Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 92

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 92
After this tea, Cheon Hui followed Hyeon Cheong ahead to Taorin Field, the training ground where the Second-Generation Disciples practiced.
―Hah! Hah!
Perhaps because it was still midday.
The sound of vigorous shouts from the main training ground mingled with the smell of sweat, carried on the wind.
“Hmm. They’re doing well.”
Hyeon Cheong, who had been watching the Second-Generation Disciples with an approving gaze, turned to Cheon Hui and asked.
“What do you make of it?”
“Is this all there is for Second-Generation Disciples?”
Cheon Hui’s expression hardened for the first time.
And rightly so—the personnel at Taorin Field seemed to number at most a hundred.
Or perhaps even fewer than that.
“That’s not quite it.”
Hyeon Cheong shook his head from side to side.
That made more sense.
Cheon Hui smiled and asked Hyeon Cheong.
“Where are the other Second-Generation Disciples?”
“The six who became Plum Blossom Smasters are training separately at Samong Field under the Wulian Pavilion Master.”
“I see.”
Cheon Hui nodded.
The Wulian Pavilion Master was certainly trustworthy.
Cheon Hui waited for what would come next.
But no matter how long he waited, no further words came.
“That’s not everything, is it?”
“That’s all there is.”
“So few?”
Hyeon Cheong looked slightly taken aback.
“These are the ones who remained after most of the Second-Generation Disciples descended the mountain.”
Cheon Hui’s face stiffened slightly.
No matter how far the Huashan Sect had fallen toward ruin, it was still one of the Nine Factions and One Gang.
Barely a hundred disciples?
Cheon Hui clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“How many of the disciples here have received a Sect Token?”
Hyeon Cheong turned his head slightly away.
“…None.”
“That’s the worst.”
The words escaped him involuntarily.
What was most important when assessing the strength of a martial faction?
It was the number of disciples.
Usually, a sect needed at least two hundred disciples to be considered a major power.
‘Yet barely a hundred at most.’
The number of disciples was critically low.
‘Far too few. At this rate, there’s hardly any difference between them and a minor or mid-level sect.’
Cheon Hui’s brow furrowed.
He had thought the Huashan Sect had suffered a blow approaching Faction Destruction.
But he hadn’t expected it to be this severe.
‘Still, they’ve been training in martial arts for quite some time, so they should have some skill, right?’
He examined the Second-Generation Disciples more closely.
‘They all seem to be trained in the Plum Blossom Internal Energy Technique.’
Their Heart Techniques were indeed all the same, but the Sword Techniques split into several different schools.
‘Most of them seem to focus on swordwork.’
And while he could see some practitioners of Fist and Staff Techniques interspersed among them, their numbers were negligible.
‘Let me see. The sword techniques center on the Three Immortals Sword and Yukap Geombeop—male disciples learn the Mysterious Heaven Sword and female disciples the Noble Lady Sword…’
As he watched, his expression grew blank.
‘It’s sloppy.’
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Cheon Hui turned his attention not to the swordsmen but to the disciples training in fist techniques.
They were executing the Mind Intent Six Harmony Fist with proper form.
‘Should I verify more carefully?’
Just then, Hyeon Cheong spoke to him.
“Something troubles you?”
“First, I need to assess where your skills stand before I can properly guide your training.”
Hyeon Cheong curved his lips into a wrinkled smile.
“Don’t worry about that.”
He kicked off lightly from the ground.
Moving as smoothly as a cloud drifting across the sky, Hyeon Cheong covered thirty paces in a single breath and arrived at the highest stone of Taorin Field.
The Immortal Cloud Rest Lonely Peak!
As the second-generation disciples gaped in awe at the appearance of a movement technique so rarely mastered within the Huashan Sect, Hyeon Cheong gestured to Cheon Hui.
“All of you, cease your training for now.”
Hyeon Cheong’s voice flowed out calmly.
Yet everyone heard him and stopped their drills, standing at attention.
Then Hyeon Cheong gave a signal with his eyes toward Cheon Hui.
Was he calling him over?
Cheon Hui immediately deployed the Dark Fragrance Stride.
The moment Cheon Hui, who had seemed to dissolve into the landscape, appeared at Hyeon Cheong’s side, the second-generation disciples began to stir.
“Master Cheon Hui?”
The murmurs grew steadily louder.
“Silence.”
A voice threaded with internal energy settled low over them.
“Today, Cheon Hui will specially oversee your training.”
The second-generation disciples were taken aback when Cheon Hui suddenly announced he would teach them.
But soon anticipation seized them all.
The Five Mountains Assembly of two years prior.
The exceptional prowess Cheon Hui had displayed then became the catalyst for the Huashan Sect’s resurgence.
‘How will he teach us?’
‘Maybe we’ll see the Plum Blossom Sword he showed at the Five Mountains Assembly again!’
‘Eek! It’s really Master Cheon Hui!’
Seeing everyone focus with gleaming eyes, Cheon Hui stepped forward.
“Would it be acceptable if I proceed in my own way?”
Hyeon Cheong nodded.
“Do as you see fit.”
Cheon Hui leaped down from the high stone.
Despite his considerable build, he descended to the training ground as gently as a feather, and addressed the second-generation disciples.
“Then come at me, all of you.”
For a moment, everyone froze.
“Pardon?”
“You do understand sparring, don’t you?”
As the others stood there with blank expressions at the sudden challenge, one figure stepped forward.
“Would it be acceptable if I went first?”
One of the second-generation disciples shot his hand up and approached.
It was Jang Il O, a named disciple.
“No objection.”
“I am Jang Il O, a second-generation disciple.”
Jang Il O, who held the White Lotus Sword with care, fixed his gaze on Cheon Hui and completed his preparations.
“Then I’ll begin.”
As he spoke, Jang Il O rushed forward.
Whish—
With a dull sound, Jang Il O was sent flying through the air and came crashing down helplessly.
Thud!
As Jang Il O lay spread out on the ground showing only the whites of his eyes, the other disciples stared in stunned silence.
“I had planned to take you on one at a time.”
A chilling voice cut through the air.
“But there’s no need for that.”
In that instant, Cheon Hui’s form vanished like a candle being snuffed out.
“Ack!”
“Ahhh!”
Moments later, cries of pain echoed from all directions.
“Tsk.”
A short while later, Cheon Hui clicked his tongue as he surveyed the unconscious second-generation disciples scattered across the ground.
The vast majority of them were woefully inadequate.
Their accumulated internal energy was pitiful, and their martial arts execution was barely worth watching.
“Fortunately, I exercised restraint in my methods.”
Hyeon Cheong approached carefully.
In less than a quarter hour, Cheon Hui had laid low nearly a hundred Second-Generation Disciples with just a handful of moves.
“What do you make of them?”
“These are really Second-Generation Disciples?”
Cheon Hui’s brow furrowed.
“By any measure, they’re not Peak Masters—they barely scrape First Class.”
“Heh.”
Hyeon Cheong let out a rueful chuckle.
He had felt the same way when he first took charge of the Second-Generation Disciples.
The Second-Generation Disciples of old had been at least Peak Masters, if not Super Peak Masters.
But now they barely matched what the Third-Generation Disciples had been in the past.
‘Perhaps it’s only natural. Hyeon Do and I were meant to teach them, yet we’ve done nothing but seclude ourselves instead.’
Guilt stabbed through his chest.
There were only nine senior masters left in Huashan Sect now, including himself.
Most had either descended the mountain or abandoned it entirely when the Huashan Sect fell into decline.
The number of disciples numbered nearly a hundred.
But Huashan Sect had limited senior masters, so providing each Second-Generation Disciple with careful, individual instruction had fallen short.
“That’s why I need your help.”
Hyeon Cheong held a look of quiet expectation.
Jeok Geom and Seol Ran, who had trained under Cheon Hui, were outstanding among the Plum Blossom Swordmasters remaining in Huashan Sect.
Both in skill and in spirit.
And that was not all.
The Master of Wulian Pavilion had said that through Cheon Hui’s training methods, even the First-Generation Disciples were growing rapidly.
“For now, stop learning other martial arts—sword techniques, fist techniques, and the like.”
Cheon Hui spoke with crisp finality.
The Plum Blossom Swordmasters, including Jeok Geom and Seol Ran, already had some foundation, so Cheon Hui’s methods suited them.
Training in movement techniques, strengthening the body—those sorts of things.
But these disciples here?
‘If they tried to deploy martial arts now, they’d collapse from exhaustion before even a quarter hour passed.’
He spoke the thought aloud.
“Without a proper foundation, learning martial arts leads to wasteful, inefficient movements. On top of that, their internal energy and physical strength are both lacking. Learn the martial arts later.”
Hyeon Cheong nodded.
He felt it too.
“For now, shift the focus to training in Horse Stance and Breath Regulation. Once they’ve built up enough internal energy and physical strength, teach each of them the martial arts that suit them individually.”
“Horse Stance and Breath Regulation, you say.”
Hyeon Cheong stroked his beard thoughtfully after hearing Cheon Hui’s method.
“I understand the point about Horse Stance—it’s excellent for building stamina and muscle. But they’re already doing Breath Regulation twice a day for about an hour each time. I don’t think there’s a need to increase it further.”
“Only that much?”
Twice a day for an hour?
That fell far short.
“To build real strength, they need to reduce sleep and practice Horse Stance. When they tire, switch to Breath Regulation. When they regain focus, return to Horse Stance. Only through this constant cycle will they improve.”
“Without rest at all?”
“Of course.”
Despite the calm tone of his voice, the sheer brutality of the training regimen startled Hyeon Cheong.
“If you want to become strong, even fighting tooth and nail isn’t enough. Naturally, you must endure at least this much, yes?”
Cheon Hui gazed at the Second-Generation Disciples still sprawled unconscious.
The path to mastery was simple.
To diligently and *properly* study the Martial Arts Secret Manuals.
And to have heavenly fortune on your side.
Fortunately, heavenly fortune existed.
‘Because I am here.’
With someone who had reached a high martial realm and mastered every martial art under heaven guiding them?
That was fortune stronger than any blessing.
But there was one problem.
Diligence. That was the greatest obstacle of all.
‘I can teach them the proper way, but the rest depends on their own will.’
Cheon Hui looked down at the unconscious Second-Generation Disciples, his gaze turning cold and measured.
“With Spiritual Medicine, we could shorten the time needed to build Internal Energy through Heart Technique, but…”
Cheon Hui continued smoothly.
“There isn’t nearly enough spiritual medicine to distribute to all the Second-Generation Disciples. So we’ll have to make up for it in time instead.”
“……That’s true enough.”
Hyeon Cheong’s voice grew solemn.
Creating spiritual medicine was ordinarily no simple matter.
In the case of the Purple Frost Elixir, which rivaled the Wudang sect’s supreme pill, Huashan produced one perhaps once in a century, if that.
In the past, certainly, they had possessed spiritual medicines in abundance, but now only ten Plum Blossom Pills remained—reserves kept for emergencies.
Hyeon Gang and the forty Plum Blossom Swordmasters who had followed him.
They had exhausted all of it on them, those destined to shoulder Huashan’s future.
“Yet Internal Energy is not everything. I suspect it would be far better if they learned other martial arts together with the Ungi Josik.”
Hyeon Cheong considered the matter carefully before offering his view.
Internal Energy mattered, but acquiring martial arts suited to it quickly was equally important.
“Of course Internal Energy isn’t everything.”
“Then……”
Hyeon Cheong was about to say something when—
“But it matters most at first. Without a solid Heart Technique supporting them, how could they properly deploy the martial arts that match their level?”
Cheon Hui expounded his theory, accumulated through long years of experience.
The foundation of all martial arts was the Heart Technique.
Movement techniques, sword techniques, every other martial art—all required Internal Energy as their underpinning.
‘There are exceptions, of course, but they’ve fallen into disuse by now. No one left would know them anyway.’
Cheon Hui swallowed the rest of his thought and continued.
“Besides, the Internal Energy from the Plum Blossom Internal Energy Technique is exceptional—once they build it up, learning other martial arts becomes remarkably easy.”
“The Plum Blossom technique is indeed outstanding.”
A smile bloomed across Hyeon Cheong’s face.
Though it was Huashan’s fundamental Heart Technique, he knew well the Plum Blossom Internal Energy’s merits.
“Then let us proceed that way.”
“Once they reach a certain level, we can have each of them learn martial arts suited to their individual aptitudes and inclinations.”
“Aptitudes and inclinations?”
Hyeon Cheong’s eyes widened.
Discerning aptitude and inclination ordinarily required several rounds of trial and error.
Yet from the way Cheon Hui spoke, it seemed he might be able to perceive it directly.
“You can discern such things?”
“To a degree.”
Incredible though the claim was, Hyeon Cheong—who had already seen what Cheon Hui was capable of—let out an exclamation of amazement.
“Remarkable.”
“Once they reach sufficient skill, I’ll proceed along those lines.”
“Very well.”
Watching Hyeon Cheong smile, Cheon Hui’s mind turned to the Second-Generation Disciples still sprawled before them.
‘Though when that will be, I have no idea.’
As a Daoist Heart Technique, the Plum Blossom Internal Energy Technique carried little risk of Demonic Possession During Cultivation.
But building that Internal Energy was arduous.
‘If only I had spiritual medicines……’
Cheon Hui, contemplating the easiest approach, scratched his head.
Spiritual medicines were expensive, but the greater problem was their rarity.
Obtaining enough to give to nearly a hundred Second-Generation Disciples would be as difficult as plucking stars from the sky.
“Perhaps I should try making some myself?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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