Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 858

“Ugh…”

“Ergh…”

“…Ugh…”

Weak groans filled the dusty training grounds. The Hwasan disciples lay scattered like fallen leaves after a storm. Everywhere Chung Myung looked, there were bodies on the rough ground, limbs splayed out, faces pale with exhaustion. They were all collapsed, completely spent. The air hung heavy with the smell of sweat and dirt.

“Tsk.”

Chung Myung, the only one standing, looked up at the night sky. He narrowed his brow slightly as he gazed at the dark black sky.

If everything had gone according to plan, the training should have been over by sunset.

Chung Myung looked at them, his face serious. He clicked his tongue loudly.

“Still a long way to go. A long way!”

“…”

“At this rate, when will you become strong?”

“…”

“Recover by tomorrow. Because tomorrow, we’re going even harder.”

Leaving those words behind, he turned and left the training grounds without a backward glance.

The Hwasan disciples, staring blankly at Chung Myung as he walked away, began to struggle to their feet, one by one.

“Aargh…”

“Kkeung. Bloody painful.”

The hand propping him up trembled. Even the simple act of raising his upper body was so difficult it left him breathless. Some didn’t even dare to try getting up, and some managed to get up only to fall again and again.

But…

“Ugh… Ugh…”

“Hee hee hee hee!”

“Did you see that guy’s face? Did you?”

“He looked like he was about to die of frustration, didn’t he?”

The Hwasan disciples chuckled, their faces swollen. Even Yoo Iseol, who everyone usually wondered, ‘Does she even have a facial expression?’, was hee hee hee-ing with black eyes.

Just one hit.

After all their training today, they had only managed to land one successful attack on Chung Myung, and that was from Yoon Jong. After that, they had rushed at him with all their might, but they had only been handsomely beaten.

But no one felt truly defeated. They knew that if Yoon Jong could land a hit once, they could do it again.

Baek Cheon, lying on the ground staring at the moon in the sky, without the strength to even twitch a finger, clenched his fist with all his might.

‘It’s getting closer.’

He could endure any amount of hardship, as long as he was sure he was moving forward.

They knew how hard it was when they tried their best but still didn’t improve. This training was hard, but it was different. They could feel themselves getting better.

“Baek Cheon, are you okay?” Baek Sang asked, his voice still shaky. He reached out a hand to help his senior brother.

Baek Cheon gripped Baek Sang’s hand and slowly, painfully, pulled himself up to sit. The other disciples who had managed to sit up were watching him, their eyes tired but expectant. They were waiting for him to speak, to give them strength.

Baek Cheon took a shaky breath. “It’s… really hard,” he admitted, his voice hoarse.

“…”

“But it’s not as hard as it was back then. Compared to when I couldn’t do anything and just watched my senior and junior brothers fighting in front of me, this is nothing, right?”

“That’s right, Senior Brother!”

“Yes! Uncle-Master!”

Baek Cheon nodded.

“I’m sure of it today. If we can overcome this training, we will definitely become stronger. And then, we will never experience such humiliation again.”

The senior and junior brothers slowly nodded. Baek Cheon grinned.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to take that guy’s head. No one touch him.”

“Mine.”

“No, I’m going to take it!”

The Hwasan disciples, who were having a pointless argument, chuckled simultaneously.

After laughing like that for a while, everyone collapsed back to the ground as if they were collapsing. They had laughed so much that they didn’t even have the strength to stand.

‘I need to go to the dorms…’

Baek Cheon, who was also lying on the training grounds, stared blankly at the sky. The moon seemed unusually bright today.

‘I will become stronger.’

And someday…

Baek Cheon’s eyes, which had been staring blankly at the moon, slowly closed. And before long, most of those lying on the training grounds fell into a death-like sleep.

Toward them, who were sound asleep with grinning faces, a few people carefully approached after a while.

“Kkeung. Those guys, really…”

“Be quiet.”

Hyun Sang sternly warned Un Geom and ordered.

“Be careful not to wake the children and move them to the dorms.”

“Yes.”

“Give those with a lot of muscle stiffness and deep internal injuries acupressure.”

“Yes, Elder.”

Unam sighed deeply.

“Looks like I’m done for today too.”

“I know you were dozing off earlier in the day, Senior Brother.”

“That was just resting.”

Hyun Jong, holding Baek Cheon in his arms, quietly looked down at his sleeping face. His face was a mess and he was limp like a corpse, but his expression looked peaceful.

‘…Those fellows.’

He unconsciously put strength into the hand holding him.

“Let’s move them quickly. The night breeze is cold.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

The elders and the Unjae generation carried the disciples to the Hundred Flowers Hall and began to care for them. They checked on each disciple, making sure they were alright. Hyun Jong also moved busily, and only after his hands were free did he leave the Hundred Flowers Hall.

Standing at the front gate of the Hundred Flowers Hall, he looked up at the sky without a word.

“What are you thinking about?”

At Hyun Young’s question, Hyun Jong said softly without turning his gaze.

“I was thinking about the moon. It must be lonely.”

A fleeting loneliness crossed Hyun Jong’s eyes, which contained the bright moon in the middle of the sky.

“The traveler walking the night road cannot lose his way thanks to that moonlight, and the moon is truly grateful. But the grateful moon is floating alone in that dark night sky to illuminate the world.”

“Sect Leader…”

“Illuminating someone may be a truly lonely thing.”

The fingertips of Hyun Jong, who had his hands behind his back, trembled slightly.

Hyun Young, who was looking at his back, smiled and opened his mouth.

“That’s not true, Sect Leader.”

“Hmm?”

“Why would the moon be lonely? There are so many stars.”

Just then, the clouds cleared, and the stars that filled the sky came into Hyun Jong’s eyes brightly.

“Of course, the moon and the stars are different. But that doesn’t mean they can’t rise together, does it? The moon will receive comfort from the stars, and the stars will receive comfort from the moon.”

“…”

“And here, we are looking at that moon. So… at least it won’t be lonely.”

Hyun Jong quietly clenched his hands behind his back.

“I see.”

“…”

“Then…”

Hyun Jong’s voice trembled slightly.

“Yes…. Then… that would be nice.”

“Ugh…”

Chung Myung groaned, clutching his shoulder.

“Damn bastards.”

Without exaggeration, there wasn’t a place that didn’t hurt.

Of course, he had only been properly hit once today. Even though he was only hit once, fighting with sword energy was exhausting. The energy waves from the swords crashed against each other, hurting his body inside and out.

After repeating the battle where sword energy met sword energy from before sunrise until dawn, his whole body ached as if it had been crushed.

‘It’s like back then. Except there are no cut wounds…’

Chung Myung, recalling the memories of the old war that he didn’t even want to think about, quietly closed his eyes. In the past, he would have shaken his head to shake off the memories, but now he didn’t bother.

Because you can’t move forward if you don’t face it directly.

‘It’s still a long way to go.’

All this training is being done to make them stronger. But that’s not all. If it was just to make them stronger, there would have been other ways.

The important thing is that Hwasan becomes stronger. And of course, Chung Myung is included in that Hwasan.

He realized it anew.

That he too was a member of Hwasan.

If he truly wanted to make Hwasan stronger, he should not lead the descendants from a distance, but he too should become stronger together as a member of Hwasan.

More than before, to an extent that could not even be compared to the past!

The corners of Chung Myung’s lips curled up.

‘Anyway, really.’

They’re just small fries, but they’re somewhat helpful.

No, to be honest, they are incredibly helpful.

The reason is simple.

No matter where he goes in the world, there won’t be over a hundred people with fierce killing intent rushing at him. And not like that, getting up again and again even after being knocked down.

This kind of training was impossible even in the past Hwasan.

Training that would have been meaningless if the disciples of Hwasan had not reached the current level. It is a training that has meaning now.

He spoke harshly and ridiculed them, but the Hwasan disciples, who rushed at him with one mind, were a definite threat to him. It was so intense that it reminded him of the wars of the past.

Thanks to that, Chung Myung is quickly regaining his old senses. The senses he had when he was strongest.

But…

“You’re getting stronger faster than me?”

Chung Myung rubbed his side.

The dull pain left by Yoon Jong’s wooden sword still remained in his side.

Even Chung Myung doubted whether they could really do it. He just did it silently because he had to. But now, the pain he felt in his side was clearly whispering to him that they could do it.

“For mere youngsters.”

Chung Myung smiled, recalling their faces one by one.

He keeps getting his hopes up.

If everyone endures this terrible training with that unbelievable tenacity, enough to twist even Chung Myung’s expectations.

How much stronger will they become?

And if he can endure those guys to the end, how much closer can he get to his past self?

“Anyway, they’re ridiculous guys.”

A subtle sense of anticipation and a pleasant sense of fulfillment wrapped around his whole body.

“Euchha.”

Chung Myung flopped down on the spot.

“Ayaya. Aya. Aigo.”

As soon as he touched the ground, a throbbing pain surged from his back.

His body was complaining of pain, but his mind was rather at ease. Much more so than when he was racking his brains to bring even a little benefit to Hwasan.

So…

“Stop looking at me with that pathetic face, you damn Senior Brother.”

Chung Myung looks up at the sky.

“I will definitely make Hwasan strong. I will make sure no one dies. And to be honest, there’s nothing you can do now that you’re here, is there? You’re too weak.”

Chung Myung grinned.

“Senior Brother wouldn’t know. What it feels like to watch those chick-like guys desperately trying to follow me.”

He looked at the moon that was faintly illuminating him and said as if whispering.

“Now I know one thing more than Senior Brother.”

I still miss him a lot.

The longing for the old Hwasan still remained deeply within him.

But…

“Those guys now are really amazing, aren’t they?”

Chung Myung reached out his hand while lying down and pretended to grab a bow. And with the other hand, he leisurely pulled the string in the air.

“Whoosh.”

Chung Myung, who pretended to shoot an arrow at the moon, smiled brightly.

“I won’t say I’ll make Hwasan like it used to be anymore.”

Because I can’t.

“Instead, I’ll make Hwasan even greater than it used to be, so watch over it.”

Chung Myung slowly closes his eyes.

The wind blowing from the mountain brushed past his shoulder. A lot of time has passed, and people have changed, but the wind blowing from Hwasan has not changed.

‘Hwasan… will become stronger.’

Soon, a low breathing sound leaked out regularly from Chung Myung’s lips.

Ssaeak. Ssaeak.

A soft smile appeared on Chung Myung’s face, who had fallen asleep exhausted.

A soft smile that he had never worn when he was called the Plum Blossom Sword Saint.

The scent of plum blossoms, which flowed in from somewhere, gently embraced him, who was in a deep sleep.

When the darkness recedes, the sun rises, and when the sun sets, the moon rises again. Summer is approaching past the end of spring, and winter is coming again. The seasons circulate.

Thus, time flowed like water.