Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: What is Shaolin?
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What is Shaolin?
The unbreakable pillar of the Nine Great Sects. Like a massive column.
A lifetime of accumulation proves it. The Scripture Pavilion Master trusted in what he had built without a shred of doubt.
One fist shatters a boulder.
One kick splits a great tree in two.
True qi is like that. External true qi is the same.
The gift that piling up time had bestowed upon him.
But what is this? What in the world is it?
A beast's roar erupts, reaching his fingertips. The Hundred-Pace Divine Fist he unleashed with all his might splits apart before his eyes.
Fangs. Something different about the fangs seeping through the blood-red aura.
The smell of blood. But it's not someone else's blood.
Countless blood mists. Amid them, only one blood felt within.
"...You're...?!"
The unspoken mutter turns to ash in the bloodfire.
"What time have you...?!"
---Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!!
The world crumbles. The world the Scripture Pavilion Master knew shakes and collapses.
The Eighteen Arhats scream. The limbs of the Four Great Vajras who were devoured roll across the ground.
A single technique.
Within that immense, overwhelming pressure...
Shaolin's pillar is swept away.
"Uwaaaaaack!!!"
The Scripture Pavilion Master, smashed into a boulder, vomited blood. He had taken internal injuries earlier, but this was far worse.
His Vajra Indestructible Body, ascended to a new realm, trembles. Unable to withstand the weight of a mere sword, his entire body breaks down.
His energy channels twist. Why? How could this mere youth's martial prowess surpass his own...?
How?!
How in the world?!
With that ordinary sword...?!
"Don't... lie... to me...!"
The sword path itself is ordinary. Straightforward. So rigidly upright it lacks distinction.
It only changes the instant he switches swords. The form remains overall the same. Reading the sword path allows prior preparation, reducing the impact upon reception.
But... this...
This is supposed to lessen that weight...?
The Scripture Pavilion Master pushed aside the rubble with all his strength. He leaped forward, trying to charge once more.
But in the next moment, his knees buckled. Rolling across the ground from the unresolved shock.
He fell. He himself.
Knees that hadn't touched the ground since reaching the Flower Realm now kissed the earth.
To a guy swinging a visible sword, no less...!
"Shaolin... Shaolin... to a mere novice...! Junior brother! Get me up! Right... now...!"
---Kududuk.
A gruesome sound erupts. Something rolls to his side from within the blood-red mist.
The Scripture Pavilion Master turned his head. He stared at the headless body embedded nearby.
A monk with eyes wide open in rage. The head of one who walked the same path as him.
The Arhat Hall Leader's neck.
"J-Junior... brother...?"
---Tebuk.
The sound of footsteps.
The Scripture Pavilion Master instinctively pulled back. Trembling, he crawled backward.
"W-Wait a moment..."
"......"
"W-Wait! Listen to me! I-I... I was ordered to do it! I had no choice!"
"......"
"Listen! Listen to me!"
He retreats.
But the opponent advances just as much.
Something touches his trembling back. Looking around frantically, the Scripture Pavilion Master saw the boulder he had escaped from now behind him.
"D-Don't... kill me..."
He screams until his throat bursts.
"Protect me! Four Great Vajras! Eighteen Arhats! Protect... me! PROTECT MEEEE!!!"
But no one answers.
Blood. Every inch of his vision is covered in blood-red mist.
Within it, only one thing stands properly. The beast walking toward him.
"Y-You... you mad... you CRAZY BASTAAAAARD!!!"
What are you?
What the hell are you?!
The Scripture Pavilion Master gathered his last remaining inner energy with all his might. Forcing his trembling legs to stand, he kicked off the ground.
The Hundred-Pace Divine Fist, perhaps his final strike in life, exploded from his fingertips.
And...
His arm flew into the air.
"Kaaaaaaaack!!!!"
The collapsed Hundred-Pace Divine Fist rolled across the ground. The Scripture Pavilion Master stared, trembling, at his severed right arm.
The same external true qi.
The same realm.
By clashing hands, he knew. They stood in the same place.
But how... how could the difference be so vast...?
"How... how in the world... you're clearly... standing in the same place as me...!"
"The same realm?"
He opens his mouth.
He stands before him.
The gaze looking down is heavy. Daring not to look up, the Scripture Pavilion Master stared only at the ground.
Ah.
His life. That precious life now...
Hangs on the edge of one man's blade. What nonsense is this?
"What weight does a realm forced open by blindly piling up inner energy even have? When was the last time you trained? How long since you truly moved your body?"
"I... I..."
"Even if you did all that, it would barely hold. But you didn't even do that much. You abandoned what you should have done, prioritizing personal greed. As a Shaolin monk, you shirked your duties, chasing only money and power."
"What... what do you know...!"
"Scripture Pavilion Master. Shaolin monk. Hands that should cultivate Buddha-mind touched wealth, so..."
The sword tip touches his throat.
A burning black sword. A weight that could snap his neck.
"Calling it 'the same' is an insult to me."
"Heh... hehehe..."
The Scripture Pavilion Master bowed his head.
"...I... see..."
Ah.
So that's it.
Was that the defeat?
"Caught... by a madman... at a time like this... a madman chasing... righteousness...!"
---Kwaduduk!
His vision flipped. Amid hollow laughter, the Scripture Pavilion Master felt his final breath fade.
Ah... if only he'd known...
He should have at least tasted a woman more.
...
He shook the blood from his sword tip. He looked back on the path of blood he had carved.
Four Great Vajras.
Eighteen Arhats.
Scripture Pavilion Master.
Arhat Hall Leader.
No survivors. He killed them all.
He didn't regret swinging his sword. They were worth dying for.
What's left...
Two.
---Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!!
Amid the upheaving heaven and earth, a massive clump of qi moves.
The realm of manifesting one's intent upon the world.
Heart Sword.
A colossal Buddha statue swings its hand. The crushed corpse rises to meet it.
A rotten Buddha statue swings its fist. The clashing intents warp the air itself.
Qi waves. Criminals couldn't even stand from the mere tremors.
Memories of Yeokmin flood back. The domain of monsters who reshaped terrain just by twisting their bodies.
"I am the Blood Demon!"
He steels his shaking heart amid the voice of the dead.
He turns his head to what he must do.
The revived former Shaolin Abbot is held back by the current Abbot, so...
Only one remains for him to face.
"You've come."
The one waiting bares his teeth.
Akbi.
The one who introduced himself as a member of Reverse Heaven.
"Look at that, Red Cloud. Truly, even rotten, it's still top-class. The Venerable Buddha is the Venerable Buddha. Even a corpse raised to the pinnacle of the Ghost Spirit Soul Absorption Great Law wields martial arts stronger than in life, yet the Venerable Buddha presses on... No wonder he's one of the Four Venerables."
"......"
"But there's a limit. You see it too, Red Cloud. The martial arts of the revived corpse carry corpse poison. It seeps into each technique, accumulating poison in the enemy. The corpse has infinite stamina. But that's only for the living."
Blood trickled from the Venerable Buddha's mouth, pushed back by the Heart Sword.
Not from the impact's internal injury.
From the poison.
"See? The limit is already coming."
"......"
He walked. Crossing blood and corpses, he drew Blood Sword and White Night.
Spinning them once, he sheathed them one by one.
Akbi.
The one who had watched him all along laughed.
"Red Cloud. I thought you had at least one more trick hidden. But I was wrong. Why were you called a third-rate warrior in the Murim Alliance? Were you hiding your power? Or were your talents so genius you grew that much in that short time? Who knows. Truly unknowable."
"......"
"But one thing I know. The Heavenly Demon must have cherished that power of yours. That's why she sent you to capture me. I know her. She's strong yet fragile. Hard to break, but easy to wound. Ahh. That's why I crave her. You've thought it too, at least once. Wanting to mar that exquisitely perfect masterpiece."
"...I'll ask just once."
He drew Ghost Sword Black Steed and sheathed it. He faced him.
"Why did you betray the Heavenly Demon?"
"I just said. I wanted to see perfection crumble. Kehhehe. But alas, that's not all. This was duty, Red Cloud. Even with a touch of personal desire, it was what I had to do."
"What do you mean?"
"There's no place in the world without Reverse Heaven's members. You think our meeting was coincidence? Wrong. We're everywhere in the current martial world, and I'm just one of the many. Even if not here, we would have met somewhere. The former Abbot Cheonil's corpse merely hastened that moment."
Akbi shrugged.
"We operate in the shadows, but few notice our existence. And all who do swear loyalty to us. But... the current leader of the cult was different. She knew of us and ignored us. What a headache. If it were any other faction, we'd have crushed them, but... the Lord of Reverse Heaven held the cult especially dear. Time passed, the current cult amassed immense power... and we moved belatedly. To steal the balance and the traces of the former Heavenly Demon we should have taken long ago."
"What is Reverse Heaven?"
"A profound question. If asked what an inverted sky is, there's only one answer. We are the order of the underworld, guides blocking the heavens to lead the world as intended."
"......"
"Red Cloud. There's history you don't know. From before you were born, a time few remember now. And it's before my birth too. But I like that irrelevant tale. The one who picked me up from the streets was the Lord of Reverse Heaven, so of course I swear loyalty."
Akbi lightly shook his hand.
Blazing qi took the form of a weapon, settling at his fingertips.
"Freedom is poison to those who can't handle it. The old Orthodox-Demonic War proved it, and the foolish Five Outer Palaces confirmed it. Thus, someone must regulate that unhandleable freedom. That is Reverse Heaven. The true master of this world."
"......"
"Want more details? But... time for Q&A ended long ago."
Akbi bared his teeth.
"I wasn't Hundred-Edge Hall Leader just for the Ghost Spirit Soul Absorption Great Law. I stole and learned it after entering. Before that, I rose solely on personal might. I was the weakest of the three who entered the cult, yet I'm strong. Moreover, I don't let my guard down. I've gauged your power, so I'll crush you head-on."
"......"
"Behold. This is my martial art that put me in the Hundred-Edge Hall Leader seat: Remnant Soul Eight Ghost Spears."
A blazing blue qi spear slammed into the earth.
Above the shaken ground, he bared his teeth. External true qi flowed over his entire body.
Seven qi short spears like will-o'-wisps floated around the long spear, beginning to rotate.
Seven qi short spears and...
The central qi long spear.
The weapons themselves are external true qi?
"I'll shatter you thoroughly, leaving only your corpse. And I'll present it before the Heavenly Demon myself. Ahh! Just thinking of seeing the Heavenly Demon's distorted face again makes my legs tremble!"
He raised his sword.
"That won't happen."
With firm declaration, he roused his inner energy once more.
To kill his first target.
"You'll die here, Akbi."
...
Shaolin's supreme martial arts number four in total.
Arhat Subduing Demon Eighteen Palms, driving out evil.
Hundred-Pace Divine Fist, piercing foes a hundred paces away.
Great Power Vajra Palm, crushing enemies with overwhelming physique.
Heavenly Buddha Earth Subduer, grinding foes with enlightenment.
But all are mere foundational arts supporting one ultimate technique.
Those who break through realms into absolute territory know.
Shaolin's true martial art, standing on the path where all converges as one.
Great Reincarnation Tribulation Wheel Staff.
---Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!
The Heart Sword, drawing the Buddha from the heart to smash the enemy.
One downward strike collapses surrounding rock mountains. Even air is crushed, exploding belatedly.
This is manifested intent.
True qi? Merely defying nature.
True martial arts alter reality. Pulling the world to one's will, changing it.
Before that overwhelming power, all loses meaning. True qi becomes childish tantrum, weapons meaningless.
But a counter exists.
Matching with the same realm.
---Gooooooo...
The struck Buddha's staff is repelled. The Heart Sword twists, the altered world halts.
Another colossal Heart Sword flies. The rusted Buddha form draws the same art simultaneously.
That movement.
That form.
Identical to before...
His master's martial art.
Great Reincarnation Tribulation Wheel Staff.
Same art clashes with same art.
---Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!
"Kuhuhuhuhuk!!!"
The power itself is equal. Nearly identical.
Precisely, he holds a slight edge.
But the issue lay in the venom seeping with each clash.
Corpse poison in the corpse's inner energy. It leaks into the body bit by bit with each Heart Sword collision.
His body begins to tremble. Burden accumulates in the once-fine body, focus wanes.
In battles of similar realms, a single instant's mistake decides all.
What began as offense turns to defense. Footprints of retreat slowly increase one by one.
Pushed back. Continuously pushed. No. He must seize the advantage somehow...
How...!
---Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!
Another surging Heart Sword tears the air. But the nature was slightly different from before.
Something seeped over the colossal Buddha's hand. A permeating qi causing minute difference.
The art of one teetering on the Flower Realm and supreme peak boundary strikes the corpse's side.
Of course, damage is minimal. The foe barely flinches.
But the dispersed power buys time to regain momentum.
"Training...?!"
"This girl too has business with the undying corpse. Venerable Buddha. Even if it means dying only after witnessing the end with your own eyes, you can rest easy."
The warrior who had been silent all along.
Training's body shook, various weapons hanging from her hands.
"May I join the fray?"
"...I ask you."
The Venerable Buddha spat blood from his mouth. Seeing his ruined master, he roused inner energy anew.
Let's go again.
To right the wrong.