CLS-Chapter 157

Chapter 157:

“Did you say Musan?”

At The Historian’s question, Guangqushen answered with a grin.

“Haven’t you already met him?”

“Do you mean Master Musan, who is called the Living Buddha?”

“That’s right.”

Guangqushen looked at The Historian as if wondering what was so surprising about this.

“You already know that Musan, that monk, is connected to Wei Yan-ho. So what’s so surprising that you’re making your eyes go round?”

“I knew it, but…”

The Historian sighed.

Of course he knew.

It was a famous fact that beside Radiant Martial Lord Wei Yan-ho, there were Master Musan, now called the Living Buddha, the Divine Beggar Guangqushen, and the Blade King Peng Daoji following him like shadows.

“So the Martial Lord met the Divine Beggar while begging, met the Living Buddha while doing business, and met the Blade King while being transported as cargo on a merchant escort?”

“That’s right.”

“What the hell…”

As rough words began to come out of The Historian’s mouth for the first time, Guangqushen clutched his belly and laughed.

“That guy was always like that.”

The Historian sighed deeply.

But Guangqushen didn’t seem to have any intention of letting The Historian off easy at this point.

“Do you know why that guy is called the Living Buddha?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s literal.”

“Pardon?”

Guangqushen spoke as if he pitied him.

“Originally, the term ‘Living Buddha’ has two meanings. One refers to someone whose Buddhist teachings are so profound that though alive, they’ve cultivated enough to be called a Buddha. The other refers to someone who has the patience to laugh heartily even in situations so harsh that others would go mad with anger.”

Guangqushen asked with a face that seemed to find this deadly amusing.

“So which one do you think he is?”

“…”

The Historian couldn’t answer.

He already knew the answer, but he couldn’t bring himself to voice that fact. It felt somehow tragic.

“Now that so much time has passed, people call him ‘Living Buddha, Living Buddha,’ so they think ‘Ah, that person must have incredibly profound Buddhist teachings.’ But the actual reason he was first called the Living Buddha was because when the Sutra Hall caught fire, he stood in front of it laughing heartily and said, ‘If the secret manuals burned, we can just rewrite them.'”

“But if one’s Buddhist teachings are high, wouldn’t their patience also be high?”

“The Yi Jin Jing original was in there.”

“Holy…”

The Historian’s face trembled.

The Yi Jin Jing original.

That wasn’t just something you could call a treasure—it was literally Shaolin’s history and soul.

“Even with the Yi Jin Jing burning, he stood there laughing heartily, so people said this monk was either crazy or his Buddhist teachings reached the heavens, and that’s how he came to be called the Living Buddha.”

The Historian began to tilt his head.

“But thinking about it, whether it’s high Buddhist teachings or deep patience, either way isn’t it a good thing?”

“You think so?”

Guangqushen began to grin.

“Human patience is something that can be innate, but it can also be trained through experience.”

The Historian, who had guessed how the situation had unfolded from Guangqushen’s words, let out a deep sigh.

“He suffered, didn’t he?”

“Terribly.”

Guangqushen giggled.

“There’s also an aspect I don’t understand. No matter how great the Sword Emperor’s Legacy is supposed to be, how could he buy it for as much as three hundred nyang?”

“You can say that because you know that secret manual was fake.”

“…”

“It’s none other than the Sword Emperor’s secret manual. There are many who would buy it even for a thousand gold. It’s only because others bought it for just two nyang. If he had said he’d sell it for three hundred nyang from the beginning, someone would have bought it for three hundred nyang.”

“Hmm…”

The Historian thought Guangqushen’s words made sense.

“And in my opinion…”

“Yes.”

“Gong Mu-jin probably didn’t have a good understanding of money.”

“…”

“I don’t know what words were exchanged between Wei Yan-ho and Gong Mu-jin, but Gong Mu-jin wanted to attach Musan to Wei Yan-ho’s side. With Shaolin’s wealth, three hundred nyang wouldn’t be much of a burden.”

“Indeed.”

“That was the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

Guangqushen nodded with a somewhat bitter expression.

“That’s when Musan, who had quite a personality, began transforming into the Living Buddha. Gong Ryeong underestimated Wei Yan-ho. If he had known his disciple would be ruined like this, he never would have attached Musan to Wei Yan-ho’s side.”

The Historian asked in disbelief.

“But in the end, isn’t he called the Living Buddha and leading Shaolin? Looking at just the results, didn’t everything turn out well?”

“Heh heh heh.”

Guangqushen laughed helplessly.

“Do you know what epithet he was called before being called the Living Buddha?”

“That’s…”

“Blood Arhat.”

“What?”

The Historian looked at Guangqushen in shock.

Blood Arhat—how could such a terrifying epithet be attached to a Shaolin monk?

Guangqushen, receiving The Historian’s gaze demanding explanation, said bitterly.

“He had a lot of anger in his heart, anger.”

The Historian, who could fully guess what the cause of that anger was, put down his writing materials and looked out the window for a moment.

‘The weather is ridiculously clear.’

—

“…Did Master abandon me?”

“How could that be?”

“But this letter, no matter how I look at it…”

“…No. It can’t be like that.”

Gong Mu-jin desperately searched for words to comfort Musan.

But his words were hollow, and the letter in Musan’s hands was all too real.

‘This is collateral, what else could it be?’

Nominally, Musan borrowed money and Gong Ryeong would pay it back, but in reality, it was closer to Gong Ryeong taking the goods and leaving Musan as collateral.

Musan had even written a promissory note, but he hadn’t even touched the secret manual. Gong Ryeong had already secured a copy from Wei Yan-ho.

‘That damn bastard.’

Gong Mu-jin looked up with blazing eyes.

“Brother! Say ah~”

“Ah~”

Wei Su-ryeon was stuck to Wei Yan-ho’s side, feeding him sweets.

‘Evil creatures.’

What kind of sweets were those?

They were sweets that Musan had run like the wind to buy after Wei Yan-ho’s single comment: “Slave, I want some sweets.” You could easily imagine the great hardship Musan had endured to procure sweets in the middle of the night.

And what was this?

“I’ve gained a slave who can get sweets faster than Red Hare, so ah, I mean, isn’t it worth three hundred nyang?”

‘I should examine that guy’s head later.’

There must be horns growing in the corners. Unless he was a demon, this couldn’t be possible.

“Brother, so how much did we earn?”

“We?”

“H-how much did brother earn?”

“Hmm, let’s see. Even excluding the promissory note, roughly four hundred nyang. Including the promissory note, about eight hundred nyang.”

“Whoa…”

Wei Su-ryeon trembled before the enormous sum.

“I’ve never seen that much money even in dreams.”

When Wei Yan-ho opened his mouth again, Wei Su-ryeon quickly put a sweet in his mouth.

Munch munch.

Wei Yan-ho was currently wandering in heaven.

If he lay still, there was a carriage that would take him to his destination. If he just opened his mouth, sweet treats would enter. Moreover, now his pockets were full, so there was nothing to fear.

‘I went through all that hell to earn a hundred nyang.’

Thinking of the hard life he’d endured trying to establish the Sacred Hand Hall, he felt it was unfair. When there was such an easy method, why did he have to suffer like that back then?

“People really should live righteously. Look, because I lived virtuously, treasures are coming into my arms by themselves.”

Heaven must have made some big mistake.

“Brother, so now we can eat as much delicious food as we want?”

“When we get to the imperial palace, there’s a person called Nokmok-pung.”

“Huh?”

“Go to that person and learn the Bone-Shrinking Technique. That way you’ll be able to handle all the excess fat. I’ll feed you until you become a pig!”

“Heh heh heh, I don’t need that much.”

Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue looking at Wei Su-ryeon.

His family wasn’t exactly poor, but they didn’t have enough that there was no burden about food and clothing. The family wealth had declined thanks to Wi Jeong-han’s absence, and the family tradition itself was quite frugal.

They said that most of the wealth accumulated by previous generations had been lost during the Demonic Cult calamity.

When Wi Jeong-han, who should be earning money in his prime, was chasing chivalry, pursuing martial studies, chasing around Demon Heads, and leaving home for duels, where would money come from?

Places like the Namgung Family and others, despite being individual clans, had wealth like mountains, and combining their businesses and land, they could buy a whole city. But his family was just a clan that wielded swords and spat a bit—they were far from wealth.

“This is why people need to earn money.”

What use was strong martial arts?

He’d never heard of rice appearing just because you’re good with a sword.

Didn’t his master also say it?

The sword creates dignity, but rice creates life.

‘Looking at it, he never said anything wrong.’

Wei Yan-ho was feeling infinite respect for his master anew. Having heard countless stories of how Baek Mu-han had traversed the martial world earning money in the past, whenever anything happened, didn’t he first worry about whether he could make money from it?

If he just reduced the bragging and violence a bit, he would have been a truly perfect master.

“Ah~”

When Wei Yan-ho opened his mouth, Wei Su-ryeon smiled brightly and tried to feed him a sweet.

But someone was quicker to put a sweet in his mouth.

“Huh?”

Wei Su-ryeon looked up with slightly surprised eyes at the person feeding Wei Yan-ho.

‘Huh? Miss Lee Seol-hwa?’

When Lee Seol-hwa, the Plum Blossom Sword Ghost’s disciple, made eye contact with Wei Su-ryeon, she blushed and turned her head slightly.

‘Oh ho?’

Judging by the high-quality jerky and provisions beside Lee Seol-hwa, it seemed she had brought food in case Wei Yan-ho got hungry.

‘To bring such things to an outside man.’

Wei Su-ryeon nodded as if she understood.

Looking closely, she was cute, and being a Mount Hua disciple, her background wasn’t bad either. No, being the Plum Blossom Sword Ghost’s disciple, you couldn’t say her background was just “not bad”—it was tremendous.

‘But it’s not enough.’

Though Lee Seol-hwa wasn’t a bad bride candidate, in her view, she wasn’t quite at the level where she could dare to call herself her brother’s wife.

‘She’s got good looks, good family, and great martial arts!’

Objectively!

Looking at it absolutely objectively, not subjectively, her brother was exceptional.

‘If only he wasn’t lazy.’

Seeing his grimy face from not washing made her sigh automatically. That damn laziness was devouring all these good conditions.

In the end, considering everything, Wei Su-ryeon concluded that Lee Seol-hwa was basically striking gold, and she smiled gently at Lee Seol-hwa.

Then she quietly offered the sweet in her hand to her.

Lee Seol-hwa silently accepted the sweet, nodded slightly, and began feeding it to Wei Yan-ho. An alliance had been formed between the two women.

But there was someone who absolutely couldn’t watch this scene.

“Don’t you have hands? Don’t you have feet? Can’t you eat with your own hands!”

At Gong Mu-jin’s roar that seemed like it would blow away the carriage, Wei Yan-ho sighed and said.

“That’s not what’s important right now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ah, you know what I mean.”

Gong Mu-jin flinched and then turned his head to look ahead.

‘What is that light?’

Gong Mu-jin’s eyes narrowed.

Is this chapter talking about going mujin or going ryeon? Seems there’s a switch mistake in name