Return Of The Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 1142

Baek Cheon quietly moved towards the thick bushes, bending low. The sounds of swords hitting each other grew louder.

“Is it two people fighting?” he thought.

It didn’t sound like a group.

Trying to be as quiet as a shadow, he crept forward. He got closer to the sound and carefully pushed aside the thick leaves. Moonlight filtered through the branches, dappling the ground.

Baek Cheon stopped. His mouth dropped open.

“Huh?”

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He almost made a noise.

“Shhh.”

A voice came from right beside him. Startled, Baek Cheon was about to cry out, but a hand quickly covered his mouth.

“Shhh.”

“⋯⋯”

Usually, Baek Cheon would never let anyone touch his face. But this was different. The one covering his mouth was none other than Yu Yiseol.

“Quietly.”

Baek Cheon nodded silently, and Yu Yiseol removed her hand from his mouth. Though he had many questions about her appearance, that wasn’t the priority right now. He turned his gaze to the scene before him.

Clang!

Swords clashed against each other.

A young man in pure white martial robes was sent flying backward, tumbling helplessly.

“Ugh!”

A groan escaped the young man’s lips, but there was no time for complaint. He instinctively twisted his body to the side.

Thud!

A foot landed where the young man’s face had been moments before, leaving a clear imprint in the ground. It was obvious what would have happened if he hadn’t moved.

But before he could even feel relieved, the one who had stomped the ground kicked the young man squarely in the back.

Wham!

The young man flew like a frog kicked by a child, crashing into the trunk of a large tree.

Boom!

His body slid down the tree and fell to the ground. Watching him indifferently, Chung Myung opened his mouth in a low voice.

“Get up.”

“⋯⋯”

“Why? Have you done enough now?”

Hearing those words, Seol Sobaek’s fingertips twitched.

“Cough!”

He coughed dryly, and blood came out. Seol Sobaek staggered to his feet. His strength seemed to have completely deserted him, and he swayed several times, but he somehow managed to stand, using his sword as a crutch.

“Your reaction is slow.”

Chung Myung said, watching him with indifferent eyes.

“It’s natural you are not strong. You don’t have enough inner energy. It’s also natural you are slow. You are not physically strong enough. But your slow reactions are your fault.”

Seol Sobaek’s hand, gripping the sword, trembled. Not because he was shocked by Chung Myung’s words, but purely because he was exhausted to the point of utter depletion.

His condition was already a mess.

His martial robes, once as white as the snows of the Northern Sea, were covered in dirt and stained ochre, with patches of dried black blood here and there. His already pale face had lost even its faint color, making him look almost corpse-like.

“Why?”

Chung Myung asked coldly, looking at Seol Sobaek.

“Shall we stop here?”

“N-No, Instructor!”

Seol Sobaek gripped his sword tightly with his trembling hand.

“You can stop if you want to. You’ve done enough.”

“No!”

Seol Sobaek said, gritting his teeth.

“Didn’t the Instructor say it’s up to us to decide whether we’ve done enough or not!”

“⋯⋯”

“I haven’t done enough! So I have to do more!”

Chung Myung smirked.

“In that state?”

“⋯⋯”

“Let’s be honest. You don’t have to do this. No one will look down on you just because you’re weak. At least, as long as I’m alive, no one in the Northern Sea will dare to touch you.”

Seol Sobaek gritted his teeth.

“And objectively speaking, you’ve tried hard enough. No one can say you’ve been slacking off. So, before you ruin your body…”

“No!”

Seol Sobaek shouted, cutting off Chung Myung’s words. His voice was almost a scream. His bloodshot eyes glared straight at Chung Myung.

“Done enough, worked hard enough!”

The sound of his grinding teeth was clear.

“What’s the point of all that? In the end, all that matters is that I’m too weak to even participate in the Ice Palace’s training!”

“Isn’t that obvious? You started learning martial arts late, and you weren’t exactly strong to begin with when you became Palace Lord.”

“Why is that obvious!”

Seol Sobaek exclaimed, as if in defiance.

“Do you think enemies will understand that? How can the Palace Lord of the Ice Palace protect the disciples and the people of the Northern Sea if I am weak?”

“⋯⋯”

“Being young doesn’t absolve me of responsibility! Saying ‘you’ll get stronger later’ doesn’t help! It just means I’m weak now and can’t do what I need to do now!”

Seol Sobaek readjusted his grip on the sword stuck in the ground and pulled it out.

“I will get stronger. As the Ice Palace Lord, I will have the qualifications to lead the Ice Palace like the other Palace Lords. As soon as possible!”

“What a stubborn fool…”

“I learned it from someone.”

At that moment, Chung Myung instantly rushed towards Seol Sobaek and swung his sword. Seol Sobaek quickly raised his sword to block, but his body was sent flying backward without fail.

He reacted fast enough, but Chung Myung’s sword was too strong.

“Ugh!”

Seol Sobaek, who had tumbled severely, finally vomited blood. Watching him, Chung Myung approached with an indifferent expression.

“Unfair, isn’t it?”

“⋯⋯”

“You clearly reacted, but you’re pushed back by strength. It’s not something I can do anything about. So how am I supposed to win? Am I just supposed to keep losing?”

Seol Sobaek’s eyes wavered slightly. Those words perfectly described his feelings.

“But you know what? The Jianghu is originally such a place. It’s frustrating and very unfair. Hard work? It doesn’t always mean you get what you deserve. But…”

Chung Myung smiled faintly.

“But what else can we do? If all we can do is try, we have to do at least that. Don’t you think?”

Seol Sobaek forced his trembling body to stand up.

“Cough!”

Even as he coughed laboriously, he stubbornly regained his stance. Chung Myung watched him and asked calmly.

“You know, don’t you? There’s almost no chance that you’ll grow enough to do your part before this war breaks out. There’s even less chance that you’ll be able to fulfill your role as a Palace Lord.”

Seol Sobaek nodded.

“Still going to do it?”

“Yes!”

“Even if it’s meaningless?”

“Yes!”

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in Seol Sobaek’s answer. Seeing that intense gaze, a satisfied smile bloomed on Chung Myung’s lips.

“Looks like you haven’t been beaten enough. Then shall I beat you until you can’t say another word?”

Chung Myung charged straight towards Seol Sobaek. At that moment, Seol Sobaek also gritted his teeth and kicked off the ground to meet Chung Myung.

Baek Cheon, who had been watching the sparring—no, the one-sided beating disguised as sparring—turned his head to look at Yu Yiseol.

“Junior Sister.”

“Yes.”

“⋯⋯How long have you been doing this?”

“When?”

Yu Yiseol tilted her head, looking confused. Before Baek Cheon could explain more, she answered.

“From the first day… or the day after.”

“The day after?”

“The day after the Ice Palace arrived.”

Baek Cheon flinched for a moment and looked back at Seol Sobaek.

‘This isn’t the first time?’

So, that Chung Myung bastard has been beating them up during the day and dragging Seol Sobaek out at night for training all this time?

No, that’s not it.

‘When did the Ice Palace arrive again?’

So, the Ice Palace Lord has been enduring this one-on-one beating every night?

‘He’s crazy…’

It’s not exactly a strange sight. He was always pushed around by Chung Myung as much as Seol Sobaek… no, even more. But Seol Sobaek and he were on different levels to begin with, weren’t they?

There’s no way that young Palace Lord could endure such harsh training that even Baek Cheon found difficult.

‘But he’s enduring it?’

Baek Cheon was inwardly confused about how to accept this sight. Then, Yu Yiseol whispered in an indifferent voice.

“He’s growing.”

“⋯⋯Huh?”

“Every day. Surprisingly fast.”

Yu Yiseol wasn’t one to give generous evaluations of people. The fact that she said this meant that Seol Sobaek was really getting stronger quickly.

‘Is it talent?’

No. That couldn’t be it.

Of course, it wasn’t that he had no talent, but the fact that Yu Yiseol was saying this meant that there was something else besides talent. And there was no need to even think about what that was.

“Aaaargh!”

Seol Sobaek charged towards Chung Myung. He was in such a state that it was questionable whether he could even make it there without collapsing, let alone land a hit.

Seeing that, Baek Cheon clenched his fist without realizing it.

‘To go that far…’

He had been trying too hard. And he had been working too hard. No one could deny that Baek Cheon had done his best.

But at this moment, Baek Cheon realized it himself.

‘I knew it too.’

He had been working hard enough, trying as much as he could, and he seemed to have thought that it was difficult to do more than that.

Watching Seol Sobaek, who was dragging his feet but still trying to swing his sword even once more, he felt it. That Baek Cheon had become someone who looked down on others.

‘I am…’

Baek Cheon bit his lip slightly and turned his head to look at Yu Yiseol.

“Why is Junior Sister here?”

“⋯⋯At first, it was by chance.”

Probably.

Yu Yiseol had always disliked showing her personal training to others. It would be uncomfortable to train in a big house with Hwasan and other groups there.

‘No, does that mean… Junior Sister has been doing that much and still doing personal training?’

Even Baek Cheon hadn’t been doing that recently.

“After that…”

Yu Yiseol closed her mouth as if she was about to say something. It meant that it was difficult to say the exact reason.

But Baek Cheon felt like he knew why Yu Yiseol was trying to watch this scene.

Wham!

Chung Myung kicked Seol Sobaek in the side and sent him flying. And he opened his mouth without inflection towards the fallen Seol Sobaek.

“It’s not easy to lead people.”

“⋯⋯”

“Standing in front isn’t difficult. But leading is completely different from standing in front. You have to try harder than anyone else, and you must never fall behind. And you have to have the conviction that you are clearly moving in the right direction.”

“⋯⋯Yes.”

“Conviction comes from contemplation. It comes from doubting if you are wrong. One day, you might think you are right because of what you’ve learned and thought about. You might think you just need to keep doing what you’re doing.”

Hearing those words, Baek Cheon clenched his fist.

“Remember this.”

Chung Myung said coldly.

“If the position changes, what was right becomes wrong, and what was wrong becomes right. And no one knows when that time will come. Maybe it’s a year from now, maybe it’s tomorrow, or maybe it was yesterday.”

“⋯⋯”

“So, if you don’t want to be wrong, you have no choice but to constantly contemplate and doubt.”

Seol Sobaek nodded laboriously.

“That’s what leading is. It’s a difficult task. But if you can do it…”

Chung Myung swung his sword around once.

“The Ice Palace will really be able to get a proper Palace Lord.”

“⋯⋯Of course, that will happen.”

“Anyone can say that. Come on.”

“Yes!”

Seol Sobaek gritted his teeth and charged towards Chung Myung again.

Chung Myung lowered his sword and watched Seol Sobaek, and Seol Sobaek moved forward with all his might. Above them, a bright moon was shining.

Baek Cheon closed his eyes without realizing it.