Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1725 – I Can't Help Losing It (5)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
The wind brushed against his robes. Eyes closed, Cheong Myung felt the breeze sweeping over his body.
It was cold.
Though not as harsh as Mount Hua's, the mountain wind here at Wudang was not particularly hospitable either. Perhaps this chill was the mountain’s warning to those who stubbornly carved out a place to live where human footsteps were never meant to reach..
That if you crave what should not be wished for, you will eventually lose what should never be lost...
Sensing a slight disturbance in the air, Cheong Myung slowly opened his eyes. A familiar figure was standing before him, looking down.
"Sago?"
"You act like this is new."
At her brief words, Chung Myung glanced sideways. Blue tiles and blue sky filled his eyes.
Atop the hall's roof. Certainly, at some point, Chung Myung hadn't climbed here often.
Why was that?
He didn’t need to ponder long to know the reason, but Chung Myung refused to acknowledge it. Because if he did, he would also have to admit why he was here now.
Instead, Chung Myung asked softly.
"…What's the matter?"
Yoo Iseol looked down at Wudang's appearance beneath the eaves without answering. A short silence followed, but Chung Myung did not rush her.
Finally, she spoke.
“I had a lot to say.”
“...”
"But..."
She caught a glimpse of Chung Myung lying on the roof.
"I don't think I can."
Chung Myung's eyebrows twitched briefly, as if something was bothering him.
“Then why did you come...”
“Is there really no way?”
Yoo Iseol cut Chung Myung off mid-sentence.
Chung Myung closed his mouth as if something stifling blocking his throat.
“Baek Cheon Sahyung.”
“...”
“You don’t have a way either?”
Their eyes met briefly in midair. But it was Chung Myung who turned away first.
"Even I... can’t do everything."
Yoo Iseol's long hair swayed in the wind. Unlike her unchanging face, her fingertips couldn't hide her emotions.
Yoo Iseol, staring blankly at Chung Myung's back as he gazed at the distant sky for a long time, spoke.
"This isn’t like you."
“...”
"You're right. But."
A dark shadow fell over Yoo Iseol's eyes.
"The old you would have said that you just had to create a way."
“...”
"And we would have believed, in the end, even while half-doubting."
Sarak.
The sound of Yoo Iseol's hem brushing against Chung Myung's ears as she turned around. It felt rough.
“I’m going to find a way. Because I still haven’t become an adult like you.”
Soon, Yoo Iseol's presence disappears.
The sudden absence felt bitter beyond empty. Chung Myung let out a short sigh.
"Sahyung."
Cheong Mun's face appears in the sky. Cheong Mun was looking at him with pity and smiling slightly.
"It really isn't easy...”
* * *
Sararak.
The wind was blowing even against the towering mountain peaks.
Perhaps because the arm inside the wide sleeve was too gaunt for its size, but sleeve flapped excessively in the wind.
'It's cold.'
Baek Cheon sneered.
His body had weakened so much that even enduring this degree of wind was difficult. The wind, which he would have found refreshing in the past, now felt sharper and colder than the biting winds of the Northern Sea.
Still, Baek Cheon liked this place now.
He preferred a place where no eyes could reach, even if it was cold and difficult, over the warm places down below where others could see him.
Suddenly, his thoughts turned to Chung Myung.
That was probably why that brat used to climb up onto the roofs whenever he had the chance. To escape the eyes of others. So he wouldn't have to worry about the chaotic thoughts filling his mind being accidentally exposed.
'Did he too….'
Did he back then feel similar to Baek Cheon now?
Baek Cheon let out a hollow laugh.
No, it must be different. It had to be different. Though he didn't know what worries Chung Myung had harbored then, at least he had a future remaining. Unlike Baek Cheon now, he wasn't stuck at the bleak bottom.
Far below, the mountain slopes stretched out. Burned black by fire, they had now become hideous.
Of course, it wouldn't remain like this forever. Even if it looked like this now, grass would grow again, and trees would rise. The mountain would slowly but surely regain its original appearance.
But Baek Cheon couldn’t. He was like that collapsed cliff visible over there. Crushed rock with no way to restore it once it had crumbled.
However...
'Is that truly the case?'
As much as he tried not to think about it, the conversation from yesterday inevitably surfaced in his mind.
* * *
“…What are you saying?”
When Baek Cheon asked, Jin Geumryong looked at him silently. Those eyes were infinitely clear.
"...There's a way?"
"Yes."
Baek Cheon muttered blankly like someone who had been struck hard by something.
"Are you saying... there's a way to fix my body?"
Jin Geumryong nodded clearly again with a serious face.
“Yes.”
Soon, Baek Cheon's face contorted miserably.
"Don't speak nonsense. This is something both Mount Hua and Tang Family said was impossible. So how could Southern Edge Sect? If you're trying to mock me...!"
"Pull yourself together."
Jin Geumryong shouted coldly before Baek Cheon could even finish.
“Since when have Mount Hua and Tang Family been such great sects?”
“...”
“Just because they can’t do it, do you think Southern Edge Sect can’t either? You know better than anyone that Southern Edge Sect is a sect far greater and more formidable than them.”
There was no denying it. Baek Cheon's eyes shook violently.
"If you want confirmation, I'll say it again. Even if they can't do it, Southern Edge Sect can. If we mobilize the full power of Southern Edge Sect, fixing your body is nothing."
Baek Cheon's pale, dried lips cracked and blood showed. A burning thirst swept through his entire body. The thirst was so severe that even the pain that felt like it would crush his flesh, and the humiliation of facing Jin Geumryong in such a miserable state felt as if they had never existed.
“You can… fix it…?”
Jin Geumryong let out a short sigh.
"Of course, a complete recovery might be impossible."
“...”
"Returning you to your most perfect state in one go might be impossible. As someone who's not a physician, I can't guarantee it. However… from what I know, it’s possible to at least make it so you can learn martial arts again.”
Jin Geumryong gazed blankly down at Baek Cheon's withered arm. A pitiful arm that couldn't even properly hold a light brush.
As if even the weight of that gaze was too much to bear, Baek Cheon's fingertips twitched for a moment.
"We can make it so you can hold a sword again with those hands... and unfold martial arts again."
“...”
“If you give up being a disciple of Mount Hua and become Southern Edge Sect’s disciple.”
Jin Geumryong's voice was cold. But even Baek Cheon could tell. That beneath the feigned coldness lay an earnest sincerity.
“This isn't you abandoning Mount Hua. It’s merely you returning to where you should have been all along. You…”
"…Shut up."
"What?"
At that moment, Baek Cheon's teeth dug deep into his lower lip.
"If you're done talking nonsense, get lost."
“...”
"I am Mount Hua’s Acting Sect Leader. Even in this state, that hasn't changed."
Jin Geumryong's face, which had maintained its cool composure, finally contorted wretchedly.
"Jin Dong…!"
He was on the verge of screaming, but he barely managed to hold back his words. His flushed face paled once again.
Letting out a long sigh instead of a shout, he approached and lightly gripped Baek Cheon's shoulder.
“Let go. What are you trying to…?”
“Stay still. You bastard can’t even resist!”
Jin Geumryong raised the collapsed Baek Cheon. Then, after carefully seating him so he could lean against the bed, he stood up without hesitation.
Jin Geumryong cast a cold glance at the panting Baek Cheon and spoke.
“I admit it. I was hasty.”
“...”
"But these are not empty words, they are sincere. If you make up your mind, even Sect Leader will warmly welcome you."
"I am…!"
“Shut up and listen!”
Jin Geumryong gritted his teeth and growled.
"I'm not saying this by taking your sincerity toward Mount Hua lightly. I simply want to convey that Southern Edge Sect is equally sincere about you. Enough to offer the sect’s greatest treasure without hesitation, even to you, whose full recovery cannot be guaranteed!"
“...”
“The choice is yours. If you return, Southern Edge Sect and I will take care of everything that follows.”
As if he had finished saying everything he wanted to say, Jin Geumryong turned around and strode towards the door, leaving the room and slowly but firmly closing the door.
A moment later, Jin Geumryong’s voice came from beyond the closed door.
“Dongryong-ah.”
“...”
“I am your older brother. And Southern Edge Sect is your family.”
Baek Cheon unconsciously clenched his gaunt hands into fists.
“Don’t forget that.”
Jin Geumryong's presence faded away along with the sound of footsteps.
Baek Cheon, who had been staring blankly at the door Jin Geumryong had closed behind him for a long time, lowered his gaze.
The brush, which had lost its value because he couldn't properly grasp it, still lay rolling on the floor.
A hollow laugh escaped Baek Cheon's mouth.
“Hahaha...”
It was such a bitter and powerless laugh.
* * *
Recalling last night's conversation, Baek Cheon half-opened his eyes that stung from the wind.
Beyond the desolate, burnt mountain, the fields remained vast and green. To the point where lamenting his changed form felt pathetic.
His heart wavered.
Perhaps... could such an opportunity be possible?
"I am the Acting Sect Leader of Mount Hua."
Whenever that happened, Baek Cheon would mutter these words over and over.
This was Baek Cheon's pride and everything to Baek Cheon. However, it was also everything that would soon disappear.
That position would soon be succeeded Yoon Jong or Baek Sang… Perhaps Chung Myung might step to the forefront.
In this way, Baek Cheon will step back little by little, either willingly or unwillingly.
He never thought it regrettable. This was also Baek Cheon's wish, and the natural course things should take.
It was just bitter.
Wounds would someday be covered with new flesh, and emotions too would someday become dull. The sorrow of those looking at Baek Cheon now would eventually fade. He would simply become someone whose current state was a given.
And the light he lost would pour forth even more brilliantly through someone else. Yoon Jong, Jo-Gol, Yoo Iseol, Tang Soso, Hye Yeon, and….
Baek Cheon looked up at the sky.
It was just bitter that he had to watch that brilliance from a place where the light no longer reached.
Because in truth, he should have had it too. A future shining together with them. Perhaps a future that might have shone even more brightly than theirs.
Didn't he let go himself?
That's right. If he hadn't, there would have been less regret. Because he chose it himself... that was why the regret remains all the more.
Baek Cheon chuckled softly.
He knew. If he said he was going to Southern Edge Sect to fix his body, his martial brothers would actually rejoice. They might even push his back, saying what does affiliation matter? No, they certainly would. That was the kind of people they are.
But Baek Cheon also knows. That choice would someday... separate his path from theirs. Even if the paths didn't separate, he would never again be able to live with them like brothers.
Which was right? No, what does he desire?
Just as he was staring blankly at his withered arm and the sky alternately for a while, a voice suddenly came from behind.
"Ahem. I don't intend to disturb you, but..."
Startled, he turned to see someone standing there who could hardly be called a stranger anymore.
“This is my spot.”
"Ah..."
Seeing Baek Cheon flustered and only letting out a small gasp, Heo Gong smiled gently.
Consider supporting me by subscribing on Patreon for 5$. The Patreon membership for Mount Hua and Infinite Mage is the same. The benefit:
Advance chapters of Mount Hua : 76
Advance chapters of Magic Realm Convenience Store Worker : 144 Chapters
Advance chapters of Got a Gallery in the Wild : 10
Comments Box