Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1167. Was I Really Wrong? (2)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
"Oh…."
A groan escaped Baek Cheon's mouth without him knowing.
He also never imagined that such words would come out of the mouth of Bop Jeong.
Who is Bop Jeong? Isn't he none other than bangjang of the thousand-year-old Shaolin? Even if Bop Jeong really felt that way, such words were not something that someone in his position should utter.
But the biggest reason for Baek Cheon’s groan was….
He found himself agreeing with Bop Jeong.
The notion that a genius imposing their methods on an ordinary person is merely another form of violence struck a chord with him.
Yes, he understood. Perhaps Baek Cheon empathized with this sentiment more than anyone else.
He, too, had felt it deeply.
The way Chung Myung leads them is so harsh that it is difficult to describe it all with just the word harsh. And among them all, Baek Cheon was the one who lived the most grueling life.
If he showed even the slightest sign of struggle or hesitation in his training, the disciples who looked up to him would falter first.
Five Swords follows Chung Myung's back, but those who walk the rough path alongside him don't see Chung Myung's back—they see Baek Cheon's back, enduring the same training.
That's why Baek Cheon had kept his mouth shut, following Chung Myung from the front without a single complaint, no matter how difficult it was.
But that's why he couldn't help but sympathize with Bop Jeong’s words. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he struggled, that back he tried to reach only seemed to move farther away, leaving him in despair more than anyone else.
How could he not have thought about it?
Perhaps this was all wrong. Perhaps he was chasing after an illusion that he could never catch, only to ruin himself in the process. Could he honestly say he had never doubted that?
But now Bop Jeong was echoing the very thoughts that Baek Cheon once had. Even Baek Cheon couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
"What...?"
Even Chung Myung seemed at a loss for words, unable to finish his sentence. He just stared blankly at Bep Jeong.
"Do you think my words are wrong?"
Bop Jeong, who asked the question, shook his head silently.
“Looking back, no one at Plum Blossom Island made a wrong choice. If anyone was at fault, it was only Namgung Hwang, who did what should not have been done."
Namgung Dowi bit his lip. Bop Jeong looked at him with eyes filled with apology. However, he didn't retract his statement.
"In an attempt to atone for his mistake, leading others to sacrifice themselves was not a choice I could make. If I had done that, I might have been praised for my chivalrousness, but the price for that praise would have been paid with the blood of others."
"I..."
“Yes. Yes, exactly. But you were able to save Namgung without shedding blood. That’s right. That’s all there was to it. We each made the best choice we could in our respective positions. Tell me, Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, do you truly believe I should have sacrificed Shaolin and Kongtong to head to Plum Blossom Island?"
Chung Myung ground his teeth audibly.
"Don't you think that excuse is rather pathetic?"
“….”
"There are countless people in this world who risk their lives for the sake of chivalrousness, even knowing their limitations. If you're only going to do what you can, you should have abandoned the name of Righteous Sects long ago.”
“Perhaps so.”
Bop Jeong quietly chanted, "Amitabha," and looked at Chung Myung with transparent eyes.
"Then let me ask you. If the same situation arises again, would you head to Plum Blossom Island?"
"That's obvious..."
“How many disciples of Mount Hua would you be willing to let die in return?”
"This…!"
At that moment, killing intent surged from Chung Myung's whole body. Those were not words that a human could say.
But Bop Jeong simply looked at the furious Chung Myung indifferently and asked.
"Would ten be acceptable?"
“….”
“Twenty? Thirty? Or perhaps fifty?”
“…Bangjang.”
"No, let me rephrase that."
Bop Jeong's gaze turned to Five Swords, who was behind Chung Myung. And to Hye Yeon, who was biting his lip next to them.
"What if it were the people here? If all of them had died, would you have been able to nod in satisfaction, thinking it was a noble death because you saved Namgung Sogaju and the rest?"
Chung Myung shut his mouth. And at that moment, Baek Cheon felt it.
There have been many instances where Chung Myung kept his mouth shut during an argument. However, that was usually because he was waiting for the other person to finish speaking. Rarely had he ever been silent because he had nothing to say.
But right now, it was none other than Chung Myung who was unable to respond to Bop Jeong's words.
“No. You couldn't have. Perhaps by now, you would have become a broken man. You would have known that all of it was a consequence of your choices."
“….”
"Then let me ask.”
Bop Jeong opened his mouth in a firm voice.
"How can you blame others for not doing something that even you couldn't do yourself?"
“….”
"I'm not accusing you of hypocrisy, for it wasn't. You genuinely believed you were willing to sacrifice the lives of Mount Hua disciples when you headed to Plum Blossom Island. You must have been sincere.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Hadn't they all seen how vehemently Chung Myung opposed going to Plum Blossom Island?
“But let me tell you. In a corner of your heart, you must have had the confidence that even if you went to Plum Blossom Island, you would be able to resolve the issue without making any major sacrifices. Am I wrong?”
“….”
"Yes. That’s who you are. That’s the kind of person you are."
Bop Jeong smiled faintly.
Now that he had let go of everything, he could see clearly. Once he acknowledged that he was an ordinary person and understood that Chung Myung saw things differently, he understood what kind of person Chung Myung was.
There is only one reason why he could not understand Chung Myung.
'A person that’s Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword is someone who believes that he has experienced things that he has not experienced himself.'
And he is someone who can calculate outcomes in areas that others cannot. Things that seem endlessly reckless to others are clearly drawn in the mind of Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword.
How could an ordinary person possibly understand someone like that?
“But I don’t have such confidence.”
“….”
“So answer me this. Even if it means losing half of Mount Hua, would you really head to Plum Blossom Island? Are you confident that you will continue to live that way to uphold Chivalrousness?"
Chung Myung's face twisted.
He couldn't answer lightly. He knew that his answer could become a shackle for him. If he said "yes" here, it would mean that Mount Hua would have to throw themselves into the enemy’s territory, without regard for their lives, every time a similar situation arose in the future.
It is nothing for Chung Myung to become a hypocrite. Chung Myung was never one to care about such things in the first place.
But this conversation’s burden wouldn't just fall on him—it would ensnare everyone listening. Even if Chung Myung were willing to do so, they would not want to watch Chung Myung fall into the abyss alone.
“That’s the way of Mount Hua.”
“Are you saying that it’s wrong?”
Bop Jeong slowly shook his head in response to Baek Cheon's question, who responded instead of Chung Myung.
“How could that be? It’s admirable. It’s truly remarkable. I can only envy it. I’ve spent my whole life wishing that Shaolin could stand in such a position.”
“….”
“But I can’t do that. I simply can’t. I’m too inadequate for that. Then, Dojang. Let me ask you, have I truly done wrong?”
Baek Cheon ended up lowering his head.
Bop Jeong is also a person. How can it be wrong for a person to avoid a situation where he has to kill his disciples to save others? No one could honestly say that.
While it might be fair to criticize Shaolin as a sect for not living up to its stature, the individual Bop Jeong cannot be criticized for making a wrong choice.
Rather, because it is none other than Mount Hua, that values the lives of its brother disciples so dearly that they couldn’t bring themselves to condemn Bop Jeong.
“I wasn’t wrong. I gave up too much just to arrive at this conclusion.”
A brief flash of regret crossed Bop Jeong's calm eyes.
“But… Mount Hua wasn’t wrong either. Rather, they were right. Even more so than me.”
“….”
“Isn’t this ridiculous? Here we were, arguing about each other's faults when neither side was actually wrong.”
“Is that what you’re trying to say in the end?”
“Hey, Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword.”
Bop Jeong sighed.
“Please try to understand me, just a little.”
“….”
“I am not a person who can be like you. So why blame me for not being able to become what you are? That’s far too harsh a judgment on me.”
“….”
At that moment, Jo-Gol, who had been holding back the whole time, suddenly raised his voice.
“What Bangjang said is wrong.”
Bop Jeong turned his head and looked at Jo-Gol.
“Why do you think so?”
“The words make sense. But if Bangjang acknowledges that, isn't there another choice?"
Everyone looked at Jo-Gol with puzzled faces. No other options came to mind.
"If Bangjang admits that he's not as capable as Chung Myung, instead of bringing Mount Hua into Ten Great Sects, why don't Ten Great Sects join Heavenly Comrade Alliance? That way, Chung Myung can influence Ten Great Sects, can't he?"
“….”
"Wouldn't that solve everything? Why should the smarter person who can see the bigger picture have to conform to Bangjang? Wouldn't that be better for everyone?"
At that moment, some people began to nod their heads in agreement with those words.
They understood that it might be impractical, but it still seemed like a viable solution.
However, upon hearing those words, Bop Jeong glared at Jo-Gol with cold eyes that Chung Myung had never seen before.
"Do you really believe that’s the right thing to do?"
“Yes! That’s right!”
"I debated whether to say this, but since you've brought it up, I’ll speak plainly."
"…Yes?"
"Who are the ones pushing Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword into a corner?"
For a moment, Jo-Gol flinched. That's because his voice was so stern.
“It’s Hyun Jong.”
Hyun Jong bit his lip.
"The elders."
Hyun Young and Hyun Sang bowed their heads.
“And all of you here.”
“….”
“Up until now, you have simply admired the numerous achievements of Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword. You have simply expected a hero who could achieve what you could not achieve on your own. So you must have thought. ‘Just pretend to not be able to win over his stubbornness’. Then, as always, Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword will turn out right, as it always has’.”
“….”
"You think it's enough that you've risked your life? That you've prepared yourself for death?"
Bop Jeong’s eyes were filled with anger as he glared at everyone.
“Listen carefully. When this situation repeats itself, and the situation in which Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword gains full authority repeats itself, what awaits you is not your heroic deaths!"
Bop Jeong’s voice lashed out at everyone.
"It will be the lifeless corpse of Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword, left out cold after saving you. That is the reality that you will have to face someday."
A fact that everyone vaguely knew, but which they had vaguely ignored, came pouring out from the mouths of Bop Jeong and stabbed everyone in the heart.
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|Note
I respect Bop Jeong for this brilliant move, but I couldn't disagree more with him. The entire country would have been dead by now if sect leader Chung Mun didn't lead Mount Hua into their inevitable death against Heavenly Demon. As a leader you can't keep running away from battles, there won't be any place left to run at the end. That's why sect leader Chung Mun chose to fight with them. He made the hardest decision ever despite being lacking and paid with his own and everyone else's lives because running away wasn't possible. It had to be done. Nobody of the people in this room would be alive today without that bitter sacrifice.