The next day, Monk Ji Sang headed straight for the Penance Cave.
I hadn’t expected him to go in immediately, but he moved a lot faster than I’d thought.
At dawn, he met with the Venerable Discipline Hall Master and entered the Penance Cave without carrying a single possession.
The truth was, the Penance Cave had several levels.
There were cells for locking up vicious criminals who’d committed truly grave sins, places used to punish monks who had broken their precepts, and even chambers meant for meditation, where someone could enter of his own will if he believed he had something to repent for.
But every Penance Cave had one thing in common.
Once you entered, whether the term had been set by someone else or by you, you could not come out until that time was up.
And no news from the outside ever reached you there.
Of course, outsiders could never enter either.
When I heard that Monk Ji Sang had gone into the Penance Cave, I smiled to myself.
Shall we get started?
I hadn’t decided to help Monk Ji Sang just because I felt sorry for him, or because Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk had appeared in my dream.
It was because I was convinced the Murim Alliance was behind this scheme.
I didn’t know why, but I was certain someone in the Murim Alliance was trying to desecrate Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body.
And if that was the plan, then obviously I had to crush it.
If I kept taking these small bites of revenge, I’d eventually reach the true revenge I wanted.
Mm, I’d better move quickly.
When the promised day came, Hae Chul headed for Shaolin Temple.
“Tch! They gorge themselves on alms, so why the hell is the road to Shaolin Temple this miserable?”
As he complained from inside the carriage, one of his guards nervously spoke up.
“Please watch your words. This is Shaolin Temple’s territory. If anything insulting to Shaolin gets overheard, it could cause trouble.”
At that, Hae Chul snorted.
“One of those monks is my nephew.”
“…”
His younger sister had been widowed and returned to her family home with her young son.
Not long after, she caught nearby Manor Lord Song’s eye.
Naturally, from Hae Chul’s point of view, that was something to welcome with both arms open.
But there was no way she could enter Manor Lord Song’s household as a concubine while bringing her son with her.
In the end, she had no choice but to leave the boy with her family.
But to Hae Chul’s family, that boy was nothing but a troublesome burden.
So they sent him off to Shaolin Temple.
Then they lied to his sister and told her that a Martial Monk from Shaolin had recognized the boy’s talent and taken him in.
Not long after becoming Manor Lord Song’s concubine, his sister fell ill and died ten years ago.
‘Tch! If she’d just lived a little longer, I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble now!’
After suddenly becoming rich, Hae Chul had started throwing money around like a true upstart.
But as the famine dragged on, his family fortunes slowly began to collapse.
Most people would’ve cut back their spending at that point, but he didn’t.
‘Wouldn’t I just need to make more money?’
So he got involved in business, lost everything, and wound up saddled with a debt of thirty thousand taels.
If his sister had still been alive, he might’ve been able to get help from Manor Lord Song, but she was already dead.
And since he’d already extorted a huge condolence payment when she died, that relationship had long since soured.
If he went over there and said, ‘Just thirty thousand taels of silver…,’ it was obvious he’d be thrown out on the spot.
As he seriously debated whether he should sell off his land, someone approached him with an awfully tempting offer.
“I hear you have a nephew at Shaolin Temple?”
There wasn’t a soul who didn’t know his nephew was a Martial Monk at Shaolin.
He’d spent years lording it over the villagers and bragging about it.
The boy had been a headache when his sister first brought him home, but after becoming a Martial Monk, he’d turned into a nephew worth bragging about.
“I do.”
“I hear you’re in urgent need of money. We’ll pay off that debt for you.”
“…What’s the angle?”
“Does that really matter? What matters is that we can give you that money. You only need to do one thing for us.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Are you aware that Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body arrived at Shaolin Temple recently?”
“I heard about it.”
“They say there’s an Elixir enshrined inside that sacred body. Bring us that Elixir.”
In the end, he accepted the offer and ordered his nephew, Monk Ji Sang, to do it.
That idiot still didn’t even know his mother was dead.
And that fool still believed Hae Chul was living in poverty.
Soon, the mountain gate came into view.
Inside the carriage, he changed clothes. What he put on now was the complete opposite of what he usually wore—clothes so beneath his notice that he normally wouldn’t even glance at them, much less think about wearing them.
But if he wanted to win his nephew’s sympathy, he needed to dress like this.
He got out of the carriage and headed toward the mountain gate.
“What brings you here?”
“I’m here to see Monk Ji Sang. Please tell him his maternal uncle is here.”
One of the Martial Monks guarding the gate went inside, then returned and shook his head.
“My apologies, but you can’t see him today.”
“What?”
“Monk Ji Sang is currently in the Penance Cave.”
At those words, he panicked for a moment.
Today was the day they’d agreed on.
Since his mother’s safety was supposedly on the line, Hae Chul had been sure Ji Sang would keep the appointment no matter what.
But the Penance Cave…
‘Did he get caught tampering with Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s remains?’
It wasn’t impossible.
If so, there was only one thing Hae Chul needed to do now.
“I understand. Then I’ll be going…”
Get out of there fast. If he wasn’t careful, he might get dragged into it as an accomplice.
But a moment later, everything went dark before his eyes.
His chance to wipe away a debt of thirty thousand taels had just vanished.
As he trudged back down the mountain, a man holding a fan approached him.
“Would you happen to be Lord Hae Chul?”
“Who… are you?”
“I’m someone Monk Ji Sang asked for a favor. He had something he wanted delivered to his maternal uncle. So—are you Lord Hae Chul?”
At those words, it felt like the world suddenly brightened for Hae Chul.
Because he had a pretty good idea what that thing was.
“That’s right! I am Hae Chul, Monk Ji Sang’s maternal uncle!”
The man handed him a pouch.
“Here. This is what you asked for. The Elixir found inside Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body.”
“Then this is…?”
“Yes. He struggled quite a bit to get it, but then he was dragged off to the Penance Cave…”
“Oh no!”
“He said it looked like he wouldn’t be able to deliver it himself, so he asked me to bring it in his place.”
“But… who are you, to be running an errand like this for him?”
“Monk Ji Sang once saved my life. I’m only repaying that debt.”
From a distance, I watched Monk Ji Sang’s maternal uncle ride away in his carriage.
His name was Hae Chul, wasn’t it?
Snap!
I folded my fan shut.
The fan I was holding now was the Face-Veiling Fan. When you used it, people couldn’t remember what you looked like.
Very useful in moments like this.
Hae Chul looked absolutely delighted as he clutched the pouch I’d given him, but who knew?
I wasn’t sure that smile would last.
What I’d put in that pouch wasn’t the Elixir that had supposedly been inside Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s sacred body.
There was no such thing to begin with, so how could I give it to him?
Then what had I put inside?
As I let out a quiet snicker, Palgap walked over and said,
“Young Master, do you think that bastard knows it’s horse dung?”
“As if. He’s probably convinced it’s the Elixir.”
“He was hugging it to his chest like it was a treasure.”
“Exactly.”
“But what happens if he really believes it’s the Elixir and eats it?”
“What happens? He becomes a man who ate horse dung, that’s what.”
“I’m worried some poor innocent person might end up eating it instead, sir.”
“No need to worry. That won’t happen.”
.
.
.
I was lying in wait on the roof of Hae Chul’s house, keeping watch.
Now that he had the Elixir in hand, he’d call in the Unorthodox Sect bastard who’d made the request.
The deadline for repaying those thirty thousand taels was almost here, so there was no way he’d sit around dragging his feet.
Just as I’d expected, a man came to Hae Chul’s house that night. It was the same man in jade-colored robes who had come before.
Sensing the thick stench of the Unorthodox Sect coming off him, I gave a wry smile and moved over the reception hall roof.
“Here. Just like we agreed, the Elixir. My nephew said he found it inside Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s remains.”
“Oh? So it really was there!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing! Nothing at all. Then what happened to Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s remains?”
“He said he found it near the head, so I imagine it was damaged.”
“I suppose so.”
That was what I’d told him earlier.
I’d deliberately said the Elixir had been found near the head.
The Unorthodox Sect man tucked the Elixir into his robe and said,
“You’ve done well.”
“And what about our deal…?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll visit again within two days. When I do, you’ll hear the news you’ve been waiting for.”
Then he got up and left the reception hall.
This was the important part.
I immediately started following him.
I’d tailed him once before, but I hadn’t gotten what I wanted.
This time was different.
He had gotten his hands on an Elixir he never expected, and he’d carried out his orders from above perfectly.
That meant he’d finally go report in to the real people behind this.
Just as I thought, he headed for Luoyang.
Wow… right under the Murim Alliance’s nose? Either he had guts, or he was incredibly well protected.
Once again, I quietly slipped into the house.
“So, he damaged the face? Good. Well done.”
“Then is that enough?”
“It is. We did exactly what they wanted, so that’s the end of it. Poor Shaolin Temple. Tsk tsk. They should’ve kept a tighter leash on their disciples.”
“But are you really going to give that manor lord thirty thousand taels?”
“Are you insane? Give him money, my ass. We’re just going to run. So you should start getting ready to disappear too.”
“Understood. But why are they so desperate to get rid of Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s remains?”
“How would I know what those bastards are thinking? We do what we’re told and collect our pay.”
Just as I thought.
There was no way these people were ever going to pay off a debt as large as thirty thousand taels for him.
Still, unlike the ones I’d seen before, these men looked fairly strong.
And the way they were talking made one thing clear—they knew more than they were saying.
I sent a Voice Transmission to the Escort Guards around me.
–Move in!
At once, the Escort Guards pulled masks from their robes and put them on.
They were the same smiling masks we’d used before when we skinned Manor Lord Ma alive—financially, anyway—after he oppressed Young Hero Han Jae-ik.
The moment we burst in, they panicked and flailed.
“Ugh!”
“Hk!”
“Aagh!”
They were fairly strong, sure, but not nearly strong enough to deal with me and my Escort Guards.
We subdued them in an instant.
“W–who are you people?”
“Why would I tell you that?”
“Y–you’ve made a huge mistake!”
“Are you worrying about us? That’s kinder than you look.”
“W–what kind of bullshit is that!”
I let out a small laugh.
“So where did the order to desecrate Venerable Blood Staff Star Monk’s remains come from?”
“I–I don’t know either!”
At that, I glanced at Escort Guard Jin Yu.
He immediately used Bone-Tearing Joint-Seizing on the man.
It was a technique that destroyed the target’s joints, but because the pain was so extreme, it was excellent for interrogation.
And it didn’t draw blood, either.
That part was important.
“Aaaaagh!”
“You really don’t know?”
“I really can’t remember!”
He screamed and writhed in agony.
“Whenever I try to remember, I just… can’t remember who it was!”
Escort Guard Seo Wu quietly sent me a Voice Transmission.
–He seems to be telling the truth.
Did they use a mind-warping technique on him? Then again… there was no way they’d leave a job like this so carelessly handled.
The others all reacted the same way.
Hah, and here I thought I’d finally gotten a real lead for once…
–What should we do?
At that question, I replied with a bitter smile.
–Handle it quietly.
We couldn’t afford to be sloppy, either.
If there’d been any chance these men still had contact with someone higher up, I might’ve used them as bait, but that didn’t seem likely.
Judging from how they were just talking about running.
In other words, this was a one-off job.
So I struck their Crown Spirit Points and killed them on the spot.
Since we had to return to Shaolin Temple, it was best not to spill blood if we could avoid it.
And while disposing of the bodies, I retrieved the pouch from inside the jade-robed man’s robe.
Naturally, I erased every trace of Qi that might still have lingered on it, and since it was made from the same kind of pouch used for Shaolin monks’ robes, no one would’ve been able to infer I was the culprit from that alone, but even so, I didn’t want to leave it behind.
The moment I picked up the pouch to burn it, something felt off.
Hm?
The weight… felt a little lighter.
I opened the pouch and immediately realized what had happened.
Wow… this bastard.
“What is it?”
At Escort Guard Myeong Jong’s question, I let out a dry laugh.
“He siphoned some off. Half of it, no less.”
When I handed this over to Hae Chul, I did tell him that eating it would increase a person’s internal arts by a full gapja, and that even an ordinary person would gain internal arts from it…
“He may be planning to sell it and raise the money that way.”
At Escort Guard Myeong Jong’s words, I shook my head.
“That’s what most people would do. But he won’t.”
“Then?”
“He’ll eat it himself.”
–TL Notes–
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