Longevity - Chapter 52

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 52: The Willful Dharma King
“What do you mean by ‘not the same path’?”

When Jangseong asked, Jeong Dae-jung shrugged.

“I don’t know. I stopped talking when I realized what I’d said.”

He pressed the leather strap back into Jangseong’s hands.

“I’ve told you all my secrets. Now make me a slingshot.”
“I can’t do that. Someone who’s going to be a monk shouldn’t be hunting birds.”
“If you don’t make it, I’ll tell the abbots not to fix my brother’s leg.”

Jangseong’s eyes widened.

“You wouldn’t dare hold someone’s leg over me as ransom?”
“I’m the Dharma King. Everyone has to listen to me.”
“But you just said we’re not on the same path. Which means I don’t need to obey the Dharma King’s commands.”

Jeong Dae-jung pouted. When the threat didn’t work, he quickly grabbed Jangseong’s arm and shook it.

“Limping brother. Just make one for me. I won’t hunt birds. I’ll just try shooting.”
“What will you be shooting at?”
“Trees or walls.”
“What if you hit a person?”
“I won’t.”
“What if you hit a bird?”
“I said I won’t.”

Jeong Dae-jung repeated the same promise several times over. Jangseong finally accepted the leather strap.

“Don’t shoot at anything living. Not at people either.”
“All right.”
“If you break this promise, I’ll take it from you by force.”
“How will you take it from me? When you’re limping?”

Jangseong tried to hand the leather strap back, but Jeong Dae-jung quickly reached out.

“I get it! I’ll listen to you.”

The two of them broke straight bamboo in the back garden. Jangseong trimmed the branches and cut the leather strap to bind the frame. Jeong Dae-jung hurried him along from the side until he pricked his finger on a bamboo splinter and finally fell quiet.
Once the slingshot was complete, ammunition was needed. Jangseong rolled wet clay into pellets the size of beans and laid them out in the sun to dry.

“You’ll have to wait until they’re dry.”
“How many hours?”
“Not by today.”

Jeong Dae-jung hooked a partially dried clay pellet onto the leather pouch and pulled hard.
Smack!
The clay crumbled, splattering against his cheek.
When Jangseong burst out laughing, Jeong Dae-jung wiped his face with the back of his hand and grumbled.

“Tomorrow I’m definitely going to hit it.”
* * *
The next morning, Jeong Dae-jung filled his pockets with dried clay pellets and wandered through the back garden.
At first he aimed at tree trunks and walls. Out of ten shots, not one landed properly. The pellets grazed leaves or flew off onto some other roof entirely.
Then a sparrow landed on a branch.
Jeong Dae-jung’s slingshot came up instantly.

“You promised not to shoot at anything living.”
“You won’t hit it anyway.”
“Then there’s even less reason to shoot, isn’t there?”

Jeong Dae-jung paid no attention.
Twang!
Crack!
The clay pellet struck a branch barely a span away from the sparrow.
Flap-flap!
As the sparrow took flight, he bounded after it with delight.
The monks guarding the back garden could only exchange glances with one another. It was difficult to stop the Dharma King, yet equally awkward to simply allow him to chase birds about.
Unable to hit the sparrow in the tree, Jeong Dae-jung approached a birdcage beneath the eaves. Small birds kept at the Prefect’s Residence fluttered their wings as he drew near.
He fired from ten paces away. He missed.
He advanced to seven paces. He missed again.
At five paces, as he drew back the slingshot once more, Jangseong seized his arm.

“Stop, please.”
“Let go. I can hit it this time.”
“That’s precisely why I’m stopping you.”

Jeong Dae-jung wrenched his arm free.

“It’s just one bird. What does it matter?”
“You may take one shot for amusement, but the bird you hit dies from that one shot.”

Jeong Dae-jung said nothing. As he moved to pick up the slingshot again, Jangseong called out to a nearby monk.

“Please bring an abbot here. The Dharma King wishes to catch birds for release.”

Jeong Dae-jung hastily hid the slingshot behind his back.

“Don’t be a tattletale!”
“You broke your promise first.”

Shortly after, the Protector Abbot arrived in the back garden. Upon seeing the birdcage and clay pellets, he silently extended his hand.
Jeong Dae-jung clutched the slingshot to his chest and resisted, but when Jangseong turned away, he reluctantly surrendered it.

“The Dharma King must cherish all life.”
“I didn’t hit a single one.”
“Failing to hit is not itself a merit.”

The Protector Abbot led Jeong Dae-jung to the Central Courtyard. Though he spared him the rod, Jeong Dae-jung had to recite sutras and listen to reproofs all day long.
Once the back garden grew quiet, Jangseong lay upon his bed. He began retracing through his mind the five Secret Manuals he had committed to memory from the beginning.
What he had seen once, he did not forget, yet memory that does not fade is not the same as being able to write accurately. In his mind, the Secret Manuals tangled together with prescriptions and medicinal ingredients from the Qianjin Yifang, the methods of Bone-Setting, and Tuina technique as well.
He traced the order along the edge of the bed with his fingers, going over it again. Half a day without Jeong Dae-jung was brief, yet for the first time in long years, he could pursue a single thought to its end.
* * *
The next morning, Jeong Dae-jung returned as if nothing had happened.
Though the slingshot had been taken, he soon found another amusement. The Prefect Liu Youcheng was an Upasaka who had taken refuge in Buddhism, and below the back garden’s sloping terrace lay the Release Pond.
Jeong Dae-jung found a fishhook in Jangseong’s pack.

“Let’s make a fishing rod.”
“If you fish in the Release Pond, you’ll face the same reproofs as yesterday.”
“I won’t catch any fish. I’ll just watch the float.”

He had heard the same words yesterday. Jangseong tried to refuse, but Jeong Dae-jung had already selected a bamboo pole.
As Jangseong tied the fishing line, he deliberately baited the hook with mutton from the morning rice gruel. Fish do not readily take mutton, so he thought Jeong Dae-jung would grow bored and quit of his own accord.
His expectation was only half right.
No fish came. Instead, a dark shadow beneath the surface seized the bait.
The line went taut.

“It’s hooked!”

Jeong Dae-jung yanked hard on the fishing rod.
Splash!
What burst from the water was a soft-shelled turtle. Its rounded carapace scraped through mud, and its long neck curved toward the fishing line.
Jeong Dae-jung was thrilled, yet dared not approach.

“Brother, would you remove the hook for me?”
“If the turtle bites you, you could lose a finger.”
“Then what do I do?”
“Cut the line and let it go.”

Jeong Dae-jung hated to abandon the rod. After hesitating for some time, he finally bolted toward the Central Courtyard with the turtle dangling from the line.

“I’ll ask the abbots to remove it.”

That day, Jeong Dae-jung did not return.
Jangseong watched the ripples in the Release Pond settle and shook his head. Since becoming Dharma King, it seemed he had gained not freedom, but only an ever-growing roster of people obliged to lecture him each time he caused trouble.
* * *
The next day, released again, Jeong Dae-jung did not openly cause mischief.
Yet he could not sit still either. He wandered the Back Garden snapping flowers and swinging branches until he discovered a wasp nest the size of a fist beneath the eaves of the Northeast Buddha Hall.
He dragged Jangseong aside and spoke in a low voice.

“Let’s knock it down.”
“If you’re stung by wasps, you could die.”
“Coward. You can’t even handle something like that?”
“I cannot. Can you?”

Jeong Dae-jung’s face hardened. To back down was to be branded a coward.

“Of course I can. I’ll hide in a room, poke a hole through the window paper, and jab it with a stick. The wasps won’t find me.”

Jangseong immediately seized his arm and pulled him back.

“Stop. This time you’ll be badly hurt.”

Jeong Dae-jung reluctantly returned to his quarters. But after lunch, he slipped out alone.

“If I shout soon, don’t come out, brother.”

Jangseong, lost in thought about the Qianjin Yifang formula, answered absently.

“Don’t do anything foolish.”

Not long after, Jeong Dae-jung’s screams came from the Buddha Hall.
His voice was loud but not urgent. Jangseong realized he was crying out deliberately.
The monks guarding the Back Garden reacted differently. Footsteps converged from all directions.
A deep, furious buzzing filled the air.
Soon shouts and screams mingled together.
A short while later, Jeong Dae-jung returned clutching his belly, laughing so hard he could not speak, rolling across the bed.

“What have you done?”

Jeong Dae-jung only waved his hand dismissively.
Soon several monks came to fetch him. Red welts rose across their faces and necks, and one had a swollen eye half-closed.
Only then did Jangseong understand what had happened.
That afternoon, Jeong Dae-jung did not return.
* * *
The next morning, he was released once more.

“I wasn’t playing pranks. I was testing whether those people could properly protect me.”
“They are the people who went to rescue you. Who would suspect that the Dharma King deliberately disturbed a wasp nest?”
“You didn’t come out, though. I warned you beforehand.”

Jeong Dae-jung puffed out his chest with satisfaction.

“I have honor. I made sure you didn’t get stung.”
“Is it honorable to harm others just to keep faith with me?”
“They wouldn’t listen to me. If you’d let them go outside to play, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Jangseong swallowed a sigh.
Jeong Dae-jung bore the title of Dharma King, yet possessed not a shred of Spiritual Qi. If something happened to him outside, no one could be held responsible.
He had no intention of indulging Jeong Dae-jung unconditionally. But if he simply ordered the boy to obey the monks who guarded him, the child would only find another way to cause trouble.

“I understand that being unable to leave must feel suffocating.”

Jeong Dae-jung looked up at Jangseong.

“But if you injure the people protecting you, next time more will be assigned to watch you. You won’t become freer—you’ll be more confined.”
“Then what should I do?”
“If you want to go outside, first show that you can keep your word. Don’t shoot birds, don’t fish for creatures in the Release Pond, don’t deceive those who guard you. Start with that.”

Jeong Dae-jung dragged a stick across the ground with a disgruntled expression.
Seeing this, the Protector Abbot eventually returned the fishing rod he had confiscated. But warnings to catch fish while leaving the turtles alone followed repeatedly.
When Jeong Dae-jung sat down by the Release Pond, Jangseong took his place beside him.
This time both of them watched the fishing float in long silence. After a while, Jeong Dae-jung spoke.

“My father originally had no children.”

His father, when his first wife bore no children, took several concubines. Yet none of them gave him an heir.
Then came a year of terrible drought in Qingxian. Jeong Dae-jung’s father gave half his fortune to make rice gruel, and fed the starving people.

“The next year, my mother bore me. That’s why everyone says I was born as a blessed child.”
“Your parents must treasure you greatly.”
“They treasure me too much. My mother sends ten attendants after me just for stepping outside the door.”

Jeong Dae-jung turned his head from the float toward Jangseong.

“What about your parents?”

Jangseong spoke briefly of the time before meeting Lim. He had grown up never knowing his parents’ faces, and after parting from the old ox that raised him, he had no home to return to.
Jeong Dae-jung was silent for some time.

“So you’re really alone?”
“For now, I have work to do.”
“And after the work is finished?”

Jangseong could not answer.
Jeong Dae-jung set down the fishing rod and pointed at his leg.

“Don’t worry. I’ll tell the masters to fix it. When you can walk, come visit our house.”

This time it was not a threat, but a promise.
Jangseong did not say he believed at once. Instead, he nodded.

“If you mend my leg, I will visit you someday.”
* * *
Exactly seven days later, Jeong Dae-jung’s parents arrived at the Prefect’s Residence.
Both were past sixty, their hair white as frost. At the sight of their son, born so late, his mother forgot even the title of Dharma King and pulled Jeong Dae-jung into her arms. His father, though glancing at the monks around him, caressed the child’s face and hands again and again.
Jangseong began to understand why Jeong Dae-jung had grown so willful. The couple searched for medicine at the smallest cough, called for servants if he ate even one spoonful less of rice.
Around noon, Gelo Temple
Gelo Temple
The Ceremonial Procession had arrived as well. Flags, ritual implements, horses, and carriages filled the space before the Prefect’s Residence.
Before departing, Jeong Dae-jung came to find Jangseong, accompanied by the four Protector Abbots.

“Come with us. There’s plenty to eat at Gelo Temple, and my room is going to be enormous.”

Jangseong smiled and shook his head.

“I have somewhere else I need to be.”
“Then you have to visit later. Promise me.”
“I’ll go if the opportunity arises.”

Jeong Dae-jung refused to let go of Jangseong’s sleeve. Only after his parents called for him several times did he release his grip, and even as he stepped outside, he kept turning back to look.
Jangseong stood by the doorway and watched until the Ceremonial Procession passed out of sight.
The moment the last banner disappeared beyond the compound wall, silence settled over the room.
The four Protector Abbots had not left.
As they closed the door and gathered around him, Jangseong found his hand pressing down on his left leg without conscious thought.
He had lived with a limp for years. Even reviewing every technique in the Qianjin Yifang—both Bone-Setting and Tuina Method—his leg, already stiffened and calcified, remained beyond complete healing.
Yet the four Protector Abbots had said from the beginning that they could fix it.
The Northern Elder Monk settled himself in front of Jangseong.

“Lay Practitioner, the time has come to keep our promise.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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