Chapter 40

Chapter 40 – Lion Dance (8)

“Monk, you slept?”

Seol Young frowned.

“I was keeping an eye on you, but I felt nothing. Then did you meet the fake monk in your dream?”

“Yes! I did! He walked around the altar where I was hiding…”

“Could it be that he directly looked at you, monk?”

“Yes. He did. As if he knew that I was right there…”

Seol Young jumped up.

“This place isn’t safe then.”

The fake monk must have fully recovered, and skipping several steps, he managed to find where Do Cheol was hiding.

“The altar where you hid must be the one in the Hwang Insa Temple. And you lived because of Buddha’s help.”

“Uh? Ah, yes…”

Did this mean that even that stern-looking being was sent by Buddha?

Do Cheol was dragged away as he looked bewildered.

‘Buddha, thank you.’

As they sped through the city in the early morning, he felt fear.

They couldn’t even look around, as the fake monk in the form of Sa Daham might suddenly pop out from somewhere.

Eventually, they arrived at their destination.

When they reached the Sacred Forest, they were finally relieved. The preparations for the Sword Dance were complete.

Flags were lined up around the trees, which no one had touched for a hundred years. They were the spirit qi flags of the Immortal Clan.

Incense sticks were lit, which began to give off smoke, and the sacred drums were brought out too. The Hwarangs will also arrive any moment now. Then the ritual would start.

And seeing this calmed Do Cheol’s heart, and he finally decided to look around.

“Isn’t that the High Governor Hwarang?”

Seol Young looked at where Do Cheol pointed.

On second thought, he could see a black cloth flying between the flags.

Zaha. He was looking at the Golden Ring pattern that symbolized the sun as if it were new.

“…?”

Seol Young was confused by it.

‘Why is he here first?’

And when Zaha also found them, he frowned.

“Why are you here so early? Weren’t we supposed to meet in the middle of it?”

Seol Young was shocked.

“Who said that?”

A fixed time meant nothing when both sides weren’t going to follow it. And he had to hurry because the location of the monk had been discovered.

But was there a reason for Zaha to come?

“What did you come here early for?”

When Seol Young asked, Zaha looked shocked.

“What can I even do here? If I wanted to do something, I could do it openly. Why would I need to hide just to do something?”

“Didn’t you enter the forest? You are so suspicious.”

Do Cheol was just watching the two bicker and thought this was a good situation.

‘Hwarangs work for the honor of the troops they belong to, right? They are now fighting because they want all the glory for subduing the evil spirits.’

Well, when the spirits appeared, these two always worked so well together, so he wasn’t concerned with this.

But then people began to arrive.

“Ah! Hwarangs!”

Do Cheol hurriedly ran and hid behind a large rock. The warning to be cautious of the other Hwarangs and shamans stuck with him.

Hwarangs?

Seol Young stopped fighting with Zaha and turned around.

Three Hwarangs were walking from afar, wearing white robes with black patterns on them.

Baek Eon, Song Ok, and Hyo Wol.

Seol Young was happy, but he felt puzzled too.

‘What could it be?’

At the same time, they looked at him with the same happy but puzzled faces.

These three were supposed to be participating in the Sword Dance. To avoid appearing neglectful, they added many new movements, so they wanted to practice some more.

But there were people who came here first, and who were they?

“High Governor. Seol Young-rang.”

The three greeted them first and asked,

“I was told you are not participating in the Sword Dance today. So what is this?”

“I stopped by for work.”

Zaha said.

Meanwhile, Seol Young looked at the three without saying anything. They checked his weapon.

‘Something is going to happen.’

The three could feel it.

They walked away as if they didn’t notice anything, but as soon as they turned around, they whispered.

“Let’s do it right. We will have to help him secretly.”

“Yes.”

The three went back.

And as they left, Do Cheol poked his head out.

‘Let’s go.’

Seol Young winked.

Do Cheol led the way quietly into the forest, and they soon arrived at the pre-determined location. Before starting, Seol Young bowed to Sa Daham’s sword.

“Young Lord Sa Daham. For some reason, the fake monk, whom you killed, managed to revive, and he now dares to take on your form and harm people. Therefore, I, Seol Young, your junior, will borrow your power for a little while to punish that monk, so please allow me.”

He spoke politely.

Sa Daham’s soul had already left the world a long time ago, but he decided to be polite regardless of what he knew.

And as he was asking for permission, he looked in one direction.

He brought ‘it’ ahead of time and hid it. He tried to receive even a little more energy than he could from this forest.

Seol Young asked,

“Monk, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Do Cheol answered, and they cleared the gaps between the rocks, which had been cleverly covered with twigs and leaves.

A crate was there. And when the lid was opened, a huge lion mask appeared. Rather than a mask, it was something that had to be worn all over the body.

The large head with fur around it was similar to the masks used for dancing.

However, it had one difference. It was that next to its head were four other heads.

So there were five heads.

A lion with five heads.

This was the Suan Ni Lion, which was famous only in Silla.

“Right! This is it!”

Do Cheol grabbed the mask with a happy face.

“I was scared when I first saw it when I was young. After all, it is known to be the strongest in the world! Even evil spirits cannot compete with Suan Ni.”

He said.

“I will become the Suan Ni Lion and help you all!”

Seol Young just hoped the man wouldn’t change his heart.

“Let’s start then.”

He took the lion mask and spread it on the ground, and Seol Young changed into jade-colored clothes that he had prepared in advance and hung Sa Daham’s sword on his waist.

“You didn’t forget, right?”

“Yes. You said that the lion mask is the trap. Seol Young-rang will put incantations into the mask.”

“Good. I will do it right now. Monk’s soul will exit your body and enter the lion’s body as a living soul.”

“Yes. Yes. Just a temporary change to escape the living world.”

“If your living soul safely enters the lion’s body, I will take the talisman that has been covering the monk’s presence. As soon as we remove it, the spirit will attack the monk. And…”

“Yes. I know.”

Do Cheol nodded nervously and turned to Zaha.

“If there is any danger, hide behind the High Governor…”

“No! Do not come! I already helped you once before.”

Seol Young remembered why Zaha said it. He had already helped the monk once.

And now he didn’t want the same thing to happen again. Everything would now depend on fate.

Drums rang on the other side of the forest. The Sword Dance had begun.

Meanwhile, another ritual began in the darkness.

“Amitabha…”

Do Cheol sat cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes as he meditated.

Seol Young immediately began to recite something.

And when he pulled out the Soul Calling talisman, Do Cheol’s soul was pulled out from the top of his head.

‘…?’

His living soul seemed shocked, but then he looked at his body, which was meditating.

‘There are two of me!’

But this wasn’t the time to be intrigued like this. Do Cheol was reminded of the mission, and he moved quickly. He went into the lion mask that was spread on the floor.

At that moment, the lion mask jumped up on all fours and moved like a real lion.

Good!

Seol Young clenched his hands and took out the pouch he had prepared in advance. It held the details of Do Cheol, his real name, date of birth, place of birth, and other stuff.

He put the pouch on the floor and summoned the spirits.

Dark shadows rose and began to surround Do Cheol’s body.

A response soon came.

Wheik!

There was a shrill noise in the air and the sound of something that was moving so fast.

It was then…

Seol Young quickly removed the talisman from Do Cheol’s body.

The soul of the sewing girl disappeared with the talisman, and the energy of the monk radiated.

-So there you are!

As if shouting like that…

The fake monk’s spirit suddenly appeared from the shadows of the forest. In the form of Sa Daham, dressed in jade clothes, he swung his sword.

But he stopped the next moment, realizing the cross-legged monk was an empty shell.

This wasn’t it.

The energy of the monk named Do Cheol was coming from elsewhere, and the moment he turned around….

Rooooooar!

Came the roar of a lion. A giant Suan Ni hit him. He raised his front paws with the face of a lion and struck him.

“Buddha’s retribution!”

Do Cheol shouted.

The other two were amazed at this.

This wasn’t in the plan, so it felt a bit odd. And Do Cheol was so excited that he took the initiative.

Rooooarr!

Puaaak!

The lion mask roared and hit the evil spirit accurately. A fairly significant blow struck the body of the evil spirit.

Once again, this was shocking.

“As if…”

“See. Didn’t I say that I was good at fighting?”

In the midst of this, they couldn’t help but be shocked.