That’s not how I am. (3)
“So?”
A voice, raspy as if scratching roughly at his throat, escaped Yu Gong’s mouth.
“Yu Gong.”
“So what exactly do you expect me to do? Are you seriously asking me to save those idiots now, after all this time?”
Yu Gong ground his teeth.
“Do you think there’s even the tiniest thing left between me and those bastards? Unlike a fool like you, I don’t cling to things that are already in the past. I will make it clear.”
Yu Gong shouted sharply, as though making a proclamation.
“Haenam is a sect that’s already finished.”
The unwavering stubbornness imbued in his words felt like nothing could shake it.
“It’s just a sect that has already collapsed. Even if they survive, the result won’t change. It’s only a matter of whether the moment their breath is cut off comes sooner or later. Got it? You stupid idiot.”
Spitting out those words in anger, Yu Gong roughly wiped his face. He paused briefly as his fingers brushed the unfamiliar texture of his mask, then resumed speaking sharply.
“Do you really think I’d have lingering attachments to such a sect? Do you truly believe I’d beg to return to Haenam now, after everything…?”
At that moment, Baek Cheon cut him off.
“No, you can no longer return to Haenam.”
Yu Gong flinched, furrowing his brows.
“What has gone so far astray can’t be put back. Whatever you do from now on won’t erase the sins you’ve committed. So you’ll probably never be forgiven.”
“You…”
Yu Gong clenched his teeth. Yet Baek Cheon, meeting his murderous glare with calm eyes, spoke resolutely.
“But the fact that you won’t be forgiven, that you can’t return, doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do for them.”
Yu Gong did not answer.
It wasn’t because he was moved by Baek Cheon’s words. Rather, it would be more accurate to say he was rendered speechless by how absurd they were.
“Sometimes, there are things you must do, even when knowing there is no turning back. Things you must do, even if you won’t be rewarded, even if it feels unfair – there are things that simply must be done.”
Yu Gong stared blankly at Baek Cheon.
He didn’t need to ask to know: that bastard Baek Cheon was speaking with complete sincerity.
He wasn’t tossing out shallow words to sway Yu Gong. He truly meant what he said.
Had their positions been reversed, Baek Cheon would not have hesitated for even a moment – and would have done everything in his power to save the sect, to save his seniors and juniors.
Knowing this only made it all the harder for Yu Gong to understand.
“For the sake of what, exactly?”
“Because they are your fellow disciples.”
Yu Gong let out a hollow laugh.
“Just for that?”
“…”
“All that self-righteous talk, and that’s the best reason you can offer?”
“Yes. That’s all there is. But… sometimes that’s enough.”
“Ha… haha.”
Yu Gong laughed as if it were absurd.
“You really are insane. You actually think someone would fall for such nonsense?”
Baek Cheon calmly shook his head.
“Probably not.”
“At least you know.”
“Then shouldn’t you just leave?”
“…What?”
Baek Cheon stared straight at Yu Gong and said.
“If you truly believed my words were just absurd and worthless, you wouldn’t have still been standing here – you would have walked away. I can’t force you to stay, and you know that. So why are you still standing right there?”
For a moment, confusion flickered in Yu Gong’s eyes.
“That’s because you…”
“Aren’t you actually the one desperately looking for an excuse?”
“…”
“You’re looking for a way to return, a way to be forgiven by them, a way to live proudly without that pathetic mask…”
“Shut your mouth.”
A thick killing intent burst from Yu Gong.
“Don’t act like you know everything. I’ve hated that attitude of yours from the start – acting superior when you know nothing!”
“Yeah, I know nothing.”
Baek Cheon spoke through clenched teeth.
“Since I don’t know, you – who knows so well – can figure it out. Find a way to save those who must be saved, a way to ease your own heart even if you can’t be forgiven! Instead of becoming a dog of an Evil Sect and spewing excuses, find a way to live proudly until the very end!”
Yu Gong fell silent. His gaze was still as sharp as a blade, yet it had unmistakably changed – enough that even Baek Sang, not just Baek Cheon, could recognize it.
After a brief silence, Yu Gong spoke again.
“They’ll treat me like a bug.”
“…Yes, they will.”
“Even if I rescue them, I’d be lucky not to end up stabbed.”
Baek Cheon nodded with ease.
“That’s exactly what will happen.”
“And yet you say I have to risk my life to save them?”
“Yes.”
“Stop spouting that nonsense!”
Baek Cheon’s gaze darkened.
“Maybe it’s nonsense to you. But that’s what I’d do. Because that’s what brothers are.”
“…”
“How long will you leave Haenam beneath the feet of the Evil Sects? Do you really want your own child to live the same life as you?”
“Shut your damned mouth!”
“All we have to do is win here. If we bring them down, Haenam can return to its former days. There’s a good chance you won’t be a part of it, but Haenam will regain its peace. They won’t be threatened, won’t have to hold their breath fearing for their lives, won’t have to live pathetically, turning away from injustice.”
“…You really think Jang Ilso will lose to the likes of you?”
“I do.”
“On what grounds? You know all too well how terrifying that man is.”
“I do know. But I also know how extraordinary my brothers are. I believe in them.”
Yu Gong shut his mouth again. He felt foolish – ridiculous even, for bothering to speak with someone like this. How could this idiot be so stubbornly consistent?
He wanted to sneer – laugh as much as he liked, mock him, or ignore him altogether.
But he could do none of it.
Even if the wisest sage alive uttered the same nonsense, Yu Gong could laugh in his face. But not at this man.
Baek Cheon had lost everything. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was stuck in a swamp that couldn’t even be compared to where Yu Gong was. Yu Gong had at least chosen his path. Baek Cheon had not.
Yet instead of cursing the world, Baek Cheon was desperately searching for what he must do. Who could dare laugh at such a person?
No, anyone with even a shred of humanity could not. No matter how Yu Gong tried not to regret his past, he could not bring himself to mock Baek Cheon’s resolve.
“So…”
Baek Cheon stared straight at Yu Gong.
“I need your help.”
Facing those eyes, shining with unbending will, Yu Gong squeezed his own shut. He felt suffocated. When had he last felt like this?
With a voice dripping hostility, Yu Gong spoke again.
“And if I don’t help – what then?”
He wanted to pierce Baek Cheon’s heart with that question. Yet Baek Cheon answered far too easily, as if it required no thought.
“Then I still have to find the hostages. No – I will find them, even if my inner energy runs dry and in the end I drop dead of exhaustion.”
In those unwavering eyes Yu Gong saw his own reflection. Baek Cheon asked.
“Your answer?”
Yu Gong suddenly looked up at the sky.
“From start to finish, without leaving a single scrap out… it’s all just bullshit.”
The corner of his mouth twisted.
❀ ❀ ❀
A flame of piercing blue hue surged like a devil’s tongue, stinging her eyes. Before them, Tang Soso felt an unfamiliar emotion swallow her whole. Violent, disorienting sense of incongruity strong enough, for a brief moment, to overwhelm even the deep-seated hatred boiling within her.
No – it was closer to a sense of alienation. Yet she could not tell why.
The Tang Clan was a clan of craftsmen. The sight of blue flames was hardly something new. Had she not seen it countless times? The blue flame that rose without pause from the clan’s Blue Furnace [청로(靑爐)].
‘It’s not because it’s blue. That is… unmistakably different.’
Tang Soso bit her lip hard.
Blue‑tinged flames, Blazing Steel [염강(炎鋼)] in form of the flames itself, even that chill that felt like frost within fire – any of those could exist. None of them were all that unfamiliar.
Yet, when combined into one, they produced a sense of alienation she’d never experienced before.
Yes – just like the existence of Jang Ilso himself.
People feel unease facing unfamiliar. In the end, this unspeakable, overwhelming alienation was simply another name for fear.
That very embodiment of fear, a being she could never understand, kicked off the ground and charged straight at Tang Soso.
The flames coiling around Jang Ilso roared and surged, devouring Tang Soso’s field of vision – no, it felt as though they had engulfed the entire world.
No matter how strong Jang Ilso was, he could not possibly raise such immense, dense energy. It had to be a trick. If not, then it was merely an illusion visible only to her eyes, as she shrank helplessly before his presence.
Yet, even while knowing this, Tang Soso felt utterly overwhelmed.
The crude word ‘strength’ could not begin to explain it.
She felt a gap in level impossible to even gauge. A gap so vast that no amount of determination or hard work could overcome.
Kwaaaaaaaaaah!
The moment her vision was stained entirely blue, what Tang Soso sensed was death. All she could do was clench her teeth hard.
‘I will not tremble.’
Her father must surely have met such an end.
Tang Soso had to do the same. If death could not be avoided, she must at least keep her dignity. It was the attitude carved into her as a disciple of Hwasan, and the pride a daughter of the Tang Clan must carry.
True courage is not the absence of fear, but facing fear regardless. Only now grasping the true meaning of those words, she met the swiftly approaching death without hesitation.
But at that very moment.
A surge of golden light erupted before her eyes. Truly dazzling, yet rather than piercing through it seemed to embrace the world in boundless warmth.
The shimmering golden aura surged forth, pushing away the blue flames that had threatened to devour the world.
Kuuuung!
After the deafening impact – loud enough to make her skull ring – her whole body trembled.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah…”
Having been pulled back from the threshold of death, Tang Soso flinched, gazing at the broad back now standing in front of her.
“M‑Monk?”
“Amitabha. Fortunately, I was not too late.”
Hye Yeon’s voice was as calm and gentle as ever, yet Tang Soso did not miss the faint trembling of his shoulders.
“What…”
Without thinking, she tugged at Hye Yeon’s shoulder.
That let her glimpse his face. From pale lips fresh crimson blood was trickling down.
Hye Yeon spoke.
“There is no need to worry. The opponent is Paegun – this is only natural.”
With a faint smile he faced Jang Ilso and assumed a half-palm stance [반장(半掌)*]
“Shaolin…”
Hye Yeon paused for a breath, then spoke again, his voice growing heavier and darker.
“I am Hye Yeon of Shaolin.”
Tang Soso understood immediately.
Since the Abbot had brought up his excommunication, Hye Yeon had never once called himself a man of Shaolin – until now.
Perhaps… the one who bore the greatest hatred for Jang Ilso here was not her.
Extremely sharp energy began to flow from Hye Yeon’s eyes.
“Amitabha. I had hoped not to speak of resentment… but it seems that my insufficient level of cultivation leaves me unable to extend mercy even to you, Siju.”
Clench.
Still in the half-palm stance, Hye Yeon clenched his hand tight.
“Prepare yourself, Siju.”
An intense, violent Battle Force [투기(鬪氣) or battle qi] surged forth from Hye Yeon, stronger than ever witnessed before.
________
*Beop Jong talks about this stance in chapter 1016, since it means a lot to Shaolin.
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Return of the Mount Hua 
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