I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 78

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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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78.
“I should venture deeper into this forest.”
The Stone Pavilion, where I had promised to meet Ha Gyeong-un, still lay some distance ahead.
I unfolded the letter once more.
Enter the forest’s mouth and proceed directly westward for one hour’s journey. It was a distance where one could hardly lose their way. After a considerable time had passed.
“Sister, haven’t we already traveled far longer than one hour?”
“It does seem that way….”
Despite having walked for more than an hour, we still had not reached the Stone Pavilion, our destination.
Eun Hui-gyeom withdrew a spiritual energy compass from his possession.
The needle pointed westward.
The direction we were walking was also westward.
“This landscape—haven’t we seen it before?”
Before Eun Hui-gyeom could finish speaking, Kang Jin-heon approached a nearby tree.
The marks Kang Jin-heon had left behind remained intact on the tree.
“This is the mark I left earlier.”
“….”
The same towering tree, the same broken branch in the same spot, the same jutting stone.
Even the marks Kang Jin-heon had left behind. We had lost our way.
It was exactly as written in Ha Gyeong-un’s letter.
“Could this be a formation array?”
“Unbyek Rim is land managed by the Chui Ok Gok Mun. Moreover, it’s incredibly vast—a formation array here?”
“If it’s not that, then nothing makes sense.”
Continuing westward only to return to the same spot made no sense no matter how I considered it.
Eun Hui-gyeom pointed at the spiritual energy compass.
“It’s definitely not a formation array.”
“How can you be certain?”
“If we had entered a formation array, the spiritual energy compass wouldn’t function properly. It usually spins wildly.”
His finger traced circles above the compass face.
Eun Hui-gyeom, who had encountered formation arrays several times during missions, spoke with conviction.
“So it’s not a formation array then…. Hmm.”
I folded my arms and fell into contemplation.
When I turned my head, I could see that Kang Jin-heon’s complexion had grown worse.
“Investigator Kang, are you alright?”
At my question, Kang Jin-heon slowly shook his head.
“My head aches.”
“Your head?”
“I’m uncertain. It could be a simple headache. My condition has been poor since we entered the forest.”
“….”
I looked toward Eun Hui-gyeom.
Noticing my questioning gaze, Eun Hui-gyeom merely shrugged, indicating he had no idea what the problem was.
In the end, Eun Hui-gyeom unfolded a vitality technique for Kang Jin-heon.
“Feeling any better?”
“Perhaps.”
Kang Jin-heon pressed his temples.
His face appeared even paler than usual.
‘Unbyek Rim. In the original work, there was only a mention that Chui Ok Gok Mun manages Unbyek Rim, nothing substantial beyond that.’
The original work adhered strictly to the protagonist Yang Ja-han’s perspective.
In other words, events that Yang Ja-han never witnessed or experienced were unknowable to me, no matter how hard I tried. The incident at Unbyek Rim was somewhat removed from the original narrative.
“Let’s venture deeper for now. There’s no point turning back at this stage.”
Since I had agreed to meet Ha Gyeong-un, I couldn’t retreat.
I walked westward. How long had we been walking?
“Sister, wait a moment….”
Eun Hui-gyeom’s voice came from behind, then cut off.
I turned around.
“Huh? Hui-gyeom?”
My voice rang out unusually loud.
But Eun Hui-gyeom was nowhere to be seen. Kang Jin-heon also stopped walking and surveyed the surroundings.
“He was right behind us just a moment ago….”
“That’s what I saw too.”
Something felt wrong.
A Monastery cultivator of the 2nd tier had vanished without a trace in the forest.
Moreover, so instantaneously that neither Kang Jin-heon nor I had noticed.
“What’s happening…. Kang?”
When I turned my head, Kang Jin-heon was also gone.
I drew my secret blade and gripped the sword seal.
‘Both of them disappeared. Is something happening? Have they been caught in something?’
It was then, as I stood tensely scanning the surroundings.
“Sister?”
Eun Hui-gyeom’s voice came from beside me once more.
Startled, I spun around sharply with my secret blade.
The blade’s edge grazed Eun Hui-gyeom’s chest.
“Ack! Y-you scared me! Why are you pointing a blade at me?”
“S-sorry. But you are Eun Hui-gyeom, right?”
“Of course. Did you perhaps see an illusion?”
“That’s not it…. Where did you go?”
“…Pardon?”
As I lowered my blade and asked, Eun Hui-gyeom tilted his head in confusion.
“It wasn’t me who went anywhere, Sister. It was you.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here the whole time. You’re the one who disappeared.”
“I’ve been looking for you this entire time.”
Eun Hui-gyeom and I blinked in unison.
We had each momentarily vanished from the other’s sight.
“Where did Kang Jin-heon go?”
“He was right beside me… wait, he’s gone?”
“Where did they both disappear to?”
Kang Jin-heon appeared casually before us.
We stared at each other in bewilderment.
“I’ve been right here with Hui-gyeom the whole time.”
“I just completed a full circle and came back.”
“What does that even mean…?”
Our accounts contradicted one another entirely.
In that moment, a chill ran down my spine.
Eun Hui-gyeom withdrew a spiritual compass and spoke gravely.
“This isn’t a simple maze formation. We may have entered a place we should never have set foot in.”
“Unbyek Rim is ordinary land managed by Chui Ok Gok Mun. Are you suggesting a dangerous formation could be laid across such a place?”
“I can’t say what’s happening, but the fact remains that we momentarily lost sight of each other. Someone may have tampered with Unbyek Rim.”
Either way, our inability to comprehend what was occurring meant this was no ordinary formation.
“Understood for now.”
I extended my Yuun Eun-ha Reung as far as possible and bound it around each of our wrists.
Since the Yuun Eun-ha Reung was connected to my spiritual power, we could find each other again if separated.
“Let’s venture deeper.”
Having already lost our way, there was no clear path back.
Realizing we couldn’t reach our rendezvous point, we decided to break free from circling the same location.
After moving in a different direction, we discovered a clearing we had never seen before.
“What is that?”
In the center of the modest clearing, a familiar sword was planted in the ground.
I approached and examined the blade.
Its pale green blade bore the distinctive jade-leaf pattern of Chui Ok Gok Mun.
“This sword is…”
“It’s a Chui Ok Gok Mun Monastery disciple’s blade. There’s a ring-shaped storage artifact beside it.”
Eun Hui-gyeom picked up the ring-shaped storage artifact lying near the sword.
A ring-shaped storage artifact.
Among the various storage artifacts that could hold different items, the ring-shaped variety was what a Monastery disciple clung to longest—never parting with it until the very end.
The probability of it containing survival essentials was extraordinarily high.
While Eun Hui-gyeom examined the artifact, I circled the perimeter.
The clearing bore no traces, no bloodstains.
I sensed no disturbance of heavenly energy either. Only the blade and ring lay there, as though someone had placed them with deliberate reverence.
It was an unsettling phenomenon.
“Shouldn’t we check inside the artifact? We might discover something.”
“It belongs to someone else. I can’t use it. Besides, if it’s a Chui Ok Gok Mun disciple’s, it could cause problems.”
“We don’t even know if we can escape this forest right now, but that’s not really the issue, is it?”
Eun Hui-gyeom’s words held merit.
After all, I hadn’t even encountered Ha Gyeong-un yet—I was merely wandering through the forest.
I was deliberating with Eun Hui-gyeom whether we should verify the contents of the Jeomjak Beop when it happened.
“…Venerable One.”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t hear that sound?”
“Sound? What sound?”
No matter how intently I listened, the forest remained utterly silent.
Eun Hui-gyeom also appeared to hear nothing unusual.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“I definitely hear it.”
“…Uh, what?”
“A woman’s voice. Singing.”
“Why are you saying creepy things like that?”
At Kang Jin-heon’s strange words, Eun Hui-gyeom’s body trembled.
I too had sensed that something was amiss with Kang Jin-heon since we entered the forest.
Kang Jin-heon suddenly spun around and ventured deeper into the forest.
“Wait! Venerable Kang!”
“Hey, where are you going alone!”
Eun Hui-gyeom and I rushed after him in alarm.
But his pace was so swift that he vanished in an instant. Growing frustrated, Eun Hui-gyeom accelerated and caught up to Kang Jin-heon in moments.
“So where exactly are you—damn it!”
Eun Hui-gyeom suddenly swept Kang Jin-heon’s feet out from under him and pinned him down in one fluid motion.
“Hui-gyeom! What are you doing!”
“Sister, this man isn’t in his right mind! He’s been bewitched!”
Even after being subdued by Eun Hui-gyeom, Kang Jin-heon stared ahead with unfocused eyes.
Eun Hui-gyeom hastily formed a seal and cast a healing technique on Kang Jin-heon.
The claim of bewitchment proved no exaggeration—at Eun Hui-gyeom’s technique, Kang Jin-heon’s head drooped forward limply.
“Why did that suddenly happen?”
“Oh, you two. What are you doing here?”
Im So-ha emerged from the opposite side of the forest.

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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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