Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Method
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"...Haa."
A week had already passed since I'd been forcibly dragged to the Murim Alliance.
In that time, I hadn't been able to do much in the way of going out.
The reason was exactly what I'd expected.
[...You'll probably have to stay cooped up inside for the time being.]
[Why...?]
[There are watchers all around. A lot of them.]
'Yeo Sochen... Yeo Sochen...'
Rumors about my abilities had spread long ago, and people either curious or greedy for them were already staking out Dang Ayoung's house.
A little background check would reveal my connection to Dang Ayoung in no time.
So on the first day, I just holed up quietly at home, knitting with Dang Ayoung to kill time.
It felt like if I didn't do something, I'd end up dragged into round two of that night before, so I wasted the daylight hours on that at least.
Of course, once the sun went down, there was no escaping the bed.
Anyway, time passed like that, and now a week had gone by.
-Clunk
"Here. Eat it before it gets cold."
"Waaah."
I was munching on the dumplings Dang Ayoung had brought from outside.
"...Is it that good? It doesn't seem much different from my cooking..."
"You cook great too, but there's a difference between home cooking and eating out."
"Hmm..."
Dang Ayoung sat across from me, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
Savoring the taste of outside food after so long was nice, but what I was most curious about right now was something else.
"How's it looking... now?"
A week. A long time if you think about it that way, short if you don't.
Naturally, with watchers set up around the house, Dang Ayoung hadn't just sat idle.
Who was she? The Poison Phoenix, hailed as the top among the later-generation prodigies, daughter of the Tang Clan head of Sichuan.
Her letting anyone surveil her own home?
Impossible.
Unless they didn't know how precious personal space was to a martial artist.
And even if she ignored it, the Tang Clan of Sichuan wouldn't.
As a result, the eyes watching me—spread across her house and Shaanxi Province—had been steadily cleared out over the past week.
And according to Dang Ayoung, she'd had help from Lady Blue Thunder Sword... that is, Yeo Sochen.
From my position, knowing the root cause stemmed from her, it was awkward to just say thanks, but help was help.
"It's down a lot. Still too many for you to go out, though."
"...So how much longer until I can head out?"
"Hard to say... Rumors are like that—some fade easy, some don't. No pattern, just depends. The best way is for you to keep hiding inside like this, not even showing your nose. Nothing kills a rumor faster than the star of it vanishing without a peep."
"Haaa..."
In the end, it was just an endless wait.
I set down the half-eaten dumpling and sighed.
To prevent the apocalypse, I needed to be running around everywhere, and here I was stuck like this.
"So... do I just have to hole up until the rumors die down?"
"Probably...? Unless something huge breaks that overshadows it. The Dragon-Phoenix Assembly isn't even this year... There are a few minor tournaments, but I doubt they'd have that kind of impact."
"It'd be great if something like that happened suddenly..."
I wondered if this was how lovers caught in scandals felt, stuck inside.
Just let some massive scandal blow up and wipe my rumors away.
"What kind of thing?"
"Well... lots. If the Demonic Cult rampaged, your rumors would be...
"That wouldn't just end with my rumors gone!"
"Of course that's a joke. They haven't moved in decades—doubt they'd start now."
"Don't even joke about something that huge..."
The Demonic Cult. They called themselves the Heavenly Demon Cult, but in the Central Plains, they'd been "Demonic Cult" for centuries.
Their goal wasn't much different from what I knew back on Earth: conquer the Central Plains.
But looking at the world now, they'd never succeeded in all those years.
You might think they're all talk then, but no—the rumors about their current cult leader, the Heavenly Demon, were no joke.
The tale from twenty years ago, in the war with the Blood Cult: right before the Central Plains fell to them, she appeared alone and crushed the Blood Cult leader and every last member.
Why she hadn't used that power for conquest like past Demonic Cults was unclear, but one thing was sure.
The moment she moved, the Central Plains was done.
"I only said that 'cause you looked so serious. I don't want that happening either, even as a joke."
"Any other big events coming up...?"
"If some lunatic lobbed dozens of thunder bombs at Murim Alliance HQ..."
"You are righteous sect, right?"
"Haha, kidding."
I got it was a joke, but it was brutal talk.
"Nothing that big comes to mind. If I had to pick, maybe the secret vault of that Divine Thief—public enemy of murim twenty years ago, who vanished."
Dang Ayoung said it playfully, maybe to lighten the mood.
"...Huh."
"If it's found, yeah, your rumors? Forgotten. Guy was incredible—stole master weapons from experts, secret manuals and artifacts from sects, en masse, and got away clean. Even righteous sects, unorthodox, Demonic Cult—all'd care. Hidden masters would crawl out too... In some ways, bigger impact than a Demonic Cult invasion?"
"..."
"Ahaha, don't sweat it. You just rest here—I'll handle everything."
Even after Dang Ayoung finished, I sat there, face grim, replaying her words.
'The Divine Thief's secret vault...'
"I've got an experiment I wanna try—gimme a sec!"
"Huh?"
Leaving her confused, I slipped into the room she'd given me and pulled out the blue orb from my bosom.
The pearl my master cherished, stolen when I left the mountains.
I didn't know exactly what it was for at first, but after using it, I'd gotten a feel.
I could boost divination accuracy with the energy inside,
or create a virtual world within for sharper info.
The latter drained mental power hard and was tough, so usually the former.
'Will this work...?'
Divination reads heavenly secrets to glimpse the future, but we seers—including me—can't nail it exact 'cause there's no single fixed path.
Like a butterfly's wingbeat spawning a storm, futures shift wildly on tiny events—fluid, unfixed.
Countless heavenly secrets tangle in the world; no one reads them all.
But flip it: divination can hit near-100% accuracy sometimes.
On past records.
Stuff made decades ago, untouched in hidden ruins—my power shines there.
Problem was, I was too weak.
Most opportunities came with risks matching.
Traps in ruins, sure,
ones down cliffs I couldn't reach,
or spirit herbs I could grab clean, use up, erase traces of—but useless to me.
Sell 'em? Then the "erase traces" point vanishes.
And this case was the same.
Say I pinpointed the Divine Thief's vault location and traps.
My goal wasn't the treasures—it was spreading rumors to bury my rumors.
So spreading them mattered.
'...How?'
Me alone, hiding, muttering in a tavern? No guarantee I wouldn't get tracked.
Blatantly claiming I found it? Insane—puts cart before horse.
'...Gotta keep this from Dang Ayoung too.'
Tell her, ask help? My value—soaring already—would blast through the roof into space.
A guy who sees futures, hands clues to shatter martial walls, finds ancient opportunities?
Value beyond measure, even thinking lightly.
'...What then?'
Spreading solo too risky—need an ally.
They gotta know I see futures,
no greed for my power or the vault,
guarantee secrecy.
"..."
Listing conditions, one name popped up.
Yeo Sochen.
Knew I saw futures,
as Saintess of Heaven-Earth-Gods herself, no greed for my power,
only cared about them, so little vault greed,
...and if needed, I could make her swear on Heaven-Earth-Gods' name.