Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 99

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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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99.

I couldn’t fall for that deceitful tongue again. Yeonhwa steadied her crumbling mind.
When Hand Ogeong drew Gihyeongrang’s attention, I was supposed to move toward the Evil Spirit. But because of my mistake, we’d arrived at this point.
I shouldn’t collapse before my friend’s death—I needed to burn with vengeance against Gihyeongrang.
Yeonhwa gripped her crescent blade tightly and rose to her feet. Gihyeongrang, mimicking the Patriarch’s appearance, was locked in combat with Cheonhaerang, their swords clashing.
I recognized that blade. A curved sword with a sharp, luminous edge.
Inscribed upon it were the words: “The Way of Heaven shows no partiality, yet forever favors the virtuous.”
The Way of Heaven holds no private affections and plays no favorites, yet it always stands with the virtuous.
It was the Patriarch’s sword.
Gihyeongrang knew of that blade—as if he had crossed swords with the Patriarch before.
I nearly laughed at the absurdity, but I quickly suppressed my emotions. This was no time to be swayed by personal feelings.
From the vacant expression on Cheonhaerang’s face, it was clear he was being enchanted. He had to regain his senses before Gihyeongrang spoke.

“Cheonhaerang! Snap out of it!”

In the same moment, I rushed toward Gihyeongrang.
Crash!
My crescent blade collided violently with his sword.
Yeonhwa met his gaze as it turned slowly toward her.

“Gihyeongrang. Your opponent is me.”
“Gihyeongrang? You should call me Father, Yeonhwa.”

The same face as the Patriarch, the same voice. But I would not be deceived again.

“Don’t spout such nonsense.”

The clash of blades rang out, metal grinding against metal.
Flames erupted across the crescent blade before vanishing, leaving its edge honed to a razor’s sharpness.
Clang, clang! The sound of steel shrieking through the air.
Sword and crescent blade collided, and from Yeonhwa burst forth azure chains once more.
Yet the chains crumbled to dust before they could even touch Gihyeongrang.
Cheonhaerang watched it all unfold.
I knew I had to move. Yet my feet felt nailed to the ground, utterly immobilized.
Something seemed to grip and crush me from within.
The Patriarch’s voice echoed in my ears.

Cheonhaerang. Do you understand why things have come to this?
It is all because of you. Because of you, who knows not your place.
Because you are weak.

I could not shake the voice that rang in my ears.

Jiho will die because of you. Had you not existed, she would never have come here.
She would not have had to suffer so. If only you did not exist.
It is all because of you.
That the Evil Spirit came to desire Jiho’s heart—that too is all because of you.

No, that is not true. It is not because of me. What I wanted was….
I denied it inwardly. Yet the image of Jiho that filled my mind left no room for further denial.
Jiho collapsing so helplessly. Jiho with ashen cheeks and breath so faint it barely stirred.
All of it was because of the utterly powerless Cheonhaerang.
Gihyeongrang’s words were not wrong.
Had I not come to the Human Realm claiming I would capture Gihyeongrang, Jiho would never have fallen to such a state.
Or had I simply returned to Baekokgyeong with Jiho from the beginning.
I uttered the words in a daze.

“…Yes. It is all because of me. Because of me….”

Because of my recklessness, they had been placed in danger.
My sister, the Jade Emperor, Jiho.
Negative emotions began to suffocate me. And it was the very emotion that Evil cherished most.
Black smoke began to seep from where I stood, swiftly enveloping my body.
My eyes, caught in the Evil Spirit’s delusion, grew unfocused and hazy.
Yeonhwa, struggling to hold her own against Gihyeongrang, could only discover this far too late.

“Cheonhaerang!”

Yeonhwa cried out as she blocked Gihyeongrang’s assault with trembling arms.

But she knew her voice wasn’t reaching him now.
Clang—!
The blades clashed and scraped against each other.
Unlike Yeonhwa, who was struggling, Gihyeongrang appeared unaffected. He even smiled with leisure.

“You can’t afford to be distracted, Yeonhwa.”

Gihyeongrang’s voice sounded almost affectionate. Yet the water dragon descending upon Yeonhwa was anything but tender.

“Ugh!”

Struck in the chest, Yeonhwa was instantly driven back from Gihyeongrang.
Her insides twisted in agony. She spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Cheonuyhua.”

The voice piercing her ears had changed. No longer her father’s voice, but Gihyeongrang’s.
Yeonhwa raised her head with difficulty, breathing heavily.
Her father’s form was no longer visible. As if he had already finished his business in that guise.

“Gi… Gihyeongrang.”

Yeonhwa gasped out his name with effort. The tip of Gihyeongrang’s blade touched her chin.
At the same moment, Yeonhwa collapsed to her knees.
It was not intentional. Something forced her down with overwhelming pressure.
She couldn’t even struggle to break free.
Gihyeongrang looked down at Yeonhwa. This gaze from below, looking up at him. He was deeply satisfied.
He spoke with a contented smile on his lips.

“Considering all the affection I’ve harbored, I’ll grant you a merciful end, Elder Sister.”

The cold blade that had touched her chin fell away. In the next instant, the sword was about to pierce her heart.
Whoosh!
Something flew through the air and struck his hand. He nearly dropped the sword.
Gihyeongrang looked at the back of his hand. The mark left by that arrow.
Over that faded scar, another arrow had embedded itself.
A brilliantly luminous arrow.
Ha. Gihyeongrang let out a cold, bitter laugh. Simultaneously, black blades rose behind him.
The fractured blades flew toward something.
Thunk, thunk. As the blades embedded themselves somewhere, he turned his head. That was when it happened.

“Cheonhaerang!”

Along with that familiar voice, arrows suddenly filled the sky. Then they rained down like precipitation.
Shiiing!
Gihyeongrang gazed beyond the protective barrier where the arrows were dissolving.
His illusion shattered. This was not Baekokgyeong.
The familiar School Courtyard. Blue light rippled through the mist that covered this place.
Cheonhaerang, who had been within his grasp, now stood upon Baekho’s back. Beneath Baekho’s feet, a blue formation shone.
Cheonhaerang had regained consciousness and now leveled his sword at him.
Gihyeongrang turned his gaze to Cheonuyhua. As expected, she too had vanished.
Cheonuyhua was….
Gihyeongrang lifted his head. Hand Ogeong and Yueul, whom he should have been facing.
But what he saw instead were Hand Ogeong’s clones surrounding Yueul, and Cheonuyhua cradled in Hand Ogeong’s arms.
Now Gihyeongrang understood.
From the beginning, Hand Ogeong and Ryujiho had not come together.
Gihyeongrang burst into laughter.

“Haha. Ahahaha!”

How dare these wretches mock him.
Gihyeongrang could not contain his rage.
Crash!
Something slammed into the ground. It was Yueul.
Even having absorbed a portion of the Evil Spirit, it was not easy to stand against the Jade Emperor. No matter if it was merely the Jade Emperor’s avatar.

“Ha.”

Gihyeongrang stopped laughing. With a hardened expression, he looked at Cheonhaerang and spoke.

“That’s right. So you want to play with me like this….”

Whoooosh—.
The light vanished.
What appeared before them was the landscape of that place.
The Demon’s Space they had witnessed through Hand Ogeong’s messenger. The space that had now become Gihyeongrang’s Dimensional Space.
It was shrouded in darkness.
Boom, crash!
The surging earth collided against the Turtle Shell that encircled Cheonhaerang and Jiho. Sand whipped through the air in violent gusts.
Within the sandstorm, Gihyeongrang drew impossibly close to them in an instant.
Clang!
The screech of the blade unable to pierce the Turtle Shell echoed across the space.
Facing Cheonhaerang, Gihyeongrang’s golden eyes blazed with fierce brilliance.
Watching those golden eyes tremble faintly, Gihyeongrang laughed.

“Brother. Did I not tell you?”

Clang! Crack!

“Know your place.”

Shatter—!
The Turtle Shell shattered. In the same instant, Jiho was sent flying.
Her destination was the Evil Spirit clinging to the distant cliff.

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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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