Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1752. Because I, too, am a person who failed to uphold moral principles (2)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
Heo Do Jin-in calmly explained what he had heard.
"...So it happened."
Baek Cheon lowered his head slightly. He tried to hide it, but a tremor of agitation that he couldn't quite conceal was visible.
At this, Heo Do Jin-in let out a small sigh.
“Are you blaming yourself?”
"I am…."
“How arrogant.”
Baek Cheon looked up with a slightly startled face.
"So you're saying that if you had remained in the alliance or hadn't been injured, you could have prevented this sacrifice?"
Baek Cheon couldn't say anything and kept his mouth tightly shut.
"If their purpose was to inflict damage on Heavenly Comrade Alliance, this was something that would have happened sooner or later. Only the form would have been different. Thinking you could have prevented it with your response alone is nothing more than arrogance."
A short sigh leaked past Baek Cheon's dry lips.
"Thank you for your consideration."
However, Heo Do Jin-in, staring intently at Baek Cheon, shook his head.
“You haven't understood. Right, I suppose words alone aren't enough to realize it.”
It was the same for him. No matter how much one walks the righteous path, eventually, things occur that were beyond the power of a single person or a single sect to control.
If only he had realized that fact a little sooner.
Heo Do Jin-in stared intently at Baek Cheon.
His arms were still emaciated, and his face incredibly haggard. The eyes that had been full of clear light when he had seen him before had also become murkily clouded.
Would it be appropriate to use the word downfall?
Heo Do Jin-in denied it. That wasn't it.
If it were, no matter how pitiful the circumstances, Heo Do Jin-in wouldn't have personally given Baek Cheon a place to hide.
Even within those clouded eyes, Heo Do Jin-in could still see it. The person known as Baek Cheon, whom he had faced in the past.
Heo Gong and Jin Hyeon, who brought him here, must have seen the same thing.
'No, perhaps the two in similar situations meant for them to lean on each other's backs.'
Thinking such a trivial, almost laughable thought, Heo Do Jin-in gave a small dry cough.
If truly by one in ten thousand chance that was the intention, it should be seen as somewhat hitting the mark. Because the Heo Do Jin-in of the past would never have given Baek Cheon a place to rest.
Now, even Heo Do Jin-in understands well.
The feelings of one who wants to run away from everything in the world. The despair of one who has no further place to fall.
Offering a small nest to such a person wasn’t that difficult.
“Right. Now, what do you intend to do? You cannot stay hidden here forever, can you?”
But now he had to ask.
"You know well this is merely an escape."
His voice became sharper than at first. Not because he wanted to reproach the youth before his eyes. In fact, this was like a question he was throwing at himself. That was why it held such an edge.
What was it like before this youth appeared here?
Before he knelt with his broken body and asked for a place to rest for a while, what was he like?
The two people weren’t much different.
Heo Do Jin-in had also hidden himself in this small hut within the forbidden grounds, fleeing from the gazes of others and the reality of his own situation.
"As you know, Heavenly Comrade Alliance has many remarkable people. They may be flustered now and unable to find your whereabouts, but eventually..."
"That won't happen."
"…Hm?"
Baek Cheon spoke with a calm expression.
"It's not that they can't find me because they're confused. In the alliance, there's someone who could find where I am right now immediately. Just... they're simply not searching."
Heo Do Jin-in, staring intently at Baek Cheon, soon nodded.
"I understand. What circumstances exist between you and what words were exchanged aren't things I need to be curious about."
“….”
“But that does not change my question. I will ask again. What do you intend to do now?”
Heo Do Jin-in's gaze darkened.
Though he had personally taken him in because his circumstances were pitiful and he was concerned, even in Heo Do Jin-in's view, Baek Cheon's situation wasn't easy. It was perhaps an even more desperate situation than that of Heo Do Jin-in, who had lost the will to live in this world.
Heo Do Jin-in had lost many of his brother disciples and disciples due to wrong choices.
It was because of a small arrogance he couldn't let go of until the end. The arrogance that if he set his mind to it, if only the opportunity came, he could personally cut off Jang Ilso's neck and return everything to before.
That greed had temporarily clouded his vision, and Heo Do Jin-in had paid a cruel price.
But despite this, Heo Do Jin-in was still a Taoist master of Wudang. He had those who understood him by his side. So how could he compare to Baek Cheon, who had been cast out into the world utterly alone?
"If you want to live in seclusion, I can help you."
“….”
"I can also give you wealth that won't be lacking. You could go to a far-off land and live doing whatever you desire.”
He knew these proposals wouldn't truly resonate with Baek Cheon.
He suggested them anyway because Heo Do Jin-in himself had imagined all of this and, in a way, had desired it.
Ultimately, he couldn't choose that path, but wouldn't it have been different if someone had pushed his back?
"If not that, is there something else you want?"
At Heo Do Jin-in's question, Baek Cheon slowly raised his head.
The Mount Hua Righteous Sword of Mount Hua, whose praises of his noble bearing had reached even Wudang, was now so broken that the word 'haggard' seemed inadequate.
However, those eyes suddenly seemed to return to the past. It was the 'gaze' that Heo Do Jin-in had seen most impressively in Baek Cheon, and the only one he remembered.
"Could... you give me a teaching?"
"...Teaching?"
The word ‘teaching’ can be interpreted in many ways, but for a martial artist, there was only one. That, if Baek Cheon still considered himself a martial artist.
“What do you mean?”
“Softness overcoming hardness.” (능유제강(能柔制鋼))
“…….”
"Or using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds (사량발천근(四兩撥千斤)). I have heard that Wudang is the best under heaven when it comes to suppressing a greater force with a smaller force. Could you teach me that principle?”
Bewilderment was visible on Heo Do Jin-in's face.
"...Are you asking me to teach you martial arts now? I'm not a physician. I can't fix those arms."
I know.
“Then?”
"I don't believe Wudang's profound principles are limited only to the sword and palm techniques."
“….”
"There must also be ways to use the body and legs."
Heo Do Jin-in let out a sigh.
"Is it difficult?"
As Baek Cheon asked again, his expression remained firm and tranquil without a single tremor of doubt.
'What kind of person is this...'
Baek Cheon himself would know best the state of his own body. Yet amidst that, he speaks of wanting to fight?
Indeed, just as Baek Cheon said, Wudang possesses more than just swordsmanship and palm techniques. In fact, when it comes to the methods of using the torso and the legs, it would not be an exaggeration to call it the greatest sect under heaven, surpassing even Shaolin. Wasn't Taji Fist itself originally Wudang's martial art?
But even so, how much could one truly teach a man who had almost no internal strength left and had lost the use of his arms?
"I cannot understand."
Heo Do Jin-in opened his mouth as if dumbfounded.
"Even if you learn Wudang's profound principles, do you think you can regain your former skill?"
"How could that be possible?"
Surprisingly, the answer came out too readily. That made it even more bewildering. Heo Do Jin-in asked.
"Then what on earth do you intend to learn?"
Baek Cheon rather tilted his head.
"What do you mean?"
"Hm?"
“Of course, even if I were to study under Sect Leader...”
"Call me Dojang."
"Yes. Even if I were to study under you, Dojang, I know full well I wouldn't even reach the toes of the martial arts I once achieved. But I don't necessarily have to become as strong as the past to fight, do I?"
“….”
"The strong have the strong's way of fighting, and those who aren't strong have their way of fighting. I'm simply finding a way to fight from my position. Because it will help, however small."
Heo Do Jin-in's eyes wavered.
"Mount Hua won't accept your return."
"I know."
“Southern Edge Sect will not want you either, as you are no longer their disciple.”
“It’s only natural.”
"You might not even be able to become a Heavenly Comrade Alliance member. Since you have no affiliation."
“That may be so.”
“And yet you still intend to fight?”
Baek Cheon stared at Heo Do Jin-in as if he had heard something difficult to understand, then spoke.
“I am no longer a disciple of Mount Hua, nor a member of Heavenly Comrade Alliance. Perhaps I'm not even the martial artist who once fought relying in meager swordsmanship."
“…”
"However, I didn't fight because I was a Mount Hua disciple, nor because I was a Heavenly Comrade Alliance member. I didn't even fight because I was strong. So... why should there suddenly be a reason for me not to fight now?”
Heo Do Jin-in's hand trembled slightly. Baek Cheon's last words weighed heavily on his heart.
"A reason not to fight..."
Not fighting because he was a disciple of Mount Hua, not fighting because he was a member of Heavenly Comrade Alliance, not fighting because he was strong, he says.
Then….
“Right, come to think of it, there's no such reason."
Heo Do Jin-in let out a chuckle. Empty laughter kept leaking out awkwardly.
“Haha. Hahaha. Right, there isn't. There wasn't. Right..."
Something transparent glinted at the corners of his eyes that couldn't stop laughing. Naturally wiping his eyes, Heo Do Jin-in naturally wiped his eyes and stared at Baek Cheon. His gaze was noticeably softer than before.
“You asked me to teach you a way to fight?”
“Yes.”
"You are someone who refused to be a disciple of Southern Edge Sect. Naturally, you have no intention of becoming a disciple of Wudang either."
"That's right."
"Then you're asking me, Wudang's former sect leader, to transmit Wudang's principles to you who aren't a Wudang disciple. And to do it ‘just enough’ so that we cannot demand anything specific from you in return?”
“….”
“But then again, it has to be at a level where you won't just die an accidental death somewhere... and given the urgency of the situation, even that must be resolved within a few days?"
"Putting it that way... Yes.”
Heo Do Jin-in shook his head as if dumbfounded.
"You're worse than a highway robber. Have you no shame?"
"Shame is the smallest thing I've lost. It’s not something great enough that I would go out of my way to reclaim it now.”
“….”
At Baek Cheon's calm reply, Heo Do Jin-in was speechless. His vacant gaze reached Baek Cheon but seemed to be looking somewhere else.
"Dojang?"
“...I see. Right, you’re right.”
“….”
"Not so great that I would bother trying to regain it... Right, for one who has lost greater things, that could be the case. They say everything in the world depends on how you view it.”
Heo Do Jin-in's gaze shifted toward the sky. His eyes looked hollow.
After staring into the empty air for a long time, he spoke.
"The supremely high Tao is supremely strange... To the eyes of man, it looks like a mess, and thus it is all the more the Tao.”
He felt like he finally understood what those words meant.
Heo Do Jin-in suddenly glared at Baek Cheon with a fierce look.
"Listen."
The voice was heavy and subdued like never before.
“Martial arts were originally meant for the weak to stand against the strong. If you wish, I can teach you the way to oppose. But just as people are, martial arts are not perfect either. Even if you do your best in your current situation, you will not escape the status of what the world calls a ‘third-rate martial artist.’”
“….”
"And yet, to obtain even that small thing, you will have to endure terrible hardship. Do you still wish to fight even after bearing all of this?”
"Yes."
There was no great resolve or determination. He merely nodded as if discussing something extremely natural.
The corners of Heo Do Jin-in's mouth, which rarely even twitched, rose faintly.
'Perhaps it's me who will be learning.'
Heo Do Jin-in slowly extended his hand.
“Then steel your resolve. The Tao of Wudang is not as generous as Mount Hua. I shall engrave its strictness upon that body of yours.”
In Mount Wudang's deep secluded place where people's gazes didn't reach, the voices of two people who had turned away from the world began to echo.
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