Ch.88The Ascetic of Kapila (1)

# The Ascetic of Capilla (1)

He was like one who possessed everything in this world.

Born into the royal family of a powerful nation, he displayed the most brilliant talent.

Everyone loved him, and he, without any rough edges, loved everyone in return.

At a young age, he demonstrated innate talent in martial arts and mastered the principles of magic.

That’s why everyone thought:

‘He will be the next king who leads us.’

If he ruled the country, they believed it would surely continue to be a golden age.

Yes, that must be why.

“The prince has disappeared! He left only a… a note…”

Everyone was heartbroken by the fact that he had left the kingdom.

He was special.

He was someone who saw things differently from others.

Such a person decided to leave the kingdom to find his own enlightenment.

Everyone in the kingdom regretted and mourned his departure, but ultimately respected and understood his choice.

“Yes, this must be right.”

“We couldn’t be the fence that contained him…”

A vessel too large to be contained even by the powerful nation of Capilla.

They came to accept that for him, Capilla was not a safe home but shackles that confined him. That’s how they rationalized it.

And so the prince departed.

As time passed, rumors of the miracles performed by the prince occasionally reached Capilla.

“Have you heard?”

“The prince, well…”

“It’s to be expected. Wasn’t the prince an extraordinary person to begin with?”

He defeated a giant monster that devoured hundreds of people in one bite.

He subdued a fire-breathing demon and made it repent.

Everyone marveled at these descriptions that portrayed him not as human, but as divine.

However, it didn’t take long before such rumors about the prince ceased to arrive.

“He must have become a god.”

“Indeed, even this vast world must have been too small a fence for him.”

Rumors spread that the prince had become a god to save humans from misfortune and suffering.

And people truly believed these rumors.

It was understandable. The miracles the prince had shown were that extraordinary. Even those who received his teachings were making history—who could deny it?

But someone might have wondered:

“Has my brother truly become a god?”

The prince whose rumors suddenly stopped one day.

While everyone exalted him as having become a god, one boy thought differently.

“If that’s true, it’s amazing.”

That he was indeed special.

Instead of envying his brilliantly shining talent that outshone everyone else’s, he blessed it.

Yes, the second prince saw divinity in his brother. Rather than clinging to someone who excelled beyond all others, he merely observed him from the side.

Back then, he was just a brother who was more extraordinary than others.

“Was my brother truly a god who came to save this world?”

That’s what he had thought.

But with such rumors—with so many undeniable miracles that everyone believed without doubt—he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

Of course…

“Prince, the next agenda item.”

“Hmm.”

It was no longer his concern. His brother had left, and he had succeeded to the position of heir.

That alone was overwhelming for him.

He was already breathless from attending to the kingdom’s internal affairs and learning various disciplines like academics and martial arts.

Moreover, being merely ordinary, he was often disregarded by people who compared him unfavorably to his brother.

But it didn’t matter.

The prince was already in a position that would naturally invite jealousy, and being compared to such an extraordinary person wasn’t even humiliating.

Acceptance of reality?

No, it was different. He was genuinely satisfied. He also knew that he was blessed in a different way.

Their origins were different.

Being born royal, he could taste all kinds of delicacies, and his royal status meant that having multiple wives and concubines was beyond reproach.

“Husband, it’s time to retire. Tonight, with me…”

“Yes, shall we?”

A daily life of being loved by beautiful women due to his position as prince.

Wealth and power, everything.

A life lacking nothing.

A life that anyone would envy.

Yes, he was different from his brother.

He was a different person from his brother who had set out on a journey to save countless people and eventually became a god.

“…”

Surely that must be the case.

But what was this inexplicable lingering attachment in a corner of his heart?

He could have anything he wanted. He was in such a position. Delicacies, treasures, beautiful women—everything was his.

And yet…

“Did my brother truly become a god?”

That doubt alone.

Jealousy toward his brother?

No, it was different. He had never once envied his brother.

They lived in different worlds. His brother’s ascetic appearance differed from his own luxurious lifestyle.

His brother who only took necessary nutrition versus himself who enjoyed all kinds of delicacies.

His brother who never glanced at women versus himself whose eyes naturally wandered when he saw a beautiful woman.

Yes, they were so different.

“Rumors are just rumors. Even if there were real miracles, whether my brother truly became a god is mere speculation that no one knows for certain.”

The prince thought.

Perhaps his brother was now living an ordinary life.

Perhaps he had grown tired of all asceticism and settled in a quiet countryside to live a normal life.

Or perhaps he was training to perform even more miracles.

In the worst case, he might have died on the road.

“…Why did my brother abandon all this and leave?”

The prince pondered.

As someone who had obtained this immense wealth and power, he knew.

There was nothing more valuable than this.

Even if one became a god, looking down on everyone and receiving worship, it might not compare to what one could hold in their own hands.

No, it would have been a journey without even the certainty of becoming a god.

Yet, what conviction made him abandon everything?

“What did my brother gain from that journey? What answer did he find?”

Some might have criticized him for the luxurious concerns of an ordinary person. They laughed it off, saying it was because his stomach was full.

But the more they did, the more his eyes turned to his brother’s footsteps.

Then, on a fine day when the midday sun was shining…

“…”

The prince suddenly set out on a journey.

He began to trace his brother’s footsteps.

But having lived a life where he was always served by others, such an impulsive journey was bound to be difficult.

It took him half a year just to reach a village that was only a week’s distance from the kingdom when his journey began.

The places his brother had walked were even more treacherous and filled with dangerous people.

Yes, the prince embarked on such a path.

He walked a life filled with suffering.

All to follow in his brother’s footsteps and see what he had seen and felt.

And so time passed.

He was different from his brother who possessed superhuman strength. He had trained in various disciplines, knowledge, and martial arts, but wasn’t particularly outstanding in any of them.

Nevertheless, he was walking the same path as his brother.

To extinguish a fire that his brother had reportedly stopped with a clap of his hands, he had to carry several times more water than others.

To cure illnesses that his brother had healed with just a touch, he had to study various medicines and medical techniques.

In such a stubborn and persistent manner.

Making simple tasks much more difficult for someone, yet still accomplishing them.

“Are… are you perhaps the ascetic?”

“I’m not worthy of such a title. Unlike my brother, I’ve often stopped midway and strayed from the path.”

The prince began to be called an ascetic by people.

Rumors about an ordinary person following in the footsteps of someone who had set out on a journey, healed human suffering, and eventually became a god.

He was someone who had repeatedly given up on his journey, strayed from the path, and stopped. But despite that, he would set out on the journey again.

That’s why he was called the ascetic. He had become famous in a different way.

“Are you the one they call the Ascetic of Capilla? Oh my, you’re as handsome as they say. You were once a prince, weren’t you?”

“That was long ago. My younger brother is now the king, so I’m just a burden.”

“Oh my, then if a commoner like me says I love you, you won’t be offended?”

One day.

As if to obstruct his path, beautiful women began to block his way.

There were three beautiful women named Tanha, Arati, and Raga.

“How about it? Won’t you stay at our house tonight?”

They were more beautiful than any women he had seen even when he was a prince.

Though the prince had been tired and lonely for a long time, surprisingly, he didn’t want to give in to that temptation.

He could stop many times.

He could lose his way many times.

But he had to continue on his path again. Even though so much time had passed that he had forgotten the reason.

The journey that had begun with the innocent curiosity about what his brother had been thinking when he set out had now become the path of a practitioner walking the same road as his brother. That’s why he knew.

“No, it’s an attractive offer, but not yet.”

Another layer of his worldly desires fell to the ground.

And so the Ascetic of Capilla set out on his journey again.

He walked in his brother’s footsteps.

Numerous trials blocked his way afterward. The path he walked encompassed all the paths of the three realms and six domains.

He crossed all kinds of hells, dipped his feet in heaven, and proceeded as a human.

Yes, and when he reached the end of that path. When he reached the end of the world where his brother’s traces were said to have disappeared.

“Fine, you win.”

The king of heaven, who had been sending him trials all along, welcomed him.

“How can this be? Can you be certain that what exists at the end of this path is really the person you’ve been looking for? The path has already been broken. The path you’ve been walking is just a path you’ve imagined he would have taken.”

“That may be so.”

“No one knows what lies beyond. The person you call your brother might never have entered that path in the first place. What you’ve heard might be false rumors and exaggerations. That brother of yours might have been a braggart who died on the road.”

“That’s no longer important. The path of following my brother has already become my own path, and I simply want to see its end.”

The king of heaven.

Mara-papiyas felt a chill.

Standing at the peak of heaven, she had observed beings who proceeded beyond a few times.

Beings born special.

Beings who were born from there and born to reach there.

She merely watched indifferently as such beings walked their path.

It’s natural, isn’t it?

They lived in different worlds. If those who were transcendent from the beginning departed for the world of transcendents, there would be no emotional response.

She didn’t know what lay beyond.

There might be paradise.

So once one steps in, they might not want to return.

Or could there be hell?

Once one steps in, they might not be able to return and might face eternal death, escaping the cycle of reincarnation.

‘But whatever is there, it’s not a place a mere human could reach. Yet this guy… how did he manage to step onto this path?’

Mara-papiyas ultimately couldn’t stop the Ascetic of Capilla.

Because the caliber and power he had accumulated had surpassed even hers.

Yes, he was the only being who had reached the power of transcendents that she had pretended not to notice.

In the end, the Ascetic of Capilla transcended worldly desires and reached beyond.

It was the moment when an ordinary person from a small kingdom followed the teachings of the most special one and reached the same path.

And after an imperceptibly long time had passed.

“Mara-papiyas.”

Mara-papiyas welcomed the transcendent who had returned from beyond.

What did he see there?

What experience made him such an untouchable monster?

While Mara-papiyas was bewildered by that power, he spoke:

“Would you help me gather the things I discarded on the path one by one that day?”

Mara-papiyas understood.

The current Lug was perfect. He had become a pure and pristine being.

His blood would surely be sweeter than that of any high monk.

He would be no different from those “nobles” of that world who were born special.

But accepting worldly desires meant defiling that blood again.

It meant lowering his power and caliber by one level, no, several levels.

“You’ll regret it, you know? Why do such a foolish thing?”

“I want to view the world from the same perspective as them again. Only by seeing from the same perspective and making the same choices can I truly understand the suffering of others.”

Willingly becoming closer to humans.

***

Lug and Extra finally arrived at the place where Force Commander Five was being detained. It was a small rural village with a shabby hut.

Without hesitation, Lug opened the door and asked Force Commander Five, who had been detained alone, the question he had been wanting to ask all along.

Yes, Lug, who had accepted worldly desires to view the world from the same perspective as them and understand their suffering.

“Force Commander! I’ve come to rescue you! Is your virginity still intact?”

He was now becoming not just closer to humans, but something even less than that.