I Became an Evolving Lizard in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 200

Chapter 200: Straight Line and Curve

The blue beam imbued with the profundity of the Gecko pierced through Cheoldu-ryong’s roar.

Kwaaaaang!

The aftermath of the attack shook the surroundings, and Cheoldu-ryong, struck directly, was sent flying far away.

However, this wasn’t the end yet.

“Oh… Komodoshi!”

A doin, dragging his weary body, managed to crawl out.

“Cheoldu-ryong possesses… a body akin to Vajra’s indestructibility.”

Vajra’s indestructibility, huh.

As a sacred beast of Shaolin, it must have at least that much.

Come to think of it, even something like a Dilopho could use the Tang Clan’s secret arts and partially reach the Poison Master’s realm.

Cheoldu-ryong, being far stronger, should possess such capabilities.

That’s probably why the doin tried to subdue him with a lion’s roar rather than inflicting direct damage.

Still, it doesn’t seem perfect.

When I slashed it with my claws, there was a slight amount of bleeding.

It’s a level of defense I can definitely penetrate.

Of course, it doesn’t seem like one Gecko Death Beam would be enough to take him down.

“Krrrr….”

“Though shameless to ask, could you spare him…?”

He’s asking me not to kill it.

I looked at the aftermath scattered around.

This snowy mountain had been half-destroyed, revealing a devastating scene.

I saw the mangled corpses of the monks.

The current Cheoldu-ryong is evil.

It has undoubtedly killed humans.

Even if they weren’t related to me, this is irreversible.

If I hadn’t stopped him, the doin would have died too.

“…Could you at least spare its life?”

What should I do with this frustrating human?

Even if Cheoldu-ryong miraculously repents, spilled water cannot be recovered.

Being expelled from Shaolin is inevitable, and they’d likely execute it immediately.

Saving it wouldn’t change its fate.

…Getting involved in something so unrelated to me.

It only unsettles my mind.

“Krrrrrr….”

With a low growl, Cheoldu-ryong leaped toward the direction he had been flung.

For now, dealing with him comes first.

Pabababat!

“Grrrk… Gaaaahhh!”

Cheoldu-ryong clutched his head as if in agony.

Is it truly Vajra’s indestructibility?

…Perhaps its indestructibility is limited to its head.

“To think… you’d be this strong….”

Cheoldu-ryong panted heavily.

“But it’s not over yet.”

Slowly, Cheoldu-ryong adjusted his posture.

A stance where the center of gravity shifted forward, extremely unstable.

He was preparing his most powerful strike.

Normally, I’d have avoided that attack instead of confronting it head-on.

If I accumulated damage from a distance, I could defeat him without much difficulty.

Alternatively, using my neck strength might allow me to subdue him without exhausting my energy.

But then, it would be meaningless.

His eyes glowed red.

Even if I won, he wouldn’t admit defeat.

He’d thirst for human blood, slaughtering until death.

If I killed him, the problem could be resolved, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“…Are you waiting for me?”

“Because the client made an unreasonable demand.”

“The client? I see. What did your master request? To preserve my core intact? Or to extract the fox bead? To retrieve the Ice Phoenix’s core?”

Cheoldu-ryong glared at the doin with eyes full of hatred.

Whatever he thought, it wasn’t my concern.

Without answering, I too adjusted my stance.

“…That arrogance, that recklessness. You will regret it.”

Kugoooooo.

An immense amount of internal energy converged at a single point.

The final phase had begun.

I prepared myself to respond to his attack.

To subdue him, I needed to counter that strike.

So thoroughly that he wouldn’t have any excuses, forcing him to use his full strength before defeating him.

“I will engrave into your bones why Shaolin is called the pinnacle of martial arts!”

Kuuuuung!

All the energy of the Dragon Gate concentrated in one place, and as he moved, the space seemed to ripple like heatwaves.

If not for his self-proclaimed indestructibility, controlling all that energy would’ve been impossible.

It was only because Cheoldu-ryong’s head was exceptionally sturdy that he could endure such power.

“Kraaaaaaaah!”

With a fierce war cry, he charged at me.

With each step, small peaks evaporated as if they were disappearing.

The snow covering the mountain melted into water in an instant.

Yet due to the power of cold, it froze again, transforming into sharp ice shards instead of soft snow.

Cheoldu-ryong was wielding enough power to alter the terrain.

I focused my mind.

The martial arts of Shaolin follow a curve.

That was what my master told me.

When I was still a small lizard, I didn’t quite understand that statement.

When I thought of Shaolin martial arts, I first thought of strength and straightforwardness.

My master, Baek Yeonyeong, liked straight lines but disliked curves.

Perhaps she saw the uprightness of a straight line as resembling herself.

What about curves disturbed her so?

What is the profundity of a straight line?

What is the profundity of a curve?

Even now, I still don’t fully understand.

Kaaaaaaaang!

Cheoldu-ryong, the sacred beast of Shaolin, was also drawing a straight line.

No matter how I looked at it, that was no curve but a straight line.

Why did Master say that they followed curves?

If I were to answer, a straight line is strong and upright.

It would embody the martial arts my master pursued and the life she lived.

If straight lines are strong and upright, are curves weak and not upright?

The world isn’t so simply divided.

If it were, all martial arts would only draw straight lines.

Straight lines are fast and strong.

But they are also prone to breaking.

Unless one is as powerful as Master, it will eventually break.

On the other hand, a curve is weaker and slower than a straight line but will never break.

Just like how flowing water cannot be severed.

That’s why Master seemed to detest martial arts that follow curves.

She never broke and upheld the straight line.

She couldn’t understand those who followed curves that easily bent.

Still, curves aren’t inherently bad.

Not everyone can be as strong as Master.

Many can only draw curves.

Knowing this, Master didn’t hate curves unconditionally.

She may have simply hoped they’d hold onto the mindset they had when they first established their sect.

Robbing innocent villagers and leaving them to starve.

Killing children simply for speaking to them.

Rather than bend in such a way, Master would choose to break.

This is why she despised orthodox sects as a group.

And why she detested the curves they followed.

Kwaaaaaang!

Cheoldu-ryong charged forward with overwhelming speed.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was just running in a straight line.

But as Master said, the martial arts of Shaolin began to follow a curve.

An unavoidable trajectory bent his strike.

However.

Unavoidable didn’t mean it couldn’t be stopped.

With my left hand, I caught his head.

Tap.

With my right hand, I caught his tail.

Rather than “caught,” it’s more accurate to say I simply placed my hands on him.

Something like this alone wouldn’t stop his attack.

Like a dragon swimming naturally through water.

Circulating his destructive power throughout my entire body.

Redirecting the force.

Drawing an elegant curve even Master would acknowledge.

Great Heaven and Earth Shift.

Kwoooooooom!

“Gyaaaaaaah!”

Cheoldu-ryong was slammed into the ground.

“My, my head… my heeeaaaad!”

He howled in pain.

The battle was over.

Even with Vajra’s indestructibility, he couldn’t avoid taking damage from his own attack.

“Huff… huff!”

I saw the doin running toward me from afar.

I subdued him as requested, but what came next was the problem.

“Grk… graaaaah!”

Cold energy began to pour out of Cheoldu-ryong’s body.

“Stay away from me!”

The power of the Dragon Gate went berserk.

“Grrrk, grrraaaaah!”

Cheoldu-ryong continued clutching his head.

I turned to look at the doin.

Rather than letting him suffer like this, it might be better if I ended it.

If the rampage worsened, the doin could also be caught up in it.

But the doin shook his head.

“Bakgigae!”

Calling out his name, the doin dragged his broken leg, crawling toward us.

“Sa… sa-hyung? Don’t… don’t come here!”

“Hang in there! Just a little longer, just a little longer!”

What a frustrating human, and what a frustrating sacred beast.

It was clear that both of them were going to die at this rate.

…

It wasn’t worth the cost.

This is why I hated getting involved with humans.

I drew upon the power of my dantian.

The rampaging energy of the Dragon Gate could only be stopped by another Dragon Gate’s power.

Fwaaaaaa!

Deep within the snowy mountain, plants began to sprout like bamboo shoots after the rain.

“Kuheoooo!”

Cheoldu-ryong coughed up a purple bead along with blood.

“You fool! Get a grip, get a grip!”

It was finally over.

Cheoldu-ryong would collapse after his rampage ended.

The doin, though injured, would survive and make it out alive.

It had been a long tale, but it wasn’t exactly a happy ending.

“Sa… sa-hyung… my, my head… it’s too much….”

…Cheoldu-ryong wasn’t dead yet.

A massive ice shard lodged near his heart began to melt, and his enormous body started to shrink.

Though it was clearly nighttime, it felt like warm sunlight was shining down.

…The power he gained from the Dragon Gate should have been neck strength.

What was causing this phenomenon?

It resembled ice melting under sunlight.

The snow covering the surroundings also began to melt.

Splosh.

The doin stepped on the wet ground as he crawled forward.

He placed his hand on Cheoldu-ryong’s head.

With a compassionate face, he looked down at him.

As though it was a motion he had repeated countless times.

Cheoldu-ryong’s convulsions from his headache ceased.

“Finally… finally… have you regained your senses…?”

Tears began to flow from Cheoldu-ryong’s eyes.

“What… what have I done….”

The doin neither scolded nor resented him.

“Namu Amitabha….”

He simply recited that phrase.

“Namu Amitabha….”

Hye-myeong, the abbot of Shaolin, chanted those words.

“To think you even tried to devour your own offspring….”

In the embrace of a giant wicked dragon was a small juvenile dragon.

The tiny dinosaur stood dazed, staring at its fallen parent.

“How pitiful.”

Hye-myeong gazed at it with pity-filled eyes.

“Doin, we must erase its memories.”

“…Its memories? Even if it’s young, it’s the offspring of a wicked dragon. Before it causes trouble, we should eliminate it…!”

“What sin has this child committed?”

“It’s a juvenile dragon born under the star of killing! It’s destined to go mad if it doesn’t kill!”

The influence of stars isn’t limited to humans.

This sacred beast was born under the star of calamity.

If left alive, a disastrous outcome was inevitable.

“I will take responsibility for it.”

“…Master. Do you mean…?”

“I will bring this child to Shaolin.”

“Bring a creature destined for slaughter to Shaolin!”

Introducing a being under the fate of killing to Shaolin was unprecedented.

But with the abbot, revered as a divine monk, saying this, it wasn’t something that could be opposed outright.

Even so, the doin vehemently objected.

He understood what it meant to take responsibility for such a being.

“You mean you’ll bear everything this child does…?”

A child born under the star of killing was destined to kill.

The more one tried to suppress it, the greater the outburst would be.

Thus, Hye-myeong was declaring he would bear the infamy and karma that would befall this child.

“Why… go so far….”

“Because abandoning a forsaken child once is more than enough.”

It was a cryptic statement.

The old monk Hye-myeong’s eyes saw a different presence in the juvenile dragon.

A child he had once seen on a cold winter’s day.

The memory of a lotus and a snow flower.

Children destined with a fate far worse than the star of calamity.

He had been too afraid to take them in, and he regretted it for the rest of his life.

“Call it the whim of an old man or hypocritical benevolence.”

The abbot of Shaolin, Hye-myeong, lifted the juvenile dragon into his arms.

“Piyak….”

The small dinosaur let out a weak cry.

Hye-myeong smiled kindly.

“Seeing this, do you still think this child is guilty of anything?”

He handed the dragon to the doin.

The doin, at a loss, accepted the juvenile dragon.

“This one… its head is as round as a bead, and its body looks like it’s wearing armor.”

Its cries were cute, and its appearance was oddly endearing.

The doin placed a hand on the dragon’s head.

“Piyak….”

Hye-myeong watched the doin and curled his lips into a smile.

“Heh… Giving a dharma name to one who hasn’t even joined the order yet. It seems I misjudged you.”

“Master! What do you mean…!”

Hye-myeong laughed at the flustered doin.

“Piyak! Piyak!”

Cheoldu-ryong, now a juvenile dragon in the doin’s arms, flailed its short arms wildly.

“This… this little rascal…!”

“It seems the child likes you.”

“Master?”

“Well, not a child anymore, is it? It has a proper dharma name now.”

Bakgigae (拍璣鎧).

The juvenile dragon born under the star of calamity was given that dharma name.

Though it ignored all procedures and traditions, no one voiced any complaints.