Chapter 81
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Kill the Buddha
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Upon reaching the latrine, Cho Ak-ryang waited for the guest monk who had guided him to leave before melting into the shadows.
Given the tense atmosphere at Shaolin, monks were stationed everywhere, so there was no reason for the guest monk to wait.
“If it’s for Beom Gye-wi…”
Cho Ak-ryang thought of Beom Gye-wi as he left the latrine.
Moving down from the latrine, he came upon a vast vegetable garden spread out below a steep slope.
He crossed it and infiltrated the temple grounds once more.
He concealed his presence as much as possible and waited in hiding for a moment.
A glint appeared in Cho Ak-ryang’s eyes.
“That should do.”
It was the Shaolin pagoda that worshippers saw first upon entering.
While not of great historical value, it held significant meaning as the first stone pagoda one saw upon entering Shaolin.
Just as Cho Ak-ryang, having chosen his target, gathered immense internal energy in his fist…
“Is this that signature weapon of Mang Mountain's Thistle?”
A voice speaking a familiar title reached him from a distance.
“The Arhats’ Zen staffs are heavy, but this is on another level. How is one supposed to wield this thing?”
“It’s an ominous object, so pay it no mind. That reputation was built on feeding it blood. How many lives have been lost to this wicked thing?”
Hearing their conversation, Cho Ak-ryang changed his plan.
‘This is more like Beom Gye-wi.’
Following the voices, he saw monks carrying something while chatting amongst themselves.
Although it was wrapped in cloth, its length and weight made it clear that it was Beom Gye-wi’s Great Thistle Staff.
“Did that man really show up here?”
“That’s none of our business. We just have to take it to the warehouse as ordered.”
Once the monks who had gone into the warehouse came out and disappeared, Cho Ak-ryang made his move.
He slipped into the warehouse, confirmed it was Beom Gye-wi’s Great Thistle Staff, and carried it out.
He scanned his surroundings for a moment, getting his bearings.
Cho Ak-ryang then launched himself into the air.
In the blink of an eye, having leaped nearly a hundred paces, a building came into his view.
The very center of the grand temple complex.
It was the Main Buddha Hall, which boasted the largest scale in the Shaolin Temple.
For a moment, a chilling glint flashed in Cho Ak-ryang’s eyes.
At the same time, Beom Gye-wi’s Great Thistle Staff had already become a streak of light.
Leaving Cho Ak-ryang’s hand, the Great Thistle Staff shot straight toward the Main Buddha Hall.
*CRASH!*
With a thunderous roar that shook the very earth, the Great Thistle Staff pierced through a wall and vanished.
‘This is the interest on the debt for messing with me.’
It was then that he saw figures rushing toward the Main Buddha Hall.
Judging by their swift movement techniques, they were undoubtedly the Arhats.
The urge to rush them and collect the principal on his debt surged within him.
But doing so would ruin Dan Ak-seon’s purpose.
‘I’ll let it slide for now.’
Forcibly suppressing his boiling bloodlust, Cho Ak-ryang landed on the ground.
‘This should be enough to clear any suspicion, right?’
Thinking of Beom Gye-wi, who must be on pins and needles by now, Cho Ak-ryang smiled silently.
Most of the monks would think Beom Gye-wi had thrown the Great Thistle Staff. However, Beom Gye-wi himself was with the other worshippers, under the watch of the guest monks.
It was a method that applied the principle of feinting to the east to attack the west—diverting attention to clear suspicion.
Cho Ak-ryang retraced his steps back to the latrine, then changed his expression and leisurely returned to the hall where the worshippers were.
The atmosphere there, however, was in utter chaos, like a disturbed ant nest.
With the Guest Hall Master having rushed toward the Main Buddha Hall, the guest monks were sweating profusely, trying to calm the anxious worshippers.
Just then, Beom Gye-wi approached Cho Ak-ryang and asked in a low voice.
“What in the world did you do?”
“I just imitated you for a bit.”
“Imitated me?”
“Yes. Now they won’t suspect you.”
After hearing Cho Ak-ryang’s explanation, Beom Gye-wi flared up in anger.
—Hmph! So you went and had all the fun by yourself?
—Do you have a better idea?
At a loss for a reply, Beom Gye-wi looked abashed and turned his gaze toward the Main Buddha Hall.
“By the way, will it be alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“Physician Dan. I was just wondering if this commotion might ruin his reason for coming here.”
Cho Ak-ryang flinched.
After a long moment of deep thought with a serious expression, Cho Ak-ryang suddenly spoke.
“One thing is for certain.”
“...?”
“This whole mess happened because of you.”
“What?”
Cho Ak-ryang avoided Beom Gye-wi’s gaze.
“I am innocent.”
“You shameless…!”
As Beom Gye-wi erupted, several worshippers and monks turned their heads toward them.
Beom Gye-wi had no choice but to shut his mouth.
The same went for Cho Ak-ryang.
He did his best to ignore Beom Gye-wi’s sharp, dagger-like stare.
A monk’s chamber, prepared on one side of the Guest Hall.
On what should have been a hard bed lay a soft, plush mattress.
It was a courtesy from Shaolin for their benefactor.
Han Seol-hwa sat beside the bed, quietly watching the sleeping Dan Ak-seon.
He was so exhausted that he slept without the slightest movement.
Watching him with a look of pity, Han Seol-hwa gently reached out her hand. She then brushed back the strands of his sweat-soaked hair that were stuck to his forehead.
How much time had passed like that?
“...?”
Han Seol-hwa’s gaze momentarily shifted toward the ceiling.
To protect Dan Ak-seon, she had spread a net-like sense of energy in all directions.
‘What on earth are they doing?’
In the sky, at a dizzying height.
The fierce torrent of energy raging there was unmistakably Cho Ak-ryang’s.
In that instant.
*CRASH!*
A shockwave, accompanied by a deafening roar, slammed into the Guest Hall, shaking the building.
Han Seol-hwa’s eyes turned cold for a moment.
The shock had woken the sleeping Dan Ak-seon.
Just then, the door opened and a guest monk entered.
“Are you alright?”
“What happened?”
At Han Seol-hwa’s question, the guest monk wore a troubled expression.
“A man named Beom Gye-wi has attacked the Main Buddha Hall. I came to check on you, just in case.”
“What?”
For a moment, Han Seol-hwa doubted her own ears.
The person her senses had detected was definitely Cho Ak-ryang.
“The Abbot himself has stepped in with the Arhats, so the situation will soon be under control. Please wait here until then. The man is known to be quite ferocious, so please be careful.”
The guest monk bowed politely and withdrew.
Just then, Dan Ak-seon tried to sit up.
Han Seol-hwa stopped him and spoke.
“You need more rest.”
“I think I just heard Uncle Beom’s name?”
“It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry. I’ll explain when you wake up. So rest easy and sleep more.”
Blinking his bloodshot eyes, Dan Ak-seon nodded. Then he quickly fell back asleep.
“What in the world are these fools up to?”
Han Seol-hwa extended her senses and began searching for traces of Cho Ak-ryang.
But his presence had already been erased, as if by magic.
Han Seol-hwa let out a soft sigh.
‘Should I have just sealed his demonic acupoints before I left?’
She cursed her own foolishness for believing they would wait quietly in the first place.
But for now, there was nothing she could do.
She could only hope they wouldn’t cause any more major trouble.
At the same time.
“Amitabha…”
A venerable Buddhist invocation escaped Beopyeon’s lips.
The decades of cultivation he had accumulated since becoming a disciple of Buddha.
The death of his disciple, Ryobeom, and the illness of his brother-in-faith, Beopyo, had not completely shattered the sliver of composure he had maintained. But at this moment, it was crumbling entirely.
No matter how hard he tried not to be consumed by the anguish of this sudden disaster, he couldn't control his thoughts.
The catastrophe unfolding before his eyes was that shocking.
The Buddhist monk Bátuó, who came from India during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei.
The head of the Buddha statue, which had guarded the central lotus throne of the Main Hall for over a thousand years since the founding of the Shaolin Temple by him, was now rolling on the floor.
It was the wooden statue of Shakyamuni, enshrined as the main Buddha.
Embedded in the completely shattered neck was a brutish iron staff that looked massive at a single glance.
It was an unprecedented disaster in the thousand-year history of Shaolin.
Beyond anger, Beopyeon was in a state of confusion that surpassed bewilderment; he couldn't collect his wits.
The sight was so unbelievable, even seeing it with his own eyes.
As Beopyeon stood speechless from the shock, a man bowed his head to him.
It was the Master of the Arhat Hall, Ryogong, who had rushed ahead with his Arhats.
“I apologize.”
“It is not your fault.”
“No, it is. It is my failure for not properly managing that weapon, even knowing it belonged to Mang Mountain's Thistle.”
Beopyeon’s eyes, which had been downcast, flickered with anger.
“That man… have you found Beom Gye-wi?”
“Not yet. But we are searching the surrounding area thoroughly, so we should find a trace of him soon.”
“He has no great grudge against us, so why would he do such a thing…?”
“Could it not be because of the Martial Alliance? I heard he recently appeared at the Hundred Swords Gate, a subsidiary of the Alliance, and caused great damage.”
“Hah.”
A sigh escaped Beopyeon, and an unconcealable feeling of regret surfaced in his eyes.
“The debt we owe the Namgung Family is so great.”
Realizing the meaning behind those words, Ryogong’s face grew heavy.
During the War of Righteousness and Demons.
Shaolin could not absolve itself of responsibility for the death of the previous head of the Namgung Family, who had fought alone against the onslaught of the Demonic Cult.
This was also why they couldn't refuse Namgung Baek’s request to lend Shaolin’s masters for the subjugation of Cho Ak-ryang.
And now, the blood debt of the past, which had taken his senior brother Ryobeom, had come full circle to bring another disaster.
Sighing as if the ground would collapse, Beopyeon once again chanted a Buddhist invocation.
What roused him was a person’s voice.
“Did the earth collapse? Or did the sky fall? Why are you walking toward the abyss on perfectly good legs?”
“Grandmaster…”
Hyegong, who had approached Beopyeon unnoticed, cast a reproachful gaze at him.
“Tsk, tsk. White frost has settled above your eyebrows, yet your heart is still too poor to hold a single awl. Where have you let all your years flow away?”
“...!”
“The sun sets, but the road is long! The day is already ending, but the journey is far! When will you ever be ready to receive this old man’s kasaya and alms bowl?”
Beopyeon’s face flushed red.
He was right.
How could he not know the reason why he had delayed the transmission of the robe and bowl until now?
Just as the great patriarch Mazu had done in the past, he was waiting for Beopyeon’s Bodhi-mind to ripen, for him to awaken as a ‘thousand-li horse that tramples the world.’
Sighing, Beopyeon issued an order to those around him.
“Recover the Buddha’s body.”
At those words, Hyegong roared like a thunderclap.
“Buddha’s body? What Buddha’s body! Where in that block of wood rolling over there does the Buddha-nature reside!”
The monks flinched at his shout.
As they stood there, not knowing what to do…
Hyegong strode forward.
At the same time, he swung the Zen staff he was holding.
*CRASH!*
The wooden Buddha, which had maintained its form below the neck, shattered into pieces from the blow.
A stern voice poured out over the figures in the hall, their eyes wide with shock.
“Kill the Buddha, kill the patriarch! It is said, if you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha, and if you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch as well!”
At those words, Beopyeon and the other monks bowed their heads deeply.
The teaching of Linji Yixuan, one of the great patriarchs, pierced their hearts with a sharp pain at that moment.
A great shout to warn against attachment to concepts!
His cry, that one must attain enlightenment even if it means committing the five unpardonable sins, shook the Shaolin Temple across hundreds of years of space and time.
In that instant.
“Huh?”
Someone in the hall let out a cry of bewilderment.
As everyone’s gaze gathered on him, a young monk pointed to a spot with a flustered expression.
“Is that… a sarira?”