If there is something to be gained, then there is always something to be lost. (3)
Whoosh.
The sword cleaved through the empty air.
Whoosh.
From above to below. Fast and precise. Anyone with even the slightest understanding of the sword would immediately recognize what a high level of mastery this movement had reached.
Whoosh.
Yet the man sitting only a few paces away, despite witnessing such an accomplished sword technique, merely yawned wide as though he were bored to death.
“Haaaaaaaah.”
Chung Myung yawned lazily again, then flicked away the tear that had rolled from the corner of his eye with the tip of his finger and smacked his lips.
“Pheeeew.”
Only then did the man lower his sword. Chung Mun wiped the sweat that had soaked his face with the plain cloth he had prepared beforehand. Then, clicking his tongue, he turned to look at Chung Myung.
“If you’re that bored, you could go wait somewhere else.”
“You said you’d be finished soon.”
“And I finished soon enough, didn’t I? It was only two hours [one sijin].”
Chung Myung shook his head, looking utterly fed up.
“Damn it, it’s hard enough to get a drink around here. The food will all be cold by now too.”
“Then we can heat it up again. And what does it matter if it gets cold? You’re not someone who cares about things like that anyway.”
“Well, that’s true…..”
“Anyway, I wonder what will happen to a Taoist who has so little patience.”
Chung Mun slid his sword into its sheath and turned around, and Chung Myung hurried after him.
“Ah, wait for me.”
Leaving the Lotus Peak [연화봉 – yeonhwa-bong; the West Peak of Hwasan] behind them, the two walked side by side towards Hwasan Sect. For a while, neither of them said a word.
Breaking the silence, Chung Myung cautiously opened his mouth.
“But, Sahyeong.”
“Yes?”
“Can I ask you something?”
Chung Mun frowned, looking puzzled.
Chung Myung asking permission before asking a question? That almost never happened. In other words, whatever question that brat was about to ask was apparently enough to turn Chung Mun’s insides upside down simply by hearing it.
He wanted to tell him to keep his mouth shut, since he knew he shouldn’t ask, but in the end, curiosity got the better of him, and Chung Mun turned to look at Chung Myung.
“….What is it?”
“Why do you train, Sahyeong? It’s not as if it makes you any stronger.”
“…Huh?”
Chung Mun blinked.
“What on earth are you talking about? I’m a martial artist, so of course I train.”
“Good grief. You say the funniest things, Sahyeong.”
Chung Myung smiled brightly, as though he had just heard the most amusing joke in the world.
“Martial artists train to become stronger, but haven’t you long since reached the point where you can’t become any stronger than this, Sahyeong?”
“…”
“You obviously know that perfectly well yourself, so I don’t understand why you keep wasting your time. You’d be better off washing your feet and going to sleep… Aah! Aaaah! My ear! My ear, my ear! Aaaaagh!”
“Quiet. You’ll wake the birds.”
“Ow! My ear! Sahyeong. My ear! Aaaah!”
Still gripping one of Chung Myung’s ears, Chung Mun swung his arm back and forth, and only after giving Chung Myung one final smack on the crown of his head did he let go.
Chung Myung shouted furiously.
“Ah! Why did you hit me! It’s not as if I said anything wrong.”
Watching him rub his head over and over with an aggrieved look, Chung Mun quietly clicked his tongue.
“What you said is wrong in two respects.”
“And what are those?”
“First. For a Taoist, training isn’t merely about becoming stronger. It is a means of strengthening the body and finding one’s path [길(道)].”
“Yes, yes. I know that perfectly well.”
“And second. What does it matter if you can’t become any stronger?”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Chung Mun gazed quietly at Chung Myung and asked.
“And you?”
“…Me? Why?”
“Yes. As you said, I have reached my limit. With my talent, this is probably as far as I can go.”
“Well… If it weren’t for all the time you wasted being dragged from place to place during the years of your youth, when you should have been training, you’d probably be several times stronger than you are now, but either way, you have reached your limit.”
“…”
Chung Mun quietly clenched his fist again. Seeing this, Chung Myung hurriedly backed away.
“If you keep hitting me, I won’t hold back either.”
“And what will you do if you don’t hold back? Are you going to talk back?”
“I’ll run away to Xian.”
“…”
“…”
The two stared blankly at each other across the empty air.
“And while I’m there, I’ll beat up a few of those Jongnam bastards who pick fights with me.”
“…I won’t hit you, so come here.”
“Really?”
“The Sect Leader of Jongnam came by because of you not long ago, and I can hardly send you off to Xian now.”
“Wait, when did that man come by? He didn’t go spouting some useless nonsense, did he?”
“He clung to my hand and wept. He said he was so ashamed, he couldn’t even show his face around anymore.”
“That man is getting old, and now he has become so sensitive. He wasn’t like that before.”
“…And whose fault do you think that is?”
Chung Mun let out a deep sigh before speaking.
“Anyway, what about you? As long as you are human, there will come a day when you, too, reach your limit. When that happens, will you stop training as well?”
“….Hmm.”
Chung Myung narrowed his eyes and fell silent, as though lost in thought. Chung Mun smiled gently and urged him to answer.
“Well?”
“Um… uh, I mean…”
Chung Myung scratched his head.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really put much effort into training, so I’m not sure what to say.”
“…”
“It’s been more than twenty years since I last trained the way you do, Sahyeong. Why make an issue of it now?”
Chung Mun squeezed his eyes shut in silence.
Had his question been foolish? Or had he been wrong to expect anything from Chung Myung in the first place?
“Even if it isn’t something that will actually happen, you can still think about it! You idiot!”
“No, if it isn’t real, how am I supposed to think about it? What kind of weird nonsense are you talking about?”
“Uugh….”
Chung Mun instinctively clutched the back of his neck. Perhaps the name he would leave in the annals of Gangho would not be that of the Sect Leader who restored Hwasan’s glory… but of the first martial artist in history to die from pent-up rage.
“Hmm. Training….”
In the meantime, Chung Myung scratched his head again. It was difficult for him to understand it fully, but he thought he more or less understood what his Sahyeong was trying to say.
“Well… if I can’t become any stronger.“
It was something everyone else had probably experienced at least once, but for Chung Myung, it was nothing more than something he had yet to experience.
If there was a wall, he simply had to break through it. But what if it was a wall he could not break through? What if he came to learn that fact?
Could Chung Myung really keep striving to break through that wall then?
“….So anyway, what you’re doing, Sahyeong, is refusing to give up, right?”
“Perhaps. Though it may be a little different.”
Chung Mun smiled faintly.
“Chung Myung-ah.”
“Yes?”
“Taoists are people who seek to become Immortals.”
“Hmm…….”
“But we do not know whether anyone in this world has truly become an Immortal.”
Chung Mun’s gaze grew deep and contemplative.
“So there is nothing particularly unusual about it. We are people who set out to do things without knowing whether they are even possible.”
A gentle smile spread across Chung Mun’s face as he looked at Chung Myung.
“Of course, you did not become a Taoist of your own will, so you may think a little differently from me.”
“Mm….”
“Even so, remember this, Chung Myung. There is nothing particularly special or extraordinary about it.”
Chung Mun slowly gripped the sword hanging at his waist.
“So many people devote their lives to things they cannot know are truly possible. Even when those things may seem insignificant to others.”
“…”
“But it is not something to be mocked. Humanity has come this far by accomplishing things it once believed impossible.”
Chung Myung stared at Chung Mun in silence. Strangely enough, those words resonated with him. Perhaps because of that, an inexplicable urge to rebel suddenly welled up inside him, as he shrugged and scoffed.
“But… that’s just stupid, isn’t it? You could live much more comfortably if you didn’t go to all that trouble. In the end, isn’t it simply foolish?”
At that, Chung Mun smiled faintly.
“That’s right.”
“…..No, you can’t just agree with me.”
“There is no reason I cannot.“
Strangely, Chung Mun’s smile seemed brighter than ever before. Like the stars filling that night sky.
“Because people are foolish by nature, you see.”
It sounded like a somewhat irresponsible thing to say.
But Chung Myung could offer no rebuttal. Because he realized that within those words, which at first glance seemed irresponsible, lay something that the Chung Myung of the present could not yet understand. Something that could only be called profound wisdom.
“Always saying things like that.”
Chung Myung scratched his head.
He knew. There was no need to understand it now. Someday… someday, even Chung Myung would come to understand Chung Mun’s words.
So for now, all he had to do was…
“Enough with the pointless talk and keep your promise. You’re giving me back the liquor you confiscated.”
“Hmm? Did I promise that?”
“Sahyeong!”
“People are foolish by nature, I’m telling you. Hahahaha.“
Chung Myung hurried after Chung Mun as he walked on ahead.
The sound of the two of them bickering was quietly etched into the still night of Hwasan.
❀ ❀ ❀
“…Are you awake?”
An unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice reached him.
Chung Myung struggled to lift his eyelids. Through the blur surrounding him, he could make out someone’s figure.
“Geomjon.”
“…Shin Gae?”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung closed his eyes again.
It was not particularly surprising.
Though he had suffered a grievous wound from Chung Myung’s attack, his opponent was still Heavenly Executioner. There were probably only a handful of people in the entire world capable of rescuing Chung Myung from beneath his nose while he was still fully conscious.
His reputation might have been somewhat overshadowed by the Illusory Phantom Divine Lord’s appearance, but Pung Yeong Shin Gae was still a man who contended for the title of the greatest master of lightness arts under heaven. Someone of that caliber would be needed to deceive Heavenly Executioner’s eyes and rescue Chung Myung.
“Where is this….“
“Shijiazhuang.”
“Shijiazhuang…..”
A little more strength drained from Chung Myung’s body.
“What of Heavenly Executioner?”
“Heavenly Executioner and the Demonic Cult have halted their advance. It seems we have secured a little time, so you must focus on recuperating for now.”
It felt as though his entire body were being sucked down into some unfathomable depth. Sensing that he was about to lose consciousness again, Chung Myung mustered every last bit of strength he had and spoke.
“Shin Gae.”
“Yes, Geomjon. Give me your orders.”
“…The command of this place, to him.“
“If you mean Baek Cheon Dojang, I will do so.”
“The others……”
“Do not worry, Geomjon.”
Pung Yeong Shin Gae answered in a voice of utmost seriousness.
“If necessary, I will persuade them myself. I will carry out Geomjon’s orders without fail.”
Chung Myung gazed at something in the empty air. But before long, his eyes closed again. It seemed he had lost consciousness once more.
After watching him for some time, Pung Yeong Shin Gae addressed those who had reentered the room in a tone completely different from the one he had used moments before.
“How is he?”
“It is not good. His injuries are so severe that…”
“No more.”
Pung Yeong Shin Gae cut him off in a voice so cold it sent chills down their spines.
“Keep him alive. You must keep him alive. If this man fails to rise from that bed, every one of you will die. I will not even need to kill you myself. You will all die regardless.”
“Yes! Shin Gae.”
The divine physicians [신의(神醫)] whom Pung Yeong Shin Gae had gathered bowed their heads, cold sweat running down their faces.
“Pour everything the Beggars Sect has at its disposal into this if you must, but save him.”
“Yes!”
Pung Yeong Shin Gae bit down hard on his lip.
Chung Myung’s injuries were far too severe. Of course, he did not believe Chung Myung would simply die like this. He was the Maehwa Geomjon. He was not someone who would die from wounds of this extent.
But with injuries this grave, even Chung Myung would inevitably need time to recover.
And that was precisely the problem.
Pung Yeong Shin Gae rose from his seat.
‘Can we hold back the Demonic Cult without Geomjon?’
Now that the entire world has already been revolving around Geomjon?
‘No. This is not something to consider. We simply have to do it. We must.’
Unless he wanted to stand by and watch everything return to nothingness [무(無) – state of non-existence].
Special Spinoff Chapter 62 >>>
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