Chapter 131
Baek-Cheong kept her distance from the two cultivators and quietly observed their movements.
She maintained a distance where her Divine Sense could barely reach them, tracking their movements.
At first, she thought they were just people wandering around in search of a fortuitous encounter.
However, after watching them for a while, there was something suspicious about them.
Strangely enough, the direction the two cultivators were heading was getting closer to her.
“Is it just my imagination?”
To check, she stealthily moved to another spot.
She deliberately changed direction to widen the distance between them.
But not long after, the two cultivators also changed their direction in the exact same way.
They unfailingly followed in the direction she had turned.
'They’re following me…?’
She changed her path once more and took a wide detour.
Yet the result was the same.
Whichever way she moved, the two cultivators persistently chased after her.
It was too tenacious a pursuit to dismiss as a mere coincidence.
“How are they tracking me?”
Baek-Cheong narrowed her brow and racked her brain.
Their Divine Sense was far inferior compared to hers.
Even so, the two cultivators were somehow managing to stay right on her tail.
At the same time, a strange detail caught her eye.
Their steps didn’t seem to be approaching her as if they had pinpointed her exact location.
Rather than clearly grasping her position, they looked as if they were fumbling around and chasing after something.
Even their speed was frustratingly sluggish.
‘That means they don’t actually know my location.’
There had to be another method they were using to persistently follow her without being able to pinpoint her location.
Thinking it over carefully, she had a hunch.
She had never given them any excuse to step on her tail.
If so, the answer narrowed down to one thing.
'They’re tracking the Cloud Spirit Pearl.’
Baek-Cheong lowered her gaze to the Cloud Spirit Pearl in her hand.
It seemed they had a special means to track the Cloud Spirit Pearl.
'Well, there’s no way people wouldn’t be chasing a treasure like this.’
For a brief moment, she considered just breaking her jade token and escaping the Secret Realm.
She hesitated for a moment, fiddling with the jade token in her hand.
Breaking the jade token wouldn’t end everything cleanly.
'It’ll be a headache if they stubbornly cling to the Cloud Spirit Pearl even on the outside.’
If by some chance they tracked the Cloud Spirit Pearl outside the Secret Realm as well.
It was obvious that things would turn into a disaster on the outside.
‘I’ll pass on that.’
Above all, it felt uncomfortable to just move on without knowing their ulterior motives.
She couldn’t turn her back without knowing their identities or their aims.
'Since it’s come to this, I just need to pry open their true intentions first.’
Baek-Cheong made up her mind to face them rather than run away.
Of course, she had absolutely no intention of clashing with them head-on.
‘As long as I prepare thoroughly, there won’t be any danger.’
She stopped her steps while maintaining an appropriate distance.
While they were approaching, she busily moved her hands to get ready.
First, she took out every single Five Elements Golem from her Storage Platform without leaving any behind.
Cheong-Roe, Jeok-Roe, Geum-Roe, Baek-Roe, and Heuk-Roe - the Five Elements Golems revealed themselves.
Next, she took out the Five Elements Banner and channeled her spiritual energy into it, causing the five cloth flags to flutter.
The Five Elements Qi surged along the flags.
There was no medium better than the Five Elements Banner for deploying a Formation.
“First, concealment.”
Baek-Cheong set up the Five Elements Golems at regular intervals.
The Five Elements Golems were perfectly suited to be used as formation cores.
She took out from her bosom the Glyph Talismans she had drawn in advance and attached one to each golem.
The Formation Glyph carved on the talismans absorbed light and deployed a Stealth Formation.
The outlines of the five golems smoothly melted into the pure white clouds.
Even if one fumbled around with one’s Divine Sense, it would be difficult to notice unless one was right in front of them.
The Cloud Sea that swallowed the five senses instead became a means to hide the golems.
'There’s no place better than this to hide oneself.’
Next, she slowly waved the Five Elements Banner to weave an Illusion Formation.
It was a Formation that adapted the Unmihwanjin she had obtained from the Biun Sect.
It was quite useful for weaving the five attributes together to create an illusion.
Following the Five Elements Banner, the surrounding clouds slowly swayed and were swept up.
If she set her mind to it, drawing up at least one plausible illusion was not difficult.
Finally, she took out the Ilseong Sword from her Storage Platform and gripped it in her hand.
The blade that slipped out of its sheath gleamed with a bluish sword light.
She infused the sword with plenty of spiritual energy so that she could shoot it out as a Flying Sword at any time.
The sword, fully laden with spiritual energy, finished its preparations to fly out at a single hand gesture.
“It is done. This should be ready.”
Having laid out all the traps thoroughly, she felt much more reassured.
Baek-Cheong held her breath and waited for the two cultivators to approach.
.
.
.
Not long after, the two cultivators reached a close distance.
As she gathered her Divine Sense into one spot, their movements became clearly visible.
And even the conversation the two cultivators were exchanging could be heard clearly.
“It’s around here. The Spirit Pearl is not far away.”
The Qi Condensation Cultivator taking the lead said cautiously.
At the word Spirit Pearl, Baek-Cheong flinched inwardly.
They were undoubtedly talking about the Cloud Spirit Pearl.
“But no matter how I look at it, it’s very strange.”
The Qi Condensation Cultivator tilted his head and continued speaking.
“A Spirit Pearl is originally supposed to reside and grow in a place with dense energy. But for some reason, it’s constantly moving around.”
At that, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator standing beside him snorted.
“Isn’t it obvious? Nine times out of ten, someone has gotten their hands on the Spirit Pearl.”
“If so…”
“They must have already noticed that we are chasing them.”
Eavesdropping, Baek-Cheong her doubts only swelled.
Anyone who stepped foot into the Cloud Sea was bound to have their five senses dulled and muffled.
Yet the two cultivators were had their five senses perfectly intact and having a conversation.
“How are they perfectly fine inside the Cloud Sea?”
There was another suspicious detail.
The two cultivators' actions were overflowing with composure.
Even with a precious fortuitous encounter right under their noses, there was no sign of impatience.
They were merely relaxed, like people who had everything under control.
'What’s with that carefree attitude?’
It was an attitude that couldn’t come from ordinary cultivators.
Come to think of it, the sense of incongruity exuding from the Qi Condensation Cultivator in the lead grew even thicker.
The gaze that had calmly looked at her during the Martial Arts Competition kept replaying in her mind.
'They’re definitely not ordinary folks.’
Before long, the two cultivators came to a halt.
They seemed to be looking around, searching for traces of the Spirit Pearl.
Eventually, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator shouted at the top of his lungs and shouted.
“Cheong-Un! I yielded the Top Ranker position as promised, so obediently hand over the Cloud Spirit Pearl!”
The ringing shout pierced through the clouds and spread in all directions.
At the unexpected name, Baek-Cheong blinked her eyes.
She belatedly recalled who this person named Cheong-Un was.
When she entered the Secret Realm, there was someone who had moved before her.
It was the Top Ranker of the Foundation Establishment Group who had flown far away using an Escape Technique.
Considering someone capable of reaching the deep Cloud Sea and seizing the Spirit Pearl,
Given the circumstances, it made sense that no one else would come to mind other than the Top Ranker of the Foundation Establishment Group.
'They’ve mistaken me for Cheong-Un.’
Once she figured that out, the scattered pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
They thought the Top Ranker of the Foundation Establishment Group had snatched the Spirit Pearl.
It seemed they believed he had broken their promise and run off with the Spirit Pearl.
“This has gotten interesting.”
Baek-Cheong held a small smile on her lips.
The delusion they had concocted was the best possible bait.
It didn’t matter if she didn’t know exactly who Cheong-Un was.
She kept her mouth tightly shut and didn’t make any reply.
When no answer returned, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s complexion distorted fiercely.
“…The plan has gone awry.”
Muttering low, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator raised his hand.
Dense spiritual energy swirled around and gathered into one spot.
Soon, a 2nd-Tier Spell was deployed, striking the entire area.
It was indeed a power befitting a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s Spell.
Even the densely packed Cloud Sea scattered to the left and right for a brief moment.
As the white clouds cleared, the obscured area was clearly revealed.
However, all that revealed itself was an empty open ground.
Because the Top Ranker named Cheong-Un was never there in the first place.
“Now.”
Baek-Cheong did not miss the opening when the Spell scattered the clouds.
She poured spiritual energy into the Cloud Spirit Pearl in her hand, suppressing its ability to absorb clouds.
As the Cloud Spirit Pearl stopped its suction, the traces it had been constantly leaking were completely cut off.
“The traces of the Spirit Pearl have disappeared!”
Sure enough, the Qi Condensation Cultivator shouted in panic.
The trail they had been persistently chasing had vanished in an instant.
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s head snapped around.
“This bastard, did he run away already?”
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator hastily threw his body forward.
Right then, Baek-Cheong subtly moved the Five Elements Banner to trigger the Illusion Formation.
One of the golems hidden within the Stealth Formation moved slowly inside the clouds.
The appearance of the Foundation Establishment Group’s Top Ranker, whom she had glanced at around the time of entry, was overlaid onto the golem.
The image of him hurriedly running away while hugging a fake Spirit Pearl in his arms was plausibly created.
The illusion completely filled the eyes of the Foundation Establishment Cultivator who was throwing his body forward.
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator saw the back of the Top Ranker running away into the Cloud Sea while hugging the Spirit Pearl.
“Cheong-Un!!!”
His face turning bright red with anger, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator immediately shot out a Spell.
A Spell even fiercer than the one deployed earlier engulfed the fleeing illusion.
It was indeed an outstanding skill, enough to yield the Top Ranker position.
The fleeing Cheong-Un was sent flying instantly without even being able to put up a proper resistance.
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator strode over to the fallen Cheong-Un.
But upon seeing what was sprawled on the ground, he stopped dead in his tracks.
What had been a person just a moment ago had reverted to a golem carved from wood.
“A golem…?”
It was the moment a sound escaped his lips at the momentarily incomprehensible situation.
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator belatedly dropped his gaze to his own abdomen.
At some point, a bluish sword had embedded itself in his abdomen.
It was an unexpected situation where the illusion was revealed to be a golem.
Distracted by the golem, he had taken a single strike in his moment of carelessness.
It was the result of Baek-Cheong shooting out the Ilseong Sword, which she had already infused with spiritual energy, as a Flying Sword.
“Th-This is…!”
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator urgently grabbed the sword lodged in his stomach.
He put all his strength into his grip to wrench it free and pull it out immediately.
However, the sword slipped through his fingers and fell, utterly defying his grasp.
He had no ability to catch a Flying Sword controlled by spiritual energy with his bare hands.
The sword slipped out of his abdomen and lightly soared into the air.
Having lost his grip on the sword, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator staggered and stepped back.
Blood leaked through the fingers clutching his abdomen.
Bewilderment spread across the faces of the two cultivators at the unexpected ambush.
‘I don’t know the detailed inside story, but they’re bad guys.’
Seeing them fall for the illusion and boldly unleash a Killing Move, she was certain.
At this, Baek-Cheong swung the Five Elements Banner widely above her head.
The five cloth flags fluttered fiercely and spewed out the five attributes.
The Cloud Sea that filled the surroundings was entirely swept up by the energy of the Five Elements Banner.
The pure white clouds were dyed pitch-black, as if ink had been released into them.
The Five Elements Unmihwanjin swallowed the Cloud Sea and deployed without hesitation.
Darkness fell amidst the bright Cloud Sea, as if the dead of night had descended.
The pitch-black darkness completely trapped the two cultivators.
In the darkness, the Ilseong Sword roamed around, looking for an opportunity to attack.
The golems hidden in the Stealth Formation also silently raised their bodies in the darkness.
“Now then, shall we find out what kind of folks these are?”