Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 11

“What about the child?”

“He has been sent to his room and changed. It seems we can start the initiation ceremony soon.”

“I see.”

Unam looked down at his feet. Seeing this, Hyun Jong smiled gently and asked,

“You seem unhappy.”

“It’s not so much unhappiness as…”

Unam hesitated, sighed, and then spoke.

“I don’t fully understand what you’re thinking, Sect Leader, but I don’t know why you would accept this child. Mount Hua needs to save every bit of food it can right now.”

“Indeed. That is so.”

“He didn’t bring any money like the other children, and he doesn’t seem very talented in martial arts.”

“Hmm.”

“Most importantly, I don’t sense any good energy in him. He doesn’t seem right for the Taoist path. So, why do you want him to join Mount Hua?”

Hyun Jong smiled gently at Unam’s direct question.

“Is that so?”

“…Sect Leader.”

Unam sighed. Sometimes, Hyun Jong was so hard to understand.

‘I can’t understand him.’

Unam had worked with Hyun Jong for over ten years, but he still couldn’t figure him out. Hyun Jong was just too deep to understand.

“Unam.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Fate sometimes arrives unexpectedly.”

Hyun Jong smiled gently.

“Maybe that child will become the light of Mount Hua, don’t you think?”

“…That child is too young to be the light of Mount Hua.”

“Perhaps not.”

Hyun Jong’s face became a little sad.

Mount Hua was like a lamp about to go out in the wind. They were barely surviving, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they fell apart soon.

This was why Un Am didn’t want to accept Chung Myung.

How much would someone lose if they joined a sect that might disappear tomorrow and then be thrown out onto the streets?

“I know the situation is bad,” Hyun Jong said heavily.

“But Unam, plum blossoms bloom even in the snow. And plum blossoms that bloom in the cold have a stronger scent than any other.”

“…”

“If we don’t plant the seeds because it’s winter, then the plum blossoms might never bloom in the snow, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Very well. You may leave.”

Unam quietly closed the door and went outside. He sighed and looked up.

After talking with Hyun Jong, he always felt like his chest was opening up.

But today, even after speaking with Hyun Jong, he felt more stressed than relieved. Hyun Jong’s words still had a hidden meaning, but he was still worried about the situation Mount Hua was in.

Mount Hua was in such a bad state that it couldn’t recover on its own.

Hyun Jong had tried his best his whole life, but things only got worse. If things continued like this, they wouldn’t survive the year.

The thought that Mount Hua, a sect with so much history and tradition, might disappear filled him with sadness, and he sighed.

‘Where is Mount Hua going?’

Unam quietly closed his eyes.

❀ ❀ ❀

Chung Myung looked down at the clothes he was wearing.

He saw a pure white martial robe. Seeing the robe with five plum blossoms stitched on the right side, he felt strange. It felt like his whole body was tickling…

“No, it really is ticklish.”

The fabric was so rough that it felt like it was poking him every time it touched his skin. If he hadn’t worn rags before, he wouldn’t have been able to handle it. His month as a beggar had helped him.

“Tsk.”

Chung Myung frowned.

“This is ridiculous.”

In the past, Mount Hua wasn’t as rich as the Wudang or Shaolin sects, but it was still one of the Nine Great Sects and had a lot of money.

Of course, he couldn’t spend that money freely because the Sect Leader thought it was wrong for a Taoist to love money, but they still had enough to give the disciples good clothes and food.

But these clothes…

“What did they do with all that money?”

There should have been mountains of money in the vault!

Even if they didn’t have money in the vault, Mount Hua owned several taverns and businesses. Where did all that money go if they were dressing the children in rags like this?

He could understand that their martial arts were bad because they hadn’t been taught well, but he couldn’t understand how they had wasted all their money.

Chung Myung sighed deeply.

“Nothing is working right.”

Enough. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt.

The more you expect, the more disappointed you’ll be.

“Anyway, I’ve joined the sect.”

He had joined the sect. He had.

The worst thing possible had happened: the Plum Blossom Sword Saint had joined Mount Hua as the youngest disciple, but at least he had joined.

It wasn’t how Chung Myung wanted it, but he had managed to enter Mount Hua.

Now there were a lot of problems to solve, but didn’t a long journey start with a single step?

No matter how hard the task, if he took it one step at a time, he could do anything. Most things could be solved by pushing and working people to death…

“But where is this place?”

There was a problem.

The building Chung Myung was in used to be a guest house. But what had happened in the meantime? The old look was gone, and it had been turned into something like a dormitory.

As far as Chung Myung remembered, Mount Hua didn’t have dormitories. New disciples would become part of a master-disciple relationship right away and live with their master.

So what was this place?

‘It doesn’t seem like a place to stay before finding a master.’

It had everything people needed to live there. It was definitely a place for people to live.

‘Am I the only one here?’

Chung Myung carefully stepped out of the room.

Rooms lined both sides of the narrow hallway. It was just like the old guest house.

Chung Myung opened the door to the next room. He saw clothes and other things people used to live there.

‘Who lives here?’

Chung Myung tilted his head.

Someone living in this kind of guest house…

“Who’s there?”

Chung Myung turned his head.

‘Crumbs.’

He hadn’t noticed someone coming! What a mistake.

‘Ah. I don’t have any martial arts right now, do I?’

Even while coming to Mount Hua, he had only trained in that Six Harmony Skill. Because of that, his body was getting stronger, and the foundation he had built was turning into a vast land…

Realistically, all he could use right now was the small amount of internal energy he had gathered.

With that little bit of internal energy, he couldn’t sense things as well as he used to.

“Who is this jerk peeking into other people’s rooms? Are you a thief?”

His language is a bit rough.

It was a child who looked about Chung Myung’s age. As the child shouted, several other children came rushing up the stairs.

“What’s going on?”

“Jo Gul! What’s wrong?”

The child called Jo Gul pointed at Chung Myung and wagged his finger.

“This jerk was peeking into my room.”

“Who is he?”

“Looks like a new guy?”

Chung Myung looked up at the ceiling.

‘Why did I come back to life?’

To see such a sad sight.

Seeing these young kids wagging their fingers made his stomach turn, and these guys were from the ‘Chung’ generation. Chung Myung was their great-great-grandfather.

Of course, they wouldn’t know.

How could he understand these guys, who were supposed to be disciples of the Taoist sect, acting like local bullies? He was wondering where to start and how to correct their manners when…

“What is all this noise!”

“Gasp!”

“Uncle-Master Un Geum!”

The children moved to the sides as a man came up the stairs, frowning. His face was tight, and his eyes were sharp. He walked straight and stiff, like a ruler. This showed his strictness.

Un Geum looked at everyone with sharp eyes.

“Why are you making so much noise back at the dormitory when you should be training? Who said you could be lazy?”

“W-Well, it’s not that… My martial robe got dirty, so I came to get a new one.”

“What excuses are you making!”

“I’m sorry.”

The children were scared and stood straight. Even then, they couldn’t help glancing at Chung Myung.

“And you?”

“I am Chung Myung.”

“So you’re the child who entered the Hundred Plum Blossom Hall today.”

“Hundred Plum Blossom Hall?”

“This is the Hundred Plum Blossom Hall. It’s the dormitory where the third-generation disciples of Mount Hua live. Haven’t you heard?”

“…Dormitory?”

The man frowned.

“Don’t you know that you should answer before asking a question when an elder asks you something?”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry.”

Elder. He says elder.

…Damn it.

He felt empty. He now had to be respectful to those who weren’t even born when he was famous in Mount Hua.

‘This is non-possession.’

It was said that to become a true Taoist, you had to give up all positions and face. He was now being forced to do something he had never been able to do, even after trying his whole life.

He was going to become immortal. Seriously.

“You, follow me.”

“Yes?”

“Sooner or later, you have to train. It doesn’t matter if it’s a day earlier. A cultivator shouldn’t waste time.”

Chung Myung agreed with that.

To fix this terrible situation, Chung Myung needed to get stronger quickly. To do that, he needed a place and time to focus on training.

The problem was that they were trying to teach him basic martial arts that were useless to Chung Myung.

‘I should be the one teaching you.’

“Come down.”

As the man left, the children followed him. One of the children glanced at Chung Myung. It was the guy called Jo Gul.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“…”

“I’m going to teach you some manners.”

“…Yeah, yeah.”

“If you run away, you’ll get beaten even more.”

“Okay, okay.”

“This punk!”

“What are you doing!”

The child was scared by Un Geum’s sharp voice and shouted.

“I-I’m going now! Uncle-Master!”

Chung Myung sighed as he watched the child run ahead.

“I should cherish them.”

They were still his cute junior disciples.

Of course, Chung Myung’s way of cherishing the children might be a little different from others. But so what.

“That’s their problem.”

Chung Myung chuckled and went downstairs. He took a deep breath, ready for what was coming next.