Chapter 3
The road grew rough, and the carriage slowed.
At last, stubbornly forcing its way forward, the carriage came to a complete stop at the foot of a tall mountain.
The already precarious path had completely vanished.
The coachman spoke.
“Sir Dan, we’ve arrived.”
“I don’t see anything. We can’t go further?”
“Ah, we’ve already come fifty li (about twenty kilometers) since the official road ended. As you can see, there’s no way to go on.”
“Click…”
Dan Bul-wi, realizing there was no point arguing, jumped down from the driver’s bench.
He strode to the carriage, yanked open the door, and barked,
“Everybody out!”
At last, children began crawling out reluctantly.
On one ankle of each child was a small shackle, all linked together by chains.
As soon as the last child climbed down, the coachman turned the carriage and left.
Dan Bul-wi checked their condition carefully.
Whether or not the great hundred-year plan succeeded, his orders had to be carried out.
Even though they had been cramped in the sweltering carriage for seven days, not one child was too sick to walk, and his face brightened.
“We’re almost there now. Just a little further and you’ll reach the place where you’ll live. When we arrive, I’ll remove your chains, so endure it until then. Understood?”
“Yes…”
Several of the older children rasped back with hoarse voices.
Just as he was about to lead them on, Dan Bul-wi glanced at the last child.
Through his loose collar, a scar across his neck was clearly visible.
Will that one be able to keep up on the mountain path…?
Worried, he bent down and threatened the four-year-old.
“Boy, follow the one in front of you closely. If you fall behind, you die. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hah, tough little brat.”
After flicking the boy’s head, Dan Bul-wi strode into the forest.
After about half an hour, they came upon a dried-up ravine.
The ground was covered in stones, and the large boulders scattered about were littered with shed snake skins.
Dan Bul-wi warned the children.
“Stay close behind me! If you dawdle and get bitten by a viper, you’ll die.”
Startled, the children hurried their steps, closing the gap.
Deeper inside, a gloomy cave appeared.
Dan Bul-wi fashioned a torch from oiled cloth and branches, then led the way inside.
The children followed in a line, the clatter of dragging chains echoing through the cave.
Down a sloping passage, they went for about half an hour, until the cave narrowed so tightly that only one person at a time could squeeze through.
Most people would have turned back, but Dan Bul-wi pressed on.
After another fifteen minutes, the passage suddenly opened into a vast chamber.
It was a giant underground cavern, about three hundred meters across.
In the center, a sunken pit about three meters deep was filled with earthen soldiers and horses, arranged in perfect formation.
A terracotta army.
The armored soldiers and saddled horses looked so lifelike they seemed ready to move.
Dan Bul-wi led the children to a clearing beside the army.
There, some sixty children and forty adults were already gathered.
When they arrived, Dan Bul-wi removed their shackles. The children, without being told, shuffled over to others their age.
Ha So-ran, mistress of Gi Gate and a powerful figure within the Hao Clan, counted the children with her fingers.
“Seventy-one, seventy-two. Is this all?”
Hong So-gwang, master of Ya Gate, answered with a sour face.
“Yes. As you know, this year’s harvest was bountiful—it wasn’t easy to find children.”
“It’s regrettable, but you did well. We rushed and needed your help, but from now on, Liu Gate will be responsible for selecting and sending children.”
Hong So-gwang nodded.
It was better than abducting children alone to supply them.
Since it was for their own sect, no other masters objected.
The seventy-two children brought by Ya Gate would be divided among the Six Gates later.
After a pause, Ha So-ran stepped forward and addressed them.
“Our Hao Clan has always suffered losses because we are weak and divided. Ten years from now, with these children, we will unite all the Hao Clans of the Ten Roads. When we are one, we will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Beggars’ Sect. Until that day, the secret of the Hundred-Year Plan must be kept. Thus, aside from the sect masters and vice-masters, all hall lords, district chiefs, guards, and ordinary members present will remain here.”
She appointed Ma Tong, hall lord of Ya Gate, as the chief overseer of the terracotta army training ground, and ordered three other hall lords to assist him.
Those already informed showed little reaction, but the guards and common members, drafted for this event, looked stunned.
Yet not one dared protest.
In the Hao Clan, might was law.
Defying a decision made unanimously by six sect masters was unthinkable.
Soon, the masters and vice-masters departed, leaving only the new overseers.
Ma Tong selected martial instructors, literacy teachers, and gate guards.
The literacy teachers were necessary because of the mountains of books—three carriage loads worth—including martial manuals, tactical texts, classics, and miscellaneous works.
Books were useless without the ability to read.
From that day on, the children studied letters and martial arts on a set schedule.
Ten years passed swiftly.
By the sixth month, the quiet atmosphere of the terracotta army chamber had subtly changed.
Some of the young men and women now carried vitality in their faces and a sparkle in their eyes.
But not all.
The excitement belonged only to the original seventy-two disciples of the first intake. The later arrivals behaved as usual.
Late morning.
From the left stone chamber emerged a handsome boy in his mid-teens, shuffling along with a tattered Thousand-Character Classic in his hands.
He walked into the central hall. The others were gone, likely training in martial arts, leaving the terracotta army chamber empty.
They had already finished their primers and moved on to advanced skills.
The Six Gates of Hao each possessed unique martial arts:
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The Carriage Gate, of coachmen, taught Secret of Sun and Moon Absorption, Whip of the Mountain King, and Sky-Collapsing Fist.
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The Boatmen’s Gate, Sun Gate, taught Flowing Water Method, Hundred Currents Saber, and Turning-the-Heavens Palm.
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The Shopboys’ Gate, Store Gate, taught Heaven-and-Earth Saber and Tiger Crane Twin Fists.
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The Porters’ Gate, Load Gate, taught Ox-Horse Strength, Thunder Kick, and Thousand-Li Step.
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The Courtesans’ Gate, Gi Gate, taught Jade Form Skill, Falling Blossoms Flow, and Leisurely Step.
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The Human-Trafficking Gate, Ya Gate, taught Heart-Piercing Palm, Seven Wounds Saber, Flying Willow Step, and Hidden Blade Technique.
The martial instructors resided in six stone chambers around the cavern, each teaching their sect’s skills.
Most children finished the Thousand-Character Classic before age ten, then devoted themselves to martial training.
So a boy in his mid-teens still carrying the primer was exceptional.
The boy looked around, then leapt down into the pit.
He landed lightly on a saddle and began hopping from horse to horse.
But it didn’t last.
He slipped and fell hard to the stone floor.
“Thud!”
Groaning in pain, he muttered,
“Ughhh…”
At that moment, Lee Geum-ak, a first-generation disciple, burst out laughing with his companions.
“Puhahaha! The Stone Monkey fell off again! You can’t even master Thousand-Li Step, yet you’re greedy for Flying Willow Step! No wonder you’re like this.”
His friend Kwak No-shim chimed in.
“Hey! Stone Monkey! Still haven’t finished the Thousand-Character Classic? Think you’ll graduate with us like that?”
Their third companion, So Sang-won, added,
“Listen here! If you don’t graduate this year, you’ll have to call us ‘senior sir’ instead of ‘big brother.’ Got it? And don’t you dare pretend we’re peers when we meet again, or you’ll get beaten.”
The three jeered and clutched their bellies with laughter.
From afar, second-generation disciple Ha Yong-wol frowned delicately.
Beside her, Ma Eun-rok, oblivious, sneered,
“At this rate, the Stone Monkey will need ten more years to graduate.”
Because their training ground was an ancient tomb, entering was called “entering the coffin,” and leaving, “exiting the coffin.”
From the original seventy-two, their number had slowly grown to one hundred eighty.
Though they lived together for years and knew each other well, seniority was strict. Juniors feared seniors like demons.
Thus, for second-generation Ma Eun-rok to call a first-generation disciple “Stone Monkey” was bold.
When Ha Yong-wol looked displeased, Ryu Seol-li quickly spoke up.
“Still, calling Senior Dan-yeop ‘Stone Monkey’ isn’t right.”
She, the youngest of the three, spoke to Ma Eun-rok with respect.
The fallen boy’s name was Dan Yeop.
When he first entered, he was so small they called him “Baby Monkey.”
Later, as he grew, “Baby” was replaced with “Stone.”
He had failed to finish the Thousand-Character Classic for ten years, and hadn’t mastered a single technique from the Six Gates.
“Not right? Didn’t you hear Senior So just now? He said call him ‘senior sir,’ not ‘big brother.’ That’s the same as being kicked out of the first class.”
“Maybe they were joking. But if juniors truly treat him carelessly, the seniors might get angry.”
Ma Eun-rok couldn’t refute that.
Even if Dan Yeop was useless, defending him would only hurt himself.
Clicking his tongue, Ma Eun-rok left with a cold snort.
Ryu Seol-li pouted.
“Hmph! What a temper.”
“Thank you for stepping in,” Ha Yong-wol said.
“It’s nothing. If you’d spoken up, Senior Dan Yeop would have suffered more. Brother Ma is so jealous.”
Ha Yong-wol was considered one of the three great beauties of the training ground, along with Lee So-gun and Hong Cho-yeon.
Ma Eun-rok coveted both her and Hong Cho-yeon.
“Why would he be jealous of me and Dan Yeop?”
“Not jealous, maybe, but you clearly see Dan Yeop differently than the others do.”
“He’s kind. I’ve never seen him fight anyone.”
“That’s not kindness, it’s weakness.”
In the terracotta army, where fights flared at the slightest glance, Dan Yeop was constantly bullied.
Even juniors mocked him and picked fights.
Thus, he earned another nickname: the Monkey Who Loses When He Fights (Tou Zhan Bai Yuan).
A mockery comparing him to the “Fighting Buddha Victorious in Battle” (Tou Zhan Sheng Fo), Sun Wukong.
Dan Yeop always bowed his head when provoked, making others treat him even more like a fool.
Stone Monkey, the Monkey Who Loses When He Fights—Dan Yeop crawled back up, retrieved his fallen primer, and scratched his head awkwardly before heading toward the training hall.
