Chapter 40
Chapter 40
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Foundation Establishment (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yi Agum had many friends.
It was thanks to her beautiful appearance, bright personality, and sociable nature.
There were so many that it was faster to count the peers who weren't her friends.
All things in the world are similar, but interpersonal relationships also become more proficient the more they are repeatedly practiced.
Yi Agum, the friend of ten thousand with her vast network of human connections, was no different.
Thanks to always being at the center of complex relationships, Yi Agum had gained some insight into the matters between people.
Everyone lives wearing a mask suited to the situation.
This doesn't mean pretense or hypocrisy.
It means showing different facets depending on the relationship formed between the other person and oneself.
This is a separate issue from morality.
Examples can easily be found nearby.
There's a child who acts mature around family but plays pranks and acts cute with friends.
Conversely, there's a child who acts grown-up among peers but throws tantrums with parents.
Yi Agum was the same.
Among her peers, Yi Agum was the ideal friend.
She always showed a bright expression,包容力, and a fairly mature demeanor.
It was a kind of extraordinary quality innate from birth and honed through ceaseless experience.
But in front of Seoran, it was different.
She made sullen faces, got sulky in an instant, and whined like a child.
This was not the side she showed among her peer friends.
It was a face she showed only to family.
Yi Agum became a princess because of her beautiful appearance.
At the tender age of eleven, she was separated from her family.
At the time, she was so scared she couldn't even cry properly.
And then she met Ryu Seoran.
She was a princess from the same country, taken together.
She was three years older than Yi Agum.
By chance, both possessed spirit roots and entered the Black Bamboo Sect.
It was natural for them to depend on each other.
At least, that's what Yi Agum thought back then.
But now she knew.
A relationship based only on mutual dependence doesn't last long.
Vines alone can't grow.
Someone needs to be the support.
Yi Agum only depended, and Seoran willingly took on the role of support.
Yi Agum and Seoran weren't friends.
Such a relationship couldn't be called friendship.
To Yi Agum, Seoran was clearly a mother.
Or perhaps an older sister with a big age gap.
In any case, she became the family Yi Agum had lost.
She was the only person from her homeland in this unfamiliar foreign land, just the two of them.
She accepted the babying Yi Agum couldn't do with peer friends.
She could lean on her when nightmares of missing family haunted her.
Like the vine plant morning glory, Yi Agum bloomed only because she had Seoran as her trellis.
It was last winter, when they met again after a long time.
Seoran was surprised to see Yi Agum, who had grown so much.
But Yi Agum was equally surprised.
When had her older sister become so small?
Look at that youthful face and petite frame.
She had to bend at the waist to hug her.
Of course, she had been that way from the beginning.
From the moment they first met in the carriage carrying the princesses.
Even then, Seoran was small and delicate.
The clever Yi Agum realized it quickly.
Even in that moment when she soothed Yi Agum, who had thrown a tantrum and gotten hit and cried, Seoran had this face.
She was a girl from a poor tenant farmer family, smaller than her peers, similar in size to the three-years-younger Yi Agum.
The twelve-year-old who left her hometown leaned on a fifteen-year-old taken for the same reason.
Ten-year-old Yi Agum believed she was all grown up.
But sixteen-year-old Yi Agum knew well that she was still a child.
Likewise, fifteen was too young an age.
Yet Seoran willingly embraced Yi Agum.
She was like a baby bird hatching an egg the size of herself.
Thanks to that, Yi Agum endured the cold and hatched.
That was the reason Yi Agum truly respected Seoran.
People often use the word respect lightly.
But the respect in Yi Agum's mind was one of the heaviest sentiments in the world.
It was shown not through words or thoughts, but through actions.
The meaning of respect is "to hold high and treat as precious."
That was why Yi Agum readily agreed when the pill refiners proposed training in herb identification.
"Yes, I understand."
"Investigator Yi, this will be an extremely arduous process. Are you sure you won't regret it? You can take time to think it over carefully before deciding."
"No, I can do it."
On that sixteenth spring day, Yi Agum became an adult through love.
*****
Soyongnyeo decided to stay in Seoran's second-floor pavilion.
It was to devote as much time as possible to training.
The two sat facing each other in the first-floor training hall and cultivated all day.
Seoran quickly absorbed Soyongnyeo's teachings.
On the fifth day, Seoran said,
"Today is a rest day. Let's go out and play."
Naturally, Soyongnyeo couldn't accept it.
"What?! You have the Foundation Establishment ceremony next year! Where is the time for play!"
But Seoran was immovable.
"No matter what, it's not allowed. It's an important principle."
A monotonous environment can lead to narrow thinking.
It was a lesson learned struggling at the Foundation Establishment threshold.
After that, Seoran made sure to take rest days as much as possible.
Seoran dragged Soyongnyeo out.
Faced with her resolute attitude, Soyongnyeo instinctively knew.
She could never break Seoran's stubbornness.
From the start, the other party was a human who had given up even the chance to become a dragon for the sake of becoming a noble existence.
At least the training progress was going smoothly, which was fortunate.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
Seoran pondered for a moment.
She had initially planned to play ball games.
But it wasn't suitable for enjoying with Soyongnyeo, who couldn't even walk properly yet.
Looking at the clouds in the sky, a good idea suddenly came to mind.
"Today, let's specially fly in the sky."
Soyongnyeo asked puzzledly.
"Specially?"
Soyongnyeo had spent half her life in water and the other half in the sky.
For a dragon, flight was an everyday part of life.
It meant it wasn't anything particularly exciting.
Well, humans can't fly by nature.
Soyongnyeo convinced herself and nodded.
"Alright, let's do whatever you want."
It probably won't be that fun.
Unfortunately, Soyongnyeo's prediction was off.
From the moment she boarded the stone lotus with Seoran, Soyongnyeo couldn't take her eyes off the sky even for a second.
Her deep blue dragon eyes stared solely at the heavens.
The sorrow of not being able to fly after losing her dragon pearl.
The beauty of the sky that captivated her from the moment she became a dragon.
A soul filled with instinctive longing for ascension.
Soyongnyeo was clearly missing it.
The object was a homeland she had never even seen.
Moisture gathered in her deep blue pupils.
Soyongnyeo quickly wiped away her tears.
And returned to her usual demeanor.
Seoran tactfully pretended not to notice.
Afterward, they took one day off every five days.
Now, even Soyongnyeo didn't object much.
Looking at the sky was truly enjoyable.
Spring passed, and the two grew a bit closer.
In the hot summer, when a holiday came, they went swimming.
Soyongnyeo, originally a carp, was extremely good at swimming.
She roamed the deep, calm valley like her own home.
While Soyongnyeo was swimming diligently, someone grabbed her.
Turning her head, it was Seoran, who had been playing with her.
She was grinning mischievously, holding Soyongnyeo's ankle.
The clear, transparent water sparkled in the sunlight.
Beyond the rippling silk-like underwater glow, Seoran's brown eyes smiling could be seen.
Soyongnyeo kicked her foot away.
It tickled for some reason.
In autumn, they strolled through the mountains viewing the fall foliage.
Soyongnyeo held hands with Seoran as they walked the mountain path.
It was because she was still unskilled at walking alone.
The clasped hand was warm.
When winter came, the two began sharing a bed.
There was no particular intention; it was to share body heat.
Winter was too cold for the cold-blooded dragon.
Soyongnyeo fell asleep feeling the warmth.
It was an extremely unfamiliar sensation.
Spring came again.
Seoran turned twenty.
And Soyongnyeo also became accustomed to walking.
Just like last spring, the two boarded the stone lotus and flew in the sky.
But what filled Soyongnyeo's deep blue dragon eyes was no longer the sky, her unseen homeland.
It was Ryu Seoran, joyfully enjoying the flight with a refreshed feeling.
She was the disciple Soyongnyeo had taught over the past year.
Feeling the gaze, Seoran asked,
"Why do you look like that, Dragon Girl? Do you have something to say?"
Soyongnyeo shook her head.
"No, I was just looking at the horizon."
Seoran turned her head to look back.
The horizon filling her view bisected the world.
Above, white fluffy clouds floated in a blindingly blue sky.
Below were sharply pointed mountains like swords, the Black Bamboo Sect buildings, and lush green fields.
Soyongnyeo gazed endlessly at the horizon.
A breeze blooming in her heart kept lingering at her lips.
But she soon closed her eyes and said,
"Let's descend now."
By nature, dragons are solitary, complete spirit beings.
For the cold-blooded dragon, human body heat is too hot.
Indulging too much might cause burns.
Soyongnyeo let her anguish drift away on the wind as best she could.
The brief spring passed, and the Foundation Establishment ceremony drew near.
And with it, the moment of parting approached.
This summer, Seoran would become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.