Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 26

“Wait,” Chung Myung murmured to himself. “Better look around first.”

*One mistake could be disastrous.* He couldn’t risk it.

He quickly turned his head, eyes darting around the dimly lit corridor. He scanned the walls and ceiling, searching for any sign of traps. Knowing his Sect Leader – the man was incredibly careful – there might be a hidden alarm, something that would sound if anyone *but* him tried to open the Hidden Cave.

After a moment, Chung Myung nodded to himself. “Looks clear,” he said, though his voice echoed strangely in the silence. “Nothing obvious, at least.”

Having confirmed there were no obvious traps, Chung Myung looked toward the upper part of the corridor.

He saw holes in the wall, just big enough for a child’s fist. They weren’t alone; they were spaced a short distance apart.

“Tsk.”

Originally, those holes would have held night-shining pearls, turning this dark corridor into one filled with light.

The Sect Leader must have pulled them out and sold them off one by one whenever money was tight, making this corridor darker each time.

What must the Sect Leader have thought as he watched the corridor grow dimmer? Did he think that, as the corridor darkened, so too did the future of Mount Hua?

“Kkeueueung.”

Chung Myung scratched his head roughly.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have looked.”

Heavy. So heavy.

He knew it, of course. He wasn’t a fool.

Just because the Sect Leader and the first-generation disciples didn’t show it, didn’t mean he couldn’t guess what they were thinking. They were all losing sleep over the weight of the name ‘Mount Hua’ and the pressure of possibly being the generation that saw its downfall.

They must have carried that burden their entire lives.

‘It’s not fair.’

He wasn’t the only one who caused this mess. It was true that he, as the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, had raised Mount Hua’s reputation, but the major decisions were made by the Sect Leader and the elders, not him.

They all made the mess together, but Chung Myung had to clean it up? Where was the fairness in that?

Chung Myung clicked his tongue and approached the door.

Enough complaining, time to open this door.

“But… how do I open this?”

Chung Myung tilted his head.

The door had no handle. A long, vertical line in the center was the only indication that it was a door; without that line, it could easily be mistaken for a wall.

“And what are these lines?”

Besides the long, vertical line in the center marking the door’s seam, other lines crisscrossed haphazardly. It looked as if someone had been practicing swordsmanship against the wall.

“…Is this even a door?”

Chung Myung, unsure, placed his hand on it and cautiously channeled his energy inward, but he had to pull back his hand almost immediately.

“Crazy.”

His energy couldn’t penetrate it. This couldn’t happen with ordinary rock. There was something terrifying right behind this rock.

‘Ten Thousand Year Ice Iron.’

And at least a hand’s breadth thick.

“…They must have had a lot of money.”

They must have built the storage room with that expensive Ten Thousand Year Ice Iron and then covered it with rock.

“No wonder Sect Leader couldn’t bring himself to open it.”

What was Ten Thousand Year Ice Iron, after all?

If forged into a sword, it could create the finest blade in the world; if made into armor, it could create impenetrable protection. It was the best metal in all the land.

And, weight for weight, it was more valuable than gold. Yet, they had built a Hidden Cave out of it.

“Hehehe.”

Depending on how you looked at it, the Sect Leader might seem foolish for leaving this expensive metal untouched like this.

But Chung Myung understood why the Sect Leader hadn’t touched this Hidden Cave. Ten Thousand Year Ice Iron was, quite literally, the hardest metal in the world. Even for Chung Myung, cutting through it now would be impossible.

Ten Thousand Year Ice Iron, a hand’s breadth thick… even Chung Myung, back when he was the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, would have barely been able to cut through it. So, to cut through this Hidden Cave, they would have to bring in one of the best martial artists in the world.

But would such a person really walk away after seeing this treasure?

‘Absolutely not.’

If a weakened Mount Hua possessed such a treasure, it would be a death sentence. Those with power wouldn’t allow the weak to sell off treasures fairly. They would try to take the treasure by any means necessary.

If they carelessly brought in an outsider, Mount Hua could face annihilation.

‘The Sect Leader’s choice wasn’t bad. Bringing in a master to solve an immediate crisis is like inviting a tiger to chase away a wolf.’

What was inside was important, but the Ten Thousand Year Ice Iron was a treasure in itself. This much of it would be worth a fortune.

“The problem is, I can’t cut it either…”

Chung Myung’s face twisted slightly.

The old him could have cut through this Ten Thousand Year Ice Iron with his bare hands. He was, after all, the Plum Blossom Sword Saint! He had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship…

“Forget it!”

Enough pointless reminiscing.

Chung Myung focused his eyes, studying the chaotic patterns etched into the wall. If this was a door, and the Sect Leader had been going in and out of it, there had to be a way to open it.

The Sect Leader’s martial arts skills weren’t higher than his. So, if he could figure out the method…

“Oh? This?”

The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style?

The pattern etched into the wall—no! The sword movements!

Some of those sword movements resembled the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style. And as that clue unraveled, he could recognize the identities of the other patterns.

“This is Bamboo Leaf Hand. This is the Plum Blossom Sword Technique. And this is the Six Harmony Fist.”

From shallow patterns to deep ones.

The forms of martial arts that only a Mount Hua disciple could learn were etched in one place.

‘No wonder Sect Leader couldn’t open it.’

The Plum Blossom Sword Technique and the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style weren’t passed down in the current Mount Hua. Someone who knew martial arts could follow the forms, but it was impossible to create martial arts just by looking at the forms.

“This depth…”

Chung Myung sighed.

“Violet Mist Qi.”

Based on Violet Mist Qi, linking the Six Harmony Fist and Bamboo Leaf Hand, and then unfolding the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

That was how to open this door.

It seemed that if you precisely followed the forms and unfolded the sword techniques, the door would open automatically. He couldn’t imagine how they had created such a mechanism.

He had unraveled the clue.

Only one problem remained.

“…How am I supposed to unfold this?”

The Chung Myung of the past would have had no problem. No, even the elders who weren’t Chung Myung could have opened the door without much difficulty. But the current Chung Myung was just a fledgling who hadn’t even properly mastered the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style.

He could imitate the form of the sword techniques, but infusing this sword form with internal energy and unfolding it in one go was impossible for him now.

“Hoo.”

Chung Myung took a deep breath.

‘There’s no such thing as impossible!’

If it doesn’t work, make it work. There’s no such thing as a method that doesn’t exist in this world. It’s just difficult.

Chung Myung gritted his teeth and gathered his hands at his dantian.

“…I really don’t want to do this.”

He wouldn’t want to overexert himself for something like this, unless he was facing a life-or-death enemy. But no matter how he thought about it, this was the only way.

“Let’s just think of it as a month or so of recovery.”

Chung Myung gritted his teeth. Then, he circulated his internal energy, gently touching the innate true qi located deep within his dantian.

Innate true qi.

The power that everyone possesses from birth.

It was a different kind of power than internal energy.

Even if someone lost all their internal energy, they wouldn’t die. They would just be plagued by a great sense of powerlessness, but it wouldn’t hinder their ability to live. In the first place, internal energy was a power artificially created by humans.

But innate true qi was different.

A human who lost their innate true qi could no longer sustain life. In other words, innate true qi could be said to be the life force that sustained human life.

Those who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts could draw upon innate true qi like internal energy. But innate true qi was the power that sustained life. If they drew upon it, they had to be prepared to pay the price.

If they consumed too much, they would face death.

Even if they consumed it moderately, their vitality would be greatly damaged, and they wouldn’t be able to live a normal life for several months.

‘I’m only going to use a little bit. Just a little bit.’

It would be pointless for Chung Myung to die trying to save Mount Hua. Right now, Chung Myung was perhaps more important than the entire Mount Hua.

Tap tap.

He stimulated the innate true qi very carefully. Too much coming out would be bad. Just enough to use! Really, just enough to use!

The stimulated innate true qi began to surge. The roused innate true qi pushed into his dantian.

‘It’s a little more than I thought.’

Chung Myung banished the distracting thoughts and gripped his sword.

Is it possible?

It has to be!

He mixed the innate true qi with his internal energy, creating a magnificent power, and circulated the energy throughout his body, following the Violet Mist Qi’s method of operation. The internal energy, flowing through unfamiliar pathways, shook his entire body.

“Keuk!”

A groan escaped his lips.

Terrible pain followed, but Chung Myung’s eyes shone even brighter.

‘Just once! I have to do it in one go.’

A violet sword energy flickered at his fingertips.

He wasn’t properly trained in martial arts. He was merely clumsily recreating the martial arts and forms that his head remembered, with an unfamiliar body.

So, there was no second chance.

Chung Myung’s hand danced through the air like a flash of light.

The violet trajectory carved into the wall.

Grrrrk! Grrrrk!

The sound of scraping against the wall echoed through the silent cave. It had to be unfolded in one go, but thanks to the limitations of his body and internal energy, it was incredibly slow.

“Heueu… Euk!”

His dantian ached as if it were tearing apart.

But Chung Myung didn’t stop, and swung his hand. As the unreasonable movements continued, his muscles ached as if they were about to snap, and his face flushed as if it would explode.

‘I am the Plum Blossom Sword Saint!’

If he didn’t have the ability, he would fill it with stubbornness.

After biting his tongue to hold onto his fading consciousness, Chung Myung finally unleashed all the forms.

Thud.

His hand stopped in the air.

‘Did it work?’

His legs were shaking, and his chest was heaving, but he couldn’t afford to worry about his body right now. If it didn’t open after all this, it would be a complete disaster.

That’s when it happened.

Kkiririk!

A strange metallic sound was heard, followed by a clank! and the sound of something opening.

Soon, the massive door moved slightly forward, about an inch.

“Ah!”

It opened!

He had expected the mechanism to move and open the door automatically, but it seemed that only the lock had been released.

But even that was something. Now, into that…

“Uwaaaaaaaack!”

Suddenly, Chung Myung clutched his stomach and bent over.

Blood like black pudding gushed from his mouth. The blood poured out of his throat with such force that he couldn’t even swallow it back.

“Tsk.”

Chung Myung wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

It seemed that he had damaged his body greatly by drawing upon more innate true qi than he had thought.

At this rate, he would have to rest and recuperate for at least two months with internal injuries.

“Ha…. Saving Mount Hua is damn hard.”

Chung Myung spat out the remaining blood in his mouth, clicked his tongue, and pushed the door of the Hidden Cave with all his might.

Creak!

The door of the Hidden Cave, which had been closed for so long, swung open to the left and right.

“Now, shall we see what Sect Leader has been hiding so carefully?”

With a meaningful smile, Chung Myung stepped into the Hidden Cave.