Chapter 305
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 305
Chapter Title: It's Heresy, Isn't It?
Ha Mu-baek's piercing gaze fixed on him.
It wasn't just sharp—it cut right through him, leaving Hyun-gil no choice but to flinch.
Part of it was the lingering shock from the godlike power he'd just witnessed.
Hyun-hwang's dantian, which no amount of punches from Hyun-gil could touch,
had been crushed under an overwhelming force without mercy.
The sheer magnitude of the energy Ha Mu-baek unleashed in that moment...
It was beyond comprehension.
How could a mere human vessel contain such power? It was a question that begged asking.
It felt like he'd crammed the energy of the entire world into Hyun-hwang's senior brother's dantian.
"You too?"
Ha Mu-baek's question.
But Hyun-gil didn't grasp the meaning right away.
"You ran into that damned bastard too?"
"Who do you mean..."
He had his suspicions, but he asked to confirm.
The response came swiftly.
"The Abyss. That damned bastard."
Hyun-gil's body shuddered.
That was answer enough.
He didn't need to hear it spoken aloud.
Well, he'd already been certain of it anyway.
"That damned bastard was in the Reverse Muscle Rejuvenation Scripture too?"
"......"
Hyun-gil had no reply.
Ha Mu-baek stared at him silently.
Then he nodded.
"Good. At least you don't seem to have been devoured like this fool."
There lay Hyun-hwang's mangled corpse in a pitiful state.
"We'll have a deep talk later somewhere quiet. For now, I've got business here to finish."
Step. Step.
Ha Mu-baek started walking.
And there...
Was Hyun-gwang, cradling three floating sealing orbs that had drifted toward him.
"Hyun-gwang. What was it you spouted earlier?"
Ha Mu-baek demanded with ferocious intensity.
"That you never released the public enemy of the martial world, the Mad Shaolin Rogue Monk, and that he escaped on his own?"
The savage pressure zeroed in on Hyun-gwang, forcing the nearby Shaolin monks to stagger back.
The Demon-Extermination Great Array they'd prepared had collapsed long ago.
The aftermath of Ha Mu-baek and Hyun-hwang's clash had been far too devastating.
Now, within a one-zhang space on all sides, only Ha Mu-baek and Hyun-gwang faced each other.
The heart of Shaolin Temple, where the head monk resided.
It was the exact size of the abbot's quarters.
Ha Mu-baek had first set foot in the abbot's quarters at Shaolin's center.
Hyun-gwang had emerged from those doors to confront him.
It was a similar scene to that moment.
But everything had changed between then and now, save for the fact that they faced one another.
"That is the plain truth."
Hyun-gwang's eyes trembled faintly as he replied.
He simply couldn't maintain his composure after what he'd just seen and endured.
A smirk.
Ha Mu-baek sneered.
"Lying as easily as breathing. No wonder your master never passed down the Reverse Muscle Rejuvenation Scripture to you."
Ha Mu-baek's words stabbed at a sore spot.
Hyun-gwang gritted his teeth.
"Those sealing orbs you're holding. And that incantation you were muttering just now. If you'd wanted, you could've subdued that bastard Hyun-hwang. I don't know the range on that spell, but you chose not to."
Ha Mu-baek's gaze lingered on the three orbs: Geumgo-a, Geumgo-a, and Geumgo-a.
They appeared as mere golden iron balls.
But their shades differed subtly.
The Geumgo-a gleamed with a faint platinum sheen from the white light mixed in.
The Geumgo-a shone with the purest, most radiant gold.
The Geumgo-a carried a subtle crimson tint, giving it an eerie vibe.
Ha Mu-baek didn't know their exact names.
He simply distinguished them by their distinct auras and colors—the ones that had sealed the head, heart, and dantian.
"Letting a monster you could've subdued and sealed just wander free? That's no different from you releasing him yourself."
"That's sophistry."
Hyun-gwang's eyes still quivered.
"No, it's not, Senior Brother. Isn't that right? Amitabha."
At that moment.
Hyun-gil interjected.
The only one here who'd witnessed the truth in the Repentance Cave with his own eyes.
And though it hadn't unleashed its full power, he'd cultivated the Reverse Muscle Rejuvenation Scripture, allowing him to withstand Ha Mu-baek's current pressure.
That was Hyun-gil.
Which was why he could step into the one-zhang space shared only by Ha Mu-baek and Hyun-gwang.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze shifted to him.
"While you were locked in battle with Hyun-hwang, Donor Ha, I visited the Repentance Cave, Senior Brother."
Hyun-gwang's eyes now shook violently.
To think someone had ventured there amid this chaos.
"The Repentance Cave was spotless. Unbefitting a place where the public enemy, the Mad Shaolin Rogue Monk, had escaped. Even the door to the cell holding Hyun-hwang was perfectly intact."
Ha Mu-baek turned back to Hyun-gwang.
He was trembling now, uncontrollably.
"And the golden chains suppressing Hyun-hwang's power? They were unlocked and gone."
For an escape, there should've been traces of the chains being torn away.
But it was too clean. Impossibly so.
Hyun-gwang took a hesitant step back.
Clank.
A sound rang from his sleeve.
As he retreated, he'd tucked the three sealing orbs into his sleeve.
Something had clashed inside, producing the noise.
But it wasn't the clear chime of the orbs striking each other.
It sounded like heavy iron chains...
"So the golden chains are in there."
Ha Mu-baek stared straight through Hyun-gwang's sleeve.
Hyun-gil did the same.
The chains that had bound Hyun-hwang, now in Hyun-gwang's possession?
The evidence was damning.
"To think a worm like you is Shaolin's abbot. Tsk."
His eyes and voice dripped with disappointment.
Abbot Hyun-gwang of Shaolin.
Ha Mu-baek had respected him, in his own way.
In the last two Martial World Wars, he'd stood at the vanguard, smashing the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult hordes.
Unlike the other orthodox sect leaders and heads who hid behind their disciples with lame excuses, his actions were different.
Ha Mu-baek had acknowledged him as a true warrior for it.
But to think it was all a facade.
Ha Mu-baek knew nothing of Hyun-gwang's personal circumstances.
He didn't know that the fierce dedication in those wars had been to settle a personal grudge.
That to Hyun-gwang, the unorthodox sects, Blood Cult, and Demonic Cult were all the same—objects of vengeance.
Hyun-gwang glared at Hyun-gil.
His eyes brimmed with resentment.
Why are you butting in and ruining everything?
Are you really a Shaolin disciple?
Hyun-gil read the accusation clearly.
"Expel demons and slay evil; reveal the true nature of things. I walk only the path of Shaolin, Senior Brother. What you've done is not the righteous way. It's heresy. Amitabha."
"......"
Silence fell.
It was deathly quiet.
The Shaolin monks stood speechless, unsure what to do.
They had no choice.
Abbot Hyun-gwang, the revered head of Shaolin.
Yet a Shaolin disciple had declared him not on the righteous path.
That he was a heretic.
And that disciple was Hyun-gil.
The one who enjoyed thick support from his juniors.
The one who'd received the Reverse Muscle Rejuvenation Scripture from Master Gwanghae.
Unable to judge who was right, they chose silence.
Or perhaps they had judged—and still chose silence.
He was still Shaolin's abbot.
Denouncing him was tantamount to denouncing Shaolin itself.
"There was something I meant to do earlier but couldn't."
Ha Mu-baek said to Hyun-gwang.
Hyun-gwang, clutching the three sealing orbs to his chest, looked at him with incomprehension.
"That bastard showing up stopped you from doing something to me, right?"
Hyun-gwang had sensed demonic energy at the Scripture Pavilion and unleashed the Vajra Tathagata Buddha Light Great Hand Seal on Ha Mu-baek.
"Just one strike. Block it if you can."
With that, Ha Mu-baek leaped back.
And the stance he assumed...
Hyun-gwang's face twisted.
Any Shaolin disciple would recognize it instantly.
It was the starting form of the Vajra Tathagata Buddha Light Great Hand Seal.
One of Shaolin's three divine arts, mastered by few.
But the form was widely known to all disciples.
Ha Mu-baek was mimicking the exact stance Hyun-hwang had used.
"Insolent..."
Hyun-gwang forgot his dire situation in his rage.
This was a mockery of Shaolin itself.
Golden energy surged from Hyun-gwang's body.
Golden qi gathered in his palm.
The true starting form of the Vajra Tathagata Buddha Light Great Hand Seal, as Ha Mu-baek demonstrated.
Once the form was complete.
Both thrust out their palms simultaneously.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!!!
Vast palm forces shot toward each other.
Hyun-gwang's was a brilliant golden thrust.
Ha Mu-baek's carried an ivory sheen.
They collided in midair.
Kwaaa!
The sound echoed.
Then Ha Mu-baek's palm force wormed its way into Hyun-gwang's, creeping upward.
Hyun-gwang's expression told the tale.
Their forces were clashing evenly in the middle.
Yet amid it, an unidentified energy seeped in, slithering up.
There was nothing he could do.
Withdraw, and he'd be devoured by Ha Mu-baek's force.
Press on, and the mystery energy crept higher.
A dilemma with no escape.
Hyun-gwang's choice?
Unleash every ounce of power in his body.
Amplify his palm force to repel the intruder.
But as if mocking his intent,
the unidentified energy surged faster and—
Kwang!
—struck his dantian.
In that instant.
Crack.
A fissure spread through his entire dantian.
"Kuhk."
Hyun-gwang vomited blood and staggered back ten paces.
Ha Mu-baek had already withdrawn his force.
"I could kill you right now. But considering what you showed in the last Martial World War, this'll do."
Hyun-gwang ground his teeth.
It was too much damage to shrug off.
He immediately sat cross-legged and focused on circulating his qi.
He had to prevent the fissure from deepening and shattering his dantian.
Circulation was his only option now.
Ha Mu-baek swept his gaze over the Shaolin monks.
They shifted uneasily under his stare.
Unable to decide their next move.
Should they subdue the man who'd harmed their abbot?
Or let him go, since he'd eliminated the public enemy their abbot had released?
No.
They knew their abbot had freed the enemy—did they silence him to prevent rumors?
Complicated thoughts swirled.
But it all boiled down to one question.
How?
How were they supposed to handle that monster?
Their eyes turned to Hyun-gwang.
Sweat poured from him as he focused on circulation. His state alone screamed severe internal injuries.
The abbot, who'd mastered and unleashed the real Vajra Tathagata Buddha Light Great Hand Seal, had lost to an imitator.
Absurd.
Any jianghu enthusiast hearing this would dismiss it as nonsense and lash out.
Yet.
It had happened.
Right before their eyes.
So the Shaolin monks were at a loss.
Their gazes naturally shifted to Hyun-gil.
Some were his senior brothers.
But he seemed the only one who could face Ha Mu-baek here.
Ha Mu-baek glanced at Hyun-hwang's wretched corpse.
Then at Hyun-gil.
"You've got plenty to sort out. I've got my own urgent business."
He scanned the Shaolin monks.
Finally, Hyun-gwang.
"I won't meddle in Shaolin's internal affairs. That's for you to handle. Don't forget—we've got unfinished business."
Shaolin's elder monk, Hyun-gwang.
To Ha Mu-baek, just another guy.
With a leap, Ha Mu-baek vanished.
Hyun-gil hadn't yet been consumed by the Abyss. And Ha Mu-baek trusted Shaolin's supreme art, the Reverse Muscle Rejuvenation Scripture.
Even if he'd encountered the Abyss after learning it.
It was still the peerless divine art Bodhidharma had brought to the Central Plains.
He'd bank on that.
Hyun-gil wouldn't be devoured while he was away briefly.
This matter took priority.
Hyun-hwang was gone, but the energy he'd left behind wouldn't vanish.
And so.
Ha Mu-baek dashed onward at full speed.
His destination: Nanchang in Jiangxi Province.
Where Wu Mun-ga-yul and Gong Ya-hwi would disembark from the ship.