Chapter 14
Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Foundation Establishment Realm (3)
The moment Mun Yoo appeared at the alley entrance, I could feel Do Mun-hyang's entire body tense up rigidly with tension.
But after confirming that Mun Yoo's trembling eyes were darting around aimlessly, I stopped the kiss, covered Do Mun-hyang's face with my own, and said,
"Don't worry. He hasn't spotted us yet."
"Huh? B-but."
"Your body is shielded by mine, and your face is hidden behind my face and the veil. We're fine."
Right now, Mun Yoo wasn't absolutely sure that the person I was kissing was Do Mun-hyang and asking about it.
It was more like, She kinda looks like Do Mun-hyang, gives off a similar vibe, or... my gut tells me that woman is Do Mun-hyang.
He was just approaching based on that vague feeling.
"Withdraw your divine sense. I'll block him."
"M-Mun Yoo is at the third layer of Foundation Establishment."
"I can handle it, so don't worry."
Do Mun-hyang looked at me amid her slight tension and fear, then closed her eyes, leaned into me, trusting me as she withdrew her divine sense.
Mun Yoo hesitated for a moment before sending out his divine sense to probe us, but I deployed two layers of divine sense around us simultaneously, easily deflecting his.
"Huh."
Mun Yoo's surprised voice rang out as his divine sense was repelled so effortlessly.
I grabbed Do Mun-hyang's butt and kneaded it openly, as if I couldn't care less about a nobody like Mun Yoo. Neither of them had expected something like this right in front of him, so both Do Mun-hyang and Mun Yoo widened their eyes and froze stiff.
But Do Mun-hyang tensed up only briefly before focusing on the kiss again as if to show her trust in me, stroking my body in return.
She slipped her hand under my robe, caressing my chest and shoulders, savoring my muscles. Naturally, my robe slipped down, exposing my upper body.
In response, I peeled off one layer of her outer robe. Beneath it, her body was clad in only a single thin layer of white silk gauze, which faintly revealed her skin, adding to her allure.
Gulp.
I heard Mun Yoo swallow hard.
From his angle, all he could see was one of Do Mun-hyang's legs wrapped around mine. The taut silk gauze highlighted the graceful curve of her leg, the smoothness of her thigh, and the shape of her butt so temptingly that it was making his mouth water.
His wandering eyes had stopped their search and were now fixed on Do Mun-hyang's leg. He stared right through me, clearly dying to see the rest of her body hidden behind.
To snap him out of it, I blatantly kneaded Do Mun-hyang's butt like dough.
Smack!
I gave her butt a light slap.
"Ahhn!"
As her firm butt jiggled and an uncontrollable moan escaped her lips, Mun Yoo jumped in shock and bolted from the spot.
Do Mun-hyang glared at me with hazy, slightly pouty eyes, annoyed at the slap, but then spotted the fleeing Mun Yoo and let out a smirk.
Her expression held a sneer toward the naive Mun Yoo who fled at a woman's moan... and a faint trace of contempt.
What the hell did that bastard Mun Yoo do while I was in secluded cultivation to make Do Mun-hyang wear an expression like that? He must've caused one hell of a mess.
"Anyway, Senior Brother Mun is..."
Do Mun-hyang, now addressing him stiffly as Senior Brother Mun, leaned her face against my chest and said,
"Do you know what he did last time when we went on a mission together?"
"No idea?"
"He picked a fight with some guys from the Fan Clan, toyed with them, then killed them. He said something like, 'Kill each other... and I'll spare one.'"
"Hm."
...He did that?
The guy's lost his mind for real.
Along with disgust toward Mun Yoo, a massive wave of fear washed over me.
He'd always been a bit twisted in the original story, but not this bad... If he becomes an immortal like this, my fate will plunge into an even more horrific abyss of hell.
I have to kill him.
I resolved to kill Mun Yoo, even if it meant facing punishment from Geum So-ryeo sooner rather than later.
Even if it got me expelled from High Heaven Sect as penalty for killing him, I'd have to endure it.
"Really... I have no idea why he turned out like that. Pathetic..."
After thoroughly mocking Mun Yoo, Do Mun-hyang seemed upset and offered her lips to me. I patted her butt soothingly and kissed her.
We dove back into the kiss, caressing each other's bodies, forgetting all about Mun Yoo as we focused solely on one another.
But with our mood utterly ruined by him, we couldn't keep it going. We ended the kiss, straightened our clothes, and left the alley.
"Sigh."
Do Mun-hyang, regretful that it ended at just a kiss, clung tightly to my arm, resting her body against my shoulder as we strolled the market street, grumbling irritably.
"That guy... I don't get why he always butts into other people's business and causes trouble. Can't he just behave? He stirs up so much chaos that no one on Sea Severing Peak likes Mun Yoo anymore."
"Hmm."
I watched her grumble, and as her mood soured further, I went to a accessories vendor and bought a beautiful hair ornament.
I picked one adorned with gold and jewels, designed to pin into the hair, approached her, faced her directly, and pinned it into her hair myself.
"Here, for you."
"Ah..."
Do Mun-hyang's eyes widened at the hair ornament I'd placed, then she gently touched it and beamed at me, expressing her gratitude.
"Thank you, Senior Yoo!"
Her mood skyrocketed from the single gift. She walked beside me with a spring in her step, humming a tune, and men's gazes poured onto her radiant smile.
Even as cultivators striving for immortality—be it dual cultivation partners or otherwise—men and women inevitably chase those desires, so a beauty like Do Mun-hyang naturally drew eyes.
Now seemingly ignoring Mun Yoo or anyone else entirely, Do Mun-hyang hooked her arm through mine without hesitation and began enjoying the market with me carefree.
"Oh my, what's that girl doing over there?"
"Tch. Chasing carnal lusts instead of focusing on cultivation."
Here and there, people I took for Sea Severing Peak folks hurled insults at Do Mun-hyang. I could see the irrepressible jealousy in their eyes.
Fair enough.
They had every reason to envy and curse like that. Do Mun-hyang was just turning thirty, yet already at the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment.
She overcame hurdles like the Foundation Establishment Pill barrier as if they were nothing. She might even reach Core Formation before forty—a talent anyone would envy.
Any cultivator couldn't help but envy her.
She possessed a birthright more powerful than any reincarnated genius, soul splinter, or notable descendant in this world: being the "main heroine blessed by the author."
Those with special birthrights start at lofty realms innately or break through effortlessly, hoovering up fortuitous encounters like vacuums. But line them all up, and they'd still fall short of one Do Mun-hyang.
"Sigh."
"Bothered by it?"
But that was a fact only I knew. To Do Mun-hyang, each envious glare or jealous remark was just annoying.
"No, it's fine."
She brushed it off in a tone like she'd grown used to it.
"I used to mind every little thing like that... but thanks to you, Senior Yoo, I can let it all go."
She spoke with utter nonchalance, then clapped her hands as a good idea struck her.
"Right! Now that you've reached Foundation Establishment, Senior Yoo, I have a gift for you!"
"Huh? No need. I've received plenty from you already."
"I've received way more. You resolved my heart demon at the first layer and helped me break through the bottleneck. You gave me enlightenment at the fourth layer to aid my cultivation."
As she said that, she led me into an alley first, checked that no one was watching, carefully removed my veil, tidied my hair, and neatly trimmed my beard.
She even used a delicate spell to wash my hair until it shone glossily, then pulled a thin cord from her sleeve and tied my hair into a topknot.
"Mm. Can't you cut it?"
Long hair felt awkward and uncomfortable. At my words, Do Mun-hyang blinked, then pecked my cheek.
"Long hair looks cool on you, Senior."
"...Fine, I'll keep it."
"Ehehe."
After giggling cutely, she replaced my veil, inspected me from all angles with a satisfied smile, and led me somewhere.
"By the way, what's with this cord? You don't tie your hair, Hyang-ah."
Her hair was a shoulder-length bob, so it was odd for her to carry something like this.
"Hm? Oh, just one of the magic tools I don't use. Take it, Senior Yoo."
"What? Hold on. Like with that gourd bottle earlier, aren't you too casual with magic tools and treasures? You just offered the Vast Bounty Gourd Bottle like it was nothing. At least hesitate a bit."
As I nagged her to treasure her magic tools more, Do Mun-hyang grinned.
"Once you're at Foundation Establishment, you'll become Master's direct disciple too, Senior Yoo. You'll find out then."
"Find out what?"
"There's stuff like that."
What could it be?
How much was Geum So-ryeo lavishing on her for the girl to waste magic tools so freely?
In the original, she hadn't showered Mun Yoo with magic tools or treasures like this. She'd given him cultivation-boosting fortuitous encounters instead.
As I pondered, Do Mun-hyang had led me to a fabric shop.
"Hm. I want something to match with me, but nothing too dark...
Do Mun-hyang held countless bolts of fabric against my skin, comparing, then pulled out a very pale pink bordering on white.
It was the same color as the liquor I'd first given her.
"This is perfect! Can you make a robe that suits him from this fabric?"
"Right away, young lady."
The shopkeeper bowed deeply to Do Mun-hyang, handed the fabric to an assistant, who vanished into the back with it.
Do Mun-hyang and I waited patiently for the assistant, while the owner greeted a new customer.
"Oh, Senior Seok! What brings you here?"
"Owner. Make me another robe just like the last one."
"Already?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Listen up, owner. A few months back, I was cultivating by the river, right? Then some bastard suddenly hurled a fire spell at the river out of nowhere!"
"Without warning?"
"Exactly! I got caught in it and only regained consciousness at the infirmary a few days ago! Judging by the power, the culprit was some late Foundation Establishment senior... What could I say to a senior? Gotta replace the lost robe."
......
Erm...
There was someone there...
From now on, spells only in designated training areas.
I reflected inwardly like that and turned to other thoughts.
My spell matched late Foundation Establishment level?
I'd known my spells had abnormally high power. But until now, I hadn't known why... I recalled some books I'd seen while browsing bookstores earlier for cultivation methods.
I might know why my spells are so strong?
Thinking back, there'd been a hint in what Geum So-ryeo said when we first met. The reason my spells were strong was...
"Ah! It's here!"
I snapped out of it as Do Mun-hyang dashed over and took the robe from the assistant.
Thanks to her, with my beard neatly shaved and hair tidied, I swapped High Heaven Sect's signature brown robe for one nearly pure white pink. From head to toe, I was transformed.
I'd thought long hair and pink robes would look weird on a guy, but with Yong Yoo's face on top, it suited startlingly well.
"Senior, you look so cool!"
"Wow, sir, you're so dashing."
"Oh! Even the owner sees it?"
"Heavens, after all these years in this shop, I can spot a perfect couple even behind veils. Obvious at a glance!"
"Right? Senior Yoo is seriously handsome!"
After basking in compliments on my unprecedented looks from my past life, we left the shop. I stopped by a bookstore with Do Mun-hyang to hunt for more books.
This time, not cultivation methods but spellbooks—specific kinds—so it didn't take long.
As I grabbed the needed spellbooks and headed out, Do Mun-hyang, who'd bought a book just ahead of me, hesitated before speaking up.
"Um, Senior Yoo."
"What's up, Hyang-ah?"
"I bought a cultivation method... um, by any chance..."
Do Mun-hyang shyly showed me the book with a secretive glance.
"Not interested?"
The cultivation method she showed me was titled Basic Water Dual Cultivation Method.
To her loving, secretive yet blatant signal, I naturally led my lovely girl toward my abode.