Chapter 159
She had not let so much as a speck of evidence slip.
And yet the fixed-Name dao friend had precisely singled her out.
With utter certainty, no less.
“What is this out of nowhere?”
No matter how hard she thought, nothing came to mind.
The time when she had pressed Karma was long past.
Even then, she had only been sprawled in her abode and had tapped it lightly.
She had left no trace that could be called a trace.
To begin with, she had never heard that there was any way to dig up who had pressed what in the Nameless Forum.
“Then how are they so sure it was me?”
Since she could not figure it out, she could only think of one answer.
The fixed-Name dao friend was grabbing anyone they could and trying to browbeat them.
Unable to find the Mortal who had hit Karma, they were probably throwing accusations around at random to test suspects.
Baek Cheong figured she had simply been unlucky enough to get caught because she had been asking about dao Marks.
'If they’re just testing me, I can deny it.’
Baek Cheong decided to play dumb.
She wrote a reply with an innocent air, as though she knew nothing at all.
[Dao friend(913.14): What do you mean, me?]
But the moment her reply went up, the fixed-Name dao friend shot back as if waiting for it.
[Na-Man-Do-Ryeo-Eop-Ji: I traced the Karma carved into me through fortune-telling, even grinding away my own lifespan to calculate it, so denial is useless. Because of you, I can no longer return to the Spirit Realm. I shall find your Lower Realm and make you my dao companion.]
“Fortune-telling?”
Baek Cheong stopped reading midway, dumbfounded.
They had even shaved away their lifespan to perform a divination?
They had burned through their own lives just to catch someone who pressed Karma once.
That was not something one would do without a truly extraordinary grudge.
She was flabbergasted, but at the same time, it made a strange sort of sense.
Two measly hits of Karma had left them unable to return to the Spirit Realm.
Then, of course, they might go so far as to shave away their own lifespan to hunt down the Mortal.
“Was Karma that scary?”
Compared to her past life, it was nothing more than pressing a downvote button in a community once.
Only now did she realize all over again that the Nameless Forum’s Merit and Karma were not functions to be taken lightly.
One worthless downvote had completely blocked an Upper Realm Cultivator’s path forward.
That meant the repercussions caused by Karma were that powerful.
'…For now, I’ll deny it to the end.’
If she carelessly admitted it, the matter would only grow bigger.
Besides, she had a fairly plausible basis for denial.
None other than her own divine realm.
Based on what the dao Friends had explained so far, dao Marks were not something easily accumulated.
Only high-realm Cultivators could accumulate them, since they came from exerting influence.
In that case, it followed logically that a mere Qi Condensation cultivator could not possibly possess dao Marks.
'The fact that I’m at Qi Condensation is completely undeniable.’
Having finished rationalizing it to herself, Baek Cheong posted a reply.
[Dao friend(913.14): From what the other dao Friends have said, dao Marks don’t seem easy to accumulate. How could someone like me at Qi Condensation press Merit or Karma?]
She put forward her Qi Condensation stage and denied it to the bitter end.
The funny thing was that there was not a single lie mixed in.
Others might deny something with lies, but she was denying it by shoving the plain truth in their faces.
That let her insist on it all the more confidently.
“What kind of dao Marks would a Qi Condensation cultivator have? Right?”
Sure enough, the fixed-Name dao friend’s momentum weakened in the reply that came back.
[Na-Man-Do-Ryeo-Eop-Ji: …Qi Condensation?]
“Oh, is it working?”
The absolute certainty in their tone had vanished, replaced by a clear wobble.
If they withdrew their suspicion and backed off like this, she could ask for nothing more.
But the fixed-Name dao friend was not so easy.
After a brief silence, a new reply soon appeared.
[Na-Man-Do-Ryeo-Eop-Ji: Even at Qi Condensation, it is not impossible to accumulate dao Marks.]
'Huh, they’re not buying it?’
Baek Cheong smacked her lips in disappointment.
She had thought that if she played the Qi Condensation card, they would find it ridiculous and retreat.
Instead, the fixed-Name dao friend was accepting the idea with a surprisingly open mind.
They did not let go of the suspicion that she might have accumulated dao Marks, whether she was engaged in Qi Condensation or anything else.
Whether that was open-mindedness or sheer stubbornness, denial alone did not seem likely to shake them off.
'This isn’t going to work.’
Since playing innocent had failed, she needed to find another way.
After thinking for a moment, she changed direction.
Since she was already under suspicion, it would be better to scare them so they could not recklessly come looking for her.
After all, she was the one they were after.
In that case, all she had to do was threaten them by making her Lower Realm seem far from easy prey.
“I just need to let them know nothing good will come of finding me.”
Baek Cheong boldly posted a reply as if bluffing.
[Dao friend(913.14): Come and try, then. Our Lower Realm has nine soul transformation seniors!]
If it were a Lower Realm with nine soul transformation cultivators, even a fixed-Name dao friend would not dare set foot there lightly.
“This much should scare them into backing off.”
Sure enough, the fixed-Name dao friend began writing a reply.
Their tone was contemptuous, as though they were scoffing.
[Na-Man-Do-Ryeo-Eop-Ji: No wonder you’re at Qi Condensation. Your bluffing is clumsy. As soon as I find your Lower Realm…]
'Clumsy? Hey, what’s clumsy about…’
Baek Cheong pouted, then tilted her head.
The fixed-Name dao friend’s reply had been cut off before it could finish.
They had not even continued to say what they would do as soon as they found her Lower Realm.
Just as she was moving her Divine Sense in confusion, the reason came into view.
Beneath her reply about the nine soul transformation cultivators, an unfamiliar dao friend had left a comment.
[Dao friend(3.9): It is true.]
A passing dao friend had abruptly cut in and confirmed that it was true.
Their interface number alone was extraordinary.
An interface number close to a single digit was almost certainly a great Cultivator.
After all, the great Cultivators who showed off substantial insight in the Nameless Forum had all carried numbers like that.
“Why would a great Cultivator suddenly butt in…”
Baek Cheong was bewildered by the sudden intrusion.
She had no idea how dao friend(3.9) had determined the truth.
But one thing was clear: a passing great Cultivator had abruptly stepped in to back her up and say it was true.
“Whatever this is, they should tuck their tails and back off now.”
But her expectations went spectacularly wrong.
After pausing for a moment, the fixed-Name dao friend instead posted again with venom in their words.
[Na-Man-Do-Ryeo-Eop-Ji: An eye for an eye, and Karma for Karma!]
Along with the reply, the post she had written changed.
The numbers set into the header had clearly shifted.
[Merit 0 / Karma 1]
“Whoa, wait!”
Baek Cheong flinched at the Karma embedded in her post.
The nerve she had shown just moments ago vanished without a trace.
Trying to drive them off by threatening them with soul transformation cultivators had instead brought disaster down on her.
When the path to coming in person was blocked, the fixed-Name dao friend retaliated with Karma.
“What happens if this gets pressed?”
Thinking back, she knew Karma was a frightening function.
Had an Upper Realm Cultivator not become unable to return to the Spirit Realm over a mere two points of Karma?
But now that Karma had actually been stuck on her own post, fear came first.
She had no idea what would happen to her if Karma were pressed.
'What’s going to happen…’
Baek Cheong looked around anxiously.
Her small chest tightened as she wondered if some disaster would strike at any moment.
Yet even after quite some time passed, nothing happened at all.
Her body lay on the bed, perfectly fine.
She examined her Dantian, her Divine Sense, and even her spirit root one by one, but nothing had changed.
There was not even an eerie sign, let alone the smallest twinge of pain.
All that worry felt almost embarrassing now.
“What? Nothing happened.”
The tension in her small chest slowly eased.
The threat had been noisy, but in the end, nothing had actually happened.
A little annoyed, she posted a reply.
[Dao friend(913.14): Nothing happened, though?]
└Dao friend(3.9): The form of Karma differs from Cultivator to Cultivator.
└Na-Man-Do-Ryeo-Eop-Ji: Heh heh, wait and see.
At that, replies began piling up beneath the once-quiet thread.
“What on earth is this?”
Baek Cheong frowned as she looked back and forth between the replies.
Did the form of Karma differ from Cultivator to Cultivator?
On top of that, the fixed-Name dao friend’s words to wait and see felt somehow unsettling.
It sounded as though, even if all was quiet for the moment, something would happen if she waited.
The more she thought about it, the more unease settled in one corner of her heart.
Then a certain thought suddenly occurred to her.
'Don’t tell me…’
The fixed-Name dao friend who had descended from the Upper Realm had received Karma in succession and ended up unable to return to the Upper Realm.
In a way, it felt as if Karma inserted misfortune into an event that was destined to happen to the Cultivator who received it.
'No, that can’t be it, right?’
Even as she told herself it could not be, goosebumps rose over her entire body.
She searched her memory for any inevitable misfortune that might be waiting for her as well.
After thinking it through carefully, only one thing came to mind.
The heavenly Tribulation would come when she reached foundation establishment before long.
Since she was right on the verge of Qi Condensation grand perfection, her breakthrough to foundation establishment would happen soon.
A heavenly Tribulation for a mere foundation establishment breakthrough sounded absurdly excessive.
But given the heavenly Tribulation clouds that kept appearing whenever she practiced pill refining, she considered it inevitable.
At least she had planned to use fake tribulation clouds to disperse the lightning tribulation, so she had been at ease.
But if Karma were added to the heavenly Tribulation, that changed everything.
“At worst…”
Baek Cheong’s face went pale at the thought that came to mind.
She was already being forced to undergo an unfair foundation establishment heavenly Tribulation, and now there was a chance that two rounds of lightning tribulation might fall.
‘I’m screwed.’
At that, she stared blankly at the Karma embedded in her post.