Chapter 295 – Shaolin Temple (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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-Om somani somani hum arihanna arihanna hum arihanna banaya hum banaya hum baabam baara hum batak.

The solemn sound of a scripture being recited.

It was the Demon-Subduing True Mantra, used in the Buddhist school to subdue demons.

At the words Demon-Subduing True Mantra, Mara Hyeon said with widened eyes.

“The Demon-Subduing True Mantra? Isn’t that a Buddhist scripture? Surely not…”

“That damned monstrous bird. Of all places it could fly over, it had to fly over Shaolin?”

‘!!!!!!’

At the words of Ja Geum-jeong, the Broken-vow monk, everyone failed to hide their bewilderment.

‘S-Shaolin?’

It was an extremely unfortunate coincidence.

Because they had to head to the Sichuan Tang Family to find the granddaughter of the Sacred Fire Leader, who was said to be guarding the treasure bead, the demon beast Qinyuan had flown southwest from the imperial capital Kaifeng.

But no one had expected this.

On the road southwest from the imperial capital Kaifeng lay Mount Song, the Central Sacred Mountain among the Five Sacred Mountains.

If this place had merely been an ordinary mountain, it would not have mattered much, but on Mount Song stood the Shaolin Temple, known as the sacred ground of Buddhism and the birthplace of righteous-path martial learning.

“Damn it.”

A rough curse burst from Seop Chun’s mouth.

Even if one’s luck was terrible, how could it turn out like this?

Out of so many places, who would have imagined they would get tangled up with the Shaolin Temple, called the center of the righteous path, in this way?

And then,

-Om somani somani hum arihanna arihanna hum arihanna banaya hum banaya hum baabam baara hum batak.

The sound of the Demon-Subduing True Mantra being chanted grew even louder.

At that, Qinyuan, whose right wing had already been struck by the ritual vajra, screamed in pain and twisted its body.

-Kikegegegegegegegek!

“Ugh!”

“E-everyone, grab the carriage!”

As Qinyuan twisted, the carriage tilted with it, and everyone panicked and grabbed at every part of it.

“Aaaagh!”

Just then, the slop bucket tipped over, and the Sacred Fire Leader inside nearly fell.

But in that instant, someone seized her wrist.

-Pak!

It was none other than the masked Mara Hyeon.

Having saved her at the perfect moment, Mara Hyeon’s eyes turned strange.

‘Damn it.’

If it were up to him, he would have just let her die.

But this damned old woman was the only one who knew how his accursed father had died.

That was why he could not let her fall to her death like this.

Meanwhile, unable to endure the wound inflicted by the vajra and the Demon-Subduing True Mantra, Qinyuan began to plummet downward.

“T-this is bad!”

“Aaaaah! We’re falling!”

No matter how great a martial artist was, if they fell from this height, they could die from the impact.

“M-my lord!”

Seop Chun called out to Mok Gyeong-un, who was clinging to the feathers on Qinyuan’s back.

Since only their lord could tame and control the demon beast Qinyuan, he called out in desperate hope.

-All living beings. You must pull out the vajra.

At that moment, Blue Spirit spoke urgently to Mok Gyeong-un.

Amid the violent shaking of the fall, Mok Gyeong-un turned his head and looked at Qinyuan’s right wing.

In the eyes of Mok Gyeong-un, who had opened his Ghost Eyes, he could see the solemn aura of the vajra.

It was spreading through Qinyuan’s body like a poison, evaporating its demonic power.

-I cannot touch that.

-That makes sense.

Because that solemn aura was thoroughly opposed to all yin-aligned forces, Blue Spirit, being a vengeful soul, could not lay a hand on it.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un gripped the fur on Qinyuan’s back with both hands.

Fixing his posture and locking onto his target, Mok Gyeong-un kicked off.

-Pak!

His body sprang out like a coiled spring and shot toward Qinyuan’s right wing, which had gone limp and was flapping chaotically.

Mok Gyeong-un stretched out his hand to grab one of the wing feathers.

But at that moment, Qinyuan’s body spun sideways, and he missed it.

‘Ah?’

Then Mok Gyeong-un’s body swept past the wing and was flung farther away from Qinyuan.

-Shuuuuuuuu!

-This is bad!

Thinking it could not be helped, Blue Spirit tried to emerge from the wooden doll.

It was right then.

Mok Gyeong-un twisted his body and spun himself around, then kicked at the empty air.

-Paang!

It was as if there were a wall in the air, and when he kicked it, his body rebounded in the opposite direction and flew back toward Qinyuan’s right wing.

‘All living beings, this brat?’

Blue Spirit could not hide her astonishment.

The method Mok Gyeong-un had just shown was none other than the principle of stepping through the void.

She had not expected him to perform such an astonishing subtlety in a moment of crisis.

But what mattered was not that he had pulled off the principle of stepping through the void.

Having kicked off the air and flown back, Mok Gyeong-un seized Qinyuan’s wing feathers and thrust his other hand toward the place where the solemn aura was spreading from.

-Puk!

-Kikegegegegegegegek!

Qinyuan shrieked as if in agony.

Ignoring it, Mok Gyeong-un shoved his hand in even deeper through the flesh and at last found the vajra.

Having found it, he gripped it tightly in order to pull it out.

At that moment,

-Chiiiiiiik!

A searing pain shot through his palm as he grasped the vajra.

The solemn aura flowing from it dug into his palm and seemed to affect both his death aura and demonic aura.

‘Annoying.’

Mok Gyeong-un raised even stronger death aura and suppressed the vajra’s energy.

Then he yanked it out of Qinyuan’s wing.

-Pak!

As soon as he pulled it free, he hurriedly threw it away.

Then Qinyuan, who had been writhing in agony and staggering as it fell, beat its left wing fiercely in an effort to regain its balance somehow.

-Flap flap!

Even though the vajra had been removed, its right wing was already ruined beyond use, so flying with only one wing was impossible.

However,

-Flap flap!

Thanks to its frenzied wingbeats, it at least managed to reduce the speed of its fall.

Thus, before it crashed into the ground, Qinyuan barely succeeded in slowing itself enough to make a rough landing.

“Urgh.”

The moment it landed, both the Sacred Fire Leader and Ja Geum-jeong, the Broken-vow monk, vomited onto the ground, and the others who had been clinging to the carriage collapsed with pale faces.

-Thud!

“Haa… haa…”

“We almost really died.”

They had intended to travel comfortably riding Qinyuan and instead had gotten a proper tour of hell.

But even though they had reached the ground safely, it still was not over.

The place where they had come down was none other than,

-Rumble!

‘Ah. We’re finished.’

The middle of the Shaolin Temple.

By now, dozens of demon-subduing monks in robes, along with martial monks in orange robes holding staves, had gathered around and surrounded them.

-Murmur murmur!

The monks who had encircled Qinyuan then spotted Mok Gyeong-un and his group and began whispering among themselves with somewhat startled eyes.

“What is this?”

“Who are they?”

Then an elderly monk with a white beard and an air of long experience walked out from among the demon-subduing monks.

He held three vajras in his hand, and the solemn aura flowing from his entire body was formidable enough to dominate the surroundings.

-Ooooooooooh!

‘So it was him.’

Mok Gyeong-un instantly realized that this was the man who had thrown the vajra into Qinyuan’s wing.

The aura flowing from him was on an entirely different level.

If judged by occult practitioners’ standards, that solemn aura possessed a vastness and breadth like the sea, enough to far surpass the realm of Square Sun.

-That is no ordinary dharma power.

-Dharma power?

-Yes. Just as occult practitioners and Taoists refine spiritual power, I have heard there are Buddhist monks who refine dharma power. This is my first time seeing such an aura, and it looks extremely troublesome.

-…It does.

Because of the dharma power emanating from that old monk and the demon-subduing monks, even Qinyuan was shrinking back in extreme wariness.

‘Or maybe not.’

Mok Gyeong-un looked around.

It was not just their dharma power. The aura flowing through the temple itself was solemn, clean, and exceedingly pure.

Perhaps because of that, he could not even sense the ordinary stray ghosts or weak spirits that one would commonly find nearby.

‘It is not called the sacred ground of Buddhism for nothing.’

Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue inwardly, his gaze showing irritation.

He had only just escaped the imperial palace, and who could have known he would end up caught in a place like this?

Then the old monk who had stepped forward brought his palms together and spoke.

“Amitabha. Who might you patrons be, to be together with a harmful anomaly…”

“Demon-Subduing Hall Master!”

Before the old monk could finish speaking, someone stepped forward.

It was none other than Ja Geum-jeong, the Broken-vow monk.

Examining him, with his shattered prayer beads and clothing similar to that of the monks, the old monk frowned and said,

“Deokmun? So it is you, Deokmun.”

Deokmun had been Ja Geum-jeong’s dharma name when he had still belonged to the Buddhist order.

Time had changed him into a rougher figure, so the old monk had not recognized him at once.

But now that he had, he could not understand what was going on.

“Deokmun, how is it that you are together with an anomaly?”

“This is a misunderstanding, Demon-Subduing Hall Master. This anomaly is not one that harms people. It has been tamed.”

“Tamed? What kind of absurd nonsense is that?”

At that moment, a middle-aged monk standing among the martial monks stepped out and said,

Recognizing him, Ja Geum-jeong brought his palms together and bowed.

“Amitabha. My greetings to the Arhat Hall Master…”

“How dare a disciple who has been cast out greet me with joined palms? Lower your hands.”

“…”

At the Arhat Hall Master’s firm words, Ja Geum-jeong bitterly lowered his joined hands.

As he said, Ja Geum-jeong was a Broken-vow monk and had no right to greet anyone in that manner.

Then the Arhat Hall Master pointed at Qinyuan and asked,

“How can you say that thing has been tamed? That is no mere beast but a monster that devours and kills humans. So how could…”

“It is my shikigami, Reverend.”

‘!?’

The Arhat Hall Master turned his head.

The one who had cut in was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.

“A shikigami?”

Not knowing what that meant, the Arhat Hall Master looked puzzled, and the Demon-Subduing Hall Master said,

“Amitabha. Did you just say shikigami, patron?”

-Swish!

Mok Gyeong-un cupped his fists in greeting and replied,

“Yes. It may be an anomaly, but it is one I command as my shikigami. So unlike how it appears, it is not dangerous because it is under control…”

“KAL!”

Before he could finish speaking, the Demon-Subduing Hall Master shouted him down.

Then he pointed at Qinyuan and said,

“Does not shikigami refer to the method by which occult practitioners forcibly forge a bond and enslave anomalies?”

At those words, a strange light flashed in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

He had assumed these Buddhist monks would know little of occult arts, but apparently that was not the case.

“That is correct. But why did you shout so harshly?”

The old monk’s white brows trembled as he said,

“The arts of occult practice, derived from Taoist techniques, are dangerous methods that stray from the laws and principles of nature. How could a young patron such as yourself have learned such a sinister thing?”

“…Are occult arts sinister?”

“Did I not just say so, patron? Occult arts are methods that deviate from principle. Even this thing you call a shikigami is nothing more than forcing a bond on an existence and using it as a servant. That is an act against another’s will. How can that not be called sinister?”

Mok Gyeong-un let out a snort and said,

“So what exactly is it that you want to say?”

At that, the Demon-Subduing Hall Master leveled the vajra at Qinyuan and replied,

“Amitabha. I speak these words for your own sake, patron, so do not take offense, and listen well. Occult arts that deviate from principle will surely bring you harm. Therefore stop practicing them, and sever the forcibly made bond with that anomaly.”