CLS-Chapter 547

Chapter 547:

Baek Jong-jin suppressed his trembling heart with effort.

“Huuu.”

A deep breath.

He lightly clenched and unclenched his fist.

‘Calm down.’

He had been thinking that something like this would happen someday. Since he had entered the martial world, a peaceful life was nothing but a dream. Having lived depending on the martial world, someday he would have to pay the price for it.

And he didn’t think it was necessarily a bad thing.

Because he thought there was romance in it.

The life of a hero who would emerge with an ancient sword when evil forces disturbed the martial world and defeat those evil forces. This was the life Baek Jong-jin had dreamed of.

When he first entered the sect and resolved to live as a martial artist, Baek Jong-jin had believed without doubt that he too would someday become such a hero. And after a long time, that opportunity had finally come.

“Huuu.”

But he wasn’t as happy as he had thought.

Though he had gained an opportunity to showcase the sword he had polished and refined, Baek Jong-jin was too old to purely rejoice in that fact. Now he had learned that a sword was best when it remained in its sheath.

Baek Jong-jin slightly turned his head.

The faces of others weren’t much different either. They all wore faces marked with tension and anxiety.

‘This isn’t like the stories.’

The orthodox sect members in stories were all filled with righteousness and didn’t hesitate to throw away their lives to face evil forces.

Baek Jong-jin too had naturally lived thinking he should be that way.

But stories are stories, reality is reality.

Who could happily accept a situation where their neck might be severed?

‘It must have been like this from the beginning.’

Yes, someone might become a hero. Someone might make their name known in this war and leave their name completely in history. But what about Baek Jong-jin?

Baek Jong-jin bit his lips tightly.

Those who could become such people would be extraordinary individuals. It had nothing to do with Baek Jong-jin, who was mediocre in everything and still hesitated to even register his name in the martial registry and receive a martial title.

In the end, realistically, his role in this war was to be a number.

The “tens of thousands” when recounting how Zhang Fei blocked tens of thousands of troops at Changban, the “fifty thousand” when saying Xiang Yu led five thousand and crushed fifty thousand.

Those who couldn’t engrave their names in history could only remain as numbers in the end.

Numbers. Nothing but numbers.

Baek Jong-jin bit his lips tightly.

That didn’t mean his efforts were lacking or that he had lived a worthless life. Though he hadn’t registered his name in the martial registry, he was a proud disciple of Wudang. Although the somewhat ambiguous word “lay disciple” was attached in front, the status of being a Wudang lay disciple alone was enough to hold one’s head high in the martial world.

And as the price for gaining that name of Wudang lay disciple and living with his head held high, he was now being dragged to a battlefield with unknown results.

‘Was this really what I wanted?’

Who knows though.

If he was lucky, he might display power beyond his abilities, and perhaps his skills might advance to the next level in the war. It often happened that someone who was just a number when the war began had become a hero by the time the war ended.

But that slim possibility didn’t give him hope. He could pursue the possibility of breaking through slim odds to become a hero. But the price he had to pay for that was death approaching with extremely high probability.

His heart was pounding.

‘Why!’

There was another factor making Baek Jong-jin anxious.

The fact that those who would have to fall under his blade for him to become a hero weren’t the Demonic Cult, but Baek Geom Seong. In his imagination, those he faced were always the Demonic Cult.

The Demonic Cult.

What words were needed before that name?

The moment the name Demonic Cult was attached, it didn’t matter what crimes the opponent had committed. They were evil the moment they were members of the Demonic Cult. So he could cut them down without hesitation. Without a moment’s doubt.

But Baek Geom Seong was different.

Baek Jong-jin had met various people in his capacity as a Wudang lay disciple. Among them were disciples of Baek Geom Seong. They were all good people.

But now Baek Jong-jin was going to fight them with his life on the line.

‘Why did it end up like this?’

He couldn’t understand it, nor could he accept it.

No one knew why Baek Geom Seong suddenly began attacking the Righteous Martial Alliance. Even the higher-ups didn’t seem to know anything. There would have been no reason not to explain if they knew.

What was certain was that Baek Geom Seong had joined hands with the Demonic Cult and had already devastated one branch of the Righteous Martial Alliance.

How.

How could they join hands with the Demonic Cult?

Baek Jong-jin’s mind was utterly confused. The Demonic Cult wasn’t a subject for negotiation. The Demonic Cult was merely a target for eradication. But the fact that there was a group that had joined hands with that Demonic Cult, and that those who belonged to that group were people who had once shared drinks with Baek Jong-jin, was making him confused.

And this confusion wasn’t his alone.

“Huuuuk.”

If he listened carefully, he could hear low sighs or deep breathing sounds from here and there. These weren’t sounds coming from confident steps taken to punish enemies. They were suppressed groans let out by those filled with confusion like Baek Jong-jin.

He raised his head to look forward.

Looking at the back of Sect Leader Jin-in leading at the front made his heart settle a little.

‘What must the Sect Leader be thinking right now?’

Something entered Baek Jong-jin’s field of vision.

He could see numerous people approaching from ahead of the Sect Leader’s back.

‘Are they enemies?’

For a moment, Baek Jong-jin’s tense body immediately relaxed. If they were enemies, the Sect Leader’s reaction wouldn’t be so calm. The Sect Leader was slowly going to meet them as if people who should naturally be met had come.

“It seems we meet after a long time.”

Wudang Sect Leader Song Hyeon lightly cupped his hands toward the approaching man of magnificent build. Then the person facing him also smiled and cupped his hands.

“Indeed it is. It seems the Sect Leader’s energy has become even more pure.”

“I’m embarrassed beyond measure to hear such words from Family Head Namgung. I was already small before Family Head Namgung’s achievements in the past, and it seems the gap has widened even more.”

“You exaggerate too much. When the fame of Great Ultimate spreads throughout the world, how can you say such things? This Namgung Jo-wi dares not follow.”

The two exchanged humble words with each other.

Normally they would have continued talking a bit more, but the situation they were in didn’t allow the same leisure as usual.

“How is the situation?”

“They’re heading north. It would be right to call it an unstoppable advance.”

The head of the Namgung Family, Namgung Jo-wi, shook his head as if frustrated.

“They’ve swept up to Anhui in an instant. And they’re slaughtering those who resist. Just looking at their appearance, they should be called Blood Swords rather than White Swords.”

“How could…”

Song Hyeon let out a deep groan.

“I can’t understand at all why Baek Geom Seong is doing this. Even if they aimed for hegemony over the world, there’s no need to be this cruel.”

“It’s not about hegemony.”

“Then…”

Namgung Jo-wi glanced around and spoke in a low voice.

“You know, don’t you. This is revenge.”

“…”

“Sect Leader Jin-in must know too. This is revenge. From the moment they declared themselves Ten Thousand Swords, this was an unavoidable sequence.”

“But that’s already…”

“It may be the past for us, but it’s not the past for them.”

Song Hyeon quietly chanted a Buddhist invocation.

Yes, Namgung Jo-wi’s words were correct.

Whether to consider it a past that should be forgotten and buried, or to consider it a reality that still continues, was entirely their choice to make. How could Song Hyeon intervene in that choice?

To Ten Thousand Swords, Wudang was merely a perpetrator. Namgung was no different. If they had committed sins, they had to receive the price for them. Completely.

But…

“If they want my life, I can give it to them anytime. If their resentment can be resolved with that, I would gladly smile and have this old neck severed. But… these children don’t know anything, do they? They’re just under Wudang’s name, children who have no relation whatsoever. But to extract that price from them.”

“It’s too late, Jin-in.”

“…”

Namgung Jo-wi shook his head.

“Those are words that should have been said long ago. Words that should have been said when Jin-in ascended to sect leadership and learned the truth. Did Jin-in try to find the descendants of Ten Thousand Swords to reveal the truth and beg for forgiveness?”

“…No.”

“Yes. The moment we tried to bury it and forget it, we too became accomplices. And now they’re saying they’ll extract that price. Now we have only two options left. Either we offer them that much blood and beg for forgiveness, or we thicken our skin and kill them.”

Namgung Jo-wi’s voice was utterly chilling.

“If they would accept an apology without a price, we would gladly do so. But they’ve already declared they would extract a price. So we can only fight. Jin-in, don’t waver. Sins can be paid for even in hell. What Jin-in should think about in reality is only the lives of the disciples and the peace of the martial world.”

“Infinite Buddha…”

Song Hyeon chanted the invocation several times.

Where did it start going wrong?

‘Too many years have already passed.’

How wide and deep resentment was.

Was it truly right for descendants of the current time to shed blood and fight because of resentment created in an era when they weren’t even born, hundreds of years later?

‘Why did you do such a thing, why?’

They would burn in hell’s flames.

The predecessors who did what shouldn’t have been done and hid what shouldn’t have been hidden must be regretting those facts in hell’s flames now. But the price of sin didn’t end with them.

In the end, even their descendants had been caught up in this terrible cycle of resentment. What would they think if they knew?

“Jin-in!”

Song Hyeon’s eyes snapped open at Namgung Jo-wi’s sharp voice.

Now was not the time.

As Namgung Jo-wi said, now was simply the time to fight. No matter what resentment and what grudges existed, he couldn’t easily offer his neck to someone who said they would kill him.

“What happened with Shaolin?”

“They seem to be a little late.”

“They’re dragging their feet even in this situation?”

“That’s Shaolin for you. That’s why they’re Shaolin.”

“Hmm…”

Namgung Jo-wi’s face showed displeasure, but he seemed to understand Song Hyeon’s words. Because Shaolin was originally like that.

“It would be right to set up camp around here and wait for them to join us. We can compete for victory only after the warriors sent by the Righteous Martial Alliance and other forces join us.”

“I think the same.”

After finishing the agreement about camping and returning to his disciples, Song Hyeon’s face was far from bright.

‘What is justice?’

There was no righteousness in this war.

Only resentment was seething.

Even the quietly chanted invocation felt powerless.