Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Western Duo (4)
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Geum Yeongyeong formed hand seals, and the battle began.
Whirling spiritual power made her wide sleeves billow fiercely.
The beaded bracelets on both wrists glowed.
The large iron beads all transformed into spiritual tools.
In an instant, ten round shields and ten halberds burst forth.
It was a storm of spiritual tools unleashed by the countless artifacts inherited from relatives, the spiritual power amassed through the Capital Sect's focused investments, and her heaven-sent talent.
A total of twenty spiritual tools danced through the air like a troupe in performance.
Two nearby cultivators failed to even complete their barriers before being sliced apart.
Even the one who barely managed to cast a barrier was cut down—barrier and all—by the power of top-grade offensive tools.
It was a gap unbelievable for cultivators at the same realm.
The leader cultivator shouted.
“Regroup! You can’t block her alone!”
The clustered cultivators formed a tight formation and activated a joint barrier.
A large, thick barrier enveloped them.
It was precarious, but they succeeded in blocking Geum Yeongyeong’s spiritual tools.
The leader issued another command.
“Half of you maintain the barrier! The rest, prepare offensive tools…”
But the order didn’t reach its end.
A photon cannon fired at the huddled cultivators.
Invisible, soundless rays of death assaulted the enemy.
It pierced through more than ten layers of barriers, four cultivators, another barrier—and still had power left to shatter several trees.
All this happened the instant the trigger was pulled.
“Scatter!”
Someone shouted reflexively.
It was no different from a terrified scream.
Not one cultivator thought to counterattack; they fled like sheep.
A cultivator running blindly was impaled by a halberd.
One who pulled out a flying tool and mounted it turned to dust from a photon blast.
The fleeing were hunted first.
In that sense, Yo Susa was lucky.
His panic delayed his judgment, allowing him to survive a little longer.
Of the more than twenty cultivators, most were dead.
Yo Susa sensed his death.
Despair and rage consumed him.
A turbid energy began to erode his soul.
Why had he been born a mere Five Spirit Root Holder?
Why must he lose everything?
Why must he die so pathetically in this forest?
Yo Susa had lived with resentment burning in his chest.
It stemmed from the many hardships endured because of his poor Five Spirit Root aptitude.
While he scraped by with a handful of spirit stones, others skyrocketed through realms on mountains of stones and pills.
Those lucky fools born with good roots strutted around like they were something special. It grated on him.
If I’d had that many spirit stones and pills, I’d have reached Foundation Establishment young.
Then I wouldn’t have grown old and shabby like this; I could’ve enjoyed eternal youth.
Perhaps she wouldn’t have left me; she might have loved me forever.
His first and last love.
The memory of shyly offering a bouquet of wildflowers was unforgettable.
Love began with that bashful confession; the boy and girl clasped hands like tender ferns.
But now, only wrinkled hands remained alone.
Now, the scent of wildflowers was replaced by the stench of blood.
His soul, corrupted by the demonic cultivation method, slowly crumbled.
Recent memories sank into inky blackness first.
It was the process of losing humanity and turning into a yokai.
Half-mad, Yo Susa gathered his spiritual power.
He raised a hand toward Beom Susa.
Even if he was doomed to die, he’d take one with him.
Beom household, you always acted so superior alone.
Let’s see if you can die nobly by my hand.
I’ll kill you in the most painful way.
Yo Susa stared at the fallen Beom Susa’s eyes.
He wanted to see the mask shatter for true satisfaction.
He craved the sight of that face filled with hatred.
But there was no hatred there.
Beom Susa’s eyes held only pity and worry.
Directed solely at Yo Susa.
Just like when they first met.
A memory surfaced from the depths of Yo Susa’s soul, not yet crumbled.
From when they were both innocent boys, not wrinkle-faced elders.
The origin of their lifelong friendship.
They had both been eleven then.
Beom Susa approached Yo Susa, who had twisted his ankle dodging a frog at his feet.
Even then, his face was full of worry.
Carrying the injured Yo Susa down the mountain, Beom Susa asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Yo Baek. I’m Yo Baek.”
“You hurt your ankle trying not to step on that frog, right?”
“You saw?”
“Yeah.”
They descended the mountain in silence for a while.
Near the lodging, Yo Susa asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Me? I’m Beom Neung.”
“Thanks for helping me today.”
“Yeah.”
From then on, the two boys were friends.
Elder Yo Baek gazed at white-haired Beom Neung.
Yes, Beom Neung.
My childhood friend Beom Neung.
A friend who seemed eternal.
Yo Baek blankly stared at his equally aged friend.
Something reflected in his friend’s eyes, full of worry and concern.
His own face, twisted in hatred.
It was like a malevolent ghost.
The elder’s face worrying for his friend.
The ghost’s face seeking to harm his friend.
Their eyes met, mirroring each other’s faces back and forth like reflections.
Elder, ghost, elder, ghost.
Elder again, ghost, elder, ghost.
Elder, ghost, elder, elder.
Yo Baek came to his senses.
The last remnant of his humanity momentarily repelled the demonic method.
A belated realization dawned.
Yo Baek lamented, looking at his own face.
How pathetically you’ve aged.
Where is the boy who tried so hard not to step on the frog, Yo Baek?
Where is the shy boy who hesitated to ask your name until the lodging, Yo Baek?
Where is the you who bashfully smiled offering wildflowers, Yo Baek?
It’s not your looks that grew shabby, but your heart.
You lost that pure simplicity of hesitation and shame.
All you have left is hatred for the world.
She loved my innocence, not my youth—and I never realized, just harbored grudges.
Too late came regret for not heeding Beom Neung’s advice.
Yo Baek lowered his hand, weeping.
Moments later, a photon blast struck, and he died.
Not as a yokai, but as a human.
He was the last of the more than twenty cultivators.
Seoran asked Beom Susa, who was weeping.
“Was he someone you knew?”
Beom Susa nodded.
“Yes, a friend I’d known for over a century.”
Seoran and Geum Yeongyeong paled.
“Uh…”
“Th…”
To the two women stammering without words, Beom Susa said.
“No need to feel that way. It was bound to happen once he cultivated the demonic method. Dying here is a blessing, at least. He died as a human.”
Beom Susa’s survival was proof.
His friend hadn’t used spells on him.
He’d only shed tears.
Wiping his eyes, Beom Susa bowed in greeting.
“You two saved me and the Beom clansmen in the capital. I apologize for the late thanks amid the chaos.”
The opponent was an elder over a hundred years older than them.
The duo, feeling awkward, politely declined.
Seeing their innocence despite their skill, the elder smiled faintly.
Seoran and Geum Yeongyeong politely refused Beom Susa’s invitation to their home and left the capital.
Left alone, Beom Neung buried Yo Baek and the other cultivators, then returned to the capital.
*****
Autumn arrived.
Seoran and Geum Yeongyeong swept through the entire Yu Nation.
But they still hadn’t found the Inner Pellet.
Nor the cultivators who raided the logistics hub.
They just caught and killed bandits along the way.
Rumors spread across Yu Nation of the female swordswomen duo wielding halberds masterfully.
They’d left Black Bamboo Sect in spring, so half a year had passed.
Sitting side by side under an abandoned house, watching the autumn rain, Seoran spoke first.
“Should we head back?”
After a brief silence, Geum Yeongyeong asked.
“What about the Black Scale Reverse Flow Blood Snake’s Inner Pellet?”
“Just… forget it.”
“You okay with that?”
Seoran buried her head between her knees and replied.
“Honestly, after half a year, whoever swallowed it has probably refined it twice over.”
Geum Yeongyeong nodded in agreement.
Only the pattering of autumn rain filled the air.
The next day, the awakened duo left the house.
Strong winds and rain last night had uprooted trees here and there.
As Seoran trudged along head down, she spotted something in the mud.
A fist-sized crystal orb.
Transparent enough to see straight through.
But no spiritual energy emanated from it.
What is it? Just a decoration?
Why’s it alone in these mountains?
Did a merchant drop it?
Seoran pocketed the crystal orb in her pouch.
A souvenir to take back.
Finders keepers in the middle of nowhere.
Seoran and Geum Yeongyeong mounted flying tools and returned to Black Bamboo Sect.
Surprisingly, the Inner Pellet was already there.
A joint Black Bamboo Sect-Goldsmith Sect pursuit team had exterminated the bandit gang and recovered it.
That had happened back in summer.
Seoran and Geum Yeongyeong nearly fainted from bewilderment.
But in Yu Nation, someone truly did faint.
A long-lived carp chanced upon spiritual power and became a spirit fish.
The diligent carp later ascended to dragonhood.
Hundreds of years on, the dragon condensed its power into an almost-complete Ruyi Pearl.
Just one bolt of lightning remained to perfect it.
With a storm raging at the perfect time, it had placed the pearl outside its nest.
But wind blew it into the mud.
The crystal orb Seoran picked up was that Ruyi Pearl.
The dragon cried out in anguish.
“No, my Ruyi Pearl!”
From the shock, the dragon fainted on the spot.