Chapter 1958 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1958. If There Is Something to Be Gained, There Must Also Be Something to Be Lost. (3)

Woong.

The sword cuts through empty air.

Wooong.

From above to below, fast and precise. Anyone with even the slightest understanding of the sword would immediately recognize, upon seeing that movement just now, just how high a level of mastery it had reached.

Wooong.

Yet the one sitting a mere few paces away from such a high-level swordsmanship was yawning widely as though he were bored to death.

“Haaaaaah.”

Cheong Myeong yawned languidly once again, then casually wiped away the tears that had seeped from the corners of his eyes with his fingertips. He smacked his lips.

“Phew.”

Only then did the man lower his sword. Cheong Mun wiped the sweat that had soaked his entire face with the cotton cloth he’d prepared beforehand. Then, clicking his tongue, he turned to look at Cheong Myeong.

“If you’re that bored, you could go on ahead and wait.”

“You said you’d be done soon.”

“I did finish soon, didn’t I? It was only one shijin.”

[one shijin : roughly two hours.]

Cheong Myeong shook his head from side to side as though thoroughly fed up.

“Damn, it’s fucking hard to get a drink around here. The side dishes must’ve gone cold.”

“Then we can heat them up again. And what does it matter if they’re cold? You’re the kind of brat who doesn’t distinguish such things anyway.”

“Well, that’s true, but........”

“Anyway, I wonder what’s going to become of a Taoist who has so little patience.”

Cheong Mun pushed the sword into its scabbard and turned his body. Cheong Myeong quickly followed after him.

“Ah, wait. Let’s go together.”

Leaving Yeonhwa Peak behind, the two walked side by side toward Mount Hua. For a while, there was no conversation between them.

Breaking the silence, Cheong Myeong cautiously opened his mouth.

“But, sahyung.”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

Cheong Mun furrowed his brow with a puzzled expression.

Cheong Myeong was asking permission before asking something? That was something that hardly ever happened. Which meant that whatever this bastard was about to ask had to be something capable of turning Cheong Mun’s insides upside down merely by hearing it.

He wanted to tell him to shut his mouth because there was no way it could be anything good, but in the end, curiosity won out. Cheong Mun finally turned toward Cheong Myeong.

“....What is it?”

“Why do you train, sahyung? It’s not like training makes you particularly stronger anymore.”

“....Huh?”

Cheong Mun blinked.

“What on earth are you talking about? I’m a martial artist, so I train.”

“My, my. You say some interesting things too, sahyung.”

Cheong Myeong smiled brightly, as though he’d just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

“A martial artist trains to become stronger, but isn’t getting any stronger from here already impossible for you, sahyung?”

“.......”

“I mean, you obviously know that too, so I just don’t understand why you keep wasting your time. You’d be better off washing your feet and going to sleep with that time instead of.... Aaaagh! Aaaaagh! My ear! Ear, ear! Agh!”

“Be quiet. You’ll wake the mountain birds.”

“Agh! My ear! Sahyung. My ear! Aaaagh!”

Still gripping one of Cheong Myeong’s ears, Cheong Mun flailed his arm about here and there. Only after bringing his fist down sharply onto the crown of Cheong Myeong’s head did he finally release the ear.

Cheong Myeong shouted and protested, huffing angrily.

“Ah! Why’d you hit me! It’s not like I said anything wrong.”

As Cheong Myeong repeatedly rubbed his head as though he’d been grievously wronged, Cheong Mun clicked his tongue softly.

“You’re wrong in two ways.”

“What are they?”

“First. To a Taoist, training isn’t merely for becoming stronger. It is a means of strengthening the physical body and thereby finding my path, my Tao.”

“Yes, yes. I got it.”

“And second, what does it matter if I can’t become any stronger?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

Cheong Mun quietly looked at Cheong Myeong and asked,

“And you?”

“....Me? Why me?”

“Yes. As you said, I’ve reached a limit. With my talent, this is probably where it ends.”

“Well.... If it weren’t for all the time I wasted being dragged around here and there during the years of my youth when I should’ve been training hard, I’d probably be several times stronger than I am now. But anyway, you did hit your limit.”

“......”

Cheong Mun quietly clenched his fist again. Catching sight of it, Cheong Myeong hurriedly backed away.

“If you keep hitting me, I’m not going to hold back either.”

“And if you don’t hold back? Are you planning to challenge me?”

“I’m going to run away to Xi’an.”

“......”

“.......”

The two met each other’s eyes emptily in midair.

“While I’m at it, I’ll beat up some of those Zhongnan brats who come picking fights, too.”

“......I won’t hit you, so come here.”

“Really?”

“The Zhongnan Sect Leader already came by because of you not long ago. I can’t exactly send you off to Xi’an now.”

“Wait, when did that guy come by again? He didn’t go around saying anything useless, did he?”

“He held onto my hand and cried. Said he couldn’t live because he was so embarrassed in front of the whole neighborhood.”

“That man’s getting old, and now he’s become so emotionally sensitive. He wasn’t like that before.”

“....And whose fault do you think all of that is?”

Cheong Mun let out a deep sigh before speaking.

“Anyway, what about you? Since you’re human too, someday you’ll reach your limit. When that happens, will you stop training too?”

“........Hmm.”

Cheong Myeong narrowed his eyes as though lost in thought and fell silent. Cheong Mun urged him for an answer with a gentle smile.

“What do you think?”

“Um... Uh, so....”

Cheong Myeong scratched his head.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really tried terribly hard at training in the first place, so I don’t really know what to answer.”

“......”

“It feels like it’s been more than twenty years since I last did training like the kind you’re doing, sahyung. Why make a big deal of it now?”

Cheong Mun silently squeezed his eyes shut.

Had his question been stupid? Or had it been wrong of him to expect anything from Cheong Myeong in the first place?

“Even if it isn’t real, you can still think about it! You bastard!”

“No, if it isn’t real, how am I supposed to think about it? Why are you saying such weird things?”

“Ugh......”

Cheong Mun naturally reached up and grabbed the back of his neck. Perhaps the name he would leave behind in the history of the martial world would not be that of the Sect Leader who revived Mount Hua, but...... that of the first master in jianghu history to die from pent-up rage.

“Hm. Training, huh.......”

Meanwhile, Cheong Myeong scratched his head again. It was difficult to completely understand, but he thought he could roughly grasp what his sahyung was trying to say.

“Hmm.... If I can’t become any stronger....”

It was probably something everyone else experienced at least once, but to Cheong Myeong, it was nothing more than something he hadn’t experienced yet.

If there was a wall, you broke through it. But what if it was a wall you couldn’t break through? What if you came to know that fact?

When that happened, would Cheong Myeong really be able to struggle to break through the wall?

“......Anyway, so what you’re doing is an act of not giving up, right, sahyung?”

“Perhaps it’s a little different.”

Cheong Mun gave a faint smile.

“Cheong Myeong-ah.”

“Yes?”

“A Taoist is one who seeks to become an immortal.”

“Hmm.........”

“But we don’t even know whether there truly is anyone in this world who has become an immortal.”

[Sinseon. 신선(神仙). Literally “divine immortal”. In Taoist terminology, a transcendent immortal who has attained a state beyond ordinary human existence. The term carries the traditional East Asian concept of immortality rather than merely meaning someone who lives forever.]

Cheong Mun’s gaze settled into a profound stillness.

“So there’s nothing particularly strange about it. We’re people who’ve always tried to do things without knowing whether they’re possible in the first place.”

A gentle smile spread across Cheong Mun’s face as he looked at Cheong Myeong.

“Of course, you might think a little differently from me, since you didn’t become a taoist of your own will.”

“Hmm....”

“Still, remember this, Cheong Myeong-ah. There’s nothing particularly special about it, nor is there anything particularly extraordinary.”

Cheong Mun slowly grasped the sword hanging at his waist.

“Truly, there are many people who devote their lives to things whose possibility they can’t even know for certain. Even when, to someone else, those things might seem insignificant.”

“......”

“But it isn’t something to laugh at. In the end, people have come this far by accomplishing things they once believed they couldn’t do.”

Cheong Myeong stared silently at Cheong Mun. Strangely, those words reached him. Perhaps because of that, a needless feeling of defiance suddenly raised its head. He shrugged his shoulders and sneered.

“But.... that’s just stupid, isn’t it? You could live much more comfortably if you didn’t go out of your way to struggle that hard. In the end, isn’t it just foolishness?”

At those words, Cheong Mun smiled broadly.

“That’s right.”

“......No, you can’t just answer that!”

“There’s no reason I can’t.”

Strangely, Cheong Mun’s smile seemed brighter than ever before. Like the stars filling that night sky.

“People are foolish by nature, after all.”

It felt like a somewhat irresponsible thing to say.

But Cheong Myeong couldn’t offer any rebuttal. Because he realized that those words, which seemed irresponsible at a glance, contained something that the Cheong Myeong of now could not understand.

Something that should be called a profound insight.

[Hyeon-gi. 현기(玄機). Literally “mysterious mechanism” or “profound mystery.” In classical East Asian philosophical and Taoist usage, it refers to an obscure, subtle principle or mysterious inner workings that lie beyond ordinary comprehension. Here, the word suggests a profound truth hidden within Cheong Mun’s seemingly irresponsible statement, something Cheong Myeong has not yet attained the insight to grasp.]

“It’s always like this.”

Cheong Myeong scratched his head.

He knew. There was no need to know now. Someday.... someday, Cheong Myeong would come to understand Cheong Mun’s words.

So for now, all that mattered was.....

“Stop saying useless things and just keep your promise. You’re returning the liquor you confiscated.”

“Hmm? Did I make a promise like that?”

“Sahyung!”

“People really are foolish, you see. Hahaha.”

Cheong Myeong hurriedly followed behind Cheong Mun as he walked away, leaving him behind.

The sounds of the two bickering were quietly etched into the still night of Mount Hua.

❀ ❀ ❀

“......Have you awakened?”

An unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice reached him.

Cheong Myeong struggled to lift his eyelids. Amid the blurred surroundings, he could make out someone’s silhouette.

“Sword Saint.”

“....Is that Sin Gae?”

“Yes.”

Cheong Myeong closed his eyes again.

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

Though he had suffered a critical injury from Cheong Myeong’s attack, the opponent was, after all, Heavenly Executioner. There would be few people in the entire world capable of rescuing Cheong Myeong from him while he was still able to open his eyes and move about normally.

The appearance of Divine Lord had somewhat diminished his brilliance, but Pung Yeong Sin Gae was someone who competed for the title of the greatest in the world when it came to lightness technique. Someone of that caliber would have to be the one to deceive Heavenly Executioner’s eyes and rescue Cheong Myeong.

“Where is this....”

“This is Shijiazhuang.”

“Shijiazhuang....”

A little more strength drained from Cheong Myeong’s body.

“What about Heavenly Executioner?”

“Heavenly Executioner and the Demonic Cult have halted their advance. It seems we’ve secured a little time, so you must concentrate on recuperating for now.”

It felt as though his entire body were being sucked down into some deep place. Sensing that he was about to lose consciousness again, Cheong Myeong squeezed out all the strength he had left and forced his mouth open.

“Sin Gae.”

“Yes, Sword Saint. Please give me your command.”

“.....The command of this place, to sasuk.”

“If you mean Baek Cheon dojang, I’ll do so.”

“The others....”

“Don’t worry, Sword Saint.”

Pung Yeong Sin Gae answered in a voice more serious than anything.

“If necessary, I’ll persuade them. I will carry out Sword Saint’s command without fail.”

Cheong Myeong stared at somewhere in the void. But soon, his eyes closed again. Apparently, he had lost consciousness once more.

After watching him like that for a while, Pung Yeong Sin Gae spoke to those who had reentered the room, his voice completely different from before.

“What’s the situation?”

“It isn’t good. His injuries are far too severe to.....”

“No other words are necessary.”

Pung Yeong Sin Gae thundered in a voice so cold it sent chills down the spine.

“Keep him alive. You must keep him alive. If this man fails to rise again, every one of you will die. I won’t even need to kill you with my own hands. You’ll all die anyway.”

“Yes! Sin Gae.”

The divine physicians Pung Yeong Sin Gae had gathered bowed their heads, cold sweat trickling down them.

[Shinui. 신의(神醫). Literally “divine physician.” An honorific title for a physician of extraordinary medical skill, traditionally implying a doctor whose abilities approach the miraculous.]

“Even if you have to pour out everything the Beggar Union has secured, save him at all costs.”

“Yes!”

Pung Yeong Sin Gae bit down hard on his lips.

Cheong Myeong’s injuries were far too serious. Of course, he didn’t think Cheong Myeong would simply breathe his last like this. He was the Plum Blossom Sword Saint. He wasn’t someone who’d die from injuries of merely this extent.

But having suffered such severe injuries, even Cheong Myeong would inevitably need time to recover.

That was precisely the problem.

Pung Yeong Sin Gae rose from his seat.

‘Can we hold back the Demonic Cult without the Sword Saint?’

In a situation where the entire world of martial arts was already revolving around Sword Saint?

‘No. That’s not something to think about. We simply have to do it. Without fail!’

If they didn’t want to stand by and watch everything return to nothingness (無).

 ❀ ❀

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