“The Buddha taught that the cause of all suffering comes from attachment. And yet, senior, even while standing at a realm that shakes the heavens, you have fallen into the deepest attachment of all.”

“Ho. Are you truly saying you do not serve Buddhism? If you do not, how can you possess such a mind of faith?”

“As I have said repeatedly, just because I do not believe in Buddhism does not mean I do not understand its principles. If anything, because I do not believe, I can see it more objectively.”

Unhwi walked closer and sat down beside Undying Future Buddha.

“Senior, if you are a true believer, then you know what you should do in a situation like this.”

“Mm….”

“Let it go. Put it down.”

In that instant, Undying Future Buddha’s entire body stiffened.

Let it go.

It was one of the teachings most valued in the Zen tradition.

To put down all attachment.

“…It is true that I harbored the thought that someone at the Heaven-and-Earth Fourfold Realm could dare to teach me. But now that I see it, you are more than qualified to teach. Sir Seol, you truly are remarkable.”

“It is not because I am remarkable. It is because you, senior, climbed to such a distant height that you forgot the essence and let your eyes grow clouded, so you could not see properly.”

Unhwi rose to his feet as he spoke.

“I will treat your wounds. But abandon your thoughts about the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic.”

“Then….”

“Instead, I will ask you one thing. At this moment, what do you truly want. Desire, or peace.”

Undying Future Buddha gave a small laugh.

“Peace, of course.”

“Then the answer is already decided.”

Unhwi extended his hand.

“Get up. I will take you inside.”

As Undying Future Buddha took Unhwi’s hand, he muttered.

“Sir Seol… you truly are no ordinary man…. I suppose, as of today, I must completely put down my lingering obsession with the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic.”

He said that, but Unhwi knew, and he knew as well.

That it would never happen, no matter what.

That was the kind of man Undying Future Buddha was.

These wounds were severe, yes, but they were not beyond self-healing.

The scheme was crystal clear to Unhwi’s eyes: to keep the connection going, watch for an opening, and use that opening to pry the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic out of him.

A truly tiresome man.

No matter how hard one tried to shake him off, his attachment alone was enough to make even the heavens tremble—an incorrigible monk.

That was Undying Future Buddha.

“Oh dear… Sir Seol’s shoulders are truly broad.”

Without the slightest shame, Undying Future Buddha kept spouting nonsense, and Unhwi quietly moved him to his quarters.

***

After laying Undying Future Buddha down in a secluded annex within the Heavenly Alliance, Unhwi quietly began preparing treatment.

Candlelight softly illuminated the room, and various medicinal ingredients were neatly arranged on the table.

When Unhwi took out his needles, Undying Future Buddha’s eyes sparkled.

“Oh, so you practice acupuncture as well. Truly, there is nothing you cannot do. This humble monk can hardly contain his surprise.”

“Be quiet.”

With that, Unhwi began placing needles while locating Undying Future Buddha’s meridian points. His technique was precise and fast.

“Ah… it stings a little.”

“Of course it does. These are wounds inflicted by demonic energy. No matter how much demon-subduing internal art you use, residual traces will remain. We must draw those out first.”

“But, Sir Seol, is this needle technique perhaps similar to Shaolin’s? No—if anything, it seems even more refined….”

Unhwi’s hand paused for a moment.

“Senior, you are truly persistent.”

“No, I only asked because I was curious. Perhaps acupuncture recorded in the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic—”

“It is not.”

“Then where did you learn—”

“Focus on the treatment.”

But Undying Future Buddha had no intention of giving up.

“Still, to this humble monk’s eyes, your internal energy is truly strange. It feels as though several different martial arts have fused into one….”

Unhwi drove a needle in deeper once more.

“Ow!”

A master who had reached No-Extremes Incarnation had no business crying out from pain like this, but if Yucheong’s highly refined demonic energy interlocked and began clumping in one place, it could hurt a little.

“Be quiet.”

“Understood, understood. But it is truly fascinating. Your treatment method resembles, in a peculiar way, how I circulate my own internal energy.”

His eyes gleaming, Undying Future Buddha continued.

“Could this method have come from some ancient text as well? Not the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic, but another acupuncture art obtained where you obtained that—”

“Senior.”

Unhwi’s voice turned cold.

“What you are doing right now is attachment.”

“No, it is simply scholarly curiosity. How can you call that attachment?”

“If it is scholarly curiosity, that is even more of a problem. That is the most insidious form of attachment.”

Startled for a moment, Undying Future Buddha burst into laughter.

“Truly, Sir Seol, you are sharp. You see right through this humble monk’s true thoughts.”

“You are so obvious there is nothing to see through.”

“So obvious… even though I tried to hide it….”

“You are not hiding it at all.”

As Unhwi placed the final needle, he spoke.

“Even now, senior, are you not trying to determine what martial art I use, what manuals I possess?”

Undying Future Buddha laughed awkwardly.

“Haha… indeed, I cannot deceive you.”

“Do not try. That kind of heart already goes against the Buddha’s teachings, does it not?”

“Ah, well, that is true, but….”

“Senior, this is the final warning. If you continue like this, I will stop the treatment, and I will never see you again in my lifetime.”

Undying Future Buddha hurriedly waved his hands.

“No, no. That is not my intention. I was just truly curious—”

“Curiosity is still greed.”

Gathering the needles, Unhwi said in a cold voice.

“If you truly seek enlightenment, then first, put down that curiosity.”

Undying Future Buddha fell quiet for a moment, then opened his mouth again.

“Your words… feel as though there are thorns hidden in them. Is that my imagination?”

“It is not.”

“….”

“There are things in this world that must be kept.”

“…Things that must be kept….”

“I am not talking about human values, or convictions, or such things. I have watched countless martial artists—from the Karmic Fourfold Realm to the Heaven-and-Earth Fourfold Realm, and even many within the Realm of Martial Divinity—while playing go, and not one of them ever gave me the same feeling you do.”

“What feeling is that? I would like to hear your opinion, Sir Seol.”

“Your attachment has become an attachment sustained by the logic of force.”

“….”

“That is what I see.”

“Hm….”

“Senior, how many times have you swung that monk’s staff you strapped to your back until just a moment ago?”

“….”

“You must have realized it while swinging it. If there is something you are curious about, something you want to have, do not take the trouble to circle around—go at once and kill.”

“Hm….”

“If you claim to follow Buddhism on the surface while your actions proclaim the demon path, then is that not either the wandering of a man who cannot find the road he should walk, or the path of an apostate advancing toward hypocrisy behind a thick mask?”

“If you say the path of an apostate, what, exactly, did I apostasize from?”

“There is only one possibility.”

“And I am asking what that one is.”

“The path of being a person.”

“….”

“If you wish to live that way as a martial artist, you can. Who would blame you for wearing a mask and practicing hypocrisy? A martial artist is, in the end, a being who speaks with force. But it is not the path of being a person. Senior.”

“…Speak.”

“Do you have pride in the road you walk?”

A strange smile bloomed at Undying Future Buddha’s lips.

“I have pride, and I have no regrets.”

“I see.”

“That is it?”

“Do you need more?”

Undying Future Buddha scratched his head.

There was a simple and unmistakable truth.

Undying Future Buddha could kill Unhwi at any time he wished.

But he could not.

That was because the Heavenly Daoist, the supreme sovereign of the martial world, held deep favor toward Unhwi.

Undying Future Buddha was a crafty hypocrite who lived brandishing Buddhism to secure justification for killing, and he had done so countless times—yet he was not stupid.

He had calculated.

As countless martial artists had done before with the strong, he would cling close and create a situation where he bestowed a favor. Unhwi was strict about debts and grudges; if he received a favor, he would repay it. And in that process, Undying Future Buddha planned to learn about the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic.

But it had gone wrong from the very beginning.

He had not known that bastard Yucheong had grown that strong, nor that he had driven Undying Future Buddha to the brink of death.

And Unhwi seemed to be reading all of it.

Interest became, now, a deep curiosity.

“Sir Seol is truly a remarkable person.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“But, Sir Seol, could I perhaps have a cup of tea? My ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) throat is dry….”

Unhwi thought:

A truly tiresome man.

“You asked me to treat you, and I treated you. I am not an idle man, senior.”

“Heh heh….”

“It may not be much, but you owe me a debt today. As one who serves Buddhism, you must repay favors without fail. May I trust you on that.”

“Do you take this humble monk for some market ruffian who does not know debts and grudges? I, Undying Future Buddha, have lived for over a hundred years keeping debts and grudges without fail. So naturally, I will keep and repay my debt to you as well, Sir Seol.”

To someone who knew the inside story, those words might have sounded sincere.

But not to Unhwi.

As he had said again and again, Undying Future Buddha was not a man whose visible gentleness and sly cheer were all he was.

To begin with, a debt only exists as long as the other person remains alive.

If it was a debt he could not repay easily, Undying Future Buddha would kill the other person—whether he dirtied his own hands or not, by any means necessary.

Then the debt would vanish, and everything would become convenient.

He could not be fooled by this man’s surface.

Undying Future Buddha was the kind of man who must never be trusted.

“I will go handle my work now. You should be able to walk and run, so could you please get up first.”

“Heh heh… and what happens if this humble monk settles down here and refuses to leave?”

“I thought you were somewhat shameless, but I do not believe you are shameless enough to trouble your benefactor.”

“….”

“If it is fate, we will meet again anytime.”

“As enemies? Or as allies?”

“That seems like it will depend on what you choose to do, senior.”

“Heh heh… are you prepared to make this humble monk your enemy?”

“Not only you. I am prepared to make the entire world my enemy.”

“….”

“How could a martial artist break the blade he carries in his chest?”

“Even if the world becomes your enemy, you will see it through?”

“If I did not have that resolve, I would not have taken up the sword.”

“….”

“I will be going.”

Unhwi rose first, and left behind, Undying Future Buddha smiled brightly on his own.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep