I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 73
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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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73.
The calamity of earth had ended.
The Jaya Mountain region was designated a forbidden zone, and in place of the collapsed Daehyeon Jinbi, the eight great sects of Jeongmun united to erect a massive seal monument.
Hyeongang Jicheok, where Heugam Jae lay, fell under the administration of Hyeonganmun.
The surviving remnants of Paecheonmun scattered and fled, while some took their own lives.
Among the common folk, this day was called the Crimson Blood Incident—when the sky above Jaya Mountain turned red and the earth trembled. Among the cultivators, it was known as the Jaya Blood Calamity.
Yet records were merely records.
There were countless names that went unrecorded.
Cultivators swallowed by the earth without even a chance to transcend, countless nameless commoners who lost their lives without understanding why.
After returning to Cheong Woo Seon Mun, I lay in a comatose state for three days.
“Sister! Are you awake?”
“…Uh, yes.”
“Thank goodness.”
Thanks to Im So-ha’s continued treatment, Eun Hui-gyeom, who had always been robust, reportedly lost consciousness for only about a day.
Eun Hui-gyeom, who had awakened before me, had apparently remained at my bedside to care for me until I regained consciousness.
“Master said you were merely sleeping, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave.”
“You must have overexerted yourself too…”
“I woke up much earlier than you, Sister. I’m fine now. Ah, this is the medicinal broth Master said to have you drink when you awoke.”
Eun Hui-gyeom warmed the broth with his spiritual force and handed it to me.
From the bowl of dark liquid, unidentifiable things bobbed about, emanating a peculiar aroma.
“…This isn’t medicinal broth—it’s poison, isn’t it?”
“Master would never give you something like that. Besides, medicine that’s good for the body is always bitter.”
Eun Hui-gyeom assured me of its efficacy, mentioning he had already consumed some himself.
I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed the broth Baek Un-jin had left behind.
I felt like a child who hated taking medicine.
“Ugh, it tastes awful.”
Eun Hui-gyeom’s claim about its effectiveness seemed accurate—I soon felt my stomach settling.
“By the way, what happened to Jin Seok-jun?”
I knew that Jin Seok-jun had come to Cheong Woo Seon Mun for treatment.
But after that, I too had collapsed, and I didn’t know what had become of him.
“Jin Seok-jun is alive. He’s past the critical point.”
According to Eun Hui-gyeom, Jin Seok-jun had suffered severe internal injuries just before reaching the Gyeoldan-gi.
It was said to be a miracle that he survived at all.
At Heugam Jae, pouring water into a bottomless vessel had been the only way to sustain his life force.
Jin Seok-jun’s spiritual root was woefully insufficient to bear the power of Cheonmyeong.
From overusing Cheonmyeong’s power, his spiritual root had become severely twisted.
Hyeonganmun took him back to their main sect and placed him in closed-door recuperation.
His life was not in danger, but no one knew when he would awaken again.
The other cultivators who had fought alongside us each returned to their respective sects, and those in good condition remained to help with the aftermath.
And finally, Yang Ja-han.
“That guy? Why are you asking about him?”
“That guy?”
“Yeah, that guy. An insufferable bastard. Just because he’s a Celestial Root Bearer, he thinks he’s something special. Acts like he’s better than everyone else.”
“You’re a Celestial Root Bearer too.”
In the original story, Eun Hui-gyeom died quickly and his nature was never revealed, but he too was a water-attribute Celestial Root Bearer.
“Ugh, I heard he’s in closed-door cultivation.”
Later, when I learned that Yang Ja-han had tried to kill Jin Seok-jun at Hyeonganmun, I filed an official protest, and that was the response I received.
“Closed-door cultivation, my foot. That’s just protecting one of their own. I’m sure he knew this would happen. Anyway! You should focus on recovering for a while.”
Eun Hui-gyeom fussed over me as he prepared medicinal broths.
I devoted myself entirely to treatment under Eun Hui-gyeom’s care.
A month passed.
My body had mostly recovered, and my cultivation power had returned to its previous level.
‘Though “previous” might not be the right word.’
Thanks to the experience of fighting at my absolute limit, risking my life, I was able to reach the twelfth stage of Yeongi shortly after my body recovered.
Baek Un-jin said that while I hadn’t awakened to my Heavenly Mandate like Jin Seok-jun, I had come close enough that my level was already approaching the fourth stage of Chukgi, and with steady advancement, reaching the mid-stage of Chukgi would be effortless.
He said reaching the mid-stage of Chukgi would be no difficulty at all.
As soon as my body healed, the next thing I did after advancing was search through the books in the library of Cheong Woo Seon Mun.
I entered Seowun Pavilion.
“Master, may I look around Seowun Pavilion?”
Baek Un-jin sat before a desk, turning through books.
He glanced up at me briefly, then answered calmly.
“Do as you wish.”
He didn’t ask why I wanted to search through the libraries of Seowun Pavilion.
‘Whether he’s choosing not to ask or pretending not to know.’
Bikyun Pavilion, which Baek Un-jin managed, was a space he had inherited from his own master.
Seowun Pavilion within Bikyun Pavilion was the same.
Countless books accumulated by Baek Un-jin, his master, and their predecessors had seeped into Seowun Pavilion like history itself.
I slowly searched through the bookshelves in the deepest part of Seowun Pavilion.
Between the books, I spotted an old wooden chest covered in dust.
When I opened it, I found ancient texts that appeared to be centuries old.
【Records of Spiritual Roots】
It was an old book recording the Spiritual Roots.
【The quality of a cultivator originates from the Spiritual Root. A Spiritual Root is the vessel for immortal cultivation bestowed by heaven and earth, and the type of vessel determines the cultivator’s path. The foundation of Spiritual Roots lies in the Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. One’s lineage is determined by examining how these five energies dwell within the body at birth.】
【The classification of Spiritual Roots is decreed by heaven and cannot be changed by human will. Yet a Spiritual Root is merely a vessel, and how that vessel is used depends on the cultivator themselves. Any Spiritual Root, depending on what path its owner walks, can become either a mere pebble or a bell weighing ten thousand pounds.】
I stood there reading through the Records of Spiritual Roots.
From single-element Spiritual Roots to dual-element, triple-element, quadruple-element, and even the rarer special Spiritual Roots.
Nearly every known Spiritual Root was recorded.
Yet nowhere in it was there a single line about the Seven-Element Spiritual Root.
Not only in the Records of Spiritual Roots, but also in the Ancient Records of Spiritual Roots, the Comprehensive Mirror of Spiritual Roots, the Celestial Compendium of Spiritual Roots, and so on.
Not only Yeonggeun Byeolgi, but also Yeonggeun Gorok, Yeonggeun Tonggam, Cheondae Yeonggeun Bo, and so on.
I had searched through every ancient text in the Chingwoo Immortal Sect related to Yeonggeun, but it was the same—nothing.
“How could this be?”
No matter what, it was strange that there wasn’t a single line of explanation about the Seven-Life Yeonggeun.
‘Did Yang Ja-han fabricate information about the Seven-Life Yeonggeun?’
Yet Pung-hu also seemed to know something similar to Yang Ja-han, as if he possessed knowledge of it.
Above all, Yang Ja-han was absolutely not the type of person to tell lies like that.
My head throbbed with pain.
‘A sinner against heaven’s will.’
Against heaven’s will.
A fate that defies the heavenly path.
A fate that should never have existed.
Pung-hu called me a sinner against heaven’s will.
Together with Yang Ja-han’s words that I should not be alive, Pung-hu’s words had lodged deep in my chest, carving open a wound.
“…There are no answers here either.”
I closed the final page of the Cheonndae Yeonggeun Bogbo that I had been reading.
The sky beyond the window of the Seowun Pavilion had already turned crimson.
That night, unlike usual, sleep would not come.
Perhaps it was the frustration from unanswered questions.
That was what I thought.
Thump.
My heart raced wildly of its own accord, the meridians throughout my body surged, and my spiritual force convulsed.
It was absolutely not something I intended.
The Yuun Eunha Reung, which had been left partially open, began to glow of its own accord.
It was responding to my spiritual force.
“What is happening….”
As I rose from the bed and tried to approach the Yuun Eunha Reung, my body tilted of its own accord, and with a thud, I collapsed.
I tried to get up, but my body would not obey.
Bracing my hands against the ground and lifting my face, blood poured from my mouth.
“Ugh, hah…!”
Cold sweat drenched me as I exhaled roughly.
A maddening nausea and a pain so intense it was soundless engulfed my entire body.
I could not determine what was wrong, but one thing was clear.
‘My Yeonggeun is running wild on its own!’
To a cultivator, Yeonggeun was both a vessel and something like the root of the soul.
When that root itself wavered, it was a problem of an entirely different magnitude than sustaining internal injuries.
I crouched down and breathed as deeply as I could, suppressing the surging spiritual force.
‘Something is different…. This is….’
Someone, please come.
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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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