I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 79

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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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79.
“Im Seonbae?”
Eun Hui-gyeom lifted his head while restraining Kang Jin-heon.
Im So-ha’s presence had changed considerably in the four years since I last saw her.
Her once-long hair had been trimmed slightly shorter, now resting around her shoulders.
The pale jade-green robe distinctive to Chui-ok Valley Sect bore an additional jade-leaf knot marking her as the head of Yeong-hyeon Hall.
“It’s been a long time, Seonbae.”
I greeted her with proper courtesy.
Im So-ha observed Eun Hui-gyeom holding Kang Jin-heon, then raised her eyebrows briefly.
“Eun Susa, Yoo Susa—it’s been a while. As for Kang Susa…”
“He was bewitched. He suddenly heard some strange woman’s song coming from the forest and rushed in without thinking.”
“A song?”
“Yes. We didn’t hear anything ourselves. But he insisted something was wrong.”
“I see.”
Im So-ha’s gaze lingered briefly on Kang Jin-heon before settling on the ring-shaped spiritual artifact I held in my hand.
“What is that?”
“It was in the clearing. Since it was with a sword bearing Chui-ok Valley Sect’s mark, I assumed it belonged to one of their disciples.”
I showed her the ring along with the sword.
Im So-ha’s voice dropped low as she examined the blade.
“This is Gyeong-un’s sword.”
Im So-ha recognized the ornament hanging from the sword’s hilt.
“We should move. It’s not wise to remain here long.”
Im So-ha took the lead.
Unlike when we had wandered through the forest, her steps carried absolute certainty.
She clearly knew the forest paths well, as befitted a disciple of Chui-ok Valley Sect.
We followed Im So-ha out of the forest toward shallower ground.
Beside the clearing we reached stood a small pile of stones.
As Im So-ha sat upon the stones, I felt the surrounding spiritual energy stabilize.
It appeared to be a temporary protective formation she had laid down.
Eun Hui-gyeom helped Kang Jin-heon sit beside the stones.
His consciousness remained hazy, but he no longer lost focus as he had before.
“Do we really need to bind him?”
“What if he thrashes about like before?”
Eun Hui-gyeom used his technique to bind Kang Jin-heon directly to the rock, then dusted off his hands.
“How did you all end up here?”
“Ah, well…”
Eun Hui-gyeom and I exchanged glances.
The letter had contained a request not to tell the senior disciples of Chui-ok Valley Sect.
Eun Hui-gyeom spoke first.
“We received a letter from Ha Susa.”
“Ha Gyeong-un?”
“Yes.”
I hadn’t even managed to meet Ha Gyeong-un, and on top of that, I’d lost my way.
Eun Hui-gyeom seemed to decide there was no point in hiding it and told the truth.
“I see.”
“We did say we’d meet at Unbyek Rim, but we’ve also lost our way in the situation.”
Eun Hui-gyeom scratched the back of his neck, asking if this place was always like this.
Im So-ha placed her hand on her knee and opened her mouth.
“Unbyek Rim was never like this.”
“R-really?”
“That child entered Unbyek Rim a fortnight ago. She said she was going to collect medicinal herbs, and it was a distance that should have taken four days to return.”
Im So-ha let out a sigh as she read the letter sent to us.
“The Western Herb Garden of Unbyek Rim was the section that child managed. If she put her mind to it, she could return in half a day instead of four days.”
The desertion of lower-ranked monastics had occurred frequently.
Most of them were monastics who, upon entering, found their achievements falling short of their expectations and harbored discontent.
Im So-ha was also aware that desertion among lower-ranked monastics had been increasing recently.
Reading the letter and thinking it over, the claim about gathering herbs seemed to be merely an excuse.
“On the sixth day, I sent out a search party. I thought it made no sense for Ha Gyeong-un to desert, even if other monastics might.”
The search party consisted of nine people.
One Gyeoldan-gi, five Chukgi-gi, three Yeongi-gi.
It was excessive personnel for searching for a single monastic.
“But those nine who entered the search party each emerged from nine different exits.”
“…They entered together though?”
When Eun Hui-gyeom asked again, Im So-ha slowly nodded her head.
“Yes. According to the report, they lost sight of each other within the forest, and ultimately all emerged in different directions.”
Even the Gyeoldan-gi monastic who led the search party couldn’t explain specifically how she had emerged.
My eyes met Eun Hui-gyeom’s.
It matched exactly with the phenomenon we had experienced before meeting Im So-ha.
“Unbyek Rim is a Spirit Forest managed by Chui Ok Gok Mun. The sect has designated it as a Spirit Forest for over seven hundred years, and in all that time, nothing like this has ever occurred.”
“What did the Elder Council say?”
A shallow sneer crossed Im So-ha’s lips.
When the search party that had emerged from the forest re-entered it, Unbyek Rim appeared as it always did.
“They concluded that the child must have deserted during her training with selfish intentions. The fact that the herb garden she was managing remained untouched likely contributed to that judgment.”
Im So-ha also found that aspect strange.
Only after reading the letter could I understand why Ha Gyeong-un had acted that way.
“I couldn’t accept that Ha Gyeong-un had deserted. So yesterday, I entered the forest myself.”
Im So-ha had entered at noon.
She had planned to go only as far as the Western Herb Garden, examine Ha Gyeong-un’s traces, and return.
Half a double-hour was sufficient distance for that.
“But when I came to my senses, it was already dawn the next day.”
Im So-ha sighed, still unable to make sense of it all.
“An entire day vanished. I have no memory of what I did during that time, or where I was.”
Eun Hui-gyeom’s face hardened like stone.
A Gyeoldan-gi monastery disciple losing a full day of memory defied all logic.
“So even you, Senior, find this situation unmanageable?”
“…I don’t know.”
One thing was certain: Im So-ha had no memory of yesterday.
The fact that something was happening within the sect’s domain and no one could sense it frustrated her deeply.
“I was trying to find a way out, thinking it best to leave this place first.”
“So you encountered us in the process.”
“That’s right.”
Hearing Im So-ha’s circumstances, both Eun Hui-gyeom and I felt our heads throb. We had never imagined that Im So-ha, a Chui Ok Gok Mun disciple, could lose her way.
If even she didn’t know how to escape, our chances were even more hopeless.
“Um… there was a storage ring next to the sword. Would it be alright to check it?”
If the sword belonged to Ha Gyeong-un, the ring-shaped storage device likely belonged to him as well.
We all knew it was improper to carelessly open someone else’s storage ring.
“Open it. This isn’t the time to worry about etiquette.”
At Im So-ha’s word, Eun Hui-gyeom emptied the contents of the storage ring.
There weren’t many items inside.
A few of Ha Gyeong-un’s cultivation tools, what appeared to be materials for spirit pills, and one rather thick book.
“What kind of book is this?”
“It looks like a cultivation journal?”
Some monastery disciples kept records of their cultivation progress.
I handed the journal to Im So-ha.
It seemed improper for a disciple from another sect to read someone else’s cultivation journal.
Im So-ha turned through the pages one by one.
The earlier sections were ordinary cultivation records.
Mostly entries about which mountains or forests she had visited and what herbs she’d seen, the state of the heavenly qi that day, what cultivation she had performed.
A common cultivation journal like any other.
Im So-ha’s hand stopped as she read through the journal.
“What is this?”
A single sheet of paper had been inserted midway through.
It was a crumpled, loose page.
The page was divided into short paragraphs by date.
[Eleventh month, fourth day.
Today I discovered a point in the Western Herb Garden where the spiritual energy was disturbed. It was perfectly fine until yesterday, yet all the grass roots were withered. What’s strange is that the dried grass stands upright instead of falling over. I’ve never seen such a phenomenon before.]
[Twelfth month, fourth day.
I tried to return to the same spot but couldn’t find the path. I, lost in the forest?]
[Twelfth month, fifth day.
A junior disciple has disappeared. It seems many lower-ranked disciples have recently defected. Seven out of eleven were last seen at Unbyek Rim. I reported it to the Elder Council and superiors, but nothing came of it.]
[Twelfth month, sixth day.
At Unbyek Rim, I heard a woman’s voice. It was something like a song, but I cannot recall the lyrics. When I opened my eyes, I had emerged beyond the forest. How did I get out?]
[Twelfth month, seventh day.
I found a place where the wind does not settle. A point where footsteps make no sound. Something lies beneath it. Even my spiritual power cannot seem to reach it.]
[Eleventh month, fourteenth day.
After much deliberation, I contacted Yoo Susa of the Chingwoo Immortal Sect. We are not close, but he seems like he would help. When we meet, I intend to discuss this matter in detail.]

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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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