Wudang Sacred Scriptures-Chapter 176

A single lantern hung before the shrine door, swaying in the wind.

Beneath the signboard of the Honggajimyo shrine, Kwak Yeon found himself once again struck by the carved inscription: 入者終追殺.

Those who enter shall be hunted down and killed without fail.

It was only after hearing Danmok Seong’s account that he understood the depth of the woman’s relentless han contained within those five characters.

— Creak!

Kwak Yeon pushed open the shrine doors and stepped inside.

— Whoosh!

The wind followed him in, setting the altar candles trembling.

— Clack!

When Kwak Yeon shut the doors, the precariously flickering flames steadied themselves upright.

Even amidst such disturbance, the White-Haired Demon Queen, seated before the altar, did not move—like a stone statue.

Kwak Yeon bowed toward her back and spoke.

“Kwak Yeon, Hermit Taoist of Wudang Mountain, has come, as promised, to receive the Elder’s instruction.”

When the White-Haired Demon Queen remained silent, he continued.

“Elder Danmok is unharmed.”

At once, a sharp voice rang through the shrine.

“And why do you think you need to report that old man’s affairs to this Elder?”

Kwak Yeon answered in a calm voice.

“I thought the Elder might wish to know. Had you not withdrawn your true qi at the last moment, there would have been no chance to attempt treatment at all.”

“...!”

Kwak Yeon did not miss the brief ripple in her aura.

Just as I suspected.

He remembered how her paired palms—raised to unleash the Hanbaek Soul-Scattering Palm—had halted in midair, as if meeting an unseen wall.

At the time, he had only felt doubt. But after hearing the past between them from Danmok Seong, his certainty had solidified.

She couldn’t bring herself to shatter the wall of affection.

The White-Haired Demon Queen had clearly spent her life in torment, torn between her clan’s grudge and tangled love-hate.

Without affection, how could there be hatred?

Even if she insisted she had erased it all, in the depths of her heart it remained.

That is why the human heart is strong—and why all qi begins from the heart.

It was while Kwak Yeon was once more recalling the core of the Honwonmusang Technique that—

“Enough of your nonsense!”

Her cold outcry only deepened his conviction.

“You’ve dissolved my Annihilation Palm... You are worth a second look. I’ll give you a chance.”

“...?”

“Leave this place at once. The Danmok Clan will trouble you no further. That one palm strike I dealt will be counted as settling all matters between us.”

Those of her level—the unrivaled Only I Am Supreme type—never broke their own rules.

Which made it a remarkable offer indeed.

Naturally, the White-Haired Demon Queen expected the Hermit Taoist to gratefully flee.

But—

“Elder, why is it you suddenly wish to drive me away?”

Her statue-like frame gave a faint shudder.

It wasn’t because the question was unexpected.

It was because the Hermit Taoist had struck precisely at the truth.

Coincidence, perhaps?

“And why would you ask such a thing?”

“Is it not strange? You once forced your grand-disciple into my care, yet now you tell me to leave without question.”

“You... need not know.”

“If the Elder refuses to answer, I have no great desire to press further—but I am unsure what to do with what I already know.”

“...?”

She turned abruptly to face him.

“What is it you claim to know?”

“The heart gives birth to qi; the heart is hindered by nothing. Perhaps that answers your question.”

Her eyes flickered.

When the heart arises, qi follows; the heart is incapable of nothing.

Those eight characters were not something one could utter without having seen directly into her heart.

“If that answer is lacking, I can say more.”

“Speak.”

It was no small concession—for it might expose the sect’s gravest secrets.

Yet she had to hear it.

If the Hermit Taoist truly spoke with understanding, she could decide whether to kill him.

Unaware—or pretending to be—of her intent, Kwak Yeon said evenly:

“You entrusted Sojeo Ju to me so that she would come to harbor affection for me.”

“...”

“Then, when you saw her commit the crime of betraying her sect to aid me, you deemed your purpose fulfilled. Else, how could such a gentle grand-disciple dare such a thing? Thus, with no further use for me, you sought to drive me out while I was alone.”

She nodded slowly.

“You could not have thought that on conjecture alone. Continue.”

“Of course. If I were to vanish without a word, your grand-disciple would harbor deep resentment—and thus become a vessel for cultivating your sect’s secret mental discipline.”

Her gaze turned icy.

“How do you know the foundation of this sect’s secret art?”

Ignoring the killing intent seeping from her eyes, Kwak Yeon recounted in detail: the pure qi he had felt just before she unleashed the Hanbaek Soul-Scattering Palm, the turbid energy he had sensed when treating Danmok Seong, and the reasoning he had built from there.

He added that he had pieced this together from rumors of Moonlight Palace—without daring to name Danmok Seong as the source.

Finally, he gave the decisive reason:

“I suspected it because the Moonlight Palace’s mental discipline shares the same root as the Wudang’s true realm I have cultivated.”

“...?”

Her pupils doubled in size.

Not only did he see through the Moonlight Palace’s Moon Maiden Mental Discipline, but he claimed it shared the same foundation as Wudang’s true realm—enough to shock her to the core.

“...I cannot believe it.”

“Naturally. But I ask you to recall that I spoke those eight characters before all this.”

Thud!

Again, shock ran through her.

The heart gives birth to qi; the heart is hindered by nothing.

She now realized that this was the Hermit Taoist’s own phrasing of an insight into the mental discipline.

So that is why he struck so directly at my core.

A ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) heavy silence fell over the shrine.

Half a shichen passed before she finally spoke.

“The founding master of this palace was an expelled disciple of a Daoist sect who once served the Moon Palace Fairy. That is why she named our sect Moonlight Palace.”

Moonlight Palace.

On the surface, it meant simply “from the Moon Palace.”

But now, hearing the tale of the founder, Kwak Yeon could feel the deep grudge behind the name.

So that is why Moonlight Palace forged and refined a mental discipline rooted in a woman’s han.

A tree grown crooked will remain crooked.

“In that light, it is no wonder our Moon Maiden Mental Discipline shares a root with your Wudang true realm. But that does not mean I believe your claim of its flaws.”

She cut her words sharply, glaring at him.

An obscure hermit, claiming to have mastered Wudang’s true realm—and even daring to point out flaws in this palace’s supreme art?

It was laughable.

Still, his skill and keen judgment kept her from dismissing him entirely.

“It is natural you would not believe the words of a mere backwater martial scholar, Elder.”

He nodded readily, then added:

“That is why I intend to prove it in practice.”

“What?”

Killing intent burst from her gaze.

“You mean to say you will use this so-called true realm to break my Moon Maiden Mental Discipline?”

He shook his head.

“How could a lowly scholar presume to defeat a senior of your stature?”

“Then how will you prove it?”

“If, during our exchange, I am able to identify three flaws in the Moon Maiden Mental Discipline, I ask that you allow me to withdraw without hindrance.”

It was a request to treat the identification of three flaws as victory.

Her eyes narrowed in surprise.

To speak of flaws at all was already to admit knowledge of them.

This wretch...

But she could hardly refuse now.

To her, the flaws were minuscule—nearly invisible—and shifted with movement, making them all but impossible to pinpoint.

“So confident? Very well. But if your head falls before you name the third flaw, you will have only yourself to blame.”

“I have long since steeled myself for that.”

He nodded without hesitation, then said:

“But thinking of that end, I realize there is something I should say first—if you will permit me.”

“Speak, and I shall take it as your last words.”

“Whether I leave or die, Sojeo Ju is unready to begin the Moon Maiden Mental Discipline. I regret that.”

“What nonsense is that?”

“Merely that, contrary to your assumption, I might have coerced her into this affair through threat of a Poison Hand.”

“Hmph! That child is not so weak as to commit sect betrayal under duress.”

He nodded.

“Of course, it was only idle talk. I know she has the resolve to act only of her own will.”

“...?”

“In any case, it is true her heart is not with me.”

Though he was sly, she knew he did not lie—and could not help but ask:

“Then why did she rescue the Danmok Clan’s young heir?”

“Until I heard your words just now, even I did not know why she proposed saving him first.”

“And now?”

“You said just now that she acts only of her own will, bowing to no coercion.”

Her pupils quivered violently.

“Surely... you don’t mean she—?”