Chapter 273
Before I knew it, the Diamond Arhat’s hand was soaked in red, as if drenched in blood. His lips curved into a wide grin.
“So, I’ve been found out?”
The model monk from just moments ago was nowhere to be seen. The smile before me exuded a chilling sense of wrongness.
His eyes bulged grotesquely wide, and the blood that began from his hand soon spread past his arm, staining his entire body.
Though not a drop of blood had been spilled, the deranged monk looked like he’d been drenched in gore.
With a deep sigh, I let his name escape my lips.
“…The Blood Buddha.”
“So you do know me.”
“I happened to come across records of the madman who led the Potala Palace into corruption.”
I had only ever seen him from afar before the regression, but the memory was still vivid. A grotesque monk wrapped in blood-soaked robes, spouting lunatic proclamations—there was no way I could forget that sight.
Hearing my composed tone, the Blood Buddha nodded.
“Corruption and madness, is it? I suppose that’s how I must appear to the ignorant… But how strange. My existence should hardly be known in the Central Plains.”
“Just because you’re not well known doesn’t mean no one knows of you.”
“O deluded child… I see the stains of murder upon your soul. Are you now claiming that someone like you, a demonic cultivator hiding beneath the skin of an Orthodox warrior, has ties to Shaolin?”
“I’d rather not hear that from a madman wearing a monk’s skin.”
“Hmph. I don’t even know where to begin correcting you.”
With an unnervingly calm tone, the Blood Buddha flicked his wrist. The small bell in his palm—the Demon Bell—was instantly pulled back into his sleeve.
Cl-click.
A tongue-click escaped me instinctively.
Damn it. Hidden in his robe like that, I wouldn’t be able to track the bell’s location, and even if I did, he could easily twist his body to keep it protected.
I should’ve destroyed the bell with the first strike.
No—realistically, that would’ve been impossible. Until the moment he took out the bell and offered to let me hear it, I hadn’t suspected the Diamond Arhat of being the Blood Buddha.
In fact, if I’d suspected anything, it was that something might happen to him soon, so I’d planned to stay close and keep watch.
I’d been completely fooled.
I managed to avoid the worst possible outcome, but half the plans I’d built so far had turned to dust.
That strike just now—that was the best attack I could have launched at the time. But the Blood Buddha, wary of the possibility, had defended against it.
That’s all there was to it.
No use regretting what’s already done. Focus only on what must be cut down from here on.
Hoo.
I exhaled slowly, mixing a trace of regret and irritation into my breath, releasing it from my body.
The sensations extending from my sword grew sharper.
Just as I’d been able to feel every shift within the reach of my killing intent, I could now sense everything within the range of my willpower.
The Blood Buddha’s presence was truly strange.
It felt as if the clean, bright qi of the Diamond Arhat was still present—yet layered atop it was something thick, heavy, and reeking of blood.
Was it because he had taken another’s body? Two distinct presences radiated from him, even contradicting one another.
The discomfort of this dissonance made me grip my sword tighter.
While I was ready to strike again, the Blood Buddha was still mulling something over.
Lightly tapping his palm with his opposite fist, he suddenly widened his eyes.
“I see! It would be faster if I just explained from the beginning.”
“Huh?”
While I was ready to fight, it seemed the Blood Buddha had been pondering how to continue his speech from earlier.
Even if my earlier strike didn’t pierce him, I was still a warrior at the Flowering Stage. He couldn’t possibly look down on me this openly.
“First off, I am not a monk. After countless reincarnations, I am destined to become Maitreya Buddha in a far future age. I’ve never worn a monk’s skin… Ah, unless you’re talking about this body? In that case, I suppose you’re not entirely wrong.”
“You lunatic. Is that what’s important right now?”
“Of course it’s important. I understand that I may appear mad to those not yet enlightened, but such views are simply due to ignorance. I shall forgive you with a heart full of great compassion.”
...No. The Blood Buddha wasn’t looking down on me.
Quite the opposite—he couldn’t afford to. That’s why he was taking the time to explain himself.
Maybe he was just excited to finally be free of the bell after so long, thrilled to meet someone who recognized him.
Or maybe he was simply insane and truly believed he was Maitreya.
Or... perhaps he was secretly preparing something—like one of his esoteric Buddhist techniques.
“But child… while I may forgive you, the Maitreya within me cannot.”
Still in a calm voice, he drew forth a vajra infused with red light from his robe.
I didn’t know what he planned to do, but I wasn’t late to react this time.
KWA-RANG!
My thunderous step shook the ground.
The full power of Origin Thunder Saber surged forward, pushing aside the scenery around me as I closed the distance to the Blood Buddha.
My sword’s aura, which had briefly flared outward due to the sudden draw, was now condensed—refined into a pure white blade.
I held the sword level at shoulder height, drawn back like a taut bowstring.
As I reached a step before the Blood Buddha, I stomped down hard, pouring every ounce of power into the thrust.
Taesan Piercing Sword.
A concentrated thrust filled with intent to pierce, aimed directly at the Blood Buddha’s eye.
In life, the Blood Buddha had certainly reached the Flowering Stage. But before my regression, he’d only ever shown power near the entry level of that stage.
Sometimes, he hadn’t even seemed like a full-fledged master.
And of course, no one had ever called him an Unbreakable Vajra Body.
The reason was simple.
While the Blood Buddha retained all his enlightenment and could forcibly elevate his realm through unknown means, he couldn’t escape the limitations of his new host body.
The Blood Buddha had only been powerful after taking over Namgung Jong’s body—and now, having possessed the Diamond Arhat, he was unusually sturdy once more.
But Master Jeong Hyeon of Shaolin once said—Unbreakable Vajra Body wasn’t some great level of mastery, but simply a state that had not yet been broken.
The Diamond Arhat had trained enough to be a candidate for the Diamond Arhat seat itself. However long ago the Blood Buddha had taken his body, enough time had passed for him to reclaim the Arhat’s original level of mastery.
The way my sword had been repelled earlier, and the information I’d gathered before the regression—everything pointed to this:
The current Blood Buddha had attained the Unbreakable Vajra Body.
But that didn’t mean he was invincible.
Shreeeek!
My white-hot sword pierced toward his eye. This blade—the same one that had once pierced even the Heavenly Demon’s body—now dug into the Blood Buddha’s flesh.
I felt a strong resistance. Perhaps even his eyes had been trained?
Still, compared to the rest of his body, they were relatively soft.
The blade pushed in, at least the length of a knuckle. If I just pressed harder, I could pierce his skull, destroy the host body, and rip the bell from his robes to smash it.
I gritted my teeth, ready to drive the sword deeper—
But the Blood Buddha’s lips curled upward faintly, even as blood streamed from his impaled eye.
Just like the peaceful smile he’d worn while impersonating the Diamond Arhat.
“How foolish, child. Om.”
A strange sensation rippled through my skull, as if something had begun to vibrate from within.
At the same time, the Blood Buddha thrust his red-glowing vajra directly into his own heart.
Fwoop! KWA-BOOM!
A blast of bloody energy erupted from his chest.
It was powerful enough to shatter the surrounding walls. I tried to hold my ground, but mid-thrust as I was, I was blown away.
My body crashed through a wall and was flung outside. I spun in the air to absorb the shock and landed, quickly scanning my surroundings.
“White Moon Sword Lord?!”
“Isn’t that the Elder’s residence?! What the hell happened in there?!”
“Did they fight or something…?”
“If it was a fight, why would the White Moon Sword Lord be the one sent flying?”
Apparently, I’d landed outside the building. Passersby murmured among themselves, staring my way.
Their reactions were far too calm.
But if they loitered here any longer, they’d all be caught in the crossfire.
I drew upon my internal energy and shouted.
“Leave this place immediately! And summon the Alliance Leader, Master Tang Jincheon, and the Poison King!”
“Y-Yes, sir?”
They still didn’t seem to grasp the situation. But that wouldn’t last long.
Jingle...
A soft chime rang from the half-collapsed building.
At the same time, the eyes of the onlookers went unfocused—as if entranced by something.
The sound had no effect on me, as my internal energy and willpower protected my mind.
But those untrained... they were all mesmerized to some degree by the bell.
Then came the chanting of Buddhist scripture—not the calming kind, but the eerie kind that made every hair on your body stand on end.
Chanting as he stepped out of the building came the Blood Buddha.
His body was dyed in blood. My sword mark remained on one eye, and the vajra he’d stabbed into his heart now protruded from his chest.
As sunlight touched it, the vajra darkened and crumbled into dust.
Where the vajra had been—there was now flawless skin, dyed red, but without a single wound.
Unlike before the regression, he didn’t laugh maniacally or spew incomprehensible nonsense.
He scanned the entranced crowd, then nodded in satisfaction.
“Come, my children. Salvation is here.”
“Ah… aaah…”
“Namo Avalokiteshvara... Namo Avalokiteshvara…”
Several onlookers, eyes glazed, began stumbling forward—then suddenly rushed toward the Blood Buddha at full speed.
From their movements, they didn’t seem intent on fighting. So I grabbed the ones closest to me by the scruff and threw them far away. Those I couldn’t reach—
Hrrngh!
I extended my will, swung my sword horizontally.
The blade stretched farther than its length, slicing just deep enough into the ankles of the charging crowd to drop them to the ground.
Even then, some of them clawed at the dirt, trying to crawl closer.
So I gathered my killing intent and knocked them all unconscious.
“What pitiful creatures…”
“Like hell I want to hear that from you. Weren’t you planning to kill them anyway?”
“Not kill. I’m merely guiding them to the next life. Don’t you see? They’ll all become one with me, and together we’ll enter a Pure Land.”
He spoke with a serene voice.
But I remembered what he’d done before the regression. Enchanting people, taking their bodies, or smashing their skulls to absorb their jing, qi, and shen.
The red energy cloaking the Blood Buddha was both Buddhist energy and the gathered essence of countless others.
I said nothing and raised my sword again.
That finally woke a few high-level martial artists nearby. They weren’t fully under the bell’s spell yet, and they began dragging the dazed civilians away, shouting:
“W-we’ll call for reinforcements right away!”
At last, they’d realized something was deeply wrong.
We were in the heart of the Murim Alliance. Soon enough, the Alliance Leader, Tang Jincheon, and Seo Mun-Hwarin would be here.
No matter how far the Blood Buddha had advanced into Unbreakable Vajra Body, he couldn’t withstand four Flowering Stage warriors.
Surely, even he knew that. And yet, the Blood Buddha simply looked up at the sky, calm as ever.
“The weather is nice.”
“Yes, perfect weather for killing an old rat.”
“This body is quite excellent. It trained in Buddhist martial arts, has both inner and outer strength, and is hardened to the point that the flesh is tougher than steel… But still, not quite as good as the body of a young genius who reached mastery at an early age.”
I ignored whatever nonsense he was spouting and slashed.
My white-hot blade tore into the Blood Buddha’s body again and again.
Cutting, stabbing, slicing—deeper, and deeper still.
At first, the Blood Buddha tried to respond, but soon he couldn’t keep up. He simply took the hits, swinging his fists blindly.
Though the Diamond Arhat’s body was tough, he was a Sub-Perfection warrior. He couldn’t bring out its full strength.
Still, it was ridiculously sturdy.
Kaang! Kadeuk! Kagak!
Clashing metal and flesh—sounds hard to believe came from a sword and human skin.
Despite the force behind each strike, they barely left a scratch. And even those quickly healed, as the dark red energy rippled over his body.
I tried aiming for the eyes again, but having been hit once, he no longer left that opening.
I’d fought many martial artists with hardened bodies, but none who felt this impervious to my blade.
But I couldn’t stop now.
I knew—Unbreakable Vajra Body was merely the name for something not yet broken.
I struck his arm again, deliberately aiming for the same spot, accumulating damage.
If it doesn’t break, hit it until it does.
Just as I was about to launch a fiercer assault—
The Blood Buddha’s twisted smile deepened.
“I’ll say it again, child. What a beautiful day it is.”
As he spoke, the world turned red.
Startled, I looked up.
Blocking out the sun was the vajra he had destroyed earlier—now hovering in the sky, radiating crimson light.
He had stopped punching and was weaving complex mudras with his fingers.
Some were familiar—gestures I’d seen in statues of the Buddha.
While I paused for a moment, he completed dozens of mudras and spoke again.
“A perfect day to be reborn.”
The vajra in the sky plummeted toward my crown.
It was fast—like a lightning bolt.
But not so fast I couldn’t react. I raised my sword to intercept—
Whoosh.
My blade passed right through it, slicing only empty air.
Then the vajra struck my head.
There was no pain. But my vision went dark for an instant…
When I opened my eyes again—I was standing in front of the old Ironblood Hall compound, a place I thought I’d never see again.
And waiting at the gate was Seol Lihyang—no, it was the Demonic Sound Ice Witch.
“Ah…”
I had been too focused on the Blood Buddha’s Vajra Body to realize it, but—
He was far more versed in esoteric arts than martial techniques.
Realizing the situation, I let out a deep sigh.
Then, as per the long tradition of the martial world, I uttered the words:
“…He’s using Sorcery.”
Never thought I’d be the one saying those words.