Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Reminiscence of Tea
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After leaving the inn and passing through Little Neung Village, the two monks pressed on for quite some time before finally halting in the heart of an unnamed forest.
They figured that much distance was enough to put them sufficiently far away.
"Will it be alright, senior brother?"
"Does it look alright to you?"
Baek Un scratched his bald head as he snapped curtly at Beom Won's question.
"Ahh, damn it all. I have no idea what to tell the abbot."
"Just tell him the truth, wouldn't that work?"
"The truth? That we got turned down because temple food doesn't have any flavor?"
"......"
"You can just stand there next to me with that sullen look and your eyes downcast, and it'll be fine for you. But it's me who'll get an earful from the abbot and the other elders."
"I'm sorry, senior brother."
"Don't apologize. If you do, it'll make me look like the bad guy for scolding you."
"......"
"Well, got anything to say?"
"No."
"Hoo, alright then."
Taking a deep breath, Baek Un spoke with a much lighter expression.
"Let's head back."
The same moment.
At the inn in Little Neung Village, Jeok Muryong had just finished his meal.
"Phew, that hit the spot."
Jeok Muryong muttered as he patted his bulging belly.
Jin Choyoung, who had been desperately maintaining her composure, pulled some silver from her money pouch with trembling hands.
No joke, at this rate, they'd be penniless before even reaching Luoyang or Kaifeng.
"Hold on."
At Jeok Muryong's word, Jin Choyoung stared blankly at him. He reached into the money pouch and took out a piece of silver.
"Take it."
Ting.
He flicked it lightly with his finger. Though silver wasn't exactly featherweight, the kitchen hand caught it with both hands and let out a groan.
"Where'd you get that money?"
"Found it."
Jeok Muryong answered Neung So-hwa's question.
Of course, no one was foolish enough to take that at face value.
"No way, Great Hero Jeok... did you wipe out some nearby bandits?"
"As if."
"Then did you shake down those monks?"
This time it was Jin Choyoung asking.
Jeok Muryong furrowed his brow slightly.
"Why would you think I'd do that?"
"Ah, n-no. I just thought... maybe you got a cut for spreading word about the young lady..."
"I don't do that sort of thing."
Neung So-hwa smiled faintly as Jeok Muryong cut her off flatly.
"So you purely invited the monks out of consideration for us?"
"Invited? Hmm. Not sure that's the right word. I just happened to run into those baldies."
"You happened to meet Shaolin Temple monks?"
"Yeah. Just a bit ago, at Heavenly Center Mountain."
Neung So-hwa and Jin Choyoung gaped at each other.
"You were at Heavenly Center Mountain until just now...?"
"Then that money..."
The moment they pieced together where it likely came from, Jeok Muryong tossed and caught the hefty money pouch a couple times.
"But why turn down those baldies' offer?"
"Pardon? Well... it felt pointless without you coming along, Great Hero Jeok."
"Even if I said no, if you'd said you were going, they would've followed without complaint."
"Really?"
"Sure. No need to eat at a temple specifically."
Granted, for a supreme master who could dash to Heavenly Center Mountain and back in no time, visiting a village dozens of li from Mount Song wouldn't be an issue.
Hell, what was a village? He could probably go to Luoyang or Kaifeng and return in a single breath.
"Should we call the monks back now, then?"
Jin Choyoung suggested, but Jeok Muryong shook his head.
"That'd be tough."
"Huh? If we just explain everything properly..."
"Not that. You won't catch up to them on foot."
"Ah?"
"Those baldies have already put at least ten li between them and this village."
"R-Really?"
"Yeah. They bolted, scared I might eavesdrop on their chatter. Baldies are such damn cowards."
"Uh, um..."
Unsure how to respond, Jin Choyoung mumbled awkwardly.
That's when Neung So-hwa spoke up.
"Great Hero Jeok, may I ask something?"
"Of course."
"Then... could we move somewhere else for a moment?"
"Why?"
Neung So-hwa's gaze subtly drifted toward the kitchen.
She seemed wary of the kitchen hand overhearing.
Jeok Muryong nodded slightly in that direction and said,
"You can speak now."
"Pardon?"
"I've put up an intangible barrier to block sound waves. Say whatever you want freely."
Neung So-hwa and Jin Choyoung just stared blankly at Jeok Muryong's confident declaration.
Instead of explaining further, he hurled a plate from the table.
Crash!
Despite the loud shatter, there was no reaction from the kitchen.
Only after confirming it with their own eyes and ears did Neung So-hwa speak.
"Um... Great Hero Jeok, you're... the Heavenly Demon, right?"
"That's right."
Jeok Muryong answered crisply.
His utter lack of hesitation left Neung So-hwa, who had been debating whether to ask, feeling awkward.
"You mentioned food earlier, but... is that really why you don't want to go to Shaolin?"
"What? Because I'm the Heavenly Demon?"
"Yes."
"Not at all."
"It's... not?"
"No. The Mount Song baldies wouldn't dream I was the Heavenly Demon anyway."
Jeok Muryong quickly added,
"Unless you go blabbing about it carelessly."
"R-Right, we wouldn't."
"And I don't particularly hate Shaolin Temple or the other orthodox sects."
"You... don't?"
"Nope. Everyone who fought me for the throne of the world is long buried deep underground, rotted away to fertilizer by now."
"I see..."
"Besides."
Jeok Muryong crossed his arms.
"Even when they were enemies, Shaolin wasn't so bad."
"W-Wait a second. Let me sort this out. So, Great Hero Jeok... you're saying you were called the Heavenly Demon a very long time ago?"
"Yes."
"How long ago?"
"No idea."
Jeok Muryong frowned slightly.
"Just know that enough time has passed for the world—and you—to forget all about me."
"Ah..."
"Anyway, even as enemies, Shaolin was tolerable. You know the saying: a nearby enemy is better than a distant ally."
"W-Was it?"
"If you don't know it, memorize it. Especially in the murim—it's a truth worth carving into your bones."
Jeok Muryong's eyes took on a wistful gleam as he spoke.
Something deep must have happened, Neung So-hwa thought, but she didn't pry.
Reliving those memories probably pained him.
'Probably...'
Betrayal, most likely.
The deepest wound between people was betrayal.
Having gone through it herself recently, Neung So-hwa could roughly guess his feelings.
'Betrayed by those he trusted, sealed away in Heavenly Center Mountain's Death Valley? If so... best not to say anything now.'
Neung So-hwa gazed at Jeok Muryong with pity.
Meanwhile, Jeok Muryong was lost in deep thought.
But not about betrayal from his Heavenly Demon Divine Cult subordinates.
It was an old memory he'd forgotten for a while—one stirred by meeting the Shaolin monks.
'That's right...'
Srrrr.
A single fallen leaf drifted down onto the teacup like it was settling on a pond surface.
Jeok Muryong scowled and shook the cup out beyond the pavilion.
The old monk sitting across from him saw it and chuckled dryly.
"You don't know the value of good tea."
"It's just leaf-steeped water, isn't it?"
"Leaf-steeped water with one more leaf added—why toss it?"
"I hate tea."
"But you like liquor? Makes sense. A tongue used to liquor’s bite can't handle tea's purity."
"You set this up just to spout nonsense?"
The white-haired old monk smiled faintly.
"What if I did?"
"I could cut you down right here."
"That would be truly exhausting."
Jeok Muryong's eyebrow twitched at the old monk's words.
"Think I can't?"
"Why would I? I know you could handle every Shaolin monk alone."
"Then why say such drivel?"
"Not in the way you think."
"Then what way?"
Pity flickered in the old monk's eyes.
"For the sake of the countless followers at your back, you must feign being a ferocious demon. That must be exhausting."
"You dare pity me? Jeok Muryong, the Heavenly Demon?"
"You're just an obscenely strong man, not a true demon."
Bam!
The powerful aura Jeok Muryong unleashed shattered the tea table into dozens of pieces.
The pavilion they sat on collapsed as its legs splintered, but neither the old monk nor Jeok Muryong shifted an inch.
"Reacting so fiercely means my words ring true deep down."
"Ridiculous."
Jeok Muryong shot to his feet.
"All that effort in wartime to arrange this meeting, and this is the drivel you spout? Looks like Shaolin Temple's seen better days."
It was a meeting barely arranged by the Murim Alliance side.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's forces had already crushed Shaanxi Province in unstoppable momentum.
Mount Zhongnan had fallen, Mount Hua crumbled.
With Henan Province in sight, Shaolin's abbot, Great Monk Gongmun, requested parley. After much deliberation, Heavenly Demon Jeok Muryong accepted.
Thus the meeting was set.
But for him to prattle koan-like nonsense? Jeok Muryong couldn't tolerate it.
"I hate your kind."
"Is that so?"
"Yes!"
Jeok Muryong spat.
"Hypocrites who ignore the world's cruelty while preaching lofty ideals. Filth who do dirty deeds behind closed doors yet feign transcendence before the world!"
"Is that why you started the war?"
"Yes! Unless I wipe you out in one go, you'll keep living like that!"
"Oppressing and exploiting the weak, right?"
"Exactly!"
"You're right."
"......?"
"The strong crush the weak, the haves exploit the have-nots. The murim you saw—the jianghu—was surely like that."
"Don't even think of saying it's not really. That's the true face of the murim you pride yourselves on."
"Then why not change it?"
The Heavenly Demon faltered.
"What?"
"Extermination isn't the only answer. If the murim disappointed you so, you could have changed it with your own hands."
"......"
"Couldn't you?"
"Shut up."
Jeok Muryong ground his teeth.
He had come too far down that road.
"No amount of talk now will change my mind."
"I figured. If words could sway you, you wouldn't have unleashed this bloodbath."
"Then what...?"
"Just think on it."
The old monk—Abbot Gongmun—said.
"That lotuses bloom even in filth. That what you saw isn't all there is to the murim."
"......"
"Just think on it someday."
"Great Hero Jeok?"
Whoosh!
Jeok Muryong suddenly sprang to his feet.
The two women nearly toppled backward in surprise.
"Wh-What's wrong?"
"Are you okay?"
Contrasting questions from the pair.
Instead of answering, Jeok Muryong furrowed his brow.
"Got me curious about the taste."
"Pardon?"
"Tea!"
Jeok Muryong clutched his face.
"I'm wondering what that damn old man's tea tasted like!"