Chapter 110: It Looks Peaceful What Could Possibly Happen

“You’ve been away for a long time recently. Did something happen?”

Talking to myself without letting those around me hear had become familiar by now.

[Hmm…]

Master Bodhidharma let out a low hum instead of an answer.

I wondered whether he was contemplating how to put it, or if it was a sort of lingering regret reflecting on his recent hardships.

[Although I am here right now, my origin lies far away in the Western Pure Land. Therefore, when they occasionally need an extra hand over there, I go to help.]

“So you mean there are times when you have to work in both places?”

[Sometimes such things do happen.]

Did that mean his workload occasionally doubled?

Good heavens!

“Do-do you at least receive a high salary?”

[Ho! Ho! Ho!]

“…”

‘…The darkness of the heavens is too deep, Masters.’

Leaving aside whether the concept of a salary existed in the heavens, it was clear that they were being worked to the bone without any compensation.

‘But why did my spine suddenly go cold?’

A bad thought suddenly crossed my mind.

It seemed to have been tickling me ever since I heard the story that Master Bodhidharma’s origin was in both places, so he occasionally had to do both jobs at once.

‘No, there’s no such thing! Go back!!’

I shivered involuntarily at something that kept creeping up slowly.

I needed to quickly change the subject before this mysterious thing burst through the lid of my subconscious.

“I suppose some big problem arose over there?”

[A lot of blood was shed.]

Hearing that a lot of blood was shed, I wondered if a war had broken out.

It seemed the situation in the Western Regions was more chaotic than expected.

[An even bigger problem is that there are signs of causality being disrupted.]

[To that extent?]

Master Zhang Sanfeng, who had been listening quietly, was startled.

Did it mean it was that dangerous?

“How bad of a thing is it?”

[The disruption of causality invites the intervention of heaven.]

“Heaven?”

[Heaven makes no distinction between good and evil. It only looks at merits and faults, and the price for what was done must be paid. All karma of the present world must be borne in the future, and if that is not enough, even after death, into the next life. However, there are occasionally those who try to avoid their faults. That is where the distortion begins, but heaven does not stand by and watch that fault be distorted. Since it seeks to fill the gap of that distortion, if a million lives are needed as the price, it will take a million lives; if wiping out all humans on earth is a fitting price, it will gladly erase human history.]

“…”

It was a terrifying story. The conversation, which had started like a joke, ended in spine-chilling horror.

Along with that, there was something I realized once again.

‘The heavens… Yes, it is the heavens.’

Irresistible existences that could show and prove just how insignificant humans could be.

I felt once again that the place called the heavens was a distant world hard for humans to fathom.

‘Heaven…’

If one did something wrong, the time to pay the price would surely come someday.

The world did not exist because humans existed. Humans were merely a fraction that made up the world.

Therefore, if they became unnecessary for maintaining the world, humans might disappear in an instant.

***

The road to the Bright Fate Escort Agency was easy compared to the journey to Sichuan.

This was because we did not have to cross mountain ranges that rose so high that there was a line of poetry describing them as rougher than the road to heaven, nor did we have to engage in brawls with bandits operating in full swing everywhere.

Thinking about it again, the journey to Sichuan was truly a hellish journey.

“Your breathing is faltering, Beom-gak~.”

Well, though that guy Beom-gak would probably feel this journey was hellish.

“Hah… Huff! …Whew…!”

Beom-gak glared at me while gasping for breath.

“Breathing like that won’t have any effect.”

“You, b… huff! …son of a… whew…”

“If you swear, your breathing will only falter more.”

“…”

*Foaming!*

Suddenly, Beom-gak foamed at the mouth.

He was acting like that even though I was giving him sincere advice.

‘Well, it would make sense for him to be like that if he was walking while carrying a horse on his back without using internal energy, though.’

It was not the horse carrying Beom-gak, but Beom-gak who was moving while carrying the horse.

And with almost no internal energy at that!

“Do you want to stop? If it’s too hard, just quit and be comfortable.”

“Shut… huff! Whew! I will… accomplish this! Whew! Whew!”

This eccentric training (?) was not due to my coercion.

Although I did provide the catalyst.

Master Bodhidharma had readily agreed to the suggestion of first fixing the Beom-gak in front of us as a way to supplement and reform Shaolin’s problems.

And he immediately established the [Beom-gak Improvement Plan].

The first was a martial art called the Great Qi-Refinement Art.

Among the martial arts of the Masters in the heavens, there was not a single one to be taken lightly. Naturally, there was no need to explain how profound and great this martial art was.

Beom-gak also fell deeply into it as soon as he heard the mnemonic of the martial art.

When he was told that it was part of the early phase of the Heavy Earth Divine Art’s mnemonic on top of that, he was delightfully hooked as if there was nothing more to think about.

However, Master Bodhidharma had said that in the case of Beom-gak, who had learned Shaolin martial arts clumsily, a kind of asceticism was required to make the mnemonic of the Great Qi-Refinement Art penetrate to his very bones.

He had explained that it was a state where the jar was filled with useless marbles, so pouring water in would barely hold any.

In the end, he had said that to learn it properly, those marbles had to be turned into a state like dry cotton, and this was the result.

Instead of a person riding a horse, we were looking at a person giving a horse a ride.

“How many times do I have to tell you that talking back like that has no effect?”

“You motherf…”

“Huh? What was that?”

“…Whew! …Whew!”

Mmh! It seemed he was finally understanding my words.

But I still had to keep nagging him.

“How many times do I have to tell you that breathing like that won’t have any effect.”

“…Whew!”

*Tremble!*

*Seething!*

This is all for your own good.

Watching Beom-gak suffer was heartbreaking (?), but how could I stop when I could see him grit his teeth and endure my every word while increasing his achievements?

This was all penance and training.

However!

“Even if Beom-gak has the foundation to endure being rolled around, you shouldn’t overdo it because it could be dangerous, so do it in moderation.”

“…Yes!”

Ju So-ran, who was sweating beads of perspiration, shouted in response to my words.

Partly because I had demanded absolute obedience and partly because it did not suit someone teaching martial arts to use clumsy honorifics, we had developed a relationship where we spoke comfortably.

I was currently teaching Ju So-ran a martial art created by Master Zhang Sanfeng. Actually, everyone in the group who had embarked on the journey together had learned it.

“I told you not to speak.”

“…”

*Nod, nod!*

Although she was not carrying a horse like Beom-gak, I had fastened sand-filled pouches to Ju So-ran’s waist and legs. Naturally, she was drenched in sweat, and her hair was a disheveled mess.

Before long, grime would be dripping off her to the point where even a beggar of the Beggars’ Gang would step aside.

But Ju So-ran did not care.

Even though she was at an age where she would normally care a lot about the gaze of those around her, she was focusing on improving herself.

‘Is it because everyone looks similar?’

Although there were differences in degree, everyone’s condition was pretty much the same.

Even though it was closer to training that refined the basics, their progress was visible day by day. Ignoring such an outstanding martial art right in front of them would be no different from having no qualifications as a martial artist.

*Grind!*

“Beom-gak, stop grinding your teeth. You’re going to break them like that.”

At the sudden sound of teeth grinding, I reflexively criticized Beom-gak.

‘It’s Beom-gak, right?’

Strange as it was, the sound of teeth grinding seemed to come from all directions, though.

They were putting all their energy just into regulating their breathing. Only Beom-gak had the spare energy to grind his teeth.

Probably.

‘…Right?’

Let’s leave it at that.

***

After a few days, everyone had turned into a beggar’s state, just as expected.

Although they washed off the grime by taking a bath whenever they saw a stream or river along the way, sweat was bound to break out again once they resumed training.

The sweat shed during training was thick and sticky, so they quickly returned to looking like beggars.

‘Is this returning home as a beggar instead of returning in glory?’

As we entered Huihua County, where the Bright Fate Escort Agency was located, I felt the gazes of people whispering and staring.

There were those who recognized Ju So-ran or Myeong Il-seo.

Grating voices drifted over from among them.

They were saying things like they seemed to have failed the escort mission after setting out with a small number of people, or that they seemed to have brought back strange people from somewhere.

The strange people were, of course, me and my companions.

“I think you can put that horse down now?”

Come to think of it, if I saw a guy carrying a horse instead of riding one, I would probably view him as a weirdo too.

But Beom-gak smirked like a third-rate villain.

“Hehehe! Why? Are you embarrassed?”

“A little.”

“Reaaally? Then I’m going to carry it even longer!”

It seemed he was slowly going crazy.

I was almost worried he might start using the horse as a weapon.

Like swinging the horse carried on his back to smash the enemies’ skulls with its back kick.

If a Shaolin monk smashed someone’s skull in that manner, it would be talked about in the region for decades.

‘What is Baek Mu-ho doing?’

Baek Mu-ho, who usually cut in to criticize Beom-gak whenever he talked nonsense, was strangely quiet.

Wondering what was going on, I looked at Baek Mu-ho and saw him rubbing his fingers together, rolling something up.

It was too dark to be a booger, and I suspected it was the crystallization of the grime that was running thick over his body.

As Baek Mu-ho, who had a sinister smile, flicked his finger, one of the whispering people on one side frowned and looked around.

“…Did I swallow a bug?”

“Keke-ke.”

Now that I looked, it seemed Beom-gak wasn’t the only one going crazy.

As I looked around at the others, there was a sense that something dangerous was lingering in everyone’s eyes. Even Young Lady Jang So-wol was included among them.

“…Master?”

Could this be a demonic art created by Master Heavenly Demon?

[Ahem! Well, when it’s hard, isn’t it normal to lose your mind for a bit?]

“…”

What do you mean it’s normal?

As I glared at the sky with deepening suspicion, Master Zhang Sanfeng chuckled.

[You don’t remember your beginner days. You looked just like that when you were about to lose your mind when you first learned martial arts, kid.]

“Really?”

[Why? If you need proof, do you want to revive a pleasant memory tonight?]

“I politely decline.”

I realized once again how powerful a nostalgia filter could be.

I should probably just think of it as a characteristic of martial arts made in heaven.

Or, this might be one of the darknesses of the heavens as well.

‘They will get better if they wash thoroughly and rest for about a day.’

Come to think of it, that seemed to have been the magic cure in my case.

‘Although the time until then will be the problem…’

The problem was that everyone had slightly lost their minds…

‘It looks peaceful, so what could possibly go wrong?’

***

“Is that the Bright Fate Escort Agency?”

“Yes.”

“It seems a bit noisy.”

The villagers were gathered near the entrance of the escort agency, as if they were watching a house burn down.

It seemed something was indeed going on.

“This doesn’t look good.”

For some reason, my imagination kept running toward the worst.

“Keke-ke! One with the horse…”

Baek Mu-ho muttered with a sinister chuckle.

Suddenly, the scene of someone’s skull being smashed by a horse’s back kick was drawn in my mind.