Return of the Mount Hua

I’m back. (1)

ROTMHS Glossary || About page

“Phew. The measure of the man is no bigger than a soy-sauce dish.”

“…”

“A fellow like that is going to become the Sect Leader, they say. What is to become of Hwasan’s future?”

“….Grk.. Khhgh.”

“Oh, Sahyeong! My, my… So you could speak? In front of Jin Geumryong you were as quiet as if you’d lathered honey on your lips, so I wondered if you’d forgotten how to talk.”

Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut.

The road to Shaanxi. It ought to have been a joyful, happy journey, yet it felt unusually long and hellish. Nine out of ten reasons were those little devils chattering ceaselessly behind him.

I’d rather deal with the Sapas, the Sapas…

What made it hardest for Baek Cheon, above all, was that, among the lot who were gleefully busy teasing him right now, the most vicious of them was not Chung Myung. An unexpected hardship is always the hardest to bear.

When Baek Cheon glanced sideways and caught Baek Sang’s eyes, the latter tilted his chin up and glared back.

“What?”

In Baek Sang’s wild, rolling eyes, there was a chilling glint of madness.

“You dragged me into that deathtrap, talking all that nonsense about duty and honor – and now, surely you’re not getting angry just because I said something that happened to be true, are you?”

“Khh….”

“Come on, as if! You’re a human being! You wouldn’t do that while wearing a human face, would you?”

“……It’s nothing.”

The fact that Baek Sang had come back alive after stepping through the gates of hell was, frankly, nothing short of a miracle. And the responsibility for that crisis lay entirely with Baek Cheon.

Honestly, he did feel sorry.

For Baek Cheon, it had been something he absolutely had to do, but from Baek Sang’s point of view it was different, wasn’t it? Dragging him along half by force and making him face mortal danger several times – of course the creeping feeling of guilt was inevitable.

The problem was, it seemed that on the way back from that brief tour to hell, Baek Sang had dropped his nerve somewhere. Since that day, the blade-cold gleam spilling from those wildly rolling eyes had been enough to make even Baek Cheon shrivel.

‘He was one of the few normal guys in Hwasan…’

Baek Cheon quietly buried the trailing question of ‘Why did he end up like that?’ in his heart. Saying it out loud would only put Baek Cheon at a disadvantage.

Anyway, everything else he could endure.

Even the reproachful looks from his Sajes, the sulky looks from Sajils, the words that scratched at his insides at all hours, and even the subtly reproaching gazes of his Sasuks! Somehow – truly somehow – he could turn a blind eye to them all.

“…”

Only the gazes of the children, who had watched all of this and inevitably came to harbor distrust, were hard to bear.

“No, it’s just……”

Every time Baek Cheon tried to explain, they would quietly look away. Then, when he gave up on explaining and turned his eyes aside, their eyes would once again flick back at him.

The distrustful looks that seemed to say, ‘Is it really the right choice to listen to a man like this and follow him all the way to Hwasan? Wouldn’t it be wiser even now to turn around and head to Diancang?’ made Baek Cheon want to cry.

As if sensing his distress, Yoon Jong offered him a warm, comforting smile.

“Isn’t it at least fortunate that the Emei and Qingcheng kids aren’t here, Sasuk.”

“…That’s very reassuring, Yoon Jong-ah.”

Of the children from the three sects who had decided to go to Hwasan together, the Emei and Qingcheng children had, for the time being, remained in Henan. It was so they could tour their respective sects before coming to Hwasan, just as Baek Cheon had promised.

– If that matter is at issue, it seems right that we take charge of it.

Baek Cheon had meant to take responsibility for even that role himself, but once Tang Pae volunteered, he had no choice but to step back. After all, the ones who would be having the most frequent dealings with Qingcheng and Emei going forward would be the Tang Clan, destined to become the rulers of Sichuan.

At the time, even while he understood the situation, he couldn’t quite hide his regret. But now that it had come to this, perhaps – just as Yoon Jong said – he should count it a blessing.

“Still… this whole thing didn’t happen because you lot lack respect for me, did it?”

“Hahaha. Baek Cheon Siju.”

Watching him, Hye Yeon smiled gently and spoke.

“Respect, as a rule, does not arise from coercion but wells up naturally from the heart, does it not? If one seeks respect, the first thing is to strive to become a person worthy of it.”

“…..So, if you want to be respected, behave in ways that invoke respect. Is that what you’re saying, Monk?”

So right now I’m a pathetic person with nothing worthy of respect?

Hye Yeon said nothing and simply smiled. But what that smile meant seemed to be perfectly understood even by Diancang’s kids standing nearby.

“Sahyeong. Didn’t you say that man is the Vice Sect Leader? That he will soon become Hwasan’s Sect Leader.”

“Yeah. That’s what I heard.”

“But… to me, he looks like the most disregarded person among everyone here.”

“Well. I have absolutely no idea why……”

The disciples of Diancang once again cast sidelong glances at Baek Cheon. Baek Cheon clenched his fist tight.

“Sasuk.”

“Mm?”

“Just set your mind at ease. Isn’t it better to be treated like a fool than treated like an enemy?”

“…I wouldn’t mind being seen as a fool, but it feels like they’re treating me like a complete moron.”

“Ah.”

Jo Geol nodded as if to say he understood.

Baek Cheon chuckled faintly. It was true that, thanks to him being made a full-time fool, the journey to Shaanxi – which might easily have turned out to be quite tense – had gone along rather smoothly. Perhaps his fellow disciples weren’t really mocking him out of malice, but simply using him as an excuse to lighten the mood…

“Isn’t the path a little narrow?”

“Hmm. Just like Sahyeong’s capacity. Shall we call this Baek Cheon’s Path?”

“How about Dongryong’s Path [dongryongro in korean]?”

“Khhkhh, that rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?”

No. As I thought, those bastards simply enjoy giving me a hard time.

Baek Cheon, boiling up like a teapot, could no longer hold back and whipped his head around.

“Hey, you….!”

But Baek Cheon’s rattling lid snapped shut before it could blow all the way off. His fellow disciples were all staring blankly into the distance as if spellbound.

For a moment he wondered what was going on, but then, seized by a powerful premonition, Baek Cheon too hastily turned his gaze in the same direction.

“….Ah!”

A gasp escaped him.

The shape visible far in the distance was blurry, and yet it felt as vivid as if it were within his grasp.

Amidst a mountain range, billowing like large waves, a lofty peak rose high – sharp as a blade.

“Hwasan…….”

A bright smile bloomed at the corners of Baek Cheon’s lips.

At last, there it was. The place they had to return to.

“Th……”

“Uh….”

However, there was a problem.

Joy, after all, comes from encountering something familiar once more.

One who has farmed all his life longs for a wide golden field, and one who has lived with his feet set on high mountains can never forget steep slopes and green trees.

In other words, if the scenery has changed too much from what one has always seen, it is difficult to feel that sense of joy.

That was exactly the feeling the disciples of Hwasan, their mouths hanging open, were experiencing now.

“Uh… it’s definitely the right one.”

“That’s right. It is Hwaeum, right…”

The disciples of Hwasan rubbed their eyes again and again.

No matter how vast and wide the Central Plains may be, there cannot be two mountains with such a fierce and imposing presence. The mountain visible in the far distance was certainly the Hwasan they knew.

But the scene unfolding at the foot of the mountain was far too different from what they knew.

“Hey! Over there! That looks like the inn we used to go to?”

It was the place they ordered food from whenever a banquet was held at Hwasan, then carried it up the mountain. The innkeeper’s skill was so good that all the disciples of Hwasan loved that inn…

“…I don’t think you could call it an inn anymore?”

It had become a seven-story pavilion [누각(樓閣)] towering over the street.

The name written on the signboard was still the same as the one they knew, but the small, cozy inn had now become a place that by no stretch could be called small.

And that change was not limited to the inn alone.

“It’s tall…”

“It really is.”

The gazes of Hwasan’s disciples lifted as high as they could go.

“It’s huge…….”

“It is.”

Then, all at once, their heads swung together from left to right in unison.

The entrance to Hwaeum. The small road that had once led to their small and precious village had become large enough for countless carts to pass at the same time, and to the left and right had risen pavilions so lofty they had never seen the likes in their lives.

“Hwa…eum, right?”

“I feel like we’ve come to the wrong place…”

The disciples of Hwasan blinked again and again.

“There are limits to how much things can change. How long were we even gone, for it to change this much?”

Even before they had left, Hwaeum had already undergone one great transformation. Who wouldn’t know this? They themselves had cut the trees and built the houses, and leveled the ground to make farmland.

But compared to what they had built and left behind, the change unfolding before them was far too great.

“At this rate, isn’t it bigger than Xian?”

When Jo Geol mumbled in a daze, Yoon Jong shook his head. But Yoon Jong’s expression was just as dumbfounded.

“Not quite…… Probably not. But…”

“But?”

“…it does seem more resplendent than Xian, somehow.”

“Heh-heh.”

The disciples of Hwasan, unable to hide their bewilderment, let out hollow laughs.

Unlike them, who stood dazed before their changed hometown, Im Sobyeong – who had no particular attachment to Hwaeum – spoke drily as if he had guessed the circumstances.

“Why are you spouting the obvious? Did you think it would stay the same all this time? So many people have flocked here.”

“But the houses……”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don’t talk nonsense about houses. Do you think people just eat and sleep and that’s the end of it?”

“…”

“It’s not that people gather because there’s a city – when people gather, a city appears. Whether by choice or not, with numbers like that, of course this was bound to happen. Tsk.”

“You seem to know an awful lot, Nokrim King.”

“Naturally. Do you think banditry is something you can do just by drawing a blade? You have to know where the expensive goods pass, which checkpoints are just right so that suppression parties can’t be organized easily, which mountain will become a traffic hub in the future, and the center of logistics… Aagh! Why are you hitting me!”

“Are you proud of researching how to rob people? Want me to just bury you right here?”

After kicking Im Sobyeong in the rear, Chung Myung looked at Hwaeum with a newfound gaze.

What was this? This unfamiliar yet somehow welcoming, inexplicable feeling?

Even Chung Myung couldn’t put it into words, when suddenly Baek Cheon burst into hearty laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“Why are you laughing, Sasuk?”

“Haha. Isn’t it funny? From Hubei all the way to Henan, we fought against Sapaeryeon, and I dared to pride myself that Cheonumaeng had protected the world.”

“Well…….”

“Yet the places we tried to protect were all burned and drenched in blood, while those who remained here are changing the world, aren’t they?”

Baek Cheon’s gaze softened as he looked upon Hwaeum, and he muttered a Taoist verse.

“It’s not men like us who wield swords who lead the world, but those who till the earth. I knew that perfectly well, and yet…”

His words trailed off slightly. The disciples of Hwasan, listening, seemed to have realized something, and looked back at Hwaeum.

“But that’s only looking at one side of the coin.”

“Yes?”

Only Im Sobyeong, his expression unshaken even now, went on.

“That world of the common folk can be toppled by a single kick from the bandits. No matter how much Hwaeum has developed, if the Alliance had lost and Sapaeryeon had reached this place… Would we truly have been able to preserve this sight?”

“Mm.”

“We’d be lucky if it hadn’t all been burned down.”

Swish.

Im Sobyeong snapped open his fan and fanned his face with a light flutter.

“There’s no need to stiffen your shoulders too much, but there’s also no need to undervalue what you yourselves have accomplished. See it as it is. This is the scene you protected.”

“…Says the bandit.”

“Hey! The mood was getting good there!”

Whether Im Sobyeong fumed or not, the disciples of Hwasan paid him no mind. They simply stood still, gazing silently at the scene before them.

Until this moment, it hadn’t truly sunk in.

They had fought only in desolate places, and with their own eyes had seen nothing but lands reduced to ashes.

Only upon arriving here did they understand. What it was they had been fighting to protect.

No one could easily bring themselves to speak. Then, suddenly, the sound of footsteps broke the silence.

Step.

“Huh?”

“Uh…”

Everyone’s gaze turned towards the direction of the sound.

“Chung Myung?”

Chung Myung was walking away, leaving them behind. His steps were headed for none other than the small mountain path up to Hwasan. In Hwaeum, where so much had changed, it was the only road that had not.

Chung Myung glanced back at them and asked.

“Weren’t we going this way?”

After a brief silence, the Five Swords began to smile, one after another.

“Yeah. We were.”

Even if there were things that had changed, even if there were things that had not, what did it matter?

The disciples of Hwasan set off. Towards the path that was still narrow and steep, but all the dearer for it.

They had lost much, and many things had changed. They had clung to countless lingering attachments and then let them go. Yet this narrow mountain path that welcomed them all had not changed in the slightest.

The disciples of Hwasan climbed without haste, treading the road they had taken hundreds of times before – the road leading home.

And at last.

Creeeeeeeeak!

The great mountain gate, long shut and covered in dust, swung wide open.

Step. Step.

The disciples of Hwasan stepped inside the gate without hesitation.

At the front, Chung Myung stood, his gaze unwavering as he looked upon the dust-laden hall before him. Then, slowly, he spoke.

“I’m back.”

The words that had long lingered on his tongue spread far as they touched the cool mountain air.

Next chapter >>>

________

Please, subscribe/donate on Patreon or Buymeacoffee – support my work and help me buy official cookies to purchase the chapters. My schedule is on the About page.