Alive Until I Die, So What of It?
Yi Yeok's eyes flew open.
"What is it? Tell me plainly."
"For a hundred years Daelim Temple has withered day by day, until only the four of us remain. If you would do this thing for us, we would be truly grateful."
"Just get to the point."
"That you came here at all is karmic affinity. How mysterious are the bonds of this world..."
Yi Yeok cut in, irritation plain on his face.
"Oh, come on. Quit rambling and say what you actually want!"
Bo Hae burst out laughing.
"On the full moon of next month, Tasa Temple will hold a gathering to exchange supreme arts. They have devised a new dharma art — the Art of Conversion. It runs counter to the Heavenly Dao and to cause and effect. We want you to shatter it."
"Say that again? You think that's even possible?"
"Your cultivation method is unusual, and so is your nature. We believe you can do it."
Yi Yeok hesitated.
Bo Hae went on, calm and clear.
"The aim of the Buddhist path is to move people's hearts until they awaken to the Way. But somewhere along the road, arts that force conversion upon them came to be prized."
"Isn't that how you people always are? I've been through it more than once since I got here."
"Those were children's games. Let the light of Tasa Temple's Art of Conversion so much as touch a man, and he turns into a fanatic."
"I think I see it. If that art ever gets loose in the world, everyone becomes a puppet. Is that it?"
"Precisely."
Yi Yeok's face twisted.
"So you want me to steal this Art of Conversion?"
"No. We only wish for you to break it."
"Don't joke with me. You can't handle it yourselves, and you're telling me to go die? I'd have to be out of my mind to walk into a place like that."
"You trust yourself so little."
Yi Yeok nodded, blunt as a blade.
"That's right. I don't trust anyone. Myself included."
"The complete mantra of the Great Sun Tathagata Divine Palm is in my hands. A Foot's Distance Across the Horizon is a supreme art as well — thirty miles crossed in a single instant. Learn these, and whatever you desire can fall into your grasp. Money, especially..."
Yi Yeok's eyes widened for a heartbeat, then settled back into indifference.
"No amount of money outweighs a life."
"Then you mean to spend the rest of your days here at Daelim Temple, growing old in loneliness with us?"
"I can't beat you now. Give me ten years, and I'll manage somehow, won't I?"
"Even if you could defeat the four of us in ten years, you would have thrown away every coin those ten years of freedom might have earned you. Is that truly what you want?"
Yi Yeok shut his mouth and sank once more into thought.
"However fine your skill, the time you waste here is the most precious thing you own — and the one thing you cannot steal."
Yi Yeok slammed his palm down on the table, the decision tearing out of him.
"You damned bald monks. Driving a man this far into a corner. My lot's already worse than dying, so fine. To hell with it — I'll give it a try!"
Bo Hae and Bo U nodded, satisfied smiles on their faces.
"If you hold fast to your true heart and do not yield to the Art of Conversion, no one will believe in that art any longer. Then we will step forward and see it abolished."
"But what's in it for you? Daelim Temple is already ruined. Why pick a fight with them at all?"
"To protect the true Buddha-dharma."
Yi Yeok's mouth twisted.
"Then let's get down to business. I'm putting my life on the line, so I mean to learn everything there is to learn."
Bo U broke into a soft laugh.
"Good. Good. If that is what you wish, we will teach you all of it."
The transmission of Daelim Temple's martial arts began in earnest.
The old monks kept their word. Yi Yeok could barely read, yet they taught him without a shred of impatience, one careful step at a time. He was sharp enough that the pace of instruction was not as slow as it might have been.
Learning martial arts was not the whole of it. They set the sutras before him as well, and passed on teachings meant to wash the afflictions from his heart.
Yi Yeok also made use of sarira, the crystalline relics of accomplished monks, and of the Sacred-Blood Lotus Bodhi Seed.
The seed had to be driven into his heart by the joined strength of the four eminent monks. It rendered his blood-qi purer and far more potent. The loss of his Silver Blood, however, lay beyond even them.
If Bo Hae was right, the Bodhi Seed's power could, within ten years, turn all the blood in Yi Yeok's body into spirit blood. When that day came, every drop of it would be a spiritual elixir. Further still, the blood of the heart itself would become divine blood, bearing a mysterious and formidable power.
"What?"
Yi Yeok shot to his feet, startled.
"You're telling me I won't live past twenty-five?"
"Yes. For most people, the loss of Silver Blood is no great matter. They would never have called upon it in a lifetime. You are different. You have already set foot upon the path of seeking immortality."
Bo Beop continued, unruffled.
"Silver Blood exists to supply power when your potential demands it. That place within you is empty now. In time the void will collapse, and it will devour the blood of your heart. Once that happens, there will be no turning back."
"What if I give up cultivation right now?"
The color had drained from Yi Yeok's face.
"Next to staying alive, training is worthless, isn't it?"
Bo Beop shook his head.
"The moment you began to cultivate, everything was already decided."
Yi Yeok started to speak, then stopped.
Don't tell me the old man lied to me.
"What if I took someone else's Silver Blood?"
"What is not your own can never become part of you. Your body would reject it."
Yi Yeok was silent a moment, then spoke, the words heavy.
"Then I'll have to find my Silver Blood."
"Yes."
"And if someone's already used it up?"
Bo Beop did not answer. It was not a question that required one.
Yi Yeok asked, the fight gone from his voice.
"So what am I supposed to do now?"
"You must come into harmony. If you reach the realm of an immortal or a Buddha before you turn twenty-five, there will be no trouble at all."
"An immortal or a Buddha by twenty-five? Is that even possible?"
Bo Beop held his silence. Only after a long while did he answer.
"Has there never been a single case of it, in all of history?"
"Not that I know of."
Yi Yeok let out a sigh. Every trace of his earlier vigor had vanished. Bo Beop only watched him, and said nothing.
A long time passed. Yi Yeok drew several deep breaths, then suddenly broke into a bright grin.
Bo Beop was silent, and then he smiled.
"To keep one's laughter is the heart of a free man. This is not a matter in which I can help you. I only hope that you will be happy."
Yi Yeok chuckled.
"If I break the Art of Conversion, you'll really let me leave?"
"One who has left the world does not lie."
"That's the first time a monk's words have sounded like something I can trust. If I survive, I'll come back here."
Bo Beop smiled gently.
"Yes. I will wait."
Yi Yeok thought a moment, then spoke again.
"You don't mean to restore Daelim Temple to its old glory?"
"To avoid needless killing is the Buddha-dharma. All things gather like clouds, and scatter the same way. Why strive for an empty name?"
Yi Yeok shrugged.
"With a mindset like that, life must be pretty comfortable."
"Nothing is eternal. Every majesty, every glory, scatters in the end."
From the next day, Yi Yeok returned to the martial arts of the Buddhist gate.
His talent for mastering them was nothing extraordinary. His passion, his persistence, and his sheer grit were another matter entirely.
The Great Strength Vajra Kick. A Foot's Distance Across the Horizon. The Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic. The Great Sun Tathagata Divine Palm. The Eight Legions Celestial Dragon.
Bo Beop had chosen every one of them for Yi Yeok with his own hand.
Yi Yeok's attacks were blindingly fast, and the Great Strength Vajra Kick suited him perfectly — kicks fierce enough to split a mountain and shear through metal. A Foot's Distance Across the Horizon was a movement art that carried him across distance in an instant, and the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic was the supreme method for tempering sinew, bone, and meridian.
He had all but thrown a tantrum to learn the Great Sun Tathagata Divine Palm, hungry for the grandeur of it. The Eight Legions Celestial Dragon was a protective art that Bo Beop forced upon him despite his reluctance.
Time passed, and before he knew it, a month had gone by.