Baekrok
In the depths of Wudang Mountain, a sacred beast lived.
Baekrok was a spirit creature born from the converged energies of Wudang Mountain.
Its snow-white fur was said to be steeped in moonlight, and its blue eyes held the mountain’s deepest wisdom.
It was a being that revealed itself only to those few Taoist masters who had purified the mountain’s vital energies and awakened to the Dao.
Rumors spread throughout the Central Plains that even a glance at Baekrok’s crystal horns, brimming with mystical power, could cleanse one’s internal energy.
Not only the elders of the Wudang Sect, but Taoists from other schools climbed Wudang Mountain again and again in hopes of receiving Baekrok’s spiritual energy.
Even if it was one of the great sacred mountains of the Daoist schools, a sacred beast taking up residence there was exceedingly rare.
It would be no exaggeration to say that Baekrok had played no small part in Wudang’s rise to the foremost of Daoist sects.
As for Baekrok itself, it had little interest in the grand titles humans gave it.
It simply loved the mountain it had been born on, and hated anything that disturbed the mountain’s peace.
"Shiver!"
Baekrok exhaled harshly, annoyed by yet another foul presence it had sensed.
In recent days, an ominous energy had begun seeping into the pure veins of this mountain.
A sticky, unpleasant impurity.
Instinctively, Baekrok understood that this energy could shake the very foundation of the mountain.
To defend its territory, Baekrok headed alone toward the place where the tainted energy was thickest.
Deep within Wudang Mountain, it gathered every ounce of its strength and poured out a torrent of clear energy toward the dense, evil aura.
Blue spiritual energy slammed into the dark, corrupt force, setting off a violent collision.
After a struggle that lasted days and nights, the impurity finally scattered and the mountain’s veins settled back into peace.
But the price had been steep.
The raging taint had carved a deep wound into Baekrok’s belly.
Its strength drained away, the great beast staggered, its vision swimming.
Even a spiritual creature was still a living being.
If the wound was not healed, its life would be in danger.
If it could draw in natural energy and recover, or receive treatment from humans, it might yet survive.
And indeed, it knew exactly where to find a group of humans who worshiped it as a guardian deity.
Baekrok took a step forward.
But not long after, it collapsed with a thud.
The injury in its belly was too deep.
Am I going to die like this?
It had lived quite a long time, but it was a little regrettable to go so meaninglessly.
With no other choice, it lay down in a clearing on the mountain and could only hope the heavens had not abandoned it.
That was when it happened.
Within its dimming consciousness, Baekrok felt a clear, pure surge of natural energy.
It was a warm current like the source of life itself, one even Baekrok, after all its long years, had never felt before.
Summoning the last of its strength, Baekrok sent a faint signal toward the owner of that energy.
Before long, the source revealed itself.
It was a human woman.
The moment Baekrok saw her standing there, it froze, pain forgotten.
How can a human…?
It had seen countless humans over the years, but by Baekrok’s standards, there was no human who carried such an immaculate flow of natural energy.
Leaving its questions behind, Baekrok came to a conclusion.
That woman was its only hope.
As her hand slowly came to rest on its body, Baekrok instinctively began absorbing the energy.
It was an act of pure instinct.
It lasted only a moment, but even that was enough for Baekrok to recover some strength.
After that, it found the warm, pure energy flowing into its body so pleasant that it could not bring itself to stop.
For an ordinary human, being drained like this could mean collapsing unconscious—or even losing their life.
But the woman was different.
Instead, she firmly gripped Baekrok’s neck.
Even as her energy was being stolen, she tried to subdue the other side with astonishing force of will.
Baekrok stopped at once, yielding to that will.
Something unusual flickered in its blue eyes.
What an extraordinary child.
Its heart thudded.
It was only the pulse of the energy it had hastily drawn in, yet Baekrok was too overwhelmed by the unfamiliar sensation to make sense of it.
Once its wound had closed and its strength returned, Baekrok rubbed its head against the woman’s palm in apology.
There was a little guilt in the gesture, along with admiration for the purity of the energy she had shared with it.
The woman seemed to like the motion, because she lifted a hand and stroked Baekrok’s fur.
This one, I like very much.
That touch, that temperament.
Even the natural energy she possessed.
Everything about her captured Baekrok’s heart.
Later, when an elderly human came to seek her, Baekrok protected her from him, and it expressed its affection by following her around the mountain and even causing rainbows to appear.
Each time, the woman would raise a hand and stroke Baekrok’s neck.
Baekrok basked in her touch with great satisfaction.
And as they spent more time together, her true nature became clear.
She would gaze endlessly at the scenery of Wudang Mountain.
There was not a trace of boredom in her expression; she would simply smile, listening to the wind and the rustle of leaves.
In that easy, peaceful posture, Baekrok felt a kinship.
Just as I thought. My judgment was right.
At last, after watching her at its side for several days, Baekrok made up its mind.
It would show her its most precious secret place.
Baekrok took hold of her hem and guided her along.
A hidden stream where the mountain’s energy was gathered into its purest form.
The place where Baekrok had been born.
A place it visited from time to time to restore its energy.
The woman dipped her hands into the stream without hesitation and drew the pure natural energy into her body.
Then, beneath the moonlight, she began to steady her breath while striking a series of strange poses.
Rather than allowing the Wudang energy to run wild, she refined and governed it in her own way.
Her movements amid the mist and moonlight were graceful and mysterious, like the dance of a crane.
As if bewitched, Baekrok could not take its eyes off her.
Even Baekrok, born in this place, would never have been able to fully take in Wudang’s supreme energy like that.
Much less a mere mortal.
After washing the sweat from her body in the stream, her pale skin gleamed with droplets of water while calm blue energy rose from it like a faint mist.
Bathed in moonlight, she glittered before its eyes, and Baekrok understood.
There’s no mistake. This child is the companion I’ve been waiting for.
Beautiful, strong, and in love with nature.
All the way back along the path, Baekrok stayed close at her side.
As before, it pressed its head against her waist, and its blue eyes flashed.
That night and thereafter, the atmosphere within the Wudang Sect grew even more solemn.
The Taoists who faced me now looked at me with something close to reverence.
Their bows had become deeper, and every one of them seemed almost afraid to speak to me.
Lady Immortal.
That title had all but become my name.
Being treated this extravagantly every single day while I loafed around was enough to prick even my conscience.
“Should I do something?”
Honestly, the peace here was starting to get boring in little bites.
Back in Seoan, I’d been so busy savoring the pleasures of the mortal world that I hadn’t even noticed time passing!
Peace and leisure were fine for a few days, but it had already been over a week.
If I kept killing time by staring down at the scenery, I’d end up memorizing every last landmark of Wudang Mountain.
In the end, unable to bear the boredom any longer, I dug out the manuals I’d tucked away in my baggage.
Books are humanity’s treasure, and a delight for the mind.
Even if I’d written them myself, if I no longer remembered them, I could enjoy them all over again as if reading them for the first time.
Wolhameiingyeong I’d already memorized by heart.
My gaze fell on the recently acquired Heartwinching Formula.
Hypnotism, huh.
A very interesting subject.
If all of my middle-school-darkness scribbles were truly coming to life, then hypnotism would be a powerful and absurdly useful secret art.
Could be incredibly handy.
Heh heh heh. There were plenty of beauties in this martial world.
I could use it for all kinds of things.
Full of anticipation, I opened the book.
“One who rules the mind rules the person.”
“Words are blades, and the gaze is thread. Weave the two together, and make of them a net.”
The kind of cringe-inducing lines that made my skin crawl just looking at them assaulted my eyes.
“So I really did write this.”
Past embarrassment really could scramble your brain just by being seen.
But if there was to be a sweet reward, I had to face it.
I focused again and kept reading.
“The first step is not to make them believe, but to make them doubt nothing. The method is as follows…”
What followed was a detailed list of how to induce hypnosis.
Now this is getting interesting.
I wanted to try it out.
Practical use over theory, that was always the way.
Grand claims were one of the hallmarks of my old embarrassing writings.
Black Leopard had restricted my energy with hypnosis, that much was true, but I wasn’t sure whether I could reproduce the effect myself.
I need to test it.
Of course, that didn’t mean I could just try it on a person out of the blue.
The people of Wudang called me a lady immortal, after all. Asking me to cast hypnosis on them would be too much.
I wasn’t that depraved a person.
Which left only one option.
In the end, all clinical testing begins with animal testing.
I looked around.
Somehow, the squirrels and mountain birds that usually came crowding over even after I chased them away were nowhere to be seen.
Come to think of it, the little animals had stopped showing up around me much ever since I’d been to the stream that day.
Almost as if they were avoiding me.
That’s a little disappointing.
Small animals are the best tranquilizers just to look at.
A pretty girl with a little animal.
That’s a good picture too.
With no choice, I turned my eyes to the deer that always stuck to me like glue.
A slight shudder ran through him.
Whether it understood my wicked little thoughts or not, the deer snorted when our eyes met and shoved its head toward me.
I did feel a little guilty about making this one my test subject too, but it was still better than the alternatives.
It was an animal, after all.
I wasn’t planning to order it to do anything bad.
“Hold still for a second.”
I took the Heartwinching Formula in one hand and tied a copper coin to a string.
“Now, watch this coin closely.”
A slight shudder ran through him.
The deer obediently followed my instructions.
I shook the coin before its huge eyes and murmured slowly, “You’re sinking deeper and deeper in. Your eyes are spinning. The more you focus, the more it feels like your body is slowly sinking into the deep sea.”
The deer kept staring at the coin as my voice went on.
Little by little, as the hypnosis deepened, I could see those enormous eyes beginning to cloud over.
Time passed, and at last the deer’s eyes closed.
“Did it work?”
If this had been a person, I could just confirm it with a few questions.
But what about an animal?
I was stuck.
“Um. Deer. Can you hear me?”
“…”
No answer.
“From now on, you’re a dog. Go on, bark like one.”
“…”
Still no reply.
…Damn it. How are you supposed to check whether hypnosis worked on an animal?
I’d never thought about that.
Would it even obey verbal commands in the first place?
Well, its eyes were closed, at least.
It was a spirit beast, so maybe it could understand human speech?
I tried in every possible way, but there was no reaction at all.
I had only succeeded in becoming the trainer who put a deer into a deep sleep.
“…You said you were a spirit beast, right? Then turn into a person. I’d prefer a pretty little girl.”
I made my desires completely transparent, but the deer still gave me nothing.
Leaving the deer with its eyes closed and asleep, I shoved the book and the coin back into my baggage.
“So it doesn’t work.”
There was no way a cheat ability this broken would be that easy.
I’d been too greedy for shortcuts.
Besides, it was strange enough that a spirit beast deer would even fall under hypnosis in the first place.
So was that deer pretending right now?
I clapped my hands and said with studied indifference, “All right, that’s enough! Wake up from the hypnosis.”
The deer’s eyes snapped open at once.
“…”
It blinked at me, and I honestly couldn’t tell whether that was an act or the real thing.
Maybe it really had dozed off and then been startled awake by my voice and the clap of my hands.
What could I do with a mute beast?
That was my mistake.
“What a letdown.”
The best scenario to pull me out of this boredom had crumbled before my eyes.
If I stayed here any longer, I felt like I’d end up thrashing around from sheer tedium.
That left only one thing to do now.
I supposed I’d go see our cute Cheonga.
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