Episode 53. I am a great puffer.
Gumilbokgyeom Sim Yanggak reacted sensitively to the word hell, perhaps because his conscience was pricked.
“Wow! Hell?”
“There is also the Nine Heavenly Women, so how can there be no hell? The secret method that the old man Sim memorized was learned directly from the Nine Heavenly Women.”
“Is it true?”
Sim Yang-gak glanced at Yeon Jeok-ha with a half-hearted expression.
The Goocheon Hyeonnyeo is a female immortal in mythology. It was incredible that he learned directly from the Goocheon Hyeonnyeo who only appeared in legends. However, since Yeonjeokha said so, it was difficult to simply deny it.
“It doesn’t matter whether Old Man Shim believes it or not. Just live while thinking, ‘Ah! Hell awaits me’ when Old Man Shim regains his inner strength through the Three Hundred Characters Mantra.”
“Why is that?”
Sim Yang-gak was happy to hear that he was ‘recovering his inner strength’, but he was uncomfortable when he heard that he was going to go to ‘hell’.
“I told you. If there are fairies, there is also hell. You don’t think you’ll get away with killing just anyone, do you? If you think losing your inner strength is a punishment.”
“… … .”
An awkward smile appeared on Sim Yang-gak’s lips.
I never felt guilty while living. Since I was young, I only saw things like stealing, beating, and killing. If I hadn’t fallen into the devil’s trap, I wouldn’t have known about it.
But when I was ignored by someone like Hwang Yeo-myeong, who was a poisonous brat, I started to feel something. It was like the sadness of the weak who had to be trampled by the strong without any countermeasures.
I don’t know if there is a hell as Yeonjeokha said, but I felt like I vaguely knew the boundary between right and wrong. It was different from the distinction between right and wrong.
“Brother Yeon.”
“why?”
“The child who was locked in the warehouse for ten years, is that by any chance Brother Yeon?”
When I look at Yeonjeokha, I feel an unstained purity. He has the warmth of the sunlight of a spring day and the wildness of a summer storm.
He was a person who was far removed from the messy selfishness of humans. Could it be said that he was looking at nature that had never been touched by human hands?
“What? Does this body look that weak?”
“Hehehehe… … .”
Sim Yang-gak laughed heartily.
It was new to me that Yeon-jeok-ha was showing off like other reckless kids of his age.
“Old Man Shim.”
“yes.”
“Do you know what the secret method we learned is?”
“Isn’t this the Nine Thousand-Year-Old Truth?”
“Yes, at the end of the Jin-gyeong, it says, ‘If you sit down and let the golden flower bloom, the fish will turn into a great bird [天花亂墜 鯤化爲鵬]’. One day, the merchant of heaven and earth told me about this ‘Gonhwawibong’. He said that it is quite painful for a fish to turn into a bird. Think about it. Fish and birds are very different in appearance.”
“ah!”
Sim Yang-gak nodded with a blank expression.
He feels that pain more than anyone else.
Maybe he will die before he even becomes a great bird.
“It won’t take Mr. Shim ten years like me.”
“yes…….”
Only then did Sim Yang-gak realize how Yeon Jeok-ha was going to accept the ten years of imprisonment.
“Looking back, it was really like being underwater. It was suffocating to breathe, I felt like I was alone in another world, and I couldn’t see far.”
“… … .”
“Is that the case with Old Man Shim now too?”
“Hehehe, honestly, not to that extent.”
“Oh Bong-sip-geol learned a hundred characters, and Sim No-in learned three hundred characters. Do you know what that means?”
“I do not know.”
“The perfect Nine Thousand-Yeo-Il-Jin-Gyeong that Nine Thousand-Yeo-Hyun-Nyeo taught me is nine hundred characters. The hundred-character Nine-Children will be given the power of one hundred characters, and the three hundred characters will be given the power of three hundred characters.”
“okay.”
“It means that Old Man Shim will become at least three times stronger than the Five Bongsipgeol.”
At that moment, Sim Yang-gak felt a chill.
The five Bongsipgeols will one day become high-level masters with just Baekja Gugyeol.
But it’s going to be three times stronger than that?
“Don’t be too excited. Old Man Shim might die of old age before then.”
“Oh my! No way. If that were true, Heaven wouldn’t have granted me three hundred characters.”
“Huh? You really think that an old man like you would believe in ‘Heaven’s will’?”
“Hehehe, for a loser like me, you are being too kind. You are too kind.”
“Damn it. Don’t laugh like that. That’s why people call you a gumilbokgeom.”
Sim Yang-gak asked, stroking his beard with an embarrassed face.
“Did Brother Yeon bloom the golden flower?”
“Of course. I’m a big shot.”
“I respect you, brother.”
Yeonjeokha shuddered.
It seems strange to hear such words from an old man with white hair.
***
Yeoju.
Bogwangsa Temple.
The visit of the Shaolin elder, Grand Master Gong Gong, and the five Arhats turned Bogwangsa Temple upside down. The head priest, Mugwang, and the chief monks came out in front of Grand Master Gong Gong.
“Namu Amitabha. Your Majesty, why are you here… … .”
Moo-gwang couldn’t understand why the blank ambassador had suddenly come to visit him. After all, Bogwangsa was an ordinary temple with no connection to martial arts. The monks didn’t even do the usual physical training, so why had the monks from Shaolinsa come?
The blank ambassador responded with half-folded hands and then said:
“I understand that Monk Yangwon is registered as a monk at Bogwangsa Temple.”
“Oh, Monk Yangwon left ten days ago and hasn’t returned yet.”
Moo-gwang, who did not know the relationship between the blank ambassador and the monk Yang-won, turned his gaze to the monks with bewildered eyes.
But the monks also did not know the inside story, so they shook their heads from side to side.
“Actually, Monk Yangwon is my older brother. Only Monk Jeongmyeong, who shared a room with Monk Yangwon, knew about it.”
“Oh, I see.”
“A few days ago, I received a letter from Monk Jeongmyeong. He said that Monk Yangwon had gone missing.”
“Poem, are you missing? I thought Soseung just went away for personal reasons… … .”
The color drained from Mu-Gwang’s face.
“If he was going to be away for that long, he must have told Monk Jeongmyeong. He said he went out to beg for alms as usual and never came back.”
The blank ambassador no longer felt the need to talk to the main character, Mu-Gwang, because there was absolutely no information he could get from him.
“I would like to meet Monk Jeongmyeong, who was in the same room as Monk Yangwon.”
“Oh, yes. Monk Jeongmyeong will be at the lodging.”
Moo-kwang hurriedly guided the blank ambassador to his quarters.
“You’re here.”
Jeongmyeong, who was reading Buddhist scriptures at his lodgings, was not surprised as if he had been waiting.
“Thank you for contacting us. Is it true that Master Yangwon disappeared while on alms round?”
“Yes. Because you didn’t say anything about going anywhere.”
“Do you know where Monk Yangwon usually goes for alms?”
“He mainly traveled around Maesan and Sangha. He liked the scenery of Maesan and the people of Sangha.”
A divine light flashed in the blank ambassador’s eyes.
Now I feel like I’ve finally got a clue.
The blank ambassador immediately bid farewell to Jeongmyeong and ran to Maesan with the five Arhats.
But even though I wandered around Maesan all day, I couldn’t find anything.
The next day, the Blank Ambassadors and their party moved up and down.
I walked around the upper and lower parts of the city all morning, but no one remembered the mendicant monk from ten days ago.
It’s about time for the blank ambassador to get tired due to lack of income.
An old man begging at the corner of the alley gestured to the blank ambassador.
The old man, who had been glancing left and right, whispered so quickly that it was difficult to understand.
“I went to Yeoha.”
“what did you say?”
“Yes.”
The old man pointed toward the river with his finger, seeming frustrated.
And then he rolled up the mat he had been sitting on and left.
The blank ambassador, who knew that further conversation was impossible, went out to the riverside with Nahan and the others.
The reeds, just beginning to sway in the spring breeze.
Even though they came out to the riverside, the group of blank ambassadors could not do anything.
There were no fishermen or even a single common boat in sight on the riverbank.
First, the blank ambassadors and Nahans spread out widely and searched the riverbank thoroughly.
Has two hours (four hours) passed?
Na-han and Mungok shouted as they searched through the reeds.
“My lord! There’s something here!”
The blank ambassadors and arhats quickly gathered around Moon Valley.
The shallowly buried rag was being swept away by the rain and wind, revealing part of its shape.
When the blank ambassador winked, Moon-gok pulled hard on what he was holding.
Thud.
A rag was lifted slightly above the dirt.
It was part of a large battery.
But the battery seemed to be stuck somewhere and did not move any further.
The pod was finally removed when Mun-gok and Na-han dug the surrounding dirt with both hands.
Moon-gok untied the rope that was binding the sack.
Amazingly, what emerged from the shell was a separated human torso and head.
The blank ambassador carefully checked his head.
“Gasp! Tongue, bro… … .”
The head, which was in a state of decay, belonged to the missing Yang Yuan.
The blank ambassador’s victory flag fluttered violently as if caught in a gust of wind.
After a while, the blank ambassador, whose anger had subsided, carefully examined the two houses’ torsos.
“Umm… … . Famous school.”
The body is dried up like a mummy.
This was a phenomenon that appeared in corpses used as offerings for famous religions.
***
Luoyang.
Gonghyeon (鞏縣) Samhyangjuru.
Four men sit around a large circular table, drinking. They are Baekse Sangbang’s Bangju Lee Se-chang, his agent Lee Yeon-bok, and Samjin Sangbang’s Bangju Cheon Tae-sang and his agent Cheon Yak-su.
On the magnificent stage set up in front, a beautiful gisaeng was playing the lute and livening up the atmosphere, but the men’s expressions were not bright.
Behind the four men stood nine escort warriors with calm expressions. Four of them were warriors of the Waryongjang, and the remaining five were warriors of the Mumun Hall.
As the expressions of the Ark and the agents hardened, the complexions of the escort warriors also darkened.
Then finally one man slammed the table and shouted.
It was Samjinsangbang’s acting chief, Cheon Yak-su.
“I hear you, I hear you, it’s too much! Are you saying that you want to take away our Samjinsangbang’s Gongxian Kiln (a porcelain production site) for free?”
Gongxian Kiln produces porcelain called Tang Sancai. Tang Sancai is a porcelain decorated with green, white, and brown glazes and is a specialty of Luoyang.
Lee Yeon-bok, the agent of Baekse Sangbang, sneered.
“Huh! For free? How much money has Samjinsangbang borrowed from Baekse Sangbang? Instead of forgiving the debt, he wants us to hand over the management of Gong Hyeon-yo. Why is that for free?”
Then Cheon Yak-su responded roughly.
“What the hell! How dare you hand over Gong Hyeon Yo for a mere ten thousand nyang of silver! How dare you be such a thief! If you manage Gong Hyeon Yo for three or four years, you’ll pay back all that money and more!”
From Samjin Sangbang’s perspective, there is no thief like this thief.
The income from Gong-Hyeon-Yo is over three thousand nyang a year. To take that amount for a loan of ten thousand nyang is like taking a robbery without even wielding a knife.
“Oh my! A thief! Do you think you can do anything just by talking? You’re a thief because you try to steal other people’s money!”
The atmosphere suddenly took a turn for the worse with Lee Yeon-bok’s swearing, and now it was no longer strange for him to swing his fists.
Samjinsangbang’s Cheon Taesang and Cheon Yaksu glared at Lee Yeonbok, gritting their teeth. It was unbelievable that a guy who farted would get angry, and that a guy who was like a robber would get angry.
Wuxia,
