Hyun Jong, with a teacup in his hand, slowly walked to the window of his room.

He heard the sound of mountain birds crying from somewhere and a cool breeze passed by his fingers.

Holding the steaming teacup, Hyun Jong looked up at the distant sky with a benevolent face.

‘So quiet.’

It was clean and quiet. Today’s Mount Hua seemed to fit the description perfectly. The clear air settled deep in the quiet mountains.

Hyun Jong’s heart was truly calming down…

‘Uh?’

Wait.

Calm?

Hyun Jong tilted his head to the side.

‘Calm?’

Mount Hua was?

His head jerked and turned. He tried to listen again, but all he could hear were birds chirping.

There was no sound of the disciples’ loud cheers or people screaming like they were dying.

It was as quiet as if Mount Hua had completely gone vacant.

‘This isn’t calmness.’

… right. This was something else. Wasn’t the silence of Mount Hua similar to death?

‘This cannot be happening.’

Of course, Mount Hua wasn’t always noisy. When Chung Myung led the disciples outside, there were moments of quietness, even if it wasn’t to this extent.

But wasn’t Chung Myung in Mount Hua now?

The coexistence of Chung Myung and silence was the same as the sun and moon rising together.

‘I-it couldn’t be…..!’

Hyun Jong jumped up.

“He didn’t possibly escape from Mount Hua, right?”

He was afraid something like this might happen, so he put up guards, too. Those remaining in Mount Hua might not be able to stop him, but they can at least make sure he doesn’t disappear. So, if something bad happened, someone would have come to stop him.

“… then he didn’t leave Mount Hua?”

After thinking for a moment, Hyun Jong’s face hardened.

“No, no! I need to see it with my own eyes.”

He threw the cup and quickly ran out. He stormed into the White Plum Blossom Hall at once and threw open the door.

At that moment, the Chung disciples gathered in the living room were all startled and began to whisper as they saw Hyun Jong.

“S-sect leader!”

They all rushed to him with tearful eyes.

“Sect leaderrr!”

“Sect leaderrr! I am scared to death! Do something, please!”

“I am so scared that I cannot eat anything!”

Hyun Jong, flustered, opened his eyes wide and asked,

“What happened?”

“Chung Myung! Chung Myung is being strange.”

“It feels like he was given medicine!”

“Like he might die soon!”

“What?”

What does this mean? To take the medicine and die?

“W-where is Chung Myung now?”

“In his room….”

“Get out of my way.”

Surprised, Hyun Jong ran up.

“Chung Myung!”

He flung the door open and flinched as he saw the inside.

“What… what is… what is this…”

His mouth was wide open.

The room was clean. It was hard to believe that Chung Myung existed there.

And in that clean room sat Chung Myung, neatly dressed and without a mark.

“Ah, sect leader.”

“U-Uh?”

“You came here?”

Looking at Hyun Jong, he stood up and bowed.

This made Hyun Jong’s face go even paler.

Was he greeting him in the right manner?

Was that Chung Myung?

This guy was one who always bent his head to the side to greet him, making Hyun Jong think, ‘Can’t he bend his head ahead?’ But now that Chung Myung was greeting him with perfect form?

This politely?

‘This feels bad.’

He felt goosebumps rise.

If another guy was like this, he would have felt happy and thought, ‘Ah, this guy has finally grown up,’ but Chung Myung was no ordinary guy.

“W-what are you doing?”

“I was looking at myself for a moment, sect leader.”

Looking at himself?

Him?

-No. I am too busy running now, uh? Self-inspection? Difference in sex? If you have time to do all that, then swing the sword one more time! The Southern Edge and Wudang bastards must be gritting their swords at this hour, too!

“…surely, it had to be like that.”

Maybe he heard it wrong?

Hyun Jong blinked and looked at the open book next to Chung Myung.

“What is that?”

“Ah, this….”

Chung Myung held the book and politely said,

“This is the Tao Te Ching.”

“…what?”

“This is the Tao Te Ching, sect leader.”

There were one or two things that wouldn’t fit well with Chung Myung’s eyes, but the most unsuitable would be Buddhist or Taoist books.

Yet, this Tao Te Ching was in the hands of Chung Myung.

“Well, what was that for…?”

Was he sure that he was not trying to set the White Plum Blossom Hall on fire?

Then he spoke in a truly serious tone.

“I think I have been too lazy. Isn’t Mount Hua a Taoist sect?”

“R-right…?”

“If I am a Taoist disciple, that is, a Taoist, I shouldn’t neglect the sword but also words. Now I realize my mind was narrow, sect leader.”

Once again, if some other disciple had said this, Hyun Jong would have felt happy.

But when Chung Myung said these words, instead of feeling happy, he felt goosebumps rise and his stomach twists.

It would be less odd to see Asura come from hell, pet a kitten, and call it cute. What nonsense was this?

“You are reading that?”

“Uh, sect leader.”

“…Chung Myung.”

“Yes.”

Hyun Jong slightly raised his voice with a contorted look.

“I cannot let you go because of this! You cannot be acting like this!”

This was a trick.

It was a clear ploy to follow the Five Swords by showing he wouldn’t cause trouble here.

But contrary to his thoughts, Chung Myung shook his head.

“No, sect leader. Don’t misunderstand what this disciple is saying.”

Ah, what a way of speaking! Just do this and that as usual now, brat!

“You are saying you won’t be following them along?”

“The beginning of Tao is people.”

“…”

“And the beginning of a sect is trust.”

“Uh….”

This was scary.

It was so strange that it made his stomach hurt. Words that Yoon Jong would say in seriousness were now coming from Chung Myung.

“If I really care for Mount Hua, I should trust the sahyungs. But I couldn’t trust them and stayed by relying on my talent.”

“…”

“Now the disciple here realizes the sect leader’s reason behind this. Letting go of attachment is the start of any path. Knowing that the disciple hadn’t given up any obsession yet, the sect leader helped enlighten me. How do I repay this favor…?”

“S-stop! Stop!”

Finally, Hyun Jong could no longer bear it and ran to Chung Myung, holding his hand.

“C-Chung Myung! I was wrong! Don’t do this, okay!”

“I don’t understand what the sect leader is talking about. This is teaching me a…”

“I said to not do itttt!”

Hyun Jong faced a fear he had experienced for the first time in his life.

Time passed.

“…”

Hyun Jong looked at Chung Myung with widened eyes.

Wait. He thought it would stop.

If he was acting on purpose, his true intentions should soon come out. In the first place, people don’t change so easily.

But even though three days passed, Chung Myung was still being strange.

Sak. Sak.

The Chung disciples rushed to Chung Myung, who was sweeping with a broom near the front gate.

“C-Chung Myung, don’t do that! We will do it!”

“What are you talking about, sahyungs? I am the youngest of Mount Hua, so I need to do it.”

“Soso is the youngest!”

“Soso isn’t in Mount Hua right now. So, in terms of the next in line, I should be the one doing it.”

“C-Chung Myung…”

“If sahyungs also have something they want me to do, you can tell me.”

“We?”

“Yes, sahyung.”

“To you?”

“Yes, what is strange about it?”

The Chung disciples were in pain, unable to either laugh or cry.

‘Just hit me already!’

‘Why are you doing this? There are so many ways to harass people!’

‘I think I might puke. My stomach isn’t getting any better.’

The expressions of the Hyun disciples were also distorted.

“What is…”

He opened his mouth but did not respond to Hyun Sang.

“Could he have caught some disease?”

“…”

“Maybe he got so shocked that his head became strange.”

“Be careful of what you say! This is getting weird. He is just normal and nice.”

“… have you ever considered that as a problem?”

“What problem? It is good if a kid gets straight.”

Even if Chung Myung plucked out all his hair and made a wig, Hyun Young would only call him cute without another word.

‘Straight and normal?’

Hyun Jong’s eyes noticed this look of despair.

Turning Chung Myung into a human was his biggest goal in life, a sect leader of Mount Hua’s goal. However, it might be more difficult than the mission of making Mount Hua a prestigious sect like in the past, so he didn’t even try for it.

But now he didn’t know Chung Myung turning into a human was the biggest goal not just during the Tang Dynasty but any future dynasty too.

However… looking at what was happening now, a lot earlier than he thought, Hyun Jong wasn’t happy or satisfied.

‘I feel like I am watching gunpowder ready to burst.’

No, it looks like he was holding the gunpowder in hand.

“Ahem, the kid looks a bit weak.”

“Right? Isn’t it a strange thing to see?”

“I need to take at least one health medicine every year….”

“…”

Hyun Sang turned his head. Chung Myung is a brat, but he thought he was a fine one.

“Sect leader.”

Hyun Sang sighed and turned to Hyun Jong.

“It would be better to send him now….”

“That… that won’t happen.”

“Even though Chung Myung caused an accident, they never actually caused harm to Mount Hua, right?”

“We are not simply doing this because Chung Myung makes things bigger than needed. Imagine that I step down, and Un Am or Baek Cheon ends up as sect leader. Would Chung Myung constantly challenge their every decision?”

Hyun Jong was thinking about the future and frowned.

Right now, when Hyun Jong decided something, he was at a loss if Chung Myung didn’t share the same opinion. But what about the younger ones, then?

“Wouldn’t it be better if he ends up as sect leader?”

“Uh?”

“What?”

“… Nothing, I don’t know. I am not saying you should do it.”

“Phew, I too…”

“I thought the sect leader was prepared to destroy Mount Hua this time.”

Seeing even Hyun Young talk like that, it felt like it wasn’t going to happen.

“Well, since that will not happen, someone else will have to take the place of the sect leader. In order to do that, Chung Myung needs to know how to let them make important decisions without interfering, and he needs to practice in advance. Baek Cheon especially should know how to do that more than Un Am.”

“… I guess that is why you didn’t send Chung Myung.”

“Right. Baek Cheon should know my will.”

Hyun Jong looked at the distant sky with a stern face.

‘I am sure he will.’

It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried about sending them without Chung Myung. Even now, he was worrying for those who left the sect…

“Chung Myungggg!”

“We are going to clean up the White Plum Blossom Hall! Please! Please put that rag down!”

“Ah, I said don’t do itttt!”

But kids.

He must apologize… things were a mess here.

Please come back fast.

Please…