Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Come to Taibon Valley (3)
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The Eastern Continent and Western Continent were far apart.
With the vast ocean between them, crossing from one to the other was truly a grueling journey.
Ocean voyages themselves were half-suicidal acts to begin with.
Ships only sailed as far as land remained in sight. That was common sense.
Let alone a voyage that took years.
It was on a scale that defied conventional wisdom.
For reference, Columbus nearly faced a mutiny after sailing for two months and a half in search of the New World.
But as eons passed, the veil of the unknown over the seas lifted.
It was a miracle built from the sacrifices of brave explorers who couldn't stand the empty spaces on maps.
The safe sea routes they discovered were given that very name.
With proper preparation, a skilled crew, and iron will.
These three things turned the ocean from an insurmountable barrier dividing the world into a link binding the four scattered continents.
Whenever Seoran attended lectures on seafaring to prepare for her journey home, the same thought crossed her mind every time.
It was just like space travel.
Long-duration voyages, distant destinations, empty voids.
The sea and space had so much in common.
Her thoughts naturally drifted in that direction.
It was only natural that Seoran, pondering ways to send a letter to the Western Continent, thought of rockets.
Pack a letter into a bamboo shoot rocket and launch it west.
It was akin to a castaway on a deserted island tossing a message in a bottle into the boundless sea.
Operation name: Intercontinental Rocket Delivery.
Of course, the odds of success were astronomically low.
It could run out of fuel midway, get shot down by flying yokai or storms.
But Seoran's now overly audacious mindset didn't falter at such obstacles.
If the probability was low, overwhelm with quantity.
Seoran left Taibon Valley for a time.
She flew straight to the westernmost edge of the Eastern Continent and settled on a rocky island.
There wasn't a single capital sect in the area.
Seoran mobilized every bit of puppetry knowledge she'd learned in Taibon Valley over the past year.
Considering the flight distance, it needed countless functions.
She miniaturized it to reduce weight, improved propulsion efficiency, and added self-recharging capabilities.
The completed bamboo shoot rocket stood knee-high.
Inside, she packed items destined for the Western Continent.
Then she launched it straight west.
Make, load, launch.
Seoran repeated the process endlessly.
The more familiar she grew with production, the faster mass production became.
Eventually, she could fire one off in just a few breaths.
The rocky island used for materials grew smaller and smaller.
Winter ended before she knew it, and spring arrived.
Seoran finally stopped launching rockets into the vast ocean.
She'd carved away the entire island.
"This should be enough for one to make it, right?"
Seoran returned to Taibon Valley.
With her well-being conveyed, it was time to resume her studies.
*****
The bamboo shoot rockets crossed the vast ocean, encountering countless perils.
Due to propulsion malfunctions.
Due to depleted spiritual power fuel.
Due to wrong headings.
Due to storms.
Due to direct lightning strikes.
Due to collisions with flying yokai.
Due to being sucked into the world's center.
Due to being caught in a dragon's grasp.
Due to unknown gravitational pulls.
Only a tiny fraction reached the western sea.
But none made landfall.
The rockets, their lifespans expired, plummeted one after another.
The rockets sank deeper.
The darker it grew around them as the depth increased.
They had descended to the abyss where even sunlight couldn't reach.
And then they met light again.
An eternal night illuminated like daylight.
A grand dragon palace of glowing coral.
The city of the merfolk who lived and died by faith.
It was the deep-sea headquarters of the Merfolk Church.
Just as a group of merfolk were about to depart on a routine pilgrimage, strange stone cylinders rained down upon them.
"Huh?"
Hong Lin-eo, a First-Class Believer struck on the head, picked up the unidentified ocean trash.
It looked just like the bamboo shoots from the holy land.
As he fiddled with it, the cylinder suddenly split in half, dropping a bead.
Hong Lin-eo examined the bead closely.
"Hmm..."
It looked like some kind of dharma treasure.
He experimentally infused it with spiritual power.
Suddenly, a song rang out.
*'Young lady dragged to the neighboring land.
Far to the east, to the east she goes.
Leaving family and friends behind.
The carriage she rode long since broken.
Longing for the west that awaits her.
Young lady, she turns her steps homeward.'*
Hong Lin-eo was stunned.
"It's the voice of the Great Earth Mother Goddess!"
The bead was a puppet component Seoran had made.
Infuse spiritual power, and the recorded sound played.
If it needed a name, 'Seoran's Golden Record' fit well.
She chose song over letter for security.
Even if someone else found it and checked the lyrics, they couldn't grasp the true meaning.
The recording method came from puppetry lectures.
For the record, it was a new song Seoran had written and composed herself.
The recorder was offered as tribute to Dam Cheong.
Dam Cheong checked the contents and passed it to the leadership.
The Black Bamboo Sect leadership convened once more.
In the quiet space gathered over a hundred Core Formation cultivators, Seoran's original song ended clearly.
It brimmed with metaphors only insiders would understand.
The leadership easily deciphered the hidden message.
"She was in the Eastern Continent."
"No wonder we couldn't find her no matter how hard we looked."
"Good thing she's safe."
"From the lyrics, it sounds like she's on her way back?"
"That seems the right interpretation."
"Phew, then she'll be home within a few years."
"If she sent word right away, she might be halfway here by now."
"Now I can finally relax."
The Black Bamboo Sect leadership breathed a collective sigh of relief.
They interpreted the song's end as "I'm heading to the Western Continent now."
Of course, that wasn't Seoran's intent at all.
She simply favored a circular structure.
Seoran was still in Taibon Valley.
*****
After sending word of her well-being, Seoran (26) resolved herself.
Study until year's end, then set off.
Gift the Eastern Continent's puppetry arts to Black Bamboo Sect.
And earn some spirit stones on the side.
The next year, Seoran (27) still hadn't left.
A bit more study, and something might click.
Her expedition investments are going great lately too.
Return home in glory and repay Black Bamboo Sect.
Spring returned again, and Seoran (28) grumbled.
"Ah, so boring. No lectures worth hearing anymore."
Five years since arriving via teleportation array.
She hadn't stepped a foot outside Taibon Valley, wandering only between puppetry lectures.
She even attended seven a day.
She'd long since absorbed every scrap of knowledge available for purchase.
Seoran suffered from severe content drought.
Of course, hidden puppetry secrets abounded.
The simplest example: secret knowledge guarded for generations by Eastern Continent major sects.
But outsiders could never obtain them.
So Seoran ran out of things to do.
She'd quit Core Formation lectures ages ago.
Consecutive investment successes meant she no longer needed paltry lecture wages.
Whether Foundation Establishment cultivators wailed or not, the now-spirit-stone-rich Seoran paid them no mind.
After that, it was study and nothing else.
Study, study, study some more.
Seasons changed, but she holed up in Taibon Valley.
She was starting to feel like it was home.
Thanks to that, her puppetry skills soared.
She even completed the advanced volumes she never dreamed of tackling alone.
She could now craft puppets capable of spellcasting—a true puppet master.
Idling about one day, Black Bamboo Sect crossed her mind.
"Should I swing by the auction house on the way home?"
Seoran had amassed mountains of spirit stones.
She couldn't carry it all.
Inevitably, she needed to exchange the bulk at the auction house for smaller, higher-value items.
She went to Myo Nation, outside Great Forest.
A mundane kingdom ruled by Twin Dragon Sect, home to the Eastern Continent's largest auctions.
Where she and her troupe had first met.
Seoran joined the highest-grade auction.
It usually selected guests, but a famous Taibon Valley instructor known to all was exempt.
She sat in her assigned seat and scanned the room.
Every one from major sects.
Mostly Core Formation, occasionally Nascent Soul too.
Likely attending as sect proxies, not individuals.
Absorbed in spectating, the auction began.
The first item: a vial of pills.
Long-term use strengthened bones and muscles, extended lifespan by years.
Impressive effects.
Seoran signaled first.
Other cultivators kept upping the bid.
After repeated bidding wars, a major sect proxy claimed the pills.
Seoran felt a twinge of regret but shook it off.
It was just the first item anyway.
She'd save funds for better items later.
The auction continued.
Powerful spirit beast eggs, millennium spirit herbs, ancient relics from Great Forest depths, dharma treasures of top materials, a law treasure fragment fallen to the mortal world.
Seoran just watched.
Everyone had too much money.
The third item from the end: Millennium Earth Spirit Wood.
Lumber infused with earth spirit energy, perfect core material for earth-affinity puppets.
Desperately needed by Seoran.
She jumped into bidding.
Prices soared sky-high.
Seoran was prepared to pay her entire fortune.
But in auctions, money was king.
The Millennium Earth Spirit Wood went to another major sect.
The final price far exceeded Seoran's wealth.
No matter how rich an individual, they couldn't match a millennia-old major sect's coffers.
By auction's end, Seoran left empty-handed.
She exited the auction house forlornly.
Hated those entrenched sects.
And she really wanted that Millennium Earth Spirit Wood.