The Secret Contained in the Book (1)
The source of the footsteps was Cheon-un, the elder of the Joint Faction.
He glanced outside once before closing the door.
When he turned around, the letter lay on the table exactly as Mu Hye, the abbot, had left it.
A paltry letter like this contained the secret technique to stop the revenant outbreak?
Cheon-un sneered, but contrary to his thoughts, he walked to the table and picked up the letter.
Mu Hye had said he would reveal the letter in front of everyone in one hour.
That left him half an hour.
The problem was how to open the seal.
As Cheon-un examined the letter, a sly smile crept across his face. The seal was more sloppy than he'd expected.
The key to a proper seal was ensuring any tampering left a trace, so one could tell if someone else had peeked at it midway.
But this seal was utterly amateurish. He could open it, read the contents, and reseal it without anyone suspecting a thing.
Cheon-un carefully peeled off the seal without leaving any trace.
He had possessed an extraordinary memory since childhood.
When learning martial arts, he could mimic any move after seeing it once without forgetting. Even if he didn't understand the contents of a martial arts manual, he could memorize every character.
The Joint Faction was located at a key pass that merchants and escort agencies passed through on their way to the Western Regions. Cheon-un had fully exploited his innate memory to collect tolls and solidify the faction's finances.
Thanks to Cheon-un's exploits, the Joint Faction was swimming in money.
Afterward, they had used massive bribes to forge connections with the imperial court.
'Stopping the revenant outbreak must be led by the imperial court.'
That was Cheon-un's conviction as the representative of the Joint Faction.
If the court couldn't lead it? Better for the revenant outbreak to continue indefinitely.
'If Shaolin claims the credit for stopping the revenants, it's better for the world to stay in chaos.'
Half an hour was plenty.
He would memorize the entire letter and slip out of Shaolin when the chance arose.
Then, delivering the secret technique against the revenants to the court would bring him and the Joint Faction eternal wealth and glory!
It was just as Cheon-un unfolded the letter with a triumphant smile.
Bang!
The doors front and back of the abbot's chamber, along with the windows on either side, flew open. The dim interior of the chamber was instantly flooded with light from outside.
Cheon-un whipped his head around in confusion and gaped in shock.
Mu Hye and Shaolin monks holding torches had surrounded the abbot's chamber from all sides.
"Amitabha."
Mu Hye's benevolent face had turned as cold as ice.
As he entered the chamber, Seo Baek's group and the renowned elders of the Murim Alliance followed behind.
Seo Baek pointed at the letter in Cheon-un's hand.
"That letter is a fake."
"A fake?"
"Yes. There's no secret technique to stop the revenant outbreak in it. In fact, I don't even know what's written inside."
"……!"
Before leaving the Underground Hall, Seo Baek had grabbed a thick letter, sealed it, and taken it out.
It was only natural he didn't know the contents.
He had prepared the letter deliberately for this very moment—to root out the court spy hiding in Shaolin.
Only then did Cheon-un realize he had fallen into a trap. As his plan crumbled, he ground his teeth and revealed his true colors.
"Red-Faced Kwan-eum, you've lured me into a trap?"
"The trap was Seo Baek's proposal."
"That brat?"
What was being sent from Shika Manor to Shaolin wasn't a letter, but a book. Mu Hye had known this long ago.
Yet Seo Baek had suddenly produced a letter.
Mu Hye had suspected Seo Baek was plotting something clever. Suggesting they open it in one hour had been an impromptu decision on Mu Hye's part.
It would give the spy enough time to act.
Without exchanging a single word or even a transmission, Seo Baek and Mu Hye had devised the scheme with just a glance.
Their plan had succeeded brilliantly.
"To fall into a trap set by a kid not even in his twenties... How did you know I was the spy?"
"I didn't."
"What?"
"I only suspected one of the four renowned elders was the spy. I had no idea who."
"Then how..."
"In truth, we monitored all four of you."
"……!"
Not only Cheon-un, but Myeongwol-ja, Cheongheo Jin-in, and Gu Jung-hak's eyes sharpened.
"This monk ordered the four of you to be watched discreetly. Amitabha."
"……."
In a situation where they didn't know who the spy was,
Mu Hye had commanded the Shaolin monks to monitor the elders secretly.
When Cheon-un finally moved, Mu Hye summoned the other three elders. Then, with Seo Baek's group, they had raided Cheon-un as he tried to peek at the letter.
"Even if not a spy, I figured you'd all want to see the letter."
At Seo Baek's words, Myeongwol-ja of Huashan sharply retorted.
"Do you think Huashan would stoop to stealing a mere letter?"
"Isn't it? Huashan needs the secret technique to stop the revenants just like anyone else, right?"
"……."
"I just thought non-spies wouldn't act rashly."
"What's your reasoning?"
"Huashan, Kunlun, and Hengshan all wield great influence in the Central Plains martial world, don't they? Those with much to lose don't move lightly."
"……!"
The elders' eyes changed at his words.
Until now, they had dismissed him as a mere boy not yet in his twenties, but now their gazes held inner admiration.
Seo Baek was right. If Huashan or Kunlun stole the letter, they'd forever sour relations with Shaolin.
No, beyond that, they'd face shame and ostracism across the Central Plains martial world—it was obvious!
Hengshan was no different, sharing the same circumstances.
Even as the lowest of the Nine Great Sects, how many sects had faded away without even that status?
Better to content themselves with their current prestige than risk rebellion against Shaolin for no gain.
Seo Baek's words pierced the heart of the matter.
The three elders, who had scorned the boy, now saw him anew.
Myeongwol-ja asked again.
"What about the Joint Faction? Don't they have much to lose too?"
"The Joint Faction has ties to the court—no, the imperial family."
At that, Myeongwol-ja fell silent for a moment.
It was public knowledge in the Central Plains that Wudang and Huashan had court connections. But the Joint Faction had quietly aligned itself too...
"Even if caught and the plan failed, they had no choice. Staying put would defy an imperial command."
Seo Baek referenced the Underground Hall incident.
The Underground Hall, a subordinate faction of the Murim Alliance, had colluded with the court and devolved into a spy network.
Mu Hye had already learned of it from Jin-mun's report.
"Amitabha. The Underground Hall affair was Shaolin's failing."
"……."
Now, whenever Seo Baek spoke, the elders nodded in agreement instead of dismissing him.
"If caught stealing the letter, the worst case would be burning it."
"You insolent brat, spewing nonsense! Do you think the Joint Faction would do such a thing?"
Cheon-un couldn't hold back his rage and bellowed.
But the tremor in his voice revealed that Seo Baek had struck true once more.
The secret technique to stop the revenants must be known only to him. If not, better to burn it.
A truly selfish notion.
Yet the elders could understand Cheon-un's inner thoughts. The Central Plains martial world was a place where one survived only by being ruthless, without blood or tears.
Thus, the boy who had seen through it all and turned the tables with a trap seemed all the more remarkable.
-He's from Sichuan, right?
The elders gazed at Seo Baek, lost in their own thoughts.
-In peacetime, he'd be a promising young expert who'd win tournaments.
-There was a time when such boy and girl prodigies emerged one after another.
-No. Heroes arise in times of chaos!
As the elders admired Seo Baek,
"I know the crime of defying the imperial command!"
Cheon-un charged at Seo Baek.
His lifelong achievements crumbling to a boy's scheme had ignited his fury.
Mu Hye and Jin-mun leaped from either side to block Seo Baek.
But Cheon-un was already upon him. His lightness skill far exceeded expectations.
Everyone was stunned.
-The Joint Faction elder was hiding his martial prowess.
It wasn't surprising, really.
The Joint Faction, tied to the court, wouldn't send an incompetent as a spy to Shaolin for such a perilous task.
Mu Hye and Jin-mun looked visibly flustered.
'We were careless.'
They hadn't anticipated an elder of the Joint Faction would go this far even after exposure.
Whoosh.
Cheon-un unleashed a fist strike at Seo Baek's chest.
The Joint Faction's secret ultimate technique, Seven Injuries Fist, which shattered internal meridians, exploded forth.
With his identity exposed and everything ruined, he aimed to kill the boy and perish together!
In that instant, Seo Baek extended his open palm toward Cheon-un's fist to block it.
Mu Hye and the elders were startled.
'The boy's schemes are brilliant, but he lacks real combat experience.'
The Seven Injuries Fist that had made the Joint Faction's name resound in the Central Plains.
It wasn't mere external martial arts. One needed long years of cultivating the faction's internal art to unleash its true power.
Yet Seo Baek's technique resembled a golden na palm.
Using golden na palm to block or deflect a fist strike seemed optimal at first glance.
The problem was that the profound internal energy-laden Seven Injuries Fist couldn't be blocked or diverted by mere golden na palm.
In the end, Seo Baek's palm would bounce away, and Cheon-un's fist would smash his chest!
Seeing Seo Baek deploy what looked like golden na palm, Cheon-un scoffed inwardly.
'Even if I'm exposed and captured by Shaolin, I'll take this enemy's life!'
He poured the power of his ten-year cultivation into the Seven Injuries Fist against Seo Baek's palm.
That was when it happened.
Slap.
Cheon-un's fist and Seo Baek's palm collided—and stuck together?
It looked like children playing rice-barley game.
The Seven Injuries Fist was a domineering art that destroyed everything. If it failed to crush the opponent, it crushed the user instead. Hence its name—said to injure all seven internal organs.
To envelop such a fist strike with a palm.
An unbelievable sight, even witnessing it firsthand.
In that moment, Cheon-un felt a chilling energy burrow into his fist.
'Internal energy true qi?'
A tidal wave of internal energy true qi surged in an instant.
The icy true qi, like the ice of the North Sea, froze his fist, then raced up his arm to his shoulder in a flash.
'……!'
Realizing something was wrong, Cheon-un poured all his power to retract his fist.
Splurt. The fist and palm, stuck like magnet to iron, barely separated.
Expending all his strength to pull free, Cheon-un lost balance and tumbled backward.
Crash!
For a Joint Faction elder to be defeated by a boy not yet in his twenties—utterly humiliating.
But Cheon-un had no time for shame. He was too shocked.
"Th-this is... the Western Frontier's martial art..."
At that moment, Mu Hye signaled the Shaolin monks with his eyes.
The monks pounced like leopards, encircling Cheon-un from all sides.
Two grabbed his arms from either side, while one wrapped his thick forearm around Cheon-un's neck from behind.
It was Shaolin's restraint technique for escorting criminals—any attempt to escape would snap both arms and the neck.
As the monks' methods turned ruthless, Cheon-un shouted.
"Shaolin is a Buddhist sect—do you intend to kill a man?"
"Shaolin has no intention of killing the layman."
Cheon-un briefly sighed in relief.
But at Mu Hye's next words, he was utterly aghast.
"Take the Joint Faction elder to the Penance Cave."