Chapter 77 – The Spiritual Seeking Talisman

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The next day.

Jin So-myeong headed to the place promised with Baek Yu-geon. It was to go destroy the Speech-Opening Herb colony.

However, when he actually arrived, there was only Baek Yu-geon.

“Is it only the two of us?”

“Yes. In fact, we originally planned to depart with five people. But looking at Fellow Daoist Jin’s performance lately, other people would only be a hindrance even if they were present.”

“…Hmm.”

“If you are anxious by any chance, I will postpone the departure and look for more people.”

“No. Let’s just go.”

He pondered it, but it did not seem like other ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators would be of great help.

“Good. First, please accept this talisman.”

A familiar pressure was felt from the palm-sized paper offered by Baek Yu-geon.

“A Rank 3 Teleportation Talisman?”

“Yes. If you happen to meet a Rank 3 Demonic King during the mission, do not hesitate and use it straight away. Once you are teleported a hundred li away, return to Sky Island.”

He accepted the talisman and inspected it closely, and the object held in his hand somehow felt incredibly distant.

Looking at it quietly made his head dizzy. It felt as if his sense of distance was twisted in a jumble.

‘Fascinating.’

As he nodded his head and put it in his breast pocket, Baek Yu-geon spoke.

“If there is no need to use the Teleportation Talisman, please keep it, Fellow Daoist Jin. You can think of it as a reward for helping with this mission.”

“A reward? Speaking of a reward, did you not already give me the Golden Core Insights?”

“Haha. How could we order around the Thunderclap Swordsman, who is called the number one Foundation Establishment cultivator of Sky Island, with mere Golden Core Insights? If you dislike it, just return it.”

“…No. I will use it well.”

He did not go out of his way to save face and refuse.

Why would he need to return a talisman that might save his life when offered? Naturally, he packed it away well.

“Well, then let us depart.”

Baek Yu-geon took out a flying carriage from his storage pouch and threw it.

Although it looked like a carriage, it floated in the empty air on its own without any animal pulling it, emitting a strange wave.

With its blurry presence, it seemed to be a flying dharma treasure specialized in stealth.

Whoosh!

The flying carriage carrying the two flew through the empty air. It disappeared beyond the endlessly unfolding sea.

***

A fortnight.

It was the number of days Jin So-myeong had drifted in the Demonic Roaring Sea.

During that time, they visited three places suspected to be colonies of the Speech-Opening Herb, but all were duds.

Although a few Rank 2 demonic beasts lived there, there was no Speech-Opening Herb.

Although he might have been disappointed, a feeling of admiration was greater to Jin So-myeong.

‘This world is truly wide.’

He flew in the flying carriage for a full fortnight, but could only inspect a part of the Demonic Roaring Sea.

Even such a wide sea was nothing but a speck of dust compared to the entire world.

He blankly stared at the horizon that was dyed gold as the sun set.

Listening to the sound of the clashing waves and staring at the sea sparkling in the sunlight, his chest tickled.

Beyond the horizon, what on earth would be at the end of the world?

‘Someday, surely.’

I will see it with my own two eyes. Just as he made a silent resolution,

Baek Yu-geon, who was in the middle of meditating, spoke with a bitter smile.

“Phew… I hope there will be the Speech-Opening Herb in the place we go next. We will arrive soon, so please prepare.”

Did the prayer work?

On the fourth island they visited, they finally discovered a Speech-Opening Herb colony.

It was an ultra-small island with a circumference of roughly 3 to 4 km, but brown plants were filling the fog-enshrouded hill.

‘There are many.’

It felt like looking at a dense reed field.

Of course, reeds and the Speech-Opening Herb were completely different in appearance.

The spirally twisted stem seemed as if two plants had merged into one, and a faint whisper-like sound was heard from the petals opening and closing without rest.

Once they destroyed this Speech-Opening Herb field, the promised mission was finished.

They scouted the island while concealing their presence, but there was no existence in particular worthy of vigilance.

‘It will end more easily than I thought.’

Although a Rank 2 high-grade demonic beast with a pig’s head and bat’s wings was asleep, disposing of it was simple.

He gestured with his eyes to Baek Yu-geon beside him.

– I will handle it.

Flying a Divine Sense transmission, he approached secretly.

After quietly drawing his sword so as not to make a sound, he swung his sword at the demonic beast sleeping in the middle of the Speech-Opening Herb colony.

Slash!

A faint sword light was the end.

The late Foundation Establishment-grade demonic beast, which was a disaster to someone, could not even react. It ended its life while sleeping without knowing anything.

Just as he was packing the demonic beast he caught just now,

“Heh. You dispose of a Rank 2 high-grade demonic beast as if pulling weeds. I am no match for you now.”

Baek Yu-geon, who was marveling while shaking his head, paused.

Suddenly closing his mouth, he closely examined the Speech-Opening Herb colony.

“…Is there some problem?”

Baek Yu-geon, who pondered silently for a long time, furrowed his brows.

“Wait a moment. Something is strange.”

At the serious voice, he quickly scanned the surroundings.

Wondering if there was a trap by any chance, he mobilized even his Supreme Great Ability.

He raised his senses, but did not feel any danger.

“Ah! I know what bothered my mind. These Speech-Opening Herbs here are all grown too well without exception.”

He wondered why that would be a problem, but from the explanation that followed, he could realize what was wrong.

“The quality and age are also uniform. No matter how I look at it, this is not a natural colony. It is clear that someone grew them artificially. And it is the work of a spiritual crop master with very outstanding skills.”

“Can demonic beasts also handle the spiritual crop art?”

“…It is possible, but such a delicate spiritual crop art is absolutely too much. Look here. All of the spiritual herbs are brimming with vital energy, and not a single petal is damaged.”

A human grew the Speech-Opening Herb?

Although he did not know who did it and why, the more he thought about it deeply, the less of a good sign it was.

Baek Yu-geon, who was pondering with a stiffened face, let out a sigh.

“Let us just leave this place as it is for now. I should report to my master first.”

“I understand.”

“Ah! Fellow Daoist Jin only needs to help up to here. In any case, it is the same as having destroyed the Speech-Opening Herb colony.”

He had felt it since the past, but Baek Yu-geon was a person who kept his promises strictly.

“Then I will return after taking care of some business. Please go ahead, Fellow Daoist Baek.”

“Business? Have you by any chance obtained some treasure map?”

“Hmm… because it happens to be near here.”

It was useless to deny what he had already noticed.

He answered positively because he thought he was a relatively trustworthy person, but Baek Yu-geon’s expression turned strange.

Hesitating as if holding back what he wanted to say, he muttered.

“Most of those maps would be scams, though… Ahem. No. My mouth is running too much. Good luck.”

He just laughed it off.

Surely the item given to repay the favor of saving his life would not be a fake.

If Jin So-myeong had also purchased the map with spirit stones, he would not have believed it this much.

After parting with Baek Yu-geon, he immediately moved along the map.

As he was moving bare-bodied without a dharma treasure like a flying carriage, he paid attention.

He amplified his senses with the Supreme Great Ability so as not to run into demonic beasts, and even wore the Stealth Orb, a dharma treasure that hid his presence.

It was just because there were few occasions to use them lately, but Jin So-myeong originally had a deep knowledge in various stealth techniques.

‘It seems to be this island.’

He closely examined the shape of the rocky island where birds resembling seagulls were resting.

Having a sword-cut shaped canyon was identical to what was shown on the map.

‘Northeast from here.’

He moved exactly 238 li further based on the rocky island.

Although it was a vast ocean without a single island, it was correct that he had arrived well.

Splash!

Holding the Clear Wind Pearl, a dharma treasure that allowed him to breathe in water, in his mouth, he dove into the sea.

Diving vertically for a long time.

Around the time it grew dark because sunlight did not reach, he was able to arrive at the bottom.

‘It should be near here…’

Using his Divine Sense which reached up to 1 km, he searched the surroundings thoroughly, and was able to discover an underwater cave in a rocky crevice.

Although it was cleverly hidden by a formation, he found it easily thanks to his Golden Core-grade Divine Sense and the map.

The moment he approached and took out the map jade slip,

Wuuung!

Along with a faint vibration, the formation opened.

Just in case, he inspected the inside of the cave with his Divine Sense, and there was nothing in particular that looked dangerous.

Whoosh!

Once he crossed the formation barrier, mysteriously, there was no water.

‘I can breathe too.’

He scanned all of the cave that felt like a storehouse, but in fact, there was not much worth inspecting either.

True to a place already cleaned out by the great-great-grandfather of the cultivator who gave him the map, it was empty.

All that remained was a table and a single talisman placed on it, and a jade slip.

‘The talisman is… the Spiritual Seeking Talisman!’

As much as he found what he aimed for, his fist clenched tightly. It was clear that the person called the great-great-grandfather had left it for his descendants.

The joy was brief. Something was strange.

The feel of the Spiritual Seeking Talisman itself was different from the one he had seen before.

‘It is much more high-class.’

Although he did not know exactly what hide it was, it was a talisman made of a material similar to parchment, and the talisman characters written on the surface looked special.

They were silver characters written with a bold penmanship, but even while looking with his eyes, the shapes were not perceived.

The more closely he inspected them, the blanker his head became, to the point that he could not even remember the forms.

‘It is absolutely not a Rank 1 talisman…’

Could it be at the Golden Core grade?

Jin So-myeong, who was observing the Spiritual Seeking Talisman while turning it this way and that, put it away for now.

It was because he was curious about what content would be written in the jade slip beside it.

[I used the Spiritual Seeking Talisman a total of three times, and at the third time, I lost both arms and my Natal Magic Treasure.]

“…Huh?”

It was shocking from the very first sentence.

Jin So-myeong, who furrowed his brow, continued to read the information inside the jade slip.

[Another name for opportunity is disaster. I only realized it when I was on the verge of death.]

[My descendant, no, junior, who will visit this place. Please, do not obsess over luck that you cannot handle.]

The jade slip, which began with a warning, continued as a diary.

Since it was a personal story like requests to descendants, it was of no great use, and at least, the useful information was one.

He only came to know that the Rank 1 Spiritual Seeking Talisman he used in the past was a fake that clumsily imitated the real Spiritual Seeking Talisman.

‘To think that he would not leave behind even the recipe for making imitations out of fear that his descendants would obsess over the Spiritual Seeking Talisman… A pity.’

In any case, he recalled the warning left by the Golden Core Sage.

Another name for opportunity is disaster…

‘Is that not obvious?’

Jin So-myeong had originally lived like that. He did not fear challenging to win the opportunities present within crises.

He could not refrain from using a useful item like the Spiritual Seeking Talisman merely because it was dangerous.

However, he had no intention of ignoring the warning left by the Rank 3 existence.

‘Originally, I intended to consume 15,000 points of the Supreme Great Ability, but…’

It seemed he had to reduce it slightly.

Since he did not know what kind of situation would occur, he felt the need to leave a portion for emergency use.

After various considerations, he made a decision.

To use exactly ten thousand.

‘If there are side effects to the Spiritual Seeking Talisman, remove them, and let the effects beneficial to me be amplified.’

The moment he made the wish,

ten thousand golden beads turned to powder and transformed into an intangible wave.

An unidentified sensation that arose suddenly pointed in a certain direction.

‘Hmm…’

A vague premonition that a good thing would happen if he went that way. Because of the feeling close to an impulse, it was to the extent that it was difficult to stay still.

Jin So-myeong, who focused for about a minute, shook his head.

He intended to acquire this sensation if possible, but to be honest, he could not even know what principle it was.

‘It seems too much with my current realm.’

Since he used the Supreme Great Ability frequently, he felt it vaguely.

To acquire this sensation, he had to consume a truly absurd lifespan. Enough that it would not be enough even if he died tomorrow.

‘Forget it. Let’s find the opportunity.’

He moved hurriedly, chasing the direction pointed by the Spiritual Seeking Talisman.

Before the sensation disappeared, he had to arrive at the location where the opportunity was present.

‘Please, a Golden Core spiritual object.’

He repeated like a prayer.

The reason he deliberately used the Spiritual Seeking Talisman in the dangerous Demonic Roaring Sea was only one.

Namely, the White Spirit Herb.

He hoped the Spiritual Seeking Talisman would guide him to the place where a Golden Core spiritual object was located.

But.

The direction of movement was a bit too strange.

‘The deep sea?’

Since the place where the White Spirit Herb grew would be an island, it should be above the sea, but now he was going in the exact opposite direction.

As he descended deeper and deeper into the sea, disappointment welled up.

‘I do not know yet.’

Moving for a long time while clinging to his fading hope,

he finally arrived at the location pointed by the Spiritual Seeking Talisman, but…

there was nothing.

Cold and dark seawater was all. Looking at the surrounding scenery that was more than empty but desolate, he furrowed his brows.

‘…Did the talisman break down because it was too old?’

Is it really the end like this? Just as he was blanking out because it was too absurd,

Wuuung!

a current that arose like a gust swept him. Trying to escape reflexively at the sudden flow, he paused.

‘Could it be the opportunity?’

After a moment of consideration, he made a decision.

Without resisting the current pushing him to an unknown place, he relaxed his strength.

‘Urgh.’

The current grew gradually rougher. It was difficult to keep his senses at the endlessly accelerating speed.

Boom!

Corals, floating stones, large clams, and so on. Every time he collided with all kinds of objects swept by the current, his bones ached.

Had it not been for his body trained to the top level of Rank 2, some part of him would have been smashed long ago.

Just as his mind grew faint due to the continuously accelerating water current,

‘A cliff!’

The damn current charged him toward a giant cliff. He glared with wide eyes at the wall that approached right before his nose before he could even avoid it.

He crossed his arms to block his face.

Simultaneously with preparing for the collision by raising blood energy in his five viscera,

Whoosh!

he was thrown somewhere out of the water as if cast away.

‘…What is this.’

The expected impact was not there.

Rolling on the ground, he stood up hurriedly, and the surrounding scenery was strange.

Clearly, it had been the deep sea just a moment ago.

Before he knew it, he had arrived at a peaceful hill where warm sunlight tickled his skin.