Return Of The Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1010

CRASH! Swords hit hard, and Jo Gul stumbled back.

“Ugh!” He quickly found his footing, lowered his body, and stared hard at Baek Cheon.

His lips were tight, like he was stopping himself from shouting in pain. His sword hand shook badly.

Baek Cheon, however, looked calm. He just watched Jo Gul with a face that showed nothing.

Jo Gul felt a huge weight pressing down on him. He took a quick, small breath.

‘Senior Uncle…’ At Mount Hua, students were like brothers, no matter who was older. This was very rare in other groups.

Baek Cheon was the one who made it like this.

Even if Chung Myung didn’t care about age, Baek Cheon could have acted like the boss. But he didn’t. He chose not to be the bossy older brother. He was like a friendly older brother next door, someone you could easily joke with.

But *this* Baek Cheon… ‘He’s like a different person sometimes.’

Only those who fought Baek Cheon with swords knew how strong he really was.

“Too light.”

“Huh?” Jo Gul was confused. Baek Cheon looked at Jo Gul calmly.

“Your sword is fast. It’s probably the fastest at Mount Hua.”

Jo Gul didn’t say anything.

“But it’s also too light. Being fast is good, but making it too light to be fast is a problem.”

Jo Gul nodded slowly. Hearing about your weaknesses is never fun, especially when you already know them.

But Jo Gul didn’t mind. He knew Baek Cheon was trying to help him.

He chuckled quietly.

“Thanks for the advice, but…” He moved his sword a little.

“Shouldn’t you be able to catch my speed before you say that?”

“Oh, really?”

WHOOSH! Suddenly, Baek Cheon moved like lightning and swung his sword down. Jo Gul jumped back, surprised, and lifted his sword to block.

BANG! The swords crashed together loudly. Jo Gul was pushed backwards, his body bending.

“Ugh…”

“Anyone can talk big. Doing it is what matters.”

Jo Gul’s face turned red.

He could barely breathe trying to hold back Baek Cheon’s sword. Baek Cheon just kept talking calmly. This showed how much stronger Baek Cheon was.

But!

GRIT! Jo Gul didn’t give up. He twisted his sword quickly to push Baek Cheon’s sword away for a moment. Then, he attacked with many fast sword moves, like shadows.

CLANG! Before Jo Gul’s sword could even reach, Baek Cheon’s sword hit the bottom of Jo Gul’s sword hard. The hit sent Jo Gul flying back. He rolled on the ground.

“Ugh!” Jo Gul quickly stood up, teeth clenched.

Baek Cheon spun his sword once easily and then stood still again, like nothing had happened.

“Your fast sword is good when you attack first. But what if you fight someone stronger?”

Jo Gul didn’t answer.

“If you want to keep your fast sword, you need to learn to take hits.”

“Damn it, I know!”

“Then stop talking and show me!”

BOOM! Like Baek Cheon’s words were a signal, Jo Gul jumped forward. His sword glowed red and aimed straight at Baek Cheon’s face, like he wanted to stab right through.

Baek Cheon moved his sword to block.

But then, Jo Gul suddenly changed his sword’s direction, aiming for Baek Cheon’s leg. It was a strong attack.

SWISH! Baek Cheon stepped back, dodging. Jo Gul, as if he was waiting for this, started attacking Baek Cheon again and again, like a storm of swords.

Namgung Dan watched from a distance. He looked at his own hands. They were wet with sweat.

‘Is this… really just practice between brothers?’ Jo Gul was attacking Baek Cheon with a scary, angry energy. It felt like he wanted to kill him.

Every sword move was meant to kill. Swords aimed right at important body parts. Even the swords that just touched Baek Cheon’s face looked deadly.

‘If I did this in practice at my family’s clan?’ Everyone would be shocked and angry.

Baek Cheon, he knew, was the top student at Mount Hua. He was going to be the leader one day. If Namgung Dan used a killing move against his own brother, Namgung Dowi, he would be locked up right away. Using killing moves in practice between brothers was a serious crime.

But here, no one cared. The two kept fighting like it was the most normal thing.

SWISH! Red blood flew from Jo Gul’s body.

“Ah!” Namgung Dan’s eyes opened wide. Finally, the hard practice had gone too far.

But then, something even more amazing happened. Jo Gul was cut near his chest and bleeding a lot. But he didn’t stop. He ran at Baek Cheon again. It was like getting hurt in practice was normal!

Jo Gul charged forward. Baek Cheon kicked him hard in the chest. Jo Gul crashed to the ground. The kick was so strong, Namgung Dan jumped back even though he was just watching.

“Ugh!” Jo Gul stood up again, his eyes burning with anger. He swung his sword at Baek Cheon even harder than before.

‘He’s crazy.’ Namgung Dan didn’t know what to think. So many things were strange.

Jo Gul using killing moves against his older brother was strange. Baek Cheon accepting it without a word was also strange.

But even stranger was that no one else seemed to notice this dangerous fight, where someone could die.

WHAM! Jo Gul flew through the air again, like a broken doll.

“I-Is he going to die?” The other swordsmen from the Namgung family were worried and whispered to each other.

They had seen the Plum Blossom Sword moves before. Now they really understood what it meant to fight like your life was in danger.

But even for them, this practice looked too dangerous.

“Maybe…” Just then, Namgung Dowi, who had been quietly watching, spoke.

“I understand now… how they can fight so well even when things are really bad.”

Everyone nodded. They agreed. Anyone can say they train like it’s a real fight. But no group really does it.

Who would let people use killing moves in practice? Someone could get badly hurt! But these people were doing it.

“And there’s more.”

“What?”

“Look.”

Namgung Dowi pointed a little away from the fighters. Two people were watching the fight, standing in a basic sword position. It looked normal.

The basic stance is important in sword fighting. Practicing to focus and stand correctly is done even in the Namgung family.

So, it seemed normal. Except for the heavy metal weights hanging from their bodies, as big as heads.

‘How many are there…?’ The weights hanging from the ends of their swords were amazing. They had so many weights that the swords looked like hammers.

‘Are they holding that just with their bodies? Are they using special energy?’ No, they weren’t.

If they were using energy, they wouldn’t be sweating so much. They were clearly holding it up with just their muscles.

‘Holding that much weight with just muscles…’ If you added up all the weights, it would be heavier than the rocks they had been lifting, maybe even the same.

The Namgung students were breathing hard just trying to hold the rocks. But these people were holding even more weight while standing in sword stances. It was clear which practice was harder.

Yoon Jong, holding his sword calmly, spoke to Tang Soso next to him. He didn’t seem to notice the Namgung family’s feelings.

“Soso.”

“Yes?”

“How long have we been doing this?”

“I think about half an hour?”

“Hmm. Can we stop soon?”

“What are you talking about? We have to do it for another half hour.”

“…I think that’s too long.”

“No way. You know my basic sword skills are not good. I have to practice twice as much as others just to keep up.”

“I know, but why do *I* have to do it with you?”

“Is there a problem?”

“…No. It’s not that I have a problem…” Yoon Jong looked annoyed and said quietly, “Where did that troublemaker go? You should practice with him.”

“Why are you asking something so obvious, Brother? Of course, the troublemaker left early this morning.”

“Early this morning?”

“Yes. He said he can’t focus when other people are around. He probably won’t be back until midnight.”

“…I really wonder about something.”

“What?”

“Does the troublemaker ever sleep?”

“Of course, he sleeps.”

“But how is it possible?”

“Because he’s the troublemaker.”

“…” Yoon Jong sighed and said tiredly, “Soso.”

“Yes?”

“Your sword tip is a little too low.”

“Aaaagh!” Tang Soso bit her lip, looking annoyed, and lifted her sword.

Namgung Dowi’s voice, like a tired sigh, reached Namgung Dan as he watched, confused.

“I thought the Namgung family also focused on basic training…” Namgung Dan turned and saw Namgung Dowi shaking his head.

Namgung Dowi was even more surprised that Tang Soso was doing this hard training.

‘So Mount Hua really trains like this every day.’ Even without Chung Myung pushing them, they trained hard on their own. You could see it everywhere in the training area.

“Okay, then…” Chung Myung, who had let them watch for a while, looked at the Namgung swordsmen with a serious face.

“We should see how good this training is, with our own bodies.”

Namgung Dan’s face became serious. He knew what “with our own bodies” meant.

‘A fight?’ Just as he reached for his sword, **“Aaaaaaagh!”** Jo Gul fell backwards again and rolled on the ground.

He tried to stand, wobbling, but then fell down completely.

“Ugh… Damn Senior Uncle…” Namgung Dan swallowed hard.

‘The Mount Hua Divine Dragon!’ Fighting the Mount Hua Divine Dragon would be a great honor. The Young Lord shouldn’t fight himself. Namgung Dan would face the Mount Hua Divine Dragon.

‘I will not lose easily.’ It would be hard to win against Baek Cheon, the Mount Hua Divine Dragon who was famous everywhere. But Namgung Dan decided he would not shame the Namgung family name.

Just then, Chung Myung shouted.

“Soso!”

“Yes?” Tang Soso, who was practicing hard, turned to Chung Myung.

“What is it? Is my stance wrong?”

“No. Stop doing that and come here. And bring your sword.”

“Yes.” Tang Soso quickly took off the heavy weights from her body and hurried to Chung Myung.

“What is it, Brother?”

“See that guy over there?”

“Yes.”

“Practice with him.”

“…Yes?” Tang Soso was a little surprised.

Chung Myung shrugged.