Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 488

“Ugh…” Chung Myung groaned as a wave of exhaustion crashed over him.

He felt his own energy fading, like water draining from a cup. At the same time, a biting coldness started to creep into him, making his muscles stiff. This was no ordinary cold; it was heavy and dark, like shadows made of ice.

“This is really tough,” he thought. Now he understood why the ice crystals were here, not just in any cold place. This valley wasn’t just cold; it was filled with a special kind of cold energy, a dark energy that felt different from normal cold air. It was a cold that seemed to seep into your bones.

Chung Myung decided to keep going and poured more energy into his search. His inner force spread out like a spider’s web, reaching further into the valley.

“Delicately,” he muttered.

The key was not to find a lot of things, but to find the right thing.

Finding ice crystals in this valley of dark energy was incredibly hard. It was like trying to find one white grain of sand that was just a tiny bit whiter than all the other white sand on a huge beach.

It was not something that could be done by simply sweeping through the area.

“It must be here.”

But Chung Myung’s face grew increasingly dark. No matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find any trace of the ice crystals.

The fact that he couldn’t find any ice crystals despite searching such a wide area meant one of two things.

One, that they were truly extinct and no more ice crystals remained here.

And the other was…

“‘That I’m not skilled enough to find them?'”

Chung Myung’s eyebrows twitched.

Leaving everything else aside, this was a matter of pride.

“Ugh. I didn’t want to go this far.”

Chung Myung clicked his tongue. Then, he allowed the dark energy that was pushing into his body to enter him completely.

Dark energy and cold air surged in instantly. At the same time, a pure white frost began to form on his body.

“Whoa…” one of the disciples said.

“Sasuk, why is he doing that? Is something going to happen?” another disciple asked (Sasuk means ‘older martial brother/teacher’).

“…Let’s, uh, just watch a little longer,” Baek Cheon said, his voice filled with worry.

The disciples of Mount Hua all watched Chung Myung with worried eyes. Baek Cheon bit his lip, unsure what was happening.

Ssssh.

Chung Myung, having become one with the dark energy, was focusing all his attention.

When you are in a hot place, you cannot distinguish between what is colder and what is less cold. Only by being in a cold place yourself can you distinguish the subtle differences.

His carefully trained energy searched the surroundings like a blade.

“‘It must be here!'”

There was no way that ice crystals wouldn’t exist in a place with this much dark energy. If all the ice crystals had disappeared, the dark energy here would have dried up as well.

So it must be here!

At that moment.

Twitch.

Chung Myung’s body convulsed slightly as he extended his energy.

In the cold and gloomy dark energy, as if swimming in the deep sea, he felt a stream of clarity. Very faint, but…

“Here!” Chung Myung shouted as he jumped up.

He ran to the side and slammed his fist into the ground.

Thud!

“Sasuk! It’s here!” Jo Gul shouted excitedly.

“Did you find it?” Baek Cheon asked.

“Yes! It’s here! We just need to dig here!”

Baek Cheon grabbed the pickaxe he had prepared and rushed over.

“Great! How much do we need to dig?”

“I think we only need to dig about thirty jangs (90 meters).”

“Okay, thir— What, you little rascal?” Baek Cheon exclaimed.

Thirty jangs?

He said we could pave mountains, and now we’re really going to pave a mountain?

“…Are you sure we have to dig *this* deep? Isn’t there anywhere closer to the surface?” Baek Cheon asked.

“I’ll have to look,” Chung Myung replied with a grin.

“…Then let’s hold off on this for now,” Baek Cheon said hesitantly.

Chung Myung grinned.

“Enough talk! Start digging!”

“…”

As Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung with trembling eyes, Yoon Jong, who was next to him, pushed Baek Cheon aside and stepped forward. Yoon Jong’s eyes gleamed with a wild energy. He was always eager to prove himself, especially when Chung Myung was involved.

“You’re saying we can dig here, right?” Yoon Jong asked.

“Yeah,” Chung Myung replied.

“Great! I’ll dig here, so you quickly find other ice crystals! Ten! Ten of them!” Yoon Jong began to swing the pickaxe with a crazed look in his eyes.

Clang!

The hard-frozen ground did not easily break even with a pickaxe infused with inner energy.

But if it didn’t work with one strike, he could strike twice, and if it didn’t work with two strikes, he could strike ten times.

Clang! Clang!

The ground, struck by the pickaxe, began to break and scatter like pieces of metal.

“Sahyung! I’ll help too!” Jo Gul also gripped his iron pickaxe tightly and began to dig into the ground with Yoon Jong.

Clang! Clang!

In an instant, the two men, who had dug down to their waists, swung their pickaxes with crazed looks in their eyes, like madmen. Their eagerness to dig showed their loyalty.

Jo Gul kept cursing.

“Aaaargh! Damn it!”

“Don’t straighten your back while working! Swing the pickaxe a hundred times and then look at the sky once!” Yoon Jong ordered.

“Sa, Sahyung, this is harder than I thought…” Jo Gul whined.

“Shut up and dig!”

Jo Gul flinched and looked at Yoon Jong.

‘He’s gone mad,’ Jo Gul thought.

This man occasionally goes crazy in strange ways.

It was then.

“Amitabha. Yoon Jong Siju, Jo Gul Siju. Please stop now,” Hae Yeon said calmly (Amitabha is a Buddhist chant/prayer).

“…Huh?”

Hae Yeon approached them with a stern face.

“Venerable Monk?” Jo Gul asked.

“Come out for a moment,” Hae Yeon said.

“…”

The two men came out of the pit without complaint. Because even if it was Chung Myung, Hae Yeon would not do anything unnecessary.

Hae Yeon said with a heavy face.

“At that rate, you won’t be able to dig to where the ice crystals are even in ten days.”

“Then…”

“Amitabha.”

Hae Yeon, who had closed his eyes and chanted the Buddha’s name, suddenly opened his eyes wide. An uncharacteristic, bright blue light shone from them.

“If the ground is as hard as iron!”

Woo woo woo woo!

Soon, a golden radiance began to emanate from his body.

“Then we just need to break the iron! Oooooooooh!”

Hae Yeon’s right hand was dyed with a dazzling golden light. The disciples of Mount Hua, who had seen that sight before, unknowingly gaped their mouths.

“A, Arhat Divine Fist?!” one of them exclaimed.

Kwaaaaaaang!

Hae Yeon’s fist glowed with a blinding gold light. The Arhat Divine Fist, a powerful Shaolin technique, one of the Seventy-Two Arts of Shaolin, famous Shaolin martial arts, exploded on the frozen ground.

Rumble!

The world trembled as if an earthquake had struck, and the ground shattered and bounced up. *Kwaaaaaaang!* The sound exploded through the valley, like thunder cracking the frozen earth.

What more could be said about its power…

“…He’s using that to dig,” Baek Cheon said in disbelief.

“I think the Abbot of Shaolin would have clutched the back of his neck if he saw that,” another disciple added.

“But the effect is the best,” someone else admitted.

Hae Yeon might not be able to keep up with the disciples of Mount Hua in terms of cutting, but in terms of breaking and smashing, there was no comparison at all.

His immense inner strength and tremendous power crushed and smashed the iron-hardened ground like tofu.

“Dig it out!” Chung Myung ordered.

“Let’s go!”

Baek Cheon and the other disciples each grabbed a shovel and rushed into the pit. Then, they quickly dug out the shattered soil and rocks and quickly came out of the pit.

“Ooooh!”

Kwaaaaaaang!

Hae Yeon unleashed the Arhat Divine Fist again. At the same time, the valley shook.

“…What is he doing?”

“Se, seriously?”

The laborers watched, eyes wide with surprise. They were fighters, but they had never seen anyone dig like *that*. The ground seemed to explode with each hit.

One whispered, “What is that monk doing? Did you see how the ground broke apart with just one strike? Is he from the famous Shaolin Temple?”

Another murmured, “His inner power must be incredible…”

Song Yuan watched from the side, just as amazed.

*Are all the young fighters from the Central Plains this strong?* he wondered.

He knew the martial arts of the Central Plains were famous. But he also knew the Northern Sea was supposed to be just as strong. What he was seeing now was more than impressive – it was unbelievable.

If this monk was so skilled, how powerful was the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua, who was just standing there calmly?

“Amitabha!” Hye-yeon shouted.

With each chant, Hye-yeon’s eyes seemed to burn with fire.

“Ooooooh!” he roared.

He smashed the ground with wild punches. It was an amazing sight.

But the Mount Hua disciples saw something else entirely.

“Doesn’t he look like he’s enjoying himself?” one asked.

“…He must have a lot of stress,” another replied.

“I think I know exactly what Hye-yeon is feeling with each punch,” said a third.

They remembered Hye-yeon’s fist from the martial arts contest. It was perfectly controlled then, calm and balanced, like a true Buddhist monk’s fist should be.

But *this* was different.

Kwaaaah!

“Wow, so powerful!”

“…He’s really lost it,” someone whispered.

They watched sadly as rocks and dirt flew everywhere, and secretly wiped tears from their eyes. They understood how he felt. Misery loves company, after all. Who else could understand Hye-yeon right now but them?

Without a word, they joined Hye-yeon in digging, feeling a strange sense of togetherness.

Everyone else watched in amazement, but some people couldn’t just be amazed. They were worried.

“Elder,” a warrior from the Ice Palace said, his voice shaking. He had been guarding the prisoners. Bang Pyo was staring at the scene, not saying anything. He jumped a little when the warrior spoke and turned around.

The Ice Palace warrior asked carefully, “Is this… is this okay?”

“…Hmm. Yes, very surprising,” Bang Pyo finally said.

Even though their fighting styles were different, Hye-yeon’s inner power and the incredible strength of his punches made Bang Pyo, a leader in the Ice Palace, feel confused.

“But it’s pointless,” Bang Pyo said, shaking his head.

“If you could find Ice Crystals just by digging fast, would we be suffering like this? It’s just a waste of energy. Maybe if he does that a lot, he might find one by chance, but no one can keep that up for long.”

“Ah, I see.”

“And digging like that will probably destroy any Ice Crystals anyway, turning them to dust.”

“That’s right.”

“Just let them tire themselves out. They’ll regret this later.”

Bang Pyo tried to sound calm, but he secretly swallowed, feeling nervous.

*They can’t find it,* he thought. *No way.*

If he, who had lived in the Northern Sea his whole life, couldn’t find it, these newcomers from the Central Plains definitely couldn’t. *They must not succeed,* he thought again, more forcefully.

But for Bang Pyo, things were about to get worse.

“Stop! Enough digging!” Cheong-myeong yelled.

The Mount Hua disciples, covered in dirt, looked up quickly.

“Why? Do we need to dig more?” one asked, confused.

“Are you trying to smash all the Ice Crystals?” Cheong-myeong retorted.

Cheong-myeong jumped into the deep hole they had dug. He landed lightly, his eyes narrowed like a cat’s, and looked around carefully.

“Hmm,” he murmured.

There was a smell in the air… a faint, cold scent.

*Clang!*

He drew his Plum Blossom Sword. The blade flashed in the dim light. It was a famous, incredibly sharp sword. As he swung it, the hard ground, as tough as iron, split apart like soft clay.

*Scritch! Scritch! Scritch!*

He cut the ground into perfect squares, lifting out the blocks of earth easily.

“Whoa!” one of the disciples gasped.

The Mount Hua disciples rushed over, all at once.

“Is it there? Is it the Ice Crystal?”

“Wait, I think I feel a coldness?”

“…It’s always freezing here,” another pointed out.

“Oh, right.”

Cheong-myeong, surrounded by his excited disciples, placed the block of earth he had cut onto the ground. Carefully, with both hands, he started to break it open, piece by piece.

*Plop plop plop.*

The hard earth crumbled like dry dust. He gently removed the pieces, one after another.

And then…

“Look!”

“There’s something inside!”

The Ice Crystal, hidden within the rock, was finally visible.

It was a pure white gem, about the size of a child’s hand, glowing with a soft blue light. It seemed to hum with cold energy.

“It’s an Ice Crystal!” someone shouted.

“We actually found it!”

“Oh my goodness, it’s real?”

The Mount Hua disciples stared at Cheong-myeong, amazed. They couldn’t believe he had found it so fast.

Cheong-myeong grinned, a look of victory on his face, and quickly slipped the Ice Crystal into his sleeve.

“Ahem!” he cleared his throat importantly.

“Wow, Cheong-myeong!”

“You’re incredible! How did you know where to look?”

“He does things that are just… impossible to understand,” another muttered in awe.

Cheong-myeong’s lips twitched, trying not to smile too much at all the praise. He tried to hide his grin, but it just got wider.

“Ahem. It’s nothing, really. Just a little thing,” he said, pretending to be modest.

“Let’s get out of this hole for now,” he added, turning away slightly to hide his smile.

The Mount Hua disciples, their faces beaming, climbed out of the pit.

Baek Cheon patted Cheong-myeong on the shoulder, smiling slightly.

“You’re actually useful sometimes,” he teased.

“…Are you saying Dong-ryong finally got taller than me?” Cheong-myeong asked, pretending to be offended.

“I’ve always been taller. Now, come on, let’s find another Ice Crystal! Where to next? Where should we dig now?” Baek Cheon asked, excited.

“Ah… well, that’s a little tricky,” Cheong-myeong said, his smile fading slightly.

“Don’t worry! We can dig anywhere!” one of the disciples declared confidently.

“Oh yeah?” Cheong-myeong said, grinning again.

He pointed to his left. “Over there.”

“Huh? Where?” Baek Cheon asked, squinting.

“There,” Cheong-myeong repeated, pointing more clearly.

“…”

Baek Cheon followed Cheong-myeong’s finger. His eyes went to the steep cliff wall that formed one side of the valley.

“…*There*?” Baek Cheon asked, his voice rising in disbelief.

“Yep. Just about fifty yards into the cliff, I think.”

“…” Baek Cheon stared at the cliff, speechless.

“And you can’t just smash it like before. If the cliff falls down because of all the hammering, no one can help us, not even a god.”

“…So, what do we do then?” Baek Cheon asked, his voice flat.

“Why are you asking me?” Cheong-myeong said, grinning widely.

“We have to dig carefully, little by little, with shovels.”

“…” Baek Cheon just stared.

“Start digging! We’ll finish it by tonight!” Cheong-myeong declared cheerfully.

Baek Cheon managed a weak smile at Cheong-myeong’s words.

*I knew it was too good to be true,* he thought.

*This is more like it.*

…*Oh, for goodness sake.*

“Alright, let’s start now, no time to waste!” Baek Cheon said, sighing heavily as he watched Yoon Jong run towards the cliff with a shovel.

He muttered under his breath, “Maybe dying wouldn’t be so bad after all.”

Bang Pyo, the Ice Palace leader, felt awful as he watched the Mount Hua disciples slowly walk towards the cliff. Just then, a voice he hated to hear reached him.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Bang Pyo jumped, surprised, and turned to see Cheong-myeong grinning at him.

“If you’re going to feed all these hungry workers, you should start getting busy now, preparing food and drinks, don’t you think?” Cheong-myeong said, his grin widening.

“…” Bang Pyo just stared, speechless with anger.

*Is he trying to make me angry? Does he want to die?* Bang Pyo thought, clenching his fists.

*Hee hee hee!* Cheong-myeong chuckled softly, enjoying Bang Pyo’s reaction.