CHAPTER 123: NEW DISCOVERIES AND MYSTERY

"How exhausting..." I murmur as I lie down on the bed, feeling very tired. Training with Lyuei was very difficult; she did help, but she seemed very excited when it came to hitting me and yelling at me to do it correctly.

She pointed out a hundred supposed mistakes I made in a single punch, but it wasn’t bad training just on that. In the end, I can use that knowledge in other worlds, and that’s what matters.

"...Can Shizune come in?" I hear a voice obviously Yesheon by the tone she speaks in.

"Of course, come in," I say, sitting up and avoiding groaning in pain from the fatigue I feel. Yesheon soon enters and comes up to me.

"I came to check the curse on your soul. That’s also one of my duties, but I ended up not looking yesterday because of everything that happened," she says, a bit embarrassed.

"Ah, yes...my ’curse’ that’s in my soul." She won’t get anything from that, so it’ll just be a waste of time, but if I want to pretend well, I should maintain the facade.

"We can chat to pass the time. How was your time in the demonic sect?" She asks while moving her hand towards me, and a silvery glow occurs as she closes her eyes, so I guess that’s my cue to speak.

I decide to be honest about what I went through there, so I’ll gain a little more of her sympathy so she can help me with cultivation. Anyway, in a few months, I’ll be returning to Yeom.

"In the demonic sect, I really didn’t have much freedom over what to do. Most of the time, I just looked out the windows or wandered around the place. The truth is, I didn’t have any real rights in that place."

This makes me notice the obvious contrast between the demonic sect in my memories and this place I’ve been in for only a day. Here, many may not even like me, but I have freedom.

In the demonic sect, I was adored by many, but I never had any choice about anything in that place. It was all ultimately about the celestial demon.

"I guess it’s just inconvenient, you know?" I like this place; it gives me a unique freedom that I enjoy. I just fear that Yesheon might turn into a yandere. If that happens, I’ll distance myself from her as quickly as possible.

"I couldn’t even learn things about cultivation. That left my knowledge only at the basic level of what I heard, or what the celestial demon himself informed me." Yesheon doesn’t respond, but I continue speaking.

"So I think staying here is much better, even if they don’t like me, as long as you believe in me, it’s all good." I say as she stops checking my soul.

"That’s terrible. Don’t worry, Shizune! Here, you’ll be able to learn everything properly...as for your curse, I analyzed it and found many strange things," Yesheon takes a book from her storage ring.

"You see, my true master and former leader of the orthodox sect was someone...complicated. He wrote some things and researched others that would probably have gotten him expelled from the sect."

"...Is it okay to tell me this?" I question. If her master did things that could have gotten him, the leader, expelled, if I spread this information, Yesheon could be expelled.

"He’s dead. We don’t judge dead people; the heavens decide those things. So even if you spread this, no one would do anything. Plus, I’m the strongest in the sect...they wouldn’t expel me even with a reason, with the Celestial Demon still active."

"But we won’t talk about that. Look, come here and see this," She says, unlocking the book, which seems more like a diary than a common book, with a lock and key.

"..." We end up quite close since the book is small. She soon opens it, showing me various notes and drawings. Fortunately, I can read in this world.

"...Sayuri..." is written, a name that triggers my body to shiver and tremble a bit. I don’t know how this master of hers could know Sayuri’s true name.

Sayuri is death, and as such, apparently, it’s not easy to know her true name, from what I’ve seen in the worlds I’ve been in.

"According to my master, Sayuri is the deity who guards the gates of heaven and hell. Such a thing would be a blasphemy to the theology we know, since the underworld should be maintained by the King of the Underworld, not someone called Sayuri," Yesheon begins to speak.

"But what matters is not that this Sayuri is supposedly the one who guards the gates of hell and heaven. What matters is this here, look," She says, showing a drawing of a river.

It’s a river with some strange descriptions about it, with words that have a meaning I don’t understand.

"Your curse has many similarities to the description of this river! According to my master, this river here is like a bridge that has infinite ramifications that go to infinite places," She speaks a little excitedly.

"My master always sought what true ascension to become an immortal was, and he left me many knowledges."

"This river is one of the knowledges. It would be the path responsible for...for...for...what were we talking about again...?" Yesheon suddenly stops talking and questions me, leaving me confused.

"...? Master? You were talking about a river," I say, not understanding why she stopped. The explanation was great, and it’s really similar to my curse that forces me to go to other worlds.

This supposed river would apparently be like a bridge that connects all worlds or something similar.

"River? I wasn’t talking about any river?" She speaks confusedly, as if she hadn’t just cited it.

"..." I look at the book to show her what we were talking about, but the book is completely blank.

"...H-Haha, y-you’re right...I was asking if we could go to a river to take a bath together or go fishing..." I make up an excuse, unable to believe it.

Suddenly, she doesn’t remember what we were talking about, and the book is blank. Obviously, something has influenced this.

"Master, what is this book in your hand?" I ask to see what answer she will give. She said this book was from her master and had knowledge that would be blasphemous to the theology of this world.

"...This book here?...Do you believe I don’t know?" She speaks, looking at the blank book. She suddenly just forgot everything about it.

"Master, what was your master like? Did he do something that could have made him lose his position?"

"Not that I know of. My master was a kind and wise person who always sought the truth behind true ascension to immortality," She speaks, seeming extremely honest.

"...I see...master, what do you have to say about my curse?"

"Hmm, it’s complicated. I haven’t seen anything with any resemblance to it in any way," She speaks as if she hadn’t just said a moment ago that it was like this supposed river that was a bridge with infinite ramifications to infinite places.

"...Master, I’m tired. Could you leave for today? I want to be ready to train with the senior tomorrow," I say with a smile, hiding the strange things.

I need to talk to Yui now and see why this happened suddenly. I need to know why she was prevented from telling me what she knew.

"Of course, I’ll go study a bit. Have a good night," Yesheon says, leaving the room as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"..." As soon as she leaves, I call Yui.

"Yui! Why did Yesheon lose her memories suddenly, and why did the book go blank! She was going to tell me important things!" I ask urgently.

"W-Wait, explain it properly! What are you saying?" Yui asks, confused by my rushed questions.

"...Okay, summarizing: Yesheon appeared in my room, analyzed my soul, and then took a book supposedly made by her master. In this book, it mentions Sayuri, which is naturally unusual!"

"But what matters is that when Yesheon talked about a river that works like a bridge of infinite ramifications and mentioned how it resembles my curse, she suddenly forgot about it."

"And the book that had the knowledge about it just went blank! This is not at all normal! Yesheon is probably the second strongest person in the world!"

She was clearly prevented from talking too much, but as far as I know, Sayuri’s curse only affects me directly and affects others indirectly, and Sayuri herself stopped looking at my life because she’s angry.

"I-I don’t know, Shizune. Maybe it’s Sayuri’s curse acting?" Yui speaks nervously because of my haste. My trait of paranoia is annoying in these moments because it makes me agitated. I don’t know who did it, and without knowing how, I get worried.

"Yui, you can’t look at other people’s futures. Just look at who did that to Yesheon, then! Or tell me what this supposed river is."

"S-Sorry, but you know I can’t just break rules like that, Shizune. Don’t worry so much, you still remember, and that’s good! But I can’t tell you anything," She speaks, trying to be positive.

’...She’s right...’ There are 3 crucial points in what Yesheon said. The first is that her master was seeking immortality as a cultivator and discovered extreme things. The second is the supposed river that resembles my curse.

And the third is that such knowledge should not be revealed to me, meaning I’m on the right track to break my curse. I had even given up on getting anything useful from this world, but it seems surprises can always happen.

’So immortality and my curse are closely connected...’ I decide to accept it this way. Yui is nice and helps me a lot, but I shouldn’t be dependent on her answers.

I just noticed that I’m becoming dependent on Yui. We’ve been spending a lot of time together, and she’s always nice, giving me answers when possible, but I should seek answers on my own.

"Okay, Yui, I’m tired now, so I’ll rest and think a bit." I’ll try to connect the dots and reach the answer without relying on Yui.