Chapter 162: The Tomb of the Ming King (7)
Chapter 162: The Tomb of the Ming King (7)
It was becoming increasingly difficult to even keep my eyes open. For a rather physical reason, it felt as though I had developed a case of excessively severe dry eye syndrome.
“I’m usually not a man of tears…”
“Brother, it’s not tears coming out of your eyes right now, it’s blood!”
“I’m usually a man with neither blood nor tears…”
No wonder I couldn't open them properly.
Kang Yeo-hee chuckled as she supported me, helping me walk. To be honest, I was still a bit confused about how to treat this senior sister. How should I put it? She had certainly betrayed the sect with ill intent, but the level of that malice was more like that of a mischievous neighborhood brat…
I’ll leave this to Dan So-hye. Since Sister So-hye and Brother Baek Seo-ui are on the same side, they’ll handle it.
“By the way, where on earth did you get those Heaven-Shaking Thunders?”
“The Southern Seas Commander-in-Chief is a regular at our establishment. We have a girl named Cho-hee, our top courtesan, and she practically melted him… Right now, that old man would probably give me the Fire Dragon Manual if I asked for it.”
“What is this country coming to…”
I’ll have to tell Ju Woo-rin later. Tell her never to give the Southern Seas Commander-in-Chief a high-ranking position.
The Fire Dragon Manual was a secret text of military technology. I had only heard rumors of its existence; the physical book had never been leaked to the public. In fact, just mentioning that you’d read it outside of official channels was enough to get you arrested.
The Ming Dynasty was a nation obsessed with gunpowder, and black powder was actually quite widespread among the common folk. There was a reason Tianjin had fireworks every night. The Han people simply loved anything that went bang.
However, it was a different story when it reached the level of being able to kill people. They wouldn't stop you for setting off a few firecrackers, but the moment you started manufacturing actual weapons using that knowledge, the Imperial Court’s military would arrest you for treason.
“We’re here. See? Over there!”
“Oh.”
Zhuge Jeong-yeong and Jang Il-gong were both walking ahead with faces haggard from exhaustion. They stopped at the base of an old, tiered rock wall.
A massive cliff loomed before us. Forcing my eyes open to look, I realized the rock face was shaped like a Buddha statue. Even through my blurred vision, its scale was immense.
And beneath it.
Three flags stood tall, fluttering in the wind. They were old banners, faintly bearing the colors of blue, red, and white.
“The blue flag is the Blue Sheep Flag, representing the two thousand years of Dipankara Buddha. The red flag represents the present of Sakyamuni Buddha, and the white flag symbolizes the future of Maitreya Buddha.”
“Well, that’s typical. Are you certain this is Han Lin'er’s tomb?”
“The style of the engraved inscriptions is from the Song Dynasty. There was no one else important enough for the White Lotus Cult of that era to hide away with such a grand formation.”
Zhuge Jeong-yeong spoke as he slowly continued forward. There are things that look even larger the closer you get. This giant stone coffin was one of them.
The grey stone coffin sat open and empty. Beside it stood a massive throne, and the Buddha statues on the cliff were all positioned with their mudras pointing toward the throne.
Even for someone like me, whose religion was Confucianism, it was a sight that inspired reverence. It wasn't an ancient ruin. Han Lin'er’s end was only about 200 years ago, so by the standards of this era, it lacked the 'ancient' pedigree.
But there was the atmosphere. The pressure.
Perhaps it was because of Han Lin'er’s reputation.
Or perhaps.
It was the symbolism of the fact that even the tomb of the greatest demon of all time, who once commanded the world and reigned over the Central Plains, was nothing more than a simple stone carving after death.
I felt my pace slowing down.
“There was nothing inside. Likely because my father already collected the burial goods.”
Zhuge Jeong-yeong’s voice felt like it was drifting away. Within my fading vision, Han Lin'er’s stone coffin and the symbols of the White Lotus Cult seemed to shimmer and draw closer on their own.
“Hyeon-hwi? I told you, there’s nothing in—”
I walked forward.
I stepped straight to the edge of the empty stone coffin and looked down into its hollow interior.
[Listen.]
I heard a low voice. No, rather than a voice, it was—
‘The Jeo-oh-jeong Heart Method…!’
It was the influence of the eye technique, which hadn't fully deactivated yet. The function of the Jeo-oh-jeong Heart Method was 'reading' the traces of someone left in the stone coffin, regardless of my will.
The eye technique read it, the Upper Dantian understood it, and it was being expressed in the form of a voice…!
[Behold.]
The deep gong of a temple bell rang out. Along with the sound of demons wailing and laughing in the distance, the starlight in the night sky was veiled. Beneath the pitch-black sky, only the shadows of the Buddhas engraved on the stone wall looked down at me—
[Darkness conceals light, Maitreya descends, the Ming King appears, the True Void is our home.]
[The Longhua Assembly of the Key to Breaking Evil, attained through the Enlightenment of Bitter Toil and the Lamentation of Worldly Futility, is not far off—]
[Take refuge, take refuge, I take refuge. I take refuge in the Triple Gem.]
The mantra continued. A low voice, like someone chanting sutras, echoed and overlapped incessantly until it lost its form. At the point where words piled upon words until only the melody remained.
Finally.
—Sshhhhhh…
With the sound of grass rustling in the wind, my eyes opened.
Someone was standing tall, looking up at the night sky. He wore a wide-sleeved, pure white dragon robe, his coarse hair hanging loosely. He was a man with bold features.
His arms, hands, and neck visible beneath the robe were covered in scars. Not a single one was in a non-lethal location. Every single one was a mark where a vital acupoint had been pierced and damaged.
If such acupoints were gouged out, a person should surely die or become a cripple. Yet that man stood tall without a hint of such weakness, looking up at the sky with his hands behind his back, radiating strength.
“The Chaotic Age is not far off.”
As I perceived him, the man with his back turned spoke. The moment I heard that voice, my body stiffened involuntarily and began to bow toward the ground.
Slowly, the man turned around. Beneath the dim moonlight, shadows draped over his features. He looked down at me with only his intensely glowing eyes.
“The Heavenly Shadow of this generation. Do you know the difference between Hon (混 - Chaos) and Ran (亂 - Disorder)?”
I couldn't open my mouth to answer. Just thinking about him made my mind feel like it was freezing solid.
This was a hallucination. I might have fallen into some sorcery, or I might be dreaming due to the fatigue accumulated during battle.
But what kind of hallucination could describe someone I didn't know at all with such precision?
If I were to envision the greatest master in the world, my grandfather or the Heavenly Demon I met in Pa-hyeon should have appeared. Or at least the Sword Immortal.
But this man was not them. He lacked the vitality felt from the living, nor did he have the overwhelming pressure I felt from them.
Only a clear, long silence remained, weighing down on me. It was filled with a purity that made me wonder if this was what it felt like to face a divine monk of the current age.
“A Troubled Age (Nanse) refers to the struggles of those who dwell under heaven. But a Chaotic Age (Honse) is not so. A Chaotic Age… refers to the tribulation of those whom heaven does not permit.”
I forced my stiff neck up to look at him. I stared straight into the eyes of the man who stood with the sky at his back.
His face was still invisible. It was a strange feeling. Even though I was looking at a man shining so brightly at such a close distance, I couldn't distinguish his features. It was as if that part alone had been blacked out with ink; I knew there was a form, but I couldn't perceive it.
“Heavenly Law is subtle, thus it has hastened this meeting. Even though the time has not yet arrived, is Heavenly Law so heartless that it still seeks to block the arrival of the True Home?”
“What… kind of… bullshit… is that…”
My mouth moved. Finally, the conversation continued.
“The Heavenly Shadow is the star that symbolizes a Troubled Age. But do you think there is only one Heavenly Shadow in the Heavenly Law above that distant sky? Was it merely a commoner’s coincidence that you sought out my traces across the ages?”
No. It certainly wasn't.
The man continued.
“Just as there were those born with the same fate before me, they will continue to exist after me. That is Heavenly Law. Will you take refuge, establish the True Home, rectify the misery of the world, and await the descent of Maitreya?”
Slowly, the man’s features began to appear. As if the inked portions were peeling away one by one.
When the rugged jawline and straight frame beneath were fully revealed—
‘Me…?’
It was like looking into a mirror or a stream.
Perhaps like looking at myself ten or so years into the future.
A version of myself who looked to have just turned forty was standing tall, looking down at me.
“The Ming King… Han Lin'er…?”
“My name was once that.”
The middle-aged Peng Hyeon-hwi smiled deeply. His hand slowly reached out toward me. The Earth-Touching Mudra, symbolizing benevolence and guidance. The symbol of Maitreya Buddha was held in his grasp.
His scar-covered hand symbolized the misery of the world, and in this moment, the image of a flashing star in the night sky behind him shone like a halo behind his head.
“Will you take refuge in the Heavenly Law?”
Han Lin'er asked.
I didn't know exactly what this entity wanted, but I could tell what would happen.
This was the tomb of the Ming King. There was never a body inside to begin with.
One day, it would surely be revealed to the world, and in that moment, the greatest chaos would descend. If it were Han Lin'er’s legacy, it would certainly be worth it.
And he had judged that in that moment, someone who met 'certain' conditions would have no choice but to visit this tomb.
This was a contingency prepared with that judgment.
A fragment of intent left behind by a man who had likely stepped into a realm beyond the Harmony Realm, someone who could be discussed as the greatest of all time in the long history of the Central Plains' martial world, across 200 years…
I had been told I was born under the Heavenly Shadow star. Yes, that is one of the 36 Heavenly Stars in Taoism. It is the Heavenly Law above that grants blessings while desiring chaos and troubled times.
So, I was the only one in this world who could understand. The moment I read the traces left in Han Lin'er’s tomb, the intent he had planted also saw me.
That someone born under the same star would one day find this tomb.
That on that day, a Troubled Age would begin.
A Troubled Age like the one 200 years ago, during the transition from the Yuan to the Ming, known as the War of Heavenly Mandate.
“Will you take refuge?”
If I took this hand, I could inherit that will. Only I could understand. What this man wanted was not chaos itself. Like a seeker of truth who rectifies chaos and misery to pacify the world and lead all people to proper morality and the True Home—
—Clink…
Just then, the sound of chains dragging was heard.
My hand, which had been reaching toward his, stopped abruptly.
My mind, which had been blankly drifting toward him, began to snap back into focus. At the same time, Han Lin'er’s face was once again stained black as if covered in ink.
“Haha, hahahaha!!”
A clear laugh escaped Han Lin'er’s lips. Withdrawing his hand to rest it on the Buddha’s mudra, Han Lin'er burst into mad laughter and looked up at the sky.
From the pitch-black sky, black chains descended, blocking the space between him and me.
[There is no Heavenly Law.]
A familiar voice echoed. Five strands of chains slammed into the ground one by one, standing in front of Han Lin'er.
[Only Human Principle is the sole will beneath this heaven and earth.]
“Mara (魔羅) protects this child. How strange. Why does the Heavenly Son Demon affirm the world’s compliance?”
[This seat arrives for the sake of all who walk the path of Human Principle.]
“Indeed, where the Way is high, the Demon flourishes.”
Han Lin'er smiled and looked down at me. He locked eyes with me through his black face, where only his gaze shone, and spoke.
“You shall find me again someday. The descent of Maitreya is not far off, so the Ming King shall appear in due time.”
Having said that, he snapped his fingers in front of my eyes.
With a snap, the world was dyed in darkness.
“Gasp, huff…! Gasp!”
Cold sweat poured down me. I opened my eyes while being shaken by something. As I exhaled, an urgent voice rang in my ear.
“Are you awake? You can't fall asleep there!”
“Sister Kang…?”
“Shut up, you’ll bite your tongue!”
I was on someone's back. Kang Yeo-hee had me slung over her shoulders and was desperately performing the Seven Shadow Immortal Step. Looking to the side, Zhuge Jeong-yeong and Jang Il-gong were also following with exhausted expressions, using their lightfoot techniques.
“What happened?”
“You went out of it, so I smashed the tomb!!”
—Pshhhhh—!!
Something flew and embedded itself nearby. It was a powerful strike that tore up the ground. Through my swaying vision, I saw a single iron spear plowing through the earth with a roar.
A martial artist who looked to have thrown the spear ran forward quickly, grabbed the shaft, and took a throwing stance again.
“Everyone who survived the formations is after us!”
“What about the formations?”
“Younger brother Jeong-yeong smashed them! Now the guys who were waiting outside are swarming in too!!”
“If we keep going this way, it’s the Yangtze River! We have to take another path!”
“If we go to Suzhou, the Jang Merchant Guild can protect us!”
“How can we get to Suzhou! Martial artists from Nanjing are swarming like hornets right now!”
I heard Zhuge Jeong-yeong and Jang Il-gong shouting. Just then, Kang Yeo-hee stopped in her tracks.
“Why, why are you stopping?”
“It’s a cliff! This is bad…!”
Kang Yeo-hee stood before the cliff, drenched in sweat. I could see the river flowing far below. We had reached the banks of the Yangtze before I knew it.
From the opposite side, a group of martial artists was swarming toward us.
“They seem to think we got something from the Ming King’s tomb and are running away. Can’t we just tell them we got jack squat?”
“Do you think those people will let us go alive? They’ll try to rip our bellies open and rummage through our guts to make sure there’s really nothing.”
“Doesn't Young Master Peng have the Namgung Family’s Command Token? What about using that?”
“They’ll just charge at us, saying the Namgung Family is trying to monopolize the Ming King’s legacy. This is how treasure map incidents always end.”
Zhuge Jeong-yeong scratched his head and grumbled.
“Even if the Beggars' Sect spreads the word in time, it would be too late if they were prepared to this extent. My father really prepared this meticulously. Hyeon-hwi. Step back.”
“What are you going to do?”
“My family caused this problem, so I should be the one to solve it.”
Saying so, Zhuge Jeong-yeong stepped forward. I quickly slid off Kang Yeo-hee’s back and stood, bracing myself against the ground. My stomach was still churning a bit, and my head throbbed painfully.
Still, as long as I wasn't dead, I could move. At times like this, I’m really grateful for the Peng Family’s youth elixir-tempering curriculum.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll do it.”
“What? No, more importantly, how?”
“It seems there really was a legacy in the Ming King’s tomb after all.”
I walked past Zhuge Jeong-yeong. Standing in front of him, I drew my saber and rested it on my shoulder.
Behind me, Zhuge Jeong-yeong let out a stifled groan.
“What… did you get…?”
“Human Principle.”
The logic of humans. That which leaves a trace across time. If Heavenly Law is the process of long ages carving away massive boulders with wind and rain—if the logic of the world is the grand process of turning rocks into sand and people into dust.
Human Principle is the reverse of that. It means carving a name into the rock and leaving a will to be carried on.
That is Human Principle. That must be the teaching the world’s greatest father-in-law bestowed in that final moment.
Leaving a purpose.
Establishing a will.
In short, Intent (意念).