Chapter 36
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Great Hero Treasure Hall
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Great Hero Treasure Hall.
It was one of Shaolin's Three Great Buddha Halls, housing statues of Shakyamuni and his disciples—an exceedingly important place.
That was why Nang Yo's expression turned grave.
And rightly so. Even during the Righteous-Demonic Great War, the Great Hero Treasure Hall had never suffered so much as a scratch at the hands of the Demonic Cult.
Yi Ho-chang said to Nang Yo,
"Master. Let's head to the Great Hero Treasure Hall first."
"......Very well. Let's do that."
Given the situation, they needed to put out the most pressing fire before anything else.
Just as the two were about to make their way there,
Tadadot!
Yi Ho-chang turned at the sound of someone running up.
A familiar face.
It was Hwang Chae-jung.
Recognizing him, Yi Ho-chang said,
"Grandfather?"
"Y-you, young hero!"
But his condition was far from normal.
His face was ashen, his hands trembling violently—it seemed like an emergency.
In a quavering voice, Hwang Chae-jung said,
"S-Seo Wan-cheol! Seo Wan-cheol has appeared!"
"Seo Wan-cheol? You mean......!"
Oh no.
So he really was Faceless's spy after all?
Nang Yo, standing beside him, asked,
"Who is this Seo Wan-cheol?"
"Well......"
Su-ho quickly explained the situation, and Nang Yo ground his teeth as he said,
"That bastard deserves to die too. Then the noise from the Great Hero Treasure Hall—was that him as well?"
"We won't know for sure until we investigate, but it could very well be his doing."
"Then we must hurry. I'll head to the Great Hero Treasure Hall first—you come along slowly!"
Urgency overtaking him, Nang Yo kicked off the ground, kicking up a gust of wind as he vanished.
Watching Nang Yo speed away, Yi Ho-chang said to Hwang Chae-jung,
"Grandfather, let's go together."
"Are there no more people inside?"
"No, sir. It was just us."
"Then go on ahead. My stamina isn't what it used to be on account of my age—I'll catch my breath a moment and follow."
Fair enough. This place was rather high up.
With that thought, Yi Ho-chang was about to step forward when,
'This feeling......'
He turned to stare at Hwang Chae-jung.
*
Abbot Hyeon Yong, having heard the news, hurried to the Great Hero Treasure Hall alongside Hwan Jo.
Trailing behind him like a tail were the Eight Great Protectors and the Eighteen Arhats.
Roar!
Abbot Hyeon Yong's eyes widened at the sight of the blaze engulfing the Great Hero Treasure Hall.
The flames were fiercer than he had imagined.
Fortunately, firefighting efforts were already underway.
Yu Kyung, who had arrived first, was directing the monks.
"Bring more water at once! We need to douse the pillars first to keep it from collapsing!"
Spotting Yu Kyung, Abbot Hyeon Yong called his name as he approached.
"Yu Kyung!"
"Abbot!"
Yu Kyung, who had only just noticed him, spoke with a dejected expression.
"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I should have watched more carefully......"
The reason for Yu Kyung's apology.
Yu Kyung was the leader among Shaolin's warrior monks, renowned as the foremost of the Four Great Vajras— the four most devout and powerful.
He had been in charge of overseeing the novices, so he blamed himself for the hall being breached due to his lax supervision.
But Abbot Hyeon Yong didn't see it that way at all.
"No, put that thought out of your mind. The intruder was simply too strong. How could this be the novices' fault? Now, what's the current situation?"
"Yes. It seems someone gravely wounded the five warrior monks guarding the hall and triggered an explosion inside. I've already ordered the Four Great Vajras to scour the outskirts of Shaolin for the culprit, but he appears to be......"
Abbot Hyeon Yong nodded in agreement with Yu Kyung's speculation.
"Yes, the culprit is likely that assassin who slaughtered the remnants of the Brain Prison."
"For now, we'll extinguish the fire."
"No. Tell everyone, including yourself, to fall back."
As instructed, Yu Kyung directed even those fighting the fire to retreat behind Abbot Hyeon Yong.
Abbot Hyeon Yong then circulated his internal energy.
A golden haze rose around him, and he said to the monks at his back,
"Everyone, cover your ears."
As Abbot Hyeon Yong assumed his stance, his palm began to take on the luster of Bright Pure Moonlight.
Seeing his palm turn utterly white, Abbot Hyeon Yong thrust it toward the hall.
Kuwaa!
It was as if a golden handprint of the Buddha in nirvana had descended.
This tiny fragment of the Buddha soon whipped up a fierce gale, extinguishing the flames in an instant.
"Ahh......"
The other monks clasped their hands in prayer at the sight.
Yu Kyung, too, let out a gasp of awe.
"I've never seen the Great Power Vajra Palm with such might......"
Hwan Jo, standing beside him, replied,
"Do you think they call the Abbot the Buddha Venerable of the martial world for nothing?"
"True enough."
Abbot Hyeon Yong withdrew his hand and approached Yu Kyung and Hwan Jo.
"Yu Kyung, take the Eighteen Arhats and Eight Great Protectors and search for any intruders inside and outside Shaolin."
"Yes, Abbot."
"Hwan Jo, come with me inside."
"Understood."
As Abbot Hyeon Yong was organizing the response, Bok Jung-ho and Wi So-so arrived late, having just heard the news.
Abbot Hyeon Yong tilted his head at the sight of them.
"What brings you two here?"
Bok Jung-ho answered,
"One of our escorts spotted the man we've been pursuing near here when the massive explosion rocked the Great Hero Treasure Hall, so we came."
"The man you've been pursuing?"
"We suspect he's a spy for Faceless. We were worried it might be connected to us, so here we are."
"Ah, I see."
Just then, another figure appeared in the distance.
It was Nang Yo.
He charged up like an enraged bull and, without even catching his breath before Abbot Hyeon Yong, demanded,
"What the hell happened?"
"There was an intruder. I extinguished the fire, but we haven't caught the culprit yet."
"What about inside? The interior matters most. Have you checked?"
"We were just about to enter."
"Let's go in now. Gods willing, nothing's amiss."
At Nang Yo's urging, the others followed him inside like ducklings after their mother.
But the hall's condition was worse than expected.
It had burned almost completely.
Yet upon spotting the great Buddha statue, everyone couldn't hide their amazement.
For despite the hall's ruin, the great Buddha remained unscathed.
Abbot Hyeon Yong said,
"Ahh, Namo Amitabha......"
Thanks to the swift suppression of the flames, the interior seemed miraculously intact.
Nang Yo breathed a sigh of relief.
At that moment,
"Hm?"
A faint sound from somewhere.
It came from behind one of the hall's pillars.
Nang Yo hurried toward the source.
Perhaps a monk who hadn't escaped the flames?
But what they found behind the pillar was utterly unexpected.
Wi So-so, following Nang Yo, gasped in shock.
"S-Seo Wan-cheol?"
"Mm. Mmph......"
Tied up behind the pillar was none other than Seo Wan-cheol.
His face was smeared with soot and covered in wounds, but there was no mistaking him.
Yet his state was peculiar.
His acupoints sealed, gagged, and bound hand and foot—the moment they saw him, everyone realized.
They had been tricked.
*
Yi Ho-chang stared fixedly at Hwang Chae-jung as he was about to step forward.
Hwang Chae-jung asked,
"Young hero, what's wrong?"
"Grandfather, could you return the item I entrusted to you last time?"
"That item?"
"Yes, that one. The thing I secretly left with you during the journey."
"If it's that......"
Hwang Chae-jung patted his chest as if searching, then said with an apologetic look,
"Sorry. I rushed out in such a hurry that I think I left it in my room."
"What did you leave behind?"
"Hm?"
"I never entrusted you with anything."
"What are you......"
"Who are you?"
In that instant, the kindly old man's face grew ice-cold.
As a moment of silence stretched between them, Yi Ho-chang closed the distance in a flash and swung his fist.
Pang!
Hwang Chae-jung raised his right arm to block Yi Ho-chang's punch.
Yi Ho-chang smirked at the sight.
"Gotcha, fake."
"......How did you know?"
"If you're going to impersonate someone, do your homework better. Grandfather injured his right arm during the escort mission—he can't use that side."
"Haha, unbelievable."
Pang!
The man impersonating Hwang Chae-jung—no, the impostor—thrust out a palm strike, forcing Yi Ho-chang back.
He then tore off the human-skin mask covering his face.
Revealed was the face of a young man scarred deeply across it.
He said,
"One more question."
"Ask away."
"The right arm makes sense, but how did you know before that? You were testing me, right?"
He was spot on.
Yi Ho-chang smirked and tapped his nose.
"I smelled it."
"Smelled?"
"Yeah, a smell. The kind only you scum give off."
The smell.
More precisely, an aura.
So faint that even Nang Yo hadn't noticed, but Yi Ho-chang had.
It was none other than demonic energy.
'That's why I had my suspicions.'
But Yi Ho-chang could distinguish it.
Thanks to his Infinite Body and the Dalma Hardened Body he had cultivated under Nang Yo's guidance.
That was why only he sensed it.
Yi Ho-chang asked,
"Since you've come this far, it's to reach the Investigation Hall, right? And to get there means you're after the precepts?"
"You know your stuff."
As Yi Chan-seong had said.
His hunch that the Blood Cult might be after Abbot Gwang Hyang's precepts wasn't unfounded.
Assuming his stance, Yi Ho-chang said,
"Did Faceless send you?"
"You're awfully young and naive. Who reveals their client's name? But I'll tell you mine. I am Neung Un-bi."
Neung Un-bi took his stance as well and said,
"And revealing my face and name means I intend to kill you, little one."
"What did you do with Grandfather?"
"That old coot? Killed him, obviously."
He pointed somewhere toward Mount Song and continued,
"The bastard resisted, so I tore his corpse to shreds and scattered it across the mountain. By now, wild beasts have probably made a meal of him."
"I see."
"Not even shaken?"
He was shaken.
No—furious, precisely.
But from childhood, he had learned to conceal his excitement, no matter what. So it didn't show.
Neung Un-bi shook his head.
"A kid your age with no childish fire."
In that instant, Neung Un-bi drew two darts from his sleeve and hurled them.
A surprise attack to exploit complacency.
But.
Kang! Kang!
Yi Ho-chang blocked both darts effortlessly.
Neung Un-bi's eyes widened.
They should have torn flesh from his arms.
Yi Ho-chang's lips curled up.
"You're no ordinary brat."
In that moment, Yi Ho-chang closed the gap with Neung Un-bi.
His hand shot toward Neung Un-bi's throat.
Neung Un-bi grabbed Yi Ho-chang's hand to demonstrate the difference in power.
Intending to snap it like a twig.
Soon, their hands overlapped.
Neung Un-bi didn't hesitate and twisted.
Crack!
"Gaaahhh!!"
But the scream came from Neung Un-bi himself.
Not Yi Ho-chang's hand, but Neung Un-bi's had snapped.
Yi Ho-chang gripped the broken hand and raised his other, eyes gleaming with murderous intent as he said,
"Don't think you'll die easily."