I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 50

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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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50.
I hung upside down from the Yoo Eun-eun-ha Reung, drifting aimlessly through the void.
It seemed I had truly become a practitioner of the monastery, for now, as a non-swordsman, floating in the sky came as naturally as breathing.
In fact, I had grown nostalgic for those earlier days.
“Pardon me.”
“Ack!”
A practitioner suddenly appeared before me, and I tumbled backward involuntarily.
Fortunately, I regained my balance as I fell.
As I brushed the dust from my robes and looked up, a man stood before me dressed in a deep ochre robe with a dark gray outer garment draped over it.
The attire was the formal vestment of a Hyeonganmun practitioner.
“Are you unharmed?”
“Ah, yes.”
The man bowed briefly in greeting.
“Hyeonganmun? Who are you?”
I hadn’t heard that a guest was coming.
“I am Woo Tae-san of Hyeonganmun.”
“I am Yoo Yeon-seo of Chingwoo Immortal Sect.”
As Woo Tae-san offered a respectful salute, I reflexively returned the greeting.
“I apologize for arriving without prior notice to request urgent assistance from Senior Baek.”
“Not at all. My master is inside. Please, come in.”
I guided Woo Tae-san to the room where Baek Un-jin was staying in the Bikyun Pavilion.
Baek Un-jin, who had been reading a book inside, closed it silently as if he had expected Woo Tae-san’s arrival.
“Yeon-seo, bring us some tea.”
“Yes.”
I hurried out, brought tea for Woo Tae-san and Baek Un-jin, and then quietly took a seat nearby.
Fortunately, Baek Un-jin said nothing more to me.
‘So his name is Woo Tae-san?’
After the calamity of To-shin was prevented and Jin Seok-jun died, he became the pillar of Hyeonganmun in all but name.
In my memory of the final events of the Lower Realm arc, he rose even to the rank of elder.
I had not known that Woo Tae-san had any connection to Baek Un-jin.
“Have you heard of the Hwangmureong incident?”
“Yes.”
The calamity of Hwangmureong.
Since then, just as Jin Seok-jun had feared, reports of damage caused by the Myeolmaek Formation had been surfacing from various places.
Not every location with a Hyeongang Monument had a Myeolmaek Formation installed.
This was because establishing a Myeolmaek Formation required satisfying several difficult conditions.
From the perspective of practitioners unaware of the monuments’ locations, there was no way to know which monuments had the formations installed.
Practitioners who ventured forth in ignorance had increasingly fallen victim to ambushes and attacks in recent times.
The Eight Great Sects were no fools either, so after the Hwangmureong incident, they either withdrew their support for Hyeonganmun or delayed sending practitioners under various pretexts.
Chingwoo Immortal Sect maintained amicable relations with Hyeonganmun, so it was not quite to that extent.
But that didn’t mean there was no discontent simmering beneath the surface.
“I understand that you’ve been suppressing the unsettling atmosphere within Chingwoo Immortal Sect, Senior.”
“I simply judged that letting go would serve no purpose.”
“Your efforts have been helping tremendously, regardless of what you say.”
“What brings you here?”
“I’ve come to seek you out, Senior, because I wanted to ask a personal favor.”
Woo Tae-san glanced at me before continuing.
“Even within Hyeonganmun, there’s fierce debate over whether the Hyeongang Stele should be revealed or kept hidden.”
“I imagine so.”
“Personally, I believe it should be revealed. But it’s not a simple matter, is it?”
“Nothing ever goes as one wishes.”
Baek Un-jin, seated in the position of elder, understood their circumstances better than anyone and chose his words carefully.
Then something shocking spilled from Woo Tae-san’s lips.
“I believe Elder Go is a traitor.”
“Elder Go Jin-am?”
Baek Un-jin’s eyes widened slightly, his brow furrowing in surprise.
Go Jin-am.
He was one of the eldest elders within Hyeonganmun, a practitioner of the tenth stage of the Gyeoldan period.
At the mention of Go Jin-am’s name, even Baek Un-jin found himself unable to speak easily.
But as for me—
‘What? You already knew?!’
I couldn’t help but be startled inwardly.
‘I thought no one would discover that Go Jin-am was a traitor until the very end.’
Knowing the original work as I do, I’m naturally aware that Elder Go Jin-am is indeed a traitor.
But for a tenth-stage practitioner belonging to Chingwoo Immortal Sect with no involvement in Hyeonganmun to boldly declare an elder-level figure a traitor was realistically impossible.
This appeared to be backstory not revealed in the original work.
“If it’s mere speculation, you should be more careful with your words.”
“It’s not speculation—it’s certainty.”
“Certainty?”
“Yes. Elder Go Jin-am knows the locations of the Hyeongang Steles quite well. Yet all three locations where the Pulse-Severing Formation was activated are areas where Elder Go personally inspected the earth veins just months apart.”
“….”
“Each time a Hyeongang Stele changes location, a separate record is left on it. There are no cases without traces. But when I restored and examined portions of the Hyeongang Stele from all three locations, I found evidence that someone had overwritten the records using Hyeongang Script.”
Woo Tae-san explained that only those of elder rank or above could modify records on the Hyeongang Stele using Hyeongang Script.
“Each time the Pulse-Severing Formation was activated, Elder Go conveniently absented himself from the scene. And at every location he traveled to during those periods, traces of the Tosin Foundation were discovered.”
“You’ve conducted a thorough investigation.”
Though merely circumstantial evidence, if all of it were true, it painted a rather convincing picture.
Woo Tae-san lowered his head slightly.
“Then shouldn’t this be resolved within Hyeonganmun itself?”
“The problem is more complicated than that.”
According to Woo Tae-san, an elder council meeting would soon be convened to decide whether or not to reveal the Hyeongang Stele.
“No single elder knows the locations of all the Hyeongang Tablets. In other words, all locations can only be revealed if each elder discloses the positions they know.”
“That makes sense.”
“If someone here lies about a Hyeongang Tablet’s location or provides false information, we’ll have a serious problem.”
Even if it were merely an oversight, once it became known that Hyeonganmun had revealed a Hyeongang Tablet at the wrong location, the resulting scandal would be impossible to ignore.
“That’s why Hyeonganmun decided to use the Jeong-sim Stone to prevent lies.”
The Jeong-sim Stone was essentially a lie-detection artifact.
It only functioned on monastics, and it was a single-use item that could not be used twice.
“Then there shouldn’t be any problem, right?”
I carefully interjected into their conversation.
“That is, assuming the Jeong-sim Stone functions properly when the elders reveal the locations.”
“Are you saying it might not work properly?”
“Yes. To be precise, the Jeong-sim Stone currently stored in the main temple is being managed by the late elder’s Jinmaek Chamber.”
“That’s like entrusting fish to a cat’s paws.”
Woo Tae-san nodded, acknowledging the accuracy of my words.
He performed a respectful bow and lowered his head slightly.
“From this point forward, this is a request from my master, Elder Yoon Hee-hyeon, to you, Senior. Would you be able to secretly obtain a Jeong-sim Stone that the late elder does not manage?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“My master says there are no monastics within Hyeonganmun he can trust, and that Elder Baek would never engage in such underhanded dealings.”
Woo Tae-san added his own agreement with Yoon Hee-hyeon’s assessment.
Baek Un-jin, who had been contemplating for a moment, set down his empty teacup.
“There should be a way to obtain a Jeong-sim Stone, right?”
“Ah, yes. While Hyeonganmun does manage the Jeong-sim Stones, there are occasionally those who, blinded by greed for spiritual stones, sell them on the black market. I’ve heard that some of these Jeong-sim Stones have been circulated in the underground markets of Hyeonbaek in Seongryul Province.”
“I see.”
“Because tensions are running high among the monastics within Hyeonganmun over whether to reveal the Hyeongang Tablets, those of us affiliated with Hyeonganmun cannot move freely.”
Even if Woo Tae-san brought a Jeong-sim Stone from the auction, complications would arise if someone claimed it might be counterfeit.
It was better to entrust this to a reliable outsider.
“I sincerely apologize for burdening you with such a modest request, but please help us.”
“I’ll do it.”
Baek Un-jin answered promptly, as if he had already made up his mind from the middle of their conversation.
As I listened to the entire exchange between Woo Tae-san and Baek Un-jin, I felt an inexplicable sense of discord.
‘If the original story had unfolded this way too…’
If my master had properly obtained and delivered the Jeong-sim Stone, the Hyeongang Tablets should have been revealed.
But the fact that the Hyeongang Tablets were never revealed…
‘My master failed? That doesn’t seem likely…’
I began to suspect that there might have been behind-the-scenes machinations in the original story that I wasn’t aware of.

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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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