A Sect Even Beggars Wouldn’t Pick Up On the Way (4)
After Chung Myung left the sect leader’s quarters, Hyun Jong, Unam, and Hyun Sang, the leader of the Martial Hall, remained behind and looked at one another.
"What do you think?"
At Hyun Jong’s question, Unam smiled.
"He is a Dao vessel."
"So you felt it too."
Hyun Jong’s face brightened with pleasure.
Truthfully, Chung Myung was adorable. How could he not be? Thanks to Chung Myung, Mount Hua had escaped the brink of extinction. It wasn’t as if enemies had stormed the mountain, nor had the sect torn itself apart from within. They had managed to avoid the most humiliating fate imaginable—of Mount Hua, steeped in history and tradition, lowering its signboard over nothing more than money.
From Hyun Jong’s point of view, it would not have been enough even to carry Chung Myung around on his back.
But that was not why he was praising him now.
"Even though he is still a child, there’s wisdom in the way he speaks. He can be rough at times, but considering his age, that is more than understandable."
"Indeed."
At the sect leader’s confirmation, Unam fell into deeper thought.
When he spoke with Chung Myung, it didn’t feel as though he were talking to a child. It wasn’t merely his manner of speech. There was none of the childish petulance one would normally expect from a boy his age.
Rather, it was more like…
Am I the only one who senses it?
He smelled of something Daoist.
He could not explain that feeling with reason. A child carrying the scent of a Daoist school?
There is no other way to describe him except as a Dao vessel.
Unam lifted his head slightly.
"He is unusually thoughtful for a child. He seems to deliberate carefully before speaking. In many ways, he is a very clever boy."
"Mm."
"If only his martial talent is certain, then… he would become the pillar that leads Mount Hua into its future generations."
Hyun Jong nodded without a word. Then he turned and looked at Hyun Sang.
"What do you think?"
Hyun Sang, who had only been observing the situation until now, let out a low hum.
"You know better than anyone that I have no eye for judging people, Sect Leader Brother."
"Still, man, you must have a feeling about it."
"A feeling, you say…"
Hyun Sang slowly closed his eyes.
Time seemed to crawl. After sinking into thought for quite a while, he finally opened his mouth.
"That child is not like a child."
"…."
"I know that children who have lived harsh lives, or those who are especially thoughtful, sometimes appear that way. But that only means they are mature for their age. It doesn’t mean they are like adults."
He glanced at them briefly, as though seeking agreement, then continued.
"But that boy isn’t simply precocious. He truly speaks like an adult and acts like one, too. Sometimes it makes me want to pry open whatever is inside him and see what’s there."
"You mean he has a black heart?"
"Not quite that. It’s just…"
Hyun Sang trailed off.
"I understand."
Hyun Jong nodded.
"I imagine we’re all thinking the same thing, but let’s not place too much meaning on it for now. As you can see, he’s still just a child."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"We are not those who merely use people; we are those who raise them. If he is a capable talent, we should allow his gifts to bloom. If he is a child with problems, then it is our task to guide him until those problems are corrected."
"Those are wise words."
"Unam."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"How is the construction proceeding?"
"The terrain is rugged, so replenishing materials is not easy. We are felling trees to make up as much as we can, but there is no helping the time needed to dry and process the timber. I believe it will take a little while longer."
"I see."
Hyun Jong stroked his beard slowly, then asked with a solemn expression, "Do you resent me for worrying about appearances now that we finally have money?"
"How could I ever, Sect Leader?"
"Understand me. Mount Hua must be reborn now. When a person makes a new resolve and sets down a new purpose, they first straighten their robes and correct their bearing. A sect is no different. If we are to convey our new determination to our disciples, I believe this is the most certain way."
"The Sect Leader’s intentions are right."
Hyun Jong nodded quietly.
"Junior brother."
"Yes, Sect Leader Brother."
Hyun Sang lowered his head slightly.
"Please finish interpreting the newly recovered martial knowledge as quickly as you can. But there must be no sloppiness. The fate of Mount Hua will change depending on how that martial art is passed down to the disciples."
"I will leave no room for error."
"I’m relying on the two of you."
Watching Hyun Jong, who seemed lost in thought, Hyun Sang’s face hardened a little.
Should I say it?
No. No, that was probably not right.
Perhaps it was only needless worry. Sect Leader Brother was now envisioning a Mount Hua that would endure not just a hundred years, but a thousand. He could not be made to fret over some trivial suspicion.
But…
Hyun Sang let out a quiet sigh.
When they had first discovered the manual, he had been so shocked that he had not noticed anything strange. But now that he had actually been sifting through it to interpret the contents, he could not shake off the unease.
For a manual said to be at least a hundred years old, the paper is far too clean.
And there were even traces where ink had bled out in spots.
If Hyun Sang’s suspicion was correct, then this manual was not from a hundred years ago. It was something made relatively recently.
But who could have done it?
Who in the world could recreate martial knowledge that had been lost even in Mount Hua itself? That made no sense by any common standard.
If someone possessed such ability, it would be far better for them to bring the manual openly than to make one and let it be “discovered.” In that case, every disciple of Mount Hua would have worshipped them like a king.
Which would mean there was someone who wanted to help Mount Hua without revealing their identity.
Hyun Sang shook his head.
Too much. That was too much speculation.
He had scrutinized the martial knowledge again and again, thinking there might be some hidden scheme. Yet no matter how closely he looked, it appeared genuine. There was no inconsistency, no error. No malevolent trace could be found no matter how thoroughly he searched.
Let me examine it one more time.
If anything looked strange, he could always mention it then.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Damn it. A sect even beggars wouldn’t take in!"
Chung Myung kicked a pebble aside.
"What the hell did you people do that not a single pill is left?"
Judging by the sect leader’s expression, this damn sect had clearly run out not just of Jaso-dan, but even of proper Maehwadan.
It was utterly hopeless.
If the problem had been money, and they had been unable to manufacture Jaso-dan because of that, then now that money existed, the answer should have been simple:
Just wait a while.
But instead of telling him to wait, the sect leader had chosen to change the subject.
Which meant that not only were there no spiritual pills left in Mount Hua, but the method of making them had been lost as well.
"How can there not be a single thing in working order!"
He felt like his insides were going to burst.
Even if someone had deliberately schemed to wreck Mount Hua, there was no way they could have destroyed it in so many different ways, so thoroughly and so efficiently.
The sect had no martial arts, no elixirs, no people, and no money?
"And somehow you still didn’t collapse? Just how?"
He was furious, but what good would anger do? This was all his karma, after all. Chung Myung clicked his tongue and rubbed his lower abdomen.
Hah, this is a headache.
His body was not recovering nearly as quickly as he had expected. It was still the body of a child whose bones and sinews had not yet fully developed, and he had forced out innate qi from a body with almost no internal energy to speak of, so he had expected plenty of side effects…
The problem is that this is worse than "plenty."
His body was recovering far more slowly than he had anticipated.
Apparently, he had still been carrying the habit of unconsciously judging himself by the standards of his old body and old level.
Come to think of it.
If Chung Myung from those days had heard that a child was forcibly drawing on innate qi, he would have dragged not only that idiot of a child but everyone around him who failed to stop it and given them all a proper beating.
It was that dangerous.
But that was how people were. They knew others shouldn’t do it, yet still thought I might be able to manage it. And then they ended up ruined.
The problem was that the one getting ruined this time was none other than Chung Myung himself. Since his body wouldn’t recover, training was difficult; because training was difficult, his martial progress stalled.
As the price for reviving Mount Hua, it was far too suffocating to just endure. At this rate, he would have to spend at least half a year in recuperation.
"Half a year, my ass!"
Maybe for an old man’s body. But for him at this age, half a year was devastating. The half-year of now was as bad as ten years in the distant future.
It wasn’t that he simply wanted to heal and feel comfortable. He was building a perfect foundation. But the human body wasn’t the ground, was it?
A child grew and changed. Which meant there was such a thing as the right time. Miss that window, and there were some things you could never build again. When the body was ready to absorb martial arts like a hungry beast, that was when he had to lay the foundations.
"I need to find a way."
Chung Myung fell into serious thought.
"For now, I absolutely need a spiritual pill…"
Depleted vitality could only be cured by vitality. If calm, slowly absorbed energy wouldn’t solve it, then he needed to take in a huge amount all at once and refill his innate qi.
That left two methods.
He could eat a precious spiritual pill, or receive help from a technique like energy transmission.
But there was no way he could find someone willing to transmit energy to him, and there was no way he could find a spiritual pill either.
A spiritual pill was not something you could simply buy just because you had money. And besides, wasn’t he trapped in a child’s body right now? For him, unable to leave Mount Hua, obtaining one was practically impossible.
There was no way.
"Ah, seriously! They say even dog shit disappears when you need it for medicine, and this sect doesn’t even have a single spiritual pill? You rotten bastards in the medicine hall!"
In the old Mount Hua, spiritual pills had practically rolled around on the floor.
Jaso-dan was so common that most disciples would eat at least one in their lifetime, and Seolmaedan could be earned as a reward for a decent achievement or simply by training hard enough.
And Maehwadan?
"That wasn’t even medicine."
Maehwadan was so common it wasn’t even treated as a spirit pill. If his situation weren’t like this, he wouldn’t even have asked for one.
For Chung Myung now, it would have been useful, but back then Maehwadan was just a useless pill that didn’t even raise internal energy.
No wonder the Chung Myung of old had used Maehwadan as a hangover remedy.
It worked like a charm, though.
Whenever he had gotten utterly drunk in secret behind Sect Leader Brother’s back and not even circulating qi could fully clear the hangover, popping one Maehwadan pill would make his stomach feel instantly clean and refreshed. As a spiritual pill it was worthless, but as a hangover cure it was the best thing in the world.
Of course, if Sect Leader Brother had found out, he would have foamed at the mouth and chased him down trying to kill him.
So he had hidden the Maehwadan and snuck off to…
"Huh?"
He came to an abrupt stop.
Chung Myung, who had been wandering along, froze in place.
"Hangover cure?"
His head tilted to the side.
"Why didn’t I think of that?"
There was! A spiritual pill!
No, wait!
There must be! A spiritual pill!
The troublemaker of Mount Hua… no, the former troublemaker of Mount Hua must have hidden away a spiritual pill somewhere!
"Sometimes having a stupid head really does help!"
Chung Myung cackled and took off at full speed toward the mountain gate.