Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Sacred Mountain Fairy, Fifth Hairpin (1)
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Yuyeon could even feel a gloomy obsession from some entity directed toward her. Had she ever felt this annoyed by someone since birth? They could have given the gift in a more subtle or pleasant way.
Even amid those complex and subtle emotions, she realized her heart was drawn toward the parasol.
Yuyeon swallowed a conflicted sigh for a moment before reaching out toward the parasol as her instincts urged. As if it had been waiting, the parasol slipped right into her hand.
Feeling the handle fit snugly into her grip, Yuyeon probed it with her divine sense. But just like inside the tiger's belly before, her divine sense couldn't penetrate the parasol.
The parasol didn't repel her since it had accepted her, but it felt like when she'd tried extending her divine sense to its maximum range—information simply didn't return, scattering away instead.
Instead, without directly extending her divine sense, as she focused her mind through what seemed like a virtual channel formed by grasping the umbrella, her divine sense stretched along that path, tickling her mind with a sensation different from any insight.
The reason it differed from insight was that insight occurred when faint fragments she'd vaguely grasped were miraculously pieced together by her faculties, bringing a sense of clarity and alignment in her head.
In contrast, this was complete knowledge, pre-made by someone, settling into her mind. It was close to an itchy feeling. Just as her mind itched, Yuyeon grasped hold of something.
"Lacquer Shade Soul Umbrella."
As she voiced the item's name, the parasol unfurled, solidifying their bond. Now fully accepting her, Yuyeon extended her divine sense into the parasol, and it seeped inside.
Normally, when her divine sense probed into something, Yuyeon would naturally grasp its internal structure, making everything feel tangible in her hand—but not this time.
She didn't even know what materials formed the item, nor its overall structure or functions. It wasn't that the parasol rejected her; rather, her divine sense simply had no way to read that information from the start.
Instead, Yuyeon understood that the shade created by the parasol connected to a special space, serving as a passage or gateway. Thus, she realized she could store items in the shade beneath this parasol or draw in souls.
The parasol was originally a tool to block intense yang energy. Moreover, "lacquer" evoked black, the parasol's yin counterpart, metaphorizing the invisible realm.
Thus, the shade cast by this treasure blocked yang energy and even briefly deceived the laws of the netherworld, granting the power to temporarily exempt the deceased from the underworld's fetters. Hence its name: Lacquer Shade Soul Umbrella.
Yuyeon gazed at the parasol with wonder at these entirely novel sensations. It was a mystical object full of first-time experiences.
The shade formed beneath the parasol affected even her, bringing a cooler sensation than usual while her yin chill energy filled more swiftly. Moreover, connecting to the space under the umbrella's shade, she realized she could invoke a principle similar to a soul-summoning rite. In short, calling souls.
Yuyeon tentatively beckoned the scattered souls around her, using the same sensation as when she'd tested the soul-summoning rite.
"Come here."
At Yuyeon's gentle words, the spirits—stripped of their ghostly auras—gathered beneath the parasol's shade in response to her call. Under it, they no longer had to worry about being dragged to the netherworld right away.
More souls arrived than expected, making it bustle like a marketplace, but they were souls she'd soon part with upon opening heavenly ascension anyway. The parasol's shade was spacious enough that the souls clustering at her feet didn't hinder her movements.
'I won't need to devise ways to preserve souls' states while collecting them on the move.'
With a somewhat resigned mindset, she decided to accept the gift and make the most of it in a positive way. Beyond souls, its storage function for items would prove quite useful later when she had a lot of luggage.
Yuyeon headed toward the shaman, now fully sprawled after separating from the tiger's tail. Probing his body with her divine sense, she sensed he was still barely alive.
But half-turned into a Corpse Ghost and clinging to the tiger's body, he'd only survived this long. Now that his ghost had parted from its host, he was merely a lingering spirit attached to a dead corpse—neither ghost nor anything else.
The shaman glared at Yuyeon. Seeing her gracefully summon and open the parasol, using it with such poise brought tears of blood to his eyes.
"What madness is this from the heavens? I thought it was a karmic encounter meant for me, but another was already fated for it. Ha! The heavens have truly abandoned me. I was merely used!!! Arrrgh!!"
The shaman spat rotten blood and hurled curses at the sky. He'd realized he was chosen as a fateful vessel solely to deliver this karmic treasure to this unknown girl, thoroughly toyed with.
But this realization was wrong.
For treasures from higher realms to fall into lower ones due to some twist of fate was hardly rare.
For a man to abandon cultivation, return to the secular world, and seek wealth and glory for his remaining years was hardly rare.
For such a man, versed in minor arts from an orthodox Dao sect, to chance upon a ghost, refine it as a servant, have it deliberately cause trouble, then perform an exorcism rite for pay was hardly rare.
Yet for a yao beast to greedily covet an overreaching heavenly treasure, rampage with it, only to mutually destroy each other with a secular cultivator out of shared greed—that was rare. Thus, it was absolutely not the will of heaven.
Heaven's will, heavenly ascension, wasn't meant to be wasted on such things.
Yuyeon wanted to tell them that, but she had no desire to torment the dying beast, already ravaged inside, or the cultivator self-punishing to the end with his mistaken insight by adding harsh words.
It wasn't pity. She simply wished to conduct herself with more dignity.
Instead, Yuyeon formed a hand seal with pure intent, summoning golden light at its tip to forge something akin to the sword-qi martial artists honed over lifetimes. Namgung Humyeong would surely succumb to heart demons seeing this.
With a flick of her hand, the golden light sliced through the shaman's half-severed neck. The lingering spirit severed from the corpse, and he died.
Yuyeon then turned to the tiger. Its vitality had long faded, and it seemed aware of this, so she saw no need to intervene.
"If you'd like a peaceful end, I can assist."
The mountain lord was already exhausted and said nothing, but its eyes on Yuyeon didn't plead for death, so she held back.
It was savoring its pure, unadulterated life for the first time in ages. After decades—perhaps nearly a century—it wished to linger in this liberation just a bit longer.
Yuyeon watched it quietly for a while. Scanning its entire body with divine sense, she clearly felt its life force draining away.
Yuyeon merely contemplated it as part of her Impurity Contemplation practice, gaining insight, but the mountain lord found solace merely in her staying by its side, expressing gratitude through its eyes.
Yuyeon remained silent. At last, the tiger's breath stopped.
She thought the matter concluded. But just then, the ghost sword—which she'd wondered when it would act—finally moved.
Normally, a spell-forged sword would dissipate upon its caster's death, but this one had gained a new master and persisted. The issue was who—or what—that new master was.
Wary it might target her, Yuyeon stayed alert inwardly and scrutinized it minutely with divine sense. Strangely, the sword no longer held a spirit.
The spirit within the sword had gathered under the Lacquer Shade Soul Umbrella when Yuyeon called just moments ago.
As she remained vigilant, the sword slowly approached, circled her once, then pivoted as if aiming its tip at her—only to whirl around and offer its hilt before her.
With her left hand holding the parasol, Yuyeon grasped the hilt with her right.
She considered ignoring it but ultimately accepted, since this entity had aided her with Incense Fire Merit. She already suspected its true nature inwardly.
Even so, trusting it...
Something indescribable raced up her arm from the hilt into her body. Though tracking it with divine sense, she couldn't intervene or comprehend this bizarre thing entering her, startling her intensely.
Hand, elbow, shoulder—it surged unimpeded, finally reaching her chest. It paused as if seeking a path, then locked on a direction.
Yuyeon prayed it wouldn't head for her head. Betraying that hope, it surged upward—only to be drawn toward her left hand and absorbed into the parasol.
"........."
Having watched it all with divine sense, Yuyeon silently lifted her head to gaze at the parasol's inner surface. It felt like making eye contact with something, an utterly strange sensation.
Born as Yuyeon, always shown reverence and propriety, had she ever been teased or treated so roughly? It made it all the more peculiar.
As she stared up at the parasol with pursed lips and narrowed eyes, it spoke first.
"Heh heh, you're not upset over a little prank, are you?"
Its voice resonated directly in her mind, like telepathy. This was akin to how Yuyeon used divine sense to acquire information across distances—not just receiving, but transmitting.
Accustomed to directly reconstructing and sensing information in her mind via divine sense, Yuyeon accepted it effortlessly.
Furthermore, with her divine sense, she could already perform consciousness techniques, vaguely grasping its method.
Yuyeon wrestled inwardly between responding boldly and magnanimously like a hero or peevishly.
"Was it really just a prank?"
Yuyeon rarely feigned anger, furrowing her brow slightly as she spoke. This time, she sided with the young lady's pride—it had been utterly terrifying, especially at the end. She even doubted if it was truly a prank.
"Ahem. Have you forgotten my aid? If I'd truly wanted to devour you, I'd have lurked in that freakish monster and struck when you grabbed it. Why bother with extra effort?"
Yuyeon wanted to retort that she never would have been caught, but that felt petty, like nitpicking, so she asked something else.
"Who knows about that. Then what is your true nature? No pranks this time—tell me."
For Yuyeon, she'd never spoken so sharply to a newly met entity. Nor did she feel inclined to use even politer speech.
"My nature is complex to fully explain, but in terms you'd know... I was the village's guardian spirit."
Yuyeon had half-expected this, so she accepted it readily. The Incense Fire Merit in the spell formation had targeted this entity from the start, their resonance confirming it. Still, she doubted that was its full story.
"That shaman called you 'tigress bitch' while cursing you. Care to explain that? And as a spirit, why do I sense no soul from you?"
"Complicated circumstances there. How about handling the aftermath first?"
"Aftermath? What do you mean? The feral beast is dead, its master gone, so the Corpse Ghosts should all have collapsed."
"That's obvious. I mean dealing with these souls you've gathered. You've got an amusing talent."
Yuyeon fell silent at the remark that hit too precisely.
She didn't even know what "amusing talent" it meant first—several of her abilities struck her as absurd enough that she hesitated to speak casually.
"You need to specify what that amusing talent is."
"Little immortal maiden, you're one picky girl. I mean the heavenly ascension rite. You performed it, right? Twice even."
Yuyeon was intensely curious about this entity's background, but something else was even harder to endure: the bizarre antics it pulled on her, dismissing them as pranks, never explaining straightforwardly. She could tolerate it all.
But this struck at her deepest, gravest, most profound core.
"First off, I'm not a 'young lady.' My name is Yuyeon. Call me Daoist Yuyeon or little heroine. Never young lady. Got it? If you do it again, I'll discard this parasol and have nothing to do with you."
For the first time, Yuyeon huffed, stomped her foot, and spoke out. The entity inside the parasol faltered.
"Ah... Sorry. Yuyeon."
Thus, the hierarchy was established from the outset.
Yuyeon returned to the tiger's den—now a Corpse Ghost lair—gathered the remaining souls from the mountain, and headed back to the village.
"I told you my name, so what should I call you? Even if we'll part soon, I need to know your name."
Yuyeon didn't expect this entity to freeload in the parasol indefinitely; she assumed it would vanish upon heavenly ascension.
"Teacher. I have no name, so call me Teacher."