What You Trampled On (5)
This was clearly…
the overall structure of the Sea Dragon Palace I saw before my eyes, and the shamanic array of the Sea Dragon Clan that I had glimpsed from the hidden chamber on the highest floor of Bongmyeong Castle. Yet for some reason, the two structures overlapped in my mind.
I stared at the Sea Dragon Palace for a long while, then turned and asked Ran, “Seo Doo, do you happen to know anything about the Sea Dragon Palace’s structure?”
“Ah, do you mean the Sea Dragon Palace’s structure?” Seo Ran swept his hand through the air and gently stroked the spiritual energy flowing around us.
“Just as Senior Brother feels it now, this Sea Dragon Palace constantly emits auspicious qi and gentle spiritual energy.”
“Indeed.”
It was true. The area around the Sea Dragon Palace always hummed with an inexplicable auspicious qi, and a faint sanctity could even be sensed. At the same time, drawing in its spiritual energy made one’s head feel strangely clear.
“The Sea Dragon Palace itself is a kind of shamanic formation. The Dragon King said the array exists to keep the spiritual senses of the Sea Dragon Clan who dwell here perpetually clear and refreshed, so that they may always maintain a pure mindset.”
‘Spiritual Awakening Array…?’
I recalled the array in the hidden chamber of Bongmyeong Castle.
‘The structures are almost identical. The effects may differ slightly, but the array in Bongmyeong Castle must also be related to the spiritual senses….’
I fell into doubt.
‘Why… did an array related to the spiritual senses remain in Bongmyeong Castle?’
What exactly was the Dragon King thinking?
‘I’ll have to ask Song Jin about this array later.’
“In any case, let’s thoroughly search the Sea Dragon Palace.”
Seo Ran glanced around and led the way.
“This area is the outer palace, where many complex formations are laid. But once we enter the inner palace, the formations will be almost nonexistent. We should look for divine books or spiritual elixirs in the inner palace.”
“Understood.”
I followed behind Seo Ran, breaking through the outer palace’s formations, and stepped into the inner palace.
The closer we approached the center of the Sea Dragon Palace, the stronger the auspicious qi and sacred power became.
‘My consciousness is growing clearer…’
My senses gradually sharpened.
What exactly was hidden here?
Seo Ran and I split up and decided to scour the palace grounds separately.
‘Gold formations were set everywhere…’
The formations that caused one to fall into a labyrinth if they stepped wrong were all in the outer palace, but the gold formations protecting the inner palace’s halls still functioned in various places.
‘None of them are easy to break. The Invisible Sword would take two or three strikes…’
But the fact that gold formations existed meant there was something valuable hidden inside.
‘Where should I start looking…?’
That was when I was wandering the inner palace.
‘Hm?’
I suddenly noticed, among the many halls marked with gold formations, one that was completely free of them.
This hall was larger than the others, without any gold formation, yet strange shamanic characters covered every surface, emitting spiritual energy.
It felt like an unusual place, but strangely there was no gold formation here.
Feeling a strange sensation, I stepped inside.
Creak—
I jolted.
Upon entering the hall, the thick stench of blood that wafted from within made me shudder.
‘This is…’
The inside of the hall was spacious.
Along the walls stood countless shelves, and in the center lay a vast celestial chart.
The chart depicted the twenty-eight lunar mansions, the Ziwei Yuan, Taiyi Yuan, and Tianxi Yuan, along with the sun and moon depicted in harmony.
And directly above this beautiful celestial chart, dried blood was splattered across the surface, giving off an eerie feeling.
‘What is this…?’
Moreover, the shelves on the edge were intact, yet inside them there were no books—only piles of blackened charcoal lumps.
The shelves were heavily scorched, as if…
‘Someone had killed the person who lived here and burned every book belonging to the hall’s owner.’
The most likely culprit was Seo Huel.
Given his twisted mind, it was entirely possible he had done something like this.
‘There was no gold formation because no one was here anymore, so he had no reason to set one.’
Apart from witnessing a crime scene, I found nothing useful.
I was about to step out of the hall when—
Swaaaa—
My senses honed by the Yin Soul Ghost Curse detected something.
The sensation only I, who had mastered the Yin Soul Ghost Curse, could feel.
This was…
‘A curse?’
Someone had left a dense curse behind here.
At that moment—
Kiying!
My core suddenly vibrated.
And I felt a dense curse rushing toward me from somewhere.
‘No…!’
I panicked and tried to dispel the curse with the Yin Soul Ghost Curse’s counter-curse, but the curse had already attached to me.
And then—
—This place…
A voice began to speak.
‘Half-demon… will come… here…’
A voice filled with vicious resentment.
‘Only… Seo Ran… has…’
The voice, brimming with pain, continued.
‘Believe… and entrust… to me… Ran, look beneath the celestial chart…’
And with that, the voice cut off.
Pishik—
The curse that had attached to me, having fulfilled its purpose of delivering the voice, vanished after leaving only a slight headache.
‘Look beneath the celestial chart?’
The floor beneath the celestial chart was a stone platform made of jade.
I infused my Pure Vitality into both arms, then thrust my fingers between the jade slabs and pushed with all my strength.
Squeak, squuuu—
Gradually, the jade slab rose.
And beneath it lay a leather book that had long since rotted away.
No spiritual energy was felt; it was simply a plain object, nothing more than the pure diary of the voice’s owner.
‘It was a thing that shouldn’t have been detectable in my consciousness area….’
It seemed this jade slab had been blocking my consciousness and spiritual energy.
I used the Ghost Escape Technique to pull the book toward me, then lowered the jade slab again.
Clunk—
The slab was heavy, so I wiped the sweat from my forehead.
The book bore the title “Diary” in plain Sea Dragon characters.
‘What content was in it that made this person leave his diary for Seo Ran?’
I checked the diary for any special formations or talismans.
As expected, it was a plain diary with no formations or spells.
Sllik, sllik.
The diary’s owner was one of the Nascent Soul elders of the Sea Dragon Clan, a Heavenly Official in the palace’s astronomical office.
Most of the diary’s entries were ordinary records: when Jeon Hyung discovered unusual astronomical phenomena while performing his duties, what he ate that day, whom he spoke with, the weather, and so on.
“I had a chat with Elder Cheon-won-gi today. He asked if it wasn’t painful to keep observing the edge of the world, and advised me to take the ‘Dan’ good for headaches.”
He referred to the Heavenly Person stage as “Cheon-won-gi” when speaking with Sea Dragon elders.
The Sea Dragons had long used the term Cheon-won-gi instead of Cheon-in, but those who disliked the word Cheon-in carried an elitist attitude toward the Sea Dragons and were the ones who feasted on humans.
In fact, Jeon Hyung often ate human pills.
“I extracted the pill made by the livestock I trained in Hofung Eungdanbyeon and took it. The efficacy is indeed outstanding. The headache is gone.”
“I hear the Dragon King has created an even more outstanding livestock method.”
“He injects the Sea Dragon Clan’s blood into the livestock, not only to extract their labor but also to revive a livestock’s body exactly once when the livestock dies in battle, it is said.”
‘Tsk….’
Even though it was a different species, was it right to turn other species into livestock and exploit them in this way?
I clicked my tongue at the Sea Dragon Clan’s history and continued turning the pages.
Sllik.
While turning the diary, I stopped at one point.
“Today we gathered— the Dragon King, the astronomical officials, and all the Sea Dragon elders—in a meeting.”
“The King explained the astronomical records we submitted to the elders and spoke of an idea he had been considering.”
“It was an extremely chilling speculation. If true, it would mean that to prove their dignity, all living beings in this world must transcend to the upper realm.”
“One Cheon-won-gi elder opposed the King’s words, calling them too fantastical. I too felt chills, but I thought the King’s words sounded a little fantastical.”
“It was a meeting full of things to ponder. We should observe the edge of the world more often and the celestial bodies more frequently.”
That was the end of the day’s diary entry.
‘Speculation? What speculation was he referring to?’
What exactly was Seo Huel thinking after reading the astronomical records?
I continued turning the pages.
The next few pages were ordinary daily records from Jeon Hyung.
And then I stopped again at one point.
“It seems the Dragon King had something else he observed separately.”
“The King gathered the elders and the astronomical officials, presented his speculation, and asked for hypotheses.”
“An interesting hypothesis.”
“In this world, there are no real day and night—only the circulation of heaven and earth spiritual energy as yin and yang.”
“On a macroscopic scale, the vast currents of spiritual energy divide into yin and yang, causing the world to rotate. It is merely an illusion that day and night exist; in our world there is no real day and night.”
‘What…?’
There is no real day and night?
What did he mean?
I stared at the sentence again and again, but it still made no sense.
“It was an unpleasant matter for the King, but we could not hold back our laughter.”
“The sun and moon revolve around the world yet there is no real day and night!”
“When we could not stop laughing, the elders grew angry. In the end we received scolding while listening to Elder Won-rip’s lectures.”
“It was disrespectful and punishable in the normal order of things, but the King, with his vast compassion, forgave us.”
“The King seems to harbor a little fantastical imagination, yet his vast benevolence and kindness are truly admirable. I can only feel sorry toward the King.”
‘The sun and moon revolve around the world….’
As expected, this world was flat.
Instead of the heliocentric theory with a massive sun at the center, the geocentric theory with the sun and moon moving around the world was the truth.
But I found Seo Huel’s words troubling.
‘If there is no real day and night, then what kind of world is that which is neither heliocentric nor geocentric?’
I turned the page with my doubts.
“Recently a half-human, half-dragon brat named Seo Ran has been rummaging through the Sea Dragon Palace.”
“If it weren’t for the King’s bloodline, I would have thrown him out immediately, but he keeps clinging to me and annoying me.”
“The King always smiles when dealing with Seo Ran, but anyone with eyes knows he dislikes the brat too.”
“Oddly enough, the annoying brat follows the King best, yet does he even know that?”
“Rather, it is the King who creates the most situations where he evades the brat?”
“I hope the brat realizes this himself and leaves the Sea Dragon Palace soon.”
“…”
Sllik.
I turned the next page.
“Our astronomical officials were planning to head to the edge of the world, set up proper angles, observe the sun and moon’s revolutions, and disprove the King’s speculation.”
“Some of the elders secretly supported us, wanting to prove that the King’s fantastical speculation was false.”
“It is a pity that there is no real day and night, but perhaps the King simply doesn’t understand astronomy well.”
“From today, I won’t be able to keep the diary for several months. We must hunker down at the edge of the world and repeat observations.”
“We need to stock up on the livestock’s pills. Constantly facing the edge of the world makes headaches worse.”
Sllik, sllik, sllik.
From the next page, the diary was blank.
I kept turning the pages until I reached the part written again.
‘Hm?’
The handwriting in this section was extremely messy.
It was clear Jeon Hyung had been writing in a state of extreme excitement.
“With my own hands I succeeded in observing the sun and moon.”
“Impossible. The results were far too bizarre.”
“The sun and the moon! Both do not revolve around the world!”
“The two celestial bodies are simply fixed in one place in the sky!”
“Even the rising and setting of the sun and moon in the east and west were illusions!!!”
“The real positions of the sun and moon are in the south, closest to our Sea Dragon Clan’s homeland.”
“The King’s hypothesis was correct!!!”
“The sun and moon do not revolve; they are fixed in place. This world has no day and night. What we thought was day and night is merely the result of the macroscopic circulation of heaven and earth spiritual energy as yin and yang!”
Jeon Hyung’s hand must have been shaking as he wrote, for his characters were wildly chaotic.
From his writing, I sensed that Jeon Hyung was filled with terror.
“If the King’s hypothesis is proven, then what is this world?”
“What is the shape of this world? It is far too grotesque.”
“Are we living and cultivating in such a cursed place?”
“What are we, worms, but something else?”
“I began observing to disprove the King’s speculation, but in the end my and the other astronomical officials’ observations only proved the King’s hypothesis splendidly.”
“The elders’ meeting has called me. The other astronomical officials will all gather as well. I am afraid. Did I not merely prove this grotesque fact?”
Sllik, sllik.
The next page’s handwriting was slightly steadier than the previous.
“Beheading.”
“If this is true, then this place is clearly not where we should live.”
“I, the astronomical officials, and all the elders agreed with the King’s opinion that all species must transcend to the upper realm at once.”
“The King is truly benevolent.”
“He is giving other species a chance to preserve their dignity as well.”
“Beheading…?”
What did it mean?
It seemed Jeon Hyung had written down something only he knew in the diary.
‘Some kind of codeword?’
I could not understand it now.
Sllik.
I turned the page again.
“The Core Formation youngest astronomical official. A young brat who cannot even perform shape-changing yet has gone to the continent and been captured and killed by a human demon-cultivation sect leader.”
“The King chased after the sect leader, lectured him, and took revenge. As expected, all humans are sinister and untrustworthy trash.”
“These people are best used as livestock. In any case, the pills made from them have the best efficacy!”
“And the headaches caused by observing the edge of the world are best relieved by the livestock’s pills. Of course, that will no longer be necessary now.”
“It has been revealed that the reason headaches were caused by staring at the edge of the world for too long was because I unknowingly met eyes with a True Immortal of the Great Boundary Realm.”
“Even if it is not the True Immortal’s gaze, observing the edge of the world means one is witnessing the will of a True Immortal, and the upper dantian unknowingly receives suppression.”
“Now our astronomical officials have stopped meaningless astronomical observations. So we no longer need pills, and they will be used as emergency medicine.”
“True Immortal…?”
Suddenly, the tale book I had read to the child in the village came to mind.
The tale book had depicted the sun and moon with eyes.
I kept turning the pages.
“Recently I have been in a bad mood.”
“Is it because I observed such a terrifying fact with my own hands?”
“That fact will not leave my mind.”
“It is unbearably frightening that I have been meeting eyes with a huge existence I do not know.”
“What was that existence thinking when it looked at me? Whenever I recall this fact lately, my mind is tormented.”
“Not only me—most of the astronomical officials’ personalities are becoming slightly insane. They all wear fear on their faces.”
Sllik.
“Insane!”
“Goe-gun, that super-lecherous old man raided the livestock farm! Not only the livestock farm manager, the Sea Dragon King, but also the astronomical officials who were visiting the farm have all been captured by that monster and turned into bio-puppets!”
“The livestock farm has collapsed, and all the livestock have escaped.”
“The King rushed out to chase after Goe-gun, but it seems he fled.”
“An unbearably heart-wrenching and tragic matter. All the emergency medicine has fled!”
“Recently I have not been observing the celestial bodies, so no headache, but it is a bone-deep loss.”
Sllik, sllik.
“…”
“Recently the atmosphere is strange.”
“My relations with Black Ghost Valley have deteriorated, and we are in conflict, but unusually the astronomical officials are frequently attacked or go missing.”
“Starting with the Core Formation youngest astronomical official last time, beginning with Goe-gun’s raids, it seems many astronomical officials are frequently attacked. There are also quite a few astronomical officials who simply vanish for no reason.”
“The elders who were quietly supporting us and opposing the King’s fantastical speculation because they disliked the King and our astronomical observations.”
“There is a high probability that those elders are the ones pushing us into dangerous places. The astronomical officials discussed this fact and decided to tell the King.”
“I went to the King as representative and told him. He listened with a trustworthy face and praised me. He said he would protect us.”
“Especially me, an excellent astronomical official who directly observed the sun and moon, he said he would protect me firmly. It is a grateful matter.”
“Thinking about it, the fact I observed has changed the expressions of not only the astronomical officials but even the Cheon-won-gi elders recently.”
“Such a terrifying truth has no distinction between Nascent Soul and Cheon-won-gi, yet the King never loses his benevolent smile and continues to give us trust.”
“As expected, he is our King.”
Sllik, sllik…
I turned the next page.
And I saw that Jeon Hyung’s handwriting began to shake again from the next page.
“What is this happening!”
“Of the astronomical officials, only I remain.”
“All of them disappeared or died silently during battles with Black Ghost Valley, Goe-gun, or other disasters.”
“Clearly the King said he would protect us, so how did this happen?”
“I know how unpleasant it is, but I cannot help but make this terrifying speculation.”
“The speculation that the King, not the elders who opposed him, is personally responsible for the disappearance of astronomical officials who know the truth.”
“That cannot be. He is a benevolent person. Do not worry. It is merely groundless concern.”
Sllik.
And right after that page.
The handwriting here was completely broken, and rage emanated from the strokes themselves.
“O King!”
“You are pushing the astronomical officials who know the truth into death!”
“I will die soon too!”
“What you said you would protect me for—because I have many uses, you plan to milk me until the end and then kill me.”
“I will die. I will not even be able to participate in the transcendence and will die.”
“Why are you driving us out like this? Why?”
“Is the fact we know harmful to the Sea Dragon Clan?”
“That is possible. It is so terrifying that even the Cheon-won-gi elders occasionally show pain. Even those of us who have reached Nascent Soul stay awake all night.”
“Yes, if it is for the sake of the Sea Dragon Clan…”
“If it is for the sake of the species, there is no choice.”
“I will accept it.”
The handwriting that had begun in anger gradually steadied as he wrote the diary and sorted his heart.
…
Sllik.
“After accepting death, it has become easy.”
“I only have to accept that one day I will die.”
“After accepting death, life has become new again.”
“Things I could not see are now visible. This precious life, the scenery of the Sea Dragon Palace…”
“And, strangely, I have become like the King, being evaded by Seo Ran under his lead.”
“I have become close to that child recently. It may be mutual pity.”
“That child was an intelligent child. Until now, his brilliance had been hidden behind species and bloodline prejudices.”
“He seems cute. If that brat had entered the astronomical office, I would have taken good care of him…”
“The King said he would not take this child to the upper realm.”
“Instead, he entrusted me with the duty of freeing the souls of the Sea Dragon Clan warriors still imprisoned in the ruined Black Ghost Valley fortress from the battle with Goe-gun.”
“As expected… the King may be cold, but he is a person who thinks of the Sea Dragon Clan.”
“Seo Ran, this child is also pitiful, but… since it is for the sake of the species, he must be sacrificed.”
“I too will soon die for the species. The King’s attitude toward me has subtly changed.”
“He will probably die before the Ascension Gate opens…”
Now Jeon Hyung’s diary was nearing its end.
Sllik.
And when I turned the next page—
‘This is…’
Blood.
The next page was written with dried blood.
“Seo Huel!!!”
“I hate you!”
“All of us Sea Dragon Clan members have been deceived by him!”
“He is not the King, merely a petty mortal.”
“Seo Ran, I leave these words for you. If you can, someday stay in this world and return to the Sea Dragon Palace, so read my diary and learn Seo Huel’s true face.”
“It was all lies.”
“Do not believe anything he said!”
“He is a madman possessed by revenge, a monster whose heart is broken!”
“Even the Sea Dragon Clan…”
“Seo Ran, he is coming to kill me now. I cannot leave long words.”
“Be sure to read this diary later!”
“It has been a long time since I had a friend. Thank you.”
Sllik…
That was the last page of the diary.
Though I could not know everything, I had learned many things from the diary.
I closed Jeon Hyung’s diary.
‘The grotesque shape of the world? There is no real day and night? Seo Huel’s true face…’
Multiple truths swirled in my head.
‘Even Won Rip was a person influenced by Seo Huel.’
What exactly did Seo Huel want…?
Clack.
The moment I closed the diary—
It twitched.
“Hm…?”
Twitch, twitch…
The diary suddenly began to twitch.
“What…!?”
I sensed no aura and felt no spiritual energy.
‘Then why…?’
And then—
Fwoo—
A blue hand slipped out from between the diary pages and crushed both my arms.
Kugugugugu!
Suddenly my entire body felt heavy.
The heaven and earth spiritual energy around me pressed down, fixing me in place.
“What is this…?”
And then, a gentle voice mixed with kindness and benevolence.
Seo Huel’s voice began to speak.
Closing this diary means you, Ran, survived without using the Wave-Breaking Pearl and somehow reached the Sea Dragon Palace. Jeon Hyung thought he had hidden it well in front of me… but unfortunately, that is not the case.
“What…!”
Unfortunately, Ran, your role ends there. Releasing the souls of the Sea Dragon Clan warriors imprisoned in the Seopmyeong Ship was your last usefulness. Any further living will only be an obstacle… so sleep. Go to Mother and Father.
Grit, grit…
I struggled desperately to free myself from Seo Huel’s grip.
At that moment—
Kugugugugu!
The entire Sea Dragon Palace suddenly began to vibrate.
“Seo Huel…!”