"So, you're a Jianghu person."
Jin Cheon-hee asked, "Isn't it a shame not to witness it up close?"
"There's only one thing that bothers me. But wanting more would be greed. If there's anything I wish for, it's just to leave this world without leaving any grudges for my daughter."
"......"
There is no such thing as a clean golden wash.
The possibility of him dying naturally after losing his power is almost nonexistent.
Now, only murder remains for him, as the grudges of Jianghu will find him.
'Is it becoming similar to that time in the novel?'
In the novel, when he was defeated by Cheonma Yeoharyun and lost his innate true energy, he surprisingly did not get angry.
He simply organized his surroundings.
Overwhelming resignation allowed him to move to the next stage.
Now, with the certainty that his daughter is alive, will become his successor, and will be better than him, he seemed to enter the stage of resignation more easily.
For the one whose life has changed, the opportunity was now.
Jin Cheon-hee said, "Would you grant me one request?"
"What is it?"
"I want to witness the operation of the Bow of the Demonic Exorcism one last time."
The martial art mastered by the Bow of the Demonic Exorcism is the Pasa Divine Bow.
In terms of sects, it originated not from Daoism but from Buddhism.
Unlike Daoism, which considers becoming an immortal as the highest goal, Buddhism aims for enlightenment through desirelessness.
Jin Cheon-hee said, "Would it be rude?"
The Bow of the Demonic Exorcism said, "Not at all. However, the main technique involves repeated movements for operation, which is the method of dynamic operation. But now, the problem is that there is no bow."
Typically, Daoist operations are performed through seated meditation.
However, the Pasa Divine Bow of the Buddhist lineage reaches a state of selflessness through repeated movements, and the operation is achieved.
As befits archery, operation is performed by shooting a bow here.
Jin Cheon-hee said, "I'm not looking to witness something grand. Let's just pretend there's a bow."
"I've never done it that way before, but..."
He trailed off and nodded.
"... I will do it. Once I leave this place, I don't know when I'll see you again. But even if the operation appears clumsy, please do not blame the sect. It's just that this old man is lacking."
Starting the operation with nothing.
He took a deep breath.
The internal energy in his dantian was barely felt.
Perhaps because he had let go of everything, his mind was unusually calm.
All the money and internal energy he had clung to had been squandered on treatment.
It was as if he had lost everything he had risked his life to accumulate all at once.
And because his daughter was alive, there was no anger.
'This might be the last operation.'
The one witnessing was a small young hero, only half his height.
He might show an unsightly appearance, but he had no regrets about that either.
If it was unsightly, he thought it wouldn't be so bad.
Wasn't that also the conclusion he had built up?
Swoosh—
The bamboo leaves rustled like waves.
It was the sound of the wind.
He pulled his left heel back.
Just as swordsmanship starts and ends with the lower body, so does archery.
As he had repeated tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times, he assumed the posture.
And habitually, he reached out to grab an arrow from the quiver.
Originally, it was an unnecessary action since he was at the level of shooting energy.
But today, he moved his hand sincerely as if praying.
Tap—
Was it an illusion? He felt the texture of the arrow.
The grain of the wood and the touch of the feathers.
He didn't think deeply.
He just sank his inner self into selflessness, into selflessness.
In the pouring wind and rain, only the boy's gaze remained in his heart, guiding him.
In that, he breathed and stopped.
Eventually, he even forgot that act.
Humans rejoice, grieve, get angry, and enjoy.
It wasn't about not feeling those things.
It was about feeling them all.
Otherwise, one could not reach true emptiness.
Even the small fear that sometimes rose from the pit of the stomach had to be accepted.
Without knowing, one could not move to the next.
Buddha is like water.
Water does not reject.
Water swallows dirt and cleanses the world.
Buddha is gentle like a river and deep like the sea.
If one cannot feel emotions, it is not water.
Because it is joyful, it is painful, and because it is painful, it is the way of anger.
Anger calls for sadness, and conversely, because one knows sadness, one also knows joy.
He aimed the bow and drew the string.
Only then did he realize.
He assumed the posture and breathed.
He controlled his breath and placed his hands together.
He placed his hands together and pulled again.
With the bow and arrow gone, only the movements remained.
And what was at the end of those movements? He felt that his operation resembled the Buddhist gesture of joining hands in prayer.
Bang—
Something flew from his hands, which had neither arrow nor bow nor string.
It was not internal energy.
His empty dantian was quieter than usual.
He realized what it was.
'It was vexation.'
It was a thought.
He realized what the actions he had done tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times were.
It was a single gesture of joining hands.
Tens of thousands of prayers.
Not offered to ancestors or immortals, but to the Buddha within himself.
-Vexation is like wind, like lightning, and finally reaches vexation.
-The Pasa Divine Bow means to just discard, discard, and discard.
Why must one discard while accumulating internal energy? He pondered countless times.
He thought that the meaning of discarding was to be able to shoot the bow with only internal energy, believing that was the highest level.
It wasn't that.
'What I had to discard was myself.'
At that moment, the energy around him began to stir.
The realm of the heart sword, no, the realm of the heart bow began to arrive for him.
It was a grand realization.
The bamboo grove shook with his realization.
The pouring windstorm became applause.
Jin Cheon-hee felt the powerful wave of energy.
'Success! This is bigger than what was described in the novel!'
Rumble—
The wind passing by looked like the hand of Buddha.
If there truly was a Thousand-Handed Avalokiteshvara, that hand would look like this.
Though it resembled vexation and was violent, it harmed nothing.
The bamboo leaves swayed in the wind, but not a single vein was torn.
The wind sprouted seeds from vexation and scattered, saving sentient beings.
Vexation bloomed from the mud, and thought emerged.
The wind that started from him only carried dead bamboo leaves upward.
That appearance was like a lotus blooming from the mud.
Realization became a lotus.
The body of the Bow of the Demonic Exorcism stood tall.
And as he slowly floated into the air, energy began to swirl.
'Whoa! He's floating in the air!? Is this the so-called aerial meditation or something? But in the novel, the Bow of the Demonic Exorcism never reached aerial meditation when he awakened!'
The wind brushed past Jin Cheon-hee's earlobe.
It was refreshing.
'Anyway, I...
I did it? I thought it might work.'
Jin Cheon-hee watched in a daze and clenched his fist tightly.
'Yes! Oh, yes! Ah...! Master, look! I have renewed the Bow of the Demonic Exorcism, who will become our future servant!'
It was when he was celebrating alone.
Not long after, he sensed a presence.
"Indeed... Young master, you are truly unpredictable."
Jin Cheon-hee turned his head to the side.
It was Yoo Ho.
He had come so close, yet he hadn't sensed a thing.
Yoo Ho stood with his hands in his sleeves, looking at the Bow of the Demonic Exorcism, Wang Chaebak.
"Having lost your internal energy, I thought you would soon become a cripple, but you gained enlightenment and recovered your wounds... Seeing the aerial meditation, it seems you will reach several levels higher. You are remarkable. Young master, after Gongson Young, now the Bow of the Demonic Exorcism, Wang Chaebak."
His words were clearly a compliment filled with respect, but for some reason, his expression was only cold.
Jin Cheon-hee said, "It doesn't seem like you came purely to celebrate this situation?"
"Yes. I was thinking while watching."
"Thinking...?"
"Whether to kill you or not."
A faint smile appeared on Yoo Ho's lips.
But seeing Yoo Ho like that, Jin Cheon-hee felt cold sweat running down his spine.
A fear that couldn't be described as just chilling surged.
It was like a frog facing a snake.
In that sensation, Jin Cheon-hee asked, "Why?"
"Because the master almost lost his life. And as long as you are around, the master will continue to overexert himself. Eventually, this will repeat until he loses his life."
"......"
Jin Cheon-hee didn't respond.
He knew from the start that the act of a terminally ill patient taking on a disciple was consuming his life.
And sure enough, he almost died saving a patient.
It was a patient he wouldn't have taken if it weren't for Jin Cheon-hee.
"If you kill me, the master won't stand still."
"Yes. He would kill me in the most terrible way imaginable."
"No, well, I didn't think it would go that far. I thought he'd just cut my head off and be done with it."
"You see the master as too kind, young master. Die peacefully? That's not the kind of person our master is. Even the Demonic Cult would be shocked at how painfully he would kill me~ Starting with making pickles out of my flesh."
Honestly, it's hard to believe.
Isn't he always the one who gently nags, 'Heeya, our Heeya.
Do you want some sweets? Or dried persimmons? What do you want to eat?' with a soft smile in front of Jin Cheon-hee? It's hard to imagine such a gentle master doing such things.
'Yoo Ho is seeing our master too negatively.
I doubt his loyalty.'
Jin Cheon-hee thought Yoo Ho's words were exaggerated.
"So, what's the conclusion?"
"Seeing you ask like this, you seem to have guessed what conclusion I've reached?"
"Hahaha, your tongue is too long for someone you're about to kill."
"You have quite the guts, young master."
"That's all I have."
"Your humility is impressive."
Yoo Ho laughed coldly and said, "Before meeting you, how many meals do you think the master had in a day?"
"... Two meals a day?"
He just guessed.
Yoo Ho replied, "Once every three days, he would have a single meal of a tasteless pill made in the medical hall. The master was, how should I put it, like a blade. He was someone who didn't have emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure."
"......"
It's hard to imagine.
Now, he even takes care of lunch and eats three meals a day regularly.