Chapter 1966 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1966. He Was Really This Strong? (1)

“Waaaaaah!”

Jo Geol leaped away in horror. He had avoided the rushing river of plum blossoms. His mouth fell open at the terrifying sword qi that grazed right past him by a hair’s breadth.

The plum blossoms that had poured forth like a raging torrent swept up the Demonic Cultists charging toward them in an instant. Countless petals wrapped around the Demonic Cultists and dragged them back, forcing them farther and farther away despite their fierce resistance.

“W-what is this…..?”

Stunned, Jo Geol stared blankly at the sight.

If you look at whether it’s destructive, it isn’t.

If this sword qi were truly destructive, then the Demonic Cultists caught in it would’ve been torn to pieces in an instant.

But that was precisely why this sword qi felt even more incredible. Without breaking the opponent...... No, more precisely, even without possessing enough power to break them, sword qi that could still push the opponent away. It was to the point where one couldn’t even begin to guess what principles or insights it harbored.

“......No, when did that man learn to do something like that.......”

And to think the one who had unleashed this sword was Baek Cheon, not even Cheong Myeong.

Of course, there was no denying that Baek Cheon was a strong martial artist. But this was something on a different level. Who could’ve imagined that simply because Baek Cheon was strong, he’d suddenly whip up some absurd sword technique like this one day?

“No, isn’t this a bit too much of a cheat?”

“Well...... he’s our sasuk, after all.”

“That’s not something you can just vaguely accept and move past, you know? I mean, can a person suddenly become like that?!”

Watching Jo Geol pound his chest, Yoon Jong wore a bitter smile.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand Jo Geol’s sense of injustice. They’d worked just as hard together, yet suddenly Baek Cheon had gone skipping off into an entirely different world by himself.

But then again......

‘Come to think of it, it’s not something that’s impossible to understand.’

A Taoist takes up the sword in pursuit of the Tao. In other words, for Taoists who have surpassed a certain level of attainment, their subsequent realm is determined by how much more they have realized.

Of course, Jo Geol was impressive as well. Jo Geol’s sword is clearly now beyond form (式) and method (法), having reached the realm of art (藝), after all.

[Sik. 식(式). “Form” or “formula.” In martial arts, it refers to the structured forms or established patterns of a technique.]

[Beop. 법(法). “Method” or “principle.” Here, it refers to the established methods and underlying rules through which martial techniques are applied.]

[Ye. 예(藝). “Art” or “artistry.” A higher stage at which technique transcends mere form and method and becomes refined into true martial artistry.]

But Baek Cheon had surpassed even that. His sword had gone beyond the realm of martial artistry and had unquestionably entered the realm of embodying his own realization, yes, the threshold of the Tao (道).

Martial arts are something built up steadily, day after day, without end. But that accumulation doesn’t mean passing through a fixed series of gates one by one in sequence.

Depending on what one experiences, realizes, and accumulates, one can walk the same road and still arrive somewhere entirely different.

“Honestly, no one suffered their ass off as much as that man did during the last war.”

“T-that’s true, but......”

“He practically went to hell and back, physically and mentally. If he hadn’t gained at least one realization from that, it wouldn’t have been worth it.”

“But didn’t he already undergo a complete transformation?!”

“Then if you’re so bitter and jealous, go break your dantian and build it again yourself.”

“Ah, no. I think I’ll pass.”

Jo Geol hurriedly waved both hands. That wasn’t something a human could reasonably do.

“I can’t exactly deny it. That part’s true, but......”

Nevertheless, his insides were boiling.

Jealousy? No, it wasn’t such a paltry emotion. If anything, it was a blazing competitive spirit. Toward a martial artist who was ahead of him.

Jo Geol clenched his teeth and stared at Baek Cheon.

He’d thought he had finally caught up, but in the meantime, Baek Cheon had shot far ahead again. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what he would have to do to narrow this newly opened gap once more.

Perhaps sensing what was in his heart, Yoon Jong spoke calmly.

“There’s no need to be impatient.”

“......”

“You’re walking the right path too. Regardless of when, you’ll reach that place someday.”

“......What a painfully obvious thing to say. Hah!”

Jo Geol shouted as though slightly provoked.

“Even so, it’s nothing more than adding one more technique to the set! Just you wait. I’ll add ten more techniques to the Plum Blossom Sword Formation myself!”

“......At that point, I don’t think it’d still be the Plum Blossom Sword Formation, but yes. At least it’s good that you’re so full of motivation.”

Yoon Jong’s gaze sank slightly, turning somber.

“But listen. First, we have to make it back alive from here. Otherwise, how could we even dream of reaching that place?”

“Huh?”

Jo Geol followed Yoon Jong’s gaze and turned his head.

The members of the Demonic Cult in the places untouched by Baek Cheon’s sword qi were slowly closing in on them.

‘This is annoying.’

Until just moments ago, it had been a sight that had imposed an indescribable pressure on Jo Geol. But now, it didn’t feel particularly frightening or bleak at all.

Knowing all too well why, he only found himself getting needlessly irritated.

“Damn it.”

Slap!

Jo Geol smacked both his cheeks with his palms. Hard enough to make his mind snap fully awake.

“What are you doing?”

“Even being pathetic has its limits.”

“......Well, I suppose it’s fortunate you realized it at least now.”

Jo Geol gripped the sword he’d planted into the ground and bared his teeth.

“Let’s deal with them in one go, sahyung!”

“......Cut me some slack.”

“I’m going!”

“Listen to me for once......”

Yoon Jong let out a deep sigh as he watched Jo Geol charge forward.

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“......Amitabha.”

Watching Baek Cheon’s overflowing sword qi, Hye Yeon uttered the Buddha’s name in a deep voice.

What caught his attention wasn’t the power or splendor of that sword. It wasn’t even Baek Cheon’s growth.

‘It’s different.’

What drew his gaze was how clearly that sword differed from Cheong Myeong’s sword. Though it was unquestionably based on the same swordsmanship, it felt so different that it seemed almost like the sword of an entirely different sect.

But did that mean it couldn’t be called Mount Hua’s martial arts? That much, Hye Yeon could answer without hesitation. No. That sword was unquestionably Mount Hua’s martial arts. It simply possessed a different character from the Mount Hua martial arts that had existed until now.

That fact itself dealt Hye Yeon a tremendous shock.

‘Something......’

Jo Geol had focused on Baek Cheon’s skill and growth, but what Hye Yeon saw was entirely different. He wasn’t obsessed with deciding victory or defeat between himself and Baek Cheon. What he saw was martial arts itself.

If there are a thousand people, there are a thousand forms of martial arts. Even when they learn the same thing, the true meaning contained within that martial art can’t help but differ from one person to another.

“As the great sea has but one taste, so my Dharma (法) and Vinaya (律) have only one taste: the taste of liberation.”

The Buddha had said so.

But those words didn’t mean that all who attained enlightenment became the same. Liberation means casting off the dust of the secular world and returning to one’s original nature. And that ‘original nature’ is different for everyone.

In the end, both the Dharma of liberation that pursues one’s original nature and the eighty-four thousand Dharma gates leading to that liberation had no choice but to differ from one another.

[palman­sacheon gaeui beopmun. 팔만사천 개의 법문. Literally “eighty-four thousand Dharma gates.” A traditional Buddhist expression for the innumerable teachings or methods leading sentient beings toward awakening. The number 84,000 is symbolic of the vast multiplicity of Buddhist teachings.]

‘Then what about me?’

His fist had received teachings from Shaolin and was advancing through his own realization. Then, had Hye Yeon truly developed something of his own? Was he walking a path toward finding his own original nature, rather than remaining within Shaolin’s teachings?

“Keuaaaaah!”

At that moment, a Demonic Cultist charged toward Hye Yeon.

“A....mitabha.”

Hye Yeon quietly took the half-palm gesture.

In that posture without resistance, the Demonic Cultist immediately sank his teeth into Hye Yeon’s shoulder like a beast. But Hye Yeon merely closed his eyes gently, as though he couldn’t even feel the pain.

‘The Abbot intended to benefit the world.’

Someone would say that Beop Jeong had laid waste to the world.

Hye Yeon had no intention of denying that fact either. The method the abbot had chosen was unquestionably an external path (外道), and it was unbecoming of a Buddhist. It was enough to bring down even the reputation Shaolin had built over hundreds of years.

[Oedo. 외도(外道). Literally “an external path.” In Buddhist terminology, it refers to a path outside the Buddha’s teaching, often carrying the sense of a unorthodox or non-Buddhist way.]

But at the same time, Hye Yeon knew. Even within that external path, the abbot’s sincerity had unquestionably existed.

He truly believed that only that method could bring peace to the world. He believed that only his way could save more people. Because he carried it through without harboring even the slightest doubt in his method or his heart, he became lost in delusion.

Then what of Hye Yeon’s way now? Was he truly carrying through what he himself believed?

“Seek Bodhi above, and transform sentient beings below (上求菩提下化眾生).”

[Sanggu bodhi hahwa jungsaeng. 상구보리 하화중생(上求菩提下化眾生). A Buddhist expression meaning “above, seek enlightenment; below, transform or save sentient beings.” It expresses the pursuit of one’s own enlightenment while working to guide or liberate other sentient beings.]

Above, seek enlightenment, and below, save sentient beings.

Then he had to ask. Were these beings before him sentient beings, or were they Mara?

“Amitabha.”

Hye Yeon slowly opened his eyes again. The faint Buddha-light dwelling in his gaze looked more auspicious than anything else. He formed a hand seal reminiscent of Guanyin, then closed his eyes once more.

“Forgive me.”

Puk!

In an instant, the head of the Demonic Cultist who had been biting into his shoulder burst apart.

“Uhh......!”

Tang Soso, who had hurriedly run toward Hye Yeon after seeing him being attacked, stopped short in shock. Her already-large eyes widened like lanterns.

“M-monk?”

Of course, it wasn’t as though Hye Yeon had never killed before.

In the brutal battlefields they had endured, maintaining a principle of non-killing from the outset had been impossible.

But Tang Soso knew. Even when Hye Yeon had no choice but to harm someone, he had never stepped outside a gentle and defensive manner of doing so.

That was why the move Hye Yeon had just used felt so completely unfamiliar.

“Amitabha.”

Hye Yeon’s quiet voice reached Tang Soso’s ears as she stood there in shock.

“What a Buddhist needs is wisdom and compassion.”

For a Buddhist, compassion was not simply a heart that took pity on someone, nor a heart that felt tenderly toward those who were pitiful.

It was the practice of saving even one more sentient being. That was compassion.

Then had Hye Yeon truly shown genuine compassion all this time?

No. He hadn’t.

His path had been a path toward enlightenment. It had been nothing more than a path of washing away the countless filth of the world and advancing so that he alone might become a Buddha.

Then, if he truly wished to show compassion......

“I must not seek my own peace.”

A single tear fell from Hye Yeon’s eye.

“Monk?”

“Step aside.”

A golden Buddha-light gathered around Hye Yeon’s fist. It was no different from before. There was no reason for it to be different.

And yet Tang Soso immediately noticed the change. This wasn’t the heavy yet warm presence he normally possessed. That Buddha-light now unmistakably carried killing intent. A killing intent that had never once been found in Hye Yeon before.

“Hye Yeon!”

Even Yoo Iseol stiffened at this change and shouted. But Hye Yeon thrust out his fist without changing his expression.

Arhat Divine Fist.

The Arhat’s fist that had already been unleashed once here.

An Arhat was one who had attained enlightenment. They didn’t readily seek to kill even evil spirits or rakshasas. Because one who had attained enlightenment could even guide and teach them.

But Hye Yeon was a Buddhist, yet he was no Arhat. To try to reform even those people was nothing but greed for someone as lacking as himself.

In order to do more, in order to satisfy his own petty desires, he couldn’t turn away from the tragedy unfolding before his eyes.

KWAAAAAAAANG!

The Arhat Divine Fist, carrying a state of mind utterly different from before, descended upon the Demonic Cultists. Not the will of non-killing that pushed them away, but a fist containing an unmistakable will of annihilation (滅) shattered and crushed the Demonic Cultists.

[Myeol. 멸(滅). Literally “destruction,” “annihilation,” or “extinction.” It denotes an explicit intent to destroy rather than merely repel.]

In this single attack, nearly a dozen Demonic Cultists fell in gruesome condition. Even as he looked upon the horrific sight, Hye Yeon was no longer tormented by anguish.

“Monk......”

A worried voice reached him. Hye Yeon turned toward Tang Soso and spoke calmly.

“Siju. If I were to try to save these people, would you all let them leave alive?”

“......”

Tang Soso couldn’t answer at all. Hye Yeon smiled faintly.

“I knew. In the end, there would be no choice but to kill them. But I didn’t want to do that. Even knowing that, in the end, I was merely pushing the act of killing onto everyone else, I wanted to carry through my own paltry Buddhist path.”

“But that.......”

“I won’t do that anymore. Rather than accumulating the killing sin myself, it is a greater sin to push onto you the killing that must be done. I’ve only realized that now.”

Hye Yeon gave a smile filled with an exceedingly complicated mixture of emotions, then began walking toward the Demonic Cultists.

“So let us go. Even if it is a path we don’t wish to walk, we walk it without turning away. That shall be my Buddhist path.”

A deep sacred radiance rose behind Hye Yeon.

Before long, an even deeper Buddha-light wrapped around both his fists.

“Amitabha.”

Along with an oddly aching invocation of the Buddha’s name, Hye Yeon’s fist was thrust toward the Demonic Cultists once more.

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