Chapter 198 — On the Road to Oryang Mountain 3
"The road is long."
Dorogan subtly changed the subject.
"We were going slowly because we were talking."
"We should hurry. We need to arrive before the day ends."
"Right."
Yeongu changed horses and spurred forward.
He said he would send me back if I wished, because I had done well all this time.
One cannot live by doing only what one likes.
At the end of that road, there would be despair and frustration.
I need to look back on where each of my choices has led my life.
The future I want will not come easily.
I should not repay kindness that way.
If I go now, O Geol-mae will surely deal with me harshly.
He may have freed me, but Buyeobu is now under the Jin.
No one can live beyond their eyes.
Even if I am no longer a slave, it would be a life like that of a slave.
Should I, as he said, bring my family to Goryeo?
The more thoughts one has, the more one must avoid drowning in thought.
Dorogan changed the subject.
It seemed to be his way of controlling himself.
"What kind of place is Oryang Mountain?"
"It is where Senior Brother Oryang lives."
"Oh, is it the dwelling of an immortal?"
"It is."
"Then are there peach blossoms blooming, and clear spring water trickling down?"
"Well, puhuhu. Something like that."
"The entrance must be hidden, and deep in the mountains there must be a flat clearing at the center, with a single house. Water flowing, pine trees and bamboo…"
Yeongu knew Dorogan was blurring the subject.
He had been told to decide his own course, and now he was asking about the dwelling of an immortal.
"It is similar, though not exactly the same. Hm. It is true that the place is hidden so that not just anyone can enter… and water flows there, trickling softly. Very clear water. At the end of the forest path, mist hangs in the line of sight, giving it a mysterious feeling. But once you enter, a bright world opens out before you. There are strange rocks and fantastic stones, hm. But more than what the eye sees… mm, it is quiet. No sound can be heard. Only the wind and the sound of water come from far away. Time is different from the outside."
"Is time not the same?"
"Is it?"
Yeongu had already lived through a different time.
He could not explain that difference in the language of reality, yet in the realm of experience he already knew that it was not the same.
"I, too, wish to enter."
"I will ask. But it is not within my authority. It is not my house. Others have waited in the village below."
"I earnestly ask it."
"Why? Did you also wish to become an immortal?"
"Who would not?"
Yeongu smiled brightly and spurred his horse forward.
As he spoke with Dorogan, they soon arrived at Oryang Mountain.
Its original name was probably not Oryang.
"This is it."
"It looks like an ordinary mountain."
"It does. Hehehe."
Yeongu slowed his horse and entered the forest.
But after going only a short distance inside, the scenery changed completely.
Tall trees stretched straight into the sky, and pale mist covered the end of the straight path.
Through the mist, strange rocks rose up, blocking the view, and the road disappeared.
The water flowing beside them was so clear that it looked drinkable as it was.
No, it seemed as though a single sip would make a person a thousand years younger.
The mist cleared once, and the path continued again.
The narrow gap between rocks opened, and beyond it a flat space spread out.
The sky suddenly widened.
The shadows of the forest withdrew, and bright light settled down.
At the center stood a low house.
There was no splendor to it, and the grain of old wood showed plainly.
It was a place where human hands had done little.
In front of the house was a small pond.
The water was gathered there and yet still flowing, and when the wind brushed past, ripples spread across it.
Stones lay along its edge, thin moss clinging to them.
Several pine trees grew at a slant, holding up the sky.
A bamboo grove embraced the rear, receiving the wind and brushing its leaves.
That sound overlapped with the sound of water heard from far away.
There were only those two sounds.
Wind and water.
Other than that, there was nothing.
Even when they moved their feet, the earth swallowed the sound.
Even their breathing grew low.
Time seemed to flow slowly.
Though it was connected to the road they had walked just moments before, it was a different place.
The moment they entered it, the outside world grew distant.