Chapter 237: Chapter 237
As soon as Cheon-hwi’s group arrived at Mount Hua, they stopped by the Plum Blossom Guest House instead of the Mount Hua Sect.
“It, it’s the Mount Hua Sect!”
“Waaah!”
The people resting in the Plum Blossom Guest House were about to cheer and rush over upon seeing the Splendid Spirit Squad wearing the Mount Hua Sect’s Taoist robes, but then they flinched.
Because as they got closer, their appearance looked strange up close.
Torn Taoist robes here and there, and vivid bruise marks left on their faces and bodies.
When the people were flustered by their appearance that looked as if they had been beaten up somewhere.
Neigh…
The carriage rattled greatly and stopped.
At that moment.
“F-Finally we rest!”
“The martial arts training is finally over too!”
The Splendid Spirit Squad members stretched their two hands toward the sky, about to collapse just like that. And at that moment.
“We haven’t even arrived at the Mount Hua Sect yet, but you’re already going to rest?”
Cheon-hwi, who had gotten off the carriage at some point, turned his head toward them.
“Stand up straight.”
Right away, the Splendid Spirit Squad members stopped themselves from collapsing backward and stood stiffly.
“Yes!”
“Understood! Martial Uncle!”
Their expressions stiffened like stone statues.
‘We must not offend him!’
‘We must obey his words unconditionally!’
A drop of sweat trickled down the foreheads of those who had gone through an intense martial arts training that couldn’t even be compared to when they left for Daedong.
Meanwhile, the crowd watching that sight looked at Cheon-hwi with surprised eyes.
“W-Who is that person…”
“Who else! You still don’t know? That beautiful appearance and two swords! Isn’t he the Plum Blossom Divine Hero, young Taoist Cheon-hwi!”
At someone’s words, the crowd all looked at Cheon-hwi with sparkling eyes.
“That person is the Plum Blossom Divine Hero, Great Hero…?”
“Hoho, to have done such chivalrous deeds at such a young age, amazing!”
Words of admiration poured out from here and there.
However, Cheon-hwi didn’t even pay attention to such gazes from the surroundings, and asked while looking at Chief Steward Oh, who got off the carriage belatedly.
“You said the items requested from the Iron Foundation Workshop have arrived?”
Chief Steward Oh nodded his head.
“I left them in the backyard.”
“Hmm, the backyard…”
Cheon-hwi, who was repeating Chief Steward Oh’s answer, smirked.
By the time the watching Splendid Spirit Squad members felt a chill at the smile formed for a moment.
“Follow me.”
Cheon-hwi spoke shortly and gestured to them.
The Splendid Spirit Squad couldn’t understand why he was telling them to follow, but seeing Cheon-hwi’s back as he walked ahead, they hurriedly chased after him.
And a short while later, upon arriving at the backyard of the Plum Blossom Guest House, they tilted their heads.
Because a strange sight was seen.
“Rings…?”
“Huh? Are those swords?”
Countless iron rings and a total of fifty swords were laid neatly on the ground.
Cheon-hwi approached the closest iron ring among them.
“Oho, they’re well made.”
Cheon-hwi, who was looking at the iron ring, bent his waist and then lifted it up with one hand.
Cheon-hwi, who examined the darkish-colored iron ring with a lock attached to it from here and there in front of his eyes, put a little strength into his fingers.
“It’s solid as expected.”
Cheon-hwi smiled with satisfaction.
“The weight is also appropriate. Since I spent a lot of money, it’s worth the price as expected.”
Cheon-hwi, who repeatedly tossed and caught the ring lightly, soon threw it swiftly toward Cheon Hyang.
“Here, catch it.”
“Huh?”
The moment Cheon Hyang caught the flying iron ring.
“……!”
The arm that caught it dropped heavily.
“Uh?!”
Cheon Hyang, surprised by the unexpectedly heavy iron ring, hastily applied strength and lifted her arm.
Cheon-hwi looked at her like that and asked.
“How is it? The weight is appropriate, right?”
Cheon Hyang narrowed her brow.
It wasn’t that heavy, but it was absolutely not a weight that could be called light.
So saying ‘appropriate weight’ wasn’t wrong, but rather than answering that it was, Cheon Hyang asked the question that she had right now.
“So, why did you give this to me?”
“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
“…….”
Cheon Hyang shut her mouth.
In fact, she had some expectations.
After all, just by looking at it, wasn’t it a ring with an appropriate shape to wear on the wrists or ankles?
It wasn’t just her.
The complexions of Danmok Rin and the Splendid Spirit Squad members, who realized what intention it was made with just by looking roughly, turned pale white.
At that time, Cheon-hwi looked around and said.
“Then shall you all wear these iron rings on your wrists and ankles now?”
Cheon-hwi said with a beaming smile.
“…….”
Danmok Rin and the Splendid Spirit Squad, who knew it was useless to refuse, trudged toward the iron rings and picked up one each.
And at that moment.
“Heup! The weight is…”
“Ugh… It’s heavy.”
Their faces were dyed with bewilderment.
At the heavier weight than they had thought, they glanced at Cheon-hwi, but.
“What are you doing? We don’t have time.”
Only words urging them returned.
Eventually, everyone tightly closed their eyes and weakly wore the iron rings on their wrists and ankles.
“W-Why is this so heavy?”
“Gasp! M-My bones are going to fall out.”
Groaning sounds were heard from here and there.
A moment later.
“It’s too big…”
Cheon Hyang frowned, perhaps feeling very uncomfortable with the iron ring she was wearing on her wrist.
Cheon-hwi approached her.
“Huh? It seems a bit loose.”
Cheon-hwi said while looking at the iron ring that looked loose even though she had locked the lock tightly.
“If it stays like this, it seems it’ll be uncomfortable to swing a sword too.”
As if waiting, Cheon Hyang agreed.
At the same time, she laughed inwardly.
‘Then he’ll tell me to take it off, right?’
At that time, Cheon-hwi nodded his head.
“Hmm, certainly if you swing a sword in this state, you’ll only get wounds.”
Cheon Hyang shouted with joy inwardly.
‘Great!’
She quickly said.
“Right? Then let’s take it off for now and repair it later…”
At the moment Cheon Hyang’s expression was about to brighten at the accepting answer, Cheon-hwi cut off her words.
“Ay, where do we have time for that?”
Immediately, Cheon-hwi grabbed Cheon Hyang’s wrist where the iron ring was loose. By the time Cheon Hyang looked at him doubtfully at the sudden action.
“…Junior Brother?”
Screeeech…
An unpleasant sound burst out.
Subsequently, the iron ring gradually shrank and soon fit perfectly on Cheon Hyang’s wrist.
“It’s done now, right?”
When Cheon-hwi took off the hand he was holding, the iron ring that shrank to perfectly fit her wrist entered her sight.
“…U-Uh.”
Along with the answer, Cheon Hyang dropped her head down heavily, and Cheon-hwi approached those whose iron rings still didn’t seem to fit without even giving her a glance.
“Here, give me your hands.”
And he touched and fixed the iron rings just like he did to Cheon Hyang.
Cheon-hwi, who tightly fit the iron rings for them one by one like that, nodded his head and said.
“Now don’t think about taking those off.”
The Splendid Spirit Squad said in shock.
“What?!”
“Are you telling us to keep wearing them?”
“Of course. If that wasn’t the case, why would I have made these and told you to wear them?”
At that, the Splendid Spirit Squad bit their lips.
‘T-To keep wearing these?’
‘It’ll be hard to even eat!’
They quickly exchanged glances.
‘We’ll have to take them off later!’
‘Yeah!’
By the time some of them sparked their eyes.
“Well, you can take them off if you can.”
Cheon-hwi shrugged his shoulders and said.
Instantly, everyone flashed their eyes.
“Really?”
“You’re saying it’s okay to take them off?”
“If you can.”
Cheon Hyang and the Splendid Spirit Squad brought up their internal energy and put strength into their hands holding the iron rings.
“Eeeeeek!”
“Uwaaaaah!”
However, no matter how much they poured out their internal energy and tried all sorts of things, the iron rings didn’t budge at all, remaining fixed.
Cheon-hwi, who saw them like that, wore a meaningful smile and parted his lips.
“Those iron rings, they’re made of Goncheol from Nanman. If you have the skill and internal energy to take that off, there would be no need to wear something like this.”
At Cheon-hwi’s words with a twisted corner of his mouth, everyone who was pouring out their internal energy stiffened in that state.
“G-Goncheol?!”
Goncheol was an iron that was said to be one step harder than Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron.
“H-How could you make that into iron rings…”
“The Iron Foundation Workshop did it for me.”
Instantly, everyone closed their eyes tightly.
If it were another smithy, they wouldn’t know, but if it was the Iron Foundation Workshop, it was more than sufficiently possible.
‘He commissioned the Iron Foundation Workshop to make such strange iron rings?’
‘He’s determined to kill us.’
Everyone despaired.
With their current martial arts level and internal energy, destroying Goncheol was out of the question.
But on top of that, Cheon-hwi perfectly fitted them to their wrists and even fixed them.
What those words meant was one thing.
That the only person who could take off these tightly tightened iron rings was Cheon-hwi.
‘…We’re doomed!’
‘If only there was a lock…’
Cheon-hwi smoothly scanned the frustrated Splendid Spirit Squad and clapped his hands lightly.
Clap! Clap!
Cheon-hwi, who focused their attention in an instant, parted his lips.
“Then since you’ve all worn the iron rings too.”
Cheon-hwi, who paused his words for a moment, pointed at the swords still scattered in the backyard.
“Pick up the swords too. From now on, you’ll each be training holding that sword.”
Everyone gulped down their saliva.
Don’t tell me, the swords too?
They looked at Cheon-hwi with anxious gazes, but.
“What are you doing? Hurry and pick them up.”
Only indifferent words knocked on their ears.
‘I knew it.’
The frustrated them moved their hands that were trembling because of the iron rings they were wearing, and carefully gripped the swords.
And the moment they tried to lift them.
“Gasp!”
“T-This is too heavy…”
The Splendid Spirit Squad crumpled their eyes.
Even if it was heavy, it was too heavy.
However, Cheon-hwi didn’t even pay attention whether they did that or not, and opened his mouth.
“Ah right, pick up all the remaining ones too. Because we have to go up Mount Hua with these.”
The Splendid Spirit Squad’s faces died blackly.
What was given to each of them was only four iron rings and one sword.
But to move all the remaining ones, one person would have to carry at least three times as much.
By the time they, who couldn’t even lift the swords easily, hesitated, Cheon-hwi parted his lips.
“You don’t want to? If so, we’ll have the other disciples wear them later, and let’s have only the Splendid Spirit Squad train first for now.”
“…?!”
The Splendid Spirit Squad opened their eyes wide.
‘What? Only us doing it first?’
‘That cannot be!’
Fire blazed in their eyes.
Even if they died, they had to die together!
They couldn’t be the only ones doing this kind of training.
“We will definitely carry them.”
“Hahaha, how could only we do such good! Excellent! training?”
Gritting their teeth, they somehow lifted the swords and iron rings on the ground.
“Eeeeeek!”
They slightly staggered due to how heavy they were, but their eyes were filled with determination.
“W-We are ready!”
Cheon-hwi, who saw them, smiled.
“Then let’s go.”
When Cheon-hwi took a step forward, the Splendid Spirit Squad, who lifted the iron rings and swords with pure grit, forcefully took steps following him.
Just like that, they climbed Mount Hua.
While leaving very vivid footprints on the mountain path along with thumping sounds.
* * *
Purple Mist Pavilion of Mount Hua.
Trickle…
A thin stream of water continued lengthily, gradually filling the empty teacup.
As the pale yellow tea water was gradually filled, a soft and delicate tea fragrance rapidly spread in the Purple Mist Pavilion.
By the time the Purple Mist Pavilion was filled with the tea fragrance, the pouring stream of water cut off abruptly.
The yellow tea water fully filled in the teacup swayed, and gradually became calm.
‘The tea water is just like Cheon-hwi.’
Hyeon-sang, who was pouring the tea, felt the tea fragrance tickling the tip of his nose and looked at the teacup.
The tea water filled in a small teacup.
It was a very small amount that would disappear if one took a few sips.
However, the tea fragrance emitted by that tea water filled the huge Purple Mist Pavilion, embracing everything inside it.
‘Like Cheon-hwi who embraced the Mount Hua Sect single-handedly…’
The corners of Hyeon-sang’s eyes curved.
Thinking of Cheon-hwi, laughter came out.
‘Thanks to him, the Mount Hua Sect changed a lot.’
The things Cheon-hwi accomplished were so many that they couldn’t even be counted with two hands.
From the restoration of lost martial arts and changes like the Dark Fragrance Pill, to the active roles of bringing down the White Ghost Castle and chasing the Unorthodox Factions out of Shaanxi.
Thanks to that, the Mount Hua Sect came to gain its current reputation and position.
When he smiled thinking of Cheon-hwi.
“It’s a good tea fragrance, Junior Brother Sect Leader.”
A low voice was heard.
Hyeon-sang, who cut off his thoughts, looked at Hyeon-cheong smiling warmly in front of his eyes and smiled back.
“I was worried because it’s lighter than the tea Senior Brother usually drinks frequently, but it’s a relief that you like it.”
“Hohoho, rather this is better. Perhaps because I’m getting older now, recently strong tea doesn’t go down well.”
Hyeon-cheong, who spoke playfully, reached out his wrinkled hand and grabbed the teacup.
“Hmm.”
Hyeon-cheong, who closed his eyes, savored the tea.
Perhaps because it was tea leaves dried directly by the Sect Leader, it didn’t have a deep and strong taste like the famous teas known in the world.
Instead, it was mild and clean.
Moreover, even after drinking it, thanks to the delicate fragrance continuously tickling the tip of his nose, a smile naturally formed on his mouth.
Soon, Hyeon-cheong, who opened his eyes, parted his lips.
“I have heard well that my Junior Brother Sect Leader has mastered drying tea leaves, but I didn’t know it would be this outstanding.”
At the compliment containing sincerity, Hyeon-sang smiled brightly.
“I still have a long way to go.”
“Do you perhaps have any tea leaves left?”
Hyeon-cheong said, carefully putting down the teacup that had become completely empty at some point.
“I’d like to share it with the disciples too.”
“I will prepare plenty.”
Hyeon-sang’s smile became even thicker.
If it were in the past, it was an unimaginable thing.
After all, just a few years ago, Hyeon-cheong had confined himself in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion and lived a life cut off from the world.
But now it was different.
Wasn’t it to the point of taking care of them like this, not even satisfied with just teaching the disciples?
It was a very positive change.
“Thank you.”
“It is nothing.”
Hyeon-sang, who smiled warmly, asked in a low voice.
“How are the disciples?”
“They are following along somewhat decently.”
Unlike his vague words, Hyeon-cheong’s face was full of satisfaction.
The moment he confirmed that face, Hyeon-sang’s mood became very elated.
If Hyeon-cheong showed such an expression, they must have surpassed a decent level.
‘It’s good.’
Everything was going well.
The first-generation disciples and second-generation disciples had reached a higher level than before. On top of that, since even the third-generation disciples were following along well, how could he not smile.
Hyeon-sang stealthily looked out the window.
The weather that had been hot for a long time broke, and a cool wind brushed past his cheeks.
Summer had gone, and autumn had come.
Hyeon-sang, who was gazing at the sky that had become higher than before perhaps because there wasn’t a single cloud, suddenly let out a voice of worry.
“They are a little later than expected. I wonder if perhaps something happened…”
“Didn’t you say Cheon-hwi accompanied them. There probably won’t be any major accidents.”
“…That should be the case.”
When Hyeon-sang forcefully nodded his head.
“H-Heuk! S-Sect Leader!”
A vigorous shout shook the Purple Mist Pavilion.
Hyeon-sang and Hyeon-cheong turned their heads.
From far away, the Vice Guild Leader of the Jaeryeong Pavilion, Cheon Su, was running over hurriedly.
“What is the matter?”
“Th-They’re here.”
Cheon Su hurriedly caught his rising breath, and said with shining eyes.
“J-Junior Brother Cheon-hwi and Junior Sister Rin, and the Splendid Spirit Squad have arrived at Mount Hua.”
Hyeon-sang and Hyeon-cheong looked at each other and stood up from their seats just like that.
A short while later.
The two, who arrived at the Mountain Gate together with Cheon Su, could see the disciples of the Mount Hua Sect standing in formation.
The Flying Sword Squad and Martial Bloom Squad, centered around Jeok-geom and Seol Ran, were looking down below the Mountain Gate.
How long did they wait like that.
Thump, thump.
Heavy sounds were heard from afar.
“What is this sound?”
They tilted their heads and looked closely below the Mountain Gate.
Soon, those who confirmed the identity with their two eyes were astonished.
Because the appearance of the Splendid Spirit Squad coming up was completely different from usual.
Wearing torn Taoist robes here and there, they were walking up with difficulty while holding darkish iron rings and swords in their arms.
“…What are those items?”
“Iron rings? There are swords too?”
By the time everyone was looking doubtfully.
“M-Mountain Gate!”
Cheon Hyang shouted loudly.
At that moment, the Splendid Spirit Squad, who were forcefully climbing the mountain path with their heads lowered, suddenly lifted their heads.
Everyone swallowed their breath.
Their two pupils glaring upwards were emitting a light that couldn’t be more vicious.
“Uwaaaaah! Hurry and hand these over!”
“I can’t carry them anymore!”
“I can’t be the only one dying!”
By the time all those standing at the Mountain Gate were flustered by the appearance of the Splendid Spirit Squad rolling their eyes and some even drooling.
“Uwaaaaah! Let’s go!”
Along with Cheon Hyang’s crazed shout, the Splendid Spirit Squad started running like crazy.
Thump! Thump!
By the time even Hyeon-sang and Hyeon-cheong were shocked by the appearance of the Splendid Spirit Squad running while leaving footprints.
Cheon-hwi, who was walking leisurely, spoke in a peaceful tone as if he was satisfied.
“Wow, it’s nice to see you guys trying hard to get stronger together.”