I’ll Trust You Alone. (2)

Yu Jinsan, who had collapsed onto the bed, sat with a dazed expression and a vacant face.

Seeing him like that, his granddaughter approached and stroked his back.

“Are you okay? Mister Man-ho said Grandpa was in danger, so I carried you here.”

“…Sigh. I really don’t understand any of this. But why didn’t he come in with you?”

“I don’t know either. He said he couldn’t come in.”

It’s customary to greet a guest when they arrive. First, they needed to meet him and ask about the situation.

“Let’s go outside for now.”

Exhausted and out of sorts, Yu Jinsan walked out with his granddaughter supporting him.

A middle-aged man in a Taoist robe stood at the door with his hands clasped.

“Long time no see, elder. Are you all right?”

“If you had been a little later, it would have been a disaster. But why didn’t you come inside?”

Man-ho shook his head slowly with a grim expression.

“I can’t enter. Just standing in the yard is suffocating.”

“What do you mean? When you arrived, those pale hands that were strangling my neck all disappeared.”

“It’s not because of me. Those lesser spirits fled when they realized your granddaughter had arrived.”

There was no reason for beings unaffected by physical force to be afraid of his granddaughter.

“Why is that?”

Man-ho glanced subtly at Yu Seol’s back and replied.

“To be precise, it’s because General Guan Yu is standing behind her. Do not leave your granddaughter’s side here. If you do, elder, you’ll be in danger.”

“This is maddening. I can’t even rest peacefully in my own home. Can you tell me what on earth is going on?”

Man-ho rummaged in his robe and produced a bundle of talismans to show them.

“These talismans that were attached inside the house are used to seal spiritual entities.”

“So you’re saying lesser spirits were sealed in my house, and removing them caused this mess?”

“Not necessarily. They wouldn’t have used so many talismans just to seal lesser spirits. There’s definitely some enormous presence inside the house.”

It was completely incomprehensible.

But there was no reason for Man-ho to lie to them.

Yu Seol blinked as if she didn’t understand, and Yu Jinsan sighed heavily.

“Can you resolve this problem? If so, we’ll arrange some reward.”

Man-ho hastily waved his hands in refusal.

“Reward? That’s out of the question. I’ve already received great favor from you, elder.”

“Favor? What did I even do?”

“No, thanks to you I was able to guide my child to the afterlife. I’ll take it as the will of heaven and do my utmost.”

“Hmm. I appreciate you thinking that far. Then I’ll trust only you.”

Man-ho nodded and took out several small pouches he had prepared.

“First, I’ll set up a barrier around the area so I can enter.”

“We’ll help, so do as you need to.”

The pouches he handed over contained a mixture of salt and red beans.

The grandfather-and-granddaughter duo helped him sprinkle it around the house in small amounts.

Once they finished preparing, the three gathered at the entrance and began to enter.

Man-ho’s expression looked somewhat dark.

“I’ve never seen a place with such strong yin qi like this. What kind of place could it have been…?”

“I heard that long ago a group called the White Shadow Clan gathered here to perform rituals.”

Yu Jinsan summarized and explained the strange rumors he had heard from Baek Gyu and Im Jeon-se.

Hearing this, Man-ho’s expression grew even sterner.

“I’m not certain, but it seems they attempted necromancy or spirit-summoning rituals here.”

“I’ve heard of that vaguely too. Isn’t it some ritual to summon spiritual beings?”

“Yes. But it doesn’t seem like ordinary necromancy. The presence felt now is not mere lesser spirits. There’s something tremendous inside the house.”

How could such a being exist in his house? Yu Jinsan sighed and asked.

“Then if it’s not lesser spirits, what do you mean is inside?”

“An evil spirit, or perhaps something of an even higher order.”

“Huh. Can it be defeated?”

“If it’s up to people like me, even a hundred of us wouldn’t be enough. But if your granddaughter helps, it might be doable.”

After saying that, Man-ho took a small wooden sword from his robe.

Perhaps because strange symbols were densely carved on the blade, Yu Seol asked with an intrigued look.

“Mister, what’s that?”

“It’s a ritual sword made of lightning-struck jujube wood. With this we’ll find the location of that evil thing.”

‘Lightning-struck Jujube Wood’ refers to a jujube tree struck by lightning; it holds great yang qi and is used to drive away spirits.

The grandfather and granddaughter watched quietly as he worked.

He extended the ritual sword forward and prodded around the house for a while.

After a long time with no results, Yu Jinsan asked casually.

“Why are you just circling? I’m just asking because I’m curious.”

“It’s definitely hiding somewhere in the house, but I can’t seem to find its exact location.”

“That’s a troublesome problem. It’s not something we can really help with…”

As Yu Jinsan clicked his tongue in frustration, it happened.

“I’ll try to find it.”

Yu Seol, who had been following silently, suddenly placed her palm on the wall.

She closed her eyes and slowly moved her head as if sensing the surrounding qi.

If it was sensing with the Profound Realm level senses—the highest a human could reach—it should find something. Yu Jinsan asked expectantly.

“Do you feel anything?”

With her eyes closed, Yu Seol slowly moved her lips.

“Yes. There’s an empty space beneath the floor.”

“Our house has a basement?”

Nodding, Yu Seol led Yu Jinsan and Man-ho to a corner on the first floor.

“Under here.”

Yu Jinsan dropped to one knee and placed his palm on the floor.

As he slowly emitted qi, he could sense a space beneath the floor.

“Good job, kid. I don’t know what damn thing is down there, but we’ll teach it a lesson.”

The floor was made of solid wood and there was no visible entrance.

They would have to break it to check.

It was a shame to damage a newly purchased house, but they had no choice.

Yu Jinsan delivered a powerful strike toward the floor.

A hole blew open in the floor, revealing the space below.

Surprisingly, a stone staircase continued down to deeper levels.

“Let’s go down and see.”

“Alright, Grandpa will lead the way.”

After widening the hole a bit, Yu Jinsan took the lead and descended slowly.

It was a deep underground space not touched by a single ray of light. But darkness is no obstacle for martial masters.

Only Man-ho, who was comparatively lower in cultivation, felt somewhat uncomfortable; otherwise there was little problem.

When they had descended about 3 meters.

The party found themselves blocked by a firmly shut iron door.

Seeing the strange symbols covering the door and the talismans plastered all over it, Man-ho warned them.

“I’ve never seen such a powerful seal before. If you open this door, it may be irreversible.”

They weren’t the sort to back down just because they were scared.

Wasn’t it Yin Yang Twin Monster, famous in the martial world for having no scruples?

Without an ounce of hesitation, Yu Jinsan struck the iron door with his palm.

He expected it to fall away at once, but the iron door didn’t budge; only a dented handprint remained at its center.

Yu Jinsan did not give up and unleashed the Yu Family Heaven-and-Earth Palm repeatedly.

Kwang! Kwang!! Kwang!!

No matter how hard he struck, it remained immovable.

What on earth was it made of? It wasn’t ordinary iron, and it seemed immensely thick.

At that moment, Yu Seol, who had been watching from behind, spoke softly.

“Come back and step aside, Grandpa.”

Though his pride was hurt, what could he do?

Yu Jinsan brushed his palm and swapped places with his granddaughter.

“Grandpa has done most of the work; you just need to give it a light touch.”

Having taken his place, Yu Seol drew her fist all the way back behind her shoulder.

Then, without an instant’s hesitation, she thrust her punch into the iron door with all her might.

In an instant, a blinding flash and an enormous roar erupted.

The iron door that had been immovable fell away in an instant.

She had hit so hard that the vibrations echoed throughout the entire underground chamber for some time.

“Now it’s done, right?”

“Couldn’t you have taken it a bit easier? What if the house collapses like this?”

Even as he spoke, Yu Jinsan was inspecting the interior.

All he could see was a long corridor, so they had to go in a bit further.

Then Man-ho, clutching the ritual sword, stepped forward and said.

“From here on, I’ll lead.”

“Do so. Exorcism isn’t our field, so it’s better you handle it.”

The corridor wasn’t as long as they had expected.

After advancing a little along the winding path, a vast space opened up.

Roughly about a hundred feet in size, the place could be called an underground plaza.

“They sure made a space like this underground.”

Looking around, they saw a dais resembling an altar, and inside sat a stone coffin.

Several expensive night-lanterns were embedded in the walls.

Strange items likely used for rituals lay scattered everywhere.

As they surveyed the surroundings, Yu Seol’s joyful exclamation rang out.

“Found it!”

What on earth had she found out of the blue?

When they turned, Yu Seol was clutching something in front of the altar.

It was a small golden box that flashed brightly; with a red gem set into it, it seemed to contain a precious item.

“Don’t just handle things like that carelessly, kid.”

But how could they stop a granddaughter full of curiosity?

Yu Seol had already opened the box.

However, her joy turned to disappointment quickly.

“…What is this?”

Upon closer inspection, the box contained a handful of seeds of an unidentifiable variety.

Despite the passage of many years, they mysteriously felt life within them.

It was a stark contrast to the seeds he had bought at the market that had rotted within a day.

“I don’t know why they’d keep something like this in such a precious box.”

But Yu Seol seemed to think otherwise.

“This is… a treasure seed. What would come out if we planted it?”

How could he know of it?

The seeds’ identity wasn’t the important thing right now.

“We’ll look into it later, so keep them for now. First, let’s deal with this…”

As he turned to ask Man-ho, he was startled.

Yu Seol was frozen in place, her mouth half-open.

Man-ho, slumped at the altar, looked gravely unwell.

For some reason, his eyes were rolled back, showing only the whites—like a person whose soul had left.

“Hey! Snap out of it!”

Yu Jinsan shook his arm, but there was not the slightest movement.

Suddenly, Man-ho’s mouth gaped open and he uttered a portentous phrase.

“Get out of here right now!!!”

At that moment, the grandfather and granddaughter exchanged chilling looks.

“G-Grandpa… It looks like a sp-spirit entered mister Man-ho.”

Yu Seol, who wouldn’t blink even if a million troops charged, was nonetheless very afraid of ghosts.

That fear was instinctive and primal, unrelated to martial arts.

And the one who had passed that genetic trait to his granddaughter was Yu Jinsan himself.

“T-There’s no such thing as ghosts. Don’t worry about it.”

“W-What do we do…”

They couldn’t just leave Man-ho, who had come to help them, like this.

They had to reach a decision somehow.

Yu Jinsan drew on the numerous bits of knowledge he’d picked up over his long life.

After pondering, he arrived at one conclusion.

Yu Jinsan snatched the ritual sword Man-ho had been clutching and said,

“I think we should stab whatever’s in that coffin with this.”