Chapter 50: One Drop of Internal Energy (1)
“How are you? Are you feeling a little better?”
Ak Sogun came to see him ten days later.
By then, Baek Socheon could finally manage to sit up. He could not sit unaided and had to lean against the wall.
“Alliance Leader. Please forgive my discourtesy.”
“What are you talking about? Lie down and make yourself comfortable.”
“No. I’m fine.”
“I deliberately stayed away because I thought I might interfere with your treatment.”
His calm tone and gentle eyes put anyone at ease. The Alliance Leader had always been that kind of person. Ever since Baek Socheon had first greeted him after becoming Commander of the Iron Sword Corps, he had always been a source of strength.
“Socheon.”
“Yes.”
Ak Sogun took Baek Socheon’s hand.
“Thanks to you, the war has ended. The Black Heaven Alliance has proposed a ceasefire.”
His voice brimmed with joy as he delivered the news.
But Baek Socheon said something unexpected.
“You must not accept the ceasefire.”
“We must not?”
“The Black Heaven Alliance Leader suffered grave injuries in his fight with me. You must finish him now.”
“Are you saying we should continue the war? Do you mean all the sacrifices made so far were still not enough?”
“No. Please don’t misunderstand me. What I mean is that the Black Heaven Alliance Leader will inevitably start another war. If that happens, the sacrifices will be far greater than if you end it now.”
“How do you know that? Did he tell you he intended to wage war again?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“It is my intuition.”
Ak Sogun let go of his hand, his expression hardening.
“I cannot restart a war that has already ended based solely on intuition.”
His reaction was so strong that Baek Socheon said nothing more about it.
“I understand, Alliance Leader.”
“You must be tired, so get some rest. I’ll come again.”
Ak Sogun rose and left the room.
Baek Socheon wanted to tell him that he had meant something different, but seeing the anger in the Alliance Leader’s retreating back, he remained silent.
Had Ak Sogun ever become this angry before?
Was saying they had to end the war while they had the chance really enough to provoke such fury?
Suddenly, he remembered the red speck he had seen in his eyes that day.
Ten days later, Baek Socheon was finally able to leave his room for the first time.
Of course, he still could not walk and had to sit in a wheeled chair pushed from behind.
As he passed through the courtyard, the physicians bowed politely.
“We’re relieved that you survived.”
“It’s thanks to all of you, Physicians.”
This was the infirmary inside the Alliance, overseen by the Divine Physician.
When he was taken into the rear courtyard of the infirmary and looked up at the sky, the suffocating feeling in his chest eased somewhat.
As he gazed at the clear, cloudless sky, the long war almost felt like a dream.
But it had not been a dream.
Just as a man who had lost a leg could still feel phantom pain, Baek Socheon would often scream whenever he absentmindedly tried to circulate his Internal Energy.
At that moment, Ak Sogun entered the courtyard with his guards.
He dismissed the man pushing the chair and pushed it himself.
“Your esteemed person should not trouble yourself on my account. I feel burdened.”
“It’s fine. It’s not for just anyone. It’s for you.”
“Alliance Leader.”
“I’m sorry I lost my temper the other day.”
“No. I was the one who spoke out of turn.”
“No. I was in the wrong. It was only natural for you to say what you did. I was too sensitive.”
“No.”
The day Ak Sogun had left in anger, Baek Socheon had felt deeply wronged.
But after thinking it over, he came to understand the Alliance Leader’s position as well.
As the leader of the righteous martial artists, he must have wanted to end the war as quickly as possible for everyone’s sake.
“I’ve already spoken with the Divine Physician. Don’t worry. Even if I have to search the entire Central Plains, I’ll find a way to heal you.”
“Just hearing you say that is enough. Thank you.”
Those words had been utterly sincere.
“Socheon.”
Whenever they were alone, Ak Sogun would sometimes call him by name like this.
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
“Thank you. You saved all of us.”
Yet after that day, Ak Sogun did not come to see Baek Socheon again for quite some time.
That did not mean he had completely abandoned him.
A great reward had been bestowed upon him, and he was still allowed to retain his position as Deputy Pavilion Master.
Baek Socheon considered two possibilities behind the Alliance Leader’s ambiguous behaviour.
First, that the Alliance Leader had fallen victim to the Soul Reaping Art.
If he had indeed been affected by some dark sorcery like the Soul Reaping Art, then Baek Socheon had to help free him.
But that seemed unlikely.
Aside from his relationship with Baek Socheon, Ak Sogun continued handling every matter just as he always had.
Moreover, the timing did not fit.
After the Black Heaven Alliance Leader tore out Baek Socheon’s dantian and left, the Alliance Leader had rushed to the scene.
So when could he have fallen under such a spell?
Had something happened after Baek Socheon lost consciousness?
Or had someone else done it?
Or… if not?
That left the second possibility, which tormented him even more.
The Alliance Leader had discarded him because he was no longer useful.
If that was true, then allowing him to remain as Deputy Pavilion Master was merely for the sake of appearances.
The thought that he had been abandoned wounded his pride beyond endurance, and rage welled up inside him.
It was utterly miserable.
After everything he had done.
After fighting so desperately for the Martial Alliance and for the Martial World…
Perhaps his subconscious simply could not accept that he had been abandoned, and had invented fantasies about the Soul Reaping Art to deny reality.
That bleak thought crossed his mind.
To those two sources of confusion was added yet another.
The agony of losing his Internal Energy.
Not just anyone had lost it.
It had vanished from the man who had once been the greatest under heaven.
Thus, Baek Socheon’s wandering during that first year was genuine wandering.
It carried no hidden purpose.
It was pure aimlessness.
Through that wandering, Baek Socheon came to realise something.
He had been called a hero because he had been good at fighting…
In the end, he had been nothing more than an ordinary man.
But his wandering afterward carried a purpose.
“Even if there’s only the slightest chance!”
If the Alliance Leader truly had fallen victim to the Soul Reaping Art, only Baek Socheon could save him.
He could not let empty pride cause him to ignore the possibility that the Alliance Leader was genuinely in danger.
If that were the case, he had to step down from his high position.
If someone was plotting against them, they would naturally try to eliminate a man in such an important post.
That was why his later misconduct and demotion had, in fact, been deliberate.
Even while unconscious and sunk in deep sleep, Baek Socheon continued reliving only the events of that day.
Swooosh.
Baek Socheon, who had been immersed in six different medicinal solutions, was finally lifted out of the last one.
Ban Yunsaeng carefully washed his body before laying him on the bed.
Then he covered his entire body with medicinal clay.
After placing a small reed tube into his mouth so he could breathe, he sealed him completely.
All that remained now was to wait.
Ban Yunsaeng had done everything he possibly could.
This single Great Technique was one into which he had poured his entire life.
It was also the trial that would determine whether the path he had walked throughout his life had been right or wrong.
Not only Baek Socheon’s fate, but his own, rested upon it.
“Heavens… Have mercy on this old man, and please allow this Great Technique to succeed!”
“The operation has failed!”
The meticulously prepared operation of the Iron Sword Corps had failed, and the First Unit of the Iron Sword Corps was trapped within the Black Heaven Alliance’s Celestial Silk Snare.
Like furious ants pouring out of a disturbed anthill, Black Heaven Alliance warriors swarmed in from every direction.
When eighteen experts of the Black Heaven Alliance appeared before them, they realised they had fallen into a perfect trap.
“Commander! At least you must escape!”
Yet Baek Socheon, who had broken through the Celestial Silk Snare to rescue his subordinates, refused to abandon them.
He fought with every ounce of his strength.
Thrust!
After piercing his opponent’s heart, Baek Socheon pulled out his crimson-stained sword and shouted,
“Who’s next? Come on!”
Thirteen experts stood before him.
Five corpses already lay cold upon the ground.
Such situations were not uncommon in the Martial World.
The sort of boastful tale people exaggerated over drinks.
An eighteen-against-one battle.
But no braggart would ever refer to these eighteen as merely eighteen men.
They were the most infamous swordsmen of the Black Heaven Alliance.
The Eighteen Ghost Swords.
At that moment…
The Eighteen Ghost Swords became the Thirteen Ghost Swords.
“Come on! Try me, you bastards!”
Blood streamed from Baek Socheon’s mouth as he roared while swinging his sword.
He had sustained grievous injuries while killing the five Ghost Swords.
His pale face revealed that his Internal Energy was nearly exhausted.
This had not been during the days when he was the greatest under heaven, but rather around the time he had become Commander of the Iron Sword Corps.
He had not yet been number one beneath the heavens.
But he had been at the very peak of his glory.
Despite his pale face, Baek Socheon remained as imposing as ever.
“Who’s coming first? You? Or you?”
Not one of the thirteen experts moved.
They all knew that if they stepped forward now, they would die.
They believed that after another three or four of them fell, they would finally be able to kill Baek Socheon.
Even if they attacked together, Baek Socheon had just proved through sheer ability that at least two or three of them would certainly die.
The surviving Ghost Swords watched one another warily.
This was the perfect chance to kill the Commander of the Iron Sword Corps of the Martial Alliance.
“At the very least, I can take another five of you with me.”
“In your condition? Impossible.”
“Then why don’t you come and test it yourself?”
Yet none of them dared step forward.
They had just watched him slaughter five comrades of equal strength right before their eyes.
Baek Socheon stepped forward.
“Either get lost… or come at me.”
Then,
Bang! Bang!
Fireworks exploded nearby.
It was the signal that the Iron Sword Corps warriors had broken through the Celestial Silk Snare and were on their way.
In the end, the remaining thirteen Ghost Swords withdrew.
The moment they disappeared from sight, Baek Socheon coughed up a mouthful of blood.
His subordinates were about to cry out in alarm when Baek Socheon quietly stopped them.
“Shh.”
If the enemy realised his internal injuries were this severe, they would come back.
Swallowing the blood rising in his throat, he forced himself forward.
“Let’s go.”
But after only a few steps, he staggered and nearly collapsed.
Two subordinates supported him from either side.
One of them was Hwang Ilbi.
When Hwang Ilbi had been a new recruit in the Iron Sword Corps, Baek Socheon had been its Commander.
“…I think I need to sleep.”
Baek Socheon’s eyes slowly closed.
“Commander!”
“It’s alright… I’m not going to die…”
He fell asleep.
“Please… don’t die!”
“You can’t leave us!”
The retreating group’s pace quickened.
This battle would later become the decisive victory that earned Baek Socheon his promotion to Deputy Pavilion Master.
Hwang Ilbi cried out desperately,
“Please open your eyes!”
Baek Socheon suddenly opened his eyes.
It was not a dream he usually had.
It was a dream from the days when he had been at the height of his glory.
Why had he dreamed of that particular day?
For a long time now, his dreams had consisted only of the day he fought the Black Heaven Alliance Leader, and everything that followed.
He dreamed only of the Martial Alliance Leader and the Black Heaven Alliance Leader…
As he sat up, every inch of his body ached as though he had been beaten senseless.
It felt exactly like the day he had regained consciousness in the Alliance infirmary after the war ended.
Mud covered his body, the bed, and the floor.
When he got to his feet, he saw Ban Yunsaeng sitting blankly in the distance.
Looking at the awakened Baek Socheon, the old man said tearfully,
“I’m sorry… I’m truly sorry.”
He had poured everything into it.
Yet nothing had changed.
He had used every bit of knowledge, research, and learning accumulated over his lifetime.
Baek Socheon remained exactly the same.
The fact that he had simply regained consciousness was already more than enough to be grateful for.
“I’m just glad you survived.”
Yet, at that moment, Ban Yunsaeng felt as though his entire life’s work had been denied.
He had performed the Great Technique on the person most perfectly suited for it.
And it had still failed.
The Great Technique had been flawed from the very beginning.
“What have I been doing with my life?”
That was the only thought left in his mind.
It felt as though he had awakened to find himself standing naked in the middle of the marketplace.
That was why everyone had called him insane.
That was why everyone had distanced themselves from him.
Everyone had known…
Everyone except him.
They had all known this would be the result.
After staring silently at his own body for a long while, Baek Socheon slowly spoke.
“Please don’t cry.”
His deep voice echoed softly through the cave.
Ban Yunsaeng, who had been hanging his head low, looked up.
Seeing the old man’s tear-filled eyes, Baek Socheon spoke with a trembling voice.
“Your Body Reformation failed… but the Body Reformation I wished for… succeeded.”
“…?”
It was not the kind of Body Reformation that transformed bones, physique, and even the internal meridians.
But something inside Baek Socheon had changed.
Behind the place where his dantian had been torn away…
Something new had appeared.
As though responding to Baek Socheon’s desperate wish, a brand-new dantian had miraculously formed.
And as if to tell him that from now on he only needed to cultivate Internal Energy there…
He could feel a faint trace of Internal Energy within it.
So faint…
No greater than a single teardrop that had gathered in Ban Yunsaeng’s eyes.
Now he finally understood why he had dreamed of his glorious days.
It was the dream born from that single drop of Internal Energy.
The subconscious memories he had desperately buried from his greatest days had finally resurfaced.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Baek Socheon spoke with heartfelt joy.
“Elder… I can feel Internal Energy inside my body.”
It was only the faintest amount.
But for the first time in three years…
He could feel Internal Energy again.
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