I never imagined I’d hear the name Immortal Divine Sword again.

He said it appeared in a dream.

Yi-gang calmed his startled heart for a moment.

“He appeared in my dream once, too.”

Yi-gang often dreamed of the Immortal Divine Sword as well.

Baek Do-yeom’s expression turned strange at those words.

“…Did that dazzling aura appear in your dream as well?”

“It didn’t, no.”

From the Tao Art’s perspective, dreams shouldn’t be dismissed carelessly.

And since such light supposedly shone over the Grand Elder’s quarters, it was worth hearing about.

“So please explain in detail. What on earth does this mirror have to do with it?”

“Ahem, alright. I’ll tell you exactly what I heard.”

Baek Do-yeom began to tell the story of that day.

Her breathing had become very thin and agonized.

Her airway was swollen, and the diaphragm muscles that move the lungs had weakened.

Baek Yeong-ryeong’s breathing had changed like this at some point.

When she fell asleep, that breathing grew even weaker.

Her wheezing would sometimes stop.

Then the attendants guarding her would startle and grow anxious.

When her breathing resumed, they would wipe their relieved chests and repeat the cycle.

Baek Yeong-ryeong was breaking out in a cold sweat.

The attendants wiped the aged Grand Elder’s brow.

It had been fifteen days since she lay down ill.

By now everyone had noticed.

The fact that the Grand Elder had little time left to live.

“Ugh…”

Baek Yeong-ryeong let out a groan.

She looked unmistakably like someone having a nightmare.

In her dream.

Baek Yeong-ryeong was a child.

Her mind had been drifting in and out of clarity for some time.

Perhaps because of that, in the dream she was still a young girl.

She was running through the darkness.

Bark! Bark Bark!

And behind her, a black feral dog was chasing her.

Drooling from its muzzle as if it meant to tear her apart.

As if it were the very death pursuing her.

No matter how hard she ran, the distance kept closing.

“Ah!”

At that moment, Baek Yeong-ryeong tripped on a rock and fell.

The dog leapt, thinking it had the chance to pounce.

She screamed.

The dark night suddenly lit up, and someone descended from the sky.

That luminous man landed and swung his sword at once.

The feral dog was cleaved in two and died.

The first thing that caught Baek Yeong-ryeong’s eye was the sword the man swung.

A sword forged of meteorite was held by its rightful owner.

“…Grandfather?”

Baek Yeong-ryeong asked in the voice of a girl.

Before her stood the Immortal Divine Sword, Baek Seong-cheon.

Only he looked younger than the grandfather she remembered.

He looked at his granddaughter in silence, then spoke.

“…Yeong-ryeong.”

His voice carried a deep, deep feeling.

He hugged Baek Yeong-ryeong tightly.

The Immortal Divine Sword was tall and Baek Yeong-ryeong was a little girl, so she fit entirely within his arms.

For some reason her chest swelled and she buried her face in the Immortal Divine Sword’s sleeve.

“You must have suffered much.”

“Yes…”

“Don’t cry, my granddaughter, this old man’s heart aches.”

Baek Yeong-ryeong sniffed.

Then she looked up at the Immortal Divine Sword’s face.

“Did you come to take me with you?”

The Immortal Divine Sword wiped Baek Yeong-ryeong’s tear tracks.

“Are you going to take me away?”

“…Haha.”

The Immortal Divine Sword smiled bitterly.

Baek Yeong-ryeong realized her life was ending. Living this long had been a miracle.

“When the time comes, we’ll meet then. But not today.”

“Then…”

“I searched for my Yi-gang, but I couldn’t find him.”

The Immortal Divine Sword spoke Yi-gang’s name.

Baek Yeong-ryeong was surprised that the Immortal Divine Sword was searching for her great-grandchild.

“Could he be alive, that child?”

“He will surely be alive.”

“Then how about Ryu-san? What about the clan’s children? And the Young Clan Head… Ha-jun?”

Baek Ryu-san and his sons and the clan members too.

They had been missing for over a year.

That shocking fact likely hastened Baek Yeong-ryeong’s death.

“They’re all alive.”

Baek Yeong-ryeong breathed a great sigh of relief.

The Immortal Divine Sword, seeing her relief, did not tell her that their condition was far from safe.

“Why were you looking for Yi-gang?”

“I had something to give him. I managed to appear briefly, but I couldn’t meet him.”

The Immortal Divine Sword looked deeply regretful.

“So you keep it and deliver it when you can.”

“…I might die soon.”

“That’s fine, just make sure Yi-gang can be found. And tell him…”

The Immortal Divine Sword told Baek Yeong-ryeong the message to pass on.

“I will, I promise.”

The Immortal Divine Sword patted Baek Yeong-ryeong’s head as if pleased.

He took something from his bosom.

It wasn’t a thing so much as a lump of light.

Baek Yeong-ryeong was entranced by the mysterious radiance.

Then, at some point, the Immortal Divine Sword held a hand mirror in his left hand.

It belonged to Baek Yeong-ryeong.

Baek Yeong-ryeong opened her eyes in surprise as the Immortal Divine Sword pressed the light from his right hand into the left-hand mirror.

Then he placed the hand mirror into Baek Yeong-ryeong’s hands.

“Don’t forget and keep it with you.”

The Immortal Divine Sword stepped back one pace.

Baek Yeong-ryeong, startled, grabbed his sleeve.

“Are you leaving?”

He gave his granddaughter a faint smile.

“A day will come when we meet again.”

“Please don’t go.”

But the Immortal Divine Sword began to recede.

Baek Yeong-ryeong chased after him in tears, but no matter how she ran, the Immortal Divine Sword drew farther away.

Growing faint, he waved his hand toward her.

“Grandfather!”

Baek Yeong-ryeong cried out.

Light pouring from the Immortal Divine Sword enveloped her body.

It was at that moment she woke.

Her body felt heavy like waterlogged cotton.

She lifted a finger to her eye and found damp tears streaming down.

However, deep wrinkles were etched across her face.

She had returned to reality.

Even with her eyes open, her vision appeared hazy.

Turning her head, the hand mirror from the dream lay on the bedside.

And her attendants stood before it.

Each of those attendants wore an expression of shock.

“Gr-Grand Elder, are you alright?”

“…I’m fine. Why do you all look so startled?”

“There was light…”

It seemed it was no mere trivial dream.

“A fierce light burst from the Grand Elder and from the hand mirror!”

Yi-gang listened to all of Baek Do-yeom’s explanations.

“In the dream, the Immortal Divine Sword said: When a great crisis comes, look into this mirror.”

Indeed, it was astonishing.

‘What happened to my ancestor?’ Yi-gang wondered.

「You said that man attained enlightenment.」

The Heavenly Demon showed a tone of interest.

「If he attained enlightenment, he’d be free from the cycle of reincarnation. To think he appeared in the mortal realm by his own strength, rather than merely wandering as a spirit of the afterlife.」

There was a trace of marvel in his voice.

「Just how high of a realm had he reached?」

‘I’m not sure exactly… but it’s said he had reached the Absolute State while still young.’

「Hmm, impressive… impressive. Perhaps your ancestor is greater than you imagined.」

The Heavenly Demon had taken an interest.

Only then did Yi-gang realize he didn’t truly know the level of the Immortal Divine Sword.

At that time Yi-gang was not capable of discerning his ancestor’s realm.

The Immortal Divine Sword had not boasted of his strength to the young Yi-gang.

Yet the Immortal Divine Sword was strong enough to earn even the Heavenly Demon’s recognition.

「Examine that mirror. It’s surely no ordinary thing.」

Yi-gang had planned to do exactly that even without the Heavenly Demon’s command.

Yi-gang examined the mirror Baek Do-yeom had handed over closely .

He scrutinized it with such intensity that a blue haze seemed to pour from his eyes.

Yi-gang examined the mirror for well over an exceptional span of time.

Baek Do-yeom swallowed nervously.

Then Yi-gang opened his eyes wide.

“Th-this is…!”

“Well? What on earth is it!” Baek Do-yeom demanded.

After a long pause, Yi-gang answered.

“It’s just an ordinary mirror.”

Baek Do-yeom’s face contorted in disbelief.

But that was Yi-gang’s verdict.

“I sense no special traits. There doesn’t seem to be any spirit energy infused into it no matter how I look…”

How many in this world could possess senses keener than Yi-gang’s? He also had arcane knowledge.

If there had been anything hidden, he would have found it through focused examination.

But the mirror was, literally, just an ordinary hand mirror.

“This is just a hand mirror.”

“…That can’t be; I saw that brilliant light with my own eyes.”

Disappointed by the outcome, Baek Do-yeom clicked his tongue.

“Still, take it. It seems like a memento the Grand Elder left for you.”

Of course he would.

Yi-gang considered the possibility that his eyesight or perception might be lacking.

Perhaps Dam Hyun or his Master Yu Jeong-shin could see something he could not.

“…Will you go to Azure Forest?”

Baek Do-yeom asked.

“The road to Azure Forest will be perilous. The Evil Cult won’t leave Azure Forest alone.”

“Protect yourselves and survive. You are the Baek Family’s hope.”

It wasn’t meant to burden them.

Yi-gang felt Baek Do-yeom’s sincerity deeply.

“Take care of yourself, Elder.”

Yi-gang and Hajun bowed in farewell.

They had smashed one branch of the Evil Cult this time, so the Evil Cult would not sit idly by.

They would spend hard times hiding and fighting.

“Let’s meet again.”

But if they endured, a day would come when they could meet again.

Yi-gang and Baek Do-yeom both believed that.

Yi-gang and Ha-jun finished saying goodbye to the clan members.

They had also bid Yo Yeon-bi and Noh Shik farewell.

Yi-gang met Dam Hyun, who had been waiting.

As they set out again, he showed the mirror to Dam Hyun.

Dam Hyun, curious after hearing the story, examined the mirror but also found nothing.

“Let’s take it to Master and show him. There seems to be something about it.”

Unlike Yi-gang, Dam Hyun seemed to sense some specialness with it.

Yi-gang agreed. In any case, they had to go to Azure Forest to decide their next move.

If even it was only to save the eighty thousand people still trapped within the barrier…

“While you were out wandering, I wasn’t twiddling my thumbs either,” Dam Hyun said with a grin.

Dam Hyun said with a sly smile.

He brought up something Yi-gang hadn’t expected.

“Remember what Senior Uncle Do-cheon did? The method to converse with Master from a distance.”

“You mean the method of communicating using a comet?”

“Yes, I’ve been diligently reading the Heavenly Signs these past few days…”

Reading the motion of stars and the Heavenly signs is an important quality for sorcery.

“A comet will pass the southern sky tonight.”

“I don’t know if it will succeed, but let’s try to connect with Master.”

Dam Hyun had previously pestered Do-cheon for details on using the power of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper.

It seemed he had grasped the method.

As night deepened, Yi-gang and his party prepared to camp.

Dam Hyun fetched clean water from a nearby spring and poured it into a bowl.

“…It’s coming.”

Dam Hyun murmured.

A comet twinkled into view in the southern sky.

A celestial body burning itself many billions of ri away as it traveled.

Yi-gang and Dam Hyun stared intently at the bowl of water.

In an instant it linked Azure Forest and Yi-gang’s party here.

The surface of the water trembled.

But Yu Jeong-shin did not immediately appear as before.

“…What is this?”

Dam Hyun and Yi-gang were perplexed.

After a while, Yu Jeong-shin appeared with an urgent expression.

Dam Hyun and Yi-gang smiled in relief.

“Master, it’s been a while…”

—You foolish whelp!

The normally mild Yu Jeong-shin suddenly snapped in anger.

—Of all times, you choose this now…

Had they made some mistake?

The void of four and a half years that Dam Hyun and Yi-gang had experienced.

They couldn’t possibly know what had changed in that time.

Yu Jeongshin tried to calm himself and warned them.

—Listen well. Communication using comets was banned three years ago because the Evil Cult traced it back.

Yi-gang and Dam Hyun’s faces hardened.

—Since you borrowed the comet’s power, they likely noticed. The Evil Cult’s trackers will probably hunt for you.

“Then… are they listening to our conversation?”

—Not exactly. They’ll try to locate you and cut you down. Run; you must evade pursuit.

After saying that, Yu Jeong-shin offered his disciples a faint smile.

In those four years he had clearly aged.

—You returned alive. It’s a heavenly fortune.

He smiled warmly at his disciples who had returned alive.

But that did not mean the situation was resolved.

—You mustn’t let it be known you escaped the barrier. Flee, and if you encounter them, kill them all without fail.

The age had come when that gentle master spoke like this.

—They are dangerous. Act with caution.

Then Yu Jeong-shin severed the connection.

Only the night sky was reflected on the bowl’s surface.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep