The Regressor's Tale of Cultivation: Ep. 17 (In-yeon)
The weather in the desert was just as I remembered.
On that day, the sky was clear and bright.
“Eun-hyun, stop wandering around so much.”
I realized I had been pacing back and forth in front of Cheon-saek Castle.
“I’m sorry. It’s just… I’m trembling quite a bit.”
“What are you trembling about? You’re such a ridiculous guy. Tch tch…”
I sighed deeply.
‘Is this really right?’
Was it even appropriate to offer my heart to one person?
“Haven’t I told you before? There is no trash in the world—only those who have not yet connected with fate and destiny.”
“That means, if the right fate and destiny connect, anything can become a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Isn’t that so?”
I remembered her words.
‘When I’m by your side, it’s too comfortable.’
Sometimes it felt like a dream, so comfortable and happy.
I had been abandoned by fate all this time.
But her words made me realize that the right fate I had never touched was her bond with me.
‘No matter how much time sweeps me away, even if the connection is destined to disappear someday…’
If the bond reaches that heart, shouldn’t two people only be able to create something beautiful by meeting?
‘If I’m with her, even if I regress again someday and everything disappears…’
Her existence seemed to be sealing up all the pain and wounds I had ever felt.
Humans live by enduring wounds.
I had lost connections over seven hundred years.
I would lose them again.
But.
“The people of Byeokra Kingdom love glass. Sand in the desert is easy to make into glass, and even though it doesn’t shine in the dark, it reveals its beauty when it catches the light.”
I was dust, no different from sand.
But she was clearly my light.
So, even if in this lifetime I could only shine for a moment.
I decided to confess my feelings to her.
‘Even if in the next life you’re not the same you.’
My heart had already grown too big, so this time I would burn brightly.
I steeled my heart and lifted my head.
“It looks like you’ve made up your mind.”
Kim Young-hoon smiled at me beside him.
“Yes.”
Whish!
Cheongmun Ryeong and Buk Jung-ho flew in on their flight devices, landing in front of me by the castle gate.
“Seo Doo, finally we can see the two of you becoming a thousand-year-marriage couple. I thought I was going to die of frustration the whole time, but today it’s finally coming together.”
“I’ve been holding back from grabbing your collar and forcing you into a sworn oath with my daughter, but now there’s finally progress.”
Buk Jung-ho laughed heartily.
“Why not do it this time and just get married? Oh, right. I’ve already prepared the wedding ceremony.”
“…I don’t think that’s necessary…”
“No, are you challenging the elder’s words right now?”
He said with a stern expression.
“Cheongmun Soo-sa, bring Seo Doo here so he can confess to my daughter. Take them to In-yeon’s grave, prepare the wedding ceremony right in front of it so they can make a thousand-year oath.”
“Ah, no…”
“Good. Go quickly.”
I tried to stop him, but Cheongmun Ryeong and Kim Young-ho grabbed me, and Buk Jung-ho flew away on his flight device with a delighted expression, heading far toward his wife’s grave.
“Haha, you idiot. Just obey and get married.”
“But… is it okay to decide on marriage so easily?”
I stared at the two of them in confusion, and Cheongmun Ryeong and Kim Young-ho laughed.
“Seo Doo, we saw you and Buk Sun-ja ten years ago. Even then it was obvious you both liked each other. Don’t you think it’s too late now that it’s finally official?”
“But…”
“But what but? Even in Cheon-saek Castle, everyone thinks you and Buk So-je are already a couple. Since it’s come to this, it’s better to become real spouses quickly.”
I was only able to be released after receiving a flood of well-meaning advice from the two of them.
It was then that I was being held by the two of them.
Booooong!
Suddenly, I saw a bee puppet flying up from Buk Hyang-hwa’s workshop and heading somewhere far away.
In its front paws it carried a formation disk used as spatial coordinates and something like a small wooden box.
‘What is this?’
Just as I was wondering.
Stomp stomp.
From far away, Buk Hyang-hwa was slowly walking over.
“Hehe, then I’ll be off.”
“I’ll go too. Seo Doo, see you later.”
Kim Young-hoon and Cheongmun Ryeong left their spots for me and Buk Hyang-hwa and headed elsewhere, and Buk Hyang-hwa came in front of me.
“Seo Doo, may I ask what you wanted to say?”
“It’s just…”
I hesitated.
Just as I was taking a breath.
She smiled bashfully.
“Big brother, are you hot? Your face is all red. I know how to do a pulse diagnosis, and I can do it for you if you want.”
“Hmph…”
She imitated me and looked at my face, smiling brightly.
‘So that was how I felt…’
Her emotions, which I had been biting my tongue to ignore.
And now my emotions had been exposed to her.
It felt like I was being teased, but it wasn’t a bad feeling at all.
“Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja also looks hot. Your face is red.”
“Ah…”
She seemed surprised for a moment, then giggled.
We both giggled at each other.
“Let’s walk for a bit, Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja?”
“Yes, Eun-hyun oppa.”
We wandered around Cheon-saek Castle.
The regular people and cultivators in the shops greeted us as they saw us.
I walked around the market with her, bought food, and looked around the shops in Cheon-saek Castle.
Because Buk Jung-ho, her father, was the observer-cultivator overseeing Cheon-saek Castle, I climbed the city wall to view the desert.
“The desert is really hot. The air is so dry that even making water with the Water Realm technique is difficult…”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. If Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja hadn’t given me water, I would have surely died of thirst.”
I remembered the first time I drank water from her.
Of course, the Buk Hyang-hwa who drank the first water wasn’t the one from now.
‘Wait.’
Actually, thinking about it, the Buk Hyang-hwa who drank water the second time also wasn’t the ‘current’ Buk Hyang-hwa.
My her was the her in this very moment.
‘Maybe…’
I feared the passage of time.
So I feared making bonds and feared developing feelings.
But thinking about it, humans change every moment, every second.
So the human one second ago and the human one second later were actually different beings.
That’s why I had always treated the people I met each regression as completely different from the characters of previous regressions.
‘Even if the person changes, this heart won’t. I’ve been too afraid…’
But in the end, every human dies.
If there is meeting, there is also parting.
But I feared the pain of parting so much that I didn’t even notice my current feelings.
‘Yes, even if I regress again someday…’
I steeled my heart.
‘From the moment I decided to be with her, all those events that happened after have already been inside my chest. After all, they will become one with me in my heart…’
I decided to confess this heart.
“…”
“…”
Of course, even if I had decided, it wasn’t easy to say it out loud.
My face strangely felt hot.
Buk Hyang-hwa’s face was the same.
Cultivators always covered their skin with a protective technique, so the sun’s glare and heat were no big deal.
Foundation Establishment cultivators naturally formed protective inner energy, making them even tougher than regular cultivators.
But no matter what technique I used, I couldn’t seem to handle this heat myself.
“I…”
“Oppa…”
We both tried to speak at the same time and giggled at each other again.
“You go first.”
“Yes. Actually… I prepared something I wanted to give to Eun-hyun oppa.”
Booooong!
Suddenly the bee puppet jumped over the space and appeared in front of us.
Booooong!
The bee puppet’s wings flapped, cooling the heat between us with a refreshing breeze.
Two fans were held in the bee puppet’s front paws.
Buk Hyang-hwa grabbed the two fans, handing one to me.
“Do you remember the Double Fan Dance we danced back then?”
“I remember.”
“A small festival is being held in a distant place, Yendo City, in a few days. Will you dance it again there?”
“Ah, so the dance we did back then made a strong impression.”
“Yes. I wanted to dance with Eun-hyun oppa again.”
“Haha, hearing that I also want to dance with Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja one more time. But…”
I looked at her and said.
“Since we’re dancing the Double Fan Dance, shouldn’t we go back to the Seong Empire and dance it there? This time, install the array again in Bongmyeong Castle with Cheongmun Doo and go to the Seong Empire. We can also visit the village we protected together.”
“That sounds good, but actually I prepared a gift for oppa in the direction of Yendo City.”
“A gift…”
Suddenly I thought my prepared gift was a little embarrassing.
“Actually, I also prepared a gift for Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja…”
“Oh, what is it?”
I took out the sparkling stone with a throat attribute.
My first formation device, made by collecting the brief teachings I had received from Buk Hyang-hwa.
“This is… a flying flower?”
She asked playfully while looking at the shape of my formation device, and I blew spiritual power into it and answered playfully.
“Have you seen this kind of flying flower?”
My hands weren’t good enough to create a formation device that could instantly become a flower identical to one.
But I could carve circuits into the formation device and inject the spiritual power I wanted.
And for that, I had the confidence.
Fwaaah!
Spiritual power of the throat attribute burst out.
The spiritual power of the Ten Thousand Scales Tree Ocean shone brightly.
At the same time, spiritual power gathered and changed into a flower shape.
It was a white camellia.
“Since I received an apple blossom yesterday, I’ll give you a white camellia.”
“Wow…”
The white camellia shape created from countless formation techniques.
Buk Hyang-hwa looked at the white camellia for a moment, then giggled.
“You really couldn’t make a formation device.”
“If you’re going to praise me, what’s the difference?”
“Oppa also scolds me every time he sees me practicing formation techniques, right? He always says ‘You’re not handling them that way.’”
“That’s… hmph.”
While I was flustered, Buk Hyang-hwa received the formation device I made and carefully put it in her bosom.
“Anyway, thank you. The circuit design is also very concise.”
“Thank you for the praise… But Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja, don’t you like making circuits complicated?”
Making it concise is an insult?
“Ah, that’s just my style.”
She said while looking around Cheon-saek Castle from the city wall.
“My maternal grandfather, Elder Gongmyo Cheon-saek, had countless illegitimate children, including my mother. Among them, those with cultivator talent were given the Gongmyo surname, but those without talent, like my mother, were raised like charity cases and eventually expelled from the family.”
Her story continued.
“When he made formation devices, he always made the circuits simple. That way they had wider universality and the users were very comfortable. Maybe my complicated circuits until now were out of some rebellious psychology toward my maternal grandfather.”
Suddenly, she stroked the bee puppet and said.
“But do you know? Eun-hyun oppa. After hearing your words, I succeeded in completely repairing the central circuit of this bee puppet this time. But the central circuit I thought would be very complicated was surprisingly simple. Changes happened from those simple circuits and spread out to countless circuits, operating the puppet.”
It strangely seemed similar to the operating principle of human emotions.
After all, I had witnessed how many changes seven Chakjong made in the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.
“Thanks to oppa, I also grew, and thanks to you… I was able to overcome my strange rebellious feelings toward my maternal great-grandfather.”
She smiled brightly at me.
“Thank you, Eun-hyun oppa.”
“…Me too.”
I answered her smile with a smile.
“I have received too much comfort from Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja. Thanks to you, countless wounds from living life were sealed, and every time I met you, the pains of life seemed to disappear.”
Now I was holding Buk Hyang-hwa’s hand.
At this moment,
Everything was working out well,
The day to obtain the Longevity Fruit was right around the corner,
The possibility of transcending the realm was high in this loop,
In this situation where this feeling could happen at this moment,
I offered the deepest gratitude.
She closed her eyes.
“I can’t explain it, but you are to me…”
I slowly, slowly moved my face toward hers.
“…”
“…”
“Oppa?”
Her eyes still closed, she asked in a trembling voice.
I, holding her hand, furrowed my brow.
“…Buk Hyang-hwa Sun-ja.”
“Yes, oppa!”
She called me with a face full of expectation, eyes closed.
But I stood on my tiptoes, full body tense, and said from a distance.
“…Don’t you smell blood somewhere?”