Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 86

Baek Cheon stared. “Is he serious?”

He was shocked. Chung Myung walked towards him, cracking his neck loudly. He looked like a bully in a dark street, ready to pick a fight.

Baek Cheon was surprised for two reasons.

First, Chung Myung seemed to enjoy acting like a troublemaker. Second, Chung Myung was threatening *him*, Baek Cheon!

“Unless he’s completely lost his mind?”

Baek Cheon was like a grand-uncle to Chung Myung in the sect.

Of course, Baek Cheon had said age didn’t matter in this fight, so that wasn’t the important thing.

What mattered was the difference in their experience.

Baek Cheon had entered Mount Hua at an even younger age than Chung Myung was now. In other words, he had been practicing martial arts for more than fifteen years.

Whereas Chung Myung?

“He’s only been a disciple for half a year.”

Even if he was born with talent, he couldn’t have been practicing longer than Baek Cheon. In other words, even if Chung Myung was as talented as the greatest masters, it was impossible for him to win against Baek Cheon right now.

Talent needs time to grow.

If talent alone could easily beat experience, who would bother to learn martial arts through hard work?

“But why is he reacting this way?”

Yet, Chung Myung was acting as if it were obvious that he would win against Baek Cheon. It was so ridiculous Baek Cheon was speechless.

“You really have gone mad.”

“Hey, no. You’re the one who’s crazy.”

“What?”

“Who in their right mind would pick a fight with me if they weren’t crazy?”

If those who had tangled with Chung Myung in the past were here, they would have all nodded in unison.

Chung Myung was known as an evil spirit from Mount Hua in Jongnam, and a troublemaker in the Daoist sect. Chung Myung was very famous, but he was also known for being bad as well as good.

“He’s asking for it.”

Chung Myung cracked his knuckles.

Surprisingly, Chung Myung didn’t really favor violence to begin with.

Huh?

What about everything he’s done so far?

Well, it’s because they don’t listen unless he beats them.

For Chung Myung, violence was just a way to get what he wanted. What he ultimately wanted was for everyone to do well on their own without him having to lay a hand on them or even yell at them.

If that were the case, why use violence? The problem was that it didn’t work out that way.

But right now, Chung Myung actually wanted to fight just for the sake of fighting, not to get something else.

“You are too arrogant. Don’t blame me for being harsh…”

“Keep going.”

“…What did you say?”

Chung Myung shrugged.

“I don’t talk much before fighting, but I’ll talk to you. Because soon, you won’t be able to talk even if you want to.”

“You rude kid!”

Baek Cheon gripped his sword.

He, too, had no intention of making this fight longer.

‘I’ll teach him a lesson.’

Baek Cheon gritted his teeth. Even if it wasn’t a real fight, he couldn’t cut down a junior disciple with his sword. But he could beat him with the side of the blade. Now that things had come to this, he was planning to beat him badly so he would be scared of him.

Baek Cheon gripped his sword tightly and charged toward Chung Myung.

Baek Cheon’s sword flew swiftly toward Chung Myung. It was a sword distinctly different from Yoo Iseol’s. It might look similar at first glance, but it was much heavier and more forceful than hers.

In some ways, it was the very essence of the classic way of fighting.

It minimized the diverse changes that were the basis of Mount Hua’s sword techniques and emphasized a powerful, forceful flavor. After just one clash of swords, Chung Myung understood Baek Cheon’s style.

‘How peculiar.’

Jongnam had abandoned their own swordsmanship and tried to copy the fancy moves of Mount Hua. But Baek Cheon, on the contrary, was reducing the showy style of Mount Hua and incorporating the simple, direct style of Jongnam into his sword.

‘Well, that makes sense.’

When you think about it, it’s only natural.

Sword styles always change to become better. People always try to make their style better.

During Mount Hua’s peak, Jongnam, who used to be less powerful than Mount Hua, would have thought that Mount Hua’s flamboyance was the answer.

On the other hand, the Mount Hua disciples who remembered when Jongnam was more powerful and had clearly felt how much weaker they were through past competitions, would have thought that Jongnam’s sword was the answer.

It’s understandable that they would try to copy each other.

But!

‘They’re pathetic.’

Chung Myung narrowed his brows.

Is there nothing else to learn that they have to learn Jongnam’s sword? Anyway, this bastard is annoying in every way.

‘He can barely understand what he already knows, yet he’s wanting what others have?’

I should show him what Mount Hua style really is.

Just then, Baek Cheon charged forward and shouted.

“I’ll fix your bad habits today!”

And Chung Myung, watching Baek Cheon charge, clenched his fist.

“My!”

He took a step back with his right foot.

“Habits!”

His waist twisted backward.

“Have Never!”

And the fist, pulled back as far as it could go, shot forward as if propelled.

“Been Corrected, You Bastard!”

How proud.

Chung Myung’s fist pierced through the changes in the sword’s movements created by Baek Cheon’s sword. He aimed for the gaps in Baek Cheon’s moves, and his fist shot out fast and accurately.

Baek Cheon’s eyes widened as he saw Chung Myung’s fist piercing through his sword.

It’s easier said than done. How could anyone shove their fist into the changes of sword energy that could cut an arm off just by touching it?

From Baek Cheon’s perspective, it felt like a magic hand came out of the sword’s power.

But there wasn’t much time to be surprised.

Wham!

Baek Cheon’s jaw twisted badly.

Crack crack.

He heard something breaking in his neck. For a moment, he passed out for a moment, then woke up again.

When he came to his senses, his body was already flying backward.

‘What?’

What just happened?

Everything felt unreal. Even as he was being thrown back, Baek Cheon couldn’t quite grasp what had happened to his body. And then, the lost sense of reality suddenly hit him hard.

Thud!

“Guh!”

The moment his body slammed into the ground, terrible pain all over his body.

“Kuh-euh-euh.”

His back, which had taken the worst part of the hit, was actually fine. The real pain was spreading from his jaw.

Baek Cheon clutched his jaw and groaned.

Learning martial arts means getting used to pain. Not only the pain of pushing your body as far as it can go, but also getting hurt often in practice fights.

But this was a pain he had never felt before. It was like he was discovering a new level of pain.

“Get up, you punk.”

Chung Myung cracked his neck from side to side as he approached Baek Cheon.

Seeing this, Baek Cheon stood up unsteadily. Chung Myung looked surprised.

“Oh? You’re getting up?”

Weren’t you the one who told me to get up?

His jaw hurt so much, Baek Cheon felt too tired to even understand what was happening.

Nevertheless, he tried hard to stop his legs from shaking and raised his sword.

He tasted a bitter taste of blood in his mouth.

“H-How?”

Baek Cheon wasn’t a fool.

The fight just now wasn’t luck. There was no one in the world who would risk their arm like that just hoping to get lucky.

This meant Chung Myung could see right through Baek Cheon’s sword style.

“Don’t be silly.”

Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon with a pathetic expression.

“You changed a sword style that was meant to be flexible, and made it less flexible. Did you think that would have no weaknesses? They only see one side of things. Of course, it would have lots of weaknesses!”

Baek Cheon’s eyes were bloodshot.

“N-No one has ever seen these weaknesses before.”

“Well, that’s because you only fight weak people. Even the older, wiser members would have seen it eventually, right?”

Or not?

Uh… What’s the level of the elders these days? Uh?

Let’s move on.

“So you’re saying my sword style is bad?”

“Yeah.”

Chung Myung said without even thinking.

“Right now, that style might make you stronger than others. But later, the younger students will become better than you.”

“How can you know that? You just joined! I don’t believe you.”

“Okay, fine. Do what you want.”

Chung Myung smirked.

A Mount Hua student was making the same mistake as Jongnam. And Chung Myung understood why this was happening.

‘It’s not strange now.’

Maybe this happened many times in Chung Myung’s past. But before, Chung Myung didn’t know what would happen because of these changes.

Because he had been through so much and become so strong, he now understood how sword styles should change. Now, watching young swordsmen, he could see things he never noticed before.

“Be thankful you are a Mount Hua student.”

“What?”

Chung Myung raised his wooden sword.

He really wanted to punch him, but Baek Cheon was still a student of Mount Hua, after all. If he was going to beat him, he should do it in a way that would teach him something.

“Don’t worry, I’ll use a sword, not my fists. Ugh, I’m so nice.”

“⋯⋯.”

Is he crazy?

No, I think he’s definitely crazy.

Watching the shocked Baek Cheon, Chung Myung took a deep breath.

“Some people say Mount Hua swordsmanship is like plum blossoms. But that’s what people who don’t really understand Mount Hua style say. Mount Hua style isn’t just about looking like plum blossoms. Mount Hua style is about…”

Chung Myung, who had been speaking seriously, suddenly frowned.

“Ah, never mind. Would you understand even if I told you? It’s easier to understand if you get hit. Here I come!”

“Uh, uh-oh?”

Baek Cheon stepped back without thinking.

But Chung Myung was twice as fast.

Baek Cheon swung his sword, trying to strike Chung Myung as he charged. His swordsman’s instincts made him swing his sword before he even thought about it.

But at that moment, Baek Cheon saw it.

Chung Myung’s fingers moved quickly, and suddenly Baek Cheon saw many wooden swords coming at him.

‘Wh-What is this…?’

“Lower body!”

Whack!

The wooden sword struck Baek Cheon’s shin. Baek Cheon gasped in pain, tears welling up in his eyes.

But it wasn’t over yet.

“Wrist!”

Whack!

Chung Myung’s sword accurately struck Baek Cheon’s wrist, which was holding the sword. His wrist hurt so much, he almost dropped his sword.

‘Endure…’

At that moment, a sound that Baek Cheon didn’t want to hear reached his ears.

“Head! Head! Head! Head! Head!”

Why not just once, you punk?

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Baek Cheon, who had been struck with hits that felt like they would break his head, fell to the side, mouth open.

Even as he fell, one thought filled Baek Cheon’s mind.

‘Why say it five times and hit me six times?’

He couldn’t figure it out even as he passed out.