Read Novel Full Chapter 1167: Was I Really Wrong? (2)
Chapter 1167: Was I Really Wrong? (2)
“Ah...”
A groan escaped from Baek Cheon’s lips without his own awareness.
He too could never have imagined such words coming from Beop Jeong’s mouth.
Who is Beop Jeong? None other than the thousand-year sect, Shaolin’s abbot, right? Even if Beop Jeong truly felt that way, it was not something a Shaolin’s abbot should say.
But the main reason Baek Cheon groaned was...
Because he empathized with Beop Jeong’s words.
The words that forcing a genius’s method onto a culprit is just another name for violence.
Yes, he empathizes. Perhaps Baek Cheon empathizes more than anyone else.
Because he too has felt it painfully.
Chung Myung’s way of leading them is so harsh that the word “harsh” alone cannot fully describe it. And among them, Baek Cheon lives an especially harsh life.
If he shows even a hint of hardship or reluctance in training, the disciples looking at his back would collapse first.
The Five Swords follow Chung Myung’s back, but those walking the harsh path together see not Chung Myung’s back, but Baek Cheon’s back enduring the same training.
Therefore, Baek Cheon has kept his mouth shut despite any complaints and followed Chung Myung at the front.
But because of that, he could not help but empathize with those words. No matter how much he tried, no matter how much he tried again and again, the back that he could never catch and only seemed to get further away was the one Baek Cheon had most despaired over.
Why wouldn’t he have thought about it?
Might this be wrong? Might he be chasing a mirage he can never catch? Can he confidently say he never doubted that chasing the unattainable might ruin even that?
Yet now Beop Jeong is saying the very same words Baek Cheon had thought, even those Baek Cheon dared not voice.
“What is that...”
Even Chung Myung seemed at a loss for words, unable to finish what he started to say. He just stared blankly at Beop Jeong.
“Do you think my words are wrong?”
Beop Jeong asked the question and quietly shook his head.
“Looking back, no one made a wrong choice at Plum Blossom Island. If anyone was at fault, it was only Namgung Hwang who did something he shouldn’t have.”
Namgung Do-Wei bit his lip. Beop Jeong looked at him with apologetic eyes but did not correct his words.
“Leading others to sacrifice to make up for his mistake was not a choice I could make. If I had, I might have been praised for my unity, but at the cost of others’ blood.”
“I...”
“Yes. Exactly. But you could have saved Namgung without shedding blood. That’s the only difference. Each made the best choice from their own position. Tell me, Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, do you really think I should have headed to Plum Blossom Island even at the cost of sacrificing Shaolin and Kongtong?”
Chung Myung clenched his teeth tightly.
“Don’t you think that’s a pitiful excuse?”
“...”
“There are many who risk their lives for the alliance despite knowing their lack of ability. If you only did what you could, the Justice faction’s name should have been discarded long ago.”
“That might be true.”
Beop Jeong, muttering “Amitabha,” looked at Chung Myung with clear eyes.
“Then I ask you. If the same situation arises again, will you head to Plum Blossom Island?”
“That’s obvious...”
“Are you okay with some of Mount Hua’s disciples dying as the price?”
“You...!”
Suddenly, a killing intent surged from Chung Myung’s body. Those words were unthinkable to say.
But Beop Jeong looked at the furious Chung Myung with indifferent eyes and asked.
“Is ten acceptable?”
“...”
“Twenty? Thirty? Or fifty?”
“... abbot.”
“No, don’t change your words.”
Beop Jeong’s gaze shifted to the Five Swords behind Chung Myung, and also to Hae Yeon biting her lip beside them.
“What about those here? Even if they all died, would you nod contentedly saying it was a noble death because you saved Namgung’s young lord and the others?”
Chung Myung closed his mouth. At that moment, Baek Cheon felt something.
Chung Myung had often fallen silent during arguments, but usually to wait for the other party. He rarely fell silent because he had nothing to say.
But now, that very Chung Myung cannot answer the abbot’s words.
“No, that can’t be. Perhaps by now you would have become a wreck, knowing all this resulted from your own choices.”
“...”
“Then I ask.”
Beop Jeong spoke in a firm voice.
“Why do you blame others for not doing what even you yourself could not do?”
“...”
“I’m not blaming your hypocrisy. It wasn’t hypocrisy. You surely thought you would accept Mount Hua’s sacrifice and headed to Plum Blossom Island. That was sincere.”
Everyone nodded at those words.
Didn’t everyone clearly see how vehemently Chung Myung opposed going to Plum Blossom Island?
“But I say this. Deep down, you were confident you could resolve things at Plum Blossom Island without great sacrifice. Am I wrong?”
“...”
“Yes. That’s you. You are that kind of person.”
Beop Jeong smiled faintly.
Once he let go of everything, he saw clearly. He admitted he was the culprit and understood that Chung Myung saw things differently. He saw what kind ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) of person he was.
There was only one reason he couldn’t understand Chung Myung.
“The Mount Hua’s Sword Saint is someone who acts as if he has experienced things he has not.”
And he calculates areas others cannot. What seems reckless to others is clearly mapped out in the Sword Saint’s mind.
How could an ordinary person possibly understand such a man?
“But I have no such confidence.”
“...”
“So answer me. Even if you lose half of Mount Hua, will you truly head to Plum Blossom Island? Are you confident you can live to uphold that alliance?”
Chung Myung’s face twisted.
He could not answer rashly. He knew this answer would become a shackle. If he said yes now, Mount Hua would have to recklessly charge into enemy lines whenever this happened again.
Becoming a hypocrite is nothing. Chung Myung was never the type to care about that.
But the shackles of this conversation bind not Chung Myung, but those listening. Even if Chung Myung wants to do so, they won’t let him fall alone.
“That is Mount Hua’s way.”
“Are you saying it’s wrong?”
Beop Jeong slowly shook his head at Baek Cheon’s question spoken instead of Chung Myung.
“How could it be? It’s excellent. Truly amazing. I’m just endlessly envious. I too have wished Shaolin would stand in such a position all my life.”
“...”
“But I cannot. I simply cannot. I am too lacking for that. Then, sect leader, I ask, was I really that wrong?”
Baek Cheon bowed his head and spoke.
Beop Jeong is human too. Avoiding a situation where he must kill his own disciples to save others cannot be called wrong as a person. No one could say that.
One might criticize Shaolin for actions unfit for its position, but cannot simply blame Beop Jeong as an individual for making a wrong choice.
Rather, because it is Mount Hua, because it cherishes its sahyung sajaes even more than itself, it could not say that.
“I was not wrong. I gave up so much to get this answer.”
A brief regret flickered in Beop Jeong’s calm eyes.
“But... Mount Hua was not wrong either. Rather, Mount Hua was right. More than I was.”
“...”
“Isn’t it ironic? No one was wrong, yet they only argued about each other’s faults.”
“Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Listen, Mount Hua’s Sword Saint.”
Beop Jeong sighed.
“Try to understand me a little.”
“...”
“I am not someone who can be like you. So why do you blame me for not becoming you? That is too harsh on me.”
“...”
At that moment, Jo Gul, who had been holding back, suddenly raised his voice.
“What the abbot said is wrong.”
Beop Jeong turned his head to look at Jo Gul.
“What?”
“Everything said is correct. But if you admit that, isn’t there another choice?”
Everyone looked at Jo Gul with puzzled faces. No other choice came to their minds.
“If the abbot admits he is inferior to Chung Myung, then instead of bringing Mount Hua into the Nine Great Sects, the Nine Great Sects should join the Heavenly Friends Alliance. Then Chung Myung could control the Nine Great Sects, right?”
“...”
“Wouldn’t that solve everything? Why should the smarter one who sees the board better have to adjust to the abbot’s thoughts? Isn’t that better for everyone?”
At that moment, some nodded in agreement.
They knew it was practically impossible, but still, wasn’t that the best option?
But Beop Jeong shot Jo Gul a cold look unseen toward Chung Myung.
“Do you truly believe that is right?”
“Yes! It is right!”
“I hesitated to say this, but since you brought it up, I will speak.”
“...Yes?”
“Who are the ones pushing Mount Hua’s Sword Saint into the abyss?”
Jo Gul flinched at the sternness of the voice.
“Hyun Jong.”
The sect leader bit his lip.
“The elders.”
Hyun Young and Hyun Sang bowed their heads.
“And all of you here.”
“...”
“Until now, you have only admired the many achievements of Mount Hua’s Sword Saint. You have relied on a hero who achieves what you cannot. So you thought, just endure that nonsense, and Mount Hua’s Sword Saint will be right again as always.”
“...”
“You say it’s fine because you risked your life? You are prepared for your death too?”
Beop Jeong glared at everyone with fierce eyes.
“Listen carefully. When this situation repeats and Mount Hua’s Sword Saint gains full authority again, what you will face is not a heroic death!”
Beop Jeong’s voice struck everyone.
“It will be Mount Hua’s Sword Saint’s cold corpses after saving you. That is the reality those here must face someday.”
Everyone vaguely knew this truth but had ignored it. Beop Jeong’s words pierced their hearts.