Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Debate with the Devil (1)
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Yuyeon pondered what to do with the water serpent soul that Cheonggong had brought her. For now, she decided against performing Heavenly Ascension on it. It left a bad taste in her mouth, and besides, she wanted to stockpile as much merit power as possible just in case.
The teacher had once said:
"Merit power is a force brimming with possibilities, so it can also be called primal spell power. It's best to save it for emergencies. It's not a skill that gets stronger with heavy use. In fact, depleting it excessively can cause problems."
That was why Yuyeon had established one rule for Heavenly Ascension: she would only do it when the mood struck her, or otherwise limit herself to once a month using her own merit power—unless there was truly someone she desperately wanted to save.
Of course, back in that village, she'd done it twice in less than a week. But now, Yuyeon was determined to cherish herself and start conserving her merit power.
Her next thought naturally turned to refining the water serpent soul into a ghost vessel. But even that didn't sit right with her.
For one thing, she didn't have a suitable vessel like she had for the tiger soul. Nor was she in a position to craft a new one. She could probably manage it with her body overflowing in yin energy and spiritual energy, but she just didn't feel like it.
In the end, when she decided to simply let the soul dissipate naturally, the teacher chimed in.
"Haven't you overlooked a function you haven't properly tested on the parasol yet? Since this one lunged at you first, no need for mercy. It should do nicely."
Yuyeon mulled over the functions of the Seven Yin White Umbrella.
First, there was the all-purpose shade it created—arguably the most basic and fundamental function of the Seven Umbrellas.
One of its secondary functions allowed storing and retrieving items in that shade. It was also possible to draw souls into the Seven Umbrella's shade as a medium.
Yuyeon racked her brains for any overlooked possibilities, but she'd already made use of every function she'd grasped when she first obtained the Seven Yin White Umbrella—at least once each.
Right, she'd used each one at least once by category. So what if she combined them?
After some rare head-scratching, a brilliant idea formed. Come to think of it, she'd already had the clue from the start: drawing the teacher into the parasol and trapping him there.
It wasn't just summoning souls around the shade—she could pull them straight into the parasol itself. Though that was closer to "feeding" souls to the parasol. The teacher was such an exceptional case that he emerged unscathed, of course.
"Hmm. If we're naming this ability, Soul Devouring fits nicely."
The teacher was surprised by the unexpectedly stylish name.
Thinking about it, Yuyeon always gave her techniques decent names. Feeling a bit mischievous, the teacher prodded at something Yuyeon kept hidden.
"Now that you mention it, you really avoid using the character for 'suck' or 'absorb' in your names, don't you? Soul Absorption Palm or just Soul Absorption would suit better than Ghost Grooming Palm or Soul Devouring."
Yuyeon replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well, yeah. Putting 'absorb' in a technique name makes it sound like some evil martial art."
The gist was this: in this world, there was a custom for paired things—calling the protruding one "yang" (male) and the receding one "yin" (female).
Naturally, among internal energy techniques, repulsive force (pushing out) and attractive force (pulling in) formed a pair. Martial arts using repulsion were "yang" techniques, while those using attraction—like absorption arts—were "yin" techniques!
Yuyeon saw herself as a dashing young gentleman, elegant and heroic, so she couldn't bear to handle "yin" techniques.
But ironically, she'd ended up with two such abilities. She just couldn't bring herself to include the "absorb" from absorption arts—the poster child of yin techniques—in their names.
"Ah... I see. A fine lesson learned."
For the record, the "lesson" the teacher meant was that he'd never call Yuyeon "young lady" or "fairy" again. He wanted no part of that madness head-on.
After that little chat about the poor water serpent soul, the two returned to the main topic.
Yuyeon speculated on what synergy might arise from Soul Devouring into the parasol, but since it was a divine treasure whose inner workings, materials, and principles she couldn't even guess, she concluded she had no choice but to learn through experience.
'Might as well test it now.'
"Perform Soul Devouring."
At Yuyeon's mental command, the parasol understood—just like with the ghost sword—and carried it out immediately. Shadows extended from the underside of the Seven Umbrella's canopy, enveloping the water serpent soul in an instant before vanishing back into the parasol.
Watching the process, Yuyeon realized that combining the soul-drawing power with the storage ability wasn't merely forced soul storage.
Once the soul was absorbed into the parasol, the water serpent soul was too faint to create a dramatic change, but Yuyeon felt the shade grow slightly denser.
Since this sensation was linked to the Seven Yin White Umbrella through her, it had to be accurate.
"Truly a divine treasure. The more I learn, the more questions arise. Why would immortals need such a parasol?"
"The affairs of the immortal realm are beyond the heavens—pointless to debate."
Yuyeon's journey back to Xifeng County proceeded without further incident. The boat docked smoothly at another port.
She never did learn the pirates' full scheme. They'd waited until the boat turned around again, then slipped off disguised as crew unloading cargo.
Yuyeon was curious, but she had other priorities now and decided not to get distracted.
At an intermediate port, to head toward Yongning Province or Gangdong County, she grabbed someone and asked about routes. More precisely, she pinned a suitable passerby and used Object Manipulation to write questions on the ground.
The man paled, thinking he'd been possessed by a ghost, but when Yuyeon tossed him a split silver piece as payment, he cheered up and went off to eat and drink.
With the boating routes sorted, Yuyeon hitched another ride and safely reached the confluence where Gangdong County's tributaries met the main river, then disembarked.
The smooth journey continued.
She passed a few street-wandering vagrant ghosts that had killed randomly, or while mindlessly strolling with the parasol open to absorb yin energy, she nearly caught the eye of some martial artists—thankfully, the teacher warned her in time.
Amid these minor events, having caused a huge commotion in Gangyang Province once, Yuyeon took pains never to show herself to the perpetrators.
Thus, Yuyeon finally arrived back in Xifeng after so long.
But there was no homecoming nostalgia for her. To a girl who'd never left the county seat, Xifeng County was just a name—far removed from the true home in her heart.
So Yuyeon bounded forward with long strides, swiftly approaching the county seat.
With the decisive battle looming, she considered conserving spiritual energy, but that tiny time difference might alter Namgung Manor's fate. She decided to bear the minor waste.
Having left home vowing to return in a fortnight, Yuyeon raced back in just a week. The epic tale of these two-odd months now hurtled toward its climax.
Yuyeon's Divine Sense detected the walls of Xifeng County seat, which she'd once breached as a perpetrator.
A touch of playfulness struck her, so instead of the main gate, she used her momentum to leap right over the entrance.
She landed stylishly in the middle of Xifeng's main avenue, soaring over the gate.
With Concealing Form Formation active, the umbrella folded, and her leap, no locals noticed—just thought a sudden dust cloud had kicked up. No one knew of her return.
In that sense, Yuyeon—who'd emerged spotless thanks to her Pure White Body without a speck of dust on her clothes—was quite the nuisance.
Walking the familiar streets, fresh emotions finally welled up.
Before, her Divine Sense only reached a zhang, so to peek at the instructor's books while teaching in the schoolyard, she'd had to hug the walls.
But now, striding boldly down the road's center, the entire schoolyard filled her mind. No books she yearned for, but the sight was fascinating.
When Yuyeon had left Xifeng, her world was within a zhang's radius.
Having toured a vast wider world, her Xifeng now lay within sixteen zhang—how could her heart remain unchanged?
Thus, her Divine Sense finally reached streets she'd never dared tread before for propriety's sake—even as she maintained face...
Places like inns and taverns where Yuyeon turned her back to hawk wares...
"This seems a bit early for you."
Yuyeon was dumbfounded but also keenly felt the gap: the teacher still saw her as an eight-year-old.
Indeed, until now, her self-chosen actions aligned with what an eight-year-old might do in the teacher's eyes—no conflicts.
But Yuyeon had lived over twenty years already. Peeking into red-light taverns—was that improper or not? She wasn't sure.
One thing was certain: today, the teacher was in charge, helping her conquer her inner demon. Realizing this, Yuyeon sulked briefly.
Meanwhile, she and the teacher reached the Namgung Manor gates.
Namgung Pahou.
Wave encounter, homecoming reunion. Sounds poetic, but ultimately, the "hou" from Humyeong—bluntly signaling her runaway return and the county plaque.
Yuyeon paused beneath it. The plaque was intact, flanked by guards at the gates—no major calamity had befallen the clan yet.
She relaxed, about to discuss plans with the teacher.
"Looks safe for now. No real trouble."
"Speaking of which, when's your eighth birthday? I only heard about the party and your running away."
"Actually, it already passed."
People in this world didn't track dates precisely—they gauged by the moon's phases.
In that vein, Yuyeon had held her early-month party, and that time had come and gone.
She'd been in that village then, savoring offerings and exorcising a wicked cultivator tormenting the villagers.
"Mm. Late, but happy birthday, Yuyeon."
"Thank you, Teacher. Shall we head inside and talk more? Not much to show, but I can give you my room."
"Yes, that sounds good. ...But Yuyeon, this is just to myself, so don't take it to heart.
Even if you suddenly face your inner demon, don't run away.
Hm, nothing else to add. Anyway, don't be too scared."
Yuyeon thought the teacher's sudden words were just encouragement. Instead of opening the closed main gate, the two hopped over a suitable wall into the manor.
And froze.
Yuyeon had grown through one adventure, believing she could fight even a Qi Refining cultivator. But she'd never anticipated this variable.
What if the opponent was an Essence Accumulation cultivator?
The moment Yuyeon's Divine Sense entered Namgung Manor, it brushed against someone else's. Immediately, part of her Divine Sense range overlapped with theirs.
For the first time, a fearful chill gripped her at the unfamiliar sensation, making her step back. But the overlapping domain expanded and drew nearer faster.
She could still sense it with her Divine Sense, but realized it happened entirely with the other's permission.
A perfect, insurmountable gulf in level.
For the first time, Yuyeon faced a wall-like existence. And she had no choice but to realize:
Why her inner demon always bore the name of an Essence Accumulation cultivator.
Even caricaturing him subconsciously, she'd known deep down:
From any cultivator wielding Divine Sense, he was an utterly incompatible foe.
"Back sooner than expected. I figured at least ten years."
The youth of Whirlwind Bone Valley. Neatly trimmed beard, long hair tied back cleanly—his features unmistakable despite the changed impression.
He'd been Yuyeon's nightmare for the past eight years.
Just as Yuyeon had grown and attained enlightenment on the path in those years, he hadn't wasted time either.
"Why return to the nest you abandoned? Worried for the clan's safety? You left so heartlessly, discarding all—like a true orthodox cultivator."
His name: Heo Jeongwon. The cultivator who'd named her and upended her life.
Yuyeon faced her inner demon sooner than imagined.
"Ah, Yuyeon, you're back. Have you greeted him? This is the benefactor who saved your life as a child. And from today, your uncle—Teacher Heo, Heo Jeongwon of the Heo clan."
Namgung Humyeong appeared next, beaming cheerfully.
"Ah, Brother Namgung. I meant to tell you I'd be away briefly, but forgot while debating the Dao with Jeong-i after so long. Sorry."
He... the devil... right?