Yeon’s Heart (6)
It had been nearly six hundred years.
During that time, the capital domain had witnessed countless events.
A boy who picked up a secret manual from a cliff had founded the Changcheon Gapyeong Gate sect and led the Jo Clan forces in resistance.
The Gold Spirit Heavenly Thunder Gate and Black Ghost Valley had undergone generational shifts, and the marriage alliance they once shared with the Jo Clan was beginning to weaken.
And around then.
The head of the Jo Clan and his elders once again convened a meeting.
“Our Jo Clan’s era has finally arrived.”
All the Heavenly Person cultivators from the Gold Spirit Heavenly Thunder Gate, Black Ghost Valley, and other demonic forces had gained an advantage thanks to this year’s Ascension Gate opening.
However, the Heavenly Person cultivators of the Jo Clan, headed by the Spirit Refining Expert, had not.
It was due to the Heavenly Patterns they possessed.
Thus, naturally, the Jo Clan had become the strongest sect on the continent, boasting the most Heavenly Person cultivators.
Six hundred years had passed, and the Jo Clan now had ten Heavenly Person Supreme Elders.
The head spoke in a self-assured voice.
“Now that we have proven our strength, the strongest on the continent is indeed the Jo Clan. No sect can withstand us through force alone. But the Gold Spirit Heavenly Thunder Gate and Black Ghost Valley are ancient sects that have gained the upper hand over us through superior strategy. If we force a clash, disaster could strike if their seniors somehow appear. Therefore, we should gradually absorb them with a more gentle approach.”
“What method would be the most effective?”
“The collective marriage alliance from six hundred years ago. We paired lower-level children from families and sects together to form a broad, light alliance. But this time, we will forge a far heavier one. We will marry the Core Formation and above elders from each sect and family, and slowly devour them into the Jo Clan!”
“Heh… that sounds good.”
“As expected of the head!”
“Truly, the genius who has elevated the Spirit Refining Expert to Core Formation the fastest in history… thanks to the head, the Jo Clan will enter its greatest golden age ever…”
Bang!
Inside the meeting hall of the head and the elders’ council.
The doors flew open with a bang, and someone entered.
The head’s face twisted in displeasure as he shouted, “What are you now?! How dare you barge into the elders’ hall….”
“Everyone, be quiet!”
And the hunchbacked man who entered the hall shouted loudly, “From now on, I, Jo Yeon, a descendant of the Jo Clan, have something to say.”
“Hm…?”
It was Jo Yeon.
He swept the meeting hall with his glittering eyes, then wiped his face.
Zzzzt… zzzzt!
Soon, the pattern that appeared on Jo Yeon’s face caused everyone in the hall to gasp in shock.
“T-this… this…”
“Core Formation Refining Expert!!!”
They all shot to their feet in unison, smiling with delight.
“Amazing! The Core Formation Refining Expert has been born….”
“After thousands of years?! Haha! Haha ha ha ha! Indeed, the Jo Clan world is coming!”
The head shouted with joy.
“With a Core Formation Refining Expert, marriage alliances and such are unnecessary. We can just wipe them all out without a problem! Uha ha! Well done, well done! Your name… yes, it was Jo Yeon! Well done, you…”
“Shut up for a moment. It’s not coming through clearly.”
“…?”
However, Jo Yeon seemed not to care about the head’s words and placed his hand to his ear as if listening to some voice.
It felt like he was concentrating on someone’s voice.
Jo Yeon’s eyes widened as he said, “Good, good. Then I will give you one last chance. Head! And all the elders! Six hundred years ago, my wife died. Remember the name Wol Ha-eun?”
At those words, the head and elders looked at each other with bewildered eyes.
They were the elders of the Jo Clan, so they already knew about the Core Formation and above elders.
And in their memory, there was no record of Jo Yeon having married.
“…Who is that?”
The head asked, looking puzzled.
Jo Yeon’s eyes twitched.
“…Yes. Ignorance is not a sin! I will tell you. My wife was a martial artist. A Wulin person, the daughter of Wol Bi, a Five Qi Consorting with the Origin expert from the Byeokra Kingdom Wol Clan, and my adopted daughter….”
“Wait, wait…”
The head shook his head as if his head hurt and cut off Jo Yeon’s words.
“Your meaning is that six hundred years ago, that pet of yours was your wife? I understand strange tastes, but in this official setting, I hope you won’t mention such shameful acts. This isn’t a place for elders.”
The head looked displeased, but seeing the single pattern that had appeared on Jo Yeon’s face, he gritted his teeth.
“So, if you dress it up a little more…”
“You two have two choices.”
Jo Yeon crossed his arms and declared defiantly, “First, find a way to see my wife again together with me, then apologize to her. Second, you go to where my wife is and apologize directly.”
“….”
An ice-cold atmosphere filled the meeting hall at those words.
“So, you want us to revive the dead, or do you want us to die?”
The head shook his head as if it was absurd.
“Haha, kid. Your jokes are too dark. Losing one pet…”
Crunch!
The next moment, the head was split in half and died.
Even his soul was sliced, so revival was impossible.
“…!”
“What kind of…”
“Assassination?!”
As the elders panicked, Jo Yeon shouted again, “Everyone, be quiet! Sit down!”
“This insolent brat, the head of the family is dead, and now…”
Bang!
In the moment an elder tried to attack Jo Yeon, that elder’s body was also split like the head and died.
Only then did the elders look at Jo Yeon in silence.
It was because they saw that the elders were dying at Jo Yeon’s hands.
One elder asked in a trembling voice, “You… you just killed the head and one elder…”
Pfft!
The elder who had opened his mouth was split and died too.
Jo Yeon, with glittering eyes, murmured while looking at the elders’ hall. “I told you to be quiet. The [voice] isn’t coming through clearly.”
“….”
“This is your last chance. Will you find a way to revive my wife with me, or will you all die?”
A brief silence fell over the elders’ hall.
Right then.
Kwaaaang!
The ceiling of the meeting hall blew off, and ten Heavenly Person Supreme Elders of the Jo Clan appeared.
“The head is dead, and you all come for this…”
A look of joy appeared in the eyes of the elders at the appearance of the Heavenly Person Supreme Elders.
“O-elders!”
“We came at just the right time! This madman is trying to stage a rebellion!”
“That Jo Yeon kid just killed the head! Please punish him, elders!”
The Heavenly Person cultivators of the Jo Clan glared at Jo Yeon and shouted.
“You bastard! You’ve exposed your own sins!”
Rumble rumble!
The heavens roared.
The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy shook.
An overwhelming pressure crushed the entire area.
However, Jo Yeon smiled slyly even as he was pressed down by the pressure. “…I clearly said [last chance]. Isn’t that right, you?”
The next moment, the Heavenly Person Supreme Elders and the Core Formation elders looked at a woman who had suddenly appeared behind Jo Yeon in the shadows, startled.
“Just a Heavenly Person Supreme Elder!”
“When did that high priestess appear…”
Leaving the noisy upper echelons of the Jo Clan behind, Jo Yeon turned and gently stroked the woman’s cheek.
She resembled Ha-eun.
Just like the last moment he had been with Ha-eun.
She had no burns on her face, but she had dimples, and her features were sharp.
Not a particularly beautiful face.
Her clothes were pure white celestial robes, and a plain cloth was tied over her face, covering it just like the first time he had become lovers with her.
Jo Yeon stroked her cheek. It was cold.
He looked at the puppet resembling Ha-eun and murmured softly, “Just end it all, you.”
The next moment, [she] turned into light and soared into the sky.
[She] held a crescent blade in both hands and charged straight at one of the Heavenly Person Supreme Elders, slicing him in half with a single strike.
“Heh… heh…”
“This mad…”
Although her realm was only Core Formation, a puppet who had transcended even the Heavenly Person Supreme Elder stage after six hundred years of time.
A masterpiece completed with all of Jo Yeon’s obsession.
Jo Yeon, who had completed [her], burst into laughter and shouted, “Come on, then! All of you, die! My family!!!”
***
The Jo Clan was burning.
And a massacre was taking place.
It was a tragedy caused by a single Heavenly Person Supreme Elder puppet.
[She].
“S-save me! Save me!”
Jo Yeon smiled as he watched the family elders being dragged in front of him.
“Put them in.”
In addition to [her], Jo Yeon controlled Core Formation level puppets and began to calmly bring the family to ruin.
One Core Formation elder was swallowed whole into the refining platform by a Core Formation puppet.
“Kwaaaack! Krruuup… kkeok…”
A few moments later.
The Core Formation elder emerged from inside the Jo Clan’s refining platform as a single pill.
The Jo Clan’s proud Pure Truth Pill.
Gulp!
Jo Yeon swallowed the Pure Truth Pill.
Normally it took years to refine because it was a pill to turn criminals into materials, but since it was made to turn martial artists into materials, the refinement completed in an instant.
Jo Yeon smiled with satisfaction. “Hey, hey, Jo Yeon. Don’t you remember me? How much I treated you…”
Jo Yeon saw the late-stage person he had fed Ha-eun to.
Jo Yeon gave a gentle expression and commanded the puppet, “Pull out the tongue.”
And he took out a large amount of demonic pills and spiritual pills from the Jo Clan’s treasure vault and said, “And feed this again to regenerate. Repeat until this one’s mind breaks.”
Jo Yeon began feeding the entire Jo Clan with pills, his expression peaceful.
‘She was fed to each late-stage person and upper echelon as three hundred pills, right.’
And no one knew exactly who had eaten Ha-eun.
That was why Jo Yeon had made a decision to reclaim the Ha-eun inside the bodies of the family members.
“You all, become one with me.”
It was a decision made solely to completely merge Ha-eun with himself.
Jo Yeon continued to eat the Pure Truth Pill, which he had created to turn even the highest grade into materials.
“Don’t worry.”
And the more he ate the Pure Truth Pill, the more he devoured his family, the larger the madness rooted in his brain grew.
“You all will never be forgotten.”
Jo Yeon mobilized all his consciousness and vividly remembered the faces of his family members screaming and wailing in front of him.
No matter how you looked at it, in the end they were his blood relatives.
“You… will become one in my world.”
Jo Yeon engraved the shapes of the screaming people into his consciousness.
To overcome his original sin of devouring his family.
And the more he ate, the more he felt his mind growing noisy.
His mind was gradually filled with constant screaming and wailing sounds.
Waduk!
Jo Yeon finally ate all the family members.
The late-stage person, who had pulled out his tongue so many times he went mad, had entered Jo Yeon’s stomach last.
“Hee, heehee…”
Unlike the six hundred years ago when he was half-mad, Jo Yeon was now completely mad.
He shed tears while hearing the regrets and hallucinations of the family members.
“Is it okay there, you?”
He hugged [her] as if she was beloved and said, “Look, look. I told you. Our family members are not really wicked people. Look at this. In the end, we have gathered our heads and are considering a way to meet you again, right? Isn’t that so?”
Jo Yeon smiled as he pretended to listen to the empty air.
“Ah, our family members have a sense of responsibility. So I will meet you again with me and apologize… meet you again… again…”
Jo Yeon, who was laughing and rambling nonsense toward the empty air, grabbed [her]’s body.
And he shouted, “I want to meet you again!”
He looked up at the sky with a painful voice and shouted, “Again! Again, back to that time! If I could return to the moment I met you, I would never hesitate. Even if I have to die together, I would flee and offer incense. We swore to die at the same time, right? So I… I will meet you again…”
In his eyes, the moment he had first met Ha-eun shone.
All the moments he had spent with her shone.
The words she had given him came to mind.
“It looks peculiar, right?”
“Only what is recognized as peculiar… In my eyes… yes. Things that look odd are quite amazing and beautiful.”
Peculiarity and oddness were ultimately differences in perception.
For some reason, the words would not leave Jo Yeon’s mind.
Jo Yeon spat out a painful voice. “Again! Again, even just once… create that moment!”
In the ruins of the Jo Clan, a hunchbacked man who had lost everything and gone mad reached beyond the Pure Truth Pill and transcended the Core Formation Refining Expert, and he would reproduce that single most precious moment in his life.
He had sworn before [her]. “Even just once!!!”
That day.
Jo Yeon hugged [her] and made his resolve.
Even though there was no difference between peculiar and odd, he would become a peculiar monster from now on.
Recognizing himself as a monster and spilling countless sacrifices, he would wait for the day he could see her again.
Only then would he return to Jo Yeon of that time, not a peculiar monster, but a peculiar and beautiful one.
He made that resolve.
“I am…”
He murmured while looking at [her] in his arms. “The husband of the monster.”
Observing his ugly self through madness.
Jo Yeon became the [Puppet Monarch].
Writer’s note: Yesterday’s notice said the Jo Yeon episode would end in one chapter… but as the emotional line was added, the length grew to three chapters. I have no excuse as a second-rate writer, but I wanted to tell the readers about the character Jo Yeon. I know that heavy sentimentality is a flaw of the Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation. But no matter how drenched in sentimentality, I wanted to express this Jo Yeon character. It may seem like the writer’s own desire won out over thinking about the readers. If any readers felt it was boring, as a web novel writer I sincerely apologize for not showing a fast-paced development… I would like to sincerely thank the readers who have read this far and convey that I love them. Thank you again and again.