The Hundred Meetings (4)
The Heavenly Array Point remained unchanged from my memories.
It was still the same sight as that day.
Kkaang, kkaang, kkaang!
From inside the workshop, the sound of her working on something continued.
I looked around the Heavenly Array Point for a moment while waiting for her.
After a short while, the door to the workshop opened and a person stepped out.
A snow-white robe identical to my memories.
It was her.
“I’m sorry for making you wait. What brings you here?”
“I am…”
Before I could finish speaking.
Boo-woo-woo!
Suddenly, the jade pendant hanging at my waist began to tremble.
At the same time, the pendant hanging at her waist also began to tremble.
A perfect pair of identical artifacts.
Of course, now there were three instead of two, thanks to the item that crossed time.
Yet their function still resonated.
“That…”
Her eyes widened.
“You… are that person?”
She stared at me with wide eyes and grabbed her pendant.
I couldn’t speak.
What words could I use?
That was when.
Fwaaaaaat!
The pendant in her hand suddenly glowed brightly, then turned pure white and transformed into a swarm of light.
“…!!”
And the swarm of light flew straight toward the pendant I was holding and plunged into it without hesitation.
What I had brought was Buk Hyang-hwa’s own pendant that crossed time.
In short, it belonged to her from the future.
The world refused to permit two identical things.
The pendant from the past was sucked into the one I held and absorbed.
Pishish…
After some time, the pendant in my hand, having absorbed hers, seemed even brighter.
Somehow it felt more solid and mysterious than before.
‘When they overlap like this… the tier of the law treasure rose?’
I watched the mysterious phenomenon and fell into thought for a moment, and Buk Hyang-hwa looked surprised as well.
“It seems that when identical things meet, it turns out like this. I’ve learned something new. Um, but… that pendant was also my mother’s keepsake…”
She looked somewhat sorrowful.
That expression, posture, movements, habits, breathing, heartbeat…
All of it, was her.
She was alive.
“By the way, coming all this way with a pendant is quite the journey. Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea?”
And.
From her tone, I realized.
This person.
Was not the one I loved.
Thud, thud…
She who had shared the same time with me, the same emotions, the same pain.
She was not her.
“You… don’t know me.”
“Yes…?”
I wiped away the tear that had unconsciously fallen and said.
“No. I was just talking nonsense.”
I had expected it.
My disciples, my master, countless Kim Young-hoons.
Since the moment I met them and never, I had anticipated moments like this.
But the moment it happened, my chest ached unbearably.
Seeing her, a violent storm raged inside my heart.
That was why.
I handed her the pendant.
“Your mother’s keepsake has been absorbed, so I don’t think I can keep it. Please take it.”
“What? Well, I don’t mind, but you… are you sure it’s okay to just give away the mark of fate?”
The mark of fate.
You know that?
The person your mother tried to connect you with has already married and died.
The ‘real’ mark was probably buried in his grave by Wol-ryang’s hands.
“…I heard that you were to marry the person who brought this pendant.”
I felt emotions that could not be described surging as I placed the pendant in her hand.
“I’m sorry, but I will take my leave now.”
“Yes…?”
“I am…”
I looked at her face and felt relief.
And when I looked into her eyes, I felt sorrow.
My woman was alive, but she did not know me.
If she had died that day, even in the afterlife, we could have been together.
“I already have a person I love.”
Holding back tears was easy.
But holding back emotions was hard.
If another person had read my intent, they might have cried with me.
“Thank you for waiting for the fate and guarding the mark. But I no longer need that mark. I will give it to you, so please accept it and live freely. You no longer need to wait and live.”
“Just a moment…”
I barely suppressed the surging emotions and turned my back to leave the Heavenly Array Point.
A rather short and deep meeting.
But I forced my feet to leave and turned my back.
If I didn’t turn my back now…
I would collapse there, hold her, and wail madly.
I wouldn’t be able to leave this place ever again.
Ta!
I left the Heavenly Array Point and boarded the Seopmyeong Ship.
“Quickly, take me anywhere!”
[Onya.]
Wiiing!
The ghost enveloped the Seopmyeong Ship, and we instantly headed to another place.
* * *
‘What is it? That person?’
Buk Hyang-hwa suddenly recalled the man who had come and given her his mark.
She was bewildered.
For years, the signal from the connected artifact hadn’t been detected, but suddenly signals appeared from two places.
Was the artifact broken? When she examined it, it was fine, so she was just bewildered.
And a few days ago, one of the two signals disappeared.
She didn’t know, but it was the moment Wol-ryang placed the pendant in his great-grandson’s memorial shrine.
And seeing the signal return to one, she subtly trembled and grew tense.
She thought he would come at any moment.
Of course, her mother’s destined partner might have died long ago, or some third party might have picked up the artifact, but…
She hadn’t been able to sleep well for several days.
And today.
The ‘him’ she had imagined in all sorts of fantasies had come.
He spoke of the story of the mark entangled with her pendant.
She was surprised.
Did that mean he was the partner her mother had spoken of?
Upon learning that fact, a strangely restless and trembling feeling coexisted.
But all the expectations she had nurtured were in vain.
‘He’ simply gave her his pendant and rushed out.
He said he already had a person he loved.
“…”
In fact, she had anticipated the outcome to some degree.
Marrying or marrying the person who held her pendant was only her mother’s wish.
In reality, the partner might or might not have kept the promise.
Even if he hadn’t kept it, coming to the desert to deliver the pendant to tell the truth meant his character could be guessed from that alone.
‘He seemed like a good man…’
She sighed, thinking of the latecomers chasing her these days.
‘If there had been someone who was only half as kind as the one shown, I might have considered it…’
They were all just foolish latecomers.
Buk Hyang-hwa looked outside for a moment, then gazed at the pendant.
Her own and his overlapped, emitting a more mysterious aura.
Her mother had no spiritual root but had some skill in making artifacts.
Because she was from the Gongmyo lineage, her mother made fairly good artifacts, but Buk Hyang-hwa knew her mother’s skill well.
She had surpassed her mother long ago with her own talent.
And she looked at the pendant her mother had made and thought.
‘When two artifacts merge, one becomes one? Plus this strange divine aura… Did my mother really make it? This is clearly not just an artifact, but a law treasure!’
When she examined the pendant in detail with suspicion.
Jureuk…
“Eh?”
Buk Hyang-hwa suddenly wiped her eyes.
“What got into my eye…?”
Dduk, dduk…
Somehow, she felt her heart ache.
And looking at the pendant, she suddenly felt emotions surging.
“Just a moment…”
Jureuk, jurureuk…
Tears wouldn’t stop.
Somehow, emotions she didn’t even know were rising wildly.
Buk Hyang-hwa felt her chest throbbing madly and recalled the man who had left just now.
“Ah, no…”
I have to catch that person.
Somehow, the feeling was strong.
Bam!
She ran with trembling legs, staggering toward the entrance of the Heavenly Array Point.
And no one was around.
Wiiing…
In the clear desert sky, somehow pure ghost fog was dispersing in the void.
She felt as if possessed by a ghost, boarded a flight artifact, and flew into the sky to look around.
The person was nowhere to be seen.
She held the pendant with trembling hands and felt the tear drops falling from her chin while thinking.
‘Why…’
My chest hurts so much.
‘What is this feeling?’
She bit her lip.
‘I have to find that person.’
I have to ask him.
What exactly is this feeling?
What did he do to me?
Buk Hyang-hwa wiped away the suddenly bursting tears and made a decision.
‘I will find that person.’
Wherever he is, wherever he went.
I will find him and ask.
She decided that.
* * *
[Who did you meet?]
“…Just a friend.”
[Is that so.]
Song Jin said to me.
[You, how about learning the Black Ghost Valley’s Ghost Dao Technique? The death aura piled in your soul everywhere… and the fierce emotional fluctuation shown just now… It seems to have the best compatibility with the original technique.]
“…I decline the demonic technique. Ah, and…”
From Song Jin’s words, I decided to receive what I needed.
“Do you have a technique called the Horseback Demon-Slaying Fist in Black Ghost Valley?”
[Ah, it exists. It was an old technique book no one bothered to learn and stuck in the corner. How do you know?]
“I heard of it before. Perhaps… could you give me that technique book? I’d like to learn it once.”
At the level of a Foundation Establishment technique book.
A technique book that could resonate with my law treasure.
Now that I had given the pendant to Buk Hyang-hwa, I wanted to resonate even deeper with the Colorless Glass Sword.
Song Jin readily gave the Horseback Demon-Slaying Fist technique book, and after memorizing its essence, I told him.
“Thank you. And there’s one more thing I’d like to ask…”
I moved with the Seopmyeong Ship to another place.
The emotions were boiling fiercely.
I wanted to do anything to put it out quickly.
* * *
Southeast of Byeokra Kingdom.
The Byeol Clan Estate.
I arrived at the upper floors of the Byeol Clan Estate with the Seopmyeong Ship.
‘Here I’ll use a blood body…’
I raised Won Rip’s blood body controlled by my consciousness.
Uwoo-woong!
Through the blood body, a demon mask was placed on the face of the blood body, and it looked completely like Won Rip from the outside.
Uwoo-woong!
The Won Rip blood body flew into the air and landed above the Byeol Clan Estate.
And after a while.
Feeling the commotion from the Seopmyeong Ship and Won Rip’s aura, Byeol Cheon-gi and the elder of the Byeol Clan Estate rushed out in a hurry.
“W-who is this? Blood Wood Daoist. What is the matter?”
Byeol Cheon-gi said while hurriedly setting up a soundproofing formation around them.
I spoke through the blood body’s mouth.
[Bring all the clan’s spiritual stones.]
“Yes, yes?”
[Did you not hear? I ordered you to bring all the clan’s spiritual stones.]
“H, however…”
[You talk too much.]
Uwoo-woong!
Through the blood body’s hand, I resonated with the Five Elements Blood Curse Flags planted in Byeol Cheon-gi and the elder’s heads.
‘They said they had been operating for hundreds of years, yet they planted them all in their heads.’
Jii-iing!
“…!”
“Kkueu-eup!”
“Uuuu-eup!”
Because I had only drawn out a twentieth of the power of the Five Elements Blood Curse Flags.
The Core Formation cultivators of the Byeol Clan Estate were in agony but barely holding on.
[You talk too much. This is for the grand scheme, so bring all the spiritual stones without delay.]
“Kk…eup…! Ah, I understand…!”
After a while.
Following Byeol Cheon-gi’s order, the Byeol Clan Estate cultivators brought out millions of the clan’s spiritual stones and placed them in front of the blood body.
“These are all the spiritual stones from the main family. The spiritual stones in each territory amount to only a tenth, but gathering them would take a long time…”
[Enough. This will do. And let me add one more thing…]
I spoke to him through the blood body.
[You said you discovered the Jo Clan’s ruins and were researching them?]
“…Yes.”
[Among the Jo Clan’s relics, those related to the Demon Dao, including those that sacrifice the lives of the cultivators and their families, as well as medical halls or technique books, bring them all here. It would be better not to copy them casually.]
“…Yes.”
When I warned them sharply by moving the Five Elements Blood Curse Flags, Byeol Cheon-gi’s lips trembled as he answered.
After a short while, they brought the items before the blood body.
Uwoong!
I opened the blood body’s storage and took them all, loaded the spiritual stones they brought into the Seopmyeong Ship with the blood body’s techniques, and said.
[Good. From now on, live quietly. I will contact you again.]
“Understood. Please look around, Blood Wood Daoist!”
The Core Formation cultivators of the Byeol Clan Estate bowed and greeted the blood body, and I manipulated the blood body onto the Seopmyeong Ship and asked Song Jin to take me to the Cheongmun Clan Estate.
‘With this, I will forget the betrayal I received in my past life.’
Thinking of the moment Byeol Cheon-gi threw the Heavenly Demon Sword at Won Rip’s head.
Honestly, my teeth ached.
But…
‘I should be grateful I left Byeolmunseong as a disciple.’
Looking at Byeolmunseong’s face, the Byeol Clan Estate would not go too far.
‘Just like the Mad Demon Dao family, it isn’t the worst…’
Moreover, the demon arts and refining methods discovered in the Jo Clan’s ruins were all recovered, so they wouldn’t develop like the Mad Demon Dao family.
Kugugugu!
While sorting through my thoughts.
The Seopmyeong Ship had already arrived at the Cheongmun Clan Estate.
I moved Won Rip’s blood body once more and revealed myself at the Cheongmun Clan Estate.
Kugugugugu!
How long had I been suppressing the Cheongmun Clan with the momentum of Wol-do-ip-cheon from behind Won Rip?
After a short while, Cheongmun Jung-jin, the head of the Cheongmun Clan, and the elders appeared.
“W-wol-do-ip-cheon senior…?”
[Yes.]
“What brings the Cheongmun Clan to visit?”
Cheongmun Jung-jin asked the blood body with a solemn expression.
I moved the blood body’s mouth and said.
[I have my eyes on someone. I heard that the Cheongmun Clan’s Cheongmun Ryeong, a Core Formation cultivator, is particularly knowledgeable in ancient prophecies. He is a great figure of Foundation Establishment Three, with an illustrious reputation. I read his book and was deeply moved. He is truly a master of ancient prophecies. Therefore, I came to support him and his family, the Cheongmun Clan.]
Kugugugugu!
I took out the millions of spiritual stones I had taken from the Byeol Clan Estate and piled them in the courtyard in front of the Cheongmun Clan.
Cheongmun Jung-jin’s eyes nearly popped out when he received as much spiritual stone as one clan.
“T, thank you…!”
And.
I told them.
[Let me inform Senior Song Jin, the owner of this Seopmyeong Ship and an elder of Black Ghost Valley.
You will be granted the right to use the Seopmyeong Ship upon paying spiritual stones. Lead your Cheongmun Clan families who mainly practice water-attribute techniques to the Palace of Liberation often to accumulate spiritual energy.]
I gave them my understanding of the water-attribute techniques I had organized.
And handed over the prophetic talisman that could decipher the formations of the Palace of Liberation.
Through the blood body, my words reached not only Cheongmun Jung-jin and the elders, but also the entire Cheongmun Clan Elder Council, who had come out to listen.
“Thank you, senior…”
[Enough!]
Among the elders.
I glanced at Cheongmun Ryeong, who had slowly bowed, and shouted.
‘As expected…’
That was why I had him receive it through the blood body instead of my true body.
Receiving the title of ‘senior’ from Cheongmun Ryeong and a thank-you would have been too painful.
But even hearing ‘senior’ from the blood body, my chest ached greatly.
[Enough. No need for thanks. This is an order. Then… take care. Support Cheongmun Ryeong as much as possible so he can reach the Core Formation realm.]
I quickly conveyed what I wanted and boarded the Seopmyeong Ship to ask Song Jin to head to the Seongje Empire.
Kuuuwoo-woo!
The ghost enveloped the Seopmyeong Ship and moved through space.
* * *
“Hoo…”
Cheongmun Jung-jin let out a dry laugh, looking at the pile of spiritual stones before him.
And Cheongmun Ryeong, whose face showed confusion.
“Hoo, hoo hoo…”
He walked over to Cheongmun Ryeong and patted his shoulder.
“Ryeong-ah, your hard work wasn’t in vain. This is the gift from the great senior who was moved by your book and theories…”
“…I, I see.”
“Straighten your shoulders, Ryeong-ah! Listen to all of you! The spiritual stones that came in this time belong under your name. One-third of the spiritual stones will be yours. Any complaints?”
The elders, latecomers, and entire elder council of the Cheongmun Clan answered loudly.
“None!”
Cheongmun Jung-jin said with a chuckle.
“First, organize all the spiritual stones! And Ryeong-ah, I will do my best to help. From today, put more effort into reaching the Core Formation realm than basic techniques. The great senior gave you so many gifts hoping you would reach the Core Formation realm, so don’t disappoint him!”
Cheongmun Ryeong was silent for a moment, then said in a trembling voice.
“…Thank you.”
* * *
Kugugugu!
The Seopmyeong Ship appeared above the Seongje Empire, the Jin-ru Clan.
‘Of the betraying clans in the Three Kingdoms, the Jin-ru Clan is the last.’
The Mad Demon Dao family was wiped out.
Spiritual stones were taken from the Byeol Clan.
‘But what about the Jin-ru Clan.’
The Byeol Clan was shown mercy because of Byeolmunseong.
The Mad Demon Dao family was ended because of their usual cruel acts on top of the grudges I had.
But the Jin-ru Clan…
Had no grudges, no cruel rumors.
But at the same time, no good memories like Byeolmunseong’s.
‘Then…’
I pondered for a moment, then descended on the Jin-ru Clan with Won Rip’s blood body.
After a while.
Jin-ru Yeon-cheon, the head of the Jin-ru Clan, and the Core Formation elders appeared.
“Oh my, why has the Blood Wood Daoist come all the way to the westernmost end?”
Jin-ru Yeon-cheon approached the blood body with a bewitching voice.
I formed a bond and activated the Five Elements Blood Curse Flags embedded in her and the other elders.
Jii-iing!
“Kkueup…!”
“Uuu-ug!”
In an instant, the entire Core Formation power was neutralized.
[From now on.]
I said through the blood body.
[I will tell you about the forces that have planted Five Elements Blood Curse Flags in the northern great grassland. And the forces that have planted them in the eastern countries. You will travel between the north and east, collecting two million spiritual stones from each.]
Uwoo-woong!
I handed the technique to the blood body’s hand.
Then the blood body formed the bond.
Uuuu-woong!
The Five Elements Blood Curse Flag changed into a red flag emblem and landed on Jin-ru Yeon-cheon’s hand.
[Using this, you can activate the Five Elements Blood Curse Flags in their upper courts up to three times per person. Find them, collect the spiritual stones under my name, and deliver all the spiritual stones to the Cheongmun Clan in my name.]
“T, the Cheongmun Clan?”
[Yes, and this must be opened when all is done. After you finish your tasks, the letter will open. In it, I have written your next tasks, so do exactly as written. If you open the letter before finishing, the gold seal in it will activate and contact me, so do not open it lightly.]
“…Yes, I will obey the order.”
I handed her the sealed letter.
Jin-ru Yeon-cheon accepted the letter and carefully placed it in a storage artifact.
[Then carry out my order.]
Inside the letter.
‘After all is done, surrender all of Jin-ru Clan to the Cheongmun Clan and become a subordinate force under it.’
It was also punishment for the Jin-ru Clan.
‘He probably won’t like it.’
Jin-ru Yeon-cheon would be happy.
It was an order for everyone to be happy.
‘And now the last one…’
I flew to a village with the Seopmyeong Ship.
It was a familiar village.
‘A village where the centipede monster would torment them…’
This time, I descended with my true body.
The villagers looked at me coming from the sky with eyes wide open.
I asked the village chief looking at me.
“Isn’t there a centipede monster beyond that mountain peak?”
“Y, yes… The monster takes the young men and maidens of the village…”
“I will deal with it. Please hear one request.”
“W, what request?”
“For this village…”
With the power of order, I drew the face of the child I had met and read a fairy tale with in the past life.
“Is there a child like this?”
“Ah, the daughter of the bookstore owner. Yes.”
“I want to ask something of that child. Please guide me.”
I followed the village chief’s guidance and went to find the child.
‘That book was certainly not an ordinary book.’
There must have been something hidden inside.
In the past life, too busy with rage to dig deeper.
This life, it was worth trying.
The person operating the village bookstore was an elderly scholar, and the daughter was playing with dolls beside him.
I approached them and asked.
“Do you happen to have a fairy tale book?”
And, following the scholar’s words, I shuddered.
“…A fairy tale book? We don’t deal with such books at our house.”
“…What?”
I explained the contents of the fairy tale and asked again if there was a fairy tale book containing such tales.
The scholar, with a bothered expression, went into the room and rummaged through the books for a while.
“None. There is no such book. And the story of Jongmyeongja? I have lived in this region for twenty years and studied, but I have never heard of a folk tale about Jongmyeongja. I often read books with old stories about fairies and idioms to the children, but I have never seen books about emperors or Jongmyeongja.”