The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Respectfully standing across the elder was Park Mintae who was softly saying something.

After a long while, the elder slightly looked up after having heard everything. He said with a domineering tone, “That’s for the best. All three sages have been defeated by me. China will definitely have its TCM heritage severed. From today onwards, whenever you have some new accomplishments, you can also come to challenge their experts. One by one, you can weaken them from top to bottom, and TCM will naturally vanish.”

Park Mintae nodded immediately and asked, “Master, now that China’s three sages have been defeated by you, can’t you continue challenging them? There’s no need for me, right? Also, you don’t seem very happy…”

Park Changmin slightly raised his head and looked out the window, casting his gaze at the distant mountains. He said, “Mintae, there are no fools in this world. Some tricks can be used only once. It’s enough to obtain some gains, but to press on with the same thing wouldn’t be good. There’s no need for you to continue talking about this matter. Look into the distance, what do you see?”

Park Mintae looked up and after a long time, he said hesitantly, “The shadow of a mountain?”

“That’s right. It’s only a shadow of a mountain. That is the periphery of Baekdu ¹ Mountain, but all that surrounds it are tiny mountains. Behind the tiny mountains is the big mountain. China is too huge, and its history runs deep…” Park Changmin sighed once again.

Park Mintae still didn’t understand as he asked, “So what? Master, you mentioned that the existence of a country and its people doesn’t depend on international boundaries but on cultural ones. Once the culture is gone, the country just exists in name despite being dead no matter how powerful it is. It is then destined to be ruled by other cultures and enslaved. For instance, in China’s five thousand years of uninterrupted history, the Han race depended on their culture to withstand all invasions. Even if they couldn’t beat their enemies, they assimilated their invaders into sharing the same culture. Eventually, those that invaded China ended up becoming a part of China.

“Now, we are already launching a cultural battle against them. And in this battle, we are trying our best to take hold of the initiative―”

Park Changmin waved his hand, causing Park Mintae to shut up. Park Changmin shook his head and said, “What you mentioned are just your own ideas. It’s a long journey. You will understand in the future. When you become capable of not acting so arrogantly in the outside world, you will be qualified to partake in the battle on my behalf.”

Park Mintae remained puzzled as he looked blankly at Park Changmin. Arrogant? Didn’t having ability give one the right to be arrogant?

Park Changmin looked at the distant mountain again as he wore a look of solemnity and pensiveness. He said faintly, “Today, you will stand here and watch the mountains.”

After saying that, Park Changmin prepared to leave.

Park Mintae pressed with endless questions on his mind. “Master, didn’t you tell me that since I’m young, I should have the arrogance of youth? What happened?”

Park Changmin waved his hand and said, “Watch the mountains.”

Park Mintae wore a blank look but eventually shut up and obediently looked at the mountains.

Meanwhile, Song Yuhe was walking down the mountain. When he looked back and didn’t see anyone chasing him from the white mountain path, he heaved a sigh of relief. After leaving the boundary of Songwu County, he went straight for Black Mountain City to meet the other medical sage of China, Jiang Yu.

Song Yuhe had a very good relationship with Jiang Yu. Hence, he recounted his experience with her and finally asked, “Were you also defeated by that illness?”

Jiang Yu said with a bitter smile, “That Park Changmin isn’t a doctor at all, but a strategist. He came to China, but he isn’t a mindless warrior like the rumors portrayed him. He came with a plan!”

Song Yuhe nodded slightly and sighed. “That Park Changmin is indeed a strategist. According to what I know, he is different from many doctors. He started off with martial arts from a young age before switching to medicine. He has always had an air of death around him, and apparently every time he stood in the arena, he would pummel his opponent into a terrible state. He can be said to be a pugilistic lunatic the likes of which is hard to find in the whole of East Asia. Due to his training in martial arts, he had many injuries. As he grew older, these latent injuries began to haunt him. Hence, at the age of thirty, he gave up martial arts and switched to medicine.

“Sigh… This guy is also quite the genius. When he switched careers, many people both openly and covertly mocked his ignorance and foolhardiness. In the end, this madman proved himself through his abilities. In just twenty years, he went from a layman to a top expert in eastern medicine.

“To be honest, I’m inferior to him on this point.

“Unfortunately, who could have imagined that this guy would bring his martial thoughts into the realm of medicine. What we care about is treating the ill, but he thinks of how to gain supremacy. There never used to be ‘Traditional Korean doctors’ to begin with. It was just a handful of Korean doctors who came up with the name.

“But when it reached Park Changmin, he made a name for Traditional Korean medicine by publishing books and making false claims. He used a domineering stance and came up with some fake things and pinned them on others, hoping that when repeated enough, his lies would become truth. He completely turned Korea’s medicine world into a mess. He even squeezed some national heavyweights and developing doctors out of the industry.

“I really never expected him to one day put his hands on China.”

Jiang Yu said, “You underestimated him. He is a strategist, and I even suspect that he cast his sights on China many years ago. Today’s outcome did definitely not happen by chance!”

“Oh?” Song Yuhe looked at Jiang Yu in surprise.

Jiang Yu continued. “Just as you said, he’s different from us. He is a doctor with the mindset of a warrior. We are only doctors. He wishes to expand his domain, make his mark on history, and have his name spread for ages. He wishes to destroy TCM and establish TKM. It’s only a portion of his countless plans.”

When Song Yuhe heard that, his heart chilled as he exclaimed. “Then what is his real goal?”

“Korea’s history is relatively short, and there are limits to its domain. His plans wouldn’t work even if he combined the entire country’s strength. It’s also squeezed in between big countries. The only thing they can use to fend off the intrusion of foreign countries is their culture. But just based on their cultural heritage, it’s impossible. Therefore, without enough cultural weight, he can only snatch and steal. To prevent any of his victims from seeking revenge, he destroys them from the get-go.” When Jiang Yu said this, she sighed. “To be honest, I’m rather impressed by Park Changmin. Although he’s an a**hole, he will indeed be an existence that brings huge benefits to Korea once he succeeds. He too will be known as a great man, a sage!”

Song Yuhe frowned and said, “Isn’t he treating Koreans as idiots by doing so? Will the social justice warriors of Korea agree to it?”

Jiang Yu shook her head and said, “Of course not. In fact, he is doing this all of his own accord. In fact, no one wishes to be a cultural bandit. Even if a person becomes one, they will feel uncomfortable deep down. If one doesn’t do a good job, their name could go down in history in infamy. However, everything the people know comes from the media. When the media is controlled, terrifying things can happen. Many Koreans are fooled by their media and have forgotten their own history, believing in a fabricated one. And the worst of the lot are those that become arrogant. But thankfully for them, this arrogance and confidence also becomes an iron barrier that prevents external cultural elements from entering! In fact, this is also considered a form of culture.”

Song Yuhe frowned and said, “But the best defense is not obstruction, but to accept everything, taking the good so as to constantly strengthen oneself.”

When Jiang Yu heard that, she scoffed. “So you finally realized it too?”

Song Yuhe blushed. In fact, he had not realized this before heading up Mt. One Finger. He was able to do so only after being mocked by Park Mintae. In a way, he had been snapped to his senses by his jarring mockery, so right now, he had no right to say a word.