The woman stared at Chung Myung with cold eyes.

In the meantime, Chung Myung managed to understand a couple things about the person before him.

First, this woman belonged to Mount Hua.

She had Mount Hua’s pattern engraved on the chest of her uniform to prove it. Only the disciples of Mount Hua could wear this.

Second.

‘Tch. Any man would be mesmerized by her.’

She is pretty.

In his previous life, Chung Myung had been all around the world. To remain un-swayed by mortal pleasures and always maintain a stable mind was what the Dao was all about. However, it was impossible for Chung Myung, who was famous for being a delinquent master of Mount Hua, to remain stuck in one city for very long.

It had been the same before he rose to fame. He was someone who would hit the people from the other sects constantly.

After that, he struggled very hard to raise the reputation of Mount Hua through a cooperative effort and beat up everyone who tried to cheat him or Mount Hua.

Right. Even in the old days, he proved that Mount Hua’s sword was the best in the world by defeating the masters from all the famous sects.

Of course, it wasn’t intentional.

‘They always started it.’

It wasn’t Chung Myung’s duty to develop Mount Hua’s reputation. That was the role left to the elders of the sect. However, the role somehow became linked to Chung Myung and his Sahyung. Thanks to that, Chung Myung was dragged around all over the place.

Even then, he had rarely witnessed a woman as beautiful as this mysterious disciple in front of him. Although, there was a feeling like a flower that hadn’t yet fully bloomed, making him wonder how it would look when it finally blooms someday.

Ebony hair, eyebrows, pure white skin, and perfectly clear, large eyes were impressive.

If Chung Myung had been a child with no experience, he might have been overwhelmed by this beauty by now.

The problem was that Chung Myung was an old man who suffered and saw too much of this world to be swayed by mere beauty.

“Who are you?”

“A human.”

“..”

The sword moved closer to his throat.

Ah! Shit! She doesn’t know how to joke!

“Mount Hua’s uniform.”

Her gaze fell on the chest of Chung Myung as he spoke.

“I don’t remember seeing your face. Who are you?”

“It’s my first time seeing you here too.”

The woman narrowed her eyes.

“A third-class disciple?”

“Yes.”

“Third-class disciples aren’t allowed to go outside the sect gate after sunset.”

“I’m exempt from that rule.”

“.. What?”

“The sect leader gave me permission.”

Chung Myung’s brazen retort added a chill to the woman’s face.

“The sect leader?”

“Yes.”

“To a third-class disciple?”

“Yes.”

“A lie.”

Chung Myung shrugged his shoulders without answering.

“Go and confirm it yourself. Do you think that a disciple of Mount Hua would lie using the sect leader’s name?”

The woman’s eyes slightly shook. She seemed to believe there was some truth in those words.

“So put this sword away first. It might hurt someone.”

“..”

The woman lowered her sword. She couldn’t confirm if Chung Myung’s words were genuine or not, but she couldn’t continue to threaten him after he used the sect leader’s name.

But

“It’s wrong to watch other people’s training.”

“This is where I regularly trained until yesterday, but then someone I don’t know suddenly appeared. If I can’t investigate and determine who they are, then what do you think I should do?”

“You should have come out the moment you noticed someone.”

“A stranger I’ve never seen before suddenly appears near Mount Hua, and you want me to reveal myself without determining their intentions?”

The woman gently bit her lip. Her white face turned a slight shade of red; it seemed like she couldn’t argue back.

‘She isn’t very good with words.’

Her sword was sharp, but not her tongue, apparently. With a face like that, she likely didn’t get dragged into many fights.

‘Such a disgusting world.’

Good-looking people live such comfortable lives.

“What is your name?”

“Chung Myung.”

“You received a name from the sect?”

“No. My name is Chung Myung.”

“.. a third-class disciple needs to have Chung attached. But it isn’t a sect name; it’s your own name?”

“Yes. Even if the sect gives me a name, I will keep it as Chung Myung.”

“Ah..”

Shit. This woman was dumb.

“I am Yu Yiseol.”

“Okay.”

Yu Yiseol stared at Chung Myung without saying a word.

“What is it?”

“I’m a second-class disciple, I am Baek, and I am your senior.”

Huh?

Chung Myung titled his head.

‘There were people of Baek?’

No, of course there were. Mount Hua names each generation of disciples as such: Chung, Myung, Hyung, Un, Baek.

It was natural for someone to have the title of Baek. Then, the next title after Baek would return to Chung, like a circle.

In other words, it was normal for there to be disciples who were named Baek after the seniors named Un.

‘I just didn’t see any of them, so I forgot about it.’

The naming is done right away based on their age since problems can arise if there are age differences among the disciples. Therefore, depending on circumstances, sometimes a name gets skipped too.

Since Mount Hua’s situation was so complex, he thought that a couple names were skipped, but there was someone with Baek?

“It is the first time I’m hearing about this.”

“You are the youngest of Mount Hua, right?”

“Yes, right.”

“Didn’t your sahyungs tell you?”

“Uh.. well..”

There was no way that his sahyungs, whom he constantly bossed around, would ever volunteer such information to him.

‘It’s my fault.’

Chung Myung, who was easily convinced, nodded his head.

“There must have been some misunderstanding. What could be done?”

Someone with the Baek name appeared. From Chung Myung’s point of view, a few more pieces were added to Mount Hua’s board.

“Is that the end?”

“What?”

“What about your greeting?”

Chung Myung’s face contorted.

‘I don’t get it. What is this brat saying in front of this old man!?’

Being young is a sin! It really is a horrible sin!

“Yes. Nice to meet you.”

Chung Myung roughly greeted her with a voice holding no emotion.

‘Go away now.’

He had to train, too. He didn’t want to waste the day just because someone else occupied his training place! The sun was about to rise too!

“.. what a weird kid.”

Who?

‘Me?’

Yu Yiseol started at Chung Myung and spoke with a chilly voice.

“I am going to check with the sect leader to see if what you are saying is the truth. If you lied, you had better be prepared for the consequences.”

Chung Myung replied.

“By all means, go.”

“..”

Yu Yiseol started at Chung Myung without a word for a long time and slightly shook her head.

“Really weird.”

“..”

Chung Myung wanted to spit those words back at her.

With her sword sheathed, the girl glanced once more at Chung Myung and began to descend. As her figure disappeared in the distance, Chung Myung sighed as he gazed at the rising sun.

“Ah, my fate.”

Being treated like a child was horrible.

“And my training time is also over!”

He could still train if he wanted to, but his mind was going through so many questions he was certain that it would only be a waste of time.

‘Whenever I train, it ends up like this. So much time is wasted just going up and down the mountain.’

Chung Myung bit his lip.

Maybe it was time to find another training ground?

“What’s with this atmosphere?”

Chung Myung tilted his head as he looked at the disciples having their meal.

It was the first time after Chung Myung thoroughly beat everyone that such a dark and gloomy air lingered about. He never thought he would have to see this, which was why he was confused.

“You’re here?”

Yoon Jong waved to him and called him over.

Chung Myung took his meal and went to the table where Yoon Jong and Jo Gul were seated and asked as soon as he sat down.

“What’s with this mood?”

“.. our seniors are back.”

“The Baek bastards?”

“Oh? You know them?”

“..”

Chung Myung had lived his whole life in Mount Hua, you idiot!

“Anyway, so what? What’s wrong with them coming back?”historical

“First of all, don’t call the Baek disciples’ Baek.’ It’ll get complicated if they hear you say that. we might be scolded too.”

“Me? Or you?”

“.. Ah, I need to think about that.”

Yoon Jong had a wry smile.

“The seniors have been in closed-door training away from Mount Hua. In the past, their training centers weren’t well maintained, so they couldn’t do any large-scale closed-door training here.”

“So, they went to another sect to train?’

“.. not exactly. I don’t think they went just anywhere.”

“Anyway, so what? What about them is making these kids so gloomy? Do they have bad personalities? Do they bully and beat the other disciples?”

“Unlike someone else, the seniors don’t beat us.”

“I wonder who that ‘someone else’ you’re referring to is.”

“.. Let’s move on.”

Yoon Jong was flustered when Chung Myung called him out, but Jo Gul quickly took the lead to change the subject.

“It’s because of the conference.”

“What? Isn’t a conference just for meetings?”

“No, this is the Mount Hua and the Southern Edge Sect’s conference.”

“What’s that?”

Jo Gul sighed.

“Once in a while, both the sects come together. Now, we have a competition every two years to compare each sect’s achievements against one another.”

“Ah, I feel like I heard about this somewhere... When did this start?”

“Don’t know. I know that it’s been happening for a long time.”

Yoon Jong said,

“I heard that the first conference was organized to occur once every five years. Back then, the goal was to foster friendship between both sects. That changed little by little over time, and it’s now become an event where the second and third-class disciples get together and compete in the name of their sects.”

“Compete?”

“Don’t say it’s to compete...”

The answer came from elsewhere.

“It’s called being beaten one-sidedly.”

“Even now, where I got hit still hurts.”

“How can we survive again this time? After seeing what happened, even the seniors went to train for our sake. This is so crazy.”

Looking around, Chung Myung sighed.

“Ah. Since the elders fighting would cause trouble, they push the fighting onto the second and third-class disciples? And we have been beaten all this time?”

“Right. To avoid repeat suffering of our past humiliation, the seniors went into closed room training and only just got back. In other words, the time of the conference is drawing near.”

“Is that so?’

Chung Myung’s lips curled into a smile.

“Well, we’re going to compete with the Southern Edge sect, huh?”

The Southern Edge sect?

That one?

Whether he wanted to or not, each situation lately only made Chung Myung hate the Southern Edge Sect more.

In the past, there was a bit of pity, but after knowing that they copied Mount Hua’s sword technique, Chung Myung couldn’t even sleep in peace!

“Competition..”

In the past, such things never happened.

At that time, Mount Hua was the best, and the Southern Edge Sect wasn’t great, so such things didn’t happen.

But now that Mount Hua was weak, were those bastards trying to use these claims of friendship to promote their strength?

It wasn’t even funny to hear.

‘A friendly meeting with Mount Hua?’

Chung Myung’s eyes shone.

No matter how lame Mount Hua is now, it was Chung Myung’s child. Only he had the right to destroy it, not some other sect.

“And those second-class bastards!”

“Chung Myung, please. They are seniors; just call them seniors. Please.”

“Fine. Then those senior bastards!”

“..”

“Are they sure they can win?”

“.. that’s a bit...”

Yoon Jong couldn’t readily answer. Closed-room training was meant to focus on the parts that a disciple lacked, but it was difficult to guarantee how strong they had gotten. Also, despite their achievements, winning still seemed like a distant dream.

“Then.”

Chung Myung gritted his teeth.

“Then we need to win!”

“What?”

“Sahyungs! Are you ready to do anything to win? Even take poison!? Or break your limbs and bodies!? If you can do something to beat those bastards and make a name for Mount Hua, you are all prepared to die, right!”

No, that doesn’t sound right..

Wasn’t Chung Myung pushing it too far?

“Don’t worry! I’ll make you win! I’ll turn you all into the best!”

Well, this man never really followed the path of Dao.

‘Just go to the Green Forest Mountain and turn into one of their bandits already. Why is he even here?’

Well, this is a mountain too.

Haha.

Hahahah!