Chapter 198: The Red-Eyed Baby

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read more at Nineheavens.org
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***

Jin So-myeong, who was sitting on a damp pile of straw, blinked his eyes.

‘Here…?’

His head felt heavy as if it contained stone. Like waking up from sleep.

A musty smell of mold stung the tip of his nose.

Frowning as he inspected his surroundings, he saw a dilapidated barn full of cobwebs.

For some reason, in the familiar location, his mind grew dazed once more.

‘What was I doing just now…?’

His head throbbed.

As he forced his stiff mind to trace back, he faintly recalled the memory of flailing in a space filled with starlight.

‘A dog’s dream. Since I am not an immortal, how could I fly in the sky?’

Jin So-myeong, who was letting out a hollow laugh in absurdity, paused.

No, wait…

‘Was my tone of voice originally like this?’

At a strange sense of discrepancy, he looked down at his palms, and they were less than half of their normal size.

He was as small as a ten-year-old child.

‘Normal? By what standard is it normal? I am originally twelve years old.’

Had the size of his palms not always been like this? It was only natural for a young child’s stature to be small.

Everything was as usual. Yet what was bothering him so much since earlier?

Just as he pressed his forehead repeatedly at the discrepancy that would not easily vanish.

“You punk! When did the sun rise that you are still slacking off!”

A middle-aged man of robust build, who appeared huffing, glared at him.

‘Ah.’

A harsh-looking face, sunburned and filled with gray hair.

Looking at the middle-aged man who had aged rapidly due to hard farm work, his mind cleared up.

‘It was a dream.’

Long ago, before he awakened his past life.

The days when he was sold to parents whose faces he could not even remember now and worked as a serf arose fresh in his mind.

Of course, he did not work as a serf for long.

Because he had run away to Red Yang Market as soon as he awakened his past life.

‘It has been a long time since I saw this barn too.’

It was a truly dilapidated place. The door was half-shattered, letting the wind blow right in.

Sleeping a twelve-year-old child in such a place, thinking about it now, was truly too much.

“I told you to get out quickly! Do you need to get beaten to snap out of it!”

He urged him while banging on the wall in a threatening manner, but of course it did not work. Since he already realized it was a dream, what was there to fear?

“Damn it! I bought him because they said he was submissive, but he is a complete headache!”

“Haha.”

When Jin So-myeong, who listened quietly, let out a chuckle, the shouting man glared and pointed a finger at him.

“Y-you laugh? You…! You rotten bastard! Do you find me funny!”

Perhaps his temper had flared up properly, as he could not even speak straight.

The man, who gasped roughly with a flushed face, pulled out a whip. It was a thick whip crafted for taming livestock.

Crack!

He approached with heavy thuds while swinging the whip in the air as if to scare him, but only a sigh came out.

With Jin So-myeong’s current cultivation realm, what threat would an ordinary person who was not even at the Qi Condensation stage pose?

“Look here. I know you spent a fairly large fortune to buy me, but even so, is it right to beat a child?”

“What…?”

The man who approached saying he would fix his attitude properly was flustered.

Because no matter how he looked at it, it was not a tone that could come from a twelve-year-old child.

Did he feel uneasy at the bizarre situation? The hesitating man snorted and walked over with large strides.

Jin So-myeong, who stared at the raised whip, clicked his tongue.

He was about to cast a light spell to discipline him moderately, but paused.

‘What is wrong with my spiritual power?’

His dantian was empty. Although it was recovering little by little, in terms of quantity, it was only at the Qi Condensation level.

Moreover, looking now, he had almost no Divine Sense and his body was heavy.

The immense physical strength he had polished as a Rank 4 body cultivator had also vanished.

While watching the whip flying through empty air, he quickly checked his body’s condition.

Everything he had built up over a hundred years of arduous cultivation had vanished in vain. It felt as if he had returned to a twelve-year-old kid.

Except for just one thing: the Supreme Great Ability.

The golden orb residing deep within his soul. The tens of millions of pieces of omnipotence were intact, completely unaffected.

‘Fortunately. Still, there is no need to write the Supreme Great Ability right now.’

The weak spiritual power that was filling little by little. Although it was only at the Qi Condensation level, this was enough.

Whoosh!

The moment a gust of breeze raised by spiritual power traversed the empty air.

The whip turned to dust.

“Huh…?”

The complexion of the man, who wore a dumbfounded expression due to not perceiving the situation momentarily, turned pale belatedly.

“Heh! A-an immortal?”

Thud!

Tumbling onto his buttocks, he retreated in stutters. He could not even stand up properly and desperately crawled on the ground to escape.

“Hey. What was your name?”

“…Pardon? J-Jo Man-bok, sir. P-please, spare my life.”

“I see.”

Leaving behind Jo Man-bok who was so terrified that he had even pissed himself, he walked out of the barn.

Walking along the quiet country road, a flatland filled with paddy fields unfolded, and it was a serene landscape that was pleasant to look at.

Walking blindly as his heart pleased, he sat on a suitable rock.

‘Cultivation is… possible.’

He tried operating the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art, which had become as familiar as breathing through long cultivation, and it was effective.

Although the speed was slow due to the sparse surrounding spiritual Qi, spiritual power accumulated in his dantian.

This meant he could cultivate even in a dream.

About the time he verified one by one whether the information he had gathered while investigating the True Realm of Illusory Dreams was real.

His spiritual power, which had only been at the Qi Condensation level, broke through Foundation Establishment before he knew it and reached the Golden Core grade.

As time flowed, his original realm returned rapidly.

“Am I about to wake up from the dream…?”

Jin So-myeong, who was muttering, kicked up a pebble rolling on the ground and caught it.

After playing with the pebble that felt as vivid as reality, he put it into his sub-space.

To check if he could carry it outside the dream.

Chirp, chirp…

He turned his gaze at the sudden sound of sparrows.

Late dawn or morning. Just as he gazed at the countryside landscape where grass insects chirped.

The vicinity of the horizon blurred like a haze. It felt as if the entire world was collapsing from the outside.

How much time had passed?

The moment he realized that his spiritual power and Divine Sense, which had vanished, had fully returned, he returned to the mist filled with starlight of the True Realm of Illusory Dreams.

From the moment he recognized it was a dream, his mind grew clearer, and he eventually woke up completely.

As soon as he came out, he checked his sub-space.

He searched to see if the pebble he had packed inside the dream was there, but unfortunately, it was not visible. It seemed difficult to carry objects inside a dream out.

‘I can absorb spiritual Qi to cultivate, but objects are not allowed…? I do not know what the exact standard is.’

Jin So-myeong, who was organizing the information he found, extended his hand.

The moment he chose one of the numerous starlights that caught his eye and made contact.

This time, a bustling market unfolded before his eyes.

Looking at a scene where some Qi Condensation cultivator set up a stall and was doing business, he was puzzled.

‘Who is it?’

No matter how many times he looked at it, he did not know who it was. He searched his memories thoroughly, but it was truly a person he saw for the first time.

Could it be someone he had passed by by chance?

Jin So-myeong, who emerged from the memory that ended with someone nameless doing business earnestly, frowned.

‘So it is like this. Because memories unrelated to me are also mixed in, the True Realm of Illusory Dreams is unpopular.’

If every memory he contacted overflowed with usefulness, the True Realm of Illusory Dreams would not have been abandoned like this.

They would have managed it directly from the Sacred City no matter what price they paid.

Jin So-myeong, who clicked his tongue, reached out to a starlight that happened to graze past him.

The scene unfolding this time was…

‘Sky Island?’

A scene of an island as large as a continent flying over the sea followed.

“They say a Rank 3 high-grade spiritual vein has appeared in the Source Light Sea.”

“Oh, let us go quickly. Fortunately, as the accumulated spirit stones were just about to run out.”

Familiar faces, the Golden Core Sages he had met while staying on Sky Island, were visible.

Under the lead of those who chatted amicably, Sky Island veered. It seemed they intended to fly toward the Source Light Sea where the spiritual vein was discovered.

‘They have been doing well.’

Even though they lived in a bizarre sea where spiritual veins vanished and appeared, everyone’s expressions were bright.

Come to think of it, Sky Island was a pleasant place to live, except for the endless war with demonic beasts.

‘The relationship between seniors and juniors was also good.’

However, thinking about it now, Sky Island was certainly a region lacking in cultivation resources.

To even go to war with demonic beasts just to occupy a Rank 3 spiritual vein, which could be seen not infrequently in the Middle Province…

It was slightly pitiful, but the irony was that the expressions of the cultivators living on Sky Island were bright.

The Sky Island cultivators were living quite well in their own way, uniting against the demonic beasts.

‘People unite well when there is an external enemy.’

Was that a characteristic unique to humans, or a common trait of living creatures?

While contemplating the thought that suddenly came to mind, the memory cut off before he knew it.

‘Hmm…’

Returning to the True Realm of Illusory Dreams and looking at the halo of light spread out like the Milky Way, he judged that he could not continue like this.

Searching for Hong Seol in such a haphazard manner was too inefficient.

‘Should I rather try using the Supreme Great Ability?’

Would it not be effective if he asked it to guide him to a starlight related to Hong Seol?

Having thought of it, he tried it.

The moment he made a wish by consuming ten million Supreme Great Ability.

“…”

Nothing happened. Frowning as he waited for a change for a long time.

‘Despite having used ten million?’

Exhaling a sigh of disappointment, Jin So-myeong chose one of the starlights scattered around.

Just as he reached out his hand while advancing as if swimming in the deep sea.

Pure white radiance dyed the world.

***

A ruin where everything was collapsed here and there and not a single building was intact.

In that place so quiet that it would not be strange if a ghost appeared, a group of about a dozen people who built a column centered around a large carriage appeared.

It looked like a grand procession of a prestigious family at a glance.

The carriage was filled with luxurious decorations, and warriors riding sleek horses were guarding the surroundings.

“So-wol. The air is cold. Close the window quickly before you catch a cold.”

“Just a little longer.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I am bored just staying still inside the carriage.”

Could she be about thirteen?

The eyes of the youthful girl, who pulled back the leather-lined window to inspect the outside, widened.

“Wait! Everyone stop! Hurry!”

She shouted urgently as if she had discovered something, and the man beside her looked at her in puzzle.

“Why is that suddenly?”

“Dad, look over there! That small thing wrapped in a bundle! It is moving!”

“Uh-huh. So-wol, you are all grown up now too. How many times have I said you should call me Father instead of Dad…”

“Oh, please. Hurry!”

The man, who chuckled at the girl’s pestering, was startled when he inspected the place her finger was pointing.

Because he realized the true identity of the round object wrapped in a bundle.

“For a newborn baby to survive in such severe winter cold…?”

“A baby?”

“W-wait!”

There was no time to stop her. So-wol, who kicked open the carriage and ran out, picked up the baby in the bundle.

Worrying if it might have frozen to death, she hurriedly put it in her arms and inspected it…

“Huh?”

Although it was clearly midwinter, the surroundings of the baby were as warm as spring. An energy as cozy as sunlight was hovering around the baby.

Just as her eyes went wide in surprise at the strange event she had never even imagined.

“You child! How can you act so rashly? The world is so harsh!”

“Ah… I am sorry.”

The father, who followed in a hurry along with the guards, stopped just as he was about to give her a proper scolding.

This was because his gaze was stolen involuntarily by the baby So-wol held.

“Red pupils…? How ominous.”

“Ominous? It is just pretty.”

The baby, whose head was smaller than a fist, did not even cry.

Staring blankly at So-wol with clear eyes, it opened its toothless mouth wide.

As if searching for something, the tiny hand flailing in empty air grabbed So-wol’s pinky finger.

“Ah…”

At that small warmth. So-wol, who stared blankly at the baby, spoke.

“Father. Let us take and raise it.”

“What? No way. No matter how you look, it is filled with strange things. Absolutely not!”

The man wanted to just leave, feeling anxious, but So-wol was persistent.

“Then what? Surely, you do not mean to leave a baby who cannot even speak behind on such a cold day? How could you do that!”

“Groan…”

“Dad! Please. Yes?”

The man sighed as she pestered him by even acting cute, which she did not normally do.

Actually, the daughter’s cute act was one thing, but he could absolutely not turn away from the gaze of the baby who was grinning.

“Sigh… Give it to me.”

He was startled when he carefully took the baby wrapped in the bundle. Despite the weather being cold enough for his breath to fog, the surroundings of the baby were filled with warmth.

His fingertips trembled finely at the extraordinary phenomenon.

‘How can this be? Could it be the child of an immortal that I have only heard of in legends?’

He, who could not even close his mouth in surprise, whispered to the guarding warrior beside him.

“Check if there is anyone nearby.”

“Yes.”

The guard who returned from searching shook his head.

“There is no one.”

The man, who sighed while contemplating with furrowed brows, gave his daughter a firm warning.

“Do not grow too attached. Once this winter passes, I will find a suitable family and send it away as an adopted daughter.”

So-wol pouted her lips as if dissatisfied, but since she was satisfied with taking it for now, she did not argue.

In that way, holding the baby with red pupils, they left the ruins and headed somewhere.

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