Chapter 30. Cho Ryu Hyang’s Challenge (1/2)

Chapter 30. Cho Ryu Hyang’s Challenge

The Book of Mountains and Seas was the compilation of all the information from the Chinese myths and stories. In it, one could find information on the Imugi.

But even in a book like that, there lay no information about a red horned, black scaled Imugi, many times bigger than normal. Even the Guangya (廣雅), which rivals the Book of Mountains and Seas, contained no information on that type of an Imugi.

A black scaled Imugi with red horns. It was a strange existence that had never been seen in the world until now.

* * *

‘This shouldn’t be possible.’

Cho Ryu Hyang sorted his thoughts as he clambered up the mountain.

A formation was something created by man by bending the laws of nature to his will. Since it is not something made by god, living beings can not survive in a formation for long.

But his teacher saw something alive. It didn’t matter whether it was a dragon or an Imugi. The fact that something lived inside a formation was amazing in itself already.

He climbed higher as he thought that, and reached a place that had strange stones arranged all over the place. Cho Ryu Hyang approached one, and observed it carefully. From the shadows, there was someone watching him do all this.

‘Dammit. Dammit!’

Ju Sang San.

He served as one of the eight guardians of the church, and was also known as the Blood Sound Demon in the martial world. He was a fearsome man.

A person like that, was currently buried in the ground with only his head poking out. He was observing Cho Ryu Hyang’s every move.

‘Do we really have to go this far?’

This really wasn’t something to be happy about, the Pope selecting him. He didn’t know why, but the Pope told him to not get within 900 meters of the boy.

But that wasn’t all.

‘To think he’d make me use a third-rate technique like this…….’

Burrowing (土遁術: A technique to move faster in the ground).

Ju Sang San felt despondent. He had to crawl along the ground like his life depended on it, in order to use this technique. Ju Sang San had even reconsidered taking the mission, taking into account the shameful position he would have to take.

But whose order was it? The Pope’s orders were absolute. Plus, was he not serving the Pope’s first disciple right now?

This mission was something to be proud of. There was nothing shameful about this at all.

‘For the church…….’

Ju Sang San strengthened his weakening resolve, and wiped sweat off his face. He became as quiet as possible, and observed the young man in front of him.

* * *

‘This is…….’

He knew what the symbols on the stone meant. They were mathematical symbols that were in use a long time ago. Those symbols were interlaced to look like a beautiful pattern etched onto stone. Cho Ryu Hyang had no idea how they were made, but the symbols were glowing.

Cho Ryu Hyang calmly began to translate the symbols. He soon realized that they were not as hard as he had first thought. They were not in much use in this day and age, but as long as you knew them, translating them was not hard at all.

Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes brightened once he finished translating a part of the symbols.

‘This is a language.’

Someone, someone from the past, created a language using mathematics, and had done so using a way that was very similar to his teacher’s method..

Since he already knew something like this before, he didn’t encounter too much trouble. Once he realized what it all was, everything became easy. He could instantly translate everything else that was written on the stone column.

‘An Imugi…….’

Stones such as these often talked of things like the Imugi. A snake that failed to transform into a dragon. That was an Imugi. Formations are usually described using metaphors, but apparently, this time it was not so.

Cho Ryu Hyang paused at the last sentence. There was something in the last sentence of the column that caught his attention.

‘Only a person holding the dragon ball can go in?’

(TL: I thought using the word “Cintamani” would be a bit weird, so I substituted with the next best thing.)

When Cho Ryu Hyang thought that, he heard someone laughing in his mind.

Zhuge Liang. He was laughing.

‘What is it?’

Zhuge Liang didn’t respond immediately to Cho Ryu Hyang’s question. But the old man did seem very amused.

[Greenhorn, I now understand why you are so talented in Math.]

The reason he was talented? What did that mean? When Cho Ryu Hyang put on a confused expression, Zhuge Liang spoke.

[The answer just comes to you once you contemplate on a problem for a long time. Greenhorn, that’s probably your biggest advantage.]

Zhuge Liang paused, and then spoke whilst gazing affectionately at the stone in front of Cho Ryu Hyang.

[A human life really is unpredictable. That is why it is so amusing.]

Now, what did that mean? Cho Ryu Hyang was waiting for an answer, but Zhuge Liang did not continue.

He simply stared at the stone for a long time, and then spoke with a faint smile.

[There are times where the old triumphs over the new. I really like it when that happens.]

This too, was not really understandable. While Cho Ryu Hyang was confused, Zhuge Liang stared at him and said,

[Greenhorn, it seems that you were destined to come here. So don’t mull over useless things, and enter.]

Cho Ryu Hyang realized something.

‘Does the elder know about this place?’

Zhuge Liang didn’t respond. He just fingered his feathered fan, and smiled. Cho Ryu Hyang was convinced that the old man knew something, but he did not press further.

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‘I have to go in anyway.’

Zhuge Liang. The old man’s words were right. No matter how much he thought about the formation, the answer wouldn’t come to him. He had to go into the formation, and find the answer for himself.

‘I was being a cowardly bird.’

A bird surprised by a bow (傷弓之鳥).

It meant that once someone was surprised by something, he/she would again be surprised by something similar.