Chapter 496

A few retainers of the Tang Family gathered in one place at the invitation of Tang Ha-ran, the acting family head.

Sword Empress Im Yi-eon, Yuk Ha-seon of Joyful Heaven, Demon-Extinguishing Monk Mu-gak, and Sword King Namgung Rak.

“Thank you for the invitation.”

With Yuk Ha-seon’s help, Mu-gak greeted them.

They exchanged greetings with each other. Attention briefly turned to Poison Heaven, whom Tang Ha-ran had brought along.

Tang Ha-ran offered a meal and said.

“The reason I gathered you here is…”

Mu-gak spoke first.

“You must be worried about the groom.”

“That’s right.”

“I can’t just waste a meal, so if the family head wants, I should tell you. But I don’t know if hearing my story will make you feel better.”

Im Yi-eon interjected.

“You might become needlessly more anxious.”

Tang Ha-ran shook her head.

“It’s not a matter of feelings. If things go wrong, I want to hear about it beforehand and prepare for it.”

If Jin Ja-gang failed, Shaolin Temple’s spear would surely point toward the Tang Family.

Namgung Rak greatly praised.

“You are very strong. There was a reason that friend Poison Dragon could confidently leave the Tang Family empty and go meet Great Buddha.”

There was a peculiar nuance in Namgung Rak calling Jin Ja-gang a friend. It wasn’t a very close intimacy, nor did it feel like friends as comrades.

Mu-gak smiled forcefully with his heavily distorted face.

“Somehow it seems the Poison Dragon I think of and the Poison Dragon you think of are similar?”

Mu-gak’s age was approaching one hundred thirty. Even with Namgung Rak who had just passed sixty, there was a difference of nearly one sixty-year cycle. Namgung Rak didn’t feel uncomfortable even hearing “you.”

“Poison Dragon is all good, but sometimes he says irritating things.”

“Iyaa, everyone thinks the same. When he’s irritating, how irritating he is, really… But he’s someone you can’t hate.”

“That’s right.”

Yuk Ha-seon put a piece of softly cooked meat pancake into Mu-gak’s mouth and said.

“Monk Baldy, the people here are about to expire waiting. Please tell us about Great Buddha.”

“This meat tastes so… it melts without chewing. So Great Buddha is…”

Mu-gak mumbled and chose his words, then said.

“Great Buddha is exactly Shaolin Temple.”

“That’s too difficult a Zen riddle.”

“First, he’s extremely well-versed in doctrine, and his understanding of Buddhist law is also high.”

Sword Empress Im Yi-eon said.

“It’s somewhat strange that one who knows Buddhist law would try to save sentient beings with the power of gold.”

“Knowing and doing are different.”

Namgung Rak asked.

“Buddhist law aside, what about martial arts?”

“More Shaolin-like than anyone in Shaolin Temple. You could say he is the very symbol of Shaolin Temple.”

Yuk Ha-seon brought the meat pancake to Mu-gak’s mouth then pulled it back. When Mu-gak tried to touch it with his tongue and bite, she pulled it farther away, then brought it close once more and pulled it away as soon as he barely bit the end. Mu-gak only barely tasted it with his tongue.

“That wasn’t the question. If you keep beating around the bush, you won’t even be called Baldy anymore?”

Mu-gak frowned.

“I’m only stating facts. Beom-bon’s martial arts are Shaolin Temple itself.”

“So what is that supposed to mean? You may have achieved enlightenment and are playing the role of Baldy, but how could common mortals understand your words?”

“Hmph. Where is there a common mortal here?”

“Even if Monk Baldy is from Shaolin Temple, it’s not difficult for you to tell us what martial arts Great Buddha learned, what martial arts he mainly uses, is it?”

“That’s why I said it. Exactly Shaolin Temple.”

Yuk Ha-seon didn’t give Mu-gak the meat pancake and put down the chopsticks.

“My, how impatient. Living a hundred years without eating a bite of meat, and now that I’ve learned the taste, you’re too harsh.”

“Having no legs makes my temper worse. It’s all Monk Baldy’s karma.”

The rest of the people smiled at the conversation between Yuk Ha-seon and Mu-gak. For a conversation between a defrocked monk and a woman in men’s clothes who lost her legs, it was even heartwarming.

Mu-gak asked in a tone of why don’t you know this easy thing.

“Do you know why Great Buddha became sect leader?”

“How would we know that?”

“Great Buddha is the strongest Arhat.”

Yuk Ha-seon completely removed the meat pancake plate from in front of Mu-gak.

***

The first floor was a spacious, openly connected tea house.

Jin Ja-gang had been scattering all kinds of poison from earlier and Beom-bon had destroyed it, leaving it in a mess.

In the middle of that, Jin Ja-gang was waiting for Beom-bon. Poison energy was already thick around him.

Beom-bon turned his eyes and swept a glance around inside the tea house.

A subtle feeling arose. He noticed the positions of utensils had changed slightly from before.

In the brief time Jin Ja-gang had gone back and forth between the first and third floors several times, Jin Ja-gang had not only set traps but had done other things.

It meant he had planned and moved in double and triple layers.

Beom-bon admired.

“From the beginning, did you predict this humble monk would follow you in and prepare?”

“Seeing the great master standing here alone, it seems that thought was right. Then tell me now.”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Beom-bon and asked.

“Are you the Hungry Ghost King?”

Beom-bon’s mouth stretched long as he smiled.

“Benefactor Poison Dragon. You know that to hear that answer, you must defeat me.”

Beom-bon answered.

“This humble monk, to be honest, has absolutely no interest in Hungry Ghost King or whatever. In the world, there are only benevolent sentient beings who will become Buddha and sinful sentient beings who must go through eons of six-path reincarnation again.”

“Who decides that?”

“This humble monk doesn’t decide. The karma one has accumulated decides that path.”

Jin Ja-gang pointed at Beom-bon with his finger.

Whirr. A needle spun round and round between his fingers and protruded forward sharply.

“Then, what about me?”

“Benefactor Poison Dragon.”

Beom-bon narrowed his eyes thinly and smiled.

“Is bound for hell.”

Instantly, a poison needle shot from Jin Ja-gang’s hand.

Ting!

The poison needle that struck Beom-bon’s kasaya futilely bounced off.

“Flash Severance. This won’t work. How about trying that thing from before?”

“I will.”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t give up and walked toward Beom-bon, throwing poison needles quickly.

Piercing Strand Flash Severance!

The poison needle seemed to embed in Beom-bon’s kasaya, then fell powerlessly.

Jin Ja-gang continued walking and continuously executed Piercing Strand Flash Severance.

Pop pop pop.

Even so, Beom-bon didn’t budge at all.

Countless poison needles slightly embedded in Beom-bon’s body, in his kasaya. The closer the distance, the stronger the internal energy Jin Ja-gang put into the poison needles.

Jin Ja-gang mixed Piercing Strand Flash Severance and Flash Severance and continuously deployed them.

Needles thrown with Piercing Strand Flash Severance embedded very slightly, and needles thrown with Flash Severance bounced off even producing sparks.

Ting ting ting! Ting!

Ten steps… five steps.

As the distance closed, Jin Ja-gang’s hands became even faster.

When he reached four steps, Jin Ja-gang fully raised his internal energy to the end of Eight Light Dikes.

Tang! Tang! Tang!

Now needles thrown with Flash Severance began making sounds like hitting rock with an iron club when they hit Beom-bon. Tremendous sparks flew.

Needles almost sticking to the kasaya embedded slightly with Piercing Strand Flash Severance made Beom-bon’s body like a hedgehog.

Whirrrr! Jin Ja-gang’s hands moved so they were almost invisible. Using Heaven and Earth Eight Defeats to the maximum, poison needles spun ceaselessly between his fingers.

If the Poison King Tang Qing had seen this scene, even he would have been greatly surprised.

He would have been surprised first that he could use the advanced absolute techniques Piercing Strand Flash Severance and Flash Severance infinitely mixed together, and would have been surprised a second time at Beom-bon casually blocking them.

Piercing Strand Flash Severance was a technique that disrupted the mind based on pain to pierce protective energy techniques.

Did Beom-bon have no such thing as pain?

Or had his mental cultivation reached a realm beyond imagination!

Jin Ja-gang bent his body at the last moment and picked up items he had placed in advance under the pillar right in front. More than ten oddly shaped tube-like needles.

Jin Ja-gang turned his body while hiding his hands with his back and threw the odd needles in a surprise attack toward Beom-bon’s eyes. Beom-bon raised his sleeve to cover his face.

Ratatat!

The needles hit the sleeve and crumbled. Along with sparks, smoke that hadn’t existed before rose countless times and blocked Beom-bon’s vision. Hidden weapons brought from the Zhuge Family that, when they hit an opponent’s body, shatter and produce smoke to block vision.

Jin Ja-gang immediately leaped up to continue the attack, but inside the smoke, he felt a massive energy gathering heavily. Jin Ja-gang rolled to the side.

A beam of light as thick as a child’s fist brushed past Jin Ja-gang’s armpit at tremendous speed.

Kwaaaah!

The beam of light made a hole of the exact same size in the pillar, pierced through a chair rolling around behind, and penetrated down into the floor. Holes of the exact same size were drilled everywhere the beam of light passed.

The smoke disappeared and Beom-bon was seen holding up his index finger.

Jin Ja-gang looked at the holes drilled in the pillar and floor, holes large enough for a child’s fist to fit, then asked Beom-bon.

“What is that?”

“Vajra Finger. Just finger wind.”

At Beom-bon’s words, even Jin Ja-gang was dumbfounded.

“Where is that just finger wind?”

***

Mu-gak smacked his lips while looking at the distant meat pancake plate.

“What an ill-natured sentient being. Even when I tell the truth, they don’t understand, yet why is it my fault?”

“Arhat refers to the general disciples of Shaolin Temple… and he was the strongest among them, so he became sect leader, isn’t that right?”

Im Yi-eon interjected.

“Great Buddha was the top disciple of the previous sect leader. When specially becoming the robe-inheriting successor, one becomes an Excellent Arhat and receives education as the next sect leader.”

Only then did everyone realize there was something puzzling about Mu-gak’s words. A great monk like Mu-gak wouldn’t make a slip of the tongue, and the fact he specifically said “the strongest Arhat” rather than Excellent Arhat…

Namgung Rak said.

“It sounds like he was an Arhat in the past and is still the strongest Arhat now. He didn’t learn martial arts as an Excellent Arhat, as a sect leader disciple.”

“Now we’re finally communicating.”

“However, aren’t the martial arts that Arhat monks learn entry-level martial arts? Are you saying he left aside the countless world-class martial arts in Shaolin Temple and learned only entry-level martial arts?”

“He does things everyone does like Hundred Step Divine Fist or Dharma Finger to some degree. But they’re not his main focus. Great Buddha thought that as Shaolin Temple’s sect leader, he should become the strongest not with special martial arts but with Arhat martial arts that are Shaolin Temple’s foundation. His master couldn’t break Great Buddha’s will either.”

Everyone couldn’t believe Mu-gak’s words.

Though you couldn’t call Shaolin Temple Arhat monks’ martial arts third-rate, there was a reason upper-level martial arts were called upper-level martial arts. Third-rate martial arts couldn’t escape the level of third-rate.

Yuk Ha-seon muttered.

“With martial arts used by Arhats, he was called Shaolin Temple’s greatest expert and ascended to the abbot’s seat…”

“Why? Don’t you believe it?”

“Then are you saying he uses Vajra Finger instead of Dharma Finger?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Arhats don’t learn Dharma Finger.”

“Isn’t Dharma Finger a much more advanced martial art than Vajra Finger?”

“Originally it is. But when Great Buddha uses it…”

Mu-gak laughed as if he himself found it absurd.

“It becomes Shaolin’s strongest finger wind.”