Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 29

“What in the world is this……”

Diviner Sak couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

If that sensation just now wasn’t her imagination, it undoubtedly surpassed the level of a Yellow Spirit.

This was even more unexpected than the pain from the reflected evil energy.

A vengeful spirit above the level of a Yellow Spirit?

“Sak-bangsa[[Diviner]]? Are you alright?”

Lady Seok, the lady of the house, asked as she helped Sak up.

Sak nodded her head at this question.

Although the evil energy was reflected back at her, she had protected her body with guardian talismans, so she avoided fatal internal injuries.

“Cough cough……”

“What exactly happened?”

“The evil energy I sent was reflected back.”

“Reflected back the evil energy? What is happened does that mean?”

“Just as I said. Diviner Myo-sin lost his life to the vengeful spirit’s killing energy. but I sent the same killing energy back to the vengeful spirit.”

“But you’re saying it bounced that off?”

“Yes.”

At her answer, Lady Seok furrowed her brow.

What was going on here?

A diviner superior to Myo-sin in skill had her reflected evil energy bounced off – she didn’t know how to process this.

“…Then does this mean we cannot resolve this matter?”

-Shk!

At this question from Lady Seok, Sak wiped the black blood from the corner of her mouth and spoke.

“It’s not a matter of resolving it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The situation has become far more dangerous than anticipated.”

At Sak’s grave tone, Lady Seok asked with a worried look:

“Dangerous, you say?”

“If it was around the level of a Yellow Spirit, I could have sent the evil energy, weakened the vengeful spirit, and exorcised it with talisman techniques. But that went awry.”

“Awry meaning…”

“It’s a malicious vengeful spirit of a far higher level.”

At Sak’s words, Lady Seok asked in an uncomprehending tone:

“Do vengeful spirits also have levels?”

“Yes. You can think of it as a measure of danger.”

“Then you said before that a Yellow Spirit? Was it Yellow Spirit? Anyhow, you said it was of a higher level than a Yellow Spirit spirit, so how much more dangerous is it?”

Brushing her disheveled hair back, she replied:

“Actually, even a Yellow Spirit level spirit is extremely dangerous as it can directly inflict killing energy on humans and cause death. But anything higher than that is something even diviners who deal with monsters cannot help but be on alert for.”

“Even for diviners?”

“Yes. Green ghosts and above are quite rare.”

“Why is that?”

“To become a Green ghost or above, that vengeful energy must persist for decades or the spirit must have suffered immense agony. However, most vengeful spirits naturally dissipate over time and are exorcised on their own.”

“…So those Green ghosts are the ones that have survived over many years?”

“Yes. Vengeful spirits that have existed for decades. That is a Green ghost. Even for diviners who specialize in this, dealing with such high-level spirits is no easy task. In most cases, it requires at least five Level 5 diviners to stake their lives to exorcise them.”

Diviners like Myo-sin were absolutely no match for Green ghosts.

At Sak’s explanation, Lady Seok cautiously asked:

“Then is the vengeful spirit possessing him one of those decades-old Green ghosts?”

“Most likely.”

That was Sak’s assumption.

She herself had only encountered higher level spirits twice.

Those could be called calamities without exaggeration, but she felt this wasn’t quite to that degree.

If it was truly that high level, the Yeon Mok Sword Manor here would have already been dyed red with blood.

Its range of influence was incomparable to those below Green ghosts.

That’s why she was convinced it was a Green ghost.

“Sak-bangsa…if it’s that dangerous, can you handle it alone?”

At this question from Lady Seok, Sak held out her hand.

“…What does that mean?”

“You’ll need to pay an additional fee.”

“For what?”

“Five hundred silver nyang is insufficient for a Green ghost level. You’ll need to raise it to a thousand.”

“……”

This situation and she’s haggling?

At Sak’s words, not Lady Seok but the guard Ho-aeng interjected in disbelief.

“A thousand silver nyang? No matter what, five hundred is enough to buy how many sacks of rice, and you think that makes sense?”

“Silver and lives cannot be compared.”

“Lives? Ha! Just because madam requested you, I think you’re mistaken but this is a martial household. It’s not a place for ordinary people…”

“Then the guard can handle it.”

Saying that, Sak tried to leave the storage room.

‘This wench, really!’

Unable to hold back at her behavior, the guard Ho-aeng blocked her way.

“Who said you can leave as you please?”

“Please step aside.”

“Unless you spit back what you received or something…”

“No. It’s fine.”

“What?”

At the sudden words, guard Ho-aeng looked puzzled, but Sak glanced at the top of her sack and muttered as if calming something:

“Settle down. Guyeo.”

‘!?’

There was nothing on the sack.

But why would she say such things as if there was something there? It was bothering her.

Annoyed by this, the guard Ho-aeng asked:

“What’s on the sack that you’re talking like that? Before too, as if there’s something…”

-Rustle rustle!

Before she could even finish.

Subtle rustling sounds reached her ears.

Ho-aeng looked in that direction.

‘Huh?’

There were only piles of sacks and nothing else.

But again, rustling sounds came from somewhere.

And from multiple places at that.

-Rustle rustle! Rustle rustle!

-Shk!

With a tense expression, Ho-aeng moved her hand to the sheath at her waist.

It was an unpleasant sound.

It was coming from here and there and quite grating.

Then Sak waved her hand and spoke in a firm voice:

“Guyeo. Enough.”

As if by magic, the rustling sounds that were just coming from everywhere ceased in an instant.

Feeling a sudden ominous premonition, Ho-aeng asked in a slightly deflated voice:

“Wh…what was that just now?”

At this question, Sak shook her head side to side and said:

“Don’t provoke Guyeo.”

Saying that, Sak made a gesture as if petting the empty air above the sack.

She did the same thing before too, and there was no understanding what she was doing.

“There’s nothing there, so what on earth…”

“Guyeo is very shy.”

“No. What the heck is this Guyeo that you keep…”

“Guyeo is a native Imaemangyang of Mt. Yeoa at the end of Mt. Gal.”

“Imaemangyang? You don’t mean a monster?”

“Similar.”

Imaemangyang (魑魅魍魎).

To be precise, mountain goblins or monsters are called Imae (魑魅) while water monsters in rivers or seas are referred to as Mangnyang (魍魎).

Since ancient times, people have combined these terms and called them Imaemangyang.

“Guyeo is an Imaemangyang that became my servant ghost. Of course, even if it’s shy, it never forgives those who try to harm its master.”

-Hwarak!

As soon as she finished speaking, the torch flickered and a strange shadow was cast behind the sack.

‘Wh-what is this?’

Seeing the shadow, Ho-aeng took a step back with a terrified expression.

There was clearly nothing visible on the sack, but a huge shadow with a snail-like coiled body, a bird’s beak, and a snake’s tail was undulating.

Its appearance was utterly bizarre.

“If there’s nothing more, please step aside now.”

Sak tried to pass by the frightened Ho-aeng.

At that moment, Lady Seok spoke.

“Wait!”

“……..”

“Can you really handle that Green ghost or whatever it is?”

At that question, the corners of Sak’s mouth lifted slightly.

She figured they wouldn’t be able to refuse anyway.

Although a Green ghost level was said to be extremely dangerous, she felt she could handle it somehow as a diviner (Banggi) who could employ servant ghosts.

Sak erased the smile from her lips and turned her head with a serious expression.

“The vengeful spirit will be very angry after having the killing energy reflected back. If we don’t hurry and deal with it, an even bigger incident may occur.”

Lady Seok looked at Sak with sharp eyes.

Soon, she made her decision.

“Alright. A thousand silver nyang. I will pay it.”

“Upfront.”

“…….”

This diviner wench.

She seems obsessed with money.

***

Mok Gyeong-un slowly opened his closed eyes.

Everything was different from when he absorbed the life-nurturing energy through normal qi circulation.

Instead, these chilling and yin energies he took in through reverse circulation felt like wearing clothes that fit his body, allowing him to freely circulate qi.

They didn’t even disappear when entering below his danjeon.

‘Was this the answer.’

Rather than taking in life-nurturing energy that didn’t suit his body, this was better.

Moreover, he could even circulate qi.

However, there was one problem.

‘Too little.’

Compared to life-nurturing energy, this death energy was significantly less.

It was less than even a tenth.

Like a dried up spring, no matter how much he circulated qi, it wouldn’t fill up properly.

‘What a pity.’

If he could secure more of this energy, it seemed he could form a cinnabar field even with this death energy.

Should he just kill someone moderately and absorb death energy in a gruesome manner?

‘Hmm.’

Mok Gyeong-un had that fleeting thought.

But that seemed difficult to do right away.

The more he killed people recklessly, the more restrictions that would arise, so even if he did kill someone, he needed some thorough calculations.

Otherwise, he could end up in a predicament like before.

‘Should I ask them instead?’

As vengeful spirits, Demonic Monk or Cheong-ryeong might know where this death energy was abundantly distributed.

So he went to find Demonic Monk, but,

‘Huh?’

Demonic Monk’s condition looked quite bad.

It was sitting on the floor leaning against something, its body covered in wounds with gray haze-like substance rising from it.

He didn’t know why it was like this.

Moreover, the guard Go-chan was passed out on the infirmary bed in a strange posture as if he fainted.

‘What’s this?’

Did something happen while he was circulating qi?

As he was feeling puzzled, someone’s voice rang out.

-Hmph. You’re a handful. Mortal.

The owner of the voice was Cheong-ryeong.

Sitting on the bed with a pipe in her mouth, she puffed out thick smoke and spoke, lifting Mok Gyeong-un’s chin with the end of the pipe.

-Are you sure you’re a living human?

“You think I might be dead? My heart is beating just fine.”

-Hmm. If you were a proper living being, you should have drawn in life-nurturing energy, not death energy, and performed proper qi circulation and practices.

“Is that wrong to do?”

At this question from Mok Gyeong-un, Cheong-ryeong snorted.

It wasn’t a matter of right or wrong.

She was just curious about something that defied principles.

-Do you not feel like your heart will burst or your head will crack?

“No, nothing like that.”

-How odd. How odd indeed. You are the first mortal of your kind that I’ve encountered.

“Is that so? But may I ask something too?”

At this question from Mok Gyeong-un, Cheong-ryeong put the pipe back in her mouth, took a deep drag and exhaled, speaking in an annoyed tone.

-Huu. What do you want to know?

“Nothing much. How can I gather more death energy?”

-Why do you want to gather that? Are you really intending to form a cinnabar field with that energy?

“Precisely.”

At these words from Mok Gyeong-un, Cheong-ryeong twitched her red lips.

She found this mortal who bound her quite detestable, but on the other hand, she was curious.

If one formed a cinnabar field with death energy instead of life-nurturing energy and wielded it, she wondered in what form that power would manifest.

‘Death energy in a living human body…..’

Quite interesting.

Fiddling with the pipe between her fingers, she spoke.

-Good. I’ll tell you. There’s an easy way.

“And what is that?”

-Kill. That will do.

“….By killing, you mean?”

-When living things, be they humans or anything else, die, their life-nurturing energy transforms into death energy. What you absorbed was probably like that too.

At first, even Cheong-ryeong was doubtful.

After all, living humans cannot absorb death energy.

At her words, Mok Gyeong-un licked his lips slightly and said:

“That’s a pity. I also think that way would be faster, but if I do that, things will get quite troublesome. So it seems hard to kill recklessly right away. Any other methods?”

‘A pity, he says….’

The more she knew this guy, the more he was definitely different from ordinary humans.

His way of thinking was completely different, so to speak.

-Then change the place and time.

“Place and time?”

-In the first place, a place like this infirmary is a place to save people. It’s overflowing with life-nurturing energy, so how much death energy do you think you can gather here?

“I see.”

Mok Gyeong-un nodded as if he understood.

Seeing this, Cheong-ryeong shook her head side to side and continued.

-The time when life-nurturing energy reaches its peak is at dawn before sunrise. As it is the time when life stirs, life-nurturing energy is abundant. Then when would the opposite be?

“Around sunset?”

At those words, Cheong-ryeong laughed.

-No.

“No?”

-You may think so, but the time when death energy is most abundant is different.

“And when is that?”

-From the hour of the rat to the middle of the hour of the tiger[[11 PM to 3 AM]]. This is called the hour of the dead.

“Hour of the dead? Sounds plausible.”

-It reaches its peak in between at the beginning of the hour of the ox. At that time, death energy becomes most abundant.

“Then I should aim for that time. As for the place, somewhere overflowing with yin energy would be good. Like a graveyard, for example.”

-At least your head works that much. Mortal.

Cheong-ryeong lifted the corners of her red lips.

Then, as if becoming conscious of her own expression, she quickly returned to a serious face.

Seeing Cheong-ryeong like this, Mok Gyeong-un smirked inwardly but showed no outward signs and said:

“Thank you for telling me. But can I know why Go-chan and Demonic Monk are like that?”

He was curious about this too.

-You’re quick to be curious. That mortal, you…

As if realizing it would be problematic to say she did that to stop his suicidal act of reverse qi circulation, Cheong-ryeong quickly changed the subject.

She was about to talk while pointing at Demonic Monk with her pipe, but then,

-Uuu-oooh…

A strange sound was heard from outside.

It sounded like a bird cry but also like a fox cry depending on how you heard it.

Finding this strange, he heard a rustling sound from somewhere.

Mok Gyeong-un looked in that direction.

‘What’s that?’

It seemed to be coming from the left side of the bed, but there was nothing there.

-Rustle rustle!

But this time, the sound came from the right side.

So he looked there again, but there seemed to be nothing this time either.

Finding this odd, he was about to-

-Rustle! Rustle! Rustle! Rustle! Ssss ssss ssss ssss!

Sounds came pouring out from here and there.

As he turned his gaze there, black somethings were suddenly swarming and filling the floor.

They were none other than bugs.

All sorts of bugs at that, and their number was hard to fathom.

“…What are these?”

-A troublesome thing has gotten involved, it seems. Mortal.

“Pardon?”

-It’s Guyeo.

In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, one of the three great forbidden books of the Central Plains, it is written thus:

Deep in the mountains of Mt. Yeo-a lives an evil beast called Guyeo.

It has a bird’s beak in its mouth, owl-like eyes, and a snake-like tail.

Guyeo avoids humans.

Guyeo’s cry sounds like it’s calling its own name.

Wherever Guyeo appears, bugs always swarm, and not a single grain of rice can be harvested, eventually turning the land into a barren wasteland.