Wudang Sacred Scriptures

—Sssrrrk!

The white teacup filled with jade-colored tea.

“Please drink.”

Abbot Seonwol of Huayang Temple slid the cups toward Chwi Dugae and Kwak Yeon.

—Sssip!

Chwi Dugae drank coolly and was the first to set down his cup.

Abbot Seonwol set his own cup down half-drunk.

“The Sub-Branch Master of the Beggar Clan has paid us an honored visit, but this poor mountain temple has nothing to offer but tea. I am ashamed.”

Chwi Dugae waved a hand.

“Abbot, it’s fine. The tea is excellent; it quenched my thirst at once.”

“I am relieved it suits the Sub-Branch Master’s palate.”

Smiling faintly, Abbot Seonwol turned to Kwak Yeon.

“You say you seek instruction, Taoist Kwak, but this poor monk’s awakening is shallow; I have nothing further to give you in words. You braved a harsh road only to be disappointed—I can only apologize.”

“To have beheld the holy monk’s countenance was worth the climb. And you have honored us with fine tea besides—think nothing of it.”

Chwi Dugae cut in:

“Abbot Seonwol, meeting like this is an affinity in itself. How about a single word at least? Whether Buddhist gate or Taoist gate, taken large, we are one family under one roof.”

“Heh. Since the Sub-Branch Master puts it so, I suppose I must let fly a foolish word.”

Abbot Seonwol picked up a ruddy rosary. As he counted the beads one by one, he went on:

“Shameful as it is, when I was a novice I committed a sin and was made to face a wall in a remote cave for ten years.”

It was a startling confession.

They knew temples punished errant monks by making them look at the wall all day.

But ten full years of wall-facing—

“In that cave, staring at the wall, I forgot all things; only this thought I could not erase to the end: ‘Nature is not empty.’”

Fixing his gaze on Kwak Yeon, Abbot Seonwol continued:

“I do not know if I’ve uttered vain words, but if you are Taoist Kwak, someday you will weigh and grasp the meaning.”

Looping the one-hundred-eight-bead rosary he had been rolling over his forearm, Abbot Seonwol joined his palms.

“My desire is to keep you long and talk over tea, but we are in meditation retreat; time is not generous. Do not resent it.”

At the abbot’s gentle dismissal, Kwak Yeon joined his palms in return.

“We already felt at fault for intruding upon a place devoted to cultivation. I am grateful to have received a precious Dharma topic.”

“Then go in safety.”

Abbot Seonwol rose and opened the meditation cell’s door.

As he stepped out through the meditation cell’s door, Kwak Yeon asked quietly:

“I do not see the other monks—are they all in the meditation cells?”

“They are all in ango meditation; that is why.”

Answering simply, Abbot Seonwol spoke to the novice waiting before the meditation hall:

“Novice, guide the donors to the first gate.”

Chwi Dugae shook his head.

“Abbot, the novice must have many tasks—no need.”

After they left the meditation hall and descended into the Great Hall’s yard, Chwi Dugae asked Kwak Yeon in a low voice:

“Seems like it isn’t them, doesn’t it?”

Kwak Yeon said:

“Thus far, there is nothing suspicious.”

Within the meditation cell, Kwak Yeon had unfolded the External Spirit Boundary to quietly provoke Abbot Seonwol.

Anyone training in the arts would react by nature to the External Spirit Boundary’s stimulus.

But there had been no response from Abbot Seonwol.

Not reacting to that stimulus meant either his inner energy was husbanded so deeply it did not stir—or he had no inner energy at all.

All the circumstances pointed to Huayang Temple as their hideout, yet there was no proof to nail it down.

Nor could they simply turn the temple inside out and ransack it. All the more with a Beggar Clan Hu Gae at his side.

If word spread that the Sub-Branch Master of the Beggar Clan had forced his way into a temple and shattered the meditation retreat of meditating monks, even Beggar Clan Leader Yongdu could no longer cover for his disciple.

“Brother Kwak, shall I play the madman and throw open the meditation cells?”

Perhaps reading Kwak Yeon’s mind, Chwi Dugae spoke bluntly.

“You’re guessing, as I am, that if they are here, they’ll be hiding in the meditation cells?”

“Let’s think a little further. There may be another way.”

At Kwak Yeon’s answer, Chwi Dugae let out a low sigh.

“Damn it. If there were even a whiff they were sham monks, I’d strong-arm them...”

He had searched with eyes like fire, but Abbot Seonwol’s monk’s bearing was unmistakable.

“When he said he’d faced the wall in a cave for ten full years—he wore the aspect of a great monk. As for ‘nature is not empty,’ I haven’t a clue what that means.”

“...!”

“If I’d known, we should have come over the back wall instead of straight through the first gate.”

Given Kwak Yeon’s character, he could never say such a thing; Chwi Dugae could not bring himself to propose it.

Kwak Yeon was the sort to declare first that he was a disciple of Samryeong Palace on Mount Wudang, even before vile men.

“Climbing the back wall is something we can do at any time—what’s there to regret?”

“Hm?”

Startled, Chwi Dugae asked:

“You truly mean it?”

“I resolved long ago that if there’s even a sliver of doubt, I won’t quibble over methods.”

“Now that’s a line to my liking.”

Pleased by the answer, Chwi Dugae smiled—and narrowed his eyes.

“Brother Kwak, you’ve found something suspicious, haven’t you?”

Kwak Yeon nodded slightly.

“I found it just now—when I heard what you said.”

“What I said...?”

Chwi Dugae’s eyes went round.

“What did I say...?”

“The abbot is watching us. For now, know only that much.”

The curiosity was nearly killing Chwi Dugae.

But knowing Abbot Seonwol was still looking at the backs of their heads, he could only hold his tongue.

****

Abbot Seonwol watched Kwak Yeon and Chwi Dugae recede beyond the Guardian Kings Gate and curved his mouth in a bitter smile.

‘To let prey crawl in of its own accord—and send it away whole.’

And not just any prey—prey rich with nourishment.

The Beggar Clan Hu Gae’s arts were not to be dismissed, and the young man claiming to be a disciple of Samryeong Palace on Mount Wudang clearly had a hand as well.

If he seized the vital breaths of those two, he could step in a leap to the extreme-demonic realm.

But they were prey too dangerous to work on.

‘Of course the Beggar Clan would know the Hu Gae’s movements. If the Hu Gae went missing here, the business at this site would have to be folded. Worse, if the Beggar Clan scoured the martial world to find him, it would surely burden the Great Work.’

As it was, an alert had been issued concerning the Dark Cavern Taoist.

The alert level set for the Dark Cavern Taoist was: avoid.

Avoidance meant: unless unavoidable, shun contact and turn away.

It was the alert given to those who did not hinder the Great Work but had a chance of treading on the tail.

Once today’s matter was reported, that alert might be raised.

‘But how did they catch the scent and come all the way here?’

He suddenly recalled that among the Taoists seized at the Wuyi Sect’s Immortal Lodge, there had been one from Mount Wudang.

‘They called him Sage, I think.’

It had been a minor headache that a Wudang Taoist had been swept up—none had expected one to be in Fujian.

Naturally, they thought Wudang would send investigators and raise a clamor, but there had been no word, and he had been at ease.

Then the Dark Cavern Taoist had appeared out of nowhere.

‘If they’ve caught the scent properly, they will not retreat so easily.’

Of course, if the two were wholly taken in by his perfect monk’s play and left for good, he would have nothing to regret.

He would have obeyed the alert and secured the business here for continuance—and would be credited accordingly.

‘If they come back, that too has its merits.’

No—he desired it above all.

They would have to fold the business here; but then he could seize the vital breaths of the two and, in addition, take in their inner energy whole.

It was a situation of rice cakes in both hands.

‘For now, since the big cakes may return, preparations must be made to receive them.’

A little ways beyond the first gate, Kwak Yeon and Chwi Dugae took a narrow path up the mountain.

They took position on the mountainside, from which the whole of Huayang Temple lay below.

“Are you planning to lie in wait up here?”

At Chwi Dugae’s question, Kwak Yeon nodded.

“Something like that.”

“Something like...? If it’s an ambush, it’s an ambush—what’s ‘something like’? And what good is lying in wait this far off? People will look like ants.”

Kwak Yeon could not reveal that, with Moonlight Palace’s Solitary Moon Illumines the Boundless Skill, this was a suitable distance for surveillance, so he changed the subject.

“Elder Brother, aren’t you curious why I said there was something suspicious?”

“Oh? I am. Very—very much.”

“It was because of the Dharma topic the abbot tossed.”

“‘Nature is not empty’—that one?”

“Yes.”

“Why...? Aren’t monks’ koans always out of the blue like that?”

“They are.”

Kwak Yeon nodded easily and continued:

“Even so, they always carry meaning.”

“You’re saying that abbot’s Dharma topic meant nothing? He said he gained it after ten years facing the wall.”

“That is why I became suspicious.”

“Hmm?”

“‘Nature is not empty’ was one of the phrases written on the scroll in the meditation hall.”

“Brother Kwak, you noticed even that?”

He had examined in detail, in case there was anything at all to draw suspicion.

After five days of forced march without proper food or rest, it was formidable will and focus.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Chwi Dugae said:

“In any case, if he gained the insight through ten years of wall-facing, he’d have written it down.”

“At first, I thought so as well.”

“...?”

“But when you mentioned, as we passed the Great Hall’s yard, the tale of ten years facing the wall, a doubt struck me. I recalled how, at your request for a word, the abbot’s eyes had briefly touched the scroll.”

“...?”

“If it were an insight gained by ten years of wall-facing, it would be carved deep in his chest—he would have no reason to glance at the scroll.”

“There’s a bit of conjecture there, but it’s worth suspicion.”

“What clinched it was the claim of ten years of wall-facing.”

“That didn’t sound like a lie... his face was deadly earnest when he said it.”

“I thought so, too.”

“...?”

“But no matter how strict the temple, isn’t ten years of wall-facing too harsh a punishment?”

“That’s true. Even Shaolin, unless it’s the crime of killing a preceptor, sets three years as the utmost.”

“Moreover, he said he received that punishment for something done as a novice.”

“Why is that strange?”

“Think closely. It means he was not punished at once as a novice, but punished later for it.”

“Huh—so it does.”

A novice is a monk not yet of age. The notion that such a young novice would face the wall and awaken to a meditation koan did not fit from the start.

“In any case, we’ll know by watching.”

Turning his gaze to Huayang Temple, Kwak Yeon went on:

“If we have stirred the hive, there will surely be a reaction.”