Finding Yi Sang
Anyone from Fengsang Commandery who heard the name Cheonroe of the Military Supply Bureau would feel the color drain from their face. Once you went in, you almost never came out alive. It was a land of the dead.
Cheonroe was built in three concentric prisons. Commoners were held in the outermost cells; martial artists of the Body Realm and Profound Realm occupied the middle; and the innermost death-row dungeon, reserved for those of the Spirit Realm, had sat unused for years.
Every cell was hewn from thick, heavy black profound rock. Even a master of the 6th Meridian Mysterious Realm could never hope to escape.
Half a month ago, all one hundred and twenty-eight members of the Lee Escort Agency had been taken alive. Afterward, every servant and escort of the Yi household was banished to the Southern Wilderness, while the eight members of the direct family were locked in this middle prison.
No one knew what crime the Yi family had committed. One day, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the entire household had simply been thrown into Cheonroe.
People knew only this: the Yi family was not the first prominent clan to be wiped out in Fengsang Commandery. Since the start of the year, four or five great families had already vanished from the commandery without a trace.
Inside a spacious cell of the stone prison sat eight people: Lee Jangpung, master of the Lee Escort Agency and father of Yi Sang, together with Yi Sang's two older brothers, his younger sister, and the wives of the Yi family.
The arrangement was deliberate on the part of the Military Supply Bureau. Perhaps they meant for the Yi family to share one last moment of togetherness. For the people in that cell, the night stretched on without end.
Yi Sang sat in silence on the cold black-stone floor. He had not been tortured or interrogated — or rather, to be precise, none of the Yi family had suffered any punishment since their imprisonment. There was simply nothing left to do to them. Their fates had already been sealed.
How many hours had he been sitting there? At last, his father Lee Jangpung let out a long sigh beside him.
"Hah... my wife, my children. Forgive me."
Tears welled in Lee Jangpung's eyes as he spoke. A man of just over forty, whose face had always been carved with unyielding integrity, was in this moment overflowing with guilt.
"Husband!"
"Father!"
Every gaze turned to him. His wife smiled, and his three sons, Yi Sang among them, all wore brave, unflinching expressions.
"Father, we have always stood by your decisions. Our Yi family will never bow our heads to that bastard Lee Mujin!"
"Haha... yes. You are worthy of being Lee Jangpung's sons! You have not disgraced His Majesty Emperor Shinmu's illustrious name!"
Lee Jangpung marveled through his tears. He gathered his beloved wife and children into his arms and roared toward the heavens.
"Father!"
Yi Sang gripped his father's arm tightly, as if trying to draw one last measure of strength from the man who stood as vast and solid as a mountain. Perhaps the Yi family would never see tomorrow's sun.
Just then, a faint vibration rose from beneath everyone's feet.
Thud.
What was that sound?
While the others sat bewildered, Lee Jangpung swept his family behind him and stared at the floor.
"It's coming from below!"
Thud, thud!
The sound was tiny, yet it drew steadily closer to the prison floor, as if something were trying to crawl up from underground.
Was that even possible?
Lee Jangpung's eyes went wide. The floor was black profound rock, harder than steel. Ordinary Profound Qi could not so much as scratch it. How could anything burst up from below?
A faint cracking sound reached him, and Lee Jangpung frowned in confusion.
Before his eyes, the impregnable black profound rock began to split from the center. The cracks lengthened and multiplied, spreading outward like a spider's web. Then came a sharp snap, and a hole perhaps half a foot across opened miraculously before them.
Heavens! Heaven had aided them!
Every eye in the Yi family lit up. The lady of the house seized her husband's hand, her voice bright with excitement.
"Husband, did you send someone to rescue us?"
"Ah — no!"
If I had a friend this capable, would I even be locked up in here?
This was profound rock... to smash through it so easily — just how formidable was the one down there?
Everyone held their breath, waiting to see what hero would emerge from the hole. They waited a long while. Then a small, furry head popped up and blinked at them all.
Huh? A rat! That was an enormous rat!
Bewilderment swept the cell once more. Were rats this formidable these days? Digging a tunnel all the way into Cheonroe?
While they were still staring, the rat unexpectedly smiled at them, then began scratching something into the floor with its tiny black claws.
Scritch.
Those unremarkable-looking claws left a distinct mark in the stone. The terrifying aura that rolled off that single stroke made even Lee Jangpung, the strongest among them, swallow hard.
Don't touch it. Don't touch it. This honorable rat must not be messed with.... Wait — what's that written there?
They craned their necks to look.
What on earth was this? Was it posing a riddle?
Lee Jangpung, sharp enough to have risen to the head of an escort agency, understood at once.
"Yi.... Taking wing... Yi Sang! You've come looking for Yi Sang?"
Tap!
The rat slapped the floor and shot Lee Jangpung a thumbs-up.
Clever!
Everyone was speechless. In a situation like this they ought to have been overjoyed, but being praised by a rat left them with a peculiar feeling. In any case, they all turned to look at Yi Sang, who had no idea what was going on.
"Sang... that... that Brother Rat seems to have come looking for you."
Lee Jangpung had pondered a good long while before finally settling on how to address the creature.
"I... I have no idea!"
Yi Sang was completely in the dark.
Just then the rat slipped back down the hole. A moment later, someone who would startle Yi Sang to his core appeared from below.
"Yeop Pung!"
Yi Sang rubbed his eyes.
"Yeop Pung — is it really you?!"
Yeop Pung smiled at him, then glanced around at the astonished faces and said gently,
"It would be best if we continued this conversation outside...."
With that, he lowered himself and vanished into the hole.
Lee Jangpung waved them on at once.
"What are you dawdling for? Hurry and follow!"
The eight members of the Yi family scrambled down after him — and were astonished all over again.
How was this possible? They had tunneled the earth this extensively?
A web of passages unfolded before them, tangled like a spider's nest, each tunnel wide enough for an adult to walk through bent at the waist. The passages led off toward different cells. Apparently Yeop Pung and the field rat had already searched several chambers before finding them.
They stared in disbelief at Yeop Pung walking at the front, and at the large black rat perched on his shoulder. Then every gaze swung to Yi Sang.
Yi Sang, your friend is truly incredible!
Yi Sang was so proud of Yeop Pung that he unconsciously puffed out his chest.
That's right! He may be my friend, but he's really something!
They emerged onto a desolate field beyond the walls of Bongsang Citadel. Coming up out of the tunnel, the Yi family members welled up with tears, as if they had stepped into another world.
"Benefactor Yeop Pung, please accept the bows of the Yi family!"
Lee Jangpung dropped to his knees, ready to kowtow. The rest of the family followed in a rush, every one of them kneeling on the ground. The sight was truly something to behold.
Yeop Pung quickly helped Lee Jangpung to his feet.
"Please, sir, there's no need for that. I'm only a fellow disciple of Cheonun Sect, the same as Yi Sang. You needn't stand on such ceremony!"
So he really was Sang's friend!
They looked at Yi Sang with even greater pride. Then the wife at Lee Jangpung's side spoke up.
"See? I told you. Sending Sang to Cheonun Sect was the right decision. If it weren't for Young Master Yeop Pung today, we really would have... sob... "
Yes. That was the truth of it.
Everyone nodded, murmuring in admiration.
Yeop Pung had already drawn Yi Sang aside. Yi Sang threw his arms around him and held on tight.
"Yeop Pung, I won't forget this kindness! From now on, my life is yours!"
Yeop Pung felt Yi Sang's whole body trembling. His shoulder grew wet with his friend's hot tears. He could well imagine how desperate the Yi family had been inside Cheonroe — and how joyful they were in this moment.
The corners of Yeop Pung's mouth lifted in satisfaction.
"Actually, if you insist on showing your gratitude, I won't refuse."
"What?"
Yi Sang stared at him, baffled.
Yeop Pung, you've changed. Why are you acting so out of character?
Beside them, Heukgu wagged his tail at Yi Sang's startled face.
This is Master's true nature!
An hour later, Yeop Pung watched the Yi family vanish into the darkness.
With Lee Jangpung's skill, he would be able to lead his family safely out of Fengsang Commandery. This was as far as Yeop Pung could help them.
Yi Sang had promised that once they were settled, he would train with everything he had, grow stronger, and return to Cheonun Sect as soon as possible to find Yeop Pung.
As for the talk of gratitude, that had been Yeop Pung's idea of a joke. He did not take a single coin from the Yi household. On the contrary, he pressed all fifteen Nakryeong Roots he had been carrying into Lee Jangpung's hands, to be used as travel funds.
Before they left, Yeop Pung put a few questions to Lee Jangpung — chiefly about why they had been captured. That one question became the occasion for hearing an enormous secret.
Lee Jangpung's face was grave.
What!
The news sent a tremor through Yeop Pung's entire body. Even though the Cheonun Sect he belonged to had nursed a hundred-year grudge against Emperor Shinmu, the words struck his mind like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
That Emperor Shinmu, called invincible under heaven — the unmatched king who had single-handedly upheld Great Jin's hundred-year foundation — was about to fall?
Yeop Pung's first thought upon hearing the news was this: