I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 20

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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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20.
The essence of Baek Un-jin’s Dokumon technique lay in healing, defense, and sealing arts.
Unfortunately, since I hadn’t been born with water-attribute spiritual roots, I couldn’t learn the Dokumon technique myself.
“Just practice. You can’t keep suppressing the demonic energy and carrying that talisman around forever, can you?”
“Well, that’s true, but… I haven’t learned it.”
“You already said that earlier.”
“I haven’t learned it, so how am I supposed to do it!”
“Just wing it. Anyone watching would think you’re sealing something impressive.”
I kept needling Eun Hui-gyeom, suggesting he could manage even that much.
After groaning for a while, Eun Hui-gyeom huffed and rolled up his sleeves.
“Fine, whatever! If it fails, it’s not my fault, so don’t blame me!”
“You’ve got this! Come on!”
Eun Hui-gyeom, insisting he had no confidence, retrieved the talisman that Kang Jin-heon had been holding.
“The foundation of sealing arts is accurately reading what you’re sealing, then confining it with your spiritual power. Your strength is the most flexible among us, so couldn’t you adapt it to match that?”
“Sure, it sounds easy when you say it.”
Eun Hui-gyeom grumbled as he formed a hand seal with one hand.
Despite his complaints, blue water energy swirled around his fingertips.
Whoosh.
The water energy flowing from Eun Hui-gyeom’s fingertips gently enveloped the talisman.
As Eun Hui-gyeom released his hand, the talisman slowly rose into the air.
Snap.
When I brought my index and middle fingers together and touched the talisman’s edge, the rippling water energy converged and rapidly seeped into the talisman, stabilizing the demonic energy.
“See? You can do it if you try.”
“Sigh.”
Eun Hui-gyeom steadied his breathing and extended his hand; the talisman fluttered down into his palm.
The water energy surrounding the talisman completely prevented the demonic energy from leaking out.
“Well, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but…”
At my praise, Eun Hui-gyeom scratched his cheek and laughed awkwardly.
He was always pleased when complimented.
“I’ll take custody of this talisman.”
Kang Jin-heon had been asked by Cheongrim to investigate the origins of the talisman.
For that reason, we decided Kang Jin-heon would hold onto the talisman for the time being.
We returned to Chingwoo Immortal Sect shortly after.
Kang Jin-heon departed to conduct further investigation into the talisman, while Eun Hui-gyeom and I diligently undertook missions to complete the assignments our master had given us.
***
Mew—
“There!”
I extended my hand, and wind surged forth, lifting the cat’s body as it leaped from tree to tree.
I quickly bounded upward, cradled the cat in my arms, and descended.
“Cheese!”
“Is this the cat you were looking for?”
“Yes! That’s her!”
“Don’t lose her again next time.”
“I won’t!”
The young girl, clutching Cheese tightly to her chest, nodded earnestly.
The sight was so endearing that I found myself gently stroking her hair.
That was the reality of it.
With my low contribution points and Eun Hui-gyeom’s, the only missions we could undertake were helping people in need.
On rare occasions, we might exorcise malevolent spirits, but even then, we were usually limited to dealing with minor ghosts that merely troubled people.
‘Well, what else can I do but persevere?’
Over the past year, I’d accumulated roughly 4,200 contribution points.
Simply visiting the Mission Hall didn’t guarantee missions suited to our level, and when they did appear, competition was fierce—one had to move swiftly or lose the opportunity.
Even a mission like “Please find my lost cat!” was incredibly precious to me now.
Even if it only earned 50 contribution points.
“Well then, I should be on my—”
*Cough!*
The girl holding Cheese suddenly coughed.
Startled, I turned to look down at her.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine… *cough*, I am.”
“You don’t look fine. Let me see.”
I lowered myself to her eye level and placed my hand on her forehead.
She didn’t seem to have a fever, yet she continued with that dry cough.
As I pondered this oddity, her sleeve slipped down.
The skin visible beneath was discolored—a sickly ashen gray.
It was clearly abnormal.
“How long has it been like this?”
“A few days now. *Cough.*”
“Let me take a closer look.”
I gently rolled up her sleeve and examined her arm.
‘What is this?’
The ashen-gray skin was remarkably dry.
It was rigid and cracked in places.
It was far more than mere dryness—this was something else entirely.
‘Petrification sickness?’
Throughout the history of the Cheonmyeong Suseonggi, several catastrophes had befallen the Lower Realm.
Petrification Syndrome was a disease that spread like a plague among the afflicted during the calamity of Earth that occurred in the original narrative.
“Would you close your eyes for me?”
“Ah, yes.”
I slowly infused my spiritual energy into the girl’s arm.
If the condition were severe, healing techniques or alchemical remedies would be the only options, but in its early stages, a simple injection of spiritual energy could suffice.
Fortunately, the girl’s Petrification Syndrome was in its initial phase.
“Cough, huh?”
As the girl’s eyes slowly opened, she realized her breathing had become easier.
“My goodness… I’m better!”
“Be more careful from now on.”
“Yes! Thank you so much!”
The girl clutched the cheese cat to her chest and bowed repeatedly as she departed.
Despite her leaving, a corner of my heart remained unsettled.
‘Petrification Syndrome is contagious. There could be quite a few people in the surrounding area infected as well.’
Treating so many people individually through spiritual energy was realistically impossible.
I knew the cause of Petrification Syndrome.
‘Paecheonmun.’
In the original story, Paecheonmun was the faction that orchestrated the calamity of Earth to restore their standing within Hyeonganmun.
They appeared relatively midway through the original narrative, but I could see they were preparing far earlier than I had anticipated.
‘If I prevent it beforehand, couldn’t I reduce the damage?’
In the original story, the calamity of Earth was stopped, but countless monks perished in the process.
Since the monks cared nothing for the deaths of the afflicted, I couldn’t even fathom how many lives were actually lost.
I returned to Chingwoo Immortal Sect and sought out Kang Jin-heon and Eun Hui-gyeom.
Kang Jin-heon was away on a mission, but I found Eun Hui-gyeom in a completely unexpected location.
“What are you doing here?”
“Ack! You startled me—give some warning before approaching!”
“It’s your fault for not noticing my presence until I was already close.”
I hadn’t deliberately concealed my approach.
Eun Hui-gyeom had simply been so absorbed in his reading that he hadn’t noticed my arrival.
The place where I found Eun Hui-gyeom was none other than the Cheonghua Library within Chingwoo Immortal Sect.
Inner disciples could freely access the Cheonghua Library, which served as the sect’s repository of knowledge.
Eun Hui-gyeom had stacked books around him and was absorbed in reading something.
According to Myeong Seol-hwa, he had been staying there for about a week, even taking his meals in the library.
As evidence, empty dumpling boxes were piled beside Eun Hui-gyeom.
I picked up the scattered books around Eun Hui-gyeom.
Records of Heavenly and Earthly Principles
Records of Heavenly Meridians
“Tsk.”
When I opened the books, they contained anatomical diagrams of the human body—clearly medical texts that looked like they would give anyone a headache.
Suddenly, the nausea I’d felt when studying the Cheonmyeong Suseonggi returned.
Looking more carefully, nearly all the books surrounding Eun Hui-gyeom were similar medical texts.
“Why are you reading this?”
“Ah, well…”
Eun Hui-gyeom closed his book and looked up.
Unlike me, who had primarily undertaken missions like finding missing persons or exorcising spirits, Eun Hui-gyeom leveraged his water-attribute spiritual roots to frequently accept assignments treating the injured.
In the regions he frequented, they apparently called him the Divine Physician.
“Recently, it seems patients with peculiar ailments have been increasing.”
“Are you talking about the disease where the skin hardens and cracks, making it difficult to breathe?”
“Yes, that’s right. That… wait? How do you know about that?”
“I came here to ask about that very thing.”
I recounted to Eun Hui-gyeom the story of the girl who had helped me find the cheese cat.
“Yes, those symptoms. At first, only one or two cases appeared, but recently many people have been reporting the condition. It doesn’t seem to be an ordinary illness, so I’ve been investigating.”
“Is that so?”
“I can create a treatment medicine, but… I’ve come to suspect it’s not a fundamental cure.”
“Wait, you can actually make a treatment medicine?!”
“Yes. It’s not difficult.”
However, Eun Hui-gyeom mentioned that when he saw someone he’d treated contract the disease again and die shortly after, there might be some other underlying cause.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…No, I just realized you could actually make a treatment medicine.”
The original work never even mentioned this. These wretched plot holes.

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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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