Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Tribal Records (2)
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Seoran sat lost in thought, a sheet of paper before her.
Before ascending to the Immortal Realm, there was one task she had to finish.
It was the mission of Ryu Seoran, the author, not the cultivator.
That was completing the "Puppeteer Boy and Puppet Girl" series.
It had been a full 25 years since she first began serializing the Puppeteer series.
Thanks to the formation of the Eastern Coast Alliance and the cultural exchange policies with the underworld, her novels had spread even more widely.
She had written the books to promote puppetry a bit, never imagining they would receive this much love—even from the author herself.
Readers of the Puppeteer series scattered across the Western Continent wished their favorite stories would continue forever.
But, regrettably, that was impossible.
Seoran couldn't remain in the mortal world indefinitely.
Of course, she still had plenty of time.
She needed to harmonize her Quintuple Spirit Root, perform her apotheosis ritual, and deal with Dokanryong, who was still casting Entrance Sealing.
Considering how busy things would get, though, the time left for serialization was at most five years.
It was time to start preparing the ending.
She needed to hint that the protagonists' stories were drawing to a close and tie up all the foreshadowing she'd built up so far.
That way, the readers could mentally prepare themselves.
Seoran opened her reference notebook for writing assistance.
She reviewed unresolved foreshadowing, completed ties, foreshadowing to plant ahead, discarded mid-story settings, underdeveloped side stories, and more.
This process was just as crucial as the actual writing.
After quickly skimming the plot up to the ending, Seoran turned her gaze back to the paper.
"Hmm..."
She had a pre-planned ending in mind.
A world restored to peace, the puppet finally gaining life, and the boy and girl falling in love.
Somehow, it felt a bit lacking.
Seoran crossed her arms and pondered deeply.
Something much better might come to mind.
The creator's anguish continued for a while.
After twisting and turning in her seat, Seoran opened her eyes.
"In the end, let's go with what I originally thought."
The Puppeteer series would conclude with: "And the two lived happily ever after, full of playful affection."
It wasn't a half-hearted decision out of laziness.
On the contrary, it was the best she could come up with.
The Puppeteer series was already at its climax.
Considering the basic structure of introduction, development, turn, and conclusion, it was time for resolution and wrap-up.
In other words, the soft-landing phase.
Adding a twist rashly here would likely backfire.
In a situation where she needed to slow down, flooring the accelerator to show off would inevitably cause an accident.
And for a super-long novel serialized for 25 years, it wouldn't just be an accident—it would be a disaster.
Art exists for people.
Seoran had no desire to torment the readers who had loved her work for 25 years.
Nor did she want to see the Scripture Pavilion go up in flames because of her.
Having finished her deliberations, Seoran picked up her brush.
*****
Damcheong quite liked the merfolk.
She wanted to bring them to the Immortal Realm if possible.
That was why, starting three years ago when she began staying in the Dragon Palace, she had started researching accompanied ascension.
Damcheong brought the Previous Dragon God's research materials, stored in the Black Bamboo Sect, back to the Dragon Palace.
She vowed to complete the research before ascending.
Her determination was truly admirable.
But the research hit a snag right from the start.
Damcheong's brain fell just short of the minimum specs needed for the task.
It came with overheating and severe headaches.
That was when Deng Jingun, who had been following her like a maid, made a suggestion.
"Why not hire some people?"
"People?"
"Yes. Why not contact the International Scholarly Association and request research personnel?"
Damcheong pulled out her mobile phone from her sleeve.
She called the International Scholarly Association right away.
Fortunately, the Dragon Palace was just barely within signal range.
An association staffer answered.
"Yes, this is the International Scholarly Association office. How may I help you?"
"Nice to speak with you. I'm calling on urgent business. For research on merfolk accompanied ascension, could you dispatch researchers to the Dragon Palace?"
"Th-the Dragon Palace?"
The International Scholarly Association erupted in chaos.
Damcheong's existence was classified, but it was somewhat known to the cultivation sects in the Eastern Coast Alliance.
Naturally, the association knew who she was.
From the staffers' perspective, her request was as solemn as a decree from nature itself.
The requester had no such intent, of course.
But it was unavoidable.
Since ancient times, dragons had been regarded as divine beings or natural phenomena.
A recent survey showed over 70% still believed the superstition that "looking a dragon in the eye brings heavenly punishment."
Especially among older cultivators.
For a group of the association staffers' age, it would easily exceed 90%.
The staffers discussed gravely.
"We have to dispatch them, right?"
"But we have so many ongoing projects."
"No choice; we'll have to put them off."
"What if we explain the situation and ask for understanding?"
"Isn't that disrespectful?"
"Even if the Dragon Lady accepts, what if the heavens grow angry?"
"True, dragons are agents of heavenly punishment... A valid point."
"Let's think positively instead."
"Positively?"
"Yes, treat it as accumulating merit."
"Oh..."
No vote was even needed.
The meeting wrapped up vaguely, and the association dispatched a large research team to the Dragon Palace.
From that day, Damcheong visited the lead researcher twice daily, without fail.
"Any progress today?"
"We're truly sorry, Dragon Lady. We haven't found a lead yet."
"I see. I'll visit again soon."
Meaning she'd drop by again after dinner.
Sharing a roof with the client was pure agony.
After Damcheong left, the researchers analyzed the Previous Dragon God's materials with desperate fervor.
The Previous Dragon God had been an obsessive record-keeper beyond imagination.
Unfortunately, he didn't enjoy sharing his records with others.
There was not a shred of consideration for the reader in his writing.
His style made readers feel tortured.
The Previous Dragon God had lived over thousands of years.
He had amassed vast knowledge over that time.
Factoring in his ability to read heavenly secrets, no one in the mortal world could match his knowledge.
Combining millennia of knowledge with reader-unfriendly writing created hell.
His texts had only causes and results—no processes.
The logical progression felt like leaping between floors of a building.
When he hopped to the second floor, the researchers had to assemble stairs step by step to follow.
Finding the right knowledge to connect each step—each logical link—was a task in itself.
They had to sift through mountains of his books one by one.
The silver lining was the researchers' diverse expertise and backgrounds.
Masters from over a dozen countries painstakingly decoded the merciless materials.
It was a triumph of human effort.
Then one day, the decoding was finally complete.
Six years after the Swimming Spirit Festival.
*****
While writing the finale of the Puppeteer series, Seoran received a summons and headed to the Previous Dragon God's collection warehouse.
Two people waited at the entrance.
Oddly, Damcheong was hugging an incense burner pedestal.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Seoran asked.
"Lady Damcheong, why did you bring that incense burner pedestal?"
"This incense burner pedestal holds the secret to the Previous Dragon God's accompanied ascension technique."
"No, wait... Does that mean the research succeeded?"
Seoran had inwardly assumed the Previous Dragon God's research had failed.
No matter how perfected his Ruyi Pearl, ascending with an entire tribe was impossible.
The burden on the leader grew exponentially as the payload increased arithmetically.
Damcheong said excitedly.
"Of course it succeeded! I'll show you right now!"
The three entered the Previous Dragon God's collection warehouse.
Thanks to years of gradual organizing, navigating the interior wasn't too hard.
Damcheong stopped before a small coral altar.
Seoran looked at the groove in the altar and asked.
"Was this where the incense burner pedestal originally sat?"
"Yes, I took it from here."
Damcheong fitted the pedestal's legs into the groove with a click.
She took out the Ruyi Pearl from her lower dantian and chanted the incantation.
The pedestal absorbed the influx of primordial spiritual power and began rumbling.
Finally, the accompanied ascension technique activated, sending heavy vibrations through the entire Dragon Palace.
Seoran immediately sensed the anomaly.
"Huh?"
Despite diligent organizing, the warehouse had always felt cramped.
Too much miscellaneous clutter.
Now, it felt open, like standing in an open field.
Seoran quickly realized why.
"Did you use the immortal power in the pedestal to expand the space?"
"Exactly. For now, we've only enlarged this room, but with proper preparation, we could expand the entire interior of the Dragon Palace."
"So the plan was to board the entire merfolk tribe and ascend."
Damcheong continued explaining.
"That's not all. It could shrink the Dragon Palace's exterior, distort time flow, and induce dormancy in the merfolk inside. Likely to reduce the burden during ascension."
Seoran couldn't hold back her admiration.
A technique utilizing even the pedestal's immortal authority.
The accompanied ascension spell was nothing short of a miracle born from the Previous Dragon God's love for the merfolk.
But suddenly, a question arose.
"Then why did the Previous Dragon God disappear? The accompanied ascension technique was already complete."
"I'm not sure about that. The last part of the research materials vanished with him."
In the end, the Previous Dragon God's whereabouts remained a mystery.