Chapter 99
Translator: penny
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Mountain and River Life (5)
If you asked what I'd encountered most during these past few months of wandering the mountains and rivers, it would have to be betrayal and backstabbing from fellow cultivators.
There were times when those I'd taken requests with suddenly turned on me mid-mission. Others had set up fake requests from the start, conspiring to kill me and steal my loot. And there was even one who picked a fight over a single item, then stormed my lodging to finish me off.
One guy tried to kill me just because the girl he liked had fallen for me and thrown herself at me. A female cultivator with perverse tastes once slipped me an aphrodisiac and tried to have her way with me, too.
Looking back like this, it felt like I'd crammed more intense, cutthroat experiences into these few months than during all my time in the High Heaven Sect.
Each of those incidents had shaped me, piling up to make me grow.
Teaching me how to deal with cultivators—and how they deserved to be treated.
Thanks to that, I'd easily gotten the information I wanted on the Mystic Moonstones.
'A secret realm that opens every 300 years.'
This secret realm's formation weakened on a cycle tied to the stars' movements, opening and closing every roughly 300 years—and it just so happened that the next cycle was four months away.
Because it followed the stars' paths, cultivators called it the Stellar Secret Realm. To enter, you needed a Mystic Moonstone's power to twist the formation and create a gateway.
The stronger and higher quality the stone, the deeper into the realm you could safely and swiftly go.
'Need one to enter... and to leave.'
The High Heaven Sect's Ancient Secret Realm, which opened every 50 years, had gifted me the Eighty Thousand Sutra Pagoda and the Subduing Dragon Five Extremes.
This one didn't seem connected to the Immortal Realm like that one, but the Stellar Secret Realm was still a mighty place that opened only every 300 years.
'...I've finally shaken off the pursuit. Can't pass up a fortuitous encounter like this.'
I wasn't the only one. Every cultivator who knew about this secret realm would be gunning for it.
'Soul Transformation Realm seniors might even get involved...'
Three hundred years wasn't a short time, even for Soul Transformation Realm cultivators who lived 5,000 years.
Besides, from that realm onward, they mostly roamed forbidden zones, outer realms, and ancient secret realms that ordinary cultivators couldn't touch—which meant there was a good chance one would eye a "secret realm opening every 300 years."
And there'd be treasures to match.
'In that case, I need to prepare thoroughly until the day it opens.'
I had no choice but to postpone my rush to the Haeseong Sect. Instead, I began preparations, thinking ahead to the Stellar Secret Realm I'd enter in a few months.
'First and foremost, I need to reclaim the Dual Harmony Art.'
The most crucial preparation was simple.
Perfectly timed, there was the Sun-Moon Stellar Grand Harmony Scripture—the very same name as the secret realm. Through this paired cultivation method, I had to maximize the purity of my Primal Spirit Power.
'And luckily, I've got Yi Seon-aeng right here.'
Her body flowed with the Famed Infernal energy, but fortunately, the Sun-Moon Stellar Grand Harmony Scripture didn't absorb each other's energy—it simply cycled it through their bodies to refine the purity.
Her Famed Infernal energy would likely purify and vanish the moment it entered me, but in exchange, I'd cycle only Primal Spirit Power back to her—no risk of serious harm.
Plus, as a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator with a dharma treasure body, she'd filter my spirit power with unmatched efficiency.
I closed my eyes and peered into my soul to see what Yi Seon-aeng was up to.
Yi Seon-aeng had mastered the Famed Infernal Star Acupoint Binding Art.
Empowered by it, she'd become a Famed Infernal, transcending ordinary death. Her flesh was that of a jiangshi, but even before that, she'd already achieved immortality and eternal life.
That was the art's true power.
This cursed body refinement method could only be cultivated with Famed Infernal energy, and even then, side effects could claim your life. But succeed, and your body regenerated even if decapitated or heart destroyed. You could even steal others' life force to live forever.
On top of that, you gained control over Infernal Yin Fire—one of the tribulations long-lived cultivators faced, so vicious it rotted the body from the inside out.
Most side effects of the Famed Infernal Star Acupoint Binding Art stemmed from this yin fire, too. Of course, Yi Seon-aeng—having remade her body and turned her soul into a spirit vessel—cultivated it without worry.
Master it fully, reach great completion, and you'd become invulnerable to blade or sword, a micro-underworld dwelling in your flesh, transforming into the Greed Soul Command Spirit Body.
That was the terror of such cursed body refinement arts. Beyond mere toughness, speed, or strength, they embedded laws and principles into the body that no ordinary divine ability or method could grant.
And Yi Seon-aeng, practitioner of this horrific art... was desperately fleeing right now.
Dodging the pagoda, dodging the dragon, endlessly running through the infinitely vast space of Yong Yoo's soul.
No matter how infinite Yong Yoo's soul space was, it was his—not hers, a mere dharma treasure.
So no matter how desperately she fled, no matter how hard she pushed with her Soul Transformation Realm cursed body strength, she couldn't escape the pagoda or the dragon.
Yi Seon-aeng had tried everything.
Her divine abilities, the art's included ones, even unleashing yin fire in attacks.
But her struggles were like microbes crawling on skin—no damage to Yong Yoo at all. The yin fire she'd mustered with such effort melted before the Eighty Thousand Sutra Pagoda's power.
The more she tried, the more she toiled, the more hope she glimpsed—the more she crumbled.
And with it, Yong Yoo—who bore such absurd things in his soul—seemed less human and more godlike.
'No way... an immortal? Come down to the mortal realm for fun? Or reincarnated from one?'
Yi Seon-aeng couldn't help the delusion. Otherwise, how to explain the soul's scale, that pagoda, that dragon?
She felt her resolve breaking bit by bit.
A Nascent Soul Realm elder who'd lived centuries before her self-seal, she knew what "strength" meant in the cultivation world.
Strength here wasn't layered accumulation.
It was a change in "realm."
From a mouse crawling the earth to a hawk soaring the skies. From hawk to cloud-ruling dragon.
A total shift in the nature of power. Realizing Yong Yoo had ties to the Immortal Realm and wielded its strength, Yi Seon-aeng abandoned resistance entirely.
She couldn't even if she wanted to.
'...Just you wait.'
Of course, this woman—who'd endured centuries sealed and remade her body into a jiangshi—didn't give up easily.
'For now, it's impossible... but I'll build strength under you and escape. Then I'll kill you. I won't forgive you. Ever.'
She buried her boiling rage, hatred, killing intent, loathing, resentment—all of it deep inside.
Good thing she'd become a Famed Infernal. Good thing a jiangshi.
Her emotional control far surpassed her old self; with a thought, she became a cold, ruthless jiangshi, emotions fully suppressed.
'Endure for now. Watch the situation. It's fine. I can steal life force for infinite lifespan... time is on my side.'
Yong Yoo, watching it all, saw her calm and pulled her from his soul.
Once she quieted—twisting about, trying all sorts of things on her own—I drew Yi Seon-aeng out of my soul again.
The Yi Seon-aeng who emerged was different from before.
The first time, furious that her awakener wasn't her husband and had roused her before great completion.
The second, haggard and confused from torment in my soul, shrunken by fear.
Now, the third: hollow eyes, inorganic expression, as if she'd abandoned everything.
She'd been so expressive before. This felt a bit guilty.
Shaking off the thought, I pressed her for an answer. Quietly, Yi Seon-aeng bowed before me.
"I've felt your power. From now on, I swear loyalty as your dharma treasure, Master."
Her voice was stiff, emotions crushed. But satisfied with a Soul Transformation Realm dharma treasure in hand, I replied.
"Then, the name Yi Seon-aeng is forbidden from now on. To start a new life, discard the old."
"......Understood."
"That pattern on your clothes—is it an orchid?"
"Yes."
"Then, Dead Orchid—Sa-ran. That's your name from now on."
At my words, Sa-ran cautiously bowed in assent. Nodding at her reaction, I offered the golden jade slip inscribed with the Sun-Moon Stellar Grand Harmony Scripture.
"Study and learn this method now. It's the one we'll cultivate together."
"......What method is it?"
"Hm? A paired cultivation art."
At my casual words, Sa-ran's body went rigid.