WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 519: The Monster That Feeds on Despair (4)
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“I want to learn the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic.”
Ilgak.
A disciple whose exceptional talent had already begun to earn him a place within the Shaolin Sect.
At his disciple’s words, Venerable Cheonsim stopped rolling his prayer beads.
“I want to learn the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, Master.”
Venerable Cheonsim raised his head and looked at the statue of Vairochana Buddha.
“I want to learn the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic.”
The expression of Vairochana Buddha, seated upon a lotus, was endlessly peaceful and benevolent.
Yet in the forty years since entering the Buddhist path, Venerable Cheonsim had never once felt as though he were seated upon a lotus.
“Master!”
Whenever he believed he had transcended all things within the Buddhist order, another affliction would arise.
“Have the Buddha’s teachings not been enough for you?”
That could not be it. Ilgak had been given far too little time to master all of the Shaolin Sect’s teachings.
“Have worldly temptations confused you?”
That could not be it. Ilgak had belonged to Shaolin Temple since he was very young.
“Or have your afflictions confused you?”
That could not be it. Ilgak had only ever had one goal as he grew up.
“If it is none of those things...”
Venerable Cheonsim’s fingers began moving again.
“Then Ilmyeong is the one stirring your desire.”
Ilgak flinched as his inner thoughts were exposed.
Still, he did not want to take back the words he had already spoken.
He had not come here without that much resolve.
“The Buddha’s teachings are nothing more than the Buddha’s teachings. To use them as a means to satisfy your desires is no different from using medicine as poison.”
Venerable Cheonsim’s textbook response only deepened Ilgak’s turmoil.
Those idealistic words, those arguments detached from reality that avoided the issue, made Ilgak unable to endure any longer.
“Why is Ilmyeong allowed to, while I am not?”
He was not speaking only of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic. Ilmyeong had not even learned it.
He was pointing out how all of the Shaolin Sect’s support and teachings were directed toward Ilmyeong.
Such jealousy made one chase distant desires while failing to see the cliff directly ahead.
“Is it because you are my master?”
“...”
The fingers counting the prayer beads stopped once more.
There was no answer, no movement.
Venerable Cheonsim did not move, as though he had become a Buddha himself.
“Is the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic the answer you found amid all those afflictions?”
“Yes.”
“Even if you surpass Ilmyeong, there will be others ahead of you. New people will appear behind you and overtake you, while others will hone their paths for many years and reach places you cannot.”
They were the people who had kept Venerable Cheonsim trapped in affliction for the past forty years.
“Even when that day comes, do you believe the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic will be your answer?”
Ilgak hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Yes.”
Venerable Cheonsim knew. Ilgak did not truly believe it was the answer either.
But a person blinded by desire could lie even to themselves for immediate gain.
“...”
Venerable Cheonsim understood Ilgak’s heart because he had experienced it himself.
‘Did the name Ilgak influence him in the wrong way?’
The dharma name he had given him so that he would learn from Venerable Cheonsim’s own mistakes might instead have trapped him in a single-minded obsession.
In any case, this too was his karma.
“Very well.”
“...Pardon?”
“Did you not say that the answer you seek lies there?”
“...Thank you! Thank you, Master!”
That was how Ilgak came to learn the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic.
#
It was a horrific sight.
Bodies dressed in monk’s robes lay scattered throughout the cave.
Those who examined the wounds were even more horrified.
Their heads had been crushed, and their chests caved in.
Clear palm prints covered the walls and floor, and faint traces of qi that had not yet dispersed lingered within them.
Shaolin Temple monks had been killed by Shaolin Temple martial arts.
“Stop!”
The monks staring toward the center of the Arhat Formation noticed them belatedly and reacted sharply.
“If you come any closer, you will not keep your lives.”
Compared to the Black Path scum they had encountered so far, it was a restrained warning. Coming from a Shaolin Temple monk, though, it was quite harsh.
‘It must be that urgent.’
One could tell simply by the killing intent pouring from them before they had even properly inspected their opponents.
With no room for composure, their bodies were bristling with tension.
Yuseong’s party and the Moyong Clan stopped at the monk’s warning.
One person, however, continued walking as if they had not heard it.
“...”
“I said stop! Did you not hear me?”
Having issued the warning twice, the monk seemed to decide there could be no more delay and struck at Ilgak’s head.
Jin Sowoon used the Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps to intercept the monk. The monk’s fist carried immense internal energy, and the blow was clearly aimed to shatter Ilgak’s head in one strike.
“Hup!”
“Please calm down. He is one of the Shaolin Sect’s own.”
The senior monk’s eyes filled with surprise as they moved to launch another series of fists and kicks.
“Gak!”
“...”
Ilgak’s eyes were vacant as he looked at the monk.
“How... did this happen?”
The monk’s gaze moved between Ilgak and the madman standing at the center of the Arhat Formation.
“Haah...”
“Please, tell them to stop. I brought an antidote.”
“An antidote?”
“Yes! There is poison in this cave that corrupts the mind.”
“...Is that why this happened?”
Ilgak took a Clear-Mind Spirit-Protecting Pill from within his robes.
“Yes! Benefactor Jin prepared antidotes for the Shaolin Sect. So break the formation and...”
“That cannot be done.”
“What? What do you mean?”
The monk’s lips moved soundlessly before closing tightly.
After hesitating for a long while, they finally spoke.
“...Venerable Cheonsim has suffered qi deviation.”
It was impossible to understand.
“What?”
Not only Ilgak, but the entire group was overcome by confusion.
Venerable Cheonsim had trained and refined Shaolin Temple’s martial arts, which possessed the power of banishing evil and revealing righteousness, for a long time.
How could someone whose body could not suffer qi deviation even if they tried have succumbed to it?
“We do not know the details either. The Four Swords of Yicheng injured Venerable Cheonsim during his suicide attack... It seems that injury worsened.”
“!!!”
Ilgak’s face turned pale.
At the same time, no one in the group could properly control their expressions.
“The Four Swords of... Yicheng.”
The Four Swords of Yicheng had been one of the Black Path martial artists Ilgak had let go inside the Sword Tomb.
#
[You bald monk! If you don’t finish things properly, it’ll come back to bite you someday!]
Ilgak had not answered Jin Sowoon’s words.
As his epithet suggested, the Four Swords of Yicheng was a second-rate Black Path nobody who had made a small name for himself only around Yicheng in Hubei Province.
No matter how much resentment he bore, there was no chance he could harm Ilgak.
Even if he returned to seek Ilgak out with a grudge, Ilgak had been confident he could accept that resentment at any time.
That was the Buddha’s teaching.
“...”
But Ilgak now wanted to kill the person he had been then.
“Uaaaah!”
Venerable Cheonsim’s eyes had rolled back until only the whites showed, and immense qi force burst out in every direction.
Krakrakrakrak-boom!
Each time fists and kicks rained down and palm force left marks across the cave, the Eighteen Arhat Formation, said to be unbreakable, shook violently.
Venerable Cheonsim had fallen into the cruelest situation imaginable for one who had devoted his life to Buddhism and received the Buddha’s teachings.
Thwackthwackthwackthwackthwack!
The Eighteen Arhats charged in at once and struck Venerable Cheonsim across his entire body.
He vomited blood, his wounds split open, and fresh blood poured from him. The sight burned itself into Ilgak’s eyes.
A scene more terrible than any hell laid out before him.
All of this...
‘Because of... me...’
It seemed to be because of Ilgak.
[You bald monk! If you don’t finish things properly, it’ll come back to bite you someday!]
Why had he not felt even a little concern at that warning?
[It’ll come back to bite you someday!]
Why had he arrogantly believed the Four Swords of Yicheng could never harm him in any way?
Why?
How could this have happened?
Why...
“...!!”
Ilgak wanted to kill himself.
Thwackthwackthwack!
At last, one of the Eighteen Arhats was thrown out of the formation.
“Bleurgh!”
With their complexion blackened, they vomited a basinful of black blood.
It could not be a problem for only one person.
Everyone forming the Eighteen Arhat Formation was being pushed further and further to their limit.
“Monk Baekjong! You must make a decision!”
Words the Eighteen Arhats would never normally say.
It could not be only because of the Mushim Illusion Powder spread through the Sword Tomb.
Venerable Cheonsim had once shown enough accomplishment and learning to be recommended for the position of abbot.
The Eighteen Arhat Formation was advanced enough that even the leader of a major sect could not easily escape it, but these Eighteen Arhats had only just begun to coordinate with one another. They were far too inexperienced to contain Venerable Cheonsim.
“...”
Baekjong, who had also taken a Clear-Mind Spirit-Protecting Pill, found it difficult to decide.
The Shaolin Sect’s martial arts held the power of banishing evil and revealing righteousness. Had countless demonic masters not regained their senses before the Shaolin Sect’s martial arts, cast off their demonic qi, and embraced Buddhism?
If word spread that they had beaten the esteemed Venerable Cheonsim to death with the Eighteen Arhats...
What greater disgrace could there be for the Shaolin Sect?
While he continued to agonize over it,
Thwackthwackthwack!
Two more of the Eighteen Arhats were sent flying and vomited blood.
‘...If only we could at least confirm his condition.’
With three people missing, the Eighteen Arhat Formation began to shake violently.
Then,
“Can I examine him?”
Baekjong’s face brightened at Dang Seohui’s words.
“Can you?”
“I can’t be certain.”
It was an uncertain answer, but the reputation of Dang Seohui, the White-Handed Divine Maiden, was well known even in the Shaolin Sect.
More importantly, Dang Seohui was the only person here who could be called a physician.
There was no other choice. They could only place their hopes in the sole possibility before them.
“Please.”
“You need to open a gap.”
“Deploy the Five-Buddha Formation!”
The Shaolin Temple monks divided into groups of five and opened a gap.
“Group Leader Jin and Unit Member Ilgak must assist me.”
Jin Sowoon and Ilgak nodded at the same time and stepped forward.
The moment Venerable Cheonsim tried to burst through the opening,
Clang!
Dang Seohui’s small palm sent Venerable Cheonsim stumbling backward.
“You need to stay still so I can take your pulse.”
Dang Seohui scattered her hands through the air as though embroidering the sky.
Soon, something caught the torchlight and glittered as though shattering.
The rain that fell beautifully like a cluster of stars, deceiving the eye, was none other than needles.
Venerable Cheonsim, who would normally have noticed the needles, was struck by every needle Dang Seohui threw.
Then,
Venerable Cheonsim abruptly stopped.
Jin Sowoon did not miss the chance. The Flying Dragon Claw extended from his hand and wrapped around Venerable Cheonsim, while Ilgak restrained him from behind.
“Uugh! Uugh!”
Dang Seohui hurried over, seized his wrist, and began taking his pulse.
Yet the immense internal energy within Venerable Cheonsim seemed to make it difficult for her to send her qi inside.
“Do not underestimate the Tang Clan.”
A green light flashed in Dang Seohui’s eyes, and Venerable Cheonsim began to tremble.
Foam started pouring from his mouth.
Jin Sowoon and Ilgak, who were restraining Venerable Cheonsim, gradually felt the strength drain from his body.
Dang Seohui closed her eyes and continued examining his pulse.
“Demonic qi! Can you sense demonic qi...?”
The Shaolin Temple monks prayed with one heart.
Their murmurs filled the space like chanting.
Then,
Tick.
A needle fell within Jin Sowoon’s sight.
‘Huh?’
Tick, tick.
The needles embedded throughout Venerable Cheonsim’s body, which had restrained him, began falling out one by one.
“Deputy Group Leader Dang?”
“Do not speak to me.”
Dang Seohui remained wholly focused on examining his pulse.
Tick, tick-tick, tick-tick-tick.
In the end, every needle that had sealed Venerable Cheonsim’s acupoints fell out.
Crack!
Venerable Cheonsim’s muscles began swelling once more.
“That is enough...”
Jin Sowoon was sent flying before he could finish speaking.
Boom!
Ilgak was sent flying through the air with a tremendous impact.
Venerable Cheonsim then thrust out a qi force-laden fist, as though to crush Dang Seohui’s head.
“Deputy Group Leader!”
“Dang Seohui!”
Crash!
With a dull impact, Dang Seohui’s body slid two zhang backward.
The Eighteen Arhats... no, now the Fifteen Arhats, stepped in front of Venerable Cheonsim once again.
“Senior Dang!”
Fortunately, Dang Seohui had crossed both arms to block Venerable Cheonsim’s powerful fist.
“You are a troublesome patient.”
Although she had clearly felt tremendous pain, Dang Seohui rose as if it were nothing. Baekjong stared at her in a daze.
“H-how is he?”
If they could identify the condition, they could treat it.
But if not...
“I cannot sense demonic qi or malevolent qi. Neither of them.”
“What does that mean...? If it is neither demonic qi nor malevolent qi, then why...?”
“Does an inner demon only come from demonic qi?”
“That is...”
Qi deviation did not afflict only members of the Black Path and the Demonic Path.
Even those of the White Path, who possessed pure and stable internal energy, sometimes suffered qi deviation.
“His internal energy became unstable from stimulation of the Sea of Qi. Though it affected the Jade Hall, he forcibly endured it until some trigger, something like poison, affected the Wind Mansion and caused him to lose his reason.”
No one fully understood Dang Seohui’s explanation, but they understood that the Four Swords of Yicheng’s suicide attack had caused Venerable Cheonsim’s qi deviation.
“A treatment... Is there no treatment?”
“You must restrain the patient, suppress the rampaging internal energy, then administer needles and medicine to remove the poison until his mind returns.”
Such a leisurely treatment was impossible inside the Sword Tomb.
Already, several Shaolin Temple monks had died at Venerable Cheonsim’s hands, while others had suffered injuries from which they could never recover.
“The faster method is to use Shaolin Temple’s Guanyin World-Saving Great Method to suppress the rampaging internal energy, remove the poison, and reduce the size of the dantian to stabilize it. Then there is a chance he may regain his senses.”
“...”
“Does anyone here know the Guanyin World-Saving Great Method?”
The Guanyin World-Saving Great Method was a great method only a few within Shaolin Temple could use.
Furthermore, only someone like the abbot could restrain a person at Venerable Cheonsim’s level and perform the great method.
“...”
“If not.”
Dang Seohui’s gaze turned toward Ilgak.
“You must make a decision.”
Ilgak’s heart sank.
Footnotes:
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