Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1494. There's no need for that (4)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Everyone held their breath and stared at the Divine Beggar Hyeonpung.
The first to break the suffocating silence was the voice of one who couldn't accept this truth.
"...What in the world...?"
Isong Baek's eyes twitched slightly.
It's a story that you can't help but believe, but at the same time, it's unbelievable.
If what the old man said was true, didn't that mean the leaders of Ten Great Sects and Five Great Family had thoroughly abandoned those who sacrificed themselves?
And among them, of course, would have been the sect leader of Southern Edge Sect.
"What in the world does that mean?"
When Isong Baek couldn't stand it anymore and was about to raise his voice, Hye Yeon silently grabbed his arm.
"This..."
When their eyes met, Hye Yeon slowly shook his head, as if to dissuade him and telling him now was not the time to step forward.
When Isong Baek remained silent, Divine Beggar Hyeonpung opened his mouth again.
"Those words weren't so wrong … Looking back, I understood. That I too was merely a cowardly human. That I had merely coaxed and sacrificed countless people with sweet talk for my own purpose."
"...Senior."
"The death squad that ascended the peak of the Hundreds Thousand Mountain ultimately beheaded Heavenly Demon. They overcame those slim odds. But.... Yes. The remnants of Magyo that we should have risked our lives to sweep away flocked to Shaanxi without any damage."
A self-deprecating chuckle leaked from the lips of Divine Beggar Hyeonpung.
"Isn’t it funny? From those distant Hundreds Thousand Mountain, breaking through Gangnam, crossing the Yangtze River, and reaching Shaanxi again, literally traversing Jungwon on that long journey… that the only one sacrificed during that horrific march was Mount Hua."
"Senior?"
"Was that truly a coincidence?"
"...What?"
"Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign beheaded Heavenly Demon. But who witnessed that? Before that, all the cultists who had been on that mountain had already lost their lives."
The faces of Mount Hua disciples turned deathly pale.
Could that possibly mean...
It would have been hard to understand in the past. Because just looking at the map, it’s difficult to grasp the distance.
But now they know how ridiculous that was. Because they had run that terribly long road with their own two feet.
"The fact that Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign slayed Heavenly Demon is barely known to the world. And yet Magyo knew it clearly. Could that really… really have been a coincidence?"
"What in the world are you trying to say!"
A scream-like burst came out of Isong Baek's mouth.
Baek Cheon clenched his fists tightly. His short-cut nails dug into his palms.
But Divine Beggar Hyeonpung, who had brought up the subject, simply shook his head indifferently.
"I cannot simply curse them. I too merely held my breath. Their words were not wrong. I saw clearly the remnants of Magyo rushing to trample Mount Hua, and yet, I could do nothing. No, I did nothing. The Righteousness I had believed in was all a lie."
His hands, like withered branches, trembled as they covered his face.
"If so... then if my righteousness was a lie, then what were all those who died under that righteousness? What... what have I done? For what...?"
No one could bring themselves to open their mouth.
Seeing an old man, aged beyond measure of how long he had lived, sobbing like a child like this… no one could dare even attempt to comfort him.
But Chung Myung remained cold.
"So that's why you made Beggar Union like this?"
"...That child called me a Great Sect Leader... but that is incorrect."
Divine Beggar Hyeonpung looked up at the ceiling with empty, hollow eyes.
"Because it was just too easy. A half-collapsed world was overflowing with vagrants and beggars. Merely taking them in restored Beggar Union to its former glory."
"...."
"But I... I could only tremble before them, consumed by guilt and dread. Someday, they too will walk the same path as those who were sacrificed in the past. Righteous Blood Beggar Union. Righteous Blood.... that phrase, like a curse from heaven, will once again drag them to their deaths."
The old man, who had been muttering as if pouring out his grievances, looked straight at Chung Myung.
"...Was I wrong?"
"...."
"What should I have done? I can do nothing alone, I can’t change anything alone. If fate has already been decided, then at least I shouldn’t give these poor people a life of sacrifice… Was that wrong?"
The old man's voice felt almost desperate. Watching this scene, Baek Cheon suddenly noticed something strange. His manner of speaking kept changing. It seemed as if the old man was feeling confused. Though he couldn't know the exact reason why.
(x: His speech changed to formal speech in the last two dialogues. It's especially weird because the speech he used is even more formal than the speech used between sect leaders. It was more like someone talking to their elders or someone with higher standing, which is super duper rare for a 150 years old Great Sect Leader.)
Just then, Chung Myung closed his eyes tightly. Then, slowly opening them again, he spoke.
"So you've endured until now for that?"
(x: and of course Chung Myung speaks in the rude, most casual speech.)
"...."
"To the point of learning sorcery to forcibly extend your lifespan? There must have been terrible pain that followed?"
A laugh, like wind escaping, flowed from the lips of Divine Beggar Hyeonpung's mouth.
"Pain of the flesh… that’s not even pain. I wanted to change Beggar Union. But I knew no one would understand. So I slowly changed Beggar Union so they wouldn't know. And yet... there are still those who appear who cannot overcome that Righteous spirit."
"...."
"That’s why I had to live. Even if it meant hiding in this sunless room. Even if it meant chaining my disciples’ disciples to this place, forcing them to suffer... I..."
Divine Beggar Hyeonpung suddenly stopped speaking. It was because of Chung Myung’s gaze. Divine Beggar Hyeonpung trembled slightly before those eyes that seemed to pierce right through a person.
"Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword...."
"...."
"I... I am afraid of dying. I am afraid that I will have to face those who went before me when I die. That is why I cannot die... That is why..."
Chung Myung bit his lips in silence. Regret and fear flickered in the old man’s eyes.
"Because suffering pain as if my flesh is burning for a long time would be less painful than meeting those who passed. That's why… that's why I desperately avoided death. Somehow…."
Thick tears streamed down his face.
"Even breathing felt like a sin, but I could not die. A dead man who can neither live nor die. That... that is what I am."
A long, deep sigh escaped Baek Cheon's mouth.
He had only wanted to know who was stirring Beggar Union from behind.
But he had never imagined he would hear a story like this in the process. Wasn't this story just too brutal?
"Why have you come..."
The old man continued in a fading voice.
"Have you come to tell me to drive them to death again? Are you telling me to commit yet another sin? This sin that even eons of time couldn't repay, and you want to add more to it? Why have you come. Why…."
Baek Cheon couldn't bear to watch any longer and closed his eyes.
He doesn’t think that that will could be bent. Who could possibly change a will that had been built up for nearly a hundred years, a heart that had hardened completely?
Just as Divine Beggar Hyeonpung was about to lower his head with a sorrowful expression, Chung Myung opened his mouth.
"Everyone makes mistakes."
"...."
"Commit wrongs."
"...."
"Commit sins. Sins that cannot be undone by anything."
Divine Beggar Hyeonpung's eyes trembled faintly.
"Sometimes, we deny everything we've ever said. Bury what we believed was our life's purpose in the gutter. And make excuses to deny it."
Chung Myung stared straight at the old man.
"That's what humans are. Ugly. Horrifying. Yet despite everything, they keep living."
"...."
"I won't say your path was wrong. But I can't say it was right either."
"...What was not right?"
"Thinking that you would not be understood."
"...."
"Presuming no one would understand you, and trying to bear it all alone."
Divine Beggar Hyeonpung's eyebrows trembled visibly.
"That's an escape disguised as solitude. It's nothing more than a sandcastle that will crumble again once you are gone. No matter how magnificent, a sandcastle is just a sandcastle."
Chung Myung's gaze turned back. The Pavilion Master was standing there with an extremely complicated expression.
"And that only brings about another sacrifice."
The old man looked back and forth between Chung Myung and the Pavilion Master as he listened to the story. After a long time of thinking and conflict, the old man slowly parted his lips. A hoarse sound mixed with his deeply sunken voice.
"Please... please leave us for a moment. All of you."
"Master-nim. That is...."
"Please do so."
The Pavilion Master eventually nodded. Seeing the look in the old man's eyes, he felt that now was not the time to disobey.
"Let's go downstairs."
The others followed without protest. Only one person, Chung Myung, remained in place as if it were a fixed promise.
Baek Cheon glanced back one last time as if something lingered then headed downstairs, and Chung Myung immediately spread his energy widely to block sound.
Now the sounds made here could only be heard by two people: Chung Myung and Divine Beggar Hyeonpung.
"Mount Hua Chivalrous Sword."
"...Please speak."
Once the two were left alone, Chung Myung’s tone grew slightly awkward.
But Divine Beggar Hyeonpung looked at Chung Myung silently as if such things didn’t matter in the least.
"I... have been hearing your story for a long time."
"...."
"It was uncomfortable at first. Because someone appeared who was reviving Mount Hua, that Mount Hua I had turned away from, that I couldn't even dare to turn my head toward."
Chung Myung looked at Divine Beggar Hyeonpung in silence.
"But the more I witnessed your deeds, the more one doubt clung to me. Is all of this really… possible through the ability of just one person born with heavenly talent."
"...."
"As I watched you like that, I eventually had no choice but to reach one conclusion. That’s why… That’s why I was so afraid. To face you."
A voice filled endlessly with regret slipped out.
"I was afraid, and yet I also hoped. It was excruciating pain, but it was also supreme joy."
A shriveled hand reached toward Chung Myung. That trembling hand was filled with an indescribable fear. However, Divine Beggar Hyeonpung did not stop and stretched out his hand.
"Is....?"
From lips full of wrinkles flowed a voice like a child's.
"Is it.... Is it you?"
Transparent tears flowed down. Tears poured out profusely enough to soak his dried face completely, dripping steadily without even time to gather at the tip of his chin.
"I- Is my thought correct? Please answer me. Am I- Am I truly in your presence?"
Divine Beggar Hyeonpung's body trembled pitifully. Even a sinner before the King of Hell wouldn't tremble this much.
He desperately tried to steady his staggering body and stared at Chung Myung.
"Please...."
Chung Myung, who had been quietly looking at the Divine Beggar Hyeonpung, closed his eyes.
A short memory.
One day, he recalled the young Divine Beggar Hyeonpung he had met in passing. The middle-aged Divine Beggar Hyeonpung who had looked at Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign with utmost admiration.
"Yeah."
A calm voice leaked from Chung Myung's mouth.
It was a phrase he had held in for so long.
A phrase he never believed he would one day speak himself.
"I am...."
Those somewhat awkward words flowed through his lips as if falling from the tip of his tongue.
"I am Sword Sovereign."
Divine Beggar Hyeonpung's body trembled like an aspen tree. Unable to utter any words, he only let out creaking groans.
Then, he desperately brought both hands together in front of his chest. His interlocked fists stretched toward Chung Myung.
"Beggar Hyeonpung of Beggar Union...."
His deeply bowed head was filled with the utmost reverence.
"...dares... dares to be in the presence... of the Sword Sovereign."
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