The Trap (2)

Darkness did not simply pass by the mountains and forests of Kunlun either. Neung Je-gang moved like lightning through the darkness, thinking of the layout of the buildings he had seen during the day.

‘This is too easy.’

No matter how outstanding Neung Je-gang’s abilities were, if there were many people keeping watch, he was bound to become tense. But Kunlun was strange. There were extremely few people standing guard, and they were standing guard in places that did not need to be guarded.

‘Should I say they are not standing guard, but dozing off? Well, they are practically the kings of Cheonghae Province, so who would dare infiltrate Kunlun?’

Neung Je-gang even spoke on behalf of the feelings of the Taoists dozing off while standing guard, and gradually slipped deeper inside.

‘First, I need to find a place similar to a prison, but a Taoist sect would not have a prison. Still, there must be a place where Taoists who committed sins are punished, right?’

Neung Je-gang examined every building. But among the buildings, there was no such place.

‘Did they make something like a cave on some mountain peak, like other sects?’

He seemed to have heard that places like Shaolin and Wudang confined people in caves. If so, Kunlun might not be an exception either.

Neung Je-gang followed the paths leading to the outskirts of the Kunlun Temple and checked one by one what lay at the end of each. After wandering for a long while in search of a place that seemed likely to have something, he finally discovered a cave with a name that perfectly matched what he was looking for.

‘Heart-Cleansing Cave… Since it means cleansing the heart, it is a perfect name for a place where people are punished.’

Thinking that he had finally found it, Neung Je-gang hurriedly approached the cave named Heart-Cleansing Cave.

‘There is no one here? Is this not it either?’

Neung Je-gang lost strength, thinking that only the name sounded plausible and that this was not the place either, and tried to turn back out of Heart-Cleansing Cave.

It was then.

Rumble, rumble.

A sudden loud noise sounded. Neung Je-gang was startled and launched himself up, clinging to the ceiling.

The wide stone platform in the center of Heart-Cleansing Cave slid backward, and a hole large enough for one person to enter and exit appeared.

Pop.

Then the face of someone who still looked young—no, the face of a young Taoist—appeared.

“Hehe!”

The young Taoist came up, checked the movements outside Heart-Cleansing Cave, then went behind a nearby rock and brought back a bundle filled with something.

“As expected, Second Senior Brother is the best. Hehe!”

The young Taoist carefully went back down into the hole.

Rumble, rumble.

The sound of the stone platform moving was heard again.

Neung Je-gang quickly launched himself. Before the hole was completely closed, he was able to land behind the young Taoist.

“Huh? Who—”

Thud.

Neung Je-gang pressed the young Taoist’s paralysis point and blood point, then left him standing below the hole that had now closed. Later, when he had finished his business and went out, he could wake the young Taoist and make him open the hole.

Neung Je-gang slowly walked down the long passage. Before long, the passage ended and a plaza revealed itself.

The place did not feel like a prison. There was a large circular plaza, and around that plaza were small stone chambers. In each of those stone chambers, there was one pedestal where a single person could sit.

‘Is this a place where one must sleep sitting up too?’

That was right. Unusually, there was no place where a person could lie down. If there was any such place, it would be the large stone platform in the plaza, but even that was more like a kind of dining table than a bed.

‘It seems that when people are punished here, they are not allowed to lie down. Would Dam Ja-cheon really be in a place like this?’

Neung Je-gang inspected the small stone chambers one by one. It was obvious without looking. The only human presence was that of the young Taoist he had left standing at the entrance.

‘What is that door?’

There was a wooden door at the far end opposite him, so he approached it and gently opened it.

But was there not another passage built there?

‘There is another passage?’

Neung Je-gang entered through that door. And at some point,

‘A human presence.’

He sensed the presence of a person. A very strained breathing sound, a rough, shallow breath that sounded as if it might stop at any moment, could be heard.

Neung Je-gang approached the place where the breathing could be heard. And there, he saw the face of Dam Ja-cheon, which he had likewise seen long ago but still remembered far too vividly.

Dam Ja-cheon had changed into a pitiable and wretched figure. In a place blocked by iron bars where no one’s hands could reach him, his arms and legs were bound by iron chains and fixed to the wall, leaving him unable to sit or lie down. Beneath his feet, rotting filth and all kinds of insects living in that filth were crawling about mercilessly.

Moreover, both his eyes had been hollowed out, leaving him unable to see anything, to the point that one could think it would be better for him to die.

“Ahem!”

Neung Je-gang coughed. He wondered whether the man could truly still be sane in such a state.

“Young Taoist, is that you?”

But Dam Ja-cheon’s mind seemed intact. His pronunciation was clear, and though he could not see, he seemed to sense the direction, as he turned his head toward where Neung Je-gang was.

“Dam Ja-cheon!”

Neung Je-gang called his name.

“W-who? You are not the young Taoist?”

“Dam Ja-cheon! How did you end up in such a state?”

“How? Kuh-hu, kuhu-hu! Did that mad old man send you too, like the young Taoist?”

“Mad old man?”

“I am talking about Deung Gak.”

“Who is Deung Gak?”

“Do you truly not know? Or are you pretending not to know?”

“I do not know who that person is, and I do not want to know who he is. I only came to ask you something.”

“Kuhuhuhu! Do you think I will fall for such a trick?”

Dam Ja-cheon closed his mouth and tried not to say anything more.

“Over ten years ago, because of you and your daughter, a happy family and a village were burned and turned into ruins.”

“Huuuh! W-who are you?”

Dam Ja-cheon’s firmly closed mouth opened.

“The only person who survived then.”

“T-then are you saying you are Neung Je-gwon? The one who was sold as a slave?”

“Neung Je-gwon is dead. I am his older brother, Neung Je-gang.”

“Ohhh, how can this be! You were alive. You were alive. I thought everyone had died, but fortunately, you were alive.”

“That is right. I survived. I returned alive because I could not die, and in order to take revenge. So tell me. Who were the ones who turned my family and my village into hell that day?”

Neung Je-gang approached the iron bars and shouted the question.

“Cough, cough!”

Dam Ja-cheon coughed several times, then finally opened his mouth.

“Yes, so even that is already a story from long ago.”

Dam Ja-cheon’s family was a well-known wealthy household in a small village west of Seon-yeong. But there was one thing lacking in that blessed family, and that was children.

Dam Ja-cheon and his wife tried everything to have a child. They did anything and everything, to the point that others called them mad. They visited Mount Kunlun more than once or twice to pray.

But perhaps their devotion reached the heavens, for at last, the couple conceived a child. The one born that way was none other than Dam Yeo-yeong.

“Every year, my wife and I visited Kunlun, offered our devotion, and prayed. We hoped the child would grow up beautifully and well. But then, one day, that mad old man appeared before us as we prayed.”

“Immeasurable Longevity Buddha! What is to be done about this?”

“What is the matter?”

“Misfortune will befall your daughter.”

Dam Ja-cheon dismissed the old Taoist’s words as mad nonsense and let them pass. After that, he did not go to Kunlun for several years. It left a bad feeling, and he also thought he might see that mad old Taoist again.

“Aaaak!”

Then one day, Dam Yeo-yeong suddenly clutched her stomach and began rolling around. Dam Ja-cheon called the village physician, but he could not discover what illness it was.

Other physicians were the same. No one could treat the suffering Dam Yeo-yeong.

At that moment, Dam Ja-cheon suddenly remembered what the old Taoist of Kunlun had said several years before. He forcibly took the sick Dam Yeo-yeong and went to Kunlun.

“Please save her.”

“Consider it fortunate that you have come even now.”

The old Taoist held Dam Yeo-yeong’s wrist and remained still. But what was this? Dam Yeo-yeong’s complexion, which had been so pained, returned to normal.

“Thank you, Taoist! I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life.”

“Though it was somehow resolved well this time, the future is the great problem.”

“What? No, are you saying she is not fully cured?”

“Your daughter’s illness is that she possesses far too much yin energy inside her body. It must be neutralized or expelled outside…”

“What must I do? I will do anything.”

“There are only two methods. One is to marry her off early, and the other is to obtain and feed her a spiritual creature of extreme yang, but such a spiritual creature is not something that can be obtained merely because one seeks it…”

“Are you saying she will become well if I marry her off?”

“That is so, but even that is not a complete method. If the man does not possess yang energy capable of enduring your daughter’s yin energy, he will die before a year passes.”

“Are you saying my daughter will become a woman who devours men? Ahh, how can this be…!”

“I have one good method. Will you try it?”

Dam Ja-cheon felt as if he wanted to grab even a rotten straw and cling to it. So he fell for the Taoist’s words.

“So you are saying I should have her marry a groom arranged by Kunlun four years from now?”

“That is so. At that time, a man capable of enduring your daughter’s yin energy will appear in Kunlun.”

Dam Ja-cheon believed those words and promised to do so. It was suspicious that the man knew what would happen four years later, but since he had also known that his daughter would fall ill, Dam Ja-cheon naturally believed those words too.

But it was that night. Dam Ja-cheon, who had gone out for a walk because his heart was troubled, heard two young Taoists murmuring to each other. It was a conversation saying that the old Taoist, Kunlun Record Keeper Deung Gak, might undergo reverse aging in three or four years.