Free Web NovelSohwa and Namgung Jin set out in earnest to find the end of the gorge, but it was hard to guess how far they had come. The trees and the snow-covered ground all felt the same, as if they were circling the same place.
Thinking it would be good to remember a distinctive landform, Sohwa turned her head toward the mountain and paused.
“Young Clan Head.”
Namgung Jin stopped and looked back at her.
Pointing to the rock face, Sohwa said,
“The rock face is dry.”
The cliff face dusted with snow was black with moisture, but only the very center was dried tight and gray.
As Sohwa and Namgung Jin were walking toward the cliff, their gazes shifted back at the same moment. They had sensed a presence.
Crunch.
It wasn’t an artificial flow of energy like killing intent or inner power. It was the natural presence that life gives off.
Crunch.
With small footsteps, a gray rabbit appeared.
At that moment, quick footsteps were heard.
Patter-patter-patter-patter.
Judging by the short stride and the not-so-loud sound, it seemed like a child running.
“Hey!”
A girl burst out from behind a tree, saw the two of them, and froze on the spot. Her eyes flicked rapidly, looking back and forth between the gray rabbit and the two people.
As if making a big decision, the girl squeezed her eyes shut and pulled an orange stick from her waist, waving it.
It was a carrot. The blackened tip showed it was old and rotten. But the rabbit, crazed at the sight of a carrot, charged at the girl at a mad speed.
Whish.
The moment the rabbit went to snatch the carrot, the girl clamped the rabbit tight under her arm and ran.
Staring at the empty snowfield, Namgung Jin and Tang Sohwa blinked slowly.
“Didn’t some child just wave a carrot?”
Sohwa asked, as if confirming what she had seen.
“Yes, and there was also a rabbit that got kidnapped.”
Namgung Jin, seemingly at a loss, recounted exactly what he had seen.
The two of them, without either saying it first, ran after the girl.
Thanks to the lack of snowfall, the girl’s footprints still remained. They hadn’t run far when the footprints stopped before a huge tree. Its branches reached high into the sky, and peculiarly, the tree was pressed right up against the cliff.
Namgung Jin sprang up and climbed onto the tree. Sohwa followed straight after. Standing at the top, Namgung Jin and Tang Sohwa met each other’s eyes in silence. The rock face where the branches touched was dried tight and gray.
When they pushed the dry rock with a hand, a thin stone panel bent inward and revealed an entrance.
In a hollow voice, Namgung Jin said,
“There was a burrow here.”
It was narrow enough to be called a rabbit burrow. A large man like Namgung Jin had to bend at the waist just to squeeze in.
“Are you going in?”
If they went in there and ended up isolated, it would be a big problem.
When Sohwa asked skeptically, Namgung Jin nodded.
“It seems more efficient to check what’s inside here than to search for the gorge’s entrance whose end we don’t know.”
“What do you think is in there? It’s dangerous.”
“If the entrance is narrow, we can block it one-on-one, so it’s better than being ambushed in an open area.”
As if he had already decided, Namgung Jin bent his back and said,
“Young Lady Tang, would you wait here?”
“I’d rather go in. It looks like it will be hard for you to even enter, Young Clan Head.”
“No. If someone comes in from behind, our retreat could be cut off, so I’d like you to wait here.”
When Sohwa showed no sign of yielding, Namgung Jin let out a sigh.
“I’ll send a signal when I come out of the burrow, so please come then.”
Reluctantly, Sohwa nodded. She understood why he couldn’t yield the lead, since the Young Clan Head was far above her in martial power. If she went in first and deployed poison, it would be hard for Namgung Jin to come in and help.
When Sohwa said she would guard the rear, Namgung Jin went straight inside.
The burrow seemed quite long. Even after a long time, the Young Clan Head did not say she could come in.
Only after an eternity passed did Namgung Jin’s voice come.
“You may come.”
The sound felt very far away.
After a moment’s thought, Sohwa took out a poison smoke pellet from her sleeve. If Namgung Jin was far away, it would not be a problem for him. Since someone might chase from behind, she lit the smoke, closed the door, and walked carefully into the burrow.
Crunch.
The tunnel was very long. And like an anthill, the passage twisted here and there, a structure that stirred a primal fear.
Also, the inside was very hot. Enough that sweat pooled on her brow.
After a long while, Sohwa reached the exit, and the moment she saw Namgung Jin standing there, she asked,
“Weren’t you hot?”
Namgung Jin nodded, seeming to have had the same thought.
“Yes, I broke out in a sweat.”
As Sohwa went to step out, Namgung Jin took her arm. She thought it was excessive consideration, but once outside, she understood the action.
The exit was in the middle of the cliff. The space to put one’s feet was very narrow. It was a precarious width where only a single adult could barely walk.
Judging by the cliff’s total height, the exit was far below the top, but falling to the ground would still injure them.
Scanning left and right, Namgung Jin looked for the vanished girl. The narrow path ran in both directions.
To the right it bent sharply, and three jang ahead (one jang is 3.03 m, so about 9.09 m), the end could not be seen. To the left it continued into a dim cave.
Both sides felt unsettling because the view did not open up.
This time too, Namgung Jin chose the concealed path rather than the open one.
“Let’s go into the cave.”
He gestured toward the opposite side of the gorge.
“With the gorge so narrow, if someone on the opposite side throws arrows or hidden weapons, it will become dangerous.”
It seemed that if both were dangerous anyway, Namgung Jin considered an enemy lying in ambush easier to handle. Sohwa thought the same.
'If it’s a confined place, it’s good for deploying poison.'
Assuming the worst, the two quickly aligned and walked toward the cave on the left.
But the moment they turned their bodies, a shadow fell across the sky.
Clang.
Namgung Jin raised his sword and blocked the arrows falling from above.
When they looked up, arrows were pouring down.
Clang. Clang.
“Run.”
Dodging the arrows, Namgung Jin and Tang Sohwa ran for the cave, and the archer tried to stop them.
It may be rude to put it this way, but the archer’s skill was truly abysmal. Most of the arrows fell outside the path, and, like a child’s throw, there was no strength to them.
“Waaah, no!”
When they slipped into the cave, the archer even burst into tears of regret. It was a child’s voice that hadn’t even reached adolescence.
As soon as they stepped into the cave, a hidden swordsman jumped out.
Clang. freewebnoveℓ.com
Namgung Jin blocked the sword in front.
In that instant, Sohwa felt a fierce chill.
It was a cold different in character from the Northern Sea’s.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
A sharp, knife-like wind surged in waves with the sound of clashing blades, then receded, and surged again.
A man ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) whose movements looked impaired crossed blades with Namgung Jin.
But Namgung Jin gave off only a faint resin scent and did not do his utmost. He didn’t even use inner power and tried not to harm the man.
The man, by contrast, gathered his inner power, yet could not put strength into his blade.
Soon Sohwa understood why.
The man twisted his body to avoid Namgung Jin’s sword, and because he had cut his clothes, his bare back was plainly revealed. His back was covered in boils—he was a patient.
While the man showed his back, Namgung Jin reversed his grip and struck the man’s elbow hard with the hilt. Reflexively, the patient dropped his sword.
“Ugh!”
Clatter.
The sword clattering across the ground rang out noisily.
In his haste, Namgung Jin spoke in the Central Plains tongue.
“We did not come to harm you.”
It had been decades since Central Plains people who settled in the Northern Sea presumptuously named it the Northern Sea Ice Palace’s branch.
And since the Blood Demon had also sent the Ice Palace bloodline to the Central Plains, there were likely many in the Northern Sea who knew the Central Plains tongue.
But as all of this was only her conjecture, Sohwa watched the man, tense.
To prove he had no intention of fighting, Namgung Jin retrieved his sword and cupped his fist in salute.
Then, with perfect composure, he spoke aloud the plan Sohwa had intended to use.
“We are from the Yeonjuda troupe.”
Staring steadily at the Northern Sea native with a composed face, Namgung Jin enunciated slowly.
“She is the Divine Physician of Yeonjuda. Three years ago, the last time she took a Northern Sea native as a patient, and we have come to the Northern Sea to deliver the words he left behind.”
The man’s gaze slid to Tang Sohwa.
Sohwa realized the man could speak the Central Plains tongue.
A glint flashed in his eyes.
The shrewd Young Clan Head of Namgung, the moment he realized the opponent was a patient, brought up a Yeonjuda physician to cloud the other’s mind.
Patients stricken with severe illness spent their lives searching for Yeonjuda. There were more than a few who bet their entire fortunes and remaining time on the vanished Yeonju; for a patient covered in boils, that name was absolute.
Yeonjuda could easily cure even boils thought to be incurable.
Watching the patient’s wavering face, a vague relief spread.
'Perhaps conversation will be possible more easily than I thought.'
Keeping a calm face, Tang Sohwa took from her bag a wooden case containing medical tools. Seeing the unusual scissors and blades inside, the man flinched hard.
They were utterly useless for treating anything right now, but she had taken them out to show the patient. Yeonjuda was famous for using tools that cut flesh.
Sohwa ran her fingers over the scissors and knives as if checking them, put them away again, and asked,
“We came to deliver Great Hero Baek Unhae’s words, but your condition looks serious; before I deliver them, may I examine the lesion?”
“Unhae? You know Unhae?”
The man asked in a changed voice.
Baek Unhae was the name of the Northern Sea bloodline who had sought out Yeonjuda.
As if he had erased Yeonjuda’s existence from his mind, the man waited only for Sohwa’s answer. Instead of speaking, Tang Sohwa searched her sleeve for the item the Sagye Hall Administrator had given her.
She took out a headband wrapped in paper. It was a piece of evidence kept at the Sagye Hall. Though stained with blood and its color faded, the man seemed to recognize it and collapsed to the floor.
Sohwa approached and handed it to him.
“He wished to be buried in his homeland, but we could not bring the body, so at least this...”
“Ah, Uncle!”
Sohwa couldn’t finish and closed her mouth. A girl who had been hiding in the cave ran out.
With an aghast face, the girl checked the patient who had sunk to the floor, then looked up at Sohwa. The girl’s gaze was sharp. She was the same girl who had taken the rabbit earlier.
Sohwa’s brow knit slightly. A chill flowed off the man.
Yet it was even colder than when he had crossed swords with Namgung Jin. Tang Sohwa unconsciously rubbed the back of her hand.
The man patted the arm the girl had wrapped around his shoulder.
“It’s all right.”
Then, as if it had been a lie, the chill vanished.
'Was that not the man’s inner energy?'
Sohwa started to ask something and then shut her mouth. Had Namgung Jin not come over and tap her arm, she wouldn’t have been able to control her expression.
It wasn’t a face a disciple of Yeonju, said to be benevolent and good, should be making.
Snapping back to herself, Sohwa lowered her brows and tried to assume a kind expression.
The man, who had been splashing his face with his hands, turned his gaze. He looked toward the entrance and let out a sigh.
“It’s all right. Come in.”
Then the presences lingering at the door poured in. Children who looked about ten years old were panting hard, each holding a bow and arrows as big as their bodies.
“Are you all right? Gre—...”
When the children started to spill out words, the man pressed a finger to his lips. At the signal to close their mouths, the children fell silent.
“You stay quietly in the room and wait.”
They didn’t look pleased, but the children reluctantly went back out of the cave.
Supported by the girl, the man stood and spoke in a cold tone.
“As you can see, there are many ears outside, so let’s talk inside. Come in.”
He furrowed his brow as if moving his body caused him pain.
Following behind him, Sohwa kept her eyes on the lesion.
Judging by the size and color, it wasn’t all that severe.
But the man’s body was so gaunt his bones showed, and his complexion was poor. A person with weakened vital energy could easily lose their life to a small wound.
Sohwa lifted her head and surveyed the cave. In the pitch-dark interior there was an unpleasant smell.
'If they’ve stayed here all this time, even a healthy person’s body would weaken. This is the worst environment for treating boils.'
No matter how delicately one removed pus and used good medicine, living in a place this filthy would cause the flesh to rot again.
When Sohwa and Namgung Jin went deeper into the cave, they flinched.
Laid on a fabric torn from wood were bodies.
All five bodies were small of build.
They were boys and girls not yet of school age.
In that instant, Sohwa narrowed her eyes.
Faintly, white breath rose at a child’s lips.
Turning her steps, Sohwa approached the young patient and held a hand to the child’s nose.
A light breeze tickled her skin.
The man turned his gaze to Sohwa.
“What are you doing?”
“They’re still breathing. Did you know?”
“Don’t do anything useless. That breath will be cut off soon.”
Ignoring the man’s words, Sohwa asked,
“When did they lose consciousness?”
“Not long. We found them collapsed in the gorge this morning and brought them.”
“Were all five children found this morning?”
“Yes. Those fools must have secretly searched the gorge, saying they were going to find their younger siblings, and the children outside were playing in the morning when they found them and brought them.”
Sohwa examined closely the body of the girl lying before her.
Because the clothes were bound tight, only the face and nape were exposed.
Faintly, there were red rashes on the nape. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Sohwa pulled the collar down to inspect the skin more closely, but the skin of the chest and shoulders was clear.
With a calm face, she lifted the girl’s eyelid.
As expected, the conjunctiva at the eye rim was bright red. In the cold, constricted vessels should have lost color, yet the membrane at the eye rim was quite red. As if inflamed.
There is a reaction in the skin exposed to the outside.
Especially the reaction in the vulnerable membrane is pronounced.
They were symptoms that appear when exposed to sulfur.
Sohwa took the girl’s pulse.
Since the exterior is affected, the poison smoke that entered inside has a stronger effect. It damaged the lungs, traveled along the blood, and destroyed organs; the girl’s pulse was not normal.
Sohwa lifted her gaze.
The man’s powerless face came into view. Even as he said he had found five bodies in the morning, he showed no sign of panic. If children who had been fine all turned out like this at once, one would expect fear and frantic uproar.
That reaction grated.
As if he were someone who had seen these symptoms for a long time.
Lowering her gaze back to the patient, Sohwa asked,
“Is there, by any chance, a hot spring nearby?”
A cutting chill brushed her cheek for an instant.
Observing the man’s agitation, Sohwa studied the girl’s face.
“Sometimes, if one stays too long in a hot spring, they can lose consciousness. It looks like this child’s body was harmed before the cold could constrict the blood, so after losing consciousness she seems to have been left in the cold.”
If it was sulfur poisoning, it was easy to treat.
At least, it was an easy task for the Gujeong Pavilion Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Sohwa took a wooden case from her sleeve.
Taking out an antidote pill for poison smoke, she said,
“Bring water, cloths to wipe the body, and clothes the patients can change into.”
