I’ve seen it all in my lifetime. (3)

“Hurry up!”

“What? Oh… yes!”

“Faster, I said! We’re heading to the headquarters! Move to the main hall!”

“Yes, Elder!”

The elders of the Beggars Sect, who had quickly gathered the reinforcements stationed outside the headquarters, began leading them at a sprint. The followers, faces marked by confusion, followed hastily. The urgency displayed by the elders made it clear how dire the internal situation was, leaving no one foolish enough to question the reasons at this point.

“When we enter the main hall, we must knock down everyone attacking the elders! Understood?”

“Yes!”

“I’ll say it again, it’s mandatory! No excuses!”

A look of puzzlement crossed the faces of the beggars. Wasn’t this obvious enough without the need for such emphasis?

“Advance!”

“Yes!”

They soon reached the main hall, where the wide-open doors greeted them. Following the orders, they prepared to charge in when-

“Stop!”

Someone suddenly blocked their path, jumping in front of them.

“Huh!”

“What the…”

The beggars hesitated for a moment. The elders immediately raised their voices.

“No questions! Attack!”

The beggars’ bodies instinctively obeyed the command. They infused their staffs with force.

“Ha-aaah!”

Booom!

Before the beggars could swing their staffs, the figure blocking their path forcefully brought down their staff, striking the ground with tremendous strength. The solid earth in front of the main hall cracked and caved in deeply.

“Th-that!”

The beggars stood frozen in awe.

It wasn’t just the sheer power that astonished them. It was undoubtedly the deadly martial art technique of the Beggars Sect, the Dog Beating Staff Technique [타구봉법(打狗棒法)]. Wasn’t the jade-colored energy swirling around the staff proof enough?

“You cannot proceed any further.”

Pung Yeong Shin Gae, who blocked the beggars’ path, gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Follow the orders of the Sect Leader! Everyone, stay in place!”

“The, the Sect Leader? Did he just mention the Beggars Sect’s Sect Leader? Himself?”

“He’s the Sect Leader of the Beggars Sect?”

The beggars murmured in confusion. This was a vastly different sight from the Sect Leader they knew, and the martial arts displayed clearly belonged to the Sect Leader. How was this situation even possible? Everyone was thrown into disarray.

One of the elders interjected, his voice trembling.

“This is a lie! Everyone…!”

“Gishim [기심(記心) – memory]!”

Pung Yeong Shin Gae’s booming voice cut him off.

“Aren’t you ashamed to call yourself by your title [memory]?”

At Pung Yeong Shin Gae’s rebuke, Gishim Gae bit his lips tightly. In truth, his title was bestowed upon him by his master as a reminder to never forget the warmth in his heart. So, hearing Pung Yeong Shin Gae’s words was deeply painful.

But now, there was no turning back.

“What are you all doing?! Why aren’t you immediately striking down that imposter who dares to impersonate the Sect Leader?”

With venomous fury in his eyes, Gishim Gae cursed.

“Come and see.”

Thud!

Pung Yeong Shin Gae planted his feet firmly in place once again.

“I must rectify the wrongs I’ve committed. Even if I fall and perish in this spot, I will not open the way while I am standing on my own feet.”

Clutching the staff with all his might, he suppressed the burning sensation in his heart. And why wouldn’t he be afraid? If they were to attack him all at once, injured as he was, he wouldn’t stand a chance. He might even become the first Beggars Sect’s Sect Leader to fall at the hands of the very sect he led.

But he wouldn’t take a single step back.

‘This is a death that befits me.’

If the Beggar Sect was to exact punishment on him for ruining it, he would accept it.

“If you wish to pass, step over my corpse!”

Pung Yeong Shin Gae planted his feet firmly as if to root himself in that spot. The elders kept shouting, without giving up their stance.

“What are you waiting for? Kill him now and be done with it!”

However, there was no enthusiastic response from the beggars to his command. Alarmed, Gishim Gae shouted.

“Can’t you hear me?”

“Well… he might be the Sect Leader, you know?”

“Are you all fools? How can he be the Sect Leader? Can’t you see it’s just a facade?”

“Uh, well…”

“Stop hesitating and kill that scoundrel now! Hurry!”

The beggars continued to look back and forth between Gishim Gae and Pung Yeong Shin Gae with uncertain expressions. Gishim Gae felt sick to his stomach.

“You idiots! We have no time to waste…”

“Then let the elders do it themselves.”

“…What?”

At that moment, a voice suddenly cut through the chatter from behind, causing the buzzing noise to abruptly stop. Startled, Gishim Gae looked in the direction of the voice and saw several beggars looking at him with displeased faces.

“He’s just one person. And you said he’s not even the Sect Leader. So why don’t the elders handle it themselves?”

“I saw you running just fine earlier. Why are you leaving this to us?”

“If it turns out he really is the Sect Leader, you’ll just blame us for everything. No way, I’m not doing it.”

“You, you bastards!”

Enraged, Gishim Gae wanted to immediately root out and punish those who voiced their complaints as an example. However, it was not easy to identify the first one to speak among the crowd of beggars, and to make matters worse, the dissatisfaction spread like wildfire among the common beggars.

“Honestly, we saw Shaolin’s people heading to the headquarters earlier. Now they’re saying there’s an attacker? Does that mean Shaolin is the enemy?”

“So, should we go over there and fight Shaolin’s guys?”

“If the elders can’t handle them, what can we do?”

“They usually act all high and mighty as elders, but now…”

“Y-You lot! Can’t you shut those mouths? Have you all gone mad?”

Gishim Gae, bewildered beyond anger, hurriedly looked around at everyone. Now, it seemed that none of the common beggars wanted to get involved in this situation.

“Come to think of it, the food we got earlier will spoil soon.”

“Then let’s go and eat.”

“They say the headquarters is under attack, but should we just leave it like this?”

“There are elders up there, and Shaolin too. What’s there to worry about? I even saw someone from Jongnam heading up earlier.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about. With all those powerful folks gathered there, what could we possibly do? It’s a relief if we don’t get in their way.”

The beggars glanced at Gishim Gae with strange eyes, then slowly started to turn and disperse.

“You, you scoundrels! Can’t you come back right now?!”

It wasn’t that they considered it a trivial matter and decided to rest. It was clearly a power struggle between the Sect Leader and the elders. There’s nothing to gain by getting involved in such matters.

Moreover, there was another reason.

“Do you think you’ll get away with this? This is insubordination!”

A few beggars turned around and chuckled at Gishim Gae’s desperate shout.

“You always acted so high and mighty as an elder, and now it seems you’re not even a beggar anymore? You’re about to break your own bowl.”

“What did you say?”

“Think about it. We’ve spent our whole lives surviving on our wits.”

At those words, Gishim Gae fell silent.

“Do you think we wouldn’t know which side is in the wrong right now?”

“You, you bastards… This is for the Beggars Sect! Yes, it’s all for the Beggars Sect!”

“Clearly, Elder, you’re no longer a beggar.”

“What, what did you say?”

A smirk appeared on the beggars’ faces.

“Not knowing what’s profitable makes you a beggar, but knowing what’s right allows you to live as a beggar even while begging.”

Gishim Gae’s mouth dropped open.

“If someone who doesn’t even have enough food for a day can’t bow down and say he’s sorry when I kick him, then he can’t even last in the Beggars Sect in the first place. Do you think we don’t know that beating up that guy and taking his money would make our lives easier?”

“Exactly!”

“Honestly, the elders haven’t been very likeable lately. Why do beggars walk around with their shoulders so puffed up?”

The beggars’ cold glares were directed at Gishim Gae and the elders who followed him.

“Anyway, we don’t know anything about this, so you deal with it yourself.”

“You bastards! Don’t you realize that the headquarters of the Beggars Sect is being destroyed? If that happens, you too…”

At those words, one beggar shrugged.

“So what if it collapses?”

“W-what do you mean by that?”

“Even if it collapses, we’re still beggars, aren’t we? How much worse could it get for us?”

Gishim Gae was momentarily speechless, frozen in place. The beggars laughed among themselves and started to walk away.

“Let’s go. Time to eat.”

“Yeah, let’s go together.”

As they watched the beggars leave like an ebbing tide, the elders staggered.

And Pung Yeong Shin Gae, who had been watching all this, tightly closed his eyes.

‘Beggars are still beggars even if everything falls apart…’

Yes, that was the Beggars Sect.

Because they had nothing, they could be heroic. Because they had nothing to protect, they could throw even their own lives away.

It was Pung Yeong Shin Gae who had given them things to hold and things to protect, and taught them to endure injustice for the sake of their own gain.

Despite that…

‘Some places haven’t changed.’

Those who had something to grasp onto had changed, but those who still had nothing were preserving the true spirit of the Beggars Sect.

Perhaps there was still hope.

“This, this is… If this continues…”

Gishim Gae looked at Pung Yeong Shin Gae with a face unable to hide his dismay and bit his lip.

“Do you know what you’re doing right now, Sect Leader?”

“I didn’t know. I didn’t realize. It was something I should have understood long ago.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Neither you nor I have the right to decide the fate of the Beggars Sect anymore. We are part of the Beggars Sect, but we’ve lost its spirit.”

Gishim Gae stared at Pung Yeong Shin Gae with puzzled eyes.

“Now, there are only two who can decide its fate. Those who still follow the spirit of the Beggars Sect and…”

Pung Yeong Shin Gae paused for a moment, gazing absently toward the headquarters where the battle was taking place.

“…those who still hold onto what the Beggars Sect aspired to follow.”

He closed his eyes and silently called out.

‘Geomjon.’

They had lost so much. No, Hwasan had lost even more than the Beggars Sect and had been betrayed by many.

Yet Hwasan rose again. Same as Hwasan from the past.

Boom!

At that moment, a thunderous noise echoed. A section of the headquarters’ wall exploded outward, and crimson plum blossoms scattered across the sky of Kaifeng.

“They bloom once more.”

Even if they fall repeatedly, they will surely rise again.

That is how it must be. Flowers are merely the result. It is the roots of Hwasan and its spirit that cause the flowers to bloom. As long as that spirit does not completely vanish, the flowers will always bloom again.

Pung Yeong Shin Gae’s gaze followed the falling plum blossoms.

“We too must usher in a new era.”

Boom!

With the force of an explosion, Chung Myung soared into the sky, propelled by a surge of blue energy.

“Ah!”

“That, that is!”

In the midst of the plum blossoms that had bloomed from his sword, Chung Myung flipped his body like an illusion and shot back toward the main hall, resembling a descending hawk.

The sword energy, the color of a sunset, fiercely split the blue force coming at him without mercy.

“Pursuing Righteousness [추의(追義)]?…”

He didn’t need to see it to understand.

The Eighteen Palms Pursuing Righteousness, which no longer followed the righteous path, could not stop the plum blossom sword imbued with Hwasan’s spirit.

The crimson sword energy that Chung Myung unleashed effortlessly cut through the resisting blue light, shattering the decaying headquarters of the Beggars Sect.

This was not a sword aimed at Ilho Shin Gae, but at the Beggars Sect itself.

A reminder of what they should never have forgotten.

“Haaaaaap!”

Chung Myung’s roar echoed up to the heavens. The crimson sword then struck the headquarters of the Beggars Sect.

Boom!

“That, that is!”

“Eeeeek! It’s collapsing! Run!”

The headquarters, which had stood as a symbol of the Beggars Sect for hundreds of years, began to crumble with a tremendous roar.