“Il-hyeong. Look at that.”
Senior Martial Brother Kang-seok turned and waved from where he lay flat on his stomach at the edge of the cliff, peering down below. After being urged several times, young Hu Il-hyeong reluctantly got to his feet with a yawn. He assumed someone else had fallen to their death while trying to escape the Plum Blossom Sword Cave.
The training was grueling, but they could still eat two meals a day. He could not understand why anyone would run away. They were all orphans with no family to welcome them.
Even if they left Mount Hua, would they do anything besides starve or be beaten to death?
“What is it?”
Hu Il-hyeong settled beside Senior Martial Brother Kang-seok and cautiously leaned over the edge of the cliff. There was no corpse in the rocky clearing far below. His senior martial brother was pointing at a branch, about as thick as a forearm, jutting out from the middle of the cliff.
A single white flower bloomed at its tip.
“…Is that a plum blossom?”
Senior Martial Brother Kang-seok shook his youthful-looking head.
“No. Plum blossoms don’t look like that.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, it’s not a plum blossom. They say plum blossoms don’t bloom on Mount Hua.”
“Who says so?”
“Elder Yong.”
It was difficult to argue with the person in charge of the Plum Blossom Sword Cave, but it was also hard to believe.