Chapter 376: New Wind
The founding of the Zhengmu League and the Great War of Righteous and Evil. And the war with the group called Shincheon, up to the birth of a new Zhengmu League Leader.
Even in the murim, where there seemed to be no peaceful day, peace came, if only for a short while.
And one day, roughly two years after the new Zhengmu League Leader had been selected.
Mount Song of Dengfeng County, Henan Province.
Shaolin Temple, the Taishan and North Star of the murim, which had now regained its former glory. Shaolin Temple, which had returned to the position of the number one sect under heaven, without even room for doubt.
But unlike its fame as the number one sect under heaven, the day there was flowing quietly, as usual.
Except for one place.
“Waaaah!!!”
“Heheh.”
Children running around energetically from early morning.
There was only one place in Shaolin where children this young would be gathered.
The Arhat Hall.
A place that taught and selected young children who wished to enter Shaolin.
And Beopgang, a first-generation disciple of Shaolin who had now become the vice hall master there, was watching the children running around here and there with a gentle smile.
A man who, once upon a time, had been called by the epithets Beopgyeon, the Dharma Hound, or Beopgwang, the Dharma Madman, because of his stubborn personality and his inflexible nature of judging everything only according to the precepts.
He, who had been thought likely to become the next head of the Precepts Hall, had surprisingly now completely taken root in the Arhat Hall.
Also, his personality, which had once been nothing but stubborn and inflexible, had now changed a little after being broken and worn down by the storms of the world.
After all, even though the morning training time was approaching, he was watching the children with satisfaction as they gathered among themselves, chattered, and ran around without keeping order.
However, the reason he was smiling so contentedly right now was not because he had become gentle in temperament.
The reason he was watching with a smile a sight that, in the past, would have made him thunder at them. That was precisely.
“You little brats!”
“Hey! The time has already come, so what are you all doing!”
Because even if he did not go out of his way to get angry, there were second-generation disciples of the Mu generation who would get angry in his place.
Originally, it was like that in the army too.
The ones who scolded those of the lowest rank were those of the rank immediately above.
Once one reached the level of an officer, one treated those at the very bottom gently and smiled at them.
And then, afterward, all one had to do was casually say to one’s direct subordinates.
“It seems the kids these days have gotten a little loose in discipline.”
Then, for the bottom ranks who knew nothing, only a future of being rolled around excitedly remained.
Without knowing the truth, simply resenting only the rank immediately above them, the one currently rolling them around.
Of course, this place was not an army but a Buddhist sect, but for Beopgang, whose inborn nature was that of a soldier, that direction was the natural change.
It meant that he had realized there was no need to deal with them while getting angry himself, when things could be corrected by saying a few words to the instructors directly below him. To the second-generation disciples.
“Hohoho. Everyone is working hard.”
Beopgang, who was looking with satisfaction at the children being rolled around by the second-generation disciples, might feel like a devil, but there was a reason in his own way.
At first glance, it could look as though they were tormenting the children, but they were conducting the training with an extremely precise system.
The legacy left to Shaolin by Mujin, who had now become the Zhengmu League Leader and left Shaolin.
Namely, the external arts training method that Mujin had created based on the knowledge he had brought from the modern world.
They were systematically carrying out various kinds of training that could steadily and safely build muscular strength without overburdening the joints, assigning body parts by day.
That was right.
Beopgang and the second-generation disciples had been given an indulgence.
An indulgence that, even if they rolled them around like dogs, it was not tormenting them, but that they were in the middle of safe and definite training.
How long had he watched that hard exercise, the kind where their muscles trembled and it seemed muscle growth would come?
The children, having completed the entire day’s exercise, collapsed onto the ground as they were and gasped for breath.
But, as expected, the stamina of boys in their early teens was something that far exceeded an adult’s common sense.
After rolling on the ground and gasping for breath a few times, they quickly became lively again and began chattering among themselves.
“Uuugh. My thighs hurt.”
“Heheheh. Still, if we keep doing this, we’ll be able to become strong like the Three Shaolin Victories martial uncles too, right!”
“Maybe we might even become as strong as the League Leader!”
Perhaps because they were still young, they were, as expected, children with a great admiration for strength.
Into those children’s conversation, Beopgang cut in with a gentle smile.
“Hohoho. To become like the League Leader, that much is still not enough. The League Leader lifted iron every single day, morning and evening, without resting.”
It was Beopgang’s memory correction.
Mujin was indeed a bastard mad for exercise, but he had exercised in a systematic way in his own way. Because he knew that exercise and overwork were different.
Of course, to others, he was just a bastard mad for lifting iron.
“Wow! Martial Great-Uncle Beopgang, have you met the League Leader?”
“What? Hahahaha. Is that not only natural? When the League Leader was about your age, this Beopgang taught the League Leader.”
At Beopgang’s words, the children’s eyes sparkled brightly.
But wherever one went, there were bound to be pranksters.
“Eyy~ That’s a lie, right?”
“That’s right! If you taught the League Leader, then you should be stronger than the League Leader!”
At the children’s utterly disrespectful way of speaking, Beopgang recited a Buddhist chant inwardly.
“Amitabha... As expected, my judgment was not wrong.”
Beopgang. The reason he had gone so far as to give up the Precepts Hall and put down roots in the Arhat Hall.
That was precisely because of Mujin.
When he heard the news that the child he had believed would become the talent who would lead Shaolin’s future had descended from Shaolin, saying that he would become the Zhengmu League Leader.
Beopgang had been swept up in a shock as though someone had struck him in the head with a hammer.
As the disciple of the current head of the Precepts Hall, and as one who had been called the next head of the Precepts Hall, Beopgang had resolved that he would guide the young martial nephew who had gone astray, but soon after, he ended up realizing an important fact.
The very important fact that Mujin was stronger than him.
That was why Beopgang had chosen the Arhat Hall instead of the Precepts Hall.
Among those who broke the precepts, there could be bastards as strong as Mujin. Those who had become so strong that they could not be handled with the power of the Precepts Hall.
For example, the Three Shaolin Victories, whose fame was currently high throughout the entire Central Plains, were like that.
For now, they were living well in Shaolin, but since they had spent years together with Mujin, there was a danger that they had already been tainted by bad water.
And they too had reached a realm that could not be stopped by Beopgang’s own strength.
While worrying over this problem, the thought Beopgang came up with was precisely this.
“The method of the Precepts Hall is nothing more than fixing the cowshed after losing the cow!”
The most important thing was preventing things beforehand, before they happened.
In other words, through brainwashing in the name of education when they were young, he had to make it so they would not even dare think of breaking Shaolin’s precepts.
That was the conclusion Beopgang had reached.
That was right. Beopgang was still a human being mad about the precepts. Only the method for achieving his goal had changed.
“Phew. How should I guide these fellows?”
Since he could not let children like Mujin pop out again, Beopgang was worrying about how to scold them when.
A voice far too familiar came from behind him.
“You little brats! What kind of way of speaking is that to Martial Uncle Beopgang!”
“Mu, Mujin!?”
A voice he had heard for the first time in roughly two years. It was the voice of Mujin, who had now become the Zhengmu League Leader.
“Hahaha. It has been a long time. Martial Uncle Beopgang.”
Now, because he had descended from Shaolin, he no longer wore Buddhist robes, and even his hair had grown out, but nevertheless, Mujin showed respect to Beopgang with his palms joined.
“Ahem. It, it has been a long time. League Leader.”
Beopgang, who had unknowingly called him Mujin in surprise, also showed respect to Mujin with his palms joined.
And the little entrance disciples who had been listening to that conversation went into an uproar.
“He said League Leader!”
“Wow!! Is he really the League Leader?”
“Eyy! They said the League Leader is suuuuper busy. That makes no sense.”
At the sound of the children chattering, Mujin smirked and lightly clenched his fist.
At the same time, with Mujin’s body as the center, a massive natural energy began to swirl.
Kwaaaaang!!
The instant Mujin thrust one fist toward the empty air, a powerful golden aura tore the wind apart and poured out toward the sky.
The martial art of a true master, something they had never seen even once in their lives.
At that unrealistic sight, the children’s mouths fell wide open.
“Well then, will you believe me if it is this much? Hahaha.”
Mujin, who had lightly shown the children a demonstration, turned his head again and bowed his head toward Beopgang.
“Although I left Shaolin, how could a bond once formed disappear? Martial Uncle is forever my martial uncle. Please treat me comfortably.”
“I, is that so. Ha. Hahaha.”
When Beopgang laughed awkwardly and spoke down to Mujin, the children, who had been wearing stunned expressions, turned their gazes toward Beopgang.
However, it was a gaze different from usual.
Even before, since he was the adult who oversaw their education, their eyes had contained respect.
Sparkle, sparkle.
But now, their eyes contained, truly, the emotion of facing a legendary figure in person.
The protagonist of stories that had stirred up the entire murim several times since before they had entered Shaolin. Mujin, the man called the Zhengmu League Leader and known by the title Fist God.
And the person whom such a Mujin served as his martial uncle and treated with respect was teaching them!
Perhaps sensing the children’s gazes, Beopgang barely held back the corners of his mouth from twitching as he asked.
“By the way, why have you come to Shaolin when you must be busy with the League’s work?”
“I came precisely because of the League’s work. Before meeting the abbot, I stopped by here to greet Martial Uncle for a moment. Hahaha.”
A person whom the Zhengmu League Leader had gone out of his way to make time for and come meet despite being busy!
As Mujin continued to raise Beopgang up, the children’s gazes sparkled even more brightly.
Twitch, twitch.
The corners of Beopgang’s mouth also began to jump.
“A, ahem. Then go on now. The, the abbot must be waiting.”
Because he could not show an unsightly appearance in front of the children, Beopgang offered Mujin his farewell first.
“Yes. I will go now. Martial Uncle.”
And after finishing his greeting with Beopgang, Mujin this time turned his head and spoke to the children.
“If you too want to become strong like this martial elder brother, you must follow Martial Uncle Beopgang’s teachings well. Do you understand?”
“Yes, League Leader!!!”
Leaving behind the children, who answered in voices twice as loud as when they usually received training, Mujin left the Arhat Hall.
And on Beopgang’s lips as he watched Mujin’s back, before he knew it, a pleased smile had settled.
The disappointment he had felt toward Mujin, who had abandoned Shaolin and descended the mountain, had disappeared before he knew it, like snow melting.
***
The abbot’s office of Shaolin.
Hyepyeong, the disciple of the previous abbot Hyuncheon, who had now become the new abbot, was having a private meeting with Mujin.
The gaze with which he looked at Mujin was complicated in many ways.
Although Mujin had led Shaolin’s development since childhood, Hyepyeong had opposed him becoming the head disciple or the abbot because of his self-willed tendencies.
But he truly had not expected that Mujin would leave Shaolin entirely and become the Zhengmu League Leader.
He had feelings of disappointment in various ways, but since his own master and the previous abbot, who now called himself a “back-room old man” and was leisurely cultivating the Buddhist path, and on top of that the previous Zhengmu League Leader, Hyuncheon, was protecting him, the situation was quite awkward.
“Why has the League Leader, whose public duties must be so busy, come to Shaolin?”
“...Please speak comfortably. Abbot.”
“Hmm. Should one not distinguish between public and private matters? If the reason the League Leader has come to Shaolin today is private, I will treat it privately; if it is for an official reason, I will treat it officially.”
“......”
At the rigid attitude peculiar to Shaolin monks, Mujin let out a light sigh only inwardly.
“Well, if this is balance, then it is balance.”
Shaolin had changed quite a bit, but there certainly had to remain people who were stubborn and valued rules.
Thinking there was no need to waste time with useless small talk, Mujin brought out the main point.
“I came to relay information the League has grasped. They say the imperial family’s civil war, which had continued until now, has been settled to some extent.”
The civil war between imperial princes that had broken out over the position of the next emperor.
Because of that civil war, the imperial family had withdrawn its attention from the murim for a while.
Taking advantage of that period, Shincheon had revealed its identity on a large scale and aimed for the unification of the murim. That had been the truth of the previous war.
“In the end, the Second Prince succeeded in driving out the Crown Prince, and there will be an enthronement ceremony soon. Abbot.”
“Huh... I had thought things would finally calm down a little, yet as expected, there is no peaceful day in the world.”
Although he had a rigid side, a monk was still a monk. Hyepyeong was worried about what bloody storm the imperial family’s interference might bring again.
“By the way, did the League Leader personally come all the way to Shaolin just to tell us that news?”
“If we convey the news by letter, there is a risk it will be discovered by the imperial family, so we are dispatching people directly to the major sects. It is only that, since Shaolin is also my teacher sect, I personally came here to offer greetings after a long time.”
Was it because of the sight of Mujin still caring about Shaolin despite having left Shaolin? Hyepyeong’s expression softened, very slightly.
“Hmm, hmm. Then, has the League thought of a separate response to this matter?”
“We have thought of something separately, but it is not something possible with only us. Therefore, once I leave Shaolin today, I plan to head to Yunnan.”
“If it is Yunnan... Surely, you intend to meet those people?”
The Zhengmu League of the righteous faction. The Southern Heavenly Society of the evil faction. And even the Demon Cult of the west.
Because Yunnan was the region where the territories of all three great forces touched one another.
“Roughly, has it been two years?”
Mujin intended to hold a meeting with the heads of the evil faction and the Demon Cult after a long time.