Did You Come from Zhongnan? (4)
“Grrrrrrr.”
Chung Myung sank down onto the ground.
“...Damn it, I’m gonna die.”
This was no easy job. Even if it was only a small hill, a mountain was still a mountain. There was no way searching every inch of it would be easy.
What’s more, he had to avoid his grandmartial uncles and grandmartial uncle-grandmasters, so he moved only under cover of the dark. It felt less like searching and more like sneaking around to rob someone blind.
This rotten body.
He still couldn’t get used to it. In his previous life, even if he had unfolded his lightness technique for three straight days and nights, not a single breath would have gone out of place. But this weak little body panted the moment he moved a bit too much.
It had been the same when he’d gone down to Hwameum and interrogated Yu Jong-san. What need was there to say more, when climbing down the mountain and back up again had been ten times harder than dealing with that loudmouthed blade-swinger?
And this was no easy task either.
“Huuuuuuuu.”
Placing a hand on the ground, Chung Myung drew in a deep breath and pushed his qi into the earth.
What the hell was he doing, in the dead of night?
“Yeah, seriously, damn it.”
The storehouse would be under here. The problem was that he didn’t know where “under here” actually was.
There was only one way: check every inch.
So now Chung Myung was crawling all over the mountain, pouring qi into point after point, searching for empty spaces. If there was hollow ground beneath the mountain, that had to be the storehouse.
Easy to say.
Easy to say, but...
“This is like finding a needle in the desert.”
He let out a long sigh.
If this had been his body in the past, he could’ve blanketed a small mountain like this with a single flick of his hand. But now, at best, he could only send out a thread of qi about the length of a finger joint.
“Aaagh! I’m dying here!”
And he couldn’t keep firing off even that much qi forever. His inner core—the one so pitiful it practically had to call a chestnut “big brother”—was running dry in no time at all, despite only being used a few times. Every time that happened, he had to circulate his energy again, gather qi, and shoot it back out, repeating the process for the umpteenth time.
What if there’s nothing here and I’m just wasting my time?
When his body was tired, stupid thoughts wouldn’t leave him alone. Chung Myung shook off the nonsense clawing into his head.
No. Where there was a will, there was a way.
“There has to be something!”
Considering the Sect Leader Brother’s personality and everything else, the ledgers had to be stored somewhere safe. And the only place that could be safe was here.
They were at the point where they had to grab at straw. But if this was hope, then it wasn’t straw at all—it was more like a log floating on the water. How could he not grab it?
Again!
“Gah!”
Again!
“I’m gonna die!”
Again!
“What’s empty? Hell if I know. Oof.”
Again...
No. Wait a second.
“What’s empty?”
Chung Myung’s eyes flew wide open. To confirm it, he squeezed out what little qi he had left and sent it probing once more.
There it is!
He felt something alien. There was an empty space beneath here. His inner force was still too weak to tell whether that space had been made by someone or whether it was simply a natural hollow.
But one thing was certain: something was empty.
Then?
“Ptooey!”
Chung Myung spat on the ground and got to his feet. Then he grabbed the pickaxe lying beside him.
“Guess I’ll have to see it with my own eyes!”
At this point, it was a battle of stubbornness.
“Grrrrr!”
One shovel-full.
“Grrrrrrrrr!”
Two shovel-fulls.
“Kraaaaaaah!”
Three shovel-fulls.
Thud.
Chung Myung collapsed right into the pit.
So much dirt surged into his mouth that he could taste the earth, but by then he didn’t even have the strength to spit it out.
“I’m dying. I’m really dying.”
Damned body.
Just digging five zhang made his arms tremble violently and his legs go weak. His waist hurt as if someone had slashed him clean across it.
People who learned martial arts were supposed to be used to pain.
But pain from brutal training and wounds was one thing; pain from labor was something else entirely. Unfortunately, Chung Myung wasn’t very accustomed to labor.
Even if he had been, this was not the sort of thing a child’s body could handle.
Digging through solid ground was hard enough for a grown man in his prime. Worse, there was no clever trick to it. He had to do it with raw strength and stubbornness alone.
“Ptooey!”
Chung Myung spat out the dirt in his mouth and glared.
“Fine. Let’s see whether you win or I do!”
But if he gave up here, wouldn’t the name of the Plum Blossom Sword Saint lose face?
“Urraaah!”
Chung Myung raised the pickaxe again and resumed hacking at the earth with renewed fury.
If there was a space below, he would damn well reach it!
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
“Urraaaah! C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!”
Thunk! Thunk! Clack!
“Huh?”
Clack?
Chung Myung dropped his posture at once. Then he began brushing away the dirt with both hands. After scraping away a few handfuls, something hard touched his fingertips.
Bricks?
His face twisted. The feeling beneath his fingers was odd. There were cracked seams here and there. It was brick.
Something built of bricks beneath a mountain like this might actually be a good sign. It meant someone had created an artificial space.
But Chung Myung thought otherwise.
If this were one of Mount Hua’s secret caves, they wouldn’t have defended it with something as flimsy as brick. They would have reinforced the surroundings far more solidly to guard against intruders.
But bricks...
For now, let’s keep digging.
Chung Myung suppressed his disappointment. Until he saw it with his own eyes, he couldn’t be sure of anything. First, he had to confirm it visually.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Once he cleared away the rest of the dirt, a clear brick pattern came into view. His cultivation was still low, and with the moon hidden away, he couldn’t see it perfectly, but it was certain now that something was down there.
Let’s see.
Carefully, Chung Myung grabbed one of the bricks.
Time had passed. The bricks were tightly fitted together. He tugged on it, carefully and steadily so nothing would collapse.
Rrrrrrkk.
One brick was pulled upward.
Good!
Chung Myung removed the brick with care, then shoved his face into the opening below.
Alright, here goes...
He sharpened his eyesight and looked down, then frowned slightly.
There was nothing below. All he could see was...
No way... Wait. A corridor?
His fist clenched on its own.
He hadn’t found the wrong place. He’d found the right place, just a little off to the side. What he’d located wasn’t the secret cave itself, but the passage leading to it. His abilities were still too weak to distinguish a passage from the cave proper.
But finding the corridor meant he’d found the way to the cave!
Nice!
The moment Chung Myung lifted his head and was about to remove the remaining bricks...
Step.
Low footsteps sounded from inside.
Hah!
He almost cried out in surprise. Someone was walking toward this side through the corridor.
The Sect Leader?
He quickly pulled his head back and covered the exposed opening with the brick he’d removed. But there was a bigger problem.
Shit!
Light was leaking through the gap created when he’d pulled the brick out. Hurriedly, Chung Myung covered the bricks with his own body and lowered his breathing to use the Breath-Suppressing Technique.
Why now, of all times!
If he slipped up, he might get caught. If the Sect Leader found him after he’d searched the mountain, dug into the ground, and made it all the way here, what was he supposed to say?
He absolutely could not be caught.
Step. Step.
The footsteps in the dark corridor drew closer and closer. They weren’t fast.
It is the Sect Leader.
Even just the figure revealed by the darkness made it obvious who he was.
Fortunately, the Sect Leader didn’t seem to notice anything unusual and passed right by the spot where Chung Myung was looking down. But there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief, because the Sect Leader soon stopped walking.
Is there... a wall there?
As his eyes adjusted to the complete darkness, the interior came into sharper focus. Ahead of where the Sect Leader had stopped, a large wall came into view.
No. Not a wall.
It could easily look like one, but that couldn’t be a wall. The end of a long corridor was never called a wall. It was a door. The Sect Leader stood there silently, staring at it.
So he knew.
Chung Myung had expected that might be the case.
The others had no way of knowing about a secret cave that Chung Myung himself had only just discovered, but the Sect Leader was likely different. The previous Sect Leader Brother might have told the future Sect Leader in case of emergency, or he might have discovered it by accident while using the quarters.
But if he knew the secret cave existed, then why had Mount Hua ended up in such a state?
There should have been ledgers and treasured items stored in there, left behind by the Sect Leader Brother...
And then it happened.
The Sect Leader slowly raised a hand and touched the wall—no, the door. He kept his palm there for a long time, as though he were touching something precious.
What is he doing?
It was a gesture Chung Myung couldn’t quite understand.
And yet he didn’t feel like mocking it, because something about the Sect Leader felt different from usual.
The Sect Leader, still touching the door, slowly lowered his head. Then, without changing that posture, he stopped moving.
Only then did Chung Myung understand.
He wasn’t trying to do something.
He was someone who could not do it.
Watching that back, Chung Myung found himself biting his lip without meaning to.
It was small.
And it was pitiful.
The back of Mount Hua’s Sect Leader should always have been broad and warm. But now it looked bent and worn down, like the back of some country elder who had been chewed up by the years.
A back no one could ever see. Maybe that was why he could show it here, where no one else was around.
Chung Myung could see the Sect Leader’s back trembling faintly against the wall.
Ah...
He thought he understood.
He couldn’t open it.
Chung Myung bit down hard on his lip.
That back hurt. It hurt so much it felt cold and raw.
Mount Hua Sect was falling apart.
Martial arts were in decline, and the wealth was disappearing. Those demanding repayment were growing harsher, and the blades of their enemies only grew sharper.
In such a situation, how desperate must it have been to lead Mount Hua alone?
And how miserable must it feel to watch the Mount Hua he had devoted his whole life to crumbling before his eyes, unable to do anything about it?
Even so, he could not confide in anyone. A Sect Leader was the one who had to become the pillar others leaned on. He was not someone who could lean on others.
Even if everyone else broke, he alone had to stand firm and support this place like a great tree with roots driven deep into the earth.
So...
So here he was, alone, trying to soothe that pain and grief.
Holding on to a secret cave door that would not open.
Chung Myung looked at the Sect Leader’s back with lowered eyes, as if trying to carve the image into them.
After standing there, clutching the door and not moving for a long while, the Sect Leader finally raised his head.
He stared at the door for a moment longer, then let out a low sigh and turned around. Slowly, he made his way back down the corridor.
Chung Myung held his breath until the Sect Leader’s presence disappeared completely. Only then did he pull out the brick and jump down into the corridor below.
“...Tch.”
He’d just seen something he didn’t particularly want to see.
My fault is a big one.
And not just his. The ancestors had been at fault too. The future of the world was important, but Mount Hua’s future was important too. It was important to solve the crisis looming right in front of them, but they should also have thought about the children who would remain afterward.
“It’s not too late yet.”
If there was a mistake, it could be corrected. From this point on, Chung Myung would turn back the lost years of those people.
“Alright, then...”
He turned his head and looked at the door.
“Shall we open this damned thing first?”