Monopolizing Fortunes (196)
Monopolizing Fortunes (196)
Do Tong-dal, who had been tracing the letters, slammed his palm against the wall. The voice that shouted, "Give it to me! I said give it!" came out only as a slurred mumble.
His palm had probably been torn open on a sharp edge of the rock. The sharp pain lasted only an instant, but it lifted Do Tong-dal just slightly over the wall of the maze.
Behind the thought of 'What am I doing?' the craving for the letters surged back in.
Do Tong-dal shoved the feeling aside in that instant and stumbled backward frantically. He wanted to run to the wall right then and pound on it, demanding the letters, but he forced the irrational urge down and put distance between himself and the wall.
His body lurched, and he toppled into a pool of water. The ice-cold water slammed Do Tong-dal's mind back into reality.
Gurgle...... gurgle.......
A few mouthfuls of water slid coolly down his throat. Do Tong-dal forced his limbs to move and floated up to the surface. Even that simple motion was hard enough to kill him.
Having barely gotten out of the water, Do Tong-dal collapsed onto the ground and gasped for breath. He had already died once, and even after returning to life he had skirted the line between life and death a few times, but never this close.
"What kind of freakish...... huaa—! huaa—!"
His breath was ragged and he had no strength at all. His body had felt like this when he was freezing to death in the snow.
"This...... it's hunger, right?"
When hunger becomes too severe, you stop feeling anything at all. Do Tong-dal turned his gaze toward the spot where he had been sitting.
At that spot, which radiated warmth, a red energy seemed to be rippling.
'What in the world is that?'
No matter how many strange things existed in the world, he had never seen or heard of anything like that. The place was called Ascension Cave, but it was a bizarre space that sucked the life force out of people.
Do Tong-dal forced himself to his feet, but his legs trembled so badly that taking a single step was difficult. Even though he wanted to leave this place right away, he had no strength left to swim, so he could not get out.
"Let's fill my stomach first."
Do Tong-dal looked around and spotted something piled up high on his left. It had definitely not been there before.
When he had laboriously managed a fourth step, Do Tong-dal could make out what the pile was. It was clearly food. The provisions that Cheon Du-bong tossed in once a day had piled up that high.
Do Tong-dal shooed away the bugs gathered around and counted the number of bundles.
"Fifteen?"
This made no sense. The number of bundles meant he had been in Ascension Cave for a full fifteen days.
Fifteen days! At most it had been half a shichen. If someone argued stubbornly, he might stretch it by another half shichen, but no more than that.
Do Tong-dal's biological clock said one shichen at most, but the evidence pointed to fifteen days.
Do Tong-dal took off his dried clothes and examined his body. He was emaciated. The body that had once carried a decent amount of flesh and solid muscle was now withered like that of an old man who had spent ten years bedridden.
"I really sat there for fifteen days?"
Do Tong-dal looked back and forth between the spot where he had been sitting and the wall with the letters. And only then did he understand why Hanmu's father had never been able to leave this place.
If Do Tong-dal had not cut his hand while pounding the wall—if he had not come to his senses for even that instant—he would have ended up like those bones piled there.
"Fuck, this is no place to be."
Do Tong-dal decided to deal with the hunger first. When he opened the topmost bundle, the smell of chicken grease hit him all at once.
He ate the rice, the seasoned vegetables, and an entire chicken on the spot, then emptied four more bundles. He had devoured five days' worth of meals in one sitting.
"A little short, but the stuff from five days ago might have spoiled. Burp—!"
Once he let out a huge belch, his head started working properly again. Having completely staved off his hunger by drinking cold water as well, Do Tong-dal began his energy cultivation first.
Of course, he sat well away from that dreadful Yeoljwadae—he had decided to call it that.
The moment he roused his internal energy from his dantian, he knew. The nature of his Internal Energy had completely changed.
'Huh?'
Originally, when he roused his Internal Energy, a faint warmth had accompanied it. But the energy rising now was not faint at all—it was like setting fire to a house-sized pile of firewood doused in oil.
Do Tong-dal poured every ounce of his strength into reining in the rampaging heat. It was so hot and fierce that if he let go for even a moment, it felt as though it would reduce all the meridians in his limbs to ash.
'Soun jinwon baekseok iyeong, seolji manhu nawon jangnyeong.......'
Do Tong-dal desperately recited the mnemonic verses of the Wonhyeong Musang Art and struggled to send his true energy along its prescribed path.
The heat-laden true energy was rampaging too wildly for him to stop it at will. Only after completing the first full circulation, then the second, and finally the third was he able to stabilize his true energy.
The heat remained as it was, but it did not harm his body. If anything, it felt as though it was protecting Do Tong-dal with far greater strength than before.
"Hoo—!"
Do Tong-dal let out a long breath and, the moment he opened his eyes, dove into the water. A languid yet refreshing sensation spread through his entire body.
From the water, Do Tong-dal took in the Yeolhwadae and the lettered wall in a single glance. He had thought those two were definitely a curse, but maybe they were not entirely bad.
Right now, Do Tong-dal's Internal Energy was far purer than before. It had not increased—it had been cleansed.
Internal Energy accumulated bit by bit from a very young age and Internal Energy suddenly acquired the way Do Tong-dal had gotten his could not help but differ in foundation.
Even with the same one gapja of Internal Energy, it was only natural that energy built up brick by brick would be sturdier than energy poured in like a heap of rocks.
That was why, even though he possessed more than six gapja of Internal Energy after consuming the spirit medicine, he had not been able to use it fully.
But that heat seemed to have burned away all the impurities in his Conception and Governing Vessels and the other meridians, and packed the gaps in his Internal Energy tight.
Come to think of it, even without activating the Hwaseopja, his surroundings looked clearer than when he did activate it.
Names passed down from ancient times were not given for nothing. If this place was called Ascension Cave, there had to be a reason.
"The question is whether there's any reason to risk my life finding out."
If he were hit by another assault from the letters while on the Yeolhwadae, would he be able to endure it?
He could not be sure, so he could not bring himself to sit on the Yeolhwadae.
"Fuck, what am I doing? What good is a thug without at least this much nerve!"
If he fled the cave like a coward, trembling because he valued his life, he felt like he would die of curiosity or die of shame.
Having recovered his strength, Do Tong-dal steadied his mind with a deep breath, then sat cross-legged on the Yeolhwadae.
The first thing to do was not look at the letters on the wall. To prevent the mishap of his eyes flying open involuntarily because of the strange sensation piercing his body, he blindfolded himself with cloth.
Then, as he drew up his true energy and began circulating the Wonhyeong Musang Art, that sensation came again. His eyelids lifting was not something Do Tong-dal could control by will.
His eyes simply opened. Fortunately, because he had covered them, the letters did not enter his eyes. But that did not mean the letters had no effect at all.
The letters on the wall rushed at him as if boring straight into his brain rather than his eyes. But they did not completely dominate his mind the way they had the first time.
It was thanks to the blindfold, and to Do Tong-dal steeling his heart and hardening his will. Perhaps it was also because the foundation of his Internal Energy had grown solid enough to endure it.
In any case, all of those factors together helped Do Tong-dal keep his grip on his sanity.
From Do Tong-dal's mouth, thirty-six letters poured out without pause, regardless of his will. The refreshing coolness that made him not want to stop was the same as before.
In that state, Do Tong-dal circulated the Wonhyeong Musang Art. His mouth spat out different letters while his mind recited the verses of the Wonhyeong Musang Art, yet strangely they did not tangle.
The thirty-six letters from the wall seemed to seep naturally into the Wonhyeong Musang Art.
Do Tong-dal maintained that state. He did not care how much time passed.
His body continued to feel the pleasure of that refreshing coolness, so there was no reason to stop his cultivation.
And then, just as the letters that had burrowed into his eyes had vanished, the letters that had been entering his brain stopped coming.
"No!"
Do Tong-dal shouted without realizing it and ran toward the wall. Even with his eyes covered, he knew exactly where the wall was.
Only after striking the wall with his palm ten times did he suddenly snap back to his senses. Do Tong-dal retreated step by step and removed the blindfold he was wearing.
He had tensed up, afraid the letters would pour in, but nothing happened.
Do Tong-dal turned his head toward the piled-up provisions. It was clearly quite a heap. As he tried to step toward the food, Do Tong-dal felt his legs trembling.
He had starved so long that hunger set in, and a thirst like his throat had split open came over him. Do Tong-dal headed to the pool to deal with the thirst first, and belatedly noticed a foul stench.
"What is this?"
A yellowish discharge was stuck to his skin like glue. It was probably impurities that had been expelled from his body through his sweat pores.
Do Tong-dal stripped off his clothes and dove into the water. After quenching his thirst and washing himself clean, Do Tong-dal realized from the piled-up provisions that another fifteen days had passed.
Going fifteen days without food was possible. It would take a toll on the body, but it could be done. But without water as well, he would inevitably die of dehydration.
Yet Do Tong-dal had endured fifteen days. Something that should have been impossible by Do Tong-dal's common sense was happening.
"I've already been reborn, so something like this can happen too."
Agonizing over an unsolvable problem did not suit Do Tong-dal's nature. He just had to accept it and find the best path within it.
He tried circulating his energy somewhere other than the Yeolhwadae. His Internal Energy did not increase. But it became denser.
If before it had been like bricks stacked one by one, this time it was as if those bricks had been compressed and packed down.
And the fire energy he felt at his acupoints was a little hotter as well. It was definitely hotter, but it was easier to endure than at first. His body seemed to have adapted.
After resting and recovering for another day, Do Tong-dal sat on the Yeolhwadae. He was curious how long this phenomenon would last, and what awaited him at the end of it.
"It's not like I'll die, right?"
* * *
The iron chopsticks glowed red-hot inside the candle flame. Watching them, the entertainer Jeonghyang's face was gradually overtaken by fear.
"How about you take them off now?"
The man in official robes said this with a greasy smile. Jeonghyang answered in a voice full of fear but resolute.
"I am an entertainer, not a prostitute."
"You crazy bitch. Everyone in a pleasure house is a courtesan. What difference do entertainer or prostitute make?"
The official grabbed Jeonghyang's cheek and brought the red-hot chopsticks toward her eye.
"Do you know who I am?"
The official, who looked to be in his early thirties, was a stranger. So she said she did not know.
"Right now I'm just a Supernumerary Gentleman of the Seals Office, so you might not know, but within a few months I'll be the most famous official in Beijing. If you please me, you could live in luxury for the rest of your life. So choose. Will you take off your clothes, or will you beg on the streets as a blind woman?"
As the chopsticks drew closer to her eye, Jeonghyang shut her eyes. But she could not stop the heat pressing against her eyelids.
Just as the words "I'll take them off" were rising to her throat, a welcome voice rang out.
"I can't remember the last time someone came to Yeonhyang Pavilion to cause trouble."
"M-Mistress! Please save me!"
"Stop crying. An entertainer of Yeonhyang Pavilion shedding tears over a pathetic threat like this."
At Yeon Ja-yeon's words, Jeonghyang forced back her tears. Yeon Ja-yeon asked the official.
"You said you are a Supernumerary Gentleman of the Seals Office. May I ask your name?"
"Oh! They say beauties are more common than pebbles in the street at Yeonhyang Pavilion, and even the mistress is extraordinary. You ask my name? I am Byeok Chang-u, Supernumerary Gentleman of the Seals Office. My father is......."
Yeon Ja-yeon cut Byeok Chang-u off.
"I couldn't care less about the family of a Supernumerary Gentleman of the Seals Office."
"Still, it would be good for you to know."
"A Byeok among high officials, let me think...... What is your relationship to Minister of Rites Byeok U-bang?"
"Oh-ho! You know my father's name? They say Yeonhyang Pavilion is the finest pleasure house in Beijing, and I see it's true."
"It seems you've only heard the rumor that Yeonhyang Pavilion is the finest pleasure house in Beijing, and none of the others."
"That's enough, what more do you need? I've lost interest in this one, so you, the mistress, will attend me tonight."
Byeok Chang-u shoved Jeonghyang to the ground and was about to approach Yeon Ja-yeon.
"Who's causing trouble here?"
* * *