Blood Ties and Plum Blossoms
“Daoist Yeong-hwa, the tea ware is over this way.”
Yet Yeong-hwa’s steps did not turn toward the tea ware.
He was walking straight for the main gate of the White Plum Pavilion Palace.
“Where are you going?”
Yeong-hwa looked at Wol-yeon with eyes full of quiet sorrow.
“Will you follow me?”
“You have to tell me first…”
Yeong-hwa swept his gaze slowly across the grounds of Huashan.
“From the look of it, that seems to be where the elders reside…”
The building he pointed to was a hall whose walls were adorned with soft pink plum blossoms.
“You mean the Huashan Quiet Residence Palace.”
“There is an elder there who shares a deep bond with you, Daoist Wol-yeon.”
“How could you possibly know that…?”
“Didn’t I tell you? My side job is being a mudang.”
Yeong-hwa gave a playful wink, trying to ease the weight on Wol-yeon’s heart.
“It isn’t a bad fate.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean your fate, Daoist Wol-yeon.”
Unfolding his Cloud-Stepping Technique, Yeong-hwa descended the steep stone stairs of Huashan.
“If you follow me, you will come to understand on your own.”
“I’m coming with you, Daoist Yeong-hwa!”
Yeong-hwa stopped precisely before the chamber of Elder Jangjin of the Huashan Quiet Residence Palace.
“This is the one, isn’t it?”
“Yes…”
After a moment’s hesitation, Wol-yeon spoke honestly.
“He is the benefactor who saved me when I was nearly starved to death.”
“Hmm… That cannot be the whole of it, can it?”
Just then a low voice sounded from within the room.
“Do not stand outside making such a racket. Come in.”
Creak—
Yeong-hwa opened the door and stepped inside with quiet confidence.
Within, Elder Jangjin was preparing plum-blossom tea with one hand.
A fragrant plum scent filled the entire chamber.
“Sit.”
Elder Jangjin drew chairs to the table for Wol-yeon and Yeong-hwa.
“I am sorry.”
“Elder Jangjin…”
“Though I call myself a Daoist, I was the one swept away by such desire. It is all my fault.”
At those words Wol-yeon broke into open weeping.
“Why… why do you always take the blame for me…”
Jangjin answered in a trembling voice.
“You are a disciple as dear to me as a daughter.”
He swallowed his tears and forced the words out.
“Even if the entire world hates you and curses you, I will never look at you that way.”
Jangjin sat down.
Wiping the tears that streamed down his face with his sleeve, he continued.
“From the day I first brought you to Huashan, I swore as much before the Primordial Heavenly Lord.”
“Elder Jangjin…”
“The tea is growing cold.”
Yeong-hwa soothed Wol-yeon into a chair and took his own seat.
Slowly savoring the plum fragrance, he drank the tea.
“So. You are the Daoist Yeong-hwa whose name has been ringing through the Central Plains?”
“I am, Elder Jangjin.”
“Then you must have a reason for coming here.”
Elder Jangjin’s words were sharp as a blade’s tip.
“Speak.”
“The scent of blood is overwhelming.”
Yeong-hwa set his teacup down with deliberate care and went on.
“It is not a vengeful spirit, either. Truly strange.”
At Yeong-hwa’s words Jangjin bit his lip and asked,
“What is it you wish to say?”
“I wish to know why so fierce a blood scent hangs over the bond between the two of you.”
Yeong-hwa fixed Jangjin with a piercing stare.
“Where does it begin?”
The words struck Jangjin like a dagger.
“If I had to guess… the affection of blood kin…”
Jangjin cut him off at once.
“Enough!”
Wol-yeon, unable to bear it any longer, cried out through her tears.
“Elder Jangjin, I will tell him!”
“No. This is a deed I committed.”
Elder Jangjin, who had been avoiding Yeong-hwa’s gaze, finally met his eyes.
“The truth is, Wol-yeon is the daughter of my own younger brother.”
“I am not even surprised.”
“And Wol-yeon once had an older brother.”
“I suspect the reason that fact was kept secret from Huashan is because your brother took part in the rebellions of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.”
“You are correct.”
Jangjin gripped the hot teacup with a trembling hand.
“During the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, my brother fought as a general of the rebel forces.”
His voice carried a deep, quiet grief.
“You know what becomes of a clan that joins a rebellion, do you not?”
“The punishment of extinguishing three generations of the bloodline…”
“Yet because of the military merit I earned in the Myeongsin War, our clan alone was spared annihilation.”
“Then how did Daoist Wol-yeon survive?”
“Around the middle of the war, that brother of mine must have already sensed defeat.”
He continued in a bitter tone.
“He sent Wol-yeon and his son to take refuge in Song territory.”
Jangjin’s story went on.
“A man he had long treated as a close friend was the master of a merchant house. He entrusted both children to him along with the entire family fortune.”
Even now the old rage had not left him; his hands shook.
“Do you know what that merchant bastard did?”
Yeong-hwa answered in a sorrowful voice.
“Elder Jangjin’s nephew… Daoist Wol-yeon’s elder brother… is dead.”
“He did not simply die!”
Jangjin’s face twisted with fury.
“That man took my brother’s entire fortune and still made slaves of the children!”
Yeong-hwa let out a long sigh.
“He worked them so mercilessly that when I found them they were nothing but skin and bone.”
“You could not save him.”
“The older nephew had been giving his own food to his sister every day so she would not starve.”
Tears welled in Jangjin’s eyes.
“By the time I arrived, the boy had already starved to death!”
“The massacre of the Golden Blood Merchant House in Henan Province. The case that went unsolved and sank into mystery… that was you, was it not?”
“I did it.”
There was not a trace of shame on Jangjin’s face.
“Before I was a Daoist, I was a man’s older brother.”
At Elder Jangjin’s confession Wol-yeon wept as though her heart would break.
“Elder Jangjin…”
“It is in your hands now.”
Elder Jangjin spoke with iron resolve.
“If you report me to the authorities, so be it.”
Tears ran down his cheeks.
“But do not reveal my relationship with Wol-yeon.”
Jangjin rose from his seat.
He knelt before Yeong-hwa.
“Elder Jangjin!”
“I will beg you like this.”
Yeong-hwa stood and knelt as well, facing the elder.
“How could any of this be your fault, Elder?”
Yeong-hwa gently raised Jangjin to his feet.
“When you look up at the heavens, do you feel shame?”
“No. Instead I live with endless regret…”
Elder Jangjin wiped his tears with his sleeve.
“If only this worthless brother of mine had not ignored my younger brother’s letters…”
He stared fixedly at the ceiling.
“My older nephew would be alive now, and a disciple of Huashan…”
Deep, suppressed sorrow filled every word.
“Then that is enough.”
Yeong-hwa closed his eyes and murmured,
“The Golden Blood Merchant House is a place whose spirits I myself refused to guide to the afterlife.”
“Have you been to Henan Province?”
“Well, before I became a Daoist I wandered here and there with my grandfather, earning money wherever we could.”
Yeong-hwa spoke with complete openness.
“The entire household of the Golden Blood Merchant House is in hell right now.”
With a bitter smile he drew the fan from his waist and opened it.
“The stench of their accumulated karma was so foul that even I abandoned the heavenly rites for them.”
Yeong-hwa spoke to Jangjin with genuine sincerity.
“Forget them. Let them go.”
“May I… truly do that?”
Suddenly the windows of the room flew open and a violent wind came roaring in.
Saaaaaaaaah—
“I can hear your older nephew’s voice.”
Yeong-hwa slowly closed his eyes.
His voice changed into that of a young boy.
“Great-uncle!”
“Wh-what in the world…?”
“Father says he misses his older brother so much.”
Yeong-hwa’s body trembled as the words continued.
“He asks if you remember the days we lived together in that old tiled house in Xinxian County of Henan Province.”
In that instant Jangjin’s eyes wavered.
“He says he misses the sable we raised together with you on the mountain behind the house.”
That old tiled house and the sable… no one else in the world knew of them. They had been a secret shared only by the two brothers.
Jangjin seized Yeong-hwa’s hand, weeping.
“How could I ever forget? The hometown where I lived with you…”
“He still regrets that when he left home at twenty he did not follow his older brother into Huashan…”
“No… no, little brother…”
“He says the candied fruit the sharp-tongued old woman sold in the marketplace—the one you used to buy for him in secret from Mother—tasted so wonderful.”
“I am sorry I could not buy you more… This worthless older brother is so sorry…”
“Oh? Great-uncle, the Primordial Heavenly Lord and the Tathagata are calling Father and me!”
“Amitabha… please…”
“I have to go now. Father says you must forget us and return to being the proud older brother you always were!”
“Nephew!”
“And he asks you to take good care of Wol-yeon.”
“Tell him not to worry—tell him without fail!”
“I really have to leave now, Great-uncle.”
“Go to a good place. Every day I will offer prayers to the Primordial Heavenly Lord for you both…”
When Yeong-hwa opened his eyes, the fierce wind that had filled the room vanished in an instant.
Sway— sway— sway— sway—
Two plum blossoms drifted gently down through the air.
One settled upon Elder Jangjin’s open palm.
The other came to rest in Wol-yeon’s hand.
Both of them gazed at the blossoms and wept without restraint.
“They have both gone to a good place.”
Jangjin pressed the petals carefully against his heart and recited the sacred name.
“Amitabha… Amitabha…”
Wol-yeon did the same.
Yeong-hwa approached Wol-yeon as she offered her quiet prayer.
“They look alike, don’t they?”
At those words Wol-yeon flinched.
“Th-that is…”
“I just saw your father as well, Daoist Wol-yeon.”
Yeong-hwa let out a sigh of pity.
“Senior Brother Hagun’s face is the exact image of your late father.”
His voice grew sorrowful.
“Is that why you could only lower your head and weep, never daring to look at him?”
“Yes… My father and Daoist Hagun resemble each other far too closely…”
Yeong-hwa gazed out the window at the sky and murmured softly,
“Amitabha… What cruel bond have You woven, that You would ask this of me?”
He patted Wol-yeon’s shoulder and seated her gently in the chair.
Elder Jangjin was still clutching the plum blossom to his breast, weeping.
“Elder Jangjin, calm yourself and listen to me, will you?”
“S-speak…”
“I can heal Daoist Wol-yeon’s madness and the sorcery that clings to her.”
At Yeong-hwa’s words Elder Jangjin shot to his feet.
“Is that true?”
Yeong-hwa simply nodded in answer.
“Whenever the incidents occurred, Daoist Wol-yeon was never present.”
“That is so.”
“And yet the Daoists of Huashan went half-mad with rage, did they not?”
“How did you know?”
Yeong-hwa looked at Wol-yeon and released a deep sigh.
“Daoist Wol-yeon has the habit of hiding deep within Huashan and playing the zither alone.”
“H-how could you…?”
“Today someone requested a performance, so she played at the White Plum Pavilion Palace.”
“That is correct, Daoist Yeong-hwa…”
“Who persuaded you, Daoist Wol-yeon?”
“It was at the request of the Sect Leader…”
Wol-yeon’s unexpected answer made Yeong-hwa’s eyes go wide.
“What?”
“Sect Leader Jaho himself?”
“Yes…”
“That cannot be…”
Yeong-hwa tilted his head.
“Even if it were only a fragment of Blood Jade, a master of the Transcendent Realm would inevitably sense the blood energy.”
“A fragment of Blood Jade?”
“That… is a long story.”
Yeong-hwa waved a hand and spoke to Jangjin.
The elder seemed to have regained a measure of composure.
“Elder Jangjin, I will need to perform a gut.”
“What is a gut?”
“Think of it as something like a ritual offering.”
Yeong-hwa leaned close and whispered into Jangjin’s ear.
“If that is truly all it takes to quiet Wol-yeon’s madness and the sorcery…”
“Yes. Trust me.”
“I will tell the disciples to prepare at once.”
Jangjin hastily threw on his plum-embroidered robe.
“No— I will go myself! I must go myself!”
He immediately unfolded the Dark Fragrance Step and shot out of the room like lightning.
Only Wol-yeon and Yeong-hwa remained in Elder Jangjin’s chamber.
After confirming through the window that the elder had vanished, Yeong-hwa sat down, propped his chin on one hand, and said,
“But tell me, Daoist Wol-yeon…”
“Please speak… Daoist Yeong-hwa.”
“Why do you want to run away from Huashan?”
A scorching heat suddenly filled the room.
Whoooosh—
The instant Yeong-hwa finished speaking, flames shaped like plum blossoms burst into full bloom all around her.