I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 23

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

23.
When I struck down the vengeful spirit, for just a fleeting moment, I sensed that someone—or something—was observing me.
Seized by an inexplicable unease, I returned to the location where that sensation had originated, but found nothing amiss.
‘First when I stumbled during the sword technique, and now this… could it all be mere imagination?’
Yet as I drew closer to Nakryeong City, an oppressive weight settled upon my chest, a suffocating dread that only intensified with each step.
“Let’s finish the grave and move on.”
Eun Hui-gyeom, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, urged me forward with growing impatience.
After completing the burial mound, we arrived at Nakryeong City.
The city’s condition was far worse than the villages we had passed through before.
People were present, yet the atmosphere was desolate and bleak, with the afflicted scattered throughout every corner.
Aware that the petrification plague was contagious, they wrapped cloth around their entire bodies and maintained maximum distance from one another.
“This is…”
“I’ve never witnessed such a sight.”
Patients overflowed from every direction, leaving me uncertain where to even begin.
I shared the same helplessness.
“Let’s try entering somewhere, anywhere.”
Just then, a large sign reading “Nakryeon Inn” came into view.
Despite the hour being prime business time, the inn’s interior was completely empty of patrons.
As we entered, the Inn Keeper, who had been dozing in the corner, approached us.
“How many guests?”
“Three of us.”
“Whether you need rooms or meals, simply let me know and I shall provide.”
He gestured vaguely at the vacant first floor and empty rooms.
Kang Jin-heon spoke to the Inn Keeper first.
“What happened in Nakryeong City?”
“You appear to be outsiders.”
“We are.”
“I cannot say what brought you here, but I would advise you to conduct your business swiftly and depart. This city is cursed.”
“Cursed?”
“Yes. About half a year ago, people began falling ill with an unidentifiable disease. The authorities have been powerless to act, so this city is effectively abandoned.”
The wealthy and nobility had already fled; only the poor and those bound by sick family members remained.
“To speak frankly, I myself would have left this very day.”
“Enough talk. Just show us to our rooms.”
“Of course.”
We secured rooms at the inn and gathered to discuss our strategy.
I had anticipated the petrification plague would have spread considerably, but this far exceeded my expectations.
“Can we actually treat the people in this city?”
“With only the medicine we currently have, it won’t be enough. And there’s a more pressing problem.”
“A more pressing problem?”
“We don’t have any spirit stones.”
“….”
The medicine Eun Hui-gyeom created was no ordinary concoction made from common ingredients.
Such materials were traded exclusively among practitioners of the Way, making spirit stones function as currency in practice.
I’d been diligent with recent missions and accumulated a considerable number of spirit stones, but not nearly enough to treat everyone in the city.
“If it keeps recurring, what’s the point of treatment?”
As Eun Hui-gyeom and I huddled together in contemplation, Kang Jin-heon, who had been listening, interjected.
“It seems more important to eliminate the root cause.”
“You’re right, that is crucial too.”
Petrification Syndrome was a disease that continued to recur from somewhere, even with treatment.
Rather than treating blindly, it seemed Kang Jin-heon’s approach—eliminating the cause first—was the correct path.
“Just to be safe, let’s prepare as much medicine as possible.”
“You said you didn’t have spirit stones? Use some of mine.”
I handed over three hundred low-grade spirit stones I possessed to Eun Hui-gyeom.
“That’s too many! Didn’t you work hard to gather these?”
“Well, yes… but I don’t seem to have any immediate use for them right now.”
Even when taking on missions, most were the type that didn’t require spirit stones—like finding lost cats.
As I produced my spirit stones, Kang Jin-heon withdrew his own.
“Will this suffice?”
“What are you pulling out…? Wait?! That’s a mid-grade spirit stone!”
A single mid-grade spirit stone held the value equivalent to one thousand low-grade spirit stones.
Eun Hui-gyeom’s eyes widened dramatically at the sight of the orange-hued stone.
“You’re giving us that?”
“It’s for saving lives. Besides, I have plenty of spirit stones.”
Kang Jin-heon casually withdrew several more mid-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch.
He had become a practitioner before joining Chingwoo Immortal Sect, and was already receiving support from another cultivating family.
I’d suspected he had quite a few spirit stones, but not this many.
“I have a feeling you might even have a high-grade spirit stone…”
“Maybe one?”
“Just show me once!”
“I should see it first!”
A high-grade spirit stone was one for every million low-grade spirit stones.
Eun Hui-gyeom and I gazed at the golden-hued high-grade spirit stone with sparkling eyes.
“Is that gold?”
“It’s more expensive than gold!”
“Insane.”
Spirit stones functioned as currency among practitioners of the Way.
At this rate, it might actually be faster to simply purchase materials with spirit stones and craft the medicine.
I thought he was wealthy, but I never imagined he was this wealthy!
Eun Hui-gyeom and I couldn’t tear our eyes away from the golden-hued high-grade spirit stone until it disappeared into Kang Jin-heon’s storage pouch.
“If you gave us that…”
“….”
“I was joking.”
Eun Hui-gyeom, who had just thrown out the comment on a whim, fell silent with a dry cough as he met Kang Jin-heon’s chilling gaze.
The man was taciturn by nature, but he was no fool.
“I’ll head back first and purchase some materials. Oh, but you’ll have to help me prepare the medicine!”
“I don’t know how to make medicine.”
“Just assisting is enough.”
“Understood.”
While Eun Hui-gyeom gathered the materials, Kang Jin-heon and I decided to remain in Nakryeong City and assess the situation.
The next day, Kang Jin-heon and I explored Nakryeong City.
Nakryeong City was a region where mining operations flourished abundantly.
The black iron ore extracted from Nakryeong Mine was particularly superior in quality compared to other metals, making it frequently used in the crafting of agricultural tools and conventional weapons.
Under normal circumstances, the streets should have been teeming with miners and merchants eager to purchase minerals.
Yet the streets lay desolate as a tomb.
The marketplace was nearly devoid of open shops.
“Over there….”
Whenever we encountered someone, I approached them cautiously, but the moment they spotted us, they fled as though they had seen something they shouldn’t.
At this rate, we would glean nothing of value.
“We have no choice.”
“Where are we going?”
“Let’s try the Nakryeong Mine.”
The Village Chief’s Son of Nakhyeon had come to Nakryeong City to earn money at the mine before contracting the petrification plague.
Since the mine was the lifeblood of Nakryeong City, I thought someone might still be there.
“….”
“….”
Desolate.
Contrary to my expectations, the mine stood utterly empty.
“Haha, I was wrong.”
“….”
“Don’t look at me like that! You’re hurting my feelings.”
Still, having come all the way to the mine, we couldn’t simply turn back.
Kang Jin-heon and I surveyed the Nakryeong Mine.
“Here.”
Kang Jin-heon pointed toward the interior of the mine.
I cautiously peered inside.
Throughout the mine lay unextracted black iron ore, scattered minerals, and tools like pickaxes.
But what captured our attention was something else entirely.
“A person?”
“Already dead.”
“Seems that way.”
Throughout the mine, miners lay collapsed with their bodies rigid and lifeless, their breath long since stilled.
Even after hearing Kang Jin-heon’s words, I examined them with a faint hope, but it was clear they had been dead for quite some time.
The deeper recesses of the mine were far darker than the entrance, with scarcely any light penetrating the gloom.
That was when it happened.
“Ugh.”
Just as when I had arrived in Nakryeong City by flying sword, a sharp, throbbing pain seized one corner of my chest.
This time the pain was so sudden and intense that I couldn’t help but let out a groan.
Alarmed, I glanced sideways at Kang Jin-heon.
For some reason, his expression didn’t look particularly pleasant either.
“Did you feel it?”
“The energy?”
“Yes. It felt oddly suffocating, somehow.”
“I think I’m sensing it too.”
If Kang Jin-heon was experiencing a similar sensation, then the unease I had felt upon arriving in Nakryeong City was no mere fancy.
I invoked a simple illumination technique.
Light bloomed from my fingertips, banishing the darkness and flooding the surroundings with brightness.
“Let’s go deeper.”
The further we ventured into the mine, the fewer traces of human presence remained.
Simultaneously, a crushing pressure bore down upon my chest, and breathing became increasingly difficult.
Though caves were said to have thin air, this was far more severe than that.
When we reached the heart of the mine, Kang Jin-heon and I witnessed something utterly unexpected.
“What in the world is this?”
In the center of the vast cavern stood something resembling a massive altar.

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