Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Hundred Battles Hundred Defeats (3)

Since I became a disciple I thought I would learn the Invincible Sword or whatever, but the old man’s command overturned expectations.

“Let’s go subdue bandits!”

Well, since it was something I wanted to do anyway it was not bad.

“From ancient times it is said that ruler, teacher, and father are the same. Although it is called experience, the current this body is your teacher so you must serve like a father.”

“But why do I have to carry you on my back?”

“You! Are you planning to make an elderly teacher walk a rough mountain path!”

If alone I would have found it right away, but carrying the old man and wandering around it was only around sunset that I barely found one mountain stronghold.

“I know your skill. Even alone you can easily handle one mountain stronghold. So I will give one homework. In subduing bandits you must not harm even a single bandit.”

“What kind of sound is that? Do not injure?”

“Ahem! There is meaning in all of a teacher’s words!”

It seems he was hit by a strange force and turbulent spirit hated by others.

“What? What kind of fellow is it?”

“No, some old man and one young fellow came?”

“Did you come to die with your own feet?”

It was an annoying request but it was not difficult.

Showing breaking a rock with a fist right in front of them, they put down their weapons and raised their hands on their own.

“Where is the trick!”

“Is this still a trick?”

Nevertheless the fellows who charged in became docile when I snatched their weapons and showed the trick of folding them into small pieces with fingers.

“Kheuk, to think a great sect would send a person.”

“Why on earth does a promising talent of a great sect step forward for something like subduing bandits!”

Looking at the trembling bandits, the previous thought strengthens further.

‘These fellows too if they die will reincarnate and enjoy a new life.’

Will they regain memories after reincarnating like me?

Will their personality not change like me and live as evil people in the second life too?

If even doing good deeds or bad deeds one can be born again and live a new life, what meaning does good and evil have and what value does life have?

‘Why is puberty coming at this timing and causing bullshit.’

I try to shake off the dog-shit philosophy in my head, but each time life feels infinitely light and strength keeps entering the eyes looking at the bandits.

“Let’s go down quickly before the sun sets!”

Taking the bound bandits to the government office and handing them over I received the bounty.

“Is the reason not to harm bandits perhaps because of money?”

“Money is good if there is and fine if there is not.”

“Then what meaning is there? Since they will be executed anyway, it would be fine to handle them on the spot conveniently.”

Unlike the rags and shabby appearance, the old man knew a lot.

“Not all bandits are unconditionally executed. Real bandits who hold blades, plunder, and kill people will be killed, and those who are not will be beaten with the rod, exiled, or imprisoned and then released.”

Belatedly I recalled that the old man was originally a genius who could have become an official.

“Real bandits, then are there fake bandits too?”

“The appearance of bandits is because of the famine in Hebei. Hebei originally has good public order and many sects so there are not many bandits, yet many bandits have crossed to Bokryong Mountain, so this is not only real bandits but also starving refugees who made an unavoidable choice.”

Just looking at the appearance he is nothing more than a beggar, yet the eyes of the old man conversing were like the schoolmaster’s.

“The first evidence is that even though there are many bandits the number of dead merchants is small, the second evidence is that the government office has not yet actively stepped forward, and the third evidence is that when the number of bandits increases they come down from the mountain and plunder villages yet there is no such place.”

“It is only speculation. And the merchants talked their mouths dry saying it was dangerous.”

“Rumors originally inflate. There is also the reason that the first bandits you saw were shameless real bandits who kidnapped children so prejudice formed.”

Even things that are understood with the head but hard to accept.

“Then are other refugees idiots for not becoming bandits?”

“The theft of a rich man whose granary is full and the theft of a poor man who is ragged and starving have different weight.”

“A needle thief becomes a cow thief. Once they become bandits, they will soon become real bandits.”

“That is why they must be caught now and handed over to the government office.”

“Still a crime is a crime.”

“There is a method to make them pay for the crime and also the ability to execute it. Nevertheless trying to end the matter by killing is because of your desire to do so? Or because execution is bothersome?”

I could not answer.

“If looking down on others’ lives because of desire then what is different from real bandits who kill others for money, and if choosing the easy path even though having ability then what is different from real bandits who try to earn money conveniently?”

Whatever the reason, both were sincere.

“I must return home. Carry me a bit.”

At the entrance of Bokryong Mountain, a small cave was the old man’s home.

Looking at the old man lying on a mat like rags I took out my pocket.

“There is money so why not sleep at an inn?”

“That money has a place to be used.”

After bringing bandits like that for several days the county magistrate came out personally and held my hand.

“Aigoo! Great hero! You came today too! I was worried because there are many bandits these days but thanks to you one worry is lessened!”

“What happened to the bandits?”

“The twenty with heavy crimes had their necks cut, and those who plundered but did not kill people were beaten with twenty rods and exiled.”

Recalling the old man’s words I asked.

“I heard there are many among refugees who became bandits—is that true?”

“More than half of the fellows you brought were of refugee origin. Those who were active in plundering were punished as said earlier, and those who were threatened by bandits or had light crimes were beaten with the rod and released.”

In the meantime, the old man asked the constable the location of the driven-out refugees.

“Those fellows were sent to Banjang Village. It is a small village downstream.”

At the old man’s urging going there, he received the bounty pouch from me and distributed money to the refugees.

“Your circumstances are pitiful but a crime is a crime. However a crime can be governed by law, a person cannot be hated, and faults can be corrected, so if you regard your actions as shameful take this money and move forward.”

Some laughed and some cried.

Some got angry and some sneered.

“Aigoo! Thank you! Elder!”

“Really, really thank you! With this money I will cultivate a field!”

One certain thing was that the number of people crying and thanking was overwhelmingly many.

“Elder, there is one thing I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“If, really if I say, what do you think if life does not end in one time?”

That night, inside the cave I poured out the worries I harbored.

I myself do not know well why I did so.

I had a baseless belief that if it was the elder he might be able to resolve my worries.

Reincarnation or whatever, other worlds or whatever, memories this and that.

Explaining by unpacking as much as possible for a long while, when the story finished the elder burst into loud laughter.

“Uahahaha! So that was it! I thought your nature was vicious and you enjoyed killing people!”

“Why did you think that?”

“That day! The day I first saw you, do you know the look in your eyes after killing one person and looking at the other bandits? That was not the look of seeing the same person but the look of trying to clean up roadside objects.”

The elder had stepped forward after seeing that day’s matter.

“It is not strange for a person to subdue evil thieves. However if regarding an already surrendered opponent as insignificant and easily taking their life, one merely becomes a killing ghost.”

“So you jumped in?”

“That is so. How can one just watch a youth with a bright future become a killing ghost? But there was such a reason so one worry is lessened.”

“You believe my words.”

“If a teacher does not believe a disciple’s words who will believe!”

It was a childish and dog-shit worry with no answer coming out at all.

“Even if a person dies and is born in a new world and lives a new life, it is not that life has no value. If there are infinitely many worlds does it not mean that the meeting in this life is the first and the last?”

When I told the elder it was easily solved as if having seen the answer sheet.

“Even if a miracle occurs and one is born in the same world, same era, appearance and voice would all have changed, and with the flow of time memory and personality would also have changed, so how can each other recognize each other.”

The thought that regarded life as having lost value conversely raised the value of life.

“The bandit who committed evil deeds and met you, the merchant who shared idle talk, the cook who made the food ordered at the inn, the person whose eyes met on the roadside, all are special people who can only be met in the current life.”

The elder no longer looked like a beggar and no longer looked like a loafer who wasted his life chasing a vain dream.

“And me meeting you as me, and you meeting me as you is also unique to this moment. Since a person cannot predict even one shichen ahead and does not know when they will part, should one not regard every moment as the last and do one’s best?”

A strange person and extraordinary scholar.

I have met a strange person and extraordinary scholar.

“That is affinity. A once-only affinity, do not easily cut good affinity or bad affinity and deal with sincerity.”

The elder who finished the story lightly tapped my head.

“And you, you are not a person of Qi and worrying whether the sky will collapse or the earth will sink? Worried that an evil person dies and commits evil deeds again in the next life? That is not something a human can do anything about. If clinging to something that cannot be done and worrying and fretting only one’s own insides will rot.”

It did not hurt and the insides were refreshed.

“Has this become an answer?”

“Yes, it has become very well.”

“Yes, now it is done. The experience ends with this.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to take me as a disciple?”

“Since it was not a killing ghost but a lost child, with finding the path the matter is finished.”

“What would you have done if I was a real killing ghost.”

“At that time I would have desperately awakened the preciousness of life.”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

“If fleeing because it is dangerous one cannot become a hero.”

That night, I could not sleep.

Somewhere the heart was light and the world felt different.

‘Every moment is affinity, and everyone is a first and last meeting so one must always do one’s best with sincerity.’

Life was no longer light.

Even if an evil person dies and becomes an evil person in the next life, it does not matter.

‘There is no reason to worry about things I cannot do anything about.’

When the heart lightened the mind also lightened and the world is felt a bit closer and in more detail.

Previously the senses rode the energy up and down and felt the world, but now it is the feeling of the senses becoming one with the energy and assimilating with the world.

“...”

Within that I discovered something strange.

Among the elder’s hair that had turned white like snow one strand of white hair heterogeneous from the others is felt.

‘Could it be?’

Unlike other energies carefully extending a hand to the twisted-seeming energy I pulled out that hair.

『Kyaak!』

Beyond the pulled-out hair one small bug screamed while clicking its pincer-like mouth.

“Three-legged, do you know what this is?”

『Now the old man’s movements are understood. The bug the boss discovered is not a bug but a strange force and turbulent spirit called the Path-Eating Gu.』

Looking at the bug the size of a fingernail the Three-legged Crow answered.

『It sucks a person’s talent and leads to a path that can never succeed so it is also called the Delusion Bug.』

The elder was not a loafer chasing a vain dream, but a victim of a strange force and turbulent spirit.

『If it sucks all talent it falls from the body for reproduction. At this time, the tendency to chase a vain path disappears but in most cases they blame themselves for wasting their life and take their own life.』

A victim toyed with for a lifetime.

The flea-like thing struggled and tried to return to the elder.

“If attached for at least 50 years or more, it means the talent is that large, right?”

『The Path-Eating Gu only attaches to those with outstanding talent. On average it absorbs all talent and falls in 20 years, and there is no record of 50 years or more.』

If the Path-Eating Gu is attached again the elder will not know the truth and live happily.

If this thing is removed he will return to his right mind but will regret his life.

『Anyway it is a human with not much life left so there is too much worry.』

“Not much left?”

『This old man’s energy has declined. It flickers like a candle before the wind and the flow is very faint, so probably not long after he will die.』

Quietly I grasped the elder’s arm.

Observing another’s interior was the first attempt but it succeeded without much difficulty.

‘This is the elder’s energy.’

The Three-legged Crow’s words were not wrong in one.

Faint energy that seemed about to go out at any moment flowed slowly through the flesh.

‘It would not be strange if he returned tomorrow.’

Kill the Path-Eating Gu and return a truthful life.

Attach the Path-Eating Gu again and let him dream a vain dream.

At a moment when either side is hard to choose I took out the gift Father gave.

“If odd kill it. If even save it.”

I threw the die.

“Ah.”