Chapter 150: Do You Know the Way? (2)

I was back in reality.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw Jasbi sniffling and realized it right away.

Lee Taebaek slowly sat up. He pushed away Jasbi, who was trying to cling to him. She seemed intent on building some bond in that moment. Fat chance.

“Haa… haa…”

The Holy Flame Divine Nun panted heavily as she let her wish-fulfilling staff droop. Her trembling hands swept her hair back in exhaustion.

Hyemyeong the monk hovered around her anxiously, at a loss for what to do. The poison in his eyes had mostly cleared.

Normally, one couldn’t shake off inner demon possession this quickly. This showed how Hyemyeong lived his daily life.

‘He’s got a kind heart.’

On top of that, he’d steadfastly followed Buddha’s teachings. So even something as common in the mundane world as ‘jealousy’ had been enough to let evil whispers take hold.

Anyway.

They’d each dealt with their own partners. The two pulled Hyemyeong and Jasbi aside for the moment.

A shop selling prayer beads went well with silence.

But one of them had to speak first. There were still unfinished matters between them.

Lee Taebaek yielded first and opened his mouth. His acquaintances would be shocked. After all, he’d never really taken a friendly initiative.

Let alone the praise that followed.

“That was impressive.”

There wasn’t a shred of falsehood in his sincere words. But they had nothing to do with his last remark just before.

A daytime whisper is heard by birds, a nighttime one by rats. In the City, rife with eyes and ears everywhere, it was even worse.

‘Some deal could leak to outsiders.’

So Lee Taebaek tested the Holy Flame Divine Nun with an unrelated remark. She seemed to catch his intent. The Staff Master smiled with her pale, dry lips.

“You’re the only one who consoles and praises the Three Calamities like that, Lee Taebaek.”

“My charm tends to run wild without restraint. I’ve only been in the City a year, and I’m already rubbing shoulders with the Seven Dignitaries. Matching them evenly for a fleeting moment is no small feat.”

“Once you consume the elixir,”

The Staff Master pressed a hand to her heaving chest to steady her breath. It suddenly struck him as odd. She wouldn’t have been like this every time she clashed with the Heavenly Demon in cyberspace, right?

Well, the cold sweat aside, her flushed cheeks… they didn’t look like battle afterglow. Whatever.

The moment he synced with lunatics like the Mad Monk or the Holy Flame Divine Nun, Lee Taebaek turned into a total madman himself. He’d pass on that. Really.

The Holy Flame Divine Nun, having composed herself well, continued.

“You’ll be able to match the Seven Dignitaries perfectly.”

“Staff Master… aren’t you underrating the Seven Dignitaries a bit? People don’t call them Ten Wings for nothing. They’re definitely a notch below the Three Calamities, but no one in the City is stronger than them. That’s why they’re the Ten Wings.”

“Hmm… is that so?”

It was a lethal deception.

“Just kidding.”

The Staff Master smiled softly. She hooked a teacup with her toe and lifted it.

Whoosh!

She picked up a wooden teapot and set it ablaze entirely. Steam rose from the spout as the water inside boiled furiously.

“…You can use Samadhi True Fire too?”

Lee Taebaek asked, dumbfounded.

“It’s definitely different from the Samadhi True Fire you know—the fire-attribute magic used by Hwaryeon from the Magic Tower. That one ignites flames by friction in the air using internal energy, or mana as the tower calls it nowadays.”

Drip, drip.

Water filled the wooden cup. The sunken tea leaves floated to the surface.

“I can’t manage that trick, so I just kindle fire with internal energy alone. That’s why I can only pull off little feats like this. Brew some tea, light some incense. Here you go. Drink it while it’s warm.”

The Holy Flame Divine Nun offered Lee Taebaek a teacup with a silver spoon inside. The silver utensil proved there was no poison. Traditionally, the orthodox sects saw poison as a disgrace, but in the City, that had changed entirely. The Five Great Families and Nine Great Sects used it without hesitation if needed.

The current White Path was no different from the Black Path. The only difference was whether they bothered with hypocrisy.

Slurp.

Lee Taebaek removed the silver spoon and took a sip. Even one mouthful revealed its premium quality.

As he admired it subtly, the Staff Master tilted the teapot over her own cup and spoke.

“The elixir has only one effect. Amplification of internal energy. Making the Ren and Du Meridians far easier to unblock. Overwhelming amplification that renders such things trivial.”

“…I know. I know it well.”

It wasn’t an SSR-grade item for nothing.

“Lee Taebaek, your talent is something even I, who’s lived so long, have never seen.”

“How old are you, anyway?”

“……”

“……”

“The answer?”

“Talent comes in so many varieties. Enlightenment truly has no end. Namo Amitabha…”

“Changing the subject.”

The Holy Flame Divine Nun glared at him sharply.

“I’m a woman too.”

“A nun who’s left the mundane world has no gender.”

“…Sharp tongue.”

“I don’t talk much, but when I do, I’ve never lost a verbal spar.”

After a few more back-and-forths, the bickering finally ended. The Holy Flame Divine Nun covered her mouth with her fist and cleared her throat.

Having moistened her throat with tea, she spoke again.

“I saw the footage of your fight with the Art Master.”

“Fight… She didn’t even put up a struggle.”

“No.”

The Holy Flame Divine Nun shook her head firmly.

“Everyone knows the Art Master’s strength is monstrous. She’s invested everything in it. But she shows weakness in endurance.”

“Dragging that out isn’t easy. Among the Seven Dignitaries, you’d need the Great Existence or the Bow Master in his prime.”

Hong Geolgae the Great Existence was a pervert at first glance, but he was practically at the threshold between Three Calamities and Seven Dignitaries—the strongest there was. He just shunned worldly affairs as a cultivation hermit.

The Monkey Bow Master had once teetered on that boundary too. Would Poison Master Tang Munik have quietly swallowed his grudge over losing a child for nothing?

‘He let his body rot playing around at Megacorp. In the Laykuns main story, he trains bitterly, regains his prime, and shows up as a true final boss.’

Though now his body was completely ruined.

“The Great Existence and Bow Master, huh? Fair enough. But I’ve never thought from a weakling’s perspective, so you’d know better than me, Lee Taebaek.”

Wow, taking down three at once?

“…You’re something.”

“Anyway, the point is: if you’d had better combat endurance, you could have seized the advantage over the Art Master.”

“There’s no ‘if’ in life-and-death duels. You win or lose.”

“I’ve chewed on that ‘if’ over and over, racking up my 332nd win against the Heavenly Demon—er, 333rd now that I just won. ‘Imagination’ is the universe’s blessing to humanity. We must make full use of it.”

Lee Taebaek found himself nodding as he listened quietly to the Holy Flame Divine Nun’s argument.

He said,

“So the elixir you gave me will boost my combat endurance.”

“Not just boost—it’ll explode it. If you can properly assimilate it, that is.”

“Properly…?”

The tea leaves, soaked through, slowly sank.

“Energy circulation will take a lot of time. At least a week. You’ll need multiple people standing guard day and night during that.”

“Fair enough.”

“I’d love to take you to Shaolin and guard you myself, but I doubt you’d agree.”

Lee Taebaek glanced at the door. The Holy Flame Divine Nun caught the implication.

“Sharp as ever. Hyemyeong is the purest-hearted among the children I’ve taken in. He got possessed by heart demons after somehow learning about the elixir’s transfer.”

“Shaolin’s my enemy. Even if you’re the sect leader, not everyone will just bow their heads with a ‘yes.'”

“You see right through it. In Shaolin, tradition and rules come first. No sect leader has ever stood above them. Three Calamities or whatever, all are equal before the rules.”

That was why Shaolin earned the most respect among the White Path sects that had relocated to the City.

Unlike the other orthodox sects compromising with the times, they upheld Buddha’s banner with unyielding integrity.

“The rigidity of rules preserved Shaolin.”

“It breeds internal enemies too. They’re trapped by it. That’s why no one surpasses me. It’s also why I’m passing the elixir to you.”

“Then you consume it yourself.”

“I don’t need it. I know myself best. Chanting sutras all day leaves me plenty of time for self-reflection. Piling more internal energy on this state won’t help.”

“Old age… like that…”

“Exactly…”

The Staff Master glared at him like a bird of prey. A sharp crack echoed as wood splintered menacingly.

“…Years of training have filled my vessel to the brim. Internal energy has no limit in profundity, but it depends on the person. The elixir belongs to someone with a larger vessel than mine. I, Holy Flame Divine Nun, Grand Abbot of Shaolin and Sect Leader of Emei, so judge.”

“I get your intent.”

Lee Taebaek turned.

The Holy Flame Divine Nun had laid everything bare to him. Reasons, justifications, the City’s very fate. It was as good as entrusting it all.

And at the end of the previous illusion, he’d voiced his acceptance. With mutual understanding, prolonging the talk would just be chit-chat. Better to go recruit guardians quickly.

There was a ‘group’ that would stand guard if asked—the one Lee Taebaek belonged to. They’d supported him materially and spiritually for a year. No need to break that.

Lee Taebaek grabbed the doorknob to leave. But his feet wouldn’t move.

After hesitating at the door for a while, he asked the Holy Flame Divine Nun,

“Can a third party like me fulfill your wish?”

“Hm?”

“Even if you silence Hyemyeong well, word of the elixir going to me will spread through Shaolin eventually. You could be the first ever expelled, by ‘the rules.'”

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

The Holy Flame Divine Nun blew on her tea leaves. The rich aroma reached Lee Taebaek’s nose.

“Do you know what the Way is?”

It was a clichéd Zen riddle.

But Lee Taebaek listened quietly.

“Trite, but the Way is a path. The Buddhist Way is just one form among many. Simply put, we Taoists cultivate and contemplate to find our own path. I walk mine to enact Buddha’s will. Rules may stand above people, but they can’t claim to stand above Buddha’s teachings.”

“I see.”

Lee Taebaek chuckled softly.

“Do you have a path too?”

He stared at the Holy Flame Divine Nun for a moment, then firmly pushed the door open. The pent-up fragrance escaped through the gap.

“I tend to make my own paths.”