Subdued Soul Chronicle

Chapter 198: Three Thousand Worlds (22)

A number of young monks had gathered in the front yard of the palace, and Do Cheol stood out right away among them.

Om Amitabha! Go away!

He swung his fist in the air, and the black shadows went flat.

!

Everyone looked at them in surprise.

They forgot how scared they were at the appearance of the strange shadows. Meanwhile, Seol Young focused on watching the monks fast and powerful punches.

Do not come here!

Do Cheol was scared of the dark shadows, so he beat them all before they could even get close.

Thanks to that, they couldnt get close to the people. Seol Young barely got close while avoiding the punches.

Monk Do Cheol.

*Ack!*

The monk screamed and looked back. Seeing who was standing there, his tear-stained face went normal.

Hwarang Seol Young!

Do Cheol was delighted, as if he had met Avalokiteshvara in hell.

Everyone, it is alright now! Hwarang Seol Young will take care of everything!

Monk Do Cheol has already solved everything, though.

Seol Young replied, but the guy looked so excited that he didnt listen to him.

I thought that the Hwarangs would be in the palace, so we kept looking for you! Ah, the High Governor is coming over here too!

Seol Young looked back, and Zaha was indeed walking across the yard.

And as soon as he saw Seol Young, he said,

If the Governor called me and you, then you should have waited near the Hwarangs Hall. You are being too much just because you are in a white robe.

It was something that would have made others go still, but Seol Young didnt care.

I knew you would be late. Did you just wake up? I thought you couldnt sleep because you lost straight yesterday.

It is true that I didnt get any sleep, but it was because I was cleaning the house.

Zaha grumbled and brought out some things from his arms. There were bamboo leaves with eyes, noses, and mouths shaped like actual people.

I laid down to sleep, but I had to get up since it was noisy. These things were all over the house. Seol Young-rang, who does that?

I dont know. I told you I was going to cleanse your house. There arent any people in that big house, which makes goblins gather there, so I put those things in each empty room for protection. It was hard to leave them secretly but to think you managed to get them all

Seol Young-rang, if you talk back like that, you will get scolded by the scary monk, though?

Zaha looked at the monk. Do Cheol was watching them talk with bright eyes.

High Governor, you seem to be doing well. I am happy.

Who is he?

Zaha spoke with a look of happiness flashing across his face.

I didnt even see your face as I spoke, but you look familiar. Arent you Monk Do Cheol, who is good at using his fists?

Zaha also noticed the flattened shadows on the ground.

You showed your skills?

Yes. The punishment of Buddha.

Seol Young touched one of them with his fingertips.

This is just like old dregs, which occur naturally in a place with an old history. It isnt harmful, but I am sure people are surprised.

It is strange.

Zaha picked up the shadows and held them up to the sun.

We didnt even hold the ritual yet, so why are they popping out?

And as if he felt the presence of someone, he turned around and said,

Aha.

He exclaimed suddenly. Jin Rim was approaching from the other side with several old monks behind him.

Ah, since the chief monk is back, I need to go.

Do Cheol said so and went there. He approached the old monk, who looked rather strong-willed, and talked to him.

The chief monk looked at the two and then clasped his hands.

Seol Young and Zaha bowed their heads at the same time. One look was enough to know that this monk was unusual.

Not just that, but all the other monks seemed to have this tiger-like force around them.

That is why.

Seol Young understood it then.

There wasnt just one, but dozens of high priests had appeared since the morning. The old palace was probably shaken by this.

After talking with the monks, Jin Rim approached them, and Zaha asked him,

Are these monks here going to help?

Yes, High Governor.

Jin Rim nodded.

When I thought about it after having that dream in the other world, it felt like something unusual. I thought that something big was coming for the nation, so I asked the Queen to hold a ceremony. Within today, a hundred high priests from the city will enter the palace to see the Queen.

Hundred Puja. ¹

It was a Buddhist ritual time where a hundred seats were set up high with a hundred Buddhist priests.

It was a ritual to protect the nation in case a natural disaster came, a misfortune occurred, or the public was disturbed.

Whenever such things happened in the nation, the King would willingly conduct this ritual.

Jin Rim explained,

It isnt something that I came up with on my own. I just did what Seol Young-rang would have done.

What Seol Young-rang would have done?

Yes. At the dance festival, didnt he go there and summon the evil spirit? I thought he actually did well. If we do that, we will benefit from the aura that the warriors have. Even if we fail to exorcise the spirit right away, it is safe to say that the Hwarangs who participated in the Sword Dance would help.

Jin Rim continued,

It will be the same this time. If we try to bring peace to it by doing this, we will be able to use the spiritual energy of a hundred priests. Besides, the King and Queen of Silla will be praying there. I dont know if that will help in appeasing the grudge of the spirit.

*Aha.*

Seol Young and Zaha looked at each other.

It was a wise idea, but there was one thing that bothered them. And Zaha said,

There is something I have to check, so ask these monks to recite the sutras for a while.

Sutras? Okay.

Jin Rim went to the priests, and the two were left alone in the yard.

Zaha brought the Great Mothers necklace there.

After a while.

Free the mind and body with a subtle.

They could hear the monks reciting the sutra. It was low, like a hum, but it held force within it.

At that moment, the Great Mother opened her eyes.

The Tree Gods hated Buddhism.

So when she heard the sound of sutras being recited, a powerful force was swirling inside her. And the louder it got, the more chaotic she felt.

How is it?

Zaha asked.

Same as them.

Seol Young said,

Like how the mask in my closet became angry after hearing Monk Do Cheols prayer and suddenly created a power to drive out the evil spirit. The same effect is happening now.

Nice. We have proven again that the energy of the original God doesnt weaken in front of Buddhist prayers but is increased instead.

It was a fact that they already knew, but since it was a serious matter, they had to confirm It again. And Zaha put the necklace back.

Then, as Jin Rim said, holding a ritual with them will help us.

At that moment, black smoke rose from Zahas hands. It wasnt just the old God, but even the demonic qi within his body was stimulated.

Stay still.

Zaha said that without moving a finger. He was also able to do this at their first meeting, but he looked more used to it now.

His qi moved on its own in his body, and it was normal to be like that.

When a person uses sorcery to steal the qi of another person, even if the person whose qi had been absorbed dies, that qi doesnt vanish.

If one took it away, it was rightfully theirs. And it was the same case with Zaha.

Because he was able to take away the qi of the God of Cataclysm, his dead body was able to move again.

Even if the evil spirit dies now, her qi that had been taken away wouldnt disappear. It has already been absorbed by his body.

Watching the haze of spirits merge with his golden qi, Seol Young thought so.

Zaha smiled.

What is it? Are you worried that I will die?

Seol Young frowned.

The thing I am most worried about is the High Governor. It is you not wanting to die.

Is there any human who wants to die? I dont know. Maybe if the end is comfortable, but to die painfully after being attacked by evil spirits?

.

If you know that, then it is good.

Yes.

Seol Young said, and the two of them went back to Jin Rim, who asked,

Did you confirm it?

Yes.

Zaha answered.

As the Governor thought, this seems advantageous to us in many ways. It was a nice idea.

Well, I just did what Seol Young-rang did

Even as Jin Rim said that, his face softened a little.

Originally, the Hundred Puja is held in a temple, but the place hasnt been decided yet this time. Where do we go?

Zaha looked at Seol Young.

Where would be good?

After thinking, Seol Young said,

Somewhere like the Old Palace. It is where I first had the vision about the God of Cataclysm, so I feel like it should be there.

Okay.

Jin Rim nodded.

I will inform the Queen that the ritual of the monks will be held in the Old Palace. And the date.

It was at that moment that a couple of boys appeared across the yard. They were the trainees of the Vermillion Birds.

They looked around and then ran while shouting,

Governor! High Governor!

A strange thing happened last night, and our leader asked us to report it to you.

What is it?

A bizarre wooden man appeared in the training grounds of the trainees. Its whole body was twisted and was tightly tied to a chair.

At those words, Zahas and Jin Rims faces changed.

Their friendly atmosphere a while ago changed, and both of them looked pale.

?

Seol Young was surprised. It was the first time they reacted like this.

What? Body twisted up.

As he thought about it, there was one thing that came to mind. It was when he went to get his hands on the reports.

On the way back to the capital, they once stayed in a haunted house. While they were telling ghost stories to summon ghosts, Zaha spoke about this one story.

It was an incident where the new trainees found their senior Hwarang dead and tied to a wooden chair while training.

Even though Zaha said nothing else about it, it must have been the first incident with the God of Cataclysm.

Seol Young guessed it.

Could the story be real?

Looking at the reactions of the two, Seol Young thought that had to be the case.

Then Jin Rim asked with a stiff face,

Was it only a wooden man that was found on the scene?

Yes.

The trainees answered.

Our leader went there right away. He told us not to worry about it, and we were to shut down the training grounds and not enter it.

.

Zaha and Jin Rim couldnt say a thing.

They were probably recalling the tragedy that had happened during the incident eight years ago. Was this a sign that the evil spirit was moving in earnest?

Seol Young said,

We need to hold the ritual as soon as possible.

Right.

Zaha came back to his senses.

Governor, start preparing right away. We need to move the schedule.

Jin Rim frowned.

To do that, we need the Great Heavenly Pavilions cooperation.

Since the scale of the ritual was huge, it would need a lot of permissions.

Let us talk to them then.

They turned around with Seol Young.

The two of them went to the shrine on the road and told the Pavilion Head about the situation.

Instead of answering, she looked at them and said,

I had a dream too.

What did that mean?

Did she just dream about the other world like Jin Rim? Or did she get a vision?

What was the dream?

Without answering Zahas question, she said,

I get it. Our shrine will do our best to cooperate with the things that need to be done according to the wishes of the High Governor and Seol Young-rang.

Then she turned to look at Seol Young, her eyes scanning him.

Since I already decided to give you a chance.

.

You understand, right? Failing this means the end of everything.

Seol Young answered,

Yes.

1. TL/N: Puja is like a ceremony of hundreds gathered. 

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