We left Kaifeng behind and resumed our journey toward the Zhuge Clan.
The contest between the Life-Seizing Wanderer and me was currently in my favor.
I had saved a child during the Se-eul-gyeong Clan’s carriage accident, while the Life-Seizing Wanderer had yet to perform any noteworthy act of chivalry.
Opportunities to do something heroic didn’t come along all that often, after all.
We could probably find one if we actively went looking, but with our schedule already so tight, we didn’t have time for that.
We had agreed that our contest would last until we reached the Zhuge Clan, and our destination was no longer far away.
Kaifeng lay in northern Henan, while the Zhuge Clan stood near the border between Henan and Hubei.
Perhaps that was why the Life-Seizing Wanderer seemed increasingly anxious.
I couldn’t tell whether he was obsessed with winning our contest or simply obsessed with collecting Epithets…
I had no idea how he’d become so fixated on accumulating Epithets in the first place.
From what he’d told me before, it sounded like his obsession had begun with fairly righteous intentions.
“Life-Seizing Wanderer.”
“Did you call for me, Brother?”
I had to admit, hearing him call me Brother felt pretty good.
“You said you were searching for your missing Master, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right, Brother.”
“Is the reason you wander across the Empire to find your Master? Or is it to collect Epithets?”
“O–Of course… it’s to find my Master.”
“Then why does it seem like you’re more obsessed with collecting Epithets?”
At my question, he awkwardly scratched his cheek.
“Hmm… How should I put this? Finding my Master is my primary duty, while collecting Epithets is more of a hobby.”
“I see.”
I followed up with another question.
“Then what happens when that hobby starts interfering with your primary duty, yet you continue pursuing it anyway?”
“…”
The Life-Seizing Wanderer couldn’t answer.
He wasn’t completely thoughtless, so he probably understood well enough why he couldn’t answer carelessly.
“There are two solutions in that situation.”
“What are they?”
“Either abandon the hobby, or turn that hobby into your primary pursuit.”
“Are you saying this Life-Seizing Wanderer should either stop collecting Epithets, or set aside the search for my Master and make my activities as the Life-Seizing Wanderer my true calling?”
“You understood perfectly. Also, we haven’t reached the Zhuge Clan yet, but your speech is already becoming rather casual.”
“…Ahem. My apologies.”
I narrowed my eyes at him before continuing.
“If you can’t bring yourself to abandon your activities as the Life-Seizing Wanderer, then perhaps finding your Master simply isn’t that important to you. Your Master guided you all the way to your current realm, yet perhaps that’s the full extent of the devotion you feel toward him.”
“…!”
The Life-Seizing Wanderer’s eyes trembled.
I stopped there and said nothing more.
He needed time to think for himself.
If I kept pressing without allowing him time for introspection, my words might have the opposite effect.
As we continued down the road, Escort Guard Seo Wu spoke.
“It appears we’ll have to camp outdoors tonight.”
“It seems so.”
There were no suitable lodgings along today’s route.
Rather than sleep in some dubious establishment, I would feel far more comfortable finding a decent place and camping beneath the open sky.
We found an appropriate spot and began preparing camp, while Palgap lit a fire and started roasting strips of dried meat.
The dried meat we’d bought in Kaifeng became a genuine delicacy when lightly roasted over a fire.
I raised my head and glanced at the Life-Seizing Wanderer.
Ever since I’d given him that question to consider, he’d worn the same deeply troubled expression.
“Life-Seizing Wanderer.”
“Yes, Brother.”
I handed him a skewer covered in roasted dried meat.
“Thinking things through is important, but so is eating. Your mind won’t work properly on an empty stomach.”
“Thank you.”
He accepted the skewer from me.
I picked up one of my own and began eating as well.
Palgap had gathered some mushrooms and placed them between the pieces of dried meat, making the entire skewer twice as flavorful.
“This is delicious!”
“It was worth gathering those mushrooms if they please you, Young Master.”
The mushrooms Palgap had gathered possessed a texture similar to meat and enhanced the flavor of any food cooked alongside them.
They were also known for reducing fevers, and strangely enough, they grew only on ancient willow trees.
Even then, they were quite rare.
That made their presence here rather curious.
“These mushrooms only grow on willow trees. Was there a whole grove of willows somewhere in these mountains?”
To gather this many mushrooms, he would have needed to find at least five or six ancient willow trees.
Willows usually grew near wetlands, streams, and valleys.
In other words, they required an abundance of water nearby.
However, the path we’d traveled hadn’t been wet enough to support an entire grove of willow trees.
“Now that you mention it, it was rather strange. Those willow trees weren’t near a stream or valley. They were simply growing on the mountainside.”
“Is that so?”
My curiosity was suddenly piqued.
“Should we go take a look?”
And so I headed toward the place where Palgap had gathered the mushrooms, taking him and Escort Guard Seo Wu with me.
The Life-Seizing Wanderer followed us as well.
“Why didn’t you stay there and rest, Life-Seizing Wanderer? Why are you coming with us?”
He answered my question without hesitation.
“I became curious as well.”
“I take it you’ve finished thinking.”
“Well… yes, I suppose I have.”
He scratched the back of his neck.
“A thought suddenly occurred to me. If my Master saw the way I’ve been behaving, he would probably sigh at my immaturity.”
He let out a long breath before continuing.
“I claimed that the reason I wandered across the Empire was to find my Master, but in truth, I had forgotten that purpose. Perhaps I had grown so exhausted from searching for him that, without realizing it, I began looking for an excuse to turn away.”
A forlorn note colored his voice.
Perhaps his activities as the Life-Seizing Wanderer had begun because he wanted to escape the pressure and obligation of searching for his Master.
This was complicated.
Looking at him reminded me of Young Clan Lord Peng Gang-un of the Hebei Peng Clan.
He had also wandered across the Empire searching for his uncle. Along the way, his life had been threatened countless times.
I’d heard that he was now a highly regarded Young Clan Lord within his family.
I hoped he continued to grow and eventually inherited the position of Clan Lord without incident.
After all, he was both a reliable contractor and a valuable ally of mine.
“And so, I…”
Just then, Palgap pointed toward a particular spot.
“That is where I gathered the mushrooms.”
It was an ordinary mountainside.
There was no standing water and no stream nearby. It was hardly the sort of place where a grove of willow trees should have been able to grow.
Yet there stood a grove of willows.
And they belonged to a variety that required an especially large amount of water.
I approached one of the trees and placed my hand against its trunk.
It was moist.
That meant there was an abundance of water somewhere nearby.
But where was it?
A sudden possibility occurred to me, and I focused my Internal Power into my ears.
The sounds of nature poured into my hearing.
Birdsong.
Leaves rustling in the wind.
And the sound of running water.
Water!
I could unmistakably hear water flowing nearby.
That meant water was moving beneath the ground.
An underground stream was hardly unusual, but from somewhere within it came a sound that had no business being there.
“Ugh… Hng…”
Was that someone groaning?
“We have a problem.”
Escort Guard Seo Wu immediately asked,
“What is it?”
“Water is flowing beneath us. But I can hear someone groaning down there.”
“What?”
“Could you perhaps have misheard it?”
I shook my head at Palgap’s question.
“No. It was far too clear to be a mistake. Someone is praying to Heaven for help.”
Now that I’d heard such a thing, I couldn’t simply walk away.
This might delay our journey, but I had a very bad feeling about it.
For some reason, I also felt that we absolutely had to save whoever was down there.
“What will you do?”
The Life-Seizing Wanderer answered my question.
“Didn’t you tell me not to lose sight of what truly matters?”
“So you remembered.”
Exactly. That was the most important reason.
Besides, we had the power to save someone in danger, so there was even less reason to hesitate.
I immediately returned to our campsite and explained the situation to the others.
“I’m sorry to ask this of everyone.”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
“We need only follow our lord’s command.”
Palgap and Escort Guard Chang Un remained behind to protect the horses and our belongings, while the rest of us began thoroughly searching the area around the spot where I’d heard the voice.
If my suspicions were correct, there had to be a cave entrance somewhere nearby.
“Kui?”
At that moment, Geumryeong’s ears suddenly perked up, and its head emerged from my sleeve.
“What is it? Did you notice something?”
“Kui! Kui!”
Hm? You’ve been sensing the presence of money somewhere below us?
“Kui!”
The presence of money, rather than some expensive treasure…
More importantly, if Geumryeong was taking the initiative like this, perhaps it also knew where the passage was.
“Geumryeong, can you find a path that leads there?”
“Kui? Kui.”
“You don’t know the path? You only know the location?”
Just as disappointment began to set in, Geumryeong spoke again.
“Kui! Kui!”
Hm? What was the point of carrying the Path-Revealing Map if I wasn’t going to use it?
The Path-Revealing Map?
At Geumryeong’s suggestion, I unfolded the Path-Revealing Map and said,
“But the Path-Revealing Map only shows me a safe path to my destination.”
Crinkle.
As though displeased by my words, one corner of the Path-Revealing Map folded in on itself.
Hm?
Wait… A safe path to my destination?
My destination.
Ah, of course!
Traveling from here to the Zhuge Clan wasn’t the only journey with a destination. Reaching and rescuing the person calling for help beneath the ground also counted.
I hurriedly apologized to the Path-Revealing Map.
“Sorry. I didn’t fully understand what you could do. Someone is trapped inside a cave beneath us, and I’m trying to rescue them. Which way should I go?”
At that moment, the image on the map vanished and was replaced by another.
It displayed the terrain surrounding the mountainside where we stood.
Soon, a red line began drawing itself across the map, marking the path we needed to follow.
“Wow, Path-Revealing Map! You’re incredibly capable.”
Despite the complete absence of wind, one corner of the map fluttered.
It almost seemed embarrassed by the praise.
After memorizing the route shown by the Path-Revealing Map, I gathered the others.
“I found the way in. Follow me.”
I took the lead and headed toward the entrance indicated by the Path-Revealing Map.
“Are you certain this is the right place?”
The Life-Seizing Wanderer had good reason to question it.
A massive boulder completely blocked the way ahead.
“Yes.”
I nodded with complete confidence.
If the Path-Revealing Map had guided us here, then this had to be the safest available route.
Escort Guard Seo Wu stepped forward.
“I’ll open the way.”
“We don’t know what might be inside, so please make as little noise as possible.”
“Understood.”
Escort Guard Seo Wu formed sword Qi and carefully began slicing through the boulder.
Shattering it in a single blow might create too much noise or even trigger a landslide.
As Escort Guard Seo Wu cut away pieces of stone, Escort Guard Lee Pil and Escort Guard Myeong Jong caught them with their bare hands and quietly lowered them to the ground.
Once they had created an opening large enough for a person to pass through, we peered inside.
A surprisingly spacious cave stretched beyond the boulder.
“It’s extremely dark.”
No light reached the cave’s interior.
The sun was also beginning to set, which meant that once we entered, we would be surrounded by darkness so complete that we wouldn’t be able to see an inch in front of us.
Of course, darkness alone wouldn’t prevent us from moving.
However, compensating for it would consume a considerable amount of Internal Power, and our vision still wouldn’t be as clear as it would under proper light.
Entering a dark cave blindly was never a wise decision, so we needed something that could illuminate our surroundings.
I searched through my pouch and took out a Night Pearl.
The Life-Seizing Wanderer’s eyes widened in shock.
“Gasp! Isn’t that a Night Pearl?”
“That’s right.”
When I pulled out several more, his shock turned to outright horror.
“Gasp!”
“Have you never seen a Night Pearl before?”
“N–No, I have, but isn’t carrying seven of them more than enough reason to be astonished?”
“Hmm. I suppose it is.”
“And the pouch you were keeping them in is rather extraordinary as well.”
I gave him a faint grin.
“This was a token of favor from someone who sits far above us.”
The pouch was an Artifact bestowed upon me by the Emperor, and it had proven extraordinarily useful.
I also took out several cloth holders I’d prepared in advance.
Each one was made from loosely woven fabric and had a long cord attached.
“Place a Night Pearl inside the cloth and hang the cord around your neck. That will leave both hands free.”
“That seems quite practical.”
Once we had fully prepared ourselves, we entered the space beyond the boulder.
Splash, splash.
Judging by the water covering the ground, this was undoubtedly where the willow trees above obtained their moisture.
A small stream flowed beside us.
We continued in the same direction as the current.
The ground didn’t appear to slope downward, but the flowing water proved that there had to be at least a slight incline.
We carefully made our way deeper into the cave.
This region contained many rocky mountains, so the cave had most likely formed naturally.
How long had we been walking?
“…!”
I raised one hand, signaling everyone to stop.
I had sensed Unorthodox Qi from somewhere far ahead.
I hadn’t detected it from the mountainside above, but it had become perceptible once we ventured deeper into the cave.
Why was there Unorthodox Qi inside a hidden cave like this?
What in the world was happening down here?
I soon understood why the Path-Revealing Map had directed us along this route.
The other passage was probably guarded and watched with great vigilance.
Had we attempted to infiltrate through that entrance, rescuing the owner of the groans I’d heard might have become far more difficult.
I calmly issued my instructions.
“There appear to be dangerous people ahead. Do not use the Night Pearls for the time being.”
At my words, the Life-Seizing Wanderer began unfastening the cord to return his Night Pearl.
However, I shook my head and handed him another pouch.
“We may need it later, so return it once we’re somewhere safe. This pouch was made to block light. Wrap it around the Night Pearl and place it beneath your clothes.”
“Understood.”
After concealing the Night Pearls’ glow, we cautiously continued forward.
There were several smaller caverns farther inside, and iron bars had been installed across each entrance.
An Underground Prison.
We would have to subdue the guards first.
People carrying such vicious Unorthodox Qi couldn’t possibly be guarding an Underground Prison for any benevolent purpose.
Some of them even possessed Unorthodox Qi tainted by the stench of blood.
I issued instructions to everyone through Voice Transmission.
Then I released a burst of Qi and extinguished every flame illuminating the cave at once.
Whoosh!
Fwoosh!
The instant the fires went out, we charged the guards of the Underground Prison from every direction.
–TL Notes–
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