Chapter 207
Chapter 207
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 207
Chapter Title: A Disciple's Heartfelt Wish
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"Anyway. You said you wanted to check your romance luck, right?"
"Y-Yes?"
"My disciple already promised to do it, so I'll handle it instead. There don't seem to be any immediate problems, but there are a few things I need to confirm before leaving it entirely to this guy."
"Ah, no! It's okay! You don't have to!"
The Sword Empress's disciple, who had been sitting quietly beside us, blankly listening to our conversation, frantically shook her head.
"Once you've said it, you should follow through. Unlike this one, I'm not particularly dangerous, so speak freely. It's been ages since I ventured into the secular world, and I was feeling a bit bored anyway."
"Uh... well, the thing is... I didn't actually ask to see my romance luck..."
"Hm?"
"Our master... she looks so lonely sometimes... I was just wondering if she might meet someone nice..."
"..."
Her words hit a nerve, so I quietly shut my mouth. Master tilted her head slightly.
"Did Mount Hua Sect recently allow its Taoists to pursue romance?"
"Ah, no, I heard it's not permitted, but... I just thought, what if! I love spending time with Master, but she seems lonely at times..."
"...Well. Who knows what fate has in store. You're a commendable disciple, caring about your master's loneliness like that."
Master patted her head while shooting me a sidelong glare. I averted my eyes from Master's once more.
If it weren't for what happened last night, those words would have only stung as a runaway disciple abandoning his master. But given the circumstances, they took on a whole different meaning.
'Why did Master have to sleep-talk about that...'!
Wait, does that mean it wasn't the first time?
Come to think of it, there wasn't any blood, and her technique was way too good for someone asleep.
Sleep-talking doesn't just start overnight, does it?
'No, no. It can't be.'
Master must have gotten lonely during her solo training and ended up like that somehow.
I deliberately shut down my brain's branching fantasies, forcing myself not to dwell on it further.
I instinctively knew more imagining would lead to dangerous territory.
"Anyway, as her master... It would have been easier if she were here, but with your connection at that age, the threads should reach. Let me give it a try."
"Th-Thank you!"
"And before that, what's your name?"
"Ah. Han So-yeon!"
"Hm. At least I remember yours clearly, unlike some people."
*Pout*
I pursed my lips at Master's words indirectly scolding me again.
It's not like I want to forget.
I had no memories from Earth, so I just kept using this body's name, Dan Yuseong. If I remembered, I'd have used my original one.
I've lived in this body so long now it feels like my own anyway, so it doesn't matter much.
Besides, I don't use the name Dan Yuseong that often.
"Alright then. Let me read the fates connected to your master..."
As Master spoke and began operating the heavenly secrets in a slightly different way from mine, a chill ran down my spine.
Thinking about it, if Master read the Sword Empress's romance luck here, I'd probably show up.
If I had done it, I could have fudged it somehow. But if I appeared in Master's reading...
[...What on earth have you been up to in the secular world all this time?]
'Eek...'
I wasn't mentally prepared yet.
I didn't plan to hide it forever, but getting exposed like this would make excuses impossible.
With the Sword Empress and Yeo Sochen returning soon, when hiding was no longer feasible, I'd planned to rack my brain for the best way to convince Master. But I was far from ready.
Still, Master had already begun operating the heavenly secrets.
Stepping in now would only make me look suspicious.
In the end, I had only one being to rely on.
'Pl-Please, Heaven and Earth spirits... h-help me out somehow...'
It was that woman from the earlier explanation.
'Y-You've looked after me so much without me knowing, and I'm sorry for being rude all this time. Just this once, save one poor soul... Ah, and I'll treat Yeo Sochen better from now on...'
Grovelling to a god I usually cursed felt awkward, but I had no other options.
Since she'd supposedly watched over me all along, maybe she'd help this time too.
And perhaps my prayer worked.
-Crackle
"Hm?"
The heavenly secrets Master was operating fizzled out completely, scattering in an instant.
"That's strange. The heavenly secrets suddenly dispersed."
"D-Does that mean Master will be alone forever...?"
"It could mean that, but... If I can't read the specifics, I'll check something else. I may not get details, but I can tell if she'll meet someone."
'I-I'm saved!'
She really seemed to have stepped in.
I'd braced for her to refuse out of spite, but thankfully not.
'To think I misunderstood such a kind god...'
I even felt sorry for all the teasing and cursing before.
Who knew she was this good?
"...No need to worry. It seems she's already met someone."
"R-Really?"
"I don't know if Mount Hua Taoists are allowed romance, but... if she's fine with it, then it's fine. That woman seems discerning enough."
And luckily, it didn't reveal that the someone was me.
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, watching Master, who didn't suspect me at all.
If it had come out now, amid all my worries, it would have been like a bomb dropping on my head. What a relief.
'Feels like I'm constantly dumping stuff on my future self...'
But that was future me's problem, not present me's, right?
Debt was a fine tool as long as you could pay it back later.
Problems only started if you couldn't.
So this was just wisely offloading complications to a more leisurely future self.
...That's what I wanted to believe.
'My debts keep piling up...'
I already had that contract fixing my endgame to an apocalypse clusterfuck, then the worrying reunion with the Heavenly Demon—wondering what fresh hell that'd bring—and eventually telling Master about my three wives.
At least the last one was milder compared to the first two...
'...Yeah, milder.'
It was like the difference between a volcanic eruption and a meteor fireball.
Still fatal either way.
'Wonder when Yeo Sochen and the Sword Empress will return.'
I doubt they know about the chaos here.
The original plan was to draw the Blood Cult's attention there, lure them in, and wipe them out. But judging by the vampires that came here, the plan went awry.
We'd estimated the Blood Cult didn't have overwhelming numbers.
Maybe their side was lighter on forces now, but the world rarely goes as planned.
They had their own issues to handle.
Even without the Blood Cult showing up, Sintu's hideout had a reputation that demanded attention.
Of course, if word of this spread across the Central Plains, fights near Sintu's hideout might decrease, but the Central Plains were vast.
It'd take time for news to reach there.
"...Looks like there was chaos in Shanxi too. We expected it, but still."
After the storm had passed.
Yeo Sochen tossed a snack from the table to the messenger pigeon that had arrived, then handed the letter to the Sword Empress.
"Sounds like Mount Hua took heavy damage... You okay?"
"...It couldn't be helped. It was the prelude to a war that might engulf the entire Central Plains... Even if not Mount Hua, one of the Nine Great Sects or Five Great Families would have suffered. Complaining 'why us?' is like saying someone else should have taken the hit instead."
"That's so you."
It was true, but awfully stoic.
Most people would feel wronged about their own sect getting hit.
-Crunch
"...Still, I have to avenge our fallen and injured fellow disciples."
'She has a human side after all.'
Actually, this was the most helpful attitude right now.
What's done was done; impossible to reverse. The priority was eradicating every last otherworldly demon from this world, leaving not even a drop of blood behind, to prevent repeats.
That was the mindset they needed.
'...We're definitely behind strategically.'
And this incident confirmed it.
Strategically, the enemy had the edge.
Unlike them, who could plant spies, we had no way to infiltrate or gather intel. Even accounting for that gap, I'd only fought the Blood Cult before, while they were leaders and commanders who'd survived battlefields for centuries.
To close that gap, we needed intel on them...
'...And only that witch can provide it.'
The sole source on those otherworldly demons was that white witch.
Pride made asking her help distasteful, but even if I did, there was the problem of her demands.
What she wanted was to drag me to that hell dimension.
If she could take me back to her world, even if this one perished, she'd do it without looking back.
Solving it alone seemed tricky; asking her help meant whatever price she'd exact gnawed at me.
"...Haa."
First, finish things here and head back to Shanxi to meet him. Maybe kneading those cheeks over a drink would vent this pent-up frustration.