Chapter 58

“I will speak the truth. First of all, your plan is just reckless. If you had been more reckless, then you would have been killed on that day in front of the house.”

“That day? What are you talking about?”

“The day we held the memorial service for the friend of the monk killed by the fake one.”

“You already had this with you?”

Zaha couldn’t believe it.

“I had it before that. As soon as the Nirvana painting incident was solved, I immediately went over to the Black and White House and asked for this.”

“What is that?”

“There is such a thing. A place to get information…”

This man really knew nothing. Seol Young continued,

“There was a reason it was available so quickly. I had to pay a great amount to get this in my hands. And this is the result. You must have thought that I would get the same wooden plank identical to that time or something smaller…”

He took out the mask and showed it.

“As you can see, I was able to get my hands on a piece that is complete. At that time, the Demonic Sword was so strong that nothing worked against it.”

“And you still didn’t use it?”

“I told you. I decided to be careful about this.”

Seol Young said,

“Come to think of it, that gentle monk saved you. I was almost ready to take it out that day, but Monk Do Cheol suddenly gave it to me. That sorcery thing, no… that chain….”

Seol Young glanced at the object in Zaha’s hand.

“If it is a normal weapon, there is no reason to hide it like that. The way you were acting so suspiciously was bothering me. I felt there was one important part I was missing in all of this. Which was why I decided to save my attempt until I was sure the puzzle was solved. If not…”

He didn’t say it.

“It is an insane plan.”

“Well.”

Zaha spoke confidently.

“I died once and came back to life, but it doesn’t mean I have lost my mind.”

And he looked at Seol Young’s hand.

“So what about it?”

“Do you not realize after seeing it too?”

“I don’t see anything. There must be something, but here…”

He pointed with his hand to the part where the mask was.

“Is empty.”

Seol Young was surprised. That’s why he never noticed it.

“This is the face of a monster. I’ve been calling it the Wooden Ghost Face Mask. I don’t know what kind of monster or spirit it is….”

At that time, the barrier vibrated again, and Seol Young fed it more blood.

After that, there was no need to buy more time anyway.

“Try calling it.”

At Seol Young’s words, Zaha raised the darkness around his hands. The shape of the mandala, which was born by swallowing others, had expanded from it.

However, it suddenly halted near the mask. It no longer encroached on the space.

And…

The darkness just moved past it.

That was it.

The two looked at each other.

‘It is worth a try.’

It was that kind of look.

Zaha asked again,

“How did you use that piece of wood back then?”

“I just instinctively felt that I had to break it. So I broke a piece of it and infused my spiritual power. At that moment, something spewed out.”

“So, it’s a summon. Use it as a sacrifice, destroy it, and summon it.”

Seol Young thought the same. No matter how he looked at it, it was a summon.

The thick darkness continued to rise, and the zodiacs, which had been moving until then, began to be covered in darkness one after another, and the edges of the barrier began to crack.

It was coming.

The two held on to their swords.

Zaha said,

“No matter what happens, do not let it leave this place. Got it?”

Seol Young nodded.

Could they live after this? They weren’t so sure.

Then would they die? They weren’t so sure either.

The only thing they knew for sure was that they had to stop it, whether they lived or died.

“I will stop the demonic qi, so focus on that. Summon it as soon as it appears.”

Zaha said, raising his spiritual energy.

But at that moment, the darkness swirled around his body and rose to his arm.

As if black veins began to pop up, it was like he was paralyzed, making him drop his sword.

Seol Young turned to him,

“You don’t seem to have recovered yet.”

“…”

Zaha swung his sword once more.

It was the same. The black energy rose to his neck in an instant. When he passed out earlier, it felt like something bad had happened.

And this was a problem they hadn’t expected.

Seol Young was confused.

“I have very little spiritual power…”

He had already used all the talismans he had. He had used everything for the barrier, and at this rate, before they would even face the spirit, they would be consumed by this thick darkness.

‘Is this how it ends?’

He felt doomed again. He even prepared such a strong mask, but would it all end here?

He turned his gaze to Zaha.

“Is there another way?”

“Right now, the problem…”

He opened his mouth.

“You used up all your spiritual power, and I have it, but I cannot use it. So there is a way.”

“What is it?”

“I was saving it for another time…”

He stopped talking as if he was thinking about something. Seol Young thought there must be a reason, so he stayed silent.

And Zaha said,

“Jin Hwa, Suoh, Myeun, On So, Eul So, Ho Yeon, Visa Dal. These seven Hwarangs are the ancestors of the Sun and Moon Troops.”

Hearing his solemn tone, Seol Young went stiff.

“Show respect for your deceased seniors, and I will pass on the secret technique that has now disappeared.”

Seol Young was surprised, but he just bowed.

Zaha taught him a lesson on the spot, and he listened to him. He knew that this was related to a defense technique.

He had to step in the direction of the present path and amplify his spiritual energy. And by carrying it into the Sword Spirit, he would be able to drive away the evil energy around a certain area.

“It is harder than gold yet softer than dew. It encompasses all directions but is not angular, and it spreads in a circle but is free of boundaries.”

He learned the basics of the technique, but it was too complicated to learn in a short time. And Zaha stopped.

“You cannot learn everything here. For now, just learn to work on this.”

He put his hand into his sleeve and took out something small in the shape of the moon.

The round thing had blood on it. Just looking at it, one could tell that it had been written by someone from the Moon Troops.

“Are you ready?”

Before Seol Young could even answer, the barrier broke down, and the blue circle that was around them disappeared without a trace.

The darkness was rushing in from all directions.

And the round thing, the moon, was vibrating.

The sound of bells could be heard, and it dispersed the darkness around them like a lantern in a thick fog.

Following its guidance, Seol Young pulled his sword ahead of him and gathered the spirits that didn’t belong to him.

When the teacher changes, the teaching aspect and the process also change, so the spiritual power won’t fuse. However, the sound of the bells managed to bring something together to disperse the darkness.

‘Just once…’

Seol Young prayed earnestly. It reminded him of the horrendous deaths he had seen through Memory Projection.

These spirits must be theirs—his seniors.

‘This one time…’

He earnestly prayed, and a bright silver aura dwelled on his sword.

Good.

Seol Young swung his sword with all his might. According to the technique of the Moon Troops, his spiritual qi would amplify and burst out.

There wasn’t even a sound of anything being cut. It was great, but not too dazzling. It was soft, but it also felt strong.

The silver light spread in all directions, going against the darkness.

And beyond that was her.

The opaque, swaying shape suddenly looked clear. The flickering shape was fixed on one spot, and evil spirits poured out.

It was the moment when chaos could be felt.

-Now.

As if to say that, the bells rang clearly.

Seol Young infused the spiritual power that he had left into the mask.

“Wake up!”

And it opened its eyes.

Beneath its eyebrows were large, red eyes that shone. Its furious breath could be felt from its nose.

Its mouth began to tear open all the way to its ears. It growled loudly, baring its sharp fangs on either side.

‘I do not know who you are, but if we do not stop that evil spirit, a huge disaster will come our way…’

Seol Young threw the mask to the ground, and with a slashing movement of his sword, he chanted something.

‘… Answer the call!’

The face of the monster shattered, and something huge emerged from within.

The summon was successful.

A being with the weight of the world fell. Its landing was so strong that they could feel vibrations beneath their feet.

It appeared by borrowing Seol Young’s spiritual power, but it no longer needed it once it had manifested.

A self-dependent being.

Like a God.

“The most powerful God that can be summoned.”

The voices of many souls could be heard.

[The God who had protected this land since before people existed.]

Seol Young was able to realize what it was. He mumbled its name without even realizing it.

“Tree God…”

People who lived in the distant past called it that.

Tree God.

The native God of the land.

The God who was once worshipped by every living thing but is now worshipped by none.

The God that no one remembers now and has been gradually forgotten by new religions. It was the first time Seol Young had ever seen the ancient God in person.

The voice said,

[Unseen Likely Hope.]

The God who resided in the sacred jujube tree.

The brave yet generous God who punished the evil ones and protected the good ones.

Seol Young felt a chill run down his spine.

The God is happy right now. He was delighted with the fact that he had a place to return to in this land through a medium. It was feeling good.

“Tree God?”

Zaha looked up with a shocked face.

Above the lesser spirits were the greater spirits, and then the supreme spirits, and then even stronger spirits.

The spiritual power of the Tree God ate the evil energy and made the space its own.

The demonic qi, which was spreading out thickly, couldn’t stop it. After an intense fight between the two beings….

Papapat!

A huge sound rang out again. And it came from the direction where the darkness, which had been wanting to expand and take over the place, was, and it was being pushed back.

From one end to another, it felt like the darkness was being toyed with.

[How dare you make a mess out of this land!]

Hope Giver raged against the evil spirit. With a roar that shook the heaven and earth…

The Darkness of Mandala shattered upside down like a wave.