Chapter 98: To the Martial Alliance (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 98: To the Martial Alliance (3)
This woman seems to have misunderstood something.
She was under the impression that I wanted her.
I was about to snap at Seol Baek and tell her not to get the wrong idea, when—
The voice of the Blood Demon Sword echoed in my head.
What I do best?
Well, yes.
I groaned inwardly at the Blood Demon Sword's suggestion.
Playing along meant humoring Seol Baek in the way she wanted.
'Hmm.'
I stared at her intently, my mind made up.
Seol Baek was one of the Golden Emperor's three closest confidants.
If she truly opened her mouth about his location or his goals, the results would be incomparable to anything we had achieved so far.
So many sacrifices had been made because of that man.
It was time to sever the chains of that ill-fated relationship.
'...I'm sorry, but I'm not in a position to be picky about my methods.'
Even if I had to exploit her emotions, I had to find out.
I flashed a slight smile at Seol Baek, who was looking at me with an expectant face, and spoke.
"What makes you think I would want you?"
I gave her an opening rather than immediately confirming her assumption.
At my question, Seol Baek answered seriously.
"Of all those I've encountered, not a single one could endure even touching me. Not even Kang Rang."
Was she talking about that Thousand-Man Commander who was her lover?
Seol Baek had mentioned it herself back then.
She said that because she possessed the Heavenly Sound Body, anyone whose skin touched hers suffered in agony.
Wait, has she really been unable to form a proper relationship with anyone until now?
A question arose.
Then, with a slight flush on her face, she spoke.
"Even that person, with his incredible martial arts, couldn't lay a finger on me. But you were different. I haven't been able to forget that sensation for over three hundred years."
For a moment, I got goosebumps.
Three hundred years is a long time—long enough for emotions to change.
After experiencing so many things, one would expect such feelings to fade, but the fact that she still hadn't forgotten was almost terrifying.
Even the Blood Demon Sword seemed taken aback.
But aside from that, there was one thing I didn't understand.
I had to ask her directly.
"Seol Baek, the master you serve must have resented me his entire life, hasn't he?"
Even if she had been unconscious at the time and didn't see the Golden Emperor being humiliated, if she had heard the facts and witnessed his resentment afterward, she shouldn't be able to harbor such feelings.
It had been three hundred years, after all.
Perhaps she was intentionally deceiving me to escape this situation.
However, at my words, Seol Baek's expression turned stern.
"What does his resentment have to do with me?"
'!?'
What kind of logic was this?
I was the one struggling to understand now.
"...He is your lord, and you're saying it doesn't matter?"
At that, Seol Baek gave me a flirtatious smile and spoke nonchalantly.
"Do you know why I've spent three hundred years by his side, living in solitude?"
"I don't."
If I knew that, I'd be a fortune teller.
At my blunt response, Seol Baek glanced at the sword pointed at her throat and said, "I'll surrender, so please move this sword."
I frowned and replied, "I don't think I can do that. Your wounds have already healed. I won't give you a chance to escape."
"Escape? Why would I?"
"Why?"
"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment. Why do you think I, a virgin, have spent nearly three hundred years in solitude? It's because I believed that if I stayed by his side, I would eventually meet you, the Successor of the Sword Immortal."
My head began to ache at her words.
If what she said was true, she had been working for the Golden Emperor all this time just because she thought it would lead her to me.
I couldn't fathom doing that for three hundred years.
By that point, it would have been much faster to find someone new.
Furthermore, she didn't even know my real face. Her words felt so unrealistic that I found them hard to believe.
"...I'm sorry, but I can't trust you."
"Trust, is it..."
At those words, as if she had made a decision, she finally spoke.
"Fine. Then I'll stop working for him."
"What?"
She said it so readily that I couldn't even hide my surprise.
She was tossing aside the lord she had served for three hundred years far too easily.
I channeled sharp killing intent into the tip of my sword and said, "Do you really think I'll believe that?"
"My only reason for working for him was the reconstruction of the North Sea Ice Palace anyway."
"The reconstruction of the North Sea Ice Palace?"
Come to think of it, the North Sea Ice Palace does not exist in the current martial world.
Since she, a survivor of the palace, was standing right here, why was she talking about reconstruction?
As if to answer my doubt, she spoke.
"I am the last survivor of the North Sea Ice Palace. If I don't rebuild it, the palace will vanish into the depths of history."
"...I don't understand. Then why haven't you rebuilt it yet? With the resources the Golden Emperor possesses, rebuilding a single sect shouldn't have been difficult."
"It cannot be a true reconstruction unless the blood of the Seol family continues."
The blood of the Seol family.
So they were centered around bloodlines, much like the Blood Cult.
Then again, except for Taoist sects, most clans and families operated that way.
"If reconstruction was that important, couldn't you have just given up your Yin energy and borne a child?"
I figured it would be possible if she just gave up that massive amount of Yin energy in her body.
But she hadn't given it up.
Seol Baek snorted.
"The Ice White Divine Art of our palace has been passed down for generations. By my great-great-grandfather's time, all descendants were born with innate Heavenly Sound Bodies."
"Then couldn't you have paired up with others who had the Heavenly Sound Body?"
"...That is exactly what led to our palace's ruin."
"The cause?"
"No matter how much one practices the Ice White Divine Art, a man's constitution is naturally strong in Yang energy. Being born with such innate Yin energy, there was no way they could endure it."
"So you're saying they all died because they couldn't handle the Yin energy?"
"Yes. Not a single boy born to the Ice Palace lasted more than five years. They were all consumed by the Heavenly Sound Body and died. Because of that, the lineage naturally withered away, and in the end, I was the only one left."
According to her, the North Sea Ice Palace had met a tragic end.
The very constitution of perfected Yin energy, brought about by their martial arts, had severed their own lineage.
As I stood there, stunned, she continued.
"Perhaps because of his innate constitution, Kang Rang was able to endure me for a little while, but even then, it was only for a brief moment."
"There must have been many masters around you."
For instance, masters who had broken through the wall would possess much stronger Yang energy than ordinary people.
At my question, she snorted again.
"They all die the moment our fingertips touch. What was I supposed to do?"
"Cough."
If I had been drinking water, I would have spat it out.
In that one sentence, I could feel just how much she despaired over her situation.
In the end, she had tried to form relationships with numerous men in her own way, but it had all been for naught.
...Take her in for what?
I don't take people in out of mere pity.
And if she's lived for over three hundred years, she's practically an ancestor.
Having undergone the Golden Imperial Body procedure, her aging had stopped.
So, judging by appearances alone, she looked to be in her mid-twenties at most.
Moreover, even the skin revealed through the cuts in her clothes was full of elasticity.
She was beautiful, but if I took people in based on that alone, I would have had a harem long ago.
'.........'
This guy's insight has suddenly spiked. To think he'd consider that.
I was going to stick to the original plan.
Though she had her own circumstances, finding the Golden Emperor's location was the priority.
The fortunate thing was that she showed a strong obsession with me.
Seeing as she was willing to leave the Golden Emperor's side in an instant, I felt I could get her to talk if I coaxed her correctly.
"If you're truly going to leave the Golden Emperor, I need a reason to trust your words."
"Trust?"
"Yes. Tell me the Golden Emperor's location."
At my words, Seol Baek arched an eyebrow and put on a sulky expression.
She said to me, "Do you take me for a fool?"
"........"
"How many men do you think I've seen over the years?"
How should I know?
When I didn't answer, she continued.
"Men are a breed that easily discards anything once they've satisfied their desire for what they wanted."
I felt a pang of guilt.
I had intended to just get the information, and it seemed she had caught on.
I replied without showing any emotion.
"You're generalizing too much."
"Even if it's not a generalization, I need a guarantee as well."
It seemed I had underestimated this woman.
I tried to exploit her emotions, but she maintained a certain level of reason and insight.
Should I try to stimulate her affection further using the heart technique of Zhu Sarlen from the Fragrant Flower Pleasure Palace?
Then, she spoke.
"I'm abandoning someone I've served for three hundred years. Wouldn't it be fair for me to get what I want as well?"
...Damn it.
What she wanted was far too obvious.
She licked her lips with a flushed face, leaving me in a total bind.
My thoughts exactly.
What sin did I commit in my past life?
I couldn't give her what she wanted before getting information on the Golden Emperor.
I spoke coldly.
"Information comes first."
"I have plenty of information that would interest you, Successor of the Sword Immortal. For instance, the location of the Divine Healer of Ten Thousand Ailments, whom the Blood Cult is searching for so desperately."
"The Divine Healer!"
I couldn't help but show interest at those words.
But I quickly regained my composure.
My mind raced.
How did she know his location?
If the Golden Emperor knew where he was, he could neutralize the Illusion Demon Poison, and there was no way he would leave the Divine Healer—who could be a hindrance—alone.
"It would be simpler to tell me the antidote for the Illusion Demon Poison than the Divine Healer's location."
"There is no antidote for the Illusion Demon Poison."
"What?"
"From the beginning, he asked the Blood Lord for a poison that couldn't be cured, and it took twenty years to perfect it."
A poison without an antidote.
That couldn't be.
Having learned the principles of Yin and Yang from Master Jo, I knew.
Everything in the world has an opposite and a balance.
Seol Baek smiled and said, "If the Blood Lord were still alive, he might have been able to make an antidote. But since he's gone, the only one who can create one is the Divine Healer."
She was striking right at my weakness.
However, there was a flaw in her logic.
"If you say you know the Divine Healer's location, it must mean the Golden Emperor also knows it but hasn't been able to get his hands on him yet."
Seol Baek nodded, not denying my statement.
"Correct."
"Then it must be one of two things. Either the information about his location isn't certain, or the Divine Healer is in a place that even the Golden Emperor and his organization find difficult to touch."
Seol Baek marveled at this.
"Your mind is as sharp as your martial prowess. It makes me want your seed even more, Successor of the Sword Immortal."
"........"
She's terrifying. Truly terrifying.
"Does it occur to you that I might be a woman?"
At my words, Seol Baek's eyes widened.
She had a look that said, Are you really a woman?
But she soon dismissed the thought herself.
"That's impossible. Back then, with these very hands, I touched your..."
"Ahem."
This woman, like Baek Hye-hyang, really has no filter.
Regardless, she knew the location of the Divine Healer in addition to the Golden Emperor's whereabouts.
She held so much information that it would be a waste to dispose of her just because she wasn't answering immediately.
At my dry cough, Seol Baek glared at me and said, "Liar. Trying to test me like that."
Despite her words, she seemed quite relieved.
Then, Seol Baek said to me, "You really don't trust me, do you?"
"I understand your circumstances, but I don't believe three hundred years of loyalty can be broken so easily."
Seol Baek pursed her lips at my words.
Then, she spoke again.
"You really are someone who refuses to take a loss."
You got that right.
She had figured me out quite quickly.
"Fine. Then I suppose I should earn your trust."
"How do you plan to do that?"
At my question, she took a breath and opened her mouth.
"The Divine Healer of Ten Thousand Ailments is currently somewhere in the Imperial Palace in Kaifeng, and Noejangjo is moving King Yeong to find his exact location. Also, since the Blood Lord died and the supply of Illusion Demon Poison for the grand plan has run low, they are targeting Dang Woo-jung, the Vice Family Head of the Sichuan Tang Family, to find a replacement who can manufacture it."
Suddenly, she began pouring out incredible information.
And that wasn't all.
"Chief Strategist Bang Deok-hyeon of the Martial Alliance is actually the Lord of Thunder, one of his right-hand men. Besides him, there are quite a few of his people within the Martial Alliance. I can give you a list of their names if you want."
"Ha..."
"He is currently planning to reinstate the former Alliance Leader, the First Sword of Wuhan Baek Muk-hyang, as the next leader of the Martial Alliance."
I hadn't expected this much.
To think she would reveal all this vital information.
Having divulged these secrets, Seol Baek provocatively licked the blade of the sword pointed at her throat and spoke.
"Is this enough for you to trust me?"