Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 19: Nirvana Painting (2)

Everyone looked his way.

What was he going to do?

Everyone had a doubtful expression, especially Zaha.

Seol Young just ignored them all.

“This Nirvana painting harms people. If it has been four days, there is a good chance that they have been harmed already.”

“But I clearly heard the voice…”

“Whether it is the voice of a human or a ghost trying to possess people is something we will never know.”

This resulted in a chilling silence.

“Seol Young-rang, what are you doing?”

Zaha spoke up.

“It’s like rubbing salt in wounds, no matter how you look at it.”

“It isn’t that. I am trying to… help. These people are victims, and I hope it gets resolved.”

Seol Young looked around everyone and said,

“But if you continue to do this, it will not do anything. The evil spirit will continue to get stronger. So let’s make a deal.”

“Deal…?”

They all looked at him with shocked faces.

“I will let you know if your family is alive or dead, so everyone will have to calm down and accept the result. How is that?”

Everyone looked at him in shock.

“You will let us know if they are alive or dead?”

“I don’t even know if he is trapped because of the evil spirit. How can that be possible…”

They had looks of disbelief.

“So you don’t want to?”

Seol Young asked the people again.

“Are you going to make a deal or not?”

“I will do it. It would be much better if we could know if they are alive or dead!”

Everyone spoke in unison.

Seol Young sat on the floor and took a couple of things out.

The mirror, bottle, small brush, and yellow paper.

The people were surprised once again.

“Isn’t that what shamans use?”

Everyone groaned.

The two Hwarangs turned their heads away. They were expressing with their entire body that they did not want to be dragged into this.

But more than that…

“You cannot be surprised already. This is just the start.”

It was more annoying to have Zaha around, as he was enjoying the situation.

‘Just ignore him.’

Seol Young didn’t even look at him and picked up the brush.

First of all, he wrote letters on the yellow paper.

‘Rat.’

The first zodiac.

After writing that, he clapped his hands once, and the paper floated up. It flinched as it sniffed and looked around. Even though it was paper, it looked like a living rat.

The people spoke.

“Is he using spells?”

Seol Young made several rats in an instant.

They had seen this kind of summoning numerous times with one or two rats. But they have never heard of a dozen of them being used like this.

And Seol Young blew a low, whistle-like sound, and the rat papers ran.

“This is the Twelve Zodiac Beasts Spell.”

Zaha was explaining to the others.

Seol Young didn’t want to care, but he couldn’t stay silent as he turned around and said,

“Twelve Zodiac Godly Spell.”

Zaha had changed ‘Godly’ to ‘Beast.’ In any case, he seemed to know what this was..

“Fine.”

And so he asked the question.

“There are many spells out there, so why did you use that?”

“An existence that can look into people and spirits—that is God.”

Zaha nodded his head.

“I get it. Is that why you borrowed the power of God?”

The other Hwarangs exchanged looks.

Even though the spell was something they should side with, this felt different.

“So, I asked them to check if there are any living people in the space beyond the painting.”

Seol Young explained to the people.

“If there are, I told them to secretly smear its sign into the person’s life force. If there is one, the rats will come back glowing.”

The eyes of the missing person’s family widened. Everyone stayed silent at that moment. They didn’t blink, and they stared at the spot where the rats had disappeared.

After a while, the rats came back.

But everything seemed the same.

No matter how much they focused, not a single rat shone.

Ah, as I thought…

The people’s faces were contorted.

A grandmother who lost her granddaughter collapsed to her knees.

“That was the voice of a ghost, then!”

Everyone was shocked as a heavy silence fell.

“Be quiet.”

Someone from the Black Tortoise mumbled a little.

Seol Young was speechless. He just stared at the papers that had returned and raised his head.

Zaha looked at them too, and his eyes were again filled with a golden aura, but soon he pretended he didn’t see anything and looked away.

He was being too obvious.

Yet others didn’t see it. The power of the painting was too much for them to notice it.

‘Fine then…’

Seol Young pulled out his sword.

He ran his hand through the sharp blade, and red blood dripped down.

“Ah!”

The people were shocked, even those from the Black Tortoise.

The spirit sword stained with blood?

Unless a Hwarang wanted to carry out a will or order against someone, the blade should never be drenched in blood. This action was evil for them.

But Seol Young didn’t care.

If he cut his own hand, he would be the one hurt, and the wound would heal quickly. That was why he used the Blue Rainbow Sword.

At the smell of blood, the rats flocked to it.

Seol Young put dots of blood on their heads.

The yellowish spots turned red, and the rats now looked like ironclads.

Seol Young whistled again, and the rats moved.

Soon, they returned.

“Here!”

The people shouted.

This time there was a glowing rat, which meant success in finding a living person and a chance to bring him back.

The rats rushed to Seol Young.

“No, over there!”

With one clap, the direction changed, and it ran to the family. And it jumped to someone who might have a similar aura to the one trapped.

“Uh? Mother!”

“Oh, my dear! My child is alive!”

There was a loud noise all over the place because of this.

It was the same as knowing that a familiar person would walk into the room even without having to look at it. Everyone felt the presence of their lost family members through the paper.

Seol Young said to them,

“There are thirteen rats who say they met a living person…”

“That is all of them!”

The people shouted.

They couldn’t help but believe Seol Young’s words now.

Everyone was already in tears.

“I thought it would be better if we could just find the body!”

The atmosphere turned brighter.

“Everybody is alive! How can that be? It is unusual.”

Zaha tilted his head, making Seol Young shocked.

“Then you want someone to die? No matter how much you decided to abandon your humanity, you cannot be this obvious.”

He did say it, but Seol Young thought it was strange too.

He didn’t expect them to be alive, at least not all of them, but it was also unusual to the point of being unnatural.

There had to be something else here. He looked at the people again—the poor ones who barely made ends meet.

Among these people, there were quite a few descendants of destroyed nations. If the landlord’s family were a ruthless one, they would have been kicked out long ago.

In a world where the weak were food, this felt nice.

‘Teacher said it is important to understand the hearts of weak people. All my brothers would have never passed this.’

Seol Young nodded to himself.

This work was also in accordance with the teachings of his teacher.

If this could be done, everyone could be safely rescued.

“It means that everyone was holding up well inside. We need to keep our minds strong and give them strength.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The people answered in unison. Then, once again, they looked at Seol Young with a grateful gaze.

“Amazing…”

At such a reaction, the Hwarangs present were shocked. It was fortunate that the families finally had some hope.

But they still couldn’t trust the spells and crafts he was doing.

‘What if the results will change after this?’

More than anything, they were worried about his actions being watched like this.

So, they explained it.

“Spells like witchcraft can quickly earn admiration, but do not be tempted to do it. The right path for Hwarangs to walk on is the spiritual one and to slash demons with the spirit sword.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young heard it too, but he didn’t care.

The gloomy aura that had been running around the house had completely dissipated now. He could no longer give power to the evil spirits.

‘Look at this. Didn’t I say this?’

He regarded Zaha, who was in deep thought.

And it was then…

*Thud!*

A strong vibration could be felt inside the house, and the expression on Seol Young’s face vanished right then.

‘This…’

It was one problem after another.

Unknowingly, his gaze turned to the Hwarangs, and they to him.

This made it more awkward.

“…?”

Zaha was done thinking. He looked at both sides, and his eyes shone.

‘It worked.’

Was that what that expression meant?

Dozens of mouths opened with shocked faces as they passed.

“Xuan Tian Zen Martial Arts?”

“Yes, High Governor.”

The Hwarangs awkwardly answered.

The Black Tortoises also had a tortoise-like character. They didn’t know how to hide their feelings like others. Still, they were the ones who did their best.

“We were called in first because the first Hwarang couldn’t break down the wall. The four Hwarangs and three helpers were just trying their best to do this.”

Seol Young felt bad.

But didn’t he decide to put personal feelings aside for this mission?

So he took the lead.

“Here we go. I am sure the people have calmed down, and now it is time to look into this mysterious incident that happened.”

“Right”

Zaha chimed in.

Everyone saw it.

The gold line around the huge room and the place where people went missing.

The third, fifth, seventh, and eighth members took the positions along with three officials.

Soon, they drew their swords, let out a sharp cry, and stabbed the walls at the same time.

*Thud!*

There was a strong vibration in the ground, with seven points being hit. It was an overwhelming force, and they unleashed their sword, performing their divine powers.

“…”

Upon seeing Seol Young, their faces changed. He bowed his head to hide the agitation he was feeling inside.

“High Governor.”

Zaha smiled and then turned to Seol Young.

“Ah, come to think of it, Seol Young-rang might not know this martial art.”

The atmosphere changed.

If someone else had said it, he would have yelled back at them.

‘High Governor has been away for eight years, so he might not know it.’

The Black Tortoise Troops were thinking this.

“… I know.”

Seol Young replied.

Among the four troops, the Black Tortoise was a symbol of patience and perseverance.

And they placed more emphasis on building a solid foundation, which was probably why they showed slower progress than the other troops.

However, with diligent training, they become stronger and exert mighty power. In terms of power itself, they surpassed the other troops.

Among them, the Black Tortoise was known to be the best at the Xuan Tian Zen Martial Arts.

Seven characters represented the seven points of the martial arts, and the seven stars that represent Xian Tian were revered as Gods: Fight, Ox, Woman, Hollow, Danger, Room, and Barrier. Concentrate the spiritual power at the tip of the sword and explode it simultaneously.

If he did this in an instant, everything would topple.

No matter how strong the barrier was, it would have to collapse.

“But even that martial arts is useless.”

Seol Young spoke without any emotion.

The Black Tortoise Hwarangs were shocked. To their ears, Seol Young’s words were demeaning.

Of course, it came when he was using it right now.

They couldn’t help but recall what had happened in the past. And the fifth member, Beom Hyun, said,

“Then I hope Seol Young-rang teaches me a couple of tricks he uses.”

Seol Young said nothing.

He had to get this done.

If he could break the barrier made by the evil spirit, things would become easier for them. If spiritual power didn’t work here, he could try borrowing the power of spells.

However, since he knew that the Black Tortoise Troops were here, if they saw it, they would make a fuss to kill him.

But when was the last time he cared?

This was a matter of human life, and he didn’t have time to sugarcoat things.

Seol Young stepped forward.

He always had a cold expression, but dressed only in a white robe, he looked more like a devil.

Everyone observed his movements, but he continued to ignore those gazes and stood in front of the wall and chanted.

‘Humble and proud, cloudy and clear…’

The supernatural powers awakened right then, and the aura that flowed through the sword merged with the spiritual energy and rose like a wave.

Seol Young waved his sword.

There was a clear sound of something being hit and plucked.

Powerful spirits began to come out of the place the sword touched, and it was like an iron ball.

“…!”

The faces of the Hwarangs changed. Some faces turned blue, and others red.

‘He is using that! Insane man!’

Everyone glared at Seol Young with vicious eyes.

But he was aloof.