The abbot, silently descending Mount Hua, glanced back.
At that terrifying gaze, Beop Gye unconsciously shrank back.
"… Mount Hua."
This was not how he felt when he ascended this path. There was a strange discomfort, but he had no doubt that he would eventually get what he wanted.
To him, Mount Hua was like a wolf that only he could handle.
To ordinary people, a wolf was an object of fear, but to someone who could tame a wolf, it was nothing more than a dog with sharp teeth.
However, the dog he thought he had tamed was now baring its teeth. It was as if it hadn't yet lost its wildness from when it roamed the fields.
"The Buddha showed mercy to everyone."
"…"
"But he did not show mercy to one tribe. Do you know which tribe it was?"
"I don't know."
"The demons."
Beop Gye closed his mouth, trying to say something. The abbot continued.
"That means Buddha also divided beings into those who could be saved and those who couldn't. He was stricter than anyone else towards beings who couldn't be saved and who only caused harm."
The abbot glared at Mount Hua's gate with a stern face.
"At least, I thought Mount Hua wasn't the enemy, but it seems I was wrong."
"… Abbot."
The abbot bit his lip.
He looked at Beop Gye with slightly suspicious eyes as if he were contemplating something.
"… In the end…"
"Uh?"
"No."
The abbot shook his head.
"First, the Yangtze River. We will handle that. Mount Hua comes next. But…"
And then he coldly rebuked.
"Someday, Mount Hua will also have to pay for this. Putting aside my personal feelings, they will definitely receive the price for turning a blind eye to something that would bring ruin to the world and for tarnishing the name of Shaolin."
"That is what needs to be done, Abbot."
Crack.
The prayer beads in the abbot's hand shattered into pieces and fell.
The beads rolling out of the broken thread seemed to symbolize the current relationship between Shaolin and Mount Hua. What was once connected by a single thin thread was now severed.
"Mount Hua's Sword Saint…."
The abbot gritted his teeth and stepped forward.
"This is your choice."
After the abbot left, the main figures of Mount Hua gathered once more in the sect leader's residence.
Among them, Hae Yeon sat proudly. Seeing his clear and bright eyes, everyone's hearts naturally filled with pride.
"Everyone… thank you so much."
"Don't mention it, monk."
"We're not strangers, after all."
"Don't worry about it."
A bright smile spread across Hae Yeon's face, though he was slightly flustered.
He had left Shaolin, which had been like home to him. Yet, he didn't feel sad because of these people. They were a different kind of family from Shaolin.
'Right. This is where I should be…'
"You're laughing?"
"…"
But.
Unfortunately, in that warm atmosphere, there was one person who didn't smile.
A devil who seemed to have just emerged from hell glared at Hae Yeon with sharp eyes. A terrifying madness spread in his eyes. Hae Yeon was filled with fear as he shrank back.
"Are you laughing now?"
"T-taoist… I…"
"This brat is?"
As Chung Myung's face grew redder, Hae Yeon slowly stepped back.
"Yah."
"Uh?"
"Are you messing with me?"
"W-what do you…"
"Ehh!"
In the end, Chung Myung swiftly kicked Hae Yeon in the chest with both feet.
Kwang!
"Ackkk!"
Hae Yeon rolled into the corner after the sudden blow. As if his anger hadn't subsided, Chung Myung ran toward Hae Yeon. Everyone was startled and began to pull Chung Myung away.
"Why, why are you doing that, Chung Myung!"
"Calm down now!"
"Someone bring us something sweet, fast!"
Once the word 'sweet' came out of the Five Sword's mouth, it meant the situation was quite serious. The disciples of Mount Hua, who were terrified, joined forces with the Five Swords to suppress Chung Myung.
But Chung Myung continued to growl at Hae Yeon, scratching the ground like a blind dog.
"Let go! Will you not let go!? I am going to see that bald bastard's hair growing on his head today!"
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
"No!"
Chung Myung shouted with flames in his eyes.
"If we had just kicked that bastard abbot out, you should have quietly stayed in the corner! Why are you following him and making new trouble! Uh?"
Flinch.
Hae Yeon lowered his head.
"This is so messed up! This is! Yah! Do you have any ill feelings towards Mount Hua or something? Are you saying that Shaolin and Mount Hua are fighting, and both of them are to die? This little brat was fed and sheltered for years, and now he is repaying us with kindness and enmity? Ah, no! Let me repay the kindness today! Ahh! Let go of me!"
"C-Calm down!"
Baek Cheon had a gut feeling that Chung Myung would really beat Hae Yeon until he was a mess if they let go of his hand, so they held on more desperately.
How ridiculous it must have been to say he was protecting Hae Yeon, but the person he was holding onto right now was one of the few people who could make that ridiculous statement not seem funny.
"What? Buddhism? Buddhism?! Yah, you bastard!"
"Ack!"
Unable to kick because he was held back, Chung Myung stretched out his leg with all his might and slapped Hae Yeon's bald head with the sole of his foot.
"Even Buddha would have no answer if he saw you, and he would also break your head with a Bodhi tree branch! Are you really going to follow them? Them? Let me give you one hit; you will be caught by some nappers and laugh, chanting Amitabha!"
"No! Calm down now!"
"S-sect leader. Stop him! Sect leader…"
Yoon Jong, who turned his head to find Hyun Jong, flinched for a moment. Hyun Jong, mumbling something, had a face that looked almost half-dead.
"With Shaolin… of all the people, against Shaolin… I must be insane; why did I have to do that with Shaolin…."
"…"
Yoon Jong whispered to Baek Cheon in a hushed tone.
"Sasuk, the condition there seems to be worse?"
"Close your eyes quickly."
"… Yes."
After being mad for a while, Chung Myung's muscles began to lose strength little by little, as if his anger had subsided.
"Anyway, nothing has worked out since I took that damned bastard in! What am I going to do about this? This bastard!"
Tears fell from Hae Yeon's eyes.
Honestly, wouldn't it be unfair from his perspective? He said he would just be excommunicated and told him not to get involved, but then this man just ran wild, kicked out the abbot, and now he was hitting Hae Yeon?
This was like forcibly dragging someone who was leisurely swimming out of the water, slapping him for being in the water in danger and taking his help away.
This was a robbery.
"Chung Myung, what is so bad about Shaolin?"
Chung Myung's head suddenly turned. Baek Cheon, who saw that scary gaze, quickly turned his gaze away.
"You cannot say anything when I was fighting! Is Shaolin some kind of place for kids? It is bad! Of course, it is bad!"
"… it is just because you say so."
"Eh. This man is pathetic."
Chung Myung clenched his teeth.
'Anyway, that guy's temper.'
'Poor monk Hae Yeon.'
'He always blames others. Ughh.'
In fact, even if Hae Yeon's case hadn't happened, the relationship between Mount Hua and Shaolin had deteriorated to the point where it was impossible to mend the situation the moment the abbot kicked them out.
Hae Yeon's case was nothing more than a wedge in that situation.
"Tsk."
Chung Myung stopped there, aware of the situation. If it was his wisdom that led him to pause after understanding that much, he was indeed wise.
"Shaolin and… Shaolin. What should we do now? Now? Shaolin…."
Chung Myung's anger might have subsided, but Hyun Jong's spirit, which had departed, hadn't returned.
Chung Myung softly coughed and began to comfort Hyun Jong.
"Ugh, calm down for now."
"Calm down?"
"…"
"Do I look like I can calm down, you moron!"
At that moment, Hyun Jong rushed at Chung Myung with unprecedented speed and grabbed his ear.
"ACKKKK! Sect leader! Ear! Ear! My ear! It hurts!"
"This insane fool pulled his sword out on the abbot of Shaolin and ran? You made a big deal out of it while I was looking the other way, and what? Hae Yeon? Yah, you fool! Is this all because of monk Hae Yeon? It's all your fault!"
"ACK! Ear! My ear! My ear is falling off! Ack!"
"Oh my, my ancestors…! What on earth did I do to deserve this guy…"
-Sorry.
"Uh?"
What was that sound just now…
"Ackkk!"
Chung Myung, who barely managed to escape, ran to the corner. Then, he protested with his neck all red.
"NO, what could be done about it! Those morons were going to cut off his head…"
"They weren't cutting his head off! They were just sealing his blood points…"
"It would be better to have the head cut off. He's just a fool without his martial arts! What good is a guy without martial arts? He's worse than a street dog!"
"…."
What truly saddened Hae Yeon wasn't Chung Myung's words. As soon as he finished speaking, the other disciples nodded.
Tears spread in his tightly shut eyes.
'Such bad people…'
He was moved for a moment, but he was a human. He was.
"Becoming enemies with Shaolin… the Shaolin… ancestors. I've ruined everything now. Now Mount Hua is bound to be ruined…."
"Don't say such nonsense! A hundred years ago, we were almost at war with Shaolin, but we didn't perish then, right?"
Hyun Jong looked at Chung Myung with a blank expression after those words.
"… A hundred years ago?"
"Yes!"
"A hundred years ago?"
"I am telling you, yes!"
"… Then we were ruined, right?"
"Uh?"
Oh?
… That was right, now that he heard it.
When Chung Myung's words suddenly stopped, Hyun Jong sank into his place.
"What should I do… this is…"
"Ahem."
Hyun Sang said after witnessing the entire exchange.
"If you were so worried about this, you could have resolved it nicely…"
"How can we resolve it nicely in that atmosphere! You moron!"
"How can you resolve it nicely with those Shaolin people themselves!"
Clearly, their directions were completely different. However, their actions weren't much different.
Before long, even the sect leader had become influenced by Chung Myung. And it was a bad thing.
The faces of the Mount Hua disciples darkened in an instant.
"… Mount Hua is ruined now."
"No, what ruin now! I am right here!"
"…."
Hyun Jong stared at Chung Myung and then let out a deep sigh.
"We are ruined."
"No, this man is!"
"It is the sect leader, you moron!"
The moment Chung Myung glared, Baek Cheon ran over and kicked him off.
Chung Myung, who had rolled around in the corner, suddenly got up.
"No, I told you not to care about it! I told you those Shaolin ones are nothing special!"
"You told me before?"
"That they aren't much of a great thing!"
"… just say two words with one mouth now, Chung Myung."
How could he have so many different types of words coming out of one mouth? If someone saw Chung Myung, they would think a rainbow was coming out of his mouth.
Chung Myung was yelling tirelessly, while Hyun Jong was lost in thought, mumbling something to himself. Hae Yeon sat in a corner, looking depressed, and the Mount Hua disciples each voiced their own opinions.
Crack.
Hong Dae-Kwang, who had already taken a seat, couldn't join in on the lively atmosphere. He just sat in a corner as if he didn't exist, chewing on his rice cake.
"… This is a mess."
But what could he say?
It was truly a Mount Hua-like scene.