Black and White «COMPLETED»

Chapter Twenty Two- The Summoning

​Chapter Twenty Two- The Summoning

The Central Palace, Gwang Guk...

The Cleansing ceremony took place in the massive palace courtyard, five days after the Palace Shaman Hall was reopened, and the Priests moved back into the Palace Temple.

On the fifth night after the reopening, the Palace gates were opened to the nobles and high ranking officials in the Capital.

All the Palace priests and shamans dressed in their ceremonial clothes, and carefully selected Gisaeng were present for entertainment. 

The King sat on the raised dais, and on either side of him, were the two princes.

Jang Tae Min, the current Crown Prince, sat on his right, and Jang Tae Jun, the Grand Prince, sat on his left.

The Gisaeng went round pouring wine, or entertaining the nobles.

.

The drum roll started and the shamans came in. They began their dance, going in file to the four corners of the courtyard. Then they congregated in the middle, grouping together in a serene dance.

The dance went on for a while, the tribal drums reaching a fevered pitch, as the shamans swayed to their beat.

Then the shamans dispersed suddenly, and the Head Shaman came out to perform her cleansing dance ritual.

She (Pal Wol) knew it was not necessary, but the King had ordered her to go along with it.

The one who was guilty was not present.

He was probably planning to undo the curse of the plague, now that he had gotten what he wanted.

The King had asked her if she could stop the plague, but such a curse had to be broken in the same way it was cast, with the same force of mind or intentions...

The curse was directly tied to the lives of the ones who cast it.

They would have needed to find the exact shamans responsible.

.

The Northern hidden temple...

True to Pal Wol's suspicion, Sang Yoo Jin gave his shamans new orders.

He had claimed he was ill and could not attend the cleansing ceremony, so he could be certain his orders were carried out.

Being the person in charge of selecting the Palace priests and shamans, he would be blamed if the plague was not stopped.

He now knew why the King had readily appointed him.

His role in selecting them had given him a weakness...

And that woman, Pal Wol!

Even in the past, she had been a thorn in his side.

Now that she was involved, he had to be more careful.

The shamans would have to leave this hidden temple... Pal Wol knew it too well.

He also thought about Chung Jae, who seemed to have disappeared.

He had sent him over to the Grand Prince twice, fully expecting him to be killed.

He knew too much, and he had begun to act strange since the Silent Monk's murder.

He hoped his plan had worked, and that the Grand Prince had killed him...

His mind came back to the present.

The first thing he needed to do was stop the plague.

And so, that night, the eight shamans went to the four gates of the Capital again, to undo what they had done...