Chapter 92: Divine Monk (2)

Sewoon was aghast for one reason.

‘The Venerable Master’s condition….’

Great Master Gongsung’s appearance had been the exact opposite of the vast qi he usually gave off.

His complexion had been truly ashen, and his flesh had been dried tight like a withered tree.

Even without being a physician, it was plainly obvious at a glance that Great Master Gongsung was in a grave state, death standing at the threshold.

Yet Sewoon could not understand.

According to the memories before his return, the moment the Divine Monk had entered nirvana had never been now.

‘Ah!’

At that instant, several fragments surfaced in Sewoon’s mind.

Why had the Eight Guardian Monks shown hostility toward him?

Why had Great Master Gakgong said that someone had taken his master from him?

The question was resolved.

They had shortened the Old Monk’s lifespan to help Sewoon; the old man had not lived out his full allotted years.

“……Venerable Master. Could it be that your present condition is because of me?” Sewoon asked with a grave face, and Great Master Gongsung answered in a reproving tone.

“Aha, after I labored to lay the burden down, do you try to shoulder it again?”

“It is not that—”

“My life was made solely by my own choice. Therefore, not a single part of it was because of you.”

“……!”

Sewoon could not say a word to the Great Master’s resolute reply.

Seeing that, Great Master Gongsung snorted softly and continued.

“Hoho, it seems my teaching was of some use to you.”

“I am truly grateful. The favor you have laid upon me is so great that I do not dare imagine how to repay it.”

“Tsk tsk, what favor are you talking about?”

Great Master Gongsung spoke as if he truly meant it, but Sewoon shook his head seriously.

“If what the Venerable Master gave me is what I suspected, these are things I could never let pass quietly.”

“Interesting. Very well — tell me plainly what you take them to be.”

Sewoon took a deep breath, then spoke slowly.

“The Great Cycle Pill. And among the Muscle/Tendon Transformation Scripture and Washing Scripture left in Shaolin by Bodhidharma, I think the Washing Scripture was given to me.”

Thunderous revelations tumbled out.

The Great Cycle Pill.

Among elixirs humankind could produce, it had been known as the foremost of pills.

If a patient took it, even illnesses balanced on the brink of life and death could mend; if a soul had already left the body, taking it within a hair’s breadth could return the spirit; if a martial artist took it, they could gain at least half a ga-ja of inner power — a pill beyond the heavens.

‘…Even the Blood Cult could not craft a pill to surpass the Great Cycle Pill.’

Its ingredients were excessively rare and the completion process brutally arduous; even Shaolin could make at most one or so every thirty years.

And after the Divine Monk had left Shaolin, it had been said they had not properly made a single one.

That such a supreme elixir had entered Sewoon’s belly!

‘But an even greater shock was this…’

Compared to the following item, the Great Cycle Pill seemed trivial.

The Muscle/Tendon Transformation and Washing Scripture.

It was the peerless martial art left by Bodhidharma, the founding Patriarch of the Shaolin lineage.

Even a Shaolin abbot would not be allowed to see it unless he had the qualification — it was Shaolin’s representative divine art.

The Muscle/Tendon Transformation Classic (Yeokgeun-gyeong) was the pinnacle of external body training, and the Washing Scripture (Sesugyeong) was the supreme mind method that no one in the Buddhist line dared contest.

The commonality of those two peerless arts was that mastery was extremely difficult and slow.

Yet in the history of jianghu, if anyone in a generation mastered even one of the two, he was often called the world’s best of that era.

And such supreme techniques had been engraved in Sewoon’s mind.

If Great Master Gakgong and the Eight Guardian Monks learned of this, they would never remain idle.

They would immediately forcefully enroll Sewoon into Shaolin, or — should they judge him unqualified — they would move to close his dantian at once.

Sewoon stared at the Divine Monk with a serious look.

“Tsk tsk, I thought you were only a body that could move. You’re a child whose head turns over well too.”

“-!!”

The Divine Monk’s conjecture had been confirmed as fact.

Hearing that it had been true, Sewoon could not help but exhale a shallow breath.

Of course he was delighted to the point he could not calm himself easily, but naturally a question arose.

“Then why did you give those priceless treasures to someone you had no prior relationship with?”

To Sewoon’s question, Great Master Gongsung answered in a voice that did not waver for even a moment.

“What is the Great Cycle Pill, and what is the Washing Scripture?”

“…….”

“Even if it is called the Great Cycle Pill, it is nothing more than a pill made of herbs; even if it is called the Washing Scripture, it is but a line of words the Patriarch left for sentient beings.”

“……!”

“The teachings of a thousand-year Shaolin were established solely to save and rescue sentient beings. If it was used to save one life, it fulfilled its use.”

“!!”

“Do not worry, child. It was used where it should be used, and taken by the one who should receive it.”

The more Great Master Gongsung spoke, the more Sewoon found himself at a loss for words.

He was stunned by the realization that the enlightenment the Divine Monk had stacked had reached a realm at which someone like Sewoon could not even glance upward.

Great Master Gongsung, who had watched Sewoon quietly, wore a faint smile.

“However, if you truly become a burden on the heart, then someday return the teachings you received to Shaolin, which will sink into despair.”

“……!!”

Sewoon looked at the Great Master in surprise.

He had grasped the implied meaning in those words.

“……Venerable Master, you know that the secular world will soon become hell.”

“How could I not know? Dawn no longer breaks; only darkness covers the world.”

The Old Monk knew more than the fact Sewoon had returned.

He even knew that an unprecedented calamity would soon strike at the hands of the Blood Cult.

Sewoon had found someone he could finally speak the truth to since his return.

“The enemies are far too powerful for me to face alone. Could you please help me just a little longer?”

“……Amitabha.”

Sewoon had said his plea as if吐露ing it, but the Divine Monk softly chanted Buddha’s name.

“I am sorry. My ties to the secular world end here.”

“I see.”

“But do not worry. I left one thing behind to block the coming calamity.”

“What did you leave behind?”

To Sewoon’s question, Great Master Gongsung made his characteristic chuckling sound.

“Tsk tsk, are you asking because you do not know?”

“Eh?”

“Did I not leave you behind?”

“!!”

It was as if lightning had struck; a shiver ran down his spine.

Only then did Sewoon realize why the Divine Monk had left behind so many precious treasures to someone like him, whom he had never even met before.

[Everything shall flow according to its natural order.]

Feeling the Old Monk’s warm gaze upon him, Sewoon slowly closed his eyes.

Sssaaa!

The profound qi that had been radiating from the Divine Monk now surged forth from Sewoon instead.

An auspicious energy, reminiscent of dawn’s first light, whirled and ascended throughout Sewoon’s body.

The energy gathered at the Baihui acupoint atop his head, scattering and coalescing again and again until it gradually took on a new form.

Chwaaah!

At last, three flowers blossomed above Sewoon’s head.

The Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

The flowering of energy that symbolized full maturity of the Transformation Realm had manifested in Sewoon.

Sssaaa!

The resonance of the completed energy quickly subsided.

When Sewoon slowly opened his eyes, his outward appearance had not changed, but he was clearly no longer the same as before.

Great Master Gongsung, looking at Sewoon with pride, spoke.

“The path you have chosen will hold even greater hardships and shadows than now.”

“It does not matter.”

In Sewoon’s eyes as he answered, there was no hesitation, no tremor left.

Facing the Divine Monk’s steady gaze, Sewoon declared firmly.

“It is a path I have already decided upon. I will walk it with a smile.”

“……!”

For the first time, a light of admiration rose in Great Master Gongsung’s eyes.

Soon, he nodded faintly.

“Yes. That is a fine smile.”

At that moment, as the room filled with warmth—

Great Master Gongsung suddenly covered his mouth with one hand.

“Cough, cough!”

“Are you all right!?”

Sewoon rushed forward with worry at the Great Master’s severe coughing.

At the Old Monk’s lips, traces of blood appeared.

“Hoo… I wish to rest now. Go back.”

“But…”

Sewoon’s gaze was full of concern, but Great Master Gongsung shook his head as if to say there was no need to worry.

That simple gesture held profound meaning.

Suppressing the surge of emotion, Sewoon forced out his words.

“…Then I shall return.”

Finishing his words, Sewoon bowed deeply, paying his last respects to Great Master Gongsung.

At the Old Monk’s words, telling him not to look back, Sewoon clenched his teeth and left Jamun Pavilion.

The Old Monk quietly watched his departing back.

“…Please, watch over him.”

Guanyin Bodhisattva.

In the silent chamber, the Old Monk’s chant echoed softly.

The next day.

A thunderous piece of news reached the Murim Alliance.

“Hhkk… Divine Monk…”

“Even the heavens are heartless indeed. Must they take even the Divine Monk from us?”

“…Haah, who knows where the jianghu will flow now.”

Great Master Gongsung, the Divine Monk, had entered nirvana.

It was said that in his dwelling at Jamun Pavilion, he had sat cross-legged and quietly entered final rest. The news plunged not only the Murim but all of the Central Plains into deep mourning.

Especially in Shaolin, which had lost both a great master and his greatest disciple, the grief was beyond words.

Rumors spread that once the cremation ceremony was concluded, Shaolin, under the abbot Great Master Gakgong, would exact retribution upon the Demonic Alliance.

But at the same time, strange rumors circulated.

“Ridiculous. At least say something that makes sense.”

“Even if you wanted to make something up, you should try harder. What? That Tang Sewoon, the direct heir of the Tang Clan, received the Divine Monk’s teachings?”

“The Four Absolutes String Gentleman had no connection whatsoever with the Divine Monk, let alone with Shaolin, you fool!”

It was a ludicrous tale that before entering nirvana, the Divine Monk had met Tang Sewoon, the Four Absolutes String Gentleman, and given him his teachings.

Even those who usually praised the Four Absolutes String Gentleman’s chivalry could only give bitter laughs.

The story was simply too absurd.

Why would a monk who had spent decades in closed cultivation, severing all worldly distractions, suddenly seek out a man with no ties to him before his death?

…And yet.

An event soon occurred that forced everyone to believe.

“Is it true? That the abbot of Shaolin personally sought out the Four Absolutes String Gentleman?”

“Yes, man! More than a few within the Alliance saw him hand over the sealed casket containing relics before turning away!”

“N-no, but why would the Divine Monk do such a thing?”

“Perhaps he foresaw a hero of the future!”

After the cremation ceremony, Great Master Gakgong sought out Sewoon and handed him the relics that had emerged from the Divine Monk’s remains.

He declared it was the Divine Monk’s final testament.

The world was thrown into shock.

Relics, small pearl-like formations that sometimes emerged when the remains of a high monk of profound spiritual power were cremated, were known as the most sacred of items, containing the highest demon-subduing force in all the jianghu.

Especially since these had belonged to the Divine Monk, who was said to possess the greatest spiritual power in history, no one could understand how Shaolin had permitted such a thing.

Yet one fact was now undeniable before all under heaven.

Tang Sewoon, direct heir of the Sichuan Tang Clan, had been chosen by the Divine Monk as the next generation’s hero and chivalrous warrior.

Thus, Sewoon’s renown reached the very skies.

And at that very moment—

[Opening of the Murim Alliance General Assembly]

Delayed and delayed again due to the aftermath of the Kaifeng Blood Massacre—

It was finally announced that the Murim Alliance General Assembly would be held at the main headquarters in Kaifeng.

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