Trembling at Breakfast, Resolve on the Cliffs
The Wudang Sect's Communal Dining Hall was bustling with countless disciples from the morning. Young disciples gathered in groups of twos and threes, chattering noisily over breakfast, filling the hall with clamor.
In the innermost corner of this boisterous space, at a quiet table tucked away in the nook, a meal was laid out just for the four of us. Even an elder from the powerless back rooms like me received the perk of a private table.
Other elders, who placed great stock in dignity, usually had their disciples bring food to their quarters for a refined meal. But I was different.
The reason I personally came down to this noisy Communal Dining Hall every morning?
Of course, it's to sit around the table with my adorable disciples, so precious I could put them in my eyes without a twinge of pain.
This was one of my few simple joys as their master.
Sending the young ones on errands from dawn and grandly eating alone wasn't my style at all. This corner of the Communal Dining Hall, alive with the vibrant scent of human life, was the true morning scene of Wudang, wasn't it?
Besides, the cook in charge of the kitchen always slipped in extra meat dishes when someone of my elder status came down and cleaned his plate spotless. It was a win-win.
"Come now, eat up before it gets cold. You must be starving after all that training."
Today's side dishes were Wudang's special braised mushrooms, fresh mountain vegetable salad, and one glossy meat dish. A perfect menu to replenish energy drained by cultivation.
But the state of the kids facing the table was utterly strange.
Normally, they'd shout "Let's eat!" and battle with their chopsticks for the meat first.
Yet now, all three gripped their chopsticks rigidly, staring at the rice bowls on the table like they were bombs about to explode.
At my disciples' sight, I let out a light sigh and picked up my chopsticks. I plucked the plumpest braised mushroom and placed it atop my first disciple Seorin's rice bowl.
"Seorina, no pickiness—eat it heartily. That's how you build strength without nagging illnesses."
Expecting her touched expression, I also slid over a pre-poured cup of warm tea.
Normally, she'd beam and say, "Thank you, Master!" But her reaction was off.
"Eek…!"
She flinched in shock, unable to meet my eyes properly, her gaze darting about. Her eyes, fixed on the mushroom atop her rice, were already glistening with tears.
"Th-th-thank you, Master…."
A small, trembling voice. Seorin picked up the mushroom with her chopsticks, squeezed her eyes shut, and shoved it into her mouth. Then, without chewing, she gulped it down whole.
"……."
My chopsticks froze mid-air at her desperate display.
Second disciple Chohee and youngest Hwaran were the same. When I placed mountain vegetables on their rice, their faces paled as they stammered "Th-thank you……" before closing their eyes like Seorin and forcing it down.
Not savoring the food, just swallowing it—a bizarre meal.
I set down my chopsticks for a moment and observed my disciples.
Overreacting to their master's kindness, treating food not as nourishment but with extreme wariness. Startling at the slightest noise or movement.
Whew. Looks like I can't just sit back and watch.
With more people in the crowded Communal Dining Hall, their condition had worsened. If I'd known, I would've eaten in the quarters today.
Maintaining that level of tension wasn't normal.
And I had a hunch why.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
If my guess was right, this was no trifling matter. Thinking of the documentaries from my past life about war veterans' suffering, I couldn't ignore it.
What on earth had happened last night?
What horrors had these children witnessed, or what fiend had driven them to the brink of death, to shatter their minds so badly they couldn't even swallow a single bite in this peaceful Communal Dining Hall?
A pang twisted in my chest.
While these kids teetered on the death line, I'd slept soundly in my warm room. A master's guilt washed over me.
I've been too careless.
Hiding my bitter expression, I spoke in the gentlest tone possible.
"Eat slowly. You'll choke. No one here will harm you, so relax and enjoy it."
"Cough! Cough! Gack……!"
Even at my sincere reassurance, the three disciples choked simultaneously, as if by agreement, erupting into violent coughs.
Intended to comfort, yet provoking such a reaction.
I patted their backs in turn, inwardly vowing firmly: Whoever inflicted this horrific trauma on my disciples last night, I would find them and make them pay dearly.
"Alright, all done? Let's get up then."
Finishing the meal, I stood with a deliberate laugh.
Glancing at them as we left the Communal Dining Hall, their hands trembled, faces paler than before breakfast—their condition had deteriorated.
"This won't do."
The maladies of the heart don't heal by holing up in a room and groaning. Gazing at open nature, sweating it out—that's how tangled heart demons naturally dissipate.
"This afternoon, let's take a light stroll around Wudang Mountain. It'll clear your heads too."
You'll overcome this. No—I’ll make sure you do. Definitely.
I patted my disciples' shoulders and led the way.
Behind Taecheong Palace, where the sect leader resided, lay a steep cliff path. Known as Flying Dragon Riding Clouds, it was Wudang's most treacherous terrain, ascended only in dire need or by force.
Sheer rock faces plunged into abyssal drops where a misstep meant bones shattering beyond repair. For the qi-less, even looking induced suffocation.
"Whew, the air's so fresh, isn't it?"
Hands behind my back, I hopped lightly up the rock crevices. Of course, no internal energy used.
Famed peril or not, decades of martial training made such slopes trivial for the honed body.
"Seorina, careful there. That rock's slippery."
I turned leisurely to call back.
"Huff…… huff…… huff……."
A bit below, my three disciples crawled up the cliff on all fours like beasts, sweat pouring like rain. Seorin's fingertips bled from gripping rocks, Chohee's lips were blue, and youngest Hwaran chased their heels with tears and snot smeared across her face, legs and arms pumping desperately.
"Sweating it out feels lighter on the body, doesn't it?"
I chuckled heartily, smiling at them.
It must be brutally tough, no doubt. I'd been there at their level, trailing my master up this Flying Dragon Riding Clouds, tears and snot flowing, barely keeping up.
Lungs tearing, hands bloodied from rocks, thighs burning like fire.
"For a mind-clearing stroll, nothing beats sealing away your qi and going by raw body alone. Feeling your flesh's limits without relying on inner power—that's how the knots in your heart sweat out too."
My sole demand: No qi whatsoever. Climb the mountain using only the body honed thus far.
"S-save…."
"Hm? Enjoying the forest bath? Good, good—very commendable."
I pretended not to hear Chohee properly.
Their gasping tugged at my heartstrings a bit, but I gritted my teeth and endured. Now was the time to thoroughly empty the flesh.
Soon, we'd refill it.
"Come on, everyone—keep it up! An amazing view awaits at the summit!"
Waving cheerfully with a bright smile, they looked up at me with despairing faces.
Who could blame them for resenting their master? After an all-nighter dragging exhausted bodies through morning training to their physical limits, I'd dragged them here.
Yet amid it all, my disciples' actions were tear-jerkingly admirable.
The wide footholds I'd stepped on and secured for safety—they ignored my paved path, deliberately scaling the rougher cliffside beside it.
Refusing to lean on the easy way their master cleared, they're forging their own harsh path to shatter their heart demons. Showing their resolve.
A chuckle escaped me at their foolish yet praiseworthy sight.
That ironclad determination to break their limits.
Truly my disciples.
But….
Great will, but they still lack margin for error. I need to watch them more closely.
The road ahead was still long.