Surviving as the Villainess’s Servant in a Martial Arts Novel - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 85

Okseol Sannin and Lee Yeon recuperated in the cave for quite some time.

Okseol Sannin needed to recover the vital energy she had expended, and Lee Yeon needed to restore her newly recovered body.

The two shared many conversations in the cave.

Lee Yeon told Okseol Sannin everything that had happened, especially about her condition, holding nothing back. After hearing the full story, Okseol Sannin tilted her head with a puzzled expression.

“Strange. No matter how much yin energy one has, it doesn’t bewitch people. If that were the case, our sect’s disciples would also be bewitching people wherever they went, but there have been no such cases.”

“…”

“It seems similar to mind control techniques that dominate a person’s spirit. I’m just asking, but you haven’t learned such arts, have you?”

Lee Yeon answered immediately.

“No. This has been happening to me since I was a child.”

“Hmm…”

Okseol Sannin fell into contemplative silence for a moment, then shook her head and spoke.

“I have no insight into that matter either. Perhaps it’s related to the yin energy constantly growing within you, but I have no idea about a solution.”

“…”

Lee Yeon lowered her head in disappointment. Okseol Sannin, who had been watching Lee Yeon intently, suddenly took something from her bosom and held it out.

In Okseol Sannin’s hand lay a white silk cord.

“However, if you can freely control yin energy and your constitution improves, it might get a little better. Until then, cover your eyes with this.”

“This is…?”

“It’s cloth woven from white gold silk. It’s the material used to make the white gold veil, one of our sect’s sacred artifacts, and I had some leftover scraps. You can’t see inside from the outside, but you can see outside from within, so it will be good for covering your eyes.”

Lee Yeon carefully received the cord. The cord in her hand felt weightless, as if it existed yet didn’t exist.

Lee Yeon fingered the cord and said.

“Thank you, Master.”

Okseol Sannin simply nodded.

After that, Okseol Sannin taught Lee Yeon the Snow Mountain Sect’s internal energy cultivation method.

Full-scale training would be most effective back at the main mountain in a cold environment, but first she needed to learn how to circulate yin energy to resolve the yin energy within Lee Yeon.

Fortunately, Lee Yeon learned quickly.

Not only was Lee Yeon intelligent, but her constitution was indeed well-suited to the Snow Mountain Sect’s cultivation method.

When she circulated energy according to the formula, her body felt light and her mind became clear. Also, thanks to Okseol Sannin having opened her eight extraordinary meridians beforehand, the yin energy accumulated in her body flowed through her blood vessels without obstruction.

So Lee Yeon’s rapid progress was only natural. Okseol Sannin rejoiced in her disciple’s achievements as if they were her own and said.

“At this rate, you might catch up to me before you even reach twenty. The Snow Mountain Sect will have a prodigy.”

Lee Yeon was also embarrassed yet happy. At the same time, she unconsciously thought of Seo Dan.

‘You would be happy to know this too, wouldn’t you?’

After discovering the blood-stained cotton cloth.

Although she had been confused at the time, thinking Seo Dan was dead, staying in the cave for a long time and calming her mind led to such thoughts.

She couldn’t be certain that Seo Dan was dead yet.

All they had found there was blood-stained cotton cloth. Seo Dan’s cloak, clothes, token of love, and even her body weren’t there, were they?

If a body had been found, Lee Yeon would have given up, but as long as that wasn’t the case, she didn’t want to give up. Just as Seo Dan hadn’t given up on her, Lee Yeon wanted to believe that Seo Dan was alive.

‘Then where could you be?’

After seven days and nights, the two left the cave.

Originally, they should have gone straight to the Snow Mountain Sect headquarters to bow before the ancestral tablets and formally announce that she had become a disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect, but Lee Yeon earnestly pleaded with Okseol Sannin.

“I want to search for that child a little longer. My father’s sworn brother is there, so if I ask him for help, we might be able to find her easily.”

Okseol Sannin was troubled but granted the request, thinking of her only disciple.

The two first went to Gangseoseong.

Lee Yeon planned to visit the Seo-seong Trading Company in Gangseoseong as originally intended. They might be looking for her there, or perhaps Seo Dan, if she had survived, might have taken refuge there.

However, what greeted the two was the completely burned-down Seo-seong Trading Company building.

Lee Yeon panicked and grabbed people nearby to ask.

“Here, did the Seo-seong Trading Company here catch fire? When did this happen? Why is it like this…”

“Have you been living in some mountain? Don’t you know about the Seo Family tragedy?”

“The Seo Family… what did you say?”

Then came an unbelievable story.

“Right after the Seo Family Estate was attacked by the Demonic Cult, all the Seo-seong Trading Company branches in various regions went up in flames simultaneously. There was a lot of talk about it for a while. When the Seo-seong Trading Company burned, the nearby civilian houses also suffered considerable damage.”

“…”

“Anyway, those Demonic Cult bastards are truly vicious. Even if they were trading companies under the Seo Family Estate, to completely destroy every single one without leaving any…”

‘Demonic Cult.’

Lee Yeon’s hands trembled endlessly. She had never imagined that even the Seo-seong Trading Company that her father had built his entire life would disappear like this.

After investigating further, it was just as that person had said.

The Seo-seong Trading Company branches scattered throughout the Central Plains had turned to ash and disappeared in an instant. People cursed the Demonic Cult in unison while keeping their distance, fearing the sparks might reach them too.

Also, around the same time, Lee Yeon heard one shocking piece of news.

The Young Master of the Namgung Family had disappeared.

According to rumors, after the Seo Family Estate was destroyed, the Young Master, grieving over his sworn brother’s death, had charged into the Demonic Cult alone.

Lee Yeon didn’t believe that rumor. He wasn’t foolish enough to act so recklessly.

‘There must be some reason.’

However, she couldn’t know what that reason was, and since she couldn’t meet him right away to seek his help, Lee Yeon felt troubled.

After that, Lee Yeon and Okseol Sannin wandered throughout the Central Plains.

They visited each branch of the Seo-seong Trading Company to see if there might be anyone connected to the Seo Family Estate, and inquired about Seo Dan in every village they visited. Just in case, they even went to Hefei to look around the area.

But Seo Dan was nowhere to be found.

She couldn’t be found anywhere.

After about a month had passed like this, Okseol Sannin said.

“It would be best to stop searching now.”

At that time, Lee Yeon was in a considerably exhausted state. She hadn’t expected it would be this difficult to find Seo Dan.

As time passed, Lee Yeon became increasingly unstable. Though there were no problems with her body since she continued training, there had been several occasions when she became distracted during cultivation and fell into danger.

After such incidents repeated several times, Okseol Sannin could no longer just watch, and finally brought up the subject first.

Naturally, Lee Yeon tried not to listen.

“N-no. If I search just a little more, just a little more, I’ll be able to find her. Surely, she’s alive. She wouldn’t have died…”

“I’m not saying she’s dead. I also believe your precious one is alive.”

“Then…!”

“But look at your condition.”

Okseol Sannin spoke sternly.

“You’ve fallen into danger several times because you had stray thoughts during cultivation. There was even a time when your energy nearly went into reverse flow and caused a major incident. Is your current situation normal?”

“…”

“Right now you’re no different from other disciples of our sect who have fallen into heart demons. What did I say I would do if you went further and brought harm to the sect?”

Okseol Sannin’s voice became earnest.

“Do you truly want me to expel you with my own hands?”

Lee Yeon said nothing. However, her clouded eyes became clear as if those words had brought her to her senses.

Only then did Okseol Sannin speak gently.

“Yeon-a, I’m not saying never to search for her in your lifetime. I come down to the Central Plains once a year, so you can come with me then to search. Also, if you grow sufficiently, you can venture into Jianghu alone at that time.”

“…”

“I mean don’t be too hasty. If that child is alive, you’ll be able to meet her anytime. Isn’t that child also looking for you?”

‘…Looking for me?’

Lee Yeon suddenly remembered Seo Dan’s words.

What that child had said before they parted. What had he said to comfort her when she was reluctant?

“I’ll definitely come back. No matter what happens, even if it takes quite a long time. I’ll return to Young Miss’s side no matter what.”

So.

“Until then… could you wait for me?”

Only then did Lee Yeon lower her head. The tears she had been holding back flowed down her cheeks.

“…I understand.”

Okseol Sannin silently patted Lee Yeon’s shoulder.

The two decided to leave for Great Snow Mountain soon.

The regrettable thing was that since Great Snow Mountain was in Tibet, it was far from the Central Plains. They wouldn’t be able to come out often, but it was fortunate that they could stay for long periods whenever they did come out.

Lee Yeon mounted her horse following Okseol Sannin. Then she suddenly looked up at the sky.

‘Are you looking at this same sky too?’

He was determined to do his best.

He would do his best to become healthy, and do his best to become strong.

So when they met again, he would be so changed that even Seo Dan wouldn’t recognize him. So that his old weak appearance would never come to mind.

‘When that time comes, I’ll be the one.’

I’ll protect you.

Lee Yeon turned his head to look forward again. Then with a resolute heart, he grasped the horse’s reins.

At the same time, he earnestly wished in his heart.

‘I’ll wait, I’ll wait no matter how long, so please….’

Stay safe.

Only heaven knows whether his feelings reached her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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