Chapter 143: Nascent Soul-Grade Storage Pouch
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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As elder Seomun Jin returned to the Medicine King Sect, his mind grew increasingly complex.
In any case, a Nascent Soul stage expert belonging to the Black Night Palace had died.
Sooner or later, a great commotion would arise centered on the Damun Kingdom, so he could not help but worry about how to cope.
‘I do not know whether this matter will be a gain or a loss for the Medicine King Sect.’
Worry and anxiety, excitement, vague expectations… thoughts did not cease.
As he returned to the sect riding the Rank 3 spiritual beast, the Three-Tailed Bird, the information that the disciples investigated about Jin So-myeong arrived one by one.
‘A rogue cultivator from Red Yang Market. He became the 1st layer of Qi Condensation at fifteen?’
His brow furrowed naturally.
It was because it was hard to believe. If some disciple had presented such a report before his face, he would have shouted at them not to speak nonsense.
Red Yang Market? He felt like he had heard of it in passing, but it was such a backwater that he did not even know its exact location.
Moreover, he started cultivating at fifteen? This information was equally strange.
Was it because it was too early? No, because it was late.
Based on the Medicine King Sect, which was a Nascent Soul-grade power, they picked and chose children with good aptitude to enter as disciples, usually at eight years old, or at the latest before ten years old, to initiate them into cultivation.
Fifteen was truly on the late side.
‘Wait a moment. If he was fifteen roughly fifty years ago… just how old is he now?’
In his late sixties? Early seventies?
He was not even a hundred years old yet, but he had already reached the 8th layer of the Golden Core stage and was looking toward the Nascent Soul stage?
“Crazy.”
His mouth hung wide open. It was shocking enough to make him forget his dignity as a Golden Core Sage.
If the emotion he felt until now was in the realm of surprise, now it was different. It was closer to a wonder mixed with fear originating from something incomprehensible.
Suddenly he doubted if it was a person with the same name, but it was indeed the same person.
One could tell by looking at the portrait. The Jin So-myeong met at the Thousand Corpses Sect and the Jin So-myeong who began cultivating in Red Yang Market were identical in appearance to begin with. Perhaps because his age was so young in the first place, there was almost no change in his looks.
“…Ah.”
Seomun Jin, who had been staring only at the empty air with unfocused eyes, started. Tapping the head of the spiritual beast he was riding, the Three-Tailed Bird, he urged it on.
“You rascal, hurry!”
The Three-Tailed Bird, which glared with dissatisfaction, let out a *cheep* cry and increased its speed.
“Fly faster! Quickly!”
Although he knew it was already going as fast as possible, impatience arose. He had to return to the sect immediately and report what he experienced today.
*
Upon returning to the Medicine King Sect, Seomun Jin flew straight to the meeting hall.
The number of people sitting in the meeting hall was fourteen in total. Despite being a meeting held in a hurry, a fairly large number of people participated.
Among them were Cheong Hwa-ran, who became a Golden Core not long ago, and the Supreme Elder who was a Nascent Soul stage expert.
“Elder Seo. You have finally arrived.”
“Greetings, Supreme Elder.”
The moment Seomun Jin, who paid his respects to the Supreme Elder who had a snow-white beard reaching down to his chest, deep eyes, and a gentle smile, sat in his seat.
Everyone in the meeting hall stared at Seomun Jin.
“Mmh…”
He could not easily open his mouth. It was because the events he saw and experienced at the Thousand Corpses Sect were too shocking.
In the midst of worrying where to start explaining, Cheong Hwa-ran, who possessed radiant beauty, caught his eye, and suddenly something to say came to mind.
“Fellow Daoist Cheong. I think it is fine to slowly reveal that you have become a Golden Core.”
“Yes? Didn’t we agree to hide it for at least twenty more years?”
At the words asked in return while tilting her head slightly as if puzzled, Seomun Jin let out a hollow laugh.
“I can’t believe it either… but a genius greater than you, Fellow Daoist Cheong, has appeared. He entered the 1st layer of Qi Condensation at fifteen and reached the 8th layer of the Golden Core stage in a mere fifty-six years.”
As he spoke, summarizing the contents the disciples had investigated while he returned to the Medicine King Sect, disbelief dwelled in the eyes of the elders.
“So to speak. He is seventy-one now, but at the 8th layer of the Golden Core stage?”
“No, then at just what age did he become a Golden Core? In his fifties? Surely not in his forties?”
Someone even knitted their brows as if telling him not to joke.
“It is hard to believe. Did you investigate properly?”
Actually, it was more surprising that he began cultivating at fifteen rather than his current age. Didn’t it mean it took less than thirty years to become a Golden Core? It was truly a crazy talent.
In the meeting hall that rapidly grew noisy, Seomun Jin, who drew attention with a dry cough, spoke.
“His name is Jin So-myeong, and he is said to be a rogue cultivator from Red Yang Market. There are also words that his spiritual root aptitude is disastrous, but this seems to be incorrect information.”
“Red Yang Market?”
“Wait, come to think of it, Fellow Daoist Cheong was from Red Yang Market. Have you by chance heard the name Jin So-myeong before?”
Cheong Hwa-ran, who was contemplating deeply, shook her head.
“I do not know. If it was someone with such talent, they would have caught attention, so it is a strange thing. Could he have hidden himself at that time?”
“True. If a Qi Condensation rogue cultivator carelessly revealed their talent, there would be more loss than gain.”
Just as everyone nodded.
The Supreme Elder, who had only listened quietly, tapped the table and shifted the topic.
“We understand that this person named Jin So-myeong is an outstanding genius, but is there not a more important matter right now? Let us discuss that first.”
“Correct. We heard a battle broke out between a Golden Core and a Nascent Soul at the Thousand Corpses Sect. It is even said the Golden Core won.”
“Huh. That is even harder-to-believe news.”
“Since there is no way the disciples would speak nonsense as a group, the fact that such a rumor is circulating is at least true.”
“We must find out who on earth that Golden Core is and what kind of background they possess as quickly as possible.”
“Elder Seo. Since you must have seen it directly at the Thousand Corpses Sect, you would know better than us. How much of the rumor is true? Have you identified the Golden Core who confronted the Nascent Soul?”
The gazes of the elders who were clamoring like a marketplace naturally converged on one place, and the mouth of Seomun Jin, who blinked his eyes, opened.
“That guy is that guy.”
“Huh?”
“Jin So-myeong, whom I’ve been speaking of since earlier. That guy is that guy. They are the same person.”
“?”
“……?”
The elders, who wore bewildered expressions, looked at each other. They all had faces that wanted to ask if their ears were normal.
That is to say.
Was Seomun Jin now claiming that the genius of the century who became a Golden Core 8th layer at seventy-one and the Golden Core who killed the Nascent Soul expert were the same person?
…Mmh.
What on earth is he saying?
***
A shocking rumor struck the Southern Province.
Without even a single shred of exaggeration, almost all cultivators talked about that matter as long as they met.
“It’s crazy! To fight and defeat a Nascent Soul stage expert with a Golden Core cultivation!”
“What is his name?”
“Jin, Jin… Ah! They say he uses the surname Jin and the given name So-myeong.”
“I heard he is a sword cultivator, and thanks to that, the market price of flying swords has risen incredibly right now. Every dog and cow is running wild claiming they will become a sword cultivator.”
“He is literally the First Sword of the Golden Core.”
A certain spirit stone mine in the Southern Province.
Beom Chang, who worked as a miner there, paused.
‘Jin So-myeong?’
It was somehow a familiar name. It was a name he had definitely heard somewhere before.
Sidling up to the miners who were talking in a group, he listened attentively.
“They say he is from Red Yang Market, does anyone know where that is?”
“It is a desolate place where the person with the highest realm is Foundation Establishment. It is a miracle in itself that someone from such a countryside rose to the Golden Core…”
Beom Chang, who stood blankly, widened his eyes.
“Jin So-myeong in Red Yang Market? My little brother’s name is Jin So-myeong?”
Roughly fifty years ago.
The memory of the days when Beom Chang stood guard at the Red Yang Sect and tried to use a brat as a slave, only to be counter-targeted, drifted back.
‘Crazy! My little brother became a Golden Core?’
After parting with Jin So-myeong in the Red Cloud Secret Realm, they had not met for a long time. He used to occasionally imagine where he had gone, but to hear news so suddenly like this.
As Beom Chang hung his mouth wide open in surprise, attention naturally converged on him.
“Senior Jin is your little brother?”
“Yes! Didn’t you say he is from Red Yang Market? Then it is certain!”
In an instant, everyone shut their mouths. How long did the bizarre silence maintain…
“Pfft!”
“Bwahahaha!”
The miners, who had only opened their eyes wide, burst into laughter.
“That guy Beom Chang. He always had a gloomy face, but he is quite something. I laughed properly for the first time in a while.”
“I-It is real!”
“My goodness. Little brother? Just who addresses their little brother so respectfully?”
“No, that is.”
“Oh, that guy is feeling wronged? Anyone looking would think it is real. Kehehe.”
“It is real! It is real! Jin So-myeong, So-myeong is my little brother!”
As he shouted while even splattering spit in excitement, the miners knitted their brows.
“Eh-hey. Cut it out, will you? How dare you carelessly call the honorable name of a Golden Core senior.”
“Hey. A joke should stop when everyone is feeling good. Anyway. Perhaps because he grew up sheltered, he has subtly no tact. Tsk tsk.”
“Mr. Beom. Stop speaking nonsense and dig spirit stones.”
The miners, who shook their heads, picked up their pickaxes and left to work.
Leaving behind only Beom Chang, who clenched his fists and trembled…
***
Meanwhile.
Jin So-myeong, who waited for two days with a fluttering heart, absorbed the Nascent Soul-grade storage pouch straight away as soon as 100,000 Supreme Great Abilities recovered.
‘Oh.’
His sub-space, which was originally spacious, grew even vaster. Now, space remained even if he stuffed several entire mountains inside.
What would be contained inside the Nascent Soul-grade storage pouch?
With expectant feelings, he inspected the newly acquired items one by one.
‘The Yin Soul Dream Painting Mirror?’
First of all, the mirror wrapped in gray mist like Saturn’s rings caught his eye. It was the Yin Moon Old Devil’s lifebound Spiritual Treasure.
Because it could not be found after seeping into the empty air during the battle, he thought it had vanished, but for some reason, it lay inside the storage pouch.
‘Why is this here? Did the Yin Moon Old Devil retrieve it to flee immediately after being hit by the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration?’
Although a lifebound Spiritual Treasure could normally be stored inside the body, at the time, the Yin Moon Old Devil was in a state right on the verge of his physical body disintegrating.
Had he been forced to put it in the storage pouch and try to run off? However, because the situation turned bad much faster than expected, it seemed he could not even secure his storage pouch.
While having various thoughts, Jin So-myeong cast the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye and observed the mirror.
‘Mmh?’
Befitting a Rank 4 Spiritual Treasure, the Yin Soul Dream Painting Mirror possessed a faint spirituality.
Since he had killed its owner, the Yin Moon Old Devil, he thought it would resist intensely, but what was this? Far from resisting, it actively responded.
It obeyed as if Jin So-myeong were its original owner. Even though he lacked spiritual power since he was still a Golden Core, it followed so well that he could use it if he forced it.
‘Just what kind of lifebound Spiritual Treasure is like this?’
Although it would be of great help in battle since it was a Rank 4 Spiritual Treasure, it felt uneasy. Pondering whether to use it or not, he simply put it in a corner of his sub-space.
There was one more Rank 4 Spiritual Treasure that the Yin Moon Old Devil possessed.
The Chaotic Night Shattered Melody Sword.
It was a short sword that, once spiritual power was injected and an enemy was designated, would tear and rip the enemy apart, even teleporting on its own.
Certainly, seeing that he had even this kind of Spiritual Treasure, it was clear the Yin Moon Old Devil died before he could even show all of his proper strength.
“Limitless. Come out for a moment.”
Limitless, who had been sleeping in the spiritual herb field of the Secret Realm of the Mind, popped out, but the fellow who was usually round and chubby was hanging loosely, looking extremely tired.
‘…It looks like a shriveled cotton candy.’
Anyway, it seemed the fierce battle with the Yin Moon Old Devil had placed a burden on the fellow, who was a Rank 3 magic treasure.
Out of a feeling of apology, he condensed Sword Astral to give as food, and it happily took and ate it.
*Whirrr!*
Watching with gratification the fellow rolling around on the floor as if its mood had improved, he presented the Chaotic Night Shattered Melody Sword.
“This is a Rank 4 Spiritual Treasure, can you absorb it?”
!?
Limitless, who had been hanging loosely, leaped on the spot. It returned to a plump cotton candy, like a pufferfish that met an enemy and inflated its body.
Limitless, who hovered here and there around the short sword, unexpectedly went to the Secret Realm of the Mind and returned, even bringing along the old sword shard given before to poke and prod at the short sword.
Limitless itself looked very serious, but watching from the side, the fellow resembling downy feathers bouncing around somehow made him want to laugh.
Clearing his throat softly, he asked again.
“How is it?”
*Whir, whir!*
A feeling of ‘it seems difficult but I will give it a try’?
Nodding his head, he moved the Chaotic Night Shattered Melody Sword to Limitless’s nest in the spiritual herb field.
‘Limitless might reach Rank 4 even before me.’
Lettting out a soft chuckle, he stepped out of the Secret Realm of the Mind and continued organizing his harvest.
As expected of a Nascent Soul stage expert, numerous treasures still remained in the Yin Moon Old Devil’s storage pouch.
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