Chapter 110: The Old Temple (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: The Old Temple (5)
A completely shaved head, prayer beads in one hand, and an outfit similar to that of a Shaolin martial artist.
I felt a bit reluctant, but his attire was unmistakably that of a monk. He even had the dots on his head.
Were those called gyein [monk's head dots]?
‘One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… Is he a ninth-level monk?’
However, his height, which exceeded two meters, the incredible muscles that filled his entire body, and a savage face that looked like it had killed thousands of people, all brought to mind a depraved monk.
-Hmph! How dare you call me a depraved monk!
“…Could you please stop reading my mind?”
Then again, one of the tales about Vajra Divine Monk was the absurd story of him single-handedly wiping out the absolute masters of the Evil Alliance, including their leader, during the war between the Murim Alliance and the Evil Alliance. The number of martial artists who died in the aftermath couldn't have been a mere two-digit figure.
-Hmph! Who do you take this old one for! I have never committed a single unnecessary killing!
“Ah, yes. By the way, are you… a ghost?”
-I am not.
“Pardon?”
-Long ago, this old one experienced enlightenment, entered nirvana, and escaped the cycle of reincarnation. Thus, what remains here can be seen as the will I possessed in life.
“…”
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
-Simply put, my soul is not here. What you are conversing with is something akin to a passage I wrote while I was alive.
“…I guess written passages can hold conversations these days?”
-It just means that this old one is that great.
In the end, it was just him bragging. A smug smile appeared on the gangster-like face of Vajra Divine Monk.
“So, why did the great Vajra Divine Monk leave a written passage here?”
-I do not know.
“…?”
-Even I do not know everything about myself. Did I not tell you? What remains here is nothing more than a passage I wrote.
The ghost’s finger pointed at me.
Something glinted at the tip of his finger. It was the same golden light I had seen when I opened the wooden box.
-Child who harbors demonic energy (魔). What do you desire, that you have come to this place?
Vajra Divine Monk’s eyes flashed, and a golden lotus bloomed behind his back, reaching its full blossom.
“Keuk?!”
The energy filling the space pressed down on me. It was on a completely different level from what I had felt when I met the Hunter Association’s branch director. It felt as if the entire planet was pulling me down. It was becoming difficult to even stand.
Wooooong!!!
My mana circle pulsed with all its might. Mana coursed violently through my magic circuits, racing throughout my body. Even so, I lacked the strength to resist that energy.
‘It’s do or die…!’
I began to accept the natural mana I had been blocking until now.
Swoooosh-
Even without meditating, I could feel my entire body filling with mana. But in return, excruciating pain and the strain on my magic circuits began to rear their ugly heads.
I clenched my teeth and endured. If I didn't, I'd be flattened on the floor in an instant.
But as time passed, a strange sensation I had never experienced before began to envelop me.
I doubted my eyes. The energy of Vajra Divine Monk that filled the space was being absorbed into me. It was unbelievable.
Only black magic could absorb another person’s energy like this. No, even black magic probably couldn't absorb it in this manner. If it could, black mages would have conquered the world long ago.
A hint of bewilderment flickered in Vajra Divine Monk’s eyes as he looked at me. That must mean this situation was not his intention.
‘Kngh…!!’
Thud.
The excruciating pain and strain I should have been feeling were gradually weakening. Instead, the pressure crushing my entire body grew even stronger. My knees hit the floor.
The energy of Vajra Divine Monk that had flowed into my body was now directly interfering with me.
But that was as far as it would go. I held on with all my strength.
‘Hoo… hoo…’
I caught my breath and focused on myself.
Mana that hadn't gone through the assimilation process couldn't be called my own. But once it was inside my body, it could be considered mine.
Who holds the ownership of a stolen item?
Some might say the original owner, but that only holds true from a legal perspective.
Just as a thief steals an object to gain ownership of it, I, too, would become a thief in this moment.
“Kuaaack…!!”
A wave of magical power swirled around me, growing into a typhoon. I was the regulator at its center, absorbing everything to increase the storm’s scale.
One wrong move and my body could explode.
This was the price for coveting the energy of a transcendent being who had reached an unfathomably high realm. If I were facing Vajra Divine Monk himself, I wouldn't have lasted even 0.1 seconds. Of course, the only reason I could endure this long was because that depraved monk's ghost had no intention of harming me.
‘…There’s no room in my mana circle.’
Exhaling this immense energy would be like trying to let the air out of a balloon with no opening. My whole body would swell up like a balloon and then pop.
Somehow, I had to absorb this energy.
But I had no storage space to contain it.
At this rate, I was really going to die.
‘…!’
On the boundary between life and death, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind. If there was no room in my mana circle, I just had to move the energy and store it somewhere else.
And as it happened, I had another storage space.
My dantian. I would guide this rampaging energy, which felt like it would tear my body apart at any moment, to my dantian.
Of course, the chances of success were extremely low.
Having never learned an internal energy cultivation method, I lacked the ability to even perform Qi Circulation and Breathing properly. The most I had was what Cheon Yeo-hwa had taught me, spartan-style.
Still, I had to do it. If I didn't, I would die.
‘I don’t have time to sit in the lotus position.’
I would do it just as I was.
Cheon Yeo-hwa had said that the lotus position was merely a formality for gathering the energy of heaven and earth.
Do not obsess over a framework someone else has established.
The first-rate feel ki.
The peak embrace ki.
The transcendent wield ki.
What is important is balance and harmony.
That is why those who learn demonic arts cannot be said to have reached the realm of harmony, even if they surpass the Transcendent Realm.
The foundation of the world is the harmony of yin and yang, and the balance of heaven and earth.
Harmony and balance begin by not trying to recklessly suppress and control a vast energy.
Hwoooosh-
One change leads to ten thousand changes.
-And when ten thousand changes converge into one…
Harmony and balance align.
*
When I opened my eyes, the depraved monk's ghost was gone.
For a moment, I wondered if it had all been a dream, but the Prajna Divine Pill in my inventory and the tremendous energy I could feel in my dantian told me it hadn't been.
‘To succeed even after passing out in the middle of absorbing the energy means…’
That depraved monk's ghost must have helped me.
I couldn't understand it. He knew I harbored demonic energy. Even for a depraved monk, how could someone who was once the abbot of the Shaolin Temple help me, a person with demonic energy?
“…I don’t get it.”
I collapsed onto the floor again. Absorbing all that energy was certainly a good thing, but as a backlash, I was so exhausted I couldn't even lift a finger.
In that state, I observed myself.
Originally, compared to the vast magic in my mana circle, my dantian held only a pittance of demonic energy. But now, my mana circle and dantian were in a state of balance.
That’s how immense the amount of energy I had absorbed was.
And there was one more thing that made me doubt my eyes.
‘…There’s still demonic energy left?’
It was hard to believe.
The energy I had absorbed was the very definition of purity.
It was so transparent and clean that it felt like natural mana that had been filtered one more time.
Of course, since it was the internal energy Vajra Divine Monk had accumulated based on a Buddhist cultivation method, it was natural for it to be pure. That’s why I had thought my demonic energy would be swept away and disappear.
But the demonic energy remained in a corner of my dantian, making its presence known.
‘How is this possible?’
I forced my exhausted body to sit up in the lotus position. I knew I shouldn't obsess over formalities, but honestly, this posture was the most comfortable.
Observing my dantian, I couldn't help but be surprised. The energy I had absorbed was intentionally not consuming the demonic energy, in order to achieve harmony with it.
As if it had a will of its own.
‘…Harmony and balance.’
The energy I absorbed is yang, and the demonic energy is yin.
When yin and yang achieve harmony and strike a balance, the Taegeuk is formed.
In the future, when my demonic energy fully matured and could achieve harmony and balance, I would surely break through a wall. Of course, that didn't mean a wall in my realm as a mage.
It was a realm as a martial artist, not a mage.
“Ha… It’s going to be a pain to find a martial art worth learning.”
Having a fortuitous encounter was great, but my progress was all mixed up. I hadn't learned a single martial art, yet I possessed a dantian and a tremendous amount of internal energy.
It wouldn't be strange if my body collapsed at any moment.
-Hmph! To think you would go looking for a martial art to learn! What nonsense are you spouting when you have already learned this old one’s martial art!
“?!”
Suddenly bursting through the wall was none other than Vajra Divine Monk.
“…Didn’t you pass on to the afterlife?”
-I am neither a soul nor a ghost, so why would I pass on, you fool. Always think before you speak.
“…”
If I had learned black magic and knew necromancy, could I have beaten up this damn depraved monk?
The thought crossed my mind for a brief moment.
“…Anyway, what do you mean I’ve learned a martial art?”
-It is as I said. Is that not what you wanted?
“Pardon?”
-Your realm is currently too shallow to handle it all, but you will naturally come to understand when the time is right.
“Don’t tell me what I absorbed wasn’t just energy, but…”
-The very essence of the Formless Vajra Art. Did you truly believe this old one’s martial art could be contained in a single book?
“Isn’t that how all martial arts manuals work?”
-Let me ask you in return: can all of creation be contained in a single book?
Impossible. It might be possible if the book had tens of millions of pages, but that could no longer be considered a book.
“Well, then how am I supposed to train?”
-That is for you to figure out on your own.
“…?”
-You took the Prajna Divine Pill, absorbed this old one’s energy, and even received the Formless Vajra Art. That should be enough, what more do you want? Tsk, tsk. I set the table for you, and now you want me to spoon-feed you as well.
I seriously wanted to hit him just once. I forcibly suppressed the anger boiling inside me. I even suffered a slight internal injury in the process. It was minor enough to heal on its own, but that’s how badly I wanted to beat up that depraved monk.
“Hoo… Can I ask one more thing?”
-Make it quick.
“The room you can’t leave without having sex. Did you make that?”
-You ask the obvious.
“…You really are a depraved monk. You weren't kicked out of the Shaolin Temple in your later years instead of leaving on your own, were you?”
-Insolence! Do you intend to insult this old one?!
“Kuaaaack?!!”
The energy pressed down on me. It was clearly weaker than before, but my body wasn't in any condition to handle it.
“Hah, hah… You… you crazy fucking monk…”
The pressure from the energy lasted only for an instant, but it was more than enough time to leave me a wreck.
-I was born and raised within the embrace of Shaolin and devoted my entire life to training. The idea of loving someone was an unnecessary question, an emotion to be discarded in order to reach nirvana. But as the time to let go of everything approached, I suddenly became curious. What exactly is the love between a man and a woman?
“…So you did make it because you wanted to watch other people have sex. By the way, were you that jealous of me and Sowol? We were about to go for another round, and you were banging on the door, raising all sorts of hell for us to stop…”
-This little bastard…
CRACK!
“Kuaaaaaack!!”
*
Crushed once again by the oppressive energy, Kang Hyun-woo finally passed out.
Then, something strange happened.
The magic in his mana circle and the energy in his dantian began to move on their own, starting to heal his internal injuries.
It was the result of entrusting his body to the natural order, not fighting against the flow of water.
Vajra Divine Monk quietly looked down at Kang Hyun-woo.
A strange child who had escaped reincarnation without even reaching nirvana.
He deviated from principle, yet his very existence was the natural order.
-Amitabha, do not forget.
Vajra Divine Monk’s Earth-Touching Mudra touched Kang Hyun-woo’s lower abdomen.
A golden wave surged, and the last of his remaining energy enveloped Kang Hyun-woo.
-Your present self is the work of your past self. Therefore, your future self will be the work of your present self. More important than the past and more precious than the future are your actions right here and now. So, question even your trivial decisions and strive to make the right judgments.
A wind blew from somewhere, and he vanished completely.
-My disciple.