I Dug My Own Grave (5)
The door had opened, but none of them could bring themselves to step inside.
Tension, unease, and even anticipation twisted together so tightly that all they could do was stare at the open doorway with bewildered eyes.
The first to regain his senses was none other than Hyun Young.
"Sect Leader."
"...Yes."
"Wouldn't it be best to go in and take a look?"
"Mm. Yes, of course."
Hyun Jong looked at the open door with solemn eyes.
It was frightening.
He was afraid there might be nothing inside.
But after coming all this way, turning back now was unthinkable.
"Huuuh!"
He drew in a deep breath, braced his abdomen, and stepped through the open doorway. The elders and the Un-generation disciples followed behind him.
Seeing that, Hyun Young helped Chung Myung up.
"Chung Myung."
"Ugh."
"You worked hard. To cut through Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron... I'm really proud of you."
"Pfft, it wasn't a big deal. Heheh."
Chung Myung, who surprisingly hadn't heard much praise in his life despite being so good at things, immediately brightened whenever anyone complimented him. His mouth opened and the corners of his lips twitched upward.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
Chung Myung followed Hyun Young into the secret chamber.
Hyun Jong, who had entered first, was now looking around with trembling eyes.
"This place is..."
Plain.
Rather than a secret chamber, it was more like a library. Nothing could be seen besides three bookshelves.
It was so austere that it looked almost impoverished.
And yet, because it seemed to embody the very mindset a Sect Leader of Mount Hua ought to possess, Hyun Jong found his heart trembling even more.
He swallowed hard and approached the shelves.
Then...
"Ahhh..."
He covered his face on the spot.
"Ancestors... Ancestors of Mount Hua! How... how have you watched over us so kindly?"
Unable to contain his emotions, his body shook violently. All the hardships he had endured flashed before his eyes like a panorama.
"S-Sect Leader, this is...!"
"M-My heavens!"
Hyun Sang and Hyun Young's eyes went wide as lanterns.
"Sect Leader! This is Amhyangpyo! Amhyangpyo! It's Mount Hua's lost movement technique!"
"M-Maehwa Step! And not Chilseongbo, but Maehwa Step!"
"Eek! There's Gu-gong Sword! Sect Leader, it's Gu-gong Sword!"
They were so shocked it seemed their eyes might roll back.
One bookshelf was packed full of Mount Hua's martial arts manuals. And most of them were techniques that had already been lost to the sect.
The advanced martial arts they had believed lost forever were filling the shelves.
Hyun Sang, who oversaw Mount Hua's martial arts, was on the verge of losing consciousness entirely.
"...Th-this is..."
He muttered dazedly, as though he'd already lost his soul.
How desperately had he wished for this?
How desperately had he searched for it?
Everything he had longed for and hunted down was sleeping here.
Instead of Hyun Jong and Hyun Sang, who were far too stunned to even dare touch anything, Hyun Young carefully pulled out one volume.
"Oh! It's been preserved so cleanly! It looks like a brand-new book, Sect Leader!"
Seeing the elders react from behind, Chung Myung flinched at those words.
Ah... I forgot to get dirt on it.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
"Ohhhh! It's been preserved so well it still smells of ink, Sect Leader!"
Ah... I should've dried it properly.
"Even the... uh... the letters seem a little too wet still?"
Hyun Young himself began tilting his head.
Chung Myung started sweating buckets as he desperately searched for a way to salvage the situation.
"How... how can this be?"
"Hahahahaha."
Then, suddenly, Hyun Jong burst out laughing.
"So this is why the ancestor made this vault out of Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron. I once heard that boxes made from Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron retain coldness and keep the contents from spoiling."
"Ah! Now that you mention it, I've heard something similar before."
"Wouldn't the reason these books are preserved so perfectly be exactly that?"
...Right. No.
No, wait. That's not it! That's not it!
Ugh! Sect Leader!
This is exactly why he's the Sect Leader!
Chung Myung smiled with satisfaction as Hyun Jong matched the lie so perfectly without needing any prompting.
He's doing the drumming and the cymbals all by himself.
Oh, you adorable little things!
And then it happened.
"S-Sect Leader! H-Here!"
"W-What is it?"
"Look here, look here! Here!"
"Where?"
"Here!"
Hyun Young pointed urgently to one side. As Hyun Jong followed the direction of his finger, his body froze like a statue.
There, neatly lined up along the lower shelf, were twenty-five manuals.
"N-no way..."
The titles seemed so huge they might have floated up into the air themselves.
Illustrated Guide to the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art.
"Uh... uh..."
Hyun Jong's face went slack as he stared at the shelf.
The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art.
And not just the art itself, but an illustrated guide to it.
"G-G... G..."
"S-Sect Leader!"
"Illustrated... khrrrk!"
In the end, Hyun Jong rolled his eyes and fell backward.
"Aaaah! Sect Leader!"
"Pull yourself together! No, what are you doing collapsing here? Get up, Sect Leader!"
Terrified, Hyun Young grabbed Hyun Jong by the collar and shook him hard while raising his voice. Only after he’d shaken him for a while did Hyun Jong finally snap his eyes open.
"Huuuuah!"
"Are you feeling a little..."
"Move."
Hyun Jong shot up, flung Hyun Young aside as if he weighed nothing, and practically crawled toward the bookshelf.
"An illustrated guide! An illustrated guide! An illustrated guide to the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art!"
He looked like a man who had just seen food after starving for ten days. Standing right in front of the shelf, he glared at the manuals as though he might bite through them, trembling with disbelief.
"T-This... This is impossible. Th... ha. Hah!"
What was an illustrated guide?
It was a commentary edition that explained a manual with drawings to make it easier to learn.
Given how difficult and painstaking it was to fully explain a martial art, such guides were rarely produced.
But for them, who had to learn martial arts without a teacher, nothing was more necessary than such an illustrated guide.
"P-Please, inspect it, Sect Leader! Hurry!"
At Hyun Sang's cry, Hyun Jong reached out with trembling hands and pulled out the manual for the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art.
Shrrrk.
As his careful fingers turned the cover, the first page appeared, written in a bold and majestic hand.
Passed down to posterity by Chung Myung, thirteenth disciple of Mount Hua.
"C-Chung Myung?"
"Yes! Here it is."
"Not you, you idiot!"
"..."
It is me, you idiot?
Chung Myung shot him a sulky look, but Hyun Jong gave him not even the smallest shred of attention.
Chung Myung.
How many times had he written and traced that name in his heart?
How many times had he longed for it?
The moment he saw those characters, Hyun Jong could no longer hold back the surge of emotion pounding through him.
In the end, with a voice that trembled from deep in his chest, he whispered the title he had always carried inside him.
"Plum Blossom Sword Saint."
The forgotten legend of Mount Hua.
The name that had allowed him to cling to Mount Hua through all those long years of hardship was here before him.
"P-Plum Blossom Sword Saint? Then this means this Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art was personally left behind by the Plum Blossom Sword Saint?"
Hyun Young leaned in beside Hyun Jong, craning his neck to look.
"C-Chung Myung, you say!"
Before long, his whole body was trembling as though struck by lightning.
Which disciple of Mount Hua did not admire the Plum Blossom Sword Saint?
Hyun Jong forcefully steadied his trembling heart and began reading the words that followed.
The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art is the foundation of Mount Hua, and Mount Hua's essence. In order to help future generations better understand the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art, this volume leaves behind illustrations for each movement.
Future generations should use these illustrations as reference and train, and then train again. If the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art is mastered completely, there will be no sword in the world worth fearing.
Remember this.
What future generations inherit is not a sword, but Mount Hua's will. I place the will of Mount Hua that I carry within me into these twenty-four volumes of illustrations.
As long as this will is passed on, the name of Mount Hua will never disappear.
"I-It really is the Plum Blossom Sword Saint's illustrated guide! The Plum Blossom Sword Saint's!"
"Wahahahahahahaha! My heavens! This is insane! Wahahahahahahahaha!"
Hyun Young threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Even if they had only the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art, it would have been enough to throw Mount Hua into celebration, but this was the Plum Blossom Sword Saint's own illustrated guide. It was a treasure among treasures, one they would not trade for a fortune of gold—no, for mountains of gold.
"To think it was a hundred-year-old relic! Wahahahahah! What incredible fortune! What..."
Hyun Young lunged at Hyun Jong and snatched the manual from his hands.
"Let's see! Let me see..."
He was about to flip through the pages with agitated movements when he suddenly paused. A strange frown creased his brow.
"Sect Leader."
"Hm?"
"...The ink doesn't seem dry enough. The front and back pages are sticking together...?"
"..."
Hyun Jong and Hyun Young stared at the book with odd expressions.
At the same time, fresh sweat began seeping down Chung Myung's spine again.
They're so damn meticulous, seriously.
Can you idiots just let things slide a little? Just a little! Why are you so damn sensitive? Since when were you like this?
"Mm. It must mean the Plum Blossom Sword Saint made this guide and placed it here right away. That's probably why the ink was preserved without drying completely."
"That must be it, yes?"
"Hahahaha. Of course. As if anyone had entered this chamber made of Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron. And recently, too."
"As if that were possible? Hahahahahaha!"
Sweat began dripping down the back of Chung Myung's neck.
Baek Cheon, watching from outside, narrowed his eyes.
Why is that brat sweating so much ever since before?
Did he really have internal injuries?
That shouldn't be possible.
Then it happened.
"Sect Leader!"
"What is it?"
"The handwriting is all the same!"
"Hm?"
"I just checked, and all the manuals here are written in the same handwriting. It seems they were all written by one person."
Chung Myung flinched and stared at Hyun Sang with wide eyes.
How do you even notice something like that?
No, why are you being so weirdly observant?
"Then that means...?"
"Yes! It seems all the manuals here were personally written by the Plum Blossom Sword Saint!"
"Ohhh. By the Sword Saint! Such priceless things!"
Hyun Jong had now fully drifted into an ocean of emotion.
"Sword Saint... Sword Saint. I have nothing left to wish for..."
His face melted into softness, and his body began to lose all strength. Hyun Young charged at him again, grabbed his collar, and shook him furiously.
"Hey! Why are you trying to ascend to heaven every five minutes now? If you were going to ascend that easily, why'd you even get younger in the first place, huh?! If you're dying, spit out the Jaso-dan first and then die, you bastard!"
"I-I'm not dying, you punk!"
Hyun Jong came to his senses in an instant.
Though... he thought he might have just seen a blue and yellow cloud a moment ago.
He had to be careful.
"Hahahahaha. What great fortune! What great fortune for Mount Hua!"
The three Hyun-generation members were practically beside themselves with joy. Their mouths were stretched ear to ear, and their hips kept twitching with excitement.
"Sect Leader. Could we perhaps also..."
"Ah, yes! Of course!"
Hyun Jong led the Hyun-generation members back outside. The other disciples, including the Un-generation disciples, had been waiting outside because there wasn't enough room for everyone inside the chamber.
Once they moved aside, the others finally entered as well.
"...Maehwa Scatter-Hand!"
"S-Sasuk! There's even Taeheojang here."
"Moon Lady Harmony Sword."
Just seeing the names written on the covers of the manuals was enough to make their eyes roll.
Baek Cheon, who had begun to feel faint himself, steadied his breathing with a hand on the shelf.
And then.
Grrk.
"Hm?"
Baek Cheon's head turned downward.
"Huh?"
Chung Myung's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sight.
N-no. That? That thing?
"S-Sect Leader! There's a gap here. It looks like there may be more space below!"
That bastard of a Sasuk?
"Oh? Really?"
Hyun Jong rushed back inside at once.
"Oh, so there is!"
"I'll open it completely!"
"Yes! Do that."
Before Chung Myung could stop them, the bookshelf was moved aside and the door beneath it was opened.
"Let's go down!"
"Come on! Let's get in quickly!"
The Hyun-generation members poured into the space beneath the secret chamber.
But unfortunately, the room below was completely empty. Nothing could be seen there at all.
"...I was sure there'd be something."
"Hmm. It seems like a space that was built but never used."
"It's disappointing, but we can't help it."
"Yes. Just having gained this much already... hm?"
As Hyun Jong spoke calmly, he seemed to notice something and lowered his gaze.
"This..."
"Yes?"
The Hyun-generation members followed his gaze downward.
"There's a circle here."
"It is round."
"...And quite large."
"..."
Hyun Young muttered with an odd look.
"Doesn't it look like someone cut something out and then pasted it back in?"
"Hahahahahahaha!"
At the sudden burst of laughter, the Hyun-generation members turned. Chung Myung was poking his head in from the entrance, laughing awkwardly.
"W-Who would ever glue Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron back together? Hah. Hah. Even the Plum Blossom Sword Saint himself couldn't do that!"
"Right?"
"O-Of course!"
"Yes, exactly. But why are you sweating so much? Are your internal injuries not healed yet?"
"I-I overdid it again when I cut the door..."
"Oh dear, oh dear. Tsk tsk."
Even as Hyun Young worried about Chung Myung, Hyun Jong stood quietly staring at the circle with a serious expression. At last, as though he had reached some great realization, he nodded.
"I understand."
"Yes?"
Chung Myung's eyes nearly popped out.
You understand? Understand what?
"A secretly constructed space and a large circle. Do you not see? This is a noble teaching left to us by the sages."
"A teaching, you say...?"
"An empty space, and an empty circle. It means that if you've already gained enough, you should know how to be satisfied with that and not grow greedy for more."
"Ah! Indeed!"
"The sages were trying to pass down the Dao to us."
"Amitabha. It must mean they were reminding us that Mount Hua's true calling lies not in martial arts, but in the Dao. We learn something new again today."
"The sages' intent is truly profound. Amitabha."
Watching the Hyun-generation members chant their Buddhist titles together, Chung Myung's entire body finally went slack, and he collapsed onto the floor.
The Dao, my ass.
At this rate, my heart's going to stop first.
Ah, what a cursed life.