Chapter 54. The Secret of the East Quarter
The scorching air ceaselessly burned her lungs. Her seared mucous membranes would start to recover, only to be scorched again.
As the pain persisted, even the resilient So-hwa found it difficult to endure.
She quickened her pace, trying her best not to breathe.
Crash.
The moment she reached the second floor, the wooden staircase collapsed.
Unfazed, So-hwa stepped into the room from which the smoke flowed.
It seemed to be a place where medicinal ingredients were processed—there were water tanks placed around, and instead of wood, thin layers of moisture-resistant stone had been laid on the floor.
Because of the fire spreading from the adjacent room, the wall had disappeared, but the stone flooring had blocked the fire, so only half the floor had burned.
Toxic fumes were rising from the scorched floor.
She reached into a pitch-black hole and sifted through the hot ashes. Acrid smoke billowed up.
"Ugh."
So-hwa nearly lost consciousness.
Steeling her dulled senses as if intoxicated, she rushed to one of the water tanks.
Tearing off part of her robe and soaking it in water, So-hwa wrapped the wet cloth around her nose and mouth. Then she returned to the floor and cautiously dug through the ashes again.
It wasn't strange to hide something in a medicinal warehouse. Even the Tang Clan's Medical Hall kept certain herbs or poisons—those difficult to disclose publicly—separately without recording them.
The Tang Clan had even hidden, secluded pavilion known as Nine Turns Pavilion.
Clenching and opening her burn-blistered palm once, So-hwa resumed sifting through the debris.
Tap.
Her fingertips touched a box, and So-hwa carefully lifted it.
Holding her breath, she opened the box.
Inside was a red mineral.
'... Isn't this red ochre?'
Jeokseokji was an ingredient used in combination with other herbs to treat patients with abdominal pain.
Next to it were minerals of other colors.
Five types of neatly sorted minerals.
Red ochre, white quartz, amethyst, stalactite milk, and sulfur.
Upon confirming the minerals, So-hwa's expression darkened. She murmured unconsciously.
"Five Minerals..."
These were the ingredients for making Five Minerals Powder.
Once regarded as medicinal, this mineral mixture had long since fallen out of use. It had the potential to cloud the mind and be abused for malicious purposes. Physicians of sound judgment avoided its use, and the formulation for Five Minerals Powder had been lost for a long time.
Even in the Tang Clan's medical texts, only the ingredients of Five Minerals Powder remained—the method of mixing them was no longer passed down.
So-hwa tore a strip from her skirt. She then took out the minerals according to the proportions inside the box and wrapped them in the cloth. It seemed likely that this ratio was the original formulation of Five Minerals Powder.
'But why was Five Minerals Powder hidden in the Zhuge Clan's Hubei branch?'
After a moment of hesitation, So-hwa tore an even larger strip from the other side of her skirt and packed the rest of the minerals.
She intended to take several samples back to the Tang Clan to study Five Minerals Powder's effects more closely.
Having gathered the minerals, So-hwa quickly looked for an exit. The entrance she came through had already collapsed—she couldn't go back that way.
She ran to the opposite side, planning to jump out the window, when something caught her eye. One of the maidservants lay collapsed at the window, apparently having fainted.
Without a second thought, So-hwa grabbed the maidservant by the waist and leapt from the second floor.
Thud.
As soon as she landed, she turned her head to check the entrance. She was worried that the Black Tiger Unit might have followed her in after an ilgak (a quarter of an hour).
Ominously, a crowd had gathered at the entrance. So-hwa adjusted her hold on the maidservant and ran straight toward them.
Just then, someone spotted her and shouted.
"Hey! Over there!"
Countless eyes turned toward her. Among them were the Tai Chi Sword Saint, whose face was twisted in anger, and the Wudang martial artists with whom she had exchanged glances. Reinforcements from the West Quarter seemed to have arrived in the meantime.
But their expressions were strange as they looked back and forth between So-hwa and the maidservant in her arms.
'... What is it?
The atmosphere was baffling, but for now, So-hwa gently laid the maidservant down on the ground. No sooner had she done so than another maidservant came running, screaming.
"Juhyung!"
Seemingly close to her, she held the unconscious maidservant in her arms and burst into tears.
So-hwa instinctively opened her mouth.
"There's no need to worry so much. It seems she just fainted from the smoke, so she'll regain consciousness if treated."
The problem wasn't the burns, but the poisoning from Five Minerals Powder.
The only issue was that So-hwa didn't know how to detoxify Five Minerals Powder.
Had she known this would happen, she would've brought the Diving Physician along. The Yeonju Group might've known more about Five Minerals Powder.
For now, she walked toward the Medical Hall Master of the East Quarter.
Since he had stored the Five Minerals, he might also know how to neutralize them.
Despite the urgency of the situation, the Medical Hall Master stood frozen with his mouth agape. The physicians, tightly packed around him, stepped back to clear a path for the approaching So-hwa.
Even then, she had no idea what the problem was. So she alone spoke in an urgent tone.
"Medical Hall Master, the maidservant didn't faint from the smoke."
Only then did the Hall Master come to his senses and ask,
"If not from suffocation, then what?"
So-hwa pulled a cloth bundle from her waist. As she unfolded the layered cloth, five minerals of different colors were revealed. The Medical Hall Master's eyes widened in recognition.
"Th-This! Why is Five Minerals Powder in the Medical Hall?!"
"There was strange smoke coming from the second floor. When I went to check, there was a hidden storage under the floor. It seems a fire started there and vaporized the Five Minerals Powder."
"Storage? A storage, you say? The entire second floor is already used to store medicinal ingredients. What other storage could be under the floor?"
Irritated by his response, So-hwa replied coldly.
"How should I know that?"
She was astonished that, in such a critical moment, he was trying to cut her off and deny responsibility. And if he truly didn't know, that was even worse.
How could someone entrusted with the Medical Hall not know what substances were coming into it?
If it had been Tang Hae-han, such a mistake would have been unthinkable.
So-hwa hated incompetence. But she hated even more those who, rather than fixing their mistakes, tried to shift the blame.
So it was impossible for her to speak kindly to a man like the Medical Hall Master, whose eyes gleamed with panic.
Removing the cloth from her face, So-hwa spoke icily.
"Now is not the time to argue about where the Five Minerals Powder came from."
She picked up each of the minerals laid out on the cloth one by one.
"The Five Minerals seem to have burned and combined on their own. I've taken the ingredients in the same ratio as in the box, so let's try creating a neutralizing agent based on this combination."
The Medical Hall Master frantically waved his hands.
"I've never even seen Five Minerals Powder before, let alone know how to neutralize it. What difference does knowing the ratio make?"
"Then are you saying you'll do nothing?"
It was a short retort, but because So-hwa's face was naturally expressionless, her words came off as reproachful.
The Medical Hall Master frowned and raised his voice.
"Young Lady Tang! I've tried to think well of you considering your reputation, but how can you be so arrogant! You want me to treat suffocation victims for poisoning? If we treat them for poisoning as you say, but it turns out to be just smoke inhalation—will you take responsibility for that? What if someone dies..!"
"Enough!"
As the conversation overheated, the Tai Chi Sword Saint shouted in a loud voice. He quickly continued, criticizing the Medical Hall Master.
"Medical Hall Master, what disgrace is this! I was going to stay quiet since this is a matter for the East Quarter, but I can't listen any longer. Just a moment ago, you yourself said it was strange how the smoke alone could suffocate someone out here. And now you lash out at a guest who came to help Hubei just because Five Minerals Powder might become a problem? And you, a physician, speak of life and death so irresponsibly?"
Unable to calm his anger, the Sword Saint lashed out once more like rapid fire.
"This young junior—far younger than you—risked her life to charge into the flames to save people. And even amidst all that, she found a way to treat the others and returned! And you..! Shame on you!"
At those words, So-hwa flinched.
Who ran into the flames to save people? Me?
She looked at the Sword Saint in confusion, but he didn't notice her gaze.
Struggling to calm his heavy breathing, the Sword Saint made a few deep inhales. True to his reputation as a Taoist master of Wudang, he quickly regained his composure.
With his anger settled, the Tai Chi Sword Saint now looked at So-hwa with eyes far gentler than those he had turned toward the Medical Hall Master.
"Allow me to apologize on his behalf. Truly, we're ashamed. A guest risked her life to save a member of the branch, and all we did was argue over blame."
"......."
She had never risked her life for a servant.
So-hwa's gaze was clouded, but no one noticed it.
All eyes were drawn instead to the black soot on the honored guest's pale cheek and the skirt hem savagely torn and charred.
The Tai Chi Sword Saint swallowed his bitterness.
‘Tsk tsk, how urgent must the situation have been…’
For half the day, the direct descendant of the Tang Clan at his side had seemed not just calm but as still as a tranquil pond. With so little reaction, he had thought her a block of wood—but now, seeing her scorched and disheveled state, he realized his judgment had been wrong.
She was someone who cared little for appearances or reputation when something needed to be done.
Even the way she'd stormed at the Medical Hall Master, scolding him, reminded him of the mad hound in green robes.
‘This one truly carries the blood of the Black Sky Demon.’
The Sword Saint smirked inwardly, imagining how So-hwa would recoil at the thought.
So-hwa, meanwhile, felt discomfort at the strange attention focused on her.
The flames may have mostly died down, but wasn't this still an emergency?
Watching the carefree, detached Taoist and martial artists from noble clans filled her with irritation.
This sort of handling would be unimaginable in the Tang Clan. Who had time to indulge in sentiment? Who had the mental leisure to ponder escape routes?
She never thought she'd long for someone as stubborn as Tang Hae-han.
At this rate, they'd likely keep dragging their feet in meetings all the next day and only begin recovery efforts by evening.
‘With the Medical Hall in shambles and so many patients... they'll come asking for my help eventually.’
So-hwa couldn't afford to wait for them.
If she didn't leave before the hour of mi (around 1 p.m.), she wouldn't arrive at the Alliance of Noble Clans on time.
But even so, she couldn't let the witness to the effects of Five Minerals Powder die.
That was surely what those who had brought the Five Minerals Powder here wanted most.
Gazing down at the collapsed servant, So-hwa shut her eyes tightly.
She opened her mouth, thinking of the remaining Five Minerals Powder in her pouch.
"... I once saw an old record describing a way to treat the side effects of Five Minerals Powder."
In truth, there had always been a way to neutralize the Five Minerals Powder poisoning.
‘If I poisoned myself, I'll figure it out.’
The smoke had been expelled from her body quickly—but if she ingested the minerals directly, the reaction would last longer.
Like aphrodisiacs and mind-dulling poisons, she had never liked such things—not in her past life, nor now. She hated using them and loathed ingesting them even more.
But at this moment, it seemed there was no other way.
So-hwa parted her reluctant lips.