Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 243

“You lot have gone soft!” The shout was so loud it echoed across the training grounds. The disciples of Mount Hua, the Second and Third groups, flinched under the force of the anger in the voice. It felt like a storm was about to break.

“I’m only gone for a month! And you already started being lazy?” Silence followed. “This is exactly why I can’t ever leave you alone!”

Baek Sang stared straight ahead, his face blank. *This isn’t fair*, he thought. *Not fair at all.* It wasn’t like they had been lazy while Chung Myung and the others were gone. They had actually trained harder, hoping to avoid exactly this kind of shouting.

But even as he thought it, Baek Sang knew it didn’t really matter. No matter how hard they worked, Chung Myung would always find something to complain about. So, he wasn’t really angry about being scolded. He had almost expected it. Then why did his chest feel tight and unhappy?

Baek Sang looked up at the person shouting. *Wait… who is that?* His eyes widened. It was a face he knew very well. Too well. But… it couldn’t be. The one yelling at them wasn’t Chung Myung. It was Senior Brother Baek Cheon.

“…Senior Brother?” Baek Cheon turned sharply to face Baek Sang. His eyes were sharp and cold, like ice. Baek Sang stumbled back, surprised. “Tsk!” Baek Cheon clicked his tongue.

“…” *No, Senior Brother,* Baek Sang thought, feeling dizzy. *Why are you acting like Chung Myung now? Just after one month away?* He felt like he might actually faint.

Chung Myung, the one they had all been worried about, didn’t react at all. Baek Cheon, Yu Yiseol, Yoon Jong, and Jo Gul stood in a line, like judges, each of them scolding the younger disciples. Meanwhile, Chung Myung himself was stretched out under a tree, completely relaxed, as if he was on vacation. *What is happening here?* Baek Sang wondered.

“You’re taking powerful pills, but your basic skills are terrible! What have you been doing for the past month? Have your skills actually gotten worse?” *Worse? Our skills?* Baek Sang thought, confused. Just then, Baek Cheon’s angry voice snapped at him directly. “Baek Sang!”

“Yes! Senior Brother! Yes!” Baek Sang jumped. “What did you do?” *Me? What did I do?* Baek Sang stared, completely lost. “While I was gone, you were the senior disciple here! How could you let things get so bad? Look at the state they are in!”

“But… Senior Brother?” Baek Sang started to say, his mind blank.

In fact, Baek Sang wasn’t someone who couldn’t say a word to Baek Cheon. Usually, he was the one who spoke frankly.

But what to say…

‘Why has he become so savage after returning?’

It wasn’t easy to utter even a simple excuse to the current Baek Cheon. The energy that emanated from him each time he opened his mouth made people shrink back involuntarily.

“Enough talk!” Baek Cheon’s sword flashed out of its sheath. He pointed the gleaming blade towards the sky. “Run to the top of Nakan Peak! The slowest half will have to do it again!”

Silence for a heartbeat, then,

“Run!”

“Aaaaaah!”

“I’ll be first!” The Second Disciples, who had been frozen for a moment, suddenly exploded into motion, sprinting towards Nakan Peak.

“Tsk!” Baek Cheon clicked his tongue as if displeased.

Yoon Jong had been watching Baek Cheon with a small smile. Now, he turned his calm gaze to the Third Disciples. “What are you waiting for?”

“Yes?” they replied, still a bit stunned. “Since the senior disciples are going to Nakan Peak,” Yoon Jong said, his voice soft but firm, “we will go to Yeonhwa Peak.”

“…Yes?”

“And,” Yoon Jong added, his gentle smile not quite reaching his eyes, “the senior disciples will make half of their group run again. For you… hmm… yes.” He smiled again, a little wider this time. “Everyone except ten will have to run again.”

Silence. Then,

“Go,” Yoon Jong said quietly. “Did you hear me? Go.”

“Yes!” they finally answered, scrambling to move.

As they ran as fast as their legs could carry them, complaints tumbled out of their mouths. “No! Why is Senior Brother Baek Cheon being like this all of a sudden?”

“Yeah! He was always so kind to us!”

“Why isn’t Senior Brother Jo Gul doing anything? He usually calms everyone down!”

“How should I know? Maybe he’s scared too!” They were completely confused. Chung Myung, the one they expected to be strict, was doing nothing. But Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong, who were always on their side, were now the ones pushing them to their limits. *This is so weird,* one of them thought.

Yoon Jong watched the disciples scrambling up the peaks and shook his head, clicking his tongue softly. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He turned to Baek Cheon. “Baek Cheon.”

“Ugh,” Baek Cheon groaned, still sounding annoyed. “Now I understand why Chung Myung always found fault with us. I can’t believe they got this lazy in just one month!”

“I understand a bit too,” Yoon Jong agreed, with a small sigh. Baek Cheon’s eyes were intense. “Three days,” he said firmly. “Just three days. I will get them back into shape in three days!”

Chung Myung, still relaxed in the shade, chuckled quietly as he watched. He guessed Baek Cheon, Yoon Jong, Jo Gul, and Yu Yiseol were probably just as surprised as the younger disciples. They had only been gone to Yunnan, but the disciples left behind in Mount Hua seemed… well, not as strong as they remembered. It must have been a shock for them. But, Chung Myung thought, a smile playing on his lips, *they don’t realize why they feel that way. They don’t see how much stronger they have become.*

Chung Myung knew strength was all about comparison. Baek Cheon and the others had been… well, Chung Myung had pushed them incredibly hard during their trip to Yunnan. Because of that, they were now much, much stronger than before they left. The Honwon Pills they took before leaving had fully become part of them, and their skills were sharper and more polished. They had improved so much in Yunnan, it was like climbing several steps at once.

And that wasn’t all. They had seen true masters in action when Chung Myung fought with the Tang Family leader. They had learned what real fighting was like watching Chung Myung spar with others. They had even faced the powerful Beast Palace Lord and seen his elite warriors. It would be strange if all of that hadn’t changed how they saw things.

So, how could the ordinary disciples of Mount Hua, who hadn’t changed much from before they left, possibly meet their eyes?

Chung Myung knew Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong would now push the other disciples hard, until they reached the level they expected. *Yes,* Chung Myung thought, *this is how a sect gets stronger.* When someone amazing appears, they push everyone around them to be better. Then, those who become stronger will push others in turn. Like a wave spreading out, everyone gets pushed to improve. And then? Of course, they will all become stronger!

The change Chung Myung had started was now flowing through Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong, and starting to spread to everyone else. Now, Chung Myung just needed to watch and guide them if needed. *In about a year,* he thought, *everyone will be training themselves.* When that happened, Mount Hua would truly be a great sect. Because a great sect isn’t just good for a short time, it keeps producing strong people, generation after generation.

Chung Myung smiled, feeling satisfied. *Now I can finally relax a little.* It was good to see his plans working. If Mount Hua built a strong base like this, and then added the Honwon Pills, they would become powerful very quickly. Soon, they might even be famous again…

“Chung Myung!” a voice yelled. “Chung Myung!”

“…” Chung Myung slowly turned his head. The Sect Leader, the elders, and the Head of the Medical Hall were rushing towards him, running from far away. “…” Seeing their worried faces, Chung Myung sighed deeply. *Of course.* He should have known he couldn’t relax. Something else had gone wrong! *Oh, please, no more trouble!*

Chung Myung looked up at the clear blue sky. “Oh, Sect Leader,” he said, already feeling tired. *What is it this time? You want me to fix something else? Oh, please, no!* He could almost hear the Sect Leader’s voice in his head, teasing him. – *Don’t be dramatic, you brat. Whatever it is, it’s nothing compared to the messes you’ve made.*

“Damn it!” Chung Myung shouted, jumping to his feet. Just then, the Sect Leader and the Head of the Medical Hall reached him. Chung Myung quickly bowed and put his hands together in greeting. “Greetings, Sect Leader.”

“No time for greetings!” the Sect Leader said, grabbing Chung Myung’s arm. “Come on! You have to see this!” He pulled Chung Myung along, running again. Chung Myung, being dragged along, smiled to himself. *This old man is getting stronger too,* he thought, amused. *Heh heh heh.*

“Look!” the Sect Leader said, pointing.

“…”

“What are we going to do about this?” Chung Myung looked at the huge pot in front of him, his face showing no surprise. “What’s wrong? It’s just a pot.”

“Look closer! At the bottom!”

“Okay, okay,” Chung Myung said, leaning forward to look inside. “Oh. Is that a crack? Did someone get angry and punch it?”

“No one punched it! It’s from internal energy!”

“Internal energy? In a pot? What are you talking about? It’s not a sword! Are you trying to invent a new fighting style using pots now?”

“That’s not it!” Hyun Jong said, sounding very annoyed. He put a hand on his chest, taking a deep breath.

Then, Un-gak, the Head of the Medical Hall, stepped forward to explain. “This is a special step in making the Honwon Pill. The Crimson Wood Herb is just one ingredient, and it’s hard to find now, but this is a different problem. To make the pill correctly, someone with very strong internal energy has to heat the pot using their own energy.”

“…” Chung Myung blinked. “So? What’s the problem?”

“I don’t know exactly how it works,” Un-gak continued, “but it seems that heating the pot this way helps the internal energy get into the pill and clean out any… unwanted stuff.” *Huh? Can you even do that?* Chung Myung thought. *That pharmacist was really something.*

“That’s incredible,” Chung Myung said aloud. “So?”

“So, before we started making the pills for real, I asked the Sect Leader to try heating the pot with his energy, just to be sure. But the pot broke. This is the third pot that’s cracked.”

“…”

“If we hadn’t tested it first, we would have ruined all the ingredients.”

“So, let me get this straight…” Chung Myung scratched his head hard. “To make the Honwon Pill, you have to put internal energy into the pot, but these normal iron pots are too weak and they break, right?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay… then why not make the pot out of the same metal they use for swords? Swords are strong.”

“Making swords and pots is different,” Un-gak explained. “Swords need to be shaped and folded many times. It’s hard to make a pot this big that way. I even asked So-so from the Tang Family, and she said it would be very difficult, even for them.”

“Ugh. So what now?”

“We need very strong iron, I think. But there isn’t much iron strong enough to make a pot this big.”

“…” Chung Myung thought for a moment. “What if we made lots of small pots instead of one big one?”

Un-gak shook his head. “I thought of that too. But the pharmacist’s instructions only give one recipe, one set of amounts. If we make less, we’d have to change the recipe, and I don’t know how to do that.” This was a real problem.

“So, the bottom line is… we need to find iron that’s strong enough to handle that powerful internal energy and make a pot this size?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Heh heh,” Chung Myung chuckled, but his face was turning red with frustration. *Seriously!* Every time he fixed one thing, another problem popped up! It was like someone was playing a joke on him!

“Seriously! Where are we even going to find iron like that… Wait… Iron?” Chung Myung, who was about to lose his temper, suddenly stopped. He tilted his head, thinking. *Special iron that can handle internal energy? Big enough to make a pot?* Like…

“Something like Eternal Ice Iron?”

“Exactly!” Un-gak exclaimed. “Eternal Ice Iron would be perfect! We couldn’t ask for anything better!”

“…”

“But it’s very rare,” Hyun Jong added, sighing. “That’s why I asked you first. Do you have any idea how we could get Eternal Ice Iron quickly?”

*Eternal Ice Iron…* Chung Myung thought. Then, a slow smile spread across his face. *Think?* Heh heh heh heh. Chung Myung chuckled again, and Hyun Jong sighed even deeper.

“Right,” Hyun Jong said, sounding defeated. “Even you probably can’t get your hands on Eternal Ice Iron easily. I’ll contact Lord Hwang from the Eunha Merchant Guild first…”

“No need to wait,” Chung Myung interrupted.

“Huh?”

“Not today. I’ll bring it tomorrow.”

“…” Hyun Jong stared at Chung Myung, completely confused. “Bring what? What are you going to bring?”

“Eternal Ice Iron,” Chung Myung said, grinning.

“…”

“Or,” Chung Myung added, his grin widening, “should I just make the pot for you too?” Hyun Jong and Un-gak looked at Chung Myung as if he had lost his mind. But Chung Myung just kept chuckling, enjoying their reactions. *Eternal Ice Iron?* he thought. *I have tons of it.*