The journey to Shaolin.
It was a road they began on foot.
Along that road Jeong I-shin tried to tell his own story.
But Deok-myeong shook his head.
“First let us meet the Great Grandmaster, and begin the story then.”
Hearing that, an unease suddenly rose in him.
Jeong I-shin had a clear reason to go to Shaolin.
But that was Jeong I-shin's own circumstance.
Then what of Shaolin?
Might it not be that what Shaolin sought was not Jeong I-shin?
Perhaps reading that unease, Deok-myeong spoke with a benevolent smile.
“So very grown up...... perhaps that is why I keep forgetting your years. At nineteen you are the same age as Mu-jin.”
“......”
“There is nothing to worry over. Are we not all beneath the name of Shaolin?”
“Ah.”
Beneath Shaolin.
He liked those words very much.
In the past, Gongheon had always spoken of himself and Jeong I-shin as the only two inheritors of the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture in all the world.
He had not understood it then, but only after Gongheon departed did he grasp the true meaning of those words.
The Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture was certainly a divine art and supreme learning, but to Jeong I-shin it was not merely a martial art.
‘Belonging...... yes, a sense of belonging.’
In this land where he had no connections at all, the Scripture had become Jeong I-shin's root.
The legacy Gongheon had left to Jeong I-shin carried on like this. He seemed to hear Gongheon's low laugh.
And so, at the end of the long journey, when Mount Song lay before him.
Jeong I-shin was able to climb the mountain with his head held high.
His internal injury had fully healed, and there was no unease in his heart.
“I-shin, the path is rough, so follow closely. We shall go to see the Great Grandmaster first.”
Deok-myeong, who had come to treat Jeong I-shin comfortably at some point, took the lead.
Following behind him, he studied his surroundings.
There was no special feeling. At best, the sense that the air was good?
But in truth the air was good everywhere in this world.
The terrain was rugged, but his breathing did not quicken.
Going on like that for a long while, at some point every trace of human passage disappeared.
They crossed boulders and passed through forest.
Suddenly he had the sense that the slope was steadily growing steeper.
Instinctively he raised his head and looked toward the end of the climb.
He saw a small hut.
And standing in its yard, a boy as well.
‘A boy?’
He was a boy of perhaps fifteen or sixteen, with pitch-black hair brushing his shoulders.
The closer the distance grew.
The more Jeong I-shin felt that the boy was looking at him.
Before long he came within a distance where the face was clearly visible.
It was a strange feeling. Not a single emotion could be found on the boy's face.
If someone took up a brush dipped in that gaze, the words No-Mind would surely be written.
The boy seemed to hold not a shred of interest in him, and yet he also seemed to see through everything about him.
The feeling of being stripped bare.
“......!”
In an instant a jolt ran from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.
DONG—
“Huh......!”
When he came to himself, his feet were already planted in the yard.
Before Jeong I-shin's eyes, the boy was smiling as though it were all a lie.
“M-Monk Deok-myeong?”
Jeong I-shin found himself looking for someone to lean on.
Beside him, Deok-myeong, who had bowed deeply, spoke with a faint smile.
“This is the Great Grandmaster Mu-sang, I-shin.”
***
The boy, Mu-sang, gestured lightly.
“Deok-myeong, withdraw. Bring the children of the Virtue generation.”
“Yes, Great Grandmaster.”
“Child, come here.”
Deok-myeong lightly pushed the back of a hesitating Jeong I-shin.
And so he stepped forward and faced the boy.
Jeong I-shin was clearly the taller.
And yet it felt as though he were looking up.
He gazed for a long while into those indifferent eyes.
Around the time the area of his heart began to feel tight.
Mu-sang said,
“What are you?”
“Yes?”
“What are you.”
“......”
A thought suddenly came to him.
The form was a boy's, but Deok-myeong had certainly called him his Great Grandmaster.
Great Grandmaster meant one's master's master's master.
Which meant he was no ordinary ancient, so his age would be beyond daring to guess.
‘Elder Yeom called him the Elder as well. Hmm, then his head might be a little......’
“You are thinking irreverent thoughts.”
“Hup......! I-I am sorry.”
Onto the back of his sharply bowed head another indifferent word was laid.
“What are you.”
“......”
“I sought to bring you here, yet I do not know what you are.”
“Uh...... I see.”
“So now I wish to know.”
“And how...... exactly?”
At that quiet question, Mu-sang slowly opened his mouth.
Of course, the answer did not change.
“What are you.”
Jeong I-shin thought.
Unless the Elder Mu-sang was senile, there was surely an answer he could give.
‘What answer does the Elder want from me? Why did he call me to this place...... ah.’
Perhaps he had been crushed by that presence. Or perhaps he had been guessing on his own.
Perhaps he had been too tightly on edge about the murim of the Central Plains.
When Jeong I-shin let out a hollow sigh, Mu-sang wore a faint smile.
“Yes. What are you?”
“I am. I am, from Monk Gongheon......”
WHISPER—
In that instant, a wind that came from nowhere settled over the clearing.
The wind stroking Jeong I-shin seemed to be urging him for an answer.
Feeling the wind pass across his arms, his legs, his cheeks, the nape of his neck, he braced his belly.
“I am Jeong I-shin, who inherited the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture from Monk Gongheon.”
WHOOOSH—!
“Good!”
Along with Mu-sang's cry, the wind made a rough sound.
WHOOOOSH!
The wind rippled greatly and swept across the clearing.
Standing at its center and looking around, he could see the flow plainly.
His mouth would not close.
The wind, the qi of the clearing, was moving solely according to one man's will.
And its range steadily widened.
Something that could not even be called formless energy, nothing but intent, seeped into nature.
“Prove it.”
It raged according to Mu-sang's will.
It was as though an enormous mountain were looking down at him.
He could not distinguish it.
Was it the mountain, the trees, the wind, the sky?
Though he was clearly right there with the face of a fifteen-year-old boy, he could not be seen.
“Prove that you received teaching from the Evil-Destroying Vajra, that you are his successor.”
“......!”
Goosebumps rose over his whole body.
The Evil-Destroying Vajra.
A word Jeong I-shin himself had heard exactly once. Truly, only once.
The name he had heard with a dying body when he opened his eyes in this world.
That forgotten name...... revived the memory of that day.
‘Kuh-huh-huh! This humble monk......! In the name of the Evil-Destroying Vajra! I shall declare it here and now! That I will pass on ...... to this child......!’
It was the learning he had received held in those arms.
He closed his eyes. Sinking his consciousness, he entered introspection in an instant.
First he reached the qi center.
Leaving the sleeping Heavenly Thunder Qi behind, he woke a handful of amber true qi.
He drew up every last bit of the Scripture's true qi.
With this he could prove it.
But.
‘One step further.’
He wanted to prove more. He wanted to show more.
That the sole inheritor of the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture was here.
CLICK—
The first Thunder Ring turned.
CLICK, CLICK—
The faint second Thunder Ring slipped gently against it.
Turning, meshing and turning.
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK!
The Thunder Rings took in the Scripture's true qi drawn up from the qi center.
The rotation gradually accelerated. The true qi doubled, and doubled again.
KEEEEN—!!
It was true qi that had begun as a handful.
Amplified though it was, it was not an absolutely large amount.
But even that was enough.
The amber true qi that had passed through the Thunder Rings slowly took shape.
A vast and radiant temple bell rose in his mind's image.
Without a single moment of hesitation, Jeong I-shin rang the bell.
DOOOOONG—
Amber light raced through his whole body.
When he took it in with his whole body, strength seemed to overflow.
His already robust frame now writhed as though it had truly become adamantine.
It felt of a different order from before.
“Whew......”
It felt as though kicking off the ground now would send him soaring straight into the sky, so he calmed his heart.
Governing the energy with his breath, he opened his eyes.
Beyond the amber light that flashed in his eyes for an instant, he saw the small clearing.
The boy, back to an ordinary air at some point.
And behind him, five monks including Deok-myeong.
“......Huh?”
Before Jeong I-shin could ask anything.
The five monks bowed their heads with the single-palm salute, moving as one body.
And with one voice, with one intent, they opened their mouths.
―We humbly greet the successor of the divine art.
***
He learned the identities of the five monks.
The Arhat Hall Head, who leads the Hundred Eight Arhats.
The Scripture Pavilion Head, master of the Scripture Storage Pavilion, which keeps all of Shaolin's martial manuals and scriptures.
The Great Strength Vajra, one of the Four Great Vajras.
The Bodhidharma Hall Head, Deok-myeong.
And...... the Abbot of the present Shaolin as well.
‘In a word, these are the people leading Shaolin today, aren't they?’
And those people bent at the waist to pay me courtesy.
‘......This is uncomfortable!’
He had only answered Mu-sang's question of what he was.
He had proven himself with the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture.
And how startled had he been at the sight that met him afterward.
He had rushed over waving his hands, but it was not a scene easily forgotten.
‘We humbly greet the successor of the divine art.’
They were words that reached not his ears but his chest.
It was mortifying and it was embarrassing, but since it felt as though he had been acknowledged together with Gongheon and not alone, his chest tickled.
And in truth, the mortifying part was worse now.
“I cannot believe it, I cannot!”
“The highest learning of Shaolin...... aah, aah!”
“How could it be neither the Sinew-Transforming Scripture nor the Marrow-Cleansing Scripture! The Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture!”
“You are truly an arhat. Worthy of everyone's reverence.”
Surrounded by the five monks, Jeong I-shin felt his soul might leave his body.
They spoke without a moment's rest, and every word of it was wonder and praise for him.
With everyone calling him amazing, he began to feel he really had become an amazing person.
They applauded when he so much as blinked, so he wondered whether he ought to stand up and dance.
The instant he made to shift his body, Deok-myeong smacked his own knee with a SLAP!
“I-shin!”
“Y-Yes!”
“How could you!”
Only then did he see that Deok-myeong's lips were pushed out.
It was a face of no ordinary grievance.
He was deeply flustered. Had he made some mistake?
Fortunately Deok-myeong revealed the reason himself.
“How was it not the Marrow-Cleansing Scripture?”
“Yes?”
“In my presumption I had thought it could only be the Marrow-Cleansing Scripture. Even the Sinew-Transforming Scripture would have been hard to believe, and yet the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture......!”
“I-I am sorry.”
“No! It is absolutely, absolutely nothing to be sorry for!”
At Deok-myeong's cry, the monk seated right beside him nodded.
“Just so. It was this fellow's poor discernment that failed to recognize a treasure. Do not mind it, child. What fault could there be in you?”
Those were the words of the Scripture Pavilion Head, Deok-gwang.
Deok-myeong let out a snort.
“Hah! Had it been Senior Brother, his thoughts would never have reached the Marrow-Cleansing Scripture in the first place!”
“Hah! Truly ignorant!”
While the Bodhidharma Hall Head and the Scripture Pavilion Head raised their voices at each other.
The monk of the sturdiest build had at some point taken a place beside Jeong I-shin.
“Ohh.”
The one busy examining Jeong I-shin's shoulders, arms, and the broad of his back with admiration was the Great Strength Vajra, Deok-in.
“So this is a body honed by the Sinew-Transforming Scripture...... no, by the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture. Truly remarkable.”
“Th-Thank you.”
“May I touch it? Thank you.”
“Yes? Ah, yes.”
“Ohh...... Senior Brother Deok-il, Senior Brother Abbot. Look at this. How can the weave of a body be this dense? At this level he could produce force on par with force-issuing without even wrapping himself in qi.”
At Deok-in's words the two who came over let out admiration of their own without pause.
“Indeed. Seeing it up close is another matter entirely. It feels as though my eyes have been opened.”
“Child, would you visit the Arhat Hall sometime? Merely watching would be a great deal of study.”
At the words of the Arhat Hall Head, Deok-il, Jeong I-shin nodded quickly.
“It would be an honor. Call for me any time and I will come running. Though of course my learning is not much, so I do not know how much I could gain......”
“No, it is not you but the arhats who will gain the study.”
“......Yes?”
“Indeed, the children of the Nothingness generation would find it hard, but I rather think the children of the Brahma generation might gain at least a handful.”
When even the Abbot stepped in to say so, Jeong I-shin had nowhere left to lean.
He merely swayed this way and that under the hands kneading his shoulders.
But just then.
CLACK—
The door opened and Mu-sang came in.
“Tsk, tsk. You do not change no matter how you age.”
“Ahem!”
“Hem, hem......!”
“You are no different from children who have only grown bigger. Are you not ashamed before a true child?”
Mu-sang clicked his tongue and shook his head.
The five monks cleared their throats and turned their heads away.
The Great Strength Vajra and the Arhat Hall Head, who had been feeling his forearm, had returned to their original places at some point.
White-bearded monks being scolded by a boy of fifteen or sixteen.
It was still a sight he could not adjust to.
Soon Mu-sang, his gaze back to its indifference, opened his mouth.
“Child.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“I wish to hear your story.”
Jeong I-shin had finished proving himself. So no one doubted him.
Only.
“Take it as the earnestness of old men who wish to know you a little better.”
It was a gentle request.
At the sight of the five monks nodding all at once, a smile came to him on its own.
Just as Mu-sang said, every one of them was watching him with the shining eyes of a small child.
“It would be my honor.”
Jeong I-shin bowed his head, rose, and went to kneel across from them.
When he put a hand into his robes, soft fur brushed against it.
‘Ssh! Not this time!’
The flying squirrel, thinking it was being called, pestered him without stopping.
He poked it with a finger to warn it off, and then Mu-sang's voice came.
“You have companions.”
“Ah, that is......”
Before he could explain, the flying squirrel darted out and flung itself toward Mu-sang.
A golden streak of light crossed the room and landed on Mu-sang's shoulder.
Jeong I-shin was inwardly startled.
The creature had never gone to anyone but him.
It did not even slap at his shoulder but stayed quietly.
“A spirit beast. Truly pure lightning qi.”
He was blinking at an inexplicable sense of betrayal when Mu-sang gestured again.
Meaning that he should go on.
“Ahem, ahem!”
Jeong I-shin straightened his posture once more.
And this time he truly did draw the ‘wooden tablet’ from his robes.
CLACK.
The wooden tablet, set carefully on the floor.
And carved upon it, only two characters.
Gongheon.
Jeong I-shin gently stroked that name, then pushed it forward.
“Abbot, receive it.”
“Yes.”
The Abbot, Deok-hyeon, looked down at the wooden tablet he had been handed for a long while.
At last a sound of lament rang out.
“Aah! Truly, truly Sir Gongheon's......”