Chapter 428: A Past Entwined by the Four Spirits (3)

“Hmm.”

Mo Yong-woo’s eyes sharpened.

“So the Supreme Commander went with him?”

“Yes. He said he would return around this time tomorrow.”

“Understood. You’ve worked hard.”

“Then I’ll be going.”

After Yunho left, only Mo Yong-woo, Mookbi, Soh Bang, and Sima Hyeon remained.

Mo Yong-woo turned to Soh Bang.

“It was a long journey. You must be tired.”

Soh Bang snorted.

“Must be nice, serving in your corps.”

“Hmm?”

“Your commander is better with his tongue than he is with martial arts. He could talk a ghost into doing his bidding.”

Mo Yong-woo smiled.

“Eloquence is a skill in its own right. Like you said, having a commander like that means we rarely come out on the losing end.”

“Pity his precious martial arts aren’t half as impressive as his mouth.”

“At least he’s stronger than you. Surely that counts for something?”

WHOOSH!

Killing Intent erupted from Soh Bang.

Her Inner Qi might have been sealed, but her innate murderous presence had not gone anywhere. The atmosphere turned vicious in an instant.

“If you’re so confident, why not suggest they unseal my Inner Qi and let us settle it properly?”

Mo Yong-woo shook his head.

“We’re soldiers, not prizefighters. We use whatever means are necessary to achieve our objective. Once we’ve caught our prey, we never do something as idiotic as letting it loose again.”

“Hmph! Then your commander must be an idiot. He openly promised he’d let me go.”

“You conveniently left out the part where he keeps you captive until you’ve outlived your usefulness. You needn’t worry about that.”

Soh Bang stared at him for a moment before growling under her breath.

“The instant I regain my freedom, you’re the first one I’m coming for.”

Mo Yong-woo nodded.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

With that curt reply, Soh Bang spun around and stalked back into her quarters.

Watching her go, Mo Yong-woo asked Sima Hyeon,

“What did you say it was called?”

“Sima Hyeon.”

“Not your name. The poison you made.”

Sima Hyeon’s eyes gleamed.

“Heart-Accumulating Powder.”

“Can you explain it?”

Surprisingly, Sima Hyeon answered without resistance.

“In the early stages, it causes no symptoms at all. The ingredients themselves are restorative medicines, so the victim actually becomes healthier and their qi circulation improves.”

“And then?”

“Too much of a good thing becomes poison. And this is something deliberately made to be poison. Heart-Accumulating Powder filters out the natural toxicity contained in the medicinal force and stores it in the heart meridians. Nothing seems wrong at first, but after a month or two, the chest begins to ache from time to time.”

“......”

“Even if it’s discovered then, treatment isn’t especially difficult. But curing it through Inner Qi requires internal force of overwhelming density. Once that window passes, however, no one short of a master on the level of the Thirteen Seats of the Supreme Heavens could detoxify themselves.”

“You’re certain?”

“I am. Though I do believe there are always exceptions.”

For him to speak with that much confidence, it was clearly no ordinary poison.

“An antidote?”

“There isn’t one.”

“......There isn’t?”

“No. There is only medicine that can delay the decay of the heart meridians.”

Mo Yong-woo’s gaze deepened.

“Then if the Heart-Accumulating Powder cannot be detoxified, the victim has to keep taking that medicine for the rest of their life?”

“Ten years at most. Even with medicine slowing it down, they won’t live to a ripe old age. It is a poison that rots the heart meridians and disrupts blood circulation. How could anyone afflicted by it enjoy a long life?”

“......Cruel.”

Sima Hyeon did not answer. Perhaps he simply saw no need to.

He had spent more than half his life as an assassin. No matter how kind his natural disposition might once have been, a man who had killed countless people in such an environment could no longer imagine a life outside assassination.

After thinking for a moment, Mo Yong-woo gave a small nod and dismissed him.

“You should get some rest as well.”

“I was planning to.”

“Ah. Before you go, may I ask one thing?”

“......?”

“How did you end up here?”

Sima Hyeon answered with a somewhat indifferent expression.

“I was planning to ask him that myself tomorrow.”

Whatever the details, it meant Yeon Hojeong had persuaded him to come.

Once Sima Hyeon had returned to his quarters as well, only Mo Yong-woo and Mookbi remained.

Mookbi spoke.

“At least things went better than I expected. I mean the matter of the people’s livelihood in Guangdong.”

“That much is true.”

Mo Yong-woo clicked his tongue.

“But from what I heard, the way it was resolved was rather forceful.”

“Considering how Young Master Yeon—no, the Supreme Commander—usually handles things, I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“True. But these were imperial officials. They may have bowed their heads for now, but if they took it personally, that could become troublesome later.”

“I heard they were the highest authorities in their respective branches. Would men in positions like that really hold a grudge?”

Mo Yong-woo shook his head.

“I wouldn’t dare claim I know the world better than you do. But between my time in commerce and my time in the Martial Alliance, I learned one thing.”

“......?”

“People in politics never forget being made to suffer a loss or being forced into submission.”

“......!”

“If they bow their heads to someone once, sooner or later they make sure that person bows even lower to them. They seem to think their authority cannot stand otherwise.”

“That’s......”

“Some people earn their office through effort and character. But sometimes the office shapes the person instead. Those people stop distinguishing authority from power, and most of them grow accustomed to enjoying rights without responsibility.”

A trace of worry appeared on Mookbi’s face.

“Then what do we do?”

Mo Yong-woo shook his head.

“I don’t think the Supreme Commander’s methods were right. No—there’s no need for me to argue whether they were right or wrong in the first place. I only have to carry out the orders I’m given. Still......”

“......?”

“Knowing his temperament, I doubt he would have pushed them that hard unless he was confident he could withstand whatever retaliation they might attempt.”

Mo Yong-woo forced a smile.

“For now, let’s concern ourselves with the present. In the end, he managed to change the officials’ minds. Guangdong should begin settling down before long.”

“Ah, yes.”

“You’ve had a difficult journey too. Go get some rest.”

“Understood. You should rest too, Commander.”

“I will.”

Mo Yong-woo looked up at the sky.

It was darker than he had expected. The weather was steadily growing hot and muggy, yet for some reason a chill crept over him.

“There probably won’t be any trouble.”

******

Like any mountain viewed from its foot, Foshan looked immense.

It was vast and imposing, yet somehow still possessed an air of quiet seclusion. Though the sky was dark in every direction, the heavens above Foshan alone seemed unusually clear.

“Do you see it? There, that place.”

“I do.”

“That cavern is the entrance. Follow it inside and you’ll find countless caves branching off from it. That is where we live.”

Yeon Hojeong narrowed his eyes.

WHOOOOOOSH.

The air was humid, the weather hot and stifling.

And yet Yeon Hojeong instinctively sensed the cool wind blowing from that cavern.

This was no ordinary place. His senses told him as much.

It was not a dwelling of demons who walked the heretical and demonic paths, nor a den of murderers steeped in Killing Intent. He felt not the slightest sense that anything sinister was taking place within.

And yet—

There are a lot of them.

After his battle with Yayul Jeok raised his martial level, Yeon Hojeong had become capable of absorbing far more of the insight he had possessed in his days as the Dark Emperor.

Even at the same realm, the sharpness of one’s senses and sensitivity to Inner Qi could differ enormously. Had Tamgyeong not pointed out the cavern, Yeon might have passed by without noticing anything. But the moment his attention focused on it, every sense converged there, allowing him to detect the faint yet dense flow of qi.

There are many powerful people in there.

He could not judge the number. The distance was too great even for Yeon Hojeong to tell how many masters lay within.

But there was one thing he could tell.

“They’re dull.”

“Hmm?”

Yeon Hojeong glanced at Tamgyeong.

“You’re no exception, old man, but most of the masters living in there have dull True Qi.”

“Ha! You can sense that?”

“It’s less something I sense through qi than an instinctive impression. If there were a master in there who had remained active in real combat until now, the place would feel far more dangerous.”

Tamgyeong could not hide his admiration.

“At this distance, and you can still tell that much? You truly never cease to surprise me.”

“It’s nothing special.”

“It most certainly is. By my reckoning, your current level is at least comparable to the leaders of the Nine Sects. That alone is remarkable enough, but I doubt there is anyone else at that level with senses as sharp as yours.”

“Then believe what you like.”

Tamgyeong studied Yeon Hojeong for a moment before smiling.

“You really are alike.”

“Who is?”

“You and him.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“The man I believe to be your master.”

“......!!”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes widened slightly.

Tamgyeong looked up at the sky.

“It happened when I was still considered one of Shaolin’s most promising prodigies. Contrary to everyone’s expectations, I was tormented by doubt. I had hit a severe plateau in my martial arts.”

“......”

“That was when I happened to meet him. There were no questions, no introductions. He looked at me and smiled, and before I knew it, I was already throwing a punch at him. I’m sure you can guess how that ended.”

“......”

“I was utterly defeated. I would almost have preferred being beaten black and blue. Instead, without using any Inner Qi at all, he dismantled the Shaolin martial arts I used all the way down to their foundations.”

“......No.”

Yeon Hojeong’s voice faltered.

“You met him?”

“If I had never met that man, I would never have known that you had cultivated the Four Spirits.”

“......!”

“You resemble him greatly. Your faces are different, your builds are different—everything about your appearance is different. But your eyes are almost identical. And after spending some time with you, I realized it isn’t only the look in your eyes. You even share the same wisdom hidden beneath that violent exterior.”

Yeon Hojeong stared at Tamgyeong, then asked in a slightly hoarse voice,

“Where did he go?”

“If that man truly was your master, shouldn’t you know better than I?”

He did not.

He had never met his master since returning to the past. And in his life as the Dark Emperor, his master had been the one to leave him first.

That man had always been like that. He had appeared without warning before Yeon Hojeong, gathered up a soul that had collapsed, and taught him martial arts for years. Then, once he judged that Yeon had achieved enough, he vanished just as suddenly as he had appeared.

Strangely enough, even to Yeon Hojeong, his master had always been wrapped in mystery.

He had been an affectionate man, yet he had never given Yeon the same deep intimacy one might expect between master and disciple.

Nor had he been negligent in his teaching. If anything, he had been stricter than even Yeon Wi, Yeon Hojeong’s own father. And amid that severity, the wisdom for living and the truths of the world he had imparted were treasures worthy of a sage.

He had taught Yeon knowledge and martial arts, and even how to forge a path forward through life. A benefactor beyond measure—yet one separated from him by an invisible wall, difficult to approach, and desperately missed.

“He once told me that if fate allowed it, I might someday meet his disciple. That I might meet the inheritor of the Four Spirits.”

“......”

“And that was you. I knew [N O V E L I G H T] the moment I saw you that you were his disciple.”

After gazing silently at the sky, Tamgyeong lowered his head and looked at Yeon Hojeong.

“The Buddhist order as a whole has kept silent about this, but I think it is safe to tell you. I can tell you what we, who were once Buddhist monks, are searching for here.”

“......What?”

“Eternal life.”

“What do you mean?”

Tamgyeong’s eyes deepened.

“A life that does not end. In other words, we have been investigating immortality.”