Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 740

“Hiiiik!”

“Hiiik!”

People who saw Baek Cheon and the other disciples coming down from the training hall looked very surprised and worried.

“Uh, what happened to your face!”

“Did someone hit you?”

We could see that Baek Cheon’s face was thin and tired.

Of course, seeing the most handsome face in Mount Hua suddenly look ten years older was quite shocking, but they were somewhat used to seeing him fall apart anyway.

But what really shocked everyone were Un-geom and Un-am’s faces. They looked like they were sick and exhausted, almost like they were decaying.

“Sasuk, are you okay?” someone asked, voice full of worry.

“Sasujo! Oh no, what happened?” another cried out.

Un-am slowly turned, his face pale and tired. His eyes were wet with tears as he glanced back at the training hall. *That’s why I said no!* he thought miserably. *I didn’t want to do it! I was going to quit! Is it right for a Taoist… or even just a person… to force someone who doesn’t want to do this?*

“What happened to you? You look like the Sect Leader and elders did before… Oh, I understand now.”

The disciples, who had been rambling, gasped as if they finally understood. And they nodded sadly, looking at them. Thanks to that, Un-am became even sadder.

“Don’t…worry…. I’m fine…. Ugh!”

“Sasujooooooo!”

“Sasuuuuuuk!”

The disciples in white and blue uniforms rushed to Un-geom, who was stumbling and looked like he might fall. It was a heartbreaking sight, as if they were about to burst into tears.

Yoon Jong’s heart warmed at the sincere response of his fellow disciples. The faces of the white porcelain and blue porcelain disciples rushing towards Un-geom were filled with utmost sincerity.

It’s a good thing. It’s a good thing, but…

“Excuse me….”

“Ah, get out of the way!”

“No….”

“Get out of here, you!”

Yoon Jong watched as his fellow disciples pushed past him, bumping his shoulder, and hurried to Un-geom.

*I’m… I’m also in pain.*

Am I not a person either?

Baek Cheon, Yoon Jong, and Jo Gul, who were standing blankly like sacks of barley, turned to look at each other with gloomy faces.

I can’t say anything when they’re taking care of their sick superiors…

“Are you alright, Sasuk?”

“…Yes, and you?”

“Yes, I’m…. Yes. I can endure it.”

Since no one was taking care of them, the three had no choice but to take care of each other. It looked like they were showing friendship and care… but really, their bodies were just in terrible pain.

“Ugh. But….”

“Huh?”

Yoon Jong said with a fresh surprise.

“Doing this myself is no joke. It felt like all my internal organs were twisted and my bones were breaking.”

“…It was.”

“I think the Sect Leader and the elders, who endured this pain for over a month, are truly amazing.”

“That’s right. I also feel respect for them again.”

But Jo Gul’s expression was somehow sullen.

“I have a different thought.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“More than being amazed by the Sect Leader and elders, I’m now scared of Chung Myung for even making them do this.”

“….”

“….”

Uh… he’s right. Yeah. Thinking about it, he’s really crazy.

*There’s a limit to elder abuse.*

*Is he even human?*

This was almost torture. According to the Hyun Young elders, the Jin Gi Do In they were doing was very refined compared to what Chung Myung had done, so how great would the original pain have been?

“He’s such an atrocious bastard.”

While Baek Cheon was thinking about how strange and surprising Chung Myung always was, Tang Soso, Baek Sang, and Kwak Hwee came over.

“Oh….”

Baek Cheon looked at them with a delighted expression.

It seemed that not all the disciples treated them like sacks of barley. Come to think of it, weren’t these three the ones who were particularly close to them among the disciples excluding the Five Swords?

He opened his mouth with a touched face.

“Thank you for worrying about us. But we’re fine, so….”

“No, that’s alright.”

“…Huh?”

Tang Soso cut him off at once. And Baek Sang asked as if he had been waiting.

“How is it, Sasuk? The Ja Ha Shin Gong! Is it amazing? Huh? What’s the effect?”

“….”

Uh… weren’t you worried about us?

Huh? Guys?

“Don’t just stand there, tell us! How was it?”

“Well… even if I wanted to say something, we just learned it today, so….”

Yoon Jong answered with an awkward face instead of Baek Cheon, who was at a loss for words. Then Kwak Hwee frowned terribly.

“You’re not going to tell us?”

“Ah, no, it’s not that, it’s just that we really just learned it today, so I don’t know much. Besides, today we only did the basics….”

“Hmph! Don’t be arrogant, Sahyung!”

“….”

“You might have learned Ja Ha Shin Gong first and be ahead now, but I will catch up! Don’t think you’ve won!”

“That’s right! You special class people! We’ll never lose!”

“Just because we failed this time, don’t think it’s all over! We’ll pass and learn it no matter what!”

“That’s right!”

Tang Soso and Kwak Hwee chattered and growled like little puppies.

Why… why are you doing this to us….

Then Tang Soso looked around with a sullen face and asked.

“By the way, where did Sa Go go? I came to see Sa Go.”

“…Lee Seol said she would train a little more.”

As Baek Cheon answered, a great emotion flashed across her eyes.

“Ah. As expected of our Sa Go, she works so hard…!”

“….”

Is it right… is it right to treat people like this?

Is it really okay to do this?

“What are you looking at?”

“…Nothing.”

“Hmph!”

Then they turned their bodies at the same time and ran ahead in a rush.

“Sasujooooo! Get out of the way! I’m a doctor!”

“I’ll help too. Soso!”

Silence fell as the two of them rushed towards Un-geom.

Baek Cheon shook his head, looking at Yoon Jong and Jo Gul, who were stunned as if they had been hit by a bucket of water.

“Wow. They really don’t care about us much, do they? What do you think, Baek Sang?”

“….”

“Baek Sang?”

But even Baek Sang, whom he had trusted, had a sullen look on his face as he looked at Baek Cheon.

“Sahyung.”

“Huh?”

“Congratulations on learning the Ja Ha Shin Gong.”

“Haha. Why so suddenly….”

“I think Sahyung should do his best to train for the future of Mount Hua.”

“Is there any need to say it? Of course.”

Baek Sang nodded heavily at Baek Cheon’s answer.

“Since you’ll be training hard, you won’t need money for a while.”

…Huh? What?

“So, your money will be half as much starting this month. Just so you know. I hope you will not do anything else and do your best to train.”

“Baek Sang?”

“Then.”

With those words, Baek Sang left with a cold wind.

“…Baek Sang?”

Yoon Jong and Jo Gul said with pity, looking at Baek Cheon, who was frozen with his hand stretched out into the air.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Brotherly love.”

“How can there be so little.”

Again, just three people were left.

Slowly, these three had become disliked by everyone else at Mount Hua. People saw them as enemies.

The best way to train isn’t because you have to, but because you enjoy it. When you see yourself getting better quickly, you won’t want to stop.

Because of this, Hyun Jong and the elders were excited to train.

Even though they weren’t young, they kept training because they felt themselves improving every day.

Of course, they had their own jobs to do, so they couldn’t spend all day training. But they slept less and found any extra time to practice their inner energy and sword skills.

And so…

“Whyyyyyyyy!”

Hyun Young was very angry.

“Why haven’t you improved more! Huh? I told you yesterday not to sleep and to focus on your inner energy, didn’t I?”

Then, Jo Gul, with tired eyes, slowly raised his hand.

“What?”

“People die if they don’t sleep, Elder.”

“Nonsense! You don’t die if you don’t sleep. You can sleep as much as you want when you’re dead! Do you want to try it out?”

“No.”

The students sitting there thought something suddenly.

*Cheong Myung might be better.*

*No, wait. That’s a bit…*

*No. He might actually be better.*

Hyun Young looked very unhappy and shouted again.

“Do I have to take care of you like babies, even now! You should be able to do things yourselves!”

“…”

“Aish! I don’t have enough time, and I don’t have enough time to train because I’m teaching you!”

Baek Cheon stared at Hyun Young.

*Baek Sang looked like he was about to die.*

The Head of the Treasury was always swinging his sword instead of using his abacus, so the other students were half-dead. And because he checked their work carefully, they had more work to do and couldn’t relax.

“Enough talking! You must get your Fire Aura to the second level by tomorrow! Do you understand?”

“…”

“Why aren’t you answering!”

Elder…

It’s not like we can do it just because you tell us to…

Everyone was confused and couldn’t say what they were thinking. Just then, Hyun Jong stepped forward and laughed.

“Hyun Young.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Don’t push them too hard. Does it really work just by pushing them?”

“Yes. I was just feeling impatient.”

“Even if you don’t get angry and scold them, our students will all work hard. Right?”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

“Good. If you work hard, you’ll reach the second level in three days.”

“…”

What? Three days? You only gave us one more day?

“If you work hard, that is. If you work hard.”

“…”

Sect Leader?

Does that mean if we don’t reach the second level in three days, you’ll think we didn’t work hard? Huh?

“Hahaha. You can all do it. I believe in you.”

“…”

Whether it was scolding or being nice, the result was the same.

Baek Cheon thought he had to escape this terrible situation and carefully raised his hand.

“Um… Sect Leader.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Um… It’s not that we don’t want to learn from you and the Elders, but if you’re so busy, wouldn’t it be better to let Cheong Myung teach us?”

“Cheong Myung?”

“Yes.”

“You mean that one?”

Hyun Jong pointed slightly with his chin, and everyone turned to look at the person behind them.

Crack!

“Agh, damn it! I’m going crazy!”

Crack crack!

“Why is your neck turning again!”

“…”

Everyone watched the strange thing happening behind them, smiled slightly, and turned back to their original positions.

“I was wrong, Sect Leader.”

“Yes. Knowing that is enough.”

Hyun Jong sighed deeply.

He didn’t want to pay attention to that monster anymore. Yes, he’ll probably stop soon. He always did.

“Now, let’s start again. As I said, don’t be too fast. You need to be calm for the Divine Art to be stable. But if you work hard, you can do it quickly.”

“…”

It was like telling them to go left and right at the same time.

The students’ faces turned pale.

*I’m really going to die…*

*I shouldn’t have said I would learn it.*

*Mom…*

“Now, begin!”

“Yes!”

The students began to practice their inner energy, thinking about themselves. Hyun Sang and Hyun Young watched them, making sure there were no problems.

Hyun Jong smiled.

*They are amazing.*

They knew how hard it was because they had done it themselves. But even though the students complained, they always took their training seriously.

It must be because of these students that Mount Hua is getting stronger.

And…

Thud. Thud.

Hyun Jong walked to the cliff in the back and looked down at Mount Hua, especially at the Grand Training Hall.

“Taaah!”

“Haaah!”

The students of Mount Hua were sweating a lot and focusing on their training.

*They are also amazing…*

“I’m going to kill you, Yoon Jong!”

“Jo Gul! Jo Gul! I’m catching Jo Gul first! Jo Gul!”

“I never liked Baek Cheon anyway! He looks like a gigolo with his smooth face!”

“Wow, that’s too far!”

“I will never lose! Never! I’m going to master the Violet Cloud Divine Art too!”

“Aargh!”

Hyun Jong’s eyes moved slightly when he heard the sounds.

“Hmm…”

Well, as long as they work hard, that’s all that matters.

Those who lead do their best, and those who follow try to reach the leaders. The perfect picture of Mount Hua that Cheong Myung had talked about was here now.

“Good.”

After a long time, Mount Hua had finally reached this point.

*And it will keep growing in the future.*

If they kept building on what their ancestors had left and didn’t give up, Mount Hua would always be able to become better than before.

*Perfect…*

Crack! Crunch!

“Aaaaargh! Damn it! I’m going crazy! Really! Why won’t it work!”

Hyun Jong turned his back completely on the direction of the sound. He didn’t want to see the only problem left in Mount Hua.

*Ancestors. Please watch over Mount Hua.*

“Aaaaargh! I’m so frustrated!”

If not…

Please do something about that guy.

In the end, he sighed deeply.

Those who move forward. Those who follow. And those who create new paths.

The cool breeze cooled the sweat of everyone.

The days of training, filled with everyone’s dreams, continued…

Before they knew it, the cold winds of winter had arrived at Mount Hua.