Chapter 216: Omen (3)
Wi Seol-Ah had a dream for the first time in a while.
Dreams like this one had happened often since she met her “sister.”
But today’s dream was particularly vivid.
Perhaps it was the clearest dream she had since that day long ago.
…Where… is this?
Wi Seol-Ah was now somewhat accustomed to this hazy sensation.
The feeling of her body not being her own, the world viewed from a third-person perspective.
After a few experiences, she no longer felt a significant sense of alienation.
“Where am I?”
She reacted to a voice she heard.
It was a sweet voice, and Wi Seol-Ah knew exactly whose it was.
“I asked where you are.”
The woman, calm yet radiating unbridled emotion, spoke.
She had a beautiful face, mirroring her voice.
However, the place she was in was anything but lovely.
It was a prison covered in dust, with no sunlight entering.
The walls were filled with the traces of torture, and hardened blood created a chilling atmosphere.
With just that, Wi Seol-Ah understood.
This was yet another nightmare.
To her, dreams featuring that woman almost always turned into nightmares.
People often died in those dreams.
The woman would either kill someone or someone would die for her.
The world would crumble, and the woman would silently wield her sword amidst the chaos.
For Wi Seol-Ah, knowing the woman’s fate made simply watching feel like hell.
The woman did not cry.
Not even when those who protected her perished.
Not even when her beloved family was lost.
Not even when companions died, or even those who turned enemies.
The woman merely swung her sword in silence.
Wi Seol-Ah believed the woman to be a cold person.
If it were her, she thought, there was no way she could maintain such a face in that situation.
Yet, today the woman was showing some rare emotions.
Who could it be…?
It was blurry.
The person the woman looked at was barely visible to Wi Seol-Ah, appearing as if fog obscured the sight.
From the man’s physique, it was likely he was indeed a man, yet he offered no reply to the woman.
Is he… dead…?
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be.
He was breathing shallowly.
But he looked badly wounded, blood smeared across his body.
The sight pained Wi Seol-Ah’s heart, and she bit her lips.
“You must know where the remaining demon humans are hiding, right?”
The woman kept speaking, seemingly unconcerned about the man’s condition.
No.
Wi Seol-Ah perceived that the woman did care for him.
She was merely suppressing her emotions.
Potent feelings of anger, regret, despair, and longing—emotions that couldn’t coexist—were battling within her chest.
While containing these emotions, she spoke to the man.
“To you…”
Suddenly, the woman bit her lips in the midst of her words.
“To you, if you have even a scrap of conscience left…”
Her ensuing words trembled, was it anger? Or was it pity?
Or perhaps, both?
Young Wi Seol-Ah couldn’t discern.
But she knew those emotions were intense.
Clench.
She felt as the woman clenched her fist.
Blood dripped from her hand, but she seemed indifferent to the pain.
“This is your last opportunity. Even if the entire world wishes for your demise, if you help me just this once, I will risk everything I have to save your life.”
The woman’s voice began to tremble increasingly.
Please say yes, just this time…
Her heart was shouting such.
So she pressed further.
“…So please, just tell me.”
She held her lips tight, but then fell silent.
The man had yet to respond to any of her pleas.
Or perhaps, he simply couldn’t.
He breathed lightly, glancing up at the woman.
Wi Seol-Ah yearned to see his face and emotions but she couldn’t.
“Hurry and tell me! Where are they hiding?”
The woman grabbed the man’s collar, desperate for a reaction.
Suppressing her boiling emotions within, she found that he still said nothing.
Frustrated, she released her grip and shoved him to the ground.
He tumbled onto the hard stone floor yet didn’t utter a sound.
He merely appeared to have surrendered all hope.
“If I had known that you would turn out to be this vile, I would have killed you at the first sight of you.”
Though the woman’s anger was palpable, amidst it, Wi Seol-Ah perceived a conflicting emotion.
If only she had chosen a different path, if only she had spoken differently to him—perhaps he wouldn’t have ended up like this.
The woman was filled with contradictory thoughts.
“That’s my greatest regret.”
She gazed down at the man lying on the ground.
Bottling up intense emotions, she managed to turn away, walking outside.
She hesitated, but her resolve was firm.
Yet that was right when she heard a sound from behind.
Rustle.
Turning around, she caught sight of the man moving his battered body.
Her trembling gaze landed on him.
Tap. Tap.
Unfazed by her scrutiny, he began scrawling with his trembling fingertips on the ground.
One line.
Then another.
Each time he inscribed something, blood gushed from his mouth, as though writing those words came with a dire cost.
“What are you doing?!”
She rushed to his side, panic-stricken.
But in that instant, she staggered.
She was feeling unwell herself.
“Wait…”
She caught on to something wrong with the man, and bolted back to him.
However, as he finished writing,
BAM-!
With a loud sound, his body collapsed to the ground.
Summoning all her strength, she caught him and held him close.
“Please… I beg you…”
Desperately examining his condition, she horrifically realized his body felt cold and his eyes were fading.
He was already gone.
…Why…?
Wi Seol-Ah found the situation confounding.
Surely, a person held captive in such a place must be wicked.
Yet, why did the woman exhibit such strong emotions toward him?
Wi Seol-Ah couldn’t understand.
However, one thing was certainly clear.
The woman was engulfed in sorrow.
An overwhelming, profound sadness.
…I want to wake up.
Wi Seol-Ah desperately wanted to escape this dream.
The weight of the emotion was too great to bear.
She wondered what the man wished to convey to the woman just before he passed away.
Due to her rushing to cradle him, all the words he had written in blood had been lost.
Surely, that was the vital information she needed?
But what unfolded next deemed words unimportant.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Drops fell onto the ground.
It wasn’t blood.
Is she crying…?
Wi Seol-Ah could see it.
The woman who had never shed a tear, even in the direst circumstances, was now weeping while holding the man in her arms.
She sobbed quietly.
As Wi Seol-Ah could not endure the emotional weight emanating from the woman, she began to tremble.
This was the very first time she had felt such profound pain.
It was starkly different from the sting she felt when being scolded by Hongwa or the hurts endured while wielding her wooden sword.
The ache in her heart was far too deep, and undeniably intolerable.
I just want to wake up… Please…
Dreams were never kind to Wi Seol-Ah.
She couldn’t wake up simply because she wished to; was she destined to endure this nightmare once more?
Young Master…
Thinking of Gu Yangcheon, Wi Seol-Ah squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
But closing her eyes didn’t change anything as the dream continued.
After a time, the woman who cried began to stifle her sounds and force her emotions back.
Someone had arrived.
“Alliance Leader.”
Responding to the voice approaching the prison, the woman steadied her voice and replied,
“What’s going on?”
“…You were looking for something…”
The middle-aged man halted as he noticed the body the woman embraced.
“Demon Emperor…”
Before he could finish his thoughts, the woman stood and slowly set the lifeless body on the ground.
The man lowered his gaze.
He knew he shouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Beggar King.”
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
“Inform the remaining demon humans that the Demon Emperor has died.”
“…Understood.”
Having appeared devoid of emotion, the woman exited without a second thought.
The Beggar King quietly regarded the deceased Demon Emperor with his eyes closed.
“Rest in peace.”
With just that, he left, following the woman out of the prison.
Alone in the room, Wi Seol-Ah found herself gazing at the lifeless man.
Though his face was concealed, the sense of familiarity lingered.
The woman’s dense anger and heavy sorrow seemed to have vanished, leaving her feeling peculiar.
…Why…?
Even within such a dark and frightening space, she didn’t feel fear creeping in.
Wi Seol-Ah extended her translucent hand toward the man.
For reason unknown, it felt necessary.
As her small fingers connected with him,
“Will you really be okay?”
Another voice echoed in her ears, causing her to open her eyes.
She had awakened from the nightmare.
In the deep of night,
Wi Seol-Ah glanced around, her drowsy gaze scanning the space.
Not far away, a small candle flickered, where two old men engaged in conversation.
“Will it truly be alright?”
“Is it not supposed to be alright?”
Having been stirred awake from sleep, she felt the heaviness of drowsiness pulling her back.
Curious about what her grandfather was discussing, Wi Seol-Ah succumbed to slumber once again.
The Sword Venerable watched her quietly.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Just thought my child seemed to wake for a moment, so I put her back to sleep.”
Despite a distance between them, the Immortal Healer didn’t pry into how the Sword Venerable had managed to do so.
They had more pressing matters to discuss.
“Though I am often addressed as the Immortal Healer, I am certainly not a god.”
“I’m aware.”
“No, it seems the Alliance Leader does not comprehend fully. There are limits to my abilities.”
“Yet, you accepted this request because it is something you can accomplish, correct?”
Sigh, the Alliance Leader sighed.
Responding to his sigh, the Sword Venerable spoke again.
“I wish that child to grow up as an ordinary child.”
“That’s quite a difficult wish to harbor.”
The Immortal Healer silently clicked his tongue at the Sword Venerable’s statement.
He gazed towards the child peacefully resting behind him.
The Immortal Healer could not help but marvel at the vastness that the child possessed.
This vessel was unnaturally large for a human.
So high and broad that it appeared as if nothing existed within.
Could this be the reason? The Sword Venerable made a plea to the Immortal Healer.
To close the lid on such a coveted vessel, one that anyone may long for.
The Immortal Healer simply couldn’t grasp his request.
“Please understand, this falls outside the realm of medicine.”
“I know. Which is precisely why I sought your help.”
The Immortal Healer,
Also known as the Envoy of Medicine, bore the true name Zhuge.
This name had long faded, yet it belonged to an esteemed clan of the past.
A lineage that explored the domain of formations and the Demonic Realm.
The Sword Venerable was aware of this; thus, the Immortal Healer felt a heightened sense of discomfort.
Recognizing this truth was a rarity among those of the Zhiyuan region, making it all the more jarring that the Sword Venerable was among them.
“If you fulfill this request, I will grant you what you desire.”
“How can you confidently claim you can procure a White-Grade Demon Stone?”
Despite the Sword Venerable’s confidence, the Immortal Healer struggled to believe him.
For years he had searched for the White-Grade Demon Stone.
A White Demon Gate had not manifested in ages; thus, acquiring the White-Grade Demon Stone felt utterly impossible.
Yet here stood the Sword Venerable proclaiming he would obtain it for him.
“There are no lies here. If you prefer, I could offer my shackles.”
The Immortal Healer half-sighed upon hearing the Sword Venerable’s words.
He had grasped the Sword Venerable’s urgency to a certain extent.
The reason behind his pursuit for the White-Grade Demon Stone was surely for the sake of his grandson, whom he could not bear to see suffer.
“I repeat, substantial preparation is required. It can’t be accomplished here.”
“I’ve already informed the Gu Clan leader. I will depart when you are ready.”
At present, the Immortal Healer attended to the Gu Clan patients.
He steadfastly refused to abandon the people he was healing.
Thus, he would only leave once everyone had been cured.
With a rueful expression, the Immortal Healer remarked to the Sword Venerable,
“Where are you planning to go?”
This venture wouldn’t be simple.
Extensive preparation and resources were necessary.
Moreover, it needed to be conducted in secrecy, which made the selection of location inherently complex.
The Sword Venerable responded,
“We will proceed to Qinghai.”
Hearing the name, the Immortal Healer’s mind instantly conjured a location.
One of the regions associated with the Ten Noble Clans, where the Kunlun Sect held domain.
However, it was unlikely that the Sword Venerable was heading for Kunlun itself.
That very region was not just home to Kunlun but also where the Jang Family of Hanam had their ancestral roots.
As midday arrived the following day,
“The Elders’ Meeting regarding the Young Master shall now commence.”
In the Gu Clan, the Elders’ Meeting was convened, with the Lord as the focal point.
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