Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Lighting the Beacon Fire
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People gathered one by one on the hilltop, with Heuk Do-san in the lead. In the middle of the vast forest stretching out below the cliff, a faint light was leaking through.
“Looks like they’re camping there.”
Dang Yak-ran said.
The others couldn’t hide their surprise. This must have been what Heuk Do-san had Bing-seol search for with the telescope.
The light was undoubtedly the campfire lit by the people who had passed through here earlier.
Heuk Do-san looked up at the sky once more. The sun had already touched the western mountains. Twilight, starting from the distant horizon, was devouring the vast Baekdanmok forest at a rapid pace. It looked just like a massive falcon flapping its wings as it swooped in.
He hurriedly snatched the telescope from Bing-seol and peered at the light in the forest. It appeared a bit larger now, but only the flickering flames were vaguely discernible; it was still too far to make out any human shadows.
‘Too distant.’
Roughly twenty ri away.
Even accounting for the dense woods, a half day’s brisk march would get them there. Of course, that assumed the others stayed put.
“Stuff some shrubs into the fire pit.”
Bing-seol, with no idea what was happening, rushed over and crammed in a thick bunch of shrubs. Green branches full of leaves wouldn’t catch fire easily.
Suddenly, the flames sputtered out, and thick white smoke billowed upward.
“Hyeon-gak, take off your kasaya.”
“Why my kasaya?”
“Hurry!”
A kasaya was the robe draped by monks from the left shoulder down under the right armpit. To ordinary folk, it was just clothing, but to a monk, it symbolized a lifelong vow to walk the path of the Buddha.
A moment later, Hyeon-gak’s plump flesh came into view. Sure enough, he had nothing on underneath.
Heuk Do-san had Hyeon-gak grip one end while he took the other, then shook it out flat like fluffing a blanket.
True to his rotund build, the kasaya was spacious enough to bundle up a decent-sized woman.
Heuk Do-san and Hyeon-gak draped the kasaya over the fire pit from both sides, where smoke was steadily rising.
The trapped smoke pooled beneath, bulging the kasaya upward.
“What in the world are you doing?”
“Shake it upward!”
With that, Heuk Do-san flicked the kasaya up. *Pung!* Along with the sound, a plume of white smoke swirled into a round shape and shot skyward.
It started out the size of a jar but grew larger as it rose, eventually rivaling a thatched hut.
Only then did the others catch on to Heuk Do-san’s intent. He was lighting a beacon fire to signal the campers in the heart of the forest.
“Again!”
*Pung!*
“Again!”
*Pung!*
“Will they even notice it like this?”
Dang Yak-ran asked.
“Last night, they got ambushed by the Blood Wolves right here. They haven’t left the forest yet, so if they’ve got half a brain, they’ll have posted sentries. Spotting the smoke shouldn’t be hard. The problem is they need to see it before sunset...”
In that instant, flames erupted in the middle of the kasaya.
“Damn it all!”
Hyeon-gak, in a panic, yanked the kasaya from Heuk Do-san and flung it to the ground. He stomped on it furiously.
He finally extinguished the fire, but a hole the size of an ox’s hoof gaped in the center. It was ruined—not just unusable as a cover, but worthless for signaling too.
“What a mess...”
Heuk Do-san was flustered.
He’d only managed three puffs of smoke before it burned.
He and Yeom Jin-sang were in short tunics, which were useless. Dang Yak-ran and Bing-seol were women; stripping off their jeogori would leave them indecently exposed.
“Use mine.”
Gong Cheon-ak said.
He shrugged off the silk changsam he was wearing and handed it to Heuk Do-san. It was practically a blanket, sized for his towering frame.
Heuk Do-san and Gong Cheon-ak each took an end of the changsam and resumed the beacon fire. *Pung! Pung!* After five or six plumes of white smoke rose into the sky, Bing-seol cried out at the top of her lungs.
“Look over there!”
From the distant spot where the light was leaking, a thread-thin beam shot straight up into the air. It climbed dozens of jang before bursting suddenly, scattering in all directions.
It was too far for any sound to reach.
The light was faint.
But it was more than enough to recognize what it was.
“Signal fireworks!”
Dang Yak-ran said.
“They’ve spotted the smoke!”
Hyeon-gak said.
“Perfect!”
Gong Cheon-ak said.
“They know there’s someone else out here besides them, so they’ll halt and wait. We spend the night here and link up with them tomorrow.”
Heuk Do-san said.
Forgetting all about enemies or allies, the group exchanged bright smiles.
In this unknown foreign land, the prospect of encountering a band of Central Plains folk was pure joy—regardless of whether they turned out to be friends or foes.
By then, twilight had swallowed even the hill where they stood. Night had fully arrived. Right on cue, a long howl echoed from somewhere.
*Ooooo—!*
Everyone whipped around reflexively.
It was the roar of a Blood Wolf.
From somewhere in the darkening forest, one was calling to its packmates. Sure enough, answering cries rang out from all directions.
*Ooooo—.*
*Ooooo—.*
*Ooooo—.*
Ten wolves, twenty...
They couldn’t even count.
The howls multiplied rapidly until the entire forest was filled with them. It was as if the woods themselves were howling.
“Everyone, gather around the fire pit!”
Heuk Do-san commanded.
They all shot forward without hesitation.
Hyeon-gak and Dang Yak-ran took positions on the left rear, a step behind the fire pit, while Gong Cheon-ak, Yeom Jin-sang, and Bing-seol stood on the right.
Bing-seol had somehow picked up a club and clutched it tight.
But something was off about her condition. Her face was as pale as a sheet of paper, and thick beads of sweat dotted her forehead.
Heuk Do-san recalled what Hyeon-gak had said right after he’d shared his qi with Bing-seol the night before.
“Fortunately, I’ve stabilized her breathing. But to draw out all the chill seeped into her bones, she’ll need to receive the Great Law once a day for at least a fortnight. Miss even one day, and her limbs will stiffen before she suddenly vomits blood and collapses.”
A full day had passed, and with the cold night descending, the lingering chill in her body was flaring up again.
‘Of all the damn times.’
“Bing-seol, fall back.”
Heuk Do-san said.
Bing-seol hesitated, unwilling to obey at first. Gong Cheon-ak was aware of her state too. He gave a slight nod, and only then did she withdraw.
“Dang Yak-ran, you fall back too.”
“Why me?”
“Cover Bing-seol.”
“But...”
“Do it!”
Heuk Do-san was firm.
Dang Yak-ran bit her lip.
She’d donned her armor precisely to charge at the forefront, but with regret, she stepped back.
Heuk Do-san filled the spot Dang Yak-ran had vacated. He scattered the bundle of thornwood arrows he’d made earlier.
*Shk!* Ten arrows embedded neatly at his feet in a floral pattern. The motion was flawlessly practiced.
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
Ignoring them, Heuk Do-san fixed his gaze on the forest ahead. With the roaring fire pit as their shield, Heuk Do-san and Hyeon-gak held the left, Gong Cheon-ak and Yeom Jin-sang the right, and Dang Yak-ran covered Bing-seol from the rear.
“Have you ever fought wolves?”
Gong Cheon-ak asked.
His eyes too were locked straight ahead.
“Yeah.”
“How’d it go?”
“Terrifying.”
“...?”
“About three years ago, I chased a runaway enemy general into some nameless valley in the Tai Shan mountains. It was so remote, you’d swear no human foot had ever touched it.”
“You ran into wolves there?”
“Started with one catching my eye. Next day, two showed up. Day after, three.”
“And?”
“Managed to capture the general alive somehow, but then we weren’t getting anywhere no matter how far we went. We were lost. The old mercenaries with me were experts at that sort of thing—it almost never happened—but that day felt off. Probably the mad moonlight.”
“Mad moonlight?”
“They say some places in the world have forests bathed in eerie moonlight. Get caught in it, and man or beast goes berserk.”
“What nonsense.”
“Anyway, night had fallen deep, everyone exhausted, so we made camp. That’s when dark shadows started appearing one by one on the hilltop. We looked around and realized we were trapped in a narrow basin, surrounded by over twenty wolves.”
“Over twenty? Do wolves really pack up that big?”
“Usually two to ten per pack. A group that size is extremely rare. Must’ve had a damn strong leader. The stronger the alpha, the more packs it absorbs and the more wolves it commands.”
“Amitabha, just like human society.”
Hyeon-gak said.
“So what happened?”
Gong Cheon-ak asked again.
“We fought from night till dawn. Killed five wolves.”
“Only five?”
“Like I said, we were worn out. Plus, five comrades got injured capturing the general, so we had to fight while protecting them too.”
“Still, five seems low.”
“The real kicker was they figured out we couldn’t move freely and started hit-and-run tactics.”
“Wolves using tactics?”
“Nothing to be shocked about. Any pack-hunting beast employs strategy. You might not know this, but human battlefield tactics were inspired by how wolves hunt.”
“So?”
“Come dawn, they vanished like ghosts. Or so it seemed. They were hiding in the forest, shadowing us the whole time. We stopped, they stopped. We moved, they moved. Any gap, they struck without mercy. For five straight days.”
“Amitabha, tenacious beasts.”
“Why not ambush them instead?”
“Tried it. Didn’t work. In a deep wild forest, wolves are no underdogs to humans. Ended up with seven injuries instead.”
“Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
Dang Yak-ran asked.
Everyone turned to her.
“I mean, if they were just after prey, why not hunt the humans right when they first spotted them? And after losing five packmates, wouldn’t normal wolves cut their losses and flee?”
“Because we’d trespassed on their hunting grounds. They didn’t see us as food—they saw us as rival predators. Predator recognizing predator.”
“Are wolves that territorial?”
“No tiger makes a den in wolf territory. They let prey slip away, but any beast invading their turf gets chased and torn apart relentlessly.”
“What if we...?”
“Exactly. Looks like the entire Baekdanmok forest is their hunting ground. Those campfire folks too—we’re crossing Blood Wolf territory right now.”
As Heuk Do-san finished speaking, the wolves’ howls cut off abruptly. At the same moment, blue lights began flickering to life one by one from the pitch-black Baekdanmok woods.
In the blink of an eye, the lights filled the forest. The air turned chillingly cold, and the hairs on their heads stood on end.
Even the boldest soul would feel their legs tremble at the sight.
“Just how many are those?”
Yeom Jin-sang forced out in a strangled voice.
Everyone’s mouths hung open. Heuk Do-san had called twenty a massive pack.
But the ones before them now numbered at least fifty by rough count. What kind of leader could command fifty wolves?
Worse still, these weren’t the ordinary wolves Heuk Do-san had faced in the Tai Shan mountains long ago. These were Blood Wolves—the fiercest and largest of all wolves in the world.
*Grrr...*
*Grrr...*
*Grrr...*
They began poking their heads out from the darkness, advancing slowly. In that moment, their hideous forms were revealed under the moonlight.
Massive frames, fur red as blood, razor-sharp fangs, eyes glowing like they’d swallowed torches...
The group was utterly overwhelmed by the Blood Wolves’ shocking appearance. At last, they understood why Heuk Do-san had been so wary. These weren’t wolves—they were monsters.