Chapter 77
Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Sect Exchange (3)
It took half a year for representatives from all the righteous sects to gather.
Since it was just the higher-ups from each sect holding discussions, those of us like me—Core Formation disciples with no particular position—weren't given the full details.
In any case, once the sect leaders had sorted things out and passed down the broad strokes, they'd select participants for the battle to exterminate the Nakseong Sect, or perhaps call for volunteers.
All I had to do was volunteer then and kill that Ye Ga-seok bastard.
That said, no sect had sent just a single representative in good faith.
Every sect had arrived with powerful disciples in tow, clearly preparing for the worst-case scenario... like if the High Heaven Sect decided to attack them.
No ordinary sect would pull something that brazen, but with multiple Soul Transformation great elders, the High Heaven Sect had the power to make it possible—which was why they were on guard.
Thanks to that, the areas of the High Heaven Sect opened to outsiders buzzed with unfamiliar cultivators for the first time.
Additionally, the pleasure houses run by women who practiced dual cultivation arts were banned from receiving outside guests due to the Unseong Kingdom incident, which sparked another uproar over discrimination against outsiders.
Hyang Mae and I stayed a step removed from all the commotion, quietly focusing on our cultivation together in her eastern quarters.
Between us sat a massive Black Tortoise egg, steadily emanating pure and potent earth and water spiritual energies, just as Hyang Mae had said—which proved immensely helpful for our training.
Thanks to the Black Tortoise egg, the fifth layer of Core Formation was now in sight.
While Yong Yoo pushed his cultivation toward the fifth layer of Core Formation, the High Heaven Sect disciples—who knew nothing of the Nakseong Sect matter—were flustered by the sudden influx of outside guests but welcomed them all the same.
That said, the Enforcement Hall and Disciplinary Hall were buried under an avalanche of new duties.
The Enforcement Hall stayed vigilant in case the outsiders caused trouble within the sect, while the Disciplinary Hall kept a sharp eye out for any of their own excited disciples stirring up problems.
Yeom Sook flew through the skies near Sea Severing Peak, scanning the surroundings, when he suddenly spotted Yong Yoo's eastern quarters and gazed toward them.
They were thoroughly concealed by formations, but they couldn't escape Yeom Sook's eyes.
Yong Yoo wasn't there—he was cultivating with Do Mun-hyang in her quarters—but Yeom Sook stared at his place anyway.
After his defeat at Yong Yoo's hands, Yeom Sook had been ensnared by heart demons for a long time.
His long-cultivated Dao Heart had crumbled, his unrequited feelings for Geum So-ryeo had been crushed, and all of his past efforts and patience felt betrayed.
It seemed like everything might collapse right then and there, ending it all.
But soon enough, Yeom Sook realized something.
'Even if I crumble like this... tomorrow will come, and the world will keep turning.'
All the pain, grief, loss, and sorrow he felt... in the grand scheme of heaven and earth, they amounted to nothing.
With that realization, Yeom Sook's Dao Heart stood firm once more, but his shattered emotions didn't return.
Instead, he fell into profound emptiness, becoming little more than a listless shut-in who did nothing at all.
'What would have become of me if Su-un hadn't come?'
It was Oh Su-un who had visited him every single day during his collapse.
Oh Su-un had become Geum So-ryeo's direct disciple before Yeom Sook and practiced the Dharma Body Dual Cultivation method, which slowed her progress and allowed Yeom Sook to surpass her.
Back then, Yeom Sook had eyes only for Geum So-ryeo and felt nothing for Oh Su-un, but in his broken state, he desperately needed someone to lean on.
This frivolous man, who had fallen head over heels for his kidnapping master in an instant, now fell just as quickly for the woman comforting his broken self—and Oh Su-un, who had long harbored feelings for Yeom Sook, accepted her in turn.
A connection that never would have formed otherwise was forged because Yong Yoo had shattered Yeom Sook, giving rise to this new bond.
Mun Yoo probably wouldn't have spiraled into this downward path either, if not for those few defeats pushing him to the extreme thought that everything was over.
Yeom Sook gazed at Yong Yoo's quarters and let out a sigh.
'Do I owe that bastard thanks? Because of him, I ended up with Su-un? No, even so...'
Traces of his feelings for Geum So-ryeo still lingered in Yeom Sook's heart.
Hearts don't cleave neatly, after all, so those remnants would cling to him for quite some time.
For Oh Su-un's sake, if nothing else, Yeom Sook wanted to shake them off as quickly as possible—but he knew emotions didn't bend to one's will.
In fact, his Nascent Soul had broken through while his heart wounds were still fresh, leaving it scarred and infested with heart demons.
All Yeom Sook could do was hope that wounded Nascent Soul would quietly heal.
While the High Heaven Sect summoned the other righteous sects to discuss the Nakseong Sect, the surrounding demonic sects naturally sensed the unusual activity.
Some sects, fearing they might be next to face extermination, fled as far from the High Heaven Sect as possible. Those who couldn't escape hurriedly raised new mountains, dug valleys, and laid formations to bolster their defenses.
A few even plotted to swoop in like fishermen waiting for the High Heaven Sect to crush a resource-rich sect and snatch the spoils before running.
Amid all this, one sect took no particular action.
This sect, hidden deep in remote mountains far from the High Heaven Sect, went by the name Bu-gye Sect—a demonic sect.
It had appeared out of nowhere a few hundred years ago but rapidly expanded its power thanks to powerful cultivators and an inexplicable supply of cultivation resources.
This massive demonic sect, the Bu-gye Sect, had recently welcomed a Soul Transformation cultivator and a Nascent Soul cultivator as guest elders. Curiously, the sect leader himself groveled before these guest elders, with the entire sect following suit.
"Um, are we really supposed to just sit tight?"
"Yes. The current High Heaven Sect has no reason to fear us—Yonghae Sect."
This Bu-gye Sect was one of the branch altars Yonghae Sect had planted in the Jeongjung Sujin Realm.
Wi Hong-taek and Mak Ho-gan, who had recently become guest elders of the Bu-gye Sect, brushed off the trembling sect leader and elders amid the High Heaven Sect's ominous movements, leaving the two of them to talk.
But their conversation was anything but cordial, even as fellow sect members.
Mak Ho-gan was the next-generation sect leader candidate groomed by Yonghae Sect, while Wi Hong-taek was little more than disposable bait who had coincidentally survived to infiltrate the sect.
From Wi Hong-taek's perspective, he loathed Yonghae Sect for scorning and ignoring him after he carried out such a grave mission, but the restrictions sealed in his body left him no choice but to submit.
'If I'd known it would be like this, I never would've betrayed the High Heaven Sect.'
When Yonghae Sect lured him in, they had promised him the moon—liver, gall, everything.
They had secretly courted him for a full decade, so Wi Hong-taek felt confident he had upheld his loyalty to the High Heaven Sect long enough.
It was the High Heaven Sect's fault for failing to notice other sects' overtures for over ten years and leaving such a talent to rot! What fools, blind to a gem like him!
Harboring such thoughts, the still-youthful Wi Hong-taek—barely a century old—fell for the temptation, betrayed his sect, and ended up here.
To Wi Hong-taek now, Yonghae Sect was a cesspool that dared to insult and humiliate a genius of his caliber.
Of course, from Yonghae Sect's view, Wi Hong-taek—who betrayed the sect that nurtured him in just ten years and massacred the bloodline of a conversion investigator—was an utterly untrustworthy traitor and scum.
"This is In-gye Territory, then."
"First time coming from the demon realm?"
Mak Ho-gan nodded at Wi Hong-taek's question.
"Yes. First time."
"I see. Enjoy it while you can. Who knows when you'll head back to the demon realm."
"Enjoy it. Enjoy."
Mak Ho-gan was only 116 years old. Born and raised in the demon realm, he felt more at home there than in the human realm, human though he was.
More than that, though clearly human in body, his soul was anything but.
He had devoured countless pills made from the flesh, soul, and Nascent Soul of a High Heaven Sect Nascent Soul elder captured eight centuries ago; feasted daily on human pills cultivated by Yonghae Sect; bathed in demon beast blood; and snacked on their inner cores.
Born human, but corrupted by demonic energies and sins, his body and soul had degenerated into that of a true demon beast despite his tender age of just over a century.
'Well, duh. He wouldn't have reached Nascent Soul fourth layer at that age without pigging out like a hog.'
Mak Ho-gan undoubtedly had talent.
But reaching the fourth layer of Nascent Soul at just over a century? That wasn't mere talent.
In simple terms, Mak Ho-gan was an "artificial prodigy" crafted by Yonghae Sect's full resources.
Yet the Yonghae Sect elders touted him to disciples as if he possessed innate, overwhelming genius—which left Wi Hong-taek utterly exasperated.
If they'd given him even a fraction of that support, he'd have reached Soul Transformation long before growing old!
"To think you can call this world enjoyable when it's full of such pathetic losers. What value does a world that can't elevate me further even have?"
Wi Hong-taek snorted at Mak Ho-gan's words, dripping with contempt for the entire human realm.
'Spoiled little brat.'
Mak Ho-gan, showered with endless resources and subjected to near-brainwashing indoctrination by Yonghae Sect, truly believed himself an unparalleled prodigy.
'Think rationally, you fool. If you were really that prodigy, would our sect care about some new Core Formation genius popping up? If not for the restrictions keeping me from touching him...'
Oblivious to Wi Hong-taek's thoughts, Mak Ho-gan grew irritated at the snort and launched into a lecture.
"Elder Wi Hong-taek, you've always resented the sect for not treating you well, but if you'd devoted your heart fully, shown proper respect, and poured everything into your cultivation, the sect would have recognized it and rewarded you. You're in that state because you can't see your own faults and just blame the sect, aren't you?"
Wi Hong-taek secretly wished the new High Heaven Sect prodigy would smash this annoying whelp's arrogance right into his skull.
The Nakseong Sect was fully aware of all this commotion as well. With High Heaven Sect investigators swarming the vicinity of Myeongchim Valley for years now, they couldn't have missed it.
While investigating how the High Heaven Sect had pinpointed their location, the Nakseong Sect pinned the blame on Ye Ga-seok for destroying the High Heaven Sect's grand hall.
"Elder Ye, what do you plan to do?"
People who had ignored it as someone else's problem at first now swarmed Ye Ga-seok, hounding him now that it threatened to hit home.
"Hong Elder today, huh?"
Ye Ga-seok paused his cultivation with a weary expression as the visiting elder approached.
"Oh, your cultivation base looks quite stable. All that time wasted the past ten years chasing pretty boys."
"Hong Elder, I've got some good news. Care to hear it?"
Ignoring the jab, Ye Ga-seok transmitted an image of Yong Yoo's appearance via divine sense. Reading it, Hong Elder widened her eyes in surprise.
"What was that just now?"
"That famous prodigy from the High Heaven Sect. We're connected by some bad blood, too."
"Hmm."
"When the High Heaven Sect raids our sect this time, he'll definitely come gunning for me."
"A Core Formation cultivator targeting a Nascent Soul one?"
"Yes. That's the kind of guy he is."
Hong Elder burst into laughter at Ye Ga-seok's words.
"Ahahaha! What a boldly stupid fool. I like him."
"Help me take him down."
"Hmm."
"I'll rape his woman, and you rape him. Wouldn't that be fun for both of us?"
"...Not a bad idea."
Hong Elder blushed as she pictured Yong Yoo's face at Ye Ga-seok's suggestion.
That melting gaze. The drool spilling from her lips. Even her flirtatious gestures.
An oblivious man might find her alluring. But to Ye Ga-seok, who knew what she really was, those gestures looked like a starving monster slobbering over its prey.
And so, as everyone prepared for the coming day, Yong Yoo quietly reached the fifth layer of Core Formation through diligent cultivation.