I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 144

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 144. Wind Upon the Castle Walls (3)
Among Yong-jin’s techniques, “Myriad Evil Flame Peak: Open” ranked among the most destructive.
True to its name, it transcended mere destruction of earth—it forcibly drew forth the very essence of the land itself to forge new terrain from nothing.
The moment the staff touched ground, mana rippled outward in all directions, twisting the flow of earth’s veins until the surrounding soil and stone erupted skyward like colossal awls, shaped by will alone.
“Thus, in but an instant, treacherous rocky peaks and sheer cliffs materialize on all sides. How does it feel to stand within such a natural prison, sealed off from every direction?”
Yong-jin stood balanced on the tips of his toes atop the towering peak that had risen so high the Library’s entrance was now utterly unrecognizable, his voice barely a murmur.
Below, he sensed the gaze of shadows stirring, their eyes fixed upward in anticipation.
“Yet they have not surrendered, it seems.”
However, the birth of a prison meant the birth of terrain.
In this place where the sun blazed with merciless intensity, the emergence of new geography was, paradoxically, good fortune for the shadows.
Creatures that mocked the foolish prey before them, slipping between the newly formed shadows with contemptuous ease.
But they could not have known.
Why the character for “Open” crowned this technique’s name.
And to open meant that some purpose lay behind the opening itself.
“[Mountain-Sea Reversal Edict: Rotation].”
Yong-jin dragged the staff sideways from where it had been driven into the earth.
As the staff cleaved through stone as easily as a blade through tofu, the ground itself began to tremble in all directions.
“Surely, where mountains exist, water must also flow—is this not so?”
It was a command.
A command to reverse the currents of mountain and sea.
The channels of earth’s veins resonated in harmony with the staff’s movement.
Between the towering peaks carved from the heavens themselves, groundwater began to flow.
And then—
ROOOAAARRR!!
A torrent erupted with terrible force.
In an instant, the raging waters drenched the parched rocky mountains, and the shadows began to thrash and struggle.
Grotesquely, they revealed themselves in the absence of light, flailing desperately.
No—things that merely mimicked shadows.
“As I suspected. You are shadows, yet not shadows at all.”
I had harbored vague suspicions all along.
Their movements transcended the very nature of shadows themselves.
But there was more to it than this.
“Is it not mere delusion for beings that merely linger where light cannot reach to claim any foothold of their own?”
To possess physical force meant, inherently, to be subject to the laws of physics.
Yet as Yong-jin watched the shadows being swept away, he did not relax his vigilance.
Had they been so easily defeated, he would have triumphed long ago.
“Of course, reaching this point was thanks to that bread—truly a panacea.”
The thought alone made saliva pool in my mouth once more.
How exquisite that croissant had been!
The harmonious blend of layered flavors, the cool, clarifying essence of bamboo, and the ginger’s warmth that set even the blood ablaze!
Yet the effects did not end there….
“The trembling limbs flooded with scorching heat, the previously congested meridians flowing unobstructed in that exquisite sensation of qi and blood circulation, the perception thundering like lightning down the spine….”
But that was not all.
The upper dantian—the Spirit Platform—became mirror-clear, achieving that luminous clarity of the Spirit Platform.
Even with eyes closed, I could sense the drift of microscopic dust particles, and my ears could hear the sound of leaves falling a hundred paces away.
“The true qi circulates and the dao power reaches its zenith—what greater fortune could exist than this!”
Crash!
As Yong-jin continued his exclamations, the creatures burst through the thick wall of water they had constructed.
Tangled and intertwined even as they were swept along, they merged into a colossal mass of shadows that tore through the water and emerged.
Yet Yong-jin had been waiting for their desperate struggle.
He was eager to unleash this overwhelming power.
“What rises upward must fall downward—such is the law of the world! [Earth Splits, Heaven Collapses: Destruction]!”
Driving the seal deeper into the ground, the inner power within his body burrowed into the earth below.
It reached the heart of the earth vein, hundreds of zhang beneath the surface.
It was only a matter of time before the condensed yin-yang qi exploded underground.
Rumble!
“And what has been scattered must be scattered further—such too is the way of things!”
The earth screamed.
The peaks that had risen could not withstand the tremors and collapsed, becoming massive spikes that buried the shadows beneath them.
An earthquake of such tremendous scale that it seemed impossible for a single human to have caused it.
The land, torn asunder by that overwhelming force, became a chasm, swallowing everything into a bottomless abyss below.
“Therefore, the final step is to seal the gateway. [Earth Spirit Sealing Path: Closure].”
Following Yong-jin’s gesture, the seal smoothly withdrew from the earth.
At that moment, the wedge that had been fixing the earth vein disappeared.
As the inner power continuously poured into the ground ceased, the earth vein’s qi reversed course and flowed backward with violent force.
The ground, trembling as though time itself were rewinding, soon….
Thud!
With one heavy, resonant sound, it closed shut.
Sealed as precisely as if measured by ruler, the ground returned to its original flat state without a speck of dust.
Not a trace of the shadows could be found anywhere.
“Truly remarkable….”
He gazed around, as though unable to believe what he himself had accomplished.
This linked technique was indeed the most destructive among all his arts, yet it had never reached this magnitude before.
‘At most, I could only manipulate the terrain within thirty paces around me….’
Moreover, the effects were never this extensive.
The Myriad Evil Pointed Peak merely pierced through opponents with sharp earthen spikes, and the Mountain-Sea Reverse Flow only diverted water through already-formed terrain.
Other techniques were no different.
“Heh… my inner power has increased dozens of times compared to before, so this is only natural….”
Despite having expended so much, Yong-jin still felt an overflow of inner power as he adjusted his hat.
With such strength, he could confidently face even the most elite hunters in combat right now and claim victory.
‘Some will find it difficult, I suppose…’
Yu Ha-neul and Yeom Da-yeon, who had recently joined, would certainly struggle with it.
Yet it was a moment when Yong-jin found happiness in the fact that there was more to learn.
“Look there. Didn’t this old woman tell you it could be resolved sufficiently?”
“Indeed it can.”
“Meoooow.”
“Oh! You found the book?”
Yeon-gi, who appeared to have found the book while dealing with the shadows.
Yet to Yong-jin’s eyes, there was no visible form of any book whatsoever.
‘So that’s why she told us to buy time.’
Only the Witch could perceive its true nature, and no matter how keenly he extended his spiritual sense, he felt nothing.
In contrast, Yeon-gi, clad in armor, appeared to be holding the book naturally.
“Before you go, might this old woman offer one piece of advice?”
“Please do.”
“If you cross over, come find this old woman. No, rather—seek out the old woman who will be on the other side.”
“Pardon?”
“With that book. And…”
The Boy suddenly pulled Yeon-gi close, cradling only her head in an embrace.
Yong-jin couldn’t discern the exact nature of their relationship, but they claimed it was a grandparent-grandchild bond, so he accepted it as such.
After the two held each other for a while and finally parted, the Boy spoke again.
“First, go to the Witch’s Cottage. We’ve finished our work here.”
“Pardon?”
“Tsk tsk. Dawdling about. This old woman will have to send you off.”
“No… wait just a moment…”
Snap.
With the sound of a finger flick, the surrounding view transformed.
Just moments before, it had been a crumbling Ancient Castle, but now what appeared before them were walls made of pastries and bread.
There could be only one such place in all the world.
“We’ve… returned? How… did you traverse that distance so effortlessly…?”
Yong-jin’s spatial folding technique twisted the physical properties of distance itself.
It required vast reserves of inner energy, so any movement of qi would inevitably be detected.
But what had just occurred?
“There was no trace of energy at all!”
With merely a finger flick, she had transported others—two of them—without expending any perceptible power.
“Kyuuuu!”
“Gora gora!”
Including three mysterious spirit creatures as well.
Yet Yeon-gi seemed utterly indifferent to such astonishing facts.
“Blackie. Let’s go now.”
“Meow. Understood, Owner. The Witch’s Cottage’s destination is already determined anyway.”
“A destination? What do you mean by that?”
“You’ll understand once we get there.”
With only those words, Yeon-gi opened the Door and stepped Outside.
The moment Yong-jin followed him and crossed the threshold of the Pastry Shop’s main gate.
Ding!
“Huh?”
A sudden notification sound from his mobile phone.
There was no time to check what it was.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
His phone had begun ringing like mad.
He barely managed to regain control and check the contents, but his complexion drained to an ashen pallor.
There was nothing he could do about it.
“What… what is this…?”
Because lined up on the screen were urgent distress signals from Kim Ri-a, an A-rank Hunter and team leader of the Hunter’s Association’s Special Investigation Team 1.
* * *
“This should suffice.”
Geum-rye—or rather, something that resembled Geum-rye—murmured while gazing blankly at the World slowly fading away in the distance.
“Now everything unfolds as desired.”
The World, like withered leaves crumbling to dust, lost its color and fell away piece by piece until it became nothing but powder.
It was inevitable from the start.
Perhaps from the moment it was torn from its true body and abandoned in this place.
“Of course, Geum-rye herself could not have known this. But…”
A Shadow crawled slowly up from the ground.
It had not died.
It had merely feigned death.
It could never have truly perished.
For it was the very existence that had been sustaining this World.
“I was truly startled when it first came to me.”
She had believed she would spend her entire life trembling in fear within this crumbling World until death claimed her. Yet it was this Shadow that had come to her.
It had allowed her to live longer, and helped her savor life itself even more.
For it was the Shadow that had created such scenery in a World that had possessed nothing.
“Those were truly fascinating years.”
Something resembling Geum-rye spoke while gently tapping the Shadow that had reached her feet.
Yes, it had been truly fascinating.
I had taken walks.
Though it was a fabricated Space, I had even created something called a Friend.
I witnessed the rise and fall of entire nations.
There was only one reason for all of this.
“I told him to give it to the child when they arrived. It took until today.”
Whenever Geum-rye’s grandson came, Shadow would hand over the book he had prepared in advance.
For this purpose, Shadow had done everything.
Even as his own power faded, he maintained the world, inevitably removing what he could no longer bear.
“This is enough.”
Shadow did not kill Yong-jin, the outsider.
The same was true for Seung-hyun.
He merely held Yong-jin suspended from the tree so that they could meet according to fate.
It was Shadow who guided them, and it was Shadow who induced Yong-jin’s growth through adversity to become helpful to Seung-hyun.
How could Geum-rye in this place, whom the daughter in reality had never known, possibly recognize her own grandson?
“Isn’t that right? Daughter?”
Shadow undulated as if nodding his head.
At the end of a world exhausted of power, the wish of mother and daughter was being fulfilled.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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