“Who?”
“I heard they were Hyun disciples.”
“Then they are related to the Sect Leader?”
“Sahyung must be so shocked! How are those who walked out, called Sahyung? They are just old men!”
“Right! Right!”
The disciples of Mount Hua didn’t hide their anger.
‘The difference must be too much.’
Being a former Hyun disciple was a burden. It was equally burdensome to assume the fact that these former disciples chose to walk out.
How the hell were they supposed to treat the old men their sect leader called Sahyung?
It was uncomfortable to treat them as guests, but it was impossible to treat them as their sect leader’s Sahyung.
Baek Cheon sighed,
“For now, try not to run into each other as much as possible until Sect Leader decides their direction.”
“And if we meet?”
“… for now, treat them like an elderly person.”
“Yes.”
The disciples of Mount Hua’s faces were distorted. Baek Cheon looked at them,
“Do not worry, I doubt a problem would arise.”
However, it was rare for things in the world to happen as expected.
“What the hell is this?”
“Uh?”
Hyun Tang’s cheeks trembled.
His gaze was fixed on the table.
“Eating meat on sacred ground! It’s even meat that is grilled! Since when did meat find its way onto the tables of Mount Hua!”
Baek Cheon flinched for a moment but then looked at Hyun Tang and calmly answered,
“As far as I know, there is no specific prohibition on eating meat on Mount Hua…”
“Are you saying you don’t know the difference between prohibiting something and condoning it? Mount Hua is a Taoist sect. This means not eating meat to avoid complications when cultivating and practicing your techniques. And now you recommend it to all?”
Baek Cheon sighed at his shouting.
Hyun Tang asked in an angry voice,
“Who allowed this?”
“… Elder Hyun Young did.”
“Did he not learn anything when becoming an elder? It is my fault. It is all my fault. I didn’t teach that child about the Tao properly.”
Baek Cheon’s eyes twitched.
That child?
Mount Hua? Tao?
‘No, these morons!’
As Baek Cheon was about to say something, Yoon Jong caught his sleeve,
“Sasuk.”
“Umm.”
Baek Cheon’s face, which struggled to swallow his words, stayed frozen. And Un Am, who heard the noise ran into the dining room,
“What is happening?”
“To see meat on the table of Mount Hua! What kind of new rule is this!”
Un Am looked at the table with a troubled face,
“The current Mount Hua doesn’t forbid the consumption of meat.”
“Ha! I cannot get my words through to you. Where is Hyun Jong? I need to meet with the sect leader.”
Un Am’s face began to distort,
“Then…”
“Hahahaha!”
Jo Gul ran to the table like lightning and picked up the plate of meat.
“Then don’t eat it. It isn’t like we will die just because we don’t eat meat? Get rid of all of this!”
“…”
“Hurry up!”
The disciples of Mount Hua began to get up and carry the food back into the kitchen.
Those who had complaints also knew why Jo Gul was asking them to move, so they moved without a word. Of course, the person who would be the most uncomfortable with such things happening would be the sect leader, so they were not going to make him go through this.
‘Why let them crawl in!’
‘He sure has anger!’
‘Ugh. Just a few days, a few days more…’
Un Am bit his lip as he watched the table being cleared.
He wasn’t sure if this was right or wrong. Weren’t they in a situation where they knew better than anyone what the laws of the current Mount Hua were compared to the past?
“Sasuk, be patient.”
Baek Cheon whispered to Un Am, who nodded.
If there was a conflict here, Hyun Jong would be forced to join, and Un Am also didn’t want that.
“You people did so much.”
“It is fine.”
Looking at the table with just grass left to eat, Baek Cheon sighed.
But this was just the start,
“What is this?”
“… Uh?”
Early in the morning.
The disciples of Mount Hua gathered in the training hall and looked around with blank eyes holding the metal they were meant to carry for strength training.
‘No, why did they come early in the morning…’
‘What now?’
But Hyun Tang shouted at the disciples, not knowing what was going on in their hearts.
“I asked what you were doing.”
“… practicing.”
“Is this practice?”
“Yes. To train our strength.”
“You fools!”
Hyun Tang raised his voice,
“The sword of Mount Hua is a sword of Tao. What is Tao? Our sword pursues naturalness by becoming one with nature. But did you not know that artificially creating muscle strength will hinder the pursuit of Mount Hua’s sword?”
Veins stood up on the forehead of Baek Cheon,
“… we became stronger this way. And we proved our strength at the Worldly Murim Tournament. About training…”
“That is because it was in the short term. If you become strong like this, you could become even stronger following the traditional method of Mount Hua! How can you know only one and ignore the other?”
Then, Hyun Tang, who looked wide-eyed in anger, said something,
“Who gave you this training? Was it Hyun Jong?”
“N-No.”
“Then, who gave you this training?”
Chung Myung.
But those were words that weren’t meant to be said, and when the answer was delayed, Hyun Tang said,
“There is no need to say anymore. Stop this nonsense practice right now.”
Baek Cheon frowned at it and sternly said,
“This is the training of Mount Hua. It isn’t something an outsider gets to intervene in.”
“Outsider? Did you call me an outsider?”
“Yes.”
When he didn’t back down. Hyun Tang began to display his anger,
“Outsider. Yes. Fine, I am an outsider. Then ask anyone, is there anyone among you who knows more about the training of Mount Hua than I do?”
“… that…”
“I am giving you the training Mount Hua lost, and you are saying you will not listen to it because I am an outsider? Is this the law of Mount Hua?”
After coming out like this, Baek Cheon became silent.
‘No, this is a situation that makes no sense.’
Being a hyun disciple itself was a powerful position, and even if this man had left the place, he was still a man who had been in the position of elder or maybe even sect leader.
‘Then, since he is older than Sect Leader he knows the past Mount Hua better than Sect Leader.’
It wasn’t easy to ignore what such a person was saying.
“There is nothing to say. Stop this nonsensical training and start meditating.”
“…. Meditating?”
“Yes. A disciple of Tao should purify their mind. Don’t cling to the sword. Once you realize the Tao, the sword will follow you.”
“…”
“Start.”
“Wait…”
“Start!”
Baek Cheon wanted to say more, but he finally closed his eyes tightly, and all the disciples looked at him, not knowing what to do, and he said,
“… put down the weapons and prepare to meditate.”
“Sahyung!”
“For now… right, only for now.”
They all went silent, but they were all desperately speaking with their eyes.
‘I don’t get why we are listening to that jerk?’
‘Didn’t we get told not to fight since we only need to handle them for a few days? It should be a few days. Just a few days!’
In the end, everyone sat cross-legged with dissatisfied faces.
A happy smile appeared on the lips of Hyun Tang.
‘I just need to paint them with my color little by little.’
Then they will soon follow me.
“Achhhhh!”
Jo Gul screamed and kicked the tea table in the dorms. Yoon Jong, who received the tea table which was sent flying, set it down.
“Fucking idiots! Ackkk! My stomach will explode!”
“Calm down.”
Jo Gul turned and looked at Yoon Jong,
“Aren’t you angry Sahyung?”
“… angry?”
“…”
Yoon Jong pulled the sword and wiped it with a cloth as he laughed quietly,
“What do we do when we are angry? Just stab them….”
“C-calm down!”
Jo Gul, who barely restrained Yoon Jong from uttering some very scary words, shifted his gaze. Baek Cheon was seated in the corner.
Even though it was just a few days since the guests had arrived, Baek Cheon looked exhausted.
“Sasuk… are you fine?”
“… UH?”
“I asked if you are fine?”
“…. What?”
“…no, nothing.”
“Uh.”
Something was wrong.
Something was wrong with that person.
It was a look that Baek Cheon would never have in normal situations.
And Jo Gul fully understood the man. Baek Cheon was the one who constantly received the bullshit of those old people as he was the great disciple of the Baek disciples.
Maybe it was a feeling of anger rising to his head due to all the nagging? In just a few days, he looked so down…
Jo Gul got angry again,
“When will they go?”
“Well. It is time for them to leave.”
“Then why….”
Yoon Jong quickly cut off his words,
“Be careful with what you say. We never know who they put around us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Huh.”
When Yoon Jong sighed, Jo Gul went silent,
“Haha… Sago, please tell me.”
Yu Yiseol nodded at Jo Gul’s words.
“… I apologize.”
“For what?”
“We made fun of him1 for being a kkondae2. But a real kkondae sure is different.”
“…”
He could sympathize with this,
“Ugh.”
Jo Gul shook his head.
He thought that if they avoided them, no problem would arise, but the situation turned entirely different. Every time they did something Hyun Tang would appear like a ghost and nag about what he knew.
“What about the old Mount Hua anyway!”
“Tradition this tradition that! I almost ended up puking whenever I heard the word tradition!”
“How can he act so nasty from the beginning to end!”
Words seemed to make no effort or impact on those men.
Defy their authority?
Try it.
The problem was that each time they spoke, their ancestors were brought into the picture.
‘Former Sect Leader is a teacher for our sect leader….’
As soon as those words were said, the disciples could say nothing.
Unless they saw the former sect leaders, they couldn’t deny their words, and it would come out as disobeying the words of their ancestors if they dragged the issue any further.
The Baek disciples couldn’t get caught up in it, so they chose to stay silent, and the Un disciples could only watch and not do anything.
“Why is Sect Leader staying silent?”
“Gul.”
The instant Jo Gul complained about their sect leader, Baek Cheon, who looked like a corpse, glared at him.
Jo Gul shuddered.
“The person who is feeling most troubled now is Sect Leader. You are welcome to shit around about the old men but do not talk about Sect Leader. Do you understand?”
“… yes. Sasuk.”
And Baek Cheon went back to looking blank after that.
Then he covered his face as he bit his lip.
‘This is bad.’
He could not do anything until his sect leader’s mind was made up.
‘Sect Leader must be feeling so horrible.’
If only there was one great elder left in the sect, this wouldn’t have happened. The problem now was that Hyun Jong was now the oldest person on Mount Hua, and unlike the others, Mount Hua had no survivors who could be called great elder.
So he had no idea what to do.
‘But if Sect Leader made up his mind, he wouldn’t be acting this patient.’
Baek Cheon shook his head.
He knew this could not continue. Hyun Jong was no fool. So, for now, he decided to trust his sect leader and wait.
“We need to help the sect leader. So do not fight back, and don’t talk back. I am telling you to be docile for now. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
There was no strength in their answer.
But Baek Cheon didn’t criticize them because he understood how they were feeling more than anyone else.
At that time, Yoon Jong, who was silent asked,
“But… when will Chung Myung return?”
“… uh?”
When Baek Cheon responded with a question, Yoon Jong put his sword back into its’ sheath and said,
“It can be said that we will somehow manage to endure it, but if Chung Myung comes, it will be a mess. Isn’t it possible that he gathers those so-called wannabe spirits and throw them off the cliff?”
“…”
Baek Cheon felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
‘Will they really stay here till then?’
‘They should be glad to be alive now.’
“They would be punched in the mouth if they speak of tradition.”
Baek Cheon felt annoyed,
“So, somehow, before he comes back…”
“But.”
Yu Yiseol interrupted him,
“Isn’t that the solution?”
“…”
Uh?
“Everyone will be kicked out.”
“…”
Uh…
Solution? Right, it technically was. If that could really be called a solution.
Baek Cheon took a deep breath,
“Anyway, by tomorrow, the sect leader should come up with a countermeasure. Then they won’t be able to force themselves on us anymore.”
“What if they continue to stay? Even Sect Leader can do nothing then.”
“… that won’t be a problem either,” firmly said Baek Cheon, “The only way to remove poison is with poison! I will throw Chung Myung at those jerks!”
Baek Cheon was still hoping that it wouldn’t come to that.
“Ah, it tickles.”
Chung Myung scratched his ears.
“Why?”
“No, suddenly my ears feel so itchy. Who is cursing me?”
“Hehe. There is someone who might be calling the young disciple.”
“… the problem is there are too many. First has to be Dong-Ryong.”
“Dong-Ryong?”
“No, it is nothing.”
Chung Myung smiled and picked up the bottle,
“But Elder, you are drinking better than I thought.”
“Hehehe. If a merchant doesn’t know how to drink, he cannot make money. I can give you how much of whatever you want. I can be called a masterpiece.”
“Hehehe. Thank you.”
Elder Hwang chuckled,
“Wouldn’t it be an honor to be able to drink with Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon, who gained fame recently!”
“Hehehee!”
“Kuak! Now your fame must be crossing the Dead Sea! Your name will be remembered everywhere!”
“Heheheheehe!”
“Ahem! The best swordsman in the world! The best in the future too! And maybe the best swordsman from Mount Hua in all of time!”
“HAHAHAH!”
When the disciples of Mount Hua were dying due to one kkondae, Chung Myung was living happily every day in the hospitality of a merchant who had lived for fifty years.
… not knowing what was happening on Mount Hua.
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