Chapter 355: War, Buddha, Palm (3)

Yi-gang recalled the explanation about the Enshrined Deity Box.

The Evil Cult was a heretical group that worshipped the Evil God.

Their sole purpose for existing was to resurrect that Evil God.

As the word “resurrect” implied, the Evil God was not in a complete state but was sealed.

The box in which the Evil God was sealed was the Enshrined Deity Box, and for some reason, it was currently in the possession of the Azure Forest.

Even if one were to invade the Azure Forest and seize the Enshrined Deity Box, it would be useless if they couldn’t open it.

It’s said that the keys to open the Enshrined Deity Box were scattered all over the world, so the true goal of the Evil Cult was to find those keys and steal the box.

And one of those keys they sought was right in front of Yi-gang’s eyes.

Yi-gang had heard that he was born with the fate of being the Evil Cult’s adversary.

Then perhaps seizing this key was also destined.

Was this happening because Yi-gang truly was that adversary?

Or was it because Yi-gang made a choice that went against the Evil Cult’s will, thus becoming their adversary?

「Enough pointless thoughts. Can’t you just leave me and go in already?」 asked Bodhidharma, bound to Yi-gang’s arm.

But it was already too late to turn back.

‘Let’s go together.’

Yi-gang fully stepped into the black mist.

Even though he held his breath, the mist seemed alive as it was sucked into Yi-gang’s nose and ears.

He tried to resist, thinking it might be poison, but it was already too late.

‘Damn it!’

Yi-gang felt his body lift off the ground.

His vision was swallowed in black.

In reality, his body probably hadn’t floated up nor had the surroundings changed.

「Calm yourself. It’s merely an illusion.」

Bodhidharma assured him of that.

If it was an illusion, it was astonishing.

It couldn’t be poison or dream-inducing incense. The sensations were far too vivid for that.

Yi-gang looked at his hands and jumped in surprise.

His hands were extremely small.

His arms and legs were short too. It was as if he’d returned to childhood.

「How amusing. Is this your younger self?」

Bodhidharma was no longer bound to his arm.

Following the voice, Yi-gang turned his head—and let out a dry laugh.

There was Bodhidharma.

Only now, it was no longer its usual form, but a tiny thread snake barely the size of a handspan.

‘You look… quite unique.’

「…Indeed.」

Bodhidharma looked so gloomy that Yi-gang couldn’t bring himself to keep laughing.

‘What’s troubling you?’

「Too much time has passed.」

What did that mean?

「I’ve spent more time living in the body of an imoogi than I ever did as a human, as a prince.」

The space Yi-gang was in was an unreal one.

In a zero-gravity space where everything floated, Bodhidharma moved as if swimming through water.

「Even in this mindscape that reflects one’s essence… I am still just a snake.」

Bodhidharma’s appearance could be called adorable, but he himself seemed deeply disturbed.

Yi-gang spoke, as if to console him, ‘You’re not a snake—you’re an imoogi, aren’t you?’

「What’s the difference between an imoogi and a snake? Just the size of the body?」

Yi-gang couldn’t answer easily.

An imoogi was, in truth, a very peculiar creature.

Dragons, of course, were legendary beasts, and even a Heavenly Thunder White-Tail Fox was a world apart from an ordinary fox.

But while an imoogi wasn’t a mere beast, it also fell short of being called a true spiritual creature.

「Back when I was young and arrogant, saving that dying imoogi was surely an act of pity.」

Bodhidharma had tried to carry the dying imoogi back to the sea.

In doing so, through a series of absurd misfortunes, he lost his original body.

「But, in truth, that wasn’t the only reason. Half of it was… desire.」

‘Desire?’

「Yes. A desire I couldn’t confess as a seeker of the Tao.」

It was a story Yi-gang had never heard before.

Bodhidharma twisted his body midair.

After spinning once, he finally spoke again, 「He promised me—if I took him back to the sea, he would give me his internal elixir.」

‘Internal elixir?’

Yi-gang found that unexpected.

To think Bodhidharma helped the imoogi in exchange for an internal elixir.

「Back then, I was still foolish. I did wish to save the people of the Central Plains, but it was an era when a wicked emperor reigned with overwhelming power.」

Yi-gang wondered who that wicked emperor was—it seemed Bodhidharma meant Emperor Wu of Liang.

There had been bad blood between Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu.

「He used to sacrifice commoners to evil spirits in exchange for power. To oppose him, I needed strength.」

Bodhidharma said that as he twisted his body again.

For some reason, it looked painful.

‘This is the first time I’ve heard this story.’

「History tends to be rewritten at the whims of those who come after… In truth, I helped that imoogi out of desire.」

In the end, he said, he never obtained the internal elixir.

The imoogi eventually died while still possessing Bodhidharma’s body.

「Whatever the intention, I was blinded by desire and my judgment became clouded. That’s how I lost my body and ended up living as an imoogi.」

「What do you think? That past of mine—grasping for an internal elixir out of greed… is it disgraceful?」

Bodhidharma let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh.

Yi-gang murmured softly, ‘…Maybe.’

「What was that?」

‘…It could be, I guess.’

「Heh… there’s no need to comfort me.」

‘No, I truly understand.’

Bodhidharma seemed to think Yi-gang was just trying to console him with vague words.

But Yi-gang was being sincere.

Isn’t it possible that someone might make a wrong choice in the pursuit of an internal elixir?

Besides, if the goal was something noble, there’s really no reason to blame him.

「Still… thank you, even if it’s just words.」

Yi-gang couldn’t quite understand why Bodhidharma was so grateful.

Maybe it was because he had shared a part of himself he hadn’t told anyone else.

「Go now. Go and claim the key.」

This wasn’t the time for idle chatter.

Yi-gang had also figured out how to move within this zero-gravity space.

The glowing orb that looked like a key was at the center of this dark space.

Yi-gang swam toward the orb as if gliding through water.

「Grab it.」

Yi-gang reached out his hand.

The light emitted from the key to the Enshrined Deity Box gave off a warm sensation.

Rrrumble—

At that moment, another violent tremor and deafening boom erupted.

Yi-gang seized the orb in that instant.

‘Kh!’

Then, he flinched at the burning pain in his palm.

When he opened his hand, the glowing orb had vanished without a trace.

Instead, a hot energy surged down his arm.

It was a familiar sensation to Yi-gang.

It felt similar to when he had circulated energy using the Wisdom Mind Art of the Azure Forest.

「It must have been absorbed into your body.」

It might be just as Bodhidharma described.

The surroundings, once wrapped in a warm darkness, began to change.

As the darkness lifted, the sensations in his body returned to normal.

It felt like waking up from a dream.

Yi-gang’s eyes snapped open.

The first thing he saw in his field of vision was Tsering.

“You’re awake!”

Tsering quickly ran off to call Dam Hyun.

Yi-gang realized he had been kneeling on the ground.

Bodhidharma was also calmly wrapped around his forearm.

Soon, Dam Hyun returned.

Yi-gang asked the most important question first, “How long was I like that?”

“About half an hour. You wouldn’t wake up no matter how much I tried.”

Half an hour wasn’t that long.

Yi-gang let out a sigh of relief, thankful.

“It felt like I opened my eyes immediately…”

“Did you secure the key?”

“Yes, but when I grabbed it, it disappeared. I think it went into my body.”

“There are spells like that. Not a big deal. We can extract it later if needed. But there’s something more urgent.”

“What is it?”

Dam Hyun spoke with a very serious expression, “I think we’re screwed.”

“…Screwed? What do you mean?”

“Feels like we’re dead. No—more like, we’re about to die.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They said an exit would appear once we got the key, right?”

“…Yeah.”

That had been the Dalai Lama’s explanation.

Once they acquired the key, a secret passage to the exit would open. They were supposed to escape through it.

“Well, the exit did appear. But it collapsed immediately.”

“It collapsed?”

Dam Hyun pointed to the opposite side of the entrance they had come through.

The wall had collapsed. Gal Dong-tak was drenched in sweat, clearing away the rubble from the fallen wall.

“It looks like the entire passage collapsed because of the earthquake.”

It seemed the loud rumble they heard earlier hadn’t been an illusion.

“What about other passages?”

“We searched, but couldn’t find any.”

“Then we’ll have to go back the way we came…”

That wasn’t possible. They had completely destroyed it to prevent being followed.

Yi-gang realized just how serious the situation had become.

“We only have food for three days. Even if we can manage water…”

Dam Hyun wore a heavy expression.

He was someone who usually never lost his composure, but perhaps the sense of crisis was getting to him.

He whispered in a very low voice, “If it comes down to it…”

He subtly pointed toward Gal Dong-tak, who was still hard at work clearing the rubble.

“Let’s eat that guy first.”

“Logically, it makes sense. It’s reasonable.”

Yi-gang grimaced.

Dam Hyun had the most important talents for someone who practiced sorcery.

One of them was an imagination several times more vivid than that of an average person.

You couldn’t blame him for vividly imagining being trapped in a sealed underground labyrinth.

Even if they managed to find water, in three days their food would run out.

To avoid starving to death, they might have to abandon, no—utterly betray—human decency.

“We might not have a choice…”

“Hey, come on.”

Dam Hyun shut his mouth, looking falsely wronged.

He had no choice. If he said more, Yi-gang probably wouldn’t let it slide.

Covered head to toe in dirt and dust, Gal Dong-tak looked up with clear eyes like a cow.

“What do you mean, no choice?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

Yi-gang smiled kindly at Gal Dong-tak, unlike his usual self.

The scenario Dam Hyun was imagining would never come to pass.

Gal Dong-tak gave up on trying to clear the collapsed passage.

At a certain point, as he dug further, the ceiling had caved in and nearly buried him.

The terrain was undoubtedly unstable now.

No matter how superhuman their bodies might be, there were limits to what they could do.

Instead, they decided to first get a proper grasp of the environment.

Yi-gang and his group thoroughly searched the complex underground space.

Then Yi-gang spoke, as if he had realized something, “Where is the water flowing from?”

There was a waterway in the underground labyrinth.

It wasn’t unusual for groundwater to exist in a cave.

But in this situation, even the smallest clue was worth investigating.

Yi-gang followed the flow of water upstream.

And then he discovered something.

“This wasn’t here before, right?”

“Looks like it opened up because of the earthquake.”

A large crack had split the wall. Beyond it, a natural-looking cave stretched on.

The earthquake had blocked the original exit—but had it also revealed a new path?

“We’ll have to go in.”

There was no doubt that there were no other routes left.

Yi-gang and his group entered the passage.

「Hmm, this way is…」

They turned and turned—and kept turning.

Even a highly trained martial artist would lose their sense of direction in a place like this.

Still, Bodhidharma spoke, though unsure.

「It’s in the direction of the lake.」

If that were true, then it was nothing to complain about.

Had they walked for about half an hour? Yi-gang discovered a pool of standing water.

He raised his torch to look around—it was a rather small pool.

But all the water in the labyrinth seemed to be flowing from this spot.

In other words, it could be considered the source.

“It’s pretty deep.”

The water was crystal clear.

It was likely connected to an underground spring.

Dam Hyun walked in circles around the water’s edge.

Yi-gang sat quietly with his eyes closed.

Gal Dong-tak and Tsering, with no particular thoughts in mind, simply played hand games with each other.

The first to speak was Dam Hyun.

“I don’t know if I’m just thinking crazy here…”

If even Dam Hyun was calling it a crazy idea, it was bound to be something wild.

Yi-gang listened with his eyes closed.

“What if… we could get out through here?”

“…Hard to say.”

Though he said that, Yi-gang had secretly been thinking the same thing as Dam Hyun.

“The water is clear. There’s no muddy sediment. And do you see that fish?”

“Fish that live in caves are usually blind and pale, you know.”

Yi-gang knew that as well.

A fish the size of a forearm was swimming in the pool.

It wasn’t the kind of creature that could survive in a closed ecosystem like this.

“If we’re lucky…”

“…It might be connected to the lake.”

Beneath the clear pool, a passage where water flowed in was visible.

If they were really lucky and it led to the lake, maybe they could swim out through it.

“The chances are slim.”

Just as Yi-gang said.

Even if the water passage continued, what were the odds it was wide enough for a person to fit through?

“We just have to check.”

Dam Hyun pulled something out from inside his robes.

It was a wooden snake figurine, about the size of a finger.

Dam Hyun cut his own finger and let blood drip onto it—astonishingly, it began to glow and squirm on its own.

He threw it into the water and sat cross-legged.

Soon, the wooden figurine swam like it was alive and dove beneath the pool.

“Haa…”

Yi-gang let out a deep sigh.

No matter how he looked at it, this plan had a high chance of going terribly wrong.

How much time had passed?

Dam Hyun, who had been sitting cross-legged, suddenly stood up.

With a reluctant look on his face, he spoke.

“I can’t do it. You…”

“Can you swim?”

Yi-gang could swim.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Dam Hyun finally grinned.

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