Chapter 96 - Meeting Again
Actually, what I saw in my fortune-telling was only the method to fulfill Borte Chino Jamukha’s wish.
So maybe that’s why I didn’t know exactly how it would work to make it happen.
And because I don’t know, should I say it makes me curious?
Well, just hearing about it, you can feel that this isn’t an ordinary thing we’re doing. I mean, it’s about briefly reviving dead people.
“Is the preparation going well?”
“Of course. The skeletons you mentioned are prepared, and the groundwork is progressing smoothly~.”
[Of course it’s no ordinary matter… but looking at what we’ve gathered through your fortune-telling, it seems it will proceed easily. Anyway, you’re a mysterious fellow.]
[I brought my precious item… but to think it could be made to work to this extent, when it’s just an item that revives and subjugates souls that haven’t been dead for long as ghosts… The world is wide even from here kuong.]
Hmm, anyway, it seems the preparation is going well.
Well, there’s what I said, and none of the people here are pushovers… As long as no one deliberately tries to sabotage it, it shouldn’t fail, right?
And there’s no one trying to sabotage it. There’s no one who would dare act recklessly in the Great Khan’s domain, right? All the undead are completely under the Great Khan’s control. And it’s still a long time before the meteorite falls.
“But how do you call the soul of a dead person?”
[Huh? You gathered everything and you’re asking that?]
“I only saw the method to make it happen and that it would succeed, not how it actually works.”
[…Isn’t that sophistry? You saw all that but don’t know just that? Isn’t that like making a fried egg but there’s no yolk?]
Oh ho, what an interesting comparison.
“But what can I do about that… I can’t say I saw something I didn’t see, right?”
Hehe, you won’t understand this unless you’ve been in the position of doing fortune-telling yourself.
[Why not just see it together when you’re doing it instead of making it two separate tasks kuong…?]
“I don’t think about such things when I’m doing fortune-telling…”
It’s because I really do fortune-telling without thinking. After doing it, I often become curious. But it feels a bit off to do fortune-telling just to know that, so I just don’t do it.
But this time I’m really curious, you know?
After all, isn’t this about reviving dead people! Well, I’ll probably see it directly later, but I’m the type who still enjoys watching a movie even after hearing spoilers! I think there’s enjoyment in both watching a movie without knowing anything and watching while thinking about the spoilers I’ve heard, you know?
So that’s why I want to hear about it first and then see it.
My amateur fortune-telling is extremely convenient, but it’s so convenient that some screws are loose.
It’s so easy to use that I sometimes forget… well, it’s not that important.
[Well anyway, tonight is the night to call back the dead, so I’ll explain for now.]
Old Man Hoseo kindly answered my question.
[Actually… if you just listen to the explanation, it’s a simple matter. We use that bear’s item along with the power of the surrounding land, stuff our divine power into that item, and call the dead.]
“If we tried it by ourselves, it would take quite a long time… but since that precious item acts as a medium, we can call them back with such a simple method.”
[Isn’t everything already prepared? The ones to be called are the Great Khan’s parents, the vessels to hold the souls are skeletons made by his power, we revive the body through White Fang that this fellow gave as a reward for a request, and we call the souls by strengthening the precious item that revives the dead with our divine power.]
“Of course, if there hadn’t been such prior preparation, souls might have been summoned randomly… but since everything has been prepared so neatly, there’s no way it can fail.”
“I see… But doing it this way, won’t the souls of those prepared undead come to life?”
[…Are you saying that after seeing the fortune yourself, youngster??]
“Hahah. Well, I had such worries at first too… but looking at those undead of the Great Khan… they have a structure where the soul is bound to the dead body. Hmm, to explain it in our terms, should I say it’s like the difference between ordinary jiangshi that only revive the corpse and living jiangshi that are made into fresh corpses with souls in them?”
“Uh… I don’t know anything about jiangshi at all…”
And how does a mountain god know about such creepy things??
“Ah… You don’t know… Well… You’re human, teacher… There would be some differences from what we mountain gods know…”
[That fellow’s ability is truly mysterious, but… wouldn’t you only know if you see it? Moreover, how could a human of this era know about such things of the past? Unless they deliberately look it up, that is.]
They say beings that live long like mountain gods have a lot of boredom because they live so long.
So out of boredom, they touch and learn various things as a pastime, and thus know a lot and have many miscellaneous skills…
Well, time flows the same for everyone after all.
“Then… couldn’t the soul being called and the undead’s soul clash?”
“That’s the role of White Fang to suppress. Undead are beings that move through the energy of death. And White Fang is a precious item that handles the power of life, so it temporarily puts the undead’s soul to sleep!”
“Aha.”
Oh ho, honestly I don’t really understand, but I guess that’s how it works?
[Anyway… the groundwork is roughly finished. We’ve found a place with strong earth veins, drawn the formation in advance, placed the precious items, and set up those living corpses there too. The preparations are all done. Now all that’s left is to perform the ritual when the time comes.]
“And the teacher’s fortune-telling has never been wrong even once until now, has it? Actually, that’s the part we trust the most. How could it fail when we’ve done exactly as the teacher saw and said? Hahah!”
[Oh, is this fortune-teller’s fortune-telling that excellent kuong?!]
“Ah, you probably haven’t seen it directly?”
[I’ve only heard about it kuong… But for such words to come out… It’s amazing!]
Hmm… I did the fortune-telling, but in the end, I’m not the one carrying it out… Is it that amazing?
Well, anyway, putting that aside…
“Then I guess the preparations are all done? The revival with White Fang has to be done at night.”
[Hmm, then the groundwork is finished now. Then let’s replenish our energy until night comes. You need to eat well to be steady when doing important things.]
“Hahah, it is about time for that! They say even Mt. Geumgang is best viewed after a meal, so let’s eat first and then work!”
Like that, we ate lunch, checked various things again, and time passed…
A night so dark without a single light as the moon was completely covered by clouds.
The time has come to perform the ritual that goes against the principle of calling back dead souls to this world.
Even though it’s dark, it’s just night, but because of the day it is, it feels somewhat eerie.
Isn’t it the day to call back dead people? It’s chilling… Like a horror movie coming to life, you know?
Anyway, now it’s time to work.
“Then, I’ll begin.”
Of course, I hardly have anything to do… but starting it off is my role.
Giving a new body for a moment to the undead that’s only bones left, through White Fang. Creating a vessel for the soul to dwell in briefly is my role.
There wasn’t anything particularly difficult.
I just had to lightly tap the two undead bodies standing still while holding White Fang.
Then the ominous light flickering in the undead’s eyes went out, and the body that had only been bones was revived into a living body with vitality circulating.
A normal body with blood flowing, flesh attached, muscles moving, and skin present.
And after finishing that simple task through White Fang, I stepped back.
Now it was time for Old Man Hoseo, Baekrok, and Hwang-ung to play their parts.
[Ooh!]
Old Man Hoseo in the form of a weasel, Baekrok who had returned to his original form of a huge white deer instead of his usual human form, and Hwang-ung just concentrating in his bear form.
Soon, these beings who had raised their power began to stuff the power drawn from the earth and what’s roughly called divine power into the prepared item.
The sight was quite spectacular.
The sight of formless energy in brilliant five colors flowing in majestically.
“Wow… it’s amazing…”
“So they really are mountain gods… It wasn’t just empty words.”
“It’s quite beautiful! This is the power of mountain gods!”
And the precious item to call the dead, having received such divine power from the mountain gods, soon began to glow and slowly float into the air.
Woooong!!!
The purple jewel attached to the precious item emitted light, and that light opened a hole in the air.
Right after that, what flowed out of that hole was… the souls of two people.
“Is that a soul? It really looks like a soul just by looking at it?”
They’re people, but transparent and colorless, really making you think they must be ghosts or spirits just by looking at them.
By the way, that passage seems to be something like a passage leading to the netherworld.
To think that an item that just revives recently dead souls as ghosts has become an item that opens a passage to the netherworld and extracts souls… As expected of mountain gods, they’re amazing…
Anyway, the two souls that came out of the hole created in the air soon entered the bodies we had prepared in advance, as if drawn by something.
“…Mother, Father…”
The Great Khan, Borte Chino Jamukha, murmured quietly seeing that sight.
Probably being a necromancer, he’s more of an expert in these areas than us… It seems he recognized the souls that came out immediately.
“Then shall we slip out?”
The job is done… In this situation, we should slip out for a cozy reunion, right!