EP.136 The Slanted Ceiling and the Mountain of Smiling Corpses - 8
'…Somehow it feels like she's blaming me.'
Well, obviously. I said it was unpleasant. The first thing Jiseon did upon seeing the corpses was pick a fight, didn't she?
Still, true to her high cultivation as a Daoist priestess, Jiseon composed her expression and made a request toward me.
"That is a relic created by the Grand Master of the Earth Mother God Religion. This humble one wishes to receive it."
"I don't want to. I passed the relic's trial. Then, by the rule that has existed since the dawn of time, 'Finder's keepers for ownerless objects!' this Jijan is mine."
It sounded like suddenly spawned greed, or perhaps a legitimate declaration. Of course, to Jiseon it would have only sounded like the former.
"Do not be unreasonable. This humble one, though lacking, is Jiseon who has been permitted the character 'Immortal' (仙). Representing all Earth Mother believers, I request its return."
"Jiseon, you're the one who shouldn't be unreasonable. I'm the most ordinary human in the world. Representing all humans, I say this is mine."
Jijan trembled slightly. As if shouting not to lie.
These dead ones lately are really strange. I gave it a solid whack because it was noisy, and my fingers hurt.
'Did greed suddenly surge upon seeing the relic before her eyes? This is why a sinner's disposition can't be trusted.'
Clicking her tongue briefly, Jiseon made a final attempt at persuasion. If this didn't work, she intended to take it by force.
"This humble one has worked for 20 years, a full 20 years, to reach this origin. Even Tantalus was made by this humble one, for I descended to this land myself and turned the soil. This humble one's contributions are the greatest."
"Ah, dividing it by shares? That sounds more like an adventurer than an Earth Mother believer!"
Jiseon's eyes twitched.
Adventurer. Self-proclaimed treasure hunter, so-called grave robber. Using the term 'adventurer'—those who roam searching for relics and treasures, flipping over remains—toward an Earth Mother believer means one of two things.
The result of ignorance, or a calculated provocation politely requesting that we clash from this point forward.
"You said it was to eliminate the Bottomless Pit, right? Then that's enough! I'll eliminate the Bottomless Pit with this Jijan! And I'm keeping this! Hiccup! Wow, what a windfall! A windfall!"
"Perhaps you are intoxicated?"
"No? I'm not intoxicated at all? Hic, hic. Ah, how refreshing! To think I'd pick up such a treasure here!"
Leaving me to excitedly take in this and that, Jiseon shook her head and reached out her hand.
"It seems you are intoxicated. If so, excuse my rudeness."
Thus Jiseon tried to snatch the Jijan gripped in my hand. The moment her fingers tried to grasp Jijan.
Spin. Jijan flipped slightly and pushed Jiseon's hand away in a circle.
It shouldn't have been pushed back.
Jiseon's body was filled with exceedingly high-level qi gong, and with every step she applied earth-arts-derived qi gong scattered across the ground, planting roots beneath her feet.
This was why she never fell.
Possessing Kun qi gong that had reached the realm, and the Gan qi gong that had hardened through its training. She could truly be called a living ancient tree.
However.
An ancient tree cannot exist without the earth.
'What?!'
Screech.
The recoilless sword, Jijan, naturally deflected her arm.
Jijan is a light sword only to me. The weight of Jijan that others feel is comparable to Mount Tai.
Not an expression but literally. It is a sword bearing the weight of the largest rock in the world.
A contest of strength? There is none. Resistance? She cannot.
As long as I hold this Jijan, I do not lose in 'strength.' For their strength is swallowed by the weight of Jijan.
That is why Jijan is a recoilless sword. Though in my hand it's a cane.
'Not only does it allow wielding, but it also permits the swinging of force…? Why?'
When I easily shook off her arm, Jiseon's eyes filled with alarm and then fear.
Not because of my strength, but the fear born from an inferiority complex—that I might truly be Jijan's master.
Jiseon looked at me with fully wary eyes.
"…I do not know how Lord Hughes received the relic's selection. I request once more. Please hand it over to this humble one."
"Now our eye levels match a bit. How about it? Are you ready to listen?"
"Please ask. This humble one is always ready to listen."
"Ahaha. Don't lie. You delude yourself into thinking only you are qualified, so what listening? It's like reading scriptures to a cow."
She doesn't bristle at my words. She must have realized. The qualification I possess.
Jijan, which would easily push back even a concrete building before it, approached me as merely a slightly heavy weight. Perceptually, it's similar to a magic cane with a hidden blade inside.
I spun Jijan around like a windmill and spoke.
"These days, magic has developed so much there's no worry about fuel, so when someone dies in an ordinary household, they just cremate them, right? In such an era, how many have you buried?"
"…Do not worry, I have buried plenty."
"For someone who's done that, you didn't seem very accustomed to handling corpses."
"You speak nonsense. How could this humble one be unaccustomed to corpses?"
As she spread her arms as if to show her calm demeanor even atop this mountain of corpses.
I pointed out exactly that.
"That very point. Calmly stepping on corpses."
Her outstretched arms stiffened rigidly. Jiseon replied with a trembling voice.
"…What did you say?"
"Why. How can you calmly stand stepping on corpses? Why do you calmly support your body by flowing qi gong into ground made of corpses? Why do you calmly launch attacks that overturn mountains of corpses?"
The Returnee dislikes corpses. Just being covered in the remains of an immortal made the body freeze for a moment.
That's why when placing steps, they would kick off the overturned Tantalus, or create stepping clouds to place their feet on. They couldn't even think about destabilizing the opponent's footing until they fell.
No one finds that strange. Disliking corpses is an instinctive revulsion.
"People dislike death. Even if it's someone else's death. Therefore we shrink from corpses, bury them and inter them in our hearts. Burialists are apostles who uphold that meaning."
Compared to that, Jiseon.
"Haa."
At my sigh, Jiseon flinched like a student who'd done wrong. My stern lecture pierced her ears.
"As a burialist, you're below Mister Shei."
A lecture made of plain truth, with not a hint of criticism.
"You stepped forward first upon seeing the mountain of corpses. You couldn't recognize the lingering spirits despite seeing their sense of mission remain. Goodness, even overturning graves others had made."
"That is…."
Jiseon opened her mouth as if to make an excuse but couldn't actually speak. I calmly evaluated her.
"You're disqualified as a burialist."
Shame and humiliation. At the same time, defiance reared its head.
Before Jiseon could bristle, I spread my arms wide and shouted loudly.
"But that's okay! What good does burying corpses well do? You've done far more than just burying corpses and honoring spirits!"
It's not a lie. This too is the sincerity I hold.
The number of concrete sacks she made would be at least a hundred times more than the number of funerals she conducted.
Those she saved are many times more than those she buried.
The buildings and facilities she created are still supporting the foundation of the nation called Gunguk. I've seen people curse Gunguk while alive, but I've never seen anyone blame Jiseon.
'Jiseon should have fixed the country before the dam.'
Only such playful complaints reach the ear.
I expressed sincere reverence toward such a Jiseon.
"I respect you, Lord Jiseon. This isn't a lie. Making graves for the dead is remarkable, but how can it compare to building structures for the living? Would the conscript labor buried by your hands be happy, or would the conscript labor saved thanks to you be happy?"
There was no answer, and the thought was deep. I read those thoughts one by one and spoke.
"You said you'd eliminate the Bottomless Pit to reclaim the prosperity of the Earth Mother God Religion, but let me speak frankly."
Perhaps, the cold truth she already knew.
"Even if you eliminate the Bottomless Pit, faith in the Earth Mother will not return. No matter how you dress it up, that was the flow of history."
The Seonghwangcheong gained power, wars continued, joint funerals became popular, and as magic and alchemy developed, the worry about fuel decreased.
People gradually chose cremation over burial. Since the Seonghwangcheong conducted funerals at cheap cost, the poor who had neither land to bury nor money for coffins entrusted their funerals to the Seonghwangcheong.
Thus burialists gradually lost demand.
Why did both the Victorious King and the Hegemon King shun the Earth Mother God Religion during that period? If it were before then, that would be one thing, but after the Grand Master, the Earth Mother God Religion possessed certain miracles.
The Hegemon King brushed it off as being bothersome, but that surely wasn't the only reason.
"It's just that there were too many deaths, really. The land is small, burying is hard, and when you're busy with wars, what would you do if beings of unknown identity calling themselves burialists wandered around. Definitely bothersome."
The Cheonsingyo packages this as the will of heaven, but it simply turned out that way.
"The reason the Earth Mother God Religion's prosperity seems to have briefly returned now is because you broke your old stubbornness. The stubbornness of not taking any nation's side, and instead of graves for the dead, you built the foundation of Gunguk."
When Gunguk called for them, the Earth Mother believers were wary. Since ancient times, a religion answering a nation's call was taboo, and there was the precedent of the Hegemon King being swept away after being summoned, so the rejection was even stronger.
However, Jiseon pushed through and led the revival of both Gunguk and the Earth Mother God Religion. That rigid Gunguk gave her an honorary position with a star, and she did not refuse.
Thanks to that, Earth Mother believers gradually gained recognition.
"To be precise, thanks to Lord Jiseon working so hard. The lives you saved, the facilities you built, the achievements you accomplished—that is the prosperity. It's not that the lost prosperity 'returned.' It was newly 'created' now."
After offering praise to the point of embarrassment, I slightly turned my body to show the Grand Master.
The Grand Master, kneeling respectfully atop this mountain of corpses, is comforting their spirits. Dying alone, in solitude.
In contrast, Jiseon, who is closer to a builder than a burier, does not look back. She only moves forward. That is why she does not fall.
"You said you inherited the Grand Master's will, but is that really true? The Grand Master of the Earth Mother God Religion 1,300 years ago, and you now. What do you have in common?"
Only the name of the Earth Mother God Religion is the same, and the power they use is merely similar.
They're too different. I made her realize that fact.
"Therefore. What Lord Hughes is saying is this."
Jiseon, who took a deep breath, muttered sorrowfully before the Grand Master.
"This humble one… has no right to demand Jijan."
I replied with a smile.
"No. You have the same right as all ordinary people."
"Therefore, this humble one is not the rightful owner of this relic."
"You have to pick it up. Just like everyone else."
"Very well."
Nodding, having truly faced her own desires through my words, Jiseon.
"Lord Hughes is right. Indeed, this humble one showed an unsightly appearance before Jijan. Defiling a grave. Now I understand why my master warned against arrogance…."
She became much more honest.
"However. This humble one is one who serves the Great Earth Mother. I need the Grand Master's relic, the proof that contains this history. To gather the scattered believers, to announce the truth to the world, and to question the sins of the Seonghwangcheong."
In other words, she revealed her true colors.
"Hand it over."
'If you don't, I will take it by force.'
I laughed loudly.
"Aha! Ahahaha! Ahahahaha!"
Naturally. Qualifications aren't needed to act. What determines limits besides lack of ability?
Representing the already dead? Who dares to do so. How can they represent them while knowing nothing about them. Even more so about events from 1,300 years ago.
"Haha. Very good. I really like such honesty! You should have spoken like this from the start!"
"Then. Will you give it?"
"Take it!"
I swiftly extended the hand holding Jijan. Then the Returnee, who had been groaning beneath the corpses and concrete down below, glared and shouted.
"You can't give it!"
Ah, what's this. I suddenly feel wronged.
Because of your shout, it looks like I changed my mind after hearing you and decided not to give it.
Actually, I hadn't even thought of giving it yet!
Jiseon's grasp seized the air. I had deftly moved Jijan to avoid her hand. A powerless sound rang out.
Jiseon's eyes twitched, and ecstasy graced my face.
"If you can!"