The Heavenly Demon Cult’s Strongest Maid - Chapter 272

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 26

Hoot, hoot.

In the forest where darkness had settled.

An owl perched on a tree branch overlooking a hermitage and hooted loudly.

“That fellow has quite a voice.”

An old monk sitting on a worn wooden platform, smiling toward the owl.

Though he might appear to be an ordinary monk, he was none other than Shaolin’s pride, the Buddha Venerable Gak-yeon.

Flutter!

As the owl that had been hooting flew away, Gak-yeon raised his head to look up at the night sky.

His expression changed moment by moment.

He frowned, then looked relieved, worry flickered in his eyes, and then he even smiled.

Creak.

Just then, the door of the hermitage’s small room opened and a young warrior monk came outside.

Usually, such hermitages are managed by lay practitioners or Buddhist women, but his counterpart was the Buddha Venerable.

So that the enlightenment he had attained could be passed down to future generations even a little, warrior monks from the Hall of the Arhats took turns assisting Gak-yeon.

Il-mu, who had been drowsily leaving his room as if not fully awake, was startled when he spotted Gak-yeon.

“Great Grand Master!”

He quickly ran over and put his palms together in greeting.

“Why aren’t you sleeping and staying outside?”

“When you get old, you naturally don’t sleep much.”

“Still, the weather is cold.”

“Hehe, are you worried about this old man? But how did you come out in the middle of the night?”

At Gak-yeon’s question, Il-mu awkwardly scratched his nose.

“Well, that is…”

“If you have worries, you should resolve them.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Il-mu’s face turned slightly red as he rushed to the outhouse.

“Great Grand Master, shall I bring you a cup of warm water?”

“No need. Why bother with such things at this hour.”

Il-mu asked after finishing his business, but Gak-yeon flatly refused.

Nevertheless, Il-mu stubbornly went to the kitchen and brought warm water. Then he sat down next to Gak-yeon.

“Why aren’t you going in to sleep?”

“One day is fine.”

“You rascal.”

Gak-yeon found Il-mu endearing, saying he would stay by his side despite having sleepy eyes.

“Oh, Great Grand Master.”

Il-mu, who had been sitting quietly for a moment, suddenly brought up a topic.

“A distinguished guest has come to the main temple.”

“A distinguished guest?”

“Yes, it’s Cheon-sin Geom-hwa who previously found and returned the original Lankavatara Sutra.”

Gak-yeon lowered his gaze and looked down at the Shaolin Temple grounds below the hermitage.

“Did you perhaps already know?”

Gak-yeon hadn’t left the hermitage for the past few days.

Il-mu had also learned about it from hearing his fellow monk who had come on an errand for food supplies.

“When they’re making it so obvious, how could I not know?”

At Gak-yeon’s words, Il-mu concentrated his mind, but he couldn’t sense anything.

“If you continue training diligently like now, such moments will naturally come to you. So don’t be too impatient.”

Patting Il-mu’s shoulder, Gak-yeon rose from the platform.

“Tomorrow I should do some sweeping after a long time.”

“Sweeping?”

Il-mu’s eyes widened at Gak-yeon’s sudden declaration about sweeping.

Looking at Il-mu, Gak-yeon just smiled broadly.

Chirp chirp— chirp chirp chirp!

Tweet tweet tweet, tweet tweet!

I woke up with a start at the bird songs awakening the dawn.

“Yaaawn!”

I had stayed up all night mulling over yesterday’s conversation with the Beophwa Gate master, so my head felt heavy and my condition wasn’t great.

“But the air is absolutely fantastic!”

I forced myself up and opened the window, and the fresh scent of grass moistened my lungs.

“Mountains really are the best.”

This phytoncide felt from the forest was truly a natural nerve stabilizer.

I felt like resting here for several days while I was at it.

Of course, that wouldn’t be possible.

‘Hm?’

Just then, I saw a monk sweeping in the distance.

Sweeping at such an early hour.

That was my first impression, but I soon realized this was Shaolin Monastery.

I had heard that the day begins at the Hour of the Tiger (3 AM) here.

The Jigaedang where I was staying was probably quiet since it was guest quarters.

‘Should I go out too?’

To feel the natural nerve stabilizer more closely, I put on my outer garment and went outside.

In the meantime, the monk who had been sweeping had come to the inner courtyard of Jigaedang as if he had teleported.

“Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.”

Looking at his face, he was an elderly monk of advanced age.

“Amitabha Buddha. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, monk.”

I was tired from not sleeping properly, but sometimes white lies are necessary.

“Please give it to me, monk. I’ll do it.”

I was, after all, from the Land of Eastern Courtesy.

I couldn’t just watch while an elder was sweeping in front of me.

I almost snatched the broom from the old monk. Then I brought out a chair that was under the eaves.

“Please rest for a moment, monk.”

“No, I cannot make a guest do the sweeping.”

“Oh, I want to do it.”

“Sweeping isn’t as easy as you might think.”

What do you take me for to say such things!

I’m a martial arts powerhouse with over eighty years of internal energy, and my former job was as a maid.

And I was so skilled that I was even assigned as a personal maid.

“Just watch carefully.”

I rolled up my sleeves and began sweeping diligently.

The courtyard in front of Jigaedang was quite spacious, so by the time I finished sweeping, beads of sweat had formed on my forehead.

“Ow, my back!”

After doing physical labor for the first time in a while, my back felt slightly stiff.

Still, seeing the clean courtyard made me feel good.

“Come here and have a cup of tea.”

Just then, the old monk had prepared tea for me.

“Wow, when did you brew the tea?”

I had been so focused on sweeping that I hadn’t noticed at all. My throat was dry, so I swallowed my saliva.

“Do you like flower tea?”

“Of course! Wow, the fragrance is incredibly rich.”

As soon as I took the teacup the old monk handed me, a fragrant floral scent filled the air.

“It’s just ordinary wildflowers, but this old man carefully dried and roasted them.”

“No wonder it didn’t taste ordinary.”

The flower tea the old monk brewed was truly the best flower tea I had ever tasted.

“But excuse me, how old are you?”

“What do you want to know this old man’s age for?”

“Well… sweeping seems too much for someone your age. There are many young monks around, so couldn’t you stop now?”

Honestly, it wasn’t pleasant to see someone so wrinkled bending their back while sweeping.

“Did the Abbot tell you to do this? If that’s the case, should I go argue with him? My words do carry some weight at Shaolin Temple.”

If I brought Gong Hye Dasa along, I had a chance of winning.

“What? Hehe! Hehehehehe!”

I had spoken seriously, but suddenly the old monk burst into laughter.

Which part was funny?

“How can this young benefactor’s heart be so kind?”

“Just my heart?”

I deliberately cupped my chin with my hand, mimicking a flower.

“Of course, your face is beautiful too.”

“Right? Hehe!”

When the trick I used on grandfathers worked on the monk too, I shrugged my shoulders.

“So a child born with killing as her karma is suppressing that nature.”

“…Excuse me?”

He was praising me and then suddenly said this… what does this mean?

“Well done. You’re doing very well.”

What am I doing well?

As I smiled awkwardly at the old monk’s cryptic way of speaking.

“That handsome man.”

If he means someone like that to me, it can only be Eok I-geon.

“You must keep that killing nature well suppressed.”

“…!”

“Do you now understand why this old man, who doesn’t have many days left, came all the way here?”

No.

I don’t understand.

My heart suddenly began beating wildly.

As if guessing my feelings, the monk spoke gently.

“When you receive notice of your death day, at some point you begin to see the stars in the sky.”

The old monk tilted his head back as if looking up at the night sky.

“Some say they read heavenly signs, others claim their enlightenment reaches heaven, but it’s just that when your time to die and ascend comes, you can see them.”

As I stared blankly, the monk gestured for me to finish my tea.

“One day, two stars in that clear sky caught my eye. Do you know what those stars are called?”

I should have naturally not known.

But having read the novel, I do know.

Cheonsal-seong and Hyeolsal-seong.

They refer to Eok I-geon and the leader of Hyeolcheon-hoe respectively.

Just who is this old monk that he knows this?

“One is Cheonsal-seong, and the other is Hyeolsal-seong.”

“…”

“But then one day, another star appeared beside Cheonsal-seong. At first it seemed precarious, as if it would soon go out. Do you know what that star is?”

“…No.”

This is a star I don’t know about either.

I never saw anything like this in the novel.

Then the monk stared at me for a long while before telling me.

“It’s called Jami-seong. What this old man read was that star dying and Cheonsal-seong awakening.”

Gasp!

Cheonsal-seong awakening is the beginning of the original story?

Goosebumps spread all over my body and my hair stood on end.

“The first thing Cheonsal-seong does upon awakening is to go against the natural order.”

He’s talking about Eok I-geon assassinating his father, Cheonma.

“But that didn’t happen.”

The old monk’s eyes, resembling an abyss, looked directly at me.

“How did Jami-seong come back to life?”

W-wait a moment.

Don’t tell me that Jami-seong is me, monk?

I’m just… someone who possessed this body?

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