Soyo, who had been cleaning up the situation at Gukjuk Ridge, suddenly spotted something.
Boom!
Along with the sound of thunder, she saw Bu Eunseol holding the blood-soaked Manwol as he vanished into the distant sky.
Greatly startled, Soyo tried to follow after Bu Eunseol when—
“It’s all right.”
Jeong Yeong stopped her, seemingly aware of the full situation and showing no surprise.
“Please let the two of them be together for now.”
Perhaps because Manwol’s clothes were drenched in blood, tears welled up in Jeong Yeong’s eyes.
“It looks like she suffered a fatal wound. I should go and help…”
“She will fall into a state of suspended animation for about three years before making a complete recovery.”
“Suspended animation?”
“Yes.”
Soyo could not understand it, but when she saw Jeong Yeong making a face as if enduring great pain, she asked no further questions.
“Thank you.”
Realizing Soyo’s consideration, Jeong Yeong wiped her tears with her sleeve.
“It’s just that that child’s fate feels far too cruel.”
“Could you tell me what happened?”
Soyo looked at Jeong Yeong with her large eyes. Though her gaze seemed somewhat cold, it was filled only with concern and worry. It also carried a warmth that could melt people’s hearts.
For a moment, Jeong Yeong recalled the conversation she had shared with Manwol not long ago.
“Manwol, is there really no other way?”
Jeong Yeong had spoken with a desperate expression.
“Hasn’t your life been nothing but a path of hardship until now?”
From the moment she was born, Manwol had been chosen as the vessel to receive the power of the shrine maiden. However, because that power was too strong, it had to be divided into two.
This ended up destroying Manwol’s life.
The power of the shrine maiden could not be cleanly divided like slicing dumplings. Since all of the Star God’s power had been passed to this child, she had no choice but to pay the price.
The people of the Baekri family who understood the result of the great ritual were horrified.
The pain the future would bring…
By monopolizing the power that should have been divided in two, she gained the ability to see the future, but an unexpected heavenly tribulation occurred.
The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. Every time she peered into the future, she had to bear the full suffering of everyone involved, all by herself.
“I must protect him.”
Manwol had earnestly pleaded with Jeong Yeong.
“Please, Fourth Sister, help me.”
“Was the main family’s decree wrong?”
Manwol was originally supposed to make prophecies and provide support for the person designated by the Baekri family. However, after seeing a new future, she had ignored the family’s orders and acted independently.
All for the sake of helping Bu Eunseol.
Because of this, not only did various forces target her, but she also faced persecution from the Baekri family itself. As a result, she could never stay in one place for long and was forced to constantly flee using her abilities.
“That’s right.”
Manwol nodded with a look of firm conviction.
“They have been resolved.”
“I see. I understand.”
Jeong Yeong, who had trained alongside her since childhood as a member of the Baekri Family’s Secret Guard, was one of the few who truly believed in her and secretly helped her.
Throughout that time, Manwol continued making prophecies for Bu Eunseol and had to pay a cruel price for it.
The reason she made prophecies about the upper realm was to protect Bu Eunseol, and the reason she was chased by the subordinates of the True Demon was also because she had foreseen their schemes in advance to protect him.
And when Bu Eunseol fell into despair, she had no choice but to reveal herself and give him even the smallest clue.
But even that was enough to make Manwol endure constant pain close to death. There were times she could not rise from her bed for three whole months.
“So…”
Jeong Yeong could not hold back her deep sorrow.
“You’re saying you will now die for him?”
“He will soon regain all his memories and power.”
Manwol gazed at the crystal-like Jade Coffin with earnest eyes.
“And at that moment, he will die. I must save him no matter what.”
The reason she would enter the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin was to save Bu Eunseol when he later suffered a fatal wound and neared death.
“So you want me to understand such a decision?”
“I was born for this path.”
Manwol smiled calmly.
“Saving him is the same as saving the world.”
Jeong Yeong shook her head.
“Let’s discuss it with him instead. If he truly is the divine being who will save the world, wouldn’t he be able to do anything?”
“That won’t work.”
Manwol shook her head.
“He is extremely afraid of anyone getting hurt or suffering because of him. If he learns the truth, he will make the wrong choice instead.”
She smiled.
“Fourth Sister, please bless him and send me off with a smile. Being able to die for him is my joy.”
Jeong Yeong suppressed her grief and forced a smile.
“Then at least tell me why you lived for him. Hm?”
“I cannot.”
Manwol shook her head.
“He has lost his memories. I cannot give another sorrow to someone who has already lost even the memories of his parents.”
Her cheeks flushed red as she recalled the past.
“Even that was an extremely brief encounter.”
Manwol lowered her head in embarrassment.
And only to Jeong Yeong did she reveal the full story of why she was helping Bu Eunseol even at the cost of defying the Baekri family’s orders.
***
Among the bloodline of the Baekri family, Manwol was the only one born with the power of the Holy Body, and thus selected as the shrine maiden to share the power of the Holy Maiden. However, contrary to the expectation that it would be divided in two, nearly all of the Star God’s power flowed into her.
Because of this sudden heavenly blessing, the Baekri family began training her with extreme harshness so she could endure using the Star God’s power.
“Why are you so late!”
When Manwol returned carrying water, the voice of the female monk standing like a shadow under the eaves of the hall struck her back colder than the harsh wind.
“I’m sorry.”
Swallowing the sobs that threatened to burst out, Manwol staggered forward once more.
“The one who has received the Star God’s power must predict the future and assist the main family’s successor!” The female monk spoke again. “But you have been lazy. If you do not become accustomed to pain, you will not be able to wield the Star God’s power.”
The female monk scolded her sharply.
“Every drop of tears you shed now will become the strength to firmly protect you in the future!”
Manwol answered and once again carried the water bucket on her back.
Behind a pillar of the hall, Jeong Yeong watched the pitiful sight of her senior sister staggering dangerously while carrying the water bucket, and eventually closed her eyes tightly, unable to watch any longer.
Every time she tried to help her senior sister, who was undergoing torturous training, even harsher punishment would descend.
In the end, the only thing she could do was hold her hand after training when she collapsed.
Manwol did not make it far before her vision blurred and her legs trembled.
Eventually, her small body lost balance and fell onto the snow.
Clatter.
The water bucket containing precious spiritual water rolled noisily.
But at that moment, another shadow silently approached from the direction of the twisted, bare branches below the stone steps.
It was a beggar boy around eight years old, wearing rags.
Because he had wrapped something like a dirty cloth around his face to ward off the cold, his face was not clearly visible. However, it was obvious that he was starving.
Yet the eyes shining from beneath the shadowed rags were as cool and deep as the stars in the night sky.
The boy alternately looked at the fallen Manwol and the master coldly watching over her.
There was no emotion in his gaze—it was an indifferent look as if observing the world.
Then the boy approached the startled Manwol.
With his small hands stained with dirt and grime, he lifted the water bucket that was half-buried in the snow.
“Do not interfere!”
With a sharp cry, the female monk holding a discipline rod descended from the air.
“This child is in the middle of training!”
But the boy acted as if he had heard nothing and, without hesitation, slung the water bucket over his thin shoulder.
He looked only two or three years older than Manwol, yet his small back was as steadfast as if he were carrying a great mountain.
“Um… it’s all right.”
When Manwol reached out to say it was fine, the boy turned his head.
At that moment, Manwol had to hold her breath.
The boy’s eyes, wrapped in rags, looked so earnest and sorrowful.
Then the female monk shouted, “Are you deaf, you brat!”
The boy said nothing and simply stared straight at her.
Enraged, the female monk raised her energy. A sharp gust of wind capable of sweeping away the world blew forth.
Yet the boy continued glaring at the female monk without blinking once.
“How dare you—”
Greatly offended, the female monk extended a single finger and unleashed a sharp gust of wind. She had fired it to intimidate him because his utterly indifferent gaze felt arrogant and insolent.
Crash!
In the end, the rock near where the boy stood shattered, sending countless fragments flying.
One of the fragments grazed the boy’s chin.
The sharp piece of stone cut deep beneath his chin, but the boy did not even flinch.
‘Isn’t this training just tormenting her?’
The beggar boy clearly conveyed that meaning with his eyes.
And indeed, it was torment. Through continuous physical training and ascetic practices from then on, they were forging an unshakable mind that could remain calm in the face of any pain.
“I see.”
After staring into his lake-like, still eyes, the female monk let out a deep sigh and nodded.
“You are performing a good deed for a moment, and to this child it is nothing more than a passing breeze…”
The boy had come with pure intentions to do what he believed was right. There was no need to interrogate him and chase him away; she should let him perform his good deed and send him off quickly.
‘If you’re going to help, do it quickly and leave.’
At the female monk’s words, the boy began climbing the long, long stone steps one step at a time instead of Manwol.
Step. Step.
The boy’s bare feet left clear footprints on the cold snow.
Yet he maintained an indifferent gait, as if he felt neither pain nor fatigue.
Manwol blankly watched the boy’s back as he walked steadily while carrying the water bucket in her place.
How much time had passed?
When the boy reached the front yard of the hall, he quietly set down the water bucket filled with spiritual water.
Then, without once looking back, he retraced his steps and disappeared into the forest.
Manwol barely managed to call out to him in a small voice.
“Wait…”
The boy’s steps paused for a moment.
However, he did not turn around in the end.
Only a heavy silence flowed between them.
Soon after, the boy who had returned took something out from his clothes, quietly placed it on the snowy path he had walked on, and disappeared into the darkness without any lingering attachment.
When Manwol approached, she found half a frozen dumpling lying there.
He must have guessed that Manwol could not eat properly due to her extreme training.
Manwol looked down at the piece of dumpling. To a starving person, it was like a precious gift.
She carefully picked up the small piece resting on the white snow.
In the middle of winter, with thick snow falling heavily, it was the first warmth that the lowliest boy had given to the noble girl.
It was a faint but warm kindness transmitted through her cold fingertips.
Manwol never properly learned the boy’s name or face.
But those cold eyes, the shoulders that silently carried the water bucket for her, and the half dumpling left on the snowy field were deeply engraved in young Manwol’s frozen heart like an unforgettable brand.
“How strange…”
The female monk watched the boy’s receding back with a complicated expression.
“What a twisted fate this is.”
Looking up at the distant sky as she calculated the heavenly signs, she clicked her tongue.
“Why would the heavens bother to reconnect a relationship that had gone awry?”
With the appearance of the nameless boy, the wheel of fate began to turn, and the heavenly signs changed in an instant.
After enduring harsh training, Manwol became able to control the Holy Power.
She could now read the heavenly signs while enduring the accompanying pain.
In the meantime, her master passed away, and the Baekri family assigned the now-grown Manwol, under the command of the Baekri Family, the task of restoring the damaged land.
However, it was an absurdly dangerous mission for a girl who had just become a teenager to handle alone. The destruction of the territory involved intervention from the upper realm, and restoring it meant clashing head-on with them.
It was a test to see whether she could properly wield the Star God’s power and endure the pain.
If she could not even predict the movements of mere third-rate assassins from the Three Realms, she would never survive the hands of the supreme experts who sought her power.
Manwol was executing her movement technique with blood soaking her side.
The mission had succeeded, but she had suffered a fatal wound in return.
Moreover, peering into the future came with unimaginable pain.
If she had not trained to endure bone- and soul-crushing pain since childhood, she would already have become a cold corpse.
“Haa… haa…”
However, her vision grew increasingly blurry, and a strange demonic energy mixed with poison leaked out between her breaths.
Not only had she been struck by the Three Realms, but the wounds on her shoulder and side were deeply permeated with extreme poison.
As a shrine maiden who handled the Star God’s power, she could not use the Manifestation Divine Technique. Although she had learned sorcery and martial arts from a young age, she was completely ignorant of medical arts and poison techniques, leaving her helpless.
She had barely avoided vital points, but poison continuously rose from her body, and even operating her inner energy became difficult.
Even she, who had trained to endure pain, felt extreme agony spreading throughout her body to the point her consciousness began to collapse.
As the world gradually turned hazy, the face of the boy from her childhood, engraved like a brand, suddenly appeared before her.
The nameless beggar boy who had carried the water bucket for her, gotten hurt, and left—the memory of his eyes and face would not fade.
“I can’t endure it any longer.”
Splitting the night sky, Manwol lost consciousness and began slowly falling toward the ground.
Thud.
The place where she fell was the front yard of a house on the outskirts of a village.
When she came to, Manwol staggered as she searched for a secluded place.
In her dazed state, her feet instinctively headed toward a half-open door.
Pushing the half-open door once more, a musty moldy smell and the scent of old dirt assaulted her nose.
Even though it was daytime, the interior was dark, with only a single flickering candle providing light. Inside lay a crude wooden board that had not yet received its owner, and on the table beside it were scattered embalming tools and yellowed burial clothes.
This was the inside of a mortuary.
“Grandfather?”
Someone who sensed a presence came out from inside.
It was a boy around fourteen years old with clear eyes that shone even in the darkness.
The boy, whose eyes sparkled with alertness, discovered the shadow of the blood-covered Manwol and his expression turned extremely indifferent.
“This is not a place for the living to come. If you need a doctor, please go to the village.”
At that moment, Manwol, who had been crouching in the darkness, widened her eyes.
‘That person…’
Wasn’t he the very beggar boy from her childhood who had carried the water bucket for her—the one she had longed to see again?
His voice was still low and cold, but his eyes and aura had become much brighter.
“My wounds are too deep for me to move…”
Manwol, revealing herself from the darkness, politely bowed.
“May I trouble you for a short while?”
The boy looked momentarily surprised at the appearance of a girl around his age.
But he soon examined the wounded Manwol without any sign of surprise or panic, and spoke quietly.
“How can I help you?”
There was no hint of recognition or familiarity in his eyes.
‘He doesn’t remember me at all.’
Manwol felt a twinge of disappointment but spoke carefully.
“I just need to rest here for a little while.”
Blood was flowing from Manwol’s side.
The boy remained silent for a moment.
“I will help a little.”
With an indifferent gaze as if dealing with a corpse, he examined her wound.
“This is severe poison. If left alone, the flesh will rot.”
“Do you know a lot about poison?”
“Most martial artists who die in this mortuary perish from extreme poison.”
He sighed and pointed to the treatment table.
“Please lie down for a moment.”
Then he brought a medicine box containing bandages and the like.
“I’m not a doctor, but I can at least wash away poison.”
“No, I can’t trouble you like this…”
“It’s fine. However, since men and women are distinct, I cannot use my hands directly…”
The boy soaked a clean cloth in water boiled with medicinal herbs and tried to tie it to a wooden post in the corner.
“I will tie it here and wipe it for you.”
Manwol shook her head, finding the sight both amusing and embarrassing.
“I am already half dead anyway.”
Gathering courage, she spoke boldly.
“Think of it as working on a corpse and please wipe it with your bare hands.”
The boy paused for a moment, then nodded.
“I understand.”
The boy began carefully wiping Manwol’s wound.
It was a skill he had learned from handling countless bodies. His touch was extremely skilled and respectful. As if a doctor tracing acupoints, he followed not only the flow of energy but also the texture of muscles, the shape of bones, and the paths of blood vessels as he cleaned the wound.
Manwol let out continuous painful groans, but the boy paid no attention and silently focused only on the treatment.
Every time his cool hands touched the wound, Manwol felt a strange sense of peace amid the terrible pain.
It hurt that he did not remember her, yet seeing him treat her with such care made one corner of her heart grow warm.
However, this was not a wound that could be healed simply by wiping away the poison.
In the end, black blood flowed from Manwol’s mouth.
Watching this, the boy went inside and brought out another large box.
“These are medicinal herbs my grandfather collected to use when bitten by snakes.”
When he opened it, it was filled with herbs emitting colorful glows.
“Applying these will help.”
Herbs used for snake bites?
Manwol’s eyes widened in shock.
The herbs filling the box gave off such intense spiritual energy that even she, who had never studied medicine, could tell at a glance they were priceless treasures rarely seen in the mortal world.
The boy casually took out a handful of those precious herbs and began grinding them to make a poultice.
Such valuable things…
The true essence of spiritual herbs lay in the sap contained within the leaves rather than the leaves themselves.
Yet the boy was recklessly using them to make medicine.
“Endure the pain even if it hurts.”
He applied it to the wound and tightly wrapped it with clean cloth.
Whirr.
In an instant, Manwol’s inner energy and vitality, which had sunk to the bottom, were completely restored.
What exactly…
Just what did this place do that they kept such spiritually potent herbs—worth tens of thousands of gold and impossible to buy—stored like ordinary mountain vegetables?
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