Chapter 27
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Grinding Down the Edges
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One hundred seventy-nine third-generation disciples.
Excluding himself, teaching martial arts to so many junior brothers was a nonstop chain of headaches and annoyances, far worse than Gwang-il had vaguely anticipated.
Pang!
"I-is this right, Eldest Senior Brother?"
"......Heh heh heh."
"Ah...!"
Gwang-jo had gripped his Narrow Tip Sword with ambitious zeal and thrust it at mid-level with all his might.
Convinced he'd done well enough, he was savoring his private satisfaction when his Eldest Senior Brother's eerie laugh burst out of nowhere.
Unable to help himself, Gwang-jo let out a short sigh.
He knew exactly what catastrophe followed that creepy cackle—Gwang-seok had demonstrated it just moments ago.
"Gwang-jo, you're no different from the rest of them."
"I-I'm sorry, Eldest Senior Brother!"
"Heh heh heh! No need. What do you have to be sorry for? It's just your inborn talent, after all."
Words like daggers, casually plunged in with a decrepit tone far too old for his age.
But Gwang-jo never even had a chance to feel wounded by the harsh abuse.
"Actually, it's for the best. No need to manage you lot separately—no hassle. Just roll you all together."
"Wh-what?! S-Senior Brother! Eldest Senior Brother?! R-roll us? What kind of horrible...!"
No matter how pitiful their progress seemed, how could he say something so brutal to his own junior brothers?!
'Rolling people around like that...!'
He could endure words that whipped his own shortcomings.
But as the acting senior for all the third-generation disciples, Gwang-jo couldn't stand by and watch his Eldest Senior Brother run wild any longer.
If things continued like this, when they advanced from third- to second-generation and eventually first-generation disciples, leading and guiding the Great Point Cang Sect, their Eldest Senior Brother—who would surely claim the Sect Leader position—would unleash merciless dictatorial rule.
Of course, this noble resolve born of justice and duty was swiftly crushed by far more ruthless hands.
Grab!
"Wh-what?!"
"Quiet. Weaklings like you don't get to talk back."
"N-no, Senior Brother! Th-this hand! Let go of this hand...!"
"I said quiet!"
Riiiip!
"A-aaagh!"
A brutal yank, clutching the thick beard that had only just grown in.
Gwang-jo, experiencing such pain for the first time in his life, flailed in panic, his feet stumbling after the merciless grip.
Dictatorship or whatever be damned.
Before the unprecedented agony threatening to rip his beard clean off, he had no choice but to follow.
"A-aaagh! S-Senior Brother! Eldest Senior Brother! Th-the hand! Please, the hand...!"
"Quiet!"
"Eek!"
And so, the very last holdout, Gwang-jo, drank the bitter cup of elimination.
Amid the junior brothers' sullen glares and resentful stares, Gwang-il wiped away his inner disappointment and instead let out a sly chuckle.
"What? Got a problem?"
"......"
"If you have complaints about my teaching methods, approved by the Sect Leader himself, step forward. I'll train you to eat with your toes starting tomorrow."
"......"
How had the prestigious Great Point Cang Sect, pinnacle of the righteous sects, fallen to this state?
The sect elders who might have curbed the Eldest Senior Brother's excesses had all secluded themselves in closed-door training, leaving only brutal instruction and even harsher punishment behind.
Finally realizing the dire straits they were in, most of the disciples' faces clouded over with clear fear.
Of course, Gwang-il had no intention of letting their shared gloom fester.
"Ever seen a cheap cart?"
"...?"
The slow words drifted down over the junior brothers' heads.
As puzzled looks spread at the out-of-left-field topic,
a wicked smile bloomed wide on Gwang-il's lips.
"A cheap cart with rough, uneven wheels just rattles endlessly, annoying everyone with its jolts and squeaks."
"......"
"But do you know what happens when you keep rolling that cheap cart? The rough edges wear down until it rolls smooth."
"...!"
A hunch of what was coming next.
The very moment every third-generation disciple's face drained of color,
Gwang-il leisurely continued with a laugh in his voice.
"If even a cheap cart wheel can end up that way, what'll happen if I roll the Great Point Cang Sect's disciples? Your Eldest Senior Brother has high hopes."
"N-no, Eldest Senior Brother! That's a cart wheel—we're...!"
"It's my fault you lot are so lacking. These past few days, I was too soft on you out of personal affection. I didn't roll you properly to make you roll smooth."
"No! So why do we have to roll smooth in the first place?!"
Gwang-seok spat back fiercely, wielding his usual fiery temper as a weapon,
but sadly,
"I'm sorry. From now on, I'll roll you properly—no regrets, right to your limits!"
it was far too mismatched against Gwang-il's ironclad resolve.
"N-nooo!"
"First, we fix that pathetic stamina of yours. The way you are now, enemies would devour you before you could even swing once."
"Devour? Who's devouring who?!"
"...There are such things."
'Beast cubs that even a thousand piercings and ten thousand slashes wouldn't suffice for—ones I can't mention yet.'
In truth, some of these junior brothers had ended up as fodder for the ferocious beasts commanded by Beast Palace warriors in his previous life.
A chill frosting Gwang-il's face as memories of grinding his teeth in rage surfaced was only natural.
"No more coddling."
"Wha...!"
"Right now, go carve your names on the summit of Crestwolf Peak next door. Rock, tree—whatever."
"Cr-Crestwolf Peak summit?!"
"This suddenly?!"
Next door or not, round trip from Point Cang Peak—where the Point Cang Sword Sect stood—to Crestwolf Peak took at least two hours.
Even then, only if you pushed your lightness skill to the limit, cutting straight through the treacherous terrain.
It was already a standard training route for third-generation disciples, so everyone here knew that brutal path like the back of their hand.
And yet, that wasn't even the end of it.
"The summit?!"
"E-Eldest Senior Brother! Impossible! Crestwolf Peak is over a thousand zhang high...!"
Climb a summit they'd never even seen before?!
Point Cang Peak's slopes weren't easy either, but compared to Crestwolf Peak, they were downright gentle!
For these reasons, the junior brothers erupted in fierce backlash against Gwang-il's bombshell order.
But.
"First ten to arrive. Everyone else goes back up."
"E-eek!"
"Eldest Senior Brother!"
"Perfect timing—dawn just broke, it's the start of the Rabbit Hour. You should make it back around the start of the Horse Hour for lunch."
"N-nooo!"
"This makes no sense! What kind of training is th...!"
"You. The one yapping nonstop—Gwang-geon, huh?"
"H-hic!"
In his previous life, even after both arms were torn off, he'd bitten into the face of the beast trying to eat him, earning the moniker "Mad Dog" even from those savage Beast Palace warriors.
A sword demon who turned more vicious and ruthless than anyone when cornered, unleashing deadly blades—this was him, right before Gwang-il's eyes.
"Kuh!"
The nostalgic memories stirred by his junior brother's innocent-looking face drew an involuntary laugh from Gwang-il.
Though to Gwang-geon, defying orders, that laugh felt utterly terrifying.
"E-Eldest Senior Brother? I-I wasn't trying to defy you at all...!"
"Quiet. I said first ten."
"?!"
"Those who don't make it go right back up."
A chilling mutter that sent shivers down everyone's spines.
Yet even so, there was always one who acted out anywhere, anytime.
"Wh-what?! Wh-what about food?! We gotta eat first, Eldest Senior Brooo!"
"Gwang-sik...! Right, you're here too!"
"Y-yes? Suddenly...?"
A plump, pudgy build impossible for a sect disciple.
Facing that round, innocent face, Gwang-il's smile deepened into a thicker curve.
He'd learned bone-deep in the chaos of the previous war just how ferociously mad this innocent glutton turned when hungry.
'Starve him skinny, and he'd leap past inborn martial genius straight to peak mastery. How could I have forgotten this guy...!'
Hadn't everyone sworn that if Gwang-sik ever slimmed down to a lean frame, he'd shatter his innate limits and reach superhuman heights?
With that ravenous appetite bordering on obsession.
'And yet, he had that inexplicable hidden potential.'
In his previous life, when the Beast Palace's ironclad siege had starved the entire headquarters for three full days straight,
hadn't this guy burst out of the sect gates alone, slaughtered thirty Beast Palace warriors, and devoured all their ferocious beasts?
His master Tong-cheon had even wondered if Gwang-sik was possessed by a heavenly killer star, after witnessing that force far beyond his capabilities and the horrific bloodlust.
'The sect wasn't lacking talent!'
Not everyone here was untalented.
Looking back carefully, every single one had some major oddity; given the right conditions, any could awaken their hidden gifts.
Not just Gwang-geon and Gwang-sik.
Gwang-jo, Gwang-jung, and Gwang-seok—who shared his quarters—along with the Point Cang Sword Sect's final sword demons he'd long forgotten, started catching his eye one by one.
Not a majority, but far from few.
'...This life is different.'
Unlike back then, when internal factional strife ran rampant, the secular world shunned them completely, and every righteous sect in the land watched in silence.
'Definitely different.'
What to call it?
This life, he could clearly glimpse something worth calling hope.
His path forward—and his role—stood firm and clear.
"......What are you waiting for?"
"S-Senior Brooo!"
"Eldest Senior Brother, please reconsider...!"
Now was the time to roll these guys relentlessly, forging them into sword tigers far surpassing his previous life.
"I said first ten! What happens after is your karma!"
"Ah, damn it!"
"Whoa?! Hey! Gwang-seok, you...!"
"Coming too, Senior Brother!"
Waaaah!
Thundering footsteps!
A few quick on the uptake accepted the inevitable and bolted, volunteering as the vanguard.
This sparked an impromptu lightness skill race among the rest.