Chapter 547

**Chapter 547: The Lazy One Arrives (2)**

Baek Jong-jin barely suppressed the trembling in his chest.

“Fuu.”

A deep breath.

He clenched and unclenched his fists slightly.

‘Calm down.’

He always knew something like this would happen. Ever since he stepped into the martial world, he knew that a peaceful life was just a dream. If you lived under the protection of this world, sooner or later the day would come to pay the price.

And he didn’t think that was necessarily a bad thing.

Because he saw it as something romantic.

The life of a hero wielding an ancient sword to defeat the forces of evil that disturb the martial world. That was the life Baek Jong-jin had always dreamed of.

When he vowed to live as a member of the martial world for the first time, he was completely sure that one day he would become that kind of hero. And now, after a long time, that opportunity had finally arrived.

“Fuu.”

But he didn’t feel as happy as he expected.

Although he had the opportunity to show off his carefully polished sword, he was already too old to rejoice over it. He had come to understand that a sword is better kept in its sheath.

Baek Jong-jin turned his head slightly.

The expressions of the others weren’t much different. Everyone had faces marked by tension and anxiety.

‘It’s not like in the stories.’

In the tales, the members of the Righteous Martial Alliance were full of righteousness and didn’t hesitate to risk their lives to face the evil ones.

Baek Jong-jin had also lived believing that was the right thing to do.

But tales are tales, and reality is reality.

Who could joyfully accept a situation where their head might roll?

‘It must have been like this from the beginning.’

Yes, someone might become a hero. Someone might make a name for themselves in this war and be etched in history. But what about Baek Jong-jin?

He pursed his lips tightly.

Those heroes must be exceptional people. Nothing to do with someone like him, who still hesitated to register his name as a disciple and receive a martial title.

In the end, his role in this war was just a number.

When people talk about the thousands that Zhang Fei stopped at Changban, or the fifty thousand that Xiang Yu crushed with his five thousand. Those whose names aren’t etched in history end up being just numbers.

Numbers. Nothing more than numbers.

Baek Jong-jin pursed his lips tightly.

That didn’t mean he hadn’t worked hard or that his life was insignificant. Although he hadn’t registered his name as an official disciple, he was a proud student of Wudang. He still carried the awkward title of “secular disciple,” but even that gave him a certain status in the martial world.

And now, as payment for having lived with that name and that pride, he was being dragged into a battlefield with an uncertain end.

‘Was this really what I wanted?’

Perhaps…

Hopefully, he could show skills beyond his capabilities. Maybe even improve during the war. It wasn’t uncommon for someone who started as a simple number to end up as a hero.

But that remote possibility didn’t give him hope. He could pursue the chance to become a hero against all odds. But the price to pay was almost certain death.

His heart throbbed forcefully.

‘Why?’

There was another reason for his unease.

Those who should fall under his sword for him to be a hero weren’t from the Demon Cult. In his dreams, he had always fought against the Demon Cult.

The Demon Cult.

What else is there to say?

It’s enough that they bear that name. It doesn’t matter what crimes they’ve committed. They are evil for the simple fact of being from the Demon Cult. So he could kill them without hesitation. Without the slightest remorse.

But Baekgeom Fortress wasn’t like that.

As a secular disciple of Wudang, Baek Jong-jin had met many people. Among them, disciples of Baekgeom Fortress. They were all good people.

And now he was going to fight them to the death.

‘How did we get to this?’

He couldn’t understand it. It didn’t make sense.

No one knew why Baekgeom Fortress had started attacking the Righteous Martial Alliance. Not even the high-ranking officials seemed to know. There was no reason to hide it if they knew.

The only clear thing was that Baekgeom Fortress had allied itself with the Demon Cult and had already razed a branch of the Righteous Martial Alliance.

How?

How could they ally themselves with the Demon Cult?

Baek Jong-jin’s mind was a chaos. The Demon Cult was not something to be negotiated with. It only had to be exterminated. And now there was a group that had allied with them, and among that group were people with whom Baek Jong-jin had shared cups. That confused him even more.

And he wasn’t the only one.

“Uuuf.”

If he strained his ears, he could hear sighs and deep breaths everywhere. They weren’t the sounds of determined steps to punish the enemy. They were suppressed groans from people as confused as he was.

He looked up towards the front.

Seeing the back of the Patriarch (Sect Leader) in front calmed him down a bit.

‘What is the Sect Leader thinking now?’

Then something caught his attention.

In front of the Sect Leader, he saw a group of people approaching.

‘Enemies?’

For a moment, he tensed up, but then he relaxed. If they were enemies, the Sect Leader wouldn’t be so calm. The Sect Leader was receiving them as if he were waiting for their arrival.

“It’s been a long time since we met.”

The Sect Leader of Wudang made a slight martial salute towards the imposing man who was approaching. The other also smiled and returned the greeting.

“Indeed. It seems that the Sect Leader’s energy has become even purer.”

“I am ashamed to hear that from the leader of Namgung. I already felt small before the achievements of Namgung leader in the past, and now the gap seems to have widened.”

“You exaggerate. The fame of the Sage of Tai Chi resonates throughout the world. How could I follow in your footsteps?”

The two exchanged words of humility.

In other circumstances, they would have continued, but the situation didn’t allow for such luxury.

“How is the situation?”

“They are advancing north. You could say it is unstoppable.”

The leader of Namgung, Namgung Jo-wi, shook his head, frustrated.

“They have reached Anhui in the blink of an eye. And they are massacring anyone who opposes them. From how they act, they should be called Bloody Swords, not White Swords (Baek Swords).”

“Why…?”

Song Hyun sighed deeply.

“I don’t understand why Baekgeom Fortress is doing this. Even if they seek dominance, there is no need for such cruelty.”

“It’s not for dominance.”

“Then…”

Namgung Jo-wi looked around and lowered his voice.

“You know it. This is revenge.”

“…”

“The Sect Leader also knows it. This is revenge. Since they declared themselves the Infinity Sword, this was inevitable.”

“But that was already…”

“For us it is the past, but for them it is not.”

Song Hyun murmured a prayer.

Yes, Namgung Jo-wi was right.

It was their decision to consider that as a past that should be forgotten or as a reality that still continued. How could Song Hyun interfere in that choice?

For the Infinity Sword, Wudang was just the perpetrator. The same for Namgung. If they committed a crime, they had to pay the price. Completely.

But…

“If they want my life, they can take it at any time. If that alleviates their resentment, I will gladly surrender this old neck. But… these young people know nothing. They are only under the name of Wudang, they have no relationship. Why should they pay?”

“It’s late, Patriarch.”

“…”

Namgung Jo-wi shook his head.

“You should have said that a long time ago. When you took over as Sect Leader and knew the truth. Did you seek out the descendants of the Infinity Sword to reveal the truth and ask for forgiveness?”

“…No.”

“Exactly. The moment you decided to bury it and forget it, we became accomplices. And now they are coming for their payment. We only have two options left: spill enough blood for them to forgive us, or harden our faces and kill them.”

Namgung Jo-wi’s voice was chilling.

“If they accepted apologies without payment, I would do it without hesitation. But they have already declared that they want their payment. So we will fight. Sect Leader, don’t hesitate. Sin can be paid in hell. Now you should only think about the lives of your disciples and the peace of the martial world.”

“Great Lao Tzu…”

Song Hyun repeated the prayer several times.

At what point did everything go wrong?

‘Too much time has passed.’

How deep and wide is the resentment?

Is it right that, for grudges from an era before their birth, their descendants must shed blood hundreds of years later?

‘Why did they do it? Why?’

They will burn in hell.

His ancestors, who did what they shouldn’t have and hid what they shouldn’t have, surely regret it now in the fire of hell. But the price of sin didn’t end with them.

If they knew that their descendants were also trapped in this terrible cycle of hatred, what would they think?

“Sect Leader!”

Namgung Jo-wi’s sharp voice made Song Hyun open his eyes wide.

Not now.

As Namgung Jo-wi said, now they should only fight. No matter what resentments or sorrows there are, you cannot offer your neck to someone who wants to kill you.

“What about Shaolin?”

“It seems they will arrive a little late.”

“Even in this situation, they take their time?”

“That’s why they are Shaolin. That’s why they are Shaolin.”

“Hmm…”

Namgung Jo-wi didn’t like it, but he seemed to understand. Shaolin had always been like that.

“We had better camp here and wait for them to join. We need the warriors of the Righteous Martial Alliance and other factions to balance the scales.”

“I agree.”

Upon returning to his disciples after agreeing on the camp, Song Hyun’s face was not at all cheerful.

‘What is justice?’

There is no righteousness in this war.

There is only a sea of resentment.

Even his murmurs of prayer seemed to lack strength.