Chapter 303
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 303
Chapter Title: Look, I Told You
The waters of the Yangtze flowed majestically onward.
The vast river stretched so wide it was hard to tell whether it was truly a river or the sea itself.
Since their journey took them upstream against the current, past Anqing, the boat moved slowly.
Yet thanks to a steady breeze, they pressed on without pause.
Gongya Hwi-yeon stood at the ship's railing, letting the river wind tousle her hair.
It had been two days since that black energy began creeping across her brow.
She figured it was due to the mysterious force clinging to her dantian.
Even with her face veiled in thin cloth as she gazed at the waters, Gongya Hwi-yeon's complexion remained bright.
She trusted him.
Ha Mu-baek.
"The breeze feels nice and cool."
Woo Mun Ga-yul approached her side.
Her own face was similarly veiled.
"Yes. It does."
Gongya Hwi-yeon's voice was still hoarse and raspy, thick with strain.
"How's your body holding up?"
"I think it's starting to take a toll, bit by bit. My head feels heavier, and that seems to be getting worse, little by little."
Woo Mun Ga-yul's expression darkened slightly at her reply.
Her eyes drifted to her daughter's brow.
The spot the veil couldn't hide.
That murky black aura settled there.
She had noticed it since yesterday.
That alone told her the mad monk's planted energy was steadily growing stronger within her daughter's body.
'Mu-baek. Please.'
Right now, Ha Mu-baek was the only one she could lean on.
"Instructor Ha is truly incredible."
Gongya Hwi-yeon's voice cut in then.
"How could he protect his little sister like that in a situation like that? And she was just a kid with nothing to her name. If I'd been in the same spot... I couldn't have done it. No way."
It was the story Woo Mun Ga-yul had shared with her. Because Gongya Hwi-yeon had wanted to hear it.
"That little sister of his. I've seen her a few times at the Dragon Training Pavilion. She seemed so beautiful and strong."
Gongya Hwi-yeon pictured Ha Seol-ran's face.
"For a ten-year-old girl with no martial arts, nothing at all, to protect her infant sibling and raise her so well..."
Woo Mun Ga-yul listened quietly to her daughter.
"So. Defeating that mad monk and purging this energy from my body? He'll handle it without breaking a sweat. He's not some helpless kid anymore—he's the proud World's Greatest now."
Woo Mun Ga-yul nodded and clasped her daughter's hand tightly.
She could feel it trembling faintly.
Her face was calm, but this child was afraid too.
Afraid of this unknown energy latching onto her dantian, slowly corroding her body.
To shake off that fear,
she placed her faith in Ha Mu-baek.
In his ability to overcome far more dire straits than this.
Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader's Chambers.
"Strategist."
"Yes, Alliance Leader."
Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong replied calmly to So Hwi-woong's call.
"What do you make of these letters?"
So Hwi-woong gestured to a stack of missives gathered in one spot.
All from Shaolin's Head Monk Hyun-gwang.
And
on the opposite side lay reports piled high.
Compiled and analyzed by Heavenly Eye Pavilion from Beggar Clan intelligence.
"Shaolin is overreaching."
Exactly.
That matched So Hwi-woong's own thinking.
Which was why he'd only sent a noncommittal reply promising discussion, without taking real action.
Instead, he directed the Beggar Clan and Heavenly Eye Pavilion to focus their attention there.
The conflict with the Evil Fire Alliance bore close watching from the Righteous Heaven Alliance's perspective too.
Especially since
the one stepping up to crush that unorthodox faction was none other than Shaolin's Hyun-gwang.
His personal history was well-known even to the Alliance.
And on top of that.
"No, it's not overreaching—Head Monk Hyun-gwang has lost his mind."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong scowled fiercely as he spoke.
Details absent from Hyun-gwang's letters.
But facts uncovered by the Beggar Clan.
The Mad Lion Mad Monk.
He had emerged into the world.
Before entering nirvana, Gwanghae Saint Monk had informed the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
He would remain as warden, ensuring the Mad Lion Mad Monk could never leave his penitence cell before death.
"The Mad Lion Mad Monk... to release him. He's gone mad, alright."
So Hwi-woong grimaced too.
In his youth,
he had clashed with the Mad Lion Mad Monk himself.
A monster.
Even back then, by those standards, he had already reached heights rivaling the Blood Cult Leader or Demonic Cult Leader.
"The Jade Buddha Tablet wasn't meant for something like this."
So Hwi-woong spat the words with deep disgust.
He and Gong Son Dan-gyeong both knew well.
The only way the Mad Lion Mad Monk could emerge—barring escape—was the abbot's Jade Buddha Tablet.
"Looks like we'll have to rely on that friend again this time."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong knew exactly who he meant.
"Come to think of it, you met with the Namgung Clan on your way back."
So Hwi-woong tilted his head at that.
"Hm? What're you on about?"
Playing dumb.
Sensing the reason, Gong Son Dan-gyeong let it slide with a smile instead of pressing.
"So. What did he say?"
So Hwi-woong glanced up at the ceiling for a moment.
"Seemed like he plans to walk his own path."
"A realm that affords him that luxury."
So Hwi-woong nodded silently at Gong Son Dan-gyeong's words.
Deep regret lingered in his eyes.
The messenger bird from Woo Mun Ga-yul winged its way to the Evil Fire Alliance stationed at Mount Heng.
The letter reached Gong Ya Jang-cheon immediately, and he shot to his feet.
"Prepare to move. I'll go myself."
Mun In Baek-song paled at his words.
What was this all of a sudden?
The Evil Fire Alliance Leader barging into orthodox territory without warning?
"You can't! Alliance Leader!"
Mun In Baek-song moved to block him at once.
"When that bastard Hyun-gwang broke his word and unleashed the Mad Lion Mad Monk, it was already headed for disaster!"
Gong Ya Jang-cheon bellowed, hurling the letter aside.
He had been relieved at the news of Gongya Hwi-yeon's safe rescue, but this...
Mun In Baek-song hurriedly snatched up the letter.
As he scanned it...
"That filthy son of a—!!"
A curse born of rage burst from Mun In Baek-song's lips too.
How could it not?
The Mad Lion Mad Monk. No, Hyun-gwang.
That scum had tampered with Gongya Hwi-yeon's body.
A ploy even Ha Mu-baek couldn't dispel on the spot.
"We must go ri— N-no, you can't."
For a moment, even Mun In Baek-song lost his reason, nearly blurting they had to go now.
"See? Even you're thinking it."
"I-I understand your feelings completely, but consider your position as Alliance Leader."
"Then notify the Righteous Heaven Alliance right now. Tell them my granddaughter's life hangs by a thread from that Mad Lion Mad Monk's trickery, so I'm going to fetch her myself. And I'm leaving now."
"A-Alliance Leader..."
"You saw it too. Even Ha Mu-baek couldn't break it, so he went after that Mad Lion Mad Monk bastard!"
Rage blazed fiercely from Gong Ya Jang-cheon's body.
'Ha Mu-baek couldn't dispel it, so what makes you think you can solve it by going yourself?'
The words rose to his throat, but he swallowed them down.
Speaking words that could sound like calling the rage-blinded Gong Ya Jang-cheon incompetent would be suicide.
Mun In Baek-song left to inform the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Gong Ya Jang-cheon rose from his seat.
The great blade hanging behind the throne.
He gripped it.
Dark Dragon Great Blade.
A divine weapon proudly claiming a seat among the Ten Great Unorthodox Blades.
"Guh... guh... grrrk... guhk."
Pain-filled groans leaked from Hyun-hwang's mouth.
Ha Mu-baek watched him.
Soon, black smoke poured from Hyun-hwang's body, spreading outward.
Trees withered and twisted.
Grass crumbled to dust.
A field mouse shriveled and collapsed.
A pheasant about to take flight dried up mid-air.
Still unsatisfied,
the black energy crept slyly toward the Shaolin monks.
"Eek!"
The Shaolin monks startled at the sudden motion.
"Begone!"
Hyun-gwang shouted a kiai and thrust out his palm.
The sacred energy of the Vajra Tathagata Buddha Light Great Hand Seal repelled the black aura entirely.
A force of utter mutual repulsion.
The invincible power barred the black energy from even approaching.
At that majestic sight, the Shaolin monks sighed in relief.
A feat worthy of Shaolin's abbot, they thought.
Worlds apart from Hyun-hwang's sinister hand seal.
The true Vajra Tathagata Buddha Light Great Hand Seal, infused with invincible might!
In that interval,
Hyun-hwang had recovered all his wounds.
Ha Mu-baek stared steadily at him.
"Your life. I'll spare it."
Ha Mu-baek smiled faintly.
"But your dantian? I'm blowing it up."
His lips curled wickedly.
Hyun-hwang's black eyes trembled.
"What's wrong? I'm saying I'll let you live. Isn't that great for you? You keep your miserable life."
Ha Mu-baek kept talking.
But Hyun-hwang couldn't respond.
His lips quivered as if trying to speak,
yet some force sealed his words.
"Look, I told you."
The smile on Ha Mu-baek's lips twisted into a killer's grin.
"No answer? Guess you die then. Dantian and all."
With that, Ha Mu-baek's hand shot forward.
Claw Technique of the Infinite Breaking Fist.
His hand, cloaked in pure white true energy, slammed straight into Hyun-hwang's dantian.
He clenched tight.
Then tilted his head.
Something solid had gotten caught in his grip on the dantian.
Incredibly tough.
It withstood the strength of his true energy-infused grasp.
"Abbot Brother."
Hyun-gil, who had been watching, quietly called to Hyun-gwang.
"..."
"Why not activate the seal now? It's over. Didn't you see it just now?"
He had even unleashed the Vajra Tathagata Buddha Light Great Hand Seal himself.
Hyun-gwang gnawed at his lips.
Finally, he seemed to steel himself.
His lips moved.
"Prajna Paramita..."
His recitation began with the Heart Sutra, then flowed into
"Tighten Band, Golden Band, Golden Band..."
the sealing incantation of the Binding Sphere.
"Kraaaaaagh!!!!"
Hyun-hwang screamed and thrashed.
Ha Mu-baek's hand slipped free from his body with the motion.
The sudden change made him relax his grip.
'It changed? Spitting out energy?'
The solid object in Ha Mu-baek's grasp.
It emitted energy and contracted.
And with it, Hyun-hwang wailed and flailed.
'So that's the seal imposing the binding.'
Ha Mu-baek's Infinite Bright Wheel Eye spotted the binding energy rising.
'Head, heart, dantian.'
Ha Mu-baek shifted his gaze.
There stood Hyun-gwang, chanting nonstop.
"You bastard. There was a way like that, and you kept your damn mouth shut till now?"
Incredulous fury settled on Ha Mu-baek's face.
Hyun-hwang kept screaming and rampaging.
Ha Mu-baek eyed him again.
It was gone.
No trace of that abyssal bastard's energy.
This was true mutual repulsion.
The Binding Sphere contracted as if to burst the dantian any second.
Yet the dantian held.
Because of the opposition.
The power Hyun-hwang gained was the Binding Sphere's antithesis, but the Binding Sphere was likewise the antithesis of Hyun-hwang's power.
They balanced in a strange standoff.
Confirming this, Ha Mu-baek moved on Hyun-hwang again.
Now that the Binding Sphere's activation had revealed its shape through its energy,
he used both hands this time.
Knife-edge hands, razor-sharp.
Coated in White Flower True Energy.
White Flower Water Gang.
They plunged into the dantian from both sides simultaneously.
Squelch! Stab!
Both hands tore flesh and wedged into gaps in the Golden Band Child, piercing the dantian clean through.
"Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!"
A scream dwarfing the last.
Hyun-hwang stopped thrashing,
screaming alone.
Thanks to Ha Mu-baek ripping two spots?
The Golden Band Child contracted further.
Hyun-hwang's dantian shrank endlessly.
Now walnut-sized.
No room for Ha Mu-baek's hands.
Yet,
Hyun-hwang's dantian endured again.
The abyss's final spasm, perhaps.
Ha Mu-baek growled at Hyun-gwang as he watched.
"Release it."
Doubt flickered in Hyun-gwang's eyes, still chanting.
"Release whatever you planted in this bastard's dantian and pull it out. I need to blow it up, but that's in the way."
The situation was just as Ha Mu-baek said.
The Golden Band Child kept trying to crush the walnut-sized dantian,
but couldn't shrink further.
And that Golden Band Child
had become a shield guarding the dantian from Ha Mu-baek's grasp.
"Patron Ha. Might this poor monk lend a hand?"
Then,
Hyun-gil stepped forward.
"And who the hell are you?"
The gruff retort flew back.
The moment he saw Hyun-gwang's sealing chant,
all Shaolin monks looked like trash to Ha Mu-baek.
"I am Hyun-gil, successor to Gwanghae Saint Monk's will. Amitabha."
Ha Mu-baek wasn't the one shocked.
The Shaolin monks behind Hyun-gil gaped.
Hyun-gwang's eyes looked ready to split open.
Even Ha Mu-baek couldn't treat lightly one who bore Gwanghae Saint Monk's legacy.
Gwanghae Saint Monk was already gone by the time Ha Mu-baek debuted,
but he knew the reverence he commanded.
He had heard it endlessly from Wudang's Wu Yeon-jin.
Gwanghae Saint Monk.
Had he lived, the battles with Blood Cult and Demonic Cult would have been far easier.
Before Ha Mu-baek could answer,
bright light erupted from Hyun-gil's body.