Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 75

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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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75.

Crimson chains coiled tightly around the Evil Spirit’s form.
Yet Yeonhwa understood the truth—these chains were having little effect on the avatar.

You remain unchanged. That is why you can receive nothing.
The black mass that was once merely the Evil Spirit’s avatar rippled with movement.
The avatar now wore the Patriarch’s visage and spoke with his voice.

Yeonhwa. I asked you once. Did you wish to sit in my place? Yet you never answered me.
“Silence.”

Flames erupted from the chains with a roar. The fire reached the avatar but burned nothing.
Then Yeonhwa’s crescent blade soared into the air. It fractured into dozens of shards that hurtled toward the avatar.
Yet the blades never reached it. The avatar had already slipped free from the chains.
Impossibly.
For a moment, Yeonhwa’s eyes trembled. But she quickly concealed her shock.
Instead, she wielded the power of Wood. In an instant, vines erupted in all directions, leaving the avatar no chance to escape.
Gasp!
As the avatar cried out in agony, an enormous water sphere enveloped it.

“It is you who remains unchanged, Evil Spirit.”

Whoosh!
Sharp jets of water erupted from within the sphere, piercing the avatar. The water shards penetrated through its body in countless places.

Screech!

The avatar shrieked in torment and spat blood. Yet soon after, it twisted its lips into a sinister smile.

Do you truly believe that?

Splash!
The water sphere burst. The vines that had bound the avatar vanished as well.
Yeonhwa could not believe it. Merely an avatar, yet none of her attacks were effective.
No—even when her attacks landed, the avatar recovered instantly.

“The Evil Spirit has grown stronger than when the Patriarch sealed it away….”

“The Evil Spirit has become more powerful, Princess.”

Hand Ogeong’s words drifted through her mind.
Just how much stronger had it become than before?
Could one simply say the Evil Spirit grew stronger because human malice had intensified?
What exactly had Gihyeongrang given to the Evil Spirit?
Can we really… win against this?
Can Cheonhaerang?
That child?
She tried to hide her turmoil, but it was beyond her control.

Yeonhwa.

It was the Evil Spirit’s voice. Not her father’s voice.
But once shaken, she could not easily regain her footing.
The Evil Spirit’s voice echoed like a whisper in her ears.

Speak truthfully. You want to take my place, don’t you?
That’s why you hide everything from Cheonhaerang under the guise of protection.
Because you cannot trust Cheonhaerang.
If you prove you can kill the Evil Spirit, I will acknowledge you.

“No, that’s not it. I’m not….”

Yeonhwa murmured, denying the Evil Spirit’s words.
Yet her mind was already filled with Yueul’s words.

“I wonder. Even if you were the Princess or the Jade Emperor, could Cheonhaerang even properly wield the Sword of Spiritual Dao? That weak Cheonhaerang, now as before.”

“Princess, think carefully. Is it truly right for that Cheonhaerang to succeed the Patriarch? Something you could never obtain despite all your struggles,”

Weak Cheonhaerang.
A weak child.
Weak and fragile, yet infinitely precious.
Someone I must protect forever….
…Is that really all there is?
Yeonhwa’s head throbbed. She couldn’t gather her thoughts properly.
That’s why she didn’t notice the Evil Spirit’s fragment approaching her.

Think carefully, Yeonhwa.
Tell me you want my position. Speak your true heart.

The rigid armor surrounding her heart seemed to crumble.
She despised her father.
The Patriarch who gave her nothing while demanding only responsibility and duty.
The Patriarch who ultimately bound her in shackles.
He never understood the suffering those shackles caused her, never cared about others’ wounds, yet clung so desperately to such trivial notions of love. She hated him so much.
Coming to the Human Realm under the Patriarch’s command had actually been a blessing for her.
It allowed her resentment and anger toward him to fade.
So… she could forget.
She thought she had forgotten it all.

“No. I… I simply cherish that child so dearly, so very dearly….”

I don’t want to lose her. I want to protect her….

“Sister!”

Whoosh—!
Ahhhhh!
Along with the voice calling her name came the sound of wind being split.
Yeonhwa’s mind snapped back into focus. Her blurred vision cleared.
She saw before her the fragment, writhing in agony as it lost one arm.
She quickly bound the fragment with chains and created distance.

“Sister! Are you alright?”

Yeonhwa saw those approaching her. Cheonhaerang and Jiho gazed at her with worried expressions.
In Jiho’s hand was a pristine white bow. Her mother’s bow.
Yeonhwa spoke to Jiho.

“Jiho, can you fire the bow one more time?”

I nodded. I could see the Evil Spirit’s fragment.
Whether the pain had subsided or not, the fragment stared at us with eyes blazing like inferno.
It seemed ready to pounce at any moment.
Wearing the Patriarch’s form made it honestly terrifying. But I couldn’t stop.
Just as I was about to draw the bowstring—

“No, I’ll do it. Jiho, you stay here and protect your sister.”

In an instant, the tortoise shell enveloped Yeonhwa and me. Before I could even grab Cheonhaerang, he charged toward the fragment.

These damned things!

With a thunderous roar from the Evil Spirit, the Sword of Spiritual Dao blazed with light.

“Cheonhaerang!”

Whoosh!
Though the fragment wore the Patriarch’s form, Cheonhaerang’s blade descended without a moment’s hesitation.
Yeonhwa watched in stunned silence.
Fire erupted along the path where the Sword of Spiritual Dao cut through. The flames consumed the fragment in an instant.

Aaaahhh! Ahhh!

The fragment’s screams of agony faded as it crumbled to ash within the inferno.
Crackle, crackle.
The remaining embers burned on the ground before vanishing completely.
I hurried to Cheonhaerang’s side.

“Cheonhaerang! Are you alright?”

Cheonhaerang turned to me with a reassuring smile.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Jiho, what about you?”

However, Yeonhwa noticed that Cheonhaerang’s hands trembled as she gripped the sword.
She had overcome her fear of the Evil Spirit.
Ah. Yeonhwa let out a soft sigh.
I had only ever seen her as a mere child, as someone I needed to protect.
That hadn’t changed.
But the child had grown.
She was no longer weak. She could overcome her fear and stand against it.
Just as she had overcome that long nightmare.
Yeonhwa slowly approached Cheonhaerang.
She still despised her father. That much remained unchanged.
If someone asked whether she resented Cheonhaerang for that, honestly, she couldn’t easily answer no.
That’s why she had wavered at the Evil Spirit’s cunning whispers.
Yet now there was one thing she was certain of.
Cheonhaerang was no longer merely a child she needed to protect.
She gestured toward Cheonhaerang.
Cheonhaerang tilted her head in confusion and bent forward.
And.

“You did well, Cheonhaerang.”

A warm hand stroked Cheonhaerang’s head.
For a moment, Cheonhaerang stared at her sister with a dazed expression.
Her sister was smiling brightly, as if something had lifted from her.
It was the first time Cheonhaerang had seen such a radiant smile.

* * *

I destroyed and killed everything in my path, yet my rage remained unquenched. Even without Eul, I could have ended this.
I could have brought that woman myself. I could have earned Master’s recognition.
But that bastard Eul ruined everything.

“What’s got you so worked up now?”

Byeong clicked his tongue at Mu, asking the question. At Mu’s feet lay the bodies of countless slaughtered animals.
Byeong didn’t particularly enjoy the stench of beast blood, unlike human blood.

“What else? That bastard Eul, that’s what.”

Mu kicked at the scattered animal corpse before him with an angry foot, and blood sprayed across the ground. At the sight of the animal flying through the air, Byeong frowned.

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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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