Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 356

“Ugh… uh…” A groan of exhaustion escaped someone’s lips.

“My back…” another voice moaned.

“I can’t…” a third voice gasped.

Exhausted groans, the sounds you always heard from Mount Hua disciples, came one after another as they worked.

Baek Cheon’s face was wet with sweat. He strained, pulling heavy logs tied together with thick ropes. The rough rope dug into his hands.

“Keeuh-eung,” he grunted with effort.

His arms shook, and his back felt like it was on fire.

*What is going on here?!* he thought, his muscles screaming.

More groans of pain came from beside him.

“Keeeuh-eung. Sasuk…” Yoon Jong whimpered.

“What?” Baek Cheon asked, his voice tight with strain.

“I think… I’m going to die,” Yoon Jong moaned.

Baek Cheon sighed heavily at Yoon Jong’s words. *This is madness,* he thought.

He couldn’t help but sigh. The sight before him was truly bizarre.

“There! Hold it straight there!”

“If you bury it like that, the pillar will be crooked! Dig deeper! Dig more thoroughly! More!”

“There can’t be a single pebble where the training ground will be! Don’t just pick out the stones any old way; dig them all out and pour soil back in to make it firm! Why can’t you understand?”

Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut.

‘I should have foreseen this from the moment I heard that Elder Hyun Young was coming with us.’

If the Sect Leader, Hyun Jong, or the calmer Hyun Sang had been in charge, this chaos of manual labor would never have happened.

But who was Hyun Young?

The steward of Mount Hua, a person who really, really hated spending money.

Of course, Mount Hua was now a sect that earned money hand over fist, but Hyun Young had spent his whole life saving every penny and couldn’t bear to see money wasted.

‘No. It’s more than that.’

To be precise, he couldn’t stand spending money even where it was necessary. The only time he spent freely was when feeding the disciples.

But even so…

“Wouldn’t it be better to just build a new house on an empty lot?”

“If we’re going to tear down an existing house and build a new one, why even buy the building in the first place?”

“And we’re not carpenters, why are we building a new house…”

“There!”

The disciples, who had been grumbling, quickly shut their mouths. Hyun Young was already glaring at them with a fierce look.

“Don’t slack off, move faster!”

“Yes!”

“Yes, Elder!”

Baek Cheon and the other disciples hurriedly started carrying the logs.

Hyun Young, watching Baek Cheon with a very displeased look, shouted in a loud voice.

“Don’t think of it as work! This is where Mount Hua’s lay family will reside! Don’t forget that you are laying the foundation for Mount Hua’s lay family now.”

That’s a good thing to say.

Up to this point, anyway.

“So don’t straighten your backs while working! Think of it as digging ten times and straightening your back once! This is all an extension of training. What’s so hard about it for you guys with internal energy? Eh!”

If he hadn’t added that last part, they could have responded with enthusiasm.

Baek Cheon put down the log he was dragging and raised his head.

Disciples scrambled everywhere, like ants in a disturbed nest. Some chipped away at the broken wall, dust clouds rising around them. Others dug at the courtyard, turning the earth into a muddy mess. In the back, men struggled to lift heavy wooden pillars, their faces red with effort.

‘Anyone would think they’re digging a canal.’

And the most important task was taking place in the back.

The half-collapsed old building had been neatly dismantled into dust by the hands of the Mount Hua disciples, and they were laying the foundation and raising the pillars in its place.

“This way! The pillars should be erected on this side. Oh, Warrior! No, no, you shouldn’t do it like that! Please wait a moment!”

“Yes! Yes! Exactly like that! Oh, as expected of the warriors, your strength is amazing. This isn’t something a person can lift!”

There were a few people wearing work clothes, not the Mount Hua uniform, at the construction site.

Chung Myung had said to just put up the building any old way, but Hyun Young was a thoughtful person, so he went to the Eunha Merchant Guild and asked Hwang Dae-in for carpenters. Hwang Dae-in laughed heartily and readily arranged for carpenters.

‘Why did you ask for carpenters?’

You shouldn’t have!

In any case, that’s how things turned out.

“Still, doesn’t it look like it’s taking shape?”

“It does…”

Baek Cheon glared at the manor slowly rising from the rubble, his unhappy look darkening into a scowl.

It would have been better to just give up cleanly and hire laborers, but these Mount Hua guys had somehow become people who would do whatever they were told.

Come to think of it.

Weren’t these the same hopeless people who would jump off a cliff with a single rope if Chung Myung told them to?

This kind of labor would be nothing to them.

Thinking that way, it wasn’t a big deal. Thinking that way!

But there was one thing that really bothered Baek Cheon.

Glug glug glug glug.

Glug glug.

In one corner, on top of a wooden platform, one fellow was lying down, swigging from a bottle.

‘What is the ghost doing? Why isn’t it taking that guy away!’

Everyone else, older and younger disciples, was working while breathing in dust, but that guy!

Baek Cheon glared.

“What?”

But his sharp gaze softened like a willow leaf fluttering in the breeze the moment it met Hyun Young’s gaze.

“Elder.”

“What?”

“Well… it’s not that I have any complaints about doing this work. It’s just that…”

“But?”

Baek Cheon’s gaze flickered towards Chung Myung, who was lying on the platform.

“It’s just that… I was thinking that if we’re going to work, we should do it together…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Then Hyun Young looked at Baek Cheon with a pathetic expression.

“For the chief disciple of the Hundred Flowers Room, you’re awfully thoughtless.”

Baek Cheon’s shoulders slumped at Hyun Young’s sharp words. Hyun Young asked him.

“Have you ever seen someone who paid money working?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Have you ever seen someone who paid a laborer to build a house joining in on the work?”

“…Well, no.”

“Then?”

Hyun Young frowned and said.

“Who earned the money to buy this place and purchase the materials?”

“…Well…”

Baek Cheon became completely silent.

That damn bastard.

That guy. That guy.

This was a fact that even someone who got very angry just hearing Chung Myung’s name couldn’t deny. Frankly, wasn’t almost all of the wealth that Mount Hua was enjoying right now created by Chung Myung alone, playing all the roles?

“Why should someone who pays for workers have to work with them?” Elder Hyun Young’s voice was sharp, like cracking ice. “You want to lead a sect, and you can’t even grasp something this simple?”

Baek Cheon bowed his head slightly. “Ah, my apologies, Elder.”

Hyun Young shook his head, clicking his tongue. “Tsk, tsk. Good heavens.” He still looked annoyed, his brow furrowed. “Instead of being happy your *junior sister* (a younger member of our sect) is resting, you’re jealous? Has Mount Hua become so heartless?”

There were so many things he wanted to say.

Elder…

Firstly, that person is not cute.

And secondly, Mount Hua has always been like this.

Is there any sect in the world more harsh than Mount Hua! Is there!

But despite the countless words surging to his throat, Baek Cheon dared not utter them in front of Hyun Young.

If Cheong Myung was the person with whom it was most impossible to reason, this man was at least the second.

It was then that Cheong Myung, who had been quietly observing the situation, tilted his head and asked,

“Do I have to work too?”

“No, no. What work do you need to do? You have so much to do even without this. These good-for-nothing fellows will do this kind of work, so you just stay there! Rest comfortably! Understand?”

“I feel like someone is watching me…”

“Which bastard is making you feel watched! I’ll pluck their eyes out!”

“⋯⋯.”

Elder.

Why are you saying that while looking at me?

Ah… I wish everything would just disappear.

Baek Cheon eventually sighed deeply and turned his head.

Just then, someone approached and cautiously spoke to him.

“Um… Senior Disciple Baek Cheon. Are you having a hard time?”

Turning around, he saw Wi Sohaeng, the young lord of Hwayoung, looking at him with a worried expression.

“It is nothing, Young Lord.”

“I am sorry. Because of us…”

“Please do not say such things. This is also for the sake of Mount Hua. Why are you apologizing, Young Lord?”

That guy is the problem! That guy!

“Even so…”

“Hm?”

“Thanks to the disciples of the main sect and Senior Disciple Cheong Myung, we have come this far.”

“Pardon?”

Baek Cheon asked, slightly surprised, and Wi Sohaeng replied with an awkward expression.

“It feels like only yesterday that we were climbing Mount Hua with a desperate heart because of the Jongdo Hall… Not only did we protect Hwayoung, but now we can dream of something bigger. All of this is thanks to Mount Hua and Senior Disciple Cheong Myung.”

Baek Cheon closed his mouth.

He glanced at Wi Rip-san, who was busy carrying materials with the disciples on one side.

Even though he was a martial artist, it must have been hard work, but Wi Rip-san’s face was sweaty, but he was smiling brightly, encouraging the workers.

Wi Sohaeng smiled slightly and said,

“My father seems very happy too.”

Baek Cheon nodded.

‘He has every right to be.’

The Hwayoung Sect Leader had always shown a calm demeanor, but it was easy to imagine how difficult the path of a family branch that could not rely on the main family had been.

“My father always wanted to grow Hwayoung more. He said that Hwayoung must have power to help the main family. But he grew old without fulfilling that dream.”

“Ah…”

“So I am very happy to see my father now. It seems like he is finally fulfilling the dream he could not achieve in the past. This is all thanks to Senior Disciple Cheong Myung… No, it is the grace of the main sect.”

“It is not.”

Baek Cheon shook his head.

“It is not the grace of the main sect. This is what Sect Leader Wi Rip-san and the Hwayoung disciples have achieved themselves.”

“But…”

“If Hwayoung was not the family branch remaining in Mount Hua, Mount Hua would not have tried to support the family branch. Because Hwayoung has believed in and endured Mount Hua for so long, we can do our best like this.”

“⋯⋯.”

Baek Cheon smiled at Wi Sohaeng.

“So let’s work together. Shouldn’t both Mount Hua and Hwayoung make their names known throughout the world?”

Wi Sohaeng nodded with a smile.

But then, a voice that broke the atmosphere rang out.

“Elder! Are there two people slacking off over there?”

“Those bastards?”

Wi Sohaeng and Baek Cheon were horrified and rushed back to the materials.

‘Just when I think they’re being grateful, they do this!’

‘Please, just go inside and sleep!’

Wi Sohaeng and Baek Cheon sighed at the same time.

The disciples of Mount Hua looked around with admiring eyes. They could see the main building taking shape, with the finishing touches in full swing.

They could do everything from setting up the pillars, building the walls, and raising the roof, but the finishing touches to create the complete form of the main building had to be left to the carpenters.

“After all, the appearance is also important for a family branch.”

“That’s right.”

Baek Cheon nodded at Jo Gul’s words.

“It’s amazing it’s finished so quickly, in just seven days and nights!”

“When you think about it, a martial artist is the best kind of laborer who can do the work of ten people alone.”

They are stronger than bulls and horses, and they can also do precise work that bulls and horses cannot do.

Of course, other sects would never imagine using their precious martial artists for this kind of work, but such common sense does not apply in Mount Hua.

“Anyway, now that the main building is up, all that’s left is to open the sect, right?”

“Of course. This is just the beginning.”

“Everyone has worked so hard.”

The disciples of Mount Hua, who had overcome a great challenge, looked at each other and smiled.

It was a time of suffering from Hyun Young’s constant nagging and relentless work day and night.

But as they looked at the completed main building, a sense of accomplishment and confidence that they could do anything began to fill them.

But they were forgetting one thing.

The fact that there was a devil behind them.

“You’re all talking nonsense?”

“Huh?”

Everyone turned around.

Cheong Myung, who was looking at the main building with an indifferent face from the very back, smirked as he looked at the disciples of Mount Hua and Hwayoung. A mischievous grin spread across Cheong Myung’s face, a glint of something wicked in his eyes.

“Didn’t I tell you from the beginning? With Hwayoung’s current strength, there’s not much point in accepting a family branch.”

“Huh?”

“Now it’s just the beginning.”

Cheong Myung smiled evilly.

“Originally, it would take three months, but since time is short, we have no choice but to go a little extreme. Within fifteen days, I’ll make sure you become a family branch of Mount Hua that anyone can see and admire.”

“Pardon?”

Wi Rip-san tilted his head, not understanding what that meant. But Baek Cheon closed his eyes tightly next to him.

‘May you rest in peace.’

If you survive, you will become stronger.

⋯⋯If you survive.