I Possessed a Cultivator Destined to Die at the Hands of the Protagonist - Chapter 8

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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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08.
“Yes, I’ll work hard! I won’t slack off!”
“I trust you.”
After the lesson ended, Baek Un-jin departed immediately for the Tae-heo Kingdom.
Since I had possessed this body and spent all this time with Baek Un-jin at Cheong-un Domunn, being alone felt strange.
I stood in the center of the Baekryeon Training Ground, forming hand seals to cultivate the Chingwoo Immortal Technique.
Blue energy gathered around me, then slowly coalesced into a single mass.
As I extended my arm forward, the condensed energy wavered and flew outward before bursting apart with a soft pop.
“Ugh!”
Why wouldn’t it work?
This was precisely where the problem lay.
The sixth stage of the Chingwoo Immortal Technique was the manifestation of spiritual power, while the seventh stage was the mastery of wielding it freely.
“This part works fine, though.”
As I formed the hand seals again, several blue spheres materialized above my palm.
Concentrating my focus, they separated into multiple orbs.
I could create twelve spheres at most.
But while I could create them, whenever I tried to manipulate them, they would become unstable like before and burst apart with a bang.
Baek Un-jin said my spiritual power was sufficient, but my understanding of how to control it was lacking.
When I asked where I could gain that understanding, all I received in return was a cryptic laugh and words I couldn’t decipher.
“Spiritual power is not energy—it is the form of the Way itself. If I grasp spiritual power, it is not my strength but a chain of essence. Yet if spiritual power grasps me, then at last it will become part of my being.”
So what does that even mean?
In any case, since I had begun earnestly studying cultivation techniques, I had never encountered such an impasse, and the frustration was unbearable.
“I can’t do this!”
After deliberating for a long while without any progress, I left the Baekryeon Training Ground.
I wandered aimlessly wherever my feet took me, heading toward the outer edges of Bikyun Pavilion, when the Laundry Room came into view.
“Someone’s here.’
I had assumed no one would be around at this evening hour.
Since the Chingwoo Immortal Sect was so vast, there were ordinary mortals who assisted with the sect’s menial tasks.
Most cultivators rarely interacted with these mortals, and after becoming Baek Un-jin’s disciple, I too had been too occupied with studying the Heavenly Record Scripture and cultivation techniques to pay them much attention.
‘Is she doing all that laundry by herself?’
I approached the girl from behind.
“Excuse me.”
“Eek! Oh, y-you startled me. Who are you?”
The girl, who had been concentrating on her laundry, turned around.
She appeared to be three or four years older than me.
“Are you doing all this laundry by yourself? Is there no one else?”
“Oh, well… haha.”
She scratched her cheek and laughed awkwardly. As I glanced around the Laundry Room, I immediately understood why her answer seemed so evasive.
After a moment’s consideration, I rolled up my sleeves and walked toward her.
“I’m Yoo Yeon-seo. What’s your name?”
“Me? I’m Myeong Seol-hwa.”
“I’ll help you, Seol-hwa.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary….”
“You can’t do it all by yourself anyway. If we work together, we might finish faster!”
I dragged the basket overflowing with laundry to the side and set it down with a thud.
“…But how exactly do I do this?”
“What a strange one.”
I learned how to hand-wash clothes from Myeong Seol-hwa.
Swish, swish, swish.
For the first time in ages, engaging in mindless physical labor seemed to clear my head instead.
“I’m done!”
“Al-already?”
“Yes! Is there anything else to do?”
Myeong Seol-hwa was startled watching me move the basket brimming with laundry.
“Your stamina is r-really good.”
“This much is easy!”
Ever since I began learning the cultivation method, my physical endurance had grown rapidly.
I likely wouldn’t fall short compared to any ordinary adult.
“Thank you. We finished early because of you.”
“Not at all! I enjoyed clearing my head too. Would it be alright if I came by again tomorrow?”
“U-uh? Do as you please.”
“Hurray!”
Having been alone for so long, yearning for human companionship, Myeong Seol-hwa’s permission felt incredibly precious.
From that day on, I spent my mornings studying, afternoons training at the Baekryeon Training Ground, and before evening fell, I would go to the Laundry Room to help with the washing.
It was when I was about to leave after finishing the laundry as usual.
“Yeon-seo. Wait a moment, take this with you.”
“What is this?”
“Honey pastries. Thank you for helping every time.”
Myeong Seol-hwa handed me honey pastries piled on pristine white cloth.
When I unfolded the cloth, round honey pastries made from glutinous rice dough and coated in honey appeared.
“Wow, can I eat one right now?”
“Of course.”
Before the words even finished, I popped one into my mouth.
The soft glutinous rice melted on my tongue as sweet honey seeped out—it was delicious.
“It’s delicious! Thank you, Seol-hwa!”
“It’s nothing compared to your help. I’ll bring you more later.”
“Yes!”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten a treat like this.
The next day, I finished my training and headed to the Laundry Room again.
“This is….”
Laundry piled up more than twice my usual workload.
‘I’d noticed the quantity increasing bit by bit, but….’
This was simply too much.
There was no way I could manage it alone.
Until now, I’d pretended not to notice for Myeong Seol-hwa’s sake, but not anymore.
“Sister, someone’s deliberately tormenting you, aren’t they?”
“….”
“Who’s doing this? I’ll teach them a proper lesson!”
Myeong Seol-hwa tried to calm me down as I huffed indignantly, rolling up my sleeves.
“Settle down. First, let’s figure out how to handle this….”
“You’re actually planning to wash all of this?!”
“…It has to be done by tomorrow.”
Whether you’d call it kindness or naivety, I wasn’t sure.
‘Even if the two of us worked through the night, I doubt we could finish.’
This was clearly malicious harassment, no matter how I looked at it.
“Hmm.”
“It’s fine. I’ll figure something out.”
“But…. Oh! What about this?”
I dumped all the laundry into a heap at once.
Then I slowly extended my hands forward.
‘If I use my spiritual energy, it should work.’
As I slowly concentrated my focus, an enormous pile of laundry lifted into the air.
“Oh! It’s working!”
But it was short-lived.
“Kyaaah!”
The moment my concentration wavered, the laundry began thrashing about wildly, flying in all directions.
I couldn’t focus with the laundry moving ceaselessly.
My inability to make fine adjustments to my spiritual energy was a weakness I currently possessed.
“Y-Yeon-seo!”
“Just wait! I’ll manage it somehow!”
The laundry flew about like ghosts.
‘Fine, whatever!’
I formed the hand seals of the Cheong-yeon technique in abbreviated form and concentrated my focus.
‘Focus!’
The laundry that had shot skyward came falling down, then stopped suspended directly above Myeong Seol-hwa’s head and mine.
Water dripped steadily from the wet clothes, and we were instantly soaked like rats caught in a downpour.
“Huff, huff. That wasn’t what I intended…. But it worked!”
Once I succeeded once, the rest became easier.
The laundry moved freely through the air exactly as I willed it.
Thanks to this, I managed to finish an amount of laundry that couldn’t be completed even working through the night in less than half a double hour.
“Just now… Yeon-seo, you… Are you perhaps a cultivator?”
“Ah, yes. Hehe.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“You look so young, but that’s impressive. No wonder I thought you had such good stamina.”
“Ah, well, I only recently became a cultivator.”
Within the Chingwoo Immortal Sect, there were lay practitioners who assisted with menial tasks, but most of them worked at the outer gates, so cultivators rarely encountered them.
Even when they did cross paths, for some reason the cultivators were reluctant to mingle with the lay practitioners.
“Well, the laundry is all done now, so…”
“Is there anything else left?”
“Of course!”
I couldn’t allow her to continue suffering their torment.
***
“Hmph, how on earth does she manage to wash so much laundry every time?”
“There’s no way she could do it this time.”
When morning came, the maidservants who had been tormenting Myeong Seol-hwa arrived at the Laundry Room, giggling amongst themselves.
On one side, the clothes they had left behind were neatly hung out to dry.
“What, what is this?”
“She did all of this alone?”
“That’s impossible. Like last time, someone must have helped her, right?”
As the maidservants whispered among themselves, I emerged from between the clothes fluttering in the breeze.
“That’s right. I helped her.”
“You, who are you?”
“What is this little thing? Listen here, you can’t just wander into this place.”
“You’re the ones, aren’t you? The people who bullied Seol-hwa?”
“Where did this child come from?”
“In the name of justice, I will not forgive you!”

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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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