Chapter 449
Chapter 449
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 116
>Chapter Title: Arrangement (1)
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Heavenly Escape Star Brightness Sword Method
[Cheon-dun Seong-myeong Sword Art]
As the lid of the wooden box opened, revealing two items inside, Jin Ye-rin's eyes widened at the characters written on the cover of the book.
The Star Brightness Sword Method was the signature martial art of her Jin Clan.
This sword method existed in various forms, but the Divine Path Star Brightness Sword Method—known to possess the most perfect sword path and only cultivable upon reaching the highest realm—had been lost with the death of the citadel lord of Peerless Citadel, who was her grandfather.
But what in the world was this?
‘Heavenly Escape Star Brightness Sword Method?’
It was a name she had never even heard from her father, the lesser citadel lord Jin Yeong-in.
Had he newly devised this Star Brightness Sword Method?
As she hesitated to touch it, lost in a daze, the Fiendish Heart Patriarch Cheol Su-ryeon smiled faintly, as if relieved after a long wait.
“This is what he left for you.”
“For me? But he has already...”
“Yes, he is no longer here. However, long ago, he foretold that when you, his blood descendant, visited this place, he would have washed away all his karma.”
“......Did he foresee that I would come here?”
“Yes. In his later years, having attained enlightenment in the path of immortals, he gained the ability to glimpse fragments of the heavenly secrets. He foresaw that a great calamity might befall the Central Plains someday, but lamented that it was too distant for him to intervene.”
“So he made these arrangements?”
Cheol Su-ryeon nodded at her question.
“Indeed. This...”
“Arrangements...”
‘!?’
Before her words could finish, Jin Ye-rin cut her off.
She then spoke with a voice tinged with resentment.
“......You say that, but why did he just let the day of the great calamity pass?”
“The day of the great calamity...”
“On that day, Peerless Citadel and the Blood Cult... everything crumbled, and his descendants met tragic ends. And now you speak of arrangements...”
“Miss.”
“No. Hear me out first.”
“......”
Her calm tone was gradually rising.
As Cheol Su-ryeon fell silent, she continued.
“Everyone died on the day of the great calamity, and I’m the only blood relative who barely survived. What exactly did he arrange to protect? If he could read the heavenly secrets, shouldn’t he at least have prevented the fall of Peerless Citadel and the clan, even if not the worst catastrophe?”
“......”
-Pak!
She roughly grabbed the Heavenly Escape Star Brightness Sword Method manual and shook it, her eyes reddening as she poured out her heart.
“This can never be called an arrangement. Handing this over after losing everything is no different from urging me to swear revenge. This isn’t an arrangement, it’s...”
“The day of the great calamity... I heard outsiders speaking of it. They said a disaster where all sorts of demons ran rampant claimed the lives of countless sects and martial artists.”
This time, Cheol Su-ryeon interrupted her.
She continued with a deep sigh.
“Haa. It was truly regrettable. While his blood kin perished outside, the reality of knowing nothing here inside was suffocating.”
“That’s...”
“I don’t fail to understand your feelings, miss. Having lost your blood kin and survived alone, how could words capture that pain?”
“......”
“I, too, am truly heartbroken. But on the other hand, consider this: how much more must he have given his descendants to satisfy them?”
“......Pardon?”
“He already left them the greatest martial force in the world, the supreme martial arts of the era, and even passed down exceptional talents as his legacy.”
“That’s...”
“And yet, is it that his blood kin wished him to defy the natural order, remain in the world eternally to protect his descendants, watch over them until they grew old and died, and care for them like children?”
“......”
For a moment, she was at a loss for words.
Having lost everything due to the day of the great calamity, she had vented her resentment upon receiving something said to be his arrangement.
But as Cheol Su-ryeon coldly pointed out the reality, she had no reply.
“He had already bid farewell to all his old friends and associates, and witnessed his own children grow frail, fall ill, and die countless times. Do you think it would have been easy for him to watch his children and grandchildren die like that?”
“......”
“Even so, expecting him to resolve everything that lay ahead—wouldn’t that be a cruel demand to place on your ancestor?”
‘Aaaah.’
At her incisive words, akin to a single iron nail that slays, Jin Ye-rin soon grew dejected.
She felt deeply ashamed inside.
Though she had vented out of momentary resentment, she knew Cheol Su-ryeon was right.
Her ancestor had already left everything he could and departed.
The day of the great calamity was something no one could prevent from the start, making it an unavoidable disaster for all.
Tears streamed down Jin Ye-rin's face as she gritted her teeth and spoke.
“......I apologize. I spoke like a foolish child. Lord Cheol Su-ryeon, you are correct. He already left us so much. Yet, facing the reality of being the sole survivor of the clan, my heart weakened, and I committed a rudeness. Please...”
-Suk!
Jin Ye-rin clasped her hands in a formal salute and bowed her head in apology.
Cheol Su-ryeon stopped her.
“No. Having lost your entire clan and barely endured alone, it’s only natural to want to lean on something or vent your frustrations.”
-Suk!
As Cheol Su-ryeon embraced her, she said,
“There’s no need to hide your pain. If the path you’ve walked alone has been arduous, it’s fine to cry for a moment.”
At these warm words, the tears Jin Ye-rin had held back finally flowed.
Even in the Imperial Palace’s Golden Guard, where she was called the Ice Flower for her constant icy demeanor, she had endured the hardest days alone.
Revenge against those who caused the day of the great calamity and destroyed her clan.
And the mission to revive her family.
Bearing all that burden, she had considered shedding tears or showing weakness a luxury, but in this moment, Cheol Su-ryeon’s gentle comfort overwhelmed her emotions.
However, these tears did not last long.
That was because,
“There’s no time to keep crying.”
It was due to Mok Kyung-un.
Cheol Su-ryeon, who had been consoling Jin Ye-rin, glared at him displeased, but Mok Kyung-un paid it no mind.
“There are still enemies outside.”
At these words, Jin Ye-rin wiped her tears with her sleeve, her face slightly flushing in embarrassment as she said,
“Haa...... You’re right. I almost forgot.”
“Miss...”
“It’s fine. Young Master Mok is correct. We don’t have time for this.”
She quickly tucked the Heavenly Escape Star Brightness Sword Method manual into her bosom.
Then, pointing to the rolled-up bamboo slips inside the wooden box, she asked,
“What is this?”
At her question, Cheol Su-ryeon gave a puzzled look.
“This... Hmm.”
“Why is that?”
“Truthfully, I don’t know either.”
“You don’t know?”
“He said the one destined to have it would naturally take it, and placed it inside without mentioning what it was.”
“The one destined to have it would naturally take it?”
What could it be, that he left such vague words?
Puzzled, she soon picked up the bamboo slips and unrolled them.
To be precise, since they were made of bamboo, they were properly called bamboo slips.
Surprisingly, there were only six slips strung together, with a total of thirty Chinese characters listed in disorderly fashion.
At a glance, it was hard to discern what they meant.
Frowning at them, she thought,
‘What in the world is this?’
But Mok Kyung-un, who had been watching from a slight distance behind, had a glint in his eyes.
‘That’s?’
Mok Kyung-un recognized at once what the thirty characters on the bamboo slips were.
They were undoubtedly the incantations of the Breaking Thoughts Eight Forms.
Though they appeared disordered to the uninitiated, their positions and arrangements felt subtly patterned.
Moreover, something seemed engraved on the side of the slips, and he wanted to take a look.
Sensing his gaze, Jin Ye-rin asked,
“Young master, you look as if you’ve seen this before.”
“......”
“Do you know what this is?”
Jin Ye-rin promptly handed the bamboo slips to Mok Kyung-un.
“Miss! How can you show that to an outsider...”
Cheol Su-ryeon hurriedly tried to stop her.
However,
“No. Young Master Mok is also a disciple of the elder, so strictly speaking, he’s not an outsider. And didn’t Lord Cheol Su-ryeon say so?”
“Ah......”
[He said the one destined to have it would naturally take it, and placed it inside without mentioning what it was.]
It was what she had said.
Cheol Su-ryeon withdrew the hand she had raised to stop her.
Jin Ye-rin extended the bamboo slips to Mok Kyung-un again and asked,
“Do you know what this is?”
-Tak!
At her question, Mok Kyung-un took the bamboo slips and looked not at Jin Ye-rin, but at Cheol Su-ryeon as he said,
“If you pass on the forbidden technique to merge souls, I’ll tell you what this is.”
“Ha? What?”
Cheol Su-ryeon was dumbfounded by his words.
Was this guy really taught by that old Wolak Sword fellow?
It had been ages since she’d seen someone so relentlessly bargaining with her without yielding, reminiscent of the elder in his youth.
And why were both this fellow and the ones from outside so fixated on that soul-merging forbidden technique?
As she puzzled over it, Jin Ye-rin spoke.
“Lord Cheol Su-ryeon.”
“Yes.”
“I also came here to prevent entry into the group behind the great calamity by obtaining that forbidden technique. If it’s alright with you, could you teach it to Young Master Mok here?”
“......”
Cheol Su-ryeon stared fixedly at Mok Kyung-un.
She soon nodded.
Though she had no desire to teach it, it was a request from Jin Ye-rin, the elder’s blood kin.
“I’ll teach it, so you tell the miss what this is.”
“This is the incantation for the Breaking Thoughts Eight Forms.”
“Pardon?”
Jin Ye-rin, who had no particular expectations for the bamboo slips, widened her eyes.
She had heard rumors of it, not from her father the lesser citadel lord Jin Yeong-in.
“This is that supreme secret manual?”
At that moment, the Fiendish Heart Patriarch Cheol Su-ryeon, standing beside her, asked incredulously,
“The supreme secret manual?”
“Yes. I don’t know why it was called that, but I heard that once, countless people fought over this secret manual called the Breaking Thoughts Eight Forms, spilling vast amounts of blood.”
At her words, Cheol Su-ryeon let out a strange sigh.
“Hoo......”
“Why is that?”
“So that’s what it was called.”
“You knew of it?”
At Jin Ye-rin’s question, Cheol Su-ryeon nodded.
“I didn’t know this was the thing he spoke of before departing.”
“What do you mean?”
“As far as I know, before he left, he pondered long and hard, then left his lifelong enlightenment in Peerless Citadel’s hidden underground vault as well.”
“In Peerless Citadel’s underground vault?”
“Indeed.”
“But how did it end up here?”
“Rather than how, it seems he foresaw that the essence of his enlightenment would ultimately fall into the hands of others, not his descendants. So, just in case, he placed a copy here as well, I believe.”
“Ah......”
At Cheol Su-ryeon’s words, Jin Ye-rin’s expression grew complex.
It made sense—beyond the arrangements in this place, he had left many things for his posterity.
Looking at it this way, despite all his various arrangements, Peerless Citadel had ultimately failed to avert its destruction.
Even if one could read the heavenly secrets, were impending calamities simply impossible to stop from the beginning?
Her mind grew complicated.
While they conversed, Mok Kyung-un, interested in something else, was examining the patterns engraved on the side of the bamboo slips.
They appeared as mere designs at a glance, but they signified something.
Flowing water, blazing fire, this is...... earth?
Having examined them, Mok Kyung-un was certain what the five engraved patterns were.
They were the Five Elements.
Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, Metal.
He didn’t know why they were engraved on the side, but they seemed related to the patterned arrangement of the Breaking Thoughts Eight Forms incantations.
[Chapter 116: Arrangement (1)] End