Chapter 105: Abyss Valley (4)
The inside of the abandoned mine was reminiscent of a backyard furnace itself.
The sound of pickaxes striking the stone wall, the sound of transferring fire drawn from the lava to brushwood, the sound of the furnace heating up hotly, the sound of bellows blowing air, the sound of iron ore boiling and melting…
The prisoners sweated profusely, mining the iron ore and melting it.
“Hey! I told you not to do it that way! No matter what, if impurities mix in like that, it won’t even maintain its shape! Hey! Didn’t I tell you not to pour the molten iron so fast!? It’s overflowing out of the mold! Huh!? Hey! Hey! Hey! The fire! The fire is going out! Ahhhhh! Put in more firewood quickly! What is the bellows doing!?”
Xu Se-chi was leading the work, nagging the prisoners divided into five groups.
They melted the iron ore mined from the abandoned mine inside the furnace to make molten iron.
Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop…
The prisoners scooped up the molten iron and poured it into large molds.
And they covered it with snow and ice scooped from the snowfield to cool it down.
Tsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh…
Soon, an iron stake revealed itself.
However, as soon as it was taken out of the mold, it shattered into two pieces with a loud noise.
Xu Se-chi put his hand to his face.
“This won’t do. Although the Thousand-Head said there was no need to make them well… at the very least, they should be able to be driven into the ground. Shattering before they are even driven in is too much.”
He recalled his former wife, who had now become a stranger.
In his youth, when he lived with his wife’s family, Xu Se-chi had some experience helping out briefly at his father-in-law’s blacksmith shop.
‘What did I do back then?’
Surely, boiling the molten iron… putting it into the mold… cooling it down… and hammering it…
‘Wait? Hammering it?’
Xu Se-chi’s eyes popped open.
“Yes! Tempering! We must hammer the pig iron to extract the impurities. Heating and hammering, folding and hammering, we must do this process at least a few more times…”
Right at that moment.
…Clang! …Clang! …Clang!
A loud hammering sound began to be heard from the side.
In the place where Xu Se-chi hurriedly turned his head, a man was seen hammering cast iron with a hammer.
Soon, the man scooped a few ladles of snow and threw them over the mold.
Tsssssssssssssssssssssh…
Once the water turned into steam and vanished, a giant iron stake was completed.
Xu Se-chi’s eyes trembled.
“Gongson Ho… you bastard. Did you know how to handle iron?”
“Hmph, I have no need for the directions of a clumsy fellow. I happen to come from a real blacksmith background.”
The shaggy-bearded man called Gongson Ho turned around.
He was the younger brother of Gongson Hap, who died after attacking Chui previously, and the older brother of Gongson Ang, who died after starting a rebellion.
Gongson Ho wore a sneer toward Xu Se-chi.
“To think you could do blacksmith work with what you roughly learned over someone’s shoulder, what an idiot.”
“Wh-what did you say? Thousand-Head Chui appointed me as the person in charge! How dare you be so insolent!”
“Don’t act up. I have no intention of listening to the orders of someone who knows nothing.”
At the confrontation between Gongson Ho and Xu Se-chi, the prisoners began to stir.
Gongson Ho said with a grin.
“We will do the work that fellow Chui orders. Since our necks are on the line right now, that cannot be helped.”
“…….”
“However, my brother and younger brother died at his hands. Out of us three brothers, I am the only one who survived. How could I not harbor a desire for revenge? Hmm?”
Before Gongson Ho, who strode over and brandished his hammer, Xu Se-chi merely broke out in cold sweat.
Soon, Gongson Ho grinned.
“Until now, because we were gripped tightly in his hands, it was difficult to dare harbor other thoughts… but it is different here. Isn’t it a situation where he, too, has no choice but to rely on us now?”
The prisoners began to stir.
The eyes that had grown gentle in the meantime immediately reversed, emitting venom.
Gongson Ho smiled at those prisoners.
“Just trust me. I will surely deal a blow to that fellow.”
The prisoners began to agree.
The way they shouted while shaking the chains bound to their wrists and ankles made it seem like they would explode at any moment.
‘Th-this is going to cause trouble…’
Xu Se-chi tried to slip away.
But.
…Grab!
Gongson Ho placed a hand on Xu Se-chi’s shoulder.
“Hey, Goat-mustache.”
“…….”
“Didn’t you also lose everything because of that fellow Chui? Both money and family, that is.”
“…….”
“Let’s join hands with us. If everyone pools their strength, we can kill him. Right here on this snowy mountain.”
Xu Se-chi’s eyes began to tremble faintly.
Gongson Ho began to entice Xu Se-chi in a soft tone.
“You just tell Chui that there is no problem. Just repeat those words.”
“…….”
“Ah, don’t worry. We will make the iron stakes as scheduled. With no problems in quality, exactly to the specifications he ordered. Only… when we finish making them all, his life will end too. I have a plan.”
Other prisoners gathered around Xu Se-chi.
Before he knew it, all the prisoners except Xu Se-chi were looking at him with glistening eyes.
Gongson Ho said.
“I will handle everything, so just say one word: ‘I’ll help.'”
“…….”
The inside of the abandoned mine began to grow as hot as a smelting furnace.
Xu Se-chi’s forehead was beaded with thick drops of sweat.
Soon.
“I…”
Xu Se-chi made his decision.
* * *
The blizzard-swept snowy mountain.
Chui was currently walking on a plain attached right below a high peak.
“I see all kinds of strangely shaped terrains. Hey—pretty boy! Why did we come here?”
Gyeon Sul looked around.
A peak in the form of a plain existing between a high peak and a low peak was definitely a terrain hard to find in this area.
“…….”
Chui crossed the plain silently.
He seemed to be searching for something.
Meanwhile, Namgung Yul, who followed behind, looked continuously anxious.
In the end, unable to hold back, she called Chui.
“Excuse me, Young Hero Chui. There is one point that is bothering me.”
“What is it?”
Chui turned his head.
Beside him, Gyeon Sul got angry, asking why Chui didn’t answer his question, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of the blizzard.
Namgung Yul said.
“About the abandoned mine. Is it alright to just leave it to the prisoners? I am worried in case another rebellion breaks out.”
Then Gyeon Sul answered instead of Chui.
“My, my? Child, you were saying the prisoners were pitiful and whatnot last time, so why are you like this again now?”
“It’s not that… something felt strange before we left the abandoned mine. I am quite quick-witted too, you know.”
Namgung Yul said, narrowing her eyes.
Gyeon Sul chuckled looking at such a Namgung Yul.
“An innocent child who knew nothing of the world has grown up a lot in the meantime. Well, I think the same way.”
“As I thought, right?”
“Of course. If we leave them to themselves, they will surely plot. When one guy muddies the water, others are bound to follow. I saw earlier that the eyes of a few guys had rolled back, so if we continue like this, probably everyone will start a rebellion soon.”
“What!? Everyone? No, since you anticipated that, why didn’t you tell me!?”
“It’s more fun that way. Hohoho—”
“Is this something to be brushed off as fun!?”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something, but I am not on the pretty boy’s side. I am on the side of whichever is fun. Ufufu—”
Gyeon Sul laughed, and Namgung Yul raised her voice.
At that moment, Chui cut off their conversation.
“It does not matter if it happens.”
“Yes? What does?”
“The rebellion.”
“……!”
Hearing Chui’s words, Namgung Yul opened her two eyes wide like a rabbit’s.
Gyeon Sul also narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.
“What? Did the pretty boy anticipate it too?”
“I was waiting. For when it would happen.”
“What~ How boring~ You had some scheme again, didn’t you? To exploit even the prisoners starting a rebellion?”
Hearing the conversation between Gyeon Sul and Chui, Namgung Yul gasped.
She was so surprised that she did not even notice the snow entering her mouth.
“No, are you planning to let the prisoners start a rebellion? Why?”
“Because there is a use for it all.”
Chui walked forward with a calm air.
Truly, whether the prisoners started a second rebellion or not, he did not seem to care in the slightest.
Namgung Yul asked a few more questions after that, but Chui did not reply any further.
He merely surveyed the front with a serious expression.
In the end, Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul began to talk between themselves once again.
“What did you do before entering the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union, Ahjussi?”
“What? Ahjussi? Look at this child. Hey! How many years of difference is there between you and me that you call me Ahjussi!”
“Ten years? No. It feels like at least over fifteen years of difference, though.”
“My goodness! Look at this crazy girl! Slicing me with a bright face, are you? Do you really want a taste of the Dog-Head Guillotine?”
“No, then what should I call you…”
“Don’t call me anything! You bring bad luck! Ugh, seriously! This is the first time I’ve met a girl more unlucky than Junior Sister Hae… no, Junior Sister Union Master, really!”
Right at that moment.
“Shh!”
Chui raised his palm toward the two.
Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul shut their mouths as if by agreement.
“……?”
“……?”
They shifted their gazes toward what Chui was observing.
“……!”
“……!”
Soon, Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul also found something.
A bizarre pattern was drawn on the vast snowfield.
The width was about three zhang. The length was unmeasurable.
A strange shape created by the connection of melted snow marks was covering the entire snowfield.
“What is this? Can geothermal heat rise while drawing a shape like this?”
“Only here is the snow melted. And sprouts have budded too. No, in this weather…?”
Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul muttered one by one, looking at the massive path passing through the middle of the snowfield.
Just as they said, the warm heat rising from the ground melted the snow, revealing the dirt floor.
The sprouts and flowers blooming here were all, without exception, out of season.
“It feels just like… a thing called life force passed through in the shape of a snake…”
Namgung Yul’s explanation was spot-on.
Chui also nodded.
“It is a trace of the snowy mountain’s essence being extracted.”
“Essence extraction?”
Gyeon Sul tilted his head.
Chui rarely gave an additional explanation.
“It pooled the essence extracted from various parts of the mountain in one place. As the essence moved, the snow in that area melted and made plants grow over the ground.”
“Extracting the mountain’s essence and moving it? Who? Why? How?”
At Gyeon Sul’s question, Namgung Yul also nodded.
They looked at Chui’s mouth with curiosity-filled expressions.
But, Chui merely gestured with his chin toward the cliff visible below the snowfield instead of answering.
“……!”
“……!”
Looking down the cliff, the eyes of Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul widened as if they would tear.
Swish, swish—
There were several shadows running along the snowy path below the cliff.
Every single one of them wore a dark blue blood-cape and had bandages wrapped around their hands and feet.
No footprints were left in the place where they stepped.
They wore hideously shaped blue Yaksha masks on their faces.
“……Blue Yaksha!”
Namgung Yul held her breath without realizing it.
The Blue Yakshas of the Abyss Valley ran across the snowfield.
They were heading toward a large cave visible in the distance.
Chui looked at the sight and spoke briefly.
“It seems they are returning to the main base.”
Hearing those words, a drop of cold sweat froze on the foreheads of Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul.
One pillar of the Fifteen Heterodox Pillars, one of the eight great mysteries of the Jianghu, the Abyss Valley.
The ultimate mystery that even the Heavenly Secret Keeper, who was said to know all secret histories of the Wulin, did not know.
They had discovered the stronghold of the Abyss Valley assassins.
Namgung Yul’s hands trembled at the fact that they had learned such a significant secret.
Leaving aside the weight, value, duty, and risk of information… Namgung Yul voiced the pure and primitive curiosity that arose first.
“How on earth do you know such things, Young Hero Chui?”
Gyeon Sul also kept his mouth shut with a serious face as if expressing agreement.
And soon, Chui readily answered Namgung Yul’s question.
“I once worked as an assassin in the Abyss Valley.”
Unrivaled Spear Ghost