Becoming the Master of the Heavenly Relic, Cheonbungsin-gap (3)
The moment he stepped inside, the wall closed behind him. The chamber he'd entered was connected to the level below by a flight of stairs.
Jin Yigang descended with a candle in hand, and soon a spacious plaza opened up before him.
"Holy crap!"
He stared down at the floor with a look of sheer disbelief. Countless footprints were stamped into it — not carved with a stylus, but pressed in with actual feet.
Which meant someone had made them on purpose.
"To leave footprints in stone flooring, you'd have to be a master of at least ten jiazi or more……."
A single stomp shouted with an 'Euchah!' was one thing; a floor littered with prints like this was another entirely.
Compared to himself, who couldn't even leave a mark in plain dirt, this was the stuff of legend.
"It's not even showing off martial arts……"
Wondering if someone had left writing behind, he turned his eyes to the walls. There was no text — only a stone lamp installed at the center of each wall. He walked up to one. Inside was a mass of hardened oil, and after holding the candle to it for a while, the oil melted and caught flame. He lit all four lamps on the walls.
As the underground space brightened, he could see not just the footprints but the interior far more clearly.
"There it is."
Jin Yigang grinned.
In the darkest part of the chamber stood a single stone statue. He approached it. The human-sized figure stood on a pedestal two jah high, gazing down at the ground below. It occurred to him that this might be the very person who'd made those footprints.
"What's so interesting down there? Let me have a look too."
He walked up to the statue.
"Doesn't look like a statue. A corpse, maybe?"
He asked, staring hard. For a statue, everything from its clothing to its skin was far too lifelike. The figure held both hands out in front of it, fingers interlocked as if inviting him to take hold. Carved into the pedestal beneath it was an inscription.
Take my hand.
"Men aren't really my type…… but hey, it's free."
He stepped forward and grasped the statue's hand.
At first, nothing happened.
"Was I wrong?"
The moment he tilted his head, he felt his palm sticking fast.
Zrrrr!
Then a prickling numbness spread, and his whole hand flared hot, as though thrust into a fire.
"Ugh!"
Jin Yigang groaned. He looked down at his hands. Both had turned bright red, like molten metal — but there was nothing he could do. Even if he wanted to let go, they wouldn't move.
He watched them with a dazed expression. The hands that had glowed like heated iron gradually darkened to black, until at last they recovered their original color.
Puaeok!
As if it had finished its duty, the statue crumbled into powder. Where it had stood, another inscription was carved.
Now the heavenly relic Cheonbungsin-gap (Heavenly Collapsing Divine Box) is yours.
So is this world.
Live as you please. Another name for the Cheonbungsin-gap is the Formless Demonic Beast.
"The Formless Demonic Beast — so a beast without shape or form. But still……"
Jin Yigang looked at his own hands. Nowhere was there any trace of the Cheonbungsin-gap.
"Even if I did receive it, that's far too extravagant a gift for a man on a deadline. And as for the world — I couldn't care less what happens to it."
He shrugged.
Judging by his hands, no different from before, it seemed he'd received nothing — but there was no one left to complain to, since the statue was already powder.
"I'll at least take a look at those before I go."
He turned his gaze to the footprints.
"These look familiar…… where have I seen…… Oh, that's it."
Only when he imagined a person standing over the footprints did it finally click. They were the footprints of the statues in Thousand Martial Plaza.
Martial arts begin with the feet.
He followed the footprints. It was the exact reverse of the run he'd made dodging the statues in Thousand Martial Plaza.
"It's all offense."
Jin Yigang clicked his tongue. Tracing the footprints here while reproducing the statues' movements, there wasn't a single defensive technique among them.
"Fair enough. A man's got to attack — defense is for……"
He shrugged and ran the footprints again.
"But what's your name?"
He asked, glancing toward the spot where the corpse had stood a moment ago.
"Huh?"
As if in answer to his question, an inscription was carved into the lower part of the pedestal. It had been there all along — the same color as the floor, which was why he hadn't noticed it.
"Let's see……"
He walked up to the pedestal and examined it closely.
Samjaegwon (Three Talents Fist)
"Son of a—"
He'd made a modest effort to get used to the name Je Suryong. To turn around instantly whenever someone called him 'Young Master Je,' 'Suryong,' or 'Je Suryong,' he first had to grow familiar with them. So he practiced answering to all three.
The one drilling him was Yuk Daemo.
One day before the departure for Cheondo, Je Unseong's summons came down.
"A final word of advice, is it?"
He asked, glancing at Yuk Daemo walking beside him.
"They say an envoy has come from the Imperial Court."
"An envoy?"
"Yes."
"Is the son of the Jecheon Medical Manor someone important enough for the palace to send an envoy to fetch him?"
Je Unseong had mentioned an envoy before, but no matter how he turned it over, he couldn't make sense of it. The Jecheon Medical Manor was a prestigious clan, sure — but it was absolutely not the kind of clan the Imperial Court would send an envoy to escort.
"They're not fetching him."
Yuk Daemo shook her head.
"Then what?"
"They've come to keep watch, in case he slips off somewhere else along the way."
"Why would he slip off somewhere else?"
"Because he doesn't want to go, of course."
"If running away were acceptable, there'd be no need to hire a stand-in like me in the first place, would there?"
"Running away here doesn't mean bolting."
"Then what?"
"A legal evasion."
"So you're saying they'll deliberately engineer a situation where he's too badly injured on the road to Cheondo to continue?"
"It seems the Family Head even told them his son's martial arts are too weak to make the journey."
"Then why are they so desperate to drag the Jecheon Medical Manor's son along?"
"A significant portion of the manor's income comes from the palace. From the throne's perspective, it seems they applied pressure — 'You make all that money thanks to us, shouldn't you give something back?'"
"If it comes out that I'm a fake, won't things get even harder for the manor? Not that it's any concern of mine."
"The Family Head will have taken measures for that."
"So as long as the paperwork says the Jecheon Medical Manor's son attended, it doesn't matter who the person actually is?"
"Officials have always valued the name written on the documents more than the face in front of them."
"Fair enough. They're all paperwork-obsession patients, those people."
Jin Yigang nodded.
Soon the two of them entered the Family Head's office building.
Two people were seated inside: Family Head Je Unseong, and an enormous man.
The seven-foot giant had a face fierce enough to steam-cook a bandit whole.
"This is my son, Suryong."
Je Unseong introduced him.
"I am called Mu Daebo."
The giant rose and offered a fist salute.
"A pleasure. I'm Je Suryong. I look forward to traveling with you."
Jin Yigang returned the salute.
"Suryong, this is the man who will take you to Cheondo."
"I understand."
Jin Yigang nodded and took his seat.
The three of them exchanged pleasantries for a while. After about an hour, Jin Yigang bowed and stepped outside.
"You know Mu Daebo?"
He asked Yuk Daemo, who'd been waiting.
"A formidable martial artist."
"More famous than Bukgung Hansang or Gung Yo?"
"Nobody in the martial world doesn't know Tyrant Kun Fiend Mu Daebo."
"His epithet and his face are a perfect match."
"Hohoho! So it seems."
"Strong, but apparently unappreciated?"
"Why do you think that?"
"He's here doing errand work — it's obvious, isn't it?"
"Errand work?"
"You think escorting the Jecheon Medical Manor's son is some grand mission?"
"Good point."
Yuk Daemo smiled faintly.
"Are you making stir-fried beef again tonight?"
"It's our last meal together, so I must."
"When you say it's the last, I really do feel like a condemned man being dragged to the execution ground."
"I'm sorry."
"Make it."
"All right."
"By the way — is the manor sending anything else out besides us?"
"Why do you ask?"
"You look busy."
"The Heavenly Physician Wagons will be departing, I expect."
"What are the Heavenly Physician Wagons?"
"The wagons carrying the medicines the Jecheon Medical Manor sends to the Imperial Court."
"How many elixirs do they load up?"
"Enough that the elixirs on one Heavenly Physician Wagon could found an entire minor sect."
"Then they'd be a prime target for bandits, wouldn't they?"
"Not just bandits."
"Then who?"
"Martial artists covet the Heavenly Physician Wagons too."
"After the elixirs, you mean?"
"Yes."
"If you steal elixirs bound for the palace, won't there be hell to pay?"
"Until the handover, ownership belongs to the Jecheon Medical Manor."
"So it's fine because it counts as the manor plundering its own goods?"
"It's not fine — it's just better than stealing from the palace."
"True enough."
The two of them returned to the lodgings, and Jin Yigang set about preparing for the journey in earnest.
"Should I pack a lot of clothes?"
"When you travel, you need money more than clothes."
"The Family Head didn't give me any money, though."
"Here."
Yuk Daemo produced a bundle of banknotes and held it out.
"How much?"
"A thousand nyang."
"What am I supposed to do with all that? Take half back."
"Return the rest, then?"
"Keep it, Daemo."
He'd taken to calling her Daemo.
"You want me to keep it?"
"You don't have any money either, Daemo."
"I get fed and clothed here — there's nothing I need to buy."
"Even so, giving it back would be weirder. Just spend it."
"All right. I'll put it to good use."
Yuk Daemo pocketed the notes.
"I'm going to stop by Thousand Martial Plaza one last time, then take a hot spring bath."
Jin Yigang gathered up his clothes.
"If you go to Thousand Martial Plaza, when will you be back?"
"I'm only doing one quick look-around today, so half an hour should do."
"I'll bring your clothes along."
"Planning to scrub my back again?"
"You don't like it?"
"As long as you don't look at me with those strange eyes……"
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?"
Yuk Daemo stammered, visibly startled — because he'd phrased it as if he knew about that day.
"Daemo looked at me with strange eyes, and then something very good happened, I think — but I can't remember. Anyway, I'm off."
Jin Yigang headed for Thousand Martial Plaza.
"Does he know and pretend he doesn't? Or……"
Yuk Daemo tilted her head.
"But…… you must come back and grant me one more act of service before you leave."
Half an hour later she gathered her bath salts and the like and headed for the springs. Jin Yigang, as before, was soaking with his head submerged in the water. She approached the spring, spread out her Horse Spirit Back-Scrubber, and began to undress.
The next day.
Jin Yigang left the manor with Mu Daebo, seeing off Je Unseong's farewell.
The two walked in silence. They'd gone about an hour when they stopped to rest.
"I am Mu Daebo."
Mu Daebo spoke first — though unlike at the manor, he dropped into rough, informal speech.
"I know."
Jin Yigang nodded.
"My epithet is Tyrant Kun Fiend."
"Heard it."
"I'm forty-two."
"And I thought you were at least sixty…… Damn, kid, life's chewed you up and spat you out, huh?"
"……"
Mu Daebo stared at Jin Yigang, speechless.