Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 25

Chung Myung groaned and fell to the ground. ‘I feel like I’m dying,’ he thought.

Searching a mountain was hard, even if it was small. This was not going to be easy.

He had to sneak around at night to avoid his elders. He felt like a thief in the dark.

‘This weak body!’ he thought. It just wouldn’t get stronger. If he were the Chung Myung from before, he could move quickly for days without getting tired. But now, even a small walk made him out of breath.

It was like when he went to Hwaeom to question Yoo Jongsan. Climbing this mountain was harder than fighting that loud-mouthed swordsman.

Searching now was also very difficult. Chung Myung took a deep breath. He placed his hand on the ground and sent his inner power into the earth. What was he doing?

‘That’s right!’ he thought. The storage should be under here. But he didn’t know exactly where. He had to check each place, one by one.

So, Chung Myung crawled around the mountain, sending his power into the ground, looking for a hollow space. If there was empty space under the mountain, it must be the storage.

It sounded easy. But… ‘This is like finding a tiny needle in a huge desert,’ Chung Myung thought with a sigh.

Before, he could easily fill this small mountain with his power. But now, he could only send out a tiny bit of power, like a small thread. ‘Aigo! I’m dying!’ he groaned.

Also, he couldn’t keep using his power. His inner energy was getting used up quickly, even though he hadn’t used it much. Each time, he had to rest and gather his energy again before sending it out. He had to do this many times.

‘What if it’s not here? Am I just wasting my time?’ His tired body made him worry. Chung Myung pushed away these thoughts.

‘No,’ he told himself. ‘If I want it to be here, it will be!’ He thought about the Sect Leader. The Sect Leader would keep important things safe. And this was the safest place.

He had to try, even if it was a small chance. It was like being lost at sea and seeing a piece of wood – he had to grab it!

Again! ‘Aigo!’ Again! ‘I’m dying!’ Again! ‘Wait… something feels empty.’

Chung Myung stopped. ‘Empty?’ He opened his eyes wide. To be sure, he sent his power out one more time.

‘There is something!’ He felt something different. There was a hollow space under him. He wasn’t strong enough to know if someone made it, or if it was just a natural space.

But he knew there was something empty.

‘Could it be?’ Chung Myung spat on the ground in excitement and stood up. He grabbed the pickaxe beside him.

‘I have to see it for myself!’

Now, it was all about his determination. ‘Ugh!’ He dug once with the pickaxe. ‘Ugh!’ Twice. ‘Kraaah!’ Three times.

*Plop.* Chung Myung fell into the hole he had made. Dirt filled his mouth, but he was too tired to spit it out.

‘I’m going to die,’ he thought again. ‘This body is useless!’

Digging down just a little bit made his arms shake and his legs tremble. His waist hurt terribly, like it was broken.

People who train in martial arts are used to pain. But pain from fighting is different from pain from hard work. Chung Myung was not used to this kind of pain.

Even for someone used to hard work, digging in hard ground was difficult, especially for a child.

Skills were not enough here. He needed only strength and will.

Chung Myung spat out the dirt and glared at the ground. ‘Okay, ground! Let’s see who is stronger!’

He wouldn’t give up. He was the descendant of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint – a great swordsman! He started swinging the pickaxe hard again. ‘Heave-ho!’ He would reach the space below!

*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!* ‘Heave-ho!’ *Thwack! Thwack! Thud!* ‘Huh?’ *Thud?*

Chung Myung quickly bent down. He started digging away the dirt with his hands. After a few moments, he felt something hard with his fingers.

‘Brick?’ Chung Myung frowned. The feeling was strange. He could feel spaces between them. It was a brick wall.

Something made of bricks under the mountain could be good. It meant someone had built a space here.

But Chung Myung wasn’t sure. If this was the Hidden Cave of Mount Hua, they wouldn’t use weak bricks. They would have made it much stronger to stop anyone from getting in.

But bricks…

‘Let’s dig a little more,’ Chung Myung thought, hiding his disappointment. He couldn’t know for sure until he saw it. Seeing it himself was most important now.

*Scritch, scritch.* As he dug away the last dirt, he could see the clear shape of a brick. He was still not very strong in martial arts, and it was dark, so he couldn’t see well. But he knew something was under here.

‘Let’s see.’ Chung Myung carefully took hold of a brick.

Maybe because so much time had passed, the bricks were stuck together tightly. He pulled hard on the brick, being careful not to break anything.

*Creak.* One brick came loose. ‘Good!’ Chung Myung carefully pulled out the brick and looked into the hole.

‘Okay, let’s see…’ Chung Myung looked closely into the hole and frowned. There was nothing there. All he could see was…

‘It can’t be… Ah! A passage!’ His fist tightened without him meaning to. He wasn’t in the wrong place. He was in the right place, but a little to the side.

He hadn’t found the Hidden Cave itself, but the path to it. He wasn’t skilled enough to tell the difference between the path and the Cave. But finding the passage meant he had found the way to the Hidden Cave!

‘Good!’ Just as Chung Myung looked up to take out more bricks…

*Thud.* A quiet footstep came from inside. ‘Gasp!’ Chung Myung was so surprised he almost shouted. Someone was walking in the passage.

‘The Sect Leader?’ He pulled back quickly and put the brick back in place. But there was a new problem.

‘Oh no!’ Light was coming through the crack where the brick was removed. Chung Myung quickly covered the brick with his body and breathed slowly and quietly, using a special breathing method.

‘Why now?’ he thought. He might be seen! If the Sect Leader found him digging here, what would he say?

He must not be caught.

*Thud. Thud.* The footsteps in the dark passage were getting closer. They were slow steps.

‘It’s the Sect Leader,’ Chung Myung thought. He could tell it was the Sect Leader from the shape he saw in the dark.

Luckily, the Sect Leader didn’t seem to notice anything and walked past where Chung Myung was hiding. But Chung Myung couldn’t relax yet. The Sect Leader stopped walking.

‘Is that a wall?’ As his eyes got used to the dark, he could see better. A big wall was in front of the Sect Leader.

No, it wasn’t a wall. It looked like one, but it must be a door. Passages always end with doors, not walls. The Sect Leader stood still and looked at the door.

‘He knows,’ Chung Myung thought. He had guessed the Sect Leader might know about this place. No one else would know about the Hidden Cave, not even Chung Myung himself. But the Sect Leader probably knew.

Maybe the Sect Leader told the next leader about it, or maybe he found it by chance while living here. But if he knew about this Hidden Cave, why was Mount Hua in such trouble?

There should be important books and valuables that the Sect Leader hid in the Cave.

Just then, the Sect Leader slowly raised his hand and touched the wall, no, the door. He touched it for a long time, like it was something very precious.

‘What is he doing?’ Chung Myung wondered. It didn’t seem like he was doing anything special.

But Chung Myung didn’t want to judge him. He felt something different about the Sect Leader now. The Sect Leader, who was touching the door, slowly lowered his head. He stayed like that, not moving.

Then Chung Myung understood. The Sect Leader wasn’t trying to open it. He *couldn’t* open it.

Chung Myung bit his lip without thinking as he watched the Sect Leader’s back. It looked small and sad.

The Sect Leader of Mount Hua should always look strong and kind. But now, his back was bent and looked sad, like an old man tired from living too long.

It was a sadness he couldn’t show anyone. He could only be like this here, alone.

Chung Myung could see the Sect Leader’s back leaning against the door, shaking a little. ‘Ah…’ He understood. ‘He can’t open it.’

Chung Myung bit his lip harder. Seeing that back hurt him. It felt so cold and painful.

Mount Hua was falling apart. Their fighting skills were getting worse, and they had no money left. People demanding their money back were getting angrier, and their enemies were becoming more dangerous.

In this situation, how hard it must be to lead Mount Hua alone? How heartbroken the Sect Leader must be, watching Mount Hua, which he had given his life to, fail, and not being able to do anything?

But he couldn’t tell anyone how he felt. The Sect Leader had to be strong for his students. He couldn’t ask for help.

Even if everyone else was failing, he had to be strong for Mount Hua, like a big tree with strong roots.

So… he was hiding his sadness here, alone. Holding onto the door of the Hidden Cave that wouldn’t open.

Chung Myung looked at the Sect Leader’s back with sad eyes, trying to remember this moment forever.

The Sect Leader, who had been holding the door for a long time, slowly lifted his head. He looked sadly at the door, then sighed quietly and turned around. He slowly walked back through the passage.

Chung Myung waited without breathing until the Sect Leader was completely gone. Then he lifted the brick and jumped down into the passage.

‘Tsk,’ he clicked his tongue. He had seen something he didn’t want to see.

‘It’s mostly my fault,’ he thought. Not just his, but also the fault of those who came before. The world of martial arts was important, but Mount Hua was important too.

It was important to solve the problems now, but they should have also thought about the future students. ‘It’s not too late to fix things.’

If there was a mistake, he could fix it. Chung Myung would give back what they had lost.

‘Now then…’ He turned to the door. ‘Let’s open this door!’