Chapter 443

The Great Buddha Beom-bon, abbot of Shaolin Temple, was squatting in his quarters reading Buddhist scriptures. Due to his enormous build, even in the not-so-small room, he alone seemed to fill half of it.

Demon-Destroying Monk Mu-gak, along with Breaking Sect leader Hee-neung and high-ranking monks of the Breaking Sect, came to find Beom-bon.

They all had angry faces.

The Breaking Sect monks complained.

“Just how long are you going to keep delaying!”

“It’s already been more than a month since you declared the Righteous Dharma March!”

“Look. While the Righteous Dharma March was stopped due to floods and plague, see what’s happening in the martial world. Everyone’s eyes are bloodshot trying to devour each other. Isn’t this all because the Righteous Dharma March was delayed!”

Hee-neung coldly looked down at Beom-bon and said.

“Are you forgetting that stopping and waiting for the Righteous Dharma March was already a very exceptional thing? If the head monk is opposing the Breaking Sect’s Righteous Dharma March because he’s the leader of the Embracing Sect, I won’t be able to tolerate it any longer.”

Beom-bon smiled with his narrow, nearly invisible eyes and pushed forward the Green Jade Buddha Palm.

“If you’re referring to this, I’ll give it to you.”

The Breaking Sect monks’ eyes filled with intensity.

“Do you think we came to receive the Green Jade Buddha Palm?”

Beom-bon raised his thick palm and spoke in his characteristic rumbling voice.

“I know why you came and why you’re angry. I have one thing I’d like to say, so please calm your minds. I’ll prepare tea for you.”

With his large frame and pot lid-sized hands, Beom-bon brewed and served tea.

The Breaking Sect monks sat down with displeased expressions.

Hee-neung glanced at Mu-gak, then picked up a teacup to taste it.

Beom-bon asked.

“How does it taste?”

Mu-gak, who couldn’t use his arms properly, had another monk help him drink from the teacup.

As soon as Mu-gak drank the tea water, he immediately spat it out.

“Ptui! What is this?”

All the Breaking Sect monks who drank the tea frowned.

“It’s bitter, astringent, and bland.”

“Head monk. Frankly, this is very unpleasant. No matter how unwelcome our visit might be, this is going too far.”

“I know that premium tea comes from all regions, so why are you serving us such tea?”

However, even after receiving complaints, Beom-bon maintained a satisfied smile.

“It doesn’t taste good. But if you hear the reason, you’ll understand.”

“Hmm?”

“This tea was actually made by roasting tea leaves from tea trees that grew behind the abbot’s quarters.”

“Hmm.”

The Breaking Sect monks made disapproving sounds.

Behind the abbot’s quarters were wide pits. They weren’t simple pit sites but compost pits where all excrement from the temple’s latrines was collected. Straw and chaff were mixed and fermented to make fertilizer. Naturally, flies and insects swarmed and the smell was overwhelming.

And that smell directly wafted into the abbot’s quarters.

Beom-bon turned around and said.

“If you cannot endure even such filth, how can you bear the more painful lives of common people? The head monk is not someone who stands above others, but someone who stands at the very bottom. The founder also said that if someone must go to hell, the first should be the abbot… That’s why he made the compost pit behind the abbot’s quarters.”

“That’s right…”

Beom-bon continued.

“Since the year I became abbot, I’ve been curious about one thing and have continuously scattered tea tree seeds over the compost pit.”

A monk said matter-of-factly.

“Tea trees can’t grow in compost pits. Tea trees need deep roots to survive.”

“That’s right. Not only the roots, but as you know, due to the toxic gases from filth, plants can hardly grow in compost pits. Even if you scatter seeds, if excrement covers them again, they can’t grow and die.”

Beom-bon paused briefly then continued.

“But I didn’t give up. Then a few years ago, a few tea trees finally began to grow in a place somewhat away from the compost pit. Whether the seeds were blown there by wind or dropped while moving fertilizer, I don’t know… Anyway, they couldn’t grow in the fertilizer but sprouted elsewhere.”

Beom-bon explained.

“I waited several more years to finally obtain this much tea leaves. But as you just tasted, they’re still astringent and tasteless. Insects ate them so much that there were hardly any proper intact tea leaves. While fertilizer helps crops grow well when used appropriately, it’s too toxic by itself to create an environment for blooming. I only learned this after more than ten years.”

The Breaking Sect monks felt something strange. Didn’t the tone before and after somehow subtly mismatch?

They also couldn’t understand why he had done such useless things for over ten years.

Beom-bon took out a small jar and poured out the tea leaves inside in front of the monks.

Unlike before, a fragrant smell wafted richly.

Just from the smell, they could tell it was extremely expensive tea leaves.

“This is West Lake Dragon Well. The taste and fragrance are very clean and clear, unlike the previous one.”

The monks drank the West Lake Dragon Well tea. Compared to before, the fragrance and taste were exceptional. They brewed and drank it several times to rinse away the bitter taste remaining in their mouths.

After cleansing his palate, Hee-neung asked.

“What is the head monk trying to say? What’s the reason for specifically comparing tea grown in compost pits with West Lake Dragon Well?”

Beom-bon slowly stood up and opened the window facing the compost pit direction.

Being the end of summer, an even more toxic smell wafted over. It was a nauseating smell that ordinary people couldn’t bear. Contrasted with the fragrant tea scent they had just smelled, it was even more torturous.

The monks frowned.

However, Beom-bon breathed deeply as if nothing was wrong and smiled.

“Do not fear the filth of the world. Immerse yourself in filth to guide sentient beings. If we don’t go to hell, who will go to hell? These are the words the master said.”

The Breaking Sect monks found it even harder to bear. Something had been strange about his words from the beginning.

But Beom-bon remained silent for a while, then pointed outside the window.

“Look at that. It’s beginning now.”

The Breaking Sect monks got up and looked out the window.

Then they were startled.

“What?”

Workers were pulling carts full of dirt to fill in the compost pit. The compost pit that had been made with symbolic meaning since the founder’s time!

“What is this deed!”

To the shocked cries of the Breaking Sect monks, Beom-bon answered.

“I will fill in the compost pit.”

“What?”

Beom-bon turned around with a slight smile. Then he said.

“I think both the founder and the master were wrong. If you mix with filth, you become filth, and if you mix with fertilizer, you become fertilizer. How can you save the world from within that?”

The Breaking Sect monks just stared at Beom-bon in surprise.

Beom-bon held up the jar containing West Lake Dragon Well tea leaves.

“The elders also continued drinking West Lake Dragon Well tea rather than tasting the bitter tea, didn’t you? You even complained to me about why I served such tasteless tea. Like this fragrant tea, there are many good things in the world that can be obtained with appropriate money. Dirty, smelly filth makes people stay away, but wealth attracts people. You need something to give for people to gather, and they need something to gain from you to be ready to listen. Only then can you guide and save them. That’s the principle of the world I’ve realized.”

The Breaking Sect monks’ faces reddened.

Hee-neung shouted in anger.

“Head monk! I can no longer listen to your sophistry! I came to know about resuming the Righteous Dharma March, not to hear your nonsensical enlightenment!”

Suddenly, Beom-bon picked up the jar containing West Lake Dragon Well and struck Hee-neung’s head.

CRASH!

The jar broke and dried tea leaves scattered everywhere.

Beom-bon said with a smile.

“My words aren’t finished yet.”

Everyone froze.

This behavior from Beom-bon was truly unbelievable.

How dare he strike an elder’s head with a tea jar!

Hee-neung’s eyebrows shot up. Due to his Iron Head Technique, not even a scratch remained on his head. However, his face turned red with anger at Beom-bon’s behavior. His wrinkled cheeks trembled.

Hee-neung glared at Beom-bon grinding his teeth, not even thinking to brush off the tea leaves that had poured on his head.

“Say what you want to say to your heart’s content… But that will be the last words you can speak as head monk.”

Hee-neung finally intended to strip the head master position with the Green Jade Buddha Palm!

Beom-bon said with a laugh.

“Thank you. I was about to say something very important.”

The Breaking Sect monks glared at Beom-bon waiting for his words.

“Hurry up!”

Beom-bon’s mouth opened wide and his teeth showed.

Beom-bon said.

“From today onward, there is no longer a Breaking Sect in our Shaolin.”

Everyone had already felt the ominous atmosphere. Therefore, as soon as Beom-bon finished speaking, Hee-neung didn’t wait any longer and immediately shouted.

“Subdue him by force!”

The Breaking Sect monks drew up their internal energy.

However, soon bewilderment appeared on their faces.

Hee-neung was also greatly shocked while drawing up his internal energy.

“Internal energy…!”

It was poison. Poison had clung to their blood vessels and the moment they drew up internal energy, it began rapidly spreading throughout their bodies, destroying their organs.

Hee-neung ground his teeth and glared.

“You bastard!”

The shadow of Beom-bon’s pot lid-sized palm fell over Hee-neung’s shouting face.

THWACK!

Hee-neung staggered from Beom-bon’s strike and immediately fell to his knees.

Hee-neung briefly lost consciousness, then quickly composed himself and forcibly drew up internal energy to thrust both fists.

THUD THUD! Hee-neung’s fists struck Beom-bon’s belly, but the fists only sank into Beom-bon’s stomach. Hee-neung’s fists that could crush rocks had no effect whatsoever.

Beom-bon again struck Hee-neung’s head with his thick palm.

CRACK!

Hee-neung’s nose was crushed and teeth flew out. Hee-neung collapsed as if crumbling.

“Throw me!”

It was Demon-Destroying Monk Mu-gak’s voice. A monk threw Mu-gak at Beom-bon.

Mu-gak extended his index finger to touch Beom-bon’s crown.

Beom-bon wrapped Mu-gak’s bone-thin frail fingers in his large hands.

Mu-gak’s eyes flashed open.

GROOOOO!

Beom-bon’s hand gripping Mu-gak’s hand vibrated greatly. Beom-bon put strength in his hand and squeezed it shut.

CRUNCH!

Blood flowed down. Beom-bon opened his hand. His palm was covered in blood.

However, Beom-bon’s palm was uninjured and intact. What was torn and broken were Mu-gak’s fingers.

Mu-gak made a pained expression.

“You bastard…”

“Elder. When you get old, I think you should know how to watch over and cheer for your juniors’ lives. Even moral standards you believed were absolute change along with the times.”

“This old fool! Were we pursuing some mere truth that changes just because times change!”

Beom-bon grabbed Mu-gak’s head with one hand and threw him out the window.

CRASH!

Mu-gak’s small body broke through the window and flew into the compost pit. Unable to move his body, Mu-gak wouldn’t be able to get out of the compost pit by himself.

The workers looked up at Beom-bon.

Beom-bon commanded.

“Don’t mind him and bury it.”

The workers had no choice but to follow Beom-bon. The workers began filling the compost pit where Mu-gak had fallen with dirt from their carts.

One of Mu-gak’s hands stuck up between the fertilizer and dirt pile.

“How cruel! How can you bury an elder alive!”

The Breaking Sect monks attacked Beom-bon’s back. No matter how they kicked, punched, and struck with palms, Beom-bon didn’t budge.

Beom-bon turned his head. His narrow eyes opened and his pupils became visible.

The Breaking Sect monks ground their teeth.

“Stop this immediately…!”

Beom-bon swung his palm. The monks hit by his palm had their limbs broken and were sent flying into the wall.

“Urgh…”

“Ugh…”

The monks spat blood and looked at Beom-bon with flickering eyes.

Beom-bon smiled.

“I promise you one thing. Our Shaolin’s Righteous Dharma March will continue without stopping.”