Return Of The Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 292

Jin Geum-ryong watched Lee Song-baek come back to the Jongnam camp. His eyes were hard.

“You’re not too happy about just that little win, are you?” Jin Geum-ryong asked, his voice cold.

“No, Senior Brother, of course not,” Lee Song-baek replied quietly.

“Anyone here could beat him,” Jin Geum-ryong sneered.

“I know,” Lee Song-baek said again, still calm.

Jin Geum-ryong’s eyes narrowed. He really didn’t like Lee Song-baek.

*‘I just don’t like him,’* Jin Geum-ryong thought. *‘He throws away the sword our elders worked so hard to make. He holds onto old, useless things. And he never listens, no matter what you say.’*

Jin Geum-ryong couldn’t find one thing he liked about Lee Song-baek.

If Cheong-myeong was a hateful enemy he wanted to defeat, Lee Song-baek was someone he just didn’t understand.

They were incompatible.

“I don’t want to criticize you for following your own sword path. But don’t be so pathetic.”

“I will remember that.”

“Go inside.”

“Yes.”

Lee Song-baek felt his friends staring at him. He sighed quietly.

*‘This is hard,’* he thought.

Lee Song-baek was actually a simple person.

He wanted to follow his own path, but he couldn’t convince others it was right. All he could do was keep trying to prove himself.

But his path to master Jongnam’s sword was hard and long.

He sat down and looked at the Hwasan camp in the distance.

*‘What do you think, Cheong-myeong? Am I doing the right thing?’*

No one would answer him.

He wanted to hear the answer from Cheong-myeong.

“I’m sorry!”

Tang Soso bowed deeply.

“I lost to Jongnam. I will take any punishment.”

Baek Cheon cleared his throat.

He was proud of Tang Soso’s spirit, but he also felt sorry for her. He knew he should say something helpful as her martial uncle.

“Soso-ya, well…”

Just then, Cheong-myeong stepped forward and patted Tang Soso on the shoulder.

“You did great! Really great!”

“Senior Brother?”

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose! If you get punished every time you lose, no one would be okay. Stand up straight!”

Tang Soso looked at Cheong-myeong in surprise. She didn’t expect him to say such kind things.

*‘There’s no way he’d do this?’*

Wasn’t Cheong-myeong the one who had crushed Baek-sang with harsh words after his defeat?

“Are you really okay with it?”

“Hee-eum.”

Cheong-myeong looked closely at Tang Soso and then lowered his voice.

“Tang Soso.”

“Yes! Senior Brother!”

Tang Soso stood up straighter as Cheong-myeong spoke quietly.

“Did you do your best with the sword?”

“……”

After thinking for a moment, Tang Soso answered with bright eyes.

“Yes!”

“Good. Then that’s enough. Win next time.”

“……Yes.”

Tang Soso bit her lip.

“I will, definitely!”

Cheong-myeong grinned.

*‘I thought I just got her as a bonus,’* he thought.

He didn’t expect much from Tang Soso as a swordsman. But she was doing better than he thought. She deserved praise.

*‘It seems like the others are getting motivated too.’*

The Hwasan disciples looked serious, probably because Tang Soso was better than they expected. They didn’t want to be beaten by the youngest disciple.

A sect always needs someone to push them. If Tang Soso could do that, Hwasan would become even stronger.

Tang Soso bowed and went back to her seat. She hesitated when she saw Yu Yiseol.

“Sa-sister, I…”

“Water.”

Yu Yiseol held out her water bottle to Tang Soso.

Tang Soso hesitated, then took it and looked at Yu Yiseol with slightly nervous eyes. Yu Yiseol said simply, without showing any emotion.

“You did well.”

“Really?”

“But, your wrist…”

“……”

“You use your wrist differently when you use a sword and when you throw a dart. If you think about that, you’ll get better.”

“I will! Sa-sister!”

“Okay. Sit down.”

“Yes!”

Tang Soso’s face brightened, and she sat next to Yu Yiseol and started talking excitedly.

Baek Cheon smiled and watched them. Then, he turned to Cheong-myeong.

“Cheong-myeong-ah.”

“What?”

“That sword that Lee Song-baek used just now…”

“Yeah.”

“I think that…”

Cheong-myeong chuckled.

“Our Dong-ryong has learned a lot. You can even see that now.”

“Stop it.”

“Stooop it… Ah, you’re drawing your sword again.”

Cheong-myeong stretched out his foot and pressed down on Baek Cheon’s sword, stopping him from drawing it.

He smiled.

“Sa Suk’s thoughts are right.”

“I knew it.”

Baek Cheon looked at Lee Song-baek seriously.

*‘It’s completely wrong for Hwasan’s sword,’* he thought.

Hwasan’s sword is all about attack.

It’s the most dazzling and flamboyant sword in the world, attacking the enemy again and again to win completely.

The Plum Blossom Sword Technique is sometimes criticized for being too aggressive and having too much killing intent for a Taoist sword.

On the other hand, Lee Song-baek’s Thirty-Six Swords of the World was a sword of perfect defense.

It blocked every attack, aiming for victory through perfect defense.

The fight between Tang Soso and Lee Song-baek made that clear.

“You didn’t think Hwasan and Jongnam have been fighting for hundreds of years just because they’re neighbors, did you?”

“……”

“Right?”

“……Let’s move on.”

Cheong-myeong thought, *‘What a dimwit!’*

Baek Cheon cleared his throat, embarrassed by Cheong-myeong’s look.

Fortunately, Yoon Jong continued the conversation for Baek Cheon.

“Is it because their martial arts are incompatible?”

“They’re close and they’re both part of the Nine Great Sects, so they have to fight sometimes. But their martial arts are completely opposite, so they can’t get along. It’s like they’re trying to prove they’re right by beating each other.”

“Ah……”

Some of the Nine Great Sects have friendly relationships, but Hwasan and Jongnam openly fight each other. Yoon Jong was surprised to learn that their strange relationship started with different ideas about martial arts.

“But only Lee Song-baek uses that sword? The other Jongnam disciples… Yeah, they use something like the Plum Blossom Sword Technique?”

“It’s a new sword.”

Cheong-myeong added something he didn’t need to say.

“That will destroy Jongnam.”

“……But it looks stronger.”

“Only on the surface.”

Cheong-myeong said firmly.

“A sect’s martial arts aren’t just about being strong or weak. All martial arts follow a path that the sect believes is good. If you forget the sect’s foundation and only try to be strong, you’ll eventually lose that strength too.”

“……Then will Jongnam collapse? Like we did?”

“Jongnam sect has lost its fire.”

It’s their own fault. They let it happen.

This change will be bigger than they expect.

Chung Myung looked quickly at Lee Song-baek.

“But you never know,” Chung Myung said. “Even if Jongnam falls now, maybe new people will grow strong. Maybe someday they will be even greater than before.”

He spoke honestly.

“Things that are strong will become weak. And things that are weak will become strong again. That’s just how the world works.”

Baek Cheon looked at him strangely.

“When you talk like that, you sound like a wise old man!”

“Maybe I am,” Chung Myung replied.

“It’s still weird for you.”

“Hey!”

Chung Myung almost got angry, but he laughed instead. He stood up.

“Well, I’m going to get my winnings!”

“Wait! Before you go,” Jo Gul said.

“So, are you saying Jongnam’s future depends on Lee Song-baek?”

“Maybe,” Chung Myung said.

“Then they are finished!”

“Totally finished. No hope at all.”

“Too bad,” Jo Gul said.

Chung Myung looked confused.

“Why?”

Jo Gul smiled slyly.

“Did you see who you fight next?”

“What?”

Jo Gul smiled again, a little mischievously.

“If you win today, you fight him next.”

“First Jin Geum-ryong, then Lee Song-baek.”

“Really?”

“Unlucky for you?”

Uh…

That is really unlucky.

Hehehehe.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Everyone did very well today!”

Hyun Jong smiled, very happy.

“If you lost today, don’t be too sad. Your life is long, and this fight is just a small thing.”

*Coins clinked.*

“Hee hee hee!”

“Ehehehe!”

“Losing might hurt now, but it will make you stronger later.”

*More coins clinked.*

“Hehehehe!”

“Kya-ruk! Kya-ruk!”

“So, don’t be sad, and do what you need to do… do it well…”

*Coins clinked loudly.*

“Another bag here!”

“More money over here!”

“Don’t forget you are from Hwa-san sect!”

*Coins clinked.*

“Darn it! You greedy people!”

Hyun Jong threw the fan he was holding at Chung Myung.

Hyun Young, who was next to Chung Myung, just reached out and caught the fan without even looking. He put it down beside him with a *thump*.

“Why are you getting angry again, Sect Leader?”

At his calm face, Hyun Jong’s face flushed red.

“Can’t you count that money somewhere else!”

“We were here first, wasn’t it you who came later, Sect Leader? Sect Leader, you’ve become quite bossy lately.”

Hyun Jong’s eyes wavered.

Me?

Bossy?

Next to him, Chung Myung nodded, adding fuel to the fire.

“And you’ve become someone picking on the weak. To interfere with counting money! If it were the old days…!”

Hyun Jong’s shoulders slumped.

Then, Baek Cheon quietly approached, gently grabbing Hyun Jong’s shoulders and massaging them lightly.

“Please don’t be like this, Sect Leader. We all understand.”

But whether Hyun Jong did or not, Hyun Young, Chung Myung, and Wi Rip-san were really celebrating.

The hands sorting and counting the gold and silver coins and bills, very full in each sack, were super quick.

“Ehehehehe! How much is all this?”

“Elder, the money earned from commissions is no joke!”

“Baek Sang! Go and bring another sack! Hahaha! The problem is storing the money, that’s the problem!”

“That’s my sack! Don’t touch it! Your wrist will fly off!”

“So cheap!”

Hyun Jong, watching the messy scene, covered his face with one hand.

‘Isn’t this just like robbers counting stolen treasure?’

Watching the three people counting money with evil smiles on their faces, he couldn’t tell if this was Hwa-san’s residence or Chung Myung’s.

And…

‘Why is that bastard mixed in there again?’

Seeing Baek Sang diligently carrying money next to Hyun Young, he felt so frustrated that he could breathe fire from his mouth.

“Kkeueueueung. On this good day…”

Today, Hwa-san achieved excellent results.

It was unfortunate that some disciples had lost, but nevertheless, they managed to get ten disciples into the top sixty-four.

The fact that ten of Hwa-san’s disciples were among the sixty-four survivors in the martial arts competition, in which all the famous groups from all over participated, was truly remarkable.

Moreover, the Plum Blossom Sword Technique demonstrated by Hwa-san’s disciples in today’s competition clearly left people and other groups very impressed.

So many happy things happened…

“…Yes. That too is a joyous event. Yes.”

Earning money is a joyous event. Earning money is.

To earn so much money and still make the person watching feel frustrated is quite a talent! You damned lot!

Hyun Jong took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

“In any case, rest well today and do your best tomorrow.”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

“Eing!”

Hyun Jong turned away as if he didn’t want to see them.

At that moment, he heard a quiet conversation behind him.

“Why is he like that?”

“Tsk tsk tsk. Do you still not understand the Sect Leader’s real reasons?”

“Yes?”

Hyun Jong smiled slightly at Hyun Young’s gentle scolding of Chung Myung.

Still, that rascal is an Elder…

“You earned so much money, but you didn’t even take care of the Sect Leader’s allowance, so he’s upset! You should have guessed that much and given him some money earlier.”

“Ah! That’s right. I didn’t think of that.”

“Give it to him quickly. Tsk tsk.”

Hyun Jong rolled his eyes.

‘That… that kind of person is an Elder…! I am…!’

At that moment, Chung Myung rushed over and slipped a gold coin into Hyun Jong’s arms.

“Use it without the kids knowing, Sect Leader.”

Hyun Jong was speechless.

“Hehe. Tell me if you need more.”

“Chung Myung-ah.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“Hehe. Don’t mention it. Hehehe.”