Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 135: Harp Case (20)

Scrolls were hanging on the walls, and one of them was a figure of a woman.

There was a crown on her head and a large hairpin across the back of her head. It was a hairpin that had beads.

And the fancy dress and the unique headdress.

It was the same as the God of Cataclysm.

“…?”

Following Seol Young’s gaze, Zaha looked at it, and he was also surprised.

“That is..?”

“It is the same.”

Seol Young didn’t know how this painting was here. For a moment, he thought the woman was the evil spirit. However, some things were subtly different.

The woman in the painting wore a jacket that went down her waist, and her skirt was pleated. It was a costume from before the Three Kingdoms were unified.

Seol Young asked,

“What could the two women have in common?”

He approached the painting and looked at it. Something was written on it.

“‘Heavenly Member’?”

“And it means?”

“Priest in ancient times.”

Now, depending on the occasion, it was the Governor or the Pavilion Head who presided over the ancestral rituals.

But in the past, only women could do such things.

‘Was that coffin a symbol for the priest? Or does it mean that the God of Cataclysm was a priest? Or did she wear the crown for some other reasons?’

Seol Young thought, and at that time, Zaha said,

“We need to leave.”

It looked like they should leave before they got caught. The two hurriedly left that place, and through the secret door, they came out into the corridor of the shrine again.

After a while, the heavenly officials appeared from the other side.

“Seol Young-rang, is it this?”

It was a small bell that was unique to the Hwarangs.

Seol Young glanced at the officials and said,

“This is it.”

“I see. It was in the vase in the hallway, so we didn’t even notice it was there.”

Zaha must have done it. He was the one who worked diligently in this place.

Seol Young took it, and without delay, they both left the shrine. Then they began to walk into the darkness.

They stopped at a dark place with no people.

“As expected, the shrine is also related to it! After accusing me of being the evil thing!”

Seol Young was shocked.

“I thought she was serious about maintaining the power and stability of the nation. How can she be acting like this?”

“I have no intention of taking sides, but…”

Zaha said,

“To think that a painting like that was in the storage room, where many of the officials could come and go. It seems that there is a high chance that she doesn’t even know anything about it.”

“How can one not think of the God of Cataclysm when seeing that?”

“Right. Even the officials must have taken a look at it, but aren’t they somewhat more sensitive than normal people? The evil spirit’s appearance may only be clear to us and not to the others.”

Seol Young hadn’t thought of that.

The appearance of the evil spirit in the eyes of the Pavilion Head or the others could be different. It might be a blurry image or just a blank image.

If he had seen it at this moment, when he had lost his spiritual power, even Seol Young wouldn’t have been able to see it clearly.

“Then, even if we pointed it out, the Pavilion Head would deny it without another thought. She would say, ‘What’s its resemblance to the God of Cataclysm?’”

“Besides, we cannot even say that we were in that room and looked at the painting…”

“Right.”

Currently, it seems impossible to even talk about it outside. They needed to find more evidence.

Seol Young thought,

“Well, it seems like the evil spirit had some power over the revelations to some extent.”

“In other words, nowhere is safe. We are back to the start, then.”

Zaha said,

“What you said might be true. You don’t need to be bound by those memories. If you have done it once, we can do it again. And besides, there is something different this time.”

“…?”

“Me.”

‘Did you forget that?’

He asked with those eyes.

“I think I know what spell the Devil Lair Lord uses.”

Seol Young was surprised.

“Is that true?”

“Let us go and check it now.”

Zaha took the lead, and Seol Young followed him.

The Golden Ring Troops were on duty tonight.

“What is the High Governor doing here?”

“I need to head to the basement.”

The basement?

Seol Young wondered.

He had been to the Hwarangs’ building too many times, but he had never heard of a basement.

“Ah… yes. We understand.”

The Hwarangs on duty were a bit shocked, but they went and brought a bunch of keys right away.

“Here it is.”

Zaha took the keys and went inside. There was a door that Seol Young thought was just a wall, and after using the key, the door opened, showing a staircase.

They went down.

“Seol Young-rang, come.”

The basement was firmly locked, and Zaha looked at the door in front of him.

“I didn’t think I would come back here.”

“What is this place?”

The door opened.

There was a musty smell peculiar to places where the air had been stagnant for a very long time. There were books everywhere, and a lot more things could also be seen. Then Seol Young’s eyes stopped in the middle of the wall.

He noticed it right away.

“Isn’t that what the seniors before us used?”

“Right.”

Zaha said. After all of them died, it was like no one had ever come down here.

The door opened for the first time in eight years, and Seol Young looked around.

Various materials were piled up in the spacious space. Unknown weapons like a curved sword and tools he had never seen before were scattered around.

When the Moon Troops were still alive, this place was where the Hwarangs who wanted to learn something went.

“The Golden Ring Hwarangs, of which only half are left now, have a lot of influence, but during the days of the Sun Moon Troops, they were amazing.”

“What?”

Zaha searched the place as if he was familiar with it.

“Here.”

He found something and hid it under his hand before going close to Seol Young.

“Seol Young-rang, take a look. Could it be that this was the same thing the Devil Lair Lord used?”

He waved the thing in front of Seol Young’s face.

It gave off this strange scent, and it made his head dizzy. In an instant, his body lost strength, and he collapsed.

Zaha asked,

“Right?”

“Yes.”

Seol Young nodded.

In the past, this strange scent was used to stun the young Seol Young. It was the same sensation he had felt then.

“What is that?”

Zaha stretched out his hand and showed it. It was a rainbow-colored caterpillar that was moving inside a small bottle.

“Poisonous animal?”

“Not just poisonous. This is the Gu. It is a poisonous animal that was made to fight. And the Red Bone Disease that was planted into your body must have had that kind of intention.”

He closed the lid and continued.

The character ‘Gu’ was written with the paint of the insect placed on top.

When one traps several poisonous things in a jar and makes them kill each other, one survives.

It was called Gu—the best poison.

This technique was quite famous, and of course, Seol Young knew about it because the tomb ghosts had taught him.

A way to paralyze people, a worm which sucks blood, and the thing which devours the body…

But it was strange.

Seol Young mumbled,

“I am sure I knew about it back then, so why didn’t I notice it?”

“It must have been because they were worms brought from the Kingdom of Heaven.”

“Kingdom of Heaven?” 1

It was unexpected.

The Kingdom of Heaven was known to be the birthplace of Buddhism, and one had to reach it by crossing the desert for a long time.

“And the Devil Lair Lord used the insects from the Kingdom of Heaven?”

“I am not so sure, but….”

Zaha drew the image of a snake biting its tail.

“I saw this when I was a kid. A sailor from India had the same tattoo on his body, and it was my first time seeing it, so I followed him and asked, and I was told it was a symbol of divine power in their nation. A symbol of eternal time, with the movement continuing.”

Time.

The Devil Lair Lord had the ability to distort and use time.

If he really used a technique from the Kingdom of Heaven, then the trouble with Baek Sang was…

“First, we need to find a way to counter the Gu poison. That is why I brought you here.”

Seol Young looked at the bottle with a bug inside it.

“It seems like the dead seniors had studied it.”

“Yes”.

Zaha nodded his head.

“It isn’t like I can bring them back, and it can be said that the reputation of the troops has declined. But wouldn’t it be a waste to let this go?”

“Surely.”

“So, how about this? When you go to the White Tiger Troops, you apply the knowledge you get from here and proudly inherit it. Then wouldn’t your troops be able to show off their prestige?”

Seol Young’s ears perked up.

“You want to pass down this huge knowledge to one troop alone?”

Then he would take care of all of this without missing a thing.

In a different way from before, he looked around with shining eyes. And then, he thought,

“Wait. Seeing that you are trying to bait me, it seems like what I have to do is quite difficult.”

“I hate how quick you are.”

Zaha grumbled,

“Listen now. There was a Hwarang called Onso in the Moon Troops. His hobby was conducting research, and he was smart enough to make the strangest weapons and tools.”

How did Onso die, then?

Seol Young was curious about it, but he couldn’t bear to ask. It seemed like Zaha would say he had to kill him.

“Before he died, he did several studies, and one of them was this. After struggling for two years, he finally boasted that he had created the perfect thing to counter the Gu poison. After that, the evil spirit appeared, so I couldn’t see what it was until the end…”

From what seemed to be Onso’s desk, Zaha picked up a box with ‘Gu’ written on it.

“This is that.”

Seol Young took it and opened it up. There was a small ring with a green jewel in the middle, and if one turned the jewel sideways, it would spin around.

“I don’t know what will happen. How would it react to another person who isn’t its owner? I don’t know, but you probably might make it out alive.”

“…”

“How about it? Still, it will be able to help you be free.”

Zaha looked at Seol Young.

“Now is the best time. Since you lost your spiritual power and only possess your spiritual qi, it would be easy to recognize you as a Hwarang. But just in case, I would recommend leaving out the Blue Rainbow Sword and removing all of the things that the White Tiger Troops gave you.”

“…”

Putting down his sword was a huge risk, so could he do it?

Thinking so, he realized there was nothing else he could do.

He needed a strong countermeasure to overcome the unique technique of the Gu poison.

-So, shouldn’t you pay me back? If I am in danger, you need to save me. Now, it is up to you.

What Zaha said came to his mind.

‘Let’s try it.’

Seol Young put his sword down and placed it on the table. And he also took off the gem on his belt. Standing next to him was Zaha, who pulled his sword.

“I’ll cut it right away if it’s necessary, but it might be too late.…”

Was it an illusion, or was this man having fun? It was unlikely that the nature of the demon inside him would raise its head.

‘I don’t know.’

Seol Young put his finger on the jewel in the middle of the ring.

‘I need to gamble with anything I get.’

With a click, he touched the jewel.

The next moment….

Something huge appeared in front of his eyes.

TL/N: India???