Chapter 67
By my standards, it was hard to call those things treasures, but they were definitely worth a lot of money.
There were ornate accessories, and even weapons lavishly decorated with those same jewels.
When I saw a sword so covered in gems that it was practically glittering, I couldn’t help but frown.
How was anyone supposed to swing something like that?
If it was just to decorate the scabbard, then fine—but at that point, you might as well just say, “I’m a decoration, not a real sword.”
“Handle that properly!”
Even so, they treated those things like priceless relics.
Well, if they tried to sell them, there would be plenty of idiots dazzled by appearances who’d buy them in a heartbeat.
Either way, it was an opportunity for me.
“They wouldn’t just leave those things lying around anywhere.”
They were probably heading straight to whatever secret storage chamber they were hiding things in.
I thought I’d just quietly tail them to the spot.
But an unexpected obstacle appeared—rain, pouring down from the heavens.
“For now, move them into that pavilion over there. We can’t have damp goods ruining the rest.”
I hadn’t expected Lady Seol to be so meticulous.
The men obeyed immediately, carrying everything into the nearby pavilion.
I looked up at the sky.
“Doesn’t look like this rain’s stopping anytime soon.”
Would I have to wait for it to pass before they moved again?
Fortunately, that didn’t seem necessary.
Instead of returning home, Lady Seol pressed on through the rain, taking a few of her attendants with her.
Something about her behavior told me this wasn’t over yet.
“Maybe she’s heading to the secret vault.”
That seemed more than plausible.
I quietly followed her—and soon, I saw something that widened my eyes in disbelief.
It was something I hadn’t even imagined.
“Since when… has that been there?”
Lady Seol had stopped before a large, clearly man-made pond.
But what caught my attention wasn’t the pond—it was the man standing guard before it.
A man wearing a bamboo hat—jukrip-in.
Someone… interesting.
Until I actually saw him, I hadn’t sensed his presence at all.
And that was shocking, because I’d easily noticed every other master-level guard hidden throughout the Central Prince’s residence.
There was only one thing that could mean.
“At least super–grandmaster level.”
Super–Grandmaster—a realm so high that only a handful among the world’s greatest martial artists ever reached it.
Those who attained it were automatically ranked among the hundred strongest under heaven.
And the man before me… was exactly that.
But the most shocking thing happened next.
Smack!
Lady Seol suddenly walked up to him—and slapped him across the face.
Slapped a super–grandmaster.
Of course, her strike didn’t actually hurt him. A woman with no martial training couldn’t possibly harm such a being.
The man didn’t even flinch.
It was Lady Seol who winced, clutching her stinging hand with a shriek.
“You filthy—!”
Apparently, cursing wasn’t enough to calm her down, because she swung at him again.
At least this time she didn’t aim for his face—she smacked at his bamboo hat instead.
He didn’t dodge, and the hat went flying off, revealing the face of a middle-aged man beneath.
My curiosity deepened.
A defrocked monk?
It wasn’t hard to tell.
The shaven head, and the faint mark on his forehead—the ordination seal of a Buddhist disciple.
But more than half of that mark was scarred over, as though he’d deliberately defaced the sign of his order.
“Where was he from…?”
If he’d reached super–grandmaster level, he had to be from a prestigious sect.
Shaolin, perhaps?
Or maybe the Thousand Buddha Association, which had risen to power in the last century.
Or even a monk from India?
But my speculation didn’t last long.
The air itself grew heavy—like my very soul was being crushed.
I looked again and realized:
His eyes—gleaming faintly gold—were staring right at me.
That shouldn’t have been possible.
Even a grandmaster couldn’t detect me in my current state.
So there was only one explanation.
“A Shaolin monk, then.”
The Shaolin Temple—the greatest martial sect in the world, surrounded by countless legends.
That golden aura in his eyes could only mean one thing: he had mastered Diamond Divine Power (金剛神功), one of Shaolin’s highest techniques.
Frankly, I was surprised.
Shaolin didn’t just release defrocked monks like this into the world.
“At the very least, they destroy the dantian before exile.”
A defrocked monk was someone cast out for breaking sacred vows.
Ordinary monks might simply be expelled.
But warrior monks were far more dangerous—Shaolin crippled their internal energy, cutting their tendons and sealing their dantian so they could never fight again.
And Shaolin was notorious for handling such matters without mercy.
There was a reason for that.
The Blood Monk Myunggwang.
A century ago, a defrocked monk whose power Shaolin had spared out of pity had betrayed them—joining the Demonic Sect and bathing the land in blood.
He even led demonic forces to storm Shaolin itself, slaughtering countless monks.
That betrayal forced Shaolin to close its gates to the world for generations.
Their mercy had come back to them as a river of blood.
So, ever since, they’d never let a defrocked monk walk free.
Which meant…
“If he’s here, something’s changed inside Shaolin.”
Whatever it was, I couldn’t figure it out here.
I decided to use my Eye of Clarity (明眼).
“With this, I might be able to see his name—or at least a clue.”
Just as I was about to activate it—
“If you don’t do anything foolish, I’ll let this pass.”
A deep, resonant voice echoed in my mind.
It was the monk—warning me.
He didn’t seem to know exactly what I was about to do, but he knew I was trying something.
The golden light in his eyes flared brighter.
That, in itself, was strange.
Not only had he noticed, he was offering me a warning instead of attacking outright.
“Every defrocked monk I’ve met was insane…”
In Buddhism, compassion is a core virtue.
To break vows so badly as to be expelled meant you had committed a grave sin.
Most defrocked monks lost their sanity, consumed by wrath or madness.
But this man—nothing of the sort.
His calm, his restraint… it was unnatural.
“You—why are you just staring like that!?”
Lady Seol lashed out again, and again he endured in silence.
Seeing that, my opinion of him rose even further.
“To suffer this humiliation and still remain here in the Central Prince’s mansion…”
Was it loyalty?
Unlikely.
There wasn’t even a trace of emotion in his eyes—not toward Lady Seol, not even disdain.
If he served the Prince himself, maybe… but even then, that expression—
It reminded me of something.
“Like the Shadow Unit of the old Martial Alliance…”
The Eunyoungdan—an elite covert group that once handled the Alliance’s darkest missions.
I’d met them once, long ago.
They had the same eyes—emotionless, stripped of ego.
“They erase all feeling, all self, to complete their missions…”
Could this monk be the same?
No way to know.
But one thing was certain.
“I’d better not provoke him.”
He’d shown mercy once—no reason to push my luck.
And fighting a Shaolin super–grandmaster while my spirit was detached from my body… was a terrible idea.
Even if I could restrain him using divine power, it would come with heavy limitations.
“Besides, I’ve already learned what I needed.”
My gaze shifted to the pond behind him.
A location guarded by someone like him—and one Lady Seol had trudged through rain to reach.
It was obvious.
This was the secret vault.
I withdrew my Eye of Clarity, and the monk likewise looked away.
He seemed to lose all interest in me.
I watched him a little longer.
Then his attention finally returned to Lady Seol.
“You—!”
Whack! Whack!
She was still attacking him—screaming insults, striking him even with a sword she’d snatched from her attendants.
Whoosh!
Thud!
It was a real blade, sharp enough to cut steel—yet her swings only tore his robes.
His skin remained untouched.
That only enraged her more.
“Damn you! You’ll see, Gong Jin! I’ll crush that arrogant nose of yours!”
Gong Jin.
So that was his name—and his generation name as well.
Thanks to Lady Seol’s tantrum, I’d gotten both his name and rank.
If that was his real name, I could dig up his background through the Hao Clan’s network later.
But for now…
“……”
Gong Jin didn’t react, didn’t even blink.
Eventually, Lady Seol exhausted herself, panting, and hurled the sword aside.
Then she turned toward the pond and said curtly:
“Open it.”
At that, Gong Jin finally moved.
He turned, faced the pond, and thrust his fist forward.
It looked like a simple punch—but the air itself trembled with the layered insight of a super–grandmaster.
The sound wasn’t that of wind, but of a massive drum being struck.
Duuuum!
The space wavered—and then, the illusion cloaking the pond dissolved.
A hidden pavilion revealed itself, rising from the mist like a phantom temple.
I watched it all in silence, then sighed softly.
“So this… is a formation that only a super–grandmaster can open.”
