Chapter 85
The blooming lotus itself embodied symbols related to the sun.
As energy manifested and the universe bloomed, it became a flower, and blooming by receiving the sun's light and emitting the sun's energy through its radiance was no different from a virtuous cycle in itself. Moreover, the purity and nobility inherent in the lotus itself added to the purity of the offering and amplified the effect of the human sacrifice ritual.
That was not all.
Gyehyangchungman (戒香充滿).
The lotus that bloomed in dirty and disgusting water spread fragrance by itself.
That fragrance was strong and fragrant enough to cover all bad smells, and this was like the sun that illuminated the whole world with just one body.
The countless blooming lotuses were like firewood falling into burning flames, like oil poured onto a fiercely rising pillar of fire.
From the very bottom, they were amplifying the sun's power and strengthening the ritual being performed above.
But if it ended here, it would only be amplified, not uncontrollable.
That was why Jinseong prepared something else.
Jinseong emitted Samadhi fire from his hand and began to burn the lotus blooming in the center of the muddy water. The lotus was instantly enveloped in flames originating from Samadhi, burning with red and blue light, and grew in size by burning material and immaterial things and consuming the faint sunlight emitted from the lotus. And when it became a pillar of fire, the area near the ceiling began to shine all at once.
The light was bright red.
The underground was dyed red as if a red celluloid film had been applied to the cornea, and at its source were jewels.
Ruby.
A jewel symbolizing the sun and beauty.
An expensive jewel also called the queen of gems.
High-quality rubies of deep crimson (Pigeon blood) were densely attached to the ceiling like cubic zirconia rolling on the street, and the color of the flames burning from the Samadhi fire changed to bright red as it passed through the jewels, dyeing the underground.
The color was so vividly red that it seemed any red object brought in would be completely submerged in this distinct color.
Rumble!
"You've noticed."
* * *
"This is not a matter of place or time!"
The fortune-teller muttered as if concluding, touching the golden mask covering his face.
"It's not like I'm doing this for the first or second time, there's no way I could make such a mistake."
He was talking to himself as if having a conversation, alternating between female and male speech patterns, and was speaking quickly as if flustered.
"Did someone perform a ritual, or was this a place where a ritual was about to be performed?"
"That can't be! We were thorough with selecting the location!"
"That's right. There were no traces of any rituals in this forest. Then it's not a problem with astrology..."
"If you think it might be related to feng shui, it's not that either. Even if I don't know feng shui, I'm not so ignorant as to not recognize the uniqueness of the terrain. Then what on earth is the problem?"
"Yes. If this isn't a coincidence, what on earth is the problem?"
The eyes inside the golden mask turned fierce.
"What on earth is the problem!"
He drew a card from his bosom.
The card depicted a naked woman wearing only a rag, holding a lantern and a staff, and the woman had a somewhat tired expression.
It was the Major Arcana card number 9, The Hermit.
The lantern drawn on The Hermit card in the fortune-teller's hand began to emit light as if it were a real lantern. The Star of David shining inside the lantern swayed slowly and emitted a warm light, and this light tore through the darkness and spread in all directions.
Then, as if surrendering to gravity all at once, it began to fall to the floor, but this light didn't stop at falling to the floor and dug deep into the ground. Below.
Seeing this, the fortune-teller gritted his teeth and drew cards to use sorcery.
A huge pillar fell from a card engraved with a staff and was driven into the ground.
The five-pointed star was engraved on the ground and caused a small explosion.
Boom!
His attack was persistent.
As if his only purpose was to dig deep into the ground, he repeatedly hit, exploded, and destroyed the same area.
Eventually, the results of that obsession were revealed.
The falling pillar disappeared as if falling into empty space, and a huge cavity created underground was revealed along with a massive hole. As soon as a small hole appeared, the ground collapsed all at once as if it had been waiting, revealing the cavity, and it looked like a sinkhole had formed in the forest.
If there was anything unusual, it was that only the edges collapsed around the altar, making it look like a donut shape.
"You-u-u-u-u!"
Should it be called a cavity?
Or a structure created underground?
The collapsed earth was neatly piled up around the edges, and in the center, dirty muddy water was sloshing, forming a small pond. Numerous lotus flowers were floating in the center, and the largest lotus in the center was burning with red and blue flames.
Rubies were regularly embedded in the collapsed earth mounds, reflecting the light of the Samadhi fire, and the light was so red that one might think a red searchlight had been turned on. No, not only that, but the reflected light stretching straight up into the sky looked like the Cathedral of Light said to have been created with searchlights during the Nazi era.
The only difference was that unlike the Cathedral of Light, which looked sacred using white light, the bright red light coming from the rubies somehow evoked an ominous feeling reminiscent of flames and blood.
This ominousness was doubled by the bloody water sloshing from above pouring down like a waterfall as the ground collapsed.
And all of these structures were centered around the altar.
Yes.
As if it had been made into such a structure from the beginning.
"What have you dooooone!"
The fortune-teller screamed.
He glared as if he had met his lifelong enemy.
"You, you! You monster bastard!"
The fortune-teller realized what had happened to him, what situation he was in.
Having accumulated a lot of knowledge while performing human sacrifices multiple times, he couldn't help but know even if he didn't want to.
Amplification of the 'sun' symbol.
Lotus flowers emitting light by themselves.
Flames burning vigorously as if taken from the sun.
Pillars of light shooting into the sky, containing bright red color.
Rubies that embody the symbol of the sun in themselves.
All of these were strengthening his human sacrifice sorcery ritual.
The fragrance emitted by the lotus flowers filled the forest along with the smell of blood, and it bloomed without a single speck of dirt even in the pouring bloody water, even containing the symbol of abundance. Considering that Crom Cruach symbolizes the sun and abundance, it was a perfect material to an astonishing degree.
Moreover, the emitted red light shone and strengthened on the gold prepared by the fortune-teller and even devoured the burning torch, dyeing the entire forest bright red.
This was definitely not ending as a small-scale ritual.
It was insufficient for a large-scale sorcery ritual, but it was at a level that required an unthinkable price to pay for a small-scale one.
High risk, high return.
The larger the scale of the sorcery, the greater the price to be paid.
And now, the fortune-teller had unintentionally proceeded with a ritual that paid an 'unbearable' price. He had shouldered an enormous risk to the extent that it could not be ended with just one sacrificial lamb laid on the altar!
"Why, aren't you pleased? I helped with the ritual with a joyful heart, yet why do you show such an attitude?"
Jinseong smiled as he looked at the fortune-teller whose eyes were half-crazed.
"It's just that the ritual has grown a bit, so that one won't be enough. You'll have to offer something more valuable. Wouldn't it make sense to offer someone like yourself?"
He grabbed a handful of something like white powder from his pocket.
Those small but thick-bodied creatures were wriggling their legs trying to escape from his hand, and were struggling to tear Jinseong's skin with their strong snouts.
Whoo-.
Jinseong gently blew air onto the termites wriggling in his hand. Then wings sprouted on the termites and they began to fly, and with that as a start, termites endlessly popped out of Jinseong's pocket and moved towards the altar.
"You think you can save that child by doing this!"
Seeing this, the fortune-teller shouted loudly as if his throat was tearing and drew the wooden axe he was wearing. Then, without a moment's hesitation, he struck his left wrist.
Crack!
Thud!
Because the axe was light and not properly sharpened, it took several strikes to cut off his hand, but the fortune-teller let out a small laugh as if he couldn't even feel the pain due to madness.
He wore the axe again and picked up his fallen left wrist, bringing it to his mouth.
Rip!
With the sound of skin and flesh tearing, his hand went into his mouth, down his throat.
It was an unbearably horrific sight, but Jinseong rather asked a question as if he was even pleased.
"Oh? Were you also versed in Aztec Empire human sacrifices?"
The Aztec Empire had an aesthetics of human flesh.
They distinguished the most delicious and precious parts of human flesh.
The thighs, being the most delicious and precious part, were for the emperor.
Hands and feet were for priests and rulers.
"To make me! Cut off my beautiful hand myself!"
"You damn monster bastard! You think I'll fall like this?!"
"I must survive!"
"I will become a hero!"
The fortune-teller strengthened his symbol as a priest, as an officiant presiding over the ritual by tearing and eating his hand.
It was a self-help measure taken to somehow try to control the massive ritual that had escaped his control.
But if the fortune-teller started to control the ritual again, there was no point in Jinseong stepping in.
He took out a bell from his bosom and shook it.
Ding-a-ling.
As the clear sound rang out, the termites sitting around the altar began to move in unison. The termites started drawing large and small circles around the altar, looking like fairy circles said to be found in deserts.
Ding-a-ling.
When Jinseong shook the bell once more, something strange happened to Ella's wrist.
The multi-colored beads she was wearing on her wrist instantly lost their color and turned into teeth that were all bright white.
Snap.
Rattle.
The bracelet string broke as if it was meant to do so, spilling the threaded teeth onto the floor, and the spilled teeth rolled around as if finding their places and began to enter the circles. One tooth settled in each created circle, forming an eye-like shape, and eventually small black fairies popped out from there.
They were fairies called Tooth Fairies.
When the fairies came out, Jinseong took out an MP3 player from his bosom and played music.
Sweet.
It was music with a very sweet melody.