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Chapter 112: What is My Truth?
Baek Ji-Min didn’t know why, but ever since her father went missing, her mother’s personality had changed. Her father had disappeared even before she comprehended the Heavenly Demon’s Flower Scripture, and one day her mother’s behavior suddenly shifted. Baek Ji-Min wasn’t sure what had happened, but she suspected something occurred to her father on that day.
Since then, her mother had become colder toward others. She had grown more distant, taking on her role as sect master with increased ruthlessness. If Baek Ji-Min used her eye technique, she could tell her mother had her own agenda, though the details and when it all began remained a mystery.
Aldrian watched as Baek Ji-Min asked her question. He also observed the sect master, who seemed cold on the surface. He didn’t know what she was like in the past, so he refrained from commenting—after all, this wasn’t his family’s business.
"It’s for your own good," Sect Master Baek Ha-Yoon said to her daughter. "It will also give you the opportunity to experience the outside world, rather than always being trapped inside Demon territory."
Baek Ji-Min wanted to argue, but her mother cut her off.
"Besides, this is what you wanted, right?"
Baek Ji-Min fell silent because her mother was right. For a long time, she had wanted to explore the world. She was already fed up with staying in the Thorny Flower Garden or within Demon territory. She needed to clear her mind somewhere, and since meeting Aldrian, that feeling had only intensified. But how had her mother figured it out when no one else knew?
Sect Master Baek Ha-Yoon then turned her attention to Aldrian.
"What do you think? Do you agree, young master?"
Aldrian looked at her for a moment before replying, "If Miss Baek is okay with it, I will gladly take her along with my group."
Hearing Aldrian’s response, Sect Master Baek Ha-Yoon nodded. She glanced at her daughter, who now wore a sad expression, but ignored her and stood up.
"I will bring you to the temple of the Heavenly Demon," Baek Ha-Yoon said.
She then led them toward the temple. They passed many areas and walked deeper into the sect. Along the way, they had to cross a giant gap between towering cliffs before finally arriving at the temple of the Heavenly Demon. Unlike the temple in the Piercing Heaven Sect, which was situated high in the sky, the Thorny Flower Garden’s temple was hidden between the steep cliffs.
The temple was quite large, its structure enveloped in the shadows of the cliffs, but the darkness did nothing to diminish its grandeur. Aldrian marveled at its beauty as he watched Sect Master Baek Ha-Yoon walk toward a massive red door and place her hands on it. What he saw was strikingly similar to the entrance to the Heavenly Demon temple in the Piercing Heaven Sect.
Once the door opened, Aldrian noticed that the architecture and hall design were nearly identical, with the only major difference being a large symbol of the Heavenly Demon with a flower beneath it, placed behind the giant altar. After they entered the temple, Baek Ha-Yoon proceeded to do exactly what Sect Master Ryu Hyuk-Jae had done to summon the scripture. As Aldrian expected, the scripture was also engraved on a stone tablet.
Once the stone tablet was in position, Baek Ha-Yoon signaled to Aldrian, giving him permission to begin. Before he could approach, however, one of the grand elders appeared from behind them, eyeing them with puzzled expression.
"Sect Master, why are you bringing the successor of the Heavenly Demon’s scripture to our scripture?" the elder asked, her voice filled with concern.
Initially, the elder had dismissed the event as an ordinary visit to the temple with the sect master, but involving their most secret scripture changed the situation.
"He just wants to see it. There’s nothing to worry about," Baek Ha-Yoon replied, still focused on the stone tablet.
"But—" the elder began to voice her opinion, but immediately fell silent when the sect master shot her a cold look with piercing blue eyes. The elder dared not voice any further objections.
Aldrian paused briefly to observe the exchange. "So, she agreed to my request to look at the scripture without informing the others," he thought, standing before the stone tablet.
As he studied the beautifully engraved words, he had not yet fully comprehended the scripture, but he immediately noticed the differences from the Heavenly Demon’s Scripture.
"There are still some of the same words from the Heavenly Demon’s Scripture, but these lines..." Aldrian murmured as he focused on a few unfamiliar lines that were not present in the Heavenly Demon’s Scripture.
"The beings under the Heavens each hold their own truth. Their souls are merely a veil over the essence of their being. You can deceive the soul, but you can’t avoid the truth. You may live many lives and mask your soul, but you can’t avoid the truth."
He studied the sentence carefully.
"The Beings under the Heavens have their own truth refers to the being’s essence. Their souls are merely a veil over the being’s essence is literal, meaning the soul is just the outer shell. You can deceive the souls, but you cannot escape the truth likely signifies that while the soul can be altered, the truth cannot. You may live many lives and even mask your souls, but the truth is inescapable—this must be referring to reincarnation."
He continued reading the next set of lines.
"The truth will always follow you, but not at the same time. The truth resides within you, but not always in the same form. You will never fully know it, if you never seek it. The only way to understand the truth is to feel it for yourself, to immerse yourself in your ’truth.’"
Aldrian read the rest of the stone tablet, but all the remaining lines were the same as those found in the Heavenly Demon’s Scripture. Pondering for a moment, his mind drifted into deep thought.
"This is the abstract part of the being’s essence, I need to understand what the being’s essence truly is from these lines." he considered.
"The truth will always follow you, but not at the same time. The truth resides within you, but not always in the same form. You will never fully know it, if you never seek it," he thought, analyzing the words carefully. "That must mean the truth is always within us, but it doesn’t always take on a physical or spiritual form. Or perhaps it can be one, or even both?"
His attention shifted to the last part. "The only way to know the truth is to feel it yourself, to immerse yourself in your ’truth’ what does that mean?" He continued pondering.
Aldrian kept his eyes fixed on the sentences, trying to piece it all together. "The truth about myself, to immerse in my truth... Wait, before I was brought into my being’s essence, all I felt was rage. And my pride... It didn’t take it lightly when that ’thing’ appeared and made me feel fear. Does my truth have a connection to my pride?"
He recalled the emotions that had surfaced, stemming from his inner personality—his pride that refused to accept the humiliation he had experienced at that moment. The hidden pride, the unexpected rage that he never thought he could express, all of it was something he hadn’t fully known about himself until then.
"At that time, I was consumed by my own pride and rage. Is this what it means by seeing it for myself, immersing in my ’truth’—the parts of me I didn’t fully recognize?" 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝒐𝒎
"Is allowing myself to be consumed by my own emotions the only way to visit my being’s essence?" Aldrian wondered. "No, if that were the case, many people would have discovered their essence and visited that place. So what else could it be?" He furrowed his brow, thinking deeply. "At that time, I didn’t feel anything but rage and pride. Is it only through these emotions that I can access that place?"
Despite reading the lines again, he still couldn’t find his answer.
"But why would my truth be connected to rage and pride? What is the meaning of that void space with the golden light above it? The space of nothingness—I’m part of it, yet not at the same time. The golden light is a part of me, yet not at the same time."
As he delved deeper into his thoughts, Aldrian unknowingly entered a state of comprehension, his mind fully immersed in the mystery of his being’s essence.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found himself in a completely different space. This time, it wasn’t the white realm where he had encountered the Heavenly Demon. Instead, he stood in a vast field of flowers, with countless types of flowers surrounding him. The fresh scent of the flowers filled his lungs, and the gentle breeze brushing his face made him wants to lie down and relax, but he couldn’t.
That was because, not far from him, stood a woman with her back facing him. She wore a plain white dress as pure as snow, and her long black hair flowed gently in the wind. Even from behind, Aldrian could tell that this woman was incredibly beautiful.
Suddenly, the woman turned to face him, revealing a stunningly beautiful smile and red eyes that captivated him. Yet, there was something familiar about her, a feeling that tugged at his consciousness. She lowered her gaze respectfully before speaking in a soft voice.
"Welcome."
