Manghon Villa (2): The Manghon Villa Rulebook
『Before reading this rulebook, lift your head and look at the sky. If the forest is silent and you cannot see the sky, be prepared to make noise and destroy branches to secure your view.』
Sky?
The opening line of the rulebook for the villa was quite out of place.
But this booklet was the only clue that would allow me to escape from this bizarre villa right now. I set the book aside and looked up at the sky.
In the distance, mist was rising, but the sky was still blue.
『If the view is blocked by thick fog or you see blue sky through the fog, turn to the next page.
If the sky is tinged with red or red qi is present in the fog, I regret to inform you. You must immediately run toward the Manghon Villa and find the Life Gate hidden in its deepest part.
In this case, the rulebook summarizes the villa’s dangerous elements in the last page, so move as quickly as possible to ensure your survival.』
The word “red sky” naturally evoked the image of a sunset. Was there a time limit after all?
Fortunately, it seemed I still had some time left.
『The Manghon Villa is a moving formation created by the anomaly known as Gwigok-ja.』
At the beginning, it was hard to understand. In the martial world, formations are largely divided into two types.
Formations created by gathering many warriors to overwhelm a single opponent.
And formations that are installed along with strict defenses in places that must be protected, like the Murim Alliance’s.
The Stone Array Eight Trigrams from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, featuring Zhuge Liang’s arrangement, is the most representative.
The Manghon Villa clearly belonged to the latter. However, formations like these usually use heaven and earth spiritual energy, and the environment for installation is strictly limited.
One could partially overcome positional limitations using inner core, elixir, or talisman methods.
But that only replaces the spiritual energy needed for maintenance after installation with other means; it does not create an element that allows movement.
'How on earth can such a formation exist…?'
『The power source of the Manghon Villa is the spiritual energy of you, who has been trapped in the formation.』
"Ah."
From today on, Gwigok-ja is a demonic cultist. I had decided that.
『The reason the Manghon Villa moves periodically is also for that reason. To sustain its own existence, it must constantly devour others.
The rising mist is the villa’s digestive fluid, and the tree roots are its teeth. But rest assured. They will not move as long as you still have the strength to resist.』
I stepped back one step from the tree trunk.
『If you continue to breathe in the fog, it will pollute your qi. As the qi mediating the spirit and soul of the body becomes tainted, your physical control ability will be lost, and the sign is the red sky mentioned earlier.』
I had thought the red sky was the sunset caused by the formation’s sun setting.
It was the result of the connection between spirit and soul being severed, distorting the senses…
It did not feel good.
It was like being told to survive in a space filled with poisonous gas.
Every breath, every second was dangerous. I hurriedly flipped the pages. The escape method was far more urgent than the theoretical elements of the Manghon Villa.
『Gwigok-ja designed the formation, including the Manghon Villa, according to the principles of the Eight Trigrams. Like the Eight Trigrams Array that trapped Sun Wukong in Journey to the West, there is a hard-to-find but definite life path.』
Journey to the West. Unexpected name, but not surprising.
In this bizarre martial world, all sorts of books exist regardless of the era. The same was true in the original black-and-white wuxia game of this world.
I remembered a scene where an NPC from the Cheolgyeong family mentioned the Stone Array Eight Trigrams.
'If it’s the Eight Trigrams Array, was the part where Sun Wukong obtains the Fire Avoidance Golden Bell?'
Fire was coming to roast the monkey, but among the Eight Trigrams, the Xun trigram means wind.
Fire cannot invade where the wind blows.
So the monkey’s body remained intact, but because it was exposed to the steam of the Eight Trigrams Array, it gained shining eyes.
'Easy, easy!'
If it’s the Eight Trigrams Array, I should just run with the Xun trigram.
『If the sky is still green, you can attempt to escape through the external forest without trying to enter the villa. The most important thing at this time is the ability to read the directions.』
By learning the Murim Alliance’s public martial arts, you naturally memorize the directional meanings of the Eight Trigrams.
Whether the trigram’s symbolic direction follows pre-heaven or post-heaven Eight Trigrams depends on the formation, but that is something the rulebook…
『The essence of the Manghon Villa is the mountain signified by the Gen trigram. Gwigok-ja’s skill is, of course, incomparable to the divine mystery of the Heavenly Sage Laozi. Head toward the Li trigram, which has the nature of fire that burns mountains, or the Qian trigram, which no matter how high the mountain, cannot be invaded by the sky.』
This.
The prediction was a bit off, but the situation was better than I thought.
There were two life paths now. The survival rate was doubled.
『But the formation spread across the Manghon Villa changes its structure from time to time. Whether it follows pre-heaven or post-heaven Eight Trigrams can only be directly determined by observing how the formation’s spiritual energy circulates.』
What?
『Pre-heaven and post-heaven are estimated to switch every 15 minutes on average. The time until your qi is completely polluted is determined to vary depending on your realm and the amount of internal energy, but at the current moment, there are too few samples to quantify.』
Is there such a formation structure in the world? It’s no less vicious than the formations in ordinary wuxia novels.
I read the rulebook’s description of the formation.
The formation is spread in a circle with a radius of 10 li centered on the Manghon Villa, and the mist continuously disrupts direction sense, so you need to stop midway to re-read the directions.
Overall, it was a euphemism for “you are already dead.”
"…Life."
My hand naturally went up to my eyelid.
It was not difficult to traverse 10 li in 15 minutes. Although Chinese li is longer than Korean li, it is only about 5 km.
Even a third-class warrior could easily traverse 10 li in an hour. I was second-class, though barely, and my belt was still tight.
But the problem was the direction.
With such a complex structure, the first hurdle was capturing the flow of spiritual energy.
I did not have deep knowledge of formations, let alone being born into the Cheolgyeong family.
Escaping this way was practically impossible. If I tried to escape, I would be completely polluted and pass out.
Dying unconscious was the only mercy.
I immediately flipped the page. Surely, the opening of this book had mentioned the escape method when the sky is red.
The method I had to choose was that one.
『If you cannot discern the structure of the formation, the last remaining method for you is to enter the interior of the villa.
You do not have to worry about finding a key. The door of the Manghon Villa, made of red bricks and blue tiles, is never locked.
When you get close, the door will open.
The open door will close the moment you fully enter the interior, but this is a natural phenomenon.
Instead, you can consider yourself safe from the fog threat. However, you must not let your guard down. The interior of the Manghon Villa is much more dangerous than outside the main gate.
The mist of the Manghon Villa melts your qi, and the trees devour your spirit to grow.
And the core of the formation that collects the remaining souls is the Manghon Villa itself.』
"You sound like a thrifty demonic cultist…"
『When you step beyond the door of the villa, there will be a voice addressing you. In some cases, it might be voices.
Do not answer. They are not alive.』
A few words of explanation about the obsession followed. Gwigok-ja collects the souls trapped inside the villa and uses them as materials for another sorcery.
The reason there is a passage connected to the outside of the formation inside the Manghon Villa is also in that line. A direct route for Gwigok-ja himself to come and go.
If you intrude during the refining process that bleaches the soul’s self, you will inevitably hear the voice as usual, but if you luckily enter the villa at the moment the refining process is complete,
『Express gratitude for your good fortune and proceed deep into the villa.
You will surely see a red door.
However, if the refining of the soul is not yet complete, the interior of the villa will change in myriad ways according to the scattered obsessions from the souls.
No matter what scene you see or what whispers you hear, move only following the red color. At the end of that path is the exit.』
Red color.
In the Sinosphere, red color signifies joy and good fortune. In that it informs the exit, it was clearly good fortune, but the one who dyed the door red was, of course, Gwigok-ja.
'Even a demon wants to receive luck and blessings.'
I flipped the pages quickly. The remaining content was a basic countermeasure to recite Daoist or Buddhist texts while using internal energy if hallucinations intensify.
With no knowing when the view would turn red, there was not enough time to read everything one by one.
Naturally, my gaze moved toward the escape guide practical compression version recorded in the very last page.
Aside from the warning “Do not tear it to prevent information leakage,” there was no special difference from the previous content, but the last paragraph was a story not recorded in the rulebook so far.
『The Management Records Bureau tries to periodically revise the placed rulebooks, but the demonic cultist’s sorcery always catches people off guard.
If an anomalous power appears that is not recorded in the rulebook. Or if an unexpected crisis and adversity that the Management Records Bureau could not predict comes to you, there is only one remaining method.』
The reality of the last method was quite empty.
『Exercise your rights as a martial artist.』
'What is that?'
I laughed bitterly and checked the last page one more time. My shoe laces were still tightly tied, and the leather pouch tucked inside my robe was still sturdy.
I turned my head to look at the villa. The red exterior and blue tiles, which were visible without any formation, and even more unreal in presence.
When I got close, the black-painted iron main gate opened by itself. The fully open main gate and the black darkness filled inside resembled a beast’s gaping mouth.
I threw my body into the maw of the villa.