Poison Dragon: The Legend of an Asura — Chapter 488

Chapter 488

Beom-bon continued speaking.

“So Benefactor Poison Dragon essentially presented me with ten days. A time when Benefactor Poison Dragon can leisurely go to the main temple, or a time when returning becomes difficult if time is wasted attacking the Namgung Family here.”

“Are you saying to abandon the Namgung Family?”

“That’s correct.”

“But we also can’t return from right in front of the Namgung Family.”

“Of course. The Namgung Family that didn’t respond to our temple’s summons must be destroyed.”

“Then it will be too late to return.”

Beom-bon smiled.

“If Benefactor Poison Dragon travels north from Yuelu Mountain to Zhengzhou, there are two methods: returning through the waterway of Dongting Lake or riding along the Wuling Mountain Range and crossing the treacherous Mufu Mountain Range. Whichever way he goes, the early part of the journey takes a long time and he must pass through Wuhan. On the other hand, from this side, once we descend Mount Huang, there’s nothing blocking us to Wuhan while traveling northwest.”

“Then…”

“Benefactor Poison Dragon will pass through Wuhan within eight days. If we capture the Namgung Family within two days, it means we can reach Wuhan within six days to meet Benefactor Poison Dragon.”

“Fifteen hundred li in six days…”

He would have to run day and night, but for Beom-bon it was a distance he could cover without great difficulty.

Beom-bon shifted his gaze to the Namgung Family’s estate and said.

“Benefactor Poison Dragon’s intention wasn’t bad. No, it was quite good. He wanted to make me abandon the Namgung Family by setting the time tight. However, Benefactor Poison Dragon’s calculation didn’t consider ‘me’. Unfortunately, that’s why Benefactor Poison Dragon’s calculation became completely wrong.”

A smile formed at Beom-bon’s lips.

Not the smile of a compassionate Buddhist, but a lion’s smile before prey.

It was chillingly the relaxed expression of a predator standing at the top of the food chain.

***

Clang, clang!

Urgent bell sounds rang.

“Shaolin Temple has begun the attack!”

The Namgung Family leaders all jumped up from their seats upon receiving the report.

Everyone was greatly enraged.

“Who would have thought they’d attack targeting when the family elder is absent!”

“Since when has Shaolin Temple been doing such cowardly things!”

On top of that, they suddenly received a message from Namgung Rak telling them to surrender, making them all the more confused. Until the letter came, they were divided and fighting over whether to surrender or not, but now that the attack had begun, they had no choice but to fight.

The family head said.

“We sent people to confirm whether the message’s content is certain, so a response will come within a few days. Until then, endure with trap formations so the family home suffers no damage…”

However, before the family head could finish speaking, another report came up.

“Great Buddha has entered the third trap!”

Those words were enough to shock the family head and everyone else.

“What?”

***

On the path from outside the Namgung Family to the estate, a wide formation was spread out. Additionally, traps were installed everywhere to raise the formation’s power several times over.

If one simply thought about just the formation, they could suffer greatly.

Beom-bon carefully entered that path. Beom-bon had the Arhat monks stand by about ten zhang behind him.

Beom-bon looked all around.

Not a single butterfly flew and not a single grass insect cried. It meant he had entered within the formation’s sphere of influence.

“Hmm. So this is the core of this Fear Gate.”

Beom-bon put his hand under a rock that had moss growing on the outside, looking like it hadn’t been touched by human hands for decades, and lifted the rock.

Creak! Squeeeak!

A rock as large as a bear made an incongruous metallic sound as it lifted.

Five zhang ahead from where Beom-bon stood, thick logs studded with iron spikes poured down wildly from the side slope. From ahead of that too, and from ahead of that too!

Crash, crashhh!

Like a landslide, hundreds of trees poured down wildly.

Bang! Rumble! Crash!

If a person had been standing there, even considerable experts would have had difficulty enduring.

However, by destroying the trap’s core, Beom-bon made the entire trap that had been laid out long ahead useless.

Beom-bon dusted off his hands. He lightly rolled his feet to climb on top of the piled tree trunks. Then midway, he pulled out and cleared away entangled trees. Heavy logs twice a person’s height flew around whoosh whoosh.

Beom-bon went down below the piled trees and touched the ground.

Ru… ummm!

With a vibration, a bridge crossing the valley far ahead so distant it could barely be seen collapsed.

If they had continued down that path and the bridge collapsed, they would have had to return, wasting tremendous time.

“Death Gate within Fear Gate. Life Gate outside Death Gate. Layering traps upon traps is the Grand Harmony Total Annihilation Formation that the Namgung Family prides itself on.”

A smile appeared on Beom-bon’s face.

***

The Namgung Family leadership was enveloped in silence.

Not even a full hour had passed since Shaolin Temple started the attack, yet Great Buddha was already destroying five formations and entering.

“Great Buddha perfectly knows the Grand Harmony Total Annihilation Formation’s trap formations.”

“The Grand Harmony Total Annihilation Formation has Life Gates that all change according to time. Yesterday is different, morning and afternoon’s Life Gates are different. Even knowing it, it’s not a path one can enter just like that.”

“That means…”

The Namgung Family leaders reached an unbelievable conclusion.

“Finding the Life Gates of formations that change moment by moment means Great Buddha’s understanding of formations is extremely high.”

Great Buddha had expertise in formations.

At a considerable level too!

“That’s impossible!”

One of the younger ones shouted as if protesting.

“Even if it were the person who made this formation, they couldn’t enter at this speed.”

The Namgung Family head shook his head with a dark face.

“If it’s Great Buddha… it’s possible.”

Everyone looked at the Namgung Family head.

“If it’s Great Buddha with both understanding of formations and… Embracing Sect’s greatest martial power!”

***

A house-sized boulder fell onto Beom-bon’s head.

The Arhat monks waiting in the distance saw that Beom-bon had triggered a trap wrong and the boulder was falling. Beom-bon was also large, but the boulder was massive enough to crush about five Beom-bons.

Beom-bon belatedly raised his head to check the boulder, as if he hadn’t noticed.

“Oh my. This one’s an annoying trap to disable.”

The boulder fell directly onto Beom-bon’s head.

Kwang!

With the boulder squarely on his head, Beom-bon’s feet dug deeply into the ground.

Cracks began to run through the center of the boulder that had stopped as if time had stopped.

Creaaak!

The boulder split left and right and fell to the sides.

Crushed stone powder covered Beom-bon’s head where his precepts mark was stamped.

Beom-bon dusted off his head.

Shwaek!

Iron arrows flew from all directions. Beom-bon stood as he was. His iron robe deflected the iron arrows.

Clang! Clangclang!

Black metal pieces shaped like spade handles flew like rays of light and followed.

They were weak coins.

Coin didn’t refer to money but an agricultural tool like a spade, and weak coins in particular were weapons exclusively for great experts made by mixing soft and hard iron. When hitting protective energy, the soft iron crumples to give a blow like being hit with a hammer, and as the soft iron crumples, the hard iron like an awl inside pushes out to pierce protective energy. The power is strong but making them is equally difficult, requiring advanced refining techniques.

Several weak coins hit Beom-bon’s body.

Pyok! Pyok!

With sounds like being hit with a cudgel, the weak coins embedded in Beom-bon’s body.

Beom-bon looked briefly at the weak coins embedded in his body then pulled one out. The soft iron that wrapped the weak coin’s head was crumpled and spread, and in the center, the sharp iron spikes that had been hidden protruded in a bundle.

However, the tips of the iron spikes that were said to pierce even protective energy were surprisingly bent!

Beom-bon looked down at the holes in his red kasaya and clicked his tongue.

“Oh dear.”

However, they hadn’t penetrated through to embed in his body. Only his clothes were damaged. Beom-bon waved his palm to deflect the weak coins flying again.

Without doing much, Beom-bon had instantly neutralized one checkpoint with his body.

Beom-bon patted his kasaya to tidy it then clasped his hands while muttering.

“Namo Amitabha. Today I have greatly reflected on my teacher’s teachings once again. This is all thanks to Teacher.”

Beom-bon was born with a large frame and a slow body, so he was teased daily by the children growing up with him. Beom-bon fought every day to not be ignored, but alone he couldn’t defeat many. Rather, being ignored and teased became even worse.

Then one day, the teacher who had the greatest influence on his life said:

You have a large frame so you look straightforward and slow to others. However, I know how exceptional your mind is. Your frame hides your strengths, so that will rather become your strength.

Remember this. Neither those with the world’s best martial arts nor those with the world’s best minds are frightening. Those with excellent martial arts die in the traps of those with good minds, and those with excellent minds die by the martial power of those with excellent martial arts.

What’s truly frightening is… a person with both the cunning to compensate for lacking martial power and the wisdom to compensate for lacking martial arts.

Don’t reveal it. Without revealing it, become a person with both wisdom and martial arts.

Beom-bon still remembered his warm words.

So from that day, he began reading books. During the day he learned martial arts and at night he read books. As his teacher instructed, he steadily devoted himself without showing it to others.

Just as Taoist Haewol worked hardest at martial arts training after becoming alliance leader, Beom-bon studied scholarship ceaselessly. It was the same even after catching the abbot’s eye and entering Shaolin Temple.

Before turning twenty, Beom-bon was proficient in the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. He reached an erudite level even in fields like astronomy and geography.

Especially regarding formations that often became major headaches for martial artists, he had unparalleled expertise.

“Traps are ultimately just parts of formations.”

Beom-bon calculated the formation’s directions to find paths and destroyed trap devices’ cores. When checkpoints seemed difficult to break through even with his knowledge, he simply smashed through with force and advanced.

Therefore, Beom-bon’s steps encountered no obstacles. As per the affectionate advice of the teacher he remembered, he had become one who possessed both literary and martial arts.

“Poison Dragon, I am not a slow bear. Like others who saw me that way, you also made a mistake due to prejudice about me.”

Beom-bon smiled again.

Before half a day passed, Beom-bon alone destroyed thirty percent of the Namgung Family’s trap formations.

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