Chapter 1913 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1913. I Wish This Could Last. (3) ❀ ❀ ❀

Thump. Thump. Thump, thump.

“.....”

Thump. Thump, thump, thump.

“.....”

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

“AAARGH!”

Cheong Myeong jumped up from his bed. Without a moment’s hesitation, he rushed to the window and flung it open.

“What’s all this racket at dawn! Why’s it so noisy!”

“What do you mean, dawn? The sun’s already high in the sky.”

Blinking, Cheong Myeong looked up.

“Huh? Oh, it really is.”

The sun was hanging right in the middle of a blue sky.

‘Did I sleep this long?’

He was startled. When was the last time he’d overslept like this?

“So, what are you doing right now?”

“Oh, this?”

Gwak Hoe, who was hanging from the roof, grinned.

“I saw a leak up here, so I’m patching it up.”

“......Really?”

“I learned how to fix this kind of thing from the Sichuan Tang Famiily. Don’t worry, I’ll have it spotless by today.”

“Uh-huh...”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about me. This much is nothing.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Huh?”

“Does fixing that take all day?”

“......”

“Stop trying to get out of afternoon training. Do it after practice.”

“...You devilish bastard.”

Clack.

He shut the window and turned back toward the room, staring blankly.

The afternoon sunlight streaming in through the window felt strangely unfamiliar, almost unreal.

As he accepted that feeling instead of turning away from it, a faint smile crept across his face.

“Well, that’s something.”

 

His outstretched hand found the familiar fabric of Mount Hua’s martial uniform.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Move it! Hurry, hurry!”

An old man, stubborn just from the look of him, shouted sharply.

“You call yourselves martial artists, and you’re struggling with sacks of grain! What’s so heavy about that! Can’t you move faster? Bah! Back in my day, I could carry five of those by myself!”

He wasn’t exactly wrong.

Sure, the disciples of Diancang, now trembling like reeds in a storm, had just climbed Mount Hua’s cliffs each carrying sacks as big as themselves. But purely on the surface, there wasn’t much to argue with in Hyun Yeong’s words.

“Urghhh.”

One of the men, wobbling like he’d been hit by a typhoon, collapsed in front of the warehouse. Hyun Yeong clicked his tongue in irritation.

“I’ve been feeding you enough, and you’re still this weak? Tsk, tsk.”

Baek Sang, who was holding the ledger beside him, carefully interjected.

“They are working diligently, Elder.”

“Diligent? Is that a word you use for this? Young men should be up and moving by the hour of the tiger! How can you call men who crawl out only when the sun’s already halfway up the mountain diligent? If they’d started earlier, they could’ve done another run by now!”

[note: hour of the tiger around 3–5 a.m.]

“.....”

“Tch. They say youth is the time to buy effort even if it costs you. In my day, I’d come down the mountain at dawn just to feed the disciples one more spoonful of rice! But these days? They’re all lazy good-for-nothings!”

Feeling like he might literally go mad from the nagging, Baek Sang quickly tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.

“The warehouse is about half full now. If we keep this pace, it’ll be filled in three or four more days. Perhaps they could take it a bit easier?”

“What? Three or four more days?”

“......”

“What in heaven’s name are you all wasting time on! Just have the disciples make a few more trips, it’d be done in half a day!”

Watching Hyun Yeong fume, Baek Sang let out a long sigh and ventured cautiously:

“But Elder... is there a particular reason we need to keep the warehouse completely full all the time? From what I can tell, even what’s in there now will last at least three months. If it starts running low after that, we could always...”

“What was that?”

A terrifying killing intent burst out from the old man’s deeply wrinkled face. His eyes flashed white.

Even Baek Sang, who’d once stood proudly before The Evil Tyrant Alliance’s blades, reflexively ducked his head like a startled turtle.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant—”

“Empty it? Empty it? What, the warehouse?”

“Elder, I didn’t mean empty it, I just—”

“The warehouse! EMPTY IT?!”

Baek Sang squeezed his eyes shut tight.

‘I messed up.’

Every person has an inverse scale, a deadly taboo you must never touch.

Some hide it deep inside, invisible to others.

But others wear it right on their forehead for all the world to see.

Hyun Yeong, the Head of the Finance Pavilion, was one of the latter.

So really, who could he blame? The fool who poked the obvious sore spot was himself.

Hyun Yeong swung his staff furiously.

“You think eating hot meals and good meat means living’s just a joke now? And you, of all people, a man of the Finance Pavilion!”

“...I—I was wrong!”

“Do you even know what this warehouse used to be? A place so cursed that even rats dragged in by rare tributes would spit and run! I’ve been filling this warehouse for years, and I still can’t believe it’s actually stocked! And you, what, you want to empty it because you’re lazy? You’ve grown fat and soft, haven’t you! Rotten to the core! Bah!”

“......”

“So what, now that Mount Hua’s making some money, grain doesn’t seem like a big deal anymore? You think just because you can fill your belly, you can mock the food that keeps you alive? Fine! I’ll teach you exactly how precious grain is today! Open your ears!”

Baek Sang realized that if this kept up, he was in for at least two hours of scolding—and for a brief moment, he sincerely considered throwing himself into the abyss.

From afar, light walked toward them.

“Th-there he is!”

“What are you staring at! Keep your ears open and listen—”

“Cheong Myeong-aaahh!”

“Eh?”

Hyun Yeong stopped mid-sentence and whipped his head around.

And Baek Sang saw it. The terrifying, demonic face that had even made Asuras shudder just moments ago now melted away like frost under spring sunlight.

“Oh my, you’re here?”

“Why are you yelling like that, Elder? Did Sasuk do something wrong again?”

Cheong Myeong yawned lazily like a cat basking in the sun, glancing toward the granary. Hyun Yeong waved his hand as if it was nothing.

“Never mind that, why do you look so weak?”

“Oh, it’s not that I’m weak. I just woke up.”

“What? The sun’s already high in the sky, and you just woke up?”

Hope flickered in Baek Sang’s eyes.

Just earlier, Hyun Yeong had been practically coughing up blood ranting about the weakness and laziness of the younger generation. Not even Cheong Myeong could escape a scolding today, or so Baek Sang thought.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Tsk, tsk! You can’t treat your body carelessly just because you’re young. Let’s see, we should still have some medicinal herbs left. Yes, I’ll prepare a tonic for you right away.”

“I don’t like medicine. It tastes bitter.”

“Then we’ll put plenty of licorice in it. And you can have some sweets afterward. Don’t refuse it, make sure you take it.”

“Ugh… fine, I got it.”

Baek Sang’s jaw slowly dropped in disbelief.

“And if you’re not feeling well, you should’ve stayed in bed longer. What’s so urgent that you had to come all the way out here? Go back to your quarters—go!”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Tsk, tsk. If your body breaks down, nothing else matters. Why do you keep pushing yourself like this?”

“I’m really fine. I’ll sleep plenty tonight.”

“You must. You must! Understood?”

“Yes, yes.”

Cheong Myeong nodded halfheartedly while yawning. Anyone else acting that way would’ve been called insolent, but Hyun Yeong didn’t seem to mind. No, he looked like if Cheong Myeong’s face turned a shade paler, he’d scoop him up and sprint straight down the mountain to a physician.

Baek Sang quietly turned his head. The disciples of Diancang, sitting on the ground and watching blankly, looked utterly defeated.

‘I’m sorry.’

Dragged out at dawn, forced to work like slaves while being showered with nagging, and now seeing this... Baek Sang wanted to bury his head in the dirt and apologize on Hyun Yeong’s behalf.

‘No, I can fix this.’

Determined, Baek Sang spoke up.

“Cheong Myeong-ah!”

“Hm?”

“Look at that warehouse. Do we really need to fill all of that?”

“Huh?”

Cheong Myeong blinked and stared at the granary.

“Hmm. Yeah, it’s pretty full.”

“Right?”

“Then that won’t do.”

“Huh?”

“Elder, since we’ll have more disciples joining later and more mouths to feed, why don’t we just build another granary while we’re at it?”

“Hmm, should we?”

“Yes. The bigger the storage, the better, right?”

“That’s true, that’s true! As expected of you, Cheong Myeong, you really get it! Why didn’t I think of that? We’ll build another granary right away and fill that one to the brim too!”

“Exactly, exactly. That’s the right call. It’ll help with the disciples’ training too.”

“Ha! What could be better than killing two birds with one stone! We’ll start immediately. Right now!”

“Yes, yes. Let’s do that.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!”

“Heh heh heh heh heh!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The disciples of Diancang turned dull, lifeless eyes toward Baek Sang.

‘...I’m sorry.’

Unable to meet their gazes, Baek Sang averted his eyes.

❀ ❀ ❀

Hyun Yeong’s obsession with grain was clearly not normal.

But anyone who watched Mount Hua’s dining hall for even a moment could see that there was some reason behind it.

“More rice!”

“Cook more, more!”

“You ravenous beasts...”

Baek Dan, who was temporarily overseeing the kitchen, groaned.

In the old days, the disciples took turns cooking. But ever since Mount Hua’s fortunes improved, they had hired cooks and kitchen maids from Huayin to prepare the meals.

However, since it had only been a few days since they’d returned to Mount Hua, the hired cooks and kitchen maids had not yet come up the mountain.

Which meant, of course, that they had to personally cook for all these bottomless-stomached gluttons.

“Stop stuffing your faces, you damned hungry ghosts! Even if I brought in beggars from the Beggars’ Union, they wouldn’t eat this much!”

“Less talking, more cooking!”

“Give us rice, Sasuk! Rice!”

“...Good grief, it tastes awful though.”

“When’s the head cook getting here? If we keep eating this, we’ll lose weight.”

“She’ll need time to prepare. Once she comes up, she usually doesn’t go back down for a month.”

“Ugh. And it’s not like we can go help.”

Baek Dan’s face twisted in anguish.

His wrists were throbbing from cooking all this food for the disciples, hands that had never hurt even during training. And now, to hear complaints about the taste on top of it... it felt like someone had shoved the stove itself into his mouth.

“Give that here! Don’t eat it! None of you eat another bite!”

“Oh no, Sasuk’s mad.”

“Now the food will have that smoky flavor, maybe it’ll finally taste decent.”

“But Sasuk, why is there only grass on the table? We’re Taoists, sure, but still...”

“What do you want me to do? The supplies from Huayin haven’t arrived yet. Just shut up and eat what’s served! Who taught you to complain about side dishes?”

“Ehh...”

Bang!

Just then, the door swung open and someone trudged in.

“Give me food!”

“...Someone feed him before he starves.”

“But, Sahyung, is that okay? Cheong Myeong’s the youngest, isn’t he?”

“He should be fed because he’s the youngest.”

“...That’s how it works?”

A few of the disciples, looking uncertain, got up and placed a bowl of rice before Cheong Myeong. But just as he calmly picked up his chopsticks, his face suddenly twisted into a deep frown.

“...Meat?”

“...Huh?”

Cheong Myeong’s eyes gleamed ominously.

“There’s no meat on the table—!”

“Here! Here it is! Oh heavens, right here!”

Baek Dan bolted over like a madman and slammed down a steaming dish of stir-fried meat in front of Cheong Myeong.

“Here! Eat up, quickly!”

“Hehe.”

As if his scowl had never existed, Cheong Myeong beamed and started eating the meat with delight.

One of the disciples, staring blankly between his own plate of greens and Cheong Myeong’s meat-filled dish, muttered,

“But why does that bastard get meat all to himself?”

“...Quiet.”

“But it’s unfair—”

“Fairness isn’t always a good thing. If that bastard gets cranky, we’re the ones who’ll suffer.”

“Ah...”

“Just feed him and keep him quiet. Please.”

“...Yes.”

The disciples silently picked up their chopsticks again.

“Is everyone eating well?”

“Greetings, Sect Leader!”

Un Am entered the dining hall with his usual gentle smile.

“It smells good in here. Don’t mind me, go on and eat.”

“Yes.”

As he sat and glanced over the disciples’ tables, Un Am’s eyes stopped at one in particular.

“Hmm. That stir-fried meat looks quite good. Perhaps I’ll have a taste myself?”

“Um... Sect Leader.”

“Hmm?”

“...I’m sorry. There’s no meat left.”

Un Am’s gaze shifted to Baek Dan. He was sweating buckets, bowing over and over as if begging for forgiveness.

“Then...”

Swish!

Cheong Myeong snatched his plate of meat toward himself like lightning and growled like an angry wildcat.

Un Am, who had been quietly watching the scene, soon gave a smile that seemed to have lost its light.

“Vegetables are good for our health anyway.”

“.....”

“Let’s eat.”

And thus, the disciples of Mount Hua once again realized, though in a very different way, that life, after all, was equal for everyone.

Next Chapter

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