I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 69

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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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69.
Jin Seok-jun’s calm voice settled low across the entire cave chamber.
With each step he took, the blackened, rotting earth reclaimed its original hue.
“…This can’t be real.”
One of the monks muttered under his breath.
Hope flickered across the eyes of the surviving monks for the first time.
As their depleted spiritual energy returned, those who had collapsed struggled to their feet.
I too restored my spiritual energy through the Flowing Silver Robe.
‘This spiritual energy….’
Something foreign emanated from the recovered power.
This wasn’t spiritual energy that Jin Seok-jun had restored.
The heavenly energies dwelling within the earth itself—the will and essence of the land—were breathing life into the monks.
‘Jin Seok-jun has awakened to his Heavenly Mandate.’
I gazed at Jin Seok-jun.
The golden patterns inscribed on his forearms blazed with blinding clarity.
The circumstances differed, but the original narrative had unfolded this same way.
When everyone had fallen into despair during the calamity of earth, his Heavenly Mandate had saved them all.
‘But he died because of it.’
He had exhausted all his vital essence as the price for preventing the calamity and restoring the spiritual energy of countless monks.
‘This time, I won’t let that happen.’
Though he had awakened to his Heavenly Mandate as in the original, the scale of the calamity and the number of monks he had restored were far fewer than before.
“Hmm.”
Pung-hu, hovering in midair, flicked his twisted arm.
“How bothersome. How utterly bothersome.”
Pung-hu laughed one final time.
It was neither mockery nor rage, but something closer to pure displeasure.
“If the earth cannot die so long as it lives, then wouldn’t it suffice for me to obliterate that very earth entirely?”
Pung-hu crossed his hands in midair, weaving a seal.
A dark crimson aura was drawn upward above his head, forming a massive vortex.
“What’s so remarkable about a mere insect of the Beomjin Sect awakening to a Heavenly Mandate?”
As Pung-hu stretched toward empty space, the air within the cave chamber twisted once more.
It felt as though the very air enveloping the chamber was being compressed inward.
‘Danger!’
I instinctively planted my feet and rushed forward.
The Flowing Silver Robe unfurled in a sweeping arc, creating a colossal barrier between Jin Seok-jun and myself.
“Yu Susa?!”
Jin Seok-jun’s startled cry reached my ears, but it was already too late.
Crash!
The moment Pung-hu’s pressure collided with the Flowing Silver Robe, my body was thrust backward once more.
Fragments of the Flowing Silver Robe tore and regenerated in endless succession.
“Sister!”
Eun Hui-gyeom rushed to my side at once.
Not only that, but the monks who had recovered their spiritual energy braced themselves and prepared for battle.
“…Persistent creatures.”
The shadow of the Wind God that had risen behind Pung-hu twisted with even greater ferocity.
The form of wind grew increasingly distinct, and soon resembled a beast with two heads.
“What is that….”
“Even with our spiritual energy restored, there’s no way we could overcome something like that.”
The Seven Extinction Successors.
The half-form of one of the original work’s major villains was revealing itself.
The fractured earth was being thrust upward by the wind.
When Jin Seok-jun extended his hand, the ground that had offered no foothold reappeared.
But that alone was insufficient.
A portion of the wind flew toward Jin Seok-jun.
“Jin Seok-jun!”
Before I could even cry out, Kang Jin-heon moved first.
His iron thread cut through the air, summoning a fierce gust of wind.
The blade wind of the Pungwol Gongbeop clashed against Pung-hu’s wind.
But before Pung-hu’s overwhelming gale, Kang Jin-heon’s wind was nothing but child’s play.
The wind that he failed to block sliced through Kang Jin-heon’s iron thread and swept past.
“Ugh!”
As his body was caught in the wind and about to be swept away, petals of the Chwirageum Flower enveloped the area and neutralized the remaining wind.
“Do not act recklessly.”
Though their spiritual energy had recovered, Im So-ha’s power was also rapidly depleting before the overwhelming gale.
Kang Jin-heon wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and spoke.
“Jin Seok-jun, it’s impossible alone!”
That was true.
Jin Seok-jun had awakened his heavenly mandate, and though his techniques were inherently opposed to Pung-hu’s wind element, the very grade of their souls differed.
As long as Yeong-geun remained in the state of Yeon-gi-gi, it was nearly impossible for Jin Seok-jun to handle Pung-hu entirely alone.
Even if he were to defeat Pung-hu, it could still end with Jin Seok-jun sacrificing himself alone.
‘This cannot happen.’
I know it’s impossible to save everyone.
But at least, at the very minimum!
I wanted to prevent what happened in the original work—that he must die because that’s how the story went.
‘I have to stop it.’
If Jin Seok-jun fell, the spiritual energy of the barely recovered monks would surely vanish as well.
I did not want him to bear everything alone as he had in the original work.
I walked past the protective barrier that shielded us and toward where Jin Seok-jun and Pung-hu stood.
The moment I stepped outside the spell, a fierce wind struck with such force that standing became difficult.
“Sister! What are you doing! Come back!”
“I have to go. I can’t let him sacrifice himself alone!”
The moment a portion of Pung-hu’s blade flew toward me, Kang Jin-heon’s wind intercepted it.
Kang Jin-heon had already moved to my side.
‘Now that my spiritual power has recovered, even if only temporarily, I can do this.’
[Child, why do you not tend to your own destiny?]
That voice—the same one I’d heard when fighting Muk-hyeon.
Now that Jin Seok-jun had awakened to his celestial mandate, I could begin to understand its meaning.
‘I don’t even know what my own mandate is. But…!’
Ever since then, I had been ceaselessly attempting to wield the Flowing Silver Robe’s power.
Yet no matter how hard I tried, no matter how I called out, that force would not answer.
‘I need it now!’
If it won’t come willingly, I’ll force it to manifest.
I would squeeze every ounce of power I possessed and recreate the exact sensations from my battle with Muk-hyeon.
“Sister! What are you attempting now!”
Unable to contain himself any longer, Eun Hui-gyeom burst through the barrier.
But he was immediately overwhelmed by the wind, barely managing to hold his ground by driving his sword into the earth.
‘Just a moment is all I need.’
The briefest of instants would suffice.
If I could steal Pung-hu’s concentration for even a single move—!
That would be enough.
I unfurled the Flowing Silver Robe and carved through the wind, pressing forward.
“I veil the eyes of heaven to sever causality, and seal the ears of earth to hide my mandate.”
The incantation I had recited during the Mucheon Eunmyeong ceremony flowed unbidden from my lips.
As I clenched my fist, azure lotus flowers bloomed from my fingertips.
One became two, then four, then eight.
It was the Cheongyeon Gongbeop—the same as always.
‘Just a little more!’
I stared at the azure light on the back of my hand and poured more spiritual power into it.
I unleashed my recovered power and beyond, draining myself completely.
Cold sweat streamed down my face.
“Cough…!”
A sickening crack echoed from within my body as my meridians ruptured.
My body could not withstand the excessive drain of spiritual power.
Bitter blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.
In that instant, the edges of the azure lotus flowers blazed with pure white light.
“…!”
The light spread across the entire flower.
The pristine white radiance engulfed the azure petals, spreading from their tips inward until they were consumed in luminescence.
But it stopped there.
The heart of the azure flower created by the Cheongyeon Gongbeop remained steadfastly blue.
Unlike when the white lotus had enveloped my entire body, the lotus flowers now were merely half-blooms with only their edges tinged white.
‘It doesn’t matter!’
I knew this was my limit, but it was enough.
“Pung-hu!!”
My voice, fractured as if blood were mixing through it, was hurled toward Pung-hu.
Pung-hu’s eyes, locked in confrontation with Jin Seok-jun, turned downward to look at me, widening in perfect circles.
For the first time, I saw bewilderment flicker across his face.
“You wench, you…! How are you wielding that power…!”
I aimed my fingertips at Pung-hu suspended in the void.
White lotus flowers blossomed at the tips of my fingers.
Whoooosh.
The petals scattered, transforming into pure white light that surged outward.
White flames wrapped around the azure radiance, converging upon Pung-hu.
“Jin Seok-jun! Now!!”
At my cry, Jin Seok-jun swiftly chanted his incantation.
“Breath of the azure chronicle, become eternal records upon this inexhaustible brush. I cradle you with my steadfast path, weaving you into an unbreakable spirit. By the decree of imperishable history, raise beneath my feet a mountain that shall not crumble.”
The golden spiritual essence scattered across the surroundings wove together strand by strand, converging all at once beneath Pung-hu’s feet.
The wills of those slain by Paecheonmun gathered into Jin Seok-jun’s seal, baring their fangs toward Pung-hu.
[Cheongsajinak Technique]

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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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