My Younger Siblings Are the Greatest Masters in the World - Chapter 89
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
89.
“Twenty-two villains who died by my hand. If I hadn’t killed them, how many more innocent people would have died at their hands?”
Seon Hyeondaesa was deeply flustered.
Twenty-two years ago, Seon Hyeondaesa had defended Bongwon Daesa’s violation of the precept against killing with exactly the same words.
“Would simply subduing them have been sufficient punishment for the sins they committed?”
He held back from saying ‘That’s why you killed them.’
“I’ve spent twenty years repenting in Chamhoe-dong, but since I couldn’t truly repent, I’m asking to be expelled.”
“But Master, you’re already recorded as having entered nirvana…”
“Hm? Is that so?”
“You asked us to do that when you entered Chamhoe-dong.”
It was so long ago that his memory was hazy.
“Then I suppose I don’t need to be expelled after all.”
“But why suddenly talk about expulsion… Don’t tell me!”
Seon Hyeondaesa’s face contorted with sorrow.
“Master…”
“I’m not dying.”
“Ah, I see. Then…?”
“I’m thinking of leaving Chamhoe-dong.”
“You’re leaving this place?”
“When I entered this place, I intended to spend my remaining days in repentance. But there’s no sign of me dying anytime soon.”
Seon Hyeondaesa couldn’t find words to respond.
Bongwon Daesa had already reached the age of one hundred and seven.
No matter how long martial artists lived, it would be hard to find anyone older than Bongwon Daesa in all the Central Plains.
Even Seon Hyeondaesa, who was eighty-two this year, seemed to change from day to day and looked like he wouldn’t last a few more years, but for Bongwon Daesa to say such things meant he could easily go on for another ten years.
“That’s, that’s good news.”
“How old do I look to you?”
He was so disheveled it was hard to guess, but he certainly looked much younger than Seon Hyeondaesa.
“Around… sixty?”
“So I’ll probably live comfortably for another thirty years. I can’t spend all those long years just staring at walls here. Since I’ve already violated the precept against killing, I’m thinking of walking the path of eliminating demons and devils.”
From those words alone, it was impossible to guess what Bongwon Daesa intended to do.
“What do you mean by that…?”
“I’m going to wipe out the seeds of evil.”
Seon Hyeondaesa made a dismayed expression.
“Why are you suddenly thinking such things?”
He suspected that staying in Chamhoe-dong too long had caused Madness Syndrome.
“It’s like an enlightenment.”
“What kind of enlightenment leads in that direction?”
“Abbot.”
When Bongwon Daesa’s voice turned serious, the startled Seon Hyeondaesa straightened his posture.
“Yes, Master.”
“My martial arts are probably the best in the world right now.”
The thought ‘Would that be true when you’re well over a hundred and your vigor must be declining?’ only came out inwardly.
Instead, he humored him with ‘That must be so.’
If not for his advanced age, there would be nothing strange about giving Bongwon Daesa the title of the world’s greatest master.
“Having the world’s greatest martial arts, wouldn’t it be too unfair to just grow old and die like this?”
Killing people because it’s unfair?
Was it really Madness Syndrome?
“If I could save a hundred good people by eliminating one villain, what could be better than that?”
“Theoretically that’s true, but for you to greatly violate the precept against killing is somewhat…”
“I’ve already entered nirvana, so I’m no longer a person of Shaolin.”
“That’s just officially, but Master, you’re still here, aren’t you?”
“A person’s existence mostly depends on others’ memories. So I’m as good as dead.”
“That’s somewhat sophistry…”
“Sanghun.”
Bongwon Daesa suddenly called Seon Hyeondaesa by his secular name from before becoming a monk.
“Yes, Master.”
“I’m saying let’s try to change this damn world, and you’re telling me that’s wrong?”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Can chanting sutras and striking wooden fish in a temple save even one life?”
“Still, there are duties as a Buddhist…”
“After twenty years of searching for those damn duties, this is the path I discovered. So from now on, I’ll live according to my beliefs. Farewell.”
While Bongwon Daesa stood up abruptly and left Chamhoe-dong, Seon Hyeondaesa couldn’t say a word.
‘Surely an uncontrollable killing nature isn’t about to appear in Murim?’
***
Seol Mujin, who had been walking along the narrow path winding around the mountainside, stopped in his tracks.
“Brother, what’s wrong?”
The Triplets’ faces hardened as they turned their heads following Seol Mujin’s gaze.
Smoke was rising from beyond the forest, but it wasn’t the kind of smoke from preparing a meal.
Seol Mujin climbed up the tallest tree nearby.
He could see a village burning two hundred zhang away.
The Hwajeommin Village of about thirty households was already half turned to ash.
Seol Mujin deployed his Light Body Technique toward the Hwajeommin Village like an arrow released from a bowstring.
As he plunged through the acrid smoke, heat rushed toward him.
Seeing corpses scattered everywhere, Seol Mujin felt despair once again.
Always too late like this.
Judging by the condition of the bodies, this was a tragedy that could have been prevented if he had arrived just half a hour earlier.
Seol Mujin’s shoulders sagged after examining the entire village.
He had only found about eighty-nine corpses and couldn’t find a single survivor.
“Damn it!”
These were just people who had fled to the mountains to escape the world’s hardships and were barely surviving.
Seol Mujin stopped behind the Hwajeommin Village and examined the ground.
The chaotically stamped footprints headed in one direction and gradually became orderly.
Among the abilities required of Podoo, Tracking Technique was essential.
Seol Changho asked Seol Mujin as he followed the footprints.
“Will you punish them?”
“If we leave these villains alone, more innocent blood will flow.”
The Triplets didn’t stop Seol Mujin.
No, anger was slowly rising in their hearts as well.
Even the Demonic Cult wouldn’t massacre innocent people like this.
“Worse than beasts.”
“We need to wipe out their seeds.”
The Triplets muttered this as they followed behind Seol Mujin.
The traces, which they hadn’t bothered to hide, led toward the mountain peak.
Because Seol Mujin’s pace was fast, it took only about an hour to reach near the mountain peak.
The Triplets simultaneously stopped while pushing through the dense forest where there was no path.
“Hyung, wait.”
Seol Mujin, who had been following the traces, stopped at Seol Changho’s call.
“Why?”
“It seems there are guests who arrived before us at this bandit den.”
“Guests?”
The triplets leaped forward first, with Seol Mujin following behind them.
After climbing about thirty zhang up the mountain, Seol Mujin could understand what the triplets had meant.
“Aaaahhh—!”
Heart-wrenching screams echoed continuously.
It wasn’t government troops attacking the mountain fortress.
There were no government troops who worked this diligently, and no sounds of weapons clashing could be heard either.
In other words, it was likely a one-sided massacre.
By the time they arrived at the mountain fortress, the screams that had continued for so long could no longer be heard.
The mountain fortress situated at the peak was quite large in scale, even having a watchtower.
The corpses of bandits wearing animal skin clothes could be found before even reaching the fortress.
“The wounds are strange.”
They weren’t stab wounds from swords or sabers, nor injuries from fists.
Judging by how most of the corpses had their heads smashed, the weapon seemed to be something like a club.
The mountain fortress where the screams had stopped was covered in sudden silence like a blanket.
The triplets exchanged glances and scattered in three directions.
Seol Mujin slowly entered through the fortress gate.
Half of the dead bandits hadn’t even managed to draw their weapons, apparently struck down in an instant.
‘Judging by the wounds, it seems to be the work of one person.’
Not even allowing them to draw their weapons meant the perpetrator was that skilled.
As he stepped carefully around the corpses, a chilling presence dropped from above his head.
Startled, Seol Mujin hastily rolled forward.
Bang!
The club that grazed Seol Mujin’s back struck the ground, sending dirt flying in all directions.
Seol Mujin quickly got up and drew his sword.
“Oh ho! To dodge my attack, you’re quite skilled for a bandit.”
It was an old man with long hair carelessly tied back.
“I’m not a bandit…!”
The old man didn’t give Seol Mujin time to finish speaking.
Whooom—!
The club sweeping horizontally contained energy that seemed capable of toppling mountains.
Shocked, Seol Mujin blocked the club with his sword.
Bang!
He had believed he could cut through the club with his sword, but that was Seol Mujin’s miscalculation.
“Kuk!”
With a short groan, Seol Mujin flew two zhang before barely landing on the ground.
Both Seol Mujin and the old man were surprised.
“Impossible! A mere bandit blocking my five-star martial power!”
“I’m not a bandit!”
But Seol Mujin’s shout couldn’t stop the old man’s attack.
The old man closed the two-zhang distance in an instant and slashed his club diagonally.
It seemed like a simple technique relying on brute force, but it was filled with profound variations.
Seol Mujin drew his martial power to the extreme to block the old man’s attack.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He was barely managing to block the club attacks and didn’t dare attempt a counterattack.
It felt like his sword would shatter at any moment, and he worried his arm might break even sooner.
This old man was on a completely different level from any murim master Seol Mujin had encountered.
After defeating the Oryongbang leader, he had been confident he could compete with the heads of Odaesega.
It wasn’t arrogance—the results spoke for themselves.
But the old man before him wasn’t just at the level of an Odaesega head.
Could he be one of the sect leaders from the Nine Sects and One Alliance?
No.
Even they would be mere novices compared to this old man.
For the first time since the triplets, Seol Mujin felt the despair of facing an unwinnable opponent.
Perhaps this old man was even stronger than the triplets.
Crash!
An unusually loud sound rang out as his sword shattered into pieces.
In his torn and bleeding hands remained only the pathetic remnant of the sword’s hilt.
Now he couldn’t block or even dare to dodge.
Just as the old man could crush Seol Mujin’s head with a mere flick of his finger, the triplets appeared.
“You bastard—!”
Seol Mantong charged at the old man first.
The triplets originally carried no weapons, but Seol Mantong was holding a knife as large as his own height.
Seol Changho and Seol Ryeoseon also rushed at the old man with swords in hand.
Three blades with extended sword and saber energy fell toward the old man.
Even though the triplets hadn’t recovered their former martial arts, that didn’t mean they were weak.
Even the leaders of the Nine Great Sects wouldn’t be a match for the triplets.
Bang!
With a thunderous sound, all three triplets retreated simultaneously.
Surprise appeared on the old man’s face after repelling the triplets with a single defensive move.
“How can children’s martial arts be at this level?”
Seol Ryeoseon pointed her sword at the old man and shouted.
“Stop calling us children! Damn monk!”
“Hm? Do you perhaps know me?”
“That’s not what’s important! Why are you attacking our brother!”
The old man’s attention had already shifted away from Seol Mujin.
“You know me—who are you? No matter how much of a martial arts genius one might be, six or seven-year-olds can’t be this strong.”
“Whoever we are, what’s it to you?”
The old man’s aura changed.
Seol Mujin suddenly felt pressure as if Mount Taesan was pressing down on his shoulders.
“I can sense an extremely dense demonic energy from you.”
“So you’re going to kill us? Like you killed those bandits?”
Seol Ryeoseon picked up where Seol Mantong left off.
“Even if you’re dealing with evildoers, how can the Shaolin Abbot’s methods be so ruthless! Is this acceptable?”
“I’m no longer associated with Shaolin. I’m just a nameless soul wandering the Central Plains until death, dedicated to eradicating demons.”
The old man pointed his club at the triplets.
“Now reveal your true identities. Who are you?”
Seol Changho asked.
“What if we don’t tell you? Are you going to kill us?”
“You’re clearly just children in appearance. But even so, I don’t think I can kill you. So I’ll have to capture you and cripple your martial arts.”
Seol Mantong shouted angrily.
“Bastard! Try it if you can! Thirty years ago, you couldn’t even raise your head in front of us… Mmph!”
Seol Ryeoseon hastily covered Seol Mantong’s mouth, but the words had already scattered in all directions.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————