Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Nascent Soul Realm
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Wi Jimok was the son of a National Go Player.
The term "National Go Player" referred to the foremost master of Go or chess in a given nation.
Thanks to this, Wi Jimok naturally learned the game of Go.
At the age of five, he picked up his first Go stone.
And from six onward, he was hailed as a prodigy.
A year later, Wi Jimok began defeating even professional Go players.
One such professional even shed tears in the end.
It was because his lifelong faith in his own skill, built through devoted effort, had crumbled entirely.
On the board, teardrops fell amid the black and white stones.
At eight, no one but his father, the National Go Player, could match him.
Even then, it took less than a year to claim victory over him.
Wi Jimok unofficially became the Yu Nation's National Go Player.
His father, the former National Go Player, offered this advice.
"Go is a method of spiritual cultivation. For a Go player, character is just as vital as skill. Remember my words well, my son."
Wi Jimok replied politely.
"Yes, Father."
But his courtesy extended only to his words and expression.
To spout such nonsense after losing to his own son?
It was unbecoming of a former National Go Player.
On the board, there existed only black stones and white stones.
After that, Wi Jimok refused to associate with anyone.
He merely sat before the Go board, playing solitaire.
Then, at ten, he entered the Three Rings Sect.
At twenty, Wi Jimok became a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
He gained a master to teach him Core Formation.
Coincidentally, this master also knew how to play Go.
Wi Jimok experienced defeat after a long time.
It had been nearly ten years since he last lost to anyone at Go.
His master taught him both Go and cultivation arts.
At sixty, Wi Jimok reached Core Formation.
His cultivation ascent was swift, and his Golden Core was vast.
Wi Jimok's talents extended beyond Go.
After their final match between master and disciple, the master spoke.
"Bear this in mind, Investigator Wi. One must first become a true person before aspiring to be a sage. These are my final teachings."
It was the same refrain his master always uttered during their Go games.
Each time, Wi Jimok inwardly rolled his eyes.
The match ended in Wi Jimok's overwhelming victory by territory.
At 220, Wi Jimok stood on the cusp of the Nascent Soul Realm.
At this rate, Soul Transformation lay 640 years ahead.
But something felt slightly off.
Wi Jimok deliberately concealed his realm.
At 230, the Three Rings Sect plunged into civil war.
Two Nascent Soul Realm elders openly clashed.
The stated reason was a dispute over cultivation resource allocation.
But the truth was different.
They fought not for the sect's shared goal of ascension, but over factional loyalties, power, and vested interests.
Had Wi Jimok been a Nascent Soul cultivator then, they surely would have targeted and killed him first, as the relatively weaker one.
Watching the two elders, Wi Jimok became convinced.
Even such grotesque monsters had attained the Nascent Soul Realm.
Admonitions like "become a person before a sage" rang as hollow as empty cries in the cultivation world.
Wi Jimok sided with the faction that seemed likely to win.
His master, who tried to remain neutral, was the first to die.
The war dragged on for a full twenty years.
The civil war utterly destroyed the Three Rings Sect.
The sole surviving Nascent Soul cultivator was a living corpse.
No one and nothing remained intact.
Some tried to revive the sect.
Wi Jimok's "friend" was a prime example.
He abandoned his own cultivation to devote himself to the sect.
The friend often said things like this to Wi Jimok.
"Jimo, I'm glad you're here. Without the civil war, you'd already be a Nascent Soul cultivator. Only someone like you can change the world."
Hearing this, Wi Jimok responded with a smile.
But he did not consider the man a true friend.
He was merely a foothold for blending into the faction.
The sect's turmoil made the Nascent Soul ritual impossible.
Wi Jimok quietly bided his time.
And fifty years passed.
Finally, the perfect opportunity he had longed for arrived.
That day, he killed the comatose Nascent Soul elder.
And he also killed the friend who had been guarding the elder.
Thus, the Three Rings Sect faded into the annals of history.
Now, Wi Jimok was preparing for his Nascent Soul ritual.
The resources from the Three Rings Sect were insufficient.
So he massacred numerous cultivators.
He took precautions, but his tail proved long.
*****
Wi Jimok was meticulous.
When selecting targets, he prioritized risk over gain.
He never neglected cleanup.
And he chose locations with utmost care.
Thanks to this, his true nature remained hidden for nineteen years.
The major sects of the Western Continent never realized that so many Core Formation cultivators had fallen to a single hand.
They assumed ill fortune, like encounters with great yokai or deaths at the hands of rival sect members.
The truth emerged only half a year ago.
Of course, Wi Jimok made no mistakes to the end.
The exposure was pure coincidence.
There were twin cultivators.
The brothers had mastered a special technique that resonated their souls with each other.
As twins, their soul essences were remarkably similar.
This rare technique suited their twin nature perfectly, allowing rapid realm advancement.
Then one day, the younger brother died suddenly.
The elder witnessed the killer's face clearly through their bonded souls.
The sects immediately formed a joint pursuit squad.
An elite group, composed entirely of Core Formation cultivators.
The joint pursuit squad finally confronted Wi Jimok.
And they were massacred惨.
Wi Jimok had reached the brink of Nascent Soul a century prior.
Moreover, slaughtering cultivators had honed his combat experience and yielded countless magic tools.
But his most powerful asset was the Three Rings Sect's treasure.
Wi Jimok fed spiritual power to the Three Rings Spirit Vine wrapped around his arm.
One of the three fruits at its vine tips burst open.
The seed, adorned with fine hairs, rode the wind.
Seeds touching skin sprouted instantly.
They absorbed the victims' spiritual power through roots.
Beautiful flowers of death bloomed everywhere.
The fully bloomed flowers exploded in unison.
The site was instantly shrouded in a mist of blood.
Half the joint pursuit squad perished in that single attack.
Those dying amid the overwhelming gap cried out.
"Wi Jimok! Heaven will judge you!"
Wi Jimok sneered at the losers invoking heavenly judgment.
Pathetic prattle of heavenly punishment and divine retribution.
He had heard such drivel endlessly for over three hundred years.
Most cultivation world's golden sayings were nonsense.
Become a person before aspiring to sagehood.
Twisting the natural order brings retribution.
Those dreaming of immortality, beware karmic ties.
The only useful ones concerned karma.
Wi Jimok was certain.
Heaven held no will of its own.
Worldly affairs were mere collisions of scattered existences by chance.
Heavenly punishments, Heavenly Tribulations—they were the same.
Rare phenomena born from dense concentrations of heaven-earth spiritual energy, not trials proving worthiness.
If Heavenly Tribulation possessed intent, the vile, foolish elders of the Three Rings Sect would have perished at Core Formation.
Thus, such curses held no meaning.
On the Go board, only black stones and white stones exist.
No third party stands between you and me as we test our skill.
The world was no different from Go.
Wi Jimok ignored the losers' laments.
Soon, the joint pursuit squad was annihilated.
But second and third squads would arrive shortly.
Wi Jimok hastily fled the scene.
He could not afford much time on cleanup.
In his haste, he made one minor oversight.
He failed to notice the lower half sunk in the river by the explosion's aftermath.
*****
Seoran sat sullenly by the riverbank.
Her mind was tangled with thoughts of her family.
So she idly skipped stones into the water.
She didn't know how many sighs she'd heaved today alone.
"Haa..."
Seoran buried her face in her knees.
-Help me!
Something strange caught her ear.
Seoran lifted her head and scanned the surroundings.
No one was there.
Seoran buried her face in her knees again.
-Someone, please help!
Seoran sprang to her feet.
"I definitely heard that."
Seoran closed her eyes and focused her mind.
Moments later, a ripple of spiritual power brushed her body.
And the voice from before returned.
-Help me!
A cultivator was sending a distress signal.
Seoran immediately activated her Spirit Eye Technique.
Far off, she spotted something.
A person was drifting downstream along the river.
It was obvious at a glance.
That was the body of a Core Formation cultivator.
Seoran commanded her puppets.
"Rescue that person at once!"
The four puppet sisters, unable to fly, plunged into the river.
Two were swept away by the current, and two returned.
What they rescued was only the lower half.
Seoran was horrified.
"Where's the other half?!"
Then the lower half emanated spiritual ripples.
-I'm inside the Golden Core!
Seoran peered intently at the lower half with her Spirit Eye.
A pea-sized Golden Core in the lower dantian.
An soul dwelled within it.
He was a pursuit squad member slain by Wi Jimok.
More precisely, a quick-witted survivor who had fled his soul into the Golden Core just before the flowers exploded.
Thanks to this, only his body died, leaving soul and core intact.
The Golden Core survivor cried out desperately.
"Investigator, please help us!"
Seoran forced herself to stay calm and asked.
"Help with what, exactly?"
The Golden Core survivor said.
"The Western Continent is in danger!"
Thus, Wi Jimok's fate intertwined with Seoran's.