Chapter 155: The End of Childhood (14)

“Eunbyeok is dead?”

Jeongbeop asked again.

Jeongyang was trying to ignore the situation, but no one paid attention to the Sect Leader now.

Eunsong and Myeonggon exchanged looks...

Jeongyang’s inability to actively deny what had happened told them all they needed to know.

The time had come.

Eunsong spoke to Soyak as though comforting her.

“It is all right, Soyak. Tell them everything honestly now.”

“...Yes, Master.”

For the next quarter hour,

Soyak revealed everything she had seen beneath South Peak, as well as everything she knew about Eunbyeok and Myeongjeok.

The corpse she had found there.

Eunbyeok’s corpse puppet that had come to Great Grand Master Jeonggang’s residence.

The whereabouts of the missing left arm...

Myeongjeok’s cold, abandoned residence.

And the battle that had just taken place.

Jeongbeop’s face went deathly pale.

The same was true of the other elders and first-generation disciples who had arrived and listened to her account.

Then all their gazes...

Shifted from Soyak to Jeongyang.

“How did this happen, Sect Leader?”

“Even setting aside the fact that only you knew about it, how could you remain silent after such a grave incident?”

“Why were only your disciples and disciple-grandsons lured in by the Demonic Cult?”

Questions became suspicion.

Suspicion became conspiracy.

But unfortunately for Jeongyang, this was no conspiracy.

He had truly done those things.

From here on, it was the adults’ business.

The business of the first-generation disciples—or perhaps even those above them, the elders.

Eunsong helped Soyak to her feet.

Thanks to Soyak’s treatment, most of Eun Jeong’s problems had already been resolved.

But not all of them.

Part of Eun Jeong’s side was still marked with black spots.

And his stomach still felt as though it might turn inside out.

“...Are you all right?”

“I am fine, Brother.”

“You are quite good at pretending.”

Of the two, Eun Jeong was obviously in the more critical condition.

Soyak had noticed that in advance and slipped free of Eunsong’s support.

She was still swaying somewhat, and her legs had little strength left...

But she had only spent all her internal energy and was suffering a temporary weakness.

“...I am all right, Master.”

“May I... tend to my fellow disciple first?”

“Yes. Master Eun Jeong is in serious condition. Demonic Energy has entered his body...”

Only then did Eunsong realize why Soyak had kept her hand over Eun Jeong’s wound.

The internal energy Soyak had cultivated through the Harmonization Scripture was the natural opposite of Demonic Energy.

It did not simply repel or drive it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° back.

It devoured it completely.

“...That will do. You have done enough.”

Eun Jeong smiled at Soyak.

Then he slowly began drawing up the internal energy he had cultivated through the Primordial Origin Clear-Heart Method.

It did not possess the Harmonization Scripture’s ability to burn away Demonic Energy.

But the Primordial Origin Clear-Heart Method was, in itself, a heart method that cultivated extraordinarily pure internal energy.

Energy that pure and clean carried a certain resistance to Demonic Energy.

“What do you mean, that will do?”

But Eunsong knew that would not solve the problem.

At best, it would only delay death.

And death would be fortunate compared to the alternative.

This was Demonic Energy. In the end, anyone whose body and mind were consumed by it...

Would become a Demonic Beast.

“I can still manage it like this...”

“You cannot.”

Soyak muttered as she brushed the dirt from below her knees.

A few paces away, Jeongbeop and Jeongyang were shouting at one another, but Soyak no longer cared.

The question of what responsibility the Sect Leader would bear.

The disgrace of having his disciples and disciple-grandsons all fall for the Demonic Cult’s temptations...

Those political disputes were not a field where Soyak had been given any role.

“It is still embedded deep inside him. At this rate...”

“Can you do something about it?”

Myeonggon asked quietly.

Soyak nodded as though she had been waiting for him to ask.

“Give me two hours...”

“Very well. Eunsong, take Eun Jeong out of here. Soyak, go with them.”

“But what about this place...?”

In response to Eunsong’s question, Myeonggon merely shrugged.

“At this point, it is practically an elders’ quarrel. The first-generation disciples must stay in case things grow worse and they need to intervene, but what can anyone from the second generation onward do here?”

Myeonggon jerked his chin toward Jeongbeop, Jeongyang, and the other elders, who were still raising their voices in furious argument.

Ordinarily, Jeonggang would have dismissed the other elders and confronted the Sect Leader himself.

“Is Great Grand Master Jeonggang still in the council chamber?”

“Yes. Are you going to see him?”

“Yes. I will get Eun Jeong settled, then bring him here.”

“Then I have nothing to worry about.”

Myeonggon smiled and nodded.

Then, with his arms crossed, he watched the elders’ argument unfold.

Eunsong, Eun Jeong, and Soyak left the place, which had become half a battlefield of chaos, and headed for the council chamber.

Sure enough.

Jeonggang sat there calmly, drinking tea.

“Is it over?”

“You are remarkably relaxed, Great Grand Master.”

Eunsong let out a deep sigh.

Seeing Jeonggang enjoy his tea with such composure drained away all of his own tension.

Jeonggang snickered and invited them to sit.

Eunsong seated Eun Jeong first, then sat down himself.

Jeonggang narrowed his eyes and examined Eun Jeong.

Though all his internal energy had vanished, his senses remained.

“Demonic Energy has entered you.”

“...Yes.”

Eun Jeong could barely speak.

On the way here, the afflicted area had spread again, and the pain had grown severe.

“...Master, forgive me, but for a moment...”

“I know, Soyak. Do it.”

She meant circulation practice.

To practice circulation alone before her master and great grandmaster?

It was no different from making the two of them her protectors.

Yet Jeonggang chuckled and gave her permission.

Restoring Eun Jeong came first.

At the shortest, one hour. At the longest, two.

That would be enough time to recover her internal energy...

And then Eun Jeong would be freed from his pain as well.

“While you are at it, Eunsong, help Eun Jeong too.”

“...Me?”

“Yes. With your internal energy, you should at least be able to keep that Demonic Energy embedded deep inside him from ravaging his insides any further.”

It was true.

Eunsong nodded and supported Eun Jeong.

Then he lifted him onto the round table in the council chamber and laid him down.

“...Is that not deeply irreverent, Brother?”

“They will not be returning for a while anyway.”

The Sect Leader’s authority and trust had crashed to the ground.

Surely not only they, but the other elders and first-generation disciples would begin to suspect him as well.

To what extent had the Sect Leader been involved in this incident?

That question would remain.

A council meeting already thrown into chaos, and talks with a Sect Leader no one could trust...

There was likely no fool left who would willingly repeat them.

Eunsong calmly placed a hand over Eun Jeong’s afflicted side.

Then he drew up his own internal energy from his dantian and sent it in.

Watching them, Soyak slowly closed her eyes.

*****

It had been a long time.

The ground beneath her feet was still a cold surface of water.

Soyak opened her eyes within her mindscape.

A familiar sight.

The enormous black qilin lay curled up, watching her.

It somehow looked more mature than before.

“...There is nothing wrong with us, right?”

Perhaps because she had not visited in so long, Soyak asked cautiously.

The black qilin slowly rose and approached her.

Then it curled its tail around Soyak’s body and coiled itself down again.

Only then could Soyak lean comfortably against its body and stroke its scales and fur.

Soyak looked up at the black qilin slowly.

She had seen how large it was before...

But had it always been this big?

Perhaps too much had happened in the meantime.

Or perhaps...

It had grown by devouring Great Grand Master Jeonggang’s internal energy.

Soyak gently scratched beneath its chin.

It rested its head on the watery ground and accepted her touch.

With half-lidded eyes, it watched Soyak in silence.

“You seem... a little more grown up.”

Apparently pleased by that, it gave a low, rumbling purr.

Soyak watched the black qilin for a moment, then looked beneath the water’s surface.

The black snake below.

The one who had told her his name...

Yet she could not bring herself to seek out that name or speak it carelessly to anyone.

That belonged to the realm of instinct.

The instinct telling her that she must not call that name.

Contrary to Soyak’s unease, he did not emerge until she finished her circulation practice.

But...

That did not mean he was not watching.