Chapter 91 – An Unexpected Name

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Facing the bandits surrounding him on all sides, Jin So-myeong, who was drawing his sword, could not help but falter.

“Are you Yeo Dong-bin?”

This was because an unexpected name came out of the mouths of the bandits—no, those whose identity as bandits had now become unclear.

Although Jin So-myeong looked expressionless on the outside, a raging storm surged within him.

In an instant, truly countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

‘How do they know Yeo Dong-bin? It is a name I have never used once since transferring to Sky Island.’

Leaving behind the myriad thoughts shaking his mind…

He first admitted it.

‘I was careless.’

Soaked in the peaceful atmosphere of Sky Island, he had lost his vigilance at some point.

Jin So-myeong, who quietly closed and opened his eyes, shifted his gaze.

Looking at the foremost one among the three Golden Core cultivators surrounding him, he spoke.

“Yeo Dong-bin? I do not know who that is, but it seems you have come to the wrong person.”

“Hmm?”

The expressions of the three scowled. Seeing them exchange glances with each other, they seemed to be conversing through Divine Sense voice transmission.

‘Can I eavesdrop on them?’

Jin So-myeong, who maintained an expressionless face, consumed his Supreme Great Ability to amplify his senses.

Simultaneously with the disappearance of a massive five thousand units of his Supreme Great Ability, a faint voice was heard.

– Is it not that fellow?

– Well… Among the Golden Cores who suddenly appeared nearby, he is the most suspicious.

– Aren’t Golden Cores swarming from all over because of that damn secret realm? We cannot guarantee that it is definitely him.

– Tsk. What a pain this is just because of a single prophecy saying there is a high probability that the disciple of the rebel Hong Seol would appear here.

The eyes of Jin So-myeong, who was quietly eavesdropping on the voice transmission, trembled minutely.

‘Hong Seol?’

The mysterious expert who had popped out of the Limitless Divine Sword and saved Jin So-myeong.

He truly never imagined that the name of her, whom he inwardly regarded as his master, would come out here.

Moreover, a rebel?

Just what on earth did she do to be pursued by a mighty organization that used Golden Cores like laborers?

He forcibly held onto his mind, which was about to go blank for a moment.

Divine Sense voice transmission had a fast transmission speed, so countless conversations went back and forth in the time it took to blink an eye.

To eavesdrop, he had to concentrate.

– I wonder if we are catching an innocent person. In the first place, isn’t the probability of divination being correct very slim?

– Indeed. Master of Heavenly Secrets has very little lifespan left, so his divination accuracy must have decreased even further.

– A fellow who was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage twenty-five years ago has already become a Golden Core? Honestly, I cannot believe it. No matter how I look at it, this prophecy is a mistake by Master of Heavenly Secrets—

– Enough! If you both have time to complain, focus on the mission. Once we capture him and bring him back, the higher-ups will judge for themselves.

– Tsk.

After hearing up to this point, only two thoughts remained in Jin So-myeong’s head.

Should I kill them? Should I let them live?

What would be the correct decision on how to handle them…

While agonizing over it, Jin So-myeong suppressed the killing intent rising in his heart.

No matter how he looked at them, those fellows appeared to be subordinates. Even if he killed them, stronger ones would only come looking for him.

‘Besides… they are not certain that I am here.’

Fighting here and giving certainty to their organization was an unwise action.

Having made a decision on what to do, Jin So-myeong opened his mouth.

“Fellow Daoists. Yeo Dong-bin or whatever. You seem to have chased me because you coveted a few spirit stones… but I am not an easy opponent either.”

Even before his words finished, he abruptly swung his sword.

At the same time as hundreds of blade winds raged like a gale.

Boom!

Wrapped in the wind, Jin So-myeong soared into the sky.

During the brief moment the three Golden Core Sages blocked the blade winds, he disappeared like smoke, as if becoming an invisible man.

“Oh no!”

“…We lost him.”

“We lost him? What about the mark engraved on the medicine pill?”

“It disappeared the moment he concealed himself. Tracking is impossible.”

Just as the two Golden Core Sages scowled deeply.

The one who was quietly lost in thought shook his head.

“Forget it. There is no need to pursue.”

“What?”

“The spell that fellow just used is not a regular wind-attribute spell. It was close to an innate divine ability that can only be cast if one possesses a Wind Spiritual Root.”

“…Wind Spiritual Root? That means he is not Yeo Dong-bin. Is that a relief at least?”

“Sigh. Let us return. Since we do not know when that fellow will arrive, we shall wait in Mysterious Cloud City.”

A long time after they departed.

Jin So-myeong popped out from the empty air. Although they thought he had fled, he had been quietly hiding his body.

Jin So-myeong narrowed his eyes.

Staring in the direction the three Golden Core Sages had left, he quietly sheathed the sword he was still holding.

‘I did not have to kill them.’

His intention of deliberately attacking with the Wind Transformation Body Force instead of Sword Qi worked.

If those fellows had investigated Yeo Dong-bin, seeing the innate demonic beast divine ability, they had a high probability of judging that he was not Yeo Dong-bin.

‘It means they know I had a Five Elements Spiritual Root when I worked in Azure Elixir City under the identity of Yeo Dong-bin…’

Leaving the spot, Jin So-myeong traveled for a long time. Perched on a rock in the middle of a barren wasteland, he fell into thought.

He had experienced something too sudden. His mind was complicated, so he needed to organize it simply.

First. Those fellows are targeting Hong Seol.

‘The reason they want to capture me… is it to use me as bait?’

Although it was not certain, that came to mind first as a predictable reason.

Second. Their tracking method is divination.

Regarding this, there was truly nothing to say. As far as Jin So-myeong knew, divination was an art with very, very large restrictions.

‘I heard that to track a Golden Core with divination, a Nascent Soul-grade expert has to sacrifice their lifespan…’

Honestly, the information obtained that way was also at a meaningless level.

Would it be like choosing ten thousand out of a million possibilities unfolding in the future?

Its limits could be known from the fact that they were looking for Yeo Dong-bin without finding out his real name.

Perhaps the locations they guessed Jin So-myeong would appear at were also incredibly numerous.

Divination was an absurdly inefficient technique.

Moreover, divination did not work when he was on Sky Island. Since they would have invaded and captured him long ago if it did, this was certain.

‘Why is that?’

Thinking about it, that sea where Sky Island was located was a very strange place.

A spiritual vein appearing and disappearing? It was something unheard of.

Perhaps…

Hong Seol might have sent Jin So-myeong there, knowing the fact that divination does not work on Sky Island.

‘Should I return to Sky Island?’

After contemplating for a long time, Jin So-myeong shook his head.

That was merely evading the problem. It could not be a fundamental solution. Furthermore, Sky Island did not seem likely to be safe forever either.

If so, what was the fundamental solution?

‘Becoming stronger.’

With that alone, ninety-nine out of a hundred problems would lose their meaning.

Tap.

Dusting himself off and rising, Jin So-myeong looked up at the sky.

The pure white clouds floating around were peaceful, as if nothing had happened.

Staring at the sky for a long time, a smirk escaped him.

‘Fine. I do not know who you are, but let us have a go.’

Snap!

Flicking his finger, he consumed fifty thousand units of his Supreme Great Ability. Utilizing a fragment of omnipotence, he blocked any potential divination.

‘If I add a dharma treasure equipped with the ability to block divination to this, it should be enough.’

Divination was an extremely precise art. Even with slight interference, one cannot obtain proper results.

Whoosh!

Kicking off the ground, Jin So-myeong flew toward Vast Wilderness Immortal City.

When a person hides, they must go to a city, not a forest.

Since those fellows currently judged him not to be Yeo Dong-bin, going to a Rank 4 immortal city posed no problem.

***

At a quiet pondside.

An old man with wrinkled face was staring at the pond.

No, the expression that he stared was somewhat inaccurate. There were no pupils in the old man’s eyeballs, so he could not see anything…

Like a stone statue, the old man, who did not even make a movement, suddenly raised his head.

Slowly rising like a sick person getting up, he bent his waist.

“Heavenly Venerable…”

In a miserable voice, he spoke to the youth who had appeared beside him at some point and was smiling broadly.

“A dagger to pierce the Heavenly Venerable has been born into the world. I am sorry for failing to stop it.”

“It is something that existed yesterday and will exist tomorrow as well. It does not matter.”

“It is different this time. It has already met a whetstone and added to its sharpness.”

Although the old man was serious, the youth called the Heavenly Venerable only maintained a smile from beginning to end.

He even squatted by the pond and flicked the water as if playing.

“I will speak honestly. I am skeptical about this thing called divination that you speak of. In the first place, could your skill influence my fate?”

“That is…”

“Since you understand, do not waste your life on meaningless things, but enjoy the rest of your life.”

“…I am sorry. I am going to die soon anyway.”

A golden light dwelled in the old man’s empty eyeballs.

A brilliant twilight became his pupils, groping the future under the name of possibility.

How much time had passed?

Pop!

Both eyes that stared beyond the empty air exploded. Amidst tears of blood, the old man lamented.

“The Heavenly Venerable was right. Nothing is visible. It seems an old man’s life was not enough… Please take care of yourself.”

“…”

For a long time.

Staring blankly at the old man who had drawn his last breath, the youth shifted his gaze.

He spoke to the woman who followed him from behind like a servant.

“How many names did Master of Heavenly Secrets mention?”

“Gwan Il-pyeong, Jin Gwang-po, Yeo Dong-bin, Hong Seol, Mu Hwi-rang, Lord Cheongram, Ha Un… Excluding those who have been definitely eliminated, there are 168 in total.”

“Oh dear. There are truly a lot of fellows who want to kill me. Just how many years of lifespan did that old man spend?”

Bursting into a broad laugh, the youth shook his head. Lightly tapping the old man’s corpse to turn it into powder, he spoke.

“It is a hassle to care. Kill everyone under heaven who possesses those names.”

“……I receive your command.”

At the sight of the woman whose face turned pale even as she answered, the youth burst into laughter.

“Hey. If I talk nonsense, you should stop me from the side. What do you mean by saying you will follow that? In the first place, we do not even know if those are their real names, so what are we going to do by killing them?”

“That…”

“Forget it. I was just joking. Go and hold a proper funeral for the old man.”

The moment the youth waved his hand as if issuing an order to leave.

An urn was held in her hand at some point, which was clearly the bone ash of the old man who had just died.

***

Meanwhile.

Arriving at Vast Wilderness Immortal City after flying for a long time, Jin So-myeong’s mouth fell wide open.

‘I cannot see the end.’

The city wall was too huge and wide. The city wall, which was bound to be circular, was so long that it was felt as a straight line.

The cultivators below Foundation Establishment who entered and exited through the entrance were countless, and Golden Core grades were also seen quite often.

Suddenly, a word he had heard in the past came to mind.

The False Core cultivator Hyeok Cheon-ung had described Sky Island as a remote place. It meant a very dark and secluded place.

Actually, he had treated it as nonsense and ignored it, but those words were truly spot on.

‘Sky Island was a countryside.’

Even if he disliked it, he had no choice but to admit it before the overwhelming majesty of the Nascent Soul-grade immortal city.

Jin So-myeong, who observed Vast Wilderness Immortal City from afar, gathered his aura.

After changing his appearance and disguising himself at the Foundation Establishment level, he crossed the city gate.

He was slightly nervous here, but perhaps because there were too many people entering and exiting, the inspection was not tight, so he passed without any problem.

Immediately after entering Vast Wilderness Immortal City like that.

The splendid skyscrapers that filled his vision continued endlessly.

‘Is it possible to develop this much just by having a stable Rank 4 spiritual vein?’

While admiring it internally, Jin So-myeong rented a cave dwelling for now.

He needed time to calmly think about what to do in the future.

‘Do I really have to go to the Southern Province?’

His original purpose was revenge. He planned to seek out the Young Master of the Thousand Corpses Sect, who would be in the Southern Province’s Damun Kingdom, and finish him off.

However, the matter associated with Hong Seol weighed on his mind.

If he sought out the Young Master of the Thousand Corpses Sect now, he had a high probability of getting entangled with the organization that employed Golden Cores as subordinates.

Although nothing might happen, there was no harm in being careful.

‘What should I do?’

While agonizing, Jin So-myeong recalled the contents of the eavesdropped voice transmission from beginning to end.

This was to check if there was any information he had missed.

‘Wait… those fellows clearly said that Golden Cores were swarming from all over because of that damn secret realm.’

It meant that a secret realm useful to Golden Cores was opening in this vicinity.

He felt the necessity to look into it in a bit more detail.