Medicine Is the Best (3)
Inside sat ten people.
Four campfires had been lit.
—Four campfires, so four groups, then?
When Je Hayeong spoke through transmitted voice, Jin Yigang gave a small nod. The moment the two of them stepped inside, everyone within turned their heads at once.
"Huh?"
A smile spread across Jin Yigang's face. Two of the ten were people he knew. Bukgung Hansang and Gung Yo.
"Huh?"
Gung Yo, spotting Jin Yigang, looked just as startled.
"Decided to quit?"
Jin Yigang asked as he walked over to them.
"It was time to leave. What about you—why are you here?"
Gung Yo asked.
"Hold on a second."
Jin Yigang turned his head toward Je Hayeong.
"I think it's all right to come in."
"Understood."
Je Hayeong nodded and stepped back outside.
"The Heavenly Physician Wagons?"
Unlike Bukgung Hansang, Gung Yo recognized Je Hayeong's face.
"Yep."
"Are you escorting them too?"
"No. We ran into them by chance on the road to Cheondo and joined up. But what are you two doing here?"
Jin Yigang walked between the two and sat down.
"Waiting."
Gung Yo answered.
"For what?"
"Ever heard of the Five Kings Legend?"
"Nope?"
Jin Yigang shook his head. It was the first he'd heard of it.
"The Five Kings is a collective name for the Fist King, Sword King, Blade King, Spear King, and Myriad King."
"People from the same era?"
"Yeah."
"What's the legend?"
"The five peerless geniuses each built their own power. The Fist King's domain was called the Invincible Fist King Earth, the Sword King's the Boundless Sword Heaven Earth, the Blade King's the Mad Soul Mad Blade Earth, the Spear King's the Phantom Extreme Spear Earth, and the Myriad King's the Ten Thousand Streams Shadowless Earth. They say those five powers ruled the world for about a hundred years, and then one day—just like that—they vanished without a trace. And then, a hundred years later, a map called the Five Kings Treasure Map appeared."
"A map for entering each domain, I take it?"
"Yeah."
"Is it real, or……"
"It exists. There's proof, too."
"When did the Five Kings live?"
"That's not certain either, but the general consensus is at least a thousand years ago or more."
"You mentioned proof a second ago—what proof?"
"Your playground for the past five years."
"The Thousand Martial Statues?"
Jin Yigang's eyes widened.
"Yeah. Some say the Thousand Martial Statues are the ruins of the Invincible Fist King Earth, others say they belong to the Ten Thousand Streams Shadowless Earth."
"It was you, wasn't it?"
Bukgung Hansang asked, staring straight at him.
"What was?"
Jin Yigang shot back.
"The one who smashed every single one of the Thousand Martial Statues."
"They all got smashed?"
"Don't play innocent, you bastard. You smashed them yourself and now……"
"Buddy, how the hell would I smash those boulders? Say something that makes sense."
"I'd bet my entire fortune the culprit is you."
Bukgung Hansang thought back to Thousand Martial Plaza.
Every statue, without exception, had had its legs broken. As he'd examined the statues, he'd discovered one astonishing fact: the method of destruction had grown steadily more refined. At first, the struck area had shattered along with the leg, as if hammered. But on the final statue, the leg was broken with no trace of a strike at all.
"Think whatever you like. Anyway, all those martial artists coming and going nonstop—that's because of the Five Kings Legend or whatever, right?"
Then the corpse he'd seen underground suddenly crossed his mind. The only thing that man had given him was the name Samjaegwon. He'd claimed to have passed on the Shadowless Fiend Beast, gripping his own neck with all his strength—but whether Jin Yigang had actually received it, even he didn't know.
"Would mysterious types really come all this way?"
"Fair point. But 'Earth'—does that mean land?"
"Nobody knows whether it means a group, land, or a tomb. But according to the records, only those who had mastered fist arts lived in the Invincible Fist King Earth, and they called their leader the Fist King. Same for the other domains."
"So one of them has been discovered, or a treasure map leading there has appeared?"
"Yeah."
"Which domain is the map about?"
"The Invincible Fist King Earth."
"And where is the map?"
"The most likely place to hold that clue is the Heavenly Physician Wagons."
Just then, the Cheon-uigeo rolled inside with its escort of warriors. When the wagons came to a halt, the Jecheon Medical Clan fighters formed a ring around them.
Jin Yigang looked at the wagons.
If Gung Yo was right, then any martial artist who seized the Cheon-uigeo would gain both the elixirs and the treasure map in one stroke.
Everyone's after the same thing.
The moment the wagons entered, the air inside grew tense.
And it was obvious that Gung Yo, too, had become a Geomseonin to get information about the treasure map.
"The rumor started circulating about a year ago, didn't it?"
"……"
To that, Gung Yo gave no answer.
"You came for the map too, didn't you?"
This time he asked, looking at Bukgung Hansang.
Bukgung Hansang, like Gung Yo, stayed silent.
Jin Yigang turned his head toward Je Hayeong.
"The contents of the boxes are inspected and sealed jointly by the transport officer and the clan head. I swear on my life there was nothing else inside."
"It'd be nice if the martial artists believed that, but……"
Jin Yigang looked at Bukgung Hansang.
"Nobody's going to believe that."
"That's the problem. People won't believe a thing until they've seen it with their own eyes—even if it kills them."
Jin Yigang rose and began gathering the stones scattered around. While he collected them, Mu Daebo came over and sat down nearby.
Sssssaaaah!
Just then, a loud hissing filled the air.
Clouds had been gathering since early evening, and now they were letting loose with rain. The temperature dropped sharply. Bukgung Hansang fed more wood into the campfire.
"Could there be martial artists here stronger than the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples or the Poison Sword Five Demons?"
Jin Yigang asked Gung Yo while examining a stone.
"Why do you ask?"
Gung Yo shot back.
"One of the groups that attacked us before we got here."
"All five of them?"
"Yeah."
"So what happened?"
"Dead. All of them."
"The Poison Sword Five Demons too?"
"Those ones died even faster."
"So the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples and the Poison Sword Five Demons are dead, is what you're saying?"
"I only named the ones you'd recognize. Count the others and it's more. By the way—you any good at carving stone?"
"Stone?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not a stonemason."
"Daebo's good at it, though……"
"You want me to carve this one too?"
Mu Daebo asked, lifting a stone.
"Yeah."
Jin Yigang nodded.
Mu Daebo drew a short dagger about a foot long from his pouch. He slid it into the sheath between Yi Seung's daggers and pulled it out again. Then he gripped a suitably sized stone and swung the blade.
The stone shaved away in smooth strokes. Jin Yigang watched, dumbfounded.
"That's not wood I picked up, is it?"
"Why do you ask?"
"You're carving it like it's wood."
"It's just that good."
Mu Daebo said, holding up the dagger.
"Ah, so it's a masterwork dagger."
"Yep."
"If I held that, could I carve too?"
"That's a stone you're holding."
"So no?"
"Maybe in fifty years or so."
"……Right. You two are full of it."
Jin Yigang sprawled out on his back.
"They're all gone."
He said, turning his head to the left. The people who'd been tending the campfires had slipped away at some point.
"You didn't dangle the Five Vices of Heavenly Cripples just to scare them off, did you?"
Mu Daebo asked.
"Didn't think they'd actually leave."
"They probably haven't gone far."
"Could I give that a try?"
He said, sitting up.
"This?"
Mu Daebo raised the dagger.
"Yeah."
"You'll be disappointed."
"Just teach me the method, then."
"Method?"
"Do I just chop down at it?"
"Hmm…… strike fast and hard, and it might work."
"Fast and hard is my specialty."
Jin Yigang grinned, took a stone in hand, and turned it over, examining it from every angle.
"This spot looks good."
He swung the dagger hard at the corner jutting out like an edge.
Thwack!
All it produced was a loud noise; the stone didn't cut.
"No good."
Jin Yigang shrugged.
"Focus your mind, and look only at the part you mean to cut. Then strike down—strong, fast, and without a hint of wavering."
Mu Daebo explained the method.
"So my mind and body have to become one?"
Jin Yigang glared at the stone's corner, then swung his arm.
Huh?
Mu Daebo's eyes went wide. For just an instant, he'd lost sight of Jin Yigang's hand. Astonishingly, Jin Yigang had brought the dagger down at tremendous speed.
Shk!
"Whoa! It worked!"
Jin Yigang beamed.
"……!"
Mu Daebo stared at him, flabbergasted. He hadn't imagined the man would actually cut it.
"Maybe I've got a talent for the blade."
"Looks that way."
"Should I learn swordsmanship?"
"Couldn't hurt."
"How many years would it take to get as good as you?"
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-two."
"You'd need to be at least eighty-two."
"Fifty years later?"
"And that's a generous estimate."
"How old are you?"
"Forty-two."
"So you managed it in forty years, and for me even fifty is cutting it short?"
"I started learning martial arts when I was very young."
"Ah, so learning martial arts gets harder with age."
"Exactly."
Mu Daebo nodded.
"Still, I could get good at this much, right?"
Jin Yigang threw himself back into carving. The blade moved in straight lines, but as he turned the stone while shaving it, the shape gradually became a sphere. Once the sphere was done, he carved grooves into it, from one line to four.
"Why carve those?"
Gung Yo asked, watching him with interest. To Jin Yigang, carving stone might be a monumental feat, but to a martial artist who knew it only took a Geomseonin's conditioning and a bit of technique, it was nothing special.
"My weapon."
"That thing?"
"Yeah."
"Don't tell me you throw it?"
"Caught a tiger with it once."
"Isn't that a bit primitive?"
"It's the best I've got. Besides, our distant ancestors ate well and lived well with just this one thing. So did I, until recently."
"But your opponents are martial artists."
"That's why I'm putting extra care into making it. Multiple grooves and all."
"What are the grooves for?"
"To give it spin."
"Spin?"
"When you throw it, you snap your fingers against it and the stone spins at tremendous speed. And when it spins, the flight path changes."
"So the poor bastard on the receiving end has no idea where the stone's coming from."
"You catch on quick."
"I look forward to it."
"Are you married?"
"Why do you ask about marriage?"
"If you're not, I was thinking of considering you seriously."
"Could I hear the reason?"
"They say if you keep a positive person at your side, you'll succeed."
"……"
"I mean you've got a good personality."
"Buddy, you've got a good eye for people. But it's a refusal."
"Refusing what?"
"Don't consider me seriously."
"Cold as ice. Daebo."
"What?"
"Couldn't you lend me this?"
"Lend it?"
"Just for a year."
"That's a priceless treasure, you know?"
"That's exactly why I'm asking to borrow it. If it were nothing special, I'd ask you to give it to me—there'd be no reason to borrow it."
"Why a year?"
"After that, I won't need it anymore. They're coming."
Jin Yigang tossed the dagger back to Mu Daebo, slipped the rounded stone into his pouch, and stood up.
"Coming?"
Je Hayeong rose first, and the rest of the warriors rose after her.
"What's coming?"
Gung Yo asked.
"I can feel a considerable number of presences."
Jin Yigang answered.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Jin Yigang nodded.
"How would you sense something we martial artists can't?"
Gung Yo asked, puzzled.
"Can't you hear it?"
Jin Yigang shot back.
"No."
"Why not?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"I'm asking why you can hear it when we can't."
"You're the strange one, hearing things the rest of us can't. Because every single one of us here couldn't hear it."
"Really? Daebo, you couldn't hear it either?"
"I couldn't hear it when you were talking about it just now."
"Medicine is the best."
Jin Yigang muttered.
"Medicine?"
"Take the Thousand-Li Earth-Clearing Pill every day. Then you'll get ears as sharp as mine."
"……"
Tsk! Tsk-tsk-tsk! Tsk-tsk!
Soon, a hundred or so martial artists had surrounded the roadside shrine.
"They're wearing masks."
Said Vice Chief Na Seok-jin, watching from outside.
"Masks mean they're people who'd be recognized, then?"
Jin Yigang said quietly.
Mu Daebo, Je Hayeong, and Je Chuyeong all looked at him.
"If they were on our side, there'd be no reason to hide their faces. Right?"
Every face in the company went rigid at once.