The carriage ran without rest and arrived at Mount Song late at night.

Although the faces of the party members were dark when Baek Yoonjun had just collapsed, they had become quite bright with their faith in him, Tang Yuhwa's confident diagnosis, and the hope for the Great Return Pill.

Except for one person, Baek Yoonjun.

'Ugh... please, let's go a little slower...'

Although his body was no different from a corpse due to the Turtle Breathing Grand Technique, perhaps because his consciousness was intact, the jolting movement of the carriage was no different from torture to Baek Yoonjun.

But the torture was just beginning.

"Heroes who have blocked the tragedy of Zhongnan! Welcome back to Shaolin!"

As the party arrived at Mount Song, numerous Shaolin monks were lined up and welcoming them, even though it was late at night.

Since there was no longer a reason to seal the gates after the Shaolin tragedy, the monks' presence seemed more vibrant than before.

But.

Whoosh!

A figure shot out like a cannonball, breaking through the welcoming crowd.

It was Tang Yuhwa.

"Move. It's urgent."

She was in a state where she could not see the welcoming crowd, etiquette, or anything else.

She slung Baek Yoonjun over her shoulder as if carrying a piece of luggage and began to traverse the stone stairs of Mount Song, which were famous for being steep, with a lightness skill close to that of a flying beast.

"Divine Doctor of Sichuan!"

"S-senior Sister! Let's go together!"

The party members and the monks who had come out to welcome them were flustered at the sight of Tang Yuhwa, who had shot out in the blink of an eye and was climbing the mountain.

But she had no room to care about the reactions of those around her now.

And so, Tang Yuhwa arrived at the main gate of Shaolin.

Creak.

Just then, the heavy main gate opened.

The one who came out after opening the main gate was a middle-aged monk with a sturdy build.

A monk who had reached the end of his forties but had the appearance of being in his early forties.

The prayer he emitted was as heavy as a thousand-year-old tree.

A firm shoulder that seemed to have received the winds and waves of time head-on, and quiet pupils that seemed to see through the principles of the world.

It was the abbot of Shaolin Temple, Shinseung.

Seeing the panting Tang Yuhwa, Shinseung showed a pleased look, raised one hand to his chest, performed a half-palm salute, and bowed his head.

"Benefactor Yuhwa, you have come. This humble monk had some business and could not go down the mountain to welcome you..."

But to Tang Yuhwa, it did not matter whether he was the abbot of Shaolin or a neighborhood grandfather.

He just looked like a key to the medicinal herb warehouse.

Grab!

"...sir?"

Before Shinseung's greeting was even finished, Tang Yuhwa shot out and grabbed him by the collar.

Then she began to shake him mercilessly.

"The Great Return Pill! Where is the Great Return Pill?!"

"Benefactor? Please calm down first."

The sight of the Shaolin abbot's collar being grabbed and shaken back and forth was an unprecedented sight in the 700-year history of Shaolin.

"Give me the Great Return Pill!"

"Haha, I understand. I understand, so please, this hand first..."

While Tang Yuhwa was grabbing Shinseung's collar and shaking him, the other party members who had arrived late witnessed the tragic scene.

"Heek?! S-senior Sister! That person is the abbot of Shaolin!"

"Divine Doctor of Sichuan! Are you crazy?! Calm down!!"

The party members were startled and rushed in to pull Tang Yuhwa away.

The monks of Shaolin also could not shut their mouths at the sight of the woman who had laid her hands on the abbot's precious body.

Shaolin was nominally a forbidden area for women.

Although it wasn't that women could not enter at all, physical contact was clearly forbidden.

In the midst of that, Shinseung, with his collar grabbed, calmly guided the party members into the main hall.

"Haha, it's alright. I have heard about the misfortune that has befallen Benefactor Baek. I understand your urgent heart, so please come inside first."

Shinseung was indeed worthy of being the abbot of Shaolin. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Although he was not old enough to be called a high monk, with a calmness befitting his middle age, his voice did not tremble at all, even while being grabbed by the collar and shaken.

The party members were inwardly impressed by his calm appearance.

Although Tang Yuhwa was still clinging to his collar, so he was being dragged along.

And so, the party that had entered the building.

Only then did Tang Yuhwa let go of her hand that was holding Shinseung's collar and carefully laid Baek Yoonjun, whom she had been carrying, on the floor.

'Ugh... I can finally live a little.'

Baek Yoonjun shed tears inside at the relief of touching the ground.

The slightly crazed appearance of grabbing Shinseung's collar and shaking him until just before was nowhere to be seen, and Tang Yuhwa's touch as she laid Baek Yoonjun down was gentle and delicate.

No matter how out of her mind she was, Tang Yuhwa's heart of taking care of Baek Yoonjun was a priority.

Tang Yuhwa's eyes, which had laid Baek Yoonjun down, glinted again.

She rushed towards Shinseung's collar again.

But before Tang Yuhwa could grab his collar, Shinseung quickly stepped back and then calmly opened his mouth.

"First of all, I have something to apologize for, but there is no Great Return Pill in the current Shaolin. Even its manufacturing method was lost long ago."

"What do you mean...?"

Tang Yuhwa, who was about to grab Shinseung's collar, sat down on the spot as if collapsing.

The aftermath of Shinseung's words spread as a great shock not only to Tang Yuhwa but to all the party members.

While everyone was looking at the floor with a vacant face, Shinseung looked at Baek Yoonjun with a meaningful face and then raised his head.

"However, there is hope. There is a saying that the lost manufacturing method of the Great Return Pill has been sleeping in a secret cave of Emei for a long time."

"What? Our Emei Sect?!"

At Shinseung's sudden mention of the Emei Sect, Su Yeohyang looked around with a dumbfounded face.

Everyone's gaze turned to Su Yeohyang.

Su Yeohyang covered her face at the burdensome feeling and quietly opened her mouth.

"W-well, Great Hero Baek did open the path to the secret cave in our Emei, but since we haven't confirmed everything yet... if we had found something, my master would know."

Although Su Yeohyang was rambling, the faces of the party members, who had roughly understood what she meant, brightened.

"Then how about we depart right now!"

Gu Wolju showed a sign of rushing out right away and departing for Mount Emei.

At that sight, Shinseung shook his head.

"For now, I will perform a secret grand technique passed down in Shaolin so that Great Hero Baek's body is not further damaged, so please give me some time. After that, how about we discuss this matter tomorrow? It is also late at night."

"It seems it would be good to do as Master says."

Led by Hyejin, who agreed with Shinseung's words, all the party members nodded their heads.

Shinseung looked at such a party and smiled gently.

"Then I will perform the grand technique, so I'm sorry, but could you all please step back? Since it is a secret of Shaolin, I cannot reveal it to the outside."

At Shinseung's following order to leave, all the party members moved their feet outside the main hall.

Tang Yuhwa, with a gaze full of lingering attachment, continued to glance back at Baek Yoonjun and was the last to leave the main hall.

And so, Shinseung, who had confirmed that everyone had gone out.

He used his qi sense to check if there was anyone around, and then looked at the lying Baek Yoonjun and smiled gently.

"Since there is no one, you may get up from your spot now, Benefactor Baek."

Flinch.

At Shinseung's gentle one word, Baek Yoonjun was startled inside.

'He noticed?'

Wondering if he was just probing, he carefully observed him so that Shinseung would not notice, but no matter how he looked, it was a look close to conviction.

In the end, unable to win against Shinseung's confident gaze, Baek Yoonjun raised his body.

Thump.

At the same time, color returned to Baek Yoonjun's corpse-like body, which had been in a comatose state, and his heart began to beat strongly.

"How... did you know?"

"It's just that I couldn't imagine Benefactor Baek, who has reached such a high realm, being so powerlessly defeated and lying down."

Baek Yoonjun looked at Shinseung with a suspicious face at his vague answer.

Regardless, Shinseung continued to speak with a benevolent smile.

"And I have gained conviction after seeing Benefactor Baek now. Ah, that this person is testing us."

"What? Testing?"

"In both the Shaolin tragedy and the Zhongnan tragedy, the center was Benefactor Baek. It should be said that all things were resolved because Benefactor Baek was there."

"No, that's..."

Baek Yoonjun shut his mouth at Shinseung's sudden words.

'No, what on earth is he talking about?'

Although Baek Yoonjun could not understand at all why the story was flowing that way, he could not think of anything to refute.

Shinseung, as if taking that silence as an affirmation, continued to speak with a more confident voice.

"The center of the current alliance is, in name and reality, Benefactor Baek. It can be said that it is an alliance united solely by Benefactor Baek. However... conversely, it means that if Benefactor Baek collapses, the alliance will also collapse."

"..."

"Therefore, Benefactor Baek must have pretended to collapse and stepped back. You must have given the alliance a chance to reduce its reliance on you and to stand on its own by overcoming the crisis on its own."

"Huh? What?"

Baek Yoonjun just blinked his mouth with a dumbfounded look.

But Shinseung's interpretation did not stop there.

"That heart of becoming a shadow to make everyone shine... indeed, this was the true meaning of the 'White Robed Knight-Errant Pavilion' that you intended to create in the future."

"What? The White Robed Knight-Errant Pavilion? I'm making that?"

"That dream of cultivating true knight-errants. I saw that possibility in the backs of everyone who left today."

Shinseung nodded his head repeatedly as if he were moved.

"Benefactor Baek is still humble. To even pretend not to know to me. Although I have a regretful heart, it is alright. I will quietly support this big picture, so Benefactor Baek, please just watch us comfortably."

"..."

Although Baek Yoonjun frantically tried to think of something to refute, due to the nature of a homebody introvert, he could not do the act of refuting a person who was so confident by saying, 'No, that's not it.'

He could only open and close his mouth as if he were possessed by a goldfish.

"Then I will guide you to a secret residence so that Benefactor Baek can rest comfortably."

Leaving such a Baek Yoonjun behind, Shinseung approached the large Buddha statue inside the main hall.

Then he manipulated a hidden mechanism around it.

Rumble.

The wall next to the Buddha statue opened, and a passage appeared.

"Please come this way. The existence of this place is only known to the abbot of Shaolin for generations, so there will be no inconvenience for Benefactor Baek to stay."

Unable to win against Shinseung's persistence, Baek Yoonjun stepped into the passage.

The end of that passage was connected to the outside, and going a little further, a small open space came out.

A simple hermitage made of straw and a clear pond, a perfect environment for one person to live in seclusion.

Baek Yoonjun, who was left alone there, finally came to his senses.

'What on earth is going on?'

The appearance of Shinseung, who seemed to have misunderstood something completely.

A premonition that something would go greatly wrong because of that.

'No, I just pretended to be dead because I thought I couldn't handle the situation, so why on earth are things going this way?!'

Although Baek Yoonjun thought of going back and explaining, due to his timid nature, he could not stop the huge rock called 'what has already happened,' which had already begun to roll.

If it had been a physical rock, he would have easily stopped it.

'Ah, really! What am I supposed to do about this?!'

Baek Yoonjun frantically dug a hole in his mind-image.

And so, in the head of Baek Yoonjun, who was digging a hole, only one conclusion came to mind.

'Let's run.'

Baek Yoonjun decided to escape on the spot.

Since being cooped up in a corner of a room was no different from escaping from the world in the first place, such an action was not so unfamiliar to Baek Yoonjun.

Having left the open space in an instant, Baek Yoonjun frantically went down Mount Song.

Just as Baek Yoonjun could not understand Shinseung's thoughts just before, it was Baek Yoonjun's night escape that others could not understand if they saw it.

And so, having arrived at the bottom of Mount Song, Baek Yoonjun first looked for a place where there were no people or anything.

And so, a suitable open space in a forest at the bottom of Mount Song that he had found.

Having arrived there, Baek Yoonjun finally let out a sigh of relief.

'I've run away for now... now what do I do?'

Since it was not a planned escape, Baek Yoonjun just stared blankly at the sky.

The stars in the sky looked particularly bright that day.

Like a boy who had run away from home in a fit of anger after hitting puberty, Baek Yoonjun was blank for a long time.

Thud.

He came to his senses at someone's presence.

Baek Yoonjun's gaze turned to where the footsteps were heard.

There.

"Should I say it's been a long time."

Something fundamentally different, though he looked exactly like himself.

"No. Since the time is not so long, the word 'long time' would not be appropriate."

A man with jet-black hair and a torn black robe fluttering.

Heuk Yoon was standing there.

(End of Chapter)