Helping the Unfortunate Friend (2)
The poor friend! I'll help you! It was already late at night, but since the village wasn't that far away in the first place, Lin and Yu Yeon were able to return to the village in no time.
"I-Is this the place…?"
"Yes. It's rather shabby to receive an immortal, isn't it…?"
"N-No… um… it's not that…!"
The house Yu Yeon lived in was in such terrible condition that one couldn't help but wonder how anyone could possibly live there. The roof looked ready to collapse at any moment, and the walls were covered in thick spiderwebs. If a thief broke in at night, there'd be no way to stop them! It was that bad.
"W-Wait! Didn't you say you lived with your relatives? You mentioned earlier that you were doing their laundry for them!"
"Ah, yes… I am staying at their house, but… they don't like seeing my face, so I sleep separately like this…"
"How can something like that even happen!"
"I-It's fine…! Thanks to them, I can at least work and put food on the table… I'm grateful just for that."
"Uuu… but this is too much!"
For a brief moment, Lin was shocked by the miserable living conditions. Then, upon learning how Yu Yeon's so-called relatives treated her, she couldn't help but feel furious all over again.
'Even if they find her an eyesore, she's still just a girl who hasn't even come of age yet…!'
What if a criminal showed up in the middle of the night? This wasn't raising her—it was basically treating her like a slave for chores while neglecting her! The more she thought about it, the angrier Lin became at their cruelty.
'Ugh…! I can't let this go! I have to do something, even if it's just out of irritation!'
If she didn't help this poor girl somehow, it felt like she'd develop a heart demon. Before leaving this place, Lin resolved to do whatever she could for Yu Yeon.
"This won't do! First, it's dangerous, so I'll set up a formation…!"
"H-Huh? What do you mean…"
Paying no mind to Yu Yeon's startled reaction, Lin began installing the formation with reckless enthusiasm. Having learned basic formation techniques from her master at the ancient ruins, she could now set up simple protective formations on her own. While not particularly powerful by cultivator standards, it was more than enough against ordinary people. And since it was being laid by the formation genius Lin herself, even a tiger wouldn't be able to break through.
Hum—
"There! Now you'll be safe even at night!"
"I-Immortal? Um, I don't know what kind of technique you used, but I'm really fine—"
"Oh come on, I'm just doing this for you, so don't worry about it and accept it!"
Watching the neatly arranged formation begin to operate, Lin let out a sigh of relief. With this, even after she left, Yu Yeon should be able to live alone without issue.
However, this formation technique was only the beginning.
"You, you! Come to think of it, you said you still have a mountain of work left today, right?"
"Huh? Y-Yes, yes…! There is a lot, but it won't interfere with showing you around the village! If I work as fast as I can, I can probably finish somehow…!"
"Oh whatever, whatever! Just tell me what needs to be done! I'll finish it all for you!"
"H-Huh…? N-No, no, I can't let the immortal get her hands dirty…!"
"Oh come on, don't make me say it twice! Hurry up!!"
Fine, whatever. Since things had come to this, Lin grabbed the flustered Yu Yeon's hand and dashed straight toward the village center. Of course, she also floated a giant laundry basket in the sky using her techniques as a bonus.
Thud thud thud—!
"Where is it? Where? Over there? Is that where I should hang them??"
"Ah…! Immortal, please slow down a little…!"
"Ah~ whatever! I'll just hang them all~~~"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!
With a simple flick of her hand, Lin sent all the laundry flying to their proper places in an instant. As a bonus, she even sorted them neatly on the drying racks. What would have taken a person several hours to do alone was finished in the blink of an eye with just one finger movement from Lin.
"There, done! Next! What's next?!"
"W-What is this…! G-Good heavens. How is this even possible…!"
Yu Yeon's eyes widened like saucers at the sight of immortal techniques she'd never seen before. In truth, Lin wasn't an immortal, and this wasn't some grand technique—it was just a simple application of spiritual energy. But to ordinary people, it all looked the same. Amused by her reaction, Lin went on to solve even more chores while teasing her.
Whoosh—!
"Done! I distributed everything!"
Bang—!
"This should be enough, right? Next!"
Bubble bubble—
"Side dishes are done! Cooking's all finished too!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
"How can you use water techniques in a place with not a single drop of water…!"
"Hehe, it's nothing special!"
From cooking to dishwashing, and even sewing—thanks to Lin's techniques, the mountain of chores vanished in an instant. An enormous amount of work that should have taken days and nights of labor was completed in just one hour through the power of her techniques.
"A-Amazing… So this is the power of immortals…!"
"Hehe. Strictly speaking, I'm not an immortal, but… well, close enough!"
"Thank you so much… Thanks to you, Immortal, my workload has decreased a lot…"
"Hehe, it's nothing! It wasn't that hard! You could probably learn it quickly if you tried a bit, you know?"
"M-Me…? How could I possibly… There's no way…"
"Hmm…"
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. Could ordinary people not even begin cultivation at all? Since Lin had been able to feel spiritual energy just by breathing since birth, she'd never considered this before. How did humans—mortals, specifically—enter the path of cultivation? If they had no talent, did they have no options at all? Lin wanted to help this poor girl enter the path of cultivation just like her.
"Ugh… Is there really no way…?"
It was the first time she'd seen such negative responses on Daoyeongbang. The place had always given her positive reactions, calling her a newbie and all. If even Daoyeongbang was saying this, it must really be something difficult or realistically impossible.
Well, Lin hadn't planned on pouring everything she had into making Yu Yeon a cultivator in the first place. It was more of a "if it works, great; if not, whatever" kind of thing. They didn't have any deep connection anyway—just a shallow relationship where she'd received a small favor the night before. She just wanted to help if she could.
But if there really was no way, then even Lin had no clever solution. 'When I look at it this way, I really was lucky…' She had simply been born with a constitution that absorbed spiritual energy just by breathing the moment she opened her eyes. She hadn't realized it at the time, but thinking about it now, it was an absurd advantage.
Anyway, she still wanted to do everything she could, so Lin infused Yu Yeon's body with simple spiritual energy and a blessing, restoring her health once more.
"I-Immortal… What is this…?"
"It's my blessing! Kind of like a thank-you for sharing that delicious rice cake with me last night!"
"My body… feels as light as a feather… With this, I could work for days without getting tired!"
Seeing Yu Yeon bow her head repeatedly in gratitude, Lin couldn't help but feel pleased. To think someone could be this happy from just a simple blessing! Maybe happiness wasn't so far away after all.
. . .
Meanwhile, though Lin didn't seem to realize it, the village had already descended into chaos over the past few days because of Lin and Yu Yeon running around noisily taking care of chores everywhere.
"A-An immortal has arrived! An immortal has come to the village, I tell you!"
"What? Wait, they've already arrived? Weren't they supposed to come next week?"
"Well… I don't know either!"
"Are you sure it's an immortal? You didn't just see things while drunk again, did you?"
"No! That much I'm certain of! Her appearance was like a heavenly fairy descending, and I saw with my own eyes how she floated objects in the sky with her divine powers!"
"Really? If she can float objects in the sky… that makes sense. But wait a moment. You said she had a cute, youthful appearance like a fairy maiden?"
"That's right. Is there a problem…?"
"Hmm…"
The village head, Elder Ju, had to calm his confused mind for a moment at those words. 'She has a youthful appearance…? But they definitely didn't mention anything like that…'
It was because of this suddenly early-arriving immortal.
'I'm certain I didn't miscalculate the date. The agreed-upon day is next week. But then…'
Who exactly was this fairy maiden currently in the village?
The village head couldn't hide his confusion at Lin's unexpected appearance.