Tang Pae stared blankly at his own hand, the empty chopsticks twitching twelve times per second in the air.
"Heh heh…"
His eyes were half-dead, the light within them extinguished.
Looking around, he saw his brothers who had given up trying to pick up food with their hands, burying their faces in their bowls.
They couldn't endure without eating, and since it was impossible to scoop rice with their hands, they had thrown away all pride and were just somehow forcing food into their mouths.
"Stamina…"
Tang Pae perfectly understood at this moment why Chung Myung said stamina was essential for the Tang family's martial arts.
How could one possibly perform any secret techniques with hands that couldn't even scoop rice?
It wasn't wrong to say the Tang family's martial arts require precision, but that precision could only be demonstrated on a foundation of unwavering stamina in any situation.
What good is precision if one can't even control their own hands?
"I know that…"
He remembered what Baek Cheon once told him.
Tang Pae had once asked curiously why Baek Cheon cursed whenever Chung Myung spoke, even though Chung Myung seemed to be right. Baek Cheon had answered clearly:
"…You'll understand when you experience it later."
Yes. Now he understood. He understood painfully well.
Because they spoke the truth, there was no room to rebel. But if he just shut up and obeyed, he was as good as dead.
The problem was if he resisted here, he would become the only one seen as weak and lazy. Who would have imagined that pushing with justification could be so terrifying?
"Ugh…"
"Damn it…"
Endless groans escaped from the mouths of the Tang family people.
"No wonder Mount Hua got so strong. With training like this, even a rabbit would take only a few years to beat a tiger."
"Hy-Hyung. Are we really not going to die from this?"
"Don't worry. You won't die."
"No, how do you know?"
"Look over there."
"Yes?"
"They're not dead, are they?"
Tang Zhan looked up and followed Tang Pae's finger. There, the Mount Hua people, their faces darkened as if dead, were half-slumped in chairs, staring blankly at the food before them.
"…Why aren't they eating?"
"They threw up all the breakfast they ate."
"…"
"I didn't know either. I never thought the family lord would get so excited and rampage like that on them."
"I've never seen such a sight in my life."
"It's really fortunate."
"Yes? What is?"
"That we saw such a sight for the first time… it's better not to have seen it at all."
Tang Gunak found water.
He seemed like a restless spirit who died bitterly because he couldn't throw his throwing knives; whenever he saw Mount Hua people, he threw knives at them as a greeting. Of course, those receiving the knives didn't take it as a greeting.
Mount Hua disciples, threatened dozens of times a day, were visibly drying up before their eyes.
"That's what they mean by life force draining from the body."
Tang Pae put down his chopsticks and sighed.
"Still, aren't we in a slightly better position? So don't complain."
"…Didn't you hear?"
"What?"
"…After the morning training, Chung Myung said, 'The basics are slowly set. Now let's raise the intensity and do it properly.'"
"That crazy bastard… cough cough!"
Tang Pae quickly cleared his throat, cutting off the words about to escape his mouth.
'No. What the…'
At this point, wasn't it a competition between Chung Myung and Tang Gunak over who torments the opposing sect's disciples better? The innocent shrimps' backs were the ones getting broken in this whale fight.
"…They say acting on what you know is the hardest thing in the world."
Tang Pae sighed deeply and suddenly looked warmly at the Mount Hua disciples.
"Still, I'm really glad those people are here."
"What?"
"…Imagine if only the Tang family suffered like this. By now, complaints would have multiplied tenfold, wouldn't they?"
"That… is true, isn't it?"
Tang Zhan nodded.
No need to guess. Until a few days ago, voices condemning Mount Hua and Chung Myung never ceased, but after Tang Gunak started directly handling Mount Hua disciples, those words disappeared.
And instead of subtle hostility, a sense of comradeship began to form.
After all, they were comrades suffering the same pain, and they had been undergoing this training all along, hadn't they?
"If the burden is shared, it becomes a little lighter."
"…Isn't it just that the burden has increased?"
"Let's just agree to what I said."
Tang Pae looked at the Mount Hua disciples with a strange gaze.
'Did the family lord and Taoist Chung Myung consider all this?'
Thinking about it, the closeness between the Tang family and Mount Hua was almost an illusion.
In reality, the close relationships were between Hyun Jong and Tang Gunak, and between Chung Myung and Tang Gunak.
Since they represented Mount Hua and the Tang family, it wasn't entirely wrong to say the sects were close, but the members themselves had little interaction.
They weren't hostile, but they weren't close enough for private conversations.
'In other words, if the current leadership steps down, the relationship between Mount Hua and the Tang family won't be the same.'
Tang Pae would try to maintain relations with Mount Hua, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't become a king-like family lord like Tang Gunak. So he would inevitably have to listen to others' opinions.
But if situations like this repeated, a comradeship might arise between Mount Hua and the Tang family, and not only the leadership but members might maintain good relations.
'Is that why those two volunteer to be the villains?'
Perhaps the leadership was drawing a bigger picture he couldn't see. Thinking so, Tang Pae nodded unconsciously.
Unaware of Tang Pae's thoughts, Tang Zhan said with a gloomy face.
"…What about the afternoon training?"
"Don't complain. Don't we get time to sleep?"
"Sleeping doesn't fully recover fatigue. These days, even with qi cultivation, my body doesn't feel lighter. It feels like carrying a lump of iron on my shoulders."
Hearing this, Tang Pae nodded and looked at Tang Zhan.
"That's the key."
"…Eh?"
"From now on, we must endure not short battles but the war. You understand that, right?"
"Yes."
Tang Zhan nodded.
"War doesn't end overnight. Everyone felt that during the Plum Blossom Island incident. It might be a few days or several months of continuous fighting without proper rest or sleep."
"…"
"Look."
Tang Zhan turned his head at Tang Pae's words. The Tang family people were still unable to eat properly and were dying.
"There too."
Following Tang Pae's words, Tang Zhan's eyes widened slightly. The Mount Hua people who had been lying like corpses moments ago were now regaining energy and stuffing food into their mouths.
"Do you understand what would happen if we were sent to war in this state?"
"…Yes, hyung. I probably wouldn't be able to show even a quarter of my ability."
"That's also wrong."
"Yes?"
"Ability that can't be demonstrated isn't ability at all. It's just an excuse. Only the strength that can be fully used in real combat can be called ability."
"…"
"If you think that way, everything changes. The public opinion that the Tang family is stronger than Mount Hua is also wrong. Right now, we're worse than them."
"H-Hyung. That's…"
Tang Pae looked back at Tang Zhan with a cold gaze.
"Why? Do you also want to ride on the public's superficial evaluation to raise yourself?"
"…"
"Even after seeing the Namgung Family, once considered stronger than us, suffer so miserably?"
"That's not the case, hyung."
Tang Pae nodded.
"In my view, Chung Myung and the family lord don't act based on just one thing. They must be considering at least three or four factors. Though it's tough now, if we trust and follow them, a moment of light will surely come. Surely they wouldn't torment us intentionally."
"…That's true too."
"Right. So eat. To endure, you must eat."
Tang Pae somehow grabbed the food bowl and began stuffing food into his mouth.
But at that moment, Tang Pae didn't know.
No matter how good the intention, or how benevolent the act, the method can be more terrible than acts done with malice.
"…What did you say?"
"You don't understand this?"
Chung Myung smiled brightly.
Though it was a refreshingly bright expression to anyone, to Tang Pae's eyes, that smile didn't look good. Rather, it looked like the grin of a demon risen from hell.
"You're tired too."
"…Yes."
"You want to rest, right?"
"Well…"
"So I'm giving you a chance to rest."
Tang Pae was momentarily speechless.
No, Taoist? I'm not an idiot; of course I understood that.
"But the method is…"
"Kuh. Yes. That's the key."
Chung Myung snapped his fingers sharply.
"Rest is good. Very good. But people are like that; they don't value things just handed to them easily."
"What kind of bull… no, what do you mean?"
"I'm saying I'll make you feel that value."
Chung Myung smirked.
"You're proud of your skills as Tang family members, right? That you can beat anyone."
"…Yes, but."
Chung Myung nodded as if that was obvious.
"Right. But they feel the same way."
Chung Myung gestured toward the Mount Hua disciples. Their eyes were filled with nothing but killing intent, nodding like hungry murderers.
"The murim world's law is simple. The strong possess, and the proven obtain. So…"
Chung Myung snapped his fingers again.
"Those who win get to skip tomorrow morning's training. Simple, right?"
"W-wait a minute. What is that?"
How could they be told to split into teams and fight among comrades who trained together? How could such an act be acceptable?
And if the Tang family and Mount Hua fought now, wouldn't the budding comradeship be destroyed? This must not be done…
"Ah, that stingy bastard talks too much. Well, yeah. You're not used to it yet. I understand. But the solution is really simple."
Chung Myung smiled brightly.
"Once you get hit, you'll snap out of it."
"Yes?"
"The last one standing wins. Get ready."
"Yes?"
"Begin."
Chung Myung clapped his hands.
Tang Pae chuckled bitterly. Who would follow such nonsense…
"Aaaaaaah!"
At that moment, a desperate scream was heard. Tang Pae startled and turned his head sharply.
The Mount Hua disciples, who felt like blood brothers… no, Mount Hua converts, were glaring fiercely and charging madly.
"Kill them!"
It was the moment the alliance between Mount Hua and the Tang family shattered completely.