I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 28

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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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28.
“Yes. I went to check on the Tosin Foundation we destroyed last time, just to be safe.”
The foundation was gone, but turbid energy continued to flow from the area, or so he said.
“That doesn’t make sense. I clearly saw the turbid energy wasn’t leaking out.”
“It seems to be a temporary phenomenon caused by the foundation’s destruction.”
“So you’re saying the cause isn’t the foundation?”
In the original story, destroying the foundation was supposed to prevent petrification disease from occurring in the area ever again.
‘If Jin Seok-jun’s account is true, then I must be missing something.’
Yet no matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn’t think of any cause other than the Tosin Foundation itself.
“No. The foundation is indeed the cause. However, by destroying the foundation, the turbid energy seeping into the earth has begun to fade, allowing us to read the true source toward which the earth vein’s turbid energy flows. There was a separate epicenter.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means a far more powerful foundation than the Tosin Foundation we destroyed is hidden somewhere deep within the underground mine. That’s what’s driving the recurrence of petrification disease in the people.”
“Then we have no choice but to venture back into Nakryeong Mine.”
If another foundation was indeed hidden there, this anomaly made considerably more sense.
“You’re going back to the mine?”
“Yes. It shouldn’t take long. Please look after the patients while I’m gone.”
“Of course!”
“And if you don’t mind, use this.”
I handed Hwang Dae-geun a night-luminous pearl I’d exchanged for a few spirit stones.
Night-luminous pearls were rare commodities traded at considerable prices among criminals, but to monks they were merely glowing rocks.
Hwang Dae-geun was startled upon seeing the fist-sized night-luminous pearl.
“Isn’t this a top-grade night-luminous pearl? You saved my daughter—how could you give me something like this?”
“Saving your daughter is one thing, but you’ve sacrificed your shop business and even dipped into your personal savings to help these people.”
No matter how strong one’s sense of duty, it was never easy to abandon one’s livelihood and step forward.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know how I could ever repay such kindness, sirs.”
“Just take good care of the patients who come to you. That’s enough.”
“Yes, of course.”
After handing Hwang Dae-geun a vitality pill and entrusting him with the patients’ care, we arrived once more at the Tosin Foundation within Nakryeong Mine.
“Jin Seok-jun was right. Turbid energy still remains.”
“And that’s not all.”
“What do you mean?”
Kang Jin-heon, who had been surveying the area around the destroyed Tosin Foundation, unfolded his fan and waved it gently.
A deliberate wind swept through the interior of the mine.
As the wind traced across the ground, white light appeared above it.
The pattern of light revealed quite a number of human footprints.
“These footprints weren’t here the last time we came.”
“The direction the footprints lead matches the traces the earth’s energy revealed.”
There were at least ten footprints, if not more.
It meant that more than a dozen people had come here as a group after we left.
“Has something like this happened before?”
“It wasn’t. Usually, once the Tosin Foundation is destroyed, the outbreak of petrification sickness stops.”
“Then this place doesn’t seem to be an ordinary location for Paecheonmun.”
Jin Seok-jun had also clashed with Paecheonmun disciples who came and went for the foundation’s maintenance.
But even then, this many people hadn’t come.
“From here on, I’ll go alone.”
“What? Suddenly?”
“I don’t know what will happen below. I’ve been investigating Paecheonmun from the start, so it doesn’t matter for me, but I’d rather not drag you all into this when you have no connection to it.”
“Is it not just because we’re disciples of the Chingwoo Immortal Sect?”
“That’s not entirely absent either.”
Paecheonmun was a sect founded by disciples who came from Hyeonganmun, so Jin Seok-jun, who belonged to Hyeonganmun, at least had justification.
But the moment we, from a different sect, got involved, things could become complicated.
“Please understand.”
“That doesn’t seem possible.”
“….”
“If we leave it like this, not only will Yu-ha, whom we barely saved, relapse with petrification sickness, but so will everyone else. Besides, more hands are always better, aren’t they?”
When we stepped forward to treat the culprits with life-restoring energy, Jin Seok-jun looked at us as if we were strange monks.
But from the moment he agreed to help, he gave his all.
His tone was a bit stiff, but Jin Seok-jun had depth to him.
“I’ve been pursuing the death of someone with whom I had a connection before becoming a monk. If the talisman found on him belongs to Paecheonmun, there’s no reason I shouldn’t go down.”
“Ah, why are you looking at me? Everyone else is going, so I can’t just stay here alone!”
Eun Hui-gyeom, who suddenly found himself about to be left behind, stepped forward to go as well.
“You could die if things go wrong. It’s dangerous.”
“Don’t worry. We all know how to protect ourselves. Besides, would a monk hesitate because of fear of death?”
“I can’t stop you. Fine, but if things become dangerous, at least you must withdraw.”
“We will.”
We followed the spiritual threads created by Jin Seok-jun’s qi and Kang Jin-heon’s wind into the depths of the mine.
The place we arrived at was an abandoned mine section where all the black iron ore had already been extracted.
As we sensed signs of life from within, we all stopped in our tracks at once.
Jin Seok-jun knelt on one knee and raised his hand toward the ground.
The earth bulged upward and soon transformed into a small clay figurine.
At Jin Seok-jun’s gesture, the creature waddled inward.
Jin Seok-jun spoke with his eyes gently closed.
“About twelve of them. Judging by their clothes, they’re definitely Paecheonmun.”
The clay figurine could share hearing and sight with Jin Seok-jun.
‘Damn it, that bastard is interfering again. This time he’s even treating the culprits afflicted with petrification sickness.’
‘Can’t we just kill them?’
‘Not much time remains until the seal breaks. We can kill them after that. Prioritize the great work.’
Jin Seok-jun shared the conversation of those gathered there with us through telepathic transmission.
[There’s a seal stone here. It looks like a seal stone from Hyeonganmun, but I’ve never seen one like it. They seem to be trying to break the seal using the culprits as sacrifices.]
It was just as I was about to ask what that meant.
Jin Seok-jun’s eyes suddenly snapped open, and his hands moved with lightning speed.
A sharp crack echoed through the air.
Something surged from within and slammed into the ground.
“Hmm, seems there’s a rat lurking about.”
A deep, gravelly voice carried to where we stood.
“Someone here has keen senses.”
“We’ve already been discovered anyway.”
Realizing that hiding would be futile, we revealed ourselves.
As the man extended his hand, the greatsword embedded in the ground glided smoothly through the air and wrapped itself around his palm.
He was a man with a scar running across half his face and short-cropped hair.
“Ah, so you’re the meddlesome monks who go about treating patients afflicted with petrification disease, and the junior who has obstructed our grand design.”
“I’m honored to be known. However, I see no reason to show courtesy to those cast out from Hyeonganmun.”
“Ha, haha! Cast out? You’re mistaken. We are the true Hyeonganmun!”
Behind us lay a Tosin Foundation far larger than the one we had seen above—incomparably vast.
Before the sealing stone behind the foundation, several criminals afflicted with petrification disease were bound.
“Continue unsealing it. I will slaughter every last one of these meddlers.”
“Yes, sir.”
At his command, his subordinates turned their backs and began murmuring incomprehensible incantations toward the foundation.
A sharp gust erupted.
Then a cutting wind rose between us and the man, hurtling toward the foundation.
A resonant clang rang out.
The man swung his greatsword in a wide arc, and the wind’s trajectory twisted instantly, shooting skyward.
“So there’s an impatient one among you. Don’t you know that such an attitude merely hastens death?”
“Who are you?”
I called out to the man who had summoned the wind. He was clearly looking down on us.
“Gwak Jun. Remember the name of the one who will kill you all.”
“Such arrogance. It’s you who will die. Do you truly believe you’ll walk away unscathed after this?”
Creating the Life-Restoring Pill that could treat petrification disease did not mean we could save every patient’s life.
For those already dead from the disease, there was no remedy—not even for us.
‘If events had proceeded as in the original story, this wouldn’t have happened yet…. And already the damage is this severe.’
I couldn’t fathom how many would perish if things unfolded according to the original narrative.
“Unsealing is all part of our grand design.”
“You’re wrong.”
“…?”
“I wasn’t talking about some seal over there. I meant the people dying because of the foundation you created!”

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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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