Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1738 – Can You Endure? (3)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Everyone stared at that hand.
A hand that could now do nothing, yet had once clearly led Mount Hua.
The wide-open hand soon grasped something in the empty air.
They could tell. Though there was nothing held in that hand, it was definitely grasping something.
Sword (검(劍)). The thing that that hand had never released in its life. Even in this moment, it felt natural that it was being held.
Great ripples stirred in the hearts of those watching.
Watching made them newly realize. How awkward it was that a sword wasn't gripped in that young man's hand. And how heartbreaking it was that what he held wasn’t a real sword, but merely an imaginary one. They realized what it was they had ended up losing.
Yet some others saw something entirely different in Baek Cheon's gesture.
He cannot cut enemies. He can no longer draw plum blossoms. He can no longer imbue that sword with his ideals.
But even so, Baek Cheon was still grasping the sword.
Baek Cheon's mouth opened.
"I wanted to become strong."
Everyone was captivated by his quiet words.
"More than anyone in the world. I wanted to become stronger than anyone else and prove the person that I am."
It wouldn't be simply because Baek Cheon's words held sincerity.
His words represented everyone. The hearts of all those who lived in the world called Kangho, placing their bodies on precarious blade tips, living lives where it wouldn't be strange for their lives to end at any time.
It was difficult to explain why they lived in such a world, why they held swords in those hands.
If it were the past, they would say they were chasing glory. But now, they couldn't easily utter those words.
Haven't they already seen those who, in their pursuit of glory, perished without ever having grasped anything?
What did they think of in their final moments?
Those who chased the illusion of glory on the land of Kangho would have eventually looked at their own hands losing strength, having failed to grasp a single thing. What did they think of then?
The fate they met might soon come to those here too.
Knowing that, why was everyone still here? What was the reason they couldn’t let go of the swords in their hands even in a situation where they could no longer hope for glory?
"But sometime later, I came to understand."
Baek Cheon quietly stretched out his hand toward Hyun Jong.
“Do you remember?”
It was an abrupt question. Hyun Jong simply looked at Baek Cheon without a word. To be exact, he looked at his eyes shining intensely through the gaunt fingers.
"What must be placed in this hand is strength. However, martial arts don't mean only strength. Martial arts must be together with will. Martial arts without meaning is merely the brute force of thugs."
“....”
“Do you remember?”
Baek Cheon's eyes remained as clear and bright as ever. Hyun Jong knew. What lay in those eyes was neither distrust nor hostility.
Rather, it still held a deep trust. Even having reached this state, Baek Cheon's eyes looking at Hyun Jong remained so upright that they hadn't changed at all.
"They are words Grand Sect Leader once spoke to me."
Hyun Jong closed his eyes tightly.
That's right. Yes, it was so.
Words he had spoken. To Baek Cheon from the time when his face was still full of youthful vigor, he conveyed them with his will fully contained. Never doubting for a moment that this boy would one day make the will of Mount Hua known to the entire world.
"Will and strength. Martial arts cannot be perfected lacking either one. But if you must choose only one, give up strength without hesitation. Will without strength is pitiful, but strength without will is dangerous. These are also the words Grand Sect Leader spoke."
Hyun Jong simply listened with his eyes closed. The voice resonated deeply in his ears.
Finally, when he opened his eyes, Baek Cheon's wide-open emaciated hand filled his vision.
"So I ask. What should I grasp in this hand?"
“....”
"What!"
Hyun Jong's mouth opened slightly. But unable to utter any words, they closed again.
"Sword and internal strength? Yes, I suppose I could obtain them. Couldn't I just go where Grand Sect Leader wants me to go, fix my body, and hold a sword again?"
Baek Cheon looked around at the others. All turned their heads away, unable to meet his gaze.
"But with what shall I fill my will?"
Hyun Jong hesitated once more.
Words he should have said but didn't want to spit out with his own mouth lingered in his mind. But he soon uttered the barbed words, as if ripping flesh from the tip of his tongue.
"...There is also will in that place."
"Yes. Surely there is. But can that become my will?"
“Baek Cheon-ah.”
"This disciple dares to ask, Grand Sect Leader."
“....”
"Where does Grand Sect Leader's will lie?"
Unable to overcome his anguished heart, Hyun Jong tightly closed his eyes again.
It was within Mount Hua as a matter of course. There was no need to ponder the answer. However, he couldn't say so.
He spoke words he didn’t wish to speak, and couldn't give the answers he should. The entire process left a scar and tormented Hyun Jong.
“My will is here.”
But Baek Cheon spoke confidently. Just calmly, as if mentioning an immutable truth that everyone knew.
"I ask again, Grand Sect Leader. What should I grasp in this hand?"
Everyone looked at that hand.
It was empty. Therefore, it could grasp anything.
"If I can grasp martial arts, I will grasp martial arts, and if I cannot, I intend to grasp my will. Those are the words Grand Sect Leader once spoke to me."
Hyun Jong tried to place martial arts in his hand.
No, everyone did.
To those living in Mount Hua, that hand wasn’t merely the hand of one person. It was the hand of Mount Hua. The hand embodies the wishes of all who lived in Mount Hua.
The one holding up that hand was asking.
"Has that meaning changed now?"
It hurt.
"Do you insist on placing strength without will in your disciple's hand? Must I deny all of Grand Sect Leader’s teachings with my own hands? Is it right to deny everything of Hua Mountain?"
It hurts terribly.
Even those who had kept silent because it was Hyun Jong's will looked at Hyun Jong at these words. The gazes of the disciples guarding Baek Cheon's back now felt not just clear but even sharp.
Hyun Jong endured silently.
"What meaning is there in strength obtained that way? If one can be satisfied with only strength, how am I any different from Evil Sects? By the logic that we can obtain everything else through strength, how am I any different from that Paegun?"
Baek Cheon's gaze strikes Hyun Jong like a thunderbolt.
"The future Grand Sect Leader discusses is wrong!"
“Baek Cheon-ah!”
Mount Hua's Grand Sect Leader flinched in surprise and tried to restrain Baek Cheon. Naturally so, because Baek Cheon's words just now completely denied Hyun Jong's authority.
But Baek Cheon didn't back down even an inch.
"If Grand Sect Leader's will has changed, I cannot follow that will. I won’t follow it."
“Y- You rascal! Be careful what you say….”
"Because that is no longer Grand Sect Leader's will."
Thump!
Baek Cheon clenched his open hand and struck his chest. As strongly as if pounding it.
"That will is here."
“....”
"Even if Grand Sect Leader has abandoned it, that will hasn't vanished from the world. It is here. That will become my will, and now it has become my resolve."
“Baek Cheon-ah....”
"Everything I have is in Mount Hua."
Baek Cheon slowly looked back. The gazes of the disciples, who had flocked here looking only at him, reached him.
It was a strange thing.
At times like this, he would usually seek out Chung Myung's gaze first. Because Chung Myung was always watching him from somewhere. But at this moment, Chung Myung's gaze did not concern him.
Though clearly knowing Chung Myung was among them, he saw everyone of Mount Hua, not Chung Myung.
Each gaze seemed to shine like stars.
There were times when those lights were a burden. Times when they felt too overwhelming, when he trembled alone where no one was around.
Because he wasn't that great a person.
But now, he thinks he knows. What he must do. What he must say. Those gazes were conveying it to him.
"I am a weak person. Grand Sect Leader may have seen me as remarkable, but I am more insignificant and inadequate than one might think. I know that more clearly than anyone.”
“....”
"That's why I absolutely needed people who would hold together what I grasped in my hands so I wouldn't lose it. People who would push my back when I'm short of breath climbing steep paths, who would look upward together beside me when I'm overwhelmed by the dizzying heights."
Baek Cheon's fingertips trembled faintly.
"All of that is in Mount Hua. And... everything I have is also in Mount Hua."
Nevertheless, his words were firmer than ever.
"You said that if I must hold only one thing in this hand, it should be my will."
“...I did."
Hyun Jong replied, swallowing his pain.
"My will is in Mount Hua. Therefore, I intend to follow the will of the ancestors. I also intend to fulfill my own will. I intend to become an example for those who follow."
Before he knew it, Hyun Jong was even holding his breath. To be exact, he couldn't.
"Because that is the duty one who carries on must uphold, and the will one who holds a sword must naturally carry through!"
Everyone came to understand.
They had lost Baek Cheon. But because of that, they had gained something.
Baek Cheon as a martial artist might have disappeared, but the person called Baek Cheon standing there was incomparably more brilliant than in the past.
And they also came to understand.
How much Mount Hua needed that person, that weak person. Who truly carried on Mount Hua’s will.
"Therefore, I refuse. Where I should be is right here. Please reconsider, Grand Sect Leader."
Baek Cheon bowed deeply.
Despite his sickly body, he never looked subservient or precarious. Hyun Jong quietly looked at that Baek Cheon, and the faces of the numerous disciples standing behind him.
'How splendid...'
Several times more than he had hoped… No, to a brilliance he had never even dared to hope for.
Perhaps the place Baek Cheon now stood was a height so lofty that even the predecessors of the past couldn’t reach.
With just one being, Baek Cheon, Mount Hua would change. He could envision Mount Hua soaring through the world, with that person as its symbol.
The young boy who had once knocked on Mount Hua's gate had finally come this far. Though the one watching that sight had become so old and shabby, the boy had grown up so splendidly.
Because of that, Hyun Jong could clearly know. What he must do at this moment.
“Sect Leader.”
“...Yes, Grand Sect Leader.”
"Could you grant me the authority over this decision once more?"
Un Am stared at Hyun Jong in silence. After a long silence, Un Am soon nodded.
"Do as you will."
“Thank you.”
Hyun Jong rose from his seat and slowly approached Baek Cheon.
Baek Cheon looked at such a Hyun Jong with wide eyes.
One step. Another step.
In the past, Baek Cheon had walked towards Hyun Jong. But now, Hyun Jong was walking toward Baek Cheon.
Everything was different, but one thing wasn’t. That the one walking saw uncertain hope in the place they were trying to reach.
Step.
Soon, Hyun Jong's steps stopped in front of Baek Cheon.
Silence settled.
Baek Cheon sitting upright, and Hyun Jong standing before him. The two looked at each other without a word.
In the past, Baek Cheon had knocked on the doors of Mount Hua with his hand.
What must the current Hyun Jong do with this hand?
Hyun Jong's hand slowly reached out.
At that unwavering, steady touch, Baek Cheon, seeming choked with emotion, bit his lip and reached out his hand towards Hyun Jong in return.
His weakened hand, struggling even with its own weight, went onto Hyun Jong's thick hand. No, it tried to.
At that moment, Hyun Jong's hand reached out a little further.
The hands missed each other, and Baek Cheon's eyes widened in a daze.
Tak.
Where Hyun Jong's hand touched was neither Baek Cheon's hand nor his shoulder. It was the Zaha Divine Sword at his waist.
He refused to accept it, pushing it away and shouting that it was impossible. But now, the sword was in Hyun Jong's hands.
“Grand....”
Without hesitation, Hyun Jong took the Zaha Divine Sword from Baek Cheon's waist, glanced at Baek Cheon indifferently, and turned around.
"From this moment onward, Jin Dongryong is no longer a disciple of Mount Hua. I remove (파(破)) him from Mount Hua's registry."
Baek Cheon stared at Hyun Jong's shoulder as if he couldn't believe it.
"However! Considering the merits Jin Dongryong has established in Hua Mountain until now, the punishment of severing tendons is exempted."
It was falling apart.
"All disciples of Mount Hua shall clearly acknowledge this fact and shall not extend any warmth to one who has received the punishment of excommunication."
His world, everything he had.
"Carry it out."
Like being dropped alone in an unfamiliar place, a single red plum blossom that had grown among pine trees swayed sadly.
|Note
I think it has been mentioned before. Excommunication from a sect usually follows severing tendons and destroying dantian. Sometimes even crippling the limb or using some method to remove martial arts from a person. It varies for each sect but generally, they just won’t let the disciples walk away with their martial arts. Baek Cheon and Hye Yeon are an exception in this case.
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