Woong!

A sword cut through the air.

Woong!

Again and once again.

Even after this action was repeated several times, there wasn’t a single altered inch or misstepped move.

Perfect movement.

Perfect synchronization.

Tuk.

However, even if the sword didn’t falter, the human body was undergoing an inevitable change.

The sword wielder’s clothes were soaked in sweat. Every time they swung their sword, sweat beads began to form all over their body.

‘Six thousand seven hundred forty-nine!’

Woong!

The sword was swung again.

‘Six thousand seven hundred and fifty!’

Tuk.

Their toes were sinking so deep into the ground it was like they would pierce through their shoe. They were repeating the same movement perfectly without making a single mistake.

However, this young man was looking to perfect his training even further.

‘Six thousand seven hundred and fifty-one!’

“Sahyung!”

But then a voice came to shake the tip of this perfect sword.

Flinch.

Lee Song-Baek kept his mouth shut and looked at the tip of his sword.

‘Failure.’

The goal was to deliver 10,000 perfect strikes. But didn’t the tip of his sword just shake?

Seeing him like that, the owner of the voice began to apologize,

“Ah, I am sorry, Sahyung.”

Lee Song-Baek wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“It isn’t your fault.”

“But…”

“If this is a sword which can be shaken by the smallest thing, it is useless outside of practice. No, this is because of my lack of training. Rather, I am grateful that you showed me my shortcomings.”

At the calm swords, the guy was in shock.

‘This person is really different.’

Of course, the Lee Song-Baek of the past wasn’t a person anyone was ashamed to be associated with. But after the conference with Mount Hua, he turned into someone that his past self couldn’t be compared with. This change was so rapid that he was initially rejected by everyone, but now many of the disciples here were trying to be like him.

Change.

A small-looking big change had already begun to take shape.

“But what is it?”

“Ah…!”

The disciple nodded his head as if he remembered what he wanted to say,

“Sahyung, there are rumors that Mount Hua is opening a clan in Xi’an.”

“Um? Mount Hua?”

“Yes! I heard they are already building a pavilion.”

Lee Song-Baek frowned,

“What kind of news is this?”

“No, Sahyung! Because of this, the Righteous Sword of Mount Hua and Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon are staying in Xi’an!”

“You mean disciple Chung Myung?”

Lee Song-Baek’s expression changed.

“Is that true?”

“… ah, yes! It is!”

The disciple who delivered the news was also shocked. He had never seen Lee Song-Baek, who had been silent since their return, be this unsettled.

“Disciple Chung Myung…”

Lee Song-Baek mumbled as he looked at the bottom of the mountain.

He was in thought for a moment, and a smile appeared on his lips as he regained his composure.

“Really, he is a person who never rests.”

How long has it been since the competition ended?

‘Do not go too far away¹.’

A person without compassion.

Shouldn’t you consider the circumstances of those trying to catch up to you?

“Do the elders know about this?”

“Yes. They know, but they aren’t sure how to react to it.”

“Right.”

Lee Song-Baek nodded his head.

Now was not the time for the Southern Edge Sect to pay attention to such news. At the competition, they realized what mistake they had made.

‘If things go on like this, Southern Edge will lose its soul.’

The sect leader, too, seemed to realize this fact. Without this understanding, such a drastic decision wouldn’t have been made.

It wasn’t an easy decision to ban all external activities for at least a year.

Some might say it would be just one year. But…

‘It isn’t that.’

As a sect grows, of course, interests are bound to follow. Even with just one year of rest, the Southern Edge was bound to suffer huge financial losses, maybe even lose its’ external influence.

But didn’t Mount Hua show that all of that was futile without the root of martial arts?

Southern Edge must regain its roots. No matter how long it took.

“Do not worry about that.”

“But Sahyung…”

“Whether Xi’an falls into the hands of Mount Hua or Mount Hua shakes the world, that has nothing to do with us today. We must learn what we have done, not what they have created.”

The disciple nodded his head.

“Yes, Sahyung. I will keep that in mind.”

Lee Song-Baek nodded and took up his sword again.

“But Sahyung…”

“Uh?”

After a bit of hesitation, he asked,

“If you have finished your personal training, can you guide the sajaes? There are many people who want to learn from Sahyung.”

Lee Song-Baek smiled,

“From now on, don’t worry about my personal training, and if they have questions, tell them they can come to me at any time.”

“Is that fine?”

Lee Song-Baek smiled brightly and nodded his head at the question from the guy.

‘If it were Disciple Chung Myung, he would have said the same thing.’

For him, personal strength didn’t matter much.

The important thing to him wasn’t his own growth but Mount Hua’s.

Even though it seemed like a waste of time now, he learned from Chung Myung that, in the end, this was the fastest way.

“Let’s do that. Let’s make a separate time for training together. If anyone wants to, tell them to come to my training place starting tomorrow morning.”

“I will tell them, Sahyung! I will make sure they know!”

“Right.”

Lee Song-Baek, who watched this young disciple excitedly run out, suddenly came up with something and called him back,

“Wait.”

“Uh?”

“… did Great Sahyung get to know this news?”

The disciple tilted his head,

“I don’t know. He is in the underground training hall.”

“Um… I see.”

“Yes. Then.”

As he disappeared, Lee Song-Baek let out a sigh he had held back.

Jin Geum-Ryong, who returned to the Southern Edge Sect after the competition, barely showed up, only going back and forth between dorms and the underground training hall.

‘It is almost like closed-door practice.’

Although voices of concern and doubt were high, Lee Song-Baek didn’t worry about Jin Geum-Ryong like the others.

‘Sahyung is a strong man.’

He knew the man.

The wall which could never be crossed.

Then, two things could be done. Either give up trying to see what was beyond or try to do something different from what you have been doing.

Maybe Jin Geum-Ryong was testing it again. In order to overcome Chung Myung.

‘Man… he is truly someone who bullies so many.’

His gaze moved far from the bottom of the mountain.

At the bottom was Xi’an. And there would be Chung Myung in the west.

“Next time we meet, things will be different, Disciple Chung Myung.”

For me…

And Southern Edge too.

It was a long road ahead, but the important task was to take one step at a time.

And Lee Song-Baek was confident that in terms of taking one step at a time, he wouldn’t be inferior to anyone else in the world.

He looked down the mountain with still eyes and smiled, gripping his sword.

‘Right now, Disciple Chung Myung must be training to the fullest.’

I have no room to stand still.

If one had a passionate heart and mind like Chung Myung, then anyone could reach that position.

“Uh? Lying down?”

“…”

Wei Soheng was already drooling.

‘Something… something feels wrong.’

It was stupid.

It was only when he reached this point that he realized the huge gap in training that existed between him and the Mount Hua disciples.

This was the training of the main sect?

Wasn’t it best to cultivate those who might lead, and those who were meant to follow could be trained a little less?

But what was this…

‘Hell?’

His eyes hurt. A sweet smell was coming out of his mouth and his entire body was drenched in a cold sweat.

‘Is training always this hard?’

Of course, training was hard. Wasn’t that obvious?

However, the intensity of the training he was experiencing now differed from what he had thought.

‘I-I will die like this.’

Wei Soheng turned his head and looked at the other disciples of Huayoung Gate, who were in rags.

“Ugh…”

“I-I am dead…”

Fortunately, those who were struggling seemed to be in better shape. Those who passed out looked so miserable that they didn’t even open their eyes…

‘Father?’

No, wait.

I think I just saw Father passed out?

Was I imagining?

“Tch. Tch.”

At that moment, he heard a clicking sound from Chung Myung.

“This is why we need to open the doors to the Clan.”

Chung Myung sat cross-legged and spoke.

Even in the eyes of Chung Myung, who looked down at him, Wei Soheng couldn’t refute.

‘They must have thought it was easy.’

They must have liked watching Mount Hua in action.

Anyway, Mount Hua was growing. How could it not be pleasant to see the main sect increase its fame and overwhelm the other sects?

However, even though Wei Soheng watched Chung Myung and his friends with his own eyes, he never paid too much attention to their training.

‘Right. Nothing can be obtained without a price.’

On the other side of the fallen disciples were the disciples of Mount Hua, who were still training.

“You are out of shape, you people!”

“Ackkkk!”

Baek Cheon moved between them with a scary face.

‘Insane.’

The disciples from his gate were biting back groans as they couldn’t handle training barefoot. On the other hand, the disciples from Mount Hua could handle the training with more reps and even heavier weights on them.

And they are still alive.

“Ahh! I will kill you someday!”

“Count me in! I don’t care if he is Sahyung!”

“Chung Myung! That bastard has to die too! Chung Myung, you bastard!”

Ah, of course…

They might be a little out of their mind.

But in any case, being able to continue practicing regardless of being conscious or not was amazing.

Wei Soheng thought that the strength of Mount Hua came from their bodies and not their sword techniques.

“Well, anyway.”

Chung Myung glanced at the disciples of Huayoung and nodded.

“They will be able to breathe in a while.”

“… but teaching the disciples with…”

Wei Soheng sighed as he leaned down.

‘Did we think of this too easily?’

Huayoung was a sub-sect of Moun Hua.

But now that he thought about it, they were just a sub-sect with no regular contact and they weren’t good enough to even be called a sub-sect of Mount Hua, which had already begun to make a name for themselves.

Think about it.

Huayoung Gate’s leader was a representative. But even he couldn’t handle a single elder of Wudang or any other sect, and didn’t he have to ask for help from Mount Hua?

‘Can we do this?’

Anxiety began to appear on the face of Wei Soheng, so Chung Myung smiled.

“Why? Are you afraid of it?”

“I-It isn’t that…”

Wei Soheng forced himself to stand up.

He barely managed to sit down and raised his trembling face to look at Chung Myung.

“Rather than being scared… I just realized how much we are lacking. If this is how the sect works…”

“What about it?”

“… uh?”

Chung Myung looked at Wei Soheng and clenched his hand.

“You are cockier than I thought? Did you plan on making a perfect clan right from the start?”

“It isn’t like that.”

“Look.”

Chung Myung pointed to the disciples of Mount Hua.

“They weren’t humans like that a few years back.”

“What do you mean!”

“No, I didn’t mean that the wrong way.”

They were disciples from Mount Hua who didn’t stop their training despite screaming.

“It isn’t all about taking in new disciples. It isn’t about just increasing their numbers, either. The key to this clan being opened is to strengthen all.”

“…”

“Can that be done?”

Wei Soheng bit his lip.

“I do not know for sure…”

And soon, his eyes lit up, and he saw Chung Myung.

“If I endure this training, will the Huayoung Gate make me as strong as Mount Hua?”

“Of course it will.”

“Then!”

Wei Soheng’s heart widened with confidence.

“I will not give up!”

Chung Myung smiled and nodded his head.

“You should.”

He looked at the disciples, each one of them. Everyone looked dead in the eyes.

‘This might be better than I thought.’

Not only Mount Hua but even their clans!

Sahyung!

Sect leader Sahyung!

At this point, shouldn’t you also acknowledge me?

-You are a long hundred years off, you bastard. Which is…

Ahh. Enough. Forget it!

You old-fashioned old man!

Ugh!

Thus, the day came when a new clan of Mount Hua was opened in Xi’an.