Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 193

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 193. Continuing Chains (1)

Seong Geom Jin In finally realized. That the adults knew all the facts.

He felt anxiety and urgency before shame.

“Divine Physician. I don’t know what fool has dirtied your ears…”

“Not only did you trample the life of an innocent person and destroy a family, now you’re slandering the victim as a fool while seeking your own safety. Your appearance is truly demonic itself.”

“Divine Physician!”

“Heo Joong and I stayed here to care for the Taoist priests who went mad from war. We all worked to remove the demons that cast shadows over their hearts. Not because we weren’t interested in you, but because if we left them alone, they would surely bring harm to the world beyond Mu Dang.”

Heo Do Jin In’s eyes resembled lava.

“But I never imagined that seeds of demons were igniting elsewhere. Since you didn’t fight in the war, even though you suffered wrongdoing from some adults who became corrupted and your elder brothers, I believed you could somehow preserve Mu Dang’s spirit. Because I was the one who taught you!”

There’s a saying that habits formed at three last until eighty.

Values properly learned in childhood don’t easily become twisted. That’s why children’s education is important, and educators must always agonize over what is truly for the children.

Heo Do Jin In was a Taoist priest who, as the previous Mu Dang sect leader, read thousands of Taoist scriptures to witness the pinnacle of Taiji Quan and perfected his character using the teachings of predecessors as a foundation.

“You were good. You tried to understand the war participants somehow. If there had been more time, we could have embraced and understood you more, but at that time you were already approaching forty. Even without the care of predecessors, you knew well what good and evil were, and how to distinguish between public and private matters!”

The Elders’ faces reddened.

They had truly become children being scolded by an adult for the first time in a long while.

That fact didn’t make them dissatisfied. Heo Do Jin In’s voice was like autumn frost, shouting that what was not right was wrong.

Before the previous sect leader’s rebuke that stated the obvious as obvious, they felt the urge to crawl into a mouse hole.

Except for one person.

“We tried to protect Mu Dang in our own way!”

Seong Geom Jin In’s voice began to rise.

“The Mu Dang Faction, devastated by war, was no longer the same as before! We gave away the wealth accumulated for the common people, while the young Taoist priests of the sect ate thin gruel and lived in poverty day by day! Do you know, Divine Physician, how miserably the children lived, who couldn’t receive proper enlightenment because the adults went to war, children who survived on Mu Dang’s pride alone?!”

“Ridiculous sophistry! Mu Dang never needed wealth! The accumulated wealth always went to the common people, and by donating all riches except the minimum funds to society, Mu Dang could be truly Mu Dang!”

“That’s just outdated chivalrous theory from the past! Aren’t Taoist priests human? To maintain Mu Dang’s greatness, it’s true that some worldly power is necessary!”

“I said interaction with the secular world was necessary, not that you should oppress all the people of the world and live as parasites! How is that different from the deeds of evil sect bandits? If you knew even a little about how Mu Dang’s pride was built, you couldn’t make such nonsensical claims!”

“It’s not a nonsensical claim but reality! Because of the adults and elder brothers who participated in the war, the Mu Dang Faction became weak! Under the weakened Mu Dang Faction’s dignity and crumbling status, aren’t other sects eyeing Mu Dang?!”

“Your words are completely backwards! The Mu Dang Faction of all generations never once desired great status! That status you mentioned, worth less than crumpled paper, came about because we used our power for the world, not because we were born noble!”

Seong Geom Jin In gritted his teeth.

“I’m not talking about being born noble! The Mu Dang Faction must face the new era…”

“You fool! You can’t even answer a proper question and now you’re trying to nitpick words! How can you not know that your attitude of consistently making excuses and running away instead of discussing the essence of the situation shows the current quality of Mu Dang?!”

Seong Geom Jin In’s face turned pale.

Heo Do Jin In continued heatedly.

“Your words about Mu Dang’s reality have some merit, but in truth our reality was always the same! Mu Dang’s Taoist priests are a group of Taoist priests who cultivate mind and body by farming their own fields and eating fruits and leaves given by nature! They were not a group of power holders who dress in fancy swords and silk robes like you do now, swaggering toward the world!”

“…”

“And you knew this best. Because we taught you! Now you are nothing but traitors who deliberately ignore the teachings you’ve already learned and mastered to satisfy your own desires!”

The Elders now even trembled.

Though they thought this shouldn’t happen, the pleasure from worldly indulgence was tremendous. Enough to ignore thirty years of learning and the formed righteous character.

Naturally, their hearts couldn’t be at peace. Nevertheless, they pursued indulgence. Because they liked it.

The simple pleasure before their eyes made them forget nature’s energy and blessings. Their uncomfortable hearts only grew smaller before the ever-increasing pleasure.

Heo Do Jin In let out a sigh.

“Why can’t you see the truth? Why do you only think of this moment and not look back at the past? How can you forget that the reason you can exist now is thanks to the ancestors who made Mu Dang truly Mu Dang from hundreds of years ago?”

They say not to look back at the past, but that doesn’t mean history disappears.

Studying history doesn’t mean following the past exactly, but seeing the past transparently, finding things to learn, and incorporating them appropriately into reality.

However, even when incorporated into reality, among the things passed down from the past, there are things that must never change.

People called this identity.

Only when Taoist priests are truly Taoist priests, when monks are truly monks, do Taoism and Buddhism exist.

“Seong Geom, we participated in war and blamed and pitied ourselves for going mad. But don’t you know why we participated, why we tried not to forget we were Taoist priests even while covered in blood? You’re trying to blame the weakened Mu Dang’s power on the Taoist priests who participated in war.”

“…!”

“I won’t say anything about blaming everything on us. After all, it was our judgment that put you in those positions. But you should not have forgotten what our ancestors hoped for when they established the Mu Dang Faction. Why are you part of the Mu Dang Faction, and why are you Taoist priests?!”

Seong Geom Jin In’s face, ready to burst, filled with precariousness on the verge of collapse.

At the previous sect leader’s endless rebuke, the Elders couldn’t even breathe properly. Unable to be confident with any excuse, they couldn’t even look directly at Heo Do Jin In.

Winter Sword Immortal was the same, but he couldn’t hide a thread of puzzlement.

“Forgive me for interrupting, but Divine Physician, what exactly is this family story you mentioned earlier?”

Seong Geom Jin In wanted to tell him to shut up. But his lips wouldn’t part easily.

“Right, you didn’t hear the answer to that question.”

Heo Do Jin In looked at Seong Geom Jin In.

Heo Do Jin In’s eyes, which had been emitting lava-like light, changed to deep and clear blue.

“Seong Geom. Tell me. Do you truly think it was right to carelessly treat the life of an innocent fourteen-year-old boy just to find some martial art, and furthermore to completely destroy that family?”

“…”

“Why can’t you answer?”

Winter Sword Immortal was shocked.

“What is that…?!”

Heo Do Jin In continued.

“Let me be precise. Is it right for you to have deceived Moyong Bi, the eldest son of the Moyong Clan, by calling it a bone-transforming secret technique and teaching him the worthless Kang Won Gong to recover the forgotten Yang Yi Divine Art?”

Winter Sword Immortal’s mouth fell open. He had never heard about this matter even once.

Winter Sword Immortal turned pale when he looked at his brothers’ expressions. From their faces, it seemed everyone knew about this matter.

“Moon Geom brother. Do you know what the Divine Physician’s words mean?”

Moon Geom Jin In avoided Winter Sword Immortal’s gaze.

Winter Sword Immortal, who had been staring blankly at his brothers, looked at Heo Do Jin In again.

Then, Seong Geom Jin In opened his mouth.

“They are… a family of fraudsters, utterly vicious…”

“I’ll ask again.”

The calm voice was ten times more frightening than when he had been shouting angrily just before.

Love exists, so anger is shown. Now Heo Do Jin In had reached his limit.

If a proper answer didn’t come this time, to Heo Do Jin In, they would become beings that never existed from the beginning.

And everyone present realized his heart.

“Is it right?”

“…”

“You’re not answering.”

Heo Do Jin In’s voice was terrifying enough to be evaluated as excessive even in its calmness.

Winter Sword Immortal shouted.

“Elder Brother Seong Geom! What exactly is this about?!”

Seong Geom Jin In gritted his teeth and said.

“The Yang Yi Divine Art belonged to the Mu Dang Faction.”

“It did.”

“With just that martial art, we could put Hwa San and Gon Ryun, who threaten the main sect’s supremacy, under our feet…”

“Do not insult this old Taoist any further.”

All the Elders, including Seong Geom Jin In, felt chills run down their spines.

Heo Do Jin In spoke as if addressing a rock without eyes, nose, or mouth.

“This old Taoist became sect leader with Taiji Quan alone, and at that time my martial arts were complete enough that even the Shaolin abbot would wave his hands in admiration. I did not become strong through the Yang Yi Divine Art, and all my brothers who participated in war were the same.”

“D-Divine Physician?!”

“Do not address me as Divine Physician. You are not people I know.”

It was a more brutal and terrible statement than cutting necks with a sword.

Even Seong Geom Jin In, who had been shameless until now, turned pale.

Though he lacked the sect leader’s authority to expel them, Heo Do Jin In had cast them out from his heart. Nothing remained between them anymore.

“Martial arts and learning are like tributaries. Water that has moved away from the sea repeats circulation to nourish the earth, then returns to the sea again. Our Mu Dang’s Taoist priests know this principle well, so they had no attachment to the lost Yang Yi Divine Art.”

“…!!”

“But why are you here? This Ming Zhen Nunnery does not welcome those who are not Mu Dang’s Taoist priests.”

Heo Do Jin In pointed to the slope with his hand.

“Please go down now, warriors of Jianghu.”

Neung Hyeong whistled inwardly.

It would be better to have my limbs torn apart while still alive.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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