Chapter 192
Time flew by, and before she knew it, she had turned fifteen.
Ever since the last flare-up of her latent spiritual root, she had devoted herself solely to raising her cultivation realm.
She had to expand the vessel known as her dantian so that her body could withstand the next flare-up.
Yet whenever she looked into her dantian, a sigh escaped her first.
She had only just passed halfway through condensing her spiritual qi after reaching Foundation Establishment.
‘I’m halfway there now.’
Even after switching to the Five Elements Art, which made absorbing spiritual energy easier, her progress was still unimpressive.
Of course, if she had devoted herself entirely to raising her realm, she would have filled it long ago and then some.
But things had not gone as she wished.
Even when she sat cross-legged, she could not maintain her focus for long and was constantly distracted.
On top of that, during the day, Daoist Xuanhe kept her busy with formation lessons, while in the cave abode she devoted herself to refining the Yunryeong Bead and Baekju.
There was nothing she could do about the attention she needed to pour into raising her realm being divided here and there.
‘It’s absolutely not because of browsing the forum.’
It wasn’t as though she had spent no time clinging to the Nameless Forum and rolling around every night.
But browsing the forum was merely legitimate entertainment enjoyed after arduous cultivation.
Having reached that conclusion, she thought of another issue that was actually bothering her.
The problem was her body, which refused to grow.
Though she had turned fifteen, her reflection had not changed one bit from when she had been around ten.
Her small chest and limbs were exactly the same, so there would be nothing strange about mistaking her for a ten-year-old.
‘My realm has risen this far, so why is only my body still the same?’
Could it really be that her realm had become too high, causing her body to stop growing instead?
Once the question arose, it refused to go away.
Lying on her bed, she opened the Nameless Forum.
Then she posted something on the general discussion board.
『Daoist(913.14): Does having a cultivation realm higher than one’s age stop one’s growth?』
[Serious question.]
The moment the post went up, replies began streaming in.
[Daoist(11.23): If that were true, every great cultivator who made a name for themselves would look like a child.]
[Daoist(340.6): If you also consider the great cultivators who only barely raised their realms in old age, the cultivation world would consist of nothing but children and old people.]
[Daoist(108.8): One’s cultivation realm and physical body are separate matters. A high cultivation realm does not make a growing body stop growing. However, if you take refuge in me, you can regain your halted growth.]
Most of the Daoists waved their hands, insisting that nothing like that happened.
‘I suppose that makes sense.’
Baek Cheong was scrolling through the replies with an unimpressed expression when...
One Daoist let slip something unusual.
[Daoist(206.5): I hear that body cultivators are occasionally like that, though.]
She blinked at the words ‘body cultivator.’
If it was body cultivation, perhaps things were different.
Up to this point, she could have dismissed it as someone else’s problem.
She was, after all, unequivocally a spell cultivator.
Yet her expression stiffened at a fact that occurred to her next.
She had been diligently swallowing body-tempering pills to strengthen her sinews and qi-blood, just as the Pacheon Sword Venerable had instructed.
It troubled her that she had only been taking the pills, without doing any training that involved throwing her body into the fray.
So, just in case, she posted a reply.
[Daoist(913.14): ...Does it count if I only take the pills without doing any body-cultivation training?]
└Daoist(206.5): I’ve never seen a case like that, so I don’t know.
└Daoist(88.4): Can you even call that body cultivation?]
The answers she received were all equally vague.
The person who had asked the question only became more frustrated.
‘Surely... it isn’t really that, right?’
When she thought it over carefully, it fit in a few ways, which left her feeling uneasy.
[Daoist(451.0): There must surely be profound meaning in our great senior’s question, so we should all humble ourselves and ponder it...]
A Daoist on one side was spouting nonsense, but she did not even notice it at the moment.
‘No, it can’t be.’
Baek Cheong denied the hypothesis and desperately soothed her small chest.
Even so, she seriously began wondering whether she should stop taking the body-tempering pills.
But she soon shook her head.
Body-tempering pills were not something she could stop taking carelessly.
All the strengthening of her sinews and qi-blood over the years was thanks to those pills.
More importantly, having tempered her body with the pills was what allowed it to withstand the flare-up of her harmonized latent spiritual root.
That had been true even when the latent spiritual root had revealed no more than a speck of its existence.
If she had not strengthened her body with the pills, she would have burst apart on the spot.
‘Growth or no growth, staying alive comes first.’
After weighing the matter for quite some time, she made up her mind.
At the same time, she concluded that her halted growth was probably due to the latent spiritual root rather than the pills.
The fact that Grandfather Yak-seon had said something similar gave her even more confidence.
‘Right, it’s all the latent spiritual root’s fault.’
So the answer was obvious.
All she had to do was fully achieve Five-Element Harmony and bring the harmonized latent spiritual root under her control.
She believed that once she mastered the latent spiritual root, all the growth she had postponed would erupt at once.
When that day came, she would be able to stand tall and look down on everyone with pride.
‘I’ll make them all fall over in shock when that happens.’
Baek Cheong made this ambitious vow and got to her feet.
Of course, separate from that resolve, she still had some lingering attachment.
‘...There wouldn’t happen to be a Grow-Grow Dan or a Bust-Boosting Pill, would there?’
If only there were a pill that made someone shoot up just by eating it.
Though she knew it was pointless, she found herself wanting to sneak a look through the marketplace.
She soon let go of the idea and left the Nameless Forum.
Now was not the time to leisurely browse the marketplace.
‘I can’t be late for the New Year’s banquet.’
Baek Cheong hurriedly got up and prepared herself.
She changed into her newly tailored Daoist robe and tidied her appearance.
Normally, she hated banquets with a passion.
They were crowded, and sitting there while pretending to be demure made her fidget.
But this time, she intended to show her face.
She had completely missed the last banquet while going to the Biyun Sect and shutting herself away in seclusion.
Having skipped two in a row, it would not be good if she failed to show even the tip of her nose this time.
‘Well, I’ll just make an appearance and leave.’
More importantly, the New Year’s banquet would not be too burdensome at the beginning.
Only around a hundred members of the direct and collateral branches gathered for the modest event.
Guests and outsiders would flood in later, but at first, it was strictly an affair for the family.
That would make it perfect for briefly showing her face and slipping away.
After finishing her preparations, she headed for the banquet hall using the Cloud-Rain Technique.
***
When she entered the banquet hall, her family had already gathered in various places.
Members of the direct and collateral branches were all together, warmly catching up face-to-face after a long time apart.
The moment she appeared, gazes from every direction turned toward her.
Every pair of eyes held an expression of surprise.
“Good heavens, that child has already reached Foundation Establishment.”
“It wasn’t an empty boast that she achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.”
Up to this point, the reaction was exactly what she had expected.
But following the admiration came some subtle murmuring.
“But how does she look exactly the same as before?”
“Her realm has risen that far, yet her body hasn’t grown at all.”
“Shh, she’ll hear you.”
Baek Cheong possessed divine sense and qi perception far beyond what her cultivation realm should have allowed.
The whispers of the collateral-branch elders reached her ears in their entirety.
‘...Do they think I can’t hear them?’
She desperately wanted to snap back at them.
But when she thought about it carefully, she could not really get angry.
Her body truly had not grown.
If she lashed out, she might instead look like a child nursing a grudge over her stunted growth.
‘Let’s act with dignity.’
Baek Cheong forced herself to look calm and straightened her shoulders.
She raised her chin slightly and walked forward demurely.
Even with her small frame, it was obvious she was trying not to look intimidated.
Yet perhaps that very attitude made her look mature in the eyes of the collateral-branch elders.
“Oh my, at least her bearing is no worse than an adult’s.”
“As expected, a promising tree is different from the moment it sprouts.”
The whispers gradually turned into admiration.
‘What kind of turn is this?’
As Baek Cheong headed toward her seat, putting on a dignified act, she suddenly stopped.
She had sensed a familiar presence near the seat of honor.
‘Huh? Why is Grandfather sitting over there?’
Her grandfather, who had entered a lengthy seclusion, was sitting squarely in the seat of honor.
He had shut himself away ages ago, claiming he was aiming for the Nascent Soul stage, and yet here he was.
She opened her eyes wide, hurried over, and paid her respects.
“Grandfather, have you been well?”
“Oh, my Cheong.”
Baek Mu-ae nodded fondly as he looked at his granddaughter.
His eyes were also filled with something resembling expectation.
He stared at her as though he were secretly hoping for something.
‘Why is he looking at me like that?’
Baek Cheong was bewildered, unable to understand what was going on.
But she did not show it, merely greeted him obediently before stepping away.
She could faintly sense disappointment coming from behind her.
It was as though his inflated expectations had suddenly deflated glumly.
‘Did I miss something?’
After returning to her seat, Baek Cheong pondered the matter carefully.
But no matter how much she retraced everything, nothing came to mind.
In the end, she had no choice but to sit there calmly.
.
.
.
How much time had passed like that?
As she absently turned her eyes toward the vicinity of the seat of honor, something suddenly flitted through her mind.
The other Guardian Elders had taken their seats one by one beside her grandfather.
They were older relatives of the clan, each old enough to be her grandfather.
Only after seeing several grandfathers together did she belatedly remember a fact she had completely forgotten.
‘Ah, the Hak-Su Dan!’
She remembered the Danmun Hak-Su Dan she had brewed for her grandfather long ago.
It was a precious longevity pill that extended one’s lifespan by twenty years.
Originally, she had handed it to Grandfather Yak-seon first in place of her grandfather, who had entered seclusion.
But apparently, Yak-seon had quietly tipped him off.
He must have told him that his granddaughter had separately brewed a Hak-Su Dan meant for her grandfather.
Her grandfather had clearly broken his lengthy seclusion and hurried out.
‘Good heavens, did he break seclusion just to receive a single pill?’
No wonder he had been looking at her with such hopeful eyes from the beginning.
Now everything clicked into place.
She desperately wanted to rush over and give him the Hak-Su Dan.
But the other collateral-branch family members were taking turns paying their respects to her grandfather.
It would be awkward to force her way into the line of people waiting to greet him.
‘I’ll give it to him when the time is right.’
As she mentally counted the bottles of Hak-Su Dan in her spatial treasure, Baek Cheong decided to wait for a suitable opening.
Fortunately, plenty of extra longevity pills remained.
There were enough to give some not only to her grandfather but also to the other Guardian Elder grandfathers.
With that, none of the grandfathers seemed likely to feel slighted.
‘Maybe I’ll properly show some filial piety for once.’
Even as she happily gauged the timing,
her grandfather, seated in the place of honor, continued peeking toward her.
It was hard to believe he was an old ancestor who had weathered countless years.
He looked exactly like a child waiting for New Year’s gift money.