novelraw Chapter 184 : The Scandal of Mount Song
Chapter 184 : The Scandal of Mount Song
Chapter 184: The Scandal of Mount Song
Although it was a dim and shadowy night, the bald head reflecting the moonlight stood out conspicuously.
Just as I was about to follow the suspicious figure I had spotted while leaving the lodging—
“Captain, where are you going at this hour of the night?”
Perhaps awakened by the rustling sound I made, Ilhong’s sleepy voice came from behind my back.
“I’m hungry, so I’m going out to grab something to eat.”
“…Are you insane? If you get caught, you’ll be expelled from the mountain.”
She shot me a look of utter disbelief at my gluttony.
We were at the sacred ground of the Buddhist path, and I was trying to commit two sins at once—openly eating meat and even sneaking out of the training compound.
“Give it up and come back. Tomorrow I’ll give you some of my portion.”
With fixed rations, she probably didn’t even have enough for herself. What a thoughtful and promising kid.
“I appreciate the thought, but I can’t do that. I just spotted someone suspicious.”
I pointed toward the faint silhouette moving between the buildings.
“Eh? There’s another person like you, Captain…? Who is it?”
Someone like me, she said. A good kid, though sometimes a bit cheeky.
“That Shaolin monk Jogon told us to get close to—the one he said holds real influence in the Shaolin Temple. Looks like he’s got somewhere urgent to go in the middle of the night, just like me.”
“You mean the Arhat Hall’s chief monk, Beopgwang, who taught us martial arts all afternoon?”
Ilhong’s eyes widened slightly.
He was one of the pillars of the Eighteen Arhat Formation, which—except for a single occasion during the great war between the Orthodox and Demonic factions—had never collapsed.
Among the Arhats, he possessed great seniority, formidable martial arts, and significant influence. That was why Beopgwang was regarded as one of the true power figures within the Shaolin Temple.
“Seeing him hurry off like that at night… maybe he’s going to meet Venerable Huiyul?”
“Hm, a secret rendezvous in the dead of night… That’s actually possible.”
Apparently finding my guess plausible, Ilhong slowly nodded.
“Let’s quietly follow him.”
I ended up dragging even the hesitant Ilhong into it as we began trailing that bald monk.
Once the pursuit began, she pulled out a gray powder from her sleeve and lightly sprinkled it across the thresholds.
“What’s that?”
“It’s something useful. But Captain, we really have to follow quietly. No causing trouble, alright?”
“…Of course.”
My reply carried a hint of hesitation.
Thus we melted into the night and silently moved through the quiet Shaolin Temple.
Moonlight shyly illuminated the mountain ridge, accompanied by faint starlight.
Long, human-shaped shadows slipped carefully past bushes and trees.
Completely absorbed in something else, the Shaolin monk descended the mountain without noticing that we were following him from afar.
“This is strange. Even if it’s for a secret meeting with a woman, there’s no reason to come this far…”
As Ilhong voiced her doubts about Beopgwang’s unusually long trek, my expression gradually stiffened the clearer the destination became.
“Captain, what’s wrong with your face? Is there something up ahead?”
The place Beopgwang had headed toward was none other than the mountainside of Mount Song.
And here, without a doubt, stood the place that had nurtured the Purple Tenuity Star.
A mysterious sect said to have been created through the intervention of incomprehensible beings known as Beyond-Heaven Beings.
“Beopgwang, what brings you here at such a late hour?”
The moment I heard that familiar and elegant voice, my body froze stiff.
Just as I suspected.
The place Beopgwang had come to under the moonlight was the Purple Mist Sect on Mount Song.
And the owner of that voice was unmistakably Songryeong, the master of Jo Harang.
“Captain, whose voice is that? Why are you so shocked?”
“…Someone I know. Jo Harang’s master is here.”
We hid behind a rock and listened to the two of them.
Beopgwang respectfully performed a clasped-hands greeting toward Songryeong.
“Amitabha. I deeply apologize for intruding so suddenly at this late hour.”
Songryeong raised her eyebrows as if dumbfounded and spoke.
“So you are aware that this is sudden.”
Her response was calm but somewhat stiff.
It seemed they already knew each other. Well, their sects were located near each other, so some form of contact wasn’t surprising.
“Songryeong, this foolish monk can no longer suppress the feelings in his heart for you. That is why I have come here.”
Though he served the Buddha, Beopgwang suddenly dropped a bombshell.
I hurriedly clamped my hand over Ilhong’s mouth as she nearly gasped out loud.
“…Chief Monk Beopgwang, someone devoted to the Buddhist path should not utter such absurd words. It is inappropriate.”
Her voice mixed embarrassment and discomfort.
As Beopgwang stepped forward after confessing, Songryeong stepped two steps back.
“Please calm yourself and regain control.”
She spoke calmly, trying to guide the monk—who was on the verge of breaking his vows—back to the right path.
As expected of the master who had raised the Purple Tenuity Star. Her character was admirable.
“…Captain, what kind of situation is this?”
Meanwhile, Ilhong watched the scene from the gap between rocks with fascinated eyes.
A Shaolin monk—someone who should keep his distance from women—confessing his love to one.
It was utterly outrageous.
“You’re telling me. What kind of situation is this?”
Startled by the sudden turn of events, I whispered while crunching roasted beans.
This was entertaining. It felt like watching the romantic drama of elders on a television screen.
Now I understood why people enjoyed morning dramas so much.
“Songryeong. They say even brushing past someone’s sleeve creates a bond. If this desperate heart of mine is a violation of the Buddhist precepts, then I am willing to break them.”
A monk who had spent his entire life cultivating the Buddhist path without knowing women now revealed his burning feelings without restraint.
They said late-blooming passions were the most frightening. His reckless determination made it clear he had no intention of retreating.
“What must I do for you to accept this heart?”
“No matter what you do, I cannot accept it, Chief Monk Beopgwang.”
“…How can that be? When I wandered the Jianghu in my youth and you saved my life, I resolved to devote my body and heart to you.”
“That was all long ago. I have forgotten it, so please let it pass.”
Songryeong stepped back again, clearly troubled.
So they had met back when she roamed the Central Plains slaying villains.
I had heard she had deep ties and grudges throughout the martial world, but I never expected something like this.
“But it looks like the woman really has no feelings at all.”
“Yeah. And the man… just pushing forward like that isn’t going to work.”
Completely absorbed in the spectacle, we watched without realizing how much time had passed.
But when I left the lodging earlier, I had a purpose.
Ah, right.
We were searching for the female master of the Emei Sect who had infiltrated the Shaolin Temple disguised as a man.
And judging by this situation, interesting though it was, this seemed like a dead end.
That merchant friend Jogon had told me to keep an eye on that monk, and we ended up barking up the wrong tree.
“Let’s stop watching and go, Ilhong.”
“Ah, just a little longer.”
She whined in a whisper.
“Get a grip. We have work to do.”
Truthfully, I was curious about what would happen next.
But Songryeong was basically the master of my female friend. Watching further would be an invasion of privacy.
So I grabbed Ilhong’s hand and started heading back up Mount Song.
But as Ilhong was being dragged along, she stepped on a branch.
Crack.
The sound was surprisingly loud.
Beopgwang, whose confession had stalled into an awkward pause, flinched and looked toward us.
“W-who’s there?!”
A brief silence.
Ilhong looked up at me with an apologetic expression.
“What should we do, Captain?”
“Tch… what else…”
Our eyes met in the darkness.
Having spent so much time together, we reached the same conclusion instantly.
“Run!”
We split apart and bolted in opposite directions.
Seeing us dart away like arrows, Beopgwang shouted in panic as if his greatest secret had been exposed.
“W-wait! This is a misunderstanding! Everything you saw and heard is a misunderstanding! I can explain!”
He demanded we stop and listen to his explanation.
But we had already seen everything.
“Stop right there! Please—please stop!”
Our opponent was someone with power and status within the Shaolin Temple.
If we got caught, we’d be expelled at the very least.
So we ran for our lives while his desperate voice echoed behind us.
Shashashak—!
On the way back to the lodging of the lay disciples of the Shaolin Temple—
“I thought we were dead.”
Beopgwang’s anguished shouts still seemed to echo through the mountains.
Thankfully Songryeong had noticed my voice and held him back for a moment.
Otherwise we might have been caught midway and forced to deal with that love-blinded monk.
“Captain, wait a moment.”
At the entrance of the lodging, Ilhong suddenly stopped me with a gesture and began carefully examining the ground.
Under the moonlight, her eyes gleamed sharply like a cat’s.
“Someone else left the lodging tonight. Just like us.”
She pointed at the gray powder scattered across the ground.
Footprints that hadn’t been there before were now clearly visible thanks to the powder.
While we had been chasing Beopgwang, someone else had left the lodging and wandered through the Shaolin Temple.
“How can you tell?”
“Before we left, I sprinkled Hundred-League Incense Powder. Just in case—better safe than sorry.”
Ah, so that was the powder she had been sprinkling earlier.
Since one of the lay disciples here was almost certainly the Emei Sect master, she had used the powder she had secretly brought along in case it helped with tracking.
“Wow, I didn’t even think of that. Good job.”
I praised her in admiration, but then a memory surfaced and I looked at her suspiciously.
“Wait… you didn’t sprinkle that on me again, did you?”
“…Don’t worry. I only do that sometimes.”
Ilhong awkwardly avoided my gaze.
Which meant she did it occasionally.
Our Ilhong hadn’t been like this when she was younger. Somehow she had grown into someone a bit obsessive.
“Anyway, the moment we left, someone else began moving around at night.”
It wasn’t like they were starving and sneaking out to raid the food stores like me.
Since they had risked expulsion to leave, the bold individual was most likely the female master of the Emei Sect who had infiltrated here.
“Who could it be?”
“Captain, whoever it was stepped on the Hundred-League Incense Powder. I can find them later. I memorized the scent.”
Working with me had made Ilhong a bit reckless, but the meticulous preparation she had cultivated since her days in the Rogues’ Guild still remained.
Sometimes it helped immensely.
“Since today is the day all the lay disciples gather for sparring, we can pinpoint them.”
“Exactly.”
The Emei Sect—a mysterious sect whose sacred domain allowed only women.
And Venerable Huiyul, who had supposedly fallen in love with a man and run away while traveling through the Jianghu.
“Let’s see what she looks like.”
At last, the female master had taken the bait.
Looking up at the sky as dawn slowly approached, I steeled my resolve to identify the culprit.
By the time the darkness of dawn completely lifted, the morning of the sparring day had arrived.
Today was the day when the lay disciples would spar to evaluate how much of the martial arts they had learned so far.
Behind the main hall of the Shaolin Temple, at the training ground, the true mountain disciples who had taught us martial arts gathered alongside all the lay disciples.
Then the young man I had previously rescued from a beating approached me with a friendly voice.
“Hey, friend. Your eyes look hollow. Did you have trouble sleeping last night? For the record, I was so nervous I didn’t sleep at all.”
Even early in the morning, he smiled brightly and displayed his natural sociability. The blood of a merchant was obvious.
“It’s just a sparring match. No need to lose sleep over it.”
I shrugged indifferently.
“Hah, you don’t understand. If you do well here, you can catch the eye of important people. Of course it’s important.”
Jogon once again emphasized the importance of connections, saying he needed to get his money’s worth from the large donation he had made.
In this martial world, talent was everything. The more martial talent and insight you displayed, the better you were treated.
And since he was the son of a merchant, he needed to prove himself even more.
“And friend, I’ve prepared a gift for you.”
Seeing my indifferent reaction, Jogon smirked and rummaged inside his robe.
“A gift?”
“I heard your stomach growling all day yesterday. I felt bad watching it…”
He carefully pulled out something wrapped in white cloth.
He opened my hand and placed a still-warm mantou and wheat pancake on my palm.
“You crazy bastard… where did you get this?”
After eating nothing but dry temple meals that smelled of wild vegetables, receiving food full of carbohydrates made my eyes widen.
“It’s food for the important figures of Shaolin. I used my connections to get it.”
Jogon said it was his way of repaying me since people had stopped picking fights with him after he started hanging around me.
“…Jogon, have I ever told you this? You’re a really good friend.”
I quickly took a huge bite of the mantou before anyone could see.
The savory softness filled my mouth.
It felt like I had found an irreplaceable ally in this harsh mountain.
“Haha, really? That makes me happy.”
“Of course. From now on we’re sworn brothers.”
Thanks to this life-saving food supply, the declaration of brotherhood came easily.
Jogon grinned at my reaction and said we’d meet during the sparring before heading deeper into the training ground.
And as he left, Ilhong tapped my shoulder with a stiff expression.
“That’s him.”
“What?”
“The one who stepped on the Hundred-League Incense Powder.”
“…!”
I flinched and looked toward the direction he—no, most likely she—had gone.
“Jogon… it was you.”
To betray my trust like this.
That was unforgivable.
Our sworn brotherhood was officially canceled.