Chapter 100

Return Only What You Received (1)

Pa jeong had been visiting the eight directions surrounding the Alliance Leader’s Hall with perfect precision.

“We’ve identified five locations in total, but I believe he must have visited the other directions before we started monitoring him.”

According to Baek Socheon’s estimate, Pa jeong had visited six locations altogether, leaving only the southwest and northwest among the eight directions. If he also needed to do something to the Alliance Leader’s Hall at the center, then they still had a little more time.

Zhuge Hyeon’s expression turned grave.

“Could it be a formation?”

“Or some kind of sorcery. Whatever it is, once it’s completed, I think it’ll become an enormous threat.”

“Those damned bastards!”

Zhuge Hyeon, who rarely cursed, lost his temper. Their plot involving the Heavenly Origin Gu had failed, and now they were already scheming against the Alliance Leader again.

“Ah, forgive me. I got too angry.”

“No need. I feel the same way.”

Baek Socheon spoke calmly, but he too was furious.

At least Yeomhwasin was the type to fight head-on. He might sacrifice his own son for justification and morale, but he would not resort to tricks like this behind the scenes.

Bang!

Unable to restrain himself again, Zhuge Hyeon slammed his desk.

“I can’t forgive these bastards.”

It truly was something no one could have imagined.

The Blood Cult Leader’s daughter had come for a marriage arrangement, yet who could have expected one of her escorts to plot something like this?

If Baek Socheon had failed to discover it, they might have been struck without even realizing what was happening.

“First, we need to find out exactly what this is.”

Only then could they prepare a response—whether to turn it against them or punish them outright.

“Senior Maengsa of the Council of Elders has exceptional knowledge of formations like these. I’ll summon him immediately.”

“Please do.”

Zhuge Hyeon gave Sama Iljung a separate order.

“Bring him to my office in the Profound Heaven Pavilion, but do it discreetly.”

“Yes, sir!”

Sama Iljung left the Strategic Command Center.

Since Maengsa did not have authorization to enter the Strategic Command Center, Baek Socheon and Zhuge Hyeon waited for him in Zhuge Hyeon’s office at the Profound Heaven Pavilion.

Baek Socheon stood silently, looking out the window.

Was it because Zhuge Hyeon had heard him say that he wanted to leave?

For some reason, Baek Socheon’s back looked lonely today, filling Zhuge Hyeon with melancholy.

There must have been times when Baek Socheon wanted to throw away this complicated reality and simply leave, yet he endured it all without a single complaint.

Zhuge Hyeon respected him for that.

At the same time, he suddenly felt that he himself had grown too old.

His mind no longer worked as sharply as it once had.

There had been a time when he could stay awake for three days straight and devise strategies that astonished everyone.

Now, forget brilliant strategies—staying awake for even a single night was becoming difficult.

The Blood Cult’s plots were proof enough.

They had suffered repeatedly under one scheme after another.

‘The one who truly ought to retire is me.’

Once the matter with the Heaven Measuring Alliance was settled, he decided that he too would step down from his position as Grand Strategist.

It was time for a younger, more brilliant successor to lead the Profound Heaven Pavilion.

Then another thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Come to think of it, the Alliance Leader wants to hand his position over to Captain Baek as well… So all three of us want to leave.’

Three people who wanted to leave were gathered together, struggling against those who would do anything to seize their positions.

The irony of life made him smile bitterly.

A short while later, Maengsa of the Council of Elders entered.

He would turn eighty next year and was considered the Martial Alliance’s foremost expert on formations. He had been responsible for designing many of the formations installed throughout the Alliance.

His interests extended far beyond formations. He had deeply studied mechanical formations, ambushes, concealment arts, and sorcery as well, giving him tremendous knowledge and insight in those fields.

Now retired from active duty, he spent his remaining years in the Council of Elders.

“Welcome, Senior.”

“It’s been a while.”

Because such a summons was highly unusual, Maengsa was inwardly confused.

And Baek Socheon, who had recently become the center of everyone’s attention, was there as well.

“I watched your martial arts match. It was truly outstanding.”

“Thank you.”

After exchanging brief greetings with Baek Socheon, Maengsa turned to Zhuge Hyeon.

“But why did you summon me?”

“Please take a look at this.”

Zhuge Hyeon showed him what Baek Socheon had shown earlier.

Maengsa stared at the Go stones placed over the map of the Outer Court.

“What is this?”

“That is precisely what we summoned you to ask.”

“Hmm.”

He looked down at the map again.

A moment later, he flinched.

The Alliance Leader’s Hall stood at the center.

“Don’t tell me… Is this a formation?”

“Does it look like one?”

“If the building in the center weren’t the Alliance Leader’s Hall, these would just be stones on a piece of paper. But if that is the Alliance Leader’s Hall, then this… is a formation.”

Otherwise, there would have been no reason to secretly summon a formation expert like himself.

And the building at the center explained why they had called him so discreetly.

Only then did Baek Socheon ask,

“If it is a formation, what kind of harm can it cause?”

“That depends on the type of formation. Generally speaking, it affects the people inside the targeted building.”

Maengsa pointed at the Go stones.

“Can you show me these locations? If I’m to determine what kind of formation this is, I need to inspect them personally.”

“Yes. Come with me.”

Baek Socheon turned to Zhuge Hyeon.

“If they notice anything, we’ll be in trouble. I think you’ll need to keep Meol Jiryun and his two escorts occupied.”

“Understood. I’ll report this to the Alliance Leader and invite them to the Alliance Leader’s Hall.”

Zhuge Hyeon asked Maengsa,

“How much time will you need for the investigation?”

“Half a shichen should be enough.”

“Understood. And Senior Maeng, this matter must remain strictly confidential.”

The wrinkles around Maengsa’s eyes deepened as he smiled.

“The Council of Elders, you see, is a gathering of old men who have nothing left but the ability to read the room.”

***

While Meol Jiryun, Rap sa, and Pa jeong went to the Alliance Leader’s Hall after receiving their invitation, Baek Socheon and Maengsa moved out.

The first place they arrived at was the stable.

People had been sent ahead to reassign everyone working there elsewhere.

Maengsa raised his qi and examined the surroundings.

“I can’t tell what kind of formation this is yet, but the atmosphere feels extremely heavy and suffocating. This is no ordinary formation.”

It was the kind of sensation only someone who had devoted his entire life to studying formations could perceive.

Maengsa examined the horses in the stable.

At first glance, they looked perfectly normal.

He took incense from the bag he had brought and lit it.

It was no ordinary incense.

The smoke rising from it was blue, and it rapidly spread throughout the stable.

A short while later, the horses began to cry out.

Baek Socheon could see their eyes turning blood-red as they neighed wildly.

Maengsa approached the horse that was crying out the loudest.

He took several medicinal bottles from his bag, mixed their contents together, then applied the resulting substance to the fence surrounding the horse.

Something bizarre happened.

Dense blood-red characters began appearing across the fence.

They were ancient symbols Baek Socheon could not recognize.

They had not been written with red ink.

They had been written in actual blood.

“According to the person who monitored him, the man who came here did not write these characters.”

There were far too many of them.

If Pa jeong had written all those symbols here himself, there was no way Cheongeuk would have failed to notice.

“These weren’t written directly.”

“What?”

“He probably left only a single drop of his blood on the wall.”

“And that blood formed the characters on its own?”

Maengsa nodded.

“He must have prepared everything thoroughly before coming here. Even while pretending to take a walk, he was probably reciting an incantation.”

It was truly a formation based on grotesque sorcery.

When Maengsa extinguished the incense, the horses gradually calmed down.

“Later, every horse here will have to be killed. Blood energy has already seeped into them. They may seem fine normally, but if they become agitated, they’ll go mad and run wild.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

These were horses ridden by the Iron Cavalry Division’s martial artists, so they could not simply be left as they were.

Because of the enemy’s scheme, innocent animals would end up being sacrificed.

“We’ve seen enough here. Let’s move on.”

Baek Socheon led Maengsa to the next location, the warehouse to the south.

Maengsa slowly inspected the area around the warehouse, then sprayed the medicine he had prepared earlier onto a wall.

Characters began emerging across the previously blank surface.

Once again, the enormous wall became covered in indecipherable ancient symbols.

The twisting characters looked as though they might come alive and leap out from the wall at any moment.

“Let’s go to the next place.”

“Yes.”

Baek Socheon guided him onward.

Maengsa examined the surroundings of the White Dragon Division’s building.

Secret orders had already been issued, so everyone stationed there had been sent out for training.

Carrying the incense, Maengsa walked around the White Dragon Division building.

“Are there characters hidden on the walls here too?”

“No.”

He followed the direction in which the rising smoke drifted.

There was a small pond there.

Maengsa mixed another medicinal concoction and poured it into the pond.

The water turned blood-red.

Then the same kinds of symbols they had seen earlier appeared across the bodies of the carp swimming through it.

It was an astonishing and grotesque sight.

When Maengsa poured another mixture into the pond, the water returned to its original color.

As he turned away from the pond, Maengsa suddenly staggered.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

To an observer, all he had done was burn incense and scatter medicine.

But the unseen expenditure of mental energy had been tremendous.

“Have you figured out what kind of formation it is?”

“I have a rough idea, but I need to verify more before I can be certain. Let’s hurry to the next location. We don’t have time. We were only given half a shichen.”

“Yes.”

They moved to the next location.

There, they witnessed something truly astonishing.

When Maengsa lit the same incense he had used at the stable, flowers that had completely withered began blooming again.

But they did not regain their original colors.

They bloomed a vivid blood-red.

The moment the flowers blossomed, Maengsa coughed up blood.

“Senior!”

“I’m fine. I’m fine.”

He extinguished the incense, causing the flowers to wither back to their original state.

He too understood that they could not leave behind evidence that this place had been investigated.

Baek Socheon helped him retreat far from the garden.

After finally catching his breath, Maengsa spoke.

“The formation is called the Eight-Direction Ghost Blood Formation. It creates a grand formation by placing blood curses in all eight directions surrounding the target. It is one of the Blood Cult’s greatest formations. It is so difficult to master that it is said only Jeokparap can use it. To think I would actually see this great art here!”

Pa jeong, as Jeokparap’s disciple, must have inherited the formation from him.

“What happens when the formation activates?”

“The person targeted by the formation becomes the slave of the one who created it. In short, their mind can be controlled.”

It had the same effect as the Heavenly Origin Gu.

Baek Socheon could now understand why the Blood Cult had attempted this.

Among the Martial Alliance, the Heaven Measuring Alliance, and the Blood Cult, the Blood Cult was relatively the weakest.

That was why they were trying to turn the Martial Alliance Leader into one of their own people and compensate for their inferior strength.

If they could place the Alliance Leader under their control, they might even force the Martial Alliance to attack the Heaven Measuring Alliance first.

Then, once the two sides destroyed each other, the Blood Cult could reap the benefits.

That was the grand plan they had devised for unifying the martial world.

“When does the formation activate?”

“Normally, after preparations are completed in all eight directions, the final step requires meeting the target personally and placing a single drop of blood on their body.”

Baek Socheon immediately understood how they intended to carry out the final step.

When Meol Jiryun departed from the Martial Alliance, Ak Sogun would clasp hands with the two escorts after exchanging fist-and-palm salutes.

It was part of the Alliance’s etiquette when seeing off distinguished guests who had traveled from afar.

At that exact moment, they planned to smear a single drop of blood onto the Alliance Leader’s palm.

They had been given an official opportunity to physically touch the Martial Alliance Leader.

Under normal circumstances, this grand art would have been impossible to carry out.

They could never have wandered through eight different locations inside the Martial Alliance to establish the formation, and touching the Alliance Leader’s body would have been even more impossible.

But this time, as honored guests, they had been able to do both.

“Can the installed formation be dismantled?”

“It hasn’t been completed yet, so the portions already established can still be destroyed. If necessary, I can prepare immediately and—”

“No. You can dismantle it slowly.”

Baek Socheon escorted Maengsa back to his residence.

After helping him lie down on the bed, he expressed his gratitude.

“You’ve exhausted a great deal of mental strength, so please rest properly for the next few days. Thanks to you, we’ve managed to prevent a major disaster for the Alliance. Thank you.”

Baek Socheon clasped his hand.

“I’m glad this old man could still be of some use.”

It had been a day that clearly demonstrated the true depth of the Council of Elders.

“Then please rest.”

As Baek Socheon was about to rise, Maengsa asked,

“What do you plan to do now?”

Baek Socheon looked at him and answered calmly.

“We received something, so we should return it. I don’t intend to add anything extra. I’ll return exactly as much as we received.”

No matter how perceptive an old fox might be, Maengsa could not guess exactly what Baek Socheon had in mind.

But what they had received had been quite heavy.

Maengsa gave a faint smile.

“That should be more than enough.”