Chapter 70: Knot That Cannot Be Untied (2)

Leading the declining Baek Noble Clan with the body of a young girl, Baek Young-ryeong managed to secure a place among the Seven Great Clans.

Even now, nearing the age of 120, she held overwhelming authority in the clan.

She was like a great tree. An enormous presence in the clan even before the elders were born.

But as with all trees, even a great tree once started as a small sapling.

She too had her days as a young girl.

At the age of 18, Baek Young-ryeong lived under loving parents.

Her father, Baek Woo-kyun, became the Clan Head that year. He was past the age of forty, actually quite late to assume the role.

It was inevitable. The previous Clan Head was none other than the Immortal Divine Sword himself.

Baek Woo-kyun, who had the best swordsman in the world as his father, could hardly wield his own energy to the fullest.

The Immortal Divine Sword, even as an old man, was still like a ghost. Everyone in the clan feared him.

Baek Young-ryeong, his granddaughter, was no different.

“Young-ryeong!”

“Father.”

The somewhat frail-looking Clan Head warmly greeted his daughter. In the past, he might have lifted Baek Young-ryeong into the air, but since she had grown up, he couldn’t.

He just awkwardly stroked Baek Young-ryeong’s hair. Her hair became disheveled, but Baek Young-ryeong did not refuse.

“Let’s go, your grandfather is waiting.”

That day, Baek Woo-kyun’s expression was exceptionally bright.

Overshadowed by the halo of his father, he too possessed outstanding talent.

It was just that the world had yet to recognize it. Baek Young-ryeong had no doubt that her father would soon make a name for himself throughout the martial world.

If he completed the task he had devoted his life to, certainly.

“Are we going to grandfather’s place…?”

“Yes, haha, I’ve finally completed it!”

Baek Young-ryeong’s face lit up at her father’s words.

“Really?”

“Yes, the flaws of the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique and Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique. I’ve finally managed to sort them out.”

The Baek Noble Clan’s secret martial arts were mainly of two kinds.

The Immortal Divine Art, consisting of the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique and the Great Yin Flow, and the sword technique Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique, which made the Immortal Divine Sword the best in the world.

These two divine arts, which the Immortal Divine Sword invented at barely twenty, revived the Baek Clan. Even after more than half a century, no one dared to question these two martial arts.

But Baek Woo-kyun was different.

He believed that there were aspects of the two divine arts that could be improved.

Thanks to his focus on this task, excluding his duties as the Clan Head, Baek Woo-kyun achieved results.

He was on his way to show this to his father, the Immortal Divine Sword. The reason for his daughter Baek Young-ryeong accompanying him was because her talent was the most outstanding among his children.

The place the father and daughter arrived at was the Red Jade training hall.

The extreme Yang training hall made of red jade that the Immortal Divine Sword had taken after smashing the Evil Cult.

The weather was cool due to the rain, but the air in the training hall was extremely hot.

“Father, it is your son Woo-kyun.”

“Come in.”

Baek Woo-kyun swallowed nervously and entered the training hall. Baek Young-ryeong also, tense, hid behind her father’s back.

There, the greatest swordsman in the world was present.

On his bare torso, snake-like muscles writhed. The meteorite sword that must have consumed the blood of hundreds was pierced through the red jade floor, standing erect before him.

His wild, unkempt black hair, the former Clan Head, showed no sign of aging as he stood there.

The destroyed and shattered state of the training hall seemed to showcase the divine sword’s power.

“Ugh—”

Taking a deep breath, a mirage began to form around the Immortal Divine Sword.

“Haap!”

With a shout, the windows of the Red Jade training hall simultaneously opened. A clamorous noise as if hundreds of birds were flapping their wings filled the air.

The hot air was sucked out and the coolness from outside seeped in. In the face of the inhuman grandeur of the greatest swordsman in the world, his son and granddaughter could only be tense.

The Immortal Divine Sword spoke in a low voice, “The rain was leaking from the ceiling. It would be wise to have it repaired.”

“I-I will take care of it.”

“Good, what brings you here?”

“Ah… It’s about that thing I mentioned last time.”

Baek Woo-kyun once again explained what he had been researching.

“Are you saying that there are flaws in the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique and Immortal Divine Art?”

“Yes.”

“Tsk, you’re still wasting time on such things.”

The Immortal Divine Sword clicked his tongue while reprimanding his son.

It was as if he was scolding him for foolishly clinging to something so nonsensical.

Baek Young-ryeong felt a pang of sympathy for her father, who was not being acknowledged.

“It’s just that, I have now completed it.”

“…What?”

“There are serious flaws in the latter three forms of the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique, and in the Radiant Yang Cultivation Technique as well.”

The expression on the Immortal Divine Sword’s face hardened.

Baek Woo-kyun, thinking that this was a sign of permission, began to calmly lay out what he had investigated.

Even young Baek Young-ryeong could see that there was no flaw in her father’s logic.

Could it be that the Immortal Divine Sword would finally acknowledge her father?

She felt a sense of hopeful anticipation.

“How, how is it?”

“This…”

However, when her father finished explaining, the expression on the Immortal Divine Sword’s face was.

“…Such a pitiful fool!”

—Contempt, anger, confusion. A wounded pride.

It was the kind of face a father should never show to his son.

Baek Young-ryeong tightly closed her eyes, shaking off the memories of the past.

It was a story from nearly a hundred years ago.

As time passed, dust settled on the memories, leaving only the residue of emotions. But even after a century, she could not forget that expression on the Immortal Divine Sword’s face.

And what happened afterwards…

“I don’t want to hear it. Who my father was killed by.”

“Grandmother.”

“That man is a criminal. The name of the Immortal Divine Sword was sold to protect the clan’s honor, but I know it. I know it all too well…”

Yi-gang frowned.

The state of the Grand Elder was not good. Her murmuring seemed troubling.

“It was an unfortunate accident.”

“Did he tell you that?”

“Yes. Even the most skilled swordsman can make mistakes.”

“That man was the greatest swordsman in the world. How could such a person make such a foolish mistake…!”

The Grand Elder roared with anger.

Yi-gang had no choice but to keep silent. It was a thought that could be fully understood.

Even the Immortal Divine Sword had a look of despair on his face.

「It was a mistake… How could I, to my own son.」

The mumbling figure seemed as out of his mind as the Grand Elder.

Yi-gang couldn’t hold back.

“Grandmother must have been shocked too. It was such a terrible thing.”

“Yes, how could I forgive him.”

“It was also a terrible thing for the Immortal Divine Sword.”

“What…?”

The Immortal Divine Sword tried to stop Yi-gang, but it was in vain.

“Although the Grand Elder has lost a father, he too has lost a child. And that, by his own hand.”

Yi-gang recalled what his father had told him.

Among the losses of loved ones, the most painful is the death of one’s child.

Then, the pain the Immortal Divine Sword had experienced would not be less than that of the Grand Elder.

“Since then, he lived in seclusion like a hermit and passed away, remaining on this earth without achieving Nirvana. I’m not asking you to forgive him. Just to try having a conversation.”

There’s a saying that the Baek family was born with a cold and rational nature. But beyond that, they were also born with a stubbornness like steel tendons.

Even though Yi-gang was reincarnated, his nature remained unchanged.

“This is an item I received from the Azure Forest.”

Yi-gang took something out from inside his clothing.

A leather board shaped like a drum. It was a Soul-Calling Board, capable of conveying the voice of a soul.

“With this, even the Grand Elder can hear the voice of the Divine Sword,” Yi-gang insisted with determination.

Somehow to have a conversation. He pushed the Soul-Calling Board smoothly forward. And then he placed his hand on it.

‘This is your chance. Speak properly.’

「I-I shall do so!」

A mysterious energy flowed through his fingertips. The Soul-Calling Board began to respond, and soon the Immortal Divine Sword would be able to convey his words.

However, there was something Yi-gang had overlooked. That Grand Elder Baek Young-ryeong also possessed the Baek family’s stubbornness.

“I refuse to listen!”

She slammed her staff onto the ground with force.

Her years had not eroded the martial arts she had accumulated.

Surprisingly, the Soul-Calling Board that had been placed on the ground bounced up into the air.

Before Yi-gang could catch it, the Grand Elder swung her staff.

Ting—!

The Soul-Calling Board, struck by the staff, bounced high and rolled to the ground behind the Grand Elder.

Yi-gang gritted his teeth.

‘It’s utterly impossible to reason with her.’

「…」

He did not expect a single conversation to resolve years of resentment. But standing by idly would solve nothing either. Yi-gang knew this well.

The Immortal Divine Sword had remained on earth for nearly a hundred years after his death.

Knowing the reason, Yi-gang no longer wanted to just stand by.

「Indeed, this is to be expected. What was I expecting…」

‘What’s to be expected? No matter what, we must at least try to talk.’

「I have given Ryeong too great a wound. How could such a sinner brazenly speak.」

The Immortal Divine Sword exhibited a demeanor he had never shown before.

The one who seemed a symbol of confidence and pride was utterly deflated. His voice trembled and his eyes were hollow.

Yi-gang felt uneasy.

His intention to resolve the Immortal Divine Sword’s long-cherished wish was to help him attain Nirvana.

Only then could he connect the severed meridians with his spiritual energy.

‘Do not give up.’

But it wasn’t solely for that purpose. Yi-gang felt pity for the Immortal Divine Sword, this ancestor trapped by a cruel fate.

「I can no longer muster any strength.」

The figure of the Immortal Divine Sword grew blurry. The air around seemed to darken and settle.

He was a spirit in the form of the Immortal Divine Sword.

His complexion turned increasingly darker.

‘Pull yourself together!’

「I am… sorry.」

Yi-gang realized that the situation had become critical. This was the very scenario that the Azure Forest Lord had warned about.

“It’s not easy for a spirit to maintain its sanity for more than a hundred years. He must have persevered because of his long-cherished wish, but it’s uncertain how much longer he can last.”

“Are you saying that if we’re not careful, Ancestor might…”

“He could become a vengeful spirit, or even a malevolent ghost. Given the immense spiritual energy he possesses, the repercussions would not be minor.

“If the Immortal Divine Sword turns into a vengeful spirit, it was said that he would not just become an ordinary evil spirit but a great malevolent spirit.”

Who would have thought that moment would come so suddenly?

Yi-gang swallowed hard.

“What is this…”

Baek Young-ryeong also seemed to realize that the situation was turning strange.

The atmosphere in the Elders’ Council grew ominously cold, and goosebumps spread across the skin.

She might not be able to see it, but Yi-gang could. The figure of the Immortal Divine Sword was increasingly being shrouded in darkness.

The eyes that once held a lively spark were now turning black, and a gloomy, chilling blue energy was flowing through the body.

“What is happening!”

It must be that even the slimmest hope had crumbled upon seeing his granddaughter unresponsive to conversation.

There was only one way to prevent the Immortal Divine Sword from becoming an evil spirit.

“I didn’t want it to come to this…”

Yi-gang took a deep breath and glared at the Grand Elder.

“Grandmother.”

“Ye-yes.”

“If you don’t want to kill your great-grandchild, then give up your stubbornness.”

His tone was threatening, irreverent.

But Yi-gang was not making empty threats. As the Immortal Divine Sword stood there, having lost his composure, Yi-gang approached him.

“I will lend you my body. Please speak for yourself.”

The Immortal Divine Sword turned his head to look at Yi-gang. At that moment, as he came to his senses, he was horrified.

「Ah, no, it’s dangerous…!」

Yi-gang took another step forward.

His body overlapped with that of the Immortal Divine Sword.

Swoosh—

This was the third possession since their first encounter.

Grand Elder Baek Young-ryeong watched her great-grandchild with trembling eyes.

Unable to see spirits like Yi-gang, she couldn’t grasp the situation precisely.

However, she could guess roughly by intuition.

That the one controlling Yi-gang’s body now might be the Immortal Divine Sword.

Yi-gang raised his head to look back at Baek Young-ryeong.

A face that seemed to cry in sorrow. It was not Yi-gang’s expression.

“Ryeong…”

Goosebumps rose on her back.

Without a doubt, it was the manner of speech of her grandfather, the man who killed her father.

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