Mount Hua Will Grow Stronger (2)
“Ugh…….”
“Argh…….”
“……ngh…….”
The Mount Hua disciples sprawled across the training grounds let out dying groans.
So many of them were simply lying on the ground, completely flattened.
“Tsk.”
Chung Myung, the only one still standing, tilted his head back to look at the sky. As he stared at the darkened night above, his brow slowly furrowed.
By all rights, this training should’ve been over by sunset.
With a strange look on his face, Chung Myung swept his gaze over the disciples collapsed on the ground. A loud click of his tongue rang out.
“You’re still way off. Way off!”
“…….”
“How are you supposed to get stronger like this?”
“…….”
“Get your bodies back in shape by tomorrow. We’re going even harder then.”
Leaving those words behind, he walked out of the training grounds without once looking back.
The Mount Hua disciples, who had been staring after him in a daze, slowly began to drag themselves up one by one.
“Agh…….”
“Grr. Damn, that hurts.”
The hands planted on the ground trembled like aspen leaves.
Even something as simple as sitting themselves upright was so exhausting it left them breathless. A few couldn’t even summon the strength to stand; others managed to get up only to flop face-first back down again, over and over.
And yet…….
“Sti—still more.”
“Heh-heh-heh.”
“Did you see that bastard’s face?”
“He looked like he was about to die from irritation.”
The Mount Hua disciples, their faces all swollen, chuckled and laughed. Even Yu I-seol, who was usually so expressionless that everyone wondered if she even had one at all, had one eye blackened and was still snickering.
One hit.
In the end, the only thing they had managed today was Yoon Jong’s single attack. After that, they had thrown themselves at Chung Myung with everything they had, only to get thoroughly beaten down.
But no one felt defeated or disappointed. They knew all too well that if something happened once, it would happen twice.
Lying on the ground with not even enough strength to twitch a finger, Baek Cheon stared up at the moon with all the strength he could muster and clenched his fist.
We’re closing the gap.
The pain was bearable. If he had the certainty that they were moving forward, then he could endure anything.
What was truly agonizing was when, even after giving everything he had, the distance only grew wider. They had already learned that lesson to the bone, hadn’t they?
“Sasuk. Are you all right?”
Baek Sang approached and held out a hand. Baek Cheon took it and, with great effort, sat himself up.
The disciples who had already managed to sit up were all looking at him, as if waiting for him to say something.
Baek Cheon took a shallow breath and spoke.
“It’s hard.”
“…….”
“But it’s not as hard as it was back then. Compared to the times we could do nothing but watch our senior brothers fight in front of us, this is nothing. Right?”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
“Yes, Sasuk!”
Baek Cheon nodded.
“Today, I was certain of it. If we can endure this training, we’ll definitely get stronger. And then we won’t ever have to suffer that kind of humiliation again.”
The disciples slowly nodded along. Baek Cheon grinned.
“Tomorrow, I’m taking that bastard’s head off. Don’t let anyone else touch him.”
“Mine.”
“No, I’m the one who’s taking it!”
The pointless squabbling of the Mount Hua disciples broke out into laughter all at once.
They laughed for a long while, and then, as if their strength had given out for good, everyone collapsed back onto the ground. Laughing had drained even the strength required to keep themselves upright.
I should be… getting back to the dorms.
Baek Cheon, sprawled out in the training grounds like the rest of them, stared blankly up at the sky. Tonight, the moon seemed strangely bright.
I’m going to get stronger.
And someday…….
Baek Cheon’s eyes, fixed on the moon, slowly closed. Not long after, most of the disciples lying in the training grounds had fallen into a sleep as deep as death.
After a while, a few people cautiously approached the grinning, soundly sleeping figures.
“Grr. Those kids are really…….”
“Keep your voice down.”
Hyun Sang sternly warned Un Geom and gave the order.
“Carry them to their dorms carefully, so you don’t wake them.”
“Yes.”
“For the ones with the worst muscle knots and the ones with serious internal injuries, use acupressure to break up the stagnation.”
“Yes, Elder.”
Un Am let out a deep sigh.
“So much for sleeping tonight.”
“I saw you dozing off earlier this afternoon, Sasuk.”
“That wasn’t dozing. That was resting my eyes.”
Hyun Jong, who had lifted Baek Cheon into his arms, quietly looked down at the sleeping face. It was a mess, limp as a corpse, and yet somehow the expression itself seemed peaceful.
……Those boys.
His hands tightened unconsciously around the body he was holding.
“Let’s move them quickly. The night air is cold.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
The elders and first-generation disciples who laid the disciples down in Baekmae Hall began moving from place to place, tending to them. Hyun Jong busied himself as well, and only after his hands were finally free did he step out of Baekmae Hall.
Standing at the front gate of Baekmae Hall, he wordlessly looked up at the sky.
“What are you thinking about?”
At Hyun Young’s question from behind him, Hyun Jong still did not turn his gaze away as he answered softly.
“I was thinking something.”
“And what was that?”
“That the moon must be lonely.”
In Hyun Jong’s eyes, as he looked at the bright moon hanging in the center of the sky, a trace of loneliness flickered.
“A traveler walking the road at night doesn’t lose his way thanks to that moonlight, and so the moon is very dear indeed. And yet that same grateful moon hangs alone in the dark night sky to illuminate the world, does it not?”
“Sect Leader…….”
“To shine on someone else may be a very lonely thing.”
The fingertips of the hands clasped behind Hyun Jong’s back trembled faintly.
Hyun Young, looking at the man’s back, smiled and spoke.
“That isn’t so, Sect Leader.”
“……Oh?”
“Why would the moon be lonely? There are so many stars around it.”
Just then, the clouds drifted apart, and the stars that filled the sky shone clearly into Hyun Jong’s eyes.
“Of course, the moon and the stars are different. But that doesn’t mean they can’t rise together, does it? The moon will be comforted by the stars, and the stars will be comforted by the moon.”
“…….”
“And here, aren’t we looking up at that moon together? So…… at the very least, it won’t be lonely.”
Hyun Jong slowly clenched the hands behind his back.
“……I see.”
“…….”
“Then…….”
Hyun Jong’s voice wavered slightly.
“Yes…… then that would be good.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Ugh…….”
Chung Myung groaned, clutching his shoulder.
“……Bastards.”
Without exaggeration, there wasn’t a single part of his body that didn’t hurt.
Of course, he had only actually been hit once today. But in a fight between martial artists, whether a sword has truly landed isn’t the only thing that matters. In battles where blades are swung with sword qi, mere waves of force can crush flesh and shake the insides to pieces.
They had been fighting sword qi against sword qi from before sunrise until dawn, and by the end of it, his whole body hurt as if it had been shattered.
It’s just like back then. No wounds from being cut, that’s all…….
Chung Myung closed his eyes, recalling memories of a war he had no desire to think about. In the past, he would have shaken his head and tried to drive the memory away, but now he no longer bothered.
If he didn’t face it, he couldn’t move forward.
Still not enough.
All of this training was being done to make them stronger. But that wasn’t everything. If all he wanted was to make them strong, there were other ways to do that.
What mattered was making Mount Hua stronger. And within that Mount Hua, Chung Myung was naturally included.
He had realized it all over again.
That he was part of Mount Hua too.
If he truly wanted to make Mount Hua strong, then instead of stepping back and leading the successors from a distance, he too had to grow stronger as a member of Mount Hua.
Stronger than before—far stronger than before, to a degree that couldn’t even be compared!
The corner of Chung Myung’s mouth curled up.
Honestly, those idiots.
They were small fry, but they were useful enough.
No—if he was being honest, they were incredibly useful.
The reason was simple.
Nowhere else in the world would over a hundred people with fierce killing intent come charging at him like this. And not just once, either—they’d get knocked down, then crawl back up and throw themselves at him again and again.
That kind of training had been impossible even in Mount Hua’s past.
It would have been meaningless if Mount Hua’s disciples hadn’t risen to their current level. Only now had this training finally gained meaning.
He had spoken harshly and laughed at them, but the Mount Hua disciples, charging at him with one heart, had unquestionably become a threat. Enough to make him remember the wars of old for a brief moment.
Thanks to them, Chung Myung was rapidly regaining his old instincts. The instincts he’d had at his sharpest.
And yet…….
“You’re getting stronger faster than me?”
Chung Myung rubbed his side.
The dull ache left there by Yoon Jong’s wooden sword was still lingering.
Even Chung Myung had honestly doubted they could really do it. Still, they had to do it, so he had kept on silently. But the pain in his side was clearly whispering to him, over and over, that they absolutely could.
“A bunch of punks, and all that.”
Thinking of each of their faces in turn, Chung Myung let out a snort of laughter.
He kept finding himself looking forward to it.
If, with that absurdly stubborn grit that even exceeded his expectations, they all endured this brutal training…….
How far, exactly, would they be able to go?
And if he could endure them all the way to the end, how much closer could he get to the version of himself he had been in the past?
“They really are ridiculous bastards.”
A subtle sense of anticipation and a deeply satisfying feeling wrapped around his body and turned within it.
“Ugh.”
Chung Myung flopped down right where he stood.
“Ow, ow. Damn. Agh.”
The moment his back hit the ground, a throbbing pain surged through it.
His body was crying out in pain, but his mind felt oddly at ease. Compared to the times when he had been scrambling his brains day and night just to bring even the slightest benefit to Mount Hua, this was far better.
So…….
“Quit making that miserable face, damn it, Sasuk.”
Chung Myung looked up at the sky.
“I’m definitely going to make Mount Hua strong. I’m not letting anyone die, either. And honestly, with the current Sasuk around, what exactly are you even able to do? You’re weak as hell.”
Chung Myung grinned.
“Sasuk doesn’t understand. What it feels like to watch those chick-like brats grit their teeth and desperately try to keep up with me.”
He looked at the moon, softly shining down on him, and murmured, almost like a whisper.
“At least now I’ve got one thing I know better than you.”
He still missed it.
The longing for the Mount Hua of the past still remained thick within him.
But…….
“These guys now are seriously amazing, you know?”
Still lying there, Chung Myung stretched out a hand and mimed drawing a bow. With the other hand, he leisurely pulled back an invisible string in the air.
“Whoosh.”
As he made a show of firing that bow at the moon, Chung Myung smiled faintly.
“I’m not saying I’ll make Mount Hua the way it used to be anymore.”
Because he couldn’t.
“Instead, I’ll make Mount Hua into something even more incredible than it was back then, so keep your eyes open and watch.”
Chung Myung slowly closed his eyes.
The wind that had come down from the mountain brushed past his shoulder. So much time had passed, and so many people had changed, but the wind blowing from Mount Hua itself had not changed at all.
Mount Hua is going to grow stronger.
Soon, soft breathing began slipping regularly between Chung Myung’s lips.
Haa. Haa.
A gentle smile rested on Chung Myung’s face as he slept, utterly exhausted.
It was a soft smile he had never once made back when he was called the Plum Blossom Sword Saint.
As he sank into deep sleep, the scent of plum blossoms drifted in from somewhere and wrapped itself around him gently.
When the darkness retreats, the sun rises. When the sun sets, the moon rises again.
Spring passes into summer, and then winter returns once more. The seasons turn in their cycle.
And so, time flowed on like a running stream.