Chapter 592:
I thought something had changed about him.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely wrong either. It was true that Wei Yan-ho had changed a little.
Didn’t I mention this earlier?
So I had a bit of, how should I put it, fleeting hope. The hope that just as people can change, maybe Wei Yan-ho could change too.
What?
You think it might be possible?
Don’t be ridiculous.
People don’t change.
Usually, people have that delusion. When people get older, they become a bit more cautious and thoughtful, don’t they? Different from when they were young. People generally think that means a person has matured and become more rounded.
Do you think that’s because people actually changed?
No, no.
People don’t change. A person’s fundamental nature absolutely never changes. It’s true that they appear to change. But that’s not actually changing. It’s just that they have more to lose.
Even with the same person, their attitude differs depending on whether they have something to lose or nothing to lose. Can you call that a person changing?
You can’t.
Think about it. The idea that people mature as they age is a lie. People who used to grab each other by the collar while playing soccer when they were young just throw the Go board when playing Go as they get older.
What?
You say all the elderly people you know are more dignified than young people?
That’s ridiculous.
You try having children and grandchildren, see if you can run wild like when you were young. Just imagine a seven-year-old child staring at you with bright, sparkling eyes right in front of you. See if you can speak and act the way you do now.
And imagine you’ve become the head of your family. Do you think you could?
You can’t.
Do you know how much people’s gazes weigh on you? Even when I was in the position of Sect Leader of the Beggar’s Sect, do you know how much I had to watch others’ reactions? It’s not just subordinates who watch their superiors’ faces. Superiors watch their subordinates’ faces too.
All people are like that.
What appears to be change isn’t because of change. It’s because they become careful since they have more to lose. Such pretenses merely constrain people, but their fundamental nature absolutely never changes.
But what about that bastard?
Hm?
Wei Yan-ho, obviously.
If other people find it hard to change, do you think that bastard will change? Absolutely not.
Other people at least have the concept of ‘something to lose.’ Things like dignity, social status, reputation, you know.
But that bastard doesn’t have any of that.
Right, he doesn’t.
Why can’t you understand what I’m saying, you fool! Wei Yan-ho doesn’t have any of that!
Of course, as you said, he did acquire such things. The Wei Yan-ho who came out of the cave and the Wei Yan-ho during the war had completely different status and reputation.
But that’s only how others view Wei Yan-ho. If Wei Yan-ho himself doesn’t care about such things, what meaning does it have?
Wei Yan-ho is someone who has nothing to lose.
So he can’t change.
Someone who has nothing to lose doesn’t need to be careful, and doesn’t need to change. When the present moment is comfortable, what reason would there be to change?
What?
Then why did you follow him?
Hey! You…
Was that a situation where I could just bail out to save myself? Sure, now I’m worn down enough that if my life seems in danger, I’d run like a rabbit, but back then I still had things like a sense of justice and righteousness.
What’s with that look?
Stop staring at me like that, or I’ll splash ink all over you.
Ahem!
Anyway, so… where was I in the story?
Right, I got to that part.
Anyway, well, it was absolutely impossible to back out, so everyone ended up following Wei Yan-ho.
The atmosphere?
What do you think it was like?
…What do you think it was like.
***
“I’m gonna die, seriously!”
Jang-il’s mouth jutted out. But that mouth had no choice but to quickly return to its proper place.
Not because his complaints disappeared. It was because it was too difficult to run with his mouth sticking out.
“Huff! Huff! Huff!“
At some point, Jang-il realized something.
‘Wait, I seem to be incredibly fast right now?’
Jang-il had always been confident in his lightness skills. But the current Jang-il was running at a speed that would have made his jaw drop if he had seen himself from a few months ago.
Moreover, he was even talking while running at that speed.
‘Well, now that I think about it…’
He didn’t think he had walked at all these past few weeks. He had been running like his life depended on it, over and over again. He had even had swords flying at his back while running.
After running with all his might repeatedly, over and over, it would be stranger if his speed hadn’t increased.
“Ugh.“
The fact that his lightness skills had improved meant his martial prowess had grown stronger. Lightness skills are ultimately methods of handling the body and ways of manipulating internal energy. The fact that his energy flowed more smoothly meant his overall abilities had dramatically improved.
It’s not that someone with fast lightness skills is necessarily stronger than someone with slow lightness skills, but when one person’s lightness skills improve beyond their previous level, it means their abilities have grown.
For a martial artist, becoming stronger was the most joyful thing of all.
But Jang-il couldn’t purely rejoice.
‘There are other things to be happy about.’
If you get beaten half to death and your endurance improves compared to before, would you be able to celebrate that?
While it was true that his lightness skills had improved, when he looked back at the process he had to endure to achieve this result, tears blurred Jang-il’s vision.
And there was another reason he couldn’t be happy.
Right now, they were rushing into a death trap. No matter how fast his legs were, it would only bring forward the time of his death. So how could he be happy?
“Ughhhh.“
He kept making groaning sounds.
“That beggar sure complains a lot.”
“How could I not have complaints with how I look!”
A roar burst from Jang-il’s mouth.
“We barely made it back to the Central Plains after all that suffering, and now we have to go suffer again right after returning! How could anything good come out of my mouth!”
“You couldn’t avoid suffering anyway once you came to the Central Plains.”
Hearing Wei Yan-ho’s nonchalant words made his insides churn.
Because Wei Yan-ho was wrong?
No. His insides churned because Wei Yan-ho was right. There are few things more annoying than hearing correct words head-on.
“That doesn’t mean we necessarily have to go ourselves.”
“We’re not the only ones going.”
“Ughhhh.“
The Divine Beggar didn’t trust Wei Yan-ho.
To be precise, trust and distrust were half mixed. While he considered Wei Yan-ho more reliable than anyone else in the world regarding his skills and the results he produced, he had the greatest distrust in the world regarding his process and humanity.
So he couldn’t completely entrust the job to Wei Yan-ho.
Right now, Wei Yan-ho’s group was in the lead, but other sects would eventually follow Wei Yan-ho. It meant that if Wei Yan-ho couldn’t properly resolve the situation, they would risk deploying other sects.
“You don’t seem like you would, but you always stick your head in when it’s dangerous.”
“Only a beggar’s head?”
“Ptooey!“
If he had the strength, he would have charged at Wei Yan-ho, but right now Jang-il didn’t even have the energy to argue with Wei Yan-ho. Just keeping up with Wei Yan-ho’s speed was overwhelming.
‘I really have a weird personality.’
If it’s hard, he could just give up and fall behind, but while voicing all sorts of complaints, he still struggles desperately not to fall behind. It was something even Jang-il himself couldn’t understand.
‘Damn it.’
Jang-il trembled with anger at the contradictory emotions that controlled him.
Thinking coldly, what Wei Yan-ho was doing now was utterly foolish. It was true that they had to save those people, but Wei Yan-ho didn’t necessarily have to be the one to do it.
There would be plenty of others who could do it instead of Wei Yan-ho. Going to rescue them meant being prepared for a collision with Hundred Sword Castle. Where was the need to do such dangerous work leading this small group?
But on the other hand, he was grateful to Wei Yan-ho.
Even at this very moment, beggars were probably dying. The Beggar’s Sect’s lightness skills were renowned as first-rate, but that only applied to the few who had mastered the Beggar’s Sect’s martial arts to the extreme.
Since the sect was large with many things to worry about, the general disciples of the Beggar’s Sect were inferior in skill to disciples of other sects. So naturally, their lightness skills had to be slow too.
Divine Beggar knew this fact but still headed to the Righteous Martial Alliance, abandoning the Beggar’s Sect disciples. It was obvious that the longer they delayed, the more casualties would increase exponentially.
‘Damn it.’
While criticizing Wei Yan-ho’s foolishness, he had to be grateful for that very foolishness – what kind of ridiculous situation was this?
“Yan-ho.”
While Jang-il was agonizing, Wei Jeong-han quietly called Wei Yan-ho.
“Yes.”
“If this situation is indeed identical to that previous one…”
“Yes.”
“There must be a reason, wouldn’t there?”
Wei Yan-ho made a thoughtful “Hmm” sound.
“I’m not certain yet, but there’s something I suspect.”
“…”
“Since I’m not certain, I’ll keep my words to myself. But Father, you should have a guess by now too.”
“There is something that bothers me.”
Worry appeared in Wei Jeong-han’s eyes.
“You don’t need to look at me like that. It’s not like I did anything wrong. If all those people saw it but couldn’t notice, there was no way for me to notice either.”
“That’s certainly true.”
Wei Jeong-han asked no more questions.
He was equally confused. If the Sword Emperor’s Secret was the beginning of all this, Wei Yan-ho couldn’t escape responsibility either. He would have to bear the world’s condemnation with his entire body.
And perhaps Wei Yan-ho himself might collapse under that burden. But how could that be Wei Yan-ho’s fault?
Even without Wei Yan-ho, the Sword Emperor’s Secret would have spread into the world. Hundred Sword Castle had created the Sword Emperor’s Secret targeting that from the beginning. Wei Yan-ho had merely reduced the bloodshed that would have flowed in that process.
‘Though he did pocket some money along the way.’
Just as Wei Jeong-han’s mind was getting complicated, Wei Yan-ho spoke in a resolute voice.
“Even if I did do something wrong!”
“…”
“I’ve already paid it all back.”
Wei Jeong-han’s face became peaceful.
Hearing it now, it was the right thing to say. Even if Wei Yan-ho had brought crisis to the martial world, what Wei Yan-ho had done for the martial world during this time was far greater.
“If that still doesn’t work, I’ll tell them to stab me in the belly.”
“That won’t happen.”
Wei Jeong-han would make sure of it.
If the world blamed and cursed Wei Yan-ho, he would stand on that side and fight. That was what Wei Jeong-han had to do as a father and as a righteous warrior.
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
“Hm?”
“It’s not important that the secret technique spread, but that someone created that secret technique.”
“You mean Hundred Sword Castle?”
“They can’t do it. They absolutely cannot create that.”
“Hundred Sword Castle can’t create it?”
“No.”
Wei Yan-ho was resolute.
“They can provide the foundation. The martial arts contained in it really were Master’s, after all. Of course, it’s just scratching the surface, but even surfaces vary. If it came from someone at Master’s level, even a mere fragment would still be extraordinary.”
“…R-right.”
The analogy was a bit strange, but.
“But someone appeared who could hide their intentions behind Master’s martial arts. If it’s to that extent… well, how should I put it.”
Wei Yan-ho sighed while running.
“Saving anyone might not have much meaning. The moment that person steps forward, everything will be settled.”
“…Is it that serious?”
“It’s not hopeless. There must be something, some reason they can’t step forward directly! It would be good if we could dig into that.”
Wei Yan-ho shook his head vigorously and pointed ahead.
“There!”
“…!”
“Let’s go!”
Wei Yan-ho’s group picked up speed.
