The Monk (Please Bookmark)

Not long after Little Boa swaggered off, full and satisfied.

Deep within the vast primeval forest, a man and a woman raced through the woods.

They moved as swiftly as the wind.

A squirrel perched on a treetop, its cheeks stuffed full as it happily gnawed on a chestnut, had yet to react when two dark figures flashed past and vanished into the depths of the forest.

Only the gently trembling branches atop the tree testified that someone had passed through moments ago.

"Hah!"

One of the figures abruptly stopped and landed on a treetop. After taking a heavy breath, he exhaled two streams of white vapor through his nostrils.

"I sense a powerful Monster aura ahead."

The monk wore a coarse linen robe. Though he was not particularly tall, the loose robe was stretched over clearly defined muscles, making him appear lean, sturdy, and powerful.

Not far away.

The other, more slender figure also came to a halt.

She was a young girl with cherry-colored hair and a long sword at her waist.

"Mother, Rinzi, everyone in the village..."

This girl, Tsukimi Sakura, was the Supernatural Being who had left the small mountain village several years ago.

Upon receiving word that the village had been attacked, she had spent an entire day hurrying here from distant Moon Country.

Under the radiation of the Red Moon, all means of communication had been severely restricted.

Even with the aid of a Magic Monk highly sensitive to Blood Moon radiation, it had taken a full day for the message to travel back and forth.

And now that she had returned to the village.

It was likely already too late. The warm, peaceful home she remembered had most likely been reduced to ruins.

Whenever she thought of this, Tsukimi Sakura felt waves of piercing pain radiate from her heart.

If only I hadn't chosen to leave the village back then...

The girl blamed herself deeply. The swordswoman, always so strong, now had faint redness around her eyes.

"The matter is already settled. Benefactor, you must not remain obsessed with the past."

The young monk appeared behind her. A trace of pity showed on his face as he spoke to comfort her.

"I understand."

Having traveled alone for years, the girl's will was far from ordinary. Upon hearing the monk's voice, she quickly composed herself.

Her slender yet strong hand gripped the long sword at her waist tightly. Once she had prepared herself for battle, she continued racing deeper into the mountains and forest.

Whoosh...

A mountain wind blew past, scattering some of the mist shrouding the lakeshore.

Dark red bloodstains were mixed among the broken walls and collapsed ruins, and a thick stench of blood rushed toward them.

"What a powerful Monster aura."

The monk behind her suddenly changed expression as well. His rough hand clutched a long string of prayer beads, while a faint golden light flickered across his body.

Her once-warm home had become ruins. Her family was nowhere to be found, and they might already have met with disaster.

Even though she had prepared herself for the worst.

Tsukimi Sakura still staggered, nearly collapsing to the ground.

"Rinzi... Mother..."

Deep sorrow covered the girl's delicate face. As memories of living with her family surfaced, tears seeped from her eyes like Breaching River Water.

At last.

She could no longer endure it and curled up on the ground, her long fingers digging into the damp lakeshore and leaving several deep marks.

"Ah!"

Just as Tsukimi Sakura sank into overwhelming grief.

A surprised cry came from the mist ahead. Tsukimi Sakura raised her head and saw her younger sister Rinzi standing there with a bundle of firewood in her arms, staring at her kneeling form in astonishment.

"Why... you..."

Seeing the family member she had missed so dearly so suddenly.

Tsukimi Sakura was completely bewildered for a moment, unable to tell whether this was a Monster's illusion or merely a hallucination of her own.

"Big Sister, why are you kneeling on the ground? You've gotten your clothes all dirty."

The girl's sweet, innocent voice rang out again. Then the mist dispersed, and more and more villagers emerged from within it.

Her gentle mother, the blacksmith at the village entrance, the white-haired old village chief...

"Everyone... so everyone is..."

The familiar faces, the joy after a false alarm, and the embarrassment of kneeling there in tears.

For a moment, Tsukimi Sakura did not know what she should say.

Fortunately.

The young monk took the initiative to ease the awkwardness.

"Amitabha. This humble monk is called Renguang, and I come from Moon Country. Might I ask what happened here earlier?"

When he heard that the monk before him had come from Moon Country, the village chief's expression grew much more solemn. He hurriedly bowed. "Please come inside, my lord. Allow this old man to recount what happened yesterday in detail."

Inside a hastily constructed thatched hut.

A crude wooden table stood in the middle, with the village chief, Tsukimi Sakura, and the white-robed monk seated around it.

A few simple vegetables and wild tea gathered from the mountains had been placed on the table.

After a while.

Having heard the village chief's account, Tsukimi Sakura and Renguang exchanged glances, surprise visible in both their eyes.

"So, evil ghosts really did attack the village earlier, but a giant snake appeared halfway through and killed and Devoured those mountain ghosts?"

Tsukimi Sakura summarized the account.

Even though she had traveled through Moon Country for several years, she had never heard of anything like this.

"That is correct."

After thinking for a moment, the village chief added, "And that great snake seemed to understand human nature. After killing those evil ghosts, it did not harm any of the other innocent villagers."

"It's only that the great snake was too powerful. Many houses in the village collapsed during the battle... but compared to the lives of the villagers, those are insignificant matters."

The village chief smacked his lips, his words filled with gratitude.

"Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

With doubt on her lovely, otherworldly face, the girl turned to ask the monk beside her.

"This humble monk's cultivation is shallow. This is also the first time I have heard of such a thing."

He paused, as if recalling something, then added with a smile, "My master once said that all things possess spirituality. Perhaps that giant snake is some unusual being that gained sentience, rather than one of those brutal and vicious Monsters."

The Monsters the monk spoke of were humans or beasts that had mutated under the Red Moon's radiation and lost their sanity.

The evil ghosts that had attacked the village earlier were one kind of Monster.

"If possible, I intend to look around the area over the next few days and see whether I can find that giant snake."

After thinking for a moment, the monk spoke again.

"Then I'll go with you." Tsukimi Sakura had already been worried about it, so when the monk spoke, she immediately agreed.

"My lord, if you truly must go..."

After considering it, the village chief cautiously said, "No matter what, that strange beast protected the village. It does not seem like a Monster. Could you perhaps..."

"I understand."

The monk smiled, taking the old man's withered, claw-like hand in his own and gently nodding.

Yet his thoughts were not as relaxed as his expression suggested.

From what the village chief had just said, the leader of those evil ghosts had clearly been a life-form that had truly entered the Extraordinary Domain. It possessed not only a superhuman physique, but intelligence no less than that of an ordinary person.

Such a powerful creature, along with more than ten formidable evil ghosts.

Even near Moon Country, they would have been a powerful force worthy of serious attention.

Yet that great snake had killed and swallowed them with such ease.

If the great snake truly was as the village chief described, that would be fine... but if it was truly a Monster, the monk had already prepared himself to be buried in its belly.

Thanks to Wind's Promise for the two monthly tickets.