Subdued Soul Chronicle

There was a blurry shadow in Seol Young’s unfocused eyes.

The energy of the God of Cataclysm dominated the entire space here, with the thick black energy being sucked into the sky.

It wasn’t something they could resist.

As if he realized that it was wrong after it moved, the black energy tried to move out.

However, a powerful binding force pulled it back. The Die Together technique was invoked using the soul as a material. And it must be the result of the combination of the binding power of the bone fragments that brought that being into this land.

Then what about the dazzling glow from within?

It was annihilation. It was a lesson from his last failure, and Zaha stepped in with his sword to finish it perfectly this time.

‘No. No.’

Seol Young erased the thoughts that were running through his head.

He couldn’t believe all this. How could a person do such a terrible thing twice? It couldn’t be. Absolutely not.

“Stop! Stop!”

Seol Young’s hand, which was forcibly opening this barrier, was pushed back. Then he touched one of the 12 Guardian Spirits.

It was a warming.

However, when Seol Young didn’t back down and tried to do it again, he was struck with a tremendous repulsive force.

Puak!

His vision went black, and his body went numb.

In that state, another explosion happened, and Seol Young was caught up in it without being able to avoid it. And when he barely came to his senses…

Everything in front of him was already entwined and disappearing as if there were an eclipse.

Seol Young was dumbfounded.

“…No?”

Through the cracks of this heavenly barrier, he could see the inside. There was nothing, there and he couldn’t even sense anything.

An unfamiliar scene entered his eyes.

Suddenly, everything changed.

The demonic qi that twisted this barrier was cut off from this world. The light pouring down from the sky felt like a blessing from the heavens, and the whirlwind around them made the restless light disappear.

Only traces of the cracks remained.

A world that stood still as if nothing existed anymore.

And then a golden light flashed. Seol Young looked back.

“High…”

The words in his mouth stuttered.

And then Jin Rim appeared. He was surprised to find Seol Young standing there.

“Thank God, I found you!”

As Jin Rim wielded his golden wheel, the righteous weapon, a spiritual qi burst out. Its light spread around in strokes of rays, correcting the entire space that was formless.

And then came a flute’s sound from Seo Geom.

“Over there!”

The leaders came running, and all five of them seemed to have returned to their normal ways. With no traces of redness on their bodies.

Jin Rim shouted as the spiritual qi spread everywhere,

“Now! Since the God of Cataclysm has disappeared, we need to get away from here!”

“Yes!”

The stone pagoda, which was found through the spiritual qi, had already gone to the 6th level..

“Soon, the beings beyond the Ghost Bridge will come over! Before that, you need to close the Ghost Bridge!”

“Yes!”

Baek Eon, Seo Geom, Mu Won, and Hwa Un quickly moved to support the pillar. Seo Geom used the flute, and the others pulled out their righteous weapons.

From the center, there was the spiritual energy of the White Tiger Troops, Blue Dragon Troops, Black Tortoise Troops, and Vermillion Bird Troops. All of them used their weapons to fill the distorted space in front of them.

The barrier began to function again, and it looked like the sky and land were back to normal.

“We did it!”

Jin Rim immediately applied spiritual qi to the stone tower. And the seven stones fell apart.

At that moment, the opaque surface of the water-like substance opened up in the middle of the air and then vanished.

“…it’s closed!”

Someone shouted outside the barrier.

“The Ghost Bridge is closed!”

There were loud voices with the cold wind, and the torches were all lit… Everything was back to normal. Those left behind the barrier were worried and took countermeasures. And then, when everything was normal, they looked in surprise.

“You are back! What happened?! The God of Cataclysm!”

Amid the flurry of questions, Jin Rim shook his head.

“I don’t know. During the fight, its presence vanished all of a sudden, and we hurriedly escaped from there, not missing our chance.”

“Then is the evil spirit inside?”

Jin Rim looked back. There was nothing there, not even a trace of the bridge connecting the two worlds.

“Right.”

Everyone looked so relieved. They finally did it.

No one had any idea just how worried they were that the nightmare from eight years ago would return again.

‘We nearly did it.’

Everyone had the same expression this time. The very long night was over, with a deep purple light shining in the sky. It was a solemn atmosphere at the top of the mountain, where the wind and snow were blowing.

But then…

Baek Eon, Seo Geom, Hwa Un, and Mu Won stepped forward.

“I don’t see the High Governor.”

“Hmm?”

Jin Rim didn’t understand.

“Wasn’t he with Seol Young-rang?”

After saying that, he realized that he didn’t notice it, and then he thought he saw him with Seol Young.

Jin Rim’s heart skipped a beat.

‘Could it be that they are the only ones who escaped?’

But that didn’t make sense. If the High Governor had been left behind, Seol Young would have said something.

The two of them didn’t move far away, so nothing wrong should have happened.

Then, where was he?

“The other guardians?”

“Did they move to look under the mountain?”

Everyone seemed to be busy, and Seol Young just stood there. Something wasn’t normal.

And the loud talks faded.

“Seol Young.”

Baek Eon asked,

“How did the God of Cataclysm’s power suddenly disappear?”

“….”

“Seol Young-rang, where is the High Governor?”

Seo Geom asked again, and Seol Young finally said,

“He used…a technique.”

“Technique? Whih one?”

“But it makes no sense. It can’t be done. Not a single bit of it makes sense.”

Seol Young shook his head.

“This surely has to be a joke. He must have used another technique to take down the God of Cataclysm and plotted to scare us. It’s impossible to reuse that technique, which disappeared from his head completely. I also just learned it from the Memory Projection.”

Regardless of who was listening, he spoke without holding his breath. He wasn’t sure if this was what he wanted to say or hear.

“All lies from the start. How can the High Governor suddenly use such a sorcery defense circle? Not too long ago, he just learned to use talismans and summon. Even if he secretly learned it, weren’t we always with him? I was watching…”

But his confused head realized something. He did have time.

‘No.’

Seol Young shook his head.

“It makes no sense. He said that during the three days I was unconscious, he stayed with me. And my hyungs watched over me after that. Even when I recovered, the High Governor continued to train with the Blue Dragon and Vermilion Bird Troops…”

Seeing Hwa Un and Seo Geom’s expressions change, Seol Young knew something had happened.

“No. The High Governor only visited us for a short time and said he would be with you.”

At Hwa Un’s words, Baek Eon was shocked.

“But he came to the infirmary only at night, though? He told us that he was with the two troops during the day. What was he doing from morning to evening?”

In the midst of the silence, even his breathing couldn’t be heard because everyone held their breaths, and then a Hwarang stepped ahead.

It was Seon Jong, the third Hwarang of the Golden Ring Troops.

Jin Rim asked him,

“Seon Jeong-rang, do you know something?”

“Yes, I…I don’t know where the High Governor was or what he did, but he did inform me something. He told me where he was going and said that he would be there for four or so days, and in case there was an emergency, I should let him know. But now that his whereabouts are unclear, I feel like I should…”

“Right, tell me. Where is it?”

At Jin Rim’s order, Seon Jong bowed his head.

“The High Governor was in the tomb for four days.”

Everyone was shocked.

“Tomb?”

“The tomb in Mount Toham, the God of Cataclysm’s…”

Seol Young was shocked.

“Isn’t that the place that was sealed because it’s dangerous? Third-rang also listened to me at that time…”

“Right.”

Hyo Wool nodded.

“I also heard it when Seol Young-rang said he would go there and keep the remains of the spirit. The High Governor said the tomb has been sealed.”

“Is that so? I’m hearing this for the first time. I didn’t know.”

Seon Jong nodded at Jim Rim’s puzzled words.

“Right. The tomb wasn’t sealed.”

Then he lied?

He told Seol Young that the tomb was sealed, but what did he do there for four days?

Was there a story that sounded normal like this? Everything felt unreal.

‘No…’

Seol Young was making his way through the crowd, and people followed him from behind.

And he saw a horse tied to the tree, which he pulled and immediately rode. He ran across the snow-covered path, and rushed to the tomb.

The hole drilled by the Black Tortoise Troops was still there, and the rope ladder was also still intact.

Seol Young climbed down.

Many things were placed in the dark.

“Why were you in here?”

After Seol Young Baek-Song-Wol, the other leaders and many more Hwarangs went down. They all looked at the tunnel in a careful manner.

“What is this?”

Human bones, worn-out clothes, swords, earrings, and rings….

All of them were objects that somehow gave off a gloomy feeling.

“What was he doing in here?”

While everyone was looking around without knowing the reason…

Seol Young’s gaze stopped in one spot.

“…?”

Everyone looked at him with puzzled eyes, as there was nothing to see.

But Seol Young could see it. The shadows in the dark, and this feeling that something bad happened.

‘Why are you all here?’

The bodies of the five tomb spirits were all here.

‘Why are you in here and not back at his house…?’

He didn’t know.

The person who brought the tomb spirits here had prepared the jade box for them to dwell in comfortably.

However, the ghosts didn’t enter it. For some reason, they used up all their energy to stay outside.

‘Did you wait? For me?’

Then they pointed to one corner of the tomb.

Seol Young went there, and there was a book open.

The book was wide open. It seemed like the corner was pressed with a stone as he looked into it for a long time.

Could this be the Die Together Circle?

And upon closer inspection he noticed that this wasn’t a secret book, but one that anyone could obtain.

“What book is this?”

Baek Cheon asked, but he coudn’t hear him.

Seol Young’s gaze was nailed to the book and didn’t even know when he would look away.