Mabul was organizing the poisonous herbs laid out in the yard.
The ones that needed to be gathered early had all been gathered already, and only those that needed to be dried for a long time remained.
Then, a voice came from behind.
“Let me help.”
When he turned around, Geom Muyang was walking out.
“Would you do that?”
Mabul did not refuse. Because he knew. That for Geom Muyang, coming here and offering to help was an effort to approach someone.
Geom Muyang walked up beside him, watched what Mabul was doing for a moment, then began organizing the poisonous herbs together.
“I wonder if I am disturbing you when you wish to be alone.”
“Not at all. In fact, I was just getting somewhat bored.”
Geom Muyang had always felt Mabul had a sharp edge to him, but these days he seemed so softened that it felt like facing a different person. Did he look that different to Mabul as well?
“I didn’t know you were so interested in medicinal herbs.”
“Actually, I’m not interested in medicinal herbs or poisonous herbs.”
Mabul paused his hands for a moment.
“I came to know the joy of discovering them.”
There was truly a pure joy in finding herbs. The exhilaration of discovering what no one else could find and passed by, and the satisfying grip of gently digging up a herb without damaging its roots, offered the greatest pleasure in the realm of hobbies.
Of course, it wasn’t to the extent that he would go around digging herbs alone, so when he wasn’t with Dokwang, he had immersed himself in carving stone statues. But it couldn’t compare to the joy of digging herbs.
Moreover, what decided it.
“It’s more enjoyable because there’s someone who appreciates them.”
There was no one who delighted in the gathered poisonous herbs as much as Dokwang.
“Does the Eldest Young Master have any hobbies you are enjoying these days?”
What new hobby could there be, but upon thinking about it, there was one thing worth mentioning.
“These days, I’ve taken up working as a hobby.”
He had been working several times harder than when he’d been fighting for succession. Because of that, his reputation within the sect had actually improved.
“Could it be karma for losing to the playful Young Cult Leader?”
Sitting crouched with Mabul and organizing poisonous herbs, Geom Muyang glanced at the main gate. Geom Muguk had gone to Myeongsim Clinic and had not yet returned.
“Are you worried about the Young Cult Leader?”
He had thought Geom Muyang would shake his head no, but Geom Muyang nodded.
Mabul spoke with a smile.
“No matter how outstanding a younger brother is, a younger brother is still a younger brother.”
Geom Muyang was not merely saying it; he meant it.
“If Muguk were to get hurt, I wouldn’t have the face to meet Father.”
It was a separate issue from Geom Muguk’s martial arts being far superior to his own.
Since they had come out together, he believed it was his duty to look after his younger brother. To be more honest, he didn’t want to disappoint his father. If he were to lose even that expectation…….
So for today’s matter too, if the opponent had not been one who used poison, he would definitely have gone with him.
How could Mabul not know Geom Muyang’s heart?
“It’s not easy being an older brother to an outstanding younger brother, is it?”
Especially if that younger brother is Geom Muguk?
“Living as a shadow isn’t so bad.”
At Geom Muyang’s honest words, after a brief pause, Mabul spoke.
“I think it is bad.”
There was something Mabul desperately wanted to say to Geom Muyang. He had not expected to say something like this while drying poisonous herbs in the front yard of Muhan, but.
“The Young Cult Leader tried to fight for succession without bloodshed, not because he wished for you to live as his shadow.”
“!”
“Please remain an older brother who keeps the Young Cult Leader on edge until the very end. For the Young Cult Leader’s sake, and for the Eldest Young Master’s sake as well.”
Geom Muyang was speechless for a moment. Mabul, who had been his shadow for so long, was telling him not to be a shadow.
Mabul knew.
What it meant to live as Muguk’s shadow.
It might sound like a grand sacrifice, but it was not.
It was a flimsy excuse found at the end of an escape, a struggle to protect one’s pride.
Not that he was protecting by becoming a shadow, but that he was trying to hide by becoming a shadow.
This small man before him, Mabul, knew. He was truly looking straight at him.
Geom Muyang, looking down at the poisonous herbs in silence, spoke in a low voice.
“Sir Mabul, you make things difficult for me until the very end.”
Mabul looked up at the sky and spoke.
“Don’t try to endure. Just live as befits the Eldest Young Master. Those footsteps will surely remain.”
Geom Muyang’s gaze also turned to the sky.
‘Isn’t living as myself a harder thing than a life of endurance?’
But Geom Muyang did not speak those words. To someone trying so hard to be on his side, he wanted to show effort instead of excuses.
‘But other footsteps are definitely needed beside those footsteps.’
Footsteps that, though smaller than anyone else’s, took incomparably large steps.
That alone was enough.
* * *
Geom Muguk, who had come up from the underground secret chamber, exited So Jeongrak’s quarters.
Myeongsim Clinic was operating no differently than usual, as if nothing had happened.
The place Geom Muguk headed was the infirmary where the patients who had previously been asleep were.
Those who had been asleep in the infirmary had all awakened.
He had thought the physicians who woke up here would be in an uproar searching for So Jeongrak, but unexpectedly, everything was running as usual.
Geom Muguk walked to a corner of the infirmary.
There, a man was lying face down receiving acupuncture.
“Wait, what are you doing here?”
The man answered while lying face down.
“I’ve been digging poisonous herbs lately, so my back hurts.”
“But Sir Mabul would have dug all the poisonous herbs.”
He who was pretending not to hear was none other than Dokwang. He was also the one who had awakened everyone who had slept here.
When Geom Muguk came to the clinic, he had come along too. No matter how immune to poison he was, Geom Muguk did not let his guard down against So Jeongrak, a master of poison arts. Because he might unleash a massacre poison as he died.
“I thought the physicians would wake up and cause a commotion, but it’s quiet.”
Dokwang spoke while still lying face down.
“I told them. That Physician So had left his post for a few days to treat elderly masters of the martial arts world.”
Earlier, there had been several people who saw him going with Ma Yeomgun and Baekgol Honma from the infirmary toward So Jeongrak’s quarters.
“I made up that the masters wanted to receive treatment secretly, so he put the people here to sleep. I told them the patient was a senior elder on the Martial Alliance’s side, so not to worry. I said if they wanted to check, ask the Demon Extermination Squad.”
Everyone was relieved by those words. By the time his disappearance became a problem later, all of this would already be settled.
“Come to think of it, Sir Dokwang, you’re really clever! How do you handle things so well? You’ve been traveling around the Central Plains in secret, haven’t you? You’ve made lots of connections everywhere in the Central Plains? In Zhongjing too, and Hubei too!”
Dokwang laughed to himself while lying face down. Being called clever so openly, and that absurd talk about women, were things he could only hear when he was with Geom Muguk.
Geom Muguk perched lightly on the edge of the bed where Dokwang lay.
“If you’re going to get acupuncture, you should see Sir Demonic Physician.”
“You only go to him when an arm falls off.”
A Demon Venerable had his pride; he couldn’t go just because his back hurt.
Having said it, Geom Muguk realized it had been a long time since he had seen the Demonic Physician. He had to take care of everyone, but no matter how he resolved, reality always had many things he missed like this. Come to think of it, he had been so busy as acting cult leader that he had left the sect without having a drink with Jo Chunbae.
Geom Muguk looked up at the sky visible outside the window. Pure white clouds were flowing slowly but without ceasing.
“You don’t ask how it went.”
At Geom Muguk’s words, Dokwang answered while lying face down.
“There’s no need to ask.”
They were words that showed pride in his own poison, and at the same time, trust in Geom Muguk. So he didn’t ask about So Jeongrak, and not about the two old demons who had violated the golden demon order either.
“But did you roll around fighting in a pile of poisonous herbs? What’s with this smell?”
Only then did Dokwang raise his head and look toward Geom Muguk.
“Huh?”
His eyes caught the leather pouch Geom Muguk was holding preciously. Seeing the poisonous herb leaf poking out from the end of that leather pouch, Dokwang’s eyes went wide.
“Snow Dream Flower?”
Shloop, shloop, shloop, shloop, shloop!
The acupuncture needles stuck in Dokwang’s waist popped out on their own.
Dokwang sat up with a start and began to smell in earnest.
“I smell Black Smoke Herb too.”
Geom Muguk opened the leather pouch and peered inside.
“Oh, you’re correct.”
Dokwang correctly identified the things below it in order too.
“Qi Fire Herb and Yin Wind Flower as well!”
Geom Muguk looked back and forth between the inside of the leather pouch and Dokwang with a surprised face. Guessing that these sorts of things were inside the leather pouch was not easy, but amazingly, Dokwang recited them off in the order they had been placed.
“Seven-Colored Solar Herb and Moonshadow Herb too!”
He identified all the poisonous herbs down to the very bottom of the leather pouch by smell alone.
“Joy Herb is truly hard to obtain.”
They were truly precious poisonous herbs that So Jeongrak had collected over a long time.
As Dokwang reached out slightly to grab the leather pouch, Geom Muguk quietly placed it down on the opposite side.
“I’m telling you this now, but I was hurt. Wasn’t I the person you cherished most, Sir Dokwang?”
“It’s you.”
Dokwang swallowed and gauged Geom Muguk’s mood. Of course, his gaze was fixed on the leather pouch.
“But these days, it didn’t seem like it?”
“It’s definitely you.”
“Really?”
Dokwang nodded.
“You must say it clearly even in front of our second collector. ‘You are second only to the Young Cult Leader!’ Can you do that?”
Dokwang flinched.
At that sight, Geom Muguk held back laughter. Teasing their friendship was enough. Geom Muguk handed the leather pouch to Dokwang.
“He asked me to tell you this is a gift for you, Sir Dokwang. He said he truly respects you.”
These words were enough. Enough to convey that So Jeongrak had died by Dokwang’s poison.
Dokwang opened the leather pouch and beamed with joy. Could he really love poisonous herbs this much?
“Do you like them that much?”
“With these, I can try making the new poison I’ve been planning.”
Wanting to return to his quarters quickly, Dokwang immediately left the infirmary, and Geom Muguk followed.
Walking for a while, Dokwang suddenly spoke.
“Thank you for bringing them.”
Their gazes briefly intertwined in the air. Dokwang’s sincerity could be felt. Geom Muguk smiled faintly, and Dokwang responded with the same smile.
And there was no way Geom Muguk would let such an opportunity pass.
“I’m so glad you appreciate it. Ah, since the subject came up, let me tell you—do you know how hard I worked to gather these while fighting Ma Yeomgun and Baekgol Honma? I waged a bloody battle of over three hundred moves with those two old demons, and while fighting, I ran back and forth to put the poisonous herbs in my leather pouch. Ma Yeomgun’s palm technique melted my protective astral energy, and the White Bone Ghost created by Baekgol Honma recombined and revived a whopping five times. If it hadn’t been for my heart devoted solely to Sir Dokwang, I wouldn’t have been able to bring them back.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Tell me honestly. How many moves did it take to win?”
“I told you, three hundred moves.”
“…….”
“Two hundred moves. No, one hundred moves.”
As Dokwang continued to stare, Geom Muguk finally spoke honestly.
“One move.”
Dokwang nodded without surprise.
“I had a feeling.”
Geom Muguk could tell. That Dokwang had felt his growth in martial arts.
Were Dokwang’s poison arts growing as well?
Dokwang began walking again, and Geom Muguk followed.
“Even if I gathered them easily, I’m still your favorite, right? Right?”
“I should buy some food that Mabul likes on the way back.”
“Why are you suddenly talking about Sir Mabul?”
“He’s the one who should be doing the acupuncture.”
“Did your first favorite change already!”
As the two exchanged jokes and walked down the street in front of the clinic, they could feel passing women glancing their way.
“Do you feel those gazes? Before we go back, let’s definitely have a drink with the female warriors of Muhan.”
Then one of the women glancing their way walked toward them.
“Um……”
The woman blushed as if confessing shyly.
She raised her head and spoke. Naturally, he had expected an invitation for a drink or tea, but.
“Go back to the Demon Cult, Geom Muguk.”
For a moment, Geom Muguk and Dokwang’s expressions hardened.
The woman’s eyes and expression were no different from when she had walked over earlier. It was not a gaze that seemed possessed by something. And yet, the woman was clearly under the Soul-Capturing Art.
She slipped a hand into her robes and took something out. To his surprise, it was a counterfeit Jingyeok.
Nor was she trying to launch a swift surprise attack. She drew it out very slowly.
I’m going to take out a hidden weapon and attack now.
It was as if she were telling him that.
Before she could aim the Jingyeok, Geom Mugeuk sent a finger wind flying and sealed her numbing acupoint.
That instant!
The woman’s eyes rolled back, and her entire body began to tremble violently.
The veins on her forehead swelled as if they were about to burst. If he left her like this, she would surely die.
Geom Mugeuk quickly sent another finger wind and sealed her sleeping acupoint. He thought it might be fine if he simply put her to sleep. But it was no use.
“Uuuuugh!”
The woman’s veins bulged even more.
She had been placed under a Soul-Capturing Art that would take her life the moment any kind of restraint was applied. This was the first time he had learned such a Soul-Capturing Art existed.
If sealing her acupoints did not work, then knocking her unconscious with a blow would likely be the same.
Geom Mugeuk first released the numbing and sleeping acupoints again.
Then the swollen veins subsided, and the woman regained her senses.
She slowly aimed the Jingyeok.
She moved so slowly that it was almost as if she were saying: If you want to live, kill this woman.
There were many people coming and going, so if he dodged the Jingyeok, someone passing behind him might be killed.
There were too many people around to raise the Great Demon Wall, so Geom Mugeuk stepped in front of the Poison King and gripped the hilt of the Black Demon Sword.
Though the distance was close, he intended to knock away the hidden weapon from the Jingyeok with his sword. He would strike them all down to the ground!
The Jingyeok was aimed.
The moment his eyes met the woman’s beyond it.
The woman slowly put the Jingyeok she had aimed back into her robes.
Then she looked at Geom Mugeuk and said,
“……My companions are over there. Would you like to join us for a cup of tea?”
The woman had no idea what she had just done. She probably did not even know there was a Jingyeok in her robes.
There had been no change whatsoever between her two different actions.
No shift in her eyes, no dark energy flowing out.
The two actions followed one another so naturally. It was as if the woman were simply acting out two roles by herself.
Geom Mugeuk smiled and said,
“What a shame. I have somewhere I must hurry to right now. Let us be sure to share a cup next time.”
The woman lowered her head as if embarrassed and ran off into the crowd.
“That was an astonishingly skillful Soul-Capturing Art.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, the Poison King silently nodded. There had been no sign at all that the woman was under the Soul-Capturing Art. It showed just how troublesome this enemy was.
“A warning to turn back, then.”
He naturally thought Geom Mugeuk would see it that way as well.
“No, it sounded different to me.”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze deepened.
“They must know that I will not turn back because of a threat like this.”
And yet they had done this?
“There is some other intent.”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 651