In 1592, he received an appeal from Seosan Daesa, his former teacher, calling on him to resist the invasion force of Japanese regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which had landed at Busan.

Jo and Yeonggyu planned to recapture the capital from the Japanese, but their officers instead argued they should attack Geumsan, a town the Japanese commander Ankokuji Ekei was planning to turn into a fortress.

[2] Jo Heon's forces attacked on 22 September, but all were killed, including their leader.

[1] Yeonggyu's monk fighters and Jo Heon's volunteers are commemorated by a shrine on the site of the battles of Geumsan.

[1] Yeonggyu was posthumously awarded with the post of T'ongchong Taebu by the Korean court.