Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 735

Hyun Jong watched the scene and smiled a little.

*What should I think about this?* Everyone was working so hard. The teachers were teaching with all their power, and the students were trying their best to learn. It was a scene full of energy and warmth.

But one question popped into Hyun Jong’s head. *Is this really okay?*

He saw his students shaking as they held up huge boulders, as big as houses. Hyun Young was standing on top of the boulders, giving a loud speech. Watching this, Hyun Jong felt cold sweat on his back.

“Can’t you move your feet?”

“Krrr…”

“Ugh…”

“I told you to use footwork! Why are you just standing there? Huh? Did Mount Hua ever teach you to stand still like that? Move now!”

Sweat poured from the students like heavy rain. The ground under them became wet and dark.

“I am doing this for you! If you can’t even do this, how will you survive in the world?”

It was then.

“Uheooock!”

Jong-Hui, who was moving his feet while holding the boulder, couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed. At the same time, the boulder he was holding fell towards his head.

“Aaaack!”

“No!”

Jong-Hui squeezed his eyes shut. But strangely, he didn’t feel the pain he had braced himself for.

‘Am I already dead?’

No, surely not…

He cautiously opened his eyes and saw a person standing tall, silhouetted against the light. The color slowly drained from Jong-Hui’s face as he looked up at him.

‘Oh no.’

I wish I was dead.

Hyun Young’s face, as he held the boulder, looked more like a demon than a human face.

Holding a boulder with one hand and the other hand…

Huh?

Hyun Young threw the huge boulder to the side and glared angrily.

“How could you already be losing strength after doing so little!”

“……”

“Eiiiing! You’re hopeless! Senior Brother!”

“Yes.”

“He can stop! Teach him a lesson about being strong in his mind.”

“Understood.”

Hyun Sang smiled faintly and strode over. Then, he grabbed Jong-Hui by the back of his neck and lifted him up, dangling.

“Hehe. Let’s go have some fun, okay?”

“……”

“Hehehehe.”

And he leisurely walked into the thicket of trees.

Soon after, a terrible scream began to echo from within.

“Aaaaaaaack! Ack! Elder! Elder! I was wrong! Eldeeeeeeer!”

The faces of the disciples who heard the scream turned pale in an instant.

‘What is happening to him?’

‘I am curious, but I really don’t want to know.’

‘I must not drop it, even if I die!’

Hyun Young looked at the disciples still holding the boulders and smiled contentedly.

“Yes, yes. You’re doing well. You’re all admirable.”

Then, he subtly gestured with his chin towards Chung Myung and said.

“Chung Myung.”

“Yes!”

“Put one more boulder on each of them.”

“……More?”

“Hurry.”

“Yes.”

Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut as he watched Chung Myung trudging over with a boulder on his back.

‘Chung Myung.’

Why always me first?

You nasty little git.

Baek Cheon looked at the rice that had fallen from his chopsticks and spread out. He looked as sad as anyone could be.

“……Guys.”

“Yes?”

“Can you even swallow the rice?”

“……It feels like eating sand, but we need to eat to keep going.”

Baek Cheon lowered his eyes and sighed.

That was true.

‘I have to eat. I have to eat to endure.’

In the end, Baek Cheon brought the rice bowl to his mouth and forced the rice down.

‘It really feels like chewing sand……’

It was then.

Chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp!

“……”

Chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp!

Baek Cheon turned his head weakly.

Chung Myung, sitting next to him, was literally inhaling the rice. After cleanly emptying a bowl of rice, Chung Myung simply picked up the stir-fried pork in front of him and dumped it all into his mouth.

“Kuh! Rice tastes so good after training!”

*That kid…*

It’s good he’s eating well. But does he have to eat right next to me like that? Is he trying to make me jealous?

In the end, Baek Cheon distorted his face and asked.

“Is it good?”

“The best!”

“……Yes, eat a lot.”

What’s the point of saying anything? What’s the point…

He didn’t even have the strength to say anything. Baek Cheon shook his head and was about to eat when Jo-Gol, who had taken his face out of his rice bowl, opened his mouth weakly.

“Hey, Chung Myung.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t understand… Why did the elders suddenly become so strong?”

Baek Cheon’s ears twitched. He hadn’t said it, but he was also curious.

“Is the Jade Maiden Divine Art that amazing? If we learn it, will we become like that too?”

“Don’t even think about it.”

But Chung Myung put down his chopsticks with a nonchalant expression.

“Do you think the Jade Maiden Divine Art is like a magic fruit? That you will become strong just by learning it?”

“……No, but the elders have become incredibly strong.”

“It’s a different case, you lot.”

Chung Myung clicked his tongue, a sound like he felt sorry for everyone else in the world.

“Well, duh,” he said, “everyone knows the Violet Dawn Divine Art is the best way to train your inner power here in Mount Hua.”

They could expect to rise more than one level just by mastering the Violet Dawn Hard Qi. Even the Violet Dawn Hard Qi is a power technique that cannot be compared to the Plum Blossom Art or the Seven Stars Art.

So, if they master the Violet Dawn Divine Art, their inner power will become much, much stronger.

But that didn’t mean it would have the same effect as the elders.

“So, inner power skill is like a chef.”

“A chef? A cook?”

“Yeah.”

“…What does that mean?”

Chung Myung grumbled with an annoyed look. “Seriously? Do I need to explain it step by step?”

“If a chef is skilled, they can make more delicious food with the same ingredients. That’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.”

“With better skills, you can get more power from the same amount of inner energy. It’s like getting more out of what you already have.”

“Ah….”

Jo Gul nodded as if he understood. Yoon Jong, who was listening, slyly added a word.

“Then what does it mean that our case is different from the elders’?”

“I told you, inner power skill is like a chef.”

“Huh?”

“How many years do you think the Head Disciple and the elders have been cultivating their inner power?”

“…Well, that’s….”

Forty years? Fifty years?

Even if he didn’t know the exact number of years, they would have trained for a long time, incomparable to them.

“There is no shortcut to inner power. The level is determined only by how long you have trained and how steadily you have accumulated it.”

At that moment, Yu Yiseol raised her hand.

“Alright, ask away.”

“Violet Dawn Pill.”

“That’s right. The spiritual pill is what allows you to overcome that. But there are limits to spiritual pills. No matter how well-made a spiritual pill is, it will inevitably be impure compared to the inner power you have built up on your own.”

“Violet Dawn Pill. Impurity.”

No, that’s not it….

Seriously, I can’t say anything in front of her.

“Anyway.”

Chung Myung, who was briefly embarrassed, cleared his throat and opened his mouth again.

“Think of it like this: The elders have spent years growing good ingredients, but they had a bad cook. But now, the cook is….”

“Has been replaced by a top chef?”

“Yes, that’s the feeling. It’s like having the best restaurant in the whole country cook for you, right?”

Baek Cheon nodded. The analogy was a bit strange, but thanks to it, he could easily understand.

“Fifty years….”

“Yes, fifty years.”

For a martial artist, inner power training is like the beginning of the day. Hyun Jong and Hyun Sang would have steadily trained their inner power for fifty years, and even if Hyun Young had given up swordsmanship, he would not have let go of inner power training.

If so, it means that they have accumulated nearly sixty years’ worth of inner power.

If you add the inner power accumulated with the spiritual pills given by Chung Myung, their inner power alone surpasses the elders of most of the Nine Great Sects.

Until now, the inner power training method that utilized that inner power was so inferior that it was not noticeable, but as they changed the inner power training method and Chung Myung adjusted the existing inner power to fit the Violet Dawn Divine Art, it began to exert its power.

“…Still, it was too much.”

“Did you see him lifting a house-sized rock with one hand earlier?”

“…It didn’t even look like he was using any strength. I thought he was lifting a pebble?”

When the story about the elders’ strength came up, the Mount Hua disciples, who had been listlessly sprawled out, all stuck out their tongues and added their words.

It was understandable. Wasn’t it a rare sight in Mount Hua?

Even Chung Myung, who is recognized by everyone as the best in Mount Hua, does not have overwhelmingly higher inner power than the other disciples.

So, they had no choice but to gape at the sight of lifting boulders with a whoosh, using chopsticks like swords, and lifting heavy pillars like they were nothing.

“Then does that mean the Head Disciple and the elders have become amazing masters?”

Chung Myung chuckled at the question someone asked while swallowing dry saliva.

“Masters, my foot. If strength alone made you a master, would my uncle and senior brothers have survived until now? They would have been beaten to death by those bad guys from the forest long ago.”

“Ah… That’s right.”

“Not yet, not yet. But….”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung, who had drawn out the end of his words, grinned.

“Things will be a little different once you master the Plum Blossom Sword Art? When you put together the footwork, the power skill, and sword fighting perfectly, especially when you master the Seven Stars Steps and Plum Blossom Steps…”

And then he raised his chin and drew his thumb across his neck.

They could understand the meaning of that action all too well, even without hearing it in words.

Baek Cheon thought with a smile.

‘I shouldn’t mess around.’

Of course, he had never even thought of daring to stand up to the Head Disciple until now, but now he couldn’t even dream of it, let alone dare to do it.

“But that’s beside the point….”

Yoon Jong said as if he couldn’t understand at all.

“How does Elder Hyun Young know so much about training methods that torment people like that?”

“…I wonder about that too.”

I can’t believe it. Sword in water, rocks while stepping… who even thinks of that?

Even that Chung Myung guy just made them train hard and intensely with brute force, but he didn’t torment people so creatively.

“What’s even scarier is….”

“Yes?”

“…That it’s effective.”

The Mount Hua disciples nodded in unison.

Wielding a sword in the water allowed them to immediately know how and how much their inner power was circulating. Every time they wielded the sword, they had to exert more force than usual, so the flaws in their moves were clearly visible.

In addition, stepping on footwork while carrying a rock made it easy to fall over even if the center of gravity was slightly off, so they had no choice but to maintain the body’s central axis more sensitively than usual.

“How did you come up with these training methods….”

Everyone admired with slightly pale faces, but Yu Yiseol quietly opened her mouth.

“…Because.”

“Huh?”

Baek Cheon looked at Yu Yiseol and asked again.

“What did you say, Junior Sister?”

“Because he wouldn’t have been able to find the answer. With ordinary training methods.”

For a moment, everyone was speechless. Baek Cheon bit his lower lip and imagined the young Hyun Young in his head.

The sight of him, who had to master only inferior martial arts that could not be compared to the advanced martial arts of Jongnam or other Nine Great Sects, wielding a sword in the water and stepping on footwork while carrying a boulder.

He must have been desperate to get stronger, so he came up with these training methods. He wouldn’t have been able to recommend it to other disciples, though.

Baek Cheon, who had been lost in thought for a moment, picked up the chopsticks he had put down again.

“Eat. We have to endure this afternoon too.”

“Yes!”

“I will never drop out!”

Everyone started pushing rice into their mouths more forcefully than before.

“Another bowl here!”

“Soso, that’s your third bowl.”

“Then I’ll have two more bowls!”

Chung Myung secretly chuckled as he watched them push rice into their stomachs until they were about to burst.

‘Good.’

The predecessors lead silently, and the successors believe and follow without question.

Perhaps this is the Mount Hua that Cheongjin envisioned.

‘Isn’t it?’

Huh? You think it’s a little different from what you thought?

‘So what?’

If you’re so upset, come back to life.

Hee hee hee hee.