Cheongmyeong's head turned sharply.
"Ah..."
There is someone! It was a rare piece of good news after a month of being resurrected.
There were still people living in the volcano, which he thought was completely destroyed.
Creak! The heavy wooden door, rotten and decayed, opened with a grating sound.
Through the half-open door, a Daoist wearing a black crown peeked out. "..."
"No, what is this child doing here?" A Daoist.
Cheongmyeong was convinced by the man's single remark that he was indeed a true Daoist.
Because in the past month, he had hardly heard the word "child." - No, what kind of beggar is this? - Looks like a young beggar? - Is a beggar traveling alone? 'That damn beggar.' A beggar has no age distinction.
Whether young or old, they are just beggars.
The fact that this person called him a "child" instead of a "beggar," despite his filthy appearance, showed that he was worthy of being recognized as a Daoist.
The middle-aged Daoist, appearing to be around forty, kept turning his head to look around.
Then, with a face full of disbelief, he looked at Cheongmyeong.
"Did you come alone? How on earth did you manage to climb up here by yourself?" "Uh... well..."
Cheongmyeong stammered. 'I just climbed up, you know?' He wanted to say that nothing was impossible with determination, but that wasn't the right thing to say in the current situation.
With his skinny body, no matter what he said, he would only raise suspicion.
But there was no need to make excuses.
What mattered now was not making excuses but taking control of the conversation.
"More importantly, I have a question to ask."
"Hmm?" The Daoist's eyes widened.
It was understandable.
Finding a child alone in a place where even adults struggled to reach would be shocking enough, and now this child was suddenly asking a question, how could that not be surprising? "Are you the Daoist of the volcano?" "…How do you know the name of the volcano sect?" "Is it correct?" "For now, yes."
Cheongmyeong let out a sigh of relief. 'So it hasn't completely fallen apart!' Of course, it was on the brink of collapse.
Just looking at the state of the mountain gate gave a rough idea.
But what mattered was that it had not yet perished. 'In any case, it means the lineage is still alive.' Cheongmyeong made up his mind.
For now, he had to somehow...
"Come inside for now."
"What?" Cheongmyeong's head shot up.
The Daoist smiled kindly and said, "Isn't the sun setting?" "…Oh?" Now that he thought about it, the surroundings were already growing dark.
"The nights in the volcano are cold. If you try to spend the night without proper preparations, you might freeze to death. It would be unreasonable to go down the mountain now, and I can't just leave you here to spend the night, so let's go inside for now. We are not accepting outsiders at the moment, but I cannot let a guest who knows the name of the volcano suffer the night dew."
Cheongmyeong rolled his eyes.
Why was he being let in so easily?… Well, thinking about it, they had no reason to be wary of him.
Would they need to be cautious of a young beggar who looked like he might collapse at any moment from hunger? "If you have no one with you and no plans, then let's go inside for now. We can talk later."
Cheongmyeong felt a bit dazed.
He felt a surge of emotions.
The traces of the once-mighty volcano sect that ruled the world were now almost gone, but before the decline, the essence of the volcano that had supported it still felt alive. 'Yes.
That’s enough.' What was important about making a name for oneself with a sword? The volcano was a sect before it was a sword sect.
If it still carried on the essence of the sect, then the volcano was still alive.
"Then I will trouble you."
As Cheongmyeong lightly bowed his head, the man smiled and opened the door.
"This way."
"Yes. Before that, I..."
Cheongmyeong closed his mouth.
What should he introduce himself as? 'I don’t know.
They won’t suspect me, right?' "I am Cheongmyeong. If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask for your name, Daoist?" "Cheongmyeong. That’s a nice name. My name is Unam." 'Unja Bae.' Cheongmyeong's eyes sparkled. 'The distribution has already gone around once.
If it’s Unja Bae, then he must be my great-grandmaster's disciple?' The volcano follows the lineage of Cheongmyeong Hyeonunbaek.
From Cheongja Bae to Baekja Bae, after one round, it returns to Cheongja Bae.
That Daoist named Unam must have been a disciple of the volcano for four generations already. 'Then he wouldn’t have seen me.' The last disciples of the volcano he had seen were from the Hyeonja Bae.
At that time, the Hyeonja Bae had three great disciples, so this Daoist Unam had never seen him before.
He suddenly felt the passage of time.
Cheongmyeong had once led the volcano with his senior brother...
No, he had been a hindrance to his senior brother leading the volcano and had never even climbed it, but now he was meeting the Daoist of the volcano.
Such a strange feeling was something only he could experience.
Cheongmyeong followed Unam's guidance and passed through the mountain gate into the interior.
"Hoo."
He let out a deep sigh.
It felt a bit burdensome to see the current state of the volcano with his own eyes.
Cheongmyeong reassured himself again and again. 'Stay calm.' Considering what they had left behind and the circumstances of their return, it was not surprising that the volcano was in disarray.
No, rather, that was the norm.
But it was not their fault.
They had left behind only children who could not even wield a sword, and it was their own fault that they had all perished.
In other words, to speak coldly, Cheongmyeong had no right to be angry at these children.
He should rather feel sorry.
If he were in their situation, would he have struggled to protect the volcano? He would have discarded his name as a thief and gone to become a Taoist.
Wasn't that the sensible thing to do? 'So what right do I have to blame these children?' As an adult, he had failed to guide the children onto the right path, and now he was angry that the child had not succeeded? That was a shameless act.
No matter what happened, he had to realize that the responsibility lay with him and accept the situation with an open heart.
"Hoo."
Taking a deep breath, Cheongmyeong walked inside.
Soon, a vast training ground unfolded before his eyes. 'Ah.' It was a nostalgic feeling.
Hadn't Cheongmyeong once wielded a sword in this vast training ground, nurturing his dreams? The floor was paved with white Cheonggang stone... "…Oh?" Cheongmyeong rubbed his eyes.
Cheonggang stone? That white Cheonggang...
No, where did the Cheonggang stone go? Cheongmyeong's eyes trembled. 'Why is it a dirt floor?' In the past, the floor of this training ground had been filled with solid Cheonggang stone.
His senior brother had been displeased that the floor of the sect, which should be simple, was paved with expensive Cheonggang stone, but it was also unfortunate that the children were training while inhaling dust, so he had not insisted on removing it.
But why had all the Cheonggang stone disappeared? Could it be that the current mountain gate was even more frugal than his senior brother? So they removed all the Cheonggang stone? "Hoo."
A vein throbbed on Cheongmyeong's forehead. 'Stay calm.' Calm down.
Stay calm again.
What did it matter if that Cheonggang stone was gone? 'It's just a rock.' No matter how expensive that Cheonggang stone was! Even if the Daoists were angry that they were stepping on stones worth more than a month's worth of grain for the common people...
People come and go, and stones come and go...
Ah.
Stones may come and people may go.
Anyway! 'If money is tight, it can be sold.' What mattered was that the volcano continued to exist.
It was not important to protect those rocks.
It was really not important... 'Stay calm.' "Hoo. Hoo."
Cheongmyeong took slow, deep breaths.
Even if he had to sell those rocks, he should be grateful to those who had preserved the name of the volcano...
At that moment, Cheongmyeong's eyes bulged.
Another strange sight caught his eye. 'Where did the Geumcheon Palace go?' He couldn't see the Geumcheon Palace. 'Ah, what do you mean you can't see it?' The Geumcheon Palace was not a living creature but a building.
It couldn't just run away on its own, could it? But no matter how he looked, the place where the Geumcheon Palace had been was now just a desolate empty lot. "…That."
"Hmm?" "That, over there."
Cheongmyeong's trembling fingertip pointed to the empty lot where the Geumcheon Palace should have been.
"The layout seems a bit strange... Was there nothing there originally?" "Hmm. It seems you can see that too. Originally, there were buildings in that empty lot."
It must have been so.
But where had they all gone? "Hehe. It's not a story you would know."
Speak up, man! Why wouldn't I know? I know better than you! "Just call it the scars of glory. It’s a bit embarrassing for a Daoist to speak of glory, but..." "…Glory can freeze to death."
"Huh?" "It's nothing."
Cheongmyeong mumbled.
The sight of the volcano, with the Cheonggang stone gone and the buildings vanished, was desolation itself.
Even a slight breeze would stir up the dirt of the training ground, creating a yellow sandstorm.
Is this the volcano? This? I would believe it if you told me it was a demon sect, you rotten bastards.
"Ugh."
"Are you hurt?" "Ah, no. It's nothing. Nothing."
Cheongmyeong took a deep breath.
With each inhale, the sandstorm blew into his mouth, making it gritty and unpleasant.
"A bit."
"Hmm?" "It seems desolate..."
"Is that so?" Unam smiled sadly.
His bitter expression pierced Cheongmyeong's heart. 'Yes... it must have been so.' He felt a surge of emotions.
Thinking about it, the ones who must have suffered the most during the downfall of the volcano were those like Unam who had protected it.
If they had the ability, would they have allowed the sect to decline? And if they had no affection, how could they have continued to protect a declining sect? 'You must have suffered the most.' Thinking this lightened his heart a bit.
No matter how great Cheongmyeong's shock was, it was nothing compared to the sorrow that those who had protected the volcano had experienced.
So there was no need to whine.
"Come this way." "…Yes."
"When a guest arrives, it is proper to provide a place for them to rest, but the volcano is a sect, and there are rules that guests must follow. I understand your desire to rest, but first, you must enter the Okcheonwon and pay your respects to the ancestor."
Cheongmyeong nodded.
The Okcheonwon is where the ancestor of the volcano, the Great Tong, is enshrined.
While many buildings in the volcano have their own importance, it would not be an exaggeration to say that there is none more important than the Okcheonwon.
If Cheongmyeong had not lost the awareness that he was a disciple of the volcano, it would have been natural to enter the Okcheonwon and pay his respects as soon as he entered the volcano.
It was a situation where it was difficult to bring it up himself, so Unam took the lead, and he should be grateful... but he felt uneasy.
Perhaps because he had seen too much already, he felt no joy at entering the Okcheonwon.
The entire volcano was in disarray, so what difference would it make if he entered the ancestral hall? 'Don’t be surprised.' He took a deep breath in advance.
No matter what situation he saw, he vowed not to be surprised.
"You can go in here."
"Yes."
Cheongmyeong, having calmed his heart several times, entered the Okcheonwon.
And he stopped in his tracks.
The Okcheonwon was simple.
What was visible was the portrait of the Great Tong and the incense burner placed in front of it, along with the offerings.
It was an extremely simple sight, befitting a Daoist.
Simple...
Yes, it was simply too simple.
A groan escaped Cheongmyeong's lips.
Soon, his body began to tremble.
"Wh-where..."
The golden candlestick made of gold that the Emperor had given to the Great Tong was nowhere to be seen, nor were the scrolls made of characters written by the ancestor himself before his ascension.
The golden decorations, the paintings that had filled the hall, had all disappeared.
But what truly shocked Cheongmyeong was not that.
"Th-there."
No way.
It couldn't be.
It must have been put away somewhere.
Cheongmyeong pointed with trembling fingers at the altar.
"Huh?" "Th-there was a flower here, wasn't there?" "A flower?" "…Yes. A flower!" "How do you know that?" "It was here, right? What happened to that flower?" Unam tilted his head.
He had many questions he wanted to ask the child, but seeing Cheongmyeong's face, which was twisting and turning, he felt he should answer first.
"It was here. It was indeed here. A strange plum blossom made of white metal."
"Yes! That flower! Where did it go?" "I sold it." "…What?" "It was of no particular use, and it didn’t fit the Daoist's style, so I was worried about it, but there was a merchant who wanted to buy it, so I sold it for a good price."
"Y-you sold it..."
"That's right. But you..."
Cheongmyeong finally rolled his eyes and fainted.
"Hey! Hey, wake up!" "Ugh..."
Anxiang Baimaehua.
Along with the Zaha Divine Sword, one of the two divine objects of the volcano.
Not flashy like gold, nor shining like silver, it was simply plain.
But it was said to contain the essence of the volcano.
These madmen sold it.
"There are things that should not be sold."
This...
"They sold this, these crazy bastards..."
The fatigue from climbing the volcano combined with the shock overwhelmed him.
Cheongmyeong finally lost consciousness.
The figure of his senior brother, who seemed to be panicking in front of his gradually fading vision, appeared.
Senior brother.
The volcano has fallen.
It has completely fallen.
Ahhh! Cheongmyeong lost consciousness right there.