Chapter 221
As soon as Baek Cheong caught her father’s peculiar gaze, countless excuses came to mind.
The Yeonha Baek Clan’s jade tablets were not something only she possessed; other members of the clan had them as well.
The demonic beast might have happened to pick it up on the mountain path, or someone might have placed it on its head as a prank.
She could even feign that she had never seen any turtle as enormous as a mountain in the first place.
‘...That won’t work.’
Her father waited silently for her answer.
The sternness of the Clan Head had mingled with the affectionate look he had worn only moments ago.
If she came up with a clumsy lie, it felt as though even crimes she had not committed would be exposed.
‘Come to think of it...’
Baek Cheong was about to open her mouth when she suddenly remembered the merit she had gained from Nameless Forum.
It had come in just after she had spent months trying in vain to obtain it.
It had not been long since she had thought that, since nothing had changed, she could not tell what it was for.
Yet right on cue, the third-tier turtle demonic beast she had parted with long ago had come all the way to the Cheonnam Alliance headquarters carrying the Yeonha Baek Clan’s jade tablet.
‘Could it really be related to the merit?’
The timing was too perfect to dismiss it as coincidence.
If karma was a force that drew misfortune, merit was likely to bring good fortune.
She still did not know whether what had appeared before her was a blessing or a calamity, but it was certainly worth finding out.
She quickly erased the excuses from her mind.
“...I think it’s a turtle I know.”
“So it was the jade tablet you left behind.”
“Yes.”
Baek Mu-jin’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Where did you form a connection with a third-tier demonic beast?”
Baek Cheong carefully explained what had happened when she had traveled around remote villages searching for spiritual-root candidates.
She told him everything, including how the rain she had brought down with the Rain-Calling Art had awakened the turtle sleeping like a mountain, and how the demonic beast liked the rain and had followed her.
She did not hide the fact that she had been unable to send it back because they could not communicate.
She merely left out the part about feeding it fifty high-grade spirit stones.
“So I brought down enough rain, and it went back to sleep. I hid it with the Harmonizing Formation because I thought another cultivator would discover it if I left it there.”
“You left the blue jade tablet behind then as well.”
“Because I thought we might meet again someday.”
Baek Mu-jin immediately raised another question.
“Does Protector Wei, who went with you, know about this?”
“We met while searching separate areas. By the time I returned, the turtle had already fallen asleep.”
“In other words, you encountered it alone in a place where there wasn’t a single cultivator who could help you in an emergency.”
Instead of answering, Baek Cheong lowered her gaze.
The more honestly she spoke, the more it felt as though another fault was being added.
Her father remained silent for some time.
Even the tapping of the voice-transmission jade tablet on the desk stopped.
The longer the silence stretched, the more Baek Cheong unconsciously straightened her back.
“Cheong-ah.”
“Yes.”
“Even if it had no hostility, it was a third-tier demonic beast. How could you only be telling me now that you faced a beast general comparable to a Golden Core cultivator alone?”
“It really was docile at the time.”
“Just because it happened not to harm you does not mean the situation was not dangerous.”
At the mild scolding, she obediently closed her mouth.
If the facts she had left undisclosed came to light as well, it seemed she would receive more than a mere reprimand.
“...I’ll be sure to tell you first next time.”
Baek Cheong promised, demurely folding her hands together.
It was a promise she would not keep, but to Baek Mu-jin, it sounded as though she had taken the lesson to heart.
Baek Mu-jin swallowed a sigh, then softened his stiff expression.
Seeing that his daughter looked dejected, he did not press her further.
“Still, if it did not attack first and enjoyed the rain you brought down, it does not seem to be a ferocious demonic beast.”
He picked up his teacup and went over what he had heard.
“If it remains this docile even after gaining spiritual awareness without harming people, it would be reasonable to call it a spirit beast. It may have remembered your kindness in protecting its sleeping body and followed the jade tablet here.”
The turtle demonic beast had neither broken the headquarters’ formations nor attacked the pavilion.
It merely waited quietly outside the gates with the blue jade tablet engraved with the Yeonha Baek Clan’s emblem resting on its head, as though showing it to them.
If it truly was a spirit beast that had come to repay her kindness, it could instead become a fortunate connection.
‘Father has a point.’
Baek Cheong nodded inwardly.
Judging by the fact that it had come all the way to the Cheonnam Alliance headquarters with the jade tablet on its head, it seemed to remember her at least.
“But we cannot know why it came looking for you.”
At her father’s words, one possible object came to mind.
‘Could it be the belly shell?’
The yellowish belly shell she had stored deep inside her spatial treasure immediately came to mind.
It was the object the turtle demonic beast had personally spat out after swallowing fifty high-grade spirit stones.
Marks that could not be recognized by sight, touch, or divine sense were engraved across its surface.
She had even considered the possibility that they were glyphs of a law higher than heaven and earth and the Heavenly Dao.
‘Wasn’t it a gift for me?’
Whether it had left the belly shell in her care, wanted to show her how it was used, or had some other reason was mere speculation until she met it in person.
But to tell her father about the belly shell, she would first have to explain the fifty high-grade spirit stones.
It was awkward to confess the part she had just omitted right away.
More than anything, the thought that this might be connected to her merit made her heart race.
‘I’ll find out when I see it myself.’
Baek Cheong unfolded her neatly folded hands from her lap.
“The fact that it followed the blue jade tablet all the way to the Cheonnam Alliance is a connection too. I’ll go take a look myself.”
“I cannot send you alone.”
Baek Mu-jin answered as though there were no need to deliberate.
“You said it wasn’t dangerous.”
“I said it appeared docile, not that you could afford to take it lightly.”
Baek Cheong had nothing to say, but thought her father’s judgment was correct.
If the third-tier turtle demonic beast changed its mind and went on a rampage, it might be difficult for the cultivators at Cheonnam headquarters alone to stop it.
Even just imagining the small-mountain-sized shell, it seemed that most magical treasures and spells would not even leave a scratch.
“Hmm...”
Baek Mu-jin went through possible people to protect his daughter one by one in his mind.
He first considered accompanying her himself.
However, the cultivators at the headquarters were already agitated by the appearance of the third-tier demonic beast.
If the Alliance Leader appeared carrying a weapon, they might mistake it for an intention to attack, and if anything went wrong, someone would also need to command the entire headquarters.
Above all, he could not guarantee that he could both protect his daughter and subdue the enormous beast.
The clan’s strongest grand cultivator was Baek Mu-ae, a Golden Core elder.
But Baek Mu-ae had already entered prolonged seclusion with his sights set on the Nascent Soul stage.
The situation was not urgent enough to forcibly awaken him, and to subdue a third-tier turtle demonic beast, he would only feel at ease after gathering several cultivators of the same realm.
He could also urgently summon the Golden Core cultivators of the Cheonnam Alliance, but moving all those guarding their respective clan territories at once would be difficult.
Moreover, if the cultivators rushed over carrying weapons, they might unnecessarily provoke the docile spirit beast.
After thinking for a long while, one person suddenly came to mind.
“As it happens, Profound Void Perfected Person is staying at the main clan.”
“Profound Void Perfected Person?”
“He is a grand cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage, and his formations have reached quasi-fifth-tier. No matter what happens, he should be able to handle it, so I’ll ask him to accompany you.”
Baek Cheong was uneasy, but obediently nodded.
She was uneasy about accompanying Profound Void Perfected Person, but there could be no more dependable escort at a time like this.
***
Profound Void Perfected Person readily agreed to accompany her as soon as he was asked.
When Baek Mu-jin explained the situation, he neither asked about the danger nor requested time to prepare.
He merely ran his fingertips over several glyphs engraved on his Daoist robe, checking them, then left the side residence at once.
“I hear my granddaughter has formed a connection with a spirit beast. How could I, her grandfather, pretend not to know?”
His tone, still insisting that he was her real grandfather, was a little burdensome.
It was also strange that a Nascent Soul grand cultivator regarded going to inspect a third-tier demonic beast as though it were a stroll.
But once she boarded the flying magical treasure heading to Cheonnam Alliance headquarters, those thoughts did not last long.
‘Could it be...’
Three facts refused to leave Baek Cheong’s mind.
The third-tier turtle demonic beast that had come looking for her.
The belly shell that might have had glyphs of a law engraved on it.
And the merit she had obtained for the first time just before the demonic beast appeared.
The three things that had been separate were converging in one place.
‘Is something big coming!’
Her small chest was already brimming with anticipation.
At the same time, she happily let her imagination soar while envisioning countless fortuitous opportunities.
Perhaps she would learn how to read the glyphs on the belly shell.
It was also possible that the turtle demonic beast had brought another object bearing traces of a law.
Perhaps the merit had even assigned her an extraordinary turtle demonic beast as a pet spirit beast.
Her anticipation wavered for a moment as she calculated how many high-grade spirit stones it would take to raise a turtle the size of a mountain.
Still, it quickly recovered when she thought that it would be fine if the merit covered even the cost of its food.
“What are you thinking about that has you smiling to yourself?”
“I’m curious how our connection came to continue.”
Baek Cheong answered demurely and composed her lips.
Profound Void Perfected Person merely gave a genial smile and did not press her.
The flying magical treasure controlled by a Nascent Soul grand cultivator quickly passed over mountains and rivers.
Far below, mortal cities and villages flitted past, small as a palm.
The journey she had expected to take some time was over before a cup of tea had even had time to cool on Profound Void Perfected Person’s flying magical treasure.
.
.
.
Before long, the vast waterways of Yeonha and the pavilions of Cheonnam Alliance headquarters came into view.
The Flying Immortal Platform and the approaches, usually bustling with cultivators, were empty.
The formations surrounding the headquarters glowed in places, while cultivators holding weapons stood at a distance on guard.
And near the pavilions, a small mountain seemed to be crouching.
It was a third-tier turtle demonic beast with earth, moss, and trees on its back.
In the past, it had concealed even its demonic qi with Tortoise Breath, but now it did not seem inclined to hide its presence.
The demonic qi of a third-tier beast pressed down on the surroundings like waves, making the eaves of the pavilions tremble faintly.
Even so, the turtle did not cause a single disturbance and waited quietly with its limbs tucked inside its shell.
Resting intact atop its head, larger than a house, was a blue jade tablet engraved with the Yeonha Baek Clan’s emblem.
‘It really is staying still.’
Baek Cheong approached the end of the flying treasure and looked down.
The turtle’s closed eyelids slowly lifted.
Golden eyes as large as small ponds instantly found her amid the numerous cultivators.
Then the turtle demonic beast stretched out its neck and opened its enormous mouth as though welcoming her.
“Ang!”