Editor: Z0Rel
"Ah… it's Deputy."
Kim Yeon looks at me with slightly dazed eyes.
Seeing that, I understand how she called me.
'She didn't call me by her own strength.'
She momentarily drew out the power of the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon with her overflowing talent for consciousness methods.
'The level of her talent for consciousness methods is unbelievably high, so it's understandable how she achieved mastery... But she doesn't even realize she has mastered it.'
Well, that's okay.
Whether intentionally or by chance, we can continue to connect in the future as long as she roughly remembers the method for it now that we've 'connected' once."Yeon-ah, Kim Yeon!"
I approach her, who still looks dazed. I shake her by grabbing her shoulders.
"Ehehe, Deputy. Because I miss you, you even appear in my dreams..."
Thump―
I press my forehead to hers and strongly operate the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon.
"…Huh?"
She opens her eyes wide as if feeling a sense of déjà vu.
At the same time, the world of dreams shakes intensely.
'I'll guide her into a lucid dream so she doesn't wake up.'
I use the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon to lift her consciousness into a symbol.
Tsstsssst!
Instantly, the world of dreams shakes, and countless dream scenes flash by.
Most of them are somewhat similar dreams.
Scenes of she and I walking down a path inside a botanical garden.
Inside the botanical garden, under a flowering tree, Kim Yeon's own appearance of finally realizing her emotions is fully reflected.
As those scenes disappear, Kim Yeon's eyes finally clear.
"Uh, uh? This dream…"
She seems not to believe I'm in front of her and tries to pinch her cheek.
I pull my head away from her forehead and stop her hand.
"Wait, don't give yourself a big shock yet. It'd be okay if you knew how to operate the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon more, but right now, you might wake up from the dream immediately."
"Ah… yes."
She looks at me blankly and nods her head.
It seems is still in something of a dream-like state.
"Now, follow what I do and try to operate the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon, Yeon-ah. Got it?"
"Yes…"
As she operates the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon, her eyes gradually become clearer.
I guide her consciousness and help her to gain even more control over the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon.
Kim Yeon had mastered the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon on her own over the past 10 years without even realizing it.
So, teaching her a little through guiding consciousness will immediately allow her to achieve mastery in the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon.
After some time.
"…Uh? Uh?"
Finally, having fully mastered the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon, Kim Yeon's eyes clear completely. Her eyes are wide as she fully grasps her dream.
Woosh, woosh!
She waves her hand towards me.
If I were just an accessory in her dream, the proper outcome guided by her consciousness which had fully mastered the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon would have been for me to disperse.
However, I too operate the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon and remain in the dream, resisting her consciousness.
"Uh, Deputy…Eun-hyun…?"
"Yes, it's me."
"De, Deputy...!"
Kim Yeon, with tears in her eyes, runs and hugs me.
I hug her small frame tightly.
"Th, the last 10 years... 10 years..."
"Yes, I know. The Mad Lord is a lunatic."
"Hu, hukk... gughk..."
Kim Yeon tearfully talks about everything that has happened over the years.
I combine the operation of the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon and Ultimate Pinnacle to accelerate her dream, changing the time ratio between the dream and reality.
We slowly share the conversations we couldn't have over the years.
"...So this is the kind of world it is."
"Yes. Right now, I'm in the Human Race Territory. I can't come to get you right away, but I will definitely find you."
"...Thank you."
"From now on, let's meet in our dreams every day. The Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon, and the craziness felt from the Mad Lord's puppets and the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress, I'll resolve it for you. And..."
I look at Kim Yeon.
"From now on, I'll teach you something in our dreams."
"What is it?"
"I'll borrow the dream for a moment."
I operate the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon, changing the dream's environment.
Strange clusters of light fluctuate, and the space we are in instantly transforms into a huge training ground.
"From now on..."
In my last life, and the life before that, I didn't have the chance to properly take care of her.
So, from now on, I'll be more attentive and care for her.
"I will teach you martial arts."
I will teach Kim Yeon martial arts, aiming to at least get her to Beyond the Path to Heavens.
If not, then at least to Ultimate Pinnacle.
'Just reaching Ultimate Pinnacle will allow her to accelerate her consciousness.'
The efficiency of consciousness acceleration is directly proportional to the size of the consciousness.
Now, on the verge of reaching the Heavenly Being stage, I am confident that I can achieve a speed similar to the Kim Young-hoon who had reached the early stage of Beyond the Path with just the acceleration effect of Ultimate Pinnacle.
Then, if Kim Yeon, who possesses a consciousness domain of the Four-Axis stage, reaches Beyond the Path to Heaven.
No, even if she just reaches Ultimate Pinnacle.
'At that moment, Kim Yeon will gain at least the minimum power required to escape from the Mad Lord.'
There is enough time.
By operating the Wonderfully Mysterious Innate Heart Canon and Ultimate Pinnacle in Kim Yeon's dream, the dream's time ratio can be increased by about three times.
'It's a shame that this is the limit because it's not my dream, but it's still enough.'
Teaching her is no problem.
No matter how trashy Kim Yeon's talent might be, could it be more trashy than me, who spent an entire lifetime to become a peak master?
"Martial arts?"
"Yes. I will create martial arts that perfectly suits you."
If she learns martial arts, we can find a way to utilize her vast consciousness to its fullest.
Thus, I became a teacher to Jeon Myeong-hoon in the morning and to Kim Yeon at night.
________________________________________
A year has passed.
"Good, that's it!"
"Shut up!"
Boom!
Red lightning sweeps over the place I was at.
Gradually, it's becoming harder to overcome Jeon Myeong-hoon with just the strength of the Qi Building stage.
In just one year, Jeon Myeong-hoon has reached the Fourth Constellation of the Qi Building stage.
He has formed all 28 spiritual energy stars.
Astonishingly, Jeon Myeong-hoon has still not learned the Vermilion Lightning Quaking Scripture.
'But it's fascinating how he evolved the Red Lightning Quaking Scripture without Vermilion Lightning and reached the Grand Perfection of Qi Building.'
Still, with this rate of growth, he can definitely reach the Grand Perfection of Core Formation within 10 to 20 years.
Once he reaches the Grand Perfection of Core Formation, I will not hesitate to turn Jeon Myeong-hoon into a pancake and throw him into the Nascent Soul stage, by any means necessary.
'Hurry up and grow, Jeon Myeong-hoon.'
Boom!
I dodge the red lightning Jeon Myeong-hoon shot out with ease and charge into his arms, raising my club.
"Argh! Damn it..."
"Get up."
"Fuck... Seo Eun-hyun, this bitch..."
"Don't just curse with words. Hurry up and reach Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Heavenly Being, and beat me up. That's the best way."
"Raaaaah!"
'He's quite fierce and stubborn.'
No, maybe it's just because I've been too harsh on him.
But anyway, Jeon Myeong-hoon has learned to attack with venom in his heart.
I effortlessly dodge Jeon Myeong-hoon's attacks while continuously pouring on him a barrage of beatings filled with the essence of Understanding before Breakthrough.
Over the past year, Jeon Myeong-hoon has grown significantly.
Kim Yeon, too, has rapidly improved her martial arts under my tutelage over the year, reaching the level of a second-rate martial artist.
'Such an incredible speed.'
Of course, even though I had created the most optimized martial arts for Kim Yeon, the speed of her growth is still remarkably fast.
'Well, moving one's own body is indeed easier than manipulating tens of millions of puppets at once.'
It seems that her experience manipulating tens of millions of puppets in the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress is quite helpful.
'The problem is me...'
However, unlike the rapidly growing Kim Yeon and Jeon Myeong-hoon, I still failed to break free from the Heart Demon.
If Kim Yeon and Jeon Myeong-hoon are considered humans as Yang Su-jin said,
What about the others?
'What exactly are the connections I've made in this world...?'
I would have just ignored it if Yang Su-jin was just some worthless thug on the street.
But it was the words of Yang Su-jin, claimed to have reached the pinnacle of a True Immortal.
I can't get it out of my mind.
'What exactly is a human...'
It's when I'm teaching Jeon Myeong-hoon with these thoughts.
Whoosh!
"...!"
A familiar dull glow flies in from afar.
The golden light of a Flying Escape Technique.
"Hey, Elder Jin Eun-hyun!"
It's Hon Wei.
She lands beside me with a bold face and says,
"Here's this month's dowry fund."
Woosh!
She throws a storage scroll towards me.
I silently receive the storage scroll.
As expected, it contains the same amount of spirit stones as the last time I received it.
Over the past year, Hon Wei has been visiting me once a month, pouring an enormous amount of spirit stones on me under the guise of a 'dowry fund.'
Although it's definitely problematic for her to enter the territory of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect so often and so freely, Jin Byuk-ho, after receiving the spirit stones from Hon Wei, seemed uncomfortable but eventually permitted her passage.
'Now she's even openly bringing her own people...'
I see someone following Hon Wei from about 30 miles away.
He seems to be attempting to hide, but the intent he emits is clearly visible, making it impossible for him to escape my notice.
'Is he a bodyguard?'
I concentrate my consciousness on the person following Hon Wei while looking at her.
"Do you still have no intention of marrying me?"
"I am sorry, but I still do not."
"Hmm... It's regrettable. Then, would you at least form a dual cultivation partnership with me? Not as Dao Companions but just exchanging energies as dual cultivation partners would really be appreciated..."
"..."
I ask her while looking at her.
"A hundred billion mid-grade spirit stones... would be enough for Lady Hon to breakthrough to the late Heavenly Being stage through Breakthrough before Understanding. I really don't understand why you'd want to form a dual cultivation partnership with someone like me."
"Didn't I say? It was love at first sight."
"Hmm..."
I cool my head while reading Hon Wei's intent.
At the same time, I discover that she is manipulating the spiritual energy of heaven and earth subtly while conversing with me, attempting to do something behind the scenes.
'She's subtly laying a formation in the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect...'
More specifically, she is slightly moving the surrounding Heaven and Earth spiritual energy according to her mood to distract me, while the guard following her from thirty li away sneakily messes with the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect.
She might've thought I wouldn't notice her moving the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, but having delved to the extremes in the art of formations under the tutelage of Cheongmun Ryeong, it's obvious to me.
'It's a formation that pressures earth attribute spiritual energy in one go.'
Although I haven't informed anyone, I have secretly laid circuits of the Mad Lord throughout the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect without anyone's knowledge.
It might have been an absurd sense of paranoia, but I installed the circuits just in case Seo Hweol or perhaps a clone of Wi Ryeong-seon is spying on me, so I never let my guard down.
Through those circuits, the formation she is laying is transmitted to my mind.
'The energy of the formation flows in perfect opposition to the energy of the method flowing through Hon Wei's body.'
In case of emergency, activating this formation will allow me to perfectly suppress her.
Why would she come into the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect and lay a formation that can suppress herself?
I push Jeon Myeong-hoon, who is charging at me, away and approach her with a smile.
"Thank you for your words. However, I have a proper dual cultivation partner, and casually forming a dual cultivation partnership with another would be a betrayal to her."
Tap, tap—
I approach Hon Wei amiably, tapping her shoulder. Without her noticing, I plant the Mysterious Bizarre Gu in her, using the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts to hide its presence.
'I don't know what she's plotting, but I should keep an eye on her for now.'
***
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