Chapter 97 – Golden Moonbright Grass

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“What on earth, such absurd speed…”

Within the eyes of the man whose neck was cut by Jin So-myeong, all kinds of emotions raged.

Despondency, anger, and even a sense of grievance.

He did not want to admit the fact that he was about to die.

But what could be done? His neck was already cut.

A curse was all he could do.

“You will never die comfortably! Only after experiencing all the pain in the world—”

Just before his life extinguished, the fellow shouting as if struggling was split vertically.

Rip!

By the second sword swung simultaneously with the drawing, he left this world without even properly leaving his last words.

“Hmm?”

However, the malice left by that fellow did not disappear easily.

It began to materialize by combining with spiritual power, and the faintly visible shape looked like wriggling, disgusting tentacles, which was truly repulsive.

‘Was he a demonic cultivator?’

No wonder his gloomy impression displeased me in the first place.

He swung his sword toward the wriggling energy. He intended to scatter it with Sword Qi.

Slash!

Even though he cut it into dozens of pieces, it did not disappear. It was an energy far more persistent than expected.

After regenerating several times, it eventually merged into one and transformed into an intangible wave.

Whoosh!

The resentment left by the demonic Golden Core cultivator facing death. It became a practical curse and flew in.

‘I should burn it away with the Five Elements Divine Thunder.’

Since ancient times, lightning was famous for its power to vanquish heterodox evils. Just as he was trying to handle it by pulling up the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art.

An ice-cold energy flowed out from deep within his body.

Clang!

The flying curse froze in an instant and shattered into pieces. It could not even regenerate this time.

As if meeting a natural enemy, it perished as soon as it touched the cold air blooming inside his body.

‘Is this… the Flowing Water Demon-Revealing Mirror?’

He soon realized what had happened.

The mirror installed in the Secret Realm of the Mind. The dharma treasure that blocked curses and divination had activated.

“Oh.”

Just as he was admiring the unexpected help.

Screeech!

Dreadful screams filled with pain were heard from all directions.

The swarm of spiritual insects surrounding him was struggling as if in pain, but failing to endure even a few seconds, they ultimately drew their last breath.

As their master, the demonic cultivator, died, the restriction activated and they died along with him.

‘…Tsk.’

It was an unpleasant sight that naturally made him frown. Clicking his tongue, he pulled up his spiritual power.

Hum!

After raising wind to gather the spiritual insect corpses into a lump, he utilized the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art to burn them all.

Next, he approached the headless man and took his storage pouch and beast-taming pouch.

‘What would be inside?’

Actually, he did not expect much.

How useful could a demonic cultivator’s items be anyway? It would probably just be to the extent of selling them to replenish high-grade spirit stones.

‘Still, I should check.’

He pushed his Divine Sense into the storage pouch, and as expected of an item used by a Golden Core cultivator, a restriction was set.

Since Jin So-myeong was also a Golden Core, he could dismantle the restriction if he struggled for a few days, but it was troublesome.

Contemplating for a moment, he simply exerted the Secret Realm of the Mind’s divine ability.

【An absorbable space-attribute spiritual object has been discovered. Would you like to absorb it?】

【Consuming 10 units of the Supreme Great Ability can preserve the contents.】

The information the status window gave was somehow strange.

‘It takes only ten?’

He was puzzled because the Supreme Great Ability consumption was too small. At this point, ten was no different from free.

‘When I tried to absorb a Golden Core storage pouch during the Foundation Establishment stage, it took a thousand…’

Pondering the reason, he could soon know.

The Supreme Great Ability consumption was proportional to the difficulty of fulfilling the wish.

It was natural that as his realm rose and his strength increased, the consumption decreased.

‘It is a good thing.’

Without even needing to worry, he exerted the Secret Realm of the Mind’s divine ability.

Ten units of Supreme Great Ability twice. Consuming twenty in total, he absorbed the storage pouch and the beast-taming pouch whole.

He roughly scanned the newly created items in his sub-space, and every single one of them was related to spiritual insects.

‘As expected.’

None of them seemed greatly useful. He could just think that he enlarged his sub-space size and earned high-grade spirit stones.

After scanning the surroundings with Divine Sense to check if there was anything he missed.

Rumble!

Flicking his finger, he poured out red lightning.

With the fire-attribute Five Elements Divine Thunder, he cleanly burned away various traces, including the corpse.

‘Now, let us return to the formation.’

It took about thirty minutes to track and deal with the demonic cultivator wrapped in the cloak.

Although he was worried about the party who would be guarding the Golden Moonbright Grass, he believed they would be fine.

‘Surely they wouldn’t have been breached already.’

Although the Black Cloud Insects were powerful, a Golden Core cultivator who installed a formation and prepared a defensive posture should be able to endure.

Whoosh!

He returned along the path he had flown over in the sky.

Unlike when tracking earlier, because there was no interference from the Black Cloud Insects, he could return in just ten minutes.

However…

‘What is this?’

To express the empty lot where the Golden Moonbright Grass was in a single word.

It was a mess.

The formation was right on the verge of collapsing due to the Black Cloud Insects.

Perhaps because it was half-broken, it did not operate properly. The scenery inside the formation was clearly visible.

Hye-gong, who controlled puppets, was unconscious while bleeding from his abdomen, and Un-bi was pouring fire-attribute spells onto Madame Ryeo who had her back to the Golden Moonbright Grass.

“Ryeo Jeong! Hand over four petals—no, just three, and I will leave immediately. Please step aside!”

As Un-bi swung a crimson rod, hundreds of flame flying daggers poured down like rain.

In the heat hot enough to melt the earth, Madame Ryeo, whose fair skin was flushed red, clenched her teeth.

Exhaling rough breaths, she swung her folding fan and shouted resolutely.

“Absolutely not!”

“Arrgh! It is my share in the first place!”

“Do not talk nonsense! What do you expect if the spiritual herb is damaged by plucking petals while it is transforming into the Golden Moonbright Grass!”

Jin So-myeong, who watched that scene from afar, pressed his temples.

‘Good grief.’

No matter how one looked at it, it was a situation of betrayal.

Frowning as he inspected the situation in detail, he could easily know who the betrayer was.

Un-bi.

This middle-aged man trying to forcibly pluck the Golden Moonbright Grass, which had not even properly transformed yet, was the culprit.

‘…Could it be because of me?’

If the man wrapped in the cloak and Un-bi were a pair. What would be Un-bi’s state of mind right now?

It would probably feel like his blood was drying up.

Would a demonic cultivator possess loyalty?

The moment Jin So-myeong and the demonic cultivator collided, his identity as a betrayer would be exposed, so he must have judged that he had to flee immediately.

However, the ironic point was that even while dying, the demonic cultivator did not mention Un-bi’s name.

It would have been a choice originating from malice, hoping Jin So-myeong would be backstabbed, but in any case, he kept his loyalty.

‘It is truly a mess.’

A sigh escaped him naturally. Honestly, watching such a sight was not very pleasant. But what could be done? The matter had already occurred.

Step, step.

As he approached the formation openly, Black Cloud Insects flew in from all sides.

Just as he sliced them all apart while advancing step by step.

Un-bi, who was pouring an offensive onto Madame Ryeo, faltered. Jerking his head toward this direction, his eyes bulged.

“How are you back already?”

“Ah! Fellow Daoist Jin!”

The reactions of the two were distinctly different.

He ignored the words of Un-bi, who stared at him as if looking at a ghost.

In a calm voice, he spoke to Madame Ryeo who was controlling the formation while guarding the Golden Moonbright Grass.

“Would you please open the formation? I will handle that person.”

Just as Madame Ryeo, whose complexion brightened instantly, nodded her head, Un-bi shouted urgently.

“W-wait! If you open the formation now, Black Cloud Insects will pour inside! If we miss even a single one, the Golden Moonbright Grass will be eaten up!”

Madame Ryeo, who was just manipulating the formation plate, faltered.

Before her frowning and contemplating figure, he pulled up his spiritual power.

Whoosh!

For the first time in real combat, he cast the Wind Transformation Body Force with full strength.

An extensive gale almost comparable to a typhoon shook the canyon.

Hum, hum, hum!

With the strike that poured in half of his spiritual power, all sides shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

The moment Sword Qi also dwelled in the wind that swept the canyon like a natural disaster.

Shatter!

The Black Cloud Insects surrounding the formation exploded at once. The sky that had been dyed pitch black became clean in an instant…

“Is there still a problem?”

Before the absurd divine ability unbelievable for a Golden Core 1st layer, the pupils of Madame Ryeo and Un-bi trembled violently.

“…Madness. Ryeo Jeong, pull yourself together. Do you think a powerhouse like that will let you live?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He will kill everyone here and monopolize the Golden Moonbright Grass. Rather, let us join hands and kill that fellow first.”

For a moment, admiration came out, and he almost clapped.

‘Haha.’

As the saying goes, one only sees what they are. True to a betrayer, he talked nonsense casually.

His gaze met with Madame Ryeo.

Although it was a moment where he felt he should make an excuse, he merely shrugged his shoulders.

Would she believe it even if he said he had no intention of doing such a thing unless antagonized first?

In a situation like now, words were meaningless. Only action was important.

How many seconds had passed?

She, who bit her lips repeatedly, manipulated the formation plate, and the formation guarding the empty lot was opened.

“Foolish wench!”

Shouting at her as if trusting Jin So-myeong was a wrong choice, Un-bi was engulfed in flames.

The Five Elements Escape Art, which was among the fastest movement techniques in the cultivation world. He had cast the Fire Escape Art, one of those techniques.

Whoosh!

Just as he divided into four lines of fire and fled in all directions—east, west, south, and north.

Grind, grind!

A sound like forcing a rough stone to move echoed.

It was the noise made as the grindstone dharma treasure, the Black Binding Wheel, which Jin So-myeong threw into the sky, rotated.

As he activated the dharma treasure obtained from the False Core cultivator Hyeok Cheon-ung, a cobweb-like energy spread from the grindstone.

“Kuh?!”

Un-bi, who froze solid right as he was about to soar, struggled.

Although he pulled up his spiritual power as if struggling and broke free from the restriction, he was a step late.

The moment sword light resembling moonlight flashed in the empty air.

The three soaring flame lines scattered like smoke, and a fountain of blood erupted from the last one.

While frozen for a brief moment bound by the energy emitted by the Black Binding Wheel, he had been struck by Jin So-myeong’s sword.

Thud!

Un-bi, whose upper body was split diagonally, crashed to the ground.

It was no ordinary wound. It was a fatal injury where his meridians were severed strand by strand by Sword Qi.

“S-spare my life.”

As Un-bi, who spat out blood, mumbled with unclear pronunciation, Madame Ryeo, who looked down with complicated eyes, shook her head.

“Why did you do that? It has already been over thirty years since we knew each other.”

“A m-mistake. I lost my mind for a moment, cough! Spare…”

Although he was right on the verge of drawing his last breath, not to mention Jin So-myeong, Madame Ryeo also did not help.

It was obvious that even if they spared the betrayer, he would burn with a desire for revenge rather than gratitude.

His wriggling movements soon stopped completely.

After confirming Un-bi’s death, he picked up his storage pouch and rod-shaped dharma treasure.

Just as he was worrying about how to divide this harvest.

“You should take those, Fellow Daoist Jin.”

“All of this?”

Turning back in puzzlement, Madame Ryeo’s attitude was slightly strange.

Although she was smiling gently, the corners of her eyes trembled minutely, and she flinched her shoulders every time their gazes met.

Signs of tension were clear, and she seemed to be caring about the nonsense Un-bi spoke.

‘Out of fear that I might kill her?’

Inwardly letting out a sigh, he held out the rod-shaped dharma treasure.

“Madame Ryeo must have also struggled dealing with Un-bi, so it is a bit improper for me to take it all alone. You should take this dharma treasure.”

“Ah… thank you.”

Since he had no particular need for a fire-wielding dharma treasure, he did not feel it was a waste.

He asked about the concrete situation to Madame Ryeo who stole glances at him.

“What happened?”

“After Fellow Daoist Jin left, we were blocking the Black Cloud Insects, and he suddenly ambushed us. I barely blocked it, but Fellow Daoist Hye could not endure.”

It was roughly exactly as he had expected.

Un-bi judged that things went wrong after seeing Jin So-myeong’s strength, and tried to flee taking the petals.

However, there was one problem: Jin So-myeong’s strength was several times superior to what Un-bi had predicted.

To the extent that the demonic cultivator died by a single sword without even being able to buy time…

From Un-bi’s perspective, it was a death of grievance.

“Mmm. Let us activate the formation first. The Black Cloud Insects will swarm again soon.”

“Ah, yes.”

Leaving behind her who hurriedly operated the formation.

Jin So-myeong walked over. Approaching the unconscious Hye-gong, he squatted.

‘Is he poisoned?’

Looking at his dark complexion, he took out recovery medicinal pills from his sub-space.

Internal injury, external injury, detoxification. Making all kinds of medicinal pills into powder, he poured them into Hye-gong’s mouth.

‘He is a lucky gentleman.’

The medicinal pills he was feeding him now were high-quality products with almost no side effects.

Although they were quite expensive items, to the wealthy Jin So-myeong, they were nothing special.

“Ugh.”

Seeing his eyelids tremble, he seemed likely to awaken soon.

As he dusted himself off and stood up, he felt the expression of Madame Ryeo, which showed clear signs of tension, relax a level.

“I did well to request help from Fellow Daoist Jin.”

Seeing him treat Hye-gong, she seemed to have judged that he was not someone who would slaughter the party to monopolize the Golden Moonbright Grass.

Buzz!

As he disposed of the Black Cloud Insects that began to swarm, time flowed rapidly.

Around the time the round moon set and the sun rose.

The clear fragrance that filled the canyon quieted down.

Finally, the Golden Moonbright Grass was born!

Staring intently at the flower completely dyed gold, he thought.

‘Having helped this much, wouldn’t she give me a few more petals?’

He hoped Madame Ryeo possessed a sense of tact.

What if she did not?

Mmm… he felt he would be slightly, very disappointed.