Chapter 186
Chapter 186
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 186
Chapter Title: Jealousy
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It took quite some time before Yeo Myeong could finally calm down. In his two hundred years of life, he had encountered many surprising things, but today was the first time shocks had come one after another like this. Thinking about it again made his head heat up and his throat bubble with anger.
‘Dragon Jade, of all things!’
Judging from the state of his body and what he had described, the thing that bastard had eaten was genuine Dragon Jade. It was the inner core that a dragon nurtured throughout its entire life. Dragons might not even exist in the current world, and even hundreds of years ago when they did, Dragon Jade was something you couldn’t obtain no matter how desperately you sought it.
And he had gobbled it down. The more he thought about it, the more his stomach churned. It was heartbreaking and infuriating that such a priceless treasure, one he could never even glimpse in his lifetime, had been squandered in that crude manner.
Wi Seongcheon hadn’t said how he had obtained the Dragon Jade. Fortunately, there were plenty of excuses he could make for such a stroke of fortune. When he claimed he’d found it in a small cave hidden in a cliff, Yeo Myeong accepted it for now.
In truth, it wasn’t fair for Yeo Myeong to call Wi Seongcheon reckless. Dragon Jade couldn’t be refined like other spirit medicines, and the way Wi Seongcheon had absorbed it wasn’t wrong. What made Yeo Myeong seethe was Wi Seongcheon’s ignorance about it.
Oblivious to that fact, Yeo Myeong only felt his stomach and gut ache. If he could, he’d grind Wi Seongcheon up whole to recover any remnants of the Dragon Jade that might still be left, but he knew that was impossible. For three days straight, he had treated Wi Seongcheon and examined his body closely. Not a single fragment of the Dragon Jade remained inside.
“Damn, what a foul-tempered old geezer.”
Wi Seongcheon grumbled as he left the room. He had expected to learn immortal arts right away, but Yeo Myeong, who had been groaning in pain, had chased him out.
There was a reason for it. The immortal arts that Yeo Myeong, who wasn’t a true immortal, could teach were limited, and even those couldn’t be taught leisurely. Like all disciplines, each person had what suited them.
Truth be told, that wasn’t the whole reason for chasing him out—Yeo Myeong also needed time to compose himself. In any case, Wi Seongcheon didn’t argue further and left the room.
‘Don’t do anything reckless for no reason.’
That was Yeo Myeong’s warning just before he left. Wi Seongcheon had considered testing his dragon vein with Return Flow and Spirit Ignition, but he quietly set the idea aside. As Yeo Myeong had warned, there was no reason to act rashly just yet.
‘My body is my fortune, after all.’
Outside was quiet.
The Black Demon King aside, even the White-Clothed Witch was nowhere to be seen. Wi Seongcheon turned his head, puzzled by the lack of any presence. The dusty corridor had been swept spotless, crunching underfoot, and the training ground overgrown with weeds had been cleared clean.
Right in the center of it.
Baekri Hyang was immersed in her training.
Her movements resembled a corpse dangling from thin threads, dancing. They lacked grace but brimmed with venomous energy. With a face as pale as if she’d collapse any moment, she flung her body about madly. Even the red eyes symbolic of Blood Eye Storm had lost their luster. Her black hair, always neatly combed and beautiful, was now a tangled mess.
Baekri Hyang hadn’t actually vomited blood, but Wi Seongcheon felt as if she had. Her motions, fueled by poison qi, seemed desperate and sorrowful. He had seen others train intensely many times before, but Baekri Hyang’s practice conveyed a misery unlike any he had felt.
There was no sense of awe. She was too exhausted, making her movements sloppy. No martial inspiration or admiration stirred from such gestures.
“Hey.”
Yet he couldn’t tear his eyes from Baekri Hyang’s training. He wondered if it was really necessary to push this far, but even so, his feet moved.
“......Let go.”
Baekri Hyang spat out in a voice hoarse with grit. He realized anew how slender her wrist was. It seemed like it would snap with just a bit of force. That delicate wrist trembled feebly.
“Stop it.”
He peered into Baekri Hyang’s eyes as she looked up at him. Accumulated fatigue had cast dark shadows under her eyes, and her already pale skin had gone ashen. Her cracked lips looked especially pitiful.
“What’s the point of clinging to training that won’t yield progress? Eating, drinking, and collapsing into bed would help your martial arts more than forcing your body like this.”
“Shut up.”
Baekri Hyang glared ferociously. She tried to wrench her hand free with brute force, but her overworked body and depleted inner energy offered no strength.
“Listen to me. Why the hell are you doing this?”
“What else am I supposed to do if not this?”
Baekri Hyang shot back. Wi Seongcheon, wearing an expression of utter incomprehension, forcibly lowered her hand.
“Why bite my head off when I’m worrying about you?”
“When did I ever ask you to worry?”
“Yeah, fine. Guess you wanted someone else to fret over you? In case your head’s too messed up to notice, the Black Demon King left Blood Palace ages ago.”
“I know that!”
Her sharp cry pierced Wi Seongcheon’s ears.
“I know! Do I look like an idiot to you? You think I’m doing this because I don’t know?!”
“Why are you suddenly yelling......”
“Let go!”
Baekri Hyang screamed and thrashed. Her flailing hand slapped across Wi Seongcheon’s cheek with a smack. He could have dodged easily but didn’t.
As expected, Baekri Hyang’s body stiffened. With wide eyes, she alternated glances between Wi Seongcheon’s turned face and the hand that had struck him. Then she hunched her shoulders and stumbled back a few steps.
“......Sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, then quit it and go inside. Take a bath too. You stink like hell.”
The slap hadn’t hurt, but he played off her apology with a joke. Baekri Hyang’s face twisted immediately. She yanked up her collar and sniffed.
Of course she smelled. She hadn’t washed for three days while kneeling, and in a surge of resentment, she had thrashed about the training ground like a madwoman. She had sweated until her clothes were soaked. Now, no more sweat even came out.
Still, the stench lingered. Having swallowed her surging breaths down to her jaw countless times, her mouth reeked of stale sweetness.
Realizing it anew, Baekri Hyang clamped her lips shut and glared at Wi Seongcheon. She had so much she wanted to say. She wanted to hurl all her pent-up emotions at him. Why did someone who wasn’t even his real child monopolize her father’s attention? If only you weren’t here—no, if only I were you instead. She wanted to pour out raw emotion without context. Cry, scream, hit.
The jealousy was vivid and vicious. Yet Baekri Hyang didn’t unleash it all on Wi Seongcheon. She couldn’t. She wasn’t that narrow-minded. Wi Seongcheon had done nothing wrong. What was so strange about the Black Demon King, her father, taking an interest in him? It wasn’t just the Black Demon King. The White-Clothed Witch, Yeo Myeong—even the Green Forest Demon Emperor had shown interest in Wi Seongcheon, or so she’d heard.
He had the talent to draw that attention.
And she didn’t.
Baekri Hyang turned away wordlessly. Wi Seongcheon didn’t stop her anymore. The emotions in her eyes as she looked at him had been blatant and easy to read. That was why he’d taken the slap, but of course, that alone wouldn’t resolve her feelings.
‘Jealousy......’
Wi Seongcheon stared blankly for a moment at Baekri Hyang’s receding figure, her steps unsteady. Had he ever felt such an emotion? The question naturally dredged up old memories of the Black Heaven Young Lord, Wi Seongyeol.
Had he ever been jealous of his brother......?
No. A brother who shared not a drop of blood, appearing out of nowhere, wasn’t someone to envy. As a child, he had simply liked him. As he grew older, it turned to admiration, not jealousy.
That was what his brother had been to Wi Seongcheon. He had never once beaten him. He thought it natural because he was his brother. Perhaps he could think that way because, blood ties aside, they had grown up as brothers. Wi Seongcheon smiled bitterly. He couldn’t say he didn’t understand Baekri Hyang’s jealousy.
Maybe because he had seen her like this. Various emotions stirred in him toward Baekri Hyang, tinged with a hint of guilt. Wi Seongcheon stood rooted to the spot, watching her enter the bathhouse.
* * *
“I agonized forever over whether to smash the door and drag you out.”
It sounded like a joke, but U Hayeon’s expression was dead serious. Wi Seongcheon let out a hollow laugh and waved it off.
“If you had, Lady White-Clothed Witch would’ve crushed you, Senior.”
“Then you’d have to take responsibility for your crushed senior. If I’d really busted the door down, it would’ve been because I was too worried about you as your senior.”
U Hayeon pouted playfully as she said it.
“But I didn’t in the end, so it’s fine. Be grateful for your luck, Junior. If you’d come out just one chime later, your whole life would’ve been spent serving two women as their errand boy.”
“I wouldn’t have smashed it.”
Paeng Yeonhwa stuck out her lip and said. U Hayeon burst into giggles and smacked Paeng Yeonhwa’s back.
“Liar. Truth is, I could’ve waited another hour? But our Paeng Yeonhwa Junior would’ve hit her limit at one chime. You have no idea how on edge I was watching you from the side.”
“What did I even do?”
“Our cute little junior. Your mouth acts all prim, but your body’s honest. Do you even know how stiff your tail was standing up straight earlier?”
Paeng Yeonhwa’s face flushed crimson at the teasing grin. She casually reached back and grabbed her tail. Sure enough, it was swishing side to side. Clearing her throat, Paeng Yeonhwa turned to look at Wi Seongcheon.
“What the hell were you doing in there for three days?”
“Yeah, this is all your fault when you think about it, Wi Seongcheon Junior. You go in to eat spirit medicine and vanish without a word for three days—who wouldn’t worry? I was scared you’d fallen into qi deviation and turned into a vegetable.”
“Your worry was overblown. That wouldn’t happen.”
“Our junior looks healthy but gets beat up everywhere and has all those lingering ailments. I still vividly remember you all bandaged up in the infirmary.”
“That was because of you, Senior. My old wounds are throbbing a bit—guess rain’s coming later.”
“Liar. Your wounds are all gone.”
Paeng Yeonhwa grumbled as she subtly rose on tiptoe. She was peeking past Wi Seongcheon’s shoulder at Blood Palace.
“So. What exactly were you doing in there? Training?”
“Here and there. Got some treatment too.”
“......Treatment? So you did fall into qi deviation?”
“See? Told you. Eating five spirit medicines would be enough to trigger it.”
“No, no qi deviation. And the treatment was nothing major.”
If he said he’d been unconscious for three days getting treated, they’d pester him endlessly. To change the subject, Wi Seongcheon pointed at the pure white sword at Paeng Yeonhwa’s waist.
“That’s White Fang? It looks surprisingly ordinary.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Were you expecting something flashier?”
“It’s a sword modeled after Silver Dew, one of the Six Heavenly Guardians, so I figured it’d look more impressive. Like Senior U Hayeon’s Red Scale.”
“I like it. Sharp as hell, no need for annoying maintenance. Want to test it?”
“How? Chop a tree or something?”
“No, on your body.”
Paeng Yeonhwa glared daggers. Caught off guard by the sudden threat, Wi Seongcheon shook his head in disbelief.
“No need to go that far.”
“Who asked you to worry?”
“Did I expect it to turn out like this?”
“Must be nice for you, Junior. So many people fretting over you.”
“Just you two—what’s ‘so many’?”
“They’re all busy.”
U Hayeon beamed. During the three days Wi Seongcheon had been unconscious, the central castle’s disciples had each been absorbed in their own pursuits. They were checking and assimilating the treasures they’d obtained from the paired stones.
Tae Huimyeong had begun training in Tenfold Gold, while Cheong Wubin had converted a spirit medicine’s inner energy into his own.
Namgoong Jiu had made a personal copy of the White Dance Cloud Sword before returning it to the Zhongnan Sect and memorized its oral formula. She claimed it was for if the original was lost, but that wasn’t the whole reason. Though a different style of swordsmanship, she coveted adding White Dance Cloud Sword’s essence to the Namgoong Clan’s sword arts. Dang Seona, meanwhile, had devoted herself to analyzing the Refinement Method of the Jade Phoenix Pill without damaging it.
Hwangbo Seongu was practicing Fist King’s Tyrant Annihilation Fist. U Huira was training in Sole Shadow Phantom Step. Dang Heeran had entered the Poison Ghost’s secret chamber using Black Dark Secret, and Yeongjin was focused on some book called One Heart Final Conclusion.
“Yeonhwa aside, shouldn’t you be busy too, Senior? You’ve got Endless Lotus Sword to train.”
“Junior, training isn’t about just pouring in time and effort for guaranteed progress.”
U Hayeon smiled brightly.
“Endless Lotus Sword is ultimately an advanced form of the Heavenly Flow Plum Blossom Sword I’ve already mastered. I grasp the basics and hold the key principles, but it’s not that simple to unlock.”
She said it modestly, but it meant she’d mastered everything worth mastering—in just three days, no less.
‘Genius is genius.’
Wi Seongcheon shook his head, watching U Hayeon’s radiant smile.
The image of Baekri Hyang moving her body solely on poison qi came to mind, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.