Episode 103

“Kuak… Kuak…”

“Sect leader! Sect Leader, get yourself together! Where are the doctors!? Are they still away?”

“Doctor? Get out of the way!”

Hyun Sang pushed Hyun Young aside, put his hand on Hyun Jong’s back, and quickly began to channel his qi into the man.

‘No, his dantian is shaking in happiness?’

Hyun Sang was surprised; he had never heard of such an absurd thing. However, this bizarre event was happening right in front of him.

Hyun Jong took deep breaths as he received the elder’s qi infusion.

“I-I’ve calmed down.”

“Are you alright? Sect leader?”

“Am I fine?”

Hyun Jong stared absentmindedly at Hyun Sang; the elder couldn’t think of a time when he’d seen the sect leader look so dumbfounded before.

“You’re asking if I’m alright now?”

“… I made a mistake, Sahyung.”

“W-what are… uh, oh my….”

Hyun Jong took one deep breath after another. He wasn’t able to calm down.

Why?

Hyun Sang could understand. Even his hands were still trembling. How could the Sect Leader remain calm and not be thrilled right now?

“Un Geom!”

“Yes, sect leader.”

“D-did you teach the children that?”

Un Geom smiled slightly.

“I wish I could answer yes, I would be able to stand tall with my shoulders straight, but unfortunately, I did not. The third-class disciples conducted this training by themselves.”

“By themselves?”

Hyun Jong looked back at Un Geom incredulously, unable to understand.

“Sajae, explain it to me.”

Un Am urged Un Geom to be more detailed. Despite his usual calmness, he couldn’t stifle his excitement at this moment.

“Maybe Chung Myung…”

“Chung Myung?”

Now it wasn’t so shocking.

Whenever something happened, his name would come up. Even now, his heart somehow predicted this name would pop up.

“That child, what the hell has that child been doing?”

“Wasn’t the Sect Leader the one who gave him permission to enter the sect? You don’t know anything about him?”

“How could I know? He just showed up one day. I felt that it was meant to be, so I accepted him.”

That simple connection was creating unbelievable results.

Ever since Mount Hua was destroyed by the Demonic Sect and the ancestors were annihilated, Mount Hua was unable to defeat the Southern Edge Sect.

Actually, it wasn’t correct to say that they had won. Objectively speaking, Mount Hua no longer had the strength to even compete with the Southern Edge Sect. That’s why despite all of their previous provocations, Mount Hua was forced to remain silent and endure their lashings.

However, the third-class disciples overcame this disparity in strength, and it wasn’t just a victory but a clean sweep.

‘Oh, my ancestors.’

Hyun Jong’s eyes turned red.

The day had finally arrived.

Hyun Jong firmly believed that this day would come, but he thought that it would be impossible to see in his lifetime. He truly felt satisfied after witnessing this scene that he’d always dreamt of; he couldn’t bring himself to wish for anything more.

“Sect leader! We did it! The children did it!”

“Yes, I know. Right. Quite terrific.”

Hyun Jong wasn’t even able to speak coherently; he just continued to agree over and over.

‘Now that I’ve lived to see this, I can greet the ancestors with pride….’

‘What?’

‘Why is that child coming out again?’

Hyun Jong blinked several times to double-check. However, the scene in front of him didn’t change. With a wooden sword at his waist, Chung Myung walked toward the central arena once more.

He looked at Hyun Jong.

“I think he’s looking this way?”

“W-what is he going to do now?”

Now the expectations were greater than the concerns. Hyun Jong clenched his fist and continued to observe.

At that moment, Chung Myung smiled wickedly.

“…”

Could a Taoist make such an expression?

What the hell was he trying to do?

At that moment, Hyun Jong doubted whether this child had fallen from his path as a Taoist.

“You…. You! You pathetic bastards!”

Sama Seung was beside himself with anger. He bit his lip so severely that it tore, and blood flowed to the side.

Ten consecutive losses.

There was no defeat more disastrous. At first, they had secured ten straight wins, but no one would remember that. Losing to Mount Hua, and in such an overwhelming fashion, had paralyzed the elder’s mind.

Even if Mount Hua was unable to stand against their sect, nobody could laugh off such a disgraceful event as losing ten matches after dominating the previous ten. It wasn’t technically a loss, but it almost felt worse.

“Didn’t you all say that you were going to victoriously return as proud disciples of the Southern Edge Sect!? What the hell is this loss to Mount Hua!? You pathetic bastards!”

As if spewing fire, he kept coughing out his anger.

“You idiots are destroying the honor of the sect! You lost to Mount Hua in front of so many people!? To Mount Hua!? Ackk! You assholes!”

The third-class disciples couldn’t even look at Sama Seung or the second-class disciples who were glaring at them.

While Sama Seung was overwrought with anger, Jin Geum-Ryong glared at the young disciples as if he wanted to kill them.

It was done.

His hope for a clean victory had collapsed horribly.

A draw.

A draw with Mount Hua. Something they never dreamed of. But wasn’t that what happened?

“Damn it…”

Jin Geum-Ryong couldn’t hold back from cursing despite his elder being there. As he turned his bloodshot gaze filled with rage toward Mount Hua’s disciples, he was shocked at what he saw.

“That brat!”

Hearing his words, Sama Seung turned and watched as Chung Myung walked out.

‘That bastard!’

‘Even if I tore him apart, it wouldn’t be enough to calm down.’

As Sama Seung thought about it more deeply, wasn’t that child the one who started everything?

“Why is he coming out again?”

Everyone present shifted their focus to Chung Myung.

“Oh, my God. For such results….”

“It seems like Mount Hua has sharpened their swords. Unimaginable.”

“Ten wins, the third-class disciples from the Southern Edge Sect couldn’t defeat even one of Mount Hua’s disciples?”

And there was another thing no one spoke about.

The third-class disciples from Mount Hua defeated their opponents even more overwhelmingly than how Southern Edge’s second-class disciples secured their victories.

What’s more, it was pitiful to reflect on how the Southern Edge Sect’s disciples behaved while winning. At the time, it seemed natural for the strong to stand above their opponents. However, seeing Mount Hua’s third-class disciples handle their victories with grace made the Southern Edge’s previous ridicule and provocation seem ugly and resentful.

“Aren’t they superior in manners as well as their skill?”

“Truly, Mount Hua is a sect that deserves to be called prestigious. I am shocked by their composure.”

It’s going up.

Rising up and up.

Mount Hua’s name was rising up. At this moment, it had reached the sky.

Meanwhile, Elder Hwang struggled to suppress a joyous scream from his heart.

After this event, the audience would re-assess their initial thoughts about Mount Hua. It was apparent that some were already calculating how much to invest.

But the value will be difficult to determine. For them, these results were completely unexpected.

The more Hwang Mun-Yak thought about it, the more he realized just how wonderful it was for him to meet Chung Myung and invest in Mount Hua.

“Now then…”

It was then.

“Wait.”

Someone shouted when Elder Hwang was about to end the proceedings.

“Huh?”

Turning his head, he looked at the center and saw Chung Myung smiling.

“Isn’t he that boy from earlier?”

“He called himself Chung Myung. He spearheaded this victory.”

Hwang Mun-Yak met Chung Myung’s eyes while listening to the crowd gossip around him.

“What is it, young disciple?”

Chung Myung smiled and continued.

“I have a question I would like to ask. Since all of you saw everything that happened here, I think you can make an appropriate judgment.”

“What is it?”

“Who won?”

“Huh?”

Who won?

Well…

Hwang Mun-Yak’s expression hardened.

‘Young disciple doesn’t want to end this with a draw.’

He didn’t know what he planned, but he had to respond to it. Hwang Mun-Yak slowly turned his head and looked at everyone as he asked.

“What do you think? Come to think of it, we have yet to decide the winner or loser.”

The people of Shaanxi, who gathered there, fell into thought and began to speak one after another.

“A draw seems appropriate, but if we had to determine a winner, wouldn’t it be the Southern Edge Sect that won thanks to the older students?”

“What nonsense. What’s the purpose of this conference? Isn’t it for the future of the sects? Then shouldn’t we prioritize the third-class disciples? It’s a victory for Mount Hua, where the younger generation prevailed.”

“Huh, what are you saying? Potential is just potential. It’s always possible that the third-class disciples will fail to surpass Southern Edge’s second-class disciples.

“Then, you have to look at the situation of the Southern Edge Sect’s third-class disciples. They are all younger than the third-class disciples from Mount Hua! There’s a big difference in their ages!”

“The oldest of Mount Hua’s second-class disciples are even younger than the youngest of the Southern Edge Sect’s disciples!”

“No—this man!”

There was no conclusion.

Everyone had their own reasons, and they had their own preference for who won.

Hwang Mun-Yak, who listened from the side, then spoke.

“Young disciple. It is difficult to draw a conclusion.”

“Right?”

Chung Myung snapped.

“But if this ends, it would be uncomfortable for the audience here. Besides that, I’m sure the Southern Edge Sect would feel gloomy if we didn’t settle this with certainty.

“… what do you mean?”

“Simple.”

Chung Myung pointed to the Southern Edge sect.

“The ten people that won over there.”

“…”

The Southern Edge Sect listened to Chung Myung.

“Against the only ten that won from Mount Hua.”

“W-why us?”

Yoon Jong stuttered.

Chung Myung looked at both sides and spoke.

“The only solution is to remove the losers and put the winners back into the match. Would that give a clear answer?”

‘Is he crazy?’

‘What’s he planning? They are second-class disciples, and we are just third-class disciples!’

‘No. There’s no way he would jump into a losing fight. He must be up to something!’

Without disappointing the expectations of his sahyungs, Chung Myung put in a condition.

“Instead!”

‘Yes!’

Just as the third-class disciples felt relieved, a sound like thunder fell.

“Let’s set aside the boring one-on-one matches! One fighter will remain until the end. A fight where whoever wins continues battling until he loses. The winner will fight the next person in line. The last one standing wins. What do you think?

Chung Myung looked at the Southern Edge Sect with a unique smile.

“Of course, it’s understandable if they’re scared.”

It was an unavoidable attack.