Free Web NovelSohwa frowned and opened her mouth.
She had prepared only a faint dose, planning to poison two people at most, but there were six patients brought in on people’s backs.
Even after filling all the sickbeds for patients, there weren’t enough spots, so they had to drag over even the side tables. The bodies of martial artists were more damaged than she had expected.
With an apologetic face, Baek Unhyeon made a request.
“It hasn’t even been a day since we received the provisions, and already I’m making such a request again... I’m ashamed and sorry. But I must ask for your help.”
Sohwa answered in a calm tone, as if to console him.
“Do not worry. I will do my best.”
For a moment, Namgung Jin looked at her with clouded eyes, but Sohwa ignored it.
Sohwa set up poles around the sickbeds and draped cloth over them, making a makeshift tent. Understanding what she intended, Namgung Jin came over and helped secure the tent.
Sohwa placed a cup of water between the beds and dropped in an antidote pill. A whitish vapor quickly leaked out and filled the inside of the tent.
“I covered it because inhaling the vapor in an enclosed space works better. They will regain consciousness soon.”
“I will trust you.”
Having already heard how she treated patients, Baek Unhyeon did not doubt the use of vapor.
After wiping her hands, Sohwa went to the brazier and checked the porridge. She added vegetables to the grains that had cooked to a soft mash, then asked,
“By the way, Great Hero.”
The First Seat’s gaze, which had been fixed on the tent, shifted to Sohwa. Stirring the porridge, Sohwa asked,
“Have you eaten?”
“......”
“It’s all right. Food given by someone whose identity is uncertain can be hard to trust.”
“It isn’t that. I was about to eat, but as you can see, things turned out like this and I lost the chance.”
Namgung Jin watched him with a touch of sympathy, then spoke.
“Please eat with us.”
“Yes, I made plenty.”
Namgung Jin felt a slight prickle at the idea that Tang Sohwa had cooked in advance, but he smiled for now.
“Thank you.”
In truth, Baek Unhyeon hadn’t planned to eat the porridge. Still, since there might be poison, it was better that he taste it first himself. So he accepted the bowl that Tang Sohwa offered.
With no tables, they had to eat standing.
Sohwa took the first spoonful of porridge. Only after she had put several spoonfuls into her mouth did the First Seat follow and eat. Strangely, Namgung Jin, who had been slowly stirring his porridge, also raised his spoon only after seeing Sohwa eat.
“When the others come to, I plan to have them eat first. As you probably expected, their bodies have become so weakened from long hunger that even a small illness has a large effect.”
“...I know.”
“Yes. When they wake, please help the patients eat.”
The First Seat lifted the gaze he had been avoiding and looked at Tang Sohwa.
So that was why she suddenly suggested eating porridge—likely to ease his suspicion.
Since the subordinates would need to be fed, perhaps she was trying to put their superior at ease.
To be honest, he wasn’t completely free of doubt yet, but his wariness had been cut in half.
“Ugh...”
Just then, one of the patients came to.
Sohwa set down her bowl and went into the tent. Approaching the newly conscious patient, she asked,
“How is your body?”
“I feel like I’m going to die.”
“Your strength has greatly declined, so you must eat first. Even if your stomach feels off, please have a little.”
Reading the situation quickly, Namgung Jin ladled fresh porridge and came into the tent.
“T-thank you!”
The patient must have been truly starving; he gulped down the porridge at once and emptied the bowl in a single go.
“Ha.”
The Northern Sea martial artist wore the expression of someone who had come back to life. Taking the empty bowl, Namgung Jin asked,
“Shall I give you a bit more?”
“Yes!”
From the resolute look on his face, he seemed to have decided to eat even if it killed him.
Sensing that resolve, Namgung Jin brought back even more porridge than before.
“Eat plenty.”
“Thank you!”
At the booming voice, the patients nearby frowned and then woke up one after another. Sohwa took their pulses and asked various questions.
Thankfully, there were no reactions like headaches or nausea.
That was natural. From the beginning, the dispersing poison hadn’t been dangerous, and only a small amount had come in through the narrow door-crack—enough that it would be detoxified on its own within a day.
The patients, as if they had forgotten their pain, were wholly absorbed by the smell of food. Bending at the waist as if suffering, they swallowed their saliva.
When Namgung Jin and Sohwa brought them porridge, they didn’t refuse; they gulped it down immediately. She had prepared a very large amount, thinking it would serve through dinner, but half was gone in no time.
Sohwa brought a warm tonic that restored vigor and shared it among the Northern Sea martial artists who had regained their senses, and when they finished the tonic cleanly, they wore faces as if they had reached paradise.
“You look utterly overjoyed. Feels good to come back from the brink of death, does it?”
Even the First Seat, who entered the tent to check the situation, teased them.
“First Seat! You were there?”
A martial artist inside started in surprise.
Sohwa lifted the tent entirely and made a proposal to the First Seat.
“Just in case, why don’t you stay here for the night. They’ve regained consciousness, but we should still watch them a bit longer.”
The First Seat nodded, his face completely relaxed.
“We’ll do that.”
Sohwa seemed about to say something, then glanced toward the doorway and flinched.
The First Seat’s eyes followed her line of sight. He, too, gave a small start.
The martial artists who had carried the patients in were drooling.
The broth was made by simmering beef bones, then adding rice and vegetables; it smelled wonderful. For someone who hadn’t eaten in days, it must have been torture.
Concealing her fluster, Sohwa offered,
“...I made plenty of porridge, so if you want to eat, it’s fine to do so.”
At those words, the martial artists’ eyes sparkled. However, the First Seat still retained half his wariness, and he wished that the uninjured children would not eat.
Given where they were, he hesitated to take risks so close to the island.
If something happened, at least those children needed to be able to flee.
Sohwa quietly gauged the mood.
Realizing the First Seat still regarded her with caution, she did not press further and instead tidied the patients’ beds.
She wanted to ask again about the method that removed the Blood Demon’s poison, but from his attitude alone she could see he had not yet decided.
Sohwa did not act hastily. She waited.
She hoped a positive decision would be made before anything unforeseen occurred.
***
Najin, having climbed the snowy mountain, lifted her head.
“Haah.”
Beyond her misty breath, a sharp, jutting ice-peak came into view.
The mountains of the Northern Sea changed their appearance from moment to moment.
A high summit could vanish in an instant in an avalanche, and a bare mountainside could be buried in snow and become a gentle snowfield.
Thus they were well-suited for the training of the Seven Seats. Even if the snow mountains were cleaved and the extreme yin energy poured out and froze the area, the soft snow covered all traces of training.
Najin reacted to the yin energy flowing in from all directions.
Her meridians expanded, drawing in yin of their own accord.
Instead of storing it away, Najin left the flow as her body rotated the yin energy on its own.
There was a drawback to the extreme-yin constitution the Blood Demon had modified.
A body whose growth ate away at life.
The faster it grew, the closer death loomed.
To help the young Najin delay her growth as much as possible, the Fourth Seat had forbidden her from training martial techniques—she was not even allowed to cultivate internal arts.
Plop.
Najin wanted to run quickly, but with her legs sinking up to the knees, it was hard to gain speed. In her haste, her steps crossed, and her body tilted into a drift of snow.
“Uwah!”
Buried in the snow, Najin let out a groan, lying face-down as she was.
'Ah, really... this is too hard.'
Najin had also been starving for a long time, and after the recent visit by the Central Plains people, she had been moving long distances without rest, so fatigue had piled up.
For a moment, she lay still on top of the snow.
Burying her body in the soft, clean snow felt good.
They said the sands of the Central Plains warmed under the sun, and that if you went into them your body felt languid; perhaps the sensation Central Plains people felt was similar to hers now.
Suddenly thinking of the couple who had come from the Central Plains, Najin opened the eyes she had closed.
'...Ah, I’m sure I’ve seen that face somewhere.'
The face of the woman who was supposedly a physician of the Yeonjuda troupe looked familiar. She didn’t know where she had seen it, but something about it struck her as known.
'Ah, where did I see her?'
After thinking hard, Najin sighed and stood.
“Is this really the time to be lazing about?”
She brushed the snow from her body and swept back her hair. Washed by the snow, the gray hair revealed a white sheen. Her eyebrows and lashes were a clean white as well.
But, unable to see herself, Najin strode forward unguarded and brave.
Thump.
As she set her foot down, Najin stopped.
In this area the snow was quite shallow.
Feeling a violent wind, Najin quickly twisted her body.
Boom.
In an instant, a snow ridge rose up before her.
Frightened, Najin creaked as she turned her head toward the direction in which the Icy White Divine Palm had manifested.
Far off on a cliff, the Fourth Seat stood looking down at her.
Najin hurriedly prostrated herself on the ground.
“I greet the Fourth Seat.”
The distance was very great, so normally that voice should not have been audible.
But the person before her stood far outside the bounds of normal.
Rustle.
The moment a white foot appeared before her eyes, Najin slowly lifted her head. Meeting her gaze, the Fourth Seat spoke.
“Have you run out of dye?”
At that, Najin touched her hair.
The ash powder had been washed off, and her hair was pure white. As she turned pale, her field of view suddenly rose upward.
Najin’s arm was caught in the Fourth Seat’s hand. Like someone holding a rabbit and turning it this way and that to inspect it, the Fourth Seat dangled Najin from his hand and examined her.
“Why are you this thin?”
“Ah. That is...”
“Has that First Seat lost his senses and made you train?”
At the sudden mention of the First Seat, Najin flusteredly waved her free arm. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
“N-no, it isn’t like ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) that! Because the Second Seat’s curse has spread down as far as the Third Cave, it’s become impossible to harvest crops. Still, luckily, Central Plains people who came to the Northern Sea shared provisions, so this week we’re all right... Ah! I came to deliver a letter to you, Fourth Seat.”
Babbling, Najin remembered her purpose and quickly took an envelope from her robe.
Setting Najin down, the Fourth Seat accepted the envelope and opened it.
He read the short message in silence, then unfolded the paper enclosed with it.
Najin tried her best to read his mood, but the Fourth Seat seemed to have no expression by nature, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking.
'I can’t tell if he’s displeased or fine with it.'
As she kept sneaking glances at the Fourth Seat, Najin suddenly froze.
Her gaze fixed on the corner of his eye.
No—strictly speaking, she was staring at the small mole at the corner of his eye.
'So that’s who she resembled!'
She had been wondering where she had seen that woman—the eyes resembled the Fourth Seat’s.
Because the Fourth Seat by nature had no expression and was without emotion, she hadn’t thought to connect him with the smiling, gentle physician of the Yeonjuda troupe.
'Wow, how can they be completely different and yet alike?' ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Startled, Najin’s lips parted, but when the Fourth Seat’s gaze dropped to her, she shut her mouth tight.
“Where is the Second Seat now?”
The Fourth Seat’s voice was cold.
“Seeing that he sent this by your hand instead of coming himself, it seems something has arisen that took him away from his place.”
Najin instinctively realized that the Fourth Seat was very angry. So she offered an answer that sounded like an excuse.
“B-because the Second Seat’s curse expanded, the men of the Second Cave collapsed. There’s a physician from the Central Plains who can treat the Second Seat’s curse, so he took the fallen martial artists and went to meet the Central Plains physician!”
At those words, the Fourth Seat wore a blank face that could not be read as either convinced or unconvinced.
After a long moment, the old man white as a hundred ghosts opened his mouth.
“Do you know where this Central Plains physician is?”
“Yes! They say an apothecary was opened at the southernmost harbor.”
“Guide me.”
“Yes! Ah—yes?”
When Najin asked back in fluster, the Fourth Seat silently tucked the letter into his robe.
At that wordless order not to make him repeat himself, Najin shifted her body, shrinking a little.
The Fourth Seat was going to leave the training ground. The others in training would not know of this.
And more than anything—
'Eek! If they learn the training of the Seven Seats was interrupted, the First Seat won’t let me off!'
Terrified by the thought that she had caused a huge incident, Najin’s face crumpled. The snow-white girl spoke in a damp voice, unwilling though she was.
“...I will guide you at once.”
