When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 105
Chapter 105
Since Sehwa’s awakening, they had moved as quickly as possible, and the procession arrived at the border outpost around evening.
In the distance, beyond the Central River, which had now become the border, the Six Clans’ allied forces were encamped.
Spotting the Chancellor and Baek Giha, the soldiers, according to a prearranged signal, resumed their attack formation.
The Six Clans’ warriors stomped their feet and struck the ground with their spears in unison.
Their resounding war cries were menacing.
Mounted and aiming their bows, they pressured the Ju Clan outpost soldiers as if they were about to charge at any moment.
Thanks to this, the process of verifying the procession and crossing the border seemed like it would be easy.
Baek Giha, too, after speaking with the outpost administrator, was about to leave the Ju Clan territory immediately.
That’s when it happened.
The baby white tiger, whom he had been holding out of necessity to calm her spiritual power—or so he had told the Elder—tapped his arm.
With a serious expression, she nodded and opened her mouth.
“Hee. Hya.”
Baek Giha’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at her words.
As he listened to the small white tiger's sounds with a serious expression, Baek Manyong, standing next to him, trembled, his face once again flushed as if on the verge of a nosebleed.
“Then what should we do?”
“Hya, kew, kyung.”
“Alright. I’ll tell them.”
Ju Myoungyoon, who had been watching them, approached first.
“What’s the matter?”
“If it’s alright with you, we’d like to set up camp here. She wants to stay here for one more night.”
“What?”
At the unexpected words, Ju Myoungyoon looked back and forth between the Six Clans’ warriors, who were pressuring them with earth-shaking cries, and the Ju Clan warriors with their grim expressions.
The Ju Clan outpost soldiers looked as if they wanted the Baek Clan procession to leave immediately.
That way, the unsightly Six Clans’ warriors would disappear along with them.
“We just need to cross the Central River, so here?”
“That’s what your daughter says.”
Ju Myoungyoon looked down at the white tiger, but she only nodded.
The baby white tiger, still in Baek Giha’s arms, gazed at the long road of the Ju Clan territory they had traveled, her eyes distant.
She looked as if she were wistfully gazing at her homeland, which she might never return to.
It was an assumption, but even if it were true, he understood her feelings.
Ju Myoungyoon also gazed at the long road for a moment, as if looking back on his own life.
And then he ordered the procession to set up camp on the flatland beside the outpost.
Why ask for the reason?
He could grant his daughter, who had suffered so much emotionally, such a simple request any number of times.
Meanwhile, the three sisters, noticing the wistful gazes of Ju Myoungyoon and the baby white tiger, felt a pang of sadness.
The Elder had worked so hard for the clan all this time.
And so had their young lady, who had always had to endure loneliness alone.
From a young age, she had to bear so much more than other members of the Ju Clan.
But all that time had been in vain.
Moreover, if they went to the Baek Clan like this, unlike when they had planned their previous trip, they might not be able to return.
Considering all these reasons, they completely understood why their young lady was hesitating, unable to leave so easily.
Youngsun, wanting to do something for her young lady, hesitantly asked, “My lady, would you like me to make you some fish stew, your favorite?”
The white tiger’s blue eyes seemed to sparkle at those words.
Youngchae added, “Me too. I’ll grill you some delicious skewers with your favorite spicy sauce, my lady.”
“Kyung! Kya!”
At the white tiger’s unusually bright reaction, Baek Giha unconsciously repeated the words he had heard.
‘…Skewers with spicy sauce. Fish stew.’
“Ah, by the way, can Divine Beasts eat seasoned food? Clan Head Baek, have you ever eaten anything while in your Divine Beast form?”
After a moment of hesitation at Youngchae’s question, he nodded, saying it would probably be fine.
“Divine Beasts are beings protected by spiritual power, so they won't get sick from food.”
At his words, the three sisters rolled up their sleeves.
A pot was immediately placed over the fire, and ingredients they had brought with them were coated in fragrant spices.
Since they had set up camp next to the Ju Clan outpost, the warriors of each clan, mindful of each other, remained vigilant.
However, the tense atmosphere eased somewhat during the busy meal preparations.
Seowol ran without rest.
Due to her continuous use of spiritual power, she felt increasingly breathless as time passed.
The more she exerted her arm, the more her improperly healed shoulder ached.
But she didn’t have the mind to care about that now.
‘How should I bring that bitch? She must have meant bring her alive, right?’
The image of Youngsun aiming the signal flare at her, her eyes fixed on Seowol’s, was vividly imprinted on her burned cheek.
That bitch had many companions, including the Baek Clan Chancellor who had shattered her shoulder. The Divine Beast Baek Giha and Ju Myoungyoon were also there.
This attempt might be reckless.
‘But if not now, I might have to live like this forever. …Horrible. Forever… how long is forever?’
Was she supposed to grow old looking like this?
‘Absolutely not.’
Seowol’s face contorted again. As the shrunken, adhered skin on the left side of her face crumpled, a horrifyingly grotesque appearance was formed.
‘He said to bring her alive, but he didn’t say not to cripple her.’
No matter what, she had to kill that bitch who had made her face like this.
She couldn't forgive those sisters either, so when she presented them to the consort, it would be fine to cut off their limbs and drag them there.
She wanted to rip out their tongues and mutilate their faces, but would the consort allow it?
‘It seemed like the maids themselves weren’t the main objective, so as long as they were alive, wouldn’t it be fine?’
She had to make that bitch experience the horrific pain of melting flesh.
Gritting her teeth, Seowol increased her speed.
She would follow them wherever they went, but if possible, she wanted to catch them within the Ju Clan territory.
That would make things much easier.
Seowol caught up with Ju Myoungyoon’s group just as their meal preparations were finishing.
Under the darkening sky, appetizing, savory smells filled the air.
Seeing this, she stopped in her tracks.
A long sigh escaped Seowol’s lips.
She had been worried that they might have already crossed the border.
How had they managed to move so quickly and reach this point with such a large procession and so much baggage?
Gritting her teeth once more, Seowol calmed her ragged breathing and took out needles from her pocket.
She first inserted a long needle into her shoulder to temporarily restore function to her injured shoulder.
She also inserted needles into various parts of her face. The displaced muscles, different from last time, remained fixed after she removed the needles.
Small stature, drooping eyes, and a crooked, downturned mouth.
She looked exactly like a pitiful, unfortunate mystic from the lowest class of the Mystic Realm, without a clan.
But she couldn’t relax just because she had changed her appearance. The disfigured skin on her face couldn’t be concealed by the needles.
Moreover, that unforgettable bitch, Youngsun, had shown no mercy even when she had been disguised as a pitiful figure before.
So Seowol had to do one more thing.
Closing her eyes tightly, Seowol extracted well over half of her spiritual power, forming it into a Spirit Orb.
Her hands trembled uncontrollably, fearing she might damage her Core.
Just extracting this much had already thrown her body off balance.
Barely suppressing her dizziness, Seowol tightly wrapped the precious Spirit Orb around her waist using a long strip torn from her skirt, afraid of losing it.
Fortunately, the torn cloth made her appearance even more pitiful and natural.
Of course, she was confident she could deceive those ordinary Baek Clan warriors without even using her spiritual power.
But what if she encountered the Baek Clan Chancellor in this state? What if she met the Divine Beast Baek Giha?
Looking at the encamped procession, she saw that two or three high-ranking warriors were stationed at each guard post.
Seeing their caution in placing capable warriors in each group, she couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't encounter someone who could discern her abilities.
Seowol checked repeatedly to ensure that the Spirit Orb wouldn’t fall out or slip.
Only after confirming that there was no chance of that happening did she carefully enter the bushes.
Baek Clan warriors were watering their horses not far away, patrolling along the stream flowing from the Central River.
Seowol watched them quietly and then used the needles to create wounds on her wrists and forearms.
It wasn’t long before they detected the smell of blood. Just as Seowol intended.
They immediately discovered Seowol and tightly bound her small body.
“P-Please, spare me! Spare me!”
The captured Seowol pleaded pathetically.
She cried, her face soaked with tears, claiming that she hadn’t intended to cross the border, that she had never intended to escape the Ju Clan territory.
The treatment of the lowest-class mystics in the Ju Clan was notoriously poor.
They were usually bound by servitude contracts, with no way to escape their masters while they lived.
Therefore, such individuals often attempted to escape the Ju Clan territory secretly and flee to the Six Clans’ alliance.
The warriors, understanding the situation, exchanged troubled glances.
Growl.
And as if to emphasize just how starved she was, even as she cried and pleaded, Seowol’s stomach rumbled incessantly, evoking sympathy.
So the warriors decided to take Seowol back to the camp.
They had tightly bound her, so there was no need to worry about her escaping, and they intended to give her some of the freshly prepared food.
The ropes, digging into her flesh, and the hands dragging her were incredibly rough, but Seowol smiled, keeping her tear-stained face lowered.
She was infiltrating smoothly.
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