Chapter 296
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 296
Chapter Title: That Guy Is Definitely Him
"A letter from Madam has arrived."
Mun In-baeksong, who had received the letter from Umun Garyul delivered to the Black Raven Corps, headed straight for the alliance leader's office.
How long had they been waiting for this news?
Though Mun In-baeksong had appeared suddenly, Gongya Jangcheon asked with an even more urgent expression.
"What does it say? Is Hwiyeon safe?"
"I came right away as soon as I received it..."
Mun In-baeksong politely handed over the sealed letter.
Gongya Jangcheon hurriedly tore it open and scanned the contents.
His eyes raced desperately over the letter.
"Phew."
The first thing written was that Gongya Hwiyeon was unharmed, so he let out a sigh of relief.
However, after reading the rest, a shadow fell over his face.
He silently handed the letter to Mun In-baeksong.
Mun In-baeksong, having read through the entire letter from Gongya Jangcheon, furrowed his brow.
"Hmm... the current situation..."
Mun In-baeksong's expression grew grave.
Gongya Jangcheon's complexion darkened as well.
"The current situation... that means that bastard, right? Just as we thought?"
"The Mad Shaolin Monk. It's definitely him."
Mun In-baeksong replied in a heavy voice.
"Hah. That guy came out of Shaolin? Unbelievable..."
Gongya Jangcheon scowled deeply.
On top of that, his granddaughter had been captured by that damned scum, and his daughter-in-law nearly violated.
If it hadn't been for Instructor Ha.
"We were right to ask for Instructor Ha's help."
Gongya Jangcheon nodded at Mun In-baeksong's words.
Mun In-baeksong was indeed the sole strategist of the Slayer Alliance. His counsel was almost always correct.
"More importantly... that bastard dared to lay his hands on Hwiyeon's body..."
Gongya Jangcheon tapped the armrest of his chair rhythmically.
"Instructor Ha says he can't break it right away either. Truly worthy of the Mad Shaolin Monk."
"How the hell did that damned bastard get out of Shaolin? Wasn't he suppressed by Abbot Gwanghae and locked away? They even left attendants to ensure he could never escape to the outside world."
Before the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult waged war.
There had been a martial arts criminal terrorizing the world.
He was the Mad Shaolin Monk.
The Shaolin-born public enemy whose infamy shook the land.
Both righteous and unorthodox sects trembled at his name.
His strength was beyond description, and just as the previous Slayer Alliance Leader was about to step in...
The Shaolin head at the time, Abbot Gwanghae, had personally emerged from the temple.
After a grueling battle, he finally subdued the monster and dragged him back to Shaolin.
"Should we have killed him back then?"
Gongya Jangcheon muttered in a voice thick with regret.
Back then, Gongya Jangcheon was still young.
His voice didn't carry as much weight as it did now.
"You know the reason for that decision."
Mun In-baeksong said with a dark expression.
"Tch."
Gongya Jangcheon's face darkened as he recalled the reason.
That guy was a true monster.
A being beyond humanity.
No one could kill him.
They could suppress him, but not kill him.
No blade could sever his neck or pierce his heart.
Not even shattering his dantian worked.
An unknown power protected him.
Even in complete exhaustion.
Only Abbot Gwanghae's martial arts could bind him.
Combined with Shaolin's sealing orbs.
That was why they had followed Abbot Gwanghae's advice. Yet now that monster was loose in the world.
"At least he couldn't handle it and fled, so Instructor Ha truly is a monster himself."
"I don't know... if he can actually kill the bastard."
Gongya Jangcheon replied to Mun In-baeksong with a bitter expression.
"More importantly, how did that bastard get out of Shaolin? He should have been perfectly sealed."
"Shaolin must have released him."
"Even with Abbot Gwanghae's legacy?"
"The current abbot's Emerald Buddha Palm takes precedence over all."
Gongya Jangcheon gaped as if struck, at Mun In-baeksong's words.
"In the end, it's Hyeongwang. That monk's doing..."
Gongya Jangcheon's eyes blazed with fury, turning ice-blue.
"Hyeongwang... Yeah, he'd do it. Especially if he knew about the young lady. To him, the unorthodox sects are blood enemies."
Gongya Jangcheon spoke in a voice still laced with anger at Mun In-baeksong's words.
"If that monk renounced the secular world, he should forget secular ties too. Clinging to old grudges and wielding his power for personal vendettas... Using the Emerald Buddha Palm to unleash a martial criminal on the world."
"Subduing demons and revealing truth through destruction of evil. It's one of Shaolin's paths, Leader."
"Baeksong, are you Shaolin? Or the Slayer Alliance?"
"The Slayer Alliance, of course."
"Then why are you taking that monk's side?"
"I'm just speaking according to reason. We must always keep our rationality cold. I am the Grand Slayer Alliance's strategist, after all."
Even as he said this, his hand hidden in his sleeve was clenched so tightly it might shatter. His nails dug into his flesh.
"Even so, with Shaolin's abbot acting unilaterally to release a public enemy into the world, we should protest to the Righteous Heaven Alliance."
Mun In-baeksong said in an icily cold voice.
Mount Song's Near Absolute Peak.
A rugged ridge beside Shaolin's Small Annihilation Peak, where the temple stood.
"Keh heh heh. Still the same as ever."
Deep within Near Absolute Peak.
In the middle of an even more treacherous cliff face, a hidden cave.
It was Hyeongwang's secret training spot from long ago.
No one still knew of it.
Now, he just needed to master this newly acquired fragment here.
Hyeongwang didn't yet know what fragment it was.
Back then, he'd only sensed its aura.
He hadn't examined it closely.
When he found it, he hadn't yet fully gathered the powers of chaos and darkness.
After gathering them all, he lost himself to their rush and rampaged through the jianghu.
Now, he finally held it to inspect.
He unfurled the Thousand Hands Sari Bori Sutra.
A scripture plainly filled with the Buddha's words.
But that was mere appearance.
As Hyeongwang channeled inner energy into his eyes to peer at its essence...
Hidden characters rose from the pages.
Along with the thick aura they held.
'This is... void. About a tenth the size, judging by this.'
He grasped its essence instantly.
The power of chaos that discerned truths.
"Ridiculous. Heh heh."
How could it not be?
The sacred Shaolin Scripture Pavilion stored sutras of the Buddha's teachings and manuals imbued with his power.
Yet behold the primordial fragment Hyeongwang found there.
Chaos, darkness, and now void.
All forces diametrically opposed to the Buddha's might.
'Just wait a little longer, Mu-baek.'
Once he fully absorbed this fragment.
Claimed the power of void.
Made it completely his own.
A nobody like that guy...
A smug smile spread across Hyeongwang's face at that moment.
"Kraaaagh! Ack! Aaaagh!"
Hyeongwang screamed and rolled on the ground from sudden agony.
Excruciating pain from his head, heart, and dantian all at once!
That damned senior brother was chanting spells.
"Kraaaaaaaaagh!"
Boom! Boom! Kwaboom!
Cracklerack.
He didn't just roll; he crashed into walls everywhere, sending rocks crumbling down.
Yet the pain intensified.
He strained with all his might against the seal and torment, but nothing worked.
Even calling on chaos and darkness failed.
The three sealing orbs rendered him helpless.
Truly sealed by opposing forces.
"Guh... guh... guh."
Hyeongwang's face paled ghostly white.
'D-Dammit... H-How already...'
He'd expected discovery, but not this fast.
He thought he'd have at least a day.
Yet in just one hour...
The pain showed no sign of easing.
Hyeongwang kept chanting the spell.
Searching for Hyeongwang amid the pain-induced thrashing, Hyeongwang had spread his senses wide while chanting.
The disturbance would surely register.
Chanting as he scoured Small Annihilation Peak, Hyeongwang shook his head.
Not there.
"Then."
His gaze turned to Near Absolute Peak.
He'd check there first.
It might take searching all of vast Mount Song.
Thanks to that damned junior brother.
Should've just done as told.
As Hyeongwang entered Near Absolute Peak, the incantation still flowed from his lips.
How much time passed after entering?
'Found you.'
He clearly sensed his junior brother's presence.
Hyeongwang dashed straight there.
A sheer cliff face.
He leaped into the cave midway up.
The cave ran deep.
Thud! Thud! Boom! Boom!
Fierce impacts echoed through the cave.
Smashing into walls in agony.
Hyeongwang gathered his full inner energy.
Subdue him first.
Clang.
The iron chains he'd brought clinked softly.
At the deep end of the cave...
"Guhk... guhk... guhk."
Hyeongwang, who had been battering the walls, foamed at the mouth, on the verge of death.
Hyeongwang wasn't fooled.
Shwish!
The chains shot out, piercing Hyeongwang's shoulder and striking his Mingmen acupoint.
Only after perfectly sealing him did...
Hyeongwang stop the chant.
The endless screams ceased.
But Hyeongwang couldn't regain his senses.
How could he?
Hyeongwang had chanted for a full hour.
That he'd searched vast Small Annihilation Peak and reached here in less than an hour was astonishing.
From Hyeongwang's view, though, it was a full hour of hellish torment.
Since the three sealing orbs bound him.
He'd never endured such prolonged spell-induced agony.
This was the first time.
Thus, Hyeongwang was completely unhinged.
Only after some time did...
Focus return to Hyeongwang's eyes.
"Gu... guh..."
A small groan escaped.
Then he looked around.
He realized he was sealed just like in the Repentance Cave.
"You got here fast."
Hyeongwang glared resentfully at Hyeongwang ahead and spoke.
"No one but you would pull a stunt like that."
Hyeongwang pondered blankly at the reply.
"Heh heh heh heh."
Soon, he let out an incredulous laugh.
Right.
Senior brother's words were spot on.
Starting trouble would make him the prime suspect.
Anyone else might not, but that senior brother definitely would.
Thinking just hiding his face would suffice was naive.
His grudge against that Mu-baek clouded his judgment.
In the end, Mu-baek.
That bastard's fault.
"Fuck. What a pain."
A curse spilled from Hyeongwang's lips.
Hyeongwang fixed him with a cold stare.
"What about the girl?"
The woman clearly of the Slayer Alliance Leader's bloodline.
He'd sent him to capture her.
Yet he stole a sutra from the Scripture Pavilion and hid here.
Hearing he'd met Yeonjin, he'd assumed the mission proceeded.
Was it a ploy to blind him?
Shouldn't have trusted this one.
Greed blinded him to a grave mistake.
Lock him back in the Repentance Cave before rumors spread in the jianghu.
As he thought that...
"She got away."
Hyeongwang's unexpected answer reached Hyeongwang's ears.
She got away?
Then he went near Mount Mokran, encountered the girl, let her escape, and returned to Mount Song to cause this?
Why?
And how did this guy lose her?
Such questions surfaced on Hyeongwang's face.
Ha Mu-baek ran and ran.
Now, just six hours to Shaolin.
Not much longer.
Here, he paused to rest.
Even for Ha Mu-baek, to fully suppress and shatter that guy, he needed to recover completely.
No more carelessness.
After a brief meditation, Ha Mu-baek resumed his dash toward Shaolin.
'Wait just a bit longer, Hyeongwang, Hyeongwang.'
He'd hold them accountable for their deeds.
Gongya Hwiyeon's safety was at stake.
Before, she was just a Fierce Dragon Corps cadet.
Not anymore.
She was the daughter of his benefactor, Umun Garyul.
Now, it was as good as his own affair.