The Secret Revealed (3)
Baek So-cheon headed straight to Je-gal Hyeon with the two women in tow.
Je-gal Hyeon was taken aback by their sudden visit.
He had been pacing the room in worry over the Alliance Lord when Baek So-cheon arrived, bringing a veiled woman and a young girl.
"To save the Alliance Lord, we must bring this person to him right away."
"Who might this be?"
"She's Na-sa-rin, the elder of the Sal-su Yeon-maeng."
"Sal-su Yeon-maeng?"
Je-gal Hyeon was stunned. If anyone else had said it, he would have bellowed that it was utter madness.
But these words came from Baek So-cheon himself, and the Alliance Lord was teetering on the brink of death.
Je-gal Hyeon knew of Na-sa-rin. Reports of the ageless elder master of the Sal-su Yeon-maeng had long reached the Hyun-cheon Pavilion.
Then the veiled woman must be the leader of the Sal-su Yeon-maeng!
Je-gal Hyeon even accurately guessed Cheon-geuk's identity.
Escorting them to the Alliance Lord? It was absurd on its face.
"Time is of the essence. We must go now."
"Very well. Let's go."
This was something that could never happen without absolute trust in Baek So-cheon.
Outside the chamber where Ak So-gun was receiving treatment stood On-byeok-hwa, the former lord of Bi-gak. She had returned to stand guard once more.
Je-gal Hyeon spoke to Pung-geuk-an.
"I've brought a physician I know. Please allow her to treat him briefly."
Unable to reveal Na-sa-rin's true identity, he presented her as Cheon-geuk, the physician. To outward appearances, Na-sa-rin seemed like a mere handmaiden accompanying Cheon-geuk.
Even with the Divine Physician present, bringing in another healer was no ordinary matter. It was a grave insult to Ban Wol-ryang as well.
Naturally, Pung-geuk-an did not simply let them pass.
"She must show her face and state her identity."
Je-gal Hyeon knew well that affiliation with the Sal-su Yeon-maeng meant no amount of words would grant entry.
"Due to her circumstances, she cannot reveal her face or identity."
"Then she cannot enter."
"I stake my life on vouching for her identity. If we don't treat him now, the Alliance Lord's life is in peril."
Je-gal Hyeon's willingness to stake his life, coupled with the warning of danger to the Lord, shocked Pung-geuk-an and On-byeok-hwa.
As Pung-geuk-an hesitated, On-byeok-hwa stepped forward.
"Given the Alliance Lord's condition, clinging to protocol isn't wise. If the Grand Strategist insists so strongly, we should let her in."
At that moment, Ban Wol-ryang emerged.
"What's going on?"
When his gaze fell on Na-sa-rin, he recoiled in surprise.
Ban Wol-ryang knew of her. He had met her long ago.
Naturally, his startled look turned toward Baek So-cheon.
Baek So-cheon met his eyes and gave a single nod. Don't worry. Trust me, his gaze conveyed.
Ban Wol-ryang then looked to Je-gal Hyeon, who reaffirmed his faith in Baek So-cheon.
"If anything goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility."
Responsibility tied to the Alliance Lord's life meant staking his own as well.
With even the Grand Strategist going that far, they felt assured no harm would come to the Lord.
Ban Wol-ryang said to Pung-geuk-an,
"Let her in."
With the Divine Physician's approval, Pung-geuk-an could no longer refuse.
"But I'll accompany you inside."
Baek So-cheon nodded.
"We'll all go in together."
And so they all entered as one.
Ak So-gun lay upon the bed, his face pale and haggard, illness etched deep into his features.
Na-sa-rin approached and placed a hand on his forehead. It burned like fire.
Ban Wol-ryang told her,
"We've tried every herb to bring down the fever, but nothing worked."
"You've misdiagnosed the cause of the illness."
Only then did Pung-geuk-an realize the healer was the young girl—and that the Divine Physician had known this beforehand.
"What is this about?"
"I'll write down the herbs. Brew them exactly as listed and bring them."
Na-sa-rin handed the list to Ban Wol-ryang.
"Hurry. We don't have much time."
Given the gravity, Ban Wol-ryang personally prepared and brought the decoction.
Na-sa-rin pried open the unconscious Ak So-gun's mouth and forced the medicine down. Then she inserted needles at key points across his body and pressed his meridians in precise sequence.
Moments later, the impossible occurred.
Ak So-gun's eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright.
The next instant—
"Keurgh!"
He vomited up what was inside him.
Pung-geuk-an gripped his sword hilt at the sight. The Lord hadn't eaten, so the medicine poured out mingled with bloody froth.
He didn't draw his blade because the Lord's expression had turned utterly serene.
Ak So-gun slowly lay back down and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Na-sa-rin fetched chopsticks and sifted through the vomit.
"Here it is."
She plucked something out and held it up.
It was a tiny insect, resembling a small larva—at a glance, like a grain of rice.
"It's a gu."
The word sent shock through everyone.
Techniques using insects or venomous creatures were called gu poison arts, which had evolved into sinister methods of implanting bugs into the body to control the victim.
They could make one love, fear, or hate—known to surpass even Seop-hon-sul in manipulating the human will.
Yet creating gu was exceedingly difficult and costly. A single one might cost hundreds of thousands of nyang, only to die from the slightest mishap.
It had vanished from the Murim world, now a lost forbidden art.
And yet, one lay before them now.
"This is the rarest and most precious of all gu: the Cheon-oe Won-go. Implant a male-female pair into two people, and the one with the female will grow to hate the one with the male—until she kills him."
Everyone gasped at the revelation of Cheon-oe Won-go in the Alliance Lord's body.
"If one was here, where's the other?"
Na-sa-rin's gaze turned to Baek So-cheon at the Divine Physician's question.
"You've said the Lord kept his distance from you these past three years?"
An exclamation of realization escaped everyone's lips: "Ah!"
"The male Cheon-oe Won-go was likely in your body. The host of the female cannot control her growing hatred. Negative thoughts consume her. The Lord must have endlessly imagined your betrayal. He endured three years thanks to his profound inner power, iron will, and deep trust in you. An ordinary person would have killed the target in days."
Baek So-cheon let out another sigh. He never dreamed he and the Lord harbored Cheon-oe Won-go.
"I had no idea it was in me."
"The Cheon-oe Won-go is the pinnacle, handled only by grandmasters among gu wielders. Detecting it is nearly impossible."
Moreover, Baek So-cheon had lost his inner power. He could never have sensed the male within.
"The Lord wouldn't have realized his changes stemmed from gu either. It's a lost art, unused for ages."
Gu manipulation bordered on Seop-hon-sul. Na-sa-rin's master, who taught her that art, had once obsessed over gu, researching and even breeding them successfully on simpler scales.
From him, she learned to exorcise them.
Creating gu was hard; removing it, far less so. Every gu despised certain herbs.
Had removal matched creation's difficulty, gu masters would rule the Murim unchallenged.
Na-sa-rin revealed an even darker truth about the Cheon-oe Won-go.
"Its goal isn't mere death. If the Lord's will drove him to kill you, the caster could then control him via the remaining female gu. He might have resisted awhile, but eventually fallen under the implanter's sway."
A stunned silence fell. A terrifying plot: eliminate the war hero Baek So-cheon—inner power lost or not—and puppet the Alliance Lord.
"Then why did this happen to the Lord?"
Na-sa-rin countered Baek So-cheon's question.
"There was a change in your body recently, wasn't there?"
She knew of his inner power's return but phrased it vaguely to avoid eyes.
"Yes. Recent rigorous training advanced my physique a step."
Baek So-cheon answered cautiously for the audience, but a sudden realization struck him.
Ah! It's because of the Hwan-gol Tal-tae Great Law!
Now he understood. During the bone transformation, the gu implanted in him had perished amid the bodily shift.
"That likely killed the gu in you. The female gu expected the Lord's satisfaction from your death to feed it—but it never came. So it thrashed in him, causing this outburst."
On-byeok-hwa interjected.
"Yes, the Lord grew irritable just recently."
Na-sa-rin bowed politely to her.
"A rampaging female gu harms its host relentlessly, culminating in three days of raging fever—death with the gu on the third."
Today marked that third day. Without Na-sa-rin, Ak So-gun wouldn't have seen tomorrow's dawn.
Baek So-cheon asked again.
"Any guess who did this?"
"It's deemed extinct now, but seventy years ago, one group used Cheon-oe Won-go."
"Who?"
"The Blood Cult."
"...!"
Shock rippled through them. The Blood Cult lurked behind this.
"Among their sorcerers, only Jeok Pa-rap—master to the current lord, Myeol Saeng—wielded it. That century-old relic... still alive? With only Myeol Saeng as disciple, it was either him or his pupil."
A heavyweight was involved.
"When was it implanted?"
"By size, three or four years ago."
The war's final throes.
Je-gal Hyeon, who had listened silently, asked,
"How was it done?"
Na-sa-rin replied courteously.
"Before rooting, it's smaller than rice, encased in thick shell—unbreakable even if chewed. Likely via food. It then hides near the brain's meridians to grow."
Je-gal Hyeon turned to the Am-yeong-gak lord.
"Am-yeong-gak will handle identifying the one who administered it."
"Understood."
It could be anyone inside.
Baek So-cheon doubted they'd ever find them. Over three years past, amid war's end, meals came from anywhere. The Lord had shared soldiers' rations with him countless times.
For a transcendent like Myeol Saeng or Jeok Pa-rap, slipping in unseen to taint their food was trivial.
"Is the Lord safe now?"
"No issues remain."
Baek So-cheon deeply bowed to Na-sa-rin.
"I'll repay this grace."
Thanks to her, the Lord's life was saved—and the truth unveiled.
Na-sa-rin took his hand and raised him.
"You haven't forgotten my earlier request?"
"Of course not."
"My sole wish remains that."
She embodied unwavering loyalty.
Cheon-geuk, veil low, couldn't exchange glances with Baek So-cheon. But she felt his gaze—fiercer with gratitude than ever.
"We'll take our leave first."
Cheon-geuk led Na-sa-rin away.
Baek So-cheon needless to say; On-byeok-hwa, who loved the Lord; Pung-geuk-an, self-reproachful for failing to protect him; Je-gal Hyeon, estranged lately; Ban Wol-ryang, nearly bearing eternal regret; even Hwang Jong-shin of Am-yeong-gak, trusted by the Lord—all revered and cherished him.
They bowed to the departing Na-sa-rin, expressing profound thanks.
Je-gal Hyeon spoke for them all, voice resounding.
"Our deepest gratitude. The Murim Alliance will never forget this favor."
Today, at least, their affiliation mattered not.
An hour later, only Baek So-cheon and Ak So-gun remained. They had withdrawn out of respect for their bond.
Ak So-gun slept peacefully, like an infant.
Baek So-cheon's heart churned with complex emotions, but foremost was regret.
It was understandable, yet he should have trusted the Lord more.
If he hadn't lost his power?
No—such hypotheticals were pointless. Fury might have wrought worse disaster. Failure without power meant failure with it too.
While he wandered lost, the Lord had battled within ceaselessly.
Kill Baek So-cheon!
I can't kill him, no matter what.
Just end him cleanly!
Shut up. Even if he betrayed me, I won't kill So-cheon!
Fool.
He's demoted?
Even in the gutter, Baek So-cheon is Baek So-cheon. I look forward to the day he lops off your head with a smile.
Thinking of three years endured against impulses that broke ordinary folk in days brought tears to his eyes.
Perhaps reclaiming his sword had been solace. He'd hear it all upon waking.
From Baek So-cheon's lips flowed words long held in his heart, soft and sincere.
"...Alliance Lord."