Chapter 86
It was something she had heard from Jegal Haesu.
The very words the Bewitching Healer of the Moonlit Night was said to use often.
Soso asked him in a trembling voice.
“Are you… the Bewitching Healer of the Moonlit Night?”
“That is what they call me in the world.”
“……!”
It was truly him. The Bewitching Healer.
Soso had so many questions. What was that illusion, and why had it appeared to her? Were that man and woman truly the Heavenly Demon and the Golden Divine Healer from fifty years ago?
The energy flowing from those dark red eyes was far from pure. That man was undoubtedly a wicked being.
Given the man’s various aspects, Soso suspected he might be the Heavenly Demon, Wi Jagang.
Strangely, she felt a sense of certainty.
“What was that illusion? Why did you show me such a thing? Do you know my circumstances, Healer?”
“I did not show it to you. You simply saw what you were meant to see.”
Did that mean even the Bewitching Healer did not know what she would see?
“Am I connected to the Golden Divine Healer of fifty years ago? And is her name ‘Hanga’?”
“You are…”
The Bewitching Healer pressed his lips shut, as if he would say no more.
That brief silence felt like an eternity.
After a while, the words he finally uttered were chillingly cold.
“The moon is not yet full tonight. I shall see Jegal Haesu, who sang the Song of Hanga to meet me, tomorrow.”
“But I…!”
“Meeting you was not my will, but the mischief of Sanho.”
The tiger called Sanho let out a small, low growl.
“Begone. If you stay in this space any longer, you will see illusions you cannot bear.”
“W-wait, just a moment…!”
Startled, Soso desperately called out to the Bewitching Healer, but it was to no avail.
His figure blurred into a hazy mist and then vanished.
Even the pitch-black space she had been standing in turned into smoke and scattered.
Not even half a quarter of an hour had passed, yet Soso found herself back in the hallway where she had been before.
*Tap, tap, tap!*
She heard the sound of someone running toward her in a hurry.
As she looked in the direction of the sound, she saw Jegal Haesu and Namgung Jin, both drenched in sweat.
“Young Lady!”
“Sami!”
The two men rushed to her and pulled her into a tight embrace at the same time.
“Why did you take so long to wash your hands? We were worried.”
“Sami, where on earth were you?”
The strength of their embrace was so great that Soso could not even think of pulling away.
Left with no choice, she spoke quietly while still trapped in their arms.
“I… I think I met the Bewitching Healer of the Moonlit Night.”
She dropped the news, which would be particularly shocking to Jegal Haesu.
* * *
At the foot of a high mountain located behind the Dragon Gate, in a place devoid of human presence, a white-haired man and a tiger cub appeared.
It was the Bewitching Healer of the Moonlit Night, who had just faced Soso.
The Bewitching Healer looked up at the bright moon and let out a sigh that seemed to shake the earth.
Watching that sigh, the tiger leaped into the air and spun twice.
Then, a miraculous thing happened.
The tiger transformed into an adult man.
Even as a human, the man with short hair possessed an extraordinary aura.
The Bewitching Healer often called that fierce energy his “tiger spirit.”
“Elder, is it truly alright to let that young lady go like that? Haven’t you been searching for her all this time?”
Five years ago, at the horrific scene of the Qingcheng Sect’s annihilation.
Ever since he failed in his desperate attempt at the Soul-Severing Technique there, the Bewitching Healer had been searching for her.
But he had been unable to find her and was on the verge of giving up…
Yet, as if by chance, as if by fate, she had appeared before him.
“Sanho, I did not just let her go. Now that I know what body she has entered, I can keep watch over her.”
“But if we leave her be and she becomes entangled with wicked beings again, just like that person…”
“I do not wish for that to happen, but what can I do? I haven’t even reconciled with Hanga yet. There is no room for me to intervene. Too much time has passed.”
His younger sister, Hanga, who had left him in vain without even a reconciliation. Oh, his precious sister, whom he missed so dearly but could never see again.
The Bewitching Healer smiled bitterly.
“But Sanho, how did you know that woman was the person I was looking for? I never expected you to bring her to the Illusion of Unforgotten Shadows.”
The Illusion of Unforgotten Shadows.
It was the name of the false space the Bewitching Healer had created.
It was a type of illusion technique where those who entered were forced to see what they must never forget and what they needed to know.
The Bewitching Healer often brought some of the patients who sought him out into the Illusion of Unforgotten Shadows to glimpse their memories.
“Elder, I am not a hundred-year-old Ice Mountain Tiger for nothing. A special energy flowed from that young lady. It was a very mysterious and powerful energy.”
“You are worth your weight as a spiritual creature.”
“Haha. But in truth, I was more certain that she was the young lady Myeong had met than that she was the person you were searching for. Otherwise, the spiritual energy she exuded would be inexplicable.”
“…….”
“The story of the young lady Myeong met was truly intriguing. That is why I lured her into the Illusion of Unforgotten Shadows, as I wanted you to meet her.”
“I, too, found it quite intriguing.”
“But after hearing the memories the young lady saw, I realized that the young lady Myeong met was indeed the very person you were searching for.”
How could fate be so intertwined?
As if to confirm the truth, the Bewitching Healer turned his head somewhere. His gaze was directed toward the bushes.
“Myeong, is the woman Jegal Haesu and Namgung Jin are traveling with the same woman you spoke of?”
At that moment, a cute child popped out from the forest path.
It was Myeong, who had vanished like smoke at the Infinite Inn.
The child nodded his head vigorously at the Healer’s question, as if to confirm that she was indeed the one.
“When I sought her, she was nowhere to be seen, yet now that I have half-given up, she appears before my eyes. And to think she is not a human, but a spiritual herb.”
The Bewitching Healer looked up at the sky.
“Hanga, is this your scheme?”
He called out to Hanga several more times, but there was no answer. It would have been nice if she had answered at least once.
The Bewitching Healer gazed at the moon as if it were her and thought.
‘Hanga, your kin was still alive.’
What should I do with that child?
If you are looking down on us from there, please let me know.
But no matter how long he waited, there was, as expected, no reply.
* * *
Soso and her group returned to the inn where Sau was staying.
They sat together in one room and listened to Soso’s story.
The two men were particularly surprised when Soso described the scene she had seen like an illusion.
Even after hearing such a strange tale, Sau remained as quiet as ever. Since he was a man who never showed agitation, everyone took his attitude in stride.
“……I believe the man I saw then was the Heavenly Demon.”
“You mean the Heavenly Demon from fifty years ago?”
“Yes. It cannot be the current Heavenly Demon.”
“Why would such a thing appear to Baek Soso? And what is the nature of that illusion technique?”
Soso recalled the words the Bewitching Healer had spoken.
“I did not show it to you. You simply saw what you were meant to see.”
“According to the Healer, it is a scene I am destined to see.”
Jegal Haesu, who was still dressed in women’s clothing, nodded slightly and opened his lips.
“Could it be because Sami is truly connected to the Golden Divine Healer?”
“Is the mysterious sect that Baek Soso belongs to connected to the Golden Divine Healer? Perhaps your sect leader knows something?”
At Namgung Jin’s speculation, Soso and Jegal Haesu quickly exchanged glances.
They had completely forgotten the excuse they had fabricated to brush off Namgung Jin.
“……She would not know. And I have work to do in Hubei, so I cannot return to where my sect is right now.”
“Where is that?”
“Si…chuan.”
It was not the location of a non-existent mysterious sect, but the place where the Qingcheng Sect had once stood.
Since she had already confessed to being from Sichuan when questioned by Namgung Hyuk, Namgung Jin would not find it strange.
“It would be fine to stop by Sichuan after finishing our business in Hubei.”
“Yes….”
Soso nodded listlessly.
At that moment, Sau finally spoke a word.
“I am well-acquainted with Sichuan.”
“Is Young Master Sau also from Sichuan?”
“Yes. I lived in Sichuan for a long time.”
“That’s amazing. Then, by any chance, do you know about the Liehuo Inn?”
“The inn famous for its *yuxiang rousi* (fish-fragrant shredded pork), right?”
“……! That’s it!”
When Soso lived as a handmaiden of the Qingcheng Sect, she had spent all her time within the sect and had rarely visited the inns in the bustling streets.
However, she had gone out to the city just once with Young Master Eon-u on her birthday.
The place she had visited with Young Master Eon-u back then was the Liehuo Inn, famous for its *yuxiang rousi*.
*Yuxiang rousi* was a dish made by stir-frying thinly sliced pork and various vegetables with a liquid seasoning called *yuxiang*.
Of course, as our Young Master Eon-u was a righteous Taoist who did not enjoy meat, he had eaten *yuxiang* tofu, stir-fried with tofu instead of pork.
It was nothing particularly special—just a meal they had shared—but Soso had never forgotten that day.
Stealing glances at Young Master Eon-u as they walked in step, the way their hands had brushed against each other as they walked.
The inn that smelled of *yuxiang*, the face of Young Master Eon-u turning bright red because he wasn’t very good at eating spicy food.
……I want to see him again.
She missed Young Master Eon-u.
Perhaps it was because she was consumed by a longing that had no depth?
Sau’s face, which she had been looking at the whole time, looked like Young Master Eon-u’s face. Even though they didn’t have much in common.
“Do you like *yuxiang rousi*? Let’s go together.”
“……I.”
“…….”
“Yes. Anyway, if we go to Sichuan, we must stop by that inn.”
Soso gave a faint smile.
“To return to the subject of the Healer… he says he will meet Young Master Jegal tomorrow night.”
“M-me? Did he hear the Song of Hanga?”
“It seems so. So don’t worry, and you should be able to meet him comfortably tomorrow.”
“Yes. I am so nervous.”
“And I must meet him again, too. I must meet him again and ask what he knows about me.”
Ever since she had awakened as a Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, she had finally found a clue about this strange body.
She could not let this opportunity slip away.
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