Together with Everyone
Tsutsutsutsu—
The power of the Taesan Yeolje Art gradually faded, and the surrounding sea came into view once more.
I had struck a direct hit.
Jin Ma-yeol had been sliced apart without leaving a single trace.
Yet I could not shake off the unpleasant feeling in my chest.
“…That bastard…”
He escaped.
Though his flesh was destroyed, I sensed that his soul spirit had flown off somewhere to revive.
Thinking back, that made sense.
On the day I first arrived in the Goryeok Realm.
On that day too, after battling Kim Young-hoon, I had used the Taesan Yeolje Art, and every Sachuk and Integration-stage expert within its range had died.
Including Jin Ma-yeol himself!
However, the fellow had come back to life.
He was not going to revive seven times like Won Rip, but he had been a real thorn in my side.
Kugugugug!
Far away, Kim Yeon and Buk Hyang-hwa, who had escaped, were once again diving into the deep sea beneath the Goryeok Realm aboard the Yeomgolho.
Chirururur—
A strange sound was echoing from the keel of the Yeomgolho far off.
The Yeomgolho had been crafted entirely from the precious salt crystal, and it seemed to be reacting to the Taesan Yeolje Art.
Buwoong!
I fired a single strike at the Yeomgolho as it began to descend. Before it could fully submerge, its bow was sliced clean off.
“Salt crystal…”
The salt crystal was also connected to the Taesan Yeolje Art.
“Well, I expected it from the moment I saw the character for ‘salt’ (鹽).”
The reason it was called the salt crystal was simple: it was white as snow, yet when licked, it had a salty taste.
In reality, it was an ore that looked and felt almost exactly like salt.
“So this ship can freely dive into the deep sea of the Goryeok Realm…”
No wonder the Tuma Pirates had such a fearsome reputation.
I briefly stared at the spot where the pirate ship had vanished, then turned my gaze to Kim Yeon and Buk Hyang-hwa.
“How are the two of you feeling?”
Hong Beom had already transformed into human form and was gently stroking his beard with a warm, relaxed smile.
“Thankfully, the crisis is over. In particular, thanks to His Highness the Destiny Emperor, whose intent pulled my soul spirit tight, even though it suffered wounds, there are no major problems.”
I walked over to Buk Hyang-hwa and Kim Yeon.
Kim Yeon, having exhausted her strength, was now hugging Buk Hyang-hwa tightly, tears streaming down her face as she slept.
“Hehe. Only because I didn’t let the Destiny Emperor go, dear Kim Yeon.”
I laughed heartily and pointed at the pair.
I reverted to human form and smiled faintly at the two.
“…Let’s head back.”
That was how the case of the abducted officials kidnapped by the pirates ended.
If that had been the outcome, I thought it would have been wonderful.
After sending the remaining disciples first to the Black Sea Void Extreme Sect, I gazed up at the “sky” with icy eyes.
“…It seems the Heavenly Patterns are being read.”
That was right.
The Goryeok Realm should not have a sky at all, making the Heavenly Patterns unreadable.
Yet now, for some reason, I could see them.
The Heavenly Patterns were, in truth, the flow of attraction emitted by the stars!
And I could feel the attraction flowing from the sky—directed toward me.
“Could this be a calamity?”
It was not a normal Heavenly Pattern.
A regular Heavenly Pattern should have let me see the future.
However, this Heavenly Pattern felt as though only a single strand of attraction was pulling me.
It was the Heavenly Pattern of misfortune!
And the fact that I could suddenly see a single Heavenly Pattern in a world where I normally could not see any was far too strange and suspicious.
Having experienced so many calamities and misfortunes, I could tell.
“Who… could have bestowed this upon me…!”
This Heavenly Pattern was clearly artificial.
The types, natures, and ranges of Heavenly Patterns had expanded once I reached the Sachuk realm.
And none of the Heavenly Patterns I had seen in the “night” of the Myeonggwi Realm contained such a calamity.
In other words, this calamity had been bestowed upon me after I arrived in the Goryeok Realm.
“When I think about it, it really was odd.”
How had the guide I first caught been a scammer? How had the prince I met while trying to form an alliance only planned to betray us? How had she sent an intent down to the lower realm to stack the Gangnyeong Axis, causing her own main body to split in two and face the truth? How had my comrades been kidnapped when I returned, and how had they come so close to dying when I saved them?
I had experienced misfortune like this before, but never with such frequency.
It was blatantly unlucky.
I stared at the sky.
I still could not guess who had granted me this calamity.
Yet if someone could grant a fate, they could not be a casual being, and I had no choice but to assume they bore me no goodwill.
“Of course…”
There was a possibility that they were a being who could only grant misfortune.
“I’m going to lose my mind. This world is really…”
I sighed.
But there was nothing I could do about it right now.
Calamities were not eternal.
“I will wait until the calamity passes!”
I gazed at the sky one last time before returning to the Black Sea.
Because I had endured so many events, or perhaps because I had learned of such shocking truths, my shoulders felt inexplicably stiff.
* * *
After returning to the Black Sea, I received a report from Baek Rin, who had awakened the fastest among the four.
“…As a result, I was able to escape from the Yeomgolho and be rescued by the Lord Sect Master and his party.”
“Thank you for the detailed explanation.”
After receiving the report, I thought about one thing that concerned me from what Baek Rin had said.
“Yuk Yo is a descendant of the Sea Dragon Clan…”
Baek Rin had said it was likely a lie, but I believed the part about the Sea Dragon Clan.
“Thinking about the reports of Buk Hyang-hwa, Kim Yeon, and Kim Young-hoon who fought against Yuk Rin’s dragon form, they said they were similar in color and shape aside from that. And… when I asked Seo Ran about Yuk Yo and Si-ho, he said there was a faint spiritual energy but he felt a strange intimacy…”
Overall, while it was true that Yuk Yo had deceived Baek Rin, the story about the Sea Dragon Clan and her own bloodline used to deceive him was likely true.
Kuwoong!
I widened the space underground in the Void Extreme Sect for a moment, then retrieved the Sea Dragon Statue I had brought from the deep sea.
It had looked dark in the deep sea, but when I pulled it out in the dark underground chamber, it glowed brightly.
“Well, it’s just a chunk of ancient stone.”
I infused it with various energies and performed rituals to examine it.
Even infusing my own student’s aura brought no reaction from the Sea Dragon Statue.
It was simply a statue of a Sea Dragon carved from pure ancient stone.
I observed the statue for a while, then summoned Seo Ran and Song Jin.
A short while later they descended to the underground chamber. I showed it to them and asked, “Is this the Sea Dragon Statue I found when I went to save Buk Hyang-hwa and Kim Yeon? Have you seen anything like this before?”
Seo Ran stared at the statue in deep thought before exclaiming in surprise.
“Ah! I’ve seen something similar before!”
“You have?”
“Yes. While reading the Sea Dragon Clan’s history at the Sea Dragon Palace, I found an identical illustration. The Sea Dragon Clan—and most dragon clans, including theirs—are descendants of the True Dragon who remained in the Goryeok Realm as a threat. According to the history, one drop of the True Dragon’s blood mixed with that of the Black Dragon, producing the Black Dragon Clan. Some of them crossed over to the Goryeok Realm and mutated into the Sea Dragon Clan, which is how the Sea Dragon Clan began. Later, the Sea Dragons born in the Goryeok Realm somehow spread to countless lower realms.”
“…!”
I immediately understood the meaning of the phrases “True Dragon,” “Goryeok,” and “lower realms.”
“The seed of the Sea Dragon born from the True Dragon’s bloodline bloomed in the Goryeok Realm and scattered across countless lower realms.”
But there was something strange.
“Still, why is Hyeol-eum attached to the front of the True Dragon?”
No matter how I thought about it, Hyeol-eum had nothing to do with dragons or the Sea Dragon Clan.
At that moment, Seo Ran said with excitement.
“This… This is an extremely valuable historical treasure for the Sea Dragon Clan! In the world… I never imagined I would actually see the treasure from the history book…”
“What makes you say that?”
“This is the Jade Seal of the first Sea Dragon King, Ja-eum! The Jade Seals currently found all over the other realms… No, even the Jade Seal that Buk Hyang-hwa’s grandfather Seohul-nim holds as the mark of the Sea Dragon King of the Water Realm is a replica of this Ja-hun Jade Seal! Can you believe it?!”
The fellow was so excited he looked ready to lick the Sea Dragon Statue labeled as the Ja-hun Jade Seal.
While staring at it, I suddenly felt a question arise.
“By the way, the first Sea Dragon King wasn’t named Seowoo, was he?”
“Ah, yes. The first Sea Dragon King did indeed use the character Ja (紫). But since all his descendants, the Sea Dragons, carry his blood, it doesn’t matter much. Originally, the Sea Dragon King’s right to rule was decided by whether they received the Sea Power Jade Seal or not, and the Ja-hun Jade Seal is merely a replica of the first Sea Dragon King’s Jade Seal.”
I was startled and looked back and forth between Seo Ran and the Ja-hun Jade Seal.
“So you have the first Sea Dragon King’s Jade Seal…”
“No, that’s not it.”
Seo Ran gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
“Unfortunately, the only way to become the owner of the Jade Seal is to ‘inherit’ it directly from the previous owner. The one recognized by the Jade Seal can learn the secret history and purpose of the Sea Dragon Clan hidden within it… But since I was not recognized by the previous owner, this Ja-hun Jade Seal is only a historical treasure with value.”
“I see…”
“How unfortunate…”
Song Jin and I sighed at the same time.
“If Seo Ran becomes the Sea Dragon King, he might have been able to influence the Sea Dragons who are being devoured by Seohul’s Takhon Mancheon…”
Perhaps that was why Seohul kept taking the form of the Sea Dragon.
“Would it be possible for me to conduct a little more research…?”
“Take your time. And about Yuk Yo…”
I told Seo Ran everything I had heard from Baek Rin’s report.
“So Yuk Yo might be a descendant of the Sea Dragon too, huh?”
“Yes. If she wakes up, please ask her whatever you want.”
“Understood.”
“Wait, Seo Ran.”
At that moment, Song Jin asked Seo Ran with a puzzled expression.
“Didn’t you say that eel was a scammer? Didn’t you tell the Lord Sect Master that you had heard from Baek Rin that he lied until the end? Yet now you can get a proper answer from the eel?”
“It’s fine. Just question him together with Siho.”
“Why? Because that fox fears Siho?”
“That’s part of it…”
Song Jin looked slightly surprised at the next part.
“Siho is also an expert at the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin realm, right? With his intent, he can see through lies, so he can’t lie.”
“What? That fox!? Since when?”
I laughed at Song Jin’s reaction.
“You didn’t know? Seo Ran already knows.”
“Ah… I truly didn’t know…”
Siho had learned martial arts through a somewhat roundabout way and reached the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin realm by battling Kim Young-hoon.
Since the fox and the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin realm were a good match, Siho’s power would rise considerably.
“Either way, it’s fine as long as that fox can tell truth from lie. Then let’s go.”
“Yes, Master. Then, Lord Sect Master, we’ll be leaving first.”
“Go ahead.”
Seo Ran and Song Jin took the Sea Dragon Statue and the Jade Seal and left.
I returned the space to its original state and fell into deep thought.
“That final term I used… ‘Hyeon-eum Ji-gye.’”
It was undoubtedly the name of the Black Dragon King, Hyeon-eum.
“Hyeon-eum, Ja-eum…”
And Hyeol-eum (Blood Yin).
If he was not an idiot, there was something to think about regarding the connection between the three.
Various random thoughts came to mind, but they were all just fantasies, and I had no solid guess.
What was the relationship between Hyeol-eum, Hyeon-eum, and Ja-eum?
What exactly was Seohul doing?
I sank into complicated worries, then shook my head to clear them away.
“Fine. There’s nothing I can do right now.”
This world was filled with traps and calamities that were too sinister and vicious to describe.
However, the few advantages of this world were that it would continue to grow stronger.
“I will become stronger.”
I would keep stacking the Gangnyeong Axis and grow.
I recalled Goe-gun’s words.
Only by becoming even stronger could one overcome fate.
“Building even stronger power and realm would be advantageous in approaching Seohul’s secret.”
I waved my arm to create a sitting liberation and standing death clone, then lay my main body on the cultivation bed and spread my consciousness in the side chamber.
It was urgent to stack the Gangnyeong Axis as quickly as possible.
* * *
My main body would stack the Gangnyeong Axis, while the sitting liberation and standing death clone would head to the Void Extreme Sect’s independent study hall.
Most disciples at the Void Extreme Sect were ghosts, so there was no pain in learning, and thanks to that, no apothecary shops existed.
That was why the place where Buk Hyang-hwa and the others were currently being treated was Hong Beom’s independent study hall for researching poisons.
Since poisons could be used as medicine once their ratios were adjusted, it was possible.
I entered the room where Buk Hyang-hwa was stable. Kim Yeon was nodding off while gently nursing her.
“We seem to have grown quite close.”
At our first meeting, the two had glared at each other like they wanted to devour each other.
But now, even in sleep, they were holding hands.
I brought a blanket from nearby and covered the sleeping Kim Yeon, then checked Buk Hyang-hwa’s condition.
Fortunately, thanks to the medicinal herbs Hong Beom had given her, her soul spirit had improved greatly.
I infused a little vitality into the pair, then quietly left the room.
As I came out, Kim Young-hoon was already waiting with his arms crossed.
“What brings you here?”
“I have something to say.”
“Good timing. I have something I want to ask you too.”
“What is it?”
I asked Kim Young-hoon about the task I had received from Jang Ik.
“If you have to cut something that cannot be cut, what would you do?”
“To cut something that cannot be cut… For example?”
“For example, something like a planet.”
Kim Young-hoon thought for a moment after hearing my example, then said,
“Planets can’t be cut, but similar things can be.”
“Really?”
He grinned.
“Well… I’ll explain that later. That aside, how do you feel? Seeing that pirate fellow, does it give you a sense of what ‘martial’ really is?”
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