More Dangerous Than It Appears
Honestly, I was confident about this one. I'd crushed and subdued the massive power left by Yong Dae-seok, after all.
[Make it quick this time!]
Just as Bongmareung said, I planned to suppress and absorb the energy of the Ten Thousand Year Fox Witch in one go.
But the next moment, I realized I'd been thinking wrong.
Like a rabbit fleeing a tiger, darting every which way.
"What the hell? It's too fast!"
[Good lord...]
The energy fleeing at full speed was insanely quick. It was hard to even keep up.
And it kept lightly twisting its direction with flicks of its form.
I chased as hard as I could, stretching out my hand with all my might, but it slipped away every time.
Bongmareung, who had been watching blankly, bellowed.
[You fool! Why save your foresight for later?]
"Right!"
I channeled my inner energy and activated Ghostly Spirit Wall Eye. The rabbit's path became visible.
I stuck out my tongue in shock.
"Crazy! It moves so unpredictably? Does that even make sense?"
The mountain rabbit's options were more complex than a spiderweb. At every moment, there were at least three or four branching points.
It was no exaggeration to say this was the most unpredictable pattern I'd ever seen with foresight.
Watching it didn't help at all.
So I boldly closed Ghostly Spirit Wall Eye.
"It's just wasting my energy."
[What do you plan to do?]
"Get faster myself."
There was only one way in this situation.
I poured all my energy into my legs.
At that moment, one of Ok Geum-ran's teachings flashed through my mind.
'All things have roots and ends, all affairs have endings and beginnings. Know what to do first and what last, and you draw near the Way.'
Why did this mantra come to mind now?
As I focused all my concentration on the pursuit, lightning struck my head.
"...!"
At the same time, I shot forward like a bolt and seized the lump of light with both hands.
The rabbit wriggled in my grasp but soon went still.
Bongmareung, watching, tilted his head.
[You caught it? How? Your body suddenly got faster.]
"Uh, well... "
It was hard to explain.
If I had to put it in words, I'd gained some kind of insight and melted it into my movements.
Things I'd learned from Ok Geum-ran but always half-doubted clicked into place perfectly in an instant?
[What? Don't tell me you comprehended the essence? Reached the pinnacle in one go?]
"No, not that."
[Then what?]
"Just... a feeling of deeper understanding. Like something was missing, and suddenly it filled up? What is this?"
I furrowed my brow, still clutching the lump of energy. It was frustrating because I'd experienced it myself but couldn't articulate it.
Unexpectedly, Bongmareung nodded.
[I see. That's a minor case of 'sudden enlightenment.' From this old spirit's view, it seems you tasted the 'sensation of pursuit' for the first time and awakened insight from it.]
"Sudden enlightenment? What's that?"
[A term for insight that comes abruptly. It looks like you gained it from first experiencing the 'sensation of chasing.']
"Sensation of chasing? Ah..."
It made sense.
Ok Geum-ran and I usually exchanged teachings through sparring—pushing and pulling.
And in the Ten Thousand Demons Mausoleum, I'd focused on maximum evasion.
This was pretty much my first time truly pursuing something.
Thanks to that, I'd leaped a step ahead.
[Not just one step. At least two. Heh heh heh!]
"Really?"
[Show it to Lady Ok later. She'll know for sure.]
I nodded at Bongmareung's words.
She was the one who'd taught me the basics of divine movement, after all. It was right for her to judge.
One question arose here.
"Bong, does this 'sudden enlightenment' happen every time I have a new experience like this?"
New experiences bringing leaps forward. Couldn't I accelerate my growth by exploiting this?
But Bongmareung shook his head.
[Sadly, no. Sudden enlightenment ties to your innate nature.]
"Innate nature?"
[It's awakening to your true self. More precisely, reviving forgotten karma. Not something you get from mere new experiences.]
"Hmm... I think I get it..."
[You don't get it at all.]
Truth be told, yeah.
I had no clue what he was saying.
[When it happens again someday, you'll understand more. Anyway, you seem suited to 'chasing' rather than 'being chased.' Quite unexpected.]
'Yeah.'
Me, suited to chasing? Should I have been a constable instead of a thief?
[You as a constable? That doesn't suit you at all, filthy as it sounds. Anyway, now absorb it. Let's check what the Ten Thousand Year Fox Witch left behind.]
Bongmareung chuckled and gestured with his chin.
Light began flowing from the rabbit huddled meekly in my arms.
The golden particles swirling nearby rapidly formed a human shape.
Soon, an old woman with a cane took form.
'Ten Thousand Year Fox Witch.'
To be precise, the lingering will she'd left in her chopsticks.
I watched her wrinkled face tensely.
What format would this take? Like with Yong Dae-seok, twisting space and starting with riddles?
But there was no preamble this time.
[...This is the art this lady completed in her later years.]
The lingering will stared straight at my face and dove right into the main topic.
['Formless Chopsticks' is, simply put, a covert technique; broadly, a transcendent training method handling the five elements' mutual generation in nature. Easy to start simply, but endlessly hard if begun complex...]
Formless Chopsticks. The very martial art Bongmareung and I had hoped for.
One she'd passed only to her disciple, lost when he died young.
Like White Dragon Flying Open Sword, a secret art impossible to learn anywhere else now.
The Ten Thousand Year Fox Witch explained her art at length.
Then wrapped up simply.
[Thus have I left my trace. I feel boundless gratitude to the Grand Cult Leader.]
The mental realm vanished in an instant, and I was back in my room.
Just like when I first got White Dragon Flying Open Sword, I felt dazed.
'Did I really learn it right...?'
[Won't you know if you try it?]
At Bongmareung's words, I shifted my gaze.
Ok Geum-ran's gold wound medicine box sat on the table.
I stared at it intently.
Then, as if an invisible hand pushed it, the box began to creep along.
When it reached the table's edge—
Pop!
"...!"
It flew toward my face like flicked away.
I snatched it midair, swept up in an indescribable feeling.
This was different from first learning any martial art.
"Feels like I became a real magician."
[Having inherited the Ten Thousand Year Fox Witch's magic, you could call yourself a magician too.]
Indeed, Formless Chopsticks was close to sorcery.
Force acted without my hand touching. Like 'invisible chopsticks' pushing the box.
[Still short range and weak, but the strength is precise control, like stabbing with chopsticks. And you can recover the energy if not expended.]
Having heard the explanation with me, Bongmareung grasped the principles well.
I especially liked that it didn't consume inner energy like projecting it outward.
[Very useful against the Beom Clan heir coming soon.]
'Yeah. Big help.'
The Ten Thousand Year Fox Witch had slain five foes at once from ten zhang away with this.
A fearsome covert art that could become a killing weapon.
Of course, refining it that far would take decades.
And I didn't need that level against Beom Se-un.
I'd acquired it just to disrupt challengers' footwork.
'Formless Chopsticks will smash the Beom Clan's hereditary arts one by one.'
It wouldn't take long.
A few days of practice to go beyond flicking the medicine box.
Beating Beom Se-un mattered, but its future uses seemed endless.
I'd been a thief before a warrior, after all.
'Once I master this properly, I could steal like a ghost.'
So I sorted the lesson away with immense joy.
My gaze shifted again.
The white mask of Yong Dae-seok, seized at the risk of facing the fearsome Rat Mausoleum Chief head-on.
I hadn't known when stealing it, but this relic had a name.
Myriad Changes Ghost Face.
Four elegant characters were inscribed tiny on the inside.
It looked like thinly carved white jade, luxurious, but its exact material was unknown.
No other special traits visible.
Unlike other sacred relics, it emitted no demonic energy, seeming just a fancy ornament.
Which meant it couldn't even be a target for Hyeol-lyeong Gye-ma-sul.
So Bongmareung grumbled dissatisfied.
[You wasted effort! Risked your life for useless junk. Tsk tsk tsk...]
'No way.'
No evidence, but I felt a strong 'premonition.'
Myriad Changes Ghost Face was absolutely not junk.
Arms crossed, staring at the mask, I lifted it with both hands.
Okay, think.
'Bong, what’s a mask? Something you cover your face with, right?'
[So?]
'Look closely. If I put the mask on my face like this...!'
I bowed my head and shoved my face into Myriad Changes Ghost Face.
The moment cold touched my cheeks and forehead—
"... "
[...What.]
Surprisingly, nothing happened.
I pulled my face out of Myriad Changes Ghost Face and blinked blankly.
[Tsk tsk. What an idiot.]
"No, wait? This can't be?"
There had to be something...?
* * *
The Beom Clan manors' gambling dens burning was a major incident the cultists couldn't hide.
But the Ten Thousand Demons Mausoleum being ransacked was a secret easily concealed.
Thus, Yong Mu-geuk arrived with only Hwa Hyeol Ma-nyeo.
"Grand Cult Leader, only one mausoleum guardian died."
"And it was the Chief."
"Yes. Head pierced. Stabbed from below upward, it seems."
Hwa Hyeol Ma-nyeo explained, flipping the dead Rat Mausoleum Chief's body.
Yong Mu-geuk scanned the battlefield slowly.
The old man's eyes traced floor and walls, reconstructing the fight's flow by rewinding time.
A great warrior could read every detail of the deathmatch from that alone.
His conclusion:
"It was close. Gambled and nearly died."
"Pardon?"
"Something's embedded up there. Fetch it."
At the old man's gesture, Hwa Hyeol Ma-nyeo's eyes lifted.
A broken blade tip stuck in the mausoleum ceiling.
She leaped lightly and retrieved it.
"Cult Leader, this is..."
"Looks like Dokgo Clan make. Is it?"
"Yes. I think so too."
"Interesting. Give it here."
Unexpectedly, Yong Mu-geuk chuckled and took the broken blade.
Then the key question.
"What was taken?"
"The Ten Thousand Year Fox Witch's chopsticks and Yong Dae-seok's mask."
"Ha ha ha!"
All relics here were Heavenly Demon Divine Cult treasures.
Hwa Hyeol Ma-nyeo thought the elder in charge might lose his head.
But Yong Mu-geuk burst into roaring laughter.
From that, she sensed the thief's identity.
The boy masquerading as Yong Baek-heon, knowing nothing.
Yong Jeong-heon.
"Cover this up too?"
"Hmm..."
Yong Mu-geuk stroked his chin beard, lost in thought.
Then gave an ambiguous verdict.
"Watch this one for now. Decide after seeing what he does with them."
"The Fox Witch's chopsticks, sir?"
"No, the mask. Myriad Changes Ghost Face is more dangerous than it looks."
"I see."
Even Great Law Protector Hwa Hyeol Ma-nyeo didn't know the mask's significance from Yong Dae-seok.
She could only bow silently.
He ordered the vice leader to handle cleanup.
Leaving the mausoleum, Yong Mu-geuk muttered softly.
"Not yet time to hand it over, yet he somehow knew to take his father's relic..."
Mysterious and bold boy.
Recalling past and future together, the Heavenly Demon smiled bitterly.