Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1599. I can't even laugh (4)
Editor: Hoamz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
"Sahyung!"
Hye Bang, who had come out of the Repentance Cave and was looking down the mountain, hardened his face.
‘All the way here…!’
“The enemies are climbing Mount Song!”
Hye Bang instinctively brought his palms together and chanted.
Just by the presence felt from below, he could tell these were no ordinary men.
The killing intent they carelessly emitted without any thought of hiding it felt like it would cut his skin.
These were qualitatively different from Evil Sects that would be rampaging in Henan now. If so, their objective was truly clear.
"Sahyung. How..."
Shaolin was not a place suitable for defense. Since it was a place where countless pilgrims came and went, it was open in all directions to receive many people, and not even a common formation was installed.
That openness used to be a point of pride. That no one in the world would dare to aim for Shaolin.
However, that pride was now strangling Shaolin’s neck even more.
"Sahyung!"
“Amitabha.”
Hye Bang chanted to calm his saje.
"I don't know what would be right to do either."
“...Yes?”
"But it's not difficult to know what must be done."
Hye Bang opened his mouth with a hardened face.
“Find all the pilgrims who might still be within the grounds and evacuate them. The same goes for the innocent novice monks and the scholar monks.”
“Sa- Sahyung!”
Shaolin was a temple. Though it had gained fame throughout the world with martial arts, not everyone at Shaolin had learned martial arts.
There were also quite a few young monks who had not yet learned martial arts and those who were devoted only to Dharma.
But to decide to evacuate them now meant…
“Don’t tell me Sahyung believes we cannot handle them?”
“They have probably come here under the orders of Evil Tyrant Alliance.”
Hye Bang answered calmly, as if he had already considered it.
"Would such people have come simply to offer prayers? If they weren't confident they could destroy Shaolin, they wouldn't have come in the first place."
“That’s....”
That was right.
That Paegun Jang Ilso would have sent men who could erase Shaolin from the start.
To make matters worse, the remaining strength of Shaolin here did not even reach half of its original power. With the elders absent and many martial artists sent out to fight Evil Sects in Henan, the remaining force probably does not even reach a third.
No matter how much it was Shaolin, with thirty percent of its strength, there would be countless sects willing to try their hand.
"Ask the scholar monks to take the scriptures in the Sutra Repository outside Shaolin as well!"
"Th- The scriptures? Then what about the secret manuals..."
Hye Bang looked at his saje quietly. His gaze was serene.
“Are the manuals less important than the sutras?”
The monk hesitated, then shook his head.
"No, Sahyung. They are utterly insignificant compared to the words passed down by the Buddha."
"Right. Then that's settled. Hurry."
"Yes!"
As his saje moved away using lightness art, Hye Bang quietly chanted.
'Tathagata....'
He had simply wanted to pursue Dharma.
He wanted to escape from Bangjang, steeped in self-righteousness and changing, and from those who did not try to uphold their duties as Buddhists, and seek the elusive 'true path.'
But the world wouldn't leave him alone.
“Amitabha.”
Hye Bang considered this natural as well.
'Holding one's breath here was not the duty of a Buddhist either.'
Countless people were suffering.
Originally, the Buddhist path was about finding oneself through ascetic practice. One cannot face ‘oneself’ with just Zen meditation alone. Just as the Buddha looks down upon and cares for them, they too had to look after those who had fallen into sorrow.
That cold killing intent rising from the base of the mountain would be punishment from Tathagata upon them, who had confined themselves to these small temple grounds with the excuses of discipline and respect.
For one who truly delves into Dharma, the authority of Bangjang and the name of Shaolin are but trivial things. Wrongful patience was merely avoidance.
“Amitabha.”
If this was truly the fate of Shaolin, if it was the price for the karma they had committed, then they had to accept it humbly.
“I was a little late.”
Enlightenment always comes late. But if he had realized it even late, that was enough.
Hye Bang's feet moved slowly.
A short while later.
The martial artist monks standing in formation watched the North Gate with tense faces.
Killing intent so dense it seemed to cut flesh was creeping in. At the same time, a thick reek of blood pierced the tips of their noses.
How many countless acts of slaughter must they have committed to exude such a reek of blood?
“Amitabha....”
From here and there, the sounds of chants to calm the mind flowed out.
Kwang!
Soon, the firmly locked mountain gate burst apart, and numerous martial artists flooded into Shaolin through the shattered gate or by leaping over the walls.
The martial artists, their entire bodies covered in dark red cloth, looked more like a group of madmen than martial artists with their strange aura and dissonant atmosphere. Above all, the killing intent they radiated was so intense it made the spine tingle.
They were definitely not opponents to be taken lightly. No, perhaps they couldn't even be stopped with just those present here. They were that terrifying.
Hye Bang unconsciously chanted at the sudden despair that washed over him.
“Amitabha.”
It was not a gap that could be bridged through effort alone.
'It was good that we evacuated the novice monks beforehand.'
At the very least, he had prevented innocent lives from being lost. Those who remained here now were the ones who had to bear their sins.
But the punishment they would have to bear was far heavier than their sin.
“Who are the guests who have visited Shaolin?”
At that voice, several gazes turned toward Hye Bang. But only a few among that large crowd.
It was an eerily inhuman reaction.
"Shaolin is not currently receiving guests, so please return."
A dry response, a pale complexion, an emotionless face.
‘They are like corpses.’
They were surely not jiangshi, and yet these men were so very bizarre. So much so that a cold sweat ran down the nape of even Hye Bang’s neck.
“Sahyung....”
At a groan-like voice someone couldn't hold back, Hye Bang sighed.
He knew it was futile, but with Bangjang absent, they had to maintain Shaolin's dignity until the very end.
But before Hye Bang could speak again, someone else spoke first.
"Buddha's will shines universally without exception."
It was a chilling voice that sounded like rusted hinges scraping as they moved. Everyone's gaze naturally turned toward the one who had made that voice.
A man whose exposed areas between his clothes were all tightly wrapped in red bandages was staring directly at Hye Bang.
“If Shaolin soaks in blood, everyone will know. They will see that those words were nothing but empty talk.”
At his near-muttering words, Hye Bang unconsciously clenched his fist. The bizarre feeling emanating from the man made him shrink back involuntarily.
“Amitabha.”
Hye Bang calming his trembling voice and spoke to the strange man.
"I have heard. That in that distant Tibet, there are those who have a religion different from Jungwon."
"Ha."
His word made the strange man let out a soft laugh.
“Those Buddhists have a funny way of speaking. When there is a perfectly good word like ‘cult’.”
“...Amitabha.”
“It matters little what you call us. Shaolin's fate today won't change. You will follow in the footsteps of your sahyungs who went ahead."
In that instant, Hye Bang flinched.
“Wen ahead…?”
“Well? What do you think is the reason we can be here?”
Hye Bang bit his lips unconsciously.
It must be a lie. News from that distant place couldn't have reached them first.
But there was truth within that lie. If these men were sent by Evil Tyrant Alliance, they would not have been able to make the choice to turn such a valuable piece to their rear and aim for Shaolin unless they had an absolute certainty.
'Bangjang....'
Hye Bang's fingertips trembled. This was not fear of death. It was sorrow.
'How could it come to this....'
Hye Bang exhaled a short sigh as if lamenting. Then the strange man spoke.
“Certainly… you all seem to have a little more sense than that foolish Bangjang of yours.”
The strange man, the Blood Palace Leader, slowly stepped forward.
"But if the result is the same, ultimately there's no difference."
"Even so, Shaolin will not back down."
"Of course you shouldn't."
The Blood Palace Leader gestured forward. Then the Blood Palace members standing like corpses simultaneously exploded with killing intent.
The stench of blood and dense killing intent swirls in an instant.
Hye Bang's face suddenly dyed with despair.
“Die. Today, the name of Shaolin disappears from the world.”
The jiangshi-like Blood Palace members ran toward the lined-up martial artists monks of Shaolin, letting out bizarre sounds.
❀ ❀ ❀
“...Shaolin?”
“Yes.”
Hyun Jong's eyes trembled.
Hye Yeon grabbed his right wrist with a face as if soul had escaped his body.
"You're saying Evil Tyrant Alliance is targeting Shaolin?"
Chung Myung grit his teeth and nodded.
“Because that’s his way. He will aim for the weakest spot.”
Shaolin. No name in the martial world was more powerful.
But wasn't everything in the world relative? Shaolin, which trusted in that strength and sent its main force to the battlefield while leaving only a few behind, would be an supremely tempting prey to Jang Ilso.
There was no reason for Jang Ilso not to aim for that weakness.
“Then Shaolin...?”
“Do- Dojang!”
Hye Yeon cried out as if screaming. But Chung Myung shook his head.
"No."
"...What?"
Then, his eyes flashed as he looked into the far distance.
“We too can read the enemies.”
❀ ❀ ❀
Kwaaaaang!
A single meteor streaks down from above.
"Wai!"
The Blood Palace members who had been charging with rising momentum stopped frozen in place.
The Blood Palace Leader's gaze turned toward the spot where something had slammed down.
It was a sword. An ordinary one at that, with nothing particularly special about it. But the Blood Palace Leader's sharp eyes keenly caught one small pattern engraved on its handle.
Then his gaze shifted to the pavilion behind them, specifically to its roof.
A man descended from the roof, diving like a bird of prey.
Taak!
The white martial robe that had billowed and spread like wings slowly settled down.
Hye Bang eyes went wide as he let out a shout without realizing it. The owner of that back. That name.
“Ba- Baek Cheon Dojang!”
Tak.
Grasping again the sword he had planted in the ground, Baek Cheon did not even look at Hye Bang as he spoke.
"I came to repay a debt... No."
He glanced back with a small smile.
“I came to save a friend, Monk.”
No sooner had his words ended than a group of martial artists surged up from behind the pavilion.
"Uaaaaaaaah!"
"...Don't waste your energy already, you idiot."
Jo-Gol and Yoon Jong arrived leading the disciples of Mount Hua and Namgung.
Hye Bang's legs lost all their strength at the relief that momentarily surged in.
"Barely made it in time, damn it! Who's causing trouble here, you damned bastards!"
"...You're the one causing trouble, Gol-ah."
Baek Cheon chuckled at the sight of his sajils, who seemed no different from usual, then looked back at the Blood Palace Leader with a serious face.
"You'll erase Shaolin's name?"
“....”
“I have no debt to Shaolin, but I have a debt to a person of Shaolin. Come on. I will be your opponent first.”
The tip of Baek Cheon's sword aimed at the Blood Palace Leader's neck.
“…This is not what I was told.”
Clearly enough to be felt even through the wrapped bandages, the Blood Palace Leader's face twisted with displeasure.
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