It was a short time, and a long one.
Long enough for a moment to feel like seven days and nights. Long enough to walk through the past several decades, year by year, and watch the newborn who had cried in the arms of his mother, dead from childbirth, grow into a fine young man.
Baeksang’s deliberation was short and long, long and short.
When his tightly closed lips finally parted, he already had his answer.
“You’ll regret this.”
The Beast Miao King asked calmly, “What will I regret? Coming to find you? Or rescuing Jin Taekyung and the other Han Chinese?”
“Everything that has happened until now.”
“Like you, Baeksang?”
“It’s different.”
Baeksang’s expression hardened.
“Unlike me, you still have a chance, Palace Lord. One last chance to undo your mistake.”
“One last chance…”
“If you leave quietly now, I’ll forget everything I saw and heard here. As though none of it happened.”
“How can I cover the sky with the palm of my hand? I knew what I was risking when I told you to spare the men guarding the underground prison.”
“If I order them to keep silent, they will. The Bai people are no less loyal to me than the Seven Miao Tigers are to you.”
“Is that… the last kindness you can offer me as my sworn brother?”
Baeksang nodded without a word.
The Beast Miao King gave him a sorrowful smile.
“Then let me ask you one more time, on the strength of that last kindness. Half a shichen.1 Open a path for them, even if only for half a shichen.1”
“Palace Lord!”
“Even if I could turn back, I wouldn’t. That’s the one difference between us, after a lifetime together.”
“……!”
The corners of Baeksang’s eyes trembled.
More than anything, he wanted to tell the Beast Miao King he was wrong. That unlike him, Baeksang had seen only one path ahead and had had no choice but to walk it.
But his lips stayed shut. His hand had already found his sword hilt.
Click. Shing.
The cold scrape of metal cut through the brief silence. The Beast Miao King’s gaze deepened as he looked at Baeksang, sword lowered at his side.
“So that’s your choice?”
“I can’t help it, Palace Lord. Right now… it’s the best I can do.”
“It’s much better not to hear that awkward formal speech. It feels as though we’ve gone back to the old days.”
“You know as well as I do, Palace Lord. We can never go back to those days.”
“Do you think so?”
“Of course.”
The Beast Miao King smiled faintly at his firm answer.
Baeksang had made his decision. He did not hesitate.
Tssssss!
Dazzling light flooded the space around them. A vast concentration of qi known as Sword Force descended toward its target.
Slice!
Three tigers ran like the wind, led by the snow-white White Tiger.
Wonhu, the eldest of the Seven Miao Tigers, watched their backs disappear into the darkness and muttered,
“Damn, they’re fast.”
That was the entirety of his impression.
Those who were leaving had left. Those who remained had stayed. He and the others had chosen to stay.
“Heh heh.”
Wonhu laughed, feeling strangely relieved, and pulled a gourd from his robes.
Pop.
The scent of liquor spread the instant he pulled the stopper. The eyes of the nearby Miao warriors lit up.
“Oh-ho.”
“That smells incredible. Did you brew it yourself, Big Brother?”
“Hell, did they round up nothing but a pack of fucking mutts? Why are all your noses so sharp?”
He grumbled, but his eyes were smiling. With a look of helpless resignation, Wonhu passed the gourd to the men crowding around him.
“There isn’t much. Take turns and have a little each.”
“I swear, not a drop will make it back to your mouth, Big Brother.”
“Now this I can’t pass up.”
The Miao warriors roared with laughter and took turns tipping back the gourd.
Nanman people were famous for their love of liquor. With twenty grown men sharing it, their boast that they would leave nothing behind sounded entirely plausible.
But…
“Ahh, that’s good. Your turn, Big Brother. I left you a few drops out of courtesy.”
Wonhu took the gourd at last and let out a short laugh.
Slosh.
One light shake told him enough. It was not even half empty.
The men stood there shamelessly praising the liquor, and he couldn’t help laughing again.
“Turns out you’re not mutts. You’re just a pack of blowhards.”
“Hm? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Has senility caught up with you already? You’re only in your fifties.”
“Enough nonsense. Drink.”
At their urging, Wonhu tipped the gourd—not toward his mouth, but toward the weed-covered ground.
Trickle.
“Don’t begrudge a single drop. If we survive, we’ll sit together and drink all night. If we fall here, we can get drunk after we’re dead.”
“……!”
“……!”
The men watched him with solemn faces. Then their mouths curled into smiles.
“Yeah. I like that.”
“Big Brother knows what he’s talking about.”
“You’ve always been crazier about liquor than martial arts, haven’t you?”
Wonhu laughed. So did the Seven Miao Tigers, who had spent their lives alongside him, and the Miao warriors who had volunteered for this dangerous mission.
Regrets? Not one.
Even if every one of them died here, their only hope would make it out of danger alive.
That was why Wonhu could laugh. He thought of the man who had always led from the front, who had sent even his only heir here to set an example.
I’ll gladly accept punishment for disobeying your order… in the afterlife, my lord.
Neither the Beast Miao King nor Yayul Mok feared death. They never put their subordinates in front of them as shields, and they never backed away in terror.
The Beast Miao King loved the only child he had had late in life more than anything. But if he knew what Wonhu had done, he would scold him. No life was worth more than another.
That’s enough of a reason to give mine.
Wonhu shook the now-empty gourd, trying to get out the last drops. He watched the liquor fall like the tears of an ant, smacked his lips, and suddenly spoke toward somewhere in the darkness that had settled all around them.
“Hey, got any liquor?”
A low voice answered.
“I thought you were on duty.”
“We both know better. Go peel yourself a tiger’s dick and eat it.”
Wonhu grinned.
Their scheduled shift change was long past, and the waves of energy reaching him from the darkness were strong enough to raise goose bumps.
“So? Are you going to share or not?”
“I’ve heard there’s a monkey among the Miao people who likes liquor. Catch.”
Whoosh.
Wonhu snatched the object out of the air. The moment he saw the rough, familiar gourd, a groan escaped him.
“This…”
There was no mistaking it. His lord, the Beast Miao King, had made this gourd himself and always carried it.
“Recognize it?”
The voice reached his ears again. Wonhu slowly raised his head, and a man came into view.
His white robes were stained with blood and filth from unknown owners. His skin was so starkly white that pallid was the only word for it.
“……Baeksang.”
Baeksang answered in a dry voice.
“How dare a mere warrior casually speak the name of the Great Chieftain?”
“What happened to my lord?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Swish. Papapat!
Baeksang flicked his blood-soaked sleeve. In an instant, more than a hundred Bai warriors emerged from the darkness and surrounded them.
Damn it.
Wonhu cursed inwardly and drew the broad-bladed saber tucked into his waist.
He glanced up. Clouds covered the moon tonight, of all nights. It was a poor night to die, but the darkness was a blessing in one respect.
The fugitives would have the advantage if anyone gave chase.
Please be alive. Both of you.
There was only one thing left to do.
Wonhu—or rather, all of them—raised their weapons and charged toward the enemy without hesitation.
Their roar was too great for fear to find a place among them.
Whoooooosh!
Cold wind swept over me as the landscape raced past. No people. None of the houses with their unusual shapes. Only thickets.
We had left the Outer Palace behind.
But we’re still in the Nanman Beast Palace’s territory. We can’t slow down.
We might have to run without stopping until we rescued the Fire Dragon Pavilion members in the reconnaissance squad. The Nanman Beast Palace’s reach covered this entire unfamiliar land of forests, plains, jungles, and swamps.
“Sorry, but I need you to keep going a little longer.”
Grrr.
Yayul Mok was right: the White Tiger really was a spiritual creature. It seemed to understand me even over the rushing wind. With a low growl, it picked up speed.
Papapapat!
Its master, tied to its back, was probably another reason it listened to me so well.
I watched Yayul Mok sway gently with each bound and sighed.
Yayul Mok.
We had made it out of the Outer Palace, but I hadn’t woken him. More accurately, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to try.
If he wakes up, he’ll find some way to go back.
If he did, everything would be for nothing. Abandoning the one escape route they had risked their lives to open would mean nothing but pointless deaths.
Given his position, they probably wouldn’t try to execute him on the spot the way they intended to execute me… but if he wanted to go back, I would stop him.
For Yayul Mok. For the Miao warriors fighting for him. And for the Fire Dragon Pavilion members.
They could call me selfish. They could curse me and point fingers, say I cared only about my own life.
But as fucked up as it was, this was the best choice I had.
Damn it.
I bit down hard on my lip.
Within a day at most—perhaps half a day—a net over heaven and earth would be cast across Nanman. We had to get as far away as we could and find the reconnaissance squad before then.
The two tribal chieftains leading the squad are effectively loyal to the Beast Miao King. We might be able to rescue the three of them without much of a fight.
That was the best outcome I could imagine.
With Dark Heaven’s intervention and Baeksang’s betrayal now certain, and with me having become the star of a massacre that had never been in the cards for me, no one could predict what variables might arise.
First, get every Fire Dragon Pavilion member out. After that…
My thoughts broke off.
Rustle.
The White Tiger stopped dead. It had been running at the front without a moment’s hesitation, but now it would not take another step.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Grrr.
“Your master said to keep going northwest, so…”
Grrrr. Sniff, sniff.
What?
It looked in two directions, one after the other. Then it buried its nose in my hand and sniffed, just as it had before we set out.
Wait. Could it be?
At that moment—
Ding!
System
- A Sudden Quest, Yohi’s Tracking Scent, has been generated!
As the Quest notification rang in my ears, I remembered the scent pouch I had found at Yohi’s Western Yao Estate.
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