The Horse of Fortunes, Part 2
On the first day, when he was told that the horses had disappeared, he thought it entirely possible.
After all, horses were wild creatures by nature; now and then, they vanished and then turned up again.
Anyone who knew the old saying Sae-ong-ji-ma would understand that much.
But if the same thing happens two days in a row, the story changes.
Seok Geum-ryong shook his head.
At first, he had thought it was nothing more than a mistake, or perhaps a disappearance somewhere nearby with no outside interference at all.
But if even one of the rare Sabaek horses had vanished from the stables that Seokma-gwan Master Jang Sam guarded like a man possessed, then it could only mean one thing: someone from outside was responsible.
“This won’t do.”
Only now did the Golden Young Master, Seok Geum-ryong, grasp the weight of the matter.
He immediately summoned Shin Dan-woo of the Shadowless One, as well as Moon Spirit Sword Lady Im So-gun and Wol-papa.
Some might have asked why he would call so many masters over the loss of only a few horses, but that was nonsense.
This is no ordinary matter.
That was sincerely what Seok Geum-ryong believed.
Managing Seokma-gwan and selling horses was an essential duty for Seok Geum-ryong, the Manor Lord of Seokga Manor, and not something he could afford to set aside.
And there was one more reason.
What if these strange incidents were the work of someone targeting me?
Then the matter could become deadly.
It might begin with only a few horses, but in the end it would mean that, as the lord overseeing Seokma-gwan, he had lost the trust of those under him.
For me to become manor lord and manage Seokma-gwan was something I could never have even imagined in my past life.
And that meant he had no prior intelligence, no foreknowledge of the future at all.
In other words, if someone was targeting the horses in order to drag down Seok Geum-ryong’s reputation, there was no way to even guess who it might be.
“The horses are disappearing all at once. Starting tonight, we’ll keep watch... and see just who is pulling these strings.”
So Seok Geum-ryong gathered what forces he could and resolved to track down the culprit from that very night.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Deep in the night.
Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo, whose lightness skill was exceptionally swift, went on patrol from the outer edge of Seokma-gwan all the way to the foothills of North Rock Mountain, while Im So-gun and Wol-papa took Jang Sam with them to patrol the interior.
The interesting thing was that whenever they went on a proper patrol like this, nothing ever happened.
By a strange coincidence, the horse disappearances stopped dead the very day they began their watch.
Could it really be the work of human hands?
Even Seok Geum-ryong, who had initially suspected the situation rather than any person and thought that perhaps the thief had merely stopped because he knew he was being watched, began to waver in his judgment.
But that hesitation did not last long.
“Hmm?”
While roaming North Rock Mountain, Seok Geum-ryong suddenly spotted something on a tree.
It was the dried remains of old horse blood.
What made it astonishing was that the trace was found not on some small sapling, but on a massive tree taller than most buildings.
Who had said that sincerity could move heaven? At that very moment, from far off, a desperate signal finally came from Im So-gun and Wol-papa’s group, who had been patrolling the interior.
“Young Master!”
“Young Master!”
It was very late at night.
At last, the urgent call came from the group inside, where Im So-gun and Wol-papa had been on patrol.
The instant Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo heard the shout from afar and met each other’s eyes, they moved at once.
Whoosh!
They unleashed the Shadowless Movement Technique at full speed and shot forward like arrows.
As it happened, the weather that day had been terrible, with fierce rain and violent winds, and the torches were guttering out.
As a result, darkness spread thick and black, so deep one could not see an inch ahead; and astonishingly, something was taking advantage of that darkness to attack the horses.
“Got you, you bastard!”
Seok Geum-ryong, Shin Dan-woo, Im So-gun, and Wol-papa were all gathered in one place, masters above the Peak Realm who could have crushed a small sect without breaking a sweat, so everyone was certain of it.
Slither.
Whatever it was, sliding through the darkness, was definitely attacking the horses.
But something felt off.
“Hmm?”
Seok Geum-ryong saw it at a glance.
Horses were delicate, cautious animals, and if someone chased them they would usually bolt like mad.
Yet for some reason, the horses were reacting differently.
Tremble, tremble.
As if they stood on the brink of death, they were pale with fear, unable even to run, only quivering weakly.
What was even more shocking was the creature’s movement in the dark, racing frantically across the ground.
Shrouded in vast blackness, it slid along the earth as though it were gliding, and its motion was so peculiar that it gave off an eerie, wild feeling.
This is no time for hesitation!
If the horses were that terrified, it meant the creature could kill them at any moment.
So Seok Geum-ryong made his decision.
“Everyone, strike it now!”
With those words, he led the way himself.
Though the foul weather made it difficult to unleash any truly overwhelming martial art, he paid it no mind.
Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique: Greedy Wolf!
Seok Geum-ryong loosed the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique on the spot.
BOOOOM!
The blast produced an explosion, and for a brief instant the darkness was lit from within.
They were not masters who would miss such a fleeting opening.
“Haaah!”
Shin Dan-woo, Wol-papa, and Im So-gun all struck in concert.
He had worried the horse might be swept up in the storm of attacks, but the horses’ safety came first.
For roughly the time it takes to burn through one incense stick, Seok Geum-ryong’s party poured out a relentless barrage.
By then, they thought the matter was settled.
Whatever had been moving across the ground had staggered and crashed down in place.
“Hoo...”
The group let out a breath and began to recover their footing when—
“Be careful!”
Seok Geum-ryong, who had never let his guard down, shouted out.
SHRAAAK!
Then the thing that had been crawling along the ground displayed an absolutely impossible movement and slid upward, not toward the ground this time, but into the tree.
By sheer coincidence, it was the very same tree where they had found the old horse-blood trace earlier.
So it really was that thing’s doing?
Now certain of it, Seok Geum-ryong tried to give chase again, but it was all but impossible.
WOOOOOSH!
The moment it climbed the tree and shot up to an absurd height, as if heaven itself had intervened, a maddening downpour came crashing down.
There was so much rain that even calling it a torrential sheet of rain felt inadequate.
“Shall we pursue it, Manor Lord?”
The others asked.
For a heartbeat, Seok Geum-ryong weighed the matter again and again.
Fssssht.
What was more, wherever the thing had passed, blood sizzled the instant the rain touched it, sending up wisps of smoke.
No way!
The moment he saw that, a fragment of forgotten memory flashed through Seok Geum-ryong’s mind.
At once, everything about the strange beast’s movements and behavior began to slot neatly into place.
“No. The weather is poor as it is... We’ll regroup and return for now.”
Seok Geum-ryong repeatedly warned the group never to touch any trace left by the strange beast, then ordered the retreat.
What, exactly, was that thing? And what was Seok Geum-ryong planning?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The party had spent a great deal of internal energy in the dreadful weather, and they were exhausted well past midnight.
As soon as the sun rose, they all gave in to fatigue and went to rest.
Rustle.
But Golden Young Master Seok Geum-ryong was different.
He slipped out alone, quietly and without a sound, before the weary group could wake.
He had a strong suspicion about the identity of that strange beast, and he thought he knew where it was.
If my guess is right, I can manage this alone.
In Seok Geum-ryong’s past life, when he had still been Woo Do-min, there had once been a small uproar in North Rock Mountain, north of Seokga Manor.
Things happened there that seemed fit for a hero’s tale, and astonishingly, a giant spiritual beast had been discovered.
Unfortunately, it was not a living beast but one that had reached the end of its life and died, and because the discovery had come far too late, not only was the beast’s inner core gone to waste, but even its body had dried up and withered so completely that not a single part could be used. It was a deeply regrettable event.
The name of that beast was definitely... the Thousand-Year Great Python!
The Thousand-Year Great Python, in other words, a giant flood serpent that had spent a thousand years in the world.
Flood serpents were extraordinary, but they were a clan that could never truly become dragons. By nature, there was nothing especially miraculous about a flood serpent itself.
And yet no matter how insignificant or miserable a creature might be, once its life stretched past a thousand years, the wonder it had never possessed would surge upward and make it exceptional.
The prime example was the Thousand-Year Great Python, the thousand-year flood serpent, which longed to ascend and become a dragon every thousand years, though the number of those that ever succeeded was vanishingly small.
In the end, that unfinished spiritual beast, unable to become a dragon, did not live to wait another thousand years. Instead, it gave up on building merit and sought the flesh it loved most: horse meat.
The Thousand-Year Great Python had long enjoyed meat, and among all meat, it was said to have a particular weakness for horse flesh.
It should have abandoned meat, built up merit, and preserved its spiritual power in order to become a dragon, but how could anyone endure a thousand years like that?
So the thousand-year serpent that consumed horse meat was said to exhaust its spiritual power before long and die on the spot.
In other words, the Thousand-Year Great Python discovered in his past life was precisely the beast that had now raided Seokma-gwan, and it could be said to be nearing its end.
Shadowless Movement Technique.
As Seok Geum-ryong concentrated once more on his lightness skill, one thought kept circling through his mind.
If a Thousand-Year Great Python that had given up on building merit by eating horse meat could be made to yield its complete inner core and hide before it died, what would happen?
The Thousand-Year Great Python had already begun to rot through its indulgence in flesh.
No matter how far it had fallen, it was reasonable to assume that the inner core formed by a thousand years of merit would still be more or less intact before death.
What would happen if the current Seok Geum-ryong defeated the dying Thousand-Year Great Python and took that inner core?
“If I can obtain the inner core of the Thousand-Year Great Python... I may well encounter the legendary chance for bone-changing and marrow-replacing.”
Seok Geum-ryong said with confidence.
Even without that, he already possessed formidable internal energy.
If he added to it the immense power that only a spiritual beast’s inner core could provide, then his entire body would be optimized for martial arts, and he would gain a bone-changing and marrow-replacing physique, as fresh and pure as a newborn child.
And that was not all.
From ancient times, the Thousand-Year Great Python’s hide was renowned for having the finest defense, and I’ve heard that anyone who obtains its blood becomes immune to all poisons.
The hide of the Thousand-Year Great Python was the toughest leather in the world, something even the finest craftsmen longed to get their hands on in the smallest amount.
Its blood alone was the deadliest of poisons, and yet the one who obtained that blood could be free from every kind of toxin.
In fact, the reason Seok Geum-ryong and the others had been so fortunate in facing the Thousand-Year Great Python was the torrential rain brought by the terrible weather.
If not for that rain, the beast’s blood could have spread through the air or been carried by the currents, and even Seok Geum-ryong’s group would likely have suffered serious injury.
Fortunately, the rain had come down in a frenzy, not only preventing the poison from spreading but washing away even that venom-laden blood until it was utterly rinsed clean. It was fortune upon fortune.
“A Thousand-Year Great Python that has begun to rot through indulgence in flesh is, for all practical purposes, already racing toward death.”
Which meant that, depending on the state of the beast, he might be able to face it alone after all.