Jilin (2)

68. Jilin (2)

The Shrine of the Medicine Immortal. A landmark around our neighborhood, like the Baek Clan Estate. Stories I'd heard since childhood said she used tens of thousands of remedies and treated rich and beggar alike without stint; when a plague swept through Jilin, she tended the sick to the very last, caught the disease herself, and ascended to heaven as an immortal. To be honest, I hadn't even known the Medicine Immortal was a woman. What sort of person had she been, really? The moment I returned to Jilin, without even stopping at the Baek Clan Estate right next door, I sought out the crumbling shrine of the Medicine Immortal and asked Hwangseong to perform the Spirit-Summoning Art.

Perhaps because this was where she'd met her death saving patients to the very end, her soul truly did reveal itself; and unlike every other spirit I'd seen so far, she didn't startle, but spoke to me with a gentle expression.

—[A young Daoist, I see. I do not know what wondrous Taoist art allowed you to seek me out, but without a fleshly body, I regret that I cannot offer you proper hospitality.]—

Korean. There was a ghost who spoke Korean. Wait, I thought conversation between souls transcended things like the language barrier?

No. That couldn't be it. If I told Hwangseong or the Four Heroes right now that my father was macho, they wouldn't think of "macho"—they'd think of Ma Chao of Xiliang from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

—[I am Yeongmok of Yeongsan Sect. I came all this way to ask for the Medicine Immortal's aid, both for my kind Senior Sister, who has no talent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for martial arts, and for the revival of our ruined sect.]—

—[Oh my! You know how to speak our tongue! Though, I suppose this was once a land where our people lived; it seems fitting that there should be some who speak our language, does it not?

—Ah. Now that I think of it, there should be a large peach tree behind the shrine. I've nothing to offer you, so please do enjoy those, at least.]—

If the Flame Emperor reminded me of Son Yeong, then the Medicine Immortal, gentle and going at her own pace, felt akin to Jeong-hyang.

—Hey! You know how to speak the Central Plains tongue! What are you muttering about in that Dongyi dialect?!—

The shrill voice of the Moon Immortal. Startled a little by the hovering sword, the Medicine Immortal looked at the Moon Immortal and tilted her head.

—[Your sword is a wondrous divine artifact. That voice resembles a friend of mine. Such a pretty child she was. I wonder if she ever married after I departed?]—

The Medicine Immortal marveled in a leisurely tone. Watching her, the Moon Immortal was so furious she could barely contain it.

—[It is no divine artifact, but a spirit vessel. Moon Immortal's soul resides within that sword. This is the power I possess: the ability to house the souls of the dead inside objects or living bodies. I beseech you, Medicine Immortal, to lend me your power as well.]—

—[Oh my! What a wondrous Taoist art. But what am I to do? I vowed not to involve myself in the affairs of the Central Plains again. I chose instead to spend the rest of my life protecting Jilin, where many of our people remained.]—

—[Are you, perchance, of Goryeo?]—

—[No. Have you heard of a country called Balhae? In the days when the Jurchens were still called the Mohe people, that great nation ruled them and governed this land. I descend from its people.]—

Whoa. This was the fifteenth century, the age of the Ming. If she had died one hundred and fifty years ago, she had lived around the thirteenth century. No—even if she had been born in the twelfth, Balhae had fallen in the tenth. Had her people lived as displaced remnants for more than two hundred years? And her Korean wasn't awkward in the slightest. What the hell was wrong with this world?

—Ah! Stop jabbering away in that Dongyi tongue, just the two of you, it's infuriating! Speak the Central Plains tongue, I tell you!!—

—[It truly seems my friend Moon Immortal resides within that sword. How else could she remain exactly as she was in childhood? Please tell her that she mocked my clumsy Central Plains speech so relentlessly that I resolved never to speak it again.]—

—She says she got angry because you teased her! Be quiet for a second, will you!—

—What if that little thing becomes angry? Well? What else did she say? She refuses to come, does she not? She'll remain here watching over the Dongyi peoples? Reverend, show her what's what. She may appear gentle, but her stubbornness is iron. Teach that wench a woman's pleasure!—

—[A woman's joy? How curious, to hear the Moon Immortal say such a thing.]—

As expected, the Medicine Immortal understood the Central Plains tongue perfectly well. I didn't know whether her speech was truly clumsy or not, but she was deliberately choosing not to use it. The furious Moon Immortal and the serene Medicine Immortal. Little by little, I could picture their relationship from their past lives.

—Hey. The Medicine Immortal married and left descendants. They live in Beijing now, but when I was young, I even played with some of them.—

—Wha... what?! Th-that madwoman! She must have been nearly fifty by the time she left the Central Plains...—

Moon Immortal was speechless. Whatever their respective martial achievements in life, she'd been utterly defeated both in how they had lived as women and in the stories passed down to later generations. Judging by appearances alone, Moon Immortal was overwhelmingly more beautiful, but countless men must have fallen for the Medicine Immortal's gentle, tender smile. With such abundant internal energy, she had likely retained her youth even into middle age.

—[I understand the Medicine Immortal's intention, but our Senior Sister is a person of Joseon.]—

—[Joseon? That ancient country?]—

—[No. It is the next dynasty of the Dongyi Peoples, founded after Goryeo fell. It borrowed the name of the ancient Joseon, so the Joseon you are thinking of is nowadays called Gojoseon.]—

—[I see. As Goguryeo and Goryeo borrowed a name from the past, so it is with this.]—

—[Yet our Senior Sister lived in Joseon, became entangled in a royal upheaval, and crossed into the Central Plains alone, enduring every hardship imaginable. Now, just as Yeongsan Sect is preparing to rise again with the power of the Four Heroes of Dong-o, she alone lacks martial talent and is falling behind. If this continues, when everyone else in the sect overcomes the past and walks a glorious path, she alone will remain powerless. Medicine Immortal, I beg you: out of pity for your descendant, grant her your aid.]—

—[The Four Heroes of Dong-o? Who are they?]—

—[My master, the Flame Emperor, along with Reverend Heo San, Layman Geo Am, and Moon Immortal. I heard those four defeated the Goshifa Lama and saved the world.]—

—[Truly? Moon Immortal, how magnificent you are, to have defeated the Goshifa Lama! But this child you call your Senior Sister sounds truly pitiable. I too was a remnant of a fallen nation and endured every kind of contempt in the Central Plains. The era of Yuan rule was especially harsh for outsiders. The Yuan demanded countless maidens from Goryeo as tribute. After witnessing their suffering, I resolved to leave the Central Plains and aid our own people. What is the child's name?]—

—[Lee Eun-ha. Her name in Joseon was Mirinae.]—

—[A good name. But the power I cultivated is not, in truth, the martial arts that temper the body. It is a discipline called the Shennong Art, which accumulates internal energy naturally as you decoct herbal remedies, make medicinal pills, and cook good food.]—

Just as you'd expect of the Medicine Immortal who dealt in pharmacology, the name of her martial art included the legendary Shennong. Shennong of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. The god of agriculture and medicine. This was more than a historical great like Zhang Sanfeng; it was a figure from genuine creation mythology.

That was unexpected. She had seemed like a nationalist who ignored the people of the Central Plains and cared only for Koreans, so I had half expected a martial art drawn from the Dangun myths—Hwanung, Dangun, the gods of wind, rain, and clouds. Instead, it was based on Chinese mythology. Then again, even during her life as the Medicine Immortal, she hadn't treated only Koreans; she'd cared for Jurchens and people of the Central Plains without distinction. Perhaps she wasn't the sort of ultranationalist crank found on YouTube, but simply a doctor who retired to serve her impoverished homeland.

—[That is what worries me. That child is surely expecting some peerless martial art, but the Shennong Art is a discipline that, by appearances, is a meager sort of training—cooking rice and decocting medicine before the furnace.]—

—[Do not worry if that is all. What my Senior Sister hates most is ordinary martial-arts training, while what she loves and excels at is cooking delicious food. She happily prepares nearly fifty servings a day, not only for the six members of Yeongsan Sect but for the neighboring White Tiger Sect as well.]—

—[Truly? Goodness! How fortunate! I too wish to meet this child.]—

At last, she agreed. When I tried to transfer her soul into the sword I'd brought, however, she refused.

—[I'm afraid I dislike swords. Could you not prepare a rice paddle as the vessel for my soul?]—

An eccentric.

Moon Immortal might have been a madwoman, but the Medicine Immortal was thoroughly peculiar herself. No matter how closely the Shennong Art concerned cooking and medicine, asking for a rice paddle as the vessel for her soul was absurd.

—As the Moon Immortal says, the Medicine Immortal has a gentle disposition but is a stubborn person. She seems to have asked for something strange, but you'd best agree to any reasonable demand.—

The Flame Emperor spoke quietly.

—Oh my. Stubborn, am I? Hearing that from the Flame Emperor means I must reflect on myself. Though belated, congratulations on defeating the Goshifa Lama. Have you been well?—

Abruptly, the Medicine Immortal greeted him cheerfully in fluent Central Plains speech.

—Your congratulations are far too late. It's a story from a hundred and fifty years ago. Since we've all passed the time as ghosts, it's difficult to say we've been well, but since meeting Yeongmok not long ago, I've been spending my days quite enjoyably.—

—Hey!! You said you wouldn't use the Central Plains tongue!—

The Flame Emperor carried a certain atmosphere, while the Moon Immortal simply kept fuming.

—[Tell her Moon Immortal is the only person I refuse to speak it to.]—

Whoa... This woman was no joke either. I didn't know what their relationship had once been, but she was still sulking over teasing that had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠happened almost two hundred years ago.

—What did she say?—

—She says she won't speak the Central Plains tongue only to you.—

—What! No— but wait a moment. Why do you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠use honorifics and treat only that woman with such deference? I thought you said a Daoist does not humble himself before ghosts?—

—Are you the Medicine Immortal herself? The Medicine Immortal who saved countless people and passed away is practically a Medicine Buddha to the people of this region.—

—I am the Moon Immortal of the Four Heroes of Dong-o too!!—

—I know. That's why I take care to use honorifics with the others, just not you.—

The Moon Immortal had wanted to use me to show the Medicine Immortal a hard time. But seeing her this furious was more satisfying to me than the Medicine Immortal herself.

—Reverend Heo San, Monk Geo Am. I have long heard your names. To think both a reverend and a monk became ghosts as well.—

The Medicine Immortal greeted this side politely, seeming to meet them for the first time. Whether that greeting struck a nerve for men of the cloth, the two souls merely smiled bitterly. She was truly like Jeong-hyang—kind in a way, yet oddly oblivious. Perhaps in life, the Medicine Immortal had only been acquainted with the Moon Immortal and the Flame Emperor. Come to think of it, among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, hadn't the title used for Shennong been the Flame Emperor? A simple coincidence, maybe, but had that connection been the start of their acquaintance?

Fortunately, the Medicine Immortal's shrine stood in the middle of the commercial district, as a landmark should. I hurried out and bought a long lacquered rice paddle from a nearby sundry shop. The Medicine Immortal looked satisfied when I showed it to her. The Four Heroes and Hwangseong, unable to understand our conversation, were dumbfounded too, but I transferred her soul into the rice paddle without difficulty. Whatever its other virtues, unlike the sword housing the Four Heroes—which could cut enemies and block attacks automatically like a Qi-Guided Sword—this rice paddle seemed as useless for the Spirit Vessel Art as the White Feather Fan containing Hwangseong.

The real problem was how I looked when I stepped into the street. With five swords strapped to me, the White Feather Fan at my waist, and a massive rice paddle on my back, a magnificent madman had been born. At least I wore Daoist robes, so I could only hope passersby would assume the bizarre equipment had some sorcerous significance.

"Eldest Young Master! You've returned!"

I would have preferred it if this were bustling Shenyang, but in this small town there was no one who didn't know my face. Gilyun, who looked after the stables at the Baek Clan Estate, spotted me quickly and greeted me cheerfully.

"It's been a while."

"I'd heard you'd become a Daoist, but heavens—you truly look magnificent, sir."

That's right. No matter how much I looked like a madman, there'd be no one in Jilin who'd treat me like one to my face.

"Have you returned on account of the Baek Clan Estate business, then?"

"Is there some business at the Baek Clan Estate?"

"What? You didn't know? Today is the ceremony to appoint the Young Clan Head, is it not?"

Ah... When we last met, after the Young Clan Head announcement, Dan-yeong had said some household retainers opposed it but that he'd handle them himself. Apparently, he really had taken control of the estate quickly. Lady Tang had helped, but as I had thought, he'd have made an excellent leader if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I had never existed. I had come this far intending not to visit the Baek Clan Estate because I would feel guilty toward him. But if Dan-yeong had now been officially appointed Young Clan Head, I no longer had any reason to hesitate about going home.

Maybe I'd drop by home for the first time in ages?