The Secret in the Book (3)
Body Transfer Skill.
A technique for passing one's accumulated internal energy to another.
Building internal energy requires years of steady cultivation. Yet there was a way to raise one's internal energy level without the need for time—one of them being the Body Transfer Skill.
Typically, it was performed when a master who had decided to retire passed on their internal energy to a disciple.
One couldn't hand over a lifetime's worth of internal energy to just anyone.
The giver would not only weaken in martial prowess but also suffer severe aging symptoms. With their vital energy depleted throughout the body, it was only natural.
If what the master had written in the book was true, then the Shika Heart Method that Seo Baek had cultivated was an internal art that froze the Blood Thread Worm, preventing infection.
In that case, the experts who received Seo Baek's Shika Heart Method via Body Transfer Skill would gain bodies immune to revenant infection.
Like a body impervious to ten thousand poisons.
The birth of experts immune to revenants.
Didn't that mean the end of the revenant outbreak?
But the Body Transfer Skill had one unavoidable problem.
Joo Eun-ri pointed it out.
"The Body Transfer Skill isn't like scooping out a spoonful of internal energy."
"Then what is it?"
"Once performed, it transfers almost all the internal energy accumulated up to that point. And since it has to be passed to the Murim Alliance's experts and the Shaolin monks, there aren't just one or two recipients."
"All of it?"
"Yes. Seo Baek would lose his vital energy and die."
"So to stop the revenant outbreak, you're saying we should sacrifice a junior's life?"
"What an unusually precise example you've given."
"……!"
Wang Yi Sam, having grasped the full situation, was at a loss for words.
Mu Hye raised the book high as if to show it to Seo Baek's group and declared,
"This book does not contain any separate secret technique to stop the revenant outbreak. It only has this one passage written in it. Therefore……."
In that instant, all the windows in the room flew open simultaneously.
Torch-bearing Shaolin monks had already surrounded the room on all sides.
It was just like the scene when they had first captured Joint Faction elder Cheon-un.
But whereas only a dozen or so disciplinary monks had surrounded the room back then, now hundreds of Shaolin monks encircled it in multiple layers, guarding it like an iron fortress.
All the monks of Shaolin Temple had gathered in one place.
To seize Seo Baek!
"Shaolin has decided to safely escort donor Seo Baek to the Repentance Cave and discuss future matters thereafter."
"……!"
A heavy silence fell over the room.
Not only the group but also the Murim Alliance's renowned elders and the Shaolin monks wore grave expressions, silent.
The Repentance Cave, where those guilty of grave sins were confined indefinitely without release.
Two people emerging from there in less than half a shichen? Unprecedented in the history of Shaolin!
From Sichuan to Shaolin, Seo Baek had carried the book his master gave him like his own life, finally delivering it to the temple.
But his mission wasn't to deliver the book.
The true mission from his master was to deliver himself to Shaolin.
Wang Yi Sam protested loudly.
"This makes no sense! Who do you think struggled all the way here to Shaolin…? Ungrateful doesn't even begin to cover it—you can't do this!"
"Donor Wang Yi Sam, Shika Manor's intent is clear."
"Nonsense! Where's the proof that book is real? What if it was switched midway?"
Wang Yi Sam forgot he was speaking to Shaolin's abbot and let rude words fly.
Mu Hye narrowed his eyes, observing Seo Baek's group.
Wang Yi Sam was the only one protesting outright, but everyone else had eyes that refused to accept Shaolin's decision.
Companions who treated the boy expert's affairs as their own.
Just from those eyes, one could sense the life-and-death trials Seo Baek had endured with his comrades on the way to Shaolin.
One could feel how deeply they trusted and relied on each other.
But there was no helping it. To stop the revenant outbreak, sacrificing this much was something they had prepared for.
Of course, to Seo Baek's group, it was far from a small sacrifice.
To the one who had to make it, it would feel like the sky collapsing…….
Mu Hye snapped out of his reverie and spoke.
"Amitabha. Shaolin will leave the choice to donor Seo Baek."
"Choice? What other nonsense are you spouting now?"
As Wang Yi Sam's rude remarks continued, Seo Baek stopped him.
"Senior Wang, that's enough."
"But junior……."
"The abbot is right. The choice is mine."
Seo Baek stepped forward and said,
"Speak."
"Choose. Will you go to the Repentance Cave as Shaolin decides? Or will you fight against the decision?"
Mu Hye's words were direct.
Go willingly, or be dragged there after capture.
If he chose to fight, he'd face not only the renowned Murim Alliance elders before him but also the hundreds of Shaolin monks surrounding the room.
"To stop the revenant outbreak, Shaolin is prepared to make any sacrifice."
His nickname, Red-Faced Guanyin, came from his ever-compassionate smile.
Yet legend said Guanyin Bodhisattva remained a bodhisattva rather than becoming Buddha to save sentient beings.
Mu Hye had lived his life true to that nickname. To save the world, he spared no sacrifice—even his own.
No one in Shaolin now could change the abbot's decision.
"We will give donor Seo Baek an incense stick's worth of time."
With that, Mu Hye stepped back three paces.
Wang Yi Sam grabbed Seo Baek's hand and said,
"Junior, let's not do this—let's leave Shaolin right now!"
"……."
Seo Baek gave no reply.
As Song Hyeon and Joo Eun-ri remained silent, Dang Ryong smirked bitterly and asked Wang Yi Sam,
"With what plan?"
"We'll find a way!"
"A way? This is Shaolin."
"Even if the sky falls, there's a hole to escape through! Weren't you just bragging about killing all the Shaolin monks? Where'd that arrogance go?"
Wang Yi Sam spoke without a care that the abbot and monks could hear.
"That wasn't arrogance—it was a calculation. When they were distracted by the book, it wasn't entirely impossible."
"And now?"
"With the Shaolin baldies already forming a siege, you want to fight our way out? Not a bad way to die if you're that eager."
Considering all Shaolin's monks had gathered, their conversation was perilously reckless.
But no one pointed it out.
The atmosphere didn't allow it.
Thinking Dang Ryong unreasonable, Wang Yi Sam turned to Joo Eun-ri.
"Can't we hide with transformation arts?"
"Talismans aren't miracle cures. Especially roughly drawn paper ones—they're useless against those with profound internal arts."
"Ugh……."
Wang Yi Sam finally turned to Song Hyeon.
Viewing him as a demonic path expert, asking Song Hyeon meant Wang Yi Sam was beyond caring about face.
"Hey, no ideas? You're the best at schemes, aren't you?"
"Infiltration requires scouting the situation first. This is different."
"So you'll just watch your junior get taken?"
"How about we hear what Seo Baek decides first, instead of our own wishes?"
At those words, Wang Yi Sam turned to Seo Baek.
All eyes focused on him.
But Seo Baek stared into empty space, as if Shika Manor appeared there.
If that's Master's will, I will follow.
The night he fled alone, leaving burning Shika Manor behind.
His senior brothers fell one by one blocking the oncoming revenant horde.
Shika Manor had been created from the start to stop the revenant outbreak. The only way not to waste everyone's sacrifice was one…….
A moment later, Seo Baek spoke.
"I'll go to the Repentance Cave."
"Amitabha."
Unlike when capturing Joint Faction elder Cheon-un, the disciplinary monks did not bind Seo Baek with restraint techniques. They simply surrounded him from all sides.
No sign of resistance showed from Seo Baek.
Seo Baek turned and looked at his companions once.
From Sichuan to Shaolin. A journey long if long, short if short.
Wang Yi Sam, like a kind-hearted senior brother.
Song Hyeon, cool-headed yet the greatest pillar of strength, like an eldest brother.
Joo Eun-ri, proud yet warm-hearted, like a younger sister.
Dang Ryong, who felt like a same-sect brother yet might turn foe anytime.
And Yu So Un, absent now but inwardly strong, like a reliable senior.
Seo Baek felt anew grateful to heaven for letting him meet them all.
And regretted not making the time they'd shared even more meaningful.
We will meet again.
He meant to say farewell like that, but for some reason the words wouldn't come, so he simply turned away.
"Jin-mun, escort donor Seo Baek to the Repentance Cave."
The Shaolin monks led Seo Baek into the darkness and vanished.
Wang Yi Sam, standing dazed, lost strength in his legs and collapsed to his knees.
Shaolin Temple, a temple of no words, had monks responsible for the ten precepts its monks must uphold.
Named the Ten Precepts Ten Monks, one for each precept.
But due to the revenant outbreak, many monks had died, and currently, they did not maintain a separate Ten Precepts Ten Monks.
Moreover, sinners headed to the Repentance Cave were likely to have superior martial prowess to an ordinary Shaolin monk.
Thus, the disciplinary monks escorting Repentance Cave prisoners were selected from far superior individuals than the Ten Precepts Ten Monks.
They had been the ones to escort Joint Faction elder Cheon-un first.
Seo Baek too headed to the Repentance Cave, surrounded on all sides by four disciplinary monks.
The disciplinary monks did not suppress Seo Baek with restraint techniques like they had Cheon-un. The abbot Mu Hye had specially instructed to treat him not as a criminal but as a precious guest.
Yet the destination was still the Repentance Cave.
The disciplinary monks watched Seo Baek vigilantly without the slightest lapse.
The Repentance Cave was located apart from Shaolin's other buildings. Seo Baek followed the disciplinary monks, circling nearly halfway around Xiao Shi Peak.
"The Repentance Cave is just ahead."
The leader of the disciplinary monks said to Seo Baek.
Though escorting him, per the abbot's order, they did not treat him as a criminal.
At that moment, the leader halted upon seeing something and commanded,
"Halt."
Seo Baek stopped in place but did not raise his head or look around. His mind swirled with countless thoughts, leaving no room for other concerns.
"Who goes there?"
As the leader asked sternly, a man slowly emerged from the dark thicket.
"Ah, darn it! Where's the privy around here?"
"Privy?"
"Yeah. I gotta go bad, lost my way looking for it. Haha!"
The man scratched his head and laughed innocently.
Appearing in his mid-thirties, he wore a black hood and white robe—not flashy, but giving a rather refined impression.
The disciplinary monks exchanged glances.
Lost his way looking for the privy?
Then why emerge from the path to the Repentance Cave?
Suspicious.
Spotting Seo Baek, the man exclaimed "Ah!" in admiration and stepped closer.
"You're the boy from Sichuan, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Jin Ha-gun of Wudang."
Hearing that, all stray thoughts vanished from Seo Baek's mind, sharpening his focus.
Wudang's foremost disciple, Jin Ha-gun.
One of the experts in soft martial arts who, his master had said, could rival the Shika Heart Method.
The leader blocked the space between Seo Baek and Jin Ha-gun.
"A guest from Wudang?"
"That's right."
"The abbot awaits. Return quickly. The privy is in the opposite direction."
"Ah……!"
Jin Ha-gun turned as if understanding.
But without taking a single step, he spun back.
"Can't do that."
"What do you mean?"
"I have business with that boy."
"This man is a criminal bound for the Repentance Cave! If you don't leave now……."
"Tsk. Does Wudang have reason to heed Shaolin's orders?"
Whoosh.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Jin Ha-gun charged at the disciplinary monks.