[TS] Became a Peach Saint – Chapter 284

“Daeju, this is Shaolin Temple.”

“Right. It’s definitely Shaolin Temple.”

“Ever since we headed towards Sung Mountain, I had a bad feeling about this.”

The Heavenly Blood Members, standing far from Shaolin Temple, began murmuring among themselves.

Shaolin Temple is a place where all eyes of the Murim Alliance and the Central Plains are focused—no exaggeration there.

Hundreds of visitors pass through its doors daily, and it’s a place that uses the energy of subduing demons, standing in direct opposition to demonic energy.

Because of this, even the Heavenly Blood Members couldn’t approach Shaolin Temple while maintaining their energy veins.

“Daeju, are we just supposed to wait like this? We can’t even catch a glimpse of Han So-jeo.”

“Don’t worry. No matter how bold Han So-jeo is, he wouldn’t dare cause trouble at Shaolin Temple.”

*Boom—!*

At that moment, a loud noise reached the ears of the Heavenly Blood Members.

“Jogang.”

“Yes, Daeju.”

Jogang stepped forward at Daeju’s call.

“Can you tell what that sound is?”

“Hmm…”

Jogang, standing beside Daeju, pondered deeply to analyze the sound he had heard.

Each Heavenly Blood Member had their own specialty in tracking techniques, and Jogang was particularly renowned for his exceptional hearing.

His “Thousand-Mile Listening Technique” was so famous that it was joked he could hear sounds from a thousand miles away.

“It sounds like a drum exploding. I can’t hear it clearly due to the anti-demon barrier, but this is…”

“This is?”

Daeju asked again in a tense voice.

“It’s the sound of Daeju’s stomach growling.”

***

*Flap flap!*

Hearing the sound of wings, Grim Sword opened the wooden window of the cart, and a black hawk flew in.

As always, an official document was tied to the hawk’s leg.

“It’s here.”

Grim Sword handed the hawk a piece of jerky and untied the document.

“……”

“Grim Sword, why so quiet?”

At Dokma’s urging, Grim Sword showed him the document he had just read.

───

Kaifeng branch annihilated by Shin Yi

Black Snake Sect’s Kaifeng branch annihilated by Shin Yi

Yin Water Sect’s Kaifeng branch annihilated by Shin Yi

Hyeonryeong is using all his wealth to aid the common people

Hyeonryeong’s unexplained madness

Periodic attempts at self-harm

Next destination unknown

Blood─

───

“What? Are you saying the kid messed with the coffin now?”

“That’s what it says. It’s from Daeju of the Heavenly Blood, so it must be accurate.”

“No way, he just left not long ago!”

Shin Yi, who had cheerfully left the Divine Teaching as if going out to play, didn’t just cause a small incident—he caused a massive one.

“This isn’t just a minor conflict—it’s annihilation. What on earth…”

Gwonma, who had been reading the document alongside Grim Sword, glanced at Blood Demon sitting nearby.

“Grand Elder. What news did you receive in the document before we departed?”

“After beating the imperial Jin Musa to death, he tied him to the back of the cart and dragged him around.”

“……What?”

Gwonma wondered if he had misheard due to his age.

He had thought it was just a minor scuffle with some local thugs when he read the earlier document. But beating a high-ranking imperial official? That’s something even kids wouldn’t do.

It was something completely different from the usual nonsense.

The place that people point fingers at, calling it a madhouse, is the Demonic Cult, the Cheonma Shin Guild. But even in such a guild, no one had ever done something like this before.

***

“Is it tasty?”

“Yes!”

“It’s medicine, so eat a lot.”

The novice monks, each holding a plate, happily eat the meat.

“But, patron, is it okay to eat so much medicine? There’s a saying that too much is as bad as too little.”

“There’s also a saying that more is better. As long as you don’t overdo it, it’s fine to eat until you’re full.”

“Ah, I see!”

One of the little monks who asked me seemed to agree and started eating the meat again.

This is not a place that worships divine beings.

When I told them to pray to Buddha before eating, the children chanted as if they were reciting a sutra. They are all here to study to become Buddhas.

In this process, Buddha is just a being who teaches the methods of study.

─Chik, chik.

“Phew─”

Stepping back and lighting a cigarette, I watch the children eat, and suddenly, the words of my staff technique master come to mind.

***

Standing on the low-hanging cloud, the master, who was reading a comic book, glances at me.

“You’ve gotten pretty good at riding the cloud without falling off, huh?”

“I’m your disciple, after all. Staying still is easy. Moving is the problem.”

Baekseol, fascinated by the cloud, keeps poking it with her cotton swab, playing around.

Sadly, she hasn’t caught anything yet.

“If you master the Cloud Technique, you can travel 100,000 li in an instant.”

“Master, use the metric system when you’re being serious. And stop lying. That’s almost reaching the speed of light.”

“I’m not lying.”

100,000 li is roughly 40,000 kilometers. That means circling the Earth in an instant, which is almost 1/7th the speed of light.

In other words, 0.13 times the speed of light. That’s 0.13C.

“Master, are you an arts major? Don’t piss me off. If a mass moves at that speed, it’ll collide with air molecules and cause a nuclear reaction.”

“What’s a nuclear reaction?”

“It explodes. Everyone around would be sent straight to the afterlife.”

Thud!

“Oof!”

As soon as I retorted, the cloud gave way, and my butt hit the ground.

This is what happens when you lose focus even a little.

“Ugh, seriously. So, Master, can you really travel 100,000 li in an instant?”

“I haven’t mastered it yet.”

“Then how do you know it’s 100,000 li or a million li?”

“I just know. The Cloud Technique is the manifestation of my enlightenment, the truth of all phenomena. It’s just how it was created.”

“Ugh, you’re such an arts major.”

These divine beings always use such difficult words.

Talking to them makes me feel like a child again.

Unless I had an interest in literature, I’m so lacking in that area that I can’t understand a thing.

“Teach me in a more intuitive way, like with numbers.”

“Disciple, are you an idiot?”

Whoosh─!

“Eek!!”

As I swung the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the master let out a scream and flipped over, his back nearly breaking.

“I told you not to swing that Ruyi Jingu Bang around like that! If you get hurt, there’s no treatment for it!”

“Heehee, Ga-eul isn’t stupid.”

Whoosh─!

Twisting space, it thrusts.

With extreme strength.

The Great Heavenly Flow’s Ruyi Jingu Staff Technique

**〈Thrust〉**

Crash─!!

The Ruyi Jingu Bang, with a mass exceeding 8,000 kilograms, tears through the air and shoots out at high speed.

Thud!

Yet, it’s effortlessly blocked.

The master had picked up a thin twig from the ground and lightly parried the staff that had been thrust with all his might.

“Ugh, you’re really crazy.”

“Fight properly.”

“If I fight properly, you’ll die.”

“Then fight really weakly.”

“If I fight really weakly, you’ll die.”

“I’m leaving.”

Turning his back on the master, his clothes stretch as he comes to a halt.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to Hercules. He said he’d teach me a mission today where I can easily catch a lion.”

“Hey, I can teach you better! Why are you being so cold?”

“You keep using difficult words!”

Even though he tries to move forward, Son Goku’s grip on his clothes keeps him from moving.

“Alright, sit down.”

“Easy.”

“I got it.”

Reaching into the storage space, he pulls out a handful of snacks.

“Have a snack while I explain it easily, Master.”

“Hmm. Shall I?”

Son Goku, with a bright smile, takes the snacks and sits down on the grass.

He must be sick of eating snacks, but I don’t know why he’s so happy.

“Look. Who are the people receiving teachings from Buddha?”

“Uh… monks?”

“You know well. Monks are not those who worship divine beings.”

“Then?”

Sitting face to face on the grass, the master meets his gaze.

“Buddha is merely someone who walks the path first and shares his enlightenment with monks. In other words, he’s not an object of worship.”

“Oh ho.”

“Walking the path of Buddha to become a Buddha through self-awareness. That’s the Buddhist path. What’s emphasized in this process is the Middle Way.”

“What’s the Middle Way?”

“Not leaning to one side. Neither asceticism nor indulgence.”

Son Goku, who usually seems endlessly light-hearted, is actually someone who has attained the status of Buddha.

“Shakyamuni is a liberated being free from the cycle of reincarnation. But he’s not omnipotent. Similarly, Buddha is not omnipotent. He just realized it first.”

“All beings starting from the same line can become Buddhas.”

Son Goku, who had been unusually serious, finally smiles.

“Right. Disciple, why did you act like a fool when you’re so smart?”

“I really feel like giving you a chestnut.”

“Haha.”

The master bursts into laughter.

“But then, does that mean we should castrate our emotions? Monks say pleasures hinder liberation, so they don’t even eat tasty food.”

“It’s different.”

“What’s different?”

“Permanence, not impermanent. Joy, without suffering, is enjoyable. Self, meeting the true self. Purity, freeing the mind from afflictions with a pure heart.”

Son Goku stares at me as if asking how I’m doing.

If that’s Son Goku as Buddha teaching me, it doesn’t seem any different from usual.

That kind of thing can’t be the castration of emotions.

“Your left eye.”

“Left eye? The left eye?”

“Now even your wisdom eye has opened. Can’t you see the laws of the universe a little bit?”

“Laws?”

I see.

If what Son Goku is saying is about understanding and accepting principles, then it makes sense that I can see.

Even a language I heard for the first time was immediately understood, I could tell what kind of fish I caught while surviving, and I could also tell what kind of friend the deer that suddenly approached during my travels was.

“Do you know what this is?”

Son Goku’s eyes, which were sitting, began to burn bright red and gradually mixed with red and gold.

Just looking at it makes me feel dizzy.

“That is the Middle Way and enlightenment of the Tathagata. It is the Five Eyes of the Tathagata.”

***

“Disciple, you are one who pioneers without being bound like the Tathagata. Find your own Middle Way and walk your own path.”

“Phew─ What is he talking about, really…”

“Patron, can I really eat as much as I want?”

“Of course! I asked Buddha, and he said it’s okay.”

Shaolin Temple probably considered fullness a pleasure. That’s why the children probably didn’t know how to eat until they were full.

The reason the children chanted Buddhist prayers to me was that, for that moment, I was their Buddha.

“They are bound by the limits of the flesh, but you are different. So find your own path.”

As I was recalling what Master Son said, I felt a presence outside the door.

“What’s there that keeps coming back? Who is it!”

With my words, two old monks enter from outside the door.

One is the grandfather I already knew, and the other is someone I’m seeing for the first time.

“Amitabha. This monk is the abbot of Shaolin Temple, called Hyegwang.”

“Abbot? I’m also an abbot. Are you also from the literature department, grandfather?”

“If you mean literature, I have studied enough to not be foolish.”

Science internet broadcasting abbot VS literature Shaolin Temple abbot.

My heart feels like it’s about to tighten at the sudden realization of a century-old showdown.

“Hoho. But why are the children eating meat?”

“It’s medicine.”

“It looks like meat.”

“I don’t know. Since the monks need to take medicine, could you please leave without giving me a hard time?”

Hyegwang’s eyes begin to shine with clear energy.

Behind that, a huge pressure looms.

“Speak nicely when you open your pretty eyes.”

“·····Geumjeong?”