He Was A Good Hyung (2)

Having achieved their goal, the grandfather-and-granddaughter duo turned their steps back toward the Central Plains.

They met the Gobi Desert again. This time they ran using lightness skill, so their progress was fairly swift.

They had been moving without rest for an hour when it happened.

“Ah, I’m tired. Let’s rest a bit before going on.”

“Okay.”

Yu Jinsan collapsed onto the ground. At the same time, he naturally sent a telepathic message to his granddaughter.

• Is he there?

• Yes, he is following. He seems to be hiding behind the rock at the rear.

As expected, Jeong-hye was pursuing them.

He was a reckless renegade monk who had once broken into Shaolin alone and smashed the Buddha statues. That someone like him would simply hide behind a rock was surprising.

Was his granddaughter really that intimidating? He wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t show it on his face.

After catching his breath for a moment, Yu Jinsan asked softly.

“What do you want to do when you grow up, Seol?”

It was an out-of-the-blue question, but Yu Seol answered immediately as if she’d already thought about it.

“An escort warrior. I’ll be Grandpa’s bodyguard.”

“Only that? Aim bigger. Isn’t there anything else? Like a general or a princess or something. Grandpa will help.”

“No. There’s nothing else.”

He was secretly pleased, but couldn’t be entirely content. It was something to think over later.

When the moment was right, Yu Jinsan cleared his throat and said.

“First, hand me some water. Running at full speed for once has made me parched.”

Yu Seol set the pack down behind her and rummaged through it.

A moment later.

“Oh no, Grandpa! We didn’t buy any water.”

Her panic was considerable. Yu Jinsan sprang up as if he couldn’t be outdone.

“This is bad. We need to run at least half a day more…”

“What should we do?”

“I can’t—Grandpa is too thirsty. Should we go back?”

“No. I’ll run there and back alone. In an instant I can buy some.”

To go back and forth the distance they’d covered in an hour within an instant—Yu Jinsan couldn’t even dream of such a thing.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“Yes, I’ll be right back. Hold this.”

Yu Jinsan nodded as he took the pack.

At that moment, Yu Seol’s spirit form shot out at the speed of light.

Whoosh!

It took less than a single breath for his granddaughter’s figure to vanish from sight.

She was so fast that a gust rose in the spot where she’d been.

Left alone, Yu Jinsan crouched and rummaged through the pack.

“Ah, truly my granddaughter is the best. I should learn the Buddha Lion Roar Divine Arts soon so I could fly like that too.”

Before he knew it, a book was in his hands.

He opened it about halfway and began to read aloud.

“Let’s see… If one masters this peerless skill, the seventh consciousness—manas consciousness—awakens, so one can see without looking and hear without listening? Amazing.”

Yu Jinsan muttered and kept a discreet watch on his surroundings, while naturally turning another page.

“Next is the eighth consciousness, ālaya-vijñāna. At this stage, the deep subconscious hidden in a human awakens and attains understanding of the root of all things. Hmm. This is exactly the post supreme stage Seol has reached. Then the ninth consciousness is…”

As he was about to continue, Yu Jinsan sprang to his feet.

At the same time, someone shouted from afar.

“Give me back my treasure!”

Jeong-hye, the renegade monk who had roamed Mount Song for decades, had finally appeared.

He’d been charging at terrifying speed, then suddenly froze—Yu Jinsan had crumpled dozens of pages of the book in his right hand.

“Take one more step closer. I’ll tear it all up and scatter it. You’ll never be able to put the sequence back together even if you die and come back.”

“No, no…”

A flustered Jeong-hye didn’t know what to do.

He gripped his head with both hands, looking thoroughly confused.

“You already practice the peerless Shaolin Scripture—why crave something else?”

What was the Shaolin Scripture? It was Shaolin’s greatest legacy left by Bodhidharma.

Yet he was still unsatisfied and coveted the Buddha Lion Roar Divine Arts.

They tried to reason, but he wailed like a child.

“It’s mine, give it back!!”

“No!”

The renegade before them was a fearsome figure who could rival the top ten warriors of the murim world—someone the old man himself couldn’t withstand for long.

But there was no fear in Yu Jinsan’s voice—his granddaughter must be hiding nearby watching.

Jeong-hye, on the other hand, was restless and kept looking around.

“Hyung, please give it back…”

He was dangerous, but strangely Yu Jinsan didn’t dislike him.

Strictly speaking, their connection couldn’t be called a bitter fate.

Thanks to the grand antidote he gave, the granddaughter’s internal qi had strengthened, and they had even obtained a secret martial arts manual.

‘His heart isn’t bad, but how could one share a peerless skill with someone not of sound mind?’

After a brief thought, Yu Jinsan said with a solemn face.

“First, promise me one thing.”

“Will you give it back?”

“I’m thinking about it. Promise you won’t come after us again if you hand me just this book in my hand. Then I’ll give it to you.”

Jeong-hye’s previously tearful face brightened with a simple smile.

“Alright. I promise, hyung!”

“Good, you must keep that promise.”

Yu Jinsan infused internal qi into the book he held and hurled it forcefully to the right, as if throwing a stone.

Whirrrr!

The book sped away like a bird in flight.

Jeong-hye sprinted like an arrow and snatched it up in an instant, then strolled away as if his business was done.

Yu Jinsan watched his retreating back with his hands behind him and clicked his tongue.

‘Tsk tsk. Who would trust such a gullible fool with a peerless skill?’

After he vanished from sight, Yu Seol, who had been hiding nearby, stepped forward and asked.

“You burned the manual, Grandpa. Then what did you give him?”

“Hm. It was the Hundred Steps Divine Fist with only the cover torn off. We don’t need it anymore.”

There was no way Jeong-hye wouldn’t recognize the Hundred Steps Divine Fist.

Sure enough.

The one who’d disappeared began returning frantically.

“Give me my treasure!!”

He rushed like lightning, but couldn’t get within three paces—Yu Seol was blocking her grandfather’s front.

“Didn’t you promise me? Hand over only the manual in my hand and vow never to chase us again.”

“You bad hyung, you tricked me!”

Yu Jinsan sighed.

“Sorry, but the Buddha Lion Roar Divine Arts no longer exists in the world. It’s too dangerous in hands of people, so I burned it.”

On the advice of Sama Hyun, the sage of Sichuan, he had destroyed it long ago—both the original and any deciphered copies.

Jeong-hye staggered as if struck by shock.

“…Brother, I really need that. You’re lying to me again, right?”

“I swear on the heavens—it’s true.”

Was it hard to accept the reality? Jeong-hye was silent for a long while.

After a little more time, suddenly he began to sob.

“…Sob sob.”

Seeing him cry out loud, Yu Jinsan felt a strange pang of sympathy.

“What’s wrong, little one? A pillar of Shaolin who once ruled the Jianghu shouldn’t be crying like this.”

“The pillar… the pillar is broken!”

He’d heard information about Jeong-hye’s past from Pung-ho of the Black Night Clan.

He hadn’t believed it at the time, but judging by his reaction now, it seemed credible.

‘It seems the record was true after all.’

In the past, Jeong-hye had been one of the three great Buddhist warriors and the foremost expert of Shaolin.

He had been an idol to martial monks—until he was defeated by someone whose name wasn’t even recorded.

Records only said the person was from Tianzhu—a figure from a foreign martial world.

Shaolin’s pride had collapsed because of him, and the endless craving for power had driven him into a heart-demon.

Still, it was pitiful that such a great figure had fallen to this state.

Yu Jinsan asked further to confirm the background.

“What do you plan to do by mastering the manual?”

Jeong-hye’s eyes suddenly flared.

“I’ll beat him to death.”

“Who?”

Perhaps because he didn’t know the name, he hesitated, lips trembling as he said.

“The black-faced bastard.”

“Was he that strong?”

“Yes. Shaolin Scriptures won’t do.”

The world is vast and there are many masters—but that even the scriptures technique couldn’t defeat the unknown warrior of murim was astonishing.

It was likely why the Murim Alliance secretly organized the Blue Dragon troops to prepare for their invasion.

But there was no reason for him to concern himself with this matter—family revenge was the immediate priority.

After a moment’s thought, Yu Jinsan sat down with a thud and propped his chin on his hand.

“Sit down for a moment, brother.”

“Me?”

Jeong-hye sat down obediently about a pace away, and Yu Seol stood guard beside her grandfather.

“The Buddha Lion Roar Divine Arts manual remains in our granddaughter’s head. But even if she were taught it, she couldn’t train in it.”

“I can learn any martial art, brother.”

Yu Jinsan sighed and continued in a coaxing tone.

“How could I dismiss your talent? The problem is this skill is of extreme yang nature. It requires cutting away yang energy from the body first to balance yin and yang.”

“D-Don’t lie!”

Jeong-hye looked incredulous, but it was a fact—precisely why Yu Jinsan himself hadn’t dared to learn it.

“Seol, recite just the opening of the incantation.”

Though Jeong-hye wasn’t sane, his ability to comprehend the mnemonic formulas was unrivaled.

If he heard it directly, he would understand at once.

Following her grandfather’s instruction, Yu Seol recited part of the opening of the Buddha Lion Roar Divine Arts.

Jeong-hye recognized it well—these incantations couldn’t be improvised.

Gradually his expression hardened.

“…”

“What do you think? If you remove the yang qi and then undergo the Buddha Lion Roar Divine Art’s metamorphosis again, it seems the sex could be completely reversed.”

Jeong-hye was so bewildered he kept his mouth tightly shut and couldn’t respond.

“…”

“Then such a rumor would spread through the Jianghu: Jeong-hye, the hero of Shaolin, is actually…”

Yu Seol, watching from the side, chimed in.

“Turns out she was a grandmother!”

“Ha ha, right. She’d become a granny. There’d be no humiliation like it in the world.”

Imagining it, Jeong-hye made a distressed face and clutched his head with both hands.

“No! That can’t be!”

As expected—who would like to become an object of ridicule?

“Actually, your goal isn’t just mastering the books. Isn’t it enough to just defeat that black-faced fellow?”

“Right. We must protect Shaolin from that guy. He said he’d kill everyone when he returns.”

It was a somewhat unexpected answer.

Most of the Black Night Clan’s information was accurate, but there was a slight difference regarding Jeong-hye’s motives.

That he craved power to the point of heart-demon wasn’t for honor, but to protect Shaolin.

Yet many aspects of his behavior remained incomprehensible.

“If you wanted to protect Shaolin so much, why did you smash the temple’s Buddha statues and relic pagodas?”

“I thought the manual was inside them.”

It was a ridiculous notion.

Not only that—he was said to have beaten hundreds of Shaolin monks who tried to stop him from finding the manual.

Was his mind fractured? It was a story one wouldn’t believe without hearing it firsthand.

Yu Jinsan stroked his chin and subtly brought up the main point.

“There is one way… a way for you to protect Shaolin without mastering the Buddha Lion Roar Divine Arts.”

“W-What is it?”

“Well. If that guy ever returns… we could perhaps help for a short while.”

Jeong-hye, moved, again had tears in his eyes.

“…Thank you, hyung.”

“Don’t thank me. Between us. But you’ll have to help me with something in return.”