A night set with a snow-white waning crescent.Freshly washed, Tang Sohwa sat by the window and let the wind meet her face.The border of Sichuan and Hubei. Soon she would reach Sichuan and meet the fellow who would be at the Tang estate.Merely calling up his face made her once-steady breathing falter. To set down her tension, Sohwa closed her eyes and sorted her plan.She was confident she would not fail. No—whether she was confident or not, she must not fail. If she could not accomplish it…"Are you meditating?"At the voice that bored into her thoughts, she opened her eyes. There, perched on the window frame, was the Blood Cult fellow."You don’t even startle."Sohwa looked at him in silence for a moment, then opened her mouth."If you were going to come, I thought it would be today. So I have no reason to be surprised."At that calm reply, Hae-rak’s lips curved softly."True. On the last night before crossing from Hubei into Sichuan, it is a fitting day for us to have a clandestine tryst."Showing no sign of hiding his identity, the Blood Cult fellow was dressed much as he had been that day. His hair was neatly bound with a topknot ring and a silk robe. Perhaps he liked the ornate: the belt plaque was worked in gold, and the indigo silk was so evenly dyed that even at a glance its craftsmanship seemed remarkable.If one met him in Hubei, even a stranger would likely suspect he was the second son of the Anguk Merchant Group. He wore fine garments and had a face seldom seen.The Anguk second son had been famed for his looks even in the previous life, but he had never raised his name by martial arts. The same with lightness skill."If he were in his right mind, he wouldn’t have followed for days dressed like this."Sohwa, staring at him absently, asked,"Did you change clothes somewhere nearby?""Why?""It is curious that a Blood Cult fellow does not fear standing out.""I have my own way of moving without standing out."Hae-rak gave a thin laugh and added,"Come to think, the orthodox Young Lady is, un-orthodoxly, fond of hiding. You haven’t committed a crime—why live like that?"When Sohwa’s eyes narrowed, Hae-rak admitted readily,"I attached a man because I was curious what the orthodox Young Lady eats and what she likes, and I received a ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ report you were holed up in your room. I thought you’d started closed-door training because you didn’t want to go home.""…""Why look at me like that?""Our grain is so different that I wonder whether it is right to take you in."Hae-rak let out a small burst of laughter."Yes. I came to speak of that. I forgot for a moment."Leaning his back on the window frame, the Blood Cult fellow took an easy posture."Tell me. What you can give me."It was the stance of one willing to listen even if the talk grew long.Sohwa regarded the Blood Cult man before her and hesitated briefly.He was, without doubt, a necessary person.He was Blood Cult; he did not get along well with Namgung Hyun; and a dozen-plus years hence he would wed Zhuge Cheonyu, binding himself deeply with the Martial Alliance.In other words, he knew the Blood Cult well, he was slated to trigger internal strife within it, and since he had invested in his false identity, the likelihood was high that he would not harm her on impulse.A member of the Blood Cult with whom it was worth speaking—and with whom speech was possible.Sohwa, looking into the eyes fixed keenly on her, weighed matters.Even while knowing he was a stroke of luck she had to seize, paradoxically, because he was of the Blood Cult, an instinctive revulsion welled up.Sohwa delayed her decision for a moment and raised her hand.Hae-rak quietly watched the shapes Sohwa made.Sohwa set her hand on Hae-rak’s garment. Her fingers, feeling the warmth seeping through the silk, gradually moved upward. The traveling of her hand sketched a clear path. It was Hae-rak’s blood-channels.Hae-rak swallowed a hollow laugh.It was a rude act that would fluster any martial artist. Without permission, she was probing another’s qi-blood and exposing it without hesitation.Yet the orthodox woman before his eyes—who looked the sort to prize propriety above all—felt no compunction. She even let fall strange words with an expressionless face."Usually they seem to parasitize in the qi-blood and then dash for the heart."Taking Hae-rak’s silence as an answer, Sohwa pressed the inside of his elbow."Seeing how they gather around here, it seems you usually hide your internal energy in this spot."The Tang daughter said so and lifted her head."If it hurts, say so.""Why?"No sooner had Hae-rak asked than she took the small knife that had been on the window frame. But she did not stab Hae-rak with it.Tang Sohwa cut her own finger. Beads of blood swelled and began to wet her fingertip.But the startled reaction came from Hae-rak."Ugh."He held his breath. The blood-scent felt right before his nose was dreadful.Paying it no mind, Tang Sohwa rolled up his sleeve. The moment his arm was bared, Hae-rak felt an itch as if hundreds of insects were crawling across his skin. And he soon realized why.Tang Sohwa pressed his acupoint with the blood-beaded finger. Then, around her fingertip, black dots appeared. In a disgusting sight as if the swarming vermin would pierce the skin, they writhed and crowded."It does not seem to hurt."Her calm voice bored into Hae-rak’s eardrums.Hae-rak lifted his head."Do you know what this is?""Dokgo."Hae-rak sneered."Most call it godok; looks like you don’t even know the term right. Hard to believe in you.""I don’t much like the word godok. Living things becoming poison in themselves feels like sorcery—off-putting.""Are there not many things that are poison by the fact of being alive? Snakes, frogs—even flowers and grasses, in their very breathing life, become poison.""Before they are poison, they are snake, frog, flower. Venomous snake, poison-toad, poison-flower, poison-herb. When what they harbor is taken out and used, only then do they become poison. I like to name the poison at that moment—whether formless poison or paralytic poison.""Mm."Hae-rak looked at Sohwa with a gaze of interest, but she seemed not to notice that feeling.Sohwa’s words lengthened again."These are living insects, and since you are not in a poisoned state, this is not detoxification. We must remove the dokgo your body harbors. That is deworming—and extermination. Therefore, what is in your body is not poison but insects. Not godok but dokgo."(First mention this session: godok—the ‘Gu’ poison/insect technique; dokgo—literally ‘poison-bug,’ Sohwa’s term emphasizing the insect itself.)Hae-rak covered his mouth with a hand to stifle a laugh. With dissatisfied eyes, Sohwa looked at him and added,"…Do not sneer.""Ha ha."At those words Hae-rak finally burst out laughing. At that incomprehensible peal, one of Sohwa’s eyebrows rose.Enjoying the aftertaste of his laughter, Hae-rak said,"Ah, I wondered what you were suddenly saying—so you were angry.""…I am not angry.""No, it’s fine. I understand. I misspoke. I didn’t know you took such pride in poison. I apologize.""…"Suddenly she found herself treated like a craftsman stung because her technique had been criticized. Naturally, she came to regard the fellow with an unkind eye. Was his intent to tease not plain?Namgung Jin likewise had regarded this as insects and, calling it dokgo to her, had handed it over. But the Blood Cult fellow did not seem to see this as insects.He truly was someone whose grain did not match hers.Far from minding Sohwa’s sharp gaze, Hae-rak gave a thin smile and lifted his arm to examine it.Because of the gathering insects, the blood-vessels were thoroughly clogged.Hae-rak pressed the black-clotted godok with his hand. As he rubbed, the godok returned to its domain. He had thought the vicious insects would rebel and bite at his vessels, but they behaved with docility.These mad vermin obeyed meekly.As if they had met their master.Watching the black specks blur, Hae-rak covered his expression with a smile."How did you find out about godok—no, dokgo?""Since finding it in the body of a martial artist I met on Mount Emei three years ago, I’ve continued to experiment.""Mm? I heard they all died.""I cultured the dokgo collected from the corpses. I am still researching with them."Insects that had lost their host could not live. Yet this orthodox woman, speaking of three years ago, claimed the creatures she had obtained then were still alive."Impossible."But rather than refute, Hae-rak asked as if impressed,"Remarkable. How did you culture them? Dokgo that have lost their host shouldn’t live long.""Feeding them well and taking care they never meet sunlight, they multiplied on their own.""…Feeding?""At first, whatever I fed them they stayed quiet like lye, but they reacted to my blood. So I fed them my blood and raised them.""…""Why is that?""Do you know how one tames dokgo?"At seven, Sohwa had tamed dokgo and turned the Tang estate upside-down. So how could she not know?"Depending on the species, it differs, but the dokgo I know are species tamed by mixing blood into the feed.""Right. Hence, paradoxically, taming is impossible. Does it make sense that mere blood-feeding creates rapport? Saying one uses sorcery is actually more plausible."If one had interest in the arts of godok, it was a tale one had heard at least once: godok arts in which insects act as the master desires.No less than communing with a small creature by blood, the notion of brainwashing by sorcery made no sense either.In ages past, shamans were said to link all things by their own script and rites, but every shaman left in today’s Central Plains was a fraud.Only then did Sohwa understand how her words had sounded to the fellow.You think I’m telling an outlandish lie."Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter—you just saw it with your own eyes. The insects reacting to my blood.""Yes. Which is why I am very confused right now."Hae-rak stroked his arm and sighed."To my chagrin, I seem swayed by this nonsensical proposal.""Think slowly. I have not yet found a way to remove the dokgo, so I need a bit more time as well."At that, Hae-rak’s eyebrow twitched."What? So there isn’t a method?""Not yet. But I will soon find one."Sohwa answered honestly.She had devised various ways to remove dokgo, but had yet to prove their efficacy. She had to find a host to experiment on, but whenever she tracked down a Blood Cult fellow, she always faced a corpse.Looking at the young lord before her, Sohwa thought.He seemed to have no chronic illness, his vessels were well kept, and as a merchant, even if he crossed into Sichuan now and then, he would not draw great suspicion.He was the optimal host.Hae-rak, who had kept his mouth shut, asked in a sour voice,"…Why are you looking at me like that?"

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