Chapter 227

“Demonic things.”

Taoist Bok-cheon frowned.

“What Flower Snake Divine Woman carries around is a dead child. She carries around a wrapped dead child to bewitch people.”

The Qingcheng sect disciples were shocked.

“Oh my, what mean uncles. Mommy just came to see our baby’s godmother.”

“I told you to get lost…”

A chilling killing intent emanated from Taoist Bok-cheon.

Waaah! Waaah…!

The sound of a startled child crying. No matter how much the Qingcheng sect disciples examined Flower Snake Divine Woman, they couldn’t tell at all that she was using ventriloquism.

“Scram!”

When Taoist Bok-cheon shouted with internal energy, the child’s crying was drowned out and became inaudible.

Flower Snake Divine Woman glared at Taoist Bok-cheon as if he was being too much.

“So damn nitpicky, really.”

“This is not a place for things like you to enter and leave as you please, so get lost right now.”

Remnant Wind Guest spat.

“Kaak! Did the Primordial Heavenly Worthy say to choose people when attaining enlightenment?”

“How dare these evil things mention the Heavenly Worthy!”

Taoist Bok-cheon’s eyebrows rose even more fiercely.

Human Demon Gam Chung spoke while stroking his beard with narrow, slit-like eyes.

“Well, let’s leave it at this for today. We only came to give a light greeting. We’ll come again tomorrow.”

“Don’t come.”

“We’ll keep coming until we can confirm that Fairy Maiden is well.”

“The enchantress is very well. We’ll treat her poison and send her out soon.”

“There’s an old saying not to trust the words of people borrowing money at gambling houses and the words of Qingcheng sect Taoists. To just believe those words and turn back after coming such a long distance…”

Indeed, coming this far while Sichuan’s Three Rivers were watching with bright eyes would not have been an easy task for Evil Sect members.

“I acknowledge your sincerity in coming this far. But don’t come again. If you come next time, you die.”

Human Demon Gam Chung smiled with his narrow eyes.

“We’ll have to see about that. Tomorrow it won’t be just us three. We were just the closest so we came quickly…”

Taoist Bok-cheon felt something strange from their manner of speaking.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong was receiving protection here. She was completely cut off from the outside with no means of communication.

But how did they know to find this place!

Moreover, this wasn’t the end?

Remnant Wind Guest thumped his chest.

“We are all lives saved by Wishful Fairy Maiden. For Fairy Maiden’s sake, even our lives aren’t precious. And there are unexpectedly many such people, more than the Taoist thinks.”

“These things…”

But as if mocking Taoist Bok-cheon, the three people went down the mountain.

The Qingcheng sect disciples looked at Taoist Bok-cheon with worried faces.

“Master Uncle…”

Taoist Bok-cheon’s face was rigidly hardened.

The direction the martial world was moving seemed very suspicious.

Taoist Bok-cheon thought this might be related to Jin Ja-gang. Recently, he had even caused a major incident at the Tang family.

But as he had worried, just the day after Jin Ja-gang returned, such an incident occurred at the Qingcheng sect!

* * *

Dan Ryeong-gyeong was able to stay alone in a hermitage on the peak behind the compound with the Qingcheng sect’s help.

The hermitage was set up in a natural cave with minimal furnishings so she could focus solely on cultivation. They had even provided jars containing Fasting Pills and drinking water.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong sat in lotus position inside the hermitage, preparing for breathing exercises. Because the poison had penetrated so deeply into her qi and blood, it took a full day just to prepare for taking the antidote.

But suddenly Dan Ryeong-gyeong opened her eyes.

The hermitage that the Qingcheng sect had arranged to care for.

There was a human presence in front of this hermitage.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong spoke from inside the hermitage.

“You’ve come.”

Surprisingly, the sound of someone clearing their throat “ahem ahem” came from outside.

“Am I disturbing you?”

But for being a disturbance, it was exquisitely after all the dangerous periods had passed.

It was just before finishing the breathing exercises and taking the antidote. He already knew and had come.

“Please come in for a moment.”

“Excuse me.”

The one who entered the hermitage was none other than Venerable Woo-am.

Despite being sixty years old, he had smooth skin and even his beard was still half black.

Venerable Woo-am entered the hermitage with a red cloth tied over his eyes and leaning on a staff. Dan Ryeong-gyeong also stood up and properly greeted Venerable Woo-am with courtesy.

“I am very grateful that the Qingcheng sect has been so considerate of me.”

Venerable Woo-am smiled and answered.

“Could you think of it not as consideration from the sect called Qingcheng, but as consideration from an old friend and individual?”

“I didn’t expect you to come personally.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s tone was calm and quiet.

“Heh heh.”

Venerable Woo-am laughed as if embarrassed.

“At this age, I’m still not shameless enough, so I came secretly on foot. It’s truly embarrassing.”

“You were always like that before, Venerable. Perhaps coming here was not a choice of your own will either.”

Venerable Woo-am scratched his head.

“Primordial Heavenly Worthy. You know well. If Taoist Bok-cheon hadn’t pushed my back, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to come until you left.”

Pity swirled in Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s eyes as she looked at Venerable Woo-am.

“If I had known I’d see you, I would have dressed up a bit.”

“What does it matter when I can’t see anyway?”

“I’ve aged a lot too.”

“The you I remember is still the flower-like appearance of an eighteen-year-old maiden, so don’t even think of describing a wrinkled face with words. I’ll remember only that appearance until I ascend to immortality.”

For the highest elder of the Taoist sect Qingcheng, it was informal and friendly speech.

However, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward, with some disparity from the tone.

Venerable Woo-am asked to change the atmosphere.

“I heard the story. That you lost an arm. Is your body alright?”

“If I were alright, I wouldn’t be here.”

“I meant to ask if it doesn’t hurt.”

“It hurts, but perhaps this too is the result of predetermined fate.”

“To think you were harmed by Silent Dragon, the adopted son of Golden Sword Heavenly Blade.”

Venerable Woo-am let out a small sigh.

“At times like this, I think it’s truly fortunate that I can’t see.”

After pausing briefly, Venerable Woo-am said.

“Because I don’t have to see your painful appearance.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s gaze darkened.

“You were always like that, Venerable. Though both darkness and light belong to the world, you tried not to see the darkness. Whether an arm is cut off or both legs are severed making one a cripple, all of that is me, my appearance.”

There were even some thorns in Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s words.

“It’s not that I dislike seeing darkness, I just dislike seeing you in pain. Because my heart hurts too much.”

“So you self-harmed to avoid seeing the world at all?”

Venerable Woo-am didn’t answer.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong pressed Venerable Woo-am with a fierce tone.

“What about the countless disciples of the Qingcheng sect who look up to you, and you self-harmed! Did you think I would like that? Did you think I would praise you?”

Venerable Woo-am answered gloomily.

“Everything you say is right. I’m actually someone unqualified to be the Qingcheng sect’s leader.”

“Why do you say such frustrating things again! That’s not what I mean!”

Silence flowed in the hermitage for a while.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong let out a long breath.

“I’m sorry for raising my voice. When I heard that you had self-harmed and lost both eyes, my heart also hurt very much. I didn’t know I had caused such great pain to you, Venerable.”

Only then did Venerable Woo-am regain a slight smile.

“Don’t worry about it. Though it was youthful rashness, my feelings toward you were always the same. But back then, I really couldn’t stand the sight of the world.”

“What a person you are, really…”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong sighed again.

“I see. You were always the same, Venerable. Whether in difficult or sad times, you always stayed by my side with a smile. So I think I didn’t appreciate your kindness and behaved very impertinently. I think I should apologize for that even now.”

Venerable Woo-am scratched his head again.

“It’s all in the past.”

“It’s you, Venerable, who can’t forget the affairs of youth and came to find me now.”

“Well…”

Venerable Woo-am thought for a moment, then said.

“Today some Evil Sect members came asking to see Ryeong-ryeong.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong shook her head.

“Please don’t call me by that name.”

Ryeong-ryeong was Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s childhood name and pet name from her youth.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ll leave. I can’t cause any more trouble for the Qingcheng sect.”

“I won’t allow it.”

“I wish to leave of my own will.”

“You’ve taken the antidote and opened all your body’s qi and blood to expel the poison. If you move now, it will become irreversible.”

“Whether I leave or die like this is my decision, so please don’t interfere anymore.”

“Thirty years ago I retreated at those words, but not now. And if you leave like this and die as a stranger, we too will be in a difficult position.”

“Are you trying to deceive me?”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong pierced sharply.

“Contrary to what you just said, if I leave and die, the Qingcheng sect won’t be misunderstood as having a relationship with me. If my friends keep coming to find me, the Qingcheng sect will become the subject of gossip.”

Venerable Woo-am let out an awkward laugh.

“Well now. Then and now, you’re still too smart for your own good.”

“But being intoxicated by my own cleverness, I lacked an eye for men and ended up in this state and condition.”

“Just like thirty years ago, you’re still like a beautiful orchid flower. Nothing has changed enough to call it ‘this state.'”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong couldn’t help but laugh.

“Someone who can’t even see says such things?”

“I told you. I always have only the flower-like appearance left in me.”

“People of the world will mock.”

Venerable Woo-am also continued with a laugh.

“That’s why I have to keep you here until you’re completely healed so they won’t mock. Hide you so tightly that no one can see. I am the leader of Qingcheng after all. It seems someone is thinking of using you to slander Qingcheng, but I want to show that it’s not so easy.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong sighed.

“Yesterday, I saw Poison Dragon and the Tang family child sharing their hearts.”

“I heard too.”

“What do you think?”

“It’s a mess, what else. The Tang family was the mastermind behind annihilating the Medicine Sect, yet a descendant of the Medicine Sect formed affection with a Tang family child.”

“……”

“Ah, that wasn’t the answer you wanted? Heh heh.”

“I was just envious.”

“You were… envious?”

“If I too could have had such courage… if I had, wouldn’t things have been a little better? I thought about whether my life would have been happier than now if I had to go back to the past and make that choice again.”

“It’s not too late yet.”

Venerable Woo-am said.

“Past actions can’t be undone, but the heart can always be turned back.”

“I said the same thing to that child. But I myself couldn’t do it. If…”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong paused briefly, then said.

“If I said I would forgive him.”

At that moment, the smile disappeared from Venerable Woo-am’s face.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong asked again.

“Then could you forgive me, Venerable?”

Then a smile slowly appeared on Venerable Woo-am’s face.

“That talk doesn’t make sense. I’ve never thought I hated you or committed enough sin to need forgiveness. But even so, if you regret the past and say you’ll come back…”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong said.

“Answer well. Right now, senior brother is the leader of the Qingcheng sect. Many people won’t let senior brother do as he pleases.”

“Ryeong-ryeong.”

Venerable Woo-am answered with a gentle smile.

“I am tremendously strong. The strongest in the Qingcheng sect. Even if I were to quit being sect leader, what bastard would dare object to me?”