Chapter 607: Chapter 1495: There's No Need For That (Part 5)
Chung Myung, unable to hide his agitation and trembling hands, quietly closed his eyes. It felt like the words he had spoken were swirling around him.
"Hoo."
Exhaling a short breath, Chung Myung pushed back the overwhelming emotions and looked at Hyun Pung Shin Gae with calm eyes.
"How did you know? It couldn't have been easy."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae slowly raised his head. His eyes were filled with moisture.
"Where would you have imagined it at first?
"There was a slight resentment in his tone. Chung Myung didn't blame him for that fact.
"I thought it was impossible. I thought it was absurd. But as I watched, I couldn't help but come to that conclusion. Even if the spirits of Mount Hua were observing closely from the sacred realm, it was impossible. A young swordsman achieving so much... "
It was a natural thing to say. But it was also an unexpected thing to say.
There were people who had doubted Chung Myung's identity before, but none of them had reached this conclusion.
"I tried to deny it. But Sword Saint...it undoubtedly exists in this world. Those who have transcended death and defied the sacred realm as their final destination. Hasn't Sword Saint encountered it already?"
"...Dalai Lama?"
"Yes."
The Dalai Lama of Seojang. It was a widely known fact that the leader of Potalop Palace had led the Potalop Palace for hundreds of years through the repeated cycle of death and rebith.
However, the story was so absurd that few believed it.
Chung Myung smiled bitterly.
- Why are you trying to walk the Three Innumerable Kalpa, which is no different from the hell itself?
The words he heard in the past flashed through his mind. What interrupted that memory was Hyun Pung Shin Gae's dry cough.
"And... cough, Sword Saint must have guessed as well...."
"Yes."
Chung Myung answered calmly.
"There's one more, probably."
"My thoughts exactly."
Neither of them mentioned that name. To them... rather, that name was the most ominous and fearful.
"Perhaps Sword Saint can be reborn like them. Thinking that way, everything becomes clear. So clear that all the time I spent pondering the identity of Chung Myung, Mount Hua's Chivalrous Sword, seemed foolish..."
"Why did you think it was me? It could have been just another swordsman from Mount Hua in the past."
"How would I not know?"
Tears blurred in Hyun Pung Shin Gae's eyes again.
"I...still see...the image of the young Sword Saint in the attire of Mount Hua, wielding his sword and cutting through the villains of the Demonic Cult without hesitation. How could I think of anyone else? Sword Saint, have you not met him already?"
Hyun Pung Shin Gae shook his head.
"What Sword Saint has shown through the body of that young child convinced me. It's something only the Sword Saint could do. It's not because I am the sect leader of the Beggar's Sect that I could know. If anyone who experienced the war observed it, they would reach the same conclusion."
A short sigh escaped from Chung Myung's lips.
"So that's how it was."
With Chung Myung's words, a momentary silence settled between the two.
An unexpected encounter in unforeseen circumstances. Words were not easily coming out as they faced each other without preparation.
"When exactly was it? When did you become certain that I was the Sword Saint?"
"I couldn't be sure... Even though everything was clear, still..."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's hands trembled slightly.
"I had suspicions close to certainty, but I couldn't be completely sure. Even after witnessing the events in the Northern Sea, hearing about the events in Hangzhou, and observing the journey to Southern Island... I dared not be completely certain."
"..."
"Perhaps I was just afraid. While desperately wishing for you to be the Sword Saint, I also fervently prayed that it wasn't true. Longing for this moment and at the same time praying it would never come."
"..."
"Forgive me, Sword Saint... Please, forgive me..."
Tears of repentance and confession had been accumulating on Hyun Pung Shin Gae's wrinkled face for a long time.
"How can I repay the sins I committed against Sword Saint? How can I repay the sins the Beggar's Union incurred in the great oath? How can I dare speak of the sins the world committed against Mount Hua... How can I even mention them..."
Chung Myung's lips remained tightly sealed.
"Just... just..."
Although not weeping, Hyun Pung Shin Gae was undoubtedly screaming. Chung Myung could sense it.
The person lying here was not the mighty hero who had brought back the Beggar's Union from the verge of extinction, nor the lingering evil ghost that had been lurking in the shadows of Kangho for countless decades.
He was just a weak and pathetic human, groaning under the weight of the sins he had committed.
Chung Myung, watching his struggle, slowly spoke.
"It's in the past."
"Sword Saint..."
"There was nothing you could do. It was just my foolishness that led to this, so you don't need to feel responsible."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's shoulders trembled slightly. The old man would also know. This wasn't forgiveness. It was just Chung Myung's consideration to make Hyun Pung Shin Gae a little more comfortable.
But even this small consideration was something Hyun Pung Shin Gae was deeply thankful for.
"So that's how it was..."
A bitter regret appeared on Chung Myung's face as he reached the truth.
If someone else had done what happened, Chung Myung would never have forgiven them. Perhaps he would have tried to condemn them with his sword.
But he couldn't bring himself to do that to this frail old man.
"I didn't want to go through that again."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae shivered, falling into silence.
Even after many years, it remained vivid as if it happened yesterday. The light didn't fade, and the air and smell of that time still unfolded clearly when he closed his eyes.
The moment when everyone was dying like insects. The hellish distortion that descended upon the world.
"...I believed, Sword Saint."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's eyes, swirling with numerous emotions, followed Chung Myung.
"That all these sacrifices wouldn't be meaningless. That every life of the beggars would surely open up the future."
"..."
"But... in the end, it was all in vain. The deaths of the beggars, the will of those who died in Thousand Mountains, and..."
"My sword."
Chung Myung threw out the words that had been left unspoken. Hyun Pung Shin Gae clenched his fist.
"Even my sword was meaningless. Yes, looking back on it now."
A short regret crept into Chung Myung's eyes. Hyun Pung Shin Gae spoke in a voice filled with despair.
"After Sword Saint left... no, after you departed, those despicable villains took control of Kangho. They deliberately allowed remnants of the Demonic Cult to remain, and they thoroughly erased their own wrongdoings."
"Of course, they needed the Beggar's Union cooperation for those actions."
"...Yes. I..."
"You couldn't do anything. Beggar's Union couldn't disappear into the back alleys of history like Mount Hua. It was impossible."
Instead of an answer, Hyun Pung Shin Gae bit his lips until blood came out.
The revival of the Beggar's Union was merely a facade seen by others. Hyun Pung Shin Gae could only live as their puppet.
"But still, one question has been answered."
Chung Myung muttered with bitterness.
"I never understood. If those rascals really wanted to erase Mount Hua, they wouldn't have been satisfied with the Demonic Cult attacking Mount Hua. There were plenty of ways to quietly extinguish the Mount Hua Sect without staining their hands."
"..."
"Yet Mount Hua didn't completely collapse. Even though it was bloody and miserable, it clung to existence. As if... someone had put in effort to somehow continue its lineage."
Chung Myung's penetrating gaze reached Hyun Pung Shin Gae.
"Was it you?"
Hyun Pung Shin Gae chewed on his lips carefully.
"I dare... I dare not speak of it as an act of penance. It wasn't something I did alone."
"...Yes. That was how it was."
A short sigh escaped from Chung Myung's lips. A faint sense of emptiness filled his eyes.
It was absurd. Even if he wanted to resent, there was no one left to resent. Those who had committed all these deeds had already died.
What remained in this world were people who didn't even know what they were standing on. Would asking them about their sins make any difference?
Of course, this was not a new conclusion; it had been thought through and decided once before.
It just felt bitter to hear it from someone else's mouth after going through it alone.
"So, did the Beggar's Union prevent them from cooperating?"
"...Yes."
"At least to avoid becoming the main culprit of the Ten Great Sects again?"
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's pupils faintly shook. He struggled to raise his trembling head.
"No, Sword Saint. It's not... It's not like that."
"...Not like that?"
"Don't look at me with such eyes, Sword Saint. I'm not worthy of receiving such a comforting gaze from you. I am not the Sword Saint."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae grabbed his own face.
"If I... if I had been a person with such determination, how could I have clung to this dirty life until now? I am not such a person. I am just... merely a pathetic, insignificant man."
"..."
"I am... not the Sword Saint. I couldn't become like the Sword Saint."
"What are you saying?"
"Didn't you see? Didn't you experience it? And don't you know?"
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's face turned pale. The sense of guilt that had filled him was pushed aside, and in its place, Chung Myung also felt a familiar emotion pouring in.
"Aghhhhhhh!"
Suddenly, a scream-like voice burst out. The expression on the old man's face was unfamiliar but familiar. It was... the face of a person consumed by fear, an expression of someone's entire body convulsing as if struck by epilepsy.
"Ah, I couldn't help but know. They ignored and turned a blind eye, but I couldn't help but know. I am someone who deals with information. Everything pointed to one thing, so I could know..."
"...Heavenly Demon."
"Huh..."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's eyes rolled back. The name itself was enough to tear the soul apart. He stammered as he quickly spoke.
"He... he will come back... that cursed demon will lead the Demonic Cult again and come to this land!"
"..."
"And we can't... we can't face him again. It's the end. The end of Kangho and the end of the world. The inevitable end that cannot be avoided is coming."
Hyun Pung Shin Gae breathed heavily. The frail old man, who had calmly engaged in conversation a moment ago, had become a pitiful old man again.
"It was just... just a sandcastle. No matter how Kangho returns to its former state, it's just a sandcastle built loosely on a white sandy beach. The moment a huge wave rushes in and touches the coast, it will collapse without any resistance..."
"..."
"Knowing this, how can... how can I tell everyone? How can I tell them to sacrifice themselves for that sandcastle? If it's all meaningless... if so, wouldn't it be better to peacefully enjoy a petty life without knowing anything..."
Chung Myung sighed unknowingly for a moment.
In the end, Hyun Pung Shin Gae was the same. He had lived until now without stepping out of that dreadful war and the existence of the Heavenly Demon.
A survivor, a remnant, and...
A sinner.
Yes, just like Chung Myung.
"So, I..."
One.
"Enough. You don't need to do that."
Chung Myung decisively interrupted Hyun Pung Shin Gae's words.
"Sword Saint...?"
"I've heard enough of your rambling."
Chung Myung glared at Hyun Pung Shin Gae.
"You may think that the end is predetermined, but I don't. No, even if the end can't be changed, I won't just sit and wait."
"..."
"So tell me. What do I need to do to return the Beggar's Union to its original state?"
Hyun Pung Shin Gae's widened eyes trembled intensely.
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