The Heavenly Demon Raises Her Realm (4)
The place Jeong-yun guided us to was a large empty lot behind the building. In the middle of that space, littered haphazardly with stones, stood an old man carving a Buddha statue with his bare hands.
What he was sculpting wasn’t the kind of marble optimized for carving. It was a crude, incredibly hard rock commonly used when building fortress walls. Yet the old man effortlessly refined the massive boulder with nothing but light taps from his hand.
To the untrained eye, it was merely an interesting sight. But anyone who understood martial arts would have been shocked. Just how much profound skill was packed into those simple motions?
This confirms it. This man had indeed once served as an elder of Shaolin. And what’s more, I knew his name.
“Honored guest. Could you wait just a moment? I wish to finish this piece first.”
The old man spoke before I could even address him.
“How long will it take?”
As usual, I answered directly. Jeong-yun shot me a glare. It was obvious she was scolding me for my lack of manners, but I ignored her. Why should I show respect to someone who once knelt before me?
“It will be done shortly.”
Surprisingly, the old man didn’t seem bothered by the rudeness and simply replied. Shortly, huh.
I glanced sideways at Baru. She was watching the old man carve the statue with sparkling eyes full of fascination. The viewers seemed equally intrigued, so I decided to wait patiently.
After about ten minutes, the old man finally lifted his hands from the statue and straightened his back. The Buddha’s face he had carved bore both compassion and sternness.
I’ve thought this for a while now, but this guy has more talent as a sculptor than as a martial artist.
The old man nodded in satisfaction as he examined the statue, then turned to greet us.
“Thank you for waiting. I am Man-byeok, the sect leader of Sinlim.”
“I’m Mint Chocolate Pineapple Pizza. This is Baru.”
“I am called Baru. It is a pleasure.”
“Ohhh. What a truly precious guest has come to visit.”
The old man studied me with a slightly bewildered gaze, but when his eyes landed on Baru, he let out an exclamation of awe. He didn’t seem like the type to be swayed by cuteness, so he must have sensed the divine aura she carried.
“These two have come to accept a request on the recommendation of Na-seol.”
“On Na-seol’s recommendation? If it’s her suggestion, then it’s trustworthy.”
“Na-seol is trustworthy?”
The two words were so incompatible that I couldn’t help but blurt it out. What kind of nonsense was that? How could anyone call that walking disaster reliable?
“Was it me? Are you asking because you truly don’t know?”
How could anyone call a kid who, until recently, had been desperately seeking her own death reliable? Honestly, even now I still feel uneasy whenever I look at her. Though I doubt she realizes that.
“If you don’t know, then it’s fine.”
It wasn’t something she needed to know anyway. Na-seol threw a fit at my response, but I ignored her. Right now, I had someone else I needed to speak with.
“Originally, I planned to accept the request you were offering here, but—”
“Have you changed your mind?”
“Yes. Maryo. Former elder of Shaolin. Seeing you like this has given me other thoughts.”
The moment I spoke the old man’s true name, the martial artists who had been waiting nearby burst forward and pointed their weapons at me. As expected of those who followed Shaolin’s principles—their coordination was excellent. Any ordinary person would have been forced to raise their hands in surrender without being able to do a thing.
“Are you from Shaolin?”
The old man’s previously polite voice had grown rough. Hearing the clear anger in the voice of someone who followed the Buddhist path, it seemed this kind of harassment wasn’t new to him.
“No. I don’t particularly like the Buddhist path.”
“Then are you from the Murim Alliance?”
“That’s not it either. This seat has a grudge against the Murim Alliance. There’s no way they would give me any work.”
“Then how do you know my name?”
“How could one claim not to see what is clearly visible?”
You foolish monk. You may be trying to hide your identity, but do you really think you can conceal everything you’ve built up over your lifetime? The way it seeps from every movement. The way it leaks from the inner energy within your body. Are you asking if it’s possible to hide all of that?
If the opponent were far beneath you, perhaps. But this seat stands in a realm you cannot even begin to imagine. I am not someone who would fall for your pathetic tricks.
When I explained this to Maryo, he fell silent. He was probably trying to determine whether my words were true or false.
The ones who actually made the noise were the others. The men surrounding me raised their voices at the disrespect shown toward Maryo.
“Nonsense!”
“Just release your qi already! Before you see something ugly!”
“Do you think we’ll keep talking forever?!”
They were quite on edge. These monks were surprisingly impatient.
“Well. Fine. This seat shall show you proof that I have no connection to the righteous faction.”
I drew my inner energy outward. The inner energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art possessed a ferocious nature that devoured everything around it. Anyone who had faced it before would recognize it without fail.
As the divine art threatened the surroundings with its savagery, the faces of those encircling me turned deathly pale.
“Now do you understand? This seat cannot possibly be connected to the righteous faction.”
I had released my energy to prove my innocence, but those surrounding me didn’t seem to see it that way. I could see their hands tightening around their weapons.
I wasn’t surprised. I had deliberately revealed the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s energy because I knew they would react this way. It was simply easier to beat down those who thought they had some strength first and talk afterward.
Using the energy I had spread around, I crushed them where they stood. They possessed respectable realms as the protectors of the sect leader, but that was meaningless before me. How could they withstand the weight of the lofty heavens pressing down on them?
“That is enough.”
While the men surrounding me were grinding their teeth and collapsing, Maryo finally spoke. His words were directed both at me and at those around me.
Deciding he was ready to talk, I withdrew my energy. The ones who had been threatening me collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
“It took me a while to recall because it was such a strange name. Min-ga. You are the current sect leader of Mount Hua.”
“You know me?”
“How could I not? How could anyone not know the name of the warrior who single-handedly suppressed the Murim Alliance?”
Then this would go quickly. That was fortunate. Depending on the situation, I had even considered beating Maryo down once, but it seemed I could skip that hassle.
“Please come inside. You do not seem like people who should be speaking in such a shabby place.”
As I moved to follow Maryo, who had pulled out a long pipe, placed it in his mouth, and started walking ahead, Baru poked me repeatedly in the side.
“What is it?”
“Min-ga. Must you cause an incident every time you visit somewhere before you feel satisfied?”
At Baru’s scolding about how I always started fights wherever I went, I could only avert my gaze. There were more than a few things I could guess at, so I had no excuse.
Maryo was a man who had served as an elder of Shaolin. Even during the time when I was turning the murim upside down, he had been active as one of Shaolin’s key figures. He had also done his utmost to revive Shaolin until the moment I left the murim and chose seclusion.
I didn’t hold any particular ill will toward him. The word “monk” suited this fellow far too well. Why would I harbor dislike for one of the few decent people in Shaolin? There were more than enough idiots besides him.
“I have a few things I wish to ask.”
Once we entered a room following Maryo’s guidance, I spoke immediately.
“What is it?”
“Why did a Shaolin elder leave Shaolin? And why does someone who teaches Shaolin’s martial arts claim to be from the evil faction?”
This was the part I understood the least. If it had been any other person who left Shaolin and founded their own sect, I wouldn’t have questioned it much. I would have simply thought they had gone mad with lust for power. But not this one.
This fellow had taken immense pride in being Shaolin and in standing on the path of justice. So why would someone like him leave Shaolin and claim to be from the evil faction?
“The story is rather long, but…”
“It’s fine.”
“Then I shall explain step by step.”
When Baek Hwaryeong swept through the murim and outsiders appeared in this world, causing the righteous factions to face the threat of collapse, even Shaolin could not escape the current. The choice was between riding the wave to somehow preserve their name, or protecting their traditions and slowly declining. Who would choose decline in such a moment?
And so Shaolin began to raise its voice to attract outsiders.
“Up to that point, it was acceptable. I also thought it was the right thing to do. But the problem was that it went too far.”
They abandoned principle and taught only what suited the tastes of outsiders. In doing so, they replenished their numbers and strengthened their power. Up to there, it could be called a good strategy. But Shaolin did not stop there.
Having realized how powerful it was to gather many users, Shaolin became obsessed with drawing in even more people.
“Most of those who should have spoken rightly had died in the previous righteous-evil war, so only schemers remained in Shaolin. They focused more on expanding their own power than on protecting Shaolin.”
The scene I had witnessed at Mount Hua when I first set foot in this world was now being repeated at Shaolin.
“Those of us here desperately opposed it and were ultimately driven out.”
Those abandoned by Shaolin founded a new sect here and stubbornly carried on Shaolin’s true will. And if abandoning principle and chasing greed was considered the righteous path, then they would become the evil path and call themselves the evil faction.
“And that is how we have arrived at the present.”
As I listened to Maryo’s story with a pipe in my mouth, I had only one impression.
Are there no decent bastards among those damned righteous faction people?
Among the so-called Five Great Sects, Mount Hua had reached out to the Blood Cult, and Shaolin had gone so far as to expel those who wanted to protect tradition. Looking at this, it was easy to imagine what the others were like. No wonder the martial arts of this world had gone to complete shit.
Sigh. At least it was fortunate that there were still people trying to uphold principle.
“Maryo.”
“Yes.”
“I will grant most things you ask for, so tell me anything you desire.”
Even in this damned world, seeing someone strive to protect principle was admirable enough that I wanted to reward him. Speak without hesitation.
“Are you serious?”
“Would this seat take back words once spoken?”
Upon hearing my words, Maryo rolled his eyes as if hesitating over something, then seemed to come to a decision. In a slightly lowered voice, he spoke to me.
“Um… Then there is one thing I would like to request. It is something only possible for the sect leader of Mount Hua, who can stand against an entire faction alone.”
“Enough with the preface. Get to the point.”
“Could you… destroy Shaolin’s sect tablet for us?”