Chapter 576
“……”
“……”
Master and disciple looked at each other.
Though their appearances were no different, their expressions were slightly different. Wei Yan-ho looked at Baek Mu-han with a bewildered face, while Baek Mu-han looked at Wei Yan-ho with a sullen expression.
“You told me to surpass you, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“You said I could surpass you, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
Wei Yan-ho burst out shouting.
“Then why are you saying I can’t surpass you now! A person’s words should have consistency! Which tune should I dance to……”
Thwack!
With an intense striking sound, Wei Yan-ho rolled on the floor again.
His lack of learning ability was beyond excessive.
“My disciple.”
“Yes!”
Wei Yan-ho sprang up and sat in a formal position.
When Baek Mu-han’s voice lowered, he absolutely must not act cheeky. That was a shortcut to hell. The usual Baek Mu-han was already damn annoying, but an angry Baek Mu-han was a hundred times more damn annoying.
“You’ve grown quite a lot. Shouting at your master like that.”
“I temporarily lost my mind, Master.”
“A beating is the best way to bring back one’s senses.”
“I will discipline myself, Master.”
“Tch.”
Baek Mu-han clicked his tongue.
This damn disciple was only growing more cunning.
“I asked if you could surpass me.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think you can do it?”
“……”
Wei Yan-ho pursed his lips.
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“If I’m being honest……”
Wei Yan-ho pondered slightly. The answer was already as good as decided, but he should at least pretend to think about it.
“It seems completely impossible?”
“You know well.”
“……”
Wei Yan-ho looked at Baek Mu-han with sullen eyes. This man had a talent for making people feel bad even with the same words.
“You said I couldn’t do it, so you said you would!”
“I did.”
“Then why are your words changing now?”
“You gave up, didn’t you.”
“……What?”
“I created a possibility for you, but you gave up on it, didn’t you.”
“Are you talking about copying Master?”
“You know well.”
Baek Mu-han shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.
“One who imitates can never defeat one who creates.”
“But I’m getting stronger now, aren’t I?”
“Because imitation is easy.”
Creating everything versus copying what others have done. Which would be easier was self-evident.
“If you had stuck to your original path, you wouldn’t have become as strong as you are now. But your future self would have been stronger.”
“But we don’t have time now.”
“What did I say? I’m stating facts.”
“Your tone doesn’t sound like that though?”
“I said it’s not.”
“Come on, you clearly seem peeved about something?”
“This brat?”
“……”
Wei Yan-ho quietly closed his mouth and lowered his head. If he went one step further here, he would really get beaten to a pulp.
“Tch.”
Seeing the dejected Wei Yan-ho, Baek Mu-han clicked his tongue.
“Don’t be so dejected. It’s not that there’s absolutely no possibility.”
“Really?”
“An earthworm might become a dragon.”
Just say there isn’t any.
Even when making analogies, he has to……
“It’s certainly not an easy task. But who am I? I didn’t exclude the probability that you would commit such foolishness. I had it all factored in……”
“Yes!”
“Actually, more than that problem……”
“Yes!”
“What bothers me is that you’re more stupid than I thought.”
“……”
Wei Yan-ho’s eyes wavered.
Building up and tearing down, building up and tearing down…… The ups and downs were no joke.
“Usually by this point, I thought you’d be strong enough to this degree, but you’re not rising as much as I thought. I’ve long thought your comprehension was lacking, but this is more blockheaded than I imagined…… Hmm.”
“Wow, you’re openly badmouthing someone right to their face.”
“How could there be even a speck of hesitation in stating facts?”
“Shall I tell you why Master had no friends?”
“Because I was too outstanding?”
“……”
There were no words to say.
Wei Yan-ho opened his mouth with a rotten expression.
“But this time I at least came close once.”
“Close?”
“……Not even close to close, but anyway, somewhat plausibly.”
“Plausible?”
He should stop talking.
No matter what he said, he couldn’t penetrate that mocking expression.
“Do I swing my sword that clumsily?”
“Ugh, really!”
Wei Yan-ho burst out.
“People should encourage and comfort others when they do something!”
“That’s right. People shouldn’t just use beatings. You should praise what deserves praise.”
“Oh?”
“But you have to do something praiseworthy for me to praise you. Should I praise you for looking human?”
“……”
It was better to just give up.
“Noisy, come sit here, my disciple.”
Wei Yan-ho sat down with sulky eyes.
“Your expression.”
“……”
“Fix it!”
Wei Yan-ho curled up the corners of his mouth and smiled awkwardly.
Wei Yan-ho’s reputation was now shaking all under Heaven. Though the Beggar’s Sect and Sacred Hand Hall had intentionally spread rumors about Wei Yan-ho, weren’t the achievements that made up those rumors actually accomplished by Wei Yan-ho himself?
Even if they hadn’t stepped forward like that, these were rumors that would have spread eventually. The speed at which they spread had just quickened a bit.
Soon, talk about Wei Yan-ho would spread throughout the entire martial world, and soon the entire martial world would sing Wei Yan-ho’s praises.
But even so.
No matter how strong he became, no matter how much fame he gained, in front of Baek Mu-han, Wei Yan-ho was just a young disciple with a head perfect for flicking.
“You have become strong.”
“Huh?”
“Facts are facts. You are getting stronger.”
Hearing such unexpected words actually made him more suspicious. Master was absolutely not someone who said such nice things. He was someone who wouldn’t be satisfied until he dragged a person’s self-esteem down to rock bottom and trampled it with his feet.
But the words that followed made Wei Yan-ho flustered.
“But why are you so scared?”
“……What?”
“I asked why you’re scared.”
It was a somewhat crude language.
But he couldn’t refute it.
‘Am I frightened right now?’
Only then could Wei Yan-ho see his situation clearly.
Though he was lying on a comfortable bed, though his body was resting under the pretext of rest, his heart couldn’t rest even a little.
“Master.”
“Yes.”
“Will I be able to do it?”
“Hmm.”
Wei Yan-ho honestly revealed his inner thoughts.
“Actually, I’m a bit scared. I only thought vaguely about it being war…… but when it actually came to it, it’s not something to think about so easily.”
Baek Mu-han looked at Wei Yan-ho with slightly pitying eyes.
The things Wei Yan-ho was experiencing were unavoidable for those living in the current martial world.
But to dismiss it with such words, the burden Wei Yan-ho was shouldering was too heavy, and Wei Yan-ho was too young.
‘This kid.’
At Wei Yan-ho’s age, had there been anyone in the past who shouldered as heavy a burden as Wei Yan-ho?
At the same age, Baek Mu-han had just been stretching his wings in his family. He might have had strength greater than Wei Yan-ho’s, but he had never shouldered as much responsibility as Wei Yan-ho.
Pitiful.
“Is it hard?”
“Rather than being hard……”
Wei Yan-ho let out a low sigh.
“I felt it again this time. If I hadn’t stopped those bastards, all the people of Luoyang would have died.”
“That would be so.”
“I stopped them this time. Because I was strong. I’ll probably manage to stop them somehow next time too. But how long will I be able to keep blocking this?”
Baek Mu-han nodded.
He seemed to understand what Wei Yan-ho was saying.
“I can’t win forever. When I keep winning, stronger people appear. Enemies who know I’m strong will devise other means. Eventually, a moment will come that I can’t handle. Then……”
Wei Yan-ho slightly lowered his head.
“It’s okay if I die. Because it can’t be helped. But it’s not like I die alone and it ends.”
“It’s okay?”
“No. Actually, it’s not okay. I don’t want to die either, Master.”
Wei Yan-ho raised his head to look at Baek Mu-han. His wavering gaze focused on Baek Mu-han.
“Will I be able to do it?”
Baek Mu-han quietly reached out his hand and placed it on Wei Yan-ho’s head.
“Yan-ho.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t try to bear a burden you cannot handle.”
Baek Mu-han’s voice was gentle.
“You always tend to take on excessive responsibility. But that’s not originally your burden.”
“No one else can do it but me.”
“The fact that no one else can do it if not you doesn’t become a reason why you must do it.”
“Then everyone will die.”
“Do you think that will happen?”
Baek Mu-han smiled.
“I was once like you too.”
“……Master?”
Wei Yan-ho’s eyes widened. It felt strange for his master, who always gave him a hard time, to say such things.
“I was exactly like you now. All the people in the world seemed incompetent to me. I thought I had to do everything myself. And that was partially true.”
“Because it was Master.”
He thought that made sense.
Because it was Baek Mu-han.
Even Wei Yan-ho, who received the world’s praise, was treated like a rice worm by Baek Mu-han. How pathetic must other martial artists of the same era have seemed in Baek Mu-han’s eyes?
“I couldn’t trust anyone in my family. They seemed too incompetent. Even my father and grandfather were the same. So I trusted only myself. I created even the martial arts I used myself, and accomplished everything on my own. Do you know what the result was?”
“You became invincible.”
“No. I became alone.”
“……”
Baek Mu-han spoke bitterly.
“I couldn’t interact with anyone in my family. In the end, I left the family as if being driven out. That was my end.”
“Who would dare drive Master out!”
When Wei Yan-ho got indignant, Baek Mu-han firmly pressed down on Wei Yan-ho’s head.
“Driving out by force isn’t the only way to drive someone out. A person who can’t find a place to stand has no choice but to leave alone.”
Wei Yan-ho puffed out his cheeks.
Baek Mu-han was the worst master. But only Wei Yan-ho could curse Baek Mu-han. Others couldn’t dare treat Baek Mu-han carelessly.
Who would dare ostracize this great martial artist, this irreplaceable master?
“You’re tensing up again!”
Wei Yan-ho released the tension that had entered his body.
Baek Mu-han, who had grabbed Wei Yan-ho’s head and shaken it lightly, chuckled.
“My disciple.”
“Yes, Master.”
“I have regrets.”
Wei Yan-ho raised his head to look at Baek Mu-han.
Regrets.
This was a word that didn’t suit Baek Mu-han at all.
“I built martial arts unparalleled in the world. I climbed and climbed until I reached a place where there was nowhere higher to go. So what was left for me?”
“The honor of being the greatest of all time?”
He couldn’t think of anything else.
“Praise received after death?”
Baek Mu-han shook his head. Heavily, so very heavily.
“Such things have no meaning at all. For humans, only when they’re alive matters. What meaning could praise poured out in a place where I don’t exist?”
“……Master.”
“So……”
Baek Mu-han spoke resolutely.
“You must not become like me. Walk a different path from mine. That is what you must do as my disciple. You must walk a different path and surpass me.”
At those words filled with incomparable warmth, Wei Yan-ho’s eyes began to sting.
