As if he had been drenched in a coat of blood, the Vajra Arhat's hands were stained crimson. The corners of his mouth curled upward.
"Caught me?"
The exemplary Buddhist disciple from moments ago was nowhere to be seen—what emanated from the smile before me was a chilling, uncanny dissonance.
His eyes were bulging open in a bizarre manner. The coat of blood that began at his hands soon spread past his arms and across his entire body.
No one had shed a single drop of blood, yet the strange monk was dyed red as if he had been drenched in it.
With a deep sigh, I let the name of that creature slip from my lips.
"Blood Buddha…"
"Tsk. So you do know me."
"It just so happens I've come across records of the madman who led the Potala Palace into corruption."
I'd only ever seen him from a distance before my regression, but I remember it vividly to this day. How could I not?
A strange monk draped in blood-soaked robes spouting mad words. Even I couldn't forget a sight like that.
At my calm tone, the Blood Buddha nodded.
"Corruption and madness, you say. That's how it might appear to the eyes of the deluded… but how strange. My existence was never widely known here in the Central Plains to begin with."
"Not being widely known doesn't mean no one knows."
"Foolish mortal. I can see the karmic sin of killing upon you. Surely you don't intend to claim that an unorthodox sect like you, hiding under the skin of the orthodox, has some connection to the Shaolin Temple?"
"I'd rather not hear such words from a madman wearing a monk's skin."
"Hmph. I hardly know where to begin."
The Blood Buddha spoke in a composed tone as he flicked his wrist. The hand bell in his palm vanished into his sleeve in an instant.
"Tsk."
A click of the tongue escaped me on its own. At this rate, even if I knew where it was hidden beneath his robes, the Blood Buddha could simply twist his body slightly to block any strike aimed at it.
I should have destroyed the bell with my first blow.
No. That had been practically impossible. Until the bastard pulled out the bell, until he shook it while promising to show me something beneficial, I had no reason to suspect the Vajra Arhat of being the Blood Buddha.
If anything, before anything happened to the Vajra Arhat, I had been thinking I ought to stay close and protect him.
I had been completely deceived. I had merely avoided the worst outcome, but more than half of the plans I had established so far had turned to nothing.
The strike from a moment ago had been the best sword I could wield at the time, and the Blood Buddha, prepared for any contingency, had blocked it.
That was all there was to it.
There was no point in lamenting what had passed. From now on, I would only think about what I was going to cut down.
"Hoo."
I released the irritation-laced regret that surged up in that instant, scattering it outside my body with a single exhale. The senses that extended outward from my sword grew even sharper.
Just as I had felt everything happening within the range of my killing intent through my skin, now everything within the reach of my Intent was felt directly.
The Blood Buddha's Aura was truly bizarre.
For the past few days, it felt as though a sticky, blood-reeking energy had been draped over the Vajra Arhat's clear Aura.
Perhaps it was because he wore another's body. Two Auras emanated from a single person, and they were even contradictory.
The discomfort brought on by that sense of wrongness. It was then that I tightly gripped the hilt of my sword.
Before me, the Blood Buddha, who had still been pondering something, lightly tapped his palm with his opposite fist and opened his eyes wide.
"That's it! It'd be faster to just explain from the beginning."
"Huh?"
I had been preparing to fight, but it seemed the Blood Buddha had actually been thinking about how to continue what he had been saying a moment ago.
No matter that my sword had failed to cut him down, I was still a martial artist of the Harmony Realm. It was by no means enough to be so openly looked down upon.
"First of all, I am not a monk. Having been reborn countless times, I am destined to become the Maitreya Buddha of the distant future, so I have never worn the robes of a monk. Ah, are you perhaps referring to this physical body? If so, that is not entirely wrong."
"Madman. Is that what matters right now?"
"It matters greatly. I understand that I appear insane in the eyes of sentient beings, but that is only because they have not yet attained enlightenment. With a heart of great compassion, I shall forgive you."
…No. Now I saw it. The Blood Buddha had not been looking down on me at all.
On the contrary, it was because he could not afford to dismiss me that he had taken the time to explain himself.
Perhaps it was because he had been trapped in that bell for so long and had finally emerged into the world to meet someone who knew of him. Or perhaps he had truly gone mad, firmly believing without a doubt that he was the Maitreya Buddha.
Or maybe he was secretly preparing something. …Something like the techniques of Vajrayana, for instance.
"However, sentient being. Though I may forgive you, the Maitreya Buddha within me cannot forgive you."
He continued in a composed tone, drawing from his bosom a vajra scepter wreathed in a crimson aura.
I did not know what he intended to do, but this time, I noticed it before it was too late.
BOOM!
The thunderous sound of a footstep striking the ground. The Thunder Step, unleashed at full force, pushed the surrounding scenery aside as it closed the distance to the Blood Buddha.
The Sword Force, which had only swollen in size from being drawn out in haste, had already condensed into a white sword.
The gripped blade, held level with my shoulder and parallel to the ground, was drawn back fully like a bowstring.
And the moment I arrived a single step before the Blood Buddha—I stamped down hard, pouring every ounce of strength into the sword as I thrust my arm forward.
Mount Tai Sword.
A thrust filled with nothing but the intent to pierce shot toward one of the Blood Buddha's eyes.
The Blood Buddha's original realm in life must have been a fully mature Harmony Realm. But before the regression, the Blood Buddha was at best only at the threshold of the Harmony Realm.
In severe cases, he would show the appearance of a half-baked absolute master. Naturally, he was never called the Indestructible Vajra Body.
The reason was simple. The Blood Buddha's enlightenment remained unchanged, and while he could forcibly raise his realm through unknown means… nonetheless, he could not be free from the influence of his newly acquired body.
Just as the Blood Buddha who had taken Namgung Jong's body was exceptionally strong, the current bastard who had stolen the Vajra Arhat's body would be exceptionally tough.
But Great Master Jeonghyeon had said it. The Indestructible Vajra Body was not a great realm, but merely a training that had not yet been broken.
The Vajra Arhat had once built up enough training to be mentioned as a candidate for the Vajra Guardian, and though it was unknown when the Blood Buddha had stolen his body, enough time would have passed to bring out his original realm and then some.
The sword wrapped in Sword Force being deflected off the back of my hand, and the information I had heard before the regression—both pointed to the fact that the current Blood Buddha had surely reached the Indestructible Vajra Body.
However, that does not mean he is invincible.
Swoosh!
The sword stained white. It was an extremely condensed Aura, a sword that had pierced through the Heavenly Demon's Protective Qi even for a single moment, now digging into the Blood Buddha's eye.
Surprisingly, it seemed he had even trained his eyes, as considerable resistance was felt… but still, compared to other parts, it seemed to be a rather soft spot.
The blade had already sunk in a finger's length. I would pierce through his head like this, bring down the Blood Buddha's body, and take the manual from his embrace to destroy it.
The moment I tried to push the sword in deeper with firm Resolve.
The Blood Buddha, tears of blood streaming from his pierced eye, faintly curled the corners of his mouth. Just like the smile he had worn while playing the Vajra Arhat.
"How foolish, you mortal. ———Om!"
A bizarre sensation, as if something were vibrating from deep within my skull. At the same time, the Blood Buddha drove the vajra he had raised straight into his own heart.
Thunk! Kwaaaaang!
A blood-red energy wave erupted from the center of his heart.
The explosion was so intense that the surrounding walls collapsed. I tried to hold my ground, but having been mid-thrust with my sword, I had no choice but to be blasted backward.
My body flew through the door. I twisted in midair to absorb the impact, then sprang to my feet and looked around.
"Great Hero White Moon Sword Lord?"
"Isn't that Elder's residence over there? What in the world is going on?"
"Surely the two of them aren't fighting…"
"If that were the case, what reason would the Great Hero White Moon Sword Lord have to come tumbling down like this?"
Whether he had been thrown completely out of the building or not, passersby were whispering among themselves and glancing over in his direction.
A perfectly calm reaction. However, if they kept lingering so close to the area, many of them would lose their lives caught up in the aftermath of the battle.
I drew up my internal energy and shouted.
"Leave this place at once! And summon the Alliance Leader and my father-in-law… the Poison King!"
"Y-yes?"
The people still seemed unable to grasp the situation, merely blinking their eyes. But that didn't last long.
Jingle-
A clear bell sound rang out from the half-collapsed dwelling of the Blood Buddha. At the same time, as if bewitched by something, the focus faded from the eyes of the passersby nearby.
I had dissolved my Intent into my internal energy and let it permeate my entire body, so it didn't work on me… but those who hadn't done so were all entranced, to a greater or lesser degree, by the bell sound from moments ago.
Then came the sound of chanting sutras. It wasn't the ordinary kind of sutra chanting that made one feel slightly drowsy just by listening.
It was an unpleasant sutra chant that made the hairs on one's entire body stand on end. The Blood Buddha strode out of the building while chanting this.
His entire body was dyed red as if soaked in blood. One eye still bore the mark of my sword, and the vajra he had driven into his own chest was protruding from it.
As it caught the sunlight, the vajra burned black, then scattered into a handful of dust.
In the place where the vajra had vanished, only a reddened stain remained, revealing smooth skin without a single wound.
The Blood Buddha was not laughing madly as I had seen him do before the regression, nor was he spouting incomprehensible ravings.
He swept his gaze over those he had bewitched, then nodded in satisfaction.
"Come, sentient beings. Salvation is here."
"Ah, ah…"
"Namu Gwaneum Bosal. Namu Gwaneum Bosal."
Several passersby shuffled forward with half-glazed eyes, then suddenly charged at the Blood Buddha with all their strength.
Judging by their state, they weren't trying to fight. So those who brushed past me I grabbed by the scruff of the neck and flung far away, and those beyond my reach—
"Hup!"
I stretched my Intent long and swept my sword horizontally.
The sword strike, extended beyond reach, sliced cleanly through the ankles of those still running, sending them tumbling across the dirt floor.
Even then, some crawled forward on their arms, trying to get closer to the Blood Buddha, so I concentrated my killing intent and knocked them all unconscious.
"…Truly a wretched being."
"I'd rather not hear that from you. Weren't you planning to kill them all anyway?"
"I am not killing them—I am guiding them to the next life. Do you not understand? They all become one within me, departing toward a future where the Pure Land will arrive."
The Blood Buddha replied in a calm, composed tone.
But I remember him from before the regression. The way he would bewitch people to take them as new bodies, or crush their skulls to absorb their True Origin Vital Energy as his own power.
The dark red aura surrounding the Blood Buddha was the energy of Buddhism, yet it was also energy formed from the True Origin Vital Energy of others.
Without a word, I raised my sword again, and a few of the martial artists who were at least somewhat skilled snapped back to their senses.
Though they weren't fully bewitched, they grabbed those who were still out of their minds and dragged them away, shouting.
"W-We'll go fetch the others right away!"
They must have finally realized something was wrong.
This was the heart of the Murim Alliance. Before long, the Murim Alliance Leader, Tang Jincheon, and Seomun Hwa-rin, who had noticed the commotion, would gather here.
No matter how much the current Blood Buddha had achieved the Indestructible Vajra Body, if four Harmony Realm martial artists came at him at once, there would be nothing he could do.
The Blood Buddha was well aware of this too, yet he simply looked up at the sky with a calm demeanor.
"The weather is nice."
"It's good weather for catching an old rat."
"This body is quite excellent. It has cultivated the same Buddhist martial arts, and not only internal energy but also external arts have been diligently trained for a lifetime, to the point where the skin is harder than steel—why say more? …However, it would still be inferior to the body of a genius who possessed outstanding natural talent and reached the rank of absolute master at a young age."
Ignoring whatever the Blood Buddha said, I swung my sword.
The sword, blazing white-hot, sliced through the Blood Buddha's entire body.
Cutting, thrusting, parrying, then cutting even deeper.
At first, the Blood Buddha tried to respond to my sword in his own way, but soon he could not keep up with its changes and simply took the hits while swinging his fists.
Perhaps even the Vajra Arhat's body, as tough as it is, cannot exert its full power against a Transcendent Peak martial artist.
In other words, tough as hell, it is.
Kang! Crack! Crack!
A sound that was hard to believe came from the collision of an Aura mass and a body of flesh and blood.
Despite its power being on a completely different level from ordinary Sword Force, it only left faint marks—not even scratches. And even those were instantly restored whenever the dark red energy covering the Blood Buddha's entire body rippled once.
Even when I tried to glare at his eyes again, he no longer easily exposed any openings, perhaps because he had already been caught once.
I had faced many who trained the External Arts before, but this was the first time I encountered an opponent who gave no feeling of being cut through at all.
But I could not give up. Did I not already know? That the Indestructible Vajra Body was merely a name given to something that had not yet been broken.
I deliberately struck the same arm I had cut before, accumulating the impact. If it would not break, I simply had to keep pounding until it did.
It was just as I was about to drive my Aura and swing my sword with even greater ferocity that the Blood Buddha's lips, which had been forced back again and again, began to twist into a grotesque smile.
"Once more, I say to you, child of the masses. Today is a truly auspicious day."
The moment the Blood Buddha spoke, the world was dyed red.
Startled, I looked up at the sky. What I saw there was a vajra that blotted out the sun and radiated crimson light.
That very vajra which, just moments ago, should have been shattered into pieces.
The Blood Buddha had stopped his punching at some point and was now weaving his fingers into complex mudras. Among the gestures, I caught glimpses of hand signs often seen on Buddhist statues.
In the brief moment I hesitated, the Blood Buddha formed dozens of mudras and continued speaking.
"It is a truly good day to be reborn."
The vajra floating in the sky came crashing down toward the crown of my head.
Lightning-fast speed. But it wasn't so fast that I couldn't react, so I swung my sword to deflect it. And then.
Whoosh.
The white blade passed through the vajra, cleaving only empty air.
The vajra came crashing down on the crown of my head right after.
There was no pain. Instead, my vision went dark for a moment…
When I opened my eyes, I was standing before the Iron Blood Faction's compound—the very place I'd thought I would never see again.
And there, pacing in front of the main gate, waiting for me, was Seol Ri-hyang… no, the Ghost Sound Witch.
"Ah."
I'd been so fixated on the Blood Buddha's Indestructible Vajra Body that I hadn't thought to consider it, but the man was more versed in Vajrayana than in martial arts.
Once I grasped the situation, I let out a deep sigh.
Then, following the long-standing tradition of the martial world, I uttered the words that were expected of me.
"To think you'd resort to sorcery…!"
I never imagined the day would come when I'd be the one saying such a thing.