Chapter 64: Heading for Hanam (4)
Chapter 64: Heading for Hanam (4)
We climbed into the mountains, where there was no sign of anyone. At least, I couldn't sense anyone with my Qi Perception, so I spread a Qi Barrier around Mu-jeong and myself.
"A Qi Barrier!...As I thought, you've reached the Peak Realm. Amitabha."
"You're not jealous that a young fellow like me has already reached the Peak Realm?"
"Heh heh. As one who believes in Buddha, how could I disparage others or feel jealous of them?"
"Even though you eat meat?"
"......Ahem. Surely even Buddha would tolerate eating."
Maybe because he didn't deny eating meat, he came across as a Fallen Monk who reeked of humanity.
Maybe he felt awkward beneath my gaze.
The fellow went on at length, offering excuses he didn't even need to make.
"To begin with, it isn't that monks are forbidden to eat meat. It's forbidden only because eating meat means breaking the precept against killing."
"But you ate it, didn't you?"
"Ahem. I only roasted and ate a bear that had died fighting over territory. As you can see, I didn't kill it in order to eat it. I simply came across the carcass of an animal by chance and roasted it. In that case, it doesn't count as breaking the precept against killing, so eating it is no sin. It's just that the story that monks must not eat meat spread far and wide, and that mistaken belief took root."
Huh. I hadn't known that.
Who would have thought that the reason monks weren't allowed to eat meat was that they mustn't harbor murderous intent? Then a question suddenly occurred to me, and I asked him,
"Then couldn't you eat meat brought in by a hunter?"
"No. The hunter broke the precept against killing for the sake of money. On the other hand, if animals fight each other in nature and one dies, the carcass left behind is also part of nature, so it's all right to eat it."
"Well, that's a rather ambiguous standard."
"That's right. It's truly ambiguous. So much so that it would be better simply not to do it."
Mu-jeong answered with a bitter smile. But if someone who said things like that ate meat, didn't that mean he was going around searching for dead animals and roasting them?
Imagining it, I saw a bald monk flying alone through the mountains, searching for animal carcasses and, whenever he found one, roasting it over a fire and eating it.
No matter how generously I tried to think of him, it seemed impossible to avoid calling him a scoundrel of a monk.
"But how did you become a Fallen Monk and end up being driven out of Shaolin? If that's all you did, they'd send you to the moss-covered, filthy Repentance Cave, make you meditate facing the wall for a year or two, and be done with it."
"I was falsely accused of breaking the precept against killing. If I'm caught, they'll cut the tendons in my limbs and cripple my dantian. I may be a monk, but at heart I'm a martial monk. I had no desire to suffer such punishment for a crime I didn't commit."
At last, we could get to the point.
Just looking at him, it didn't seem as though he was lying when he called it a false accusation.
My intuition told me so.
"What do you mean, a false accusation?"
"I'm being pursued because I learned a secret about Shaolin that I wasn't supposed to know. I can't say any more—"
"Then, even now, I ought to capture you and hand you over to Shaolin Temple."
"—that's the rule, but as a Fallen Monk, it's no concern of mine."
That baldhead really was astonishingly good at looking after himself. Mu-jeong gave an exaggerated shrug as he said this, then began to explain the secret.
"Do you see the Restraint Seals stamped on my forehead?"
"I can see them quite clearly."
Four red dots stamped on his forehead.
I knew that the more of them you had, the higher your rank was within Shaolin Temple. I'd heard that the abbot, who called himself the Buddha's Son, had eight red dots.
"Third-generation disciples have two. Second-generation disciples have four. First-generation disciples have six. The abbot and the elders have eight Restraint Seals."
"What's so secret about that?"
"Would you believe me if I told you these Restraint Seals aren't just stamped on, but have a sorcerous effect?"
"...Huh?"
What was this? It sounded like something I knew.
But perhaps the bald monk mistook my bewildered expression for shock, because he calmly continued,
"Phew. It's only natural to be surprised. Who would have thought that a crooked art like sorcery was being used at Shaolin Temple? To be honest, I don't know the details either. But I learned by chance what effect these seals have as sorcery."
"...What kind of effect?"
"They affect sexual desire. Nine-tenths of the sexual desire in the Shaolin monks who have these carved into them is suppressed."
"......I see."
There was no doubt about it.
'It's the Sorcery Brand.'
The secret this baldhead had learned was the Fortuitous Encounter [Sorcery Brand], which I'd been planning to obtain by visiting Shaolin Temple myself. In the original story, there was a sorcery manual the protagonist happened to discover when he visited to pay his respects to the abbot of Shaolin Temple, who had died in the Great War Between the Orthodox and Demonic Sects.
That was the Sorcery Brand, and it had the effects of contraception and protecting the womb.
Thanks to that Fortuitous Encounter, the protagonist's R-rated scenes increased afterward, and I remembered the comments pouring in from delighted readers.
But who could have imagined that the Sorcery Brand was the Restraint Seal that Shaolin's monks stamped on their foreheads?
"Of course, this sorcery only works on those below First-rate. For experts who have broken through their limits, the sorcery doesn't hold. But reaching the Peak Realm means casting off one's afflictions, attaining a unity between one's outer and inner selves, and becoming perfect at self-control. That's why it's a realm where the sorcery's effects are no longer needed. But... it seems the abbot couldn't give up his sexual desire, even after reaching that realm."
"Did you... happen to catch the Buddha's Son secretly jerking off or something?"
"That would've been a relief."
In an instant, my instincts rang out a fierce warning. A foreboding feeling that there was something even filthier than I'd expected...!
Mu-jeong spoke to me with the look of a man who had seen something he wished he hadn't.
"I saw him... with Senior Brother Mu-bang, the one he'd picked as his successor, going at it through the backside."
"......Wow."
I'd just heard an unbelievable, amazing scandal beyond anything I could've imagined.
Sure, Shaolin Temple was a monastery with nothing but men in it, but still. It wasn't as if they were kidnapping women and raping them—this was an organization led by crazy bastards who were having anal sex with their fellow male disciples.
You could hardly call them anything but a group that followed Buddha in name only, while their boss was no different from the Lust Demon.
Barely recovering from the shock, I asked, "Was the Buddha's Son the Lust Demon?"
"I don't know. All I know is that I happened to see the abbot sharing his bed with Senior Brother Seung-ryong. So I beg you."
Thud.
Mu-jeong dropped to his knees and pleaded with me earnestly.
"Please pretend you never saw this humble monk. Turn a blind eye so that I can flee to the Murim Alliance and reveal the truth, Benefactor Fist Hero."
"Hmm."
"Of course, I know this is a perilous act, no different from making an enemy of Shaolin Temple. But if you truly seek justice, you cannot stand by and let this—!"
Mu-jeong kept rambling on, but I ignored him and sank into my own thoughts.
Was it really a good idea to help Mu-jeong expose the truth about the Restraint Seal? Was that truly the best choice for me?
At my core, I was a lecher who wanted women. If there was a female I wanted, I'd take her into my arms whether she belonged to someone else or not—and if I truly wanted to keep her by my side, I'd make her my wife. I was the lecher of lechers!
To a man like me, another lecher was a shameless son of a bitch who raped the women who might be candidates for my wives.
But what if he was a lecher who fucked men instead?
Should I really let this go? Or was he a dangerous element who might someday fuck a female's hole, meaning I had to eliminate him before that could happen?
Of course, helping the Mu-jeong before me was one option. I could help him, boldly enter Shaolin Temple under the pretense of destroying an evil spell, secretly spirit the thing away, and use the Fortuitous Encounter I'd originally gone looking for myself.
But was that really the best choice? Would it bring me the greatest possible benefit?
If I did that, I'd earn fame for having played a major role in cutting out the rot within Shaolin Temple. But fame wasn't what I truly wanted, was it?
...The decision was made.
Whack.
"Urgh!? W-why...!"
Thud.
Mu-jeong, struck on the back of the neck with a knife-hand, collapsed, resentment in his eyes. Maybe it was because I was a lecher at heart, but I didn't want to lay a hand on a monk, so I'd lifted him with Void Grasp. I was just about to head after the Escort Agency's party, which had gone on ahead, when—
I let down the Qi Barrier and was about to descend, but perhaps they'd sensed my presence. The 18 Arhats emerged from the undergrowth, and I found myself facing them.
'A first-generation disciple? Not bad.'
I hadn't been trying to hide my presence completely, so there had been some energy from the Qi Barrier.
But I hadn't put it on display, either. The fact that they'd sensed it and climbed up the mountain meant there was someone among them who was fairly sensitive to energy.
"Stop!"
Eighteen bald heads raised their staffs and unleashed an imposing aura in my direction.
They were only First-rate at best, but the aura put out by eighteen martial monks who had finished preparing the 18 Arhat Formation was full of wariness.
The martial monk who appeared to be their leader stepped forward, his body faintly illuminated by the Buddha's light.
"Benefactor, forgive this interruption. I am Hu-si, a first-generation disciple of Shaolin Temple. The person you're holding with Void Grasp appears to be Mu-jeong, the Fallen Monk currently being pursued by Shaolin Temple. Is that correct?"
"That's right. I happened upon him by chance while escorting the Escort Agency's party, and subdued him."
"He is a Fallen Monk who killed a fellow monk of the same generation, and a criminal of Shaolin. Please hand him over to us. Shaolin will not forget your kindness."
I could feel the sincerity in his words. The resentment and hatred he felt toward the unconscious Mu-jeong made it clear how desperately he wanted to take him back and punish him.
And yet, amusingly, there was no killing intent.
They knew that the Ten Precepts forbade killing, and the fact that these martial monks faithfully upheld them meant their resolve was strong and upright.
Mu-jeong, who had been shouting that he would expose the abbot's wrongdoing, was the same way. And the leader of the 18 Arhats before me was truly full of righteousness and chivalry.
But... because he was that kind of man, I couldn't hand this guy over to them.
There was no need to talk to them. Ignoring the 18 Arhats, I spoke to the presence that had followed me.
"Chi-chi."
"...You noticed?"
"If I couldn't sense my own wife, I'd be an idiot. More importantly, don't you think it's about time you let some of that killing intent out?"
"Hmm? Is it all right if I deal with them like that? It seems there might be trouble afterward."
"It's fine."
A cruel smile curved across my lips.
"I'll pin the blame on this guy."
"Is that so? Then I won't hold back."
She cloaked herself in killing intent, and her energy answered her will. As overwhelming Demonic Qi spread out—plainly more than mere killing intent—Hu-si's face stiffened, and he shouted.
His Buddha's light resisted Chi-chi's Demonic Qi as best it could.
"Demonic Qi?! They're demonic practitioners! Form the 18 Arhat Formation at once!"
"Yes!"
And so, the Bunny Heavenly Demon and the 18 Arhats clashed.