Chapter 38

Chapter 37. A School So Desolate Even Beggars Wouldn’t Pick It Up! (2)

Huashan hadn’t changed at all. The wind blew as it always did, and the ancient halls stood as they always had. The only thing that had changed was not Huashan, but the people.

"Huff!"

Zhaogé took off his martial robe. As he clutched the discarded robe, sweat dripped down his hands. After strength training from dawn, his entire body was drenched in sweat, and he couldn’t bear to wear the same clothes.

"Ah, today’s training was really tough."

"Do we really have to do this from dawn? Seriously."

Zhaogé smiled wryly as he heard the complaints around him. His peers, who were also wringing out their clothes, were everywhere. They all washed their bodies in the icy stream and wrung out their sweat-soaked martial robes.

Zhaogé put on the new clothes he had brought and carefully gathered the laundry.

"Let’s head up."

"Yes, Senior Brother."

The green-robed disciples picked up their wrung-out martial robes and began to climb Huashan. Watching them from behind, Zhaogé couldn’t help but have many thoughts.

'Things have really changed.'

In the past, such a scene would have been unimaginable. The green-robed disciples, though disciples of Huashan, were not passionate about martial arts. Even the eldest senior brother, Yunzhong, and Zhaogé himself were no different.

But now, everyone was voluntarily coming out early in the morning to train. They complained endlessly, but no one rebelled.

What could this be called?

'Really feels like a martial arts school.'

Zhaogé chuckled.

To think that he would only now consider Huashan to look like a martial arts school. Did that mean Huashan wasn’t a martial arts school before?

"Why are you laughing?"

Hearing a voice from the side, Zhaogé turned his head slightly. Senior Brother Yunzhong was looking back at him while using light body technique.

"Ah, Senior Brother. ... It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but I just thought that everyone finally looks like they belong in a martial arts school."

"Is that so?"

"It’s a bit of an odd thought, though."

"No, I was just thinking the same thing."

"Haha..."

Zhaogé couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Until recently, Zhaogé had never imagined sweating through training at Huashan. He had completed all the training assigned by the Bai Meiguan, but it felt more like fulfilling a quota than making an effort.

His goal was to pass the time and then go down the mountain to return home. This was probably true for everyone, not just Zhaogé.

So how could there be any passion?

But recently, he felt something was changing. Not only that, but the looks in the other senior brothers’ eyes were also different from before.

'This must all be because of him.'

Zhaogé’s face twisted slightly as he thought of Qingming.

Qingming was changing Huashan. Right now, it was just a small breeze, but whether this breeze would remain a gentle wind or turn into a massive typhoon that would shake the entire Huashan was something no one could predict yet.

But in the future, the effects would certainly be evident.

Climbing the mountain and reaching the entrance of Huashan, Zhaogé stretched his shoulders. A sense of pride welled up in his chest.

But that pride quickly vanished.

"Hey! You can’t grab it like that!"

"Move! Move! Push all the materials inside first, then start! Are you deaf?"

"Hey! If that breaks, you won’t get paid for a month! It was hard enough to get here, what are you doing?"

Zhaogé stared blankly at the scene before him. It was bustling and chaotic.

"..."

His gaze moved from left to right.

'What is this? Who are these people?'

Strangers he had never seen before were coming and going at the entrance. They all held unfamiliar tools and materials in their hands.

"Over there. No, not there! Over there!"

At least there was someone he knew. Yunyan was standing among the people, giving urgent instructions.

"Senior Brother?"

Yunzhong, who had noticed Zhaogé’s gaze, walked over to Yunyan with a blank expression.

"Junior Uncle."

"Hmm? Yunzhong?"

"What’s going on here?"

"Oh."

Yunyan smiled.

Normally, he wouldn’t have explained to just a third-generation disciple like Yunzhong, but Yunyan was in a very good mood, so there was no reason not to explain.

"Workers."

"Workers?"

"Yes. As you know, the halls are quite old, right?"

"Right."

Not just old, but almost crumbling. The slightest wind could cause something to break or be swept away. The places where the disciples lived and trained were barely maintained, and most of the halls were left unattended due to a lack of manpower.

"I’m thinking of doing a major renovation this time. We’ll rebuild the entrance as well."

"Really?"

"Don’t just stand there, go help move the materials. The workers have worked hard to bring them here. Most of the wood can be cut from nearby, but some of it needs to be brought from elsewhere."

"Really?"

"Move quickly! Hurry up!"

Seeing Yunyan, who was smiling and shouting, Zhaogé had a blank expression.

Perhaps the changes were coming faster than he thought.

"What’s happening here?"

Zhaogé looked at the table with a bewildered expression.

The effort of carrying the materials had left him ravenous, but the sight of the food on the table made him more bewildered than hungry.

"What is this?"

"Am I dreaming?"

"Even if I look again, this is definitely what they call 'meat,' right?"

The reactions of the other senior brothers were similar. Their gazes were fixed on the table.

Something incredible had happened on the table.

There was meat.

"Is this some kind of outrageous event?"

"How can the remains of a living thing, torn apart, be placed on the sacred table of Daoism?"

"What a windfall!"

"..."

Zhaogé let out a hollow laugh.

At Huashan, eating cooked or raw meat wasn’t strictly forbidden.

While the Quanzhen sect, which Huashan followed, advocated vegetarianism and prohibited meat, Huashan had become more relaxed over the generations. They still encouraged vegetarianism but didn’t prohibit meat.

However, not prohibiting meat didn’t mean it would appear on the table.

It had been years since Zhaogé joined Huashan, but this was the first time he had seen meat on the table.

"Is it okay to eat this?"

"It seems to be put there for us to eat?"

Everyone glanced at Yunzhong. Without the seniors present, Yunzhong was the decision-maker.

Yunzhong nodded with a wry smile.

"Let’s eat. It will get cold."

"Okay."

Sitting down, Zhaogé suddenly felt a burning gaze and looked up. All the senior brothers were looking at him... or rather, at Yunzhong, who was sitting next to him, with fiery eyes.

Understanding their intentions, Yunzhong picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of meat. The moment the meat entered his mouth:

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!

Chopsticks flew from all directions!

Some even used their golden finger technique to grab the meat. Zhaogé almost burst out laughing at the scene, but his body was more honest than his mind. His chopsticks also shot toward the plate like lightning.

'If I’m late, I won’t get any!'

'Out of my way! My meat!'

'Meat! Meat!'

Seeing the flying pieces of meat, Yunzhong closed his eyes tightly.

Huashan.

His Huashan was changing in strange ways.

"Wow, you can see a lot when you live long enough."

"Indeed."

"Suddenly, construction starts, meat appears on the table, and even new martial robes are issued in pairs today."

"Right."

Yunzhong narrowed his eyes, as if deep in thought. Zhaogé, noticing his expression, asked.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How good money is."

"Hehe."

Zhaogé couldn’t help but laugh.

It was strange to hear such words from Yunzhong, but not from others.

"Even with the money, I didn’t expect the elders to make such quick changes."

"Would the elders really want the disciples to struggle in poverty? It was just that they couldn’t do anything without the money."

That’s right.

It wasn’t that meat was against the rules; it was just too expensive.

"When you can’t do something because of a lack of money, you do it when you have the money. What’s strange about that?"

Zhaogé nodded.

"Didn’t you notice how Junior Uncle Yunyan couldn’t stop smiling?"

That’s right.

He had noticed.

Zhaogé swore he had never seen Yunyan smile so brightly before. He had even thought Yunyan didn’t know how to smile.

And now, he was grinning!

One thing was certain: Huashan was at the threshold of change.

"Senior Brother."

"Hmm?"

"What do you think will happen now?"

It was a random question, but Yunzhong understood what Zhaogé meant.

"You know, Huashan is already changing rapidly."

"Yes."

"So, we need to be prepared."

"Prepared...?"

"It’s not just about money. Didn’t you see it? In that box."

"Yes, there were secret manuals."

The scene of the sect leader falling backward while naming a martial art was still vivid in his mind.

"Huashan is changing. It will continue to change. We can’t avoid it. So, we need to strengthen our resolve and work hard. Then, we might see something different from what we expected."

Zhaogé nodded.

'Is all this because of him?'

Zhaogé couldn’t shake the suspicion that all this was due to Qingming’s recent actions. Thinking about the obvious performance, his brows furrowed.

"What did he do?"

"Who knows?"

There was no subject, but Yunzhong knew who he was referring to.

"The important thing is that he’s not someone we can predict. We need to be on our guard. A weak resolve might make us swept away by the storm he creates."

"Don’t worry, Senior Brother. This is Zhaogé."

"Right. That’s true."

Yunzhong chuckled and headed toward the Bai Meiguan. Zhaogé, following quietly behind, had a different thought in his mind.

'He’s not someone we can predict.'

Zhaogé’s thoughts were a bit different.

Perhaps Qingming was not only beyond their prediction but also beyond the elders and the sect leader. Perhaps.

"By the way."

"Hmm?"

"Where is he? I haven’t seen him since morning."

"Didn’t you hear? The sect leader called for him today. He’s probably at the sect leader’s residence now."

"The sect leader? Why did the sect leader call for him again?"

"Who knows?"

Yunzhong shrugged, and Zhaogé sighed.

'Really, there’s no peace at all.'