they made themselves?”
Baek Cheon slowly nodded.
“I don’t entirely agree, but I don’t think it’s wrong either. Therefore, I will not commit evil to save someone.”
The middle-aged man nodded as if satisfied.
His eyes softened gently. It was a benevolent gaze, like that of a teacher looking at a student who has perfectly solved a problem he posed. Yet, upon seeing that gaze, Baek Cheon felt an inexplicable chill.
“A good answer. Excellent logic.”
“…”
“But because of that, I can ask you this.”
“What is it…”
“Then what about those who have not picked up a sword themselves?”
“….Yes?”
“Let me ask you. Those who do not yet understand what it means to have a sword in their hands – for example, if your young disciple were threatened in the same way, what would you do?”
Baek Cheon closed his mouth.
Of course, he didn’t have a disciple, but that wasn’t important.
“Imagine if the necks of children, whose youthful innocence hasn’t yet faded from their faces, were being slowly – ever so slowly – slit by the swords of the enemies.”
“…”
“Would you stand there, watching their tears and screams – their resentment and terror – and still shout at them to accept their fate because they, too, are also the ones holding the sword?”
Baek Cheon’s eyes shook violently.
“What on earth…”
“Answer me.”
“…”
“Answer me!”
“…”
Emotions began to surge in the middle-aged man’s eyes, as if about to burst.
“Go ahead and tell me. What should I have done? Standing over the corpses of those already dead, and with the lives of those doomed to die, how was I supposed to respond to those who mock me!”
“I…”
Those who choose must bear that responsibility.
But what about those who didn’t choose? Must they bear the same burden?
“Answer me, Baek Cheon, Vice Sect Leader of Hwasan.”
“…”
“In the hell that you created by turning away… In the abyss you turned away from, what righteousness could we have possibly chosen? Answer me! Spit it out with that mouth of yours!”
Baek Cheon’s pupils trembled greatly.
The hell they created by turning away? The abyss they turned away from?
“No way…”
Everything began to fit together in Baek Cheon’s mind.
These people didn’t seem like members of the Evil Sects at all. But if that were the case, there was no way to explain their prowess.
Those who should have died but did not.
There was only one group that could make sense of all this.
Their sin, and the source of Chung Myung’s pain.
“You, you are…”
The middle-aged man glared at Baek Cheon with piercing eyes.
“I am Jin Songwon.”
“…”
A tear as red as blood trickled down from the middle-aged man’s bloodshot eyes.
“I was the Sect Leader of Diancang, whom you abandoned.”
It felt as if the ground beneath his feet had collapsed, his body plunging into an abyss.
Baek Cheon confronted his own sins.
In a way that could neither be ignored nor escaped.
________
*심법(心法) – literally “Mind Method” or “Mental Technique.” Hanja found by me. In Buddhism 心法 also means dharma of mind.
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Diancang chose not to go to join Gupailbang at the Yangtze after all the messages from Beop Jong and now they are blaming all other sects…. no words.
Baek Cheon repeating what Chung Myung once said warmed my heart a bit.
Also a weird thing: the author didn’t provide hanja for Jin Songwon’s name. While for Jongli Gok it was provided a thousand times in different chapters.
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Return of the Mount Hua 
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