Chapter 110 - Act 16. Chance, Connection, Inevitability (3)

In the end, the three elderly Cultivators had no choice but to accept Yise's proposal. They could only lament that something like this had happened in their rural backwater, but at least the man could be reasoned with. That was a small mercy.

The Biryu Sect leader cautiously asked Yise, "Cultivator, might you lift the bindings on us?"

"Why?"

"If we walk around Biryu City under a binding and someone with treasonous intentions attacks us... it would put us in a difficult position."

"You must be joking. What kind of sect would lop off its leader's head just because he's under a binding?"

Yise burst out laughing at the first good joke he had heard in ages. Forcing himself to laugh at his seniors' unfunny jokes was always a strain, but this one was genuinely amusing.

"..."

"...? Seriously?"

But judging by the Biryu Sect leader's grave expression and nervous sweating, he wasn't joking.

No... what on earth was wrong with this continent?

Surely not every faction on the continent was like this. These three must simply have failed to earn their people's loyalty.

"Then I'll release just you, Sect Leader."

Yise lifted the leader's binding. Soon afterward, the man busied himself fetching the sect's ritual implements. Meanwhile, Yise listened to the other elders explain the Northern Continent. Much of what they said was quite interesting.

The elder's very first statement was fascinating: the Northern Continent had already been unified under a single power.

Its conqueror was Grand Duke Baek Yungeom, master of the Heavenly Ice Palace, a great Cultivator who had reached Great Perfection of Nascent Soul. The elder added that the Nascent Soul houses of the Tyrant Sword Sect and Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley supported him as his right and left hands.

While Yise was pleased to hear the familiar name of the Tyrant Sword Sect, the other sect's name, Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley, struck him as odd.

"Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley... That sounds like a name a demonic-path sect would use."

"Yes. It is a demonic-path sect."

"...?"

Yise frowned, momentarily dumbfounded.

"A demonic-path sect serves under a cultivation sect? And they actually accept it?"

"... Is there a reason they shouldn't?"

"Of course. Demonic arts carry the risk of falling prey to inner demons and harming others."

"Isn't that a problem for the demonic-path sect to deal with?"

What utter nonsense was that? Yise's face twisted into a scowl.

"... They also advance their cultivation by draining other people's lifeblood, and practice vicious cultivation methods that are utterly intolerable."

"Don't all cultivation factions advance by bleeding others dry?"

"..."

Unable to bring himself to answer, he closed his mouth.

That meant he couldn't hunt demonic practitioners his own way even if he encountered them on the streets of the Northern Continent. Feeling that common sense simply didn't apply here, he waved for the elder to continue.

The Northern Continent had several distinctive features.

First, no city was permitted to contain two cultivation factions. Only one ruling faction could exist within a city.

"A tidy rule," Yise remarked.

Second, cities had to obtain permission from their overlord, the Heavenly Ice Palace, before waging war on one another.

"It must be nice having so few wars. I take it the Heavenly Ice Palace dislikes conflict?"

"Not at all. Permission for war is granted very frequently, on the flimsiest of pretexts. One city even went to war because another had chosen the same name."

There were lunatics everywhere, it seemed.

The elder added that the victor took all the resources, Cultivators, and mortal slaves.

The third feature was the most curious of all: the Foundation Establishment ritual implement sitting before him.

"This brazier is called an Atmospheric Stove. It raises the temperature within the city enough for ordinary people to survive. Please, you absolutely must not take this one... Most of Biryu City would freeze to death."

"All right. I won't take it."

The key was not the brazier, but the flame inside it. Taken from a divine relic called the Heavenly Fire Cauldron, this remarkable flame burned endlessly unless deliberately extinguished, warming the surrounding area.

Apparently every city on the Northern Continent had a brazier containing one of these flames. If the brazier was destroyed, most of the city's inhabitants would perish. That was why it was kept in the city's most secure location.

"So the Heavenly Ice Palace uses these braziers to cement its rule over the Northern Continent."

"Essentially, yes. When the sect leader of a Foundation Establishment city reaches Core Formation, it is promoted to a Core Formation city and granted a larger flame. That lets it accommodate a larger territory and a far greater population, so the city grows as well."

"Do they recognize only one sect's right to rule a city because they're concerned that fighting might destroy the brazier?"

"That may be part of it, but I imagine it's more because it makes administration easier. The Heavenly Ice Palace takes less interest in the factions it rules than you might think."

Still looking somewhat puzzled, Yise asked, "Are all Cultivators forced to join a sect?"

"No. Many remain independent Cultivators. However, when an independent Cultivator in a Foundation Establishment city newly reaches Foundation Establishment, they must choose one of three paths: fight the existing faction and seize control, join that faction, or leave the city and obtain the Heavenly Ice Palace's authorization to establish a new one."

Yise fired off question after question. The culture was so different from the Eastern Continent's that there was much he wanted to know.

"What happens if an independent Cultivator enters another city?"

"Those who travel between cities are called wandering Cultivators. In principle, they aren't required to join a faction. But if they violate the Northern Continent's rules, they become enemies of the entire continent and are hunted down."

The Northern Continent's rules. That was precisely the information Yise needed most right now. He listened intently, his expression serious.

"There are two things you must remember, Cultivator. Do not attack a city's lord. And do not remain for a year or longer without the lord's permission. If you enter a Foundation Establishment city, it is best to announce that you are a wandering Cultivator and state your purpose first. Otherwise, you may be mistaken for a spy from another city seeking to start a war."

So that was why they had attacked him outright. They had taken his claim of traveling between continents as a convenient excuse, mistaking him for an agent of another city trying to provoke Biryu City into war. Only now did Yise understand the situation.

"That sounds simple enough. By any chance, are you required to report wandering Cultivators entering your city to the Heavenly Ice Palace?"

The elder couldn't answer Yise's pointed question. His guess appeared to be correct.

"Don't tell me you've already reported me?"

"Not yet. Because of the bindings..."

Yise immediately summoned the Biryu Sect leader back and held out a private soul-binding contract.

"I don't want anyone knowing I've entered the Northern Continent, so let's sign this."

Its terms were simple. The three of them were not to utter a single word about him by any means. It was a powerful binding that would make their heads explode if they violated it.

The three hesitated uneasily.

"Even if word did get out, they wouldn't concern themselves with affairs in such a remote corner..."

"Sign it."

His answer was firm. With no other choice, the three signed the contract.

At last, all the sect's ritual implements were gathered in one place. There were fewer than he had expected. They had constantly whined about being a poor rural city, and apparently that much was true.

Yise chose the Cold-Warding Pauldrons, a Qi Refining supernatural treasure that protected the wearer from the cold. They looked familiar, and then he realized he had found a pair among the spoils taken from that Ryu something-or-other in the Dark Heaven Secret Realm. He had scoffed at the notion of a Cultivator needing protection from the cold and sold them for next to nothing.

"How much is this worth?"

"It generally sells for around fifteen hundred spirit stones."

Expensive. Fifteen hundred for a mere Qi Refining supernatural treasure, not even a rare one?

'Then again, they said Qi Refining Cultivators need one to travel beyond the reach of an Atmospheric Stove.'

Here on the Northern Continent, it deserved to be called a rare treasure.

"I'll take this. I'm letting you off cheaply because you've been so thorough with your explanations."

"Thank... you."

"But give me a map of the Northern Continent as well. If you don't have one, a local map or a map of the factions will do."

Having neatly secured everything he wanted, Yise looked satisfied.

"I'll leave the search for the book in your capable hands, then."

* * *

While the Biryu Sect combed through Biryu City, Yise borrowed its leader's secluded abode to cultivate. Following Lord Hae Il's advice, he focused on increasing the size of his primordial energy whenever he could.

The primordial energy had been no bigger than a droplet when he first reached Foundation Establishment. Gradually it grew, and by the time he finished cultivating, it was about the size of a finger. Slowly but surely, it was growing.

At the appointed time, Yise emerged from the secluded abode. He had not been lucky enough to find the Twin Principles Reversion Art in the first city he visited. The Biryu Sect said they had thoroughly searched every bookshop and household in the city, but had failed to find even a title resembling that of the indestructible cultivation manual he described.

"Our apologies, Cultivator."

"No, it's all right."

Yise reassured the embarrassed Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Biryu Sect. He hadn't expected to find it so easily in the first place.

After wishing the three long lives, Yise stepped onto the city wall. He consulted the map showing the nearby cities and considered his next destination. Since most cities on the Northern Continent's outskirts, away from its center, were Foundation Establishment cities, he intended to travel and search at his leisure.

The Northern Continent had three Nascent Soul factions, around a hundred Core Formation factions, and roughly a thousand Foundation Establishment factions scattered across its lands.

Its landmass was larger than the Eastern Continent's, but its overall population seemed smaller. For now, he planned to visit the Foundation Establishment cities around the continent's fringes, cultivating as he searched. Once he had absorbed the entire supreme-grade Qi-Condensing Pill, he would try visiting the Core Formation cities.

'The Ryu Clan's Pungryu City, huh.'

As Yise considered his destination, his eyes kept returning to one spot. For some reason, the name reminded him of someone. It wasn't the closest city, but he felt an inexplicable urge to visit it first.

'Come to think of it, Biryu City, Pungryu City... The names all sound alike. Is it a trend?'

Entertaining that idle thought, Yise set off toward Pungryu City on the Dream-Saving Cloud. Flying was certainly much more comfortable with the Cold-Warding Pauldrons on.

As he flew through the wind, a strange sensation came through his divine sense. Nothing had entered its range, yet it felt oddly as though his divine sense was pointing toward something. That guidance was linked to the private soul-binding contract deep inside the Heaven-and-Earth Pouch.

Tilting his head, he followed the sensation. Pungryu City drew steadily closer. In appearance, it was scarcely different from Biryu City.

Yise used a Spirit-Concealing Talisman and slipped quietly into Pungryu City, following the sensation. He had worried that he might encounter another Foundation Establishment Cultivator and their divine senses would meet. Fortunately, his divine sense led him to a residential secluded abode nestled within a quiet grove. He detected a Cultivator practicing inside.

When Yise examined the man's face with his divine sense, he brightened. Here was someone he was glad to see. Seeing the face brought the name back to him.

Ryu Seonghan.

He was the Cultivator who had ambushed Yise in the Dark Heaven Secret Realm, whom Yise had spared after making him sign a private soul-binding contract.

What an extraordinary connection. When he had let the man go, he had thought he could make him serve as a subordinate if they ever met again, but he hadn't expected that they actually would.

Whether this was chance, connection, or inevitability, he couldn't say. In any case, having a subordinate he could put to use without reservation was a good thing.

The corners of Yise's mouth curled upward. Using the Earth-Travel Art, he burrowed underground and appeared behind Ryu Seonghan.