Stay (alchemy of souls)

Chapter fifthteen: dangerous mission

"The fire bird?" Master Heo asked "it will be very dangerous, but we should try. Yuna, you and Dang-gu go bring Jin Cho-yeon here. We will need blood from the Jin family"

"Yes, we will get her right away" Dang-gu told him. We then turned and left to go to Jinyowon.

When we got to Jinyowon, they let us through the gate, knowing who Dang-gu was.

"What is it?" Cho-yeon said as she was brought to us.

"You're needed in Songrim to help remove the blood parasite in Yul. on Master Heo's orders we're supposed to bring you back to Jeongjingak" I said.

"Mm, fine, let us go" she said. I bowed my head, before turning and walking back towards songrim. Dang-gu stayed beside be the whole time. Cho-yeon trailing behind us.

Once we got to Jeongjingak, where Bu-yeon was already sitting at a table, her sister sat on the other side, as Dang-gu, master Heo, Uk and myself stood.

Dang-gu had a serious look on his face as he began to explain to the two why we're here.

"We'll begin with a brief explanation of this complex parasite removal operation that Master Heo prepared for Yul. Right now, at the core of his energy. There is a blood parasite that's straining his life force, the only way he can live is if his energy remains when the parasites removed" Dang-gu explained.

"And the only thing capable of doing so, is the fire bird" I told them.

We moved to the library of Jeongjingak, where a book about the fire bird was presented to the two girls.

"What we must do is chase out the blood parasite, with the fire bird that's inside Jinyowon, and make it expel the energy it's consumed. However there are two complications" Master Heo said, then waved his hand to Dang-gu, who opened the book, and started talking again.

"The first problem we have is that we cannot transport him to Jinyowon in the state that he's currently in"

He then pointed his hand at something in the book as he finished his part of the explanation. "And also, the fire bird cannot be removed either"

He then turned the page again as I started explaining the next part.

"Our second problem is breaking the fire birds barrier is too dangerous. So we must use its energy without breaking its barrier"

"The first problem is not possible" Cho-yeon said "we cannot move Yul or the firebird. So how can we use the fire bird to do that?"

Dang-gu closed the book, keeping it as his side as he held my hand with his other, as Master Heo started talking. "That's why we called you here, cho-yeon. You must open the gate and enter Jinyowon in place of Yul's body"

"What, me?"

He nodded, then motioned for us to gather round the table so he could show us something, Cho-yeon, standing with her sister and Uk. While me and Dang-gu stood on the other side.

Master Heo then reached into the little box in front of him and pulled a small blue spear out.

"This is the water wick used in the Seo Family's lanterns of life. Members of the Seo family always fill these wick's with their energy in order to connect to their lantern of life"

He then held it up more "I will fill this, with what still remains within Yul, then the blood parasite will think this is really his core of energy and enter this instead"

Dang-gu gasped, turning towards Master Heo. "Then we can just remove the parasite with this!"

"Did you hear me when I said that it has to expel everything it has consumed?"

Dang-gu pouted, turned to latch on to me, putting his arm around my waist. I sighed, putting my hand on top of his.

"But, why must I be the one who takes it to Jinyowon?" Cho-yeon asked.

"That's because the blood parasite was made with some of your family's own blood" master Heo told her.

"Why do you think that Jin Mu put it in So-I? He put your family's energy in that parasite and put it in her so she could open Jinyowon" Uk told her.

"Once that parasite mistakes this for the real thing and enters into it, I will put this into Cho-yeon's body, which has the same energy as the blood parasite" Master Heo said, then pointed the small ball at Cho-yeon.

"Isn't that going to be dangerous... though?" I asked.

"Just place this into your mouth and do not open it" he told her. She nodded "right, then I will carry it"

"Good! Even someone who can't wield magic can do this. It will be fine if you don't have any parasites or are expecting.... You're not expecting, are you?" He asked her.

"I uh, I don't think so..."

"Is there even a slight possibility?" He asked her again. She hung her head down "there.... Might be"

"Who?" I asked her, she'd been so busy with her sister and everything I didn't think she'd have time to meet anyone else.

"There's this mage... i met a couple of days ago, well, i actually met him last year, but we hadn't seen each other since then and we, Uh I don't have to say anything else" she stumbled out.

"Would a persons energy change if they were expecting?" Bu-yeon asked Master Heo.

"No.... Not necessarily, it would depend on the person. But it could" he replied. She nodded looking down.

"She shouldn't do it, if there's even a slight possibility, it would be to dangerous" I said.

"So what do we get Lady Jin to do it?" Master Heo said.

"She must stay outside Jinyowon's door, to ensure the other relics don't end up turning on us" Uk told him.

"Then... I'm willing to do it myself" Bu-yeon said.

"But you two are already married. Are....are you sure? Will it be alright?" Master Heo asked the two.

"Don't worry about that. That's not possible at all" she whispered.

"What?" Dang-gu muttered. "Not at all?"

"Yeah. Not even the slightest chance of that happening" she said.

"She's right" Uk interrupted "I'm telling you, it's true"

"Hmm. I guess Bu-yeon can be the one to carry, uh, Yul's energy over there" Master Heo said.

I moved away from Dang-gu a bit, standing straight from where I was leaning on him.

"So now, we just have the second problem left" I sighed.

"How can we extract the firebirds energy without breaking the barrier?" Dang-gu asked.

"The barrier of the firebird is made of an energy, that's similar to the volcano where it was born, it's made of energy from golf that's 30,000 nyang. We must use gold to recreate it and expand the barrier, to go inside it" Master Heo explained.

"Whoa, so we need energy of 30,000 nyang in gold?" Dang-gu said. "Where could we possibly get 30,000 nyang of gold at this hour?"

Master Heo waved Dang-gu off "Sang-Ho is gathering it now. I know we're in a rush, but it will take some time to gather 30,000 nyang in gold"

Suddenly Uk spoke up "I have 30,000 nyang"

"I mean, I also have that much money, but the only problem is that I can't get it in gold right now" Dang-gu said.

Mm, I need to remind myself to ask for a more expensive wedding then.

"No, I'm saying I have the gold now.... It's at Jeongjingak" Uk said, shocking is all.

"What?"

"Here?"

"Yeah" uk replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And then, we were off to the secret room, where 30,000 nyang in gold was apparently stashed by our own Jang Uk.