Read Novel Full Chapter 1166: Was I Really Wrong? (1)
Chapter 1166: Was I Really Wrong? (1)
Chung Myung glares at Beop Jeong.
His eyes have not changed at all. Yet everyone felt that the meaning contained in Chung Myung’s gaze had changed.
“Do you even know what you’re saying right now?”
“I do.”
“Even so...”
“Listen to the end.”
“...”
Beop Jeong cut off Chung Myung’s words and continued speaking.
“Furthermore, I will not allow any sect aligned with Shaolin to head south of the river.”
“Abbot...”
“That goes without saying.”
Beop Jeong’s gaze swept over Chung Myung and Hyun Jong, who was seated behind him.
“The Heavenly Friends Alliance will also formally be requested to restrain from going south of the river, regardless of the outcome of this agreement.”
Chung Myung’s face became expressionless.
“If we refuse?”
“We will stop you.”
Beop Jeong answered calmly.
“I will do everything in my power to stop you.”
And he added words that perhaps did not need to be said.
“Even if the cost returns painfully to Shaolin.”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
Not a single breath was heard.
Not only because the meaning behind Beop Jeong’s words was so grave, but also because his expression and atmosphere were extremely solemn.
It did not fit.
The implication of Beop Jeong’s statement was too harsh. It was not something someone who pursues Buddhism could dare to utter.
However, contrary to the harsh meaning, Beop Jeong’s manner of speaking was so serious it felt almost noble.
These two contradictory aspects coexisted, giving those watching Beop Jeong an indescribably strange feeling.
“As I said.”
Chung Myung’s cold voice broke the strange atmosphere and spread.
“Do you know what you are saying right now?”
Beop Jeong calmly looked at Chung Myung, who was scolding him with a terrifyingly emotionless face.
“Of course I do.”
“No, I think you don’t.”
Chung Myung’s lips parted slightly, revealing his teeth. An uncontrollable passion seeped from him despite his efforts to restrain it.
“You said you would do your best to save even one more person.”
“That’s right.”
“Isn’t Southern Island made up of people?”
Chung Myung’s voice was so cold it felt deadly.
Hearing that voice, Beop Jeong silently closed his eyes without answering.
Perhaps displeased even by that attitude, Chung Myung’s voice grew more intense.
“I asked if those at the southernmost tip of the Central Plains, surrounded by the Evil Sect and enduring each day with a heart bleeding dry, are not people.”
“...”
“They are people too. And they are those who have pledged to the Abbot’s cause. They have been striving within the fence of the Nine Great Sects until now.”
Naturally, Chung Myung’s feelings toward the Southern Island Sect were not good.
From the start, Chung Myung could not have good feelings toward the sects belonging to the Nine Great Sects, and after all, the Southern Island was a sect that had swallowed the place originally belonging to Mount Hua.
Though he did not harbor particularly strong animosity toward the Southern Island, there was no reason to look upon them favorably.
Yet, the abbot’s attitude was enough to provoke Chung Myung’s anger.
“Do you think it’s a contradiction?”
“A contradiction?”
Chung Myung’s lips twisted into a sneer.
“It’s not a contradiction but sophistry. If not, then hypocrisy!”
“Amitabha.”
Beop Jeong loudly chanted the Buddhist invocation and slowly opened his eyes.
At that moment, a slight flinch appeared on Chung Myung’s face. He saw that Beop Jeong’s gaze, struck by sharp criticism, was no different than before.
Beop Jeong met Chung Myung’s gaze with a low, deeply settled look.
“It might seem that way. Or perhaps you are right.”
“...”
“Yes. You are right. Shaolin should save them. But I ask, is that the only right thing to do?”
Chung Myung’s face twisted slightly, as if he found it hard to understand what Beop Jeong was saying.
“Why?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know? That is...”
“Because it is a natural and just agreement.”
Beop Jeong spoke as if cutting off Chung Myung’s words.
Yet Chung Myung did not get angry but rather nodded. Beop Jeong’s words were exactly what he wanted to say.
Helping those in danger is so natural that it doesn’t even need the grand term “agreement.”
“Then I will ask one thing, Mount Hua’s Sword Saint.”
Beop Jeong quietly opened his mouth.
“There is a way to save a hundred people. Then, should the martial artists and Buddhists naturally do that?”
“That would be natural.”
“Even if a thousand lives are lost as the cost?”
“...”
Chung Myung closed his mouth.
“I ask again.”
But Beop Jeong did not stop speaking.
“There are only two paths to choose from. The path to save a hundred and the path to save a thousand. Which should be chosen?”
“What sophistry is this...”
“Is it really sophistry?”
Beop Jeong shook his head.
“The Southern Island is at the southernmost tip of the Four Sects Alliance. To help them, conflict with the Evil Sects Alliance is inevitable, which means the Nine Great Sects would be declaring war on the Evil Sect Alliance first. It will surely lead to full-scale war.”
“Are you saying you are afraid of that?”
“I am afraid.”
Beop Jeong nodded nonchalantly.
“So afraid that I shudder. Thinking about how many will die in that war keeps me from sleeping.”
“...”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
Chung Myung could not answer that.
Because in that feeling, they were no different.
“It is an unavoidable war.”
“I know. I know better than anyone.”
Beop Jeong also did not deny Chung Myung’s words.
“But Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, even if the war is unavoidable, there is a difference in how it is fought. If we enter enemy territory and carry out reckless plans, those who need not die will perish.”
“...”
“More people than those saved in Southern Island, perhaps several times more, may have to die. Yet... is carrying this out truly an agreement?”
“If it is not done without regard for one’s own benefit, it does not deserve to be called righteousness.”
Hearing that, Beop Jeong slowly shook his head.
“Listen, Mount Hua’s Sword Saint.”
“...”
“I will not die.”
A low sigh escaped from Beop Jeong’s lips.
“No matter the operation, I cannot stand on the front lines.”
“Well...”
“Is it right for someone who will not die to push others into death under the name of righteousness?”
Chung Myung’s eyes flickered with rising emotion.
“It’s always like that.”
“...”
“I heard that excuse during Plum Blossom Island too. It’s the path for everyone. It was unavoidable. We had to endure to save more. So? What was the result?”
“...”
“Isn’t it just fear? Abbot!”
A hollow laugh escaped from Beop Jeong’s mouth.
“Did you say I was afraid?”
“Yes.”
“An absurd question. Isn’t it only natural?”
“...Yes?”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“...”
Beop Jeong and Chung Myung’s eyes met in the air. But at that moment, both felt together.
Each other’s gaze, the helpless fear hidden deep within.
The fear only those who understand that people can die because of their choices can have.
“I have thought many times about Plum Blossom Island. Many times.”
“...”
“What exactly did I do wrong? What mistake did I make? Was my choice really wrong?”
Beop Jeong turned his gaze to Namgung Do-Wei.
Namgung Do-Wei glared at Beop Jeong [N O V E L I G H T] with almost no emotion, but Beop Jeong remained calm.
“In the end, I reached that conclusion. Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, and Namgung’s Young Lord. Even if I went back to that time, my choice would not change. I would still watch Namgung’s death without intervening.”
“...Abbot!”
Namgung Do-Wei gritted his teeth.
But Beop Jeong only shook his head facing Namgung Do-Wei’s anger.
“Listen, Mount Hua’s Sword Saint.”
“Speak. Go ahead.”
“Do you really think I should have led others to Plum Blossom Island?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Then I ask, if I had led Shaolin and the alliance to attack Plum Blossom Island before you came, what do you think would have happened?”
“Well...”
Chung Myung closed his mouth.
They would have saved them. Shaolin is never weak.
But... if they had rushed in without consideration, the blood spilled there would not have been small.
First, Jang Ilso would have lost awareness of Shaolin stationed across the river. They would have been surrounded and attacked from all sides.
“More people than those left behind by Namgung would have died there. Isn’t that so?”
“...”
“And that’s just counting numbers. In terms of strength, it’s incomparable. To save the surviving young Namgung, countless who should become swords against the Four Sects Alliance were lost. Do you really think I should have chosen that path?”
Hearing that, Namgung Do-Wei’s face twisted.
“Abbot.”
“Speak, Young Lord.”
Beop Jeong nodded slightly in a softened voice. Even for him, it was not easy to say such things in front of Namgung Do-Wei.
“Perhaps the abbot’s words are not wrong.”
Namgung Do-Wei bit his lip and continued.
“But still, Mount Hua came. Tang family risked their lives.”
“...”
“Don’t you think that’s the difference between the two sects?”
Beop Jeong let out a dry laugh.
“Listen, Namgung’s Young Lord.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
Namgung Do-Wei glared at Beop Jeong as if daring him to speak.
“That is why I pondered. Why could the Heavenly Friends Alliance do what I could not? Do you know the answer I found?”
“...I don’t know.”
Namgung Do-Wei was ready to reject whatever Beop Jeong said, thinking it would be just an excuse.
But Beop Jeong’s next answer shocked even Namgung Do-Wei.
“Because we were foolish.”
“...What?”
Beop Jeong answered calmly.
“Because I was more foolish than Mount Hua’s Sword Saint and could not find a way to face the pirates without harm.”
“...”
Namgung Do-Wei’s eyes widened immensely.
“Ab-abbot...”
“And because Shaolin was more foolish than Mount Hua, unable to find a way to win without bloodshed. We were simply lacking.”
Namgung Do-Wei’s body trembled.
He never imagined hearing such words from Beop Jeong himself.
Wasn’t Beop Jeong the one whose noble pride was unmatched anywhere in the world?
“Because we did not admit that, everything became twisted. Mount Hua and Tang Family became places that did what should not be done, and we became places that were wrongfully blamed despite doing right. So it is no wonder that my heart is troubled. It was wrong from the start.”
“...”
“But now I have accepted it. We simply lacked the ability. Then I ask again, Young Lord, do you really think we should have gone to Plum Blossom Island, staining the Yangtze with blood with our insufficient power to save Namgung?”
Namgung Do-Wei could not answer.
Seeing that reaction, Beop Jeong closed his eyes and chanted the Buddhist invocation.
“There are those in the world beyond the reach of ordinary people. No matter how hard you try to follow, you cannot. They accomplish things ordinary people cannot.”
At those words, everyone glanced sideways at one person. Everyone here knew exactly who the abbot was referring to.
“But I say this.”
Beop Jeong opened his eyes and pierced Chung Myung with his gaze.
“To fail to distinguish between what only you can do and what you cannot, and to demand everything be tailored to you, is just another form of violence.”
“...”
“I ask you, Mount Hua’s Sword Saint.”
Beop Jeong’s voice flowed slowly.
“Was I really wrong?”
Chung Myung’s lips pressed tightly shut.
The slight trembling at the corners of his lips seemed to reveal his current feelings.