Chapter 199: Hong Seol’s Childhood

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read more at Nineheavens.org
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***

Jin So-myeong, who returned to the mist filled with starlight, groaned.

‘Is it Hong Seol’s childhood?’

Tracing back his memories, Hong Seol’s pupils were indeed red.

He knew not whether it was a coincidence, but when he used the Supreme Great Ability, a memory related to Hong Seol appeared.

‘It seems she was not of ordinary birth, at least…’

For a newborn baby not to freeze to death in midwinter, anyone would see it as a bizarre thing.

After sorting out the information by reflecting on the scene he had just witnessed, he consumed the Supreme Great Ability. Wishing to meet Hong Seol, he reached out his hand toward another starlight.

***

There are not only cultivators in this world.

People also lived in regions where spiritual Qi was sparse, making normal cultivation impossible.

One of the countless families living in that place that cultivators called the secular world and kept away from.

There was a certain family called the Hong Clan, and one day, their family members increased.

This was because the patriarch and his daughter had picked up some newborn baby.

At the anomaly that occurred in their monotonous daily life, the attention of the entire household was focused.

“No, how can a person’s pupils be red?”

Not being ordinary, being different from others, was bound to be rejected.

Everyone frowned and shunned it.

“…But it is somewhat cute.”

“The child is mature. She does not even cry much.”

Only at first, that is.

“Is she perhaps mute?”

“No, she is not! If you hug her like this…”

“Bwaa!”

“Look! She likes it, right?”

“Ahem! Step aside for a moment. Let me hold her too.”

The subtle shunning did not last long.

This was because from the day they brought that newborn baby who did not even have a name yet, the clan prospered to a fascinating degree.

Everything they did went well, and worries and anxieties were naturally resolved.

Could she really be a bringer of good fortune?

At that marvelous change, even the patriarch, Hong Ga-wi, who had said he would send the baby to another family once winter passed, changed his mind.

“Baby. Your name is Hong Seol.”

He went as far as officially bestowing the family name and accepting her as his adopted daughter…

***

A month had already passed since Jin So-myeong arrived in the True Realm of Illusory Dreams.

During that time, he had inspected a total of twelve starlights, of which five were memories related to Hong Seol.

‘Strange.’

Knowing Hong Seol’s childhood, a doubt naturally arose.

This was because no matter how he looked, the Hong Clan was a family with no ties to the cultivation world.

At first, he wondered if they were related to the famous Hong Family Clan of the Middle Province, but that was not the case either.

They merely shared the same family name. They were ordinary people who knew nothing of cultivation.

In this situation, how did Hong Seol become a cultivator?

‘For now, let us keep searching.’

Leaving his curiosity behind, he consumed the Supreme Great Ability.

Wishing to meet Hong Seol, he made contact with the starlight, and the world overturned once more.

“Seol. Here, copy me. Mommy!”

“…”

“Huh? I told you to call me Mommy. Hurry.”

As Hong So-wol, who hugged Hong Seol who had just turned five like a doll, pestered her, a sigh leaked out.

“No.”

When Hong So-wol was shocked by the refusal that was firm enough to be felt as cold, Hong Seol avoided her gaze.

“Then Sister cannot get married.”

“…I am not getting married? I will live with our Seol for the rest of my life.”

“Dad will dislike it. And Sister is Dad’s daughter. If I call Sister Mommy, what does that make Dad?”

“Uh, mhm.”

Hong So-wol, who was momentarily at a loss for words, only gaped her mouth.

She rolled her eyes here and there, contemplating for a long time, but ultimately failed to find a proper answer, so she simply hugged Hong Seol tightly and shouted.

“Oh! What is a tiny kid like you calculating so much! Just call me Mommy!”

“No.”

“How ungrateful! Every time you cried loudly looking for Mommy, I hugged you! Do you not even remember that?”

“…Liar. I do not cry.”

“You did cry? And every single day at that. You cried so much I could not even sleep properly.”

“I said I did not cry!”

Hong Seol, who was quietly held, struggled frantically and escaped from her arms.

“Huh? Where are you going!”

Escaping from the hands that tried to grab her, she ran to the training ground in the clan’s backyard.

“Oh, has our bringer of good fortune come to see the sword again?”

“Hello. Uncle Jang.”

At the polite bow, the guarding warrior laughed and unbuckled the scabbard at his waist.

To prevent the sword from being drawn even by mistake, he handed it over after tightly tying the scabbard and the sword together, and a bright smile settled on the corner of Hong Seol’s previously expressionless mouth.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yes!”

The guarding warrior found it fascinating to see her grinning while hugging a longsword larger than her own body.

“My, my. You look pretty like some princess residing in a palace, so I do not know why you love swords that much.”

“I do not know either. I just like it.”

Hong Seol had loved swords to a bizarre degree since childhood.

To the extent that she would stare only at the sword all day long if no one stopped her.

“It is a secret from the Patriarch, okay? The Patriarch does not really like you holding a sword.”

“Do not worry.”

“What is a secret?”

“Gasp.”

Startled, Hong Seol hid the sword behind her back, and the patriarch, Hong Ga-wi, who appeared from somewhere, glared at the guarding warrior.

“You. What will you do if our Seol says she will become a martial artist because of this?”

“It is not bad to learn at least self-defense… Ahem, no.”

The guarding warrior, who smiled awkwardly under the stinging gaze, was actually not that worried.

This was merely a daily routine repeated every single day.

Now, Hong Ga-wi, who was Hong Seol’s adopted father and patriarch, would show disapproval but eventually give in.

Because bending Hong Seol’s stubbornness was a truly difficult thing to do.

It certainly should have been so, but…

Every thing was perfect that day.

Disaster descended from the sky.

A whitish gray vortex. Appearing along with dark clouds, it swallowed all sound.

First of all, the focus in the eyes of the patriarch, who had been solemnly scolding while forcibly suppressing the laughter that kept trying to burst out, vanished.

He collapsed heavily like a doll with cut strings and could not stand up.

Other people were no exception.

The warrior who lent the sword to Hong Seol, Hong So-wol who seriously contemplated whether she should get married before it was too late…

Everyone in the clan.

No, the tens of millions living in the city all collapsed. In a single moment.

In the sky of the city enveloped in silence, a black-robed man with pale skin appeared.

Looking down at the city that had become a giant grave, he bowed politely toward the gray whirlwind.

“How is it? Is it to your taste?”

“Far from enough. The quality of the souls is too low. Are they not all at a level that cannot even reach Rank 1?”

“Sigh. I came just in case, but indeed it does not work.”

As the black-robed man muttered in regret, a cold voice erupted from the gray whirlwind that squirmed like a living creature.

“Even if I absorb billions of such souls, I cannot recover my strength.”

“Mmm…”

“Just guide me to a city where cultivators gather. If I swallow them all, reclaiming my strength will be quick.”

“Absolutely not! If we absorb cultivators’ souls indiscriminately, all sorts of powers will come looking for us! In fact, swallowing the souls of mortals today was also overreaching.”

“Hmph! Just what do you take this body, a member of the Soul-Absorbing Race, for? No matter how many of the human race flock here, they are no match for me. I just need to swallow them whole.”

“Groan.”

“Throw away useless worries. Do you not wish to become a Soul Formation cultivator?”

“…Of course I wish to.”

“I told you that only when I recover my strength can I ascend to the Upper Realm. In fact, your aptitude is quite decent. If you go to the Upper Realm where cultivation resources overflow, you can easily ascend to the Soul Formation stage.”

At the sweet whisper spat by the gray whirlwind, the black-robed man, who licked his dry lips, paused.

Something moved in the city that had grown cold and silent. Amidst everyone collapsed, a kid about five years old was stumbling to stand up.

The child who stood up with difficulty, Hong Seol’s eyes went wide.

“Dad? Uncle Jang?”

After shaking her collapsed adopted father and the guarding warrior several times, she was out of her mind.

Neither of them was breathing…

“Strange. How is she alive?”

As the black-robed man descending from the sky stared as if appraising an interesting object, the gaze of Hong Seol, who was blankly slumped, turned fierce.

She realized instinctively who the culprit of this situation was.

Picking up the sword left by the deceased guarding warrior, she tried to untie the thread bound to prevent the sword from being drawn.

However, there was no way a thread tightly bound by a robust adult man would untie so easily.

She struggled for a long time. Amidst the gazes staring as if finding it absurd.

How much time had passed?

With her hands bloody from broken nails, she eventually untied the thread.

Scree…!

At the sight of her pointing the sword that she could not even hold properly while faltering, the black-robed man muttered as if dumbfounded.

“Impudent thing. How dare a mortal.”

Snorting as if looking at a trivial creature, he asked politely toward the gray whirlwind.

“How about this kid? Since she resisted Senior’s soul-absorbing divine ability, she does not seem to be an ordinary human.”

“She does not look like much… I do not know. I will know once I swallow her.”

Just as an ominous energy was about to leak from the gray whirlwind shimmering in the empty air.

“Wretched bugs. You keep crawling out no matter how many times you are killed.”

“…!”

An old man who appeared tearing through the dark clouds glared at the black-robed man and the gray whirlwind.

“The Sacred City?”

He froze stiffly like a rat facing a predator.

The black-robed man, who had been trembling and sweating cold, suddenly snapped to his senses and raised his spiritual power without warning.

To fight?

It was not. Resolutely, without a single hesitation, he abandoned the gray whirlwind and fled.

However…

the moment the old man from the Sacred City extended his index finger.

“Urgh!”

The black-robed man who fled even while teleporting crashed into the ground. He was buried in the earth as if crushed by Mount Tai, unable to budge.

“S-spare me… Groan!”

The black-robed man who had shown off his might by massacring mortals who were not even cultivators was subdued with a single gesture.

The arrogantly acting gray whirlwind was also no exception.

“Kuaaaaakh!”

It tried to do something while rotating fiercely, but was crushed by the massive pressure.

After vomiting a scream as if in pain, it was soon compressed into a speck-sized dot and lost its presence.

The old man, who subdued the beasts with a single move and put them into his Beast-Taming Pouch, was about to leave just like that when he paused.

“Dad…! Sister! Mommy!”

Once the enemy vanished, Hong Seol, who slumped down, cried loudly for a long time, and then roamed the entire house to search for a living person.

She rummaged through every corner of the house, falling countless times and becoming covered in dirt, but there was not a single survivor.

“…”

The old man, who watched the scene silently, sighed. Because he already knew there were no survivors.

In the end, just as Hong Seol, realizing everyone had died, slumped down as if collapsing.

The old man, who was hesitating about something, saw Hong Seol’s broken nails and made up his mind.

“Child. Will you come with me?”

Only after a long time did Hong Seol, who only sniffled while crouching, look up at the old man with swollen eyes.

“Is Grandfather an immortal?”

“…Yes. And you can also become an immortal. It would have been impossible if you lacked a Spiritual Root, but fortunately, you have the qualification to walk the path of immortality.”

“If I become an immortal, can I revive Dad, Mommy, Sister… our family?”

At the unexpected question, the old man who could not readily answer spoke.

“Well. Honestly, I do not know either. However, I have heard stories that once one reaches the end of the sky, they become an omnipotent being who can achieve anything.”

“Then I will do it. An immortal.”

The old man, who made graves for the family members according to Hong Seol’s request, took out a flying carriage, and as the flying carriage carrying the two departed, the city became a desolate space with not a single survivor remaining…

***

Returning to the True Realm of Illusory Dreams before he knew it, Jin So-myeong fell silent. His mind was complex because there was too much unexpected information.

Was Hong Seol, who was currently pursued by the Sacred City, formerly belonging to the Sacred City?

‘I do not know how they fell out.’

If Hong Seol was from the Sacred City, Jin So-myeong, who had learned Sword Qi from her, was also related to the Sacred City.

‘Come to think of it, I do not know much about the Sacred City.’

It was because they were a power with many secrets, of whom nothing was properly known in the first place.

Usually, the top priority of a power gathered by cultivators was naturally the Great Dao of Longevity. But could that also be true for the Sacred City?

It was ambiguous.

To say cultivation was their purpose, it felt like they were not properly utilizing their status as the ruler of the Middle Province.

‘There would truly be countless ways to grow their power larger and grander.’

The Sacred City was like… a manager wishing to maintain the status quo.

Although it was not yet certain, they at least did not seem like an extremely atrocious power. Seeing that they punished the foreign race that massacred mortals.

‘I am curious, but…’

Coolly speaking, it was not important enough to find out in a hurry.

He set aside his doubts about the Sacred City and focused on finding Hong Seol.

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