Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1308. What the hell is that guy? (2)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
To seal the path Namgung Dowi had forcefully opened, the martial artists of Evil Tyrant Alliance gripped their spears and charged swiftly toward Hye Yeon.
Chwaak.
Hye Yeon instinctively swept back the hem of his kasaya draped in front of him.
It was a habit he had performed countless times when executing martial arts ever since he began wearing the Shaolin monk’s robe.
Even now wearing a black kasaya rather than Shaolin's yellow robes, that habit hadn't disappeared.
It was proof that everything he had learned and mastered at Shaolin still resided deep within him.
Kuung.
Hye Yeon took a brief but firm step forward and threw three consecutive punches into the air.
The wind created by his supremely short and powerful fist strikes sent those charging towards him flying in one go.
"Aah! I really should have gone to Shaolin!"
"Just shut up!"
Hye Yeon's face flushed red.
To be honest, he still felt slightly uncomfortable around these people.
Not because he disliked them.
But because the pace at which they lived their lives was so vastly different from his own.
"Uaaaaaaaa!"
One enemy, his eyes gleaming with madness, swung his sword down at Hye Yeon.
It wouldn’t have been surprising if he had turned and fled after witnessing Hye Yeon's power. But these men must have received thorough training since they charged forward with even more venom.
‘How futile.’
Hye Yeon stretched his fist again.
The golden Buddhist light gathering at his fist shot forward in one breath, instantly engulfing those charging at him.
"Aaaack!"
The man flew backward as if caught in a raging torrent.
At a glance, it looked as though he would end up a mangled pile of flesh, but compared to the horror of his screams, there were no noticeable external injuries on his body.
Shaolin’s martial arts were fists of mercy.
Life was but a fleeting moment anyway.
What meaning was there in dividing people into good and evil within such a fleeting moment?
Even the kindest person in this life might have been an unparalleled villain in a past life, and even the cruelest person today might have once sacrificed their life for others.
Thus, Buddhism's mercy toward all beings must not discriminate between good and evil.
The virtuous deserve mercy for being virtuous, and the evil deserve even greater mercy for being evil.
'Amitabha.'
However...
“Die, you bastard!”
Enemies lunged at him from three sides.
In a split second, Hye Yeon’s feet crossed paths, and his body spun halfway around.
Tak! Taak!
Hye Yeon deflected the incoming spears and redirected the blade of a sword with the side of his hand before driving his fist into the enemy's chest.
Tuung! Tuuuung!
The Arhat Fist (나한권(羅漢拳)). Along with Form Imitation Fist (상형권(象形拳)), they were one of the oldest and most venerable martial arts, considered the origin of Jungwon fist arts, and they have been recreated in a near-perfect form at Hye Yeon's fingertips.
Because of Hye Yeon’s profound internal strength, only the overwhelming power of his strikes often stood out the most.
But even such power begins with something as simple as a clenched fist.
Only one who has mastered the way of the Arhat can finally wield Buddhist force (불력(佛力)).
Tuuuuung!
Hye Yeon's fist crushed the opponent's chest.
A flash of sympathy crossed his clear and wide eyes.
The man had his chest caved in and spewed blood before collapsing where he stood.
Hye Yeon moved on without sparing a glance.
'Amitabha.'
Was he dead? He couldn’t tell.
His fists still carried mercy, but they were not profound enough to consider and embrace even those who charged at him with determination to death.
Perhaps he had broken the precept against killing once again.
Perhaps he had taken yet another life.
'Oh Buddha.'
He knows.
Buddha was not an omnipotent being who could solve all problems.
Only people can resolve their issues. People who agonize, contemplate, and suffer in this sea of bitterness.
But in moments like this, Hye Yeon couldn't help but ask.
Even if Buddha merely watches over us, he achieved enlightenment ages ago.
So he must know more than he does.
Was it truly right for a monk who must not kill to break the precept against killing to save others?
Was it truly right for someone in the Buddhist monk’s robe to fight and strike down others?
Was he truly walking the right path as a Buddhist monk now?
"Stop! Stop him no matter what!"
More than a dozen sharp sickle chains flew toward Hye Yeon, threatening to tear him apart limb from limb.
If even one of them landed, the razor-sharp and maliciously honed blade would slice his flesh and shatter his bones.
But Hye Yeon, without a hint of urgency, opened his fist.
His left hand settled before his lower abdomen, and his right hand spread above his right chest.
It was the form of Guanyin. Then Hye Yeon's right hand drew countless palm shadows around his body.
Those palm shadows resembles...
The overlapping shadows created by his palms resembled the Thousand-Hands Guanyin (천수관음(千手觀音)) spreading out in all directions.
The wall formed by these palm shadows deflected, repelled, and gently guided away all incoming attacks.
"What…."
Even those thoroughly trained to kill enemies momentarily lost their senses before this overwhelming sight.
And into their chests too, golden fist energy that had penetrated the wall of palm shadows struck mercilessly.
"Kuaaaaaak!"
Those struck spewed blood from their mouths as they were thrown about and tumbled.
Hye Yeon's mind was clouded with anguish as he took another step forward.
Out of habit, he whispered a chant.
“Amitabha.”
According to the Buddha’s teachings, there was no meaning in dividing good from evil.
Yet a Buddhist should naturally follow good.
The life we experience was so trivial it was merely a fleeting moment in the samsara (wheel of reincarnation) that continues for eons.
Yet, the life that resides at the core of this fleeting existence was more precious than anything in the world.
Was this not a contradiction?
This right, and that right.
Nothing was wrong.
If so, what should he follow?
What should he uphold?
What should he believe in, what should he rely on, and for what should he live?
'Amitabha.'
Why had he left Shaolin, which was everything to him, and now wore ill-fitting black clothes while breaking the precept against killing?
Was the path he walks now truly the one he intended to take?
“Monk!”
Hye Yeon clenched his fist at the voice that burst out from behind.
There was only one answer he could give to all these questions.
'I am not Buddha.'
Kuuuuung!
He struck forward his fist without hesitation and blasted away the enemies charging at him.
The one who holds all answers—the world calls such a being Buddha.
We seek because we don't know. We agonize because we don't know, and we suffer because we don't know.
So how could all this suffering be called wrong?
He who does not suffer cannot move forward.
Those who turn away from suffering will never find enlightenment.
What he must do now was accept all this anguish as it was.
To witness with his own eyes the real world he could not see within the narrow confines of Shaolin, and to understand that world for himself.
And so...
“Aren’t gonna focus, you damned bald monk?!”
Hye Yeon flinched.
'Chung Myung Dojo.'
He planted his foot again and quickly moved forward.
At first, he simply thought he should follow because it was right.
Back then, Hye Yeon felt disillusioned by the twisted appearance of Shaolin, where teachings and actions no longer aligned.
It felt as though the suffering born from that dissonance could be resolved by that man.
But he came to understand while being with Chung Myung.
How filled with countless turbulent waves was the inner world of someone who showed not even a fraction of wavering, like the sun in the sky.
He agonizes and agonizes again.
He relentlessly pushes himself as if punishing his own body, desperately seeking the best answer he can find.
Finding a path not just for himself, but for many others.
At times, that path was twisted, sometimes self-righteous, and at other times completely wrong.
But Chung Myung does not give up easily. He contemplates and moves forward again.
‘Do you realize, Dojang?’
That this was the very path a Buddhist monk should walk.
It was laughable, really.
Chung Myung was a Taoist, never a Buddhist monk.
However, Chung Myung's life serves as a model example of the path that Buddhist monks should walk.
Though their goals differ, there was no reason not to emulate that attitude.
“Monk! They’re coming from the front!”
"Damn it, you bald bastard! Don't just talk, go out and fight!"
“Me? In front of him?”
"Or shut your damn mouth!"
"Agreed."
"That’s our Sahyung for you."
Faint smile crept onto Hye Yeon’s lips.
This must be why Hye Yeon stays with them.
‘We are no different.’
They too are just like him.
Just as Hye Yeon struggles to follow the lofty teachings and great purpose of the Buddha, these people too chase after the distant goal of reviving Mount Hua and desperately following the back of Chung Myung.
Here was a sense of kinship he hadn't felt even at Shaolin where they pursued Buddhist dharma together.
This never-before-felt kinship often comforted Hyeyeon.
Here, he was not alone.
Though his heart was weary and filled with suffering, he could still find the strength to move forward.
'Bangjang.'
Hye Yeon's right hand touched his side.
‘Was I wrong after all?’
Goooooooo!
His fist thrust forward slowly.
Fist force carrying terrifying internal strength pushed back all those blocking the way.
Everything he had built and cultivated up to this point cleared the obstacles in his way.
He could clearly see the closing path opening again.
The path was a narrow gorge.
A gorge full of enemies and malice.
This is a path that anyone with normal thinking should obviously avoid.
A gorge no sane person would enter willingly.
But now Hye Yeon was stepping onto that path of his own volition.
'Was I truly wrong?'
Foolish and dull-witted.
But this path was precisely the one a monk must walk.
This was the path that someone must take if they was willing to endure pain that they would not otherwise experience, and to endure self-imposed suffering in the name of asceticism and ultimately seek enlightenment.
Kwang!
Hye Yeon's foot struck the ground with force.
Without even a fraction of hesitation.
Leaping toward the narrow gorge, his hands forming the Half-Palm (반장(半掌)) stance.
'Even if I was wrong... if it's a path that I must walk, how could I not walk it?'
Kung!
Hye Yeon took one more step forward.
This might be the first step he had ever taken since gaining life.
Not following someone else’s teachings or footsteps, but a step taken by his own judgment without hesitation.
Hye Yeon raised his head.
In the stifling narrow gorge where light barely penetrated and the end couldn't be seen, countless enemies stood like demons from the depths of hell.
But Hye Yeon's eyes were clearer and more tranquil than ever.
Even if he were to collapse from exhaustion along this path, so be it.
'What regrets could there be?'
If this place was hell, then surely this was exactly where Buddhist monk Hye Yeon belonged.
His entire body was enveloped in a radiant golden light.
A self-emitted majestic Buddha radiance.
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|Note
It was mentioned once in my chapter what’s half palm stance is, but here is a visual example. I actually learned Ban Zhang or half palm stance thanks to Xoxo.
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