The Clouded Spirit
The first to arrive this time was Chae Yeonri, the sole female member of the Mansi Association.
Perhaps because he had recently tasted the bitter reality of dealing with human Qi Refining cultivators, Jekyeong's attitude toward this Foundation Establishment senior was unconsciously more polite than before.
"Senior Chae," he greeted.
"Junior Jekyeong. You are early today as well."
Starting with Chae Yeonri, the senior cultivators of the Mansi Association arrived one after another. Soon, the six cultivators, including Jekyeong, took their usual places.
"We have gathered safely once again. Tell me, has everyone been well?" Yoo Gyeyoon, the eldest and most advanced cultivator of the Mansi Association, asked with a warm smile.
"Nothing has happened, to a boring extent," one replied.
"The same goes for me."
To cultivators who planned their lives in terms of decades, three months was a mere blink of an eye. In that regard, the meeting cycle of the Mansi Association was remarkably short compared to other gatherings. Other groups were said to meet once a year at the shortest, and once every ten years at the longest.
The reason the Mansi Association met so frequently, and the reason its members consistently attended, lay entirely with Yoo Gyeyoon. Though his cultivation was deeper than anyone else's in this circle, he never shied away from interaction. Interacting with those whose cultivation fell far below his own was called "exchange," but in reality, it was nothing short of his one-sided teaching. Cultivators, usually too busy with their own advancement, rarely wasted their time like this. Yet, Yoo Gyeyoon willingly squandered his time conversing with his juniors. While the other members did not know his true motives, they felt a profound sense of gratitude toward the senior who generously bestowed his wisdom upon them every three months.
"Before we begin today's meeting, I have a few words to say," Yoo Gyeyoon said, looking at each cultivator in turn. Though his tone was gentle as always, there was an underlying solemnity to his aura that instantly drew everyone's attention.
"It has already been over sixty years since I first established the Mansi gathering. There were two fellow Daoists who joined me back then. Daoist U, surely you remember them?"
"Of course. You mean Senior Sa and Senior Baek, correct?"
At the mention of those two names, Yoo Gyeyoon's spiritual body seemed to tremble ever so slightly. A tremor in one's spiritual body meant that their Mind State had wavered.
"They were the first friends I made upon entering Bulmangwon. We were kindred spirits. We promised each other that we would walk the endless immortal path together." As Yoo Gyeyoon's mind drifted to the past, his spiritual body in the present trembled once more.
"But despite our promise, they departed first, leaving me alone to keep this small gathering alive. Looking back, it was perhaps a lingering attachment, but I believe it was the right choice. Thanks to that, at least one of us remains. Even if I leave now, this small circle we built will continue, will it not, Daoist U?" Yoo Gyeyoon's gaze turned toward U Do-baek.
"It shall. Though I cannot say if we will meet as frequently as we do now."
"Haha. You may do as you please, fellow Daoists. I suppose everyone has suffered quite a bit due to my stubborn greed."
"Not at all. Ever since I met you, Senior, I have looked forward to this single day every three months. I am deeply grateful for all the guidance you have given us."
By now, everyone present realized the truth. Today would be the last time Yoo Gyeyoon attended this gathering.
"It seems you have all guessed. Once today's meeting concludes, I shall depart for Gwanghanlim. There, I intend to put my path to the ultimate test."
The moment those words left his mouth, the cultivators offered their blessings in unison.
"May the Dao Rhyme favor you, Senior."
"May you achieve the Great Dao, Senior."
Listening quietly to their blessings, Yoo Gyeyoon spoke softly. "To achieve the Great Dao through the favor of the Dao Rhyme... What beautiful words. If, by some miracle, I truly manage to take that next step, I will know it is entirely thanks to all of you."
Exuding a somewhat hollow, detached aura, Yoo Gyeyoon continued. "In truth, none of you have any reason to be grateful to me. If my meager advice has been of even the slightest help to you, then that in itself is my greatest joy."
"What do you mean by that, Senior?"
"I do not say this lightly. I truly helped you all out of a purely selfish desire." As he spoke, Yoo Gyeyoon looked up at the sky. The sky of Bulmangwon might not be as vast as the sky of the Changram Realm, but it was still far too high for them to ever reach.
"I once heard a story. It is said that everything under heaven has its merits and faults, and one is rewarded according to their merits and punished according to their faults." Yoo Gyeyoon was clearly smiling as he spoke.
"It is what they call Heavenly Dao Merit. It is quite ironic for a cultivator, whose very path is to defy the Heavenly Dao, to rely on the grace of heaven at the very end. But when there is no other way, what else can one do?"
The short phrase "Heavenly Dao" struck a deep chord in everyone's minds. There was an indescribable weight to that name.
"In a way, I am no different from Senior Buyun-ja. I sow good karma to accumulate merit, and then I await the will of heaven. Therefore, fellow Daoists, you need not feel indebted to me. We have simply engaged in a mutual exchange."
"Regardless of your intentions, Senior, a grace is still a grace."
"If you truly think so, then I can only offer my thanks..." Following a faint smile, Yoo Gyeyoon's spiritual body, which had looked as though it might scatter into the wind at any moment, regained its usual clarity.
"But enough of an old man's rambling. Come, let us begin the meeting."
Yoo Gyeyoon announced the start of the gathering as he always did, but the atmosphere was naturally different. After briefly sharing news of various events that had occurred in the cultivation world over the past three months, the conversation only truly grew lively when they began discussing cultivation itself.
For the other members of the Mansi Association, this discussion was the primary reason for attending, but not for Jekyeong. It wasn't entirely meaningless, but there was very little he could gain from these debates. His realm was too low, and above all, his path of cultivation was fundamentally different from that of his seniors. Before passing the Transformation Tribulation, the cultivation paths of the Human Race and the Beast Race—of humans and Yo-beasts—shared almost no common ground.
The only things Jekyeong could find useful were auxiliary techniques, such as the Presence-Concealing Technique. However, Foundation Establishment cultivators had no reason to seriously discuss such trivial tricks, so Jekyeong spent most of these sessions feeling like a silent bystander, completely out of place. Even now, as he watched the others pepper Yoo Gyeyoon with various questions about cultivation, his mind drifted elsewhere.
Yoo Gyeyoon is leaving. He is setting out with a ten-year window, so I don't know if I'll ever see him again. Moreover, judging by his words, he seemed resolved to either succeed or die trying. If so, he would certainly never return to the Mansi Association. Yoo Gyeyoon was the implicit leader and the core of this group. Once he departed, the vitality of the Mansi Association would plummet. Although U Do-baek had promised to keep it going, a gathering was not something that could be sustained by a single person. Only after Yoo Gyeyoon left would they see where the other members' hearts truly lay.
I hope everyone stays, if possible. Jekyeong had grown quite fond of the Mansi Association. He occasionally picked up useful tidbits, and even when he didn't, he enjoyed quietly listening to their conversations. This was a feeling he could never experience when bickering with Cheongo. In terms of closeness, he was obviously closer to Cheongo, but he felt a faint sense of kinship with the cultivators of the Mansi Association. He didn't know who had first coined the term "fellow reincarnators," but he found it highly appropriate.
"Let us conclude here, fellow Daoists. Thank you for everything." After some time had passed, Yoo Gyeyoon brought the meeting to a close, prompting murmurs of regret from everyone. They lamented the end of today's gathering, and they lamented the departure of their senior.
"Senior, may you achieve the Great Dao." Offering their blessings in their own ways, the members vanished one by one. Jekyeong, too, waited for the right moment to offer a brief blessing before preparing to leave. But before he could depart, Yoo Gyeyoon stopped him.
"Daoist Jekyeong, wait a moment."
"Yes?" With everyone else already gone, Jekyeong was left sitting alone on his stone pillar, utterly bewildered. Just as his confusion was beginning to morph into a slight sense of unease, Yoo Gyeyoon explained his reason for holding him back.
"It is nothing major, but your state seems different from before, and I was curious. I have always had a hard time suppressing my curiosity."
"My state is different?" Jekyeong was genuinely taken aback. Though Yoo Gyeyoon claimed his state had changed, he himself felt absolutely nothing. If anyone else had said this, he would have suspected they were mocking him. But Yoo Gyeyoon was not the type of person to play such pointless pranks.
"I... do not know."
"Hmm. Your spirit has grown cloudier than before. It is a subtle shift, so you might not have noticed it yourself."
"Yet you recognized it at a glance, Senior."
"I may not possess any extraordinary talent, but I have cultivated diligently to reach this age. It would be a shame if my perception were duller than my juniors'."
Jekyeong fell into deep thought. My spirit has grown cloudier? That certainly didn't sound like a good thing. Indeed, it was precisely because it was a negative change that Yoo Gyeyoon had gone out of his way to keep him behind. Perhaps the elder saw this as yet another opportunity to accumulate merit.
"Such a change indicates that no small disturbance has rippled through your mind. If nothing immediately comes to mind, try to calmly recall the events of the past three months. If you reflect on what has left a lingering mark on your heart, you may find a clue."
"..." The events of the past three months. The moment he heard those words, a specific memory flashed in his mind. Though his physical body was not present here, one of his eyes seemed to throb with phantom pain.
"It seems you have remembered?"
"Yes."
"If you do not wish to speak of it, you need not. I only wish to offer a bit of light assistance if I can; I have no intention of forcing you."
Jekyeong hesitated. Even though he knew Yoo Gyeyoon was leaving for at least ten years—or perhaps forever—he still felt an instinctive reluctance. After all, Yoo Gyeyoon was a cultivator of the Human Race. The probability of Yoo Gyeyoon having any connection to those six human cultivators was extremely slim, but who could say for certain?
No. He was overthinking things. Because he had been burned once by human cultivators, a vague fear and wariness of humans had taken root in his heart. That fear was now threatening to swallow his reason.
Jekyeong decided to keep it simple. Yoo Gyeyoon wished to help, and there was no reason to doubt his intentions. In that case, he should accept it gratefully. And what if, by some astronomical chance, Yoo Gyeyoon actually was related to the human cultivators Jekyeong had fought and killed?
Then I'll just have to die. If one was struck by lightning from a clear blue sky, that was simply fate. Such things could not be avoided no matter how hard one tried, so there was nothing to do but accept it.
"Senior. To tell you the truth, something did happen recently." Jekyeong recounted the life-or-death struggle he had with the six human cultivators, neither adding nor omitting any details. He felt no need to justify himself by emphasizing that the human cultivators had attacked his companion first or claiming self-defense. Yoo Gyeyoon was, after all, the one who understood the ways, principles, and harsh realities of the cultivation world better than anyone else in the Mansi Association.
"I see." Yoo Gyeyoon grasped the root of the issue the moment he finished listening. "What were you thinking when you devoured those human cultivators?"
"I didn't think much of it. It was a situation where I had to kill or be killed."
"Was it truly so?" Jekyeong did not answer. He felt a ticklish sensation in a corner of his mind, as if some realization was hovering just out of reach.
"You may take this with a grain of salt, but would you care to hear my thoughts?"
"Please guide me, Senior."
"In my view, rationalizations like 'I had no choice' are ultimately just an avoidance of one's true nature."
"Avoidance?"
"Is it not?"
"I do not know. Does it matter?"
"It matters. It matters immensely. Because this concerns your true nature."