Full Sky Flower Rain in the Hidden Dungeon
The scoundrel who had hijacked my body dashed up the forest path toward Bi Yeon Pavilion as swiftly as a fingertip strike, like rain pouring into a tunnel.
What? The dungeon?
"You saw it too, right? There was no Gold Merchant Guild Leader in the punishment hall."
The punishment hall building was indeed small, just a few rooms. Since it was a serious matter involving the Blood Cult, it was possible he'd been dragged straight to the dungeon.
You didn't check every room, so how can you be so sure?
The Mirror Ghost responded to the reasonable point with a sneer. No, I'd expected it, but her expression was seriously ugly. How does someone with five-year-old skin manage to wrinkle her brow like that?
"Sure, if there's anything certain in this world, your words do have some merit."
No, she's the one who jumps to conclusions without certainty, yet the Mirror Ghost was surprisingly flexible. Well, if she weren't moderately insane, she'd have ascended to the afterlife long ago and wouldn't have the lingering energy to torment me endlessly.
Wait, don't tell me your plan is—
"Exactly. You were worried about that child just as much as I was, weren't you?"
No, isn't that all over? Sohee's safe now.
Is she seriously suggesting we storm the dungeon just because she's worried about Sohee? I had no idea where to even begin critiquing a four-hundred-year-old ghost.
What did it matter where Sohee's father had vanished to? Sohee was safely under Bi Yeon Pavilion Master's protection. Once even the tiniest clue was found, I doubted the Gold Merchant Guild Leader would be released.
...Do you even know where the dungeon is?
The dungeon. In fantasy terms, a dungeon. Naturally, our clan had one. I just didn't know where. Even the villagers in Tang Family Village didn't know the locations of the shadows or roots. As the founder’s disciple, she’d obviously know the old dungeon's location, but I was curious why she assumed it was still there after four hundred years.
The conversation veered into an unexpected topic.
"About Bi Yeon Pavilion Master."
Why that old hag?
"Have you never wondered why that child—one of the top experts in the Tang Clan—is stuck managing Bi Yeon Pavilion—"
She's not about to point out that she enjoys a cushy job thanks to her ties with the Martial Alliance Leader, is she? I carefully retraced the causal links.
Bi Yeon Pavilion, where all sorts of junk was stored, had been built on the site of the old Myeong Gyeong Hall. According to the mirror's claims, Myeong Gyeong Hall had been a poison herb field they pioneered back then. Now downgraded to a kids' training ground, it was the area where our Tang Clan first settled before developing into Tang Family Village.
Why had they built Bi Yeon Pavilion there of all places?
Even as I pondered, my body—under hacked autopilot—entered the unguarded Bi Yeon Pavilion building. She used to kill time there like a lonely old woman, but since she started living with Sohee, she'd been sleeping at home. Right, that old hag even had her own house.
Was there a passage to the dungeon here before? I come here often and I've never seen anything like that.
"What nonsense."
Less than five minutes after fiddling with the drawers, the floor opened up. I felt dumbfounded.
A secret passage like this here...
I'd rummaged for treasures but never thought to check the floor.
"The descendants made something amusing. In my day, it wasn't even a secret passage—just a convenient shortcut."
I clicked my tongue at the Mirror Ghost's self-importance. If her old Myeong Gyeong Hall was nearby, anyone hearing her talk would think the dungeon was built for her.
I'll believe it when I see it with my own eyes.
The underground passage directly from Bi Yeon Pavilion was incredibly narrow. I could pass since I was five, but it reminded me of those Viet Cong tunnels from the Vietnam War. Well, maybe Tang Clan folks could master Bone Shrinking Skill for it?
After sprinting about a ri through the tight path, a vast, empty dome-shaped space opened up.
What is this place?
The expansive, liminal space was a bit disorienting. In a world where nuclear war was a dictator's threat, it might be a shelter, but why would Tang Family Village need something like this?
"Take a good look, you damn brat."
She'd claimed to find her old long needle and pulled things from her sleeve—stuff I'd stuffed in there from the mountainside earlier. Random twigs and pebbles I'd wondered why I picked up.
What am I supposed to be looking at?
With a soft crunch, the pebbles and twigs in her hand crumbled to dust. Even in my out-of-body state, I could feel it. The mirror bitch had just channeled qi through my body.
Qi—inner energy, or neigong. MP in RPG terms. A scummy move stealing someone else's battery, but given she'd only taught me how to store it without properly showing how to use it, I just watched in fascination.
One step forward, and my body advanced. Arms that had swayed for balance suddenly pointed at the ground. Back arching as if lying down, she gazed up, and hundreds of points scattered into motion.
I startled, replaying what I'd just seen.
No way... Full Sky Flower Rain?
The wondrous technique from any wuxia novel worth its salt—the Tang Clan's secret art. I'd never seen it with my own eyes, so I was half-doubting.
"...So that's the name it passed down as in later generations."
She seemed oddly pleased, recognizing my respect. Her voice sounded excited even telepathically, and my lips were curved in a smile. For some reason, she kept hold of the only metal in her hand—the old long needle—releasing only the freshly trimmed twigs and pebbles. Even Full Sky Flower Rain didn't seem like it could deal a fatal blow without daggers. And unlike the adults' explanation of its power from great heights, there were no enemies here; the fragments she'd thrown merely drummed against the round ceiling.
Even so, it was enough to glimpse the original's miraculous trajectories. Just watching made my freshly stolen heart race.
Amazing!!! That's Full Sky Flower Rain for sure!!!! The divine technique our founder—your master and my ancestor's disciple—developed, right?
"Shut up, you're distracting me."
...She showed it off perfectly, then suddenly gets pissy? But with so much to gain, I calmly took her attitude.
It really hit home how grand it was to be the founder's disciple. Even if the Mirror Ghost wasn't a blood Tang ancestor, so what? She's a hundred—no, a thousand—times better than a Tang who can't use Full Sky Flower Rain!
Anyway, you promised to teach me! No take-backs this time!
Whether Full Sky Flower Rain was the key to the blocked path or the mechanisms reacted, the locked doors began to rumble open.
Rumble—
The ghost in my body strode toward one without hesitation, as if she knew exactly where Dang Sohee's father was. The bitch hijacking my body was arrogant, dictatorial, and probably had few friends in life, but who cared? Now I trusted the ghost.
Or more precisely, her abilities.
There was subtly much to learn from the Mirror Ghost. Even in my five-year-old body, her gait was entirely different—sliding forward three or four times faster than normal steps, utterly silent. Was there something to that sand-walking training after all?
It might be premature to say storming the dungeon was a good idea, but with my body hijacked and nothing to do, I watched as a spectator to see how far she'd go.
Or rather, "watched" wasn't quite right. The side path from the large hall was pitch black.
Glimmering light.
"Who's there?! You're not on duty yet!"
She pulled out the long needle she'd saved from Full Sky Flower Rain.
Whoosh!
The needle flew too fast to track visually, felling a punishment hall enforcer. As he crumpled limply, the Mirror Ghost casually withdrew her saliva from his neck. It was sinking in more and more that this was my body doing these things.
He's a clan member— is this okay?
"...You seem unusually attached to the clan."
No, you're just too reckless. I don't know how much the founder cherished you, but...
"...Look over there."
The man seated in the chair was familiar: the Gold Merchant Guild Leader, Sohee's father.
He sat unbound. No, for someone captured days ago, he looked surprisingly well-groomed. Come to think of it, the clan member who'd collapsed mid-duty held something like a real cigar—probably self-administering hypnosis therapy.
I asked tensely.
So what are you planning to do?
"Obviously, continue the interrogation."
The chilling words came in a clear voice—mine. To explain briefly: after possession, I'd felt first-person immersion only briefly during Full Sky Flower Rain; mostly, I observed her in third person. They say the soul resides in the eyes? I'd dismissed it before, but today I truly felt it. Through my eyes, the Mirror Ghost's nature appeared utterly cunning and vicious.