“Hey, you damn bastards! Is this the sort of thing to do while hiding behind masks? You’ll be punished by heaven!”
“Wow... in all my life I never thought I’d hear an Evil Sect brat preaching about heavenly punishnt.”
Jo Gul rcilessly dragged the Evil Sect bastard who was spouting nonsense.
“Let go! Let go! Aaaaargh!”
“Sahyung! This bastard’s resisting!”
Yoon Jong glanced into the gaping cave. Even in the bright daylight, hardly any light seeped in, and the interior was chillingly dark.
“Hmm. Of course they’d be scared to be locked in such a pitch-black cave. Can you bla them for that?”
“...What should we do?”
“How—you’re asking sothing so obvious.”
Yoon Jong answered with a gentle smile.
“Compassion should be shown to both people and beasts alike. Humans are born good by nature; do we hate them just because they erred once?”
At those words, Jo Gul looked at Yoon Jong as if he had realized sothing.
“Then...”
Yoon Jong nodded with an exceptionally mild expression, as if to confirm Jo Gul’s unspoken thought.
“Yes. Put them in the cave at once.”
“...Sahyung, sothing about that doesn’t add up.”
“No, it does make sense. Those who follow the Tao must feel compassion even for small creatures. But those Evil Sect bastards aren’t even beasts; they’re worse than vermin, aren’t they?”
Yoon Jong drove the point ho with his gentle face.
“So there’s no reason to hesitate.”
“...”
Before Jo Gul could react, Hae Yeon kicked the bandit bastards and shoved them en masse into the cave.
Watching him cram people into a cave where not a speck of light entered while chanting “Amitabha,” fundantal questions like “What is Buddhism really?” rose up.
“You, you damn bastards!”
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
The Evil Sect n tossed into the cave rolled their eyes and thrashed desperately.
Jo Gul involuntarily shook his head.
Black Ghost Fort was notorious among the Evil Sect for cruelty. Still, nobody expected them to thrash like that even after having their dantian shattered and limb ridians severed.
‘Well, they’re so vicious that’s probably why they joined the Evil Sect.’
If their malice weren’t extre, they couldn’t slaughter ordinary civilians like flies.
“Do you think the Four Sects Alliance will stand idly by!”
“Soon your whole bodies will be torn to pieces to feed so beasts’ bellies! You rciless scum!”
“Oh, really?”
Jo Gul smirked, grabbed the boulder they had brought next to the cave.
“Huh?”
“Then keep cursing us there until that happens.”
Rumble...
The house-sized boulder began sealing off the cave entrance. The faces of those trapped inside turned pale.
“W-wait...”
“No, don’t!”
“What are you doing, you lunatics!”
Rumble!
The entrance was almost closed. Having lost their internal qi and with severed ridians in their bodies, the Evil Sect mbers had no way to move the boulder; it was certain they’d soon starve to death in the pitch-black darkness.
By then they changed their tune.
“P-please spare us!”
“We were wrong! We’ll never do it again!”
“P-please!”
But...
Thud!
The boulder ultimately sealed the cave completely.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“You are worse than the Evil Sect people!”
“I’ll curse you even as a ghost! Aaaaaaaah!”
Those left in the utter darkness scread in despair until their voices were hoarse and gone.
“Let’s go back.”
“Yes.”
Yoon Jong, Jo Gul, and Hae Yeon stared at the boulder that had swallowed the cave, then turned to go. Before they had taken a few steps, Hae Yeon’s voice, slightly heavy, ca out.
“Taoist.”
“Yes?”
“They’re going to die, right?”
Yoon Jong’s expression hardened slightly. Hae Yeon shook his head.
“No, Taoist. I’m not saying this choice was wrong. They should indeed be punished. With such natures, they’ve probably taken countless lives already. Therefore it’s only natural.”
Hae Yeon, speaking as the leader, continued.
“Amitabha... yet still, my heart doesn’t feel clear about it.”
“...You seed rather pleased pushing them in, didn’t you?”
“Ahem. W-what do you an by that, Taoist Jo Gul?”
“No. Isn’t that actually the case...”
“K-k-k! It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
Yoon Jong snickered as Hae Yeon’s face slowly reddened.
“Honestly, I’m not as serene as the monk. If anything, I would have felt less uneasy if they had been a bit stronger—it feels sowhat like they’re bullying the weak.”
“Amitabha. Indeed.”
“But... well, I still think there’s no need to hesitate. The punishnt we gave them was only to strip their martial arts and let them starve for a while.”
“What? They...”
Hae Yeon turned back with puzzled eyes. With their limb ridians cut, they couldn’t move the boulder nor dig through the cave wall.
So the only outco left for them would be a painful death inside...
Yoon Jong spoke.
“They won’t be able to get out on their own, but there are people who can pull them out, aren’t there?”
“...You an the villagers?”
“Yes. The boulder is large, but if everyone joins forces, it’s not impossible to roll it aside. So if the villagers choose to, they can save them at any ti.”
Hae Yeon nodded as if he understood. Indeed, if the villagers united, that boulder would be moved easily enough.
“But will those people actually rescue them?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“...What?”
Yoon Jong let out a small laugh.
“Considering Chung Myung’s temperant from the start, those people shouldn’t still be considered living ones at all.”
At that, Hae Yeon nodded. Indeed, Chung Myung’s instruction to lock them up was surprising even to him.
Hae Yeon considered Chung Myung unexpectedly sentintal at tis, but he’d never seen him show rcy when it ca to the Evil Sect or wrongdoers.
“Still, there must be one reason he chose this troubleso thod: we don’t have the right to judge him for this. The ones qualified to pass judgnt are the villagers whose lives those n nearly took.”
“Ah...”
“That’s why Chung Myung left their fate to the villagers. Even if they’re released later, he arranged it so they wouldn’t be able to take revenge.”
“To go that far...”
Yoon Jong shook his head at Hae Yeon’s words.
“These are people who had to lick their enemies’ feet because they had no power. If we told them we used our strength to avenge their grievances, would they truly be satisfied at heart?”
Hae Yeon nodded, seeming to understand what he ant.
“Taoist Chung Myung...”
“Sotis he does think things through deeply, doesn’t he?”
Yoon Jong smiled faintly. Then Jo Gul gruffly interjected.
“Sahyung. Snap out of it. Do you really think Chung Myung would think like that?”
“Huh?”
“From my view, that bastard was just pissed off and wanted to make them suffer instead of a clean death.”
“...”
“Honestly, if you just cut their throats and kill them it would be quick and ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) done, right?”
“...”
“If you’re going to kill them, make them die penitent. They committed cris, so how can they expect an easy death!”
For a mont, Yoon Jong found Jo Gul’s point rather convincing and squeezed his eyes shut.
Dog eyes see only dogs; Buddha’s eyes see only Buddha, indeed.
After a few more steps, Jo Gul cautiously spoke.
“Sahyung.”
“Hmm?”
“Did you see earlier?”
It was an abrupt question, but Yoon Jong imdiately understood what Jo Gul ant.
“You’re talking about the villagers’ reaction just now.”
“Yes.”
Uncharacteristically, Jo Gul hesitated and held back his words.
“I don’t know how to put it... honestly, it was kind of...”
“I know what you an.”
Yoon Jong let out a short sigh. Jo Gul had probably been quite shocked.
Their sword was intended solely to help the weak and punish the wicked—to better the world through agreent.
But the weak feared even the sword in their hands. To those unable to wield a blade, a sword in the Evil Sect’s hand and a sword in the Justice faction’s hand both appear as the sa weapon.
“This is sothing we must understand.”
“But...”
“People cannot display their hearts. Goodwill is sothing you can only guess at and believe in.”
“...”
“If those who cannot resist fear a sliver of malice hidden within goodwill, can we call that wrong? Isn’t that only natural?”
Jo Gul exhaled deeply. As Yoon Jong said, he couldn’t bla them.
“I’m not saying those people are wrong. It’s just... it makes a bit sad. If carrying out our righteousness and harmony still inspires fear... then what are we...”
At that mont, a firm voice struck Jo Gul’s ears.
“Do not be mistaken, Gul.”
“Yes?”
“Righteousness by itself holds no value.”
“...”
“We are not striving to create a world full of agreents.”
A question flashed in Jo Gul’s eyes for a mont, but Yoon Jong’s following words naturally dispelled it.
“Righteousness only matters when there are those to be helped. A truly good world isn’t filled with people eager to help one another; it’s a world where everyone can live without needing to help each other.”
“Ah...”
“Righteousness without force accompanying it is rely goodwill. In other words, righteousness is sothing ultimately enforced by force. But, Gul, a world that can only be achieved through force is not a good place. Soday, the world our descendants live in should be one where the word ‘righteousness’ is regarded as a romantic relic of the past.”
Yoon Jong glanced quietly at the sword at his waist.
“The day Mount Hua truly becos Mount Hua again will be the day the swords fall from the waists of its mbers. A world where we no longer need to swing swords. A world where no one needs to be protected by a blade.”
Jo Gul’s expression as he looked at him was stunned, as if he’d been smacked in the back of the head.
Yoon Jong smiled faintly.
“Had I been born into such a world, I might have lived quietly in a solitary hall chanting ditations. In that world, those people might have shared even cold rice with and smiled.”
“...”
“It’s not those people’s fault. Let’s think of it as our own insufficiency.”
“...Sahyung.”
Jo Gul spoke in a slightly pained tone, scratching the back of his head.
“Talking with you, Sahyung, sotis I feel like a fool.”
“It shouldn’t be ‘sotis’...”
“Yes?”
“No.”
Yoon Jong snorted and quickened his pace; Jo Gul hurried after him.
“Sahyung! Let’s go together, Sahyung!”
Watching the two run, one ahead and one behind, Hae Yeon smiled softly.
‘A world without the need for righteousness to fight...’
Well. I don’t know. Whether such a day can ever co.
But if that day does co, the world will be a much better place to live than it is now.
“Amitabha.”
The lone chant quietly echoed through the silent mountain.
User Comments
0 comments from readers