Guide of the Sichuan Tang Clan C10

Chapter 10

When Eunmyeong channeled his energy into him, Jeongho’s features eased and he closed his eyes. With his hair swept up neatly, he looked even younger — almost childlike.

Among the espers Eunmyeong had seen die, there had been one no older than Jeongho. A boy who awakened far too young, unsure and frightened, flailing helplessly. His ability had been unstable — yet due to a shortage of available espers that day, he had been sent into a gate.

By the time Eunmyeong reached the center, the child was barely lucid — babbling, thrashing, cracking like thin glass under pressure. Of course his waves were unstable. Eunmyeong rushed forward, but researchers clung to him.

“There’s no saving him, Guide Choi Eunmyeong!”

“I’ll be the one to decide that! Let me in!”

“You can’t!”

He dragged them as he forced his way to the door. Just before he could open it, he saw the boy through the window — reaching out.

Just like Jeongho had reached for him earlier.

The child had wanted to touch him, as if that alone would save him. A brief, fleeting moment of clarity.

Then the levels spiked. Sedatives were injected.

Eunmyeong slammed the door, screamed, begged — but too late.

The child’s hand slipped slowly, limp, to the ground.

He had always run to Eunmyeong, bewildered but bright.

“I like that you’re here, Guide Eunmyeong!”

“Why?”

“When you hold my hand like this, it doesn’t hurt anymore!”

That smile still haunted him.

Perhaps that was why Eunmyeong was so soft on Jeongho — the boy’s pure grin reminded him too much.

“It doesn’t hurt when the Hero holds my hand…”

Jeongho mumbled sleepily, drifting off.

“Yeah.”

Eunmyeong tightened his grip, fingers intertwined.

“I’ll hold it as much as you want.”

“Feels nice…”

Even here, even in this world, he continued Guiding.

Maybe because all those dead espers still weighed on his heart. Because he never wanted to see such an ending again.

Soon Jeongho’s breathing evened.

When Eunmyeong asked if he was asleep, the man twitched his finger — no.

“Then talk. Who keeps beating you up?”

“It’s… the Maehwa(Plum Blossom) Sword Master…”

Maehwa Sword Master? Eunmyeong’s eyes gleamed.

A prodigy in the novel —

Who also died of qi deviation, of course.

“Where is he?”

Sleepiness dragged Jeongho’s words slow.

Eunmyeong shook his hand in impatience, but Jeongho only gripped tighter.

“Over there… in the cave…”

“A cave?”

No further answer.

He’d fallen asleep — properly this time.

“Hey, are you asleep?”

“…”

“You couldn’t answer first?! Which cave?! Why is he attacking you?!”

Silence.

Helpless, Eunmyeong sighed. Kids never woke once they were out.

He lay beside him, unable to pry his hand away without effort.

“Fine. Sleep.”

Tomorrow, he’d make the guy talk again.

He stared at the ceiling, thinking of the Maehwa Sword Master — a genius of Mount Hua, admired across the martial world, until deviation consumed him.

“The author must’ve been possessed while writing this…”

Another tragic talent to save someday, but now — first was Tang Mujin.

Eunmyeong sat up, gently freed his hand, checked bandages, tucked Jeongho in, and slipped away before he drained too much stamina again.

He had a comatose young master to stabilize.

Mujin was still unconscious.

Eunmyeong plopped beside him, muttering.

“Feels like watching Sleeping Beauty.”

Seeing that serene face night after night, he couldn’t help growing attached.

A single day of conversation and eye contact, yet affection built anyway.

Hazard of the job — Guides bonded easily. They held flesh, shared breath, poured life into another. Hard not to care.

He lifted the comforter back over Mujin’s chest, brushed long hair aside, pulled his hand free, and began the Guiding touch.

His energy flowed — the waves thrashed wildly, still.

Whatever elixirs they had shoved into Mujin, they kept his qi raging.

Every time Eunmyeong calmed it, it roared back up.

“When you wake, you and I are having a talk.”

Sweat beaded his brow.

His hands were not enough. He needed more contact.

He stripped off his robe — beautiful garment, terribly impractical — and slipped under the blanket.

“Pardon me for a moment.”

He climbed onto the firm body beneath the quilt, arms around a broad chest, cheek to muscle, eyes closed.

The moment his body touched, Mujin’s qi sucked greedily at him.

“…gh.”

Energy drained at once. Dizzying.

Guiding Jeongho earlier did not help — he was already fatigued.

I should stop for today…

He began to pull away.

“—?!”

Strong arms locked around him. In a blink, he was flipped — now flat on the bedding, Mujin atop him, long hair spilling like silk curtains.

What—?

Mujin stared down at him.

“Why are you here.”

If someone asked why he was here—

Because if you die, so do I. But exhaustion and shock scrambled his tongue and—

“Because I’m a… living elixir…?”

“What?”

Disgust flashed across Mujin’s face.

Eunmyeong laughed weakly.

“Well… that’s what they s-say now…”

“What trickery is this. What were you plotting in my chamber?”

“It’s a long story…”

Where to start?

He scrambled mentally, recalling the nonsense he fed Cheongwoo.

“Ahem — long, long ago, when tigers smoked pipes, my father climbed Sichuan Mountain for herbs, and then I rolled — no, I forward-rolled — into a cave—”

“Be silent. Fool.”

Mujin’s scowl could split mountains.

I saved your life and this is the thanks?

“Won’t you listen… even a little?”

“Hm?”

“You asked what trick I was pulling. Shouldn’t you hear my answer?”

“Have you lost your senses?”

“If they’d fallen out, I’d be dead, wouldn’t I? I wouldn’t be here talking.”

“…”

“Anyway, it’s more valuable than organs falling out, so listen well. So — I landed in a cave—”

Once he had started the story, he had to commit.

He poured out the entire absurd “mystical healer encounter” tale again — but Mujin wasn’t listening.

What is this creature…?

Mujin’s gaze cut through him like a blade, assessing, dissecting.