Chapter 1737 - Can You Endure? (2)

Hyun Jong looked at the person sitting in front of him with sunken eyes. 

A young man, wearing the pure white robes of Mount Hua, who appeared to be sickly. 

The contrast between his white figure and the dark, almost black floor immediately brought the word "majestic" to Hyun Jong's mind. In many ways. 

The faded white. 

Fragile, as though it might collapse at any moment, yet brilliant enough that no one could dare to touch it lightly. 

"A crane..." 

A celestial crane.

Hyun Jong wondered if the ancient sages had chosen the crane as a symbol of the Taoist way, not simply for its beauty. 

Tao is something like that. The ultimate righteous path that people should follow. But because of that, it's also something people find hard to follow. 

What difference is there between the life of a Taoist who walks the celestial path and the image of a crane supporting its body on those thin legs? 

But a person is not a crane. 

While the crane looking over the world from above the water might seem peaceful in a person's eyes, the human living like a crane must endure endless pain. 

Thus, the Tao is both the most righteous and the most cruel thing. 

For that reason, the celestial path is both the ultimate symbol of virtue and a terrifying punishment. 

Hyun Jong had to ask. 

As the Sect Leader of Mount Hua and its esteemed elder, he had lived the life of a Taoist that no one could deny. But had he ever truly walked the celestial path? 

Buddhism says that life is suffering (苦). Merely living is a torment. 

Confucianism says the world is chaos, and living is about restoring order. 

So what is the Tao? 

If the natural way of things is to simply accept everything as it is, does that mean that his suffering and Baek Cheon's suffering are just natural as well? If so, does following the Tao mean accepting that suffering as well? 

If that's true, if it really is, 

What, then, is the point of a Taoist's life? 

Could someone like him, who doesn't even understand that, truly be called a Taoist? 

"Disciple Baek Cheon." 

Because of that, Hyun Jong was unsure of himself. 

"I have a question to ask." 

He wasn't confident he could give the right answer to the person gazing at him with those clear eyes. 

"Is it true that the Sect Leader expelled me?" 

It was Hyun Jong who had given the order. Unam had simply nodded in agreement. But Baek Cheon mentioned the Sect Leader, not Hyun Jong. Hyun Jong's decision was personal, but the Sect Leader's decision was for Mount Hua. 

That's why Baek Cheon asked. Was this really the will of Mount Hua? 

"Yes." 

And Hyun Jong nodded. 

This might be overstepping, and perhaps it was stubbornness. But Hyun Jong believed... 

Was it wrong? 

The Tao says to follow your heart's desire. 

Even if every law and rule of Mount Hua screamed that his actions were wrong, could he deny the pull of his own heart? 

"No. It is not true." 

But Baek Cheon denied it. 

"That was the will of the elder, not the will of Mount Hua." 

Hyun Jong's eyes narrowed. 

"No one can deny that the elder is the one who carries Mount Hua's will most righteously. Whether it's the disciples of Mount Hua or those outside, it's the same. However," 

Baek Cheon looked at Hyun Jong with clear eyes. 

"That doesn't mean that all of the elder's will aligns with Mount Hua's." 

"..."

An unavoidable sadness appeared on Hyun Jong's face. 

What he said was right. It was absolutely right. 

But what meaning did it have? 

Right and wrong only have meaning for those who swear to walk the right path. But for someone like Hyun Jong, who acknowledged his own stubbornness, what value did discussing right and wrong have? 

"Even if you're correct." 

Hyun Jong spoke sternly, no, sadly. 

"Right now, it is I who wields Mount Hua's will." 

"..."

"And I am also the one who sets Mount Hua's way." 

Hyun Jong firmly declared. 

"Thus, the decision will not change. As the rightful elder of Mount Hua, I have been granted the authority by the Sect Leader to expel Baek Cheon. I will accept no objections to this decision." 

Hyun Jong's face twitched slightly. 

But his resolve was clear. There wasn't a crack to be found in his steely determination. 

And Baek Cheon, as expected, challenged that steely wall. 

"Why?" 

"Because it is the right thing to do." 

"I told you it's not right." 

"Right and wrong differ from person to person. To me, it is right." 

"But I told you it's not the will of Mount Hua." 

"But it is my will. And right now, my will is Mount Hua's will." 

It's not that Hyun Jong didn't know how to retreat. He was someone who knew too well when to back down. 

But because of that, he also knew. There are moments when you must never back down. 

He had stepped back all his life. But at this moment, he couldn't. Not for himself, but for the one standing before him now. 

"Elder." 

Baek Cheon, with his pale complexion, asked again in a soft voice. 

"For what purpose?" 

Hyun Jong closed his eyes. 

Similar questions, but all different questions. Answering them all was a never-ending task. 

So Hyun Jong didn't bother trying to give an elaborate answer. 

"Baek Cheon." 

It was a name he shouldn't have used. 

The moment he expelled him, and the Sect Leader had acknowledged it, the name "Baek Cheon" had disappeared from Mount Hua. It no longer existed in this world. 

But Hyun Jong deliberately called him by his Taoist name, not his birth name, Jin Dong Ryong. 

"It is for your own path." 

"That is sophistry."

"This is also the path for all disciples of Mount Hua." 

"That too is sophistry." 

"I do not wish to argue!" 

"I do not wish to debate either."

Baek Cheon's sharp gaze pierced through Hyun Jong. His eyes burned fiercely, like flames consuming a life. 

Even those who could not see his eyes could feel Baek Cheon's overwhelming spirit. Behind him, the wide-open door revealed a crowd of people watching this exchange of words. 

A place that none but Mount Hua's disciples could approach. And it was precisely in such a place that Mount Hua's disciples were witnessing everything with their own eyes.

"Sasuk." 

Yoon Jong's gaze rested on Baek Cheon's stiff back. 

He looked as though he might collapse at any moment, causing the hands of those watching to sweat nervously. Even for someone in perfect health, standing before the presence of Hyun Jong and the elders of Mount Hua was no small feat. 

But Baek Cheon did not retreat an inch. 

"What is it all for?" 

Baek Cheon shouted resolutely. 

"What is truly the path for the disciple?" 

"Baek Cheon!" 

"Is expelling the disciple truly for his sake?" 

"...." 

"Does casting him away and making him regain his martial arts truly serve him?" 

Baek Cheon opened his hand, revealing his thin, withered fingers. 

"If I can hold a sword again with these hands, does it matter how? Is that truly for the disciple?" 

His voice did not waver in the slightest. 

But to Yoon Jong, that unshaken voice sounded like a desperate scream. And perhaps not just to Yoon Jong, but to everyone present. 

There was no martial arts here.

But it was fiercer than any battlefield. 

"So you would break the laws set by the ancestors!" 

Hyun Jong's eyebrows twitched. 

"And destroy everything Mount Hua has stood for until now!" 

"Enough." 

"Would you even deny the life of the Sect Leader?" 

"Baek Cheon!" 

A loud shout burst from Hyun Jong's mouth. 

But Baek Cheon did not retreat, though his body trembled in response to Hyun Jong's force, though he bit his lips to cling to his fading consciousness. 

But in the end, Baek Cheon could not help but lose strength. 

Not because he was overwhelmed by Hyun Jong's spirit, but because it had disappeared. A subtle sadness appeared on Hyun Jong's face as he looked at Baek Cheon. 

"You still have a future." 

"...." 

Hyun Jong knew. With all the years he had lived, he knew all too well just how brilliant Baek Cheon's future could be and how much he could accomplish. 

He could not turn away from the things Baek Cheon stood to lose. 

The impetuousness of youth sometimes takes much from a person. 

Value is not eternal. What seems most precious now will one day fade with time. And looking back, one comes to realize just how valuable the things that seemed insignificant were. 

"It may hurt a little now. No, it will be a pain that carves at your bones. But you will come to realize that the pain you experience now is better than the pain you would have had to endure later." 

"How can you, the former Sect Leader, choose that?" 

"Baek Cheon." 

Hyun Jong let out a deep, heavy sigh. 

"Life is long." 

"...." 

"You can rise again. You can shine again." 

Baek Cheon's face hardened. 

"Do you think I chose this because it is you? It is not. Even if it were someone else, my decision would not have been different." 

Hyun Jong's gaze moved beyond Baek Cheon, to the Mount Hua disciples watching the scene. 

"The sect does not exist for the people. People exist for the sect." 

"...." 

"It is the same for anyone. I do not want Mount Hua to bind you. I do not want it to become a shackle for you. And it's not just me. The ancestors watching over you from Mount Hua would never wish for that either." 

Just as Yoon Jong felt his head nodding involuntarily. 

He flinched and turned to the side. 

At some point, a man had come to stand next to him. 

"Chung Myung..." 

Chung Myung, who had rarely shown himself lately, was standing beside him, watching the conversation in the hall with a familiar but distant expression. 

"Mount Hua should be both your shelter and your stepping stone. If it cannot be, then what value does the name of Mount Hua hold?" 

"...." 

"If it's just a hollow title, I will strip it away. If the name of Mount Hua becomes a burden to you, I will erase it myself!" 

By then, everyone knew. Whether right or wrong, Hyun Jong's resolve would not falter. 

To Hyun Jong, Mount Hua was more important than anything. But now, he was even willing to give up that name. How could anyone persuade him when he had made such a decision? 

But could he be blamed? Could anyone say he was wrong? 

It was silence that came because no one could speak against him. 

It was sorrow because no one could stop him. 

The two of them, who should have understood each other better than anyone, now stood on parallel lines that would never meet. 

Yoon Jong realized. 

At some point, it was no longer just the disciples of Mount Hua watching this scene. 

Hye Yeon and Namgung Dowi. And Tang Gunak and Pung Yeong Singae. Even Baek Cheon's older brother Jin Geumryong and Lee Songbaek were watching the scene from not far away. 

Surely Jong Rigok was listening to all of this too, watching Baek Cheon leave Mount Hua. 

"Sasuk." 

Yoon Jong bit his lip.

There was no way. Hyun Jong's heart could not be turned. No, it must not be turned. 

Everyone would understand. They would all realize why Hyun Jong was expelling Baek Cheon. 

Yoon Jong's heart was already shouting that this decision was not wrong. 

Hyun Jong was simply shouldering the burden that neither Yoon Jong nor The Five Swords could carry. 

"Then why does it hurt so much?" 

Yoon Jong could not suppress his sorrow, and as he tried to swallow it down, Baek Cheon slowly raised his outstretched hand. 

That thin, withered hand, like a plum blossom branch that never bloomed.