Return Of The Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 620

Yoon Jong’s fingers felt like they were being squeezed in a vise.

No, it wasn’t just his fingers. A crushing weight pressed down on his whole upper body, from his arms to his shoulders. It felt like a giant, invisible bell was sitting right on top of him, pushing him into the ground. His breath hitched in his throat.

And this was all happening *before* the opponent’s sword energy even touched the tip of his own sword.

This power was truly terrifying. Just the feeling of it made a cold shiver of fear run down his spine. He could almost taste the metallic tang of fear in his mouth.

Yoon Jong felt a completely different kind of pressure than he had when facing other powerful opponents.

“This is definitely different.”

This opponent was strong, but not like a bishop from the Demonic Sect. A bishop’s power was like a storm or an earthquake – something huge and unstoppable.

But there was something else…

“I have to endure this alone.”

This was different from fighting alongside Chung Myung. It wasn’t the kind of fight where Jo Gul supported him from behind, and Baek Cheon and Yu Yiseol led the way.

Victory or defeat would be entirely Yoon Jong’s responsibility.

“So, I can’t lose!”

Woooooong!

Energy rushed from deep inside him, flowing through his body like rivers. Since the day he had taken the Gongcheong Seokyu and Jasodan pills, Yoon Jong had been working tirelessly to make that energy his own.

The fruit of that effort now shimmered at the tip of his sword.

Chwaaaaaa!

As soon as his sword tip touched the energy, it split apart, going to his left and right.

“Kuh!”

A groan escaped Yoon Jong’s lips involuntarily.

His arm felt as if it would break at any moment.

It was like standing in a fast river, trying to stop the water with his sword. It seemed impossible. But now, he had to do the impossible.

“What would Jo Gul do?”

There was no need to think. He would probably evade the energy like a flying squirrel, as he had shown earlier, and thrust his sword into the opponent’s weak spot.

Yoon Jong did not possess the senses to grasp that fleeting moment and unleash an all-or-nothing strike.

Crack! Crack!

The sound of bones cracking in his wrist was sharp and loud, like dry twigs snapping underfoot. The sword felt heavy, as if a rock-sized lump of iron was attached to it.

“What would *you* do?”

That was obvious as well.

Baek Cheon would never step back. He would have charged straight through that energy. He would meet power with even more power and push forward.

Yes, like a hero from a story.

But Yoon Jong did not possess such strength or genius.

“Cough!”

Something hot welled up in his throat.

It seemed that somewhere inside, unable to withstand the pressure, he had started to bleed. The acrid smell of blood stung his nose.

“I don’t have it.”

Yoon Jong’s eyes sank.

Yu Yiseol would have been too fast to let that slow energy touch her. She was also very brave, so she would have dodged and found a way through at the same time.

Chung Myung? That troublemaker would have smashed the hat right off the person’s head before even using his sword! He’d probably hit them with the sword’s case.

But Yoon Jong did not have it.

Those dazzling talents.

Yoon Jong’s gaze shifted slightly. He was struggling just to withstand the energy, but he couldn’t help but look. He did not know how to ignore the Third-Generation disciples who were looking at him with such desperation.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

Just lie on the ground because I don’t have talent and watch the geniuses run wild?

What a joke.

“I have!”

He gritted his teeth and gathered his energy.

“I have my own way!”

People can’t fight against a waterfall, and they can’t stop a fast river.

So, Yoon Jong looked like he was in real danger to Baek Cheon.

He had been watching with a stiff expression for a while, and the moment he unconsciously tried to step forward, Chung Myung reached out and firmly grabbed his arm.

Baek Cheon flinched and turned around.

“Just watch for a bit, you genius.”

“…”

Baek Cheon said, sounding worried, “Isn’t he being too crazy! Trying to fight that power directly is…”

“You think *you* can do it, but I can’t?”

“Why do you keep bringing that up!”

“Because that’s what you’re thinking.”

Baek Cheon lost his words and closed his mouth.

In fact, he knew it in his head. If he had been on the sparring stage, he would have definitely tried to break through that energy head-on. Because that was the most certain way to seize victory.

But…

‘Am I really looking down on Yoon Jong?’

Chung Myung, who had glanced at Baek Cheon’s serious face, chuckled.

“Don’t take a little joke so seriously.”

“…”

“It’s normal to think like that. This is still a huge challenge for Yoon Jong.”

“Then why?”

“But Yoon Jong Sahyung,”

Chung Myung said calmly, watching Yoon Jong’s figure, which was now almost invisible in the swirling sword energy, “is the one who has to carry that huge challenge and move forward.”

“…”

After a moment of contemplation, Baek Cheon asked with a stiff face, “Why does he have to? I and others can help, can’t we? It’s not that I didn’t understand what you said, but this is…”

“No. You don’t understand.”

Chung Myung shook his head.

“You are the one who will make Mount Hua famous everywhere. You are the one who needs to be the brightest.”

“I am…”

“But your way of fighting can’t be copied by everyone.”

The reason was simple.

It’s because you are a genius.

We don’t need someone so amazing that they change the world. We just need someone who is a little bit better than others. Being *too* talented actually makes it harder for others to follow your example.

“Help?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think those fellows over there can fully understand and imitate Sasook’s sword?”

“⋯⋯”

Baek Cheon’s gaze followed Chungmyung’s nod. There, gathered together, were the third-generation disciples, their eyes fixed on Yoon Jong with an almost desperate longing.

Baek Cheon hesitated to answer.

He had been steadily training the second and third-generation disciples. But that training had been limited to basics, physical conditioning, and sparring. He had never properly taught them the sword.

The reason?

Ostensibly, it was because Hwasan had Un Geom and Chungmyung.

But Baek Cheon knew in his heart that this was merely an excuse. He couldn’t properly teach them. Their basic talents and comprehension were different.

“Sasook, Sago, even Jo Gul Sahyung are the same. I can only scold them for not doing what I do so easily. I can’t understand how those born with ordinary talent learn the sword, not in my entire life.”

“⋯⋯So it can’t be passed on?”

“Yes. Or rather, it shouldn’t be passed on.”

Chungmyung cut in with a cold voice.

“The martial arts of a sect must be tailored to the least perceptive of those who enter. Martial arts that only geniuses can learn will eventually be cut off, lost forever.”

“⋯⋯”

“A prestigious clan isn’t a place to raise geniuses. It’s a place to make ordinary people strong, and only such places survive the tides of history.”

The most important thing in a sect is not to cultivate geniuses.

It is to nurture ordinary people who enter without special talents.

The current structure of Hwasan is abnormally skewed. To quickly raise skills and increase fame, Chungmyung has focused on improving the skills of the Five Swords.

Making talented people strong is natural, but there is a clear negative effect to this.

‘Is there anyone among them who has the will to defeat Sasook?’

Probably not. Because they will think that what they are born with is different from the start.

Baek Cheon, Yoo Iseol, and even Jo Gul are not references for them. Because the method is so different.

The one who will give hope to such people is Yoon Jong.

He is called one of the Five Swords without any great talent. He has overcome all the difficult journeys of the Five Swords without any great strengths.

Simple, not shining brilliantly, and just doing his part by enduring.

Therefore⋯⋯.

‘He shines brighter than anyone else.’

The answer to how to fill the lacking talent is right there. The signpost for what those who feel inadequate should do is right there.

Those who bring glory to the sect are geniuses, but those who lead the sect should never be geniuses.

‘A talent for the Head.’

The person who will become the Head is the one who leads people like that.

That was why, even though Chungmyung was so strong in the past, no one in Hwasan tried to put him in the position of Head.

That position rightfully belonged to Chungmun.

Because the Head of the sect is the position of someone who can be a signpost for those who follow.

“Do you know what Yoon Jong Sahyung’s biggest weakness is?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s that he knows too well.”

“⋯⋯What does that mean?”

Instead of answering, Chungmyung stared silently at Yoon Jong.

‘He knows too well what he doesn’t need to know.’

Yoon Jong already knows all of that. That he alone can show the way to the other disciples. And that his defeat is no different from the defeat of the other disciples.

The burden on those shoulders will be heavier than Baek Cheon, who carries Hwasan at the forefront.

‘Endure it.’

A fleeting moment of pity crossed Chungmyung’s eyes.

This was something that even Chungmyung could not help with. Because it was something that Chungmyung had never done, something he could not do.

This was something that Yoon Jong had to do on his own, with his own strength.

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

At that moment, Jo Gul, who had been silently watching Yoon Jong, opened his mouth firmly.

“Sahyung won’t lose.”

Jo Gul knows Yoon Jong the best. Jo Gul said, staring at the sparring arena with unwavering eyes.

“Sahyung isn’t someone who would lose to this extent.”

He knew that the words came from faith, not reason. But for now, Chungmyung wanted to just believe these words.

When a strong force rushes in, he doesn’t block it, but lets it flow or avoids it.

‘Easier said than done.’

That was a method that only clever people could choose. He had no choice but to desperately accept it.

But.

‘I can endure it as much as I want.’

His feet grip the floor more firmly than the roots of a giant tree, and his lower body must firmly support his body. His waist is held upright to maintain the power drawn from the floor, and his upper body is loosely relaxed to let the incoming force flow as much as possible.

Yes. Like a tree. Like the plum tree blooming in Hwasan.

‘That’s what it was.’

He could understand it now.

What the basic posture that the Sasookjos had emphasized so much was. What the basics that that Chungmyung bastard had been saying until his ears were sore were.

‘I was a Taoist.’

A Taoist is one who resembles nature.

If you just act according to the leading teachings, at some point he becomes a tree, and he becomes nature.

This was the teaching that Hwasan had accumulated for hundreds of years and the voice that was conveyed to the disciples in an upright manner.

‘I know.’

His Sahyungjaes are watching his back now.

However, the will of those who watch does not actually become his strength. Will is will, strength is strength.

This is a fight that he alone must endure.

Crack!

The little finger, which had been firmly attached to the handle of the sword, finally twisted in a strange direction and fell off. The pressure felt like it would crush his entire body.

‘Words I want to convey to them?’

There was nothing like that.

It was too much to even take care of his own body. What was so great about him that he could teach them?

He is just struggling.

Desperately, drawing out every last drop of remaining energy! Even if a fierce typhoon sweeps through the mountain, and the branches are broken and all the flowers are torn off, the roots buried in the ground continue to spread endlessly.

That’s how a tree lives.

How many trees were there in the plum forest? When viewed separately, they are generally not particularly beautiful, nor do they bloom unusually beautiful flowers. But when each one gathers and blooms all at once, the mountain turns red and finally creates a spectacle.

Crack!

Even his ring finger was broken and twisted.

He felt vivid pain, but Yoon Jong’s expression did not change at all.

“Spread.”

And finally.

From the tip of the plum tree branch, which seemed to be swaying as if it would be broken by the typhoon, a plum blossom with a faint reddish hue began to bloom quietly.