Chapter 48: Ban Yunsaeng (1)
Gansu, where the Qilian Mountains were located, was within the territory of the Black Heaven Alliance. A considerable number of the martial artists encountered throughout the region belonged to the Black Heaven Alliance.
Of course, although the Black Heaven Alliance had established its influence there by setting up branch divisions and taking control, it did not mean that everyone living there belonged to the Unorthodox Faction.
The same was true for the Martial Alliance. Even the person running an inn in front of the Martial Alliance’s Main Division could be a member of the Unorthodox Faction.
Baek Socheon travelled as inconspicuously as possible. Rather than taking the main roads, he crossed mountain paths and side trails, even carrying the heavy leather pouch he normally used during training. In other words, he treated even travelling itself as part of his training.
Since Baek Socheon had resolved not to cause any trouble along the way, nothing happened until he reached the foot of the Qilian Mountains.
What concerned him more was whether he was being followed. The Black Heaven Alliance or the Alliance Leader’s Hall might have secretly assigned someone to watch him.
Fortunately, Baek Socheon possessed an innate sense capable of detecting even Cheon Geuk’s concealment. He was certain no one had followed him.
Goe Yeo had said that Ban Yunsaeng had secluded himself in the Qilian Mountains. If he was still alive, then he had to be living somewhere within these mountains.
Finding someone amidst the vast Qilian mountain range was truly as difficult as searching for a needle in a haystack.
‘If fortune favours me, I’ll meet him.’
Carrying the leather pouch on his back, Baek Socheon climbed the mountain. Since he was capable of scaling sheer cliffs with his bare hands, no matter how rugged the terrain was, climbing posed no difficulty.
Reaching the summit, he looked around. Numerous peaks surrounded the main peak.
‘Where exactly are you?’
Five days had already passed since Baek Socheon had entered the Qilian Mountains. He had climbed the summits of many peaks, carefully searching for any sign of human presence.
He met hunters and herbal gatherers alike. However, he never asked them about Ban Yunsaeng. Without knowing what sort of relationship they might have with him, asking carelessly might only cause Ban Yunsaeng to disappear into hiding.
By the tenth day of wandering the Qilian Mountains, Baek Socheon found himself discouraged for the first time.
‘Perhaps… I won’t be able to find him after all.’
If he had plenty of time, he would search for months or even years, but he simply did not have that luxury.
Naturally, his heart demon began to creep in.
‘Perhaps trying to find Ban Yunsaeng in the first place only proves how weak my resolve has become.’
‘How could an artificial technique possibly accomplish Body Reformation?’
‘I should be training my body instead of wasting time here.’
Though he sank into deep self-reproach, he always ended up driving himself onward.
‘No. I won’t give up until the very end.’
One day, while combing through the mountains as thoroughly as ever and searching the forest for any sign of human habitation, a sharp, pungent smell suddenly assaulted his nose.
‘This smell…?’
He had encountered it once before.
The scent of an incredibly potent poison!
His curiosity piqued, Baek Socheon headed toward the source of the smell. Since he possessed a body immune to all poisons, there was nothing for him to fear.
Pushing through the undergrowth, he found a single flower blooming before him.
Its petals were blood-red, while something white, whether fruit or flower bud, he could not tell, bloomed in its centre.
Coiled protectively around the plant was a snake, and it was this snake that emitted the poisonous scent.
‘A White-Horned Golden-Line Snake!’
Rather than a horn, the white protrusion on its head looked more like a lump, while golden lines ran across its body. The poison core of a White-Horned Golden-Line Snake was a priceless treasure that practitioners of poison arts dreamed of obtaining.
‘Then that flower…’
It was clearly no ordinary plant. Rare flowers and herbs guarded by spirit beasts were usually just as valuable as the spirit beast’s own inner core. The pleasant fragrance of the flower mingled with the poisonous scent of the snake, creating an aroma unlike anything he had ever smelled before.
The White-Horned Golden-Line Snake raised its head, ready to lunge at Baek Socheon at any moment.
Naturally, Baek Socheon remained calm. He was immune to all poisons, and no matter how extraordinary the creature was, he was confident he could avoid the attack of a mere snake.
Just then,
Baek Socheon sensed someone approaching from behind.
The instant the newcomer drew close, Baek Socheon spun around.
Sensing no killing intent from the other party, he refrained from attacking and instead subdued him by grabbing his wrist and throat.
Baek Socheon froze for an instant.
The newcomer was an old man. He had no idea why, but the moment he saw him, he instinctively knew.
This was the very person he had been searching for.
‘Ban Yunsaeng!’
At that exact moment, the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake attacked from behind.
Hiss!
“Get away! You mustn’t let it bite you!”
Hearing the old man’s shout, Baek Socheon leapt backwards together with him, narrowly avoiding the snake’s strike.
The two of them ran together, retreating a considerable distance. The pursuing White-Horned Golden-Line Snake eventually turned back and disappeared to where it had originally been.
“Phew. That’s a relief. If it had bitten you, the Eternal Life Poison-Forgetfulness Grass wouldn’t have borne fruit this year.”
Only then did Baek Socheon realise that the old man had not shouted because he was worried about him.
He had been worried about the snake.
And about the plant called the Eternal Life Poison-Forgetfulness Grass.
Even so, Baek Socheon respectfully asked,
“Could you perhaps be Hero Ban?”
“You came looking for me? That’s right. I’m the man called Yunsaeng. Who might you be?”
He had expected someone with an air of madness, yet Ban Yunsaeng appeared perfectly normal. Moreover, he made no effort to conceal his identity.
“My name is Baek Socheon.”
“Baek Socheon?”
Seeing the disbelief on his face, Baek Socheon identified himself.
“If the name made you think of the Martial Alliance’s War God, then yes, that’s me.”
“Is it truly you? How am I supposed to believe that?”
“If I tell you how I found this place, I’m sure you’ll believe me.”
“How did you find out?”
“Hero Goe told me.”
“Ah!”
At those words, Ban Yunsaeng accepted that the young man before him really was Baek Socheon.
The only person who knew his whereabouts was Goe Yeo. Goe Yeo would never reveal his location to just anyone, but if it were Baek Socheon, then he would have. Besides, Goe Yeo had been imprisoned in Thunder Prison, and only someone of Baek Socheon’s standing could have met him there.
“Rather than standing here, let’s go to my home.”
“Very well.”
Entirely by chance, it was thanks to a spirit herb and a spirit beast that he had finally met Ban Yunsaeng.
Ban Yunsaeng’s residence was a cave.
Its entrance was concealed behind jutting rocks and tangled vines, making it extremely difficult to spot. Had he not met Ban Yunsaeng today, Baek Socheon felt he might never have found him.
Compared to its narrow entrance, the cave’s interior was remarkably spacious. It contained a wooden bed, a cabinet, and even a dining table. Books were piled everywhere, all of them related to poisons, spirit herbs, the human body, meridians, and rare medicinal ingredients.
“Here, this is fruit wine I brewed myself. Care for a drink?”
“I’d be delighted.”
Baek Socheon accepted the wine Ban Yunsaeng handed him and took a sip.
It was pleasantly sweet and tasted excellent.
“So Old Goe is still alive?”
“He’s imprisoned in Thunder Prison. Still as lively as ever.”
“That man would go mad over this wine if he saw it.”
The two had once become friends through their mutual love of alcohol. Ban Yunsaeng enjoyed brewing it, while Goe Yeo loved drinking it.
Although he had been friends with one of the Ten Great Evildoers, theirs had been a pure friendship built around wine. Ban Yunsaeng himself had spent his entire life as a physician and scholar researching Body Reformation.
“You don’t have to worry about his wine. As payment for telling me where you were, he’s probably drinking every day now.”
“Ah, is that so? Good, good.”
“When I return, I’ll be sure to tell him what a fine person you really are.”
“What do you mean?”
“He said this to me. He asked whether I actually believed the crazy things you were saying.”
Naturally, Baek Socheon steered the conversation toward Body Reformation.
Having heard Goe Yeo call his theories madness countless times before, Ban Yunsaeng smiled and asked,
“And what about you? Do you believe that Body Reformation can be achieved through an artificial technique?”
To be honest, Baek Socheon did not.
He simply could not believe that a person’s bones and skin could truly be remade. Even if such a thing were possible, he believed it would require an unimaginably great fortuitous encounter, not an artificial technique.
Then why had he come to see Ban Yunsaeng?
Because what Baek Socheon believed in was a different kind of Body Reformation.
Even if his bones remained unchanged and his skin stayed the same, if his ruined dantian could be restored so that he could once again use Internal Energy,
That alone would be Body Reformation for him.
“I believe those so-called crazy words.”
Seeing that Baek Socheon truly meant what he said, a strange light appeared in Ban Yunsaeng’s eyes.
Throughout his entire life, not a single person had sincerely believed in him.
Everyone had either mocked him or pitied him.
“Do you truly believe Body Reformation is possible?”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have come looking for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Please perform Body Reformation on me.”
Ban Yunsaeng was genuinely startled.
He had wondered if that might be the reason, but he had never imagined Baek Socheon had truly come to ask for Body Reformation.
“And prove to the world that you were right.”
Ban Yunsaeng remained silent for a moment.
It was the dream he had failed to realise throughout his entire life.
He had never given up on it, yet he knew that in the end, it was a dream beyond his reach.
“But why you?”
“Examine my body.”
Baek Socheon extended his hand.
Like a physician taking a pulse, Ban Yunsaeng grasped his wrist.
Sending a thread of Internal Energy into him, he examined the condition of Baek Socheon’s body.
“I’d heard rumours that you’d lost your Internal Energy… but it’s true. But what happened to your body? This isn’t an ordinary physique.”
“I trained.”
Ban Yunsaeng’s gaze changed.
“In order to endure the technique, the body itself must be exceptionally strong. In that regard, your body is ideal.”
The grueling training of the past three years suddenly felt as though it had all been preparation for this very day.
This was not the sort of Body Reformation brought about by falling into a pond where a Thousand-Year Carp Core Essence swam while on the verge of death, or awakening inside a cave where Sky-Clear Jade Oil flowed.
This was Body Reformation achieved solely through an artificial technique.
It required the physical endurance to withstand a grueling process lasting several days.
“That’s not all.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve read the book you wrote. It said that to undergo Body Reformation, not only must one’s body be strong, but one must also possess a constitution highly resistant to poison.”
“That’s correct.”
That had been the reason every previous attempt had failed.
None of his previous subjects had been able to withstand the poison.
Using antidotes caused the technique to fail, while proceeding without them cost the subjects their lives.
“I possess a body immune to all poisons.”
For the first time, Ban Yunsaeng’s eyes trembled.
Very few people knew that Baek Socheon possessed such a constitution.
“A while ago, you said that if I had been bitten, the Eternal Life Poison-Forgetfulness Grass wouldn’t even have been able to produce its fruit. Is that plant, by any chance, one of the ingredients required for Body Reformation?”
“It is. When the time comes for the Eternal Life Poison-Forgetfulness Grass to bear fruit, the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake injects its venom into the plant. Only through that process can the fruit mature. You must consume that fruit and survive its effects.”
Only then did Baek Socheon realise that the white object he had seen earlier had not been a flower bud but the fruit itself.
“I can withstand the poison of the Eternal Life Poison-Forgetfulness Grass.”
Ban Yunsaeng was a man who believed in fate.
Had he not believed in fate, he could never have devoted his entire life to this research.
He had spent his entire life studying, wandering throughout the Central Plains in search of spirit beasts and rare flowers connected to Body Reformation.
Long ago, he had secluded himself in the Qilian Mountains because he had discovered the Eternal Life Poison-Forgetfulness Grass.
The Eternal Life Poison-Forgetfulness Grass bore fruit only once every three years, but ever since he had discovered it, the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake had never appeared, preventing it from producing fruit.
This year, at long last, the White-Horned Golden-Line Snake had returned, making it the year the plant would finally bear fruit properly.
And at precisely this moment, Baek Socheon had appeared.
How could he not believe it was fate?
Especially now, when old age had made even climbing mountains difficult for him.
With a serious expression, Ban Yunsaeng asked,
“Can you truly do this? If the technique fails, you may die. I’ll be honest. Everyone who failed the technique died.”
Baek Socheon answered calmly.
“Even if I don’t try, I’ll die anyway.”
The Black Heaven Alliance Leader would eventually kill him.
After all, Baek Socheon had destroyed the dream he had pursued his entire life.
Perhaps it was precisely because his hatred ran so deep that he could still smile at him.
Perhaps that was why he had not killed him yet.
When the war finally broke out, at the moment he considered the most dramatic, he would cut off Baek Socheon’s head before everyone.
Looking at Baek Socheon, Ban Yunsaeng finally made up his mind.
“Very well. Let’s give it a try.”
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