Chapter 304
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 304
Chapter Title: This guy seems similar?
The moment light erupted from Hyun-gil's body.
The Shaolin monks around him jumped in shock.
A sacred aura, as if the Buddha himself had descended, was emanating from his form.
Guest Reception Hall.
This was the place where visitors to the Shaolin Temple were welcomed.
Hyun-gil was the hall's master.
With his gentle, compassionate nature and sociable demeanor, he had held the position for a long time.
Far past the point when he should have passed it on to Yeon Ja-bae's disciples.
Yet he remained the Guest Reception Hall master.
The job was such that most people avoided it.
Innumerable pilgrims visited the Shaolin Temple. They poured in endlessly.
High-status nobles, the wealthy, martial artists of great power, lowly commoners, the penniless, those with nothing to lose, people at the end of their ropes.
All sorts flocked there.
With such a endless stream, incidents and accidents were inevitable.
The Guest Reception Hall master bore ultimate responsibility.
An overwhelming flood of tasks from every kind of person imaginable.
With such variety came the utterly mad, the unreasonable, the utterly unmanageable.
Even a few years in that role made it hard to stay sane.
No matter how deeply a Shaolin monk had cultivated.
And with so much work, there was no time left for personal training.
It was a position full of hardships and no apparent upsides.
Yet Hyun-gil never pressured or urged Yeon Ja-bae's disciples to take over.
He simply carried out his duties in silence.
His martial prowess wasn't particularly high, but his character had earned him the respect of the Shaolin disciples.
For such a Hyun-gil's body to emit that sacred, majestic light.
The faint golden glow truly resembled the Buddha's reincarnation.
"Amitabha... Buddha's Light! Buddha's Light!!"
"Amitabha... To witness the Buddha's radiance like this. Amitabha."
The Shaolin monks clasped their hands in unison, bowing their heads and chanting in reverence.
Emotion trembled in their voices.
Hyun-gwang stared at his master's form in disbelief.
'M-Master. Master... How could it go to Junior Brother Hyun-gil...'
How, when he himself—the direct disciple, the prized pupil—was right there?
No, he knew the reason.
Heart demon.
That bastard's heart demon.
How could it even be called a heart demon?
Compassion—the natural pity any human feels.
The path of overcoming human passions and delusions to attain enlightenment and liberation.
That was the way for monks.
Yet to falter over basic human compassion.
He was already lost to his heart demon, beyond escape.
So deeply he didn't even realize it.
No one noticed Hyun-gwang trembling with envy and jealousy.
Outwardly, he continued chanting the sealing incantation.
Hyun-gil launched himself forward.
Hyun-hwang was at the end of his path.
Hyun-gil moved his fist with fluid grace.
The motion of the Hundred Paces Divine Fist.
What Hyun-gil had received from Venerable Gwanghae was the Muscle Changing Scripture.
The pinnacle of the Shaolin Three Great Divine Arts.
But it was a mental cultivation and scripture.
A text outlining methods to purify and correct the practitioner's body.
Thus, the technique he wielded was his signature Hundred Paces Divine Fist.
Yet influenced by the shard's fragment, its motion was slightly altered.
The name the Abyss had revealed.
Hundred Paces Radiant Divine Fist.
The moment that fist power flew toward Hyun-hwang's dantian.
Bam!!
Ha Mu-baek blocked it.
Thanks to him, one of the hands embedded in Hyun-hwang's dantian was pulled free.
"And who the hell are you?"
Ha Mu-baek scowled fiercely.
"I am Hyun-gil. Layman Ha, I bear the final wish of my martial uncle, Venerable Gwanghae, to guide Senior Brother Hyun-hwang to nirvana."
Hyun-gil replied calmly.
But Ha Mu-baek's scowl remained.
"That power."
Hyun-gil, still radiating faint Buddha's Light, looked at Ha Mu-baek in confusion.
What could be wrong with this sacred, majestic aura borrowed from the Buddha?
"This guy seems similar to that bastard?"
He knew.
Ha Mu-baek felt it too.
Utterly different from Hyun-hwang's energy.
Among the arts he knew, it most resembled the Sovereign Sword Form.
However.
At its deepest roots, it clearly resembled Hyun-hwang's power.
And, unwilling as he was to admit it, his own.
That's why he'd sensed a similarity to his own power in Hyun-hwang's energy.
Hyun-gil furrowed his brow slightly.
But that was all.
"Amitabha. This is the power gained at the culmination of the Muscle Changing Scripture. Layman Ha, your words insult Shaolin."
The Shaolin monks were stunned at those words.
Today had been one shock after another; they thought they had no capacity left for more...
More upheavals in mere hours than a lifetime in Shaolin had brought, shattering their common sense repeatedly.
How could Hyun-gil have cultivated the Muscle Changing Scripture?
Not just anyone could.
Only with the Shaolin First Man's approval.
Its location was known only to the Scripture Pavilion Lord.
Even Pavilion Lord Hyun-chuk seemed unaware Hyun-gil had learned it.
Thus, only one conclusion.
The Shaolin First Man had transmitted it orally in person.
Only then did the monks' gazes flick toward Hyun-gwang.
They naturally assumed the sect leader, Hyun-gwang, was cultivating it.
Venerable Gwanghae—the previous Shaolin First Man and its inheritor.
Yet it had gone not to his direct disciple, but to grand-nephew Hyun-gil.
An unimaginable turn.
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head.
But if it was the Muscle Changing Scripture... what could he do?
Shaolin's supreme art.
Once named, who could argue?
The Sovereign Sword Form was the Namgung Clan's pinnacle too.
Still.
Similar, yet different.
The Sovereign Sword Form matched its nature most closely.
But Hyun-hwang sprang to mind first.
Why?
Ha Mu-baek kept tilting his head in puzzlement.
The remaining hand slipped from Hyun-hwang's dantian.
Seeing Ha Mu-baek withdraw, Hyun-gil swung his fist again.
Hundred Paces Radiant Divine Fist hurtling toward Hyun-hwang.
"Kraaaargh!!!!"
It struck his dantian dead-on.
Hyun-hwang screamed like a madman.
His dantian shrank further.
The dantian enduring the sealing sphere's golden restraint.
The golden band within shrank accordingly.
Hyun-gil unleashed fist after fist.
Each hit shrank the dantian more.
Until it was mere rice-grain size.
Hyun-hwang's eyes lost focus.
Drool streamed from his mouth.
He was as good as dead.
Only his dantian clung desperately.
More precisely, that Abyss bastard.
Ha Mu-baek watched impassively.
That Abyss thing is one tenacious son of a bitch, he thought.
Then his gaze snapped to Hyun-gil.
That was why Hyun-gil's energy felt like Hyun-hwang's.
The Abyss.
Traces of it lingered in this man's energy too.
Ha Mu-baek glared at Hyun-gil with murderous eyes.
But first things first: finish off Hyun-hwang.
Hyun-hwang was already an idiot vegetable.
From the moment Ha Mu-baek damaged his dantian.
Irreparable harm.
Plus Hyun-gil's attacks.
The rice-grain dantian barely sustaining his life.
Yet.
No matter how much fist power Hyun-hwang expelled, the dantian endured.
Insufficient power.
Compared to what Hyun-hwang had gained, Hyun-gil's was lacking.
Ha Mu-baek scrutinized Hyun-gil's energy closely.
Faint golden glow.
The Buddha's Light, as the monks called it.
It pierced the sealing sphere restraining Hyun-hwang, striking the dantian directly.
The sealing sphere's power seemed rooted in Buddhist arts too.
Similar natures allowed passage.
That's why Ha Mu-baek's had been blocked.
At its roots, a familiar energy, akin to his own.
Then.
Couldn't he mimic it similarly?
Like how he'd flawlessly replicated arts after one glance.
Just like always.
With that thought, Ha Mu-baek focused intently on Hyun-gil's energy.
Hyun-gil kept unleashing Hundred Paces Radiant Divine Fist.
To fulfill Venerable Gwanghae's dying wish and send Senior Uncle Hyun-hwang to nirvana.
However.
Hyun-hwang still.
Endured.
He endured tenaciously.
Hyun-gil panicked.
Why?
The Abyss from the Muscle Changing Scripture.
It had said this would end him for sure.
Due to power disparity and the golden band.
Even similar energy lost half penetrating the band.
Hyun-gil's output had limits.
Half of that limit reached the dantian.
The shrunken rice-grain dantian could withstand that much.
Unaware, Hyun-gil desperately swung, but power waned.
He'd given full force on the first strike.
Sweat drenched his face.
"Hmmm."
Ha Mu-baek kindled energy at his fingertip.
Pure white.
Gradually tinting yellow.
Ivory with yellow hue.
He flicked his head.
Not easy.
On a whim, he fired a finger wind at Hyun-hwang.
Thud.
Finger wind tapping the golden band around the dantian.
'Huh?'
He felt it.
The finger wind pierced the seal, reaching the dantian.
Hyun-hwang's body twitched faintly.
Minimal amount, but.
Proof of concept.
Thanks to studying the Sovereign Sword Form manual and teaching it to Namgung Ji-hu—or Namgung Hu.
Experience with similar energies helped immensely.
Ha Mu-baek refined his energy again.
A bit more yellow seeped into the ivory.
Another finger wind.
"Kek."
A groan escaped Hyun-hwang.
About nine-tenths loss; one-tenth struck the dantian.
Further refinement might reduce loss, but.
"No need to bother. As long as some gets through. Just smash it."
Muttering, Ha Mu-baek stepped toward Hyun-hwang.
Palm directly on the dantian.
His intrusion halted Hyun-gil's punches.
"Hah. Hah hah. L-Layman Ha. What are you..."
Eyes full of questions, but Ha Mu-baek gave no answer.
Mimicking the energy revealed it.
He called it Muscle Changing Scripture, but it was half-baked.
Ha Mu-baek didn't know the scripture. But considering the other two Shaolin arts.
True mastery wouldn't tire from a few punches.
This guy used a shortcut too.
Contacted the will lurking within the scripture.
Well, thanks to that, he'd found a clue. Let it slide for now.
Shown energy that pierced the seal.
Ha Mu-baek drew up his full power.
Faint light emanated from his body. Ivory glow tinged yellow.
The energy's color shifted.
He poured it in.
"Kek? Keuk? Kr. Kraaaaaagh!!!'"
Hyun-hwang writhed in agony but couldn't move.
Ha Mu-baek's energy crushed him like overwhelming pressure.
Couldn't even blink.
Lips barely twitched.
Only grotesque screams from his throat.
"Haaaaah!!"
With Ha Mu-baek's shout.
Rumble rumble thunderrrr!!!
Thunderous roar like lightning.
Dazzling light exploded from Ha Mu-baek, illuminating everything.
So blinding they turned away, shielding eyes even with lids shut!!!
"Kiiiiiaaaaaargh!!!!!"
A hideous, pain-filled scream burst from Hyun-hwang.
Crackle.
With a small sound.
The rice-grain dantian vanished.
Splat! Splat!
Followed by bursting flesh sounds.
The golden fillets exploded Hyun-hwang's brain and heart.
Hyun-gwang had kept chanting!
The fillets had the power; they hadn't activated because the dantian endured.
The Abyss in the dantian.
The culprit.
Blood poured from Hyun-hwang's seven orifices.
His corpse slumped lifelessly.
Considering his atrocities, far too anticlimactic an end.
Mad Shaolin Fiend Monk.
Hyun-hwang.
Even Venerable Gwanghae, previous Shaolin First Man, had tried to end that life but failed.
Hyun-hwang.
Met his end like that.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
Three bursts echoed again.
Three golden orbs pierced Hyun-hwang's head, chest, and abdomen, soaring into the air.
"So that's what they were."
Immense power emanated from each visibly.
To seal him, three were needed.
What the hell was that bastard's power—and that damned Abyss's true nature?
Then.
Finally, black smoke from between Hyun-hwang's brows dissipated.
Vanishing with a reluctant, writhing flicker.
The three golden orbs floated orderly before Hyun-gwang.
Only then did Hyun-gwang end the incantation.
Thus, one arch-fiend was eliminated.
However.
This affair wasn't over.
Wasn't the true culprit still there?
Before that.
Having expended considerable energy, face slick with sweat, Ha Mu-baek let out a long sigh.
His gaze turned to Hyun-gil.
Time to settle what he'd briefly postponed.