We set out for Shaolin Temple once more and soon reached the Yellow River.
Since this stretch of the Yellow River formed the border between Hebei and Shandong and lay in the lower reaches, it looked far wider than when we’d crossed it back in Gansu.
But none of us were worried.
We already knew the River-Crossing Horse could get across no matter how wide the river was.
“Alright, let’s go! Hold your reins tight, everyone!”
“Yes!”
The River-Crossing Horse gradually picked up speed, then surged forward and started racing across the river.
Because we could cross in one go like this, it saved us a great deal of time.
Instead of following the river, we headed a little farther south and then turned west.
“It’s starting to get dark.”
At Palgap’s words, I spoke to everyone.
“Let’s find a place to camp.”
“Understood.”
Before long, we found a suitable spot and settled in there.
Crackle, crackle.
We’d made it as far as Henan, but maybe because we were in the forest, the night air still turned a little chilly.
Sitting here by the campfire like this felt nice.
I was relaxing when I suddenly sensed killing intent.
I immediately rose to my feet.
“What is it?”
“I sensed killing intent nearby.”
At my words, everyone tensed and drew their weapons. I closed my eyes and focused my senses on the area around us.
“There was a fight not far from here. From the feel of it… it seems to be a clash between the Unorthodox Sect and the Orthodox Sect.”
“What would you like to do?”
At Escort Guard Seo Wu’s question, I hesitated for a moment. I wasn’t sure we needed to throw ourselves into danger.
But my instincts were telling me otherwise.
I had to go.
“We can’t leave a loose end like that behind. Let’s move.”
“Understood.”
“Escort Guard Myeong Jong, stay here with Palgap and guard the baggage.”
“Yes.”
I immediately ran toward the fighting with the rest of the escort guards.
Clang–! Clang!
Bang!
“Push them a little harder!”
“Wahaha! You bald monks! I’m telling you, just give up already!”
Once I arrived, I quickly got the gist of the situation. A group that looked like Shaolin Temple monks was fighting Unorthodox Sect martial artists.
The monks were protecting something, and the Unorthodox Sect men were launching a fierce assault to seize it.
“My lord, what should we do?”
“We help them first.”
I said that and kicked off the ground.
Right then, I saw one of the Unorthodox Sect swords slash toward a monk.
Clang!
I blocked the sword, then swung again and severed the man’s arm.
“Urgh!”
“Unlike the monks, we’re not known for mercy. Wouldn’t it be wiser for you to back off?”
At my words, one of the Unorthodox Sect warriors shouted,
“You stay out of this!”
“I can’t do that. I’ve got a bad habit of sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
I said it with a smile.
“If you die here, that’s on you.”
At that moment, another Unorthodox Sect warrior shouted,
“Even if you kill us, there are plenty of others after that sacred body too! You think you can stop all of them?”
“Your sympathy is admirable, but a weakling like you ought to know when to step in and when to stay out of it!”
Why did he think my martial arts were weak?
Ah… it was dark, so he probably couldn’t see my face clearly.
Still, I was pretty sure I’d just heard something I couldn’t ignore.
“What did you just say? Did you say sacred body?”
At that, one of the Shaolin monks sucked in a breath and answered,
“That is correct, Benefactor. What we are transporting is Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body.”
“…”
Fate really was a funny thing.
At this point, maybe I ought to call it frightening.
Either way, there was no way I could overlook this.
I’d gone through all that trouble to deliver those remains safely to Shaolin Temple…
If those Unorthodox Sect bastards stole them now, I might actually die of frustration.
And on top of that, I was carrying Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s final will.
No wonder my instincts had been screaming that I needed to help them…
“Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body? Then there’s even more reason I can’t step aside.”
Then something suddenly occurred to me.
“But why are you after Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body in the first place?”
“Because there’s obviously an Elixir inside its stomach!”
An Elixir?
What kind of nonsense was that?
I stared at him in disbelief and asked,
“Where exactly did you hear a ridiculous rumor like that? There’s nothing inside the Venerable’s sacred body. It’s nothing but bones and skin, so what Elixir are you talking about?”
“That rumor’s already spread everywhere! Then how the hell are you so sure there’s nothing inside?”
How was I so sure?
Because I had Geumryeong.
If there really had been something like an Elixir inside Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s stomach, Geumryeong would’ve noticed it first and gone, “Kui!”
And in my previous life, I’d examined Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s remains too, and there had been nothing there.
But none of that was proof I could show them.
I let out a sigh.
“Look, I don’t know where the rumor started, but whoever spread it is probably rolling on the floor laughing at the sight of all of you running around like this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When they brought the sacred body out of the Sword Tomb in Gansu, it was already examined, and they confirmed there was nothing inside.”
That, of course, was a lie.
It had been placed under strict control the moment it was discovered.
“So everyone who was in Gansu already knows there was nothing inside the sacred body… but since they came away empty-handed, they probably got bitter and spread a nasty little rumor out of spite… and you lot walked right into it.”
“What?”
“Who do you think you are, talking like that?”
I scratched the back of my neck.
I really had to say my own title out loud? Seriously?
“I am the…”
But maybe he sensed how I felt, because Escort Guard Seo Wu shouted from beside me,
“Our lord is the hero of the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering, Great Hero Handsome Young Hero!”
Then Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am shouted right after him,
“And he also distinguished himself at the Sword Tomb on Yanzhi Mountain in Gansu!”
I shot the two of them a subtle look of gratitude. Thanks to them, I’d been spared the embarrassment of announcing my own title myself.
At that shout, the Unorthodox Sect warriors fell into confusion, while the Shaolin monks lit up and quietly cheered.
Looking at the Unorthodox Sect group, I said,
“Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk entered Nirvana while gazing toward Mount Song, where Shaolin Temple stands. There’s an old saying that even a fox turns its head toward home when it dies, and that proves the Venerable longed for Shaolin Temple, the place that was as good as home to him, until the very end. That’s why we went through so much trouble to return at least his sacred body to Shaolin Temple…”
Anger rose in me.
“You people are truly despicable! The Sword Tomb collapsed because of the Venerable’s compassion, which spared you from charging inside and dying like flies, and instead of thanking him for his sacred body, you spread a filthy rumor like this? Do you really not have even a shred of decency?”
At my rebuke, several of them turned away or lowered their heads in embarrassment.
To be honest, plenty of people in the Unorthodox Sect were rotten.
But just as many had ended up on that path because they had no other way to survive, which meant some still had a trace of conscience left in them.
Looking at them, I continued,
“Anyway, all that means is you’ve been played by whoever spread the rumor. So instead of causing trouble here, why don’t you go crack the skulls of the ones who fed you that lie for me?”
I swung my sword.
Slash!
A furrow about three feet deep split open in the ground before them.
“If you truly want to fight us, I won’t stop you. But if you plan to take on me and my escort guards, you’d better be ready to lose an arm or a leg.”
A tense moment followed.
“Haah.”
Then, starting with one man sheathing his weapon, the others began putting theirs away as well.
“I think he’s right.”
“Now that I think about it… if there really had been an Elixir in there, the bastards at Yanzhi Mountain would’ve swallowed it first.”
“So this was all for nothing! Damn it!”
“Well… sorry about that!”
With that, the Unorthodox Sect group finally left, and only then did I sheath my sword and approach the monks.
Then I cupped my fist in greeting and bowed politely.
“I am Eun Seo-ho, Deputy Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group. It is an honor to meet you, Venerables.” (TL Note: I was debating what title to go with for high ranking Monks, and decided to go with Venerable.)
At my words, they waved their hands.
“We are not worthy of being called Venerables. Thank you sincerely for helping us.”
“Fate really is a strange thing. To think we’d run into each other on the road to Shaolin Temple. But why are you here? I heard the monks of Shaolin Temple were the ones transporting the sacred body to the temple after it was brought to the Murim Alliance.”
“That is correct. We are on our way from the Murim Alliance.”
“But this is far off the road from the Murim Alliance to Mount Song, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Not long after leaving the Murim Alliance, we were attacked. They completely blocked the road to Mount Song, so in the end, we had no choice but to avoid that direction and move this way.”
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“Thankfully, none of our disciples lost their lives, but we were truly in a difficult situation. Thank you again.”
“Still, to drive everyone off without taking a single life!”
“You truly are the Handsome Young Hero.”
“You flatter me. Hahaha.”
Just then, one of the monks said,
“I heard our disciples received a great deal of help from you this time, Great Hero. They said an invitation was extended to you. Is that why you are on your way there?”
“That’s right.”
When I nodded, the monks smiled brightly and urged me,
“Then this worked out perfectly. We are heading to Shaolin Temple as well, so it would be best if we traveled together.”
“That was what we hoped for as well.”
And so, we ended up traveling with them.
“For now, please come this way and get some rest. We already have a place set up.”
We headed back to the campsite we’d prepared.
“Young Master, you’re back?”
Palgap and Escort Guard Myeong Jong greeted us.
“Yeah. Nothing happened here, right?”
“No, nothing happened.”
“That’s a relief. Oh, these are monks from Shaolin Temple.”
I explained the whole situation to Palgap and Escort Guard Myeong Jong.
“You did the right thing. Venerables, have you eaten dinner?”
At that question, the monks shook their heads.
Which made sense. They’d been fleeing and fighting in a frenzy.
There was no way they’d had time for a proper meal.
“Would this rice be of any help?”
One of the monks held out some rice and asked if it would help, and Palgap happily replied,
“Ah! Then I’ll make some porridge with it.”
“I’m counting on you.”
Before long, Palgap fetched water from nearby, poured the rice into the pot, and started making porridge.
“I’ll help.”
“In that case, I’d appreciate it if you could stir this for a bit.”
Palgap went off somewhere, then soon returned carrying something. It was mushrooms.
“These mushrooms are incredibly tasty.”
“Oh? Really?”
After carefully trimming them, Palgap chopped the mushrooms into small pieces and tossed them into the pot.
A lot of wild mushrooms were poisonous, but I wasn’t worried in the slightest.
Why?
Because Palgap was uncannily good at telling poisonous ones from safe ones. A bear really is a bear.
Once the warm porridge was done, Palgap ladled out a bowl for each of the monks.
There were twenty monks in all.
Each of them ate a bowl of Palgap’s porridge with expressions that made it look like they’d reached paradise.
“This is truly delicious.”
“Thank you.”
And just like that, the monks filled their stomachs.
That was one more debt laid at their feet.
I told Palgap he’d done a good job, and he grinned and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
“It was nothing, really.”
I gave a light chuckle, then sat down and sank into thought.
Still… a rumor that there was an Elixir inside Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body…
That really was vicious.
Who in the world spread something like that?
I’d tried so hard to bring about a different outcome from my previous life, where the Venerable’s sacred body had been torn to pieces.
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
No way…
Was there some reason Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body absolutely couldn’t be allowed to enter Shaolin Temple intact?
Was that why someone was trying to stop it?
No, come on…
What could possibly be inside that sacred body when there was truly nothing there?
If there was anything of significance, it was only that the Venerable’s remains, from a man who had dearly cherished and loved Shaolin Temple, were finally returning to Shaolin Temple’s embrace.
But the sense that something was off refused to leave my mind.
The next morning, we packed up camp and set out for Shaolin Temple again.
No uninvited guests had come looking for us during the night.
But that didn’t mean we’d be left alone today too.
We formed a protective formation around the cart carrying Blood Staff Star Monk’s remains, surrounding it from all sides.
Not even two hours after we set out.
Whoosh!
Arrows shot toward us.
An ambush.
The reason I didn’t think they were Forest bandits was because our group included monks.
The Forest bandits had a sort of unspoken rule – you didn’t mess with monks.
Apparently, if you laid a hand on a monk, you’d fall into the most agonizing hell of all the hells or something like that.
And people also said you’d have rotten luck for three whole years, so they left monks alone.
The Forest bandits were part of the Unorthodox Sects too, but it didn’t seem like the people targeting Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body were the sort to care about things like that.
“Hand over those remains while I’m still asking nicely.”
“We’re the ones who should be taking that Elixir!”
Looking at the men who appeared before us, I clicked my tongue.
Seriously, why did everyone believe useless rumors so easily?
At this rate, all my time was going to be wasted on this nonsense.
Then a good idea suddenly came to me.
It was the same method I’d once used to deal with those ugly rumors surrounding the Dancing Doll – fight rumors with rumors.
So I said to them,
“Oh? Don’t tell me you still haven’t heard the latest rumor?”
–TL Notes–
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