Chapter 67 – Praying For Rain (5)

Meanwhile, on the other side, Seol Young and the villagers’ discussions were coming to an end.

“Right. Seol Young-rang has other things to do, so he is on his way to Apryang.”

“Anyway, I am glad that the Hwarang troops came here like this. If we catch that beast near the lake, it will start to rain soon, so we can put out all our bowls and wait.”

Seol Young kept glancing at Zaha’s side while listening to the people. As soon as Seol Young left, Seo Geom approached Zaha as if he was waiting and began to talk to him.

But the discussion didn’t end there.

Seo Geom continued to look at Zaha’s reaction carefully. And sometimes, there was a questioning look on his face.

‘Is he asking about training?’

He could see Seo Geom lowering his head and asking for help. Zaha seemed like he was handling it fine, but…

At some point, it felt like Seo Geom took the lead in the discussion, and his words seemed to have made Zaha a bit shocked, considering how his expression had changed.

‘And he told me all of that!’

Seo Geom had a tenacious and smart personality. If he found something odd, he would not stop digging into it.

Seol Young thought that he should help Zaha, and just then, his discussion with the villagers also ended.

“Oh my, we caught a person who must have so much work to do. Go ahead.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Seol Young hurriedly headed toward them, and coincidentally, their discussion seemed to have ended as well.

“I understand.”

Seo Geom said something to Zaha and turned as he walked away. The moment he passed by, Seo Geom looked at him.

“…”

Seol Young also looked at him.

Seo Geom snorted lightly and went to his subordinates, and Seol Young went to Zaha, and asked,

“How many mistakes did you make? Be honest. I need to think of reasons to cover them up.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do not act innocent. I saw how you were a bit panicked when talking to Seo Geom-rang.”

“…”

Zaha looked away.

“There was no mistake, just a small crisis.”

“I knew it.”

“Seo Geom-rang is quick-witted. He was very curious about the kind of training I did in the past eight years. He said he wants to learn about it later…”

Zaha touched his forehead.

“I didn’t know how to deal with it. I thought it would become something huge if I said something wrong and he noticed it…”

He glanced at Seol Young.

“I sold you.”

“What?”

Seol Young was shocked.

“What did you do?”

“He kept looking at you during our conversation, so I remembered that I didn’t know what the reason was, but then he said he was itching to fight you. So I took that as a chance to get through the situation. Through a secret fight.”

Seol Young was surprised.

“How is that even possible? Shouldn’t Hwarangs only fight against each other at an official event?”

“You seem to forget who I am. You see, if I do it, it becomes an official event.”

Zaha spoke confidently and added,

“It’s just that the Governor doesn’t have to know. I am not trying to cheat here. I am just making sure unnecessary information doesn’t leak out.”

“…”

Actually, the highest leader of the Hwarangs was the High Governor. And everyone here had to follow his words.

“But…”

Seol Young shook his head.

“I cannot do it. Baek Eon-rang asked me not to fight with the other Hwarangs.”

“Ah.”

Zaha’s expression changed.

“Is that so? Then it won’t work.”

It was odd how Zaha just stepped back. He touched his forehead like it was hurting.

‘What do I do?’

Seol Young wasn’t sure what to do.

‘I am not even prepared…’

Originally, Zaha was physically healthy and mentally fine. But the man gave up his life to stop a horrible evil spirit.

What would Baek Eon say if he knew of this?

Would he praise Seol Young for ignoring the requests of such a man just because he wanted to keep the promise?

The answer was clear.

Seol Young made up his mind.

“Baek Eon-rang is a nice person, and he told us to follow our will. If someone is in trouble, then we should help them. That is what the White Tiger Spirit Troops were taught.”

“I guess so.”

“The reason he asked me not to fight was that he was worried about me getting entangled in a fuss. But this case doesn’t apply to that. If I inform him later, he will probably say I did a good job.”

“Of course, Baek Eon-rang isn’t the type to be stubborn, so you don’t have to worry. All I have to do is say something.”

Zaha said so right away, as if he were waiting.

At the same time, it seemed like the talks of the Blue Dragon True Troops was also over. Everyone turned their way.

“Everyone, gather here.”

Zaha said.

“Then Seo Geom-rang and Seol Young-rang are both in favor of this secret sparring, right?”

“Yes.”

Seol Young glanced at Seo Geom, who answered confidently. He knew that this was bound to happen at some point.

‘Of course, this will not be easy.’

Seo Geom was the leader of one of the troops. And there was a clear difference between Seol Young’s skills and his.

No matter how hard he tried, his sword skills would not suddenly improve, so Seol Young was weaker in terms of swordsmanship.

And his opponent was not an evil spirit that he could expel with talismans or chants.

He could try to strike him, but he couldn’t win with simple weapons because this was different from the normal fights he had gone through before.

But the thing was, despite all of that, he had to win.

Only then would Seo Geom fall. It didn’t matter if the fight ended in a draw.

And when he was thinking that…

“But let’s do the spar in a new method.”

Zaha said.

“A new method?”

Everyone turned to him, and they thought to themselves,

‘Right. He has always been like this.’

He had a personality that gets easily bored, so he always tried new things.

‘Even though he has trained alone for eight years, he hasn’t changed.’

Everyone looked at him with puzzled expressions.

“What method?”

Zaha answered.

“The usual one-on-one sword spar won’t benefit the world, and it will only make one of you shed blood in a crucial situation. It can be called the way of a criminal.”

“Then are you saying there is a sparring that can benefit the world?”

“Sure. Shall we say it’s the way of a gentleman? There is one where it is not simply a one-on-one spar. I’ll set a time limit, and you’ll compete to see who can catch more evil spirits and demons.”

“Aha.”

Everyone understood it then. In other words, it was similar to a hunting competition.

‘Thank goodness.’

Seol Young felt happy on the inside. This was a lot better than a one-on-one spar.

He thought that he might get stabbed too many times in a spar of just swords, and now that concern vanished…

At the very least, he possessed the skills required to even out the disparity by a small margin.…

‘I need to win.’

Seol Young was determined now.

“Nice.”

Both sides nodded.

And one Hwarang asked,

“But in order to do this new spar, shouldn’t we first find a place that has a lot of evil spirits and demons?”

“Yes.”

Zaha pointed to the mountain to the south.

“I have been a bit suspicious of that place ever since we arrived here.”

It was Mount Byeokdo.

The blue top. They say it symbolizes the immortality of Taoism.

Perhaps that was why wandering Taoists frequented this mountain. It wouldn’t be strange if a strange aura could be felt from there.

“We will lead the way.”

The Blue Dragon True Troops took the lead.

The group headed for Mount Byeokdo.

The sun was shining in the sky, but the moment they entered the mountain, for some reason, a gloomy atmosphere hung over them.

The tree trunks were covered with moss around them. And there were holes in the trees as if the trees were opening their mouths.

They walked for a long time on the gloomy mountain path.

And then the Hwarangs suddenly stopped.

The Yin Yang plaque on their swords began to vibrate, and they all pointed in the same direction.

“This way!”

It was the dense bamboo forest beside the path.

In the middle of the pitch-black darkness, where there were too many trees to count, they felt something.

And they made their way through it.

At some point, their eyes widened.

Inside was a collapsed fence-like thing and a rundown building.

It was a Taoist temple.

The place where the Taoist monks visited to pray and find peace.

They didn’t know why a temple was built in such a place. But it seemed like it had been abandoned for a long time.

“…”

The Hwarangs looked at Zaha. They waited for his orders, and Zaha nodded.

Then the Hwarangs immediately scattered around the temple. Each of them took their position and inserted their swords and infused spirit qi into the ground.

A bright light shone around them and vanished. That was how they made a barrier, and then they entered.

As soon as they crossed the barrier, Seol Young felt it.

‘There are many.’

The door to the temple fell down, revealing what was inside.

Their God was inside.

The Seven Star God.

It seemed like the seven statues placed in the constellation of the Big Dipper were once amazing things.

But such a long time has passed. The colors were all faded, and the faces looked dusty. The trees inside were rotting and looked like they would break at any moment.

Perhaps the Taoists had a reason to leave this place and never come back.

In abandoned places like this, bad things always happen. This served as a place for ignorant people to step into, despite the fact that it had been clearly abandoned.

And in the meantime, the Seven Star God had been suppressing the Yin qi from leaking out all this time.

However, because it must have been exhausted, some of the energy must have been released outside.

“…”

Everyone exchanged glances.

Those who have settled here must be unaware that their hideout had been discovered.

“Then let’s start.”

Zaha brought out a small bell with a handle.

“Starting now, you will hunt for thirty minutes. Be sure to leave your spiritual energy on the remains for proof. The one who will catch lesser evil spirits will have to get down on his knees in front of the winner and call him Hyung.”

Seol Young and Seo Geom were a bit taken aback.

‘I didn’t say anything like that, though?’

And at that moment, the bell rang.