Chapter 34

Chapter 34. Fate of the Guardian (3)

Seongha crossed the walls and wooden defenses of the capital, Hongyang, then rode three hundred ri northeast without stopping.

The road was remote and dangerous.

But it was the fastest route to the Buddhist Holy Land.

He had no other choice.

A journey that normally took more than three days had been completed in less than one.

By the time he stopped, even catching his breath was difficult.

Seongha allowed his horse to drink beside a river while he looked around.

The mountains and rivers formed a breathtaking landscape.

Enormous pinecones as large as fists hung from ancient pine trees.

Wind passed through the branches with a deep humming sound.

People called this place the Ancient Forest.

There were stories of enormous animals being spotted there.

Others claimed to have seen immortals bathing in its valleys.

But there was another rumor.

Anyone who entered the Ancient Forest without understanding it would lose their way and become a wild man.

Because of those stories, there were almost no traces of human travelers anywhere near the forest.

The endless woodland was wrapped in breathless silence.

As Seongha searched for a place to camp, he noticed movement nearby.

Several thin lines of smoke rose between the trees.

Seongha looked around cautiously.

Before he realized it, three or four men had surrounded him.

They pointed pitchforks and sickles in his direction.

“Who are you, and where did you come from?”

“The village chief ordered us to bring in anyone suspicious. Don't complain. You're coming with us.”

They were ordinary villagers with the dirty appearance of mountain animals.

Their teeth were black, and dark eyes shone between their thick, messy hair.

If Seongha fought seriously, none of them would be a match for him.

But he had no desire to fight ordinary villagers.

Besides, there were things he wanted to ask them.

So he quietly followed.

Their village was a small settlement consisting of roughly thirty households and fifty people.

They possessed little more than tiny fields carved from the mountainside, collapsing huts, and hunting equipment.

“Look at that man's clothes. He must have come here to harm us.”

The villagers whispered among themselves.

Whenever someone dressed in expensive clothing came to their village, something bad usually followed.

Officials from the Hui Kingdom's central government searched for people living in unmarked regions and made examples of them.

Officially, they claimed they were arresting those avoiding forced labor and taxes or destroying illegal slash-and-burn settlements and bandit groups.

In reality...

it was closer to hunting humans.

At times, those officials committed acts no person wearing a human face should ever be capable of.

That was why the villagers looked at the outsider Seongha with such deep suspicion.

Then Seongha saw something unexpected.

He stopped walking.

In the center of the village was a small altar containing a Buddhist statue.

A symbol had been carved into a broad, flat stone monument.

A sword and a lotus.

It was an unusual design.

And strangely familiar.

Seongha thought carefully.

Then he remembered where he had seen it.

A place Cheongyeon had once taken him...

The burned temple of the old Cheonhui Kingdom.

The graves belonging to members of the Jeongil Society.

The villagers had lived in terrible conditions, yet they had continued honoring someone for decades without forgetting.

Such a thing would be impossible unless they had deeply respected and followed that person.

Seongha carefully asked,

“Why did you build this Buddhist altar here?”

One of the men answered bluntly.

“To honor a monk.”

“A monk... May I ask his Dharma name?”

“Monk Wongwang.”

It was exactly as Cheongyeon had said.

Seongha deliberately asked as though he knew nothing.

“I heard that he was executed as a heretic several decades ago.”

The villagers immediately grew angry.

“A heretic? Don't speak carelessly about the monk.”

“He was our neighbor and elder. He worked the fields beside us and shared his food with us.”

“Thanks to him, we learned how to pray and discovered how interesting the Buddha's teachings could be.”

“After the monk left the people, the world became chaotic again. What have you great nobles ever done for people like us?”

The villagers praised Monk Wongwang together.

Their voices carried genuine anger.

There was no hint of deception.

Countless events had been condemned as heresy in the official histories of the Hui Kingdom.

What had truly happened?

Seongha remembered Cheongyeon praying before the graves in the old Cheonhui Kingdom.

[The monk was a leader whom ordinary people followed like a parent. They say he believed that saving the people was just as important as cultivation and prayer.]

[That was why the members of the Jeongil Society followed his teachings and traveled between villages suffering from plague or famine, caring for the people.]

Cheongyeon had been the child the Jeongil Society had tried to protect.

She was also the only survivor of the Jeongil Society.

Because Cheongyeon had always carried guilt over those people in her heart, Seongha wanted to understand the truth more deeply.

“Have you ever heard stories about the Black Shadow Heavenly Maiden? I heard that the people of the Jeongil Society protected an infant who descended from Heaven.”

Unfortunately, the villagers' answer disappointed him.

“I've never heard anything like that. Even after helping us, the monk and the Jeongil Society continued traveling all over the Hui Kingdom. It must have happened afterward.”

“But I think the monk once said something about a power eventually appearing that would judge this world... something like that.”

Cheongyeon's words immediately resurfaced inside Seongha's mind.

[Senior Brother told me I possessed a special power. He said that one day, when I descended to the Lower Realm, I would judge the corrupted people of this world.]

[Black Shadow Heavenly Maiden,

Burning in the flames of karmic fire,

She shall return the world to nothingness.]

Everyone seemed to be telling the same story about Cheongyeon's destiny.

A power that would judge the world...

Seongha narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

That was not the future Cheongyeon wanted.

“Wait, nobleman. Your face seems familiar.”

One of the men listening to their conversation stepped forward.

He was a rough-looking middle-aged man whose face was covered in beard, with prominent cheekbones.

“Are you perhaps Hoeryeon's son?”

Seongha froze.

Hoeryeon was his mother's name.

He had never imagined he would hear it again in such a small, shabby village.

There were actually still people in this world who knew something about his mother's past.

Seongha's gaze sharpened.

“How do you know my mother's name?”

For a moment, he feared it might all be a trap.

“My goodness. So I was right! I've always had a sharp eye.”

The man suddenly burst into hearty laughter.

It was the kind of refreshing laugh that seemed to destroy the barriers of status and time between them.

“You've grown into a fine young man.”

The villagers began murmuring.

It did not take long for old memories to return.

Soon, one face after another brightened.

“Hoeryeon's son came back? I still remember him crying while waiting for his mother.”

“That's right. Looking at him now, I can see Hoeryeon's face. The son is just as handsome as his mother was beautiful.”

“He's a proper noble now. Shouldn't we show him some respect?”

Everyone began welcoming Seongha excitedly.

He looked around in disbelief.

Was this the village where he had once lived with his mother as a child?

He had only been five years old back then.

Nothing remained in his memory except vague fragments.

No matter how desperately he had searched, he had never managed to find this place.

Yet somehow...

he had arrived here on his own by complete chance.

Since joining the Jin family, Seongha had never experienced such an uncomplicated welcome.

For a moment, he simply stood there in a daze.

The villagers began telling him stories about his mother.

A young woman who had entered a mountain settlement while carrying a child...

No one could ever be allowed to discover that the baby inside her belonged to the great noble Jin Sangwon.

That was why she had been forced to disappear from the world.

“She was a woman as free as the wind.”

To the villagers, his mother had been a mysterious figure wrapped in mist.

They said she sometimes predicted the future.

She possessed strange talents, such as predicting the weather or guessing the prices of goods.

“Perhaps those years were the quietest and most peaceful time in Hoeryeon's entire life. Those few years when she raised you by herself.”

Quiet and peaceful...

The more Seongha listened, the heavier his heart became.

“Did my mother ever return here afterward? Even the smallest clue would help. Please tell me anything you know.”

One of the elders shook his head.

“After Hoeryeon left the village with you, no one ever learned where she went.”

“She told us something before leaving. She said there was something she absolutely had to do.”

A familiar voice seemed to echo inside Seongha's memories.

[There is something I must do.]

Why had his mother, who had treasured and raised him so lovingly, eventually left him with the Jin family?

What was the task she had claimed she needed to accomplish?

And who had caused her death?

A shadow fell across Seongha's eyes.

His thirst for the truth had only grown stronger.

When mealtime arrived, everyone shared bowls of porridge while looking up at the sky.

Since arriving in the village, Seongha felt as though part of his lost childhood had returned.

There was a strange sense of relief in realizing that his life within the Jin family was not the entirety of his existence.

At the same time, he felt pity for these villagers.

Unlike Seongha, who had lived with the authority and wealth of the Jin family's eldest son, they had survived harsh lives in barren surroundings.

“I'll send livestock and supplies to you soon. Please don't refuse.”

The villagers smiled sadly.

“That's certainly good to hear, but it would be difficult. If people begin coming and going from this place, they'll discover the village's location almost immediately.”

“Once you leave, we're planning to move again. You probably won't be able to find us next time.”

Empty laughter passed through the group.

Then one of the villagers asked,

“Have you heard the stories about the enormous beings living inside the Ancient Forest?”

“There is a hawk that lives on a cliff. They say whoever captures it will receive a special power.”

The villagers told Seongha a legend passed down among the people living near the forest.

To Seongha, their story did not sound completely absurd.

He needed greater strength.

There would be countless battles ahead.

He would have to face not only the other rulers of the Hui Kingdom...

but also supernatural beings.

“There is a hermit living inside the forest called the Nameless Taoist. They say there is nothing he doesn't understand about the laws of nature.”

“Find him and ask how to capture the hawk.”

“But he's almost impossible to find, and whether he grants your request depends entirely on his mood. You should be prepared for him to refuse.”

Seongha handed his horse and travel money to the villagers before saying goodbye.

As though trying to clear the chaos inside his heart, he murmured to himself,

“Perhaps this is why everyone who enters the Ancient Forest is said to lose their way. Remembering the past makes it difficult to quiet the heart.”

It was already strange enough that the villagers he had encountered by chance had once received help from the Jeongil Society.

Then, while asking about Cheongyeon, he had unexpectedly discovered traces of his own mother.

Seongha could not shake the feeling that some connection he did not yet understand existed behind all these events.

Lost in thought, he slowly walked deeper into the forest.

The autumn wind shook the branches.

Dry leaves broke beneath his feet with soft rustling sounds.

And Seongha's thoughts drifted far away.