Chapter 42. About Faith (6)
The commoners’ strange declaration immediately threw the banquet into confusion.
Namwan’s face twisted.
“What nonsense are they speaking?”
His voice thundered across the gathering.
“Heavenly Maiden, come before the platform and explain yourself.”
Namwan already hated everything involving Beopsindang and its Heavenly Maiden.
And earlier, he had been humiliated before everyone.
Cheongyeon began to stand.
But Seongha immediately grabbed her arm.
“Heavenly Maiden.”
His expression was serious.
“We should first find out who those people are before you act.”
“The timing of their appearance is too convenient.”
“And they seem to be hiding some purpose.”
The commoners had appeared at the exact moment Cheongyeon had officially been recognized by Namwan.
Now every ruler of the Hui Kingdom was paying uncomfortable attention to her.
Seongha’s expression darkened.
“Someone must be directing them.”
With the Hui Kingdom suffering from economic hardship, ordinary people struggled just to survive from one day to the next.
It would be extremely difficult for hundreds of them to organize themselves and travel this far together.
And now they were openly expressing their beliefs before the king and great nobles.
Such behavior required either enormous desperation...
or beliefs that had been planted in them for a long time.
Who created this trap?
Seongha could not hide his discomfort.
Cheongyeon gently placed her hand over his.
“I think we should hear what they have to say first.”
Then she stepped forward.
The commoners immediately shouted.
“The Heavenly Maiden!”
“We finally see the Heavenly Maiden!”
“We’re saved now!”
The moment Cheongyeon appeared, the people dropped to the ground and bowed in rows.
They looked at her with blind faith.
As though Cheongyeon were the final rope keeping them from falling into death.
One person cried out,
“We are the Heavenly Maiden’s people!”
“From now on, we will follow the Heavenly Maiden’s will!”
My people?
Cheongyeon felt uncomfortable.
They were worshipping her as if she were a god.
Why were they following her?
Even Cheongyeon herself still did not fully understand who she was.
Or what she could truly do.
She looked around.
The king.
The ministers.
The nobles.
Everyone was watching her.
Shouldn’t the people standing on that platform be responsible for these commoners?
A question entered Cheongyeon’s heart.
What exactly is faith?
The people began begging again.
“Heavenly Maiden, please help us!”
“Please take us to the Land of the Golden Lotus!”
Cheongyeon suddenly remembered Jeongyo’s words.
[Heavenly Maiden, they say there is a magnificent Land of the Golden Lotus in the Cheonhui Kingdom.]
[If you go there, you will never feel pain or sadness again, and you can eat delicious food until your stomach is full.]
The Land of the Golden Lotus...
She had definitely heard that story before.
From Jeongyo.
Perhaps these people could provide an important clue.
Cheongyeon asked them,
“Who are you?”
“How did you know about me, and why did you come here?”
A man answered,
“There was someone who helped us escape from the village swallowed by darkness.”
“That person told us that when the Heavenly Maiden descended from Heaven, we should become her people.”
Another person stepped forward.
“Heavenly Maiden.”
“We walked dozens of ri from Bullae to reach this place.”
“Many people are still trapped in the village because they couldn’t escape.”
“They are dying from poverty and suffering.”
Cheongyeon remembered Jeongyo’s story.
[When I was seven, darkness swallowed the entire village.]
[The darkness that covered the neighboring village several years earlier eventually reached ours.]
[Only a few of us managed to escape.]
Then Cheongyeon remembered asking Jeongyo,
[What was the name of the village where you lived before becoming a servant at Beopsindang?]
[Bullae, Heavenly Maiden.]
Cheongyeon whispered,
“Bullae...”
These people were residents of the village where Jeongyo had lived.
Cheongyeon did not yet understand their entire story.
She did not know what they wanted from her.
And perhaps everything really was a trap.
But the moment she realized Jeongyo was connected to them...
Cheongyeon could no longer step away.
She needed to bring them to Jeongyo.
And somehow resolve the problem surrounding the village swallowed by darkness.
At that moment, Chancellor Jin Sangwon stepped forward.
“Bullae is a region where government officials sent to investigate have disappeared.”
“No taxes have been collected there for a long time either.”
Sangwon looked toward the commoners.
“I had already believed that the truth needed to be investigated.”
His voice was calm.
“So it is surprising that you came here yourselves.”
Then he spoke gently.
“Your courage is admirable.”
“However, this is not the proper way to persuade others.”
“It will not benefit either the Heavenly Maiden or yourselves.”
He spoke as an official of the country rather than taking any particular side.
“This gathering exists to honor the greatness of the Hui royal family.”
Even before the dignity of the Chancellor, the desperate commoners did not retreat.
“We tried asking properly before.”
“No one listened.”
Another shouted,
“We aren’t afraid of anything anymore!”
“My family had their souls eaten by evil spirits!”
Sangwon intended to end the situation quickly before everyone suffered serious consequences.
Yet his face remained frighteningly calm.
“I will discuss the matter with the local officials and submit a petition to His Majesty.”
“For today, you should leave.”
“This is the final kindness and warning I can offer you.”
But then someone who no longer wanted the situation to end spoke.
State Preceptor Namwan smiled cruelly.
“As expected from our wise Chancellor.”
Then he tilted his head.
“But is there really any need to show such mercy to these people?”
Namwan had realized something.
The unexpected arrival of these commoners had given him the perfect chance to eliminate one of his greatest problems.
He turned toward the king.
“Your Majesty.”
“I finally understand who these people are.”
“They are connected to the heretical Jeongil Society that was exterminated twenty years ago.”
Murmurs immediately spread throughout the banquet.
Seeing the reaction he expected, Namwan became even more confident.
“How surprising.”
“We destroyed their main base, yet remnants of their power still remain.”
Jeongil Society?
The moment Cheongyeon heard the familiar name, her eyes changed.
She remembered the story Senior Brother had once told her before the graves of the Jeongil Society.
[The Jeongil Society is not finished.]
[When I descend to the Lower Realm one day, I will definitely revive it.]
[Then more people will be able to honor the monk’s teachings.]
Namwan pointed toward Cheongyeon.
“I had no idea that the Heavenly Maiden who descended from Heaven was secretly joining with them and building a new force.”
“...”
His voice grew stronger.
“This is no different from harboring treason and shaking the order of the nation.”
“Everyone involved should be executed immediately.”
Seongha’s expression changed.
