Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1737 – Can You Hold On? (2)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Hyun Jong looked at the person seated before him with sunken eyes.
A young man clearly showing signs of illness, wearing the pristine white martial arts uniform of Mount Hua.
The moment he saw that pure white appearance contrasting with the deep reddish-brown floor, almost black, Hyun Jong thought of the word 'desolate.' In many senses.
Faded white.
Precarious as if it would collapse at any moment, yet also vivid enough that one couldn't dare touch it carelessly.
‘A crane...'
The Immortal Crane (선학(仙鶴)).
Hyun Jong thought perhaps the reason the sages of old made the crane a symbol of Taoism wasn't merely for its beauty.
That was what the Tao was. The most righteous thing people should follow. However, for that very reason, something difficult for humans to dare follow.
How would the life of a Taoist walking that immortal path be any different from the sight of a crane supporting its body on those slender legs?
But humans are not cranes. The crane looking at the world from atop water might be peaceful, unlike what appears to human eyes, but humans living like that crane had to endure countless sufferings.
Thus the Tao is the most virtuous thing, and at the same time the most cruel.
That was why the immortal path was simultaneously the supreme symbol and a cruel punishment.
Hyun Jong had to ask.
The sect leader of Great Mount Hua, and the grand sect leader of Great Mount Hua.
Though he had lived the life of a Taoist (도인(道人)) that no one in the world could deny, had he truly ever walked the immortal path?
Buddhism says: The world is suffering. To live itself is an ascetic practice.
Confucianism says: The world is chaos. To live is to restore order.
Then what is the Tao?
If being as it is, is natural, was all the suffering he experienced and all the suffering Baek Cheon experienced merely natural? Then was accepting even that suffering naturally the immortal path?
If so, truly if so.
For what does the life of a Taoist exist?
If even he fails to understand that, can he truly be called a Taoist?
“Disciple Baek Cheon.”
Thus, Hyun Jong lacked confidence.
"Dared to ask."
Confidence to give the right answer to this person looking at him with those transparent gazes.
"Is it true that Sect Leader has excommunicated me?"
It was Hyun Jong who gave that order. Un Am simply nodded. However, Baek Cheon was referring to the sect leader, not Hyun Jong. Hyun Jong's will was individual, but the sect leader's will was Mount Hua’s.
So Baek Cheon asked. Whether all of this was truly the will of Mount Hua.
“Yes.”
And Hyun Jong nodded.
This may be an overstep of authority, and perhaps even stubbornness. But Hyun Jong thought.
Was it wrong?
Taoism says, ‘Follow where your heart leads.’
Even if the laws and norms of everything he belonged to shouted that his actions were wrong, was there any way to deny where his heart flowed?
“No, that’s not it.”
However, Baek Cheon denied it.
"That is the will of the Grand Sect Leader, not the will of Mount Hua."
Hyun Jong's eyes narrow.
"No one can deny that the Grand Sect Leader is the one who most rightly preserves the will of Mount Hua. Both Hua Mountain's disciples and those who are not Hua Mountain's disciples would agree. However."
Baek Cheon looks at Hyun Jong with clear eyes.
“Even so, it cannot be said that every will of the Grand Sect Leader aligns with Mount Hua’s will.”
“….”
Helpless sorrow appeared on Hyun Jong's face.
That was s right. Absolutely right.
But what meaning did that have?
Right and wrong only have meaning for those who have resolved to walk the right path. For one who has admitted that their own thoughts were obstinate, how worthless was a discussion of right and wrong?
"Even if your words are correct."
Hyun Jong shouted sternly. No, he whispered sorrowfully.
"The one currently enacting the will of Mount Hua is this old Taoist."
“….”
"Also, the one who decides Mount Hua's ways is also I."
Hyun Jong declared firmly.
"Therefore, the decision will not change. As Mount Hua’s legitimate Grand Sect Leader, having been delegated that authority by Sect Leader, I have decided on the excommunication of Eldest Second-class Disciple Baek Cheon. I will not accept any objections to this."
Hyun Jong's face twitches slightly.
But the firmness in him was clear. A bleak iron wall that didn't show even a gap to fit a single needle.
And Baek Cheon knocked on that iron wall as if it were natural.
"Why?"
“Because it is right.”
"I said it’s not right."
"Right and wrong differ for every person. To me, it is right."
"I said that is not Mount Hua’s will."
"However, it is my will. And now my will is Mount Hua’s will."
It wasn't that he didn't know how to retreat. Hyun Jong was someone who knew too well how to retreat.
But for that very reason, he also knew. That there were times when one must absolutely never step back.
He had stepped back from everything his whole life. But at this moment, he must not step back. Not for himself, but for the one standing before him right now.
"Grand Sect Leader."
Baek Cheon, with his haggard complexion, asked again in a voice that wasn't too loud.
“For what purpose?”
Hyun Jong closed his eyes.
Similar questions. But all different questions. Answering all of them would be an endless task.
So Hyun Jong did not bother making excuses.
“Baek Cheon.”
It was a name he shouldn't have called.
The moment he declared his excommunication and the sect leader acknowledged it, the name Baek Cheon disappeared from Mount Hua's registry. Because it was a name that no longer existed in the world.
But Hyun Jong deliberately did not call him by his birth name Jin Dongryong, but called him by his Taoist name Baek Cheon.
“This is the path for you.”
"That's sophistry."
"And also a path for all disciples of Mount Hua."
“That too is sophistry.”
"I don't intend to argue!”
"Nor do I intend to argue."
Baek Cheon's sharp eyes pierced through Hyun Jong. Like flames burning with life, his eyes were infinitely intense.
And even those who couldn't see those eyes felt Baek Cheon's spirit. Behind him. The wide-open door. Beyond that door, countless people were watching this Zen-like exchange.
A place where those who weren't Hua Mountain disciples couldn't dare approach. But precisely because of that, it was a place where only the disciples of Mount Hua could clearly see with their own eyes.
'Sasuk.'
Yoon Jong looked at Baek Cheon's upright back.
He looked as if he would collapse at any moment. So much so that sweat instinctively formed on the hands of those watching. Even with a perfectly fine body, facing the spirit of Hyun Jong and the Mount Hua elders wouldn't be an easy task.
But Baek Cheon didn't back down even an inch.
“What is it for?”
Baek Cheon shouted firmly.
"What is truly the path for the disciple's sake?"
"Baek Cheon-ah!"
“Is excommunicating a disciple really for the disciple’s sake?”
“….”
"Is having the disciple regain martial arts in that way truly a path for the disciple's sake?"
Baek Cheon spread his hand open. Those emaciated hands.
"If only I could hold a sword in this hand again, does nothing else matter? Is that truly for the disciple's sake?"
His voice didn’t waver in the slightest.
But to Yoon Jong, that firm voice sounded more like a desperate scream. No, perhaps not only to Yoon Jong but to everyone.
There was no martial arts (무(武)) there.
But it was fiercer than any battlefield.
"Because of that, breaking the laws established by our ancestors!"
Hyun Jong's eyebrows twitched.
"Tearing down everything Mount Hua has done until now!"
"Enough."
"Are you willing to deny even Sect Leader's own life?"
“Baek Cheon!”
A great shout burst from Hyun Jong's mouth.
But Baek Cheon didn't back down. Even as his body trembled at Hyun Jong's force. Even as he bit his lip to hold onto his fading consciousness.
Yet at some point, Baek Cheon’s spirit inevitably lost strength.
Not because he was pressed by the spirit. Rather, because the spirit disappeared. An aching sorrow surfaced on Hyun Jong's face as he looked at him.
"You... have a future."
“……”
Hyun Jong knew. Because he had already lived through many years. He knew all too well how brilliant the future of the person named Baek Cheon could be, and how many things he could achieve.
Having had to endure the very period that should have been most brilliant with nothing but sorrow, he couldn't turn his eyes away from what Baek Cheon would have to lose.
The recklessness of youth sometimes takes away many things.
Value is impermanent. What was immensely precious right now will someday fade before the passage of time. And when you look back, you come to realize. How precious the things that seemed utterly insignificant at the time truly were.
"It might hurt a little right now. No, it must be a bone-carving pain. However, you will come to realize. That the pain you are experiencing now is better than the pain you would have had to experience eventually."
"How can Grand Sect Leader choose that?"
“Baek Cheon-ah.”
Hyun Jong let out a deep, heavy breath.
“Life is long.”
“….”
"You can rise again. You can shine again."
Baek Cheon's face hardened stiffly.
“Grand Sect Leader.”
"Do you think it's because you're you? It is not. Even if it were anyone other than you, my choice would not have been different."
Hyun Jong's eyes moved past Baek Cheon to the Mount Hua disciples watching them.
"People do not exist for the sake of the sect. The sect exists for the sake of the people."
“….”
"It's the same for anyone. I don't want Mount Hua to hold your ankles. I don't want Mount Hua to become your shackles. It's not just me. Mount Hua's ancestors looking down on you would never want that either."
The moment the watching Yoon Jong was about to nod his head unconsciously.
Yoon Jong flinched and looked to his side.
At some point, a man was standing next to him.
'Chung Myung-ah.'
Chung Myung, who had hardly shown himself recently, was standing beside him watching the conversation inside the great hall. With an unfamiliar yet familiar expressionless face.
"Mount Hua should be your eaves and your foothold. If it cannot be so, what value is there in the name Mount Hua?"
“….”
"If it's such a hollow facade, I will strip it away. If the name of Mount Hua becomes a burden to you, I will erase the name of Mount Hua with my own hands!"
By that point, everyone could tell. Whether his intention was right or wrong, Hyun Jong's resolve wouldn’t waver.
To Hyun Jong, Mount Hua was more important than anything. But now, Hyun Jong was willing to give up even that name. How could anyone persuade someone who had made such a resolve?
But could they criticize him? But could they scream that he was wrong?
They were silent because they couldn't. It was heartbreaking because they couldn't.
Two people who wouldn't have been different. Two people who perhaps understood each other most deeply were now standing on parallel lines that would never meet.
Yoon Jong realized.
Before he knew it, those watching this scene weren't only Mount Hua disciples.
Hye Yeon and Namgung Dowi. And Tang Gunak and Wind Shadow Divine Beggar. Even Baek Cheon's older brother Jin Geumryong, and Isong Baek were watching this scene from not far away.
Jong Nigok must be listening to all of this, too. This sight of Baek Cheon leaving Mount Hua.
'Sasuk.'
Yoon Jong bites his lips hard.
There was no way. He couldn't change Hyun Jong’s mind. No, he shouldn't change it.
Perhaps everyone would understand. With what heart Hyun Jong was excommunicating Baek Cheon.
Yoon Jong's heart was already shouting that the decision wasn't wrong. Hyun Jong was simply shouldering what Yun Jong couldn't do, what Five Swords couldn't do.
'But why does it hurt so much?'
Just as Yoon Jong, unable to cope with that sorrow, was about to swallow a groan.
Baek Cheon slowly raised his wide-open palm.
That hand like a withered plum blossom branch that couldn't bloom.
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