Why Does It Keep Coming After Me?
While Hwan Mong and the others stared at him as if he had taken leave of his senses, Yi Yeok broke into a run without a shred of hesitation.
Wham!
He slammed headlong into something solid. The impact blew his vision white, and the world spun.
An old monk had stepped out at the head of the group, a strange monk's spade in his hands, its blade curved like a crescent moon. Golden light in the shape of a bell swirled around him. That aura was what Yi Yeok had run into.
"Elder! They're from the Eastern Dao Sect!" a young monk shouted.
"Eastern Dao Sect trash, daring to set foot on Buddhist ground."
The words were barely out of his mouth before the spade came screaming down at Yi Yeok's head — a merciless, exacting blow.
Thud!
Dust burst upward as the blade carved empty earth. Yi Yeok clutched his forehead and yelled, furious.
"What the hell? Why are you swinging at me out of nowhere?"
"Atone with your life."
"Do you even know me? Did I kill your parents? Or did this handsome face steal your sweetheart?"
"Filthy mouth!"
The old monk lashed the spade at him again and again. It was no ordinary weapon. The sacred light pouring off it bore down on Yi Yeok like a thousand catties.
Yi Yeok's eyes flashed. He left an afterimage behind and slipped behind the old monk in a blink.
Whoom!
The golden aura flared back into being and shoved him hard.
Yi Yeok shook out his numbed, ringing hands. This one was no pushover.
The other monks drew their weapons and closed a ring around him. A vicious killing intent spread through the air.
Yi Yeok cocked his head, then bent at the waist and spoke with a smile.
"Good sirs, my eyes failed me for a moment, and I had the misfortune of bumping into you. It was never my intention. If you might see me as nothing more than a mayfly blown in on the wind and let me pass, I would be most grateful."
Contempt flickered in the old monk's eyes.
"Take that one for your training. I'll deal with the ones over there."
"Training dummy?"
A crease cut between Yi Yeok's brows.
"You bald old coot. I lowered my head, and you take it as license to walk all over me."
"Mind your tongue!"
One of the young monks hoisted a club and brought it crashing down at Yi Yeok's head.
Yi Yeok shifted aside, slipped the blow with ease, and drew Yojiyu to open the man's throat.
The monk fell back, reset his stance, and made to strike again. Only then did blood fountain from his neck.
The old monk's brow twitched. Every monk here was exceptionally skilled. They were not the sort to be toyed with like this.
Yi Yeok rolled his neck from side to side, joints cracking.
"How about you let me go now? I don't have time to kill all of you."
"All of you — Golden Bell Cover!"
The old monk's roar cracked across the canyon.
Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.
Palms pressed together, the monks raised golden bell-shaped barriers around themselves — a defensive art of the Buddhist order.
Yi Yeok swung Yojiyu and tried to cut through, but it was useless. Not so much as a hairline crack marred the surface of the Golden Bell Cover.
Rumble!
Hwan Mong's group came running to join him. Behind them, blood-red vines surged in at a ferocious pace.
The vines lengthened as if they had no end, writhing like snakes, and coiled around the monks one by one.
The old monk retreated at once. Even so, five or six were already caught. The vines clenched, and the Golden Bell Covers shattered to pieces. The monks died without managing so much as a decent struggle.
Hwan Mong's companions dropped down beside Yi Yeok.
"You knew they were closing in?"
At Hwan Mong's question, Yi Yeok answered as if it hardly mattered.
"No. I only just found out."
The three of them looked at one another. So he hadn't been running after all. He had simply noticed the Buddhist order approaching and moved to meet them.
Yi Yeok himself couldn't make sense of the relief and shame written across their faces.
If anyone here ought to be ashamed, wasn't it him? Not that he felt the slightest bit of shame.
The old monk moved with nimble precision, striking the vines again and again. They were astonishingly tough. For all his strength and skill, he couldn't leave so much as a scratch.
The tip of a vine whipped around and came flying straight at Yi Yeok.
"Damn it all — why does it keep coming after only me?"
He spun at once and sprinted toward the old monk.
The old monk poured everything he had into the Golden Bell Cover.
The instant Yi Yeok drew close, he twisted aside and vanished. The vine chasing him slammed straight into the barrier, and the tremendous impact sent the old monk flying dozens of zhang.
The vine spun, sharp thorns sprouting along its length, then coiled in toward Yi Yeok again.
"Why am I the only one it's after? Anyone can see I'm the most harmless-looking one here!"
By then Heukmok, who had somehow scrambled up onto the canyon rim, bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Master! It's because of the sarira!"
"Sarira?"
The old monk's eyes flashed. Sarira were crystals in which a high Buddhist monk's power had condensed — the finest of spiritual elixirs, absorbable with no side effects at all.
Shwiiik—!
The vine shot in again like a loosed arrow. The moment Yi Yeok launched himself into the air to dodge, a crescent blade came rushing at him.
He slipped the old monk's attack in midair. The old monk's eyes flew wide. It had been too fast to see clearly, but Yi Yeok had changed direction in the air as if he had stepped on an invisible foothold.
"Hand over the sarira! I'll be kind enough to let you die cleanly!"
At the old monk's shout, Yi Yeok snickered.
"Ugly. Baldy. Nothing's uglier than an old man's greed. Remember that in your next life."
"All mouth, aren't you. My ears are about to rot."
Yi Yeok moved as fast as the wind. Thanks to the Treading Snow Without Trace Technique, his movements were impossible to predict. Only afterimages remained, and it was hard to tell where the real body was.
But the old monk was no easy mark either. His attacks grew fiercer and wilder. A single clean hit would be enough to end a life.
On top of that, the vine kept charging in, trying to coil around Yi Yeok. In practice it was two against one. Dragging this out would do him no good.
Yi Yeok turned his head and shouted at Heukmok.
"Heukmok, what's this thing's weakness?"
"I—I'm afraid I don't know, Master!"
Heukmok answered in a fluster. Yi Yeok clicked his tongue.
"Useless. Go hide and boil some water. I'll steep you for tea!"
"Hand over the sarira this instant! It belongs to the Buddhist order!"
The old monk bellowed.
"Baldy, if you're going to talk, talk straight. You don't want to say it belongs to the order. You want to say it's yours."
The old monk seemed at a loss for words. He gave no answer. He raised the monk's spade high and brought it down toward Yi Yeok's head.
In the instant before the blade could touch him, Yi Yeok left an afterimage and moved. He snatched up a vine that had fallen to the ground and wrapped it around the old monk's ankle.
The vine hoisted the old monk into the air. His eyes blazed gold as he chanted a Buddhist sutra.
"Om!"
⟨ Sutra Chant ⟩
The single syllable struck like a commandment. The vine flinched, unwound of its own accord, and let him go.
The old monk flipped through the air and swung the spade at Yi Yeok again. Yi Yeok didn't retreat. He stepped in instead, both hands blurring into afterimages.
When they drew apart once more, a chill suddenly ran through the old monk. Only when he looked down did he realize he was naked.
"You—how dare you... I'll tear you to pieces!"
Yi Yeok winked.
"Baldy, for your age, that body's in pretty fine shape. Do you even need a sarira?"
Pak!
The old monk drove the spade into the ground, and golden energy erupted from his entire body.
BOOM!
With tremendous force, countless crescent flashes came screaming at Yi Yeok.
"Good grief, what is this now?"
Yi Yeok moved in a frenzy, dodging.
Pushed to its absolute limit, his figure seemed to multiply into dozens, and no eye could tell which was real.
The old monk was inwardly startled. Even among the Eastern Dao Sect, he had never seen movement this strange.
"Nothing but petty tricks. You think that much is enough to face the Buddhist order?"
He wrenched the spade free, gripped it in both hands, and swung with a monstrous roar.
Yi Yeok threw his body backward. In that instant, the vine that had been targeting him collided with the old monk's spade. The old monk was driven back several zhang. The impact was no small thing. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
The vine changed direction once more and charged at Yi Yeok. Watching that movement, he was certain.
It has a measure of intelligence. Just like Heukmok.
Yi Yeok drew the sarira from his robes.
"How about we talk? I've got a pretty decent offer."
Astonishingly, the vine halted its attack. It raised its head straight like a snake and fixed its attention on him.
"Let's make a deal. You want this sarira, don't you? Take out that baldy, and it's yours. What do you say?"
The vine seemed to hesitate, as if weighing the offer. Yi Yeok laughed, bold and easy.
"You can refuse. If you do, I'll just swallow it myself."
The vine faltered, then looked back and forth between Yi Yeok and the old monk.
"I may not be much else, but I keep my promises. I've never told a lie. Not once. If you want, I'll even swear it on the life of my closest friend."
Rumble!
The vine whipped up a powerful current of air and charged straight at the old monk.