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It did not take long before Ha Do-yeop and Gyu Guja, who had gone to find the way, returned.
“We found a path. It’s narrow, but wide enough to pass through.”
“Already?”
“Elder Gyu’s help was a great help.”
“Not at all. It’s your skill that’s remarkable. If not for you, we’d have had to go around Deathly Cave.”
“No, it was you, Elder……”
“No, thanks to you……”
Those waiting outside stared at Gyu Guja and Ha Do-yeop with startled expressions.
“…Did you two eat something wrong?”
“Aiza, did you burn any somnolent incense inside Deathly Cave?”
“I didn’t do that, brother……”
“Then why are they like that?”
“I don’t know.”
Yang Gwan-wol also approached Ha Do-yeop cautiously and asked.
“Teacher Ha, were you threatened by that thing inside?”
Ha Do-yeop only smiled faintly and gave no answer.
“Manor Lord, we’ll probably have to crawl through the cave—will that be all right with you?”
“It’s fine.”
“Then let’s go quickly. Once we pass this cave, it’s the Hundred Ghost Manor.”
Following Ha Do-yeop’s guidance, as they exited Deathly Cave the view suddenly opened and the outside appeared.
“It’s the Hundred Ghost Manor!”
“Finally!”
Members of the External Protection Troops burst out in relieved exclamations.
How much hardship had they had to endure to reach the Hundred Ghost Manor?
They suffered harassment from spirits, crossed a river where fish drank human blood, crawled through caves……
That ordeal was finally over.
“Come on, hurry. We need to check Hong-yeo’s condition.”
A-Bi-Gyu-Hwan was equally excited upon facing the Hundred Ghost Manor.
People dashed toward the Hundred Ghost Manor.
As Yu Se-gwang headed toward the lodge entrance, a beast caught his eye.
“Deputy Captain, isn’t that a fox?”
“Se-gwang, why the sudden fox talk?”
“No, look over there.”
“Where?”
At the lodge entrance Yu Se-gwang pointed to, there truly sat a fox calmly watching the people.
“It’s really a fox?”
At that moment Bukgung Dam-deok, seeing the fox, called out.
“Longlong!”
“…Longlong?”
“It seems that’s the fox’s name.”
“Ah, looks like a creature raised at the Hundred Ghost Manor.”
Yang Gwan-wol breathed a sigh of relief.
“I was worried it would be one of those foxes that eat people’s livers again.”
“…Deputy Captain.”
“Why?”
“That fox—doesn’t its tail look a bit odd?”
“What’s odd about a fox’s tail……”
But that was indeed the case.
The tails swaying left and right were not one but two.
‘Wait a moment. It’s not just two?’
Three, four, five, six, seven……
The fox’s true identity was a seven-tailed fox — seven-tailed fox.
In these mountains, the abnormal was normal. There were no ordinary beasts.
Auuuu—!
The seven-tailed fox, having spotted Bukgung Dam-deok, let out a long cry.
“Lo- Longlong, you came to, to greet me!”
Bukgung Dam-deok approached the seven-tailed fox without any wariness.
A-Bi-Gyu-Hwan and the External Protection Troops members also relaxed their guard in relief at that moment.
Only Yeon Mujin watched the seven-tailed fox carefully.
’That creature is not one to greet its owner. ’
He already knew about the seven-tailed fox.
That creature was picky enough to even avoid the owner who raised it.
It was not a loyal beast that would go out to greet because the Third Young Master had returned.
The closer the Third Young Master approached, the more the seven-tailed fox’s fur bristled and its hidden claws protruded.
Seeing the seven-tailed fox opening its mouth, Yeon Mujin shouted.
“No! Stop!”
Kiyaang!
The seven-tailed fox lunged at the Third Young Master almost simultaneously as Yeon Mujin moved.
Crrack!
When the seven-tailed fox’s jaws closed in front of Bukgung Dam-deok’s nose, Yeon Mujin’s blade slid into its snout.
Grrr!
The seven-tailed fox, holding the blade in its mouth, drooled and glared at Yeon Mujin.
Yeon Mujin did not back down; he glared back and threatened the fox.
“Grrr!”
…That roar was not from the seven-tailed fox but from Yeon Mujin.
Yeon Mujin’s principle was that when facing a spirit one must be fiercer than the spirit, when facing a villain one must be a fiercer villain, and when facing a beast one must be a fiercer beast.
Crrrr!
When the seven-tailed fox bit down hard on the sword, cracks spread along the blade centered where the teeth had sunk in.
It was because his sword had already been badly damaged in the gorge.
Yeon Mujin kicked the fox’s belly, driving it back.
Krrak-geng!
“Lo- Longlong?”
A bewildered Bukgung Dam-deok muttered to himself.
Yeon Mujin barked at the Third Young Master.
“Arrr!”
“…?”
“Step back, Manor Master. That beast tried to attack you.”
“B- But it seems like it just barked at me……”
“It was that creature barking.”
“Ah, no. B-But External Protection Troops captain—”
“It was startled and mistaken. For now, step back.”
A-Bi-Gyu-Hwan and members of the External Protection Troops stepped forward and escorted the two manor lords.
“What’s going on? Wasn’t that a fox raised at the manor?”
“Right. The only seven-tailed fox is Longlong.”
“It attacked the manor lord, though. Is this also Hundred Ghost Manor’s way of showing affection?”
“I don’t think that’s it……”
For the moment, that wasn’t the important part.
The seven-tailed fox, kicked by Yeon Mujin, rose and let out a long wail.
Auuuu——!
Then, bristling all over, it bared its teeth at the people.
“It looks like a fox, but it acts like a wolf pup……”
“Longlong is a spirit beast that has lived at Hundred Ghost Mountain for hundreds of years.”
“Doesn’t its name and behavior not suit each other at all?”
“Still, it’s lucky there’s only one. We could probably handle one of them……”
“Shh!”
Hwan Bija warned the people to lower their voices.
“They’re coming.”
“They’re coming—what do you mean by ‘they’?”
There was no need to answer.
The creatures that responded to the seven-tailed fox’s cry were appearing one by one.
Sssss!
With the sound of brush rustling, the first to appear was a snake with a body as thick as a person’s calf.
And it was a snake with two heads.
“Twin-Headed Snake!”
Not only was it large with two heads, it was a spirit beast known in the martial world as the Seven-Step Deadly Snake because when it bit one, the victim was said to fall dead within seven steps.
Following the twin-headed snake, a black-horned deer appeared.
“…That’s a Black-Horned Deer. The Black-Horned Deer has long been a symbol of ill omen.”
Ha Do-yeop said.
It wasn’t only the Black-Horned Deer.
“Isn’t that a Three-Legged Crow?”
“To think I’d see a Three-Legged Crow in my lifetime……”
Even the three-legged crow said to live within the sun appeared.
The last to appear was……
Thud!
A bear larger than a full-grown tree’s trunk came into view.
“What kind of special bear is that?”
With the tiger-like beast, the Black-Horned Deer, and the Three-Legged Crow present, it felt like the bear must also have some special name.
The External Protection Troops members asked Ha Do-yeop with their eyes.
Even if no one else knew, since Ha Do-yeop knew the mountain well, they thought he might recognize it.
“I don’t really know either……”
Ha Do-yeop scratched his head and looked at Hwan Bija.
“What kind of bear is that?”
“A bear is just a bear—what special bear would it be? That one’s just a well-fed, well-grown bear.”
“Ah.”
“It’s just a bear, but it’s a bear of Hundred Ghost Mountain. That’s the most dangerous one. It can tear a person apart with bare hands.”
Even a plain bear was dangerous.
“Are they all creatures that live on Hundred Ghost Mountain?”
“They’re all things the manor lord raised.”
“What?”
Bukgung Dam-deok cried out as he looked at the gathered spirit beasts.
“Shak-Shak! Dan-Dan! Kwak-Kwak!”
“Are those names to call spirit beasts?”
“Shak-Shak is the twin-headed snake, Dan-Dan is the Black-Horned Deer, and Kwak-Kwak is the Three-Legged Crow.”
“Then what about the bear?”
Bukgung Dam-deok called out to the Hundred Ghost bear with aching feeling.
“…Bear!”
‘Why is that one just called Bear?’
The plain bear’s name was Bear.
“Names aren’t important right now. The spirit beasts are hostile toward us.”
“Why are they blocking us?”
Hwan Bija did not know the reason either.
These were spirit beasts feared by people, but they had been obedient to the Gui-gu Hall Master……
At that moment Bukgung Yoon spoke to the people.
“It seems they’re guarding something inside.”
“Yes?”
“If there’s only one reason they’d be preventing us from entering, it would be to guard whatever’s inside. It seems they’re trying to protect Hongyeo inside the lodge.”
“The spirit beasts are guarding Hongyeo?”
“When we first arrived, that fox was guarding the front of the lodge. It didn’t attack until one came close. It’s not attacking people at random; it’s doing it to protect what’s inside.”
Indeed, her words made sense.
“Then what do we do? Those beasts are blocking us.”
“Doesn’t that mean the child Hongyeo is seriously ill right now?”
“Are you saying we have to defeat the spirit beasts to meet Hong-yeo?”
“N-no, we can’t!”
Hearing that, Bukgung Dam-deok cried out.
“No, you can’t, take the children’s lives. Those, those creatures may look like that but they’re good kids.”
“….”
“I-I came that far to save Hong-yeo, and if we end up killing other ch-child-ren, what’s the p-purpose of that?”
“Well, that’s true, but……”
“They won’t simply step aside if we ask nicely.”
They had become violent enough to even attack their owner; entering would mean risking conflict.
Yeon Mujin asked Ai Ja.
“Aiza, can your somnolent incense put them to sleep?”
“Those raised on Hundred Ghost Mountain’s herbs have a high resistance to poisons. You can’t just release it into the river like before……. If you burn somnolent incense strong enough to subdue them, everyone here would pass out.”
The spirit beasts remained at a distance, each threateningly watching the people.
Bukgung Yoon had been right.
It looked as if they’d drawn an invisible line, intent on never letting anyone pass inside it.
Yang Gwan-wol said.
“So in the end we have to break through them.”
“But Deputy Captain, even if we go in, there’s no guarantee of an answer…… We don’t even know what that carp looks like, do we?”
“So the problem ultimately lies with the carp called Hongyeo, right?”
Bukgung Yoon said.
“Then in any case we should find Hongyeo and see if that allows a solution. Since it’s my brother’s request, I’ll take a look. Captain Yeon, can you take me into the lodge? Brother, where is the pond where Hongyeo lives?”
“I have a rough idea. It’s probably in the center of the lodge.”
“Y-Yeah. How are we supposed to do that?”
“Manors all tend to look pretty similar, don’t they?”
For now, the course of action was decided.
“Ghost Valley Manor Lord.”
“Uh, yes?”
“Is it acceptable so long as we don’t take the children’s lives? Causing injuries is tolerable?”
“If it’s not too severe……”
“Very well.”
Yeon Mujin bent his knees and offered his back to Bukgung Yoon.
“Manor Lord, ride on my back. External Protection Troops, open the way. A-Bi-Gyu-Hwan, you all……”
“Those who know them best are us. We’ll help in our own way.”
When Bukgung Yoon climbed onto Yeon Mujin’s back, all preparations for battle were complete.
“Let’s take a look at how expensive that carp really is.”
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