The Inner Power of a Single Tear (1)
"How are you feeling? Is your body any better?"
Ak So-gun visited him ten days later.
Baek So-cheon could barely sit up now. He couldn't just sit on his own; he had to lean against the wall.
"Alliance Lord. Forgive my rudeness."
"Nonsense! Lie down comfortably."
"No, I'm fine."
"I held off visiting so as not to disturb your treatment."
His calm tone and gentle gaze. Being around the Alliance Lord brought a sense of peace. Ever since their first meeting when he'd become the Iron Sword Unit leader, he'd always been a pillar of strength for Baek So-cheon.
"So-cheon."
"Yes."
Ak So-gun took Baek So-cheon's hand.
"Thanks to you, the war is over. The Black Heaven Alliance has proposed a truce."
Joy filled Ak So-gun's voice as he delivered the news. But Baek So-cheon said something unexpected.
"We can't accept the truce."
"Can't we?"
"The Black Heaven Alliance Lord suffered a grave wound in our fight. We must finish him now."
"Are you saying we should continue the war?"
"Do you think the sacrifices so far aren't enough?"
"No, don't misunderstand. What I mean is, the Black Heaven Alliance Lord will start the war again anyway. If he does, the losses will be even greater than ending it now."
"How do you know that? Did he tell you he'd resume the war?"
"No."
"Then?"
"It's my intuition."
Ak So-gun released his hand and grew serious.
"We can't restart a war that ended based on mere intuition."
His strong reaction left Baek So-cheon silent on the matter.
"Understood, Alliance Lord."
"Rest now; you must be tired. I'll come again."
Ak So-gun rose and left the room.
Baek So-cheon wanted to say that wasn't what he meant, but he held his tongue at the sight of Ak So-gun's back, tinged with anger.
Had he ever seen him this furious? Was suggesting they end the war now really enough to provoke such ire?
Suddenly, he recalled the red dot in his eyes that day.
Ten days later, Baek So-cheon left his room for the first time.
He still couldn't walk, of course, so he had to sit in a cart pushed from behind.
The physicians passing through the courtyard bowed deeply in greeting.
"We're glad you're safe."
"Thanks to you physicians."
This was the Alliance's internal medical ward, headed by the Divine Physician.
Looking up at the sky from the physicians' rear courtyard eased his stifled heart somewhat.
Gazing at the clear blue sky without a single cloud, the long war felt like a dream. But it wasn't. Just as someone with a severed leg feels phantom pain, he often screamed trying to unconsciously draw up his inner power.
That was when Ak So-gun arrived, leading his guards.
He dismissed the pusher and took the cart himself.
"Your exalted body—it's too much for me."
"It's fine. Especially since it's you."
"Alliance Lord."
"I'm sorry for snapping at you last time."
"No, I spoke out of turn."
"No, I was wrong. It was natural for you to say that. I was just overly sensitive."
"No."
On the day he'd stormed off, Baek So-cheon had resented him deeply. But reflecting later, he understood the Alliance Lord's burdens. Leading the righteous warriors, he must have wanted to end the war as soon as possible for everyone's sake.
"I heard from the Divine Physician. Don't worry. I'll scour the entire Central Plains to find a way to heal you."
"I'm grateful even for the words."
His sincerity came through clearly.
"So-cheon."
He sometimes called him by name when they were alone.
"Yes, Alliance Lord."
"Thank you. You saved us all."
But after that day, Ak So-gun didn't visit for a while.
That didn't mean he'd abandoned Baek So-cheon entirely. He bestowed great rewards and kept him in the Bi-gak lord position.
From this ambiguous behavior, Baek So-cheon considered two possibilities.
First, the Alliance Lord had fallen victim to the Seop-hon-sul.
If he'd been ensnared by such an evil art, Baek So-cheon had to help free him.
But the likelihood was low.
Ak So-gun handled everything else as usual, aside from their relationship.
Timeline-wise, it didn't fit. After the Black Heaven Alliance Lord ripped out his dantian and fled, the Alliance Lord had rushed there.
So when could it have happened? After he'd lost consciousness? Or by someone else? Or...?
Thus, the second possibility tormented him.
The Alliance Lord had discarded him as useless.
If so, keeping him as Bi-gak lord was just for appearances.
The thought of being discarded wounded his pride terribly, filling him with uncontainable rage. It was utterly wretched. What had he done wrong? How hard had he fought for the Murim Alliance, for the martial world...?
Denying abandonment, he pessimistically wondered if his subconscious was spinning fantasies about soul subjugation just to cope.
To this confusion from the two scenarios was added another torment.
The agony of lost inner power.
For the former world's greatest, of all people, his inner power was gone.
Thus, Baek So-cheon's initial wanderings in haze were pure, undirected flailing.
Through them, he realized.
He'd been called a hero for his prowess in battle... but he was just an ordinary man.
But later wanderings held intent.
What if!
If the Alliance Lord truly suffered from soul subjugation, only he could save him. He couldn't ignore it out of pointless pride.
If so, he had to step down from his high position. If it was a conspiracy, they'd target him there. Thus, his later deviations and demotions were partly deliberate.
Even in deep coma, Baek So-cheon obsessively recalled events tied to that day.
Splash.
After soaking in six different herbal baths, Baek So-cheon was lifted from the final one.
Ban Yun-saeng washed his body clean, laid him on the bed, and covered him with medicinal clay.
He inserted a small tube for breathing, then sealed him completely.
Now, only waiting remained.
Ban Yun-saeng had given his all. This great law was his life's gamble, testing if his path was right or wrong. Not just Baek So-cheon's fate, but his own hung in the balance.
Heaven above, pity this old man and grant success to the great law!
"The operation failed!"
The Iron Sword Unit's painstaking plan had failed, trapping their First Squad in the Black Heaven Alliance's inescapable net. Like furious ants swarming from a dug-up anthill, Black Heaven forces overwhelmed them from all sides.
When eighteen Black Heaven experts appeared before them, they realized it was a perfect ambush.
"At least you, Squad Leader, escape!"
But Baek So-cheon, who had come to rescue his subordinates through the net, wouldn't abandon them.
He fought with all his might.
Puuk.
Piercing the foe's heart, Baek So-cheon yanked out his bloodied sword and roared.
"Who's next? Come on!"
Thirteen experts stood before Baek So-cheon.
Five cold corpses already lay there.
A common martial world scene. The bravado of a drinking boast. Eighteen against one.
But no braggart would specify these eighteen here.
The most infamous sword ghosts of the Black Heaven Alliance.
The Eighteen Ghost Swords.
The moment they became thirteen.
"Come on! Try me, you bastards!"
Blood trickled from Baek So-cheon's mouth as he swung his sword and bellowed. He'd taken severe wounds killing those five ghost swords. His pale face showed his inner power nearly depleted. Not his world's greatest days, but when he'd led the Iron Sword Unit. Not number one, but at his peak.
Pale-faced, yet Baek So-cheon brimmed with vigor.
"Who first? You? Or you?"
The thirteen didn't move. They sensed death for whoever stepped up now. After three or four more fell, they could take him.
Even in a joint assault, two or three would die—Baek So-cheon had just proven it.
The surviving ghost swords eyed each other warily. A golden chance to kill the Murim Alliance's Iron Sword leader.
"At least five more I can take with me."
"In that state? Pushing it."
"Then you test it first."
Yet none dared. He'd slain five peers before their eyes.
Baek So-cheon stepped forward.
"Scatter or charge."
Then—
Bang! Bang!
Fireworks burst nearby.
The signal that Iron Sword warriors had broken the net and were coming.
The remaining thirteen ghost swords finally retreated.
As they vanished from sight, Baek So-cheon spewed blood.
His startled subordinates nearly screamed, but he hushed them softly.
"Shh."
If they knew his injuries were this grave, they'd return.
He swallowed the blood and moved.
"Let's go."
But he staggered after a few steps. Two subordinates supported him on either side. One was Hwang Il-bi. When he'd been a Iron Sword rookie, Baek So-cheon was the leader.
"...I need some sleep."
Baek So-cheon's eyes slowly closed.
"Squad Leader!"
"I'm fine... I won't die..."
He fell asleep.
"Please don't die!"
"You can't go!"
The retreating group's pace quickened. This battle would prove decisive for Baek So-cheon's promotion to Bi-gak lord.
Hwang Il-bi cried out desperately.
"Please open your eyes!"
Baek So-cheon's eyes snapped open.
An unusual dream. One from his glory days.
Why dream of that day?
Lately, his dreams were only of fighting the Black Heaven Alliance Lord that day—or after. Dreams of the Murim Alliance Lord and Black Heaven Lord...
Rising hurt like he'd been beaten all over. Like waking in the Alliance medical ward at war's end. Mud from his body, bed, and floor everywhere.
As he sat up, Ban Yun-saeng sat dazed ahead.
Seeing him awake, Ban Yun-saeng said tearfully.
"I'm sorry. Truly sorry."
He'd poured everything in, to no avail. A lifetime of study, research, learning—all for nothing. Baek So-cheon unchanged. Him regaining consciousness was miracle enough.
"Glad you're alive."
But his life's work negated. Failure even on the ideal subject. The great law was flawed from the start.
What have I even done with my life?
Only thoughts of a wasted life. Waking, he felt naked in the marketplace. That's why they called it madness. Why they shunned him. Everyone but him knew this outcome.
After long staring at his body, Baek So-cheon spoke slowly.
"Don't cry."
His low voice resonated in the cave.
Ban Yun-saeng, head bowed, looked up.
Seeing his tearful eyes, Baek So-cheon said, voice trembling.
"Your Hwan-gol Tal-tae Great Law failed... but the Hwan-gol Tal-tae I wanted succeeded."
"...?"
Not a full bone and meridian transformation.
But change stirred within Baek So-cheon. Behind his torn dantian, something new. As if granting his desperate wish, a new dantian had formed.
And as if signaling to cultivate inner power here now, a faint trace emanated—like a single tear from Ban Yun-saeng's eye. Now he knew why the glory dream: that drop of inner power conjured it. His subconscious, long suppressed, now revived those days.
Overwhelmed, Baek So-cheon said emotionally.
"Elder, I feel inner power in my body."
A minuscule amount, but the first in three years.