Yeon's Heart (5)
“I’m grateful that you came with me, and one day… I will hold a proper wedding with you. You.”
“Even this is more than enough. I would be… ”
And there, the word “husband” spilled from her lips.
Kwa-aa-aang!
Hot heat surged out, melting every snowflake nearby and burning every tree to ash.
Kuu-gugugugu!
An immense wave of heat swallowed everything around them.
“You…!”
The Core Formation Elder of the Jo Clan.
The very man who had brainwashed Yeon and pushed the arranged marriage with the Black Ghost Valley.
Pat, paba-babat!
Countless later-stage disciples of the Jo Clan poured out around him.
“That filthy, idiotic trash…! Finally he couldn’t hold back and went into heat to service livestock! Fine, if that’s how it is, I’ll pull you two apart completely. If the livestock dies, you die too!”
Yeon did not let the Elder finish. He raised his hand and pressed a law technique against his own forehead.
“If you kill her or lay a finger on her, I will commit suicide immediately.”
“Wh-what is this!?”
“I will accept your arranged marriage. I will marry a Black Ghost Valley priestess, bear children with her, and deliver them to you. But you must promise to keep her alive and never harm her. If you break that promise, I will blow my own head off right here. No matter how much of an Elder you are, you cannot stop me.”
Yeon stared at the Elder with sharp eyes and spoke.
“If a Heavenly Pattern Sage had been born, you could have killed me right now. But from what I know, no new Heavenly Pattern Sage has awakened in recent years.”
Yeon was not being foolishly naive.
He had carefully investigated the Clan before escaping.
“If you want to break off the arranged marriage with the Lord of the Zhou Seven Veins’ niece, you could certainly kill me. Well, a mere Core Formation Heavenly Pattern Sage like me is truly worthless, isn’t it? Kill me right here and now and break off the marriage!”
“Y-you…!”
Yeon knew.
For the past years, he had eavesdropped on conversations outside his sealed room using the Ritual Technique and was certain.
The Clan Lord intended to use this arranged marriage to turn the Jo Clan into the imperial capital’s royal family.
To succeed, he needed an unbreakable alliance, and Yeon’s death here would create a gap in the Lord’s grand plan.
If a Heavenly Pattern Sage had awakened days ago, he could have killed Yeon and switched the arranged-marriage partner.
But that was impossible.
The Elder glared at Yeon with a face twisted red, while Yeon gripped Ha-eun’s hand and pressed the law technique closer to his own head.
In the end the Elder shouted at Yeon.
“Fine! You filthy little bastard! I swear on my honor, the Jo Clan’s honor, and my golden core that I will not touch even a single hair of your pet! I will not kill it, I will not abuse it! Only…!”
His eyes burned like flames as he glared at Yeon.
“I heard an odd rumor from the Black Ghost Valley side, so I will temporarily place your pet at the very end of the eastern lands. After the wedding, for twenty years the two of you must never meet again. Do you understand!?”
“Twenty… years…”
Yeon let out a long sigh.
It was long.
Far too long.
But he had read the Elder’s will.
“This must be the limit.”
If he demanded more conditions, the Elder would explode and kill Ha-eun on the spot.
“Understood. In exchange, after that period I ask that you allow us to meet again.”
“Good! I accept that too! I swear on my golden core and honor! Is that settled!?”
Yeon turned to the later-stage disciples behind the Elder.
“I also ask that those who came with the Elder swear to the same promise.”
At those words, they exchanged glances, smirked, and nodded.
“Understood. We agree. We will arrange for you to meet again later. We swear on our honor.”
“Truly…?”
“Enough!”
Kuu-gugugugu!
Yeon tried to read their will with his Ritual Technique, but the Elder’s shout blocked it.
“That’s enough talk! Since you swore in front of me, these idiots will keep their promise too. You behave yourself as well. If you keep doubting, I will take it as doubting my honor.”
“…Understood.”
Yeon, though skeptical, decided to trust the Elder for now.
A tremor passed through him.
Somehow he felt a strange malice from the Elder and his disciples, but he lowered his head, blaming the current situation.
An ominous feeling crawled up his spine like the time he had met the Nascent Soul demon man long ago, but he forced himself to accept it.
‘This is the best I can do.’
Yeon looked at Ha-eun and pulled her into his arms.
“Twenty years is long, but when we miss each other, the days will pass quickly.”
“Yes. I know. Even if the mountains and rivers change twice, my heart will not.”
The two hugged briefly, then separated.
Yeon headed back to the Jo Clan with the Core Formation Elder.
Meanwhile, Ha-eun was taken eastward by the disciples toward the far eastern lands.
She would be kept there for twenty years.
Even from far away, Yeon swore he would go to her one day.
He reached the Jo Clan’s main gate with that resolve in his heart.
‘One day… one day I will meet you.’
Three days later.
Yeon heard unbelievable news.
“The… the arranged marriage is… being broken off?”
The Core Formation Elder nodded with a furious face.
“…Yes. The Black Ghost Valley side investigated your past and discovered you were servicing livestock.”
Crack…
The Elder glared at Yeon.
“If that had created a gap in the alliance, I would have torn you and your pet apart myself… but luckily you had a flaw as well.
The Lord of the Zhou Seven Veins’ niece… her male favoritism was well known, but I never imagined she would bring a man into the bridal chamber the night before. The head elder of the main family discovered it, and as a result the marriage was canceled. Originally the Black Ghost Valley side would have accepted you out of kindness to give us an edge in the alliance… but since we discovered their niece’s serious flaw as well, both sides agreed to cancel the marriage without a word.”
“Th-then…?”
Yeon’s face was about to light up—
The Elder roared.
“Don’t get your hopes up! Your arranged-marriage partner will be chosen again. Only… because the rumor of you servicing livestock has spread, finding another partner will be even harder.”
Boom!
The Elder slapped Yeon’s face hard.
Boom, smack, smack!
He beat Yeon with his own hands while shouting.
“Be grateful, you trash! If their side hadn’t been flawed, you two would have been my personal ingredients for the law talisman! Damn it, I’m boiling! Now I have to run around looking for partners for this trash again!”
He beat Yeon until the end and stormed out, saying.
“Reflect on yourself. And hurry up and raise your realm. If you don’t, there won’t be anyone who would marry a livestock-servicing trash like you… If you end up unable to arrange a marriage because of this, I will personally take your pet and tear it apart in front of you!”
“…Understood.”
Yeon bowed as the Elder left the room.
And he made a decision.
‘I will raise my realm.’
It was also an opportunity.
The Elder had said he would only have a chance if he raised his realm, but raising it also meant he would gain more choices.
‘Even if I only reach mid-Core Formation, I would no longer be ignored like an insect by the Clan.’
When that time came, no one would stop him from keeping Ha-eun by his side.
Servicing livestock? What did that matter.
Some genuinely eccentric masters who had cultivated demonic arts had even performed “true service.”
The Elder probably thought Yeon would only reach mid-Core Formation.
But Yeon had long since fully internalized the comprehension of the Core Formation level.
However, because his lifespan would be too long, he deliberately stayed at early Core Formation so that no matter how many immortality pills he took, he could never die on the same day as Ha-eun.
But that was no longer necessary.
‘When I break through to the golden core, my lifespan will exceed six hundred years. Even if I never grow old with Ha-eun, it is time to raise my realm!’
Yeon swore he would raise his realm and entered seclusion from that day on.
* * *
Time passed.
Five years had gone by, yet Yeon’s arranged-marriage partner had still not been chosen.
The Core Formation Elder had threatened to kill Ha-eun if no partner was chosen within ten years, but Yeon was not afraid.
Uuu-woong!
Although he had hidden his cultivation, it had already reached late Core Formation.
‘The break is near.’
His Heavenly Pattern Sage was even showing signs of evolving again.
Perhaps because he had spent the last five years practicing law artifact creation and awakening his talent.
Two of his six tattoos were showing signs of merging.
Thanks to that, the Clan had taken even more time to choose a partner for him.
After the Elder left, Yeon smiled faintly and continued his cultivation.
‘The day I can truly be with her is coming soon.’
That was when the later-stage disciples entered his room.
“Eh, you little pest.”
The room fell silent as Yeon looked at them with guarded eyes.
They were the later-stage disciples who had witnessed him and Ha-eun with the Elder that day.
They had all already married high-ranking members of the Black Ghost Valley and held significant status within the family.
One of them walked over, patted Yeon’s shoulder, and handed him a jade box.
“I heard the Sage is about to evolve. Hahaha, I wondered if this was the same old puppet. Once you become a Five-Moon Sage, we’ll finally be equals!”
One later-stage disciple who had been a Five-Moon Sage since birth playfully put his arm around Yeon’s shoulder.
He was the one who had tormented Yeon since childhood.
“Sorry for picking on you back then. Now that you’re a Five-Moon Sage, you’re basically a human again. We can’t leave resentment behind like before.”
He smiled uncomfortably and pushed the jade box toward Yeon.
“Eat it. It’s an immortality pill.”
Suddenly, an inexplicable disgust rose in Yeon’s heart.
“…What kind of immortality pill is this?”
“You know. The Love-Advancement Pill.”
“…!”
Love-Advancement Pill.
The Jo Clan’s unique immortality pill made exclusively for Heavenly Pattern Sages!
Only a handful of the Clan’s pill masters knew the secret recipe.
“My uncle is the Clan’s supreme pill master. I gave him the rare ingredients and specially requested a top-grade Love-Advancement Pill. Even my uncle was delighted and said this was the first time he had such special materials.”
The later-stage disciple spoke with a meaningful expression.
“Go on, eat it. Six-Moon and Seven-Moon Sages are useless, but a Five-Moon Sage can still help the Clan. Don’t take it the wrong way. I only picked on you because I was training you.”
Yeon accepted the jade box and hesitated.
He felt an odd disgust and revulsion.
The disciple noticed and scowled.
“Hey, why that face? This pill was painstakingly refined by my uncle for years. Are you ignoring me and my uncle?”
“That’s… not it. It’s just that something this precious…”
“You keep refusing, but you have to eat one right now. If you keep ignoring our goodwill, we won’t just stand by. You know we know where your pet is, right?”
“…Ugh…”
Yeon’s face darkened.
He sighed and opened the box.
Inside was a soft pink immortality pill.
A heavenly pill that amplified a Heavenly Pattern Sage’s talent!
Why was he being given something this precious by the very person he had tormented since childhood?
Yeon read the disciple’s will.
It was filled with purple joy.
‘Is it malice? Is it goodwill?’
His Ritual Technique had not yet reached completion.
Interpreting the comprehension of Five Qi Consorting with the Origin was never easy, even for him.
He could only perceive colors slowly and understand the intent of the colors a little at a time.
‘I can’t grasp the exact intent.’
In the end, Yeon ate the pill in front of them.
It did not seem poisoned.
The moment he swallowed it, a warm energy swirled through his entire body.
It felt like gentle hands caressing him.
“Fuhahahaha!”
The disciples burst out laughing.
They were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Yeon could not read their true intent.
“Good, good. I really like this little pest!”
The disciple patted Yeon’s back and left, saying.
“Leave us to absorb the effects. Eat well and become a fine talent for the Clan, you little one!”
Yeon stared at the empty room after they left.
Then he looked at the remaining pills.
It felt strange.
But…
‘I have to eat them.’
Because only after eating and growing could he seize the opportunity.
Once he became a Five-Moon Sage, the Clan could no longer completely ignore his opinion.
‘And… with this Love-Advancement Pill, maybe…’
Yeon thought he might even aim for a Six-Moon Sage.
‘If I became a Six-Moon Sage, perhaps the Clan would accept me raising Ha-eun openly.’
“I will definitely…”
Yeon swore while looking at the pill.
“Next time, I will be with her.”
Now was the time to ignore all means and raise his realm and talent.
Only… for her.
Yeon swallowed another pill.
The six moons merged and became five.
Yeon whispered.
“Wait for me, you…”
The effects of the Love-Advancement Pill still raged through his body.
If he absorbed it all, a path to a Six-Moon Sage seemed to open before him.
“I will definitely come to meet you. I have sworn to grow old with you for a hundred years…”
Yeon lit a fire in his eyes and touched his chest.
“I made that promise…”
* * *
Bubble, bubble, bubble…
On the corpse of a massive sea dragon that was dying and spitting purple bubbles, a man with dull eyes sat writing a death note and laughed hoarsely.
“Heh heh… I guided it myself, but the Jo Clan is beyond my imagination. I only stirred their instincts, yet this… Moreover…”
His pupils split vertically.
“I guess I won’t find what I was looking for after all. It was set to die together with the person one must meet at the same time.”
With a click of his tongue in regret, the man with inverted eyes pulled something from the dead sea dragon’s corpse.
* * *
Five years had passed.
Kuu-gugugugu!
Inside one of the training halls of the Jo Clan.
A violent boom echoed, and heaven and earth spiritual energy surged in.
“What’s happening?”
One of the Elders looked toward the training hall.
“This heaven qi phenomenon… could it be…?”
He sensed something and flew toward the hall in shock.
After a while, powerful heaven qi pressure erupted from inside the training hall.
Kuu-gug!
The training hall door opened and Yeon stepped out.
“A-ah, what is this…?”
The Elder’s mouth fell open.
The person who had emerged was none other than the Yeon he had once threatened to kill with Ha-eun if his partner was not chosen.
He gulped.
“C-Core… you actually reached Core Formation?!”
He stared at the patterns rising on Yeon’s skin and was shocked.
“S-Six-Moon Sage?! How did you… a Seven-Moon Sage evolved into a Six-Moon Sage? Even eating Love-Advancement Pills countless times doesn’t make it easy, yet you’ve already broken through several times!”
Whether the Elder was shocked or not, Yeon only smiled faintly.
“It has been a while, Elder.”
“…”
“I have broken through to Core Formation and reached the Six-Moon Sage realm.”
Yeon pointed behind him.
Countless law artifacts he had made over the years to evolve his Heavenly Pattern Sage filled the training hall.
“I will present all of these law artifacts and talismans to the Clan. With this, Elder, may I choose my own arranged-marriage partner?”
“…”
The Elder looked at Yeon with an incredulous face and sighed.
“…Do as you please. You kept such talent hidden… surprising. Your pet… I mean, the law artifact that records the location of the person who committed that sin. Go or don’t go, as you like. After that day I cut all ties with the perpetrator and never touched it!”
“Hahaha, thank you.”
Yeon thanked the Elder and quickly visited the Clan elders and Lord to pay respects.
He listened to their praise with one ear and waited only for the day to find Ha-eun.
And when the Clan Lord’s encouragement finally ended…
Yeon knelt before the Lord and pleaded.
“Lord, with my golden core and Six-Moon Sage, I believe I have the right to choose my own arranged-marriage partner.”
“Hm, that’s true. Do you have any noble families or large sects in mind?”
“I… would like to marry a mortal martial artist.”
“What!”
The Nascent Soul Lord flushed red and roared.
“I thought the rumors about servicing livestock were lies… you still carry such perverted tastes?!”
Kuu-gugugugu!
The Nascent Soul Lord gritted his teeth and tried to lift his qi, but barely suppressed his rage and sat back down.
“…If you were a Five-Moon Sage or mid-Core Formation, I would have killed you myself. But your realm and talent are both high, so I won’t kill you. Do as you please! Only, you must marry the Clan’s chosen woman while you raise your pet!”
“…Thank you.”
Though dissatisfied, Yeon nodded after receiving permission.
‘With my innate talent I can reach Nascent Soul.’
When that time came, no one would stop him from holding a formal wedding with Ha-eun.
A hundred years together with Ha-eun was a little disappointing, but if he scraped together the entire continent’s immortality pills and brought her to Core Formation, a thousand years might even be possible.
Yeon dreamed of that and took out the law artifact that recorded Ha-eun’s location.
The Jo Clan was a sect of law artifact geniuses, so even a simple location-tracking law artifact was easy to make.
‘The Elder probably made it just in case and never activated it for ten years.’
Yeon analyzed the law artifact’s structure.
‘It remembers her blood information and targets the location. Why bother with such high completion… Still, this Jo Clan has such technology it could rain blessings on all the perpetrators… ’
A slight dissatisfaction toward the Jo Clan welled up in his heart, but Yeon felt he was about to fly.
Now only happiness remained.
Even the Jo Clan, which he had hated, felt like a home to him.
“Good. Let’s go.”
Wiiing!
Yeon activated the law artifact. Wings sprouted from the round object and it rose into the air.
It flapped its wings and flew somewhere.
Yeon unfolded his cloud-step technique and chased after it.
“To reach the eastern lands I will consume a lot of spiritual energy, so I should replenish with an immortality pill or spiritual stone before leaving…”
And Yeon sensed something strange.
The law artifact was not heading east.
It was heading to a corner of the Jo Clan’s main gate.
Yeon’s eyes widened.
‘Wait… no way…?’
He felt absurd.
“You didn’t take her to the eastern lands? Here…”
Heavenly Pattern Sage from the mortal world, the Jo Clan could easily use her as a guard. Perhaps they were using her for that purpose.
“Ha… I was right next to the main family and still didn’t know. The Clan must have controlled all information. Or… I was too focused on cultivation and didn’t pay attention to the family’s information? Still… anyway…”
Wiiiiing!
The law artifact passed through the training ground, cultivation room, and law artifact concealment room and headed to the corner of the main family.
The pill refining room.
“…What is this?”
Yeon felt a guarded feeling as he reached the pill refining room.
‘Is Ha-eun inside?’
He carefully opened the door.
Even a Core Formation master could not enter carelessly, so Yeon’s manner was cautious.
The moment he opened the door, the law artifact flew to a corner of the room.
“You… are you there?”
Yeon followed the law artifact with a trembling heart.
And it stopped.
It had stopped in front of a ground-fire igniter on the pill-refining path.
“…”
Yeon looked around.
Ha-eun was nowhere to be seen.
“…The law artifact is broken.”
He touched it.
But he was a Six-Moon Sage now. It could not be broken.
Yeon felt Ha-eun’s blood information registered inside.
The qi he remembered from Ha-eun was contained in that blood.
“…”
Yeon fiddled with the law artifact and muttered again.
“Strange. Something feels broken… I can’t tell with my current skill.”
At that moment, someone yawned and walked up behind him.
“Haaam, refining medicine mixtures is never easy. Hey, wait! Who are you?!”
Yeon turned.
It was the later-stage disciple who had given him the Love-Advancement Pill.
The disciple smiled happily.
“Who is this! It’s you, the little pest! Hahaha, you came out of seclusion? Any results? I didn’t even do seclusion and I’m already late Core Formation, how far have you… Eh?”
The disciple suddenly changed expression as he checked Yeon’s will and qi.
“Eh, eh…?”
And Yeon reached out to the disciple.
Kwa-ak!
He grabbed the disciple’s shoulders with both hands and asked.
“…Where is she?”
The disciple’s face turned white.
“H-how did you, someone of your level reach Core Formation…?”
“Where is she.”
Kwa-deuk!
Yeon spoke to the chattering disciple.
“Where?”
“K-kuk, you…”
Right then.
Kwa-ak!
Someone grabbed Yeon’s hand inside the hall.
Yeon looked back.
The disciple’s uncle.
The grand elder of the Nascent Soul level Core Formation master before him.
“Surprising. The little pest my nephew told me about has grown to this level.”
“…Where is she?”
Yeon asked with fierce eyes.
Before the grand elder could answer, the disciple hid behind his back and mocked.
“Hahaha, you mean your pet? We kept our promise! We said we would arrange for you to meet again!”
“…What?”
“There! Your pet is ‘there’!”
The disciple pointed at Yeon’s belly.
Yeon looked at his own belly, then at the ground-fire igniter on the pill-refining path, and finally at the grand elder.
His gaze finally landed on the disciple.
Swaaaa-
“…”
An icy aura spread around Yeon.
“U-uncle!”
“Hmph. You made a mistake. You didn’t say you would cherish a pet this much.”
The grand elder stepped in front of Yeon and spoke.
“My nephew was a bit hasty. But understand. Even if it is, it’s just livestock. Moreover, the three Love-Advancement Pills made from your pet were truly special, so the later-stage disciples, the Clan Lord and elders, and even the supreme elders have been drinking them and improving their talents. The Jo Clan received tremendous help, so I imagine they were happy even in death.”
“…”
“If you have complaints, say them now. Since it was a slightly special livestock, I will give you compensation. If you need another pet, I can bring a few more from the mortal world.”
“…”
“No complaints then, leave. The pill refining room is a place even the Clan’s Core Formation elders may not enter casually.”
“…”
Yeon passed the grand elder.
He walked back to his room in a daze.
Then he stared at his own hand.
Crunch…
Yeon bit his hand.
Crunch, crunch, crunch…
Blood began to flow from his hand.
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch…
Yeon did not care about the blood and bit until the bone showed.
Drip, drip…
Red began to flow from Yeon’s eyes.
He understood what he had eaten.
“Aaah…”
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack…
His hand was resentful.
His mouth, which had thoughtlessly swallowed anything, was resentful.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”
Chi-iiii-
The Six-Moon on Yeon’s face slowly began to approach three moons again.
That day, Yeon went mad.
All other thoughts vanished from his mind, leaving only one goal.
The ruin of the Jo Clan.
With that as the only goal, he threw himself into revenge and madness.