Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: The Eccentric Monk Yeonggak
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Huff... huff...!
A burning pain clawed at his throat, and ragged breaths escaped his lips.
"You mad bastards... enough... already...!"
Thud...
Sa Sa Un let out a furious shout before collapsing face-first onto the ground.
He had bolted from the Murim Alliance using lightness skill and had been running for nearly half a shichen already.
He had no idea why, but he had to keep going—if he tried to stop, a chill killing intent would shoot toward his back.
Paeng Se Gi, who had been leading the way, grimaced and hoisted Sa Sa Un over his shoulder.
"Tch. Weakling."
The squad members raced ahead, while Se Yeong and Instructor Kang trailed behind them, their forms blurring through the air.
"Is there a particular reason we need to push our lightness skill this hard?"
Instructor Kang's face, unlike the squad members', looked quite relaxed.
"It helps build up a lot of inner energy."
Haha...
"I see."
If Se Yeong said so, it was probably true.
A young monk strolling leisurely down the road suddenly halted and surveyed the surrounding hills and streams.
"To worry even about travel funds for a pitiful disciple—Buddha's mercy is truly supreme and boundless."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a gang clutching weapons burst out from all directions.
"Hand over everything you have and scram, baldy."
The young monk showed no surprise whatsoever.
Instead, he smiled warmly and pressed his palms together in greeting.
"Om mani padme hum. How could a wandering monk like me have any silver?"
Rich in rivers-and-lakes experience, he could tell at a glance that these were roadside bandits.
"Cut the crap and fork over the silver. You're a wandering monk—you must've begged for alms."
A thug with a villainous face shoved a large blade right up to the young monk's nose and snarled.
The young monk responded with a faint smile.
"Perfect timing. Please make a donation to this poor monk."
Huh?
His unexpected reaction made the bandits size him up carefully.
Bandits on mountains or rivers, and roadside thugs alike, usually avoided monks and Taoists.
Too many of them turned out to be experts, leading to nasty surprises.
But this young monk looked utterly ragged—not like any rivers-and-lakes master.
And he didn't even have the staff or staff typical of monks.
"You young baldy punk, trying to scam us? If you've got nothing, at least hand over those prayer beads around your neck."
As the villainous thug said, the young monk wore black prayer beads around his neck.
The young monk slowly lowered his hands from their prayer position.
"Buddha's mercy..."
He murmured something cryptic under his breath, then lightly pushed one palm against the thug's chest.
Thwack...!
Gahhh...!
But it sounded like striking a massive log, and the thug flew back screaming.
And that wasn't the end of it.
In the bandits' eyes, the young monk's form vanished in an instant.
Thud... thump!
Urk... guh...!
Short impacts and screams followed.
The young monk's scattered forms merged back into one.
"Om mani padme hum."
He pressed his palms together toward the sprawled bandits, then began rifling through their clothes.
But none of them had so much as a money pouch.
"Nothing? Not a single money pouch?"
He stared down at them incredulously, then gathered up the weapons scattered on the ground.
Selling these should cover his travel expenses nicely.
As he picked them up, the young monk suddenly looked up and gazed down the official road ahead.
A hazy figure in the distance closed in instantly, then streaked past him.
Whoosh...
A fierce gust hit his face belatedly as the figure passed.
Tsk tsk...
"What's the rush that calls for lightness skill...?"
He clicked his tongue in disapproval and bent down to grab more weapons.
But another fierce wind struck his face—this time, not one, but several.
"A chase, then."
The young monk murmured as he watched the backs of those speeding away.
The leader was fleeing, and those hot on his heels were pursuers, no doubt.
Even among the chasers, one carried an injured man over his shoulder—confirming his guess.
Whoosh...
The young monk clutched the weapons and unleashed his lightness skill.
Seeing the hunted and hunters both pushing to their limits, he knew this chase would end in death.
How could Buddha's disciple stand idly by?
His form shot forward five to six zhang with every toe-touch to the ground.
Se Yeong and Instructor Kang's forms flashed past the bodies strewn on the ground.
"Looks like bandits came out to rob and got thoroughly thrashed."
Instructor Kang could guess what had happened here without even looking.
Se Yeong had the same thought.
When they first ventured into the rivers and lakes, the first foes they met were mountain bandits and thugs.
At first, they merely broke limbs, but later ones had theirs severed outright.
They learned such scum didn't just steal goods—they took lives too.
Se Yeong, bringing up the rear with his lightness skill, cocked his head.
"And who's that guy?"
A young monk in tattered robes was hugging an armful of weapons and furiously chasing ahead.
He seemed to be the one who laid out the bandits, but why chase the squad with their loot?
"Shaolin's Buddha Shadow Step."
Instructor Kang recognized the lightness skill.
"How can you tell?"
"The form moves swiftly, yet the upper body remains steady—that's the hallmark of Buddha Shadow Step."
If so, that young monk was definitely a Shaolin disciple.
"But I can't fathom why a Shaolin disciple is chasing the squad."
Guh...!
Yi Cheon Yeong, leading the flight, let out a sharp cry and sprawled on the ground.
Splat...!
Dang Ok Yi and Hahu Yeon arrived next and collapsed, while Paeng Se Gi dumped Sa Sa Un off his shoulder.
Huff... huff...
"Thought I'd die carrying that dead weight."
Paeng Se Gi, who had flopped down, quickly sat in meditation pose.
The other squad members panted raggedly as they did the same—right as the young monk arrived.
Hoo... hoo...
His breathing was rough too, from running with a heavy armload of weapons.
The squad members, about to close their eyes for energy circulation, stared blankly at the young monk.
The young monk stared blankly back.
Meanwhile, Sa Sa Un dragged himself up from the dirt.
The young monk realized he'd badly misread the situation.
'Not a chase at all.'
Chased and chasers wouldn't sit so chummily.
Feeling awkward for no reason, he clutched his weapons and chanted the six-syllable mantra.
"Om mani padme hum."
Paeng Se Gi, who had been staring, closed his eyes first.
The others followed, beginning energy circulation.
"Huh?"
The young monk blinked in surprise as they started meditating right in front of a potential foe.
No one in the rivers and lakes was crazy enough to circulate energy with an outsider watching.
Hiss...
'Did they see through my identity?'
As he tilted his head, a chill made him whip around.
Huff!
A gasp escaped him.
A handsome young warrior and a dashingly aged one watched from afar.
'They trusted those two, so they could meditate so freely.'
Shh.
Se Yeong raised a finger to his lips, and the young monk nodded in understanding.
'Not vicious types.'
He vaguely guessed the young warriors' identities—especially with a young woman among them.
They had to be the Murim Alliance's Elusive Squadron.
'Life and death are all Buddha's will. Om mani padme hum.'
The young monk set down his weapons and began circulating energy.
Sa Sa Un, seeing the squad deep in meditation, reluctantly sat and closed his eyes.
'What a pain. Better if they all just dropped dead.'
The exhausted squad finally reached an inn and ordered food first thing.
"Bring out all the rice and meat you've got."
The yawning innkeeper hustled to the kitchen, and the waiter belatedly brought a rag to wipe the table.
"What about liquor?"
At the waiter's question, Paeng Se Gi gazed desperately at Se Yeong.
"What... do you say, bro?"
Se Yeong just smiled.
Haha...
How could anyone refuse that face?
"Order it."
"Got it, bro. Five bottles of baijiu here."
The orders done, the waiter brought liquor and stir-fried greens first.
Paeng Se Gi snatched a bottle and began filling cups.
Glug glug...
Starting with Instructor Kang, he filled Se Yeong's cup, then glanced at the young monk seated at their table.
"And who the hell are you?"
The young monk had somehow wormed his way to their table—impressively intrusive.
Hahaha...
He beamed brightly, stood, and pressed his palms together.
"Om mani padme hum. Yeonggak of Shaolin offers greetings."
His reveal stunned the squad.
"You're really Shaolin's Yeonggak?"
"The infamous eccentric—that Yeonggak?"
A bit embarrassed by their reactions, the young monk rubbed his bald head.
"Not eccentric, but yes, Shaolin's Yeonggak."
Yeonggak was famous among the rivers-and-lakes prodigies as a Shaolin disciple.
Orphaned and wandering young, Shaolin took him in. Exceptionally bright, he earned the elders' high hopes.
Born with natural martial bones, he mastered Shaolin arts at breakneck speed.
His eccentric reputation stemmed from his quirks.
Despite being Shaolin, he loved liquor and meat without restraint.
He even sold a precious temple Buddha statue once, causing a huge uproar.
They recovered it, but he got a year of wall-facing meditation as punishment.
Shaolin went easy because he donated the proceeds to flood victims who lost their homes.
Paeng Se Gi didn't like the sparkle in Yeonggak's eyes.
That sneaky glance at Se Yeong mirrored his own past self too closely.
"Why 'Om mani padme hum' instead of 'Namo Amitabha'?"
"All mantras of Buddha, aren't they? And you, young hero?"
"Me? Paeng Se Gi of the Paeng Family."
At Paeng Se Gi's reveal, Yeonggak's eyes sparkled even more.
"Ah... so you're the young hero famed as Mountain Beast Blade."
"You little..."
Paeng Se Gi bristled, then glanced at Se Yeong.
'So that young man's their leader after all.'
Yeonggak shot Se Yeong a meaningful look.
"I've only been out of wall-facing meditation a month, so I'm not up on rivers-and-lakes faces."
In other words, introduce yourself already.
Yi Cheon Yeong spoke first with courtesy.
"We're the Tenth Squad of the Elusive Squadron. I'm Yi Cheon Yeong of Mount Hua Sect."
The others followed.
"Dang Ok Yi of the Tang Family."
"Hahu Yeon of the Hahu Family."
"Sa Sa Un of the Hangzhou Sa Family."