Chapter 437
Chapter 437
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 113
>Chapter Title: Collapsed Old Castle Ruins (4)
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-Sizzle!
Everything was too dizzying.
And her spirit body felt like it was burning away in agony.
Just where the hell was this?
As Cheongryeong frantically looked around,
She noticed something bizarre.
She was trapped inside a jade window made from rare silverwood.
Because of the suppressive power this silverwood held against grudges, she couldn't move properly, and the pain kept going.
-Ugh...
Even amid the torment, Cheongryeong scanned her surroundings to figure out exactly where she was.
But in focusing only on the silverwood jade window, she realized another new fact she hadn't noticed before.
'No way?'
Everything around her was enormous.
A massive inkstone, a giant brush, countless jars of herbs, and huge books.
All of it was bigger than her.
It was enough to confuse anyone, but the oversized surroundings made one fact clear to her.
...
'I've shrunk.'
It was similar to when she had been sealed inside that mortal's wooden puppet.
The difference was that the puppet had merely confined her, whereas this was practically torture.
The purifying power of the silverwood didn't just weaken grudges—it could ultimately annihilate them.
For her, this was the worst crisis imaginable.
'No.'
Judging that she couldn't stay trapped here, Cheongryeong gritted through the pain and tried to muster her spiritual power to shatter the silverwood.
There was no way a spirit of her supreme caliber, even shrunk, couldn't destroy mere silverwood like this.
-Roar... Crackle-crackle-crackle!
-Aaaagh!
As she drew up her spiritual power, Cheongryeong had no choice but to stop amid pain like her entire spirit body was being shredded.
Staggering in agony, she couldn't comprehend it.
For lesser spirits, maybe, but she had reached a level no different from a high-class evil spirit.
So why couldn't she release her spiritual power?
Puzzled, she soon spotted something and her eyes went wide.
It was because talismans arrayed in a formation were attached to the bottom of the silverwood jade window—the desk surface—with her at the center.
'This is...'
But these were strange talismans.
Having been with Mok Kyung-un, she had seen many talismans.
Yet these had even more complex scripts and patterns engraved than those.
The spiritual power emanating from the talismans themselves was extraordinary.
All of it seemed organically linked with the silverwood, preventing her from recklessly releasing spiritual power.
...
'Damn that bitch.'
Clutching her throbbing head, Cheongryeong recalled what had happened earlier.
The bamboo grove's space had twisted like a vortex, sucking her in.
-Rumble!
Soon, her vision brightened, and the surroundings turned into a vast grassland covered in green.
At this sudden mystical event, Cheongryeong was momentarily speechless.
Just where was this?
No matter how advanced the formation, how could such a wide grassland be hidden inside a bamboo forest?
Puzzled, something caught Cheongryeong's eye.
It was a thatched hut in the middle of the grassland.
[...This is bad.]
At that moment, the bamboo-hatted figure she presumed was a ghost sword showed a flustered expression.
She asked him about it.
-What's wrong? Is this not the place?
[This is definitely it.]
-Then why react like that?
[...This sense of déjà vu is a first.]
-Déjà vu?
Déjà vu.
It was the phenomenon where something you'd never experienced—a situation or environment—felt familiar, as if you'd been through it before.
At the bamboo-hatted figure's words, she felt the strangeness too.
Come to think of it, this mortal-like bastard had said he'd sent out those messenger pigeons twelve times.
As if each were the first.
'No way?'
Cheongryeong stared at the bamboo-hatted figure with wide eyes and spoke.
-You don't mean...
[This is amusing.]
'!?'
Startled by a voice from somewhere, Cheongryeong whipped her head around.
Her senses heightened to the extreme, yet she hadn't noticed someone approaching this close?
Ten paces behind her stood someone leaning on a silver staff with a jade ring.
That someone was none other than a beautiful woman.
With long dark blue-black hair, distinct eyebrows, round eyes with upturned corners reminiscent of a cat's face.
'What?'
Cheongryeong's eyes filled with wariness.
How had she not sensed such a being approaching?
The aura flowing from the woman was so immense it was impossible to gauge.
Just from the aura alone, it surpassed even that of mortals.
How could such a...
-Swish!
At that moment, the dark blue-black haired woman muttered something and thrust out her staff.
Cheongryeong couldn't hide her shock.
She felt her spirit body hardening like stone.
But then,
-Swoosh!
The bamboo-hatted figure she presumed was a ghost sword shot forward with such speed it rivaled Body-Swapping.
Closing the distance to the woman in an instant, the bamboo-hatted figure swung to sever the hand gripping the staff.
But,
-Clang!
'!?'
The bamboo-hatted figure's eyes shook.
The woman hadn't moved a step, and though he hadn't unleashed qi, deeming her strong, he'd swung with Eight Stars internal energy—yet she caught it barehanded.
Realizing it was bad, the bamboo-hatted figure hurriedly tried to unleash sword qi, but,
-Tremble-tremble-tremble! Crack!
"Urk."
The tip of the blade she gripped trembled, the vibration spreading to the entire sword, and blood burst from the already torn palm wound.
That wasn't the end.
As blood erupted, the bamboo-hatted figure's form was pushed back over ten paces.
-Scraaaape!
If he hadn't channeled qi into his Yongcheon acupoint, it would've been worse.
Centered on the bamboo-hatted figure's stopped feet, the surrounding grass withered and crumbled to dust.
...
'What is this?'
The bamboo-hatted figure's eyes narrowed.
The moment he felt energy entering through his palm, he'd known to release the hilt.
Not stopping there, deeming he must discharge the invading energy unconditionally, he'd expelled it through his Yongcheon acupoint.
Otherwise, this bizarre energy would've caused internal injuries.
Raising his head, the bamboo-hatted figure looked at the dark blue-black haired woman gripping his blade.
'Again.'
As déjà vu hit, he grimaced.
Then the dark blue-black haired woman smirked and spoke.
[Does your body remembering make it wondrous?]
[What? What do you mean...]
[Why deny it? Even if your mind doesn't, it's natural for the body to remember after being defeated like that.]
[Your body... remembers? Then indeed...]
The bamboo-hatted figure's eyes sharpened.
From Cheongryeong's words and the odd déjà vu, he'd sensed something off.
Now that strangeness was confirmed by the woman's words.
It seemed his memories were incomplete.
Certain of it, the bamboo-hatted figure spoke.
[...Is this the thirteenth time?]
At his question, a glint appeared in the dark blue-black haired woman's eyes.
[You... don't tell me you've regained your memories?]
[...What have you done to me?]
[Hmm.]
One of the woman's eyebrows arched up.
Then, soon,
-Swoosh!
Her form blurred, and she appeared behind the pushed-back bamboo-hatted figure.
Appearing behind him, she instantly deployed the Capturing Hand technique with her left hand, twisting his arm back and flipping him forward.
-Thud!
The bamboo-hatted figure grimaced.
What the hell was going on?
No matter how swift her movement or masterful the Capturing Hand, for him to be subdued this easily was impossible.
What was this woman's true identity?
-Pak!
As he reeled in shock, the dark blue-black haired woman's hand struck the back of his head.
Sensing cold energy invading the moment her hand touched, the bamboo-hatted figure hurriedly tried to muster rebounding qi.
But,
'My internal energy won't gather.'
Strangely, the power wouldn't come easily.
Come to think of it, he'd felt something off earlier—his internal energy wasn't circulating properly against his will, moving wildly on its own.
[Hmm... It hasn't come undone.]
[What?]
[You still don't remember, yet how did you know how many times you've come here?]
At her question, the bamboo-hatted figure clamped his mouth shut.
Rather than answer, he focused his mind to control his rampaging internal energy.
The dark blue-black haired woman sneered at this.
[Kekeke. Pointless struggling. No one can wield their power here, child. Of course, even if they could, it wouldn't make much difference.]
[What... have you done to me?]
[Who knows? Don't you already suspect?]
[...You made me lose the memories of coming here?]
[Hehehe.]
At the question, the woman chuckled softly.
It was affirmation.
The bamboo-hatted figure fell silent.
Knowing the answer to his doubt made him even calmer, pondering how to break this situation.
Then, in a cold voice, he said,
[I entered this place not to threaten you. Merely...]
[To obtain the golden art that can fuse souls into one.]
[...]
The bamboo-hatted figure was at a loss for words.
He'd tried to persuade her, but her response confirmed it.
Though he hadn't remembered, he had definitely tried this method before.
And failed.
[Why so quiet?]
[You know that, yet I remember nothing—means persuasion is pointless.]
[You understand well.]
Her reply complicated his thoughts inwardly.
From the situation so far, a few things were clear.
He couldn't obtain what he wanted through persuasion, and fortunately or not, for some unknown reason, though she could kill him, she only erased his memories and sent him out of the formation.
'Why?'
The repetition must annoy her too.
So why keep repeating this?
Puzzled, he heard the woman mutter.
[If not for my promise with that lord, it'd be easier to just kill you. Tsk tsk.]
[What do you mean right now...]
-Grip!
[Hng.]
At that moment, the woman seized the back of the bamboo-hatted figure's head tightly.
Then she said,
[I don't know why your memories don't fully erase, but mutant. Thanks to you, I'm not bored. Come again.]
'!?'
-Pak!
In that instant, the bamboo-hatted figure's head lolled, and he lost consciousness.
Gripping the nape of his clothes, she lifted him, then repeatedly struck the ground with her staff while chanting a brief incantation.
Then,
-Rumble!
Part of the space warped like a vortex.
Toward that warped space, she shoved the limp bamboo-hatted figure in.
Once he vanished, the distorted space restored itself.
'Move. Move.'
Witnessing this, Cheongryeong desperately tried to muster spiritual power to move.
But her once-stone-hardened spirit body wouldn't budge.
She couldn't fathom what was happening.
Then the dark blue-black haired woman who made him disappear approached, smirking slyly as she said,
[What a fine day. I promised no killing, but there was no mention of not touching a dead grudge.]
-...You bitch... What the hell are you?
Her immeasurable martial prowess, and wielding bizarre sorcery freely—this monster was unprecedented, in life or death.
At a loss, the woman who had closed in right before her spoke in an excited tone.
[Long ago, outside, I'd never seen a grudge this strong. Didn't expect such fortune.]
-Rooooar!
Cheongryeong desperately tried to ignite her innate grudge to muster spiritual power.
Approaching her, the dark blue-black haired woman casually lifted the spirit body's chin and said,
[No use, child.]
Though threatened, Cheongryeong, no pushover, shot back with murderous intent.
-A child? That's you, mortal.
[Kekeke. As expected of a high-caliber grudge—you don't cower easily. At your level, you must've become a vengeful spirit ages ago, so you might know my prestige.]
-Prestige? Ha!
Pathetic mortal who hasn't even lived a century, arrogantly blabbering after binding her.
[If you know my prestige, you must've lived in an era like mine.]
-Hmph. Fine. Let's hear how grand your prestige is.
[Wicked Heart Granny]
'!?'