Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 416

“Don’t you always say I’m good at handling things?” Hyun Young asked.

Hyun Jong looked at him with angry eyes. Hyun Young looked away, a little scared.

Hyun Jong made a “tsk” sound with his tongue.

“Our disciple makes trouble,” Hyun Jong said angrily, “and instead of stopping him, you’re helping him!”

Hyun Young replied, “If Chung Myung starts the music, someone has to keep the beat!”

“Enough!” Hyun Jong shouted.

Hyun Sang laughed softly, trying to calm him down.

“Chung Myung probably has a reason for this,” Hyun Sang said.

“And isn’t it time for Mount Hua to become famous outside of Shaanxi?”

Hyun Jong made a “tch” sound, annoyed, but didn’t argue much. Then, Hyun Young said in a sneaky voice, “And we can make some money too…”

“That must be the real reason!” Hyun Jong said.

“Just a side benefit,” Hyun Young said again.

“Ugh,” Hyun Jong groaned.

Hyun Jong felt like a parent watching their child eat after being hungry for a long time. He didn’t like seeing Hyun Young so eager for money, but he understood why.

Hyun Young wanted to make Mount Hua rich again. Because of this, Hyun Jong couldn’t say anything mean.

Hyun Young mumbled, “You’d think I don’t like money?”

“You little rascal!” Hyun Jong said.

“Of course I like money! But even when you make money, you have to think about how you do it. You can’t just ignore the right way to do things just to get money! Especially for someone who is supposed to be a Taoist!”

Hyun Jong was about to start giving a long speech, now that he had begun.

“…But what’s that?” Hyun Sang suddenly asked.

“Huh?” Hyun Jong turned to look where Hyun Sang was pointing.

A cloud of dust was rising behind the main hall.

“…What is that?” Hyun Jong wondered. Why dust all of a sudden? On a sunny day like this?

“Wait, that’s…”

“It looks like it’s near the Sect Leader’s house?” Hyun Jong’s face changed with worry.

Before, he would have wondered what was happening, but now he knew. It had to be Chung Myung.

“Chung Myung, you rascal!” Hyun Jong shouted and ran towards his house.

The elders, surprised and worried, hurried after him.

He ran as fast as he could and reached the back of his house. Hyun Jong’s eyes widened in shock.

He saw a strange and unbelievable sight.

“Throw it over here!”

“Hey, don’t just throw dirt everywhere! It’s getting all over me!”

“Get it out! Get it out!”

“Get a sack! Someone get a sack! We need to pack this up!”

All the Mount Hua disciples were at the back of the house, on the hill. They were working like crazy on a huge project.

Some were digging into the hill with shovels like they were digging for gold. Others were sweeping up the dirt and moving it away.

And some were holding onto big rocks that had been dug out of the hill.

“Wow, these rocks are huge!”

“Be careful!”

“Tie the ropes tight!”

The disciples had tied ropes around the rocks and started pulling them out, shouting loudly.

“Eura-chaaa!”

“Heuaaaaaap!”

The shouts echoed all over Mount Hua. Sweat started to appear on Hyun Jong’s forehead. He was so shocked he couldn’t speak for a moment.

‘Now they are doing even this…’ he thought. Chung Myung always caused trouble, but lately, it was getting bigger and bigger.

“W-What in the world are you all doing!” Hyun Jong had been staring in shock for a while, and finally he shouted.

The disciples digging on the hill all turned to look at him.

“Greetings, Sect Leader!”

“Stop with the greetings! What is going on here!”

Actually, the answer was clear. The disciples all looked in one direction. And there, as everyone expected, was Chung Myung.

Chung Myung was even sitting on a raised platform, half lying down. He jumped up and patted the spot next to him.

“Sect Leader! Want to sit here?”

“…” Hyun Jong thought, ‘Am I getting weak? I feel dizzy all of a sudden.’

“Chung Myung, you rascal! What are you doing now? Why are you suddenly digging into the hill!”

“Ah, I’m trying to take out what’s underneath,” Chung Myung said.

“Underneath? What’s underneath… Underneath?” Hyun Jong thought. What could be under there? ‘No, it can’t be!’

“B-Bigo? Don’t tell me you’re trying to take out the Hancheol Bigo now?” Hyun Jong asked, shocked.

“Kuh! As expected, Sect Leader! You know it right away!” Chung Myung said proudly.

“Th-That… Y-You rascal! That’s Mount Hua’s secret treasure! And you’re making all these kids work…!”

“Hey, what secret? Everyone knows about it,” Chung Myung said.

“Oh…? Th-That’s right. That’s true, but…”

Hyun Jong remembered that he had shown the Bigo to the disciples himself a long time ago. And Chung Myung was the one who cut the Hancheol then!

It was a very important event for Mount Hua, so everyone knew the Bigo was behind the Sect Leader’s house.

“If we don’t need it anymore, we should use it for something good,” Chung Myung said.

“What are you going to use all that Hancheol for? Don’t tell me you’re going to sell it! No way! Over my dead body! That Bigo was given to us by the past Sect Leaders! You rascal, if you’re going to do this, you might as well sell me instead!”

Hyun Jong almost started crying. Hyun Sang frowned and shouted, “Chung Myung, you rascal!” He roared like thunder.

“I said you were doing well, but now you’re going too far! How can you decide something like this without asking the Sect Leader first! I can’t allow this either! What are you going to use that Bigo for…”

“I’m going to make swords?” Chung Myung said.

“…What?” Hyun Sang stopped talking. Chung Myung looked at him with big, sad eyes like a puppy and mumbled sadly, “Well… it was so dangerous this time… Our Plum Blossom Swords were badly damaged.

And we might fight even stronger enemies in the future. If my senior brothers use swords that are not strong enough and they break, they could be killed… I thought if I made swords out of Hancheol for them, my senior brothers would be much safer…”

Chung Myung looked up at Hyun Sang with a very sad face. “But… if you say we just have to use weak swords, I’ll put it all back exactly as it was.”

“…You were going to make Hancheol swords?” Hyun Sang asked.

“Yes,” Chung Myung said.

“…To give to your junior and senior brothers?”

“Yes.” Hyun Sang said seriously, “Even so, you should have asked the Sect Leader first!”

“I didn’t think enough,” Chung Myung said.

“Ahem. Yes. That’s enough,” Hyun Sang said.

Hyun Jong, who had been listening quietly, turned his head quickly. “What’s enough?”

“Hehehehe. Isn’t it wonderful?” Hyun Sang said. “Chung Myung is trying to make swords for his senior brothers. There’s nothing wrong with what he said.”

“…” Hyun Jong thought, ‘Is he crazy?’ He turned his head quickly the other way. Wait, Hyun Young is over there? Is this really Hyun Sang talking?

“Hancheol sword. A Hancheol sword,” Hyun Sang said excitedly. “Why didn’t I think of that! Tsk tsk tsk! They say when you get old, you don’t think as clearly, and it’s true.”

“Hyun Sang, you, you rascal,” Hyun Jong stammered. “Th-That’s what the ancestors gave us…”

“Hehe, Sect Leader,” Hyun Sang said. “How could the ancestors of Mount Hua not want their students to have Hancheol swords?”

“…” Hyun Sang continued, “If the students are safer, is tradition really important? Tradition and all that, the future is more important!”

“N-No! Hey, you rascals!” Hyun Jong shouted. “That’s Mount Hua’s… No, forget it!” He sighed. “Fine! Make swords from the Hancheol! But if you break even one piece, you’re in big trouble! Actually, wait! Maybe it would be cheaper if I just bought you Hancheol swords instead!” Hyun Jong looked confused and worried, and the disciples tried hard not to laugh.

“Hahaha! Do you think you can get it just because you have money? What a joke! Hahahaha!”

Hyun Sang grabbed Hyun Jong by both shoulders and began dragging him away. Hyun Jong didn’t resist, but his face showed a mix of fear and frustration.

“Chung Myung! Hurry up and keep going. The Sect Leader seems to have given his permission!” Hyun Sang said, a sly grin on his face.

“Permission? What permission? I never…! Mmph! Mmmph!” Hyun Jong’s protests were quickly muffled.

Hyun Sang chuckled, covering Hyun Jong’s mouth with his hand. “Now, now, this is all for the good of Mount Hua. Hahaha.”

Hyun Jong, managing to remove the hand covering his mouth, cried out desperately, “You fools! I am the Sect Leader! You wretched Mount Hua lot! You will be cursed, cursed by the heavens!”

“Hahahahaha,” Hyun Sang laughed heartily as he continued dragging the Sect Leader behind the main building.

The disciples of Mount Hua stared blankly at the scene, unsure of what to make of it.

“What are you doing?” Hyeon Young asked, gesturing towards the hill with an indifferent expression. “It’ll be dawn soon. Hurry up and dig.”

“Yes, Elder!” The Mount Hua disciples, who had been hesitating, began digging into the mountain again.

Baek Cheon and his group, their faces smudged with dirt, smiled and rubbed their noses, trying to hide their satisfaction.

‘It’s over,’ Baek Cheon thought. ‘This sect can never return to the past. Never. The greed has changed everything.’

“Ggrrrrunt!”

“Euraaaah!!”

Finally, Bigo, tied with a rope, was pulled up from the huge hole.

“Why is this so heavy?” one disciple grunted.

“It’s light! Look at the size of it!” another replied.

“Is that so?”

In any case, it was difficult work. But the thought of the reward kept them going.

Rumble!

“Hoo! Hoo!”

“We did it!”

“Now we can have the Hancheol Sword! We can have the Hancheol Sword!”

Greed shone in everyone’s eyes. The dojo, normally a place of peace, was now covered in dirt. The Taoists, who should have been focused on their scriptures, were consumed by desire. Their eyes were wide and shiny with anticipation.

“That was really hard,” one disciple said, wiping sweat from his brow.

“I can’t believe it took three days! For what!” another exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

“Ugh. Seriously. We dug up a mountain and made a new one!” A disciple pointed to the large pile of dirt beside the hole. They were breathing heavily, covered in sweat and dirt, their eyes red from exhaustion.

“Anyway, we did it!”

“Chung Myung! Is it done now?”

Chung Myung nodded, looking at the Bigo. “It’s done. Now we just need to move it down the mountain.”

The faces of everyone froze. Move it?

Everyone looked towards the cliff beyond the wall. The thought of moving the Bigo down that steep cliff was daunting and made them dizzy.

Someone muttered in a sorrowful voice, “Why did our ancestors build the dojo on such a mountain…”

“Tell me about it!” another agreed.

But it was too late to turn back. They had to do it anyway.

“Alright, let’s not complain and just do it! It’s not like this is for someone else’s benefit, and the Hancheol Sword will be ours!” Baek Sang shouted, trying to encourage everyone.

The disciples’ eyes lit up one by one. They had been through so much with Chung Myung. They had gained benefits, but what had they actually received?

‘In reality, it was only meat!’ they thought.

But this was something that would directly benefit them! The Myriad Year Hancheol Sword was a treasure that most sects could only dream of. With that in their hands, what couldn’t they do!

“Ooh!”

“Let’s move it! Down the mountain!”

Just as everyone was about to rush towards the Bigo with renewed passion, Chung Myung spoke.

“Where are you going?”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung said nonchalantly, “Moving it is for later. We need to restore it first.”

“What?”

“Are you going to leave it like that?” Chung Myung pointed to the dug-up mountain. The black hole looked hideous, a scar on the landscape.

“Fill it back in.”

The excitement in the Mount Hua disciples’ eyes disappeared once more.

“Quickly,” Chung Myung added, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

“I’ll be going to the Tang family,” Chung Myung announced.

Hyun Jong stared at Chung Myung blankly.

“I need to make the Hancheol Sword, and I’m planning to stop by the Illusory Spirit Sect on the way.”

Hyun Jong remained silent, his expression vacant.

“Hehe. I have a few other things to do as well. I’ll be back as soon as possible!” Chung Myung said with a beaming smile.

Hyun Jong, watching Chung Myung, drooped his head powerlessly. A weak voice leaked from his mouth. “Do as you please.”

“Hehe. Yes, then…”

Bang!

The door to the Sect Leader’s residence burst open, and a thunderous voice was heard. “Sect Brother! I heard you’re going to the Tang family?!”

“Huh? How did you hear about that…?” Chung Myung asked, surprised.

It was Tang Soso who had burst into the room. “Seriously! You’re going to the Tang family and you didn’t tell me! Are you the Tang family’s son? I’m the Tang family’s daughter, aren’t I?”

“Then come with me,” Chung Myung said nonchalantly.

Tang Soso turned her gaze towards Hyun Jong like a flash of light. “Can I go with him, Sect Leader?”

Hyun Jong stared at Tang Soso powerlessly before slowly nodding his head. “Do as you wish.”

“Thank you!” Tang Soso exclaimed, delighted.

Then, Hyun Sang, who was beside him, opened his mouth. “But Chung Myung.”

“Yes?”

“I know you have things to do, but what about the Hundred Flowers Room if you leave like this?” Hyun Sang asked, concerned.

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that,” Chung Myung replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Huh?”

“I asked the Head Attendant, and he said he could recover to some extent in ten days. It’ll take at least ten days to prepare this and that, so we’ll depart as soon as the Head Attendant recovers.”

“Ah, well then,” Hyun Sang said, relieved.

“But!” Chung Myung twisted the corners of his lips wickedly, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“I’m going to push them to the point of death during those ten days. You don’t have to worry too much. Who am I? I’m Chung Myung.”

Hyun Sang shuddered, feeling a chill down his spine. From behind him, a weak voice was heard. “Do as you please… Do as you please.”

Sect Leader. He might just ascend to immortality like that.