Chapter 297
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 297
Chapter Title: Release Him
"Lost him?"
"That bastard Ha Mu-baek showed up..."
Hyeon-hwang didn't elaborate.
There was no need to.
Hyeon-gwang's face twisted instantly at the mention of Ha Mu-baek.
"Hoo... Ha Mu-baek..."
A deep sigh followed.
Hyeon-hwang could read the profound resentment contained within it.
"So it was Ha Mu-baek. That scum."
He'd only known the name until now.
"You couldn't handle him either?"
Anger laced his voice.
Because of that guy, he'd released this fool Hyeon-hwang.
For him to have his clan's kin snatched away by Ha Mu-baek and flee?
And then infiltrate the Scripture Pavilion?
"It's like this now, but things would've been different by tomorrow."
Hyeon-hwang spoke with evident regret.
Hyeon-gwang let out a scoffing laugh at his junior brother's demeanor.
"In just one day? Is that why you ransacked the Scripture Pavilion?"
It was a mocking question, but Hyeon-hwang nodded.
It was the truth, after all.
"I've laid some groundwork on that girl. He'll have no choice but to come to Shaolin."
Hyeon-gwang tilted his head at his junior brother's words.
Ha Mu-baek couldn't unravel his junior's scheme? That monster?
"Heh heh. It's not something just anyone can undo. So even he'll have to seek me out here at Shaolin. But can you stop him, senior brother?"
Hyeon-hwang smirked sourly.
He'd clashed with Ha Mu-baek himself.
The level of the senior brother before him was slightly below his own, or perhaps on par.
In that case, the outcome was obvious.
He'd be smashed to pieces.
Hyeon-gwang stared intently at Hyeon-hwang.
"You think I don't see through your scheme in provoking me like this? I can just hand you over to Ha Mu-baek and be done with it."
Hyeon-gwang spoke indifferently.
Hyeon-hwang stared straight back at his senior brother.
He was feigning nonchalance, as if it meant nothing to him.
As if.
Hyeon-hwang knew his senior brother well.
They'd studied together under Master Gwanghae since childhood.
Even if Hyeon-hwang had started as a scholarly monk and Hyeon-gwang as a martial one from the beginning.
"That Ha Mu-baek bastard went all out to save that evil faction wench. And get this—her mother chased after to rescue her daughter. Ha Mu-baek was calling that mother his benefactor, looking ready to rip out his liver and gall bladder for her. At that point, isn't Ha Mu-baek no different from the evil factions himself?"
Sparks flew from Hyeon-gwang's eyes at Hyeon-hwang's words.
Veins bulged on the hand rolling his prayer beads.
Hyeon-hwang knew Hyeon-gwang well.
He knew exactly why he ground his teeth at the evil factions and chanted "expel evil, reveal truth, subjugate demons, annihilate fiends."
The words about upholding justice as the North Star of the orthodox martial world, as Shaolin's abbot.
Plausible words, a fine justification.
Bullshit.
Hyeon-hwang knew precisely why he was like that.
The other disciples might not know, but he did.
Hyeon-gwang.
He was the son of a wealthy merchant guild leader.
His father had sent his young son to Shaolin as a disciple to use the temple as backing to expand the guild's influence.
But Hyeon-gwang's talent was extraordinary.
A heaven-sent genius, truly.
His gifts caught the eye of the then-young Master Gwanghae, and he soon became his direct disciple.
Gwanghae excelled in both scholarly and martial pursuits.
He took one particularly talented scholarly monk as a disciple as well.
And upon discovering that monk's aptitude for martial arts too, taught him those skills.
That was Hyeon-hwang.
Thus, from a young age, Hyeon-hwang had shared joys and sorrows with Hyeon-gwang.
He knew well the despair that had befallen him.
An evil faction sect.
They'd clashed with his father's merchant guild over territory.
The result.
Hyeon-gwang's family was wiped out.
Shaolin intervened upon hearing the news to mediate.
But by the time the Shaolin monks arrived, his home was already reduced to ashes.
No one survived.
Not the elderly, not the women, not the children.
Not even the dogs raised in the house.
All dead.
From that moment on.
To Hyeon-gwang, the evil factions were no longer human.
They were demons.
Demons and yakshas that had to be eradicated to save the living and the enlightened, to bring peace.
Then the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult appeared.
Even greater demons.
He'd joined hands with them out of necessity.
But to Hyeon-gwang, the evil factions were demons all the same.
The Sa-hwa Alliance knew this too.
One of their subordinate sects had wiped out a merchant guild.
And that guild was tied to a disciple of Gwanghae, Shaolin's abbot.
Not just any connection.
No matter how they'd left the secular world, they were still family.
By the time the Sa-hwa Alliance grasped the full situation, it was already over.
Shaolin had subdued that sect.
The Sa-hwa Alliance had no choice but to step in to aid their subordinate.
The Sa-hwa Alliance was an evil faction.
A coalition of evil factions.
Naturally, they had to support their affiliates.
The justice of what that sect had done was irrelevant.
That was for the orthodox fools to quibble over.
Evil factions put their own interests first.
Thus, a protracted clash erupted between Shaolin and the Sa-hwa Alliance.
Before Gong Ya Jang-cheon became alliance leader.
The conflict entered a lull because of the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult.
A greater common enemy had emerged.
They'd shelved old grudges due to the Great Martial War.
This was why Shaolin had moved to capture Gong Ya Hui-yeon, and why the disciples chanted their slogans in pursuit of her.
Shaolin hadn't forgotten the clash with the evil factions before the war against the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult.
But the Sa-hwa Alliance had.
Having fought alongside the orthodox sects through two Great Martial Wars, they assumed the old resentments were forgotten.
How else could they have joined hands in battle?
When your ally might stab you in the back.
Thus, Shaolin and the Sa-hwa Alliance had been allies like lips and teeth during the Great Martial War.
And now, that festering wound had burst open.
Fueled by Abbot Hyeon-gwang's personal thirst for vengeance.
"So you're saying you'll hand me over meekly if that evil faction bastard shows up at Shaolin? Ha ha. Make sense for once. Hahaha!"
Hyeon-hwang's laughter echoed.
The prayer beads rolling in Hyeon-gwang's palm had stopped.
Instead, his grip tightened fiercely.
The beads seemed ready to shatter any moment.
"So what is it you want to say?"
"Release me."
"..."
"At least free me from these chains. If I can properly make that scripture's contents my own, I can crush that bastard on the spot."
Hyeon-hwang stared straight at Hyeon-gwang.
He was smirking inwardly.
If it was the senior brother he knew, he'd cave for sure.
He knew how deep his vendetta against the evil factions ran.
"What if you run away?"
'He took the bait.'
Hyeon-hwang's inner smile deepened at Hyeon-gwang's retort.
"Don't we have the sealing beads?"
The prayer beads in Hyeon-gwang's hand began rolling again.
"What the hell is in that scripture anyway? You called it the Thousand-Handed Sari Bori Sutra."
"Kekeke. You think I'd tell you?"
It was his ace in the hole.
No way he'd reveal it.
The beads kept rolling.
"Time's short. If that bastard shows up before I fully assimilate that scripture's contents, everything goes to hell."
"What's your proof he'll come?"
Even if Ha Mu-baek couldn't unravel Hyeon-hwang's scheme.
"Couldn't he find Seon-yu Valley?"
Ha Mu-baek was on good terms with them, after all.
"Heh heh. It's not something mere physicians can fix. I've steeped it in thick darkness. She'll die slowly. Kekeke. Plus, the source of that bastard's power... is the same as mine. So you know. He has to come to me. Only then can he prevent her death."
Hyeon-gwang's eyebrow twitched.
Ha Mu-baek was an unnamed hero of the orthodox sects.
The world praised So Hwi-woong.
But those in the know recognized Ha Mu-baek's countless achievements from the shadows.
Hyeon-gwang did too.
He was a thorn in his side, but even he couldn't deny Ha Mu-baek's accomplishments as an orthodox warrior in the Great Martial War.
Yet.
His junior brother, no different from a demon.
This public enemy of the martial world shared the origin of his martial arts with him?
And he called an evil faction woman—undoubtedly deeply tied to Gong Ya Jang-cheon—his benefactor and followed her?
"Evil faction."
Hyeon-gwang reached his conclusion.
His eyes grew icy cold.
Hyeon-gwang turned away.
"S-Senior brother..."
Hyeon-hwang's voice trembled at the sight.
Had his ploy failed?
Would this senior brother swallow his vengeance, seal him here, and leave?
Just as despair began to set in.
Chrarararak.
The sound of chains dragging across the floor.
The chains piercing Hyeon-hwang's shoulder and waist acupoints slithered into Hyeon-gwang's sleeve.
"I'll lock you in the Penance Cave tomorrow at this time. With all three sealing beads intact. It'll be agonizing. For daring to escape the Penance Cave. Stay here and atone until then."
With those words.
Hyeon-gwang vanished in an instant.
It seemed like punishment at first glance.
But nothing restrained Hyeon-hwang now.
He was free.
Hyeon-hwang hurriedly picked up the Thousand-Handed Sari Bori Sutra again.
He had to resume what his senior brother's sudden order had interrupted.
Time was running out before that bastard arrived.
It wasn't mere intuition or insight into his essence.
The instinct of the power within his own body was telling him.
The bastard was drawing near.
Thus, Hyeon-hwang took in the void into his body.
Mount Song, Lesser Room Peak.
A rugged mountain peak entered Ha Mu-baek's view.
And midway up, a massive temple.
The North Star of the martial world, Shaolin Temple.
It was crystal clear in Ha Mu-baek's eyes.
He raced across the ground.
Soon, he reached Shaolin's mountain gate.
The gatekeeper monks spotted him.
"Halt! Layman! State your business at Shaolin!"
The gatekeepers cried out in alarm at Ha Mu-baek charging in at tremendous speed.
But before they could even assume their stances, Ha Mu-baek vaulted over the mountain gate and soared into Shaolin's grounds.
Deng deng deng deng!
The bells rang urgently.
The signal for an intruder.
Ha Mu-baek pressed on toward Shaolin's heart, unperturbed.
His senses already blanketed not just Shaolin but over half of Lesser Room Peak.
'Not here.'
The one he sought was absent.
That monk bastard Hyeon-hwang.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes sharpened fiercely.
He planted his feet squarely in the center of Shaolin.
Shaolin was vast and expansive.
An ancient temple dotted with vital sites everywhere.
Its central area held great significance too.
The abbot's quarters sat precisely at the heart of the grounds.
Ha Mu-baek's aura surged forth in waves.
"Amitabha."
A low chant accompanied the opening of the abbot's door.
A venerable monk with snow-white hair and brows appeared with a benevolent face.
Abbot Hyeon-gwang of Shaolin.
He was inwardly astonished.
His junior brother's words had all come true.
"It's been a while, Layman Ha. What urgent matter brings you to Shaolin so suddenly? And so rudely?"
As he spoke his final words, Hyeon-gwang's eyes flashed sharply.
In that time, Shaolin disciples had gathered.
To subdue the intruder who'd barged right before the abbot's quarters.
But with the abbot stepping out.
They merely encircled the perimeter for now.
The One Hundred Eight Arhats Formation unfolded with seamless naturalness.
Layers upon layers of the One Hundred Eight Arhats Formation.
A colossal formation wielded by a total of three hundred twenty-four arhats.
Ha Mu-baek silently glared at Hyeon-gwang.
He'd rushed here in a fury.
'But my justification is lacking.'
Indeed.
Shaolin pursuing an evil faction warrior who'd entered orthodox territory was by their rationale.
Chasing responsibility for that lacked standing.
Ha Mu-baek knew this well.
Smashing them outright would be easy.
Did Shaolin folk even register in his view?
However.
Doing so.
Would make him no different from the ones he despised.
His sole justification now was one thing.
Hyeon-hwang.
The Mad Rogue Monk.
Information obtained via the Beggars' Sect en route to Shaolin.
In the era before the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult rose.
The martial world's public enemy then: the Mad Rogue Monk.
That was Hyeon-hwang.
Shaolin releasing a public enemy into the world.
Responsibility for that.
That was Ha Mu-baek's justification.
"Where is Hyeon-hwang? No—the martial world's public enemy, the Mad Rogue Monk?"
Ha Mu-baek's cold voice rang clear in the ears of every monk in Shaolin's grounds.