Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Return (4)
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The Seoran Carp Festival was a modest affair.
Participants donned puppet masks and frolicked in the pond in the central courtyard with schools of carp.
When they grew tired, they climbed out into the garden to grab some food or lounge on benches.
It was called a festival, but it felt more like a picnic.
The most excited ones were, of course, the host and the star of the show.
Ryu Seoran, the morning dolphin of the city indoor pool.
Damcheong, the aquatic creature with a ten-century career.
Their hydrodynamic advantages were equally matched.
Seoran and Damcheong displayed their graceful swimming skills.
The fierce battle raged throughout the festival.
The other participants had long since collapsed from exhaustion.
Geum Yeongyeong stared blankly across the pond.
Ho Hye-mun and Yi Agum were chatting amiably.
Despite their ten-year age gap, they seemed like peers, completely at ease.
It was a bond forged over many years together.
Once, Geum Yeongyeong had been within that circle of friendship too, but now she wasn't sure.
Twelve years of absence had changed too much.
At least, that's how it felt to her.
Her friends hadn't changed at all with the passage of time.
Not their appearances, nor their mannerisms, speech patterns, or even their little habits—they were exactly as she remembered.
The only thing that had changed was Geum Yeongyeong's heart.
Deep down, she knew it.
All she had to do was cross the pond.
And say whatever came to mind.
She could vent the complaints she'd wanted to pour out in letters, exchange ordinary greetings, or offer sincere confessions laced with longing.
Knowing Ho Hye-mun and Yi Agum as she did, they would surely welcome her with bright smiles.
She just needed to cross that one small pond.
But courage wouldn't come.
Geum Yeongyeong leaned against the bench alone.
Feeling an inexplicable loneliness amid the comfort she'd longed for all this time.
Then, someone held out a plate.
It was Jang Seonhwa, wearing an especially ornate puppet mask.
"Geum Susa-nim, try some skewers."
Geum Yeongyeong took the plate in surprise.
"Skewers?"
"Yes, they're delicious. They precook beef, pork, chicken, and lamb separately, skewer them, brush on sauce, and grill once more. How could they not taste good?"
"Oh?"
Geum Yeongyeong picked up a skewer piled with meat.
Four types of perfectly grilled meat, glazed with appetizing sauce.
Not a single vegetable in sight—exactly Seoran's taste.
She took a bite, and the flavor was impressively good.
Jang Seonhwa sat on the nearby bench and said,
"If you need more, help yourself to what's on my plate."
Jang Seonhwa's plate was heaped with skewers.
The two ate at their own paces.
Jang Seonhwa cleared her plate five or six times faster than Geum Yeongyeong while chatting about this and that.
Stories of her newly born pet rabbit.
Her parents, who had reached Foundation Establishment around the same time as her.
Her siblings, whose names were starting to blur together as their numbers grew.
Geum Yeongyeong's expression gradually softened.
*****
Geum Yeongyeong's parents said,
"We should lock the naughty child away in the talisman workshop."
Geum Yeongyeong woke up groaning.
There was no cramped solitary room, no piles of talisman materials reaching the ceiling.
It was a nightmare she'd had every day since resigning.
Geum Yeongyeong stared vacantly at the ceiling.
The details of the dream evaporated in an instant.
But the rough outline remained vivid.
A horrific dream of rejoining the talisman workshop.
After lying there dazed for a while, Geum Yeongyeong muttered,
"Right, I need to cultivate..."
She dragged herself upright.
Stepping out of her room, she saw the central courtyard littered from the festival.
Scattered benches, colorful puppet masks, empty plates, broken wooden skewers—it was a mess.
Early dawn meant the only moving things were the carp in the pond and the paper decorations swaying under the eaves.
Soon, the maids would clean it all up.
Except for the carp-shaped paper decorations.
Damcheong liked them too much, so they planned to keep them up for a while.
Geum Yeongyeong gazed quietly at the festival grounds.
The deep blue predawn sky, the world tinged the same, the cool early spring breeze, the carp decorations fluttering nonstop.
It felt like being submerged in a lake.
A familiar voice broke her reverie.
"Yeongyeong, up early? Sleep well?"
Turning her head, she saw Seoran's face.
Her thin clothes and damp skin suggested she'd just come from the spiritual vessel sauna.
Still as diligent as ever.
Geum Yeongyeong forced a smile and replied,
"Yeah, slept great. You too, Seoran?"
"Me? I don't sleep anymore. I'm a Nascent Soul cultivator now."
"Oh, right..."
The two chatted briefly.
As they were about to part, a earth-shaking roar darkened the world.
A massive concave-eyed creature peered into the estate, blocking the sunlight.
Seoran shouted toward the Siksan Daebung.
"Daebung-ah, I'm here!"
The Siksan Daebung's round eyes turned to Seoran.
A brief eye contact passed between them.
The giant concave-eyed beast thudded away again.
Geum Yeongyeong asked puzzledly,
"Why was it peeking into the estate this early?"
Seoran shook her head.
"It's checking if me and Damcheong-nim are in the estate. It plays alone but does this every so often. It's been a real headache lately. If it doesn't see either of us, it throws a massive fit."
"A fit? How?"
"It wails like it's going to shake the Black Bamboo Sect headquarters off its foundations, all pathetic-like. It's totally like a baby, and it's mountain-sized! Maybe because its sense of self is so new? I'm worried about its lack of independence."
Geum Yeongyeong comforted her friend.
"It's still young, that's all. It'll get better with time. Don't worry too much."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it will."
Seoran brightened up and said,
"Thanks for the encouragement. See you at breakfast later."
"Going somewhere?"
"Oh, just to the study to read a bit."
With that, she vanished in a whoosh.
While Seoran and Geum Yeongyeong talked, the sun rose.
The maids' busy footsteps chased away the silence.
The whole world was waking up.
Geum Yeongyeong murmured quietly,
"Yeah, time will fix it..."
As the saying goes, time heals all wounds.
These recurring nightmares would be the same.
No need to worry others by confessing them.
And so began the reform of the villainess young lady Geum Yeongyeong.
Six hours a day—twelve hours of grateful cultivation.
In the endless hell of overtime, Geum Yeongyeong realized.
The days of just cultivating had been the happiest.
A few days later, Damcheong said,
"Yeongyeong, have you read this book? It's a mystery novel written by mole yokai called Labyrinth Language Script—really fun. If you'd like, I can lend it to you."
"I'm sorry, Dragon Maiden. I'm too busy cultivating these days. I'll gratefully decline."
"What!?"
Damcheong was speechless in shock.
Geum Yeongyeong, the longest-reigning reading champion, refusing a novel.
And using cultivation—an activity she'd never done in her life—as an excuse.
Unimaginable for Damcheong.
Naturally, she grew concerned.
"A-are you alright?"
Geum Yeongyeong nodded with a bright smile.
"Of course. Couldn't be better."
It wasn't an act.
She didn't have the skill for that anyway.
It was a genuine expression of belief.
But fooling the great detective's eyes was impossible.
"So, you're fine, right?"
"Yes, I am."
"Hmm..."
Damcheong's detective gaze flashed.
The solemn authority of eyes that discern truth from lies.
What was the verdict?
Beep! False!
Damcheong asked various questions.
"Sleeping well lately?"
"Yes, soundly."
Sleep: problematic.
"Any worries or anxieties?"
"None at all?"
Worries: plenty.
"Appetite holding up?"
"Eating too well, that's the problem."
Appetite: poor.
"Hmm, I see..."
"Dragon Maiden, what's this about all of a sudden?"
"No big deal. Oh, just in case—my room is that way. It's always open, so come by anytime you need to talk. Got it?"
Damcheong left with a benevolent smile.
*****
Damcheong successfully withdrew from the scene.
She dashed straight to Seoran's room.
It was an ultra-emergency.
Damcheong flung open the door.
"Seoran, big trouble! Yeongyeong's state is off!"
The room was empty.
She wouldn't have gone out without saying.
Seoran and Damcheong had been taking turns guarding the estate lately.
To prevent the Siksan Daebung's massive crying fits.
Here, the great detective's keen deduction was needed.
Currently, Seoran's room was empty.
Not out, so somewhere in the estate.
Not dawn, so not the spiritual vessel sauna.
That left only the study.
Lately, Seoran and Damcheong practically lived there.
Because of the Previous Dragon God's collection of scriptures.
Damcheong hurried to the study.
She ran into Seoran in the hallway.
Seoran was dashing along with a book in hand.
They spotted each other and turned simultaneously.
"Damcheong-nim, good news!"
"Seoran, bad news!"
A brief silence.
Damcheong said,
"You first."
"Shall I?"
"Yes, better to hear the good news."
Seoran excitedly opened the book in her hand.
"Look at this. It's the Previous Dragon God's research journal. Specifically on dual ascension with the merfolk..."
"What, dual ascension!"
"Wait, don't get too shocked yet."
Damcheong scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
"Right, go on."
"Okay. While repeating experiments for dual ascension, the Previous Dragon God uncovered an unbelievable fact. It's the secret of the spiritual vessels."
"Secret of the spiritual vessels?"
Seoran said solemnly,
"Every spiritual vessel holds power over space-time. Directly or indirectly. Spiritual vessels are treasures made by immortals, so this inference follows naturally."
"No way?"
"Yes. Immortals can manipulate space-time."
Damcheong gave an enthusiastic reaction.
"Gasp!"
"Surprised, right?"
"Power over space-time—truly shocking."
Seoran said, satisfied,
"Your turn now, Damcheong-nim."
"Oh, right. Bad news."
"What is it?"
Damcheong said,
"Yeongyeong's definitely afflicted by a heart demon."
Seoran's reaction was three times more dramatic.