Chapter 31

Jingle-

The sorcerer’s bell fell silent.
And the chamber grew quiet.
Too quiet.

Thunk-

In the darkness.
An old coffin stood upright.
Blackened, rotting wood.
Faded red talismans were plastered all over it.

Across its surface were ancient characters drawn in red blood.
Jun-gyeong recognized them.
Ancient Jurchen script.

For the first time, Jun-gyeong’s expression hardened.

“…The Northern Corpse Fiend.”

Crack.

A hand burst through from inside the coffin.
Its nails had grown long like an animal’s claws, and the stench of an ancient corpse seeped through the shattered wood.

The corpse stench was thick and heavy, as though it had been rotting for a thousand years.
If the modern Steel Jiangshi controlled by the sorcerer were artificially created monsters, then the being before him was a true calamity, born in the distant past after devouring thousands of corpses on a northern battlefield.

“…So you were the start of it all.”

Every disease had an origin.
Whether curse or plague, there was always a seed from which it first began.
The Steel Jiangshi virus had not been created entirely from scratch.
They had cultivated tissue taken from the Northern Corpse Fiend long ago and created a mutant virus based on the original strain that remained within it.

Then it had encountered the stones found beneath this land and undergone a change.
Just as the stone’s energy had exploded when it came into contact with Jun-gyeong’s internal energy.
A sorcerer must have been necessary to control that process.
They had resurrected an ancient northern calamity inside a modern shell.

“So you intended to gorge yourself on the people of this land once again.”

Jun-gyeong’s eyes began to burn once more.

RUMMMMMBLE-!!

As the Corpse Fiend fully emerged, the temperature throughout the chamber plummeted with disturbing speed.

The blood pooled across the floor froze solid as razor-cold yin energy erupted in every direction.
The Corpse Fiend’s entire body was wrapped in black, leathery skin that looked harder than steel, while blood-red flames of wronged spirits blazed within the eyes of its skull-like face.

“KRAAAAAAGH-!”

As the Corpse Fiend roared, the Jurchen characters written across the coffin burned red and formed a grotesque, icy veil in the air.
This was no mere physical ability.
It was an ancient sorcery from a thousand years ago, one that condensed the yin energy of corpses and spread it throughout the surroundings.

“Heeheehee! Behold! This is the Northern Corpse Fiend I finally awakened from its ancient tomb. Your little games with fire are nothing before this frozen yin energy of resentment…”

The sorcerer cackled madly, but Jun-gyeong did not even bother answering.

He tightly gripped the stone in his pocket, now reduced to the size of a single finger joint.
It was time to squeeze out every last bit of power it had left.

Jun-gyeong stepped forward and spoke.

“The surest way to resolve a grievance is to destroy the one manipulating it.”

SKRAAAAAK-!

As though sensing something to fear, the Corpse Fiend kicked off the ground and launched itself into the air.
Hundreds of black icicles rained down toward Jun-gyeong.
But Jun-gyeong’s figure was already gone.

The last burst of energy released as the stone vanished surged violently backward through his vital points.
At the same time, the red karmic flames flickering behind Jun-gyeong surged fiercely onto Mukhwa’s blade.
As Mukhwa’s black energy intertwined and fused with the red karmic flames, the sword transformed into an unknown divine blade wreathed in black fire and white lightning.

“HAH!!”

With Jun-gyeong’s thunderous shout, Mukhwa cut diagonally through the air.
The arc of black karmic flame cleaved the spreading yin energy in two with a single stroke.
The Corpse Fiend’s body, supposedly harder than steel, began crumbling like burning paper the instant Jun-gyeong’s sword passed through it.

FWOOOOOSH-!

“AAAAAAGH!!”

It was not the Corpse Fiend screaming.
It was the sound of salvation bursting forth as the countless grievances bound within its body and used as tools of sorcery were purified by the karmic flames.
The Corpse Fiend’s body collapsed.
Its steel-like skin split apart, and thousands of wronged spirits poured out through the cracks, wailing as they escaped.

FWOOOOOSH-!

The karmic flames were not burning the Corpse Fiend.
They were freeing the wronged spirits trapped inside it.

Thud-

A single white orb dropped onto the floor.
Jun-gyeong picked it up, tossed it into his Dokkaebi Pouch, and turned around.

“N-No… That’s… That’s impossible… How…”

The sorcerer, now alone behind the altar, collapsed to the floor in utter shock.
He had just watched the yin energy and sorcery he had spent a lifetime accumulating erased by a single stroke.
Jun-gyeong slowly turned his head toward him.
The oppressive presence of the karmic flames spreading behind him weighed heavily over the entire chamber.

“You’re next.”

Eum Sa-myeong scrambled pathetically into a corner of the altar and screamed desperately.

“H-Hiiik! Spare me! Please spare me!”

Jun-gyeong glanced at him and strode forward without hesitation.

“‘Spare me.’ Even after a thousand years, the things you people say never change.”

A pattern that began with ‘Who are you?’ and ended with ‘Spare me.’
Those were words he had been familiar with even a thousand years ago.
But his sword had shown no mercy then, and it showed none now.
He was not merciful enough to spare a criminal who had ravaged this land and slaughtered its people.

“W-Wait! If you kill me, you won’t escape unscathed either! Behind me stands China… No, even the mayor of this very city in this country backs me!”

Jun-gyeong frowned.

“What is he saying?”
[His…]
“Enough. I don’t need to hear it.”

The Seonghwangsin, who understood the man’s words through spiritual resonance, tried to interpret them for Jun-gyeong, but he had no need to listen.
He already knew that not a single thing the man could say mattered.
Whatever he said, there was no reason to let him live.

“You talk too much.”

SLASH-!

Mukhwa traced a smooth arc through the air.
Eum Sa-myeong’s head dropped onto the altar floor, his life sustained by sorcery until the very end.
It was a merciless immediate execution, carried out before he could even scream.

RUMMMMMBLE-!

The moment Eum Sa-myeong’s breath ceased, the enormous ritual array supporting the chamber cracked apart and began to collapse.
At last, the pitch-black energy of accumulated grievances pooled at the center of the altar began to break apart.

[Thank you… Thank you…]
[Ah… Finally…]
[Mom… Mom… I’m cold…]

The countless wronged spirits that had escaped from the Corpse Fiend, along with the spirits bound to the altar, became a dazzling mass of white light that filled the chamber.
The souls that had wandered without rest after unjust deaths began to ascend.

WHOOOOOSH-

Thousands of spirits filling the chamber rose toward the heavens.
Jun-gyeong gazed into the air, feeling the last traces of warmth they left behind.
The light remaining after their departure gathered toward a single place.

WHOOOOOSH-!

It was the pile of green stones stacked beside the altar.

HUMMMMM-

A faint tremor passed through Jun-gyeong’s glowing eyes.
The green stones were purified in an instant, gradually transforming until they radiated a pure, gentle light.
Jun-gyeong slowly approached and picked one up.

If he performed Qi Circulation with this purified stone before him, he could reinforce his internal energy.
It wouldn’t deepen his internal energy, but it should be able to refill and expand his current dantian.
The Qi in his dantian tingled as though urging him to begin circulating it immediately.
But this was no time for that.

RUMBLE-

The cavern was on the verge of collapsing.
Jun-gyeong threw all the stones into his Dokkaebi Pouch and started moving.

[You may leave them. I can move them for you.]

The Seonghwangsin was both a native spirit and a land deity who governed the area.
But Jun-gyeong still hadn’t decided for certain whether he would settle here.
For now, he needed to take them with him, return home, and replenish his internal energy.

“All right. I’ll take only what I need immediately.”

After taking an appropriate amount of the stones, Jun-gyeong raced out of the underground complex and escaped the building in an instant.
And at that very moment.

RRRRRUMBLE-!!

The ground gave way, and Sajik-dong’s old buildings began collapsing one after another.
Clouds of dust billowed in every direction.
Jun-gyeong silently watched the collapsing street for a moment.

“…It’s over.”

That was what he said,
but the karmic flames lingering behind him had yet to fully subside, still flickering faintly.
Perhaps it was the lingering resonance left by thousands of wronged spirits, or perhaps the consequence of cutting down a calamity far too ancient.
The vital points throughout his body throbbed as though burned by fire.
Jun-gyeong wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then he lightly tapped his dantian and raised one corner of his mouth.

“Just wait a little. I’ll feed you your fill.”

Patter- Patter-

Standing beneath the rain that had yet to stop, Jun-gyeong looked up at the sky.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

The driving rain mercilessly battered the surface of a large transparent umbrella.
The elongated structures erected at the entrance to Sajik-dong.
They formed the barrier that prevented anyone from entering Sajik-dong, but no one knew that.
Even Mayor Han, who had ordered them installed, had no idea.
Now, countless camera flashes burst before them like frantic gasps for breath.

Mayor Han stood before them and gripped the microphone, his face polished with self-importance.

“…Citizens of Seoul! I, Han Dong-in, stake my honor on these words! Here in Sajik-dong, I will create the perfect city through redevelopment! To that end, I will make this my final duty as mayor, step down from office, and declare that I will not run in the next election! As my final service to Seoul, a world-class city, I will redevelop Sajik-dong into a safe, premier district…”

His hypocrisy-laden voice was still echoing through the microphone when it happened.

RRRRRRRUMBLE-!!!

“W-Whoa!?”
“A-an earthquake!”

Mayor Han staggered violently atop the platform.

KRAAAAAAABOOOOOM-!!

With a thunderous blast like a lightning strike, Sajik-dong’s old villas and commercial buildings began collapsing one after another behind Mayor Han like dominoes.
A pitch-black cloud of dust burst upward through even the torrential rain and exploded across the ground.

“AAAAAH!” “Get back! The buildings are collapsing!!”

Amid the chaos, Mayor Han dropped the microphone and screamed, his face turning deathly pale.
He instinctively realized that the underground laboratory, both his source of money and the key to extending his political power, had been buried in its entirety.

As Mayor Han stared in horror at the street collapsing before his eyes, the quiet sound of footsteps approached through the pounding rain.

Step. Step.

A man leisurely emerged through the haze of dust and pouring rain.
It was Jun-gyeong.

His rain-soaked clothes clung to his body, revealing the long wound across his chest.
Not one of the terrified reporters seemed to notice him.
Only Mayor Han, trembling like a leaf atop the platform, stared at Jun-gyeong’s silhouette as though he had seen a ghost.

Jun-gyeong slowly walked around to the back of the platform where the mayor had taken shelter.
Then he approached the frozen Mayor Han.

Just as Mayor Han raised a trembling finger to point at him,
Jun-gyeong placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Hang in there.”

The resentment of the Northern Corpse Fiend and the remnants of the red karmic flames flowed through Jun-gyeong’s fingertips and transferred directly into Mayor Han’s shoulder.
It was a spark of causality driven deep into the abyss of his soul.

“…Spend the rest of your life atoning.”

Jun-gyeong’s dry words struck Mayor Han’s mind.
Then Jun-gyeong walked away and disappeared.

FWOOOSH!

At that moment, Mayor Han’s eyes rolled back until only the whites showed.

[GRAAAAAAGH!!]
[Give me back my child! Han Dong-in!]
[I’ll kill you!]

“H-Hiiik! G-Ghosts! AAAAAH!”

The reporters’ attention turned toward Mayor Han as he suddenly began flailing his arms at empty air and screaming like a madman.

It didn’t matter whether he remained free or ended up in prison.
The punishment of the mortal world and the punishment of Heaven existed on entirely different levels.
For the rest of his life, he would suffer horrific visions of his body being torn apart by the wronged spirits of the hundreds whose deaths he had enabled, rotting away like a living corpse.
That was the merciless occult karmic retribution Jun-gyeong had imposed upon him.

Without so much as glancing back at Mayor Han’s crazed screams, Jun-gyeong left Sajik-dong.

[Stop right there.]

With the voice, Ok-hee’s car pulled to a stop in front of him.

“Let’s go.”

Seeing her bright smile, a small smile appeared on Jun-gyeong’s face as well.