Subdued Soul Chronicle

There were brilliantly shining gold patterns on the pitch-black ground. It seemed like someone had done them with extreme care.

As the God of Cataclysm looked at it, Seol Young was also looking at this.

It was the first time he had seen such an incantation be made.

Was that why?

As if the incantation had life, it was moving on its own. In the darkness, it began to stretch out, and then it suddenly exerted a powerful binding force and grabbed the God of Cataclysm.

‘How did this happen?’

He was about to figure out what itthis was through this vision. Then the qi from the sorcery turned into a golden mandala.

It meshed perfectly with the dark mandala of theGod of Cataclysm.

Seol Young analyzed the form of the technique.

‘Cloning? Imitation? Or is it both?’

That was the secret.

One couldn’t go beyond oneself. And the same went for Mita.

The technique would surely subdue the target, so no matter how strong the target was, they would be bound.

‘If the soul is sacrificed, then it would surely work.’

Once it was captured like this, the God of Cataclysm must have felt a huge blow. She was dragged right into the coffin.

The two energies collided, and the space distorted.

And in this chaos, the God of Cataclysm found golden eyes staring at her. And the next moment, the opponent grabbed her.

It wasn’t in her nature to be trapped or confined to a place, so she incessantly tried to move.

And she tried to get out again.

However, she had already been trapped in the body of someone else, and she tried to tear the body apart and leave, but the chains of the spell tightly bound her.

The existence went back to being normal and bound to a body. So Seol Young was able to get a sense of how she changed after this.

First of all, the terrible pain of being bound to someone. For a foreign being like it, the pain must be nothing.

But the feeling of dying must be new.

And it didn’t seem to like this feeling very much. It was a situation that made it feel something.

It tried to get out, but nothing worked.

And the body that imprisoned it reached out, and the lid of the coffin was closed.

Next, it was just pitch-black.

In the darkness, certain sensations became more vivid. Soon, the feelings of the body that it had been confined to halted. It was awful.

… Don’t like it!

Seol Young hurriedly got out of there and opened his eyes.

He broke out in a cold sweat all over his body. His heart thumped as if it would come out.

‘I just saw the Die Together circle.’

He couldn’t believe it, but it was true. At one time, he thought it was a forbidden thing.

However, Zaha also said that after using it once, he couldn’t use it again. Among the high-level incantations, there were such things. Because it was a secret and forbidden one, once used, the caster could never do it again.

He wanted to study it and read the book about it, but Zaha said he burned that too. He said that such a secret art shouldn’t fall into the hands of others.

So he couldn’t see it again, but unexpectedly, he was able to see how the technique was implemented through the memories left in the soul of the God of Cataclysm. It stayed in its mind from start to end.

‘Then did it happen?’

Seol Young tried to draw the same technique he had seen with his finger. Even before he ended it, he could already feel a strong vibration around his fingertips. The lines stretched out in the air as if they came to life.

‘It works!’

Seol Young stopped his hands in surprise. The flow of energy that was about to form in the air was quickly stirred and scattered.

‘I finally obtained the method to do it.’

His heart pounded again. It was a very powerful sorcery spell, yet simple at the same time. It didn’t need spiritual qi or knowledge. All it needed was a soul. And there was no need to use qi because it lived on its own.

‘I can simply use it.’

He couldn’t stop thinking about it. As Zaha said, it was unlikely that the God of Cataclysm would fall under the same thing twice, but they had her remains.

They could use the bone ashes to summon her, and after that, they could use the Great Mother to stop her from leaving and use this technique too.

And then he suddenly realized it,

‘What is this?’

Seol Young shook his head.

‘It is close to death. I cannot do that.’

He had neither the will nor the stubbornness to do it. Above all, considering how shocked the people would be after they realized that, he could never make that decision.

It wasn’t just one person’s sacrifice, but everyone’s.

He believed in the right path.

‘I should find a way instead of taking up this crazy idea.’

Seol Young picked up the bundle of talismans that had fallen and put them away. He tried to calm his mind and forget what he had seen earlier—the writings on the wall and the golden eyes that shone. But then the silence was broken.

“Seol Young-rang! Seol Young-rang?”

There was a muffled call for him beyond the door, and they were the trainees.

Seol Young got up.

What could it be? He hasn’t recovered yet, so they wouldn’t be calling him for no reason.

When he opened the door, there were two trainees of the Black Tortoises there, and both of them were gasping for air. And Seol Young asked,

“What is it?”

“We are in trouble! He asked you to come!”

“Who?”

“High Governor!”

Since the boys were trainees, they themselves looked confused as they talked about it, and Seol Young followed them without asking any further questions.

They arrived at a nearby place, at one of the temples in the area.

There were several people gathered outside. A loud sound could be heard, and there were flashes of spiritual qi.

What was this?

Seol Young ran through the crowd, reached the yard, and saw the scene that had been hidden because of the towers.

*Thud! Thud!*

One of the statues of the four Heavenly Kings guarding the temple was moving on its own. It was moving as it held two middle-aged nuns in its hands.

And its body was already surrounded by aura. On one side, Mu Won and several Hwarangs were trying to tie its upper body with spiritual qi.

If the Heavenly King put a little more strength in its hands, the two nuns would die. Therefore, all of the Black Tortoise Troops tried not to let it move its fingers.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zaha created a Burning Ring formation to block its retreat.

Seol Young moved carefully so he wouldn’t interrupt the momentum and the work of the others.

“What is this?”

Mu Chun, the ninth member, answered.

“We came out to train with the trainees at night and found this. We couldn’t get rid of it by ourselves, so we called our leader, but the High Governor came before that. We heard he was looking around just in case…”

“Just in case?”

“Eight years ago, the very same incident happened, so he must have thought about it. At that time, several senior Hwarangs passed away.”

What?

Seol Young turned to the statue in shock. They managed to suppress it at the peak, but there was another thing happening here?

Were all the disturbances eight years ago going to happen again?

“Amitabha!”

The middle-aged nuns who were held hostage were clenching their hands and praying with looks of death on their faces.

Seol Young approached Zaha and asked,

“What can I do?”

“Do not step ahead first.”

Zaha said so.

“Can you summon a mighty warrior bigger than that? Using that, press down on that thing from behind to subdue it. Just like when Seo Jun-rang went out of control.”

And then he continued,

“This is a trap. Just as Buddhist chants are placed in the belly of a Buddha statue as a relic, a forbidden book holding evil power is hidden in the Four Heavenly King’s stomach. Which is why it is running amok here. If we attack it with a spiritual sword, the book inside will start to work, and the statue will explode with the two nuns in hand. And then everyone here will die.”

Seol Young understood the situation. That was why they wanted to subdue it and not attack it.

“I understand.”

He immediately used a summoning technique. It was one that was several times greater than the usual one. And when Vajrapani Great Strength appeared, the Four Heavenly Kings looked small.

*“Kuaaaa!”*

The Four Heavenly Kings shouted and showed hostility. But the Vajrapani Buddha turned back without difficulty and pressed on its wrists. And the hostages, who were being smothered, began to feel the pressure subside.

Zaha ordered.

“Now, Mu Won-rang. Quickly destroy the stomach of that thing. Do not use your spirit sword.”

“…?”

Mu Won was doubtful, and Seol Young, too.

He knew that he shouldn’t use his spirit sword, but he wanted him to destroy a statue’s stomach without anything?

At that moment, Mu Won turned to the hostages and then firmly decided,

“Yes.”

Mu Won went to his Hwarangs and ordered them.

Everyone seemed shocked. But they immediately put away their swords and raised spiritual qi on their hands.

The next moment…

“Now!”

With Mu Won’s orders, a round ray of light shone from the hands of the Hwarangs, making Seol Young shocked.

‘Isn’t that the Fallen Thunderbolt?’

It was the technique of the Black Tortoise Troops that had been discarded after being brought down by the Ghost Demon King. The same technique shone in purple and hit the stomach of the statue.

There was a roar as the trees broke down. And the statue was split from the stomach. Its eyes shone brightly, and its body stiffened.

The spiritual energy of the Black Tortoises wrapped around the fragments of the trees so it wouldn’t bounce around.

And at the same time, two Hwarangs moved to rescue the hostages and land them safely. Behind them, the statue split into two, and collapsed on the ground.

“Monk Hae Won! Monk Hae Jong!”

The members of the temple went running.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The sound of crying and greeting filled the place, but Seol Young didn’t care about all of that.

‘Did they just use the Fallen Thunderbolt? That easily?’

Judging from how they looked surprised at the order, they must have abandoned the technique, but they still used it to save the hostages.

Because what mattered most was saving their lives.

Then Zaha turned around, showing a mischievous smile to Mu Won.

“Ah, I need to find it.”

He dug through the broken trees and found a black cloth. And without opening it, he set it on fire.

Seol Young turned his head away from the black smoke.

But then.

Inside the large palm of the Four Heavenly Kings that had fallen to the ground, he saw something shiny.

He went there and picked it up.

It was a small drop engraved with the shape of the moon. It was bruised and clotted with blood.

Moon Bell.

“What?”

Seol Young stared at it, but Zaha went and took it away before he even realized his presence, and after seeing what it was, his face changed.

He had to know this. The Moon Bell was the same as the one that Zaha had taken out and shown him. It was a righteous weapon.

Why was it in the hands of this statue?

It must be because the senior who tried to save the hostages eight years ago belonged to the Sun and Moon Troops.

One of the tools that were used at that time must have been lost through an inexplicable process, and has only reappeared now.

Like an evil gift.

The more the opponent did this, the clearer Seol Young’s mind became.

Was it aware that it would cause confusion?

“Give that here.”

Seol Young took it back from Zaha. But at that moment, a thought crossed his head.

‘Wait… I am sure….’

This reminded him of something. The words that Zaha had said.

‘Right. Right. How the hell did I forget that?’

At the end of the path, it seemed like dawn had finally shone.