The Heavenly Demon Cult’s Strongest Maid - Chapter 66
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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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Chapter 66
The place Eok I-geon brought me to was his personal training hall, surrounded on all sides by stone walls.
There were two training halls in Geonyeong-gak, and this was a place where no one else was allowed to enter.
A space where even I, his dedicated maid, and even Cheon-gang, his guard, could not set foot.
From a corner inside, I could hear the sound of spring water trickling.
‘No way… it can’t be, right?’
Having read the original work, I naturally knew what kind of place this was.
That’s why I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding.
“Follow me.”
Eok I-geon dragged me, who was standing there dazed, toward the spring water.
‘It really exists!’
To think I would witness this with my own eyes.
Looking at the round spring, about one pyeong in size, with a stone embankment built around it, I marveled inwardly.
To others, it would just look like ordinary spring water, but not to me.
This place was no different from where Eok I-geon’s history began.
“Do you trust me?”
“…Yes.”
Though it was a sudden question, I nodded my head. I could guess his intention.
“Then do not hesitate.”
With those words, Eok I-geon jumped into the spring water. With a splash, water sprayed up and ripples spread across the surface.
I couldn’t believe it at all.
Eok I-geon would go this far for me?
But why?
No matter how impressed he was with grandmother’s dumplings, wasn’t this going too far?
…No.
I haven’t seen it with my own eyes yet.
‘It can’t be that place…’
I couldn’t get moved before confirming it myself.
I steadied my excited heart, took the deepest breath possible, and threw myself into the spring water following Eok I-geon.
‘What? Where am I supposed to go?’
The water was deeper than I thought. Moreover, while it seemed clear from above, once I came down below, there was only pitch-black darkness.
“This way.”
Then Eok I-geon pulled my wrist with a telepathic message.
I followed his lead, holding my breath for quite a long time as we swam through the water.
It was fortunate that I had become a master of internal energy; if I were an ordinary person, I would have drowned long ago at this distance.
“Whoa!”
The underwater cave, which had been as narrow and long as a snake’s body, led to a small natural cave.
Does this make sense?
Eok I-geon, are you really taking me there?
As soon as I came up on land, I gasped for the breath I had been holding and busily looked around with a flushed face.
“Dry off the moisture with your internal energy.”
Eok I-geon’s body, one step ahead of me, was already completely dry.
I quickly circulated my qi as he instructed and dried my clothes and hair.
“Let’s go.”
Eok I-geon turned around to look at me briefly, then walked ahead.
‘No way, no way, no way!’
Light was seeping in from not far away.
I quickened my steps following Eok I-geon.
“Wow…”
Despite having expected it, I couldn’t close my mouth for a while like someone who had lost their mind.
As we exited the cave, a magnificent view unfolded as if we had entered another world.
The entire area had the shape of a basin.
A wide plain bloomed with beautiful exotic flowers and plants of various colors, and in its center sat a broad stone platform carved from a massive rock.
‘Amazing!’
That was the only word that came to mind.
To think Eok I-geon really brought me here.
I wondered if this was a dream or reality.
‘How high is that?’
Looking up, I saw that the surroundings were completely enclosed by massive cliffs that seemed to have been cut straight down.
Only at the very top of my head was there a round opening to the blue sky.
I remember it exactly.
This was a secret place that could only appear in legends, where yin energy bubbles up at the hour of the Rat and yang energy surges at the hour of the Horse.
Its name was Macheongtian.
In this place where the quality and density of the atmosphere were concentrated to an extraordinary degree, even brief breathing exercises would accumulate internal energy at a phenomenal rate.
When Eok I-geon was nine years old, he had questioned the source of the spring water and discovered this training ground on his own.
Being able to reach the realm of extreme mastery before even coming of age was possible because of Macheongtian.
Not only that.
‘That thing’ was also left here!
Yet this was a place Eok I-geon had never revealed to anyone in his entire life.
“Would you like to look around more?”
“No! It’s fine!”
Eok I-geon, who had approached at some point, asked kindly.
I shook my head and strongly refused, fearing I might see something I shouldn’t.
“If you’re curious, tell me anytime. I’ll personally show you around.”
“Just your words are enough, thank you.”
“Then now…”
I bowed deeply and spoke rapidly like a machine gun, preparing for any possible situation.
“And don’t worry! About Ma… no, about this place, I won’t tell anyone! You know I’m good at keeping my mouth shut, don’t you, Young Master?”
“…Is that so?”
“Of course! The fact that I came here today, I’ll take it to my grave!”
So don’t do anything like silencing witnesses to keep secrets!
It’s not like I wanted to come here.
You brought me here entirely on your own!
You know what happens if you make this an issue later, right?
Though I had many things I wanted to say, I held back again today and looked at Eok I-geon pleadingly.
“I’m grateful that you said that first. Anyway, I understand well. I won’t forget your efforts.”
“This doesn’t even count as effort.”
As long as I could live, what would something like this matter?
I was truly confident I could keep my mouth locked until death.
“But why aren’t you asking?”
“…Pardon?”
“The reason I brought you to this place.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, I had preemptively promised to keep quiet before even hearing an explanation from Eok I-geon.
I had made a foolish mistake because I was too shocked.
What excuse should I make?
As I stood there flustered, only moving my lips, it happened.
“As expected, you’ve already sensed it too.”
Eok I-geon patted my head approvingly, as if he was proud.
“Well, it would be more troubling if he couldn’t sense this.”
He raised his hand and pointed to the stone platform.
“Would you like to sit?”
I obediently climbed onto the stone platform as Eok I-geon instructed and sat cross-legged.
“Try activating Hong-hwan.”
Click. Click. Click.
When I turned all seven jade beads in reverse, rainbow light poured out instead of red.
“Ho.”
Eok I-geon looked down at it as if finding it fascinating.
Does he perhaps covet it?
Suspicion arose again, but once more it proved to be unfounded worry.
“From now on, train here every day.”
“…Every day here?”
“If you can maximize Hong-hwan’s effects, you’ll be able to grow much faster. As the First Miss of the Main School, shouldn’t you put in that much effort?”
“That may be true, but… how could I possibly come here every day?”
The only way to travel to and from Macheongtian was through Geonyeong-gak, specifically through the spring in Eok I-geon’s personal training hall.
For me, who was planning to stay as far away from Eok I-geon as possible, this was an unsuitable training method.
“I may not know much, but… isn’t this a place you use, Young Master? Even a flea has some dignity – I cannot impose on you any further.”
“Impose?”
“Yes.”
“What have you ever imposed on me?”
“Well, if I were to list everything one by one, there would be no end… but most recently, didn’t you provide special training with me for the martial arts tournament…?”
Why is his expression hardening ominously again?
As I spoke while looking at Eok I-geon’s face, my voice became almost a whisper by the end.
“All of that was something I did because I wanted to.”
“…?”
“So don’t use the word ‘impose.’ It makes me feel unpleasant.”
“I-I’m sorry! I had absolutely no intention of upsetting you, Young Master!”
At Eok I-geon’s words that he felt unpleasant, my mind went completely blank.
Why are psychopaths called psychopaths?
It’s because they do crazy things according to their moods.
I couldn’t die after coming this far.
Macheongtian was a secret place within the Cheonma Sect that only Eok I-geon knew about.
If I died in a place like this, truly no one would ever find me.
I couldn’t drive a nail into Grandmother’s heart!
I hurriedly gave Eok I-geon the answer he wanted.
“M-may I truly train here?”
Though it was burdensome to keep meeting Eok I-geon, I had to survive first.
And if I could just preserve my life, Macheongtian was actually the optimal space for maximizing Hong-hwan’s efficiency.
“Twice a day, departing at the hour of the rat and the hour of the rooster. Come to Geonyeong-gak accordingly.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Thus I had no choice but to reluctantly accept joint training with Eok I-geon.
Someone once said.
In life, those who endure are the strong ones.
Yes, for now I must endure even like this.
If I do, someday there will be an opportunity to escape.
…There really will be, right?
Somehow I felt like I was increasingly becoming like a moth caught in Eok I-geon’s spider web, which troubled me again.
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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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