Rite Beneath the Blood Moon
Yeong-hwa did not awaken until evening.
That was the night a blood-red full moon swallowed the whole of Wudang Mountain.
As Yeong-hwa had directed, a vast sacrificial altar stood before the pine tree at Haegeomji, the entrance to the Wudang Sect. At the heart of the ritual ground lay a cow’s head, surrounded by every manner of food and wine. The carcasses of eight pigs, each quartered, were arranged on either side of the cow’s head. Strangely, far off to one side of the main altar, a single remaining pig carcass had been set apart—as if deliberately slighted.
Yeong-hwa appeared in pure white robes.
Pad—pad—pad—pad—pad—
Barefoot, wearing only white socks, he stepped slowly onto the ritual ground. Before the altar he drew the previous sect leader’s sword and laid it carefully in place.
“Grandfather.”
“A spirit-sending rite, is it?”
“Yes.”
Boom—boom—boom—boom—boom—boom—
With Myeong-yeon’s drumbeat, Yeong-hwa’s chant began.
Yeong-hwa shook his silver bells in a frenzy and danced. The crimson moonlight rolled like waves across his pure white robes.
Clatter—clatter—clatter—clatter—
The previous sect leader’s sword, still sheathed in its bloodstained scabbard, thrashed wildly. White breath began to pour from Yeong-hwa’s lips.
Saaaaaah—
A freezing autumn wind howled across Haegeomji. Unease rippled through the disciples of Wudang.
“What is this?”
“It isn’t even winter—why is it so cold?”
Yeong-hwa seemed to hear none of it. Still dancing, he moved toward the prepared straw-cutters. He felt the heat rising through the soles of his feet.
Tap—tap—
Without any aid he mounted the blades with practiced ease. Up on the straw-cutters he leapt and spun, fan and bells never still. Those who watched were struck with horror.
“He’s jumping on the blades!”
“His feet aren’t even cut!”
Yeong-hwa closed his eyes completely. After a long while of dancing he stepped down, took a wine bottle from the altar, turned it twice, and poured it over the previous sect leader’s sword.
“This is the Songha Glory Wine you loved so well.”
He turned to the disciples nearby.
“Light the fire, please!”
At his words the brazier flames roared high.
“These are the side dishes you favored.”
As carefully as if feeding a living man, he lifted each dish with chopsticks, turned them twice, and cast them all into the fire.
“How is it?”
With a sorrowful gaze he seated himself before the altar. The previous sect leader’s sword still trembled before him.
“Former Sect Leader of Wudang, former Leader of the Wulim Alliance, Greatest Sword of the Wulim.”
He spoke to the blade.
“Wudang swordsman who, side by side with His Majesty the Emperor, led the campaign that purged the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms after they fell to the Blood Cult’s corruption.”
At his words the sword thrashed even more violently.
“Mugeokseongeom, True Man Baekhak.”
Shhhk—
Yeong-hwa snapped open the folded fan and pointed it at the night sky.
“The valor you displayed will be recorded forever in the histories of both the Wulim and the empire.”
He pressed the fan to his breast and bowed respectfully toward the sword.
“No one will ever deny your sacrifice.”
KWA-AAAAAANG—
The instant the word “sacrifice” left his lips, a sudden explosion roared. The source was Taehyeonjasogung, the palace where the current sect leader resided.
Crash—crash—crash—crash—crash—crash—
Someone was descending toward Haegeomji with every ounce of power, driven by pure fury. Wherever he passed, the earth was gouged and pines snapped like twigs.
Shiiing—
As if he had been waiting for this moment, Yeong-hwa drew the sword before him. The broken blade of the previous sect leader sang out as though it had longed for this.
Yeong-hwa looked at Hyeonsong.
“The one who set fire to the Wudang library was the current Sect Leader.”
Hyeonsong’s eyes flew wide.
“How do you know that?”
“And strangely enough, he burned only the secret manual of the Taegeukhyekeom.”
“That’s true…”
“Then the only person left who knows the full formulas of the Taegeukhyekeom is the current Sect Leader, is it not?”
Black serpents began to coil around Yeong-hwa’s entire body. His pure white robes billowed in the wind.
“It looks very much like a declaration that he will never step down from the position of Sect Leader.”
Yeong-hwa raised the sword.
Kuuuuung—
A disheveled old man landed from midair and strode into the ritual ground.
“Why is there no food and wine for me?!”
With bloodshot eyes he stared at the altar, then began stuffing food into his mouth with both hands.
“Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.”
He crammed the offerings down his throat without pause. When that was not enough he upended the wine jars straight into his mouth. The disciples of Wudang stared in shock.
Hyeonsong sighed and tried to stop him.
“Senior Brother Baekmok, please come to your senses…”
Hagun pressed a hand to his forehead as if his head were splitting. Then Yeong-hwa’s shout snapped everyone awake.
“Come to your senses!”
He pointed the broken sword straight at Sect Leader Baekmok.
“Do you still see that man only as the Sect Leader?”
Hyeonsong, who had been stepping forward, halted and roared.
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
A savage wind wrapped around Yeong-hwa. His eyes turned black. Black serpents rose around him, seized Baekmok by the arms and legs, and hurled him clear out of the ritual circle.
“Not yet—not yet—I’m hungry, I said I’m hungry!”
Yeong-hwa shot a look at Myeong-yeon.
“This is the Jingwigyeoljin!”
“Understood.”
Thududududung—thududududung—
The once-steady drumbeat exploded into a violent frenzy.
Crash—crash—crash—crash—
As though slamming into an invisible wall, Baekmok could not re-enter the ritual ground.
Shhhk—
From the wreckage of the altar Yeong-hwa sliced a piece of flesh from the cow’s head with the sword. He walked steadily toward Baekmok, who was pounding the earth in mad fury, and held out the meat.
“Speak.”
“For every truth you tell, I will give you a piece of meat.”
“Keh-hahahahahahaha!”
When Baekmok cackled, Yeong-hwa pointed the broken sword at the solitary pig carcass lying in the corner.
“Or you can die like that pig—eating nothing at all.”
Gulp—
The threat worked. The thrashing Baekmok grew still.
“You… you… do you know me?”
“Of course I do. How could I not?”
Yeong-hwa spoke as though soothing a peevish child.
“Are you not True Man Baekmok, famed throughout the Wulim for kindness and humility?”
Baekmok’s face twisted. Yeong-hwa continued undeterred.
“Always assisting the previous Sect Leader, the Wulim Alliance Leader, and your senior brother—the Greatest Sword of the Wulim, True Man Baekhak…”
KWA-AAAAAANG—
Before the sentence could finish, Baekmok hurled his full power against the ritual barrier.
“What do you know that you dare run your mouth?!”
“Then tell us yourself.”
“You… all of you know nothing!”
Sect Leader Baekmok glared around him and poured out his resentment.
“You have no idea how arrogant that eldest senior brother was—how selfish, how completely absorbed in himself!”
Thud—thud—thud—thud—thud—
He pounded his own chest with his fists as if the pressure were unbearable.
“I—not him, but I—served our master my entire life and even nursed him through his final illness!”
His howl shook Wudang Mountain.
“And still Master chose that arrogant bastard over me as Sect Leader, all because of ‘Wudang’s future’!”
Blood tears streamed from his eyes.
“How can a man who climbed to that seat on nothing but natural talent be called a Taoist?!”
Baekmok was weeping now.
“He looked at his junior brothers as if they were insects, and for his own military glory he threw them onto the battlefield like pieces on a chessboard.”
He counted on his fingers as he spoke.
“Junior Brother Baekpung… Junior Brother Baekyeop… Junior Brother Hyeonsim… Junior Brother Hyeonyo…”
Shiiing—
Unable to bear it any longer, Hyeonsong drew his sword.
“Senior Brother, those were unavoidable choices made to protect the Wulim and the Central Plains from the Blood Cult’s claws.”
The scar beside Hyeonsong’s eye trembled.
“It was for the greater good!”
“The greater good? The greater good? Keh-hahahahahaha!”
“Do you know why Eldest Senior Brother ordered you alone to hold back a thousand Blood Cult death warriors?”
Baekmok jabbed a finger at Hyeonsong with a look of pure contempt.
“He was jealous of your talent—he wanted you dead!”
Hyeonsong’s sword, which had seemed unshakable, began to tremble.
“It was not so that he could die together with the Blood God!”
Baekmok screamed at the top of his lungs.
“It was a death trap sent so that you would die!”
At those words Hyeonsong’s sword slipped from his hand. Baekmok shouted so that everyone would hear.
“Hundreds of Wudang disciples died that way!”
He no longer cared about the meat before him.
“Do you know how many true orthodox heroes ended their lives like that?”
Thud—
Spent, he collapsed where he stood. Yeong-hwa fixed him with a piercing stare.
“And so you abandoned being human?”
“……”
“I asked whether that is why you forced living men to die!”
Baekmok wept blood and begged Yeong-hwa.
“Speak no more…”
“The previous Sect Leader’s resentful spirit was stained with the Blood Cult’s malice.”
Sect Leader Baekmok gathered every last scrap of strength and roared.
“That madman who went crazy for merit and rank and stopped seeing people as people—he was better off dead!”
“On the summit of Mount Danba, where the Blood God and Mugeokseongeom fought their life-or-death duel—both of them were still alive!”
Yeong-hwa pressed him with the eyes of a man who already knew everything.
“Standing before the two dying men, Sect Leader Baekmok would have tried to save his eldest senior brother.”
Baekmok answered by staring up at a night sky empty of stars.
“And then you heard the Blood God’s voice, didn’t you?”
Yeong-hwa closed his eyes as though reading the memory of a wandering spirit. His voice turned soft and coaxing, almost seductive.
“Do you not… cough… wish to become Sect Leader?”
At the sound of Yeong-hwa’s voice, Baekmok was drawn helplessly back into that moment.
“Shut your mouth!”
“If that man alone dies, you can become both the Wulim hero you desire and the Sect Leader of Wudang.”
At those words the strength left the hands that had been supporting his eldest senior brother.
Thud—
True Man Baekhak’s body fell back to the earth. Even as he died, the Blood God spoke with a look of satisfaction.
“Through my Blood Wheel I can see a human’s past and future.”
He raised a hand and drew a circle. A blood-red mirror appeared.
“No matter how hard you strive, you will never escape True Man Baekhak’s shadow for the rest of your life.”
His voice burrowed deeper and deeper into Baekmok’s mind.
“You were never acknowledged by your master—do you want to end your days running errands for your eldest senior brother?”
Baekmok looked down at Eldest Senior Brother Baekhak lying limp on the ground. If he carried him down the mountain now, the man would live, even if he lost the use of one arm. Yet before his eyes he saw the exact same life he had already lived, stretching endlessly ahead.
The Blood God spoke to the dazed Baekmok.
“Take this and keep it with you forever.”
The Blood Wheel contracted into a single blood-red bead.
“And place it in your eldest senior brother’s mouth.”
When Baekmok hesitated to approach, the Blood God cackled and opened his mouth.
“Do not worry.”
His face grew still paler; the pool of blood beneath him spread wider.
“My fate in this world is already finished.”
Step—step—step—step—
At those words Baekmok swallowed hard, approached the Blood God, and received the blood jade.
“Cough—it is done…”
The Blood God spat a thick gout of blood and breathed his last. For some reason a full smile bloomed across his face. Blood energy that had secretly slipped from the blood jade seeped into Baekmok’s once-clear eyes.
“Yes… I, too, have the right to live a different life now.”
Baekmok forced open the mouth of his fallen eldest senior brother. At that moment the man’s eyes opened.
“Ugh! Ugh! Uuuuugh!”
Eldest Senior Brother thrashed with all his remaining strength, but after the battle with the Blood God he had nothing left.
“I will never again have to look at that arrogant face that tormented me my whole life.”
Baekmok kept his weight on the face until the body finally grew still.