The Blooming of the Divine Lotus
“Do you truly believe the Thousand Lotuses would go to such lengths?”
“Why wouldn’t they? The Blood Emperor killed Yi Deok-myeong and left the mark of the Thousand Lotuses behind. I see it as a clear omen of the Great Calamity.”
“That does make sense.”
Dan Yeop nodded without argument.
Yet the Thousand Lotuses’ targets were corrupt officials, so the matter didn’t particularly concern him.
“Of course they’ll begin by killing corrupt officials like Yi Deok-myeong. Only then can they maintain the people’s support. But the Thousand Lotuses have even summoned the Blood Emperor—a supreme demon from the previous era. I am certain they will target not only corrupt officials but anyone who might obstruct them. To trigger the Great Calamity, they have no other choice.”
“May I ask why you are telling me this?”
“With that extraordinary mind of yours, could you not lend your aid in capturing the Thousand Lotuses?”
“I am grateful for the thought, but my duties within Haomun are already overwhelming. Finding the time is nearly impossible.”
“Because you are the head instructor of the Jeommun branch?”
“You knew even that?”
Dan Yeop looked at Son Yu-baek with genuine surprise.
Haomun was not a secret society; anyone who investigated could learn of it. Even so, this level of detail seemed excessive.
“Magistrate Jo Mujin has taken quite a liking to you. He wishes to include you in the investigation of the Thousand Lotuses.”
“I truly have no time to spare.”
Dan Yeop declined with polite firmness.
He would have to deal with the Thousand Lotuses eventually, but the time was not yet right. He still needed to teach the Jin-sam-dae-do-beop to the Jeommun members and treat his fractured personality. Even with ten bodies he would be short on time; he could not take on more work now.
Son Yu-baek looked disappointed but did not press him. In truth, he understood the magistrate’s desire, yet Dan Yeop’s ambiguous status made the request difficult. Investigating the Thousand Lotuses without an official post was nearly impossible.
“Ugh, very well. I will explain the situation to Magistrate Jo myself, so put it out of your mind.”
“Thank you.”
“You may go.”
Dan Yeop offered a respectful bow and left the inner hall.
In Seonpyeong-bang, inside the Resting Pavilion of Jipdanhyang—the main headquarters of the Jeommun branch—Dan Yeop arrived at the start of the Si hour, just as he did every day, and taught the Jinbaekryu Dobeop to the Jeommun experts.
Around the Jeong hour of the Mi (two in the afternoon), after the group had finished lunch and returned, unexpected visitors appeared: Unjung-gaek, Hanwol-geom, and Go Geom-haeng, the instructors from the Gimun branch.
When Go Geom-haeng stated they had come to learn the Jin-sam-dae-do-beop, Branch Leader Baekcho-gong welcomed the instructors with open arms.
While the Jeommun experts trained in the Jinbaekryu Dobeop, Dan Yeop taught the visitors the Jincheonji Dobeop. As expected, the instructors absorbed the style without difficulty. Before sunset they had mastered the first form and departed, promising to return the next day.
By the end of the Sin hour (five in the afternoon), Dan Yeop returned straight to Son-taek.
Now that he knew every secret the Dunce Dan Yeop had kept hidden, he intended to challenge his internal cultivation once more.
Having returned home early, Dan Yeop finished dinner and then taught the Jin-sam-dae-do-beop to Son Ji-heon to aid his digestion.
Son Ji-heon’s foundation was solid, so he learned faster than the Jeommun experts. That speed lasted only until the Jincheonji Dobeop, however. Once they reached the Jinbaekryu Dobeop, his progress matched the others.
Frustrated by the slow pace, Son Ji-heon asked during a break, “Friend, why is the progress so sluggish? Is it because I skipped straight past the basic Hundred Flow Saber Style?”
“No, it’s always like this. My adoptive father taught the Seonmun experts, and they advanced at nearly the same speed.”
“Really?”
“In fact, I consider your progress quite fast thanks to how well-prepared your basics are. You’re keeping pace with people who have trained in the Hundred Flow Saber Style their entire lives.”
“I see.”
Only then did Son Ji-heon’s face brighten. He thought to himself that it had been wise to learn martial arts from the Xuanwu Hall and Elder Gwak of the Zhongnan Sect.
After parting with Son Ji-heon a short while later, Dan Yeop returned to the annex. His expression was slightly tense as he entered the room.
Soon he would discover the truth about his own condition. Would the encounter still end with him feeling only terror at the woman’s face?
Thanks to the Dunce Dan Yeop, he now remembered every vicious word she had spoken. What had been pure terror in infancy now stirred only rage when he recalled it.
Let’s see who wins this time.
Dan Yeop climbed onto the bed, sat in lotus position, and recalled the incantations of the Tae-eul-bon-won-yeon-seong-gyeol.
When you quietly illuminate the danjeon, the starry sky reflects within it.
In the midst of emptiness, a flame arises and transforms into the divine lotus.
His mind, which had been boiling with stray thoughts, slowly settled. In that calm state, Dan Yeop focused his awareness on his danjeon. Stars rose within it as though the night sky were reflected on a still lake. Soon those stars burned into flames, which then coalesced into lotus buds.
It is beginning.
Dan Yeop calmly observed the Divine Lotus slowly opening its petals. And just as he expected, when the lotus scattered, a pale white hand appeared.
Hmph! I am not afraid of you.
He clenched his teeth and focused every ounce of his will on that white hand. At that moment, faint voices rose from the depths of his mind.
He recognized the voice as Jin Eun-seol’s sleep-talking. A fleeting pang of pity vanished the instant her bloodshot eyes glared at him and she shrieked.
Previously he had only seen her lips move; now he could hear every word. It must have been because of what the Dunce Dan Yeop had written in the notebook. The Dan Yeop who had once suffered without understanding now shouted back.
His heart hammered, yet the suffocating fear from before did not return. Anger and emptiness far outweighed any terror. This change had come with the recovery of his lost infant memories. Had he known sooner, the fear would never have gripped him so deeply.
Then Jin Eun-seol began to sob.
Unconsciously, Dan Yeop muttered in a drained voice, “Don’t say that. And don’t apologize. No matter what you say, I will never forgive you.”
In that instant, Jin Eun-seol’s face dissolved into glittering powder and scattered away. Dan Yeop knew instinctively that he had been freed from her terrifying illusion.
He murmured without thinking, …I suppose I will never see her again.
A complicated emotion—relief mixed with an odd sense of loss—washed over him. Immediately afterward, the Qi Condensation Pill that had been condensed in his danjeon began to melt like snow.
How much time passed?
A brilliant five-colored radiance flowed from Dan Yeop’s entire body. It was the Tae-eul Seong-gwang, the entry stage of the celestial Taego Sect. The result had been born from Red Pine’s Qi Condensation Pill and the talent of a true genius.
Dan Yeop circulated his Taeulgi once through his meridians and opened his eyes. It was the first time he had done so since blooming the Divine Lotus. His chest swelled with the satisfaction of having overcome a wall.
“Then all that remains is to reach full mastery of the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong?”
Now that the path of internal cultivation had opened after escaping the ‘hand of death,’ attaining mastery was only a matter of time. On that momentum he recalled the formulas of the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong.
There is a saying that all things return to one. For someone who had already broken through the wall and stepped into the realm of Tae-eul Seong-gwang, training in the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong presented no great difficulty. They say a thief who learns late does not notice the dawn breaking. Dan Yeop—who had been completely cut off from internal cultivation by Jin Eun-seol’s illusion—practiced the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong until morning.
And finally, as the sun began to rise, he ascended to the ninth stage of the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong.
The Yi-won-gwi-il-gong was a method that fused two opposing energies into one. Naturally it had little to do with increasing raw internal energy. It had been created to refine absorbed spiritual energy. Regardless, the instant the technique reached the ninth stage, Dan Yeop felt someone watching him.
Hm? What is this?
He expanded his senses, but there was no one near the annex.
It didn’t feel that far away…
When he focused his full awareness, the sensation vanished without a trace. Since he could find nothing even after searching, Dan Yeop stopped paying it any mind.
Must have been my imagination.
It was probably nothing more than that. Deciding it was time to rise, he opened his eyes. Perhaps because his Taeulgi had grown, his mind and body felt refreshed despite having trained through the night.
He stood, washed his face, sat at the desk, and opened the notebook. Reading it again, the Dunce Dan Yeop’s writing overflowed with quiet pathos.
It feels like reading a last will.
A strange feeling came over him. Just what had the Dunce Dan Yeop—who had held sovereignty over the body—known when he wrote these words? Filled with pity for his other self, Dan Yeop picked up the brush.
By the time he finished writing, a maid arrived to escort him.
In the inner hall, Dan Yeop offered a respectful greeting the moment he entered.
“Did you sleep comfortably last night?”
As he raised his head, he froze. Son Yu-baek was staring at him intently.
“Is… there something you wish to say?”
“Tell me—do you have a foreigner among your ancestors?”
“Pardon?”
“I ask because the color of your eyes looks strange today.”
“The color of my eyes?”
Dan Yeop had a suspicion but pretended ignorance for the moment.
What? I was told the eyes would only turn golden upon reaching full mastery…
It seemed the change had occurred even at the ninth stage.
“Yes, no matter how I look at it, that yellowish tint is golden eyes. Ji-heon, come see for yourself whether I am right.”
Son Ji-heon thrust his face close and declared, “They are definitely gold. Strange—it wasn’t like this yesterday.”
“See? I was right. There must have been a colored-eye person among his ancestors.”
Since many different peoples had lived within the empire since ancient times, the assumption was not unreasonable. Rather than deny it outright, Dan Yeop kept his answer ambiguous.
“I cannot say for certain, but none that I know of.”
This time Son Yeon-hwa approached, looked carefully, and spoke. “My, they are not merely golden. They shine like gold kissed by sunlight—utterly mystical. I wish I possessed such eyes.”
Son Ji-heon snorted. “Hmph! What wouldn’t you want from him? Right now even the grime on his toenails must look fragrant to you. I give your infatuation one year at most before the scales fall from your eyes.”
“Why must you say such crude things at the dining table?”
Son Ji-heon turned to his mother. “Mother, please offer a word of wisdom to this naive child as someone who has walked further down life’s path.”
“Aigoo! Look who’s talking. Instead of spending every day in the gisaeng houses, why don’t you apply yourself to your studies?”
“Mother, even Li Bai and Du Fu composed poetry in the gisaeng houses. Do not view those establishments through tinted glasses.”
“So you visit the Jau Pavilion to write poetry? Why don’t you recite some of the verses you composed there?”
In the end Son Ji-heon shook his head and returned to his seat. Listening to the family’s banter, Dan Yeop thought to himself, It looks like I will have to wear yeonangyeong from now on.
For Dan Yeop, the tinted glasses were no longer a choice but a necessity. Should the descendants of the Soyo Sect ever learn the secret of his eyes, his life would be in grave danger.
In Seonpyeong-bang, inside the Resting Pavilion of Jipdanhyang—the main headquarters of the Jeommun branch—the Jeommun experts and the instructors were dumbfounded.