Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Indestructible Diamond (5)
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"You really came back again."
The next day, Seo Yul-hye's face lit up with delight at the sight of me returning.
"I said I would, didn't I? So here I am."
"I was worried you might have left for good when you disappeared for a bit."
"Ah, that was..."
I hesitated for a moment before deciding to just come out with it plainly. She'd forget it all eventually anyway. It was a good deed—nothing to be shy about.
"I was late because I snuck into the Emei Sect to swap out your talismans."
"...Aren't you being a bit too brazen about it? I'm a direct disciple of the Emei Sect's main branch, you know?"
I didn't bat an eye. I had nothing to hide.
"How else was I supposed to see you?"
At my matter-of-fact words, Seo Yul-hye turned her head aside. Her jet-black hair cascaded down like a curtain, hiding her expression. But the faint smile that peeked through was as pure as fresh snow.
"...You really mean it. You're the world's greatest flirt."
Her soft voice mingled with the breeze, and I sprang to my feet, taking her hand.
"We should move somewhere else first. Mountains are great and all, but even hermits head to the city now and then."
Her dark hair tilted as she voiced her confusion.
"Our Emei Sect has elders who haven't descended the mountain in decades."
"You think they've ever tried fish-head curry?"
"...What's that—eek!"
Before Seo Yul-hye could make sense of my words, I wrapped an arm around her waist and dashed down the mountain. She couldn't even scream at the blistering speed. Her pale hands clutched tightly at my collar.
As we sped downward like the wind, we hit a point where a transparent barrier blocked our path, as if declaring this the edge of the world allotted to Seo Yul-hye.
Rip—
It was futile.
I tore through it with raw force and pressed on.
What in this forsaken place could stand in my way?
Crunch-crack!
Suddenly, the surrounding trees and rocks morphed into monstrous shapes, lunging at us.
As if refusing to let Seo Yul-hye stray beyond her designated bounds.
This had to be her treating it as self-inflicted punishment. She believed she deserved even greater suffering. That's why these things spawned. In the end, they were all monsters born from her inner heart demons.
Which meant their strength was exactly as formidable as she could imagine.
Boom!
Light erupted from my hand, and everything charging toward us disintegrated into dust in an instant.
She couldn't even fathom it. The power of someone who'd hammered away at training for over ten hours a day.
The monsters revived soon enough, but even the tiniest gap let me leap hundreds of paces. With every blink, the mountain scenery shifted. The village was just moments away.
'Smoother than I expected.'
However.
We reached the village, but nothing changed upon arrival. Every person we encountered twisted into grotesque monsters and attacked.
It was half-expected, but disappointing nonetheless.
Seeing heart demons with my own eyes like this was a novel experience.
The human imagination was this astonishing? Even though it was all illusions conjured by Seo Yul-hye's upper dantian, they were indistinguishable from reality.
I wondered if this was normal or if her talent made it so vivid.
Seo Yul-hye, now clinging to me like a koala, tried to say something. The fierce battles drowned out her voice unless she shouted. Her arms pushed weakly against me.
"It's fine now! I'm okay like this!"
She seemed worried I'd get caught up in her mess. Her face looked ready to crumple into tears as she urged me to give up.
I looked ahead.
She had reason to worry.
Explosions echoed from all directions. Mountainside giants marched forward, blotting out the sun. Thunder and lightning churned in the sky while hordes of fiends filled the earth, shrieking as they charged.
It was a hellscape straight out of a nightmare, the entire world turned against me in surreal hostility.
"Forgot already? Who I am."
I neither retreated nor fled. I trusted every moment that had brought me here.
The supreme under heaven.
The world's greatest.
I was undeniably the supreme being of this world.
I took one step forward and swept my hand horizontally.
No exquisite technique or ultimate killer move was needed.
I simply channeled my power into the motion, and that alone made it the supreme strike under heaven.
Craaaack—
An invisible line appeared in a flash, carving an indelible horizon. The pressure from my vast inner energy burst the lesser fiends apart, and the giants charging like walls lost their upper bodies to their legs. Light seeped in along the line, like eyelids slowly parting.
Everything rooted to the ground cleaved in two at once, leaving only the round sun beyond, nobly casting its rays on the scene.
"Ah..."
Seo Yul-hye stared blankly at it all, slowly reaching out. The moment her trembling fingertip touched the gentle sunlight...
Sizzle.
The world flipped again.
The serene Emei Mountain, oblivious to the prior chaos, remained a breathtaking vista.
I perched on a rock and lifted my bamboo hat slightly.
"How was the short trip? Enjoy it?"
No immediate reply. She let out an incredulous chuckle before turning the question on me.
"This is weird. Why go this far for me?"
I flashed a grin.
"Wrong way to put it. I go this far because you're worth it."
"...No. If it's power you want, I'm just a junior. If it's beauty, there are prettier women out there. What makes me worth all this?"
"To me, you are."
After a silence, Seo Yul-hye whispered in a shrinking voice.
"...I kinda hate it now."
An enigmatic statement. I couldn't tell what she hated. She looked somewhat melancholic and said nothing more, no matter how much time passed.
The Geumseon Grandmaster gathered only the most elite warrior monks and raced from Hanam to Sichuan in record time with a minimal crew.
As days passed, his impatience grew. It was unprecedented speed, but by the time they crossed Huguang, he took the wooden box and flew solo on lightness skill.
'Please, not too late...'
Normally, he wouldn't worry this much.
Jeongam Satae was a pillar of the martial world, unyielding to evil.
But love was the world's mightiest force, softening even the firmest heart like iron turned to water the closer one drew to it.
He knew how dearly she cherished her late-in-life disciple, like her own child.
That made his anxiety swell. What if losing her disciple blinded her?
The Geumseon Grandmaster streaked like a beam of light.
The supreme lightness technique that earned him the moniker "Radiant Monk" in his youth.
Stepping on leaves as if on solid ground, his path naturally arced from the sky.
To an onlooker, it might seem like the legendary Wall-Walking of legend, with impossibly long airtime. His thick robes flapped like a bird's wings. Soon, he crossed Huguang and set foot in Sichuan soil.
Step.
He stood before the long staircase leading from Emei Mountain's base to the sect's main halls. Flanking it were two massive Buddha statues with benevolent smiles.
Representing Bhaisajyaguru and Parasuramesvara, said to be handcrafted by an ancient monk who met Samantabhadra in life.
Even hardened villains would vomit blood from the pure Buddhist power just standing before them.
Another step.
The Geumseon Grandmaster drew a deep breath and ascended one more stair.
As he climbed, the Emei Sect came into view.
At the grand gate, Jeongam Satae swept fallen leaves with a broom. With winter nearing its end, there was much to clear. Sensing his presence, she quietly looked up.
"What brings you here, Grandmaster?"
Her eyes held worries deeper than the piled leaves. He softly inquired after her well-being.
"How have you been?"
"...Not entirely well."
It showed. Her eyes were sunken, unthinkable for an inner energy master—likely from sleepless nights. Her forced smile held no joy.
"Amitabha..."
The Geumseon Grandmaster chanted habitually.
Jeongam Satae leaned the broom against the wall and invited him to sit.
A pavilion overlooking the mountain base. Fine wood filled the air with fresh scent even in the cold. No sooner had he sat than she cut to the chase.
"You coming in person means I worried you greatly."
He nodded at once.
"Indeed. Quite worried. You've been a troublemaker since childhood, haven't you?"
"Yes. I was."
Jeongam Satae offered a faint smile. Her fiery temper had landed her in endless scrapes. The Geumseon Grandmaster chuckled heartily.
"So when you took a disciple, I figured she'd be just like you. But she was like a fairy—such a pure, kind child is rare. I thought you'd amassed great virtue."
"...Grandmaster, that's too much, even as a joke. You know Hyea's condition."
"That's why I'm asking: have you allied with the Demonic Cult by any chance?"
"Grandmaster!"
Jeongam Satae slammed the table and stood. But his eyes didn't waver. Sensing something, she sat back down, her gaze tinged with faint anger as she slowly shook her head.
"...No. I've been tempted a few times, but recently, disciple Seo Miryeo came back covered in blood and said she'd nearly died to bandits but survived by a stroke of fortune."
An old man who looked like a Demonic Cultist had slaughtered the bandits as if on a stroll and vanished. She seemed to hide more, but since the girl returned alive, no need to pry.
Hearing that, Jeongam Satae had thought:
"If life and death are heaven's will, better for me, her master, to accrue virtue than rely on crooked paths."
The Geumseon Grandmaster smiled warmly and produced a small wooden box from his robe.
Inside was the Diamond Buddha's Divine Armor, infused with Dharma's spirit. This might resolve Seo Yul-hye's upper dantian woes.
Recognizing it instantly, Jeongam Satae's eyes shook wildly. She stared at him in disbelief.
"H-how did you get such a treasure...?"
"You said it yourself: life and death are heaven's will."
He took out the armor and handed it to her personally. Tears streamed from her worry-filled eyes.
"Congratulations, Jeongam. It seems the heavens do not yet wish for your disciple to die."