Chapter 1655
It’s a good day. (5)
Tap! Tap-tap!
Urgent, irritable footsteps echoed through the hall.
“S-Sect leader…”
“Move aside!”
Those who saw the owner of the footsteps hurriedly stepped aside in surprise. Heo Do Jinin moved roughly through the path they cleared. Passing through the inner gate of the temple grounds, he reached the distinctive, ancient Taoist hall.
It was the Ancestral Hall. Inside the sacred ground where Wudang’s ancestors’ memorial tablets were enshrined, a dozen Taoists were paying their respects.
“This…”
Heo Do Jinin almost shouted in frustration but bit his lower lip to suppress his anger.
This place held the memorial tablets of those who had lived their whole life for Wudang. It was the most sacred place, where no disturbance or conflict was permitted. Not even Heo Do Jinin could disrupt it.
“You wretches…”
“First bow.”
Even as Heo Do Jinin gritted his teeth and spoke, a solemn, firm, and calm voice covered his.
The disciples of Wudang present in the Ancestral Hall bowed reverently toward the memorial tablets of their ancestors.
Heo Do Jinin clenched his fists tightly.
Even though they were bowing in the Ancestral Hall, the disciples certainly knew that Heo Do Jinin had arrived. Yet, they completely ignored him as if he didn’t exist.
What does it mean, how could one not understand?
Nine bows.
The ceremony, an exclusive ritual for the warriors of Gangho, to be offered only to their master and ancestors, was completed flawlessly without the slightest error, and only then did the disciples fully rise.
Heo Do Jinin, who had been biting his lips, waiting for the ceremony to end, immediately spoke in a voice filled with chill.
“What is this nonsense?”
The disciples in the ancestral shrine all turned their gazes towards Heo Do Jinin simultaneously.
“I asked, what are you doing?”
“As you can see, we were bowing to our ancestors.”
“You know that’s not what I’m asking right now!”
“Lower your voice, Sect Leader.”
“…What?”
“The ancestors are watching.”
At those words, Heo Do Jinin’s gaze reflexively shifted past those standing before him to the ancestral tablets enshrined in the hall.
Delicately placed luxurious ancestral tablets were surrounded by wafting incense smoke.
“Heo Gong. Was this your doing?”
When Heo Do Jinin asked, Heo Gong, who had been bowing in front of the tablets, slowly turned his body. He silently stared at Heo Do Jinin for a moment before putting his fists in a salute.
“Greetings, Sect Leader….”
“Answer me!”
In the end, Heo Do Jinin couldn’t hold back any longer and fiercely cut off Heo Gong’s polite greeting. He was angrier than anyone could ever imagine.
“I asked if it was your doing! Are you the one who ordered this absurd act?”
“I find it hard to understand what you mean, Sect Leader.”
“Hard to understand?”
“Yes.”
Unlike the highly agitated Heo Do Jinin, Heo Gong remained unusually calm, even in the face of sharp anger.
“What do you find hard to understand? Can’t you answer properly right now?”
“As I said, I find it hard to understand why you would think so, Sect Leader.”
“…What?”
“Do I have the authority to force the disciples of Wudang?”
For a moment, Heo Do Jinin was at a loss for words.
“Are the disciples of Wudang the kind of people who would be swayed and make decisions based on someone’s words?”
“Then you mean…”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
Heo Gong nodded.
“There is no one who ordered this. No one could dare to. This is merely the collective will of the disciples.”
The more he listened to the calm voice, the more Heo Do Jinin felt like his chest was about to burst with frustration. After staring at Heo Gong with a gaze sharp enough to cut through flesh, he looked at the other disciples.
And then he asked.
“Is it true?”
“…”
“Answer me, Mu Jin. Is it true?”
At the chilling question that flew at him, Mu Jin let out a deep sigh.
“Yes, Sect Leader. There was no coercion. We simply shared the same intent.”
“Jin Hyeon. Is it the same for you?”
“Yes.”
Jin Hyeon also nodded without any hesitation.
“It was my decision and my will.”
Grit.
The sound of Heo Do Jinin grinding his teeth slipped through his lips. Although his stern expression did not change in the slightest, that sound alone revealed how furious he was.
“What were you thinking?”
“Sect Leader.”
“What on earth are you trying to do? You foolish brats!”
“Sect Leader. Our ancestors are watching over us.”
“Heo Gong! You idiot!”
At last, Heo Do Jinin’s fury burst out like thunder. The force imbued in his shout shook the old ancestral hall as if it might collapse at any moment.
“I’m saying this because our ancestors are watching! What on earth are you doing? Are you trying to end Wudang’s legacy in your generation? What would the ancestors of Wudang say if they saw you now?”
“They would say it is admirable.”
“…What?”
“They would nod in approval, saying it is commendable and praiseworthy. That is why I came to pay my respects to the ancestors.”
“This, this…”
Heo Do Jinin’s body began to tremble. Whether it was due to overwhelming anger or suffocating frustration, he couldn’t tell.
“You think the ancestors would commend you for ending the lineage of Wudang?”
“Yes.”
“How can you say such a thing?”
“Of course, it makes sense.”
Unlike the bewildered Heo Do Jinin, Heo Gong calmly answered.
“Because it is the right thing to do.”
“…”
“Wudang does not exist just to continue. Wudang exists to uphold what is right. If upholding what is right leads to the end of our sect, isn’t that far better than maintaining our lineage through unrighteous means?”
“You, you rascal…”
Heo Do Jinin’s hand trembled violently.
“Do you understand what you are saying right now?”
“Yes, I understand perfectly. Sect Leader, no… Sect Leader Sahyeong.”
“…”
“We must not commit an irreversible act again. This, I understand very clearly.”
“Heo Gong!”
“You know it too, Sahyeong. We should not have retreated.”
“…”
“Even though we shouldn’t have retreated, we did. Just as spilled water cannot be gathered again, what was lost due to a wrong choice can never be recovered. So how can we make the same choice again?”
“That burden is not yours to bear! It is mine! It is I who must carry it! How can you take on that burden…”
“Why is it the burden of the former Sect Leader?”
Jin Hyeon, who had been quietly listening, spoke in a chilling voice.
“It is the burden of Wudang.”
“It is what I chose.”
“Yes, former Sect Leader. You made the choice. But just because you made the choice, it does not mean you can bear all the sins alone. Thinking so is arrogance and overconfidence.”
“…What did you say?”
“I said it is arrogance.”
Jin Hyeon looked directly at Heo Do Jinin with clear eyes.
“No matter what you think, we accepted the Sect Leader’s decision. We cannot be free from that sin either. And now, are you telling us to make the same mistake under the same command? To offer a pitiful excuse that we were just following orders?”
“…”
“I have lived as a disciple of Wudang. And among the teachings of Wudang, there was no cowardice.”
“You, you brat…”
“If you truly are my teacher, do not tell me to beg for my life under the guise of loyalty disguised as cowardice. That would not be saving me but rather killing the rest of my life.”
Heo Do Jinin’s face changed several times in a brief moment. His voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
“So, you are choosing to die?”
“…”
“Even knowing that an overwhelming enemy is coming, you would throw away your life? For what you believe to be right! For that stubbornness which may not even be truly right? Will you only be satisfied after turning yourself, your master, and your brothers into cold, lonely spirits?”
“No one has forced this upon us, Sect Leader.”
“…”
“There are only those who chose this for themselves. As you said, those who decided to sacrifice their lives for what they believe to be the ‘right’ thing, even if it is a form of stubbornness.”
Jin Hyeon’s gaze went beyond Heo Do Jinin, looking behind him. Unconsciously, Heo Do Jinin turned to follow that gaze.
He saw countless disciples lined up outside the main gate of the temple grounds.
Every one of them had eyes shining with resolute determination. It was the look of those who were willing to face death. It might be the same look Heo Do Jinin had when he spoke with Heo San-ja not long ago.
Rank and position were meaningless. First-generation disciples and second-generation disciples all looked at him with the same eyes.
Heo Do Jinin, who had been watching Jin Hyeon standing with a face full of resolve and Mu Jin standing firmly silent, shifted his gaze back to Heo Gong.
“Gong-ah…”
“Please, say no more, Sahyeong.”
“…”
“I know what you are going to say. You probably want to take all the responsibility yourself and set us free. Because that is your way as Sect Leader.”
“Heo Gong…”
“But Sahyeong, while your way might bring peace to your heart and deceive the world, it cannot deceive my heart.”
Heo Do Jinin bit his lip. He understood.
Perhaps his glorious death could indeed set them free. It might release them from the world’s criticism.
But he also knew what Heo Gong was saying.
Even if the world accepted Wudang’s atonement, even if a day came when the world praised Wudang again, the scars from fleeing the enemy under the pretext of following Heo Do Jinin’s orders would never fade.
No one can deceive their own heart, no matter how well they deceive the world.
Unless they were unconscious of it, once aware, there was no other choice for them.
“…Is that your answer?”
“Yes, Sect Leader. And it is not only my answer but theirs as well. It is the answer of Wudang, and it is your answer too.”
“My… answer?”
Seeing Heo Do Jinin’s confusion, Heo Gong showed a faint smile for the first time.
“Because if you were in our position, Sect Leader, you would have done the same.”
Heo Do Jinin closed his eyes, feeling as if the world was spinning around him.
“This is what we have learned from Wudang and from you, Sect Leader.”
A heavy, regretful sigh escaped from him without realizing it.
‘Why…’
He had thought that their wounds would have deepened during the years of isolation.
But he hadn’t considered that those deepened wounds and the resulting reflections would have made them grow.
These were no longer the naive disciples of Wudang who followed his orders blindly. They had become dignified Taoists, even Heo Do Jinin could no longer treat them lightly.
‘…But why does it have to be now!’
Their growth, their sense of justice, their principles would lead Wudang to its doom.
The very growth he had desperately wished for them.
A vision of a grim outcome seemed to appear before his eyes. A heavy emotion, whether it was despair or sorrow, surged over him like a massive wave.
‘Primordial Lord of Heaven… This… This is too cruel…’
Heo Do Jinin squeezed his eyes shut, his eyelids trembling.
It was a feeling of deep regret and profound sadness.
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