Chapter 112 - Act 16. Chance, Connection, Inevitability (5)

Judging by this absurd turn of events, the Ryu Clan apparently did no more than grant permission to use the secluded abodes, without actually guarding or managing them. Seeing Yise enter a second-tier abode while disguising his realm as first-star Qi Refining must have stirred these Cultivators' greed.

Yise swatted aside the incoming spells with his bare hands, then crushed the attackers beneath his spiritual pressure. He had no need for spells or ritual implements. The gap between them was already so vast that his spiritual pressure alone could crush early-stage Qi Refining Cultivators to death.

“Urgh, ngh...”

“S-spare—”

Yise sighed at the Cultivators trembling on the floor beneath his pressure.

'What should I do with them?'

Robber Cultivators who dared covet another's property deserved death, but he could not act recklessly here. In the end, he decided to show mercy.

“Hand over everything you have and disappear, and I'll let you live.”

Only after saying it did he realize he sounded like a third-rate mountain bandit, which left him feeling oddly embarrassed.

* * *

Yise was thoroughly irritated. He had gone to the trouble of renting a secluded abode to focus on cultivation, only to be attacked four times over the past two months.

Unable to stand it any longer, he complained to the abode's manager, who instead turned on him. Why not set up a barrier formation? Was he some brainless idiot who didn't even know the basics?

It was fortunate that Yise was a Cultivator who kept his center well. He had nearly succumbed to an inner demon and cut off the manager's arms and legs.

Thinking that he would have to ask Ryu Seonghan to procure a barrier formation disc, he returned to his quarters and made rice soup with the last of the snow boar. Most of its spirituality had faded with time, but it still tasted good.

He had nearly emptied his bowl when Ryu Seonghan returned. Settling naturally across the table from Yise, he said,

“I'm sorry, Senior. I've searched as thoroughly as I can, but I don't think it's in this city.”

“All right. Nothing we can do about that. Get me a barrier formation disc. The flies won't leave me alone.”

“Huh? You were cultivating without a barrier?”

Yise gave little response and kept his spoon busy. After watching him silently for a moment, Ryu Seonghan reached for the pot, which had a little soup left. Yise pulled it in front of himself as if to warn him off. He had absolutely no intention of yielding the last portion.

Looking disappointed, Ryu Seonghan leaned back comfortably. He seemed much more at ease around Yise now.

“By the way, Senior, how did you reach Foundation Establishment?”

“It's rude to ask about someone's cultivation method.”

“Well, yes, but... I'm not asking about your cultivation method. Did you perform a rite or take an elixir pill?”

“A pill.”

“Oh... Do you belong to some massive overarching sect? You don't seem to be from the Northern Continent. How did you get here?”

Yise gave him a quiet glance.

“Is it obvious?”

“You went into a secluded abode without a barrier. You clearly don't know even the most basic things about the Northern Continent.”

“I'm from the Eastern Continent. How I crossed over is confidential.”

“You've come a long way.”

It certainly was far away. Yise chuckled. He lifted his spoon again and slowly swallowed the broth as he thought.

What now, though? Would he really have to visit every city and search them one by one?

Reading his concern, Ryu Seonghan offered some advice.

“If what you're looking for really is a cultivation manual, you'd probably be better off going to the Heavenly Ice Palace than searching like this.”

“Would I really? This isn't just a ploy to get rid of me?”

“Well, that would be nice for me... Aagh! I'm not lying...”

A check with mind reading confirmed that he was telling the truth. Yise gave him a look inviting him to explain.

“The Heavenly Ice Palace doesn't keep its people in line, but it's very thorough about managing resources. Cultivation manuals in particular. Its policy is to acquire and oversee every cultivation manual on the Northern Continent.”

Ryu Seonghan added that whenever an outside sect discovered a new cultivation manual in a secret realm or elsewhere, or authored one, the custom was to have the Heavenly Ice Palace inspect it and present a copy.

In that case, the palace might know of the Twin Principles Reversion Art's existence. But if it was there, that would pose an even greater problem of its own.

“Hmm... Wouldn't it be dangerous?”

“Well, unless you plan to attack them and steal it, what danger would there be? They don't particularly care who enters the Heavenly Ice Palace's territory, whether wandering Cultivators or independent Cultivators. Of course, whether you can actually get it is another matter.”

Fortunately, simply entering the Heavenly Ice Palace's territory appeared safe. But there was something Ryu Seonghan did not know.

Yise possessed the Heavenly-Demonic Dual-Meridian Constitution, with Demonic Energy and spiritual energy coexisting in his body. Since even demonic practitioners roamed freely, that would not pose an immediate problem, but if his constitution became known, it would surely draw attention. Great Core Formation Cultivators could see both Demonic Energy and spiritual energy.

There was no telling whether someone who took an interest in his constitution would be good or evil. At the very least, he needed a way to escape their scrutiny, or to reach Core Formation himself...

He was searching for the Twin Principles Reversion Art to reach Core Formation safely, yet finding it required him to reach Core Formation first. It was a contradiction.

'Should I try to find something like a cloning spell?'

The situation seemed so hopeless that even absurd ideas were coming to mind.

“All right, I understand. Tell me more about the Heavenly Ice Palace.”

“The Heavenly Ice Palace... Well, it has quite a long history. And its great, long-cherished ambition is to ascend as a sect.”

“Ascend as a sect?”

“Yes. Usually, ascension means going to the Upper Realm alone, but the Grand Duke believes an entire sect can ascend together. That's why he's so obsessed with collecting cultivation methods.”

An entire sect ascending. What a curious notion. But if such a thing really existed, wouldn't the previous Lord of Daemudo have taken Daemudo with him when he ascended?

“You know about the Upper Realm, don't you?”

“I've heard it's a place inhabited by beings of a higher Rank.”

“I don't know the details either, but rumor has it that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth there is hundreds of times denser than in the lower realm. Cultivation is faster, and even ordinary people live longer. They say even Qi Refining Cultivators live for nearly two hundred years... It's a dreamland for Cultivators.”

“So if the sect ascends, all its disciples will cultivate faster and stand a better chance of achieving longevity.”

“Exactly. In the lower realm, a single supreme power can decide whether a sect flourishes or falls... I suppose he thinks securing passage to the Upper Realm is the better choice for the sect than staying in a lower realm where its legacy could end at any time.”

“Is it actually possible for a sect to ascend?”

“Who knows? How could ignorant people like us understand the realm of great Nascent Soul Cultivators...? But perhaps he's made it his great ambition because he's seen some clue at that realm.”

Yise listened with interest to this new information. It meant he needed to be all the more careful. Anyone so interested in cultivation methods would surely have just as much interest in unusual constitutions.

“Is it fairly easy to join and leave the Heavenly Ice Palace?”

“Well, it's not somewhere you can join just because you want to... Becoming an outer disciple might be easy enough. But without connections to at least a Core Formation sect, becoming an inner disciple would probably be difficult. At your realm, Senior, perhaps it would be possible?”

“What about you? Your talent isn't bad. Couldn't you join the Heavenly Ice Palace?”

“What? Are you telling me to infiltrate the Heavenly Ice Palace? This is just... Aagh!”

Ryu Seonghan clutched his head again. The fellow seemed utterly incapable of learning.

“... I have to take over my clan.”

“You only have to wait a few decades. It's not as if the current family head is about to die. Think of it as going away to study. Your binding. Don't you want it removed?”

“... Of course I do. But if I enter the Heavenly Ice Palace as a spy and get caught, I'll lose my life. I'd rather die alone than get my whole clan exterminated.”

Ryu Seonghan's answer was earnest. Yise decided to change tactics. He needed genuine cooperation anyway. In that case, a deal would serve him better than an order.

“Then don't go in as a spy. Join for real. I'll give you a fair reward in return. How much does a Foundation Establishment Pill cost on the Northern Continent?”

“Well, money alone isn't enough to get one, but if you could buy one, it'd probably cost a hundred thousand spirit stones.”

Ryu Seonghan looked dubious as he answered. Hearing the price, Yise immediately withdrew the offer.

“That won't work. Instead, if you manage to get in, I'll make you immortal cuisine good enough for Foundation Establishment Cultivators. I'll keep making it until you've gathered all the spiritual energy you need for Foundation Establishment. Your cultivation will probably be dozens of times faster than it is now.”

“... Even so. I don't even know if I'll be able to leave once I join.”

“How many years did it take you to reach the eighth star?”

“I'm about fifty this year, so roughly forty years.”

Yise flinched briefly at an age greater than he had expected, but soon regained his composure. What did age matter in the cultivation world? With some Cultivators living for centuries, fifty was practically a child.

“Forty years for the eighth star. Even Pungryu City's second-tier abodes are unimpressive. With this amount of spiritual energy of heaven and earth, it'll take you another fifty years just to gather enough for Foundation Establishment.”

“Well... That's a perfectly normal pace.”

“If I keep supplying you with immortal cuisine, I could cut it down to ten years.”

“Is that really true...?”

“It took me seven years in total from the start of Cultivation to reach Foundation Establishment.”

“What? Don't lie.”

Ryu Seonghan stared at Yise with a deep frown, but Yise's expression was utterly serious.

“Really?”

Rather than answer, Yise let his expression convey the truth. Ryu Seonghan did not know how to use mind reading, but he sensed, at least, that the Senior before him was not spinning lies.

Once he believed it, all he could think was that he had really stepped in shit. He had messed with someone he should never have touched.

“This is insane. To think a monster like this actually exists. I've dug my own grave...”

“You'll do it, right? This is a tremendous fortuitous encounter for you.”

Yise was certain he would accept the deal. Anyone who turned away from a fortuitous encounter right before his eyes ought to be stripped of the right to call himself a Cultivator.

“... Please give me... a little time to think.”

Saying he would visit his family home, Ryu Seonghan left the quarters with a conflicted expression.

Left alone, Yise sat quietly and went back over their conversation. He carefully organized the new information in his mind and weighed the dangers ahead and what might happen. He considered every possible outcome, and how to deal with each.

After spending a long while organizing his thoughts, he felt like having a bite to eat. The spirit-gathering effect had worn off, too. He was considering heading out to the snowfields to hunt demonic beasts when he suddenly remembered Feathered Man's egg in the Heaven-and-Earth Pouch.

'I'll roast an egg.'

The eggs of predatory bird demonic beasts made potent immortal cuisine simply by being roasted. They tended to taste good, too.

Yise took out Feathered Man's egg and placed it over the brazier. Then he cast Flame Release, turning the heat as low as possible to cook it slowly, careful not to undercook or overcook it. Heat control was everything when roasting eggs.

Recalling the tiger-patterned bird egg he had once eaten, he tended the flames with the care of a craftsman firing porcelain. About a quarter of an hour passed. Deciding it should be cooked through by now, he extinguished Flame Release.

Just as he was about to strike the egg with his hand to crack it open, the shell began splitting.

CRACK!

“...?”

For a moment, Yise froze, unsure what had happened. What? Why was it cracking when he hadn't even touched it? Had he overcooked it?

Still laboring under that misunderstanding, he reached out again. At that moment, a piece of shell fell away.

CHEEP.

A bird's beak poked out. Feathered Man's egg... had hatched.

“...?”

This wasn't right. Why were you coming out now?

Unable to comprehend what on earth had happened, Yise could only stare blankly at the bird's open, cheeping beak.