Episode 5

*Pjjjjkkk!*

The blue aura-like light formed on Seol Young’s fingertips. It was as strong as lightning. It took shape in an instant and moved like a talisman.

It was a technique of using a talisman with only spiritual power, but the absence of paper was a medium.

This was called a spiritual talisman spell.

A technique that required a high level of concentration of spiritual power to produce an explosive force in a short time.

Seo Geom’s face twisted at this.

“How dare you use such a…!”

He couldn’t even end the shout as the sky suddenly turned black. Dark shadows sprang from the ground.

The voices in the forest.

The talisman that Seol Young had drawn was none other than a summoning one. It was a skill he hadn’t used for a long time, but his body remembered it.

A powerful summoning spell was drawn.

And the spirits would have no other choice but to answer this.

All of them were called out, and they formed a circle around him. They surrounded Seol Young, insanely moving around like they were dancing.

“You are so far behind in dealing with the ghosts!”

The Hwarangs of the Blue Dragon True Troops slaughtered them in an instant.

But there were too many of them.

Their minds were distracted by the sounds that the ghosts were making all around them.

Several of the Hwarangs had always dismissed Seol Young.

However, the power Seol Young used right now wasn’t something to be underestimated.

The child who was born with strong spiritual power and grew up with spirits and demons must have trained a lot. Moreover, he had now taken a step further, as if he had trained all this time.

A smirk appeared on Seol Young’s face.

“I am busy now.”

He sneaked through the gaps. He escaped the siege in a short time.

“Will you not stop?!”

Seo Geom shouted.

They all chased after him slashing down the summons, but they could never catch up with Seol Young.

Seol Young’s foot technique was unique. It was the technique he learned from observing the spirits.

Seol Young only stopped after he was sure that he was away from the Blue Dragon True Troops.

His head was spinning.

It had been way too long since he used any incantations, and it felt a little strange to use them now.

‘I will soon get used to this.’

It wasn’t easy from the start. He knew the road to proving himself would not be smooth, but his personality didn’t perceive things easily either, and he never got discouraged by the difficulties that would find him.

‘Avoid Hwarangs and cut down the evil spirits.’

And he walked as he made up his mind.

When he left, many suspicious thoughts lingered in his mind.

Seol Young raised the qi in his body with an irritated heart. When his sword shone blue, everyone was startled and moved away.

A few days passed with nothing to do.

He intended to scare away anything that might be afraid of him. And he would cut down anyone showing signs of a small scam or fraud.

Occasionally, there were spirits that approached him, thinking something interesting had come up, but they were killed right then.

Every place Seol Young passed was clean.

Eventually, he reached Sabolju.

There, Seol Young made sure to buy yellow papers for talismans and other items. Then he went around asking people,

“Where did something unusual happen in here? They say blood was pouring down as rain.”

“Ah, yes.”

The village of Jeolgol was the location of the incident that shocked everyone.

There were several large tombs along the path. Seeing the tombs guarded by Stone Tomb Beasts, it seemed like the tombs of some high-ranking or wealthy people.

And it seemed like they were famous enough to get a good piece of land.

The incident of bloody rain in this area would undoubtedly terrify people.

“Since when did it start?”

“It has been over a month.”

People knew that Seol Young was a Hwarang, so they rushed to appeal to him.

“Please do something. I am afraid I will die. The high-ranking people asked us to be patient, saying the village would not vanish but…”

“Are there any other problems around?”

“The rain—it seems to attract beasts. They come to drink the blood.”

Beasts?

Seol Young’s face turned serious.

“What could the reason be? Is it something related to the villagers?”

“I don’t know. Who could have made our Duduri¹ angry? Or maybe killing an evil beast caused this?”

Everyone said different things as if no one knew what was going on.

Seol Young sent them away and then went to the darkest place. It was to summon the Earthbound Spirits and ask them.

“What is causing these constant disturbances in the wilderness in that area?”

“The place is the problem. There is something strange.”

Even the spirits didn’t seem to know.

‘That place…’

There was an old temple site between the village and the wilderness. It seemed to be the origin of the village’s name.

And he wanted to see it right away.

It held an unusual atmosphere.

Not a single house was around. There were only foundation stones that had been burned and were scattered everywhere.

The ground was visibly wet and red everywhere.

Seol Young touched the floor, and he realized that it had seeped quite deeply.

It was the same under piles of stones. Even the crevices had a lot of red, and the stones were dyed in red.

There was definitely something here.

‘What do I do in such a case?’

Seol Young thought for a moment.

As a child, he was used to roaming and running around, chasing behind spirits and getting food to eat. If he couldn’t, he was beaten for trying to steal and got kicked out, so he had no choice but to improve his skills.

‘First of all, the spiritual writing.’

He sat on the floor and put his hands on the ground with his eyes closed.

Memory Reading was known to be the art of reading the marks left behind by the spirits on objects.

Scenes flashed through his mind as he focused.

Dead rats, raccoons, and the souls of the Buddhists who had come to the temple due to the evil energy around…

There were numerous traces of spirits passing around.

Then, a scene stood out more clearly.

In the middle of the night, some people appeared at the temple site.

They went to the site where the largest hall was and dug inside. Something was buried like a small jar.

And there was an ominous and sinister energy emanating from the jar. It was similar to the one that was spreading.

This was it!

Seol Young opened his eyes.

He removed the stone and immediately dug into the ground, and he touched something.

As soon as he touched it, a mist of blood rose. This was poisonous.

‘So this is it.’

Seol Young lifted the spiritual qi with his fingers and put it on the ground in the directions of north, south, east, and west.

The letters shone. Everything in the jar was being blocked from escaping.

*Woong…*

The ground vibrated.

Chaotic qi was swirling around, with unknown figures moving through the bloody mist. It was a trick to divert attention.

It was not a hard thing.

Old thoughts popped into his mind. Maybe none of the things around him had changed.

‘That means I need to level this up.’

From the tip of his finger, he created another talisman incantation and put it on the ground.

The Demon Intersecting Talisman, which punishes the evil spirits nearby, was stuck to the ground.

*Clack!*

Then came a loud noise, with a stench spreading everywhere.

The smell of rotting corpses.

Seol Young dug into the ground.

Shards of a jar came up with a pile of scales, white scales. There were also slender bones.

It was the corpse of a giant snake.

One that has been rotting for a long time with only bright red eyes remaining clear.

‘You are the culprit for all of this.’

Seol Young took out the yellow paper he brought when leaving the White Tiger Spirit Troops. After collecting the remains and wrapping them up in paper, he returned to the village.

Not even half a day had passed, and yet everyone seemed to know.

“Even if you are a Hwarang who knows martial arts, being alone is…”

“It is resolved.”

“Sorry?”

People were surprised.

“You fixed it?”

Instead of answering, Seol Young slightly raised the paper and showed it. The people were terrified to see scales, bones, and whatnot mixed there.

“Oh my! What even is that?!”

“Imoogi corpse.”

“Imoogi?”

“Some shamans seem to have obtained a corpse that was corrupted and couldn’t turn into a dragon. They must have put him in the jar and served it, as they considered it to be a deity. And as it gradually gained strength with the sacrifices given, the creepy things must have begun to happen…”

Seol Young stated what he thought happened.

“But the group of shamans got scared as things escalated and hid the jar over there, in that temple site, and ran. And as it already gained enough strength, it summoned the spirits on its own by making it rain.”

It was as clear as if the story was written in the palm of his hand. What he saw and heard as a child was coming to life.

“If left alone, the number of spirits would have increased and caused trouble for the entire village. This was dealt with on time. Blood will not rain again.”

The people looked at him.

Looking back, strangely, the feeling of suffocation they had been feeling had disappeared.

It was the first time since the incidents began.

Even though they did beg for help, they didn’t expect it to be done.

This white-robed Hwarang was surely cold and blunt, but he sure got the job done.

“Thank you! Thank you very much! We can finally live now!”

The villagers bowed to Seol Young one after another, making him feel uncomfortable and step back.

As he left the village, he went back to collect his thoughts.

‘This wasn’t as chaotic as those in the Great Heavenly Pavilion spoke of.’

Rather, this was just man-made trouble. It was serious, but once the cause of it was identified, it could be resolved quickly.

‘I will have to report this to the Governor. This wasn’t some disaster…’

As he continued to walk with such thoughts, there came a bizarre sound from the mountains.

*Woong…*

Seol Young stopped walking.

Dark shadows rose from the ground one after another.

Those with horns, with two heads, and long tongues that touched the floor…

They were all evil spirits.

And a sharp sound of breathing could be heard from his mouth—a whistle.

When the seal was lifted, his old habits came alive.

Such a sound would frighten anyone nearby at the moment. It was like a whistling sound in the darkest night that could scare anyone.

But…

Despite understanding the meaning of it, they didn’t disperse.

Rather, they began to get closer.

The thick cloud of darkness began to spread over the ground, and in the blink of an eye, the number of spirits increased.

“Go away!”

Seol Young groaned loudly at the spirits gathered, and the blue flame rose.

But what was this?

The spirits didn’t seem scared. They held a weird hostility as if…

They were aiming for the bones of the imoogi.

Seol Young snorted at this.

‘Finally out of the darkness.’