Exiled Monk (5)
“Now, make your choice.”
Some might curse Hyeon Yucheon for his ruthless and heartless hand.
But Hyeon Yucheon was entangled with Shaolin through bitter enmities—Hongbulgeom Jonghun, Fist Buddha Cheollim Seonsa, and others.
How could he possibly show mercy?
‘Today is the perfect opportunity.’
Hyeon Yucheon thought as much.
The Four Guardian Kings and Eighteen Arhats had ventured out alone, away from Shaolin Temple.
Exaggerating a bit, they represented half of Shaolin's forces. Crushing them all would be as good as completing half his revenge against Shaolin.
Grind!
At the Demon Sword Prince Hyeon Yucheon's words, Leper Hand Thousand Hands Jindong, leader of the Eighteen Arhats, ground his teeth.
He loathed himself for feeling both despair and fear toward Hyeon Yucheon.
‘Has our Shaolin ever crumbled like this before a single foe?’
To be precise, it wasn't all of Shaolin—just the Four Guardian Kings and Eighteen Arhats. Fist Buddha Cheollim Seonsa still remained.
“Do you truly intend to make an enemy of our temple? We'll take Jeong Myeong and leave quietly. Let us go.”
Even facing death, he was a righteous martial artist of the orthodox world—a monk of Shaolin, forever at the pinnacle. His pride held firm.
He invoked Shaolin's prestige once more, but it only backfired.
“Shaolin is the one that made an enemy of me. From the moment they killed my parents and master.”
It ignited the cold fury in Hyeon Yucheon's chest, who had been trying to handle things calmly.
And one more thing.
“Didn't you lot officially expel that little monk over there? So he's no longer part of Shaolin. Therefore...”
Swish!
Hyeon Yucheon turned his gaze to Jeong Myeong.
“Whether that friend goes back to Shaolin or somewhere else is entirely his own free will.”
He wasn't wrong.
Shaolin Abbot Cheollim Seonsa had officially expelled and excommunicated Jeong Myeong. Strictly speaking, he was no longer affiliated with Shaolin.
Of course, sect laws demanded the recovery of Shaolin-taught martial arts and inner power—severing the limbs' meridians and crippling the dantian.
“Well then, Little Monk Jeong Myeong. What will you do? Follow them back to Shaolin? Or come with me to the Demon Sword Sect?”
Hyeon Yucheon proposed.
His languid whisper resembled a devil's temptation.
“...”
Jeong Myeong pondered briefly.
In truth, there was no real dilemma.
No matter how much he owed Shaolin, who would volunteer to have their limbs crippled and dantian destroyed?
More importantly...
‘I did nothing wrong. Shaolin is the one at fault—not me!’
The little monk Jeong Myeong had a firm resolve.
“I don't know if I'm right or wrong... but for now, I want to have a deep talk with the Demon Sword Sect Leader.”
Jeong Myeong had always been curious about him.
Hyeon Yucheon's ideology, thoughts, the completion of his revenge—and above all, how far this martial artist would reach.
In a way, Jeong Myeong might have been seeking a true lord worthy of his service.
“Jeong Myeong! And you call yourself the abbot's disciple?!”
Jindong, head of the Eighteen Arhats, couldn't contain his rage at Jeong Myeong's decision and bellowed.
From Shaolin's perspective, it looked like Jeong Myeong was betraying his master to join the Demon Sword Sect.
“It was the abbot who first severed our master-disciple bond and tried to kill me completely. I...”
Jeong Myeong squeezed his eyes shut.
Between his furrowed brows swirled regret, apology, relief, and the thrill of doing right.
“Did nothing wrong!”
Smirk!
Hyeon Yucheon let out a faint smile as he heard Jeong Myeong's triumphant shout.
He was growing fond of this talent.
It wasn't just the satisfaction of stealing Shaolin's top late-stage prodigy from the orthodox world.
‘Perhaps the true revenge on Shaolin will be completed not by me, but by this Jeong Myeong.’
With that thought, Hyeon Yucheon glanced at So Jaun.
It meant Jeong Myeong's skills were the lowest among them, so the Haomen leader should escort him.
Nod!
So Jaun stepped forward, leading the excited Jeong Myeong to the rear.
Now, only those left to clean up the hall remained.
The Demon Sword Sect Leader Hyeon Yucheon and his two senior brothers—the last disciples left by Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang in this world.
“Are you ready?”
Hyeon Yucheon asked.
Not to the Eighteen Arhats.
“Of course.”
“Leave it to us.”
Ga Jinuk and Eum Ji-myeong grinned brightly in response.
They truly enjoyed roaming like this as a trio.
In a sect, they were revered but couldn't cut loose freely.
Ga Jinuk as leader of the Blood Dragon Room, Eum Ji-myeong as acting sect leader in Hyeon Yucheon's absence managing the Demon Sword Merchant Association.
But together, they reverted to their old selves—like childhood friends or blood brothers.
“E-Eighteen Arhats! All of you, retreat!”
Startled by their aura, Leper Hand Thousand Hands Jindong ordered a full withdrawal.
‘What choice do we have?’
His mind screamed to fight to the end, but honestly, he was terrified.
Even a high monk who had amassed merit feared death.
Whoosh!
Jindong led by example, fleeing first.
Along with his survival instinct came another thought.
‘I must report today's events to the abbot.’
He had a mission.
As leader of the Eighteen Arhats, he had to deliver the humiliating news: the Four Guardian Kings fell to the Demon Sword Sect Leader, and Little Monk Jeong Myeong had turned completely.
[Advancing formless sword energy surges forward relentlessly]
And so Hyeon Yucheon's assault began.
As Jindong fled, the momentarily hesitant Eighteen Arhats realized and tried to run madly, but that's when the one-sided massacre started.
Krunch!
Hyeon Yucheon showed no mercy to the fleeing Shaolin disciples.
No—he had been waiting for this day.
‘Shaolin claimed to transcend the righteous-unrighteous divide, uniting them... but betrayed from the shadows.’
It all stemmed from Fist Buddha Cheollim Seonsa's worldly ambitions. Now, true judgment had come.
Led by Hyeon Yucheon, the three strongest of the Demon Sword Sect rampaged.
[Brilliant light erupts, shaking the heavens with overwhelming force]
Not to be outdone by Hyeon Yucheon, Brilliant Light Demon Sword Ga Jinuk unleashed his signature technique.
As his youngest junior grew stronger, Ga Jinuk's Light Extreme Soul-Scattering Sword Strike had grown fiercer too.
[Swift spirit bullets rain down like flying swords]
With Ga Jinuk rampaging, Flash Light Flying Gentleman Eum Ji-myeong couldn't stand idle.
Though inferior to his senior and junior brothers, he was still a rare master.
Daily spars with them had honed his combat experience, making his Flash Light Flying Spirit Swordsmanship one of the Demon Sword Sect's most acclaimed styles.
“Kwaaaagh!”
It was a one-sided slaughter—the descendants of the Demon Sword Ghost Elder hunting their prey.
Soon, the Eighteen Arhats were utterly massacred by the three.
Each a peak-or-higher master, united they feared no one in the world—not even one of the Heaven's Five Venerables. Yet not one survived.
“Does... Shaolin... not fear heaven?”
The last of them, Jindong, glared at Hyeon Yucheon with dying eyes.
“Damn, making me say it again.”
Hyeon Yucheon looked down indifferently and enlightened the clueless man.
“The ones who should fear heaven are Shaolin.”
Slash!
With that, Hyeon Yucheon severed his head.
Shaolin's legendary forces—the Four Guardian Kings followed by the Eighteen Arhats—met an absurd end.
Who would believe they'd been annihilated overnight?
But facts were facts.
‘Now, only Fist Buddha Cheollim Seonsa remains.’
Today's events were a grand triumph.
Shaolin's forces weakened, Cheollim's key cards all cut away.
And he'd even gained the righteous world's top prodigy, Little Monk Jeong Myeong.
“Jeong Myeong, if you follow me to the Demon Sword Sect, there's no turning back. Are you prepared?”
Hyeon Yucheon asked finally.
As he said, Jeong Myeong would now bear many labels.
Exiled monk who betrayed his master.
The man who led Shaolin to ruin.
Public enemy of the righteous martial world.
The Murim Alliance might even mark him for immediate execution.
“I've lived my whole life believing Shaolin was justice, the righteous world heaven itself. But stepping out, I saw my view was so narrow and flawed.”
Seeing Hyeon Yucheon, his eyes sparkled—he felt a true pioneer forging his path.
And overcoming any adversity for revenge stirred a man's blood.
“Now, let me ask.”
Jeong Myeong was bold.
As defiant to his master the abbot, he showed no fear to the Demon Sword Sect Leader.
Nod!
More astonishing was Hyeon Yucheon's reaction.
He smiled brightly, delighted.
When Jeong Myeong questioned, Cheollim Seonsa raged; Hyeon Yucheon laughed.
That was the difference.
Hyeon Yucheon held true justification.
“What is your goal, Sect Leader?”
A predictable question.
“To shatter this rotten, godforsaken martial world.”
As they conversed, Hyeon Yucheon felt a strange déjà vu.
Ah, he'd had a similar bold talk with Immortal Fighter Jeong Chilgyu, the King of Ronin.
‘Generations are truly passing.’
He'd questioned his master's generation, Jeong Chilgyu.
Now his contemporary, Jeong Myeong, questioned him.
Perhaps a positive cycle for this rotten martial world?
“What after achieving your purpose?”
The answer was simple.
“See the end of martial arts.”
Farmers farm, blacksmiths forge.
Scholars study letters; martial artists pursue martial learning.
Born a martial artist, Hyeon Yucheon aimed for its pinnacle.
“Will the martial world you rebuild be just and righteous?”
Jeong Myeong was perceptive.
He saw destroying the current world meant recreating it.
“No, not at all. I'd have become a righteous martial artist if I wanted that.”
Hyeon Yucheon's answers always exceeded expectations.
“Wha?! Then you'll become a villain...?”
As Jeong Myeong pressed, Hyeon Yucheon flicked his forehead like lightning.
Thwack!
“Aaaack!”
The pain felt like his skull splitting, brain popping out. Jeong Myeong rolled on the ground.
“Do your eyes see only good and evil, black and white?”
Hyeon Yucheon pointed out Jeong Myeong's rigid dichotomies, teaching flexibility.
“If you're curious about the future martial world, watch from my side. I'll always live true to myself.”
Leave if you don't like it.
Unlike Shaolin's demand to surrender everything upon departure.
Jeong Myeong loved that—the Demon Sword Prince Hyeon Yucheon.
“I'll follow you to the Demon Sword Sect.”