## Chapter 110 – 110. Reflection (5)
#110. Reflection (5)
A completely bald head with prayer beads in one hand and attire similar to the warriors of the Shaolin Temple.
I felt awkward, but the attire was unmistakably that of a monk. Moreover, there were even the dots branded on his head.
Was that called a 계인?
‘One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… Is he a ninth-grader?’
However, his height exceeding 2 meters, his body full of enormous muscles, and his savage face that looked like he had killed thousands of people, all evoked the image of a defrocked monk.
-Hey!! Defrocked monk, you say!!
“…Please don’t read my mind?”
Indeed, among the anecdotes of the Vajra Divine Monk, there was an absurd tale of him single-handedly wiping out the absolute masters, including the leader of the Demonic Alliance, in the war between the Martial Alliance and the Demonic Alliance. The number of warriors who died as a result couldn’t possibly have been limited to just two digits.
-Ahem! What do you take this old monk for! I have never committed unnecessary killings!
“Ah, yes. By the way, are you a ghost…?”
-No.
“Huh?”
-Long ago, this old monk attained enlightenment, ascended to Nirvana, and escaped the cycle of reincarnation. So, what remains here can be seen as the will of this old monk from his lifetime.
“…”
What kind of nonsense is that?
-In simple terms, this old monk’s soul is not here. What you are conversing with is merely a saying left behind by this old monk from his lifetime.
“…So, sayings can converse these days?”
-That’s how great this old monk is.
In the end, it was self-praise. A distasteful smile hung on the lips of the Vajra Divine Monk, who looked like a gangster.
“So, why did the great Vajra Divine Monk leave a saying here?”
-I do not know.
“…?”
-This old monk does not know everything about this old monk. Did I not say? What remains here is merely a saying of this old monk.
The ghost’s finger pointed at me.
Something shone at the tip of his finger. It was the golden light I saw when I opened the wooden box.
-Child who harbors the demonic (魔). What do you desire and why have you come here?
The Vajra Divine Monk’s eyes gleamed, and the golden lotus that bloomed behind him fully blossomed.
“Ugh?!”
The energy filling the space pressed down on me. It couldn’t even be compared to the sensation I felt when I met the branch manager of the Association. It was as if the Earth was pulling me down. It became increasingly difficult to even stand.
Woooooong!!!
The mana circuit pulsed with full power. Mana raced wildly through the mana circuits, coursing through my entire body. Nevertheless, it was not enough to resist that energy.
‘This is it…!’
I accepted the mana of nature that I had been blocking until now.
Sssssss-
Even without meditation, I could feel mana filling my entire body. But in return, excruciating pain and overload of the mana circuits began to rear their heads.
I clenched my teeth and endured. If I didn’t, I would be crushed on the floor in an instant.
But as time passed, a strange sensation that I had never experienced before began to envelop me.
I doubted my eyes. The Vajra Divine Monk’s energy, which filled the space, was being absorbed into me. It was absurd.
The only way to absorb someone else’s energy like this was through black magic. No, even black magic couldn’t absorb it like this. If it were possible, black mages would have ruled the world long ago.
In the eyes of the Vajra Divine Monk, who was looking at me, I could glimpse bewilderment. That meant the current situation was not his intention.
‘Kuh…!!’
Thud.
The pain and overload that should have been felt were gradually weakening. Instead, the pressure pressing down on my entire body became even more intense. My knees touched the floor.
The Vajra Divine Monk’s energy that flowed into my body was directly interfering with me.
But that was it. I endured with all my might.
‘Hoo… hoo…’
I caught my breath and focused on myself.
Mana that has not undergone the self-assimilation process cannot be called my own. But once it has entered my body, it can be considered mine.
Who owns stolen goods?
Some might say the original owner, but that only applies when viewed from a legal perspective.
Just as the reason why a thief steals an item is to gain ownership of it, I too am becoming a thief at this moment.
“Kuh-euk…!!”
A wave of mana surged around me. It became a typhoon. I became the controller at the center, absorbing everything and increasing the scale of the typhoon.
If I made a mistake, my body could explode as it was.
It was the price for coveting the energy of a transcendent being who had reached a high realm that I could not dare to approach. If the opponent had been the Vajra Divine Monk himself, I wouldn’t have lasted even 0.1 seconds. Of course, the reason I was able to endure this much was because that damn monk ghost had no intention of harming me.
‘…There’s no room in the mana circuit.’
To release this immense energy again was no different from letting air out of a balloon with no exit. My entire body would swell up like a balloon and then explode with a bang.
I had to absorb this energy somehow.
But there was no storage space to contain the energy.
At this rate, I would really die.
‘…!’
At the boundary between life and death, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind. If there was no room in the mana circuit, I could move the energy to another place and store it there.
And as it happened, I had another storage space.
The dantian. I would guide this energy, which was trying to tear my body apart right now, to the dantian.
Of course, the probability was extremely low.
As someone who had not even mastered the inner energy cultivation method, I didn’t even have the ability to properly perform breathing exercises. At best, all I had was what I had learned from Chun Yeo-hwa in a Spartan manner.
Even so, I had to do it. If I didn’t, I would die.
‘I don’t have time to sit in the lotus position.’
I would do it in this state.
Chun Yeo-hwa said that sitting in the lotus position was merely a formality to gather the energy of heaven and earth.
Do not cling to a framework that someone has defined.
First-rate feel the energy.
The pinnacle embrace the energy.
The transcendent manipulate the energy.
The important thing is balance and harmony.
The reason why those who have mastered demonic arts cannot say that they have reached the realm of harmony even if they surpass the pinnacle lies there.
The foundation of the world is the harmony of yin and yang, and the balance of heaven and earth.
Harmony and balance begin from not recklessly suppressing and controlling the immense energy.
Huuuuuu-
One change is myriad changes, one change leads to myriad changes.
-Myriad changes are one change, when myriad changes converge into one change.
Harmony and balance interlock.
***
When I opened my eyes, the damn monk ghost had disappeared.
For a moment, I thought it was all a dream, but the Prajna Rosary in my inventory and the tremendous energy felt in my dantian told me that it was not a dream.
‘I absorbed the energy and fainted in the middle, but the fact that I succeeded means…’
That damn monk ghost helped me.
I couldn’t understand. He knew I harbored demonic energy. Even if he was a damn monk, how could someone who had been the abbot of the Shaolin Temple help me, who harbored demonic energy?
“…I don’t know.”
I collapsed on the floor again. It was definitely a good thing that I had absorbed all the energy, but as a reaction, I was so exhausted that I couldn’t even lift a finger.
In that state, I contemplated myself.
Originally, compared to the immense mana contained in the mana circuit, the dantian only had a tiny bit of demonic energy. But now, the mana circuit and the dantian were in a balanced state.
That’s how enormous the amount of energy I had absorbed was.
And another thing that made me doubt my eyes happened.
‘…Demonic energy remains?’
It was hard to believe.
The energy I had absorbed was pure itself.
It was so transparent and clean that it was as if the mana of nature had been filtered once again.
Of course, it was natural for it to be clean since the Vajra Divine Monk had built up his inner energy based on the Buddhist inner energy cultivation method. So I thought the demonic energy would be swept away and disappear with that inner energy.
But the demonic energy remained in a corner of the dantian, revealing its presence.
‘How?’
I forced my exhausted body to sit in the lotus position. I knew I shouldn’t cling to formalities, but honestly, this posture was the most comfortable.
When I contemplated the dantian, I couldn’t help but be surprised. The energy I had absorbed was intentionally not devouring the demonic energy in order to harmonize with it.
As if it had its own will.
‘…Harmony and balance.’
The energy I absorbed is yang, and the demonic energy is yin.
When yin and yang harmonize and balance, the Taiji is formed.
If the demonic energy fully grows in the future and can achieve harmony and balance, I will definitely cross the wall. Of course, that doesn’t mean it signifies the realm of a magician.
It is only the realm of a martial artist, not a magician.
“Ha… I’ll have to work hard to find a martial art worth learning.”
It was good to encounter an opportunity, but I was in a state where the order was jumbled. I had a dantian and an enormous amount of inner energy, but I hadn’t learned any martial arts.
It was a state where my body could collapse at any time.
-Hey! You’re going to find a martial art worth learning! What nonsense are you spouting when you’ve already learned this old monk’s martial art!
“?!”
What suddenly burst through the wall was none other than the Vajra Divine Monk.
“…Weren’t you enlightened?”
-I am neither a soul nor a ghost, so why would I be enlightened, you dullard. Always think before you speak.
“…”
If I had learned black magic and knew how to use necromancy, wouldn’t I have been able to beat that damn monk?
I thought that for a moment.
“…By the way, what do you mean I learned a martial art?”
-It is as I said. Didn’t you want it?
“Huh?”
-Your realm is still meager, so you may not be able to handle everything, but in time, you will naturally come to know.
“Don’t tell me what I absorbed was not just energy but…”
-The essence of the Unsurpassed Vajra Art. Did you think this old monk’s martial art would be contained in just one book?
“Isn’t that how martial arts books usually are?”
-Let me ask you in return, can you contain all of creation in one book?
Impossible. It might be possible if the book exceeded tens of millions of pages, but that could no longer be considered a book.
“No, then how do I train?”
-That’s for you to figure out.
“…?”
-You took the Prajna Rosary, absorbed this old monk’s energy, and even received the Unsurpassed Vajra Art. Isn’t that enough? What else do you want? Tsk tsk, you’re the type to ask to be spoon-fed even after being given a full meal.
I seriously want to hit him just once. I forcibly suppressed the anger that was boiling inside. In the process, I suffered a slight internal injury. It was at a level that would recover quickly even if left alone, but that’s how much I wanted to beat that damn monk.
“Hoo… Can I ask just one more question?”
-Hurry up.
“The room you can’t leave unless you have sex. Did the Vajra Divine Monk create that?”
-You ask the obvious.
“…You’re definitely a defrocked monk. Weren’t you kicked out of the Shaolin Temple in your later years instead of leaving on your own?”
-Hey!! Are you trying to insult this old monk!!
“Kuaaaaaaak?!”
Energy pressed down on me. Compared to before, it was a clearly weakened energy, but my body condition was not normal either.
“Hoo, hoo… You, you crazy monk bastard…”
The pressure of the energy was fleeting, but it was enough time for me to become a rag.
-Born in the bosom of Shaolin and having devoted my entire life to cultivation, loving someone was an unnecessary question and emotion for ascending to Nirvana, so I had to abandon it. But as the time to let go of everything gradually approached, I suddenly became curious. What is the love between men and women really like?
“…So you really wanted to see other people having sex. By the way, were you so envious of me having sex with So-wol? When I was about to do it again, you knocked on the door and just went crazy, telling me to stop…”
-You little…
Bang!
“Kuaaaaaaaak!!”
***
Once again, Kang Hyun-woo fainted from the pressure of the energy pressing down on him.
Then, a strange thing happened.
The mana of the mana circuit and the energy of the dantian moved on their own and began to heal the internal injuries.
It was the result of entrusting the body to the natural order without resisting the flowing water.
The Vajra Divine Monk quietly looked down at Kang Hyun-woo.
A strange child who had escaped reincarnation without even reaching Nirvana.
He was outside of reason, but his existence was the natural order.
-Amitabha, do not forget.
The Vajra Divine Monk’s 촉지인 touched Kang Hyun-woo’s lower abdomen.
A golden wave surged and enveloped Kang Hyun-woo with the last remaining energy.
-The current appearance is a work created by the past self. Therefore, the future appearance will be a work created by the current you. More important than the past and more precious than the future is one’s own actions right here and now, so question even trivial decisions and make correct judgments.
By the wind that blew from somewhere, he completely disappeared.
-He is my disciple.
