WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 62: The Secret Is Revealed (3)

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Baek Socheon immediately went to find Zhuge Hyeon with the two women.

Zhuge Hyeon was startled by their visit.

Zhuge Hyeon had been pacing the room in worry over the Alliance Leader when Baek Socheon arrived with a woman whose face was hidden beneath a bamboo hat and a young girl.

"If we want to save the Alliance Leader, we must take this person to him."

"Who is this?"

"Elder Na of the Assassin Alliance."

"The Assassin Alliance?"

Zhuge Hyeon was shocked. Had those words come from anyone else, Zhuge Hyeon would have shouted at them for saying something so insane.

But Baek Socheon had said it, and the Alliance Leader was now hovering between life and death.

Zhuge Hyeon knew of Na Sarin. The Sage Heaven Pavilion had already received reports about the ageless old master of the Assassin Alliance.

'Then the woman in that bamboo hat must be the Assassin Alliance Leader!'

Zhuge Hyeon correctly guessed Cheon Geuk's identity as well.

Take them to the Alliance Leader? It was absurd from the start.

"Time is short. We must go at once."

"Very well. Let's go."

Zhuge Hyeon could never have agreed to it unless Zhuge Hyeon completely trusted Baek Socheon.

Secret Pavilion Master On Byeokhwa stood outside the bedchamber where Ak Sogun was being treated. She had returned to stand guard.

Zhuge Hyeon spoke to Pung Geukan.

"I have brought a physician I know. Please allow this person to treat the Alliance Leader for a moment."

They could not reveal Na Sarin's identity, so they made it appear that Cheon Geuk was the physician. To anyone looking on, Na Sarin was merely an attendant accompanying Cheon Geuk.

In any case, bringing in another physician while the Divine Physician was already present was no ordinary matter. It was also a great discourtesy to the Divine Physician.

Naturally, Pung Geukan did not simply let them through.

"You must show your face and identify yourself."

Zhuge Hyeon knew well that if they said the two women belonged to the Assassin Alliance, Pung Geukan would never let them enter.

"Due to her circumstances, her face and identity cannot be revealed."

"Then you cannot enter."

"I stake my life on this person's identity. If treatment does not begin now, the Alliance Leader's life will be in danger."

Pung Geukan and On Byeokhwa were startled when Zhuge Hyeon staked Zhuge Hyeon's life and said the Alliance Leader was in danger.

As Pung Geukan hesitated, On Byeokhwa stepped forward.

"Considering the Alliance Leader's condition, this is not the time to insist on regulations alone. Strategist Zhuge has gone this far, so I believe we should let them in."

At that moment, Ban Wollyang emerged from the room.

"What is going on?"

When Ban Wollyang's gaze fell on Na Sarin, Ban Wollyang flinched in surprise.

Ban Wollyang knew Na Sarin. Ban Wollyang had met her long ago.

Ban Wollyang's startled gaze naturally turned to Baek Socheon.

Baek Socheon looked at Ban Wollyang and nodded once. His eyes conveyed a request to trust him and not worry.

Ban Wollyang then looked at Zhuge Hyeon. Zhuge Hyeon once again showed faith in Baek Socheon.

"If anything goes wrong, I will take responsibility."

Since it concerned the Alliance Leader's life, Zhuge Hyeon was staking Zhuge Hyeon's own life as well.

If even the Grand Strategist went this far, this group could not be here to harm the Alliance Leader.

Ban Wollyang spoke to Pung Geukan.

"Let them in."

With even the Divine Physician saying so, Pung Geukan could no longer insist.

"Then I will enter with you."

Baek Socheon nodded.

"Let's all go in."

They all entered together.

Ak Sogun lay on the bed, looking sickly and gaunt.

Na Sarin approached and placed a hand on Ak Sogun's forehead. It was burning hot.

Ban Wollyang spoke to her.

"I used every medicinal ingredient I could to bring down the fever, but it was useless."

"That is because you have mistaken the cause of the illness."

Only then did Pung Geukan realize that the person brought in to treat the Alliance Leader was a young girl. Pung Geukan also realized that the Divine Physician had known this from the start.

"What is happening?"

"I will write down the medicinal ingredients. Brew them exactly as instructed and bring them to me."

Na Sarin wrote down the ingredients and handed the list to Ban Wollyang.

"Hurry. There is little time."

Given the seriousness of the matter, Ban Wollyang personally brewed the medicine and brought it back.

Na Sarin forced open the unconscious Ak Sogun's mouth and made Ak Sogun drink it. Then she inserted needles throughout Ak Sogun's body and pressed the acupoints all over the body in the proper order.

A short while later, something unbelievable happened.

Ak Sogun's eyes flew open, and Ak Sogun abruptly sat up.

The next moment.

"Keheeeek!"

Ak Sogun vomited everything in the stomach.

Pung Geukan gripped the hilt of the sword. The Alliance Leader had not eaten anything, yet violently expelled the medicine mixed with blood.

Pung Geukan did not draw the sword because the Alliance Leader's expression had become remarkably peaceful.

Ak Sogun slowly lay back down and soon fell asleep.

Na Sarin brought over a pair of chopsticks and searched through what Ak Sogun had vomited.

"Here it is."

She found something and held it up.

It was an extremely small insect. Resembling a tiny larva, it looked like a grain of rice at a glance.

"A gu parasite."

Everyone was startled at the mention of a gu parasite.

Arts that used insects or venomous creatures were called Gu Poison Art. Over time, they had developed into secret arts that placed insects inside a person's body to control them.

They were said to be even more effective than the Soul-Seizing Art at controlling people. They could make someone love, fear, or hate another person.

Yet creating gu parasites was extraordinarily difficult and cost a fortune. Each one took hundreds of thousands of nyang to raise, and they could easily die from a slight change in their environment or a small mistake.

At some point, gu parasites had vanished from the martial world. They were now lost secret arts.

Yet that gu parasite had appeared right before their eyes.

"This is the most precious and expensive of all gu parasites, the Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu. If a male and female pair are placed in two people's bodies, the person with the female will gradually come to hate the person with the male. That hatred will grow and grow until they eventually kill the other person."

Everyone was shocked to hear that the Alliance Leader had a Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu inside.

"If one is here, where is the other?"

At the Divine Physician's question, Na Sarin turned her gaze to Baek Socheon.

"You said the Alliance Leader kept his distance from you over the past three years, did you not?"

Everyone let out a cry of realization.

"The male Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu was likely inside your body. A person with the female gu parasite settled inside cannot control their hatred. Their mind becomes filled only with negative thoughts about the other person. The Alliance Leader must have imagined you betraying the Alliance Leader countless times. The Alliance Leader endured for three years because the Alliance Leader's internal energy was so deep, the will was strong, and the trust in you had been so great. An ordinary person would have killed the other within days."

Baek Socheon sighed again. He had never imagined that both he and the Alliance Leader carried Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu.

"I had no idea a gu parasite had entered my body."

"The Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu is a supreme gu parasite that only a master among those capable of handling gu parasites can use. It is truly difficult to notice that it has entered one's body."

Moreover, Baek Socheon had lost his internal energy. There was no way he could have noticed the male Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu inside him.

"The Alliance Leader likely never imagined that a gu parasite was behind these changes either. It is a lost secret art that has not been used in recent times."

Since they controlled people, gu parasites were fundamentally related to the Soul-Seizing Art. Na Sarin's master, who had taught her the Soul-Seizing Art, had once been obsessed with gu parasites. Na Sarin's master had researched every kind of gu parasite and even tried to raise and use them personally. The master had succeeded in creating simple gu parasites as well.

Na Sarin had learned from her master how to destroy gu parasites.

Gu parasites were difficult to create, but not nearly as difficult to eliminate. Every kind of gu parasite had medicines it could not stand.

If destroying them had been as difficult as making them, those who controlled gu parasites would always have been the greatest masters in the martial world.

Na Sarin revealed an even more terrifying truth about the Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu.

"The Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu is not simply intended to make one of the two people kill the other. Once the Alliance Leader's own will became involved and the Alliance Leader killed you, the practitioner could use the remaining female gu parasite in the Alliance Leader's body to control the Alliance Leader. Your Alliance Leader would have resisted for a time, but would eventually have been controlled by the one who planted the gu parasite."

Everyone was too shocked to say anything. It was a truly terrifying conspiracy. The plan was to eliminate Baek Socheon, the hero who had led the war to victory despite losing his internal energy, then control the Alliance Leader.

"Then why did the Alliance Leader end up like this?"

Na Sarin answered Baek Socheon's question with one of her own.

"Your body underwent a change recently, did it not?"

Na Sarin knew that Baek Socheon had regained his internal energy. Of course, she did not mention it and only asked whether something had changed.

"Yes. I have trained diligently lately, and my body has advanced by a stage."

Baek Socheon gave that answer because of the others present, but a thought suddenly came to him.

'Ah! It was because of the Complete Transformation Method!'

Only now did Baek Socheon understand. As his body changed during the Complete Transformation Method, the gu parasite that had been planted inside him must have died.

"That was likely why the gu parasite in your body died. Originally, the Alliance Leader was supposed to kill you of the Alliance Leader's own will, and the satisfaction from that was to be passed to the gu parasite. But that did not happen. The gu parasite inside the Alliance Leader's body began to convulse afterward."

On Byeokhwa stepped forward.

"That's right. The Alliance Leader became irritable some time ago."

Na Sarin spoke to her politely.

"When the female gu parasite convulses, it continuously harms its host. In the end, the host suffers a high fever for three days and dies along with the gu parasite."

Today was the third day. Had Na Sarin not removed the gu parasite, the Alliance Leader would not have lived to see tomorrow morning.

Baek Socheon asked again.

"Do you have any idea who did this?"

"It is believed to be completely lost now, but there was a group that used the Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu seventy years ago."

"Who was it?"

"The Blood Cult."

"......!"

Everyone was shocked. The Blood Cult had been behind this incident.

"Among those in the Blood Cult who practice evil arts, the Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu was a secret art used only by Jeok Parap, the master of the current Blood Cult Leader, Myeolsaeng. Could that elder, who is more than a hundred years old, still be alive? That elder took only the Blood Cult Leader as a disciple, so either Jeok Parap performed it personally, or Myeolsaeng did."

A figure of great importance had been at the center of it.

"When was it planted?"

"Judging by its size, around three or four years ago."

That meant it had been planted near the end of the war.

Zhuge Hyeon, who had been listening, stepped forward.

"How could it have been planted?"

Na Sarin answered politely.

"Before it settles in the body, the Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu is smaller than a grain of rice and wrapped in a thick shell, so chewing it will not kill it. It was likely planted through food. Afterward, the gu parasite hides in the meridians near the brain and grows."

Zhuge Hyeon spoke to the Pavilion Master of the Shadow Pavilion.

"Have the Shadow Pavilion identify whoever planted the gu parasite."

"I will."

It meant it could have been anyone inside the Murim Alliance.

Baek Socheon did not think they would ever find the culprit. More than three years had already passed, and near the end of the war, he ate wherever he could. The Alliance Leader had often eaten among the martial artists on the battlefield alongside Baek Socheon.

A supreme master like Myeolsaeng or Jeok Parap could have infiltrated unnoticed and mixed the gu parasite into the food of the two without the cooks knowing. It would not have been difficult.

"Will the Alliance Leader be all right now?"

"There will be no problem."

Baek Socheon gave Na Sarin a deep bow.

"I will repay this debt without fail."

Thanks to Na Sarin, the Alliance Leader had been saved, and they had learned the truth behind this incident.

Na Sarin took Baek Socheon's hand and helped him up.

"Have you forgotten what I asked of you before?"

"Of course not."

"My wish has always been only that."

She was a person who embodied unwavering loyalty.

Cheon Geuk had her bamboo hat pulled low, so she could not exchange a glance with Baek Socheon. Still, she could feel his gaze. It carried a gratitude more heartfelt than ever.

"We will be leaving first."

Cheon Geuk led Na Sarin away.

Baek Socheon, On Byeokhwa, who loved the Alliance Leader, Pung Geukan, who blamed himself for failing to protect the Alliance Leader, Zhuge Hyeon, who had grown distant from the Alliance Leader in recent days, Divine Physician Ban Wollyang, who had nearly suffered the lifelong regret of failing to save the Alliance Leader, and Hwang Jongsin, the Pavilion Master of the Shadow Pavilion, who had the Alliance Leader's trust despite not being as close to the Alliance Leader as the others, all respected and cared for the Alliance Leader.

They all bowed toward the departing Na Sarin to show their gratitude.

Speaking for them all, Zhuge Hyeon said loudly, "Thank you. The Murim Alliance will never forget the debt we owe you today."

At least today, it did not matter where the two women belonged.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone had left, leaving only Baek Socheon and Ak Sogun behind. The others had given the two of them privacy out of consideration for their relationship.

Ak Sogun slept with the peaceful face of a baby.

Baek Socheon's feelings were complicated, but stronger than anything else was his guilt.

Ak Sogun had enough reason to misunderstand him, but Baek Socheon should have trusted Ak Sogun more.

What if he had not lost his internal energy?

No. There was no point in such assumptions. Perhaps, in a fit of anger, he might have caused an even greater disaster. If he could not do it without internal energy, he should accept that it would have been no different with it.

While Baek Socheon had wandered in confusion, Ak Sogun must have fought within every day.

'Kill Baek Socheon!'

'Even so, I cannot kill him.'

'Just kill him and be done with it!'

'Shut up. Even if he betrayed me, I will not kill Socheon!'

'Idiot.'

'He was demoted, wasn't he?'

'Even in a low position, Baek Socheon is still Baek Socheon. I look forward to the day that bastard cuts off your head and laughs.'

When Baek Socheon thought of how Ak Sogun had endured for three years just to avoid killing him, he felt as if he might cry.

An ordinary person could not endure that impulse for even a few days, yet Ak Sogun had endured it for a full three years. Perhaps reclaiming the sword had given Ak Sogun some comfort. Once Ak Sogun woke, Baek Socheon would hear it all.

A word Baek Socheon had long wanted to say sincerely slipped quietly from his lips.

"......Alliance Leader."

Footnotes:

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